Amazon Prime Now two-hour delivery is available in more than 30 cities.
Amazon improved its shipping options with the goal of making it easy to get last-minute holiday gifts on time.
This dovetails with Amazon's commitment to being the most convenient option to gain market share, at the expense of margin.
Amazon shoppers had more options than ever this holiday season.
A major expansion in the company's two-day shipping, one-day shipping, same-day shipping, and two-hour shipping options made the retailer a convenient option for last-minute gifting.
Use of these services doubled this holiday, according to the company, highlighting one of Amazon's biggest strengths as it is projecting to take half of all online holiday sales.
Amazon offers shipping guarantees as few other retailers do. And this year the company was able to ensure that customers using the correct shipping speeds were able to get their gifts on time.
Amazon has been greatly expanding its ability to deliver items in two-day shipping, the standard benefit for Prime members. But as recently as mid-December, it expanded its one-day and same-day shipping options to 3,000 new cities across the country. The total now stands at 8,000 locales with access to these Prime benefits.
Prime members who waited until the very last minute were able to take advantage of Prime Now, Amazon's two-hour delivery service.
Amazon expanded its selection of items available with Prime Now to include gift-ready products like board games and its own Echo devices. Eligible Prime Now products were available for free two-hour delivery all the way up until midnight on Christmas Eve. The AP called it perfect for procrastinators.
Non-Prime members also waited till the last minute to order from Amazon. December 19 — two days after the last day to place an order with non-Prime free shipping — was the busiest day for Amazon's fulfillment centers, according to the company.
Amazon is willing to provide these expensive convenience benefits to its Prime benefits, as they are key to its business. New Prime members, whose ranks swelled by more than 4 million in just one week this holiday season, may have been swayed by these benefits. Prime members overall buy more goods more often from the company than the average consumer.


text:
Den fjärde säsongen av RuPauls dragrace hade premiär 20 januari 2012. Vinnaren av säsong fyra får vara ansiktet utåt för Logos Dragraceturné sponsrad av Absolut Vodka, vinner en skräddarsydd semesterresa, en livstids förbrukning av NYX Cosmetics, och en prissumma på 100 000 dollar samt titeln "America's Next Drag Superstar."

Liksom förra säsongen delar Santino Rice & Billy B (Billy Brasfield), på stolen vid panelen, eller möjligen rör det sig om att Brasfield hoppar in för Rice när vid behov. I "Reunited", det sista avsnittet av säsongen, sitter Rice och Billy B bredvid varandra i publiken. Temalåten för catwalken är liksom förra säsongen "Glamazon" från RuPauls album Glamazon.

I säsongsfinalen blev det Sharon Needles som kröntes till säsongens vinnare.

Tävlingsdeltagare
De tretton dragdrottningarna som tävlar i att bli "America's Next Drag Superstar" i säsong fyra av RuPauls dragrace är:

(ålder och namn är den som uppgivits när tävlingen ägde rum)

 Tävlingsdeltagaren vann RuPauls dragrace.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren kom till final.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren vann en utmaning. I första avsnittet blev vinnaren även immun mot att skickas hem följande vecka.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren var en av de bästa men vann inte utmaningen, eller var med i vinnarlaget.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren var en av de sämsta men hamnade inte på en bottenplacering.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren fick en bottenplacering (en av de två sämsta).
 Tävlingsdeltagaren åkte ut ur tävlingen.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren vann en utmaning men blev diskvalificerad från tävlingen.
 Tävlingsdeltagaren röstades fram som "Miss Congeniality" av tv-tittarna.

Avsnitt 8 innehåller en diskvalificering av Willam, som är den första deltagare i programmets historia som diskvalificerats från tävlingen.
Avsnitt 10 innehåller återkomsten av Kenya Michaels, som åkte ut i samma avsnitt som Carmen Carrera i säsong 3, vilket gör henne till den andra tävlingsdeltagaren i programmets historia att bli utslagen i samma säsong två gånger, i samma avsnitt som de fick komma tillbaka för en andra chans.
 I Avsnitt 11  bevittnade vi första gången som en deltagare lyckades vinna 4 huvudutmaningar före finalen (som hon vann).
I Avsnitt 12 får vi se höjdpunkter och lågvatten från de föregående elva avsnitten.
Vinnaren av Rupauls dragrace säsong 4 förväntades avslöjas i finalen, avsnitt 13, men som en twist i leken, annonserades vinnaren först i "RuPaul's Drag Race: Reunited," efter att domarna fått feedback från den officiella Facebooksidan och på Twitter, via #DragRace.
 Avsnitt 14: "Reunited!" var första gången i programmets historia som återträffen filmades i en teater framför livepublik.

Gästdomare

(I alfabetisk ordning efter artistnamn och/eller efternamn)
Pamela Anderson (skådespelerska)
Natalie Cole (skådespelerska, pianist, sångerska och låtskrivare)
Loretta Devine (skådespelerska)
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (skådespelerska och programledare)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (skådespelare)
Rick Fox (basketball-spelare)
Jennifer Love Hewitt (skådespelerska och sångerska)
Wynonna Judd (skådespelerska sångerska)
Regina King (skådespelerska)
Ross Mathews (komiker och tv-personlighet)
Rose McGowan (skådespelerska)
Jeffrey Moran (branding- och marknadschef för Absolut Vodka)
Max Mutchnick (tv-producent)
Kelly Osbourne (programledare och komiker)
Pauley Perrette (skådespelerska, sångerska, författare)
Amber Riley (skådespelerska och sångerska)
Mike Ruiz (fotograf)
John Salley (professionell basketballspelare)
Dan Savage (författare)
Nicole Sullivan (skådespelerska, komiker, artist)
Pam Tillis (sångare och låtskrivare)
Jennifer Tilly (skådespelerska)

Fotnoter

Källor

Externa länkar
  (säsong 4)
 Officiell webbplats (Kanada)
 Officiell Facebooksida

TV-säsonger 2012
Amerikanska TV-program

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Whenever Apple releases a new version of Mac OS X, two things are certain. First, it will be better than the previous version. Second, there will be things about it people aren't that happy about.
Leopard is no exception, and among the biggest early complaints have to do with its interface: the new Dock, the partially-transparent menu bar, lined Finder windows—in other words, the things you'll be looking at whenever you're using your Mac.
As I did back when Tiger was first released, today I'm going to take a look at some of the first tools for tweaking Leopard's interface. If you're one of the people who isn't completely thrilled with the new look, it's possible to make Leopard's appearance not only bearable, but perhaps even enjoyable.
Note that some of these products are still in development, so the usual "use at your own risk" caveats apply; however, I've tried them all on my own Mac without incident. For the cautious, those programs designated with ** alter system files to work their magic; the others simply modify hidden preferences.
Perhaps the most controversial aesthetic change in Leopard is the new look of the Dock—a 3-D, reflective "shelf" on which icons appear to sit—when positioned on the bottom of the screen. The Leopard Dock has been criticized for being ugly; for not adhering to Apple's own user-interface guidelines; for being visually difficult to use; and for being eye-candy-for-the-sake-of-eye-candy. If any of these criticisms represent your own feelings, you likely saw my article explaining how to apply the 2-D look of the side-mounted Dock to the bottom-of-the-screen version using a couple simple Terminal commands.
But if you're not a fan of Terminal, there are already many handy utilities for making the change with a click or two. Among my favorites are the free TigerDock 1.0 (donations accepted), which also has an option to "dim" hidden applications—a feature I've been using on my own Dock (thanks to third-party utilities) for years. Alternatively, if you're a fan of Dashboard, the free DockDoctor widget lets you choose the 2-D or 3-D look with a couple clicks. And Rob Griffiths was kind enough to improve my own AppleScript utilities (provided in the previous article), combining them into a single utility that toggles the Dock's appearance each time it's run; you can download the new version here.
Another interesting tweak is provided by Elgebar Studios' free DockColor **, which lets you change the color of the 3-D Dock's reflective shelf. You just choose the desired color, click on Apply, and then provide your admin-level username and password; your Dock will be relaunched with its new paint job. DockColor even backs up the original Dock files; choosing File -> Revert To Default resets the Dock to its default appearance.
If the Dock's new appearance is Leopard's most controversial aesthetic change, the semi-transparent menu bar isn't far behind. The new look, designed to make the menu bar less distracting, at times makes it less usable—menu titles and menu-bar icons can be difficult to read with certain Desktop pictures.
Using a solid color, rather than a complex image, as your Desktop background helps, but many people would rather just revert to the white menu bar they've been using for years. Unfortunately, there's currently no easy and 100-percent effective way to do so. You can manually edit your favorite Desktop images so that the top-most 20 pixels of each, when sized appropriately for your Mac's display, are white. But that's a hassle.
LeoColorBar requires more manual effort but provides more options. You drag the desired image into the LeoColorBar window, choose the menu-bar background color (for example, white for the traditional Mac OS look or grey for a less-bright bar), choose your display options, and then click on Set Desktop.
For those who just want to click on a button to get the older Mac OS X menu bar back, I'm confident that we'll see a simple, one-click method before too long. Given that Mac OS X automatically disables the menu bar's transparency on older Macs that don't support CoreImage, it seems there must be a way to disable this, um, feature on newer Macs, as well.
Likely the most-criticized functional change in Leopard is Stacks, the feature that lets you put a folder in the Dock and then see a graphical display of that folder's contents by clicking on the folder in the Dock. Although Stacks has some benefits, it also has a number of issues that affect its usability. (I'll cover both in my in-depth take on Stacks, which should appear later this week on Macworld.com.) Easily the biggest step backwards, compared to Tiger, is that you can no longer navigate a folder's contents, including the contents of subfolders, via the Dock.
Unfortunately, no one has yet discovered a hack or tweak to get this functionality from Leopard's Dock. Until someone does—or until Apple restores the feature—the best you can do is find another way to access your files. Thankfully, there are a number of OS X add-ons out there that provide similar functionality.
Two options that are somewhat similar in their basic functionality are Overflow and DragThing . Each gives you a pop-up, palette-looking window for quick access to files, folders, and applications. For example, click on Overflow's Dock icon to access any folders you've added to Overflow; right-click on a folder to navigate its contents. (DragThing works similarly and has more features than Overflow.) This requires two clicks instead of the Tiger Dock's single click, but it's still faster—and more convenient—than Stacks for those of us who frequently took advantage of hierarchical Dock menus.
There are also dozens of other utilities available for Mac OS X, many of them now compatible with Leopard, that provide hierarchical menus for accessing files and folders. Still, I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing that this feature was still available directly from the Dock.
Another minor complaint I've heard is with Leopard's login window: What's with the Time-Machine-inspired space theme? If you'd rather have something a bit less, well, spacey , you need to replace the file DefaultDesktop.jpg , found in /System/Library/CoreServices, with a similarly-named image of your choosing. Unfortunately, as a system-level file, it's a bit of a hassle to replace. (Under older versions of Mac OS X, the login image wasn't a system-level file.) The easiest solution, although not a free one, is Sanity Software's $5 Visage Login **, which lets you change the login background, icon, title, and message text; you can revert to the default appearance at any time.
Another minor tweak in Leopard that some people haven't embraced is the look of folders in the Finder. Folders in general have lost their 3-D appearance, and, perhaps more controversially, special folders—those inside your user folder, as well as the Applications and Utilities folders—no longer sport colorful, custom icons for easy identification; instead, you get subtle, "embossed" labels.
One simple solution, if you've still got a copy of Tiger sitting around, is to copy the icons from Tiger's special folders and paste them onto the corresponding folders in Leopard. For more options and less hassle, the upcoming version of Panic's $13 CandyBar ** (details here ) will let you replace all system and special icons with a click; it will even support Leopard's new 512-by-512-pixel icons.
Finally, two other minor changes to OS X's appearance have generated complaints: the alternating-blue-and-white-stripes look of Finder windows in list view and the squared-off corners of the screen. (Didn't notice the latter change? Neither did I until someone pointed it out.) If you'd rather your list views look like they did in Tiger—solid white—Doug Adams of Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes fame provided a handy AppleScript over on Mac OS X Hints. I've turned that into a simple AppleScript utility you can download here. Run the program and you'll be asked if you want to show stripes in list view; click on Yes or No, and the Finder will restart sporting the chosen look.
If you're not a fan of Leopard's new squared-off screen corners, and would prefer the traditional Mac-like rounded corners, Many Tricks' Displaperture can restore them; in fact, you can choose exactly which corners use which look—rounded or squared—and even adjust the radius of roundedness, making your Mac look like an old TV. Unfortunately, your corners stay rounded only while Displaperture is actually running, and if you're using Leopard's Spaces feature, the modifications affect only the current workspace.


text:
American History Tellers
California Gold Rush | Battlelines | 3
Posted 25 Jan, 08:01 in American History Tellers
For white settlers, the Gold Rush offered a chance for fortune, but for California's Native inhabitants, the sudden hunger for gold spelled disaster. As the numbers of miners grew, they...
Hosted by Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart from the hit show Morbid. When 90-year-old Laurence Pilgeram drops dead on the sidewalk outside his condo, you might think that's the end of...
California Gold Rush | The Forty Niners | 2
In early 1849, thousands of gold-hungry Americans began pouring into California from the eastern United States. But most of the so-called 49ers were wildly unprepared for the perilous journey west....
Introducing: History Daily
On History Daily, we do history, daily. Every weekday, host Lindsay Graham (American Scandal, American History Tellers) takes you back in time to explore a momentous event that happened 'on...
California Gold Rush | The First Strike | 1
After the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, hundreds of thousands of prospectors poured into California, hoping to strike it rich. In the early days, rather than coming...
Presidential Assassinations | Interview | 5
The job of guarding the President's life belongs to the men and women of the United States Secret Service. There have been many highs and lows in the agency's more...
Presidential Assassinations | Ricochet | 4
Posted 28 Dec, 08:01 in American History Tellers
In 1981, a gunman fired six shots at Ronald Reagan after the president gave a speech at a Washington D.C. hotel. Over the next several hours, split-second decisions made by...
Presidential Assassinations | Three Shots in Dallas | 3
On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot and killed while riding in his presidential limo through downtown Dallas. His violent and public death became one of the most...
Presidential Assassinations | Anarchist at the Exposition | 2
In September 1901, President William McKinley visited the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York to deliver a speech celebrating American achievements at home and abroad. But waiting in the crowd...
Presidential Assassinations | Murder for Spoils | 1
On April 14th, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Lincoln died hours later, shocking the war-torn nation and becoming the first President...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We have the Jom Classifieds - Maps module setup to display a particular category of adverts, which have addresses in a very close geographical area. On the module, we have selected the local, default location.
However, when the map displays, it is always "zoomed out" to show the entire USA, rather than the specified area. This requires users to constantly zoom in to see the pins on the map. Can this be set to be "zoomed in" automatically?
I'm interested in having the same kind of change.
Is it possible to know how to do this change ?


text:
DK-Technologies Selects Eurocom Broadcast
Audio and video metering firm appoints new distributor for France
DK-Technologies has appointed Eurocom Broadcast as its exclusive distribution partner in France.
Based in Paris, Eurocom will handle sales, distribution and after-sales support for the entire DK-Technologies range, which includes the DK meter range and the recently launched flagship PT0800 audio and waveform monitor.
"We are delighted to be working with Eurocom in France and feel confident that its expertise and contacts will help drive sales for DK-Technologies," said Uffe Kjems Hansen, product marketing director at DK-Technologies. "Our metering and monitoring products are already well established in France and, with new products scheduled for 2014, there couldn't be a better time to refocus attention on the brand in this important market."
Established in 1996 by owner and CEO Bruno Guers, Eurocom offers a wide range of professional audio products to the radio and television industries, along with installation, cabling and after-sales service and support.
"As someone with many years' experience in the broadcast and pro audio industry I've always been aware of the quality of DK-Technologies' products," said Guers. "I am very pleased that we now have an opportunity to work together and I believe there is great potential for sales growth in France, which will benefit both businesses."
Texas Broadcasters React to Possible DIRS Mandate
FCC considering mandatory disaster reporting for broadcasters


I had Teriyaki sauce and few Hot Dogs lying around in the fridge. I decided to grill the hot dogs, basting it with teriyaki sauce. I prefer grilling hot dogs as they are lot more tastier than boiling or frying. I used my stove top grill pan for grilling these yummy hot dogs. Teriyaki sauce is a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, honey, ginger and other ingredients. It is commonly used in Japanese cuisine. Since Teriyaki sauce tends to be sweet, I spiced it up with chilly and black pepper powders.
If you need a change from plain hot dogs, try this recipe. I used fully cooked Hot Dogs (Chicken Franks). If you are using uncooked sausages like Bratwurst, you will have to grill each side for a longer time until it is thoroughly cooked.
In a bowl, combine teriyaki sauce, ginger garlic paste, pepper powder and red chilly powder.
Heat a grill pan thoroughly and coat it lightly with a cooking spray.
Place the hot dogs on the heated grill pan and allow it to cook. Baste it with the marinade occasionally using a brush.
Turn the hot dogs every 2-3 minutes and continue grilling, until grill marks appear on all sides.
Serve these hot dogs on a hot dog bun along with any condiments of your choice.


text:
Q: How to insert into one table by joing other table? I have two tables:
table1
id | mcc | mnc | active | client_id
1    202   05      1        4
2    202   06      0        4
.......a lot

table2
id | mcc | mnc | rejectReason
1    202   05         null
2    202   06         null

Need to insert into table2, but need to check each of table1's item for inserting of table2 something like this:
 SELECT table1 t1

(CASE WHEN t2.id != 0
THEN
  INSERT INTO table2 t22
  SET (
       t22.rejectReason = CONCAT('LOSS OF COVERAGE'),
       t22.mcc = t1.mcc,
       t22.mnc = t1.mnc,
  )
 WHERE t22.mcc     = t1.mcc
 AND   t22.mnc     = t1.mnc
 ELSE
   ''
END)

 LEFT JOIN table2 t2
 ON  t2.mcc       = t1.mcc
 AND t2.mnc       = t1.mnc

If table1 has not this item(mcc/mnc) like table2 then insert current item for table2. Help please
RESULT:

 table1
    id | mcc | mnc | active | client_id
    1    202   05      1        4
    2    202   06      0        4
    3    214    0      1        5
    .....
         212    16     // not exist
         214    07     // not exist
    .......a lot

    table2
    id | mcc | mnc | rejectReason
    1    202   05         null
    2    202   06         null
    3    212   16         LOSS OF COVERAGE // then insert
    4    214   07         LOSS OF COVERAGE // then insert

A: Well, I didn't quite understand what you want, but here is a structure of how it should be, adjust it to what you meant:
UPDATE table2 t2
LEFT JOIN table1 t1
 ON(t1.mcc = t2.mcc and t1.mnc = t2.mnc)
SET t2.rejectReason = 'LOSS OF COVERAGE'
WHERE t1.id is null

This will update t2.rejectReason to 'LOSS OF COVERAGE' when there is no record with the same mcc,mnc on table 1. By the way, CONCAT() is used to unite more then 1 string, you also have one so you don't need it.
EDIT: if you want an insert then:
INSERT INTO table2
SELECT t.id,t.mcc,t.mnc,'LOSS OF COVERAGE'
FROM Table1 t
WHERE NOT EXISTS(SELECT 1 from table2 s
                 WHERE t.mcc = s.mcc and t.mnc = s.mnc)

EDIT2: I don't know this error, so maybe it can be solved more easily , but you can do this:
CREATE TABLE Temp_Tbl AS
(SELECT t.id,t.mcc,t.mnc,'LOSS OF COVERAGE'
FROM Table1 t
WHERE NOT EXISTS(SELECT 1 from table2 s
                 WHERE t.mcc = s.mcc and t.mnc = s.mnc));

INSERT INTO Table2
SELECT * FROM Temp_Tbl;

DROP TABLE Temp_Tbl;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Transit Malaysia
What we're thinking
About TRANSIT
How does our transit work?
Making a transit complaint
Transit Network 101
Sustainable Urban Nodes and Transport Network for Lembah Klang
News & Events Stage Bus Taxi
Higher bus and taxi fares soon – were public transport users really "consulted" or was it just a "briefing"
Post author By transitmy
No Comments on Higher bus and taxi fares soon – were public transport users really "consulted" or was it just a "briefing"
TRANSIT took note of this article in the news yesterday and today and wondered, with disappointment, why we, the users are still not consulted…or maybe they gave us a "briefing" and called it a "consultation?"
Higher taxi and bus rates to go before Cabinet
KUALA KANGSAR: New bus and taxi fares will be presented to the Cabinet for approval next week, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
He said the new fares would cover taxis and express, feeder, school and standard bus services.
"I have studied and approved the proposal by the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board. I have to get feedback from all ministries before presenting it to the Cabinet," he told reporters in Kati near here yesterday.
Nazri, however, declined to reveal the quantum of increase as it involved many sectors but said it would not burden the people.
"We will always consider the interest of operators and consumers before deciding. How can we expect good service if the operators can't make money?" he asked.
The Government was said to have agreed to a 30% increase although the operators had asked for a 60% to 100% rise.
He said the Cabinet could only discuss the new fares next week (early June) as it had other pressing matters on the agenda including that on the Port Klang Free Zone. — Bernama
TRANSIT Says:
When we were invited to the recent meeting with bus operators and the CVLB (that was held on May 19) we hoped that there would be some interesting, open, and honest discussion.
Instead, we listened as the bus operators grouses were heard – but not the grouses of the commuters and public transport users.
Frankly, we at TRANSIT do not mind paying more money for better service – but that presumes that we are actually going to get better service.
Our collective experience (which goes back decades) tells us that this is not going to happen without a firm hand.
This is why we are disappointed with the government for making a decision about the new fares without full consultation.
We were at the meeting but we have got no report from the meeting – in other words, we are not being included when it really counts – in the decision-making process.
For this reason, we urge the wakil rakyat to make it clear in Parliament and the Dewan Undangan Negeri and local council chambers that the public needs a voice.
Tags buses, Cabinet Committee, commuters, CVLB / LPKP, Malaysian Government, Public Transport, Puduraya, Stage Bus, Taxi, wakil rakyat
← CrossTalk: In KL, the car is king → Commentary: Confessions of an express bus driver
Transit Malaysia's aim is to fight for better public transportation and urban planning in the Klang Valley, and in Malaysia as a whole.
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© 2022	Transit Malaysia


text:
What is Seed Funding and How does it work?
Count yourself as a special one in case you have an innovative business idea. Your idea might create a fortune for you. But is just having a business idea enough? How would you turn that idea into a successful business venture? When you try to develop a profitable business out of your innovative and creative ideas, that is called Startups. In case you are not already a millionaire, you need investors to put money into your thoughts to turn them into businesses. Such investments or funding that would help to turn your business ideas into profitable business are called Seed Fundings. But nobody is going to invest a chunk of money into a vision for nothing. Such investors seek equity in the company as well.
Seed funding in detail
Similar to everyday business ventures, startups also go through many stages to become profitable and develop into thriving companies. And during these stages of development, it seeks investments in money or capital infusion several times. And these timely investments are essential for the startups as they can quickly take the business to different heights.
Now, these capital infusions at different stages of startups have other names, referred to as rounds. Such as angel round, seed round, private equity round, debt round, and some more. But the details of these are out of context here.
However, the round that is essential in this context is seed round or seed funding. And as the name speaks for itself, the seed money is necessary at the early stages of a startup to germinate your business idea into a profitable business.
Although, this seed money or seed capital is not a charity. The investors who are looking to put money on your startup also demand equity stakes in your company. And they are not just looking for equity stakes but partial ownership of the company as well. The primary purpose of the investors to seek equity shares in a startup is to sell these shares later when the business gains recognition and becomes profitable. Thus, this way, the investors make profits.
Why is seed funding essential?
Many times, many great startups suffer due to a lack of money. And money is essential at the early stages to give the startup a push to run on its own. But the startups don't get the investments that quickly. They even suffer to get debt-based funding due to meager cash flow and limited operating history. Therefore, seed funding offers easy and hassle-free financing for such startups.
What are the sources of seed funding?
There are several sources of seed funding. The angel investors, banks, venture capital firms, friends and family, and every person willing to invest in your business in the hope of getting a profitable return is a source of seed funding. So if your mother or father has promised you to invest $20,000 in your startup, they are your seed funding investors.
But sometimes, the startup founders also invest their own money into startups as it allows them to retain complete control of their company.
The other type of investor is venture investor. But they are not keen to invest as seed fundings, though they are helpful in the later funding stages. As stated earlier, the concept of seed funding has been developed to give a startup a push start to develop into a business. And funding an already running business to expand is not seed funding.
Therefore, funding an already running business is part of Series A and Series B rounds of investment, and venture investors dominate it. At the same time, seed funding happens at the very early stages of business and has a broader range of investors.
Little about series A funding
Series A funding is then applicable when the company is already established. At such stages, the "Series A" funding can increase the product offering and customers of the company. With the help of series funding, the companies can enhance their market range. But while opting for "Series A" funding, the companies should also have long-term business developing business models that will give them long-term profits. And because many startups have great ideas initially but fail to sustain their growth, series A funding can help them for long-term endurance.
But keep in mind that the series A investors are not typically looking for excellent ideas. However, they are looking for companies that have the potential to grow for a long time.
The standard series A investors are usually part of some venture capital firms. Few venture capital firms could come as a complete pack. This means they might fully invest in a business idea. And it is great because this can attract other potential investors as well. You could find some angel investors investing for Series A funding, but their chances are low as seed funding is more tempting.
Now many companies also try to use their equity crowdfunding for generating capital in series A funding round. This is because such companies fail to pull the interest of series A investors. More than half of the seed-funded companies fail to generate Series A funds.
Little about series B funding
The series B round funding comes in handy when the business or company has passed its developing stage. The primary task of this round is to extend the market reach of the company.
The companies that have successfully generated seed funding and Series A funding have already proven their potential and zeal to grow. This means they have overcome the thresholds of developing stages and are now ready to expand their business and customers.
The companies entering into the Series B round of business development have a lot of responsibilities. They have to hire talented and skilled staff, advertise, grow sales, tech, support, and much more things to do. And to all this requires more significant capital investments. Thus the capital raised in the Series B round is usually estimated at around $33 million. Also, companies that enter into a series B round of investment are well established, and their standard valuation stands between $30 million to $60 million.
Series A and Series B do not have many differences, especially when talking about their processes and key players. Series B also has almost similar characters that Series A has. This also includes the key anchor investor, which helps in attracting other investors as well. But the Series B round also adds up more different venture capital firms, and such firms help in the further stages of investment and growth of the company.
Startup Evaluation for Seed Funding
The most important thing to gain seed funding for your startup is startup evaluation. Because no investor will invest in your idea until you show them the potential of your vision, the startup evaluation will help the investors predict the return on their investments. And also, you must know the distinction between different rounds of funding. It would help you understand the different kinds of investment and investors so that you could act accordingly to gain fundings. In case you are facing any kind of problem in the evaluation for seed funding, it would be best to contact a professional.
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Campaigners Welcome Marriage Referendum Announcement
News 2 July, 2014 . Posted by ciara
Taoiseach Enda Kenny announced to the Dáil today that the proposed referendum on civil marriage will be held in Spring 2015.
Mr Kenny made the announcement in response to a question from Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams about the referendum during Order of Business yesterday evening.
"The leadership shown by the Taoiseach today is an entirely appropriate response to the landslide vote in favour of civil marriage equality by the Constitutional Convention," said Mark Kelly, director of ICCL (Irish Council for Civil Liberties).
"When the people of Ireland vote on this issue in 2015, we will be participating in a final act of legal recognition of the full equality of our gay and lesbian colleagues and neighbours, friends and family."
The nation's marriage equality campaigners have welcomed the news today. "We are delighted with the Government's decision to hold a referendum to provide equal access to civil marriage for lesbian and gay people in Spring 2015," said Kieran Rose, chair of GLEN (Gay and Lesbian Equality Network).
Marriage equality campaigners marching in Dublin's 2012 Pride march
"The referendum will be the final step in the remarkable 20 year journey from gay law reform to full Constitutional equality for lesbian and gay people in Ireland."
The referendum will be the latest step in a slow, but steady, 20-year march towards full equality for LGBT citizens of the state, which began with decriminalisation in 1993 and recently including the introduction of civil partnership in 2010.
"This referendum is unlike most other referenda, it's not concerned with politics or economics," said Grainne Healy, chair of Marriage Equality, "it's about Ireland valuing its citizens equally.
"Introducing marriage equality to Ireland would strengthen our reputation as champions for human rights and equality. It would solidify the global belief in Ireland as the place of warm welcomes, warm welcomes to people from abroad, and to our own at home, regardless of sexuality," she added.
#equality
#Ireland
#same-sex
2 July, 2014 . Posted by ciara.
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Q: catch global mouse scroll, and send custom mouse scroll events to apps Basically, for the start, I want to reproduce the functionality of WizMouse or KatMouse. A related Superuser question is here.
What Windows APIs would I need for that?
Also, as a second step, I thought of implementing something as the MacOSX scroll acceleration and pixel-exact scrolling. (Basically, you scroll always pixel-by-pixel, but when you move the scroll wheel fast, it accelerates more than linearly, e.g. quadratic, to the scroll wheel speed. That way, you can scroll way more and faster to the end of a long page, and at the same time, you can scroll way less and more exact.)
Is there a way to scroll some element only by a single pixel? (I can implement all the remaining logic by myself.)
This question is tagged with C++ and Winapi, but if it is easier with some other Windows-API and some other language, I'm also open for that.

A: GetCursorPos will let you get the coordinates of the mouse pointer. After that, WindowFromPoint will let you figure out which window is at that point. Apparently figuring out which window is at a given point is complicated, though, so you'll want to do some experimenting with the different ...FromPoint... APIs (from a look at that Old New Thing blogpost, WindowFromPoint should work just fine for your purposes).
To trap the mouse scroll messages, you'll want to use SetWindowsHookEx with WH_MOUSE_LL. This will send you any and all mouse messages. Be sure you call CallNextHookEx for any messages other than WM_MOUSEWHEEL or WM_HMOUSEWHEEL; you don't want to eat all the messages! You do want to eat WM_MOUSEWHEEL and WM_HMOUSEWHEEL events, though, since you're manually sending them to an alternate window.
I'm a little less certain about the next part. I think you'll want to pass WM_MOUSEWHEEL directly to the window under the cursor, but you'll need to make sure your hook doesn't eat it. (The best way to accomplish this might be to have the hook procedure determine whether the WM_MOUSEWHEEL message is already being passed to the window under the cursor, and only process/eat it if it's not.) You can also take advantage of the message's wParam to set how quickly you're scrolling. I don't believe you'll be able to scroll pixel-by-pixel, but you can use the minimum scrolling distance (WHEEL_DELTA * 1) initially, and scale that multiplier up as you scroll faster and faster. Rinse and repeat for WM_HMOUSEWHEEL.
The one thing you'll need to be very careful about is timeouts. From the documentation on WH_MOUSE_LL hooks:

The hook procedure should process a message in less time than the data entry specified in the LowLevelHooksTimeout value in the following registry key:
  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
The value is in milliseconds. If the hook procedure times out, the system passes the message to the next hook. However, on Windows 7 and later, the hook is silently removed without being called. There is no way for the application to know whether the hook is removed.

The FAQ for X-Button Mouse Control, an app that does something similar to what you're looking for, says (emphasis mine):

When using on Windows 7, XMBC can stop responding to mouse click seemingly randomly. This is not strictly a bug in XMBC but a change in the behaviour of Windows. Windows 7 introduced the concept of a timeout for system hooks (the method XMBC uses to monitor the mouse). If the CPU is busy (eg. playing HD movies) XMBC may not be scheduled (by windows) in time to respond to the hook before this timeout occurs. When this happens, the hook is removed without notification (thanks Microsoft!) and XMBC appears to have stopped working. Restarting it or pressing Apply in the settings screen fixes the problem until it happens again.
The only solution to this is to increase the LowLevelHookTimeout value (in the registry for now).

It's highly likely your software will face the same problem. You'll want to be sure you document it and/or adjust that Registry key yourself to provide a higher timeout value.


Broach sensitive topics without adequate support (AEA, 1995).
If and how confidentiality and anonymity will be provided to participants.
The informed consent agreement should also explicitly explain that participation is voluntary, and participants can opt out at any time. It is important that you ensure participants not only read and sign, but also understand the informed consent form prior to engaging in the study. Always respect the rights of your participants and honor the details laid out in the informed consent agreement.
Multiple examples of consent forms are available online, the Free Management Library provides a general example in their Basic Guide to Program Evaluation.
*Note – When evaluating programs that serve minors it is absolutely essential that you have signed consent from the minors' parents/guardians before including them in your study.
*Note – If your evaluation study involves questioning participants about sensitive or emotionally troubling topics, it is important that participants are debriefed at the end of the study. A debriefing should allow participants to discuss the feelings that emerged about the topic and/or provide participants with external support, such as counseling or advising, to help them process those feelings.


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National Credit Bill: hearings
TRADE AND INDUSTRY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
Mr B Martins (ANC)
National Credit Bill [B18-2005]
Submission by First National Bank
Submission by Wesbank
Supplementary presentation by Wesbank (see Appendix)
Submission by Balboa Finance (PTY) Ltd
Submission by Imperial Holdings
Submission by Trans Union ITC
Submission by the Credit Bureau Association
Credit Bureau Association: Written "speech"
Microfinance South Africa presentation
Submission by Microfinance South Africa
The Committee conducted public hearings on the National Credit Bill. First National Bank (FNB) expressed that three situations still needed to be covered by the proposed Clause 101. The first was where a cheque was returned to the drawer. The second was where a consumer had exceeded their credit limit by cheque or credit card. The third situation was where a consumer paid late, or less than the agreed instalment. FNB wanted the debt enforcement procedure shortened and fixed to allow the credit provider to retrieve a credit card from an over-indebted customer sooner. The review and appeal procedures were confusing and led to more litigation. Clause 86(10) allowed the credit provider to terminate a review process begun by a credit counsellor if it was not completed within 60 days. However, Clause 86(11) allowed a court to undo the termination. This prolonged the debt enforcement procedure.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that they wanted the disclosure of credit to occur upfront and the credit contract had to be enforced in a specific way. Many institutions locked consumers into high fixed rate contracts even though they knew that interest rates were going down. The Bill was designed to protect consumers against this.
Wesbank presented two forms of credit agreements. The first was a direct deal where the credit provider concluded a deal directly with the consumer. The second was a discounted deal, where the deal was concluded between the dealer and the consumer, and the rights from that agreement were ceded to a bank. The credit provider's rights were unenforceable under the proposed Clause 84(1)(c) when the credit agreement was suspended. This was a problem in asset-based finance as it left the providers unable to prevent damage to the goods or to make sure that they were insured. Wesbank suggested that the right to protect goods from damage, loss or depreciation should be excluded from the unenforceable rights list. Clause 121 that dealt with the 'cooling-off' period did not cover the issue of depreciation, especially considering asset-based finance. The DTI said that the person who legally provided the credit had to register with the National Credit Register.
Balboa Finance (Pty) Ltd said that the Bill sought to outlaw mobile sales agents at the consumers' workplace and home. Many of these agents were the sole breadwinners of their families. A total ban on this type of business would lead to unemployment. The DTI said that incidences of over-indebtedness had occurred in areas where agents were used to sell credit. A lot of unconscionable conduct occurred as the agents worked for commission.
Microfinance South Africa (MFSA) said that the image of their industry was tainted. Some of the definitions regarding incidental credit needed to be reviewed as they were open to abuse. Pawnbrokers affected the 'second economy' in a big way, but needed to be regulated and registered. Small lenders like the MFSA had been denied access to the National Payment System, which would have helped them manage and reduce costs.
Imperial Holdings said that the provision that gave consumers the right to terminate a credit agreement within five days and return the goods had the potential to have a serious impact on the motor industry. The method of recovering depreciation was problematic too. It entailed going to the Tribunal and potentially to court, which could be a lengthy, expensive process for the parties.
The Credit Bureau Association explained how the credit information system worked. Countries like Australia and New Zealand only kept 'blacklists' and some countries in Europe kept information of unpaid debts indefinitely. South Africa had positive and negative information and fixed data periods. The DTI had investigated a sample of complaints and in none of the cases were the bureaux at fault. The removal of information when debts were paid was a way of giving consumers a chance to rehabilitate themselves, but this had had some unintended consequences.
Trans Union ITC said that there were many misunderstandings about credit bureaux. The management of data was their main job. The DTI said that there had been no regulation of credit bureaux, and that since the ITC said that data quality was a competitive issue among bureaux, there was no guarantee that they kept the same information of the same quality. The State therefore had to intervene and ensure that all of the information was of the same standard.
Members wanted to know FNB's policy on giving consent for rescissions of judgement where the debt had been paid. They asked for more information about the Joint Bank Credit Bureau, and whether consumers had access to the information held there. The Committee asked the credit bureaux about their policies for publishing information about debts that had proscribed, and whether they expunged the records of judgements that had been rescinded. They asked how the bureaux could compete on quality if they claimed that they merely stored information. The Committee felt there was not enough transformation in the credit bureaux.
First National Bank submission
Mr P Mtshaulana, Legal Representative, said that they supported the aims of the Bill and identified with the submissions made the Banking Association on 8 August. There were three situations that should have been covered by Clause 101 but were not. These situations created an administrative burden for the bank. The first was where a cheque was returned to the drawer. When a customer had insufficient funds, forgot to sign or used the wrong date, the cheque became stale. A bank employee had to call the customer to explain the situation. FNB wanted a fee for this to be included in Clause 101. Where a consumer had exceeded their credit limit by cheque or credit card, the bank had to decide whether to honour the cheque or pay the credit card debt. The costs incurred in making this decision ought to be recovered. The third situation was where a consumer paid late, or less than the agreed instalment amount. The bank had to find the reasons for the failure to pay the required amount. Again, the costs for this had to be recovered. Banks needed to value properties in determining whether to grant a mortgage and its value. FNB wanted this ''valuation fee' included in Clauses 101 or 102. FNB proposed that a cancellation fee be included in the Bill for all fixed rate contracts and for medium and large transactions. This fee would make fixed rate contracts cheaper.
There were two types of credit card machines. For withdrawing small amounts, no authorisation was required to assess if there were enough funds in the account. Where a consumer exceeded their limit however, Clause 129 stated that they must be given a notice. Clause 86 said that after ten days, the consumer could go to a debt counsellor to be declared over-indebted. The credit provider cannot retrieve the credit card, allowing the consumer to continue making transactions. Only after 60 business days had lapsed would the provider be able to retrieve the card. FNB wanted the debt enforcement procedure shortened and fixed to allow the credit provider to retrieve the credit card sooner than at present. Credit was a national problem. High consumer debt had macro-economic implications.
Clause 86(10) allowed the credit provider to terminate a review process begun by a credit counsellor if it was not completed within 60 days. However, Clause 86(11) allowed a court to undo the termination. This prolonged the debt enforcement procedure. A Magistrate must make a determination in terms of subsection 11 without reinstituting the review process. The process had to be shortened. If the procedures were to remain as they were, FNB asked the Committee to consider making a distinction between 'big' and 'small' customers. 'Big' or rich customers could afford lawyers so they did not require as much protection as poor customers.
The review and appeal procedures were confusing and led to more litigation that drew out the process. This would increase the cost of credit. Parties would dress up reviews and appeals as reviews and appeals depending on the situation. Instead of a complicated procedure, there must be one possibility for the Tribunal to deal with the matter. Once the decision was made, the case must be referred to court. The definitions in the Bill were not connected with the law as it were.
Department response
Mr G Davel(Chief Executive Officer: Micro Finance Regulatory Council) said that the Usury Act included definitions from a number of instruments. The DTI wanted to move away from this position. They wanted the disclosure of credit to occur upfront and the credit contract must be enforced in a specific way. There was a multiplicity of fees and consumers could not understand why. That was why the DTI tried to limit the number of fees in the Bill. Many institutions locked consumers into high fixed rate contracts even though they knew that interest rates were going down. The Bill was designed to protect consumers against this.
Mr M Stephen (UDM) said that FNB did not differentiate between fees that related to banking as a service, and fees that related to credit. Charging a fee for calling someone who put the wrong date on a cheque was charging for a service. This was outside the purview of this Bill. FNB had tried to import their own charges into the National Credit Bill. FNB's comments on cancellation fees were misleading. When interest rates went down, the cost of borrowing became cheaper for the bank. They were not unduly affected by an early cancellation. He asked FNB's policy on giving consent for rescissions of judgement where the debt had been paid.
Mr Mtshaulana replied that Clause 101 said that credit providers could not charge any fees other than the ones mentioned there. If the aim of that provision was only to deal with credit, then FNB's interpretation was incorrect.
He said that FNB did not oppose rescission of judgements where the debt had been paid, and in some cases gave its consent depending on the speed with which the debt was repaid.
Dr E Nkem-Abonta (DA) asked the DTI if they had done a feasibility study to assess the administrative costs of implementing the Bill. He said that poor people could use illegal means to delay the debt enforcement process. The Bill should not be weighed too much in favour of the poor. It should protect all customers. Did the bank make decisions based on the level of income of the consumers?
Professor B Turok (ANC) asked for more information about the Joint Bank Credit Bureau, and whether consumers had access to the information held there. He also asked for FNB's opinion about the other credit bureaux and if they were credible. He asked why banks did not inform customers in time about a change in costs. If banks made errors, there was no repayment for costs incurred by the customer in trying to fix the error yet the banks wanted to charge the customer for their errors.
FNB was unable to comment on the Joint Bank Credit Bureau. With regards to fees, the bank was merely trying to recover specific fees for transgressions in specific instances without spreading them out among all the customers. The bank had to look at what it did for customers who incurred administrative costs as a result of its errors.
Ms F Mohamed (ANC) asked how FNB's rules for credit provided for 'big' and 'small' customers. Mr Mtshaulana replied that enforcement procedures had to be made as tight and as short as possible. Many of the problems with credit related to poor people not having enough money to protect themselves. FNB did not differentiate between rich and poor. Whether the differentiation was to be made was a decision that rested with the Committee.
Mr S Rasmeni (ANC) asked why FNB had made its own submission even though its parent body, the Banking Council, had made a presentation earlier. Mr Mtshaulana replied that FNB made their own submission to emphasise certain issues that the Banking Council did not have time to cover in its submission.
Wesbank submission
Wesbank explained that there were two forms of credit agreements. The first was a direct deal where the credit provider concluded a deal directly with the consumer. The second was a discounted deal, where the deal was concluded between the dealer and the consumer, and the rights from that agreement were ceded to a bank. The ceded deal was Wesbank's preferred method of business. The dealer did not retain the rights from this deal for more than a few minutes. Thus, it served no real purpose for these dealers to register as credit providers. Wesbank suggested that these dealers should be exempt from the provisions of Clause 40.
Under Clause 84(1)(c), when the credit agreement was suspended, the credit provider's rights were unenforceable. This was a problem in asset-based finance as it left the providers unable to prevent damage to the goods or make sure that they were insured. Wesbank suggested that the right to protect goods from damage, loss or depreciation should be excluded from the unenforceable rights list. The consumer should be compelled to return the goods during the suspension period. It did not make sense that the consumer was allowed to keep the goods but did not have to pay for them. Clause 121 gave consumers a 'cooling-off' period of five days where goods had been earmarked for importation or where they were manufactured according to the specifications of the customer. The Credit Agreements Act created an exception for such goods falling under the 'cooling-off' period. This should be imported into the Bill. Clause 92 gave customers an opportunity to 'shop around' for five days. In reality, it gave customers a mechanism through which they could avoid any increase in price over those five days. The obligation on the credit provider to keep the goods in stock for those five days must be removed.
Clause 106 was intended to limit the type of insurance that a credit provider could require a customer to maintain. For example, DirectAxis did not require a consumer who entered into a loan agreement with it to purchase or maintain credit life insurance, but offered such insurance on a voluntary basis. On the wording of Clause 106, voluntary insurance fell within the ambit of the clause. This was not the intention of the clause. Subsections three and four had to be amended to make it clear that the clause dealt only with compulsory insurance.
Clause 121 that dealt with the 'cooling-off period did not cover the issue of depreciation, especially considering asset-based finance. Clause 129 gave the consumer the right to reinstate the credit agreement at any time depending on certain circumstances. This was unfair.
DTI Response
Mr G Davelsaid that the person who legally provided the credit would have to register with the National Credit Register. The imported goods exemptions could be dealt with in other legal instruments. They did not really have a place in a credit bill. It was important that the five day 'cooling-off' period was kept to give consumers a choice so that they could shop around to reduce over-indebtedness.
Dr Nkem-Abonta asked if there was anything to be gained by asking for an exemption from registering if the registration process was not onerous. If a borrower was forced to return goods if the lending was reckless, was that not ratification of that credit transaction? He asked if was advisable to make it mandatory for consumers to insure the assets for the replacement value of the asset.
Wesbank replied that an exemption for registering was requested as it created an added administrative burden on the dealers and the regulatory body. This was unnecessary as the financiers did the administration of the credit agreements. If an agreement was unlawful, restitution had to take place. Both parties had to return what they had received. At the moment, customers were required to take out comprehensive cover on the asset that would generally cover the replacement value of the asset and the outstanding balance of the agreement.
Professor Turok asked where Wesbank got its information on consumers' credit histories. Wesbank said it used the services of credit bureaux.
Balboa Finance (Pty) Ltd submission
Mr Rael Landau, legal consultant, said that the Bill sought to outlaw mobile sales agents at the consumers' workplace and home. Many of these agents were the sole breadwinners of their families. A total ban on this type of business would lead to unemployment. Consumers benefited in terms of convenience, time and price from these mobile agents. The cost of doing business would rise as fixed retail premises would have to be found and maintained.
Clause 111 provided that the consumer had additional time to dispute claims and refer them to a Tribunal. This right could be abused by consumers referring frivolous claims to the Tribunal to frustrate the credit provider's attempts to claim unpaid debts. The Bill curtailed the use of traditional debt collection agencies by using the Credit Tribunals to enforce consumer and credit providers' rights. Long delays would result before debts were collected.
Ms M Mpahlele (DTI Deputy Director-General) said that incidences of over-indebtedness occurred in areas where agents were used to sell credit. A lot of unconscionable conduct occurred here as the agents worked for commission. Thus, they were more reckless in how they lent money.
Dr Nkem-Abonta asked what remedies were available to the borrower who had been recklessly lent to. Mr Davelreplied that if the lender was registered with the Micro Finance Regulatory Council, there were rules by which the lender was bound. Thus, the borrower had recourse.
Microfinance South Africa submission
Mr H Ferreira (Chief Executive Officer) said that the image of their industry was tainted. Mr N Moeketsi (from Media 24) explained how microfinance had affected his life. Mr Ferreira said some definitions regarding incidental credit needed to be reviewed as they were open for abuse. Educational loans needed to be addressed also, and the industry could have a great impact here. He said that all players in the credit industry should be treated equally. Pawnbrokers affected the 'second economy' in a big way. They needed to be regulated and registered as this was an area of great abuse. There was also a need for the control of credit bureaux.
As the Bill stood now, it was not explicit enough that there would be mandatory interaction between the industry and the Minister. That was a way to ensure that regulation was practical. The MFSA was concerned about the strength of the consumer body in South Africa. Including consumers in the consultative process of the Bill would strengthen them and lead to robust and sensible debate.
Small lenders like the MFSA had been denied access to the National Payment System. Access to the system would help them manage and reduce costs. It was critical that the debt counsellor system worked well. The skills of the staff would have to be high. They had to be mature and have insight and experience. The system needed to be driven by good technology and administered by people with the requisite skills. A standard agreement must be drawn up in all languages to provide access to credit in their own languages. The issue of the interest cap required everyone to be practical and needed a consultative process.
Mr Davelsaid that pawnbrokers should not be included in the Bill. It was desperation credit in a sense but it did not have the same risks of creating over-indebtedness as the pawnbroker would keep the asset. It was feasible to develop a standard agreement in all the official languages.
Mr Stephen asked if they had an agreement with the credit bureaux as an organisation, or if each of their members had their own agreements. Did the agreement allow the MFSA to expunge the information they had given the bureaux, or were there restrictions on the requests to remove the information? He asked if the MFSA passed on information to the bureaux of a rescheduling of debt and if they checked whether the information was updated.
Mr Ferreira replied that the MFSA did not have an agreement with credit bureaux. Each member had his/her own agreement. There was a National Loans Register that was a closed user group. Members loaded consumer information onto the system that was accessed by the other members.
Dr Nkem-Abonta asked if the MFSA supplied information to the credit bureaux and if the bureaux had any right to alter the information. Who did the 'blacklisting?
Mr D De Beer (MFSA Chairman) said that their members were required to list all their positive and negative information on the National Loans Register. Some of their members also used the primary credit bureaux. He had never heard of a situation of a bureau altering credit information. The 'blacklisting' was done by the credit providers.
Mr Rasmeni asked if the MFSA paid the credit bureaux, and if so, how much? Did they agree to the cap on interest rates if emergency loans were to be retained?
Mr Ferreira said there could not be a cap on interest rates where there was access to emergency loans because the business had to be sustainable. The MFSA suggested that an emergency loan should be registered as such and the financier's books were audited thoroughly as this was an area of abuse. The MFSA's members paid between R300 and R400 per month to credit bureaux for their services.
Professor Turok asked what the MFSA wanted Parliament to do about 'loan sharks.' Mr Ferreira felt a massive education process should begin, and those who followed the rules should be credited for this. It was doubtful that all the 'loan sharks' would be removed from the industry.
Ms F Mohamed (ANC) asked what the MFSA was doing in terms of advocacy and what it did to defaulters among its members. Mr Ferreira said the MFSA was committed to the transformation process and this was underway. The MFSA did not have any defaulters.
Imperial Holdings submission
Mr R Venter, Imperial legal representative, said that the provision that gave consumers the right to terminate a credit agreement within five days and return the goods had the potential to have serious impact on the motor industry. A car once sold, depreciated about 10% as soon as it left the shop floor. The method of recovering that depreciation was problematic too. It entailed going to the Tribunal and potentially to court, which could be a lengthy, expensive process for the parties. Imperial retailed about 70 000 new vehicles per year. About 5% were returned. If it were easy to cancel the contracts, this number would increase.
Credit Bureau Association submission
Ms A Singh, legal representative, explained how the credit information system worked. Where a consumer had credit and paid their account when due, this information was passed onto the credit bureau in a positive light. If the consumer sought credit from another provider, that provider could check whether that consumer had paid their account on time. At least 80% of the information on the credit bureau was positive and facilitated access to credit. If the consumer stopped managing their finances properly and fell into arrears on both accounts, the providers may list the consumer as a defaulter or 'blacklist' her. It was in fact the credit providers, not the credit bureau that blacklisted consumers. Education would rectify this misconception. Credit bureaux merely reported information given to them by the providers and court orders and judgements which was public information.
The World Bank had researched credit bureau information systems in 135 countries. They had given Africa an excellent score of five out of six. Countries like Australia and New Zealand only kept 'blacklists' and some countries in Europe kept information of unpaid debts indefinitely. South Africa had positive and negative information and fixed data periods. The DTI investigated a sample of complaints and in none of the cases were the bureaux at fault.
Clause 70(2) stated that the bureaux had to verify any information reported to it. Currently, the bureaux received at least 36 million pieces of information about account payments from credit providers. It was impossible for the bureaux to verify each piece and they had no way of knowing if the consumer had paid or not. The credit providers had the direct relationship with the consumer while the bureaux relied on what the providers reported. According to the Bill, if any piece of information was incorrect, the bureau was negligent, and liable to a fine or imprisonment. If Clauses 70(2)(c) and 70(6) were not amended the bureaux could not operate. The CBA proposed that the Minister had to prescribe what information the bureaux must verify, taking into consideration what was practically possible. Also, credit bureaux should be given the chance to investigate a complaint first and if the information was incorrect they had to remove it.
The Bill allowed the Minister to prescribe standards and fees for the filing, retention and reporting of credit information. If the standards were fixed competition would end on pricing, quality of data and products. The Minister must be allowed to set 'minimum' standards and allow for competition above the minimum standards set. Clause 68 (1)(a) should allow for additional uses of credit information such as the monitoring of identity theft and fraud prevention. The CBA proposed that persons should not face criminal liability and imprisonment for commercial errors as this would deter commerce. Prohibited conduct must also be properly defined.
The removal of information when debts were paid was a way of giving consumers a chance to rehabilitate themselves but this had some unintended consequences. Credit providers would see the information as less reliable and incomplete. They might increase prices for everyone to protect themselves from bad debt. It was unnecessary to create a National Credit Register when an infrastructure existed within the private sector to host a register of credit agreements.
Trans Union ITC submission
Mr Andrew King, Chief Executive Officer, said that there were many misunderstandings about credit bureaux and how they were portrayed. The management of data was their main job. There was someone in the organisation at director level that was responsible for data to ensure that the best processes were applied to it. They welcomed any regulatory assistance or otherwise to improve the accuracy of their data. Data quality was one of the competitive issues that drove a credit grantor to use them or another bureau. The market they operated in was very competitive.
The Bill had to make it clear that the price of a credit report had to be negotiated with the customers. In some cases credit reports were sold through resellers. This allowed the ITC to pass on information easier, faster and more effectively. They were not credit bureaux, and were thus not covered by the Bill. A section to regulate these resellers would be welcomed. It was not clear whether a report of information by a bureau under Clause 70 of the Bill would be considered a report under Clause 68(1) and subject to the conditions therein. If this was the case, it could delay the provision of credit and increase costs.
Mr Davelsaid that there had been no regulation of credit bureaux. These companies made a business out of persons' private information. The Bill did not require each and every piece of information to be verified but called for appropriate procedures to receive and analyse the information.
Ms Mpahlele added that since the ITC said that data quality was a competitive issue among bureaux, there was no guarantee that they kept the same information of the same quality. The State therefore had to intervene and ensure that all of the information was of the same standard.
Mr Stephen said that credit bureaux had a role to play in modern economies. But, their businesses had to be run in line with the law and with sensitivity to citizens' rights and fairness. He likened credit bureaux to publishers. They were liable for negligence, and there was no reason why credit bureaux could not be so liable. He said that the majority of the information they published was prejudicial and potentially defamatory. Their industry was protected by a conspiracy of silence. He wanted to know their policy in publishing information about debts that had proscribed, and whether they expunged the records of judgements that had been rescinded. If not, why not?
The CBA replied that the bureaux were not editors of information. They wanted the Minister to prescribe what was possible to be verified. They said that debts that had proscribed should not be listed. The reason why bureaux existed was to gauge future behaviour by looking at past actions. Data was retained for as long as it was predictive. Credit bureaux collected rescission orders from court, and so that judgement was removed from the system.
Dr Nkem-Abonta asked how the bureaux could compete on quality if they claimed that they merely stored information. It was also impossible for the bureaux to verify the veracity of each piece of information.
The ITC said that some credit providers sent them customers' full credit information. They received information from various sources including the courts. Some of this information was not complete. For example, some of the information lacked identity numbers. Some of the information was subjective, and this created differences in the quality of the information.
Ms Mohamed asked why the credit bureaux did not force their suppliers to provide them with information within a reasonable period of time. They had to redefine their agreements with the credit providers. She said that there was not enough transformation in these credit bureaux. These was a problem with the attitudes of the officials in them. There was too much judgemental thinking.
Mr Rasmeni wanted to know under which laws the credit bureaux operated. He also asked for the credit bureaux to outline their composition.
The CBA replied that there was no regulatory framework for credit bureaux. They operated under a code of conduct.
Mr L Zita (ANC) said the bureaux needed a more inclusive methodology to assess credit risk rather than the fact that the customer had paid or not. He said that the South African Communist Party had called for an amnesty for 'blacklisted' persons. What was the bureaux' view?
The CBA said that if all the information about who had been 'blacklisted' was removed, what would they use to assess risk? The ITC said that the amnesty would only impact on the credit grantor and not the bureaux.
Ms Ramodibe said that the bureaux had no mercy for poor people in their unregulated industry.
Professor Turok asked if the bureaux assessed their own role in society and why there was so much ignorance about them. He also asked who they reported to and who controlled them.
The CBA had an Annual General Meeting run by a board of directors. ITC was a private company and had normal corporate reporting lines. There was much ignorance, but providing consumer education was not their responsibility alone. The whole industry had to do the job. The only time members of the public would come into contact with bureaux was when they were 'blacklisted.'
SUPPLEMENTARY REPRESENTATIONS MADE BV WESBANK TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE OR TRADE AND INDUSTRY ON THE NATIONAL CREDIT BILL
1 THE PURPOSE OF THE SUPPLEMENTARY REPRESENTATIONS
1.1 Wesbank submitted written representations to the Portfolio Committee on 29 July 2005.
1.2 Subsequent to those representations having been delivered, it has come to light that those representations omitted to deal with an aspect on behalf of DirectAxis, a subsidiary business of WesBank.
1.3 We beg leave for the Committee to accept these supplementary representations at this late stage
2 THE BUSINESS OF DIRECT AXIS
DirectAxis is involved in providing personal loans to consumers ir the order of R4 000,00 to R25 000,00.
3 SECTION 106 : CREDIT INSURANCE
3.1 Section 106 is apparently intended to limit the type an« ambit of insurance that a credit provider may require a consumer to maintain, ie compulsory insurance, and to lay down requirements in respect of such insurance.
3.2 The wording of section 106, and in particular of section 106(3) and (4), may be wide enough to include (and therefore lay down restrictions in respect of) both insurance policies which the credit provider does require the consumer to maintain (ie which are compulsory), and optional insurance policies which the credit provider may offer to the consumer, but not require him to purchase or maintain.
3.3 DirectAxis does not require a consumer who enters into a loan agreement with it, to purchase or maintain credit life insurance, but offers such insurance on a voluntary, optional basis. On the present wording of section 106, insurance may fall within the ambit of the section, whereas that does not appear to be the intention of the section.
3.4 We would suggest, in order to make it clear that the section is intended to deal only with compulsory insurance, that sub-sections (3) and (4) be amended, in the following respects (only the relevant parts are quoted) : "(3) Despite sub-section (1), in respect of insurance which a consumer is required to maintain, a credit provider must not offer or demand ...
(4) If the credit provider proposes to the consumer the purchase of a particular policy of credit insurance which a consumer is required to maintain as contemplated in sub-section (1) or (2) -
A division of FirstRand Bank Ltd


If there's summer look I have loved year after year it's the little white dress. There's just something about white dresses and summer, they go hand in hand. I've been searching for the perfect one for as long as I can remember. I think it all started with high school graduation. (I still have that dress hanging in my closet.) If you've seen my pinterest lately, you'll know that I have been looking for some pretty new ones to add to my closet, or at least dreaming about it. I love this one by Alice + Olivia. The shape is perfect, it could easily be dressed up or down, and it's not visible in this photo, but the top of the back is sheer!
Maybe it's just the time of the year, you know, with the 4th of July rapidly approaching and all, but I'm really into red lately. I think little pops of red would suit this dress nicely. Essie's "clambake" has been my favorite nail polish for I don't know how long. It's constantly on my nails during the summer, and during some of the winter too. I just can't help it, it's so bright and cheerful.
I can't believe it's already Thursday! Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Love these picks! That clutch is perfect! I love red also, I'm wearing it on the my blog today, too!
That dress is perfect. I'm always hesitant to get a white dress for summer because I feel like they're too bridal, but this one is perfect--so pretty. I could definitely see myself wearing it during the summer.
I need everything in this outfit ASAP! So cute!
Oh my goodness! This is gorgeous! I just love it!!
I LOVE this outfit! I wish I was wearing it right now. That clutch is so cute!
at the top of my list right now is to find a little white dress! i have a few but i want one that is a classic fit and flare shape and let me tell you, when you have an idea in mind, it is sooo hard to find something that is just right! i love this one you picked out, if only some a + o was in my budget... haha.
Oh this dress is so pretty! I feel like this would be the perfect outfit to go to the park and wear on a picnic :) Love the touches of red as well!
Great idea! This dress is absolutely awesome!