SYMC earnings call for the period ending September 29, 2018.
Good day. My name is Ian, and I would like to welcome everyone to the Symantec Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Earnings Call. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Thank you.
I would now like to turn the call over to Cynthia Hiponia, Vice President of Investor Relations of Symantec. Cynthia, you may begin.
Good afternoon. I am Cynthia Hiponia, Vice President of Investor Relations at Symantec and I am pleased to welcome you to our call to discuss our second quarter fiscal year 2019 earnings results. We've posted the earnings materials and prepared remarks to our investor relations events webpage. Speakers on today's call are Greg Clark, Symantec's CEO, and Nick Noviello, Executive Vice President and CFO. This call will be available for replay via webcast on our website.
I'd like to remind everyone that all references to financial metrics are non-GAAP, unless otherwise stated. Please refer to the supplemental tables posted on the Investor Relations website for further definitions of our non-GAAP metrics. Please note, non-GAAP financial measures referenced during this call are reconciled to their comparable GAAP financial measures in the press release and supplemental materials posted on our website. We believe our presentation of non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding our operating performance for reasons discussed below. Our management team uses those non-GAAP financial measures in assessing our operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and annualizing future periods. We believe our non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate comparisons of our performance to prior periods and that investors benefit from understanding our non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures are supplemental and should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP.
Today's call contains forward-looking statements based on conditions as we currently see them. Those statements are based on current beliefs, assumptions and expectations, speak only as of the current date and, as such, involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our current expectations. Please refer to the cautionary statement in our press release for more information. You will also find a detailed discussion about our risk factors in our filings with the SEC and, in particular, in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 30, 2018.
Before I turn it over to Greg I also wanted to highlight that subsequent to the release of our financial results for the first quarter fiscal year 2019, we revised our fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018 and first quarter of fiscal 2019 unaudited financial information to reflect the adjustments related to the completion of our Audit Committee investigation, as well as the completion of the audit of our fiscal year 2018 financial statements. These adjustments included a deferral of revenue of $12 million resulting from further management review of a transaction that was reviewed by the Audit Committee during the investigation, certain adjustments to stock-based compensation and certain other operating expense and income tax adjustments. Our investor relations website now reflects these adjustments in the revised earnings materials posted for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2018, as well as for the first quarter and second quarter fiscal year 2019.
With that, let me now turn the call over to CEO Greg Clark. Greg?
Thank you for joining us, and good afternoon.
For second quarter fiscal 2019 we posted operating results above or in-line with our guidance. Our top line results were driven by both our Enterprise Security business, which achieved revenue above guidance, and solid revenue performance from our Consumer Digital Safety business, which grew 5% year-over-year. We achieved operating margins of approximately 32%, four points above the high-end of our guidance range. We generated strong cash flow from operations of $240 million in the second quarter, up 36% year-over-year.
We were pleased to announce the completion of the Audit Committee investigation on September 24th. Audit Committee investigations can be a distraction both internally and externally, and the conclusion of our investigation allows us to enter the second half of FY '19 with a renewed focus on technology leadership and execution.
Turning now to a discussion of Enterprise Security. As we enter the second half of fiscal 2019, I would point out that our fiscal third and fourth quarters are seasonally the biggest quarters for our Enterprise Security business, illustrated by our delivery of over $1.7 billion in implied billings in the second half of FY '18.
The enterprise security sector is highly competitive. However, it is important to remember that our Enterprise Security business scale is unmatched in the industry. We have 86% of the Fortune Global 500 as customers. Our solutions stop over 140 million threats every day. We operate 9 global threat response centers with over 3,800 researchers and engineers across Symantec. Our scale helps create technology leadership that is recognized not only by customers, but also by third-party industry experts.
Industry experts rank Symantec the leader in Endpoint Security, Secure Web Gateway, Data Loss Prevention, Mobile Threat Management and Managed Security Services. Our Enterprise Security customers are recognizing that our Integrated Cyber Defense Platform offers superior protection, cross-product integration, and lower overall cost of ownership. In the Cloud Generation, the cost of ownership for our customers is a significant budget increase to prior models. We believe we lead the industry in the lowest total cost of ownership, while delivering a more effective cyber defense solution.
In the second quarter, Enterprise Security implied billings were down 3% year-over-year adjusted for acquisitions and divestitures, as we continued to experience longer sales cycles in our large, multiproduct platform sales. Despite the challenges we experienced in the first half of this fiscal year, our pipeline remains healthy for the second half and we have sufficient sales capacity to capitalize on this opportunity. Symantec commands a substantial global installed base and we continue to realize adjacencies to our existing endpoint and network franchises as we execute on our cross-sell strategy.
across their environment in both an on-premise and cloud setting, enabling a direct-to-Internet experience. This customer example further validates our integrated cyber defense strategy, where customers are trusting Symantec for adjacent products and services.
In a seven-figure deal, an existing customer in the oil and gas industry in Latin America purchased our Integrated Cyber Defense Platform led by our proxy products. We displaced an incumbent security vendor cross-selling Symantec's endpoint stack with our malware sandbox solution. In addition, the customer purchased DLP, ProxySG, CAS, Encryption, SSL, VIP, and Cloud Proxy.
One of the world's largest real estate services and investment firms based in the U.S. competes in an industry where the salesforce is geographically dispersed. Data protection in this highly dispersed endpoint environment led the firm to replace their incumbent DLP vendor and adopt our DLP and CASB solutions to better manage controlled information in a highly dispersed workforce.
A large multinational financial services company based in the U.S. was a former ProxySG customer. After a short experience using a competitor's cloud proxy solution, this customer decided to migrate back to Symantec's solutions due to our superior performance and product features. This customer understood the advantages of our platform approach and repurchased our ProxySG and cloud proxy coupled with our integrated WAN optimization solution.
After completing an eight-figure Integrated Cyber Defense Platform deal last year with a large multinational investment bank and financial services company based in the U.K., we closed a seven-figure follow-on deal with the same customer in Q2. In addition to their need for increased on-premise and cloud proxy capacity, the successful deployment and value realization of their fiscal year 2018 purchase resulted in additional cross-sell opportunity. The customer purchased CASB, VIP, ProxySG, cloud proxy, Email and ATP, displacing two incumbent vendors. This is another great example of the power of our Integrated Cyber Defense Platform to create cross-sell opportunities within our installed base.
I will now discuss some highlights in our Consumer Digital Safety business. Our integrated platform continues to drive ARPU growth year-over-year and sequentially. With endpoint protection, identity protection and privacy as the core tenants of our platform, we have seen our solutions resonate with consumers as they look to move beyond device security and protect all aspects of their cyber life. This platform strategy allows Symantec to transcend hardware refresh cycles and transform the traditionally PC-centric Norton business to a Consumer Digital Safety category, which brings enhanced value to our Consumer customers.
In summary, we are pleased with our performance in the second quarter. As we enter the second half of our fiscal year, we expect to recapture momentum in our Enterprise Security business driven in part by our sales capacity and cyber defense leadership. We expect to see continued performance in our Consumer Digital Safety business, where both digital safety adoption and retention rates have grown.
These factors provide us with a solid base for future renewals and cross-sell opportunities. Our platform approach and brand in both Enterprise Security and Consumer Digital Safety should enable us to leverage our unmatched scale to deliver results in the second half of FY '19 and beyond.
I will be back with additional remarks after Nick discusses our financial results in more detail and provides our outlook. Nick?
Thank you, Greg, and good afternoon, everyone.
All references to financial metrics are non-GAAP unless otherwise stated. Please note, we've posted information on our financial metrics, other tables and reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP measures as well as currency impacts to our financial results in our supplemental materials to our Investor Relations website.
Starting in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, Symantec adopted the new revenue recognition accounting standard, ASC 606, under the modified retrospective transition method. Due to this adoption method, we did not recast any historical financial information prior to fiscal year 2019. However, to help investors understand our performance relative to historic results, in fiscal year 2019, we are also providing select results as calculated under ASC 605 in our supplemental materials to our Investor Relations website.
As a reminder, the first three quarters of fiscal year 2018 included results from our website security and related PKI products that we divested in Q3 fiscal year 2018. For comparative purposes, our organic growth rates are adjusted for acquisitions and divestitures.
Now, Q2 results. Total Company revenue was above our guidance range with year-over-year organic revenue growth in constant currency up 1%. At the end of the second quarter, contract liabilities of $2.762 billion were up 8% year-over-year, adjusted for acquisitions and divestitures. This ending contract liabilities balance and year-over-year growth rate was negatively impacted by $182 million due to the impact of ASC 606.
Operating margin for the second quarter was 31.7%. The year-over-year decline in operating margin is primarily attributable to the divestiture of our website security and related PKI products and Enterprise Security. Our effective tax rate for Q2 was 19% compared to our guidance of approximately 19.6%. Fully diluted earnings per share was $0.42 above our guidance. We generated cash flow from operating activities in Q2 of $240 million versus $177 million in the year ago period and Q2 CapEx was $51 million.
We ended Q2 with approximately $2.4 billion in cash and short-term investments with $1.7 billion held in the U.S.
Now, let's discuss our Q2 operating segment performance. First, Enterprise Security. Our Enterprise Security revenue was $583 million, above our guidance range due to a higher mix of sales yielding upfront revenue than we had forecasted. Enterprise Security contract liabilities were $1.733 billion, up 15% year-over-year, adjusted for acquisitions and divestitures. This ending contract liabilities balance and year-over-year growth rate was negatively impacted by $193 million due to the impact of ASC 606.
Our Q2 Enterprise Security implied billings were $583 million, down 3% year-over-year, adjusted for acquisitions and divestitures and generally in line with the expectations built into our guidance. In our Enterprise Security segment in the second quarter, approximately 81% of our revenue was ratable under ASC 606 as compared to 82% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019.
As we stated on our last earnings call, we plan to disclose contract duration for our ratable business in Enterprise Security on a quarterly basis for the remainder of fiscal year 2019. Please note, this is an ASC 605 metric. Contract duration for our ratable business in Q2 was just under 17 months. This compares to approximately 16.5 months in Q1 and approximately 16.5 months in the year ago period.
With respect to our performance obligations as of the end of Q2, consistent with Q1, we project approximately 65% of our total Enterprise Security performance obligations will be recognized as revenue over 12 months, approximately 88% over 24 months and approximately 98% over 36 months. Enterprise Security operating margins were 15% as compared to 23% in the year ago period under ASC 605. The year-over-year decline was largely due to the website security and related PKI products divestiture.
Turning to Consumer Digital Safety and our quarterly Digital Safety metrics. Our Consumer Digital Safety segment revenue was $601 million and reflected organic growth of 5% year-over-year in constant currency. Revenue was in line with our guidance. In the second quarter, our average direct customer count was 20.6 million, down slightly from Q1. Direct ARPU increased to $8.80 per month, up slightly from Q1. We expect these direct consumer statistics to represent approximately 90% of our revenue stream at any point in time. Finally, Consumer Digital Safety operating margin was 48% compared to 47% in the year ago period.
Turning to our guidance under ASC 606. Our guidance reflects our current view of the business. Our organic growth rates are adjusted for the Website Security and related PKI products divestiture. Based on Q2 ending FX rates, we are not forecasting a significant impact from foreign exchange on our revenue or operating income guidance for the rest of the year. Now, for Q3, we are forecasting a Q3 fiscal year 2019 revenue range of $1.160 billion to $1.190 billion comprised of $565 million to $585 million in Enterprise Security and $595 million to $605 million in Consumer Digital Safety.
At the midpoint, our guidance on an organic basis and in constant currency implies a year-over-year 2% organic decline in revenue for the total company. In Enterprise Security, our guidance of a 4.5% organic decline reflects our first half implied billings performance and our expectations for the third quarter. We are forecasting 1% growth in Consumer Digital Safety as we anniversary a strong quarter in the year-ago period, driven by the Equifax breach.
We are forecasting operating margin in Q3 to be approximately 30%. We expect our effective tax rate in Q3 to be approximately 19.3% and our fully diluted share count to be approximately $654 million. Our Q3 fiscal year 2019 EPS forecast is in the range of $0.37 to $0.41.
Now to our fiscal year 2019 guidance. We are reiterating our guidance for the full fiscal year 2019. We are forecasting fiscal year 2019 revenue in the range of $4.67 billion to $4.79 billion, comprised of $2.27 billion to $2.35 billion in Enterprise Security and $2.4 billion to $2.44 billion in Consumer Digital Safety.
At the midpoint, on an organic basis and in constant currency, our guidance suggests flat revenue for the total Company, a decline of 3% for Enterprise Security and 3% growth for Consumer Digital Safety. We are forecasting operating margin in fiscal year 2019 to be approximately 30%. We expect our effective tax rate in fiscal year 2019 to be approximately 19.3% and our fully diluted share count to be approximately $660 million. We are forecasting EPS for fiscal year 2019 in the range of $1.47 to $1.57. We are forecasting cash flow from operations for fiscal year 2019 to be in the range of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion as compared to $950 million in fiscal year 2018.
Now, capital allocation. We have consistently talked about our capital allocation strategy of balancing driving shareholder returns with managing financial risk and preserving our flexibility to pursue strategic options, including M&A.
With the Audit Committee investigation now complete, our Board of Directors is actively evaluating the manner in which we implement the strategy in light of changing market conditions, such as the valuation of our stock, recent equity market volatility and rising interest rates. We intend to commence the execution of our capital allocation program after our Board of Directors completes its review. I will remind you that we currently have $800 million outstanding under an existing share repurchase authorization and $1.1 billion of term loans outstanding that are currently pre-payable at par. Furthermore, we are continuing our regular quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share.
Now turning to our fiscal year 2020 outlook. We expect that total Company organic revenue will grow in the mid to high-single digits year-over-year in fiscal year 2020. We expect Enterprise Security segment organic revenue will grow in the high-single to low-double digits year-over-year. Our expectations are built on a combination of factors, including; one, the roll-off from existing contract liabilities, which has increased significantly year-over-year. Two, our expectations for performance in the second half of fiscal year 2019, and three, the growth we expect in fiscal year 2020. And separately, we expect that Consumer Digital Safety organic revenue will grow in the low to mid-single digits year-over-year.
Our fiscal year 2020 outlook for total Company operating margins is in the mid-30s. This operating margin outlook reflects expected revenue growth in both our Enterprise Security and Consumer Digital Safety segments as well as a set of cost reduction actions we announced on our last earnings call. With operating margins in the mid-30s, we expect EPS growth in the low double-digits and cash flow from operations growth at or above net income growth as we largely work through our restructuring transition and transformation efforts in fiscal year 2019.
Now let me turn the call back over to Greg for some closing remarks. Greg?
While we achieved revenue above guidance in the second quarter, we are reiterating our view of our full year fiscal year 2019 guidance as we maintain a cautious stance moving into the second half. In Enterprise Security, we are concerned about the momentum loss from the first half. And in our Consumer Digital Safety business, our direct customer counts in each of Q1 and Q2 were slightly down both sequentially and year-over-year.
On the positive side, we have a healthy pipeline in our Enterprise Security business, which is supported by the seasonality in the back half of this year. As I stated at the beginning of this call, in Q3 and Q4 of last fiscal year, we demonstrated our ability to deliver industry leading Enterprise Security billings results and expect to do so again this year. And in our Consumer Digital Safety business, we are seeing ARPU increases driven in part by a successful cross-sell, as well as retention rate increases for our direct customer base.
Looking forward, we remain focused on our strategy to drive growth, operating cash flow and value creation for our shareholders. Our growth strategy is underpinned by our ability to leverage our growing installed base to drive cross-sell and up-sell opportunities while expanding our customer base.
Our laser focus on customers and our technology leadership enable Symantec to protect consumers and enterprises from an increasing threat environment. Our technology blocks over 140 million threats a day, and protects over 300,000 businesses, and to date, has blocked over 5 billion WannaCry attacks. Our technology is critical for protecting our customers' identity, data, businesses and reputation. As we saw in the malware crises of calendar 2017, customers don't have time to think about what to do when the malware attack happens. Catastrophic damage from attacks has been reported to take place in less than seven minutes. We are pleased to deliver technology that directly addresses this risk. Prevention matters, and Symantec is a very effective platform for preventing cyber-attacks.
Thank you very much for your time. Nick and I would be happy to take your questions. Operator?
(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from the line Gabriela Borges from Goldman Sachs.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. Greg, I wanted to follow up on your commentary on the longer sales cycles. I'm wondering if you saw any of the deals that took longer to close in 1Q actually end up closing in 2Q, do the activity actually come through, albeit taking a little bit longer? Do you see any change in close rates after the Audit Committee investigation that was announced as being complete? And then the last part of the question is, how are you thinking about the risk that deals take longer to close in the pipeline for 2H, given that there are some healthy pipeline there as you talked about? Thanks.
Thanks. Good question. Good job on CNBC this morning as well (inaudible) did good there. We did close deals that had slipped out of Q1 and Q2. That's definitely the case. I do believe we're still cautious on the length of time it takes to close them. As you know, we announced the completion of our investigation on, I think it was September 24, the very end of September, which was five days before the end of the quarter. And we do have a healthy pipeline as we go into the back half of the year as we commented on in our prepared remarks. There is a good chunk of that pipeline that is large deals as exampled in the examples I gave you on the conference call, those deals because there are a lot of product sets involved, sometimes are taking longer and I believe it is just going to be more difficult to close these huge deals than it was prior times. They're more competed for, there's more pieces and that's bigger and they're a little bit more complex. And so, we are planning as we talked about, I think in Q1, that we are planning a longer time for the pipeline to close. You're getting to the outlook, I think we do have the sales capacity in place and the pipeline in place to reach similar numbers like we delivered last year, and that's taking into consideration that longer sales cycle.
That's helpful, thank you. And the follow-up is on billings growth, which is I guess specifically for Nick, the revenue guidance for fiscal '20, as you mentioned a lot of that is coming off the balance sheet, how can we think about the right normalized growth rates for billings, just given the volatility that we've seen over the last few quarters? Thank you.
Thanks, Gabriela. So, a couple of things. And obviously, as you know, we don't give specific billings guidance, but let me walk you through a few pieces for FY '20. So first of all, in the scripted commentary, I talked about really three pieces to consider. Number one is what already exists as of this period of time and what exists as of the end of the second quarter. And there is supplemental disclosure in terms of our performance obligations and the roll off of those performance obligations that becomes very important. You'll see that in our supplemental materials on page four. So first, you're going to start with that. In addition, then you'll have the business in the back half of this fiscal year, which is included in our guidance and which incorporates, as Greg indicated the longer sales cycles that we're -- that we talked about 90 days ago, when we set the guidance for Enterprise. So those are two pieces. And then it's going to be our business and what we expect in FY '20 for business. So, when you think about those three pieces, we can calculate that high-single to low double-digit enterprise revenue growth off of one, existing balance sheet in the roll-off; two, what is in-period versus deferred in the second half of the year this year and how that rolls through in FY '20 into revenue. And then finally frankly, a set of pretty low to moderate billings growth built into our FY '20 assumptions. So, there's three pieces there, but we have that ground down into the revenue outlook on the growth rate outlook for enterprise that we've given for FY '20.
And our next question is (inaudible) line of Saket Kalia from Barclays.
Hi guys, thanks for taking my questions here. Greg, maybe just starting with you, we mentioned a couple of things on the call like strong pipeline, but can you talk about some other sales metric qualitatively from the quarter? Whether that sales turnover or close rates or any other metrics that you look out outside of financials, obviously (technical difficulty) prevent enterprise is pretty straightforward, but anything else that you can -- that you look out that look different this quarter versus prior quarters?
Yes, so a couple of things come to mind there, Saket. Yes, we do take a close watch on sales capacity and so making sure that we have enough tenured sales capacity in our go-to-market function to back the amount of business that we need for the quarter, we have intolerance attrition in our sales force and our calculations on sales capacity or -- could for our forward guidance. So that is something that we really care about as what is the shape of our sales force right now, we're happy with that, and we couple that with what is the bottoms up view of our pipeline, we have a large sales force and we do look at the pipeline from a bottoms-up point of view and we are happy with the amount of opportunity that's in our pipeline for the second half to back what's happening. I think the -- as we mentioned before, we did see a slowdown in the close, the time to close took longer for our larger deals, we do have a reasonable amount of those in our pipeline and that's where the softness in the first half has come from. So, we -- looking forward, we do like also the seasonality of the business and in our prepared remarks, we talked about Q3 and Q4 being seasonally bigger quarters for us. I think that's underpinned by the end of the calendar year as a good time for enterprise deals and also fourth quarter, which is the first quarter of next calendar year is the beginning of the new budgets and so we do see higher business levels in Q3 and Q4 which also give us some strength toward our guidance.
Got it. That's very helpful. Nick, for my follow-up maybe for you. In some of the customer examples that we talked about in the beginning, there was a lot of talk about Cloud Proxy, I guess the question is, can you talk about where we are in terms of leading with Cloud Proxy versus the appliance and perhaps where you kind of think about the overall Enterprise business going from a ratable mix long-term?
Okay. So, I'm going to doubt that that Cloud Proxy point is going to be articulated much better by the guy across from me and that would be Greg. But we have talked about that ratable mix moving and obviously that moving over the course of the last year substantially. What you're going to look for, and I think it's important before I hand it to Greg is to look at those supplemental materials in terms of how revenue is going to roll out in Enterprise. So, as we talk about this mix of business transitioning and we give you duration, which is a 605 metric for this year, we've talked about the fact that basically implied billings and duration and everything comes basically on top of one another. So, your billings growth and your revenue growth are going to be the same ultimately, we're in that ratable transition, we're trying to give you a bunch of statistics around it and I hope those are helpful and I hope the supplemental materials helpful. But on your question on Cloud Proxy, let me give it over to Greg.
Yes, Saket, good question. So, we in our Network Solution, we have a number of form factors to how to get it, pure Cloud Proxy is an important one, we also have Virtual Appliance Proxies and our Hardware Proxies, we offer our customers all three of those and most of our transactions include a substantial element of our Cloud Proxy even in the event where we are in the business of refreshing some hardware stacks that's still inside of an account. We usually are tacking a substantial amount of roaming users or branch offices to our Cloud Proxy and our pure Cloud Proxy sales are also substantial in our business these days. So, we definitely see the cloud-based solution being a central factor of most of our bids and I think we've got a very competitive offering in that space and have a unique investment in there that is definitely in it to win it for the long term. It's a very important focus for our Company.
And our next question is from the line of Fatima Boolani from UBS.
Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the question. I have a category level question, so maybe just start with the Enterprise side. Nick, I was wondering if you could help delineate the Enterprise billings performance between new business versus renewal business, and if there's any dynamics there, you can give us more context on? And then another follow-up on the Consumer business.
Sure. So, we actually don't break out, Fatima, the new versus the renew in terms of the implied billings, we've given a good amount of information there in terms of the 606 balances and obviously the compare to 605 and you're able to work through for those on the line the total, which is a minus 3 versus the -- versus even short-term for those who are interested in that. Suffice to say we have a large installed base on the Enterprise side, those are renewal machine is a very important machine for us and one where we look at and we work through those pieces at all times and we feel very good about the work that team has done with the bringing together of the businesses between Symantec and Blue Coat because many times the first place everybody focuses on is the new side, but it's equally important to keep working on our installed base and our retention of our installed base, so that team has been working very hard over the course of last year and those renew numbers are built into the overall implied billings.
Fair enough. And just shifting to the Consumer side, can you talk about any levers or any programmatic initiatives you have in place to help increase and expand ARPU from here and to the extent you have any updates as it relates to the cross-sell progress you've seen with the LifeLock into your Norton base, that update would be really helpful for us. Thank you so much.
Yes, good question. So, we did report in our prepared remarks, we've had a slight decrease in members -- in the total number of members in the business, but we also reported an increase in ARPU there and what that is driven from is from the cross-sell opportunity that we have. So, when we did the acquisition of LifeLock, we had a case for that cross-sell, and we are happy with the business case and that is working for us. Yes, we do find that the conversion rate between a renewal, whether it be LifeLock or Norton traditional folks as they look at these cyber safety offering that we're offering now as a bundle, where we have malware, privacy and identity protection in one thing, we are seeing a good purchasing of that bundle, which is driving an ARPU increase. And privacy is a very important topic in these times and we're seeing some very strong uptake of obviously managed product in that cross-sell also.
Appreciate the context. Thank you.
And our next question is from line of Keith Weiss from Morgan Stanley.
Excellent. Thank you, guys for taking the question. One for Greg and one for Nick. For Greg, maybe staying on the Consumer topic, if we look back at the sort of the ARPU increases that we're seeing last year, you guys have taken down some pretty good chunk, you're increasing $0.20, $0.30 quarter-on-quarter. This year it slowed down a little bit, I think it was $0.10 last quarter, $0.08 this quarter. Are you reaching any kind of saturation point in terms of your ability to upsell the broader digital safety solution into the (inaudible) or is there -- or do you feel comfortable that that's going to continue on progress? And then the one for Nick, the highlight this quarter was really, really strong operating margin performance. Was that programmatic, if I might like it did -- was it purposeful to get like that much margin outperformance versus the guide or should we be thinking about perhaps some expenses that flowed from Q2 into future quarters or is it -- should we temper our expectations on a go-forward basis on that type of margin outperformance?
So, let me take the first one and then I'll pass on to Nick. So, Keith, the -- we feel that our offering is resonating very well with our installed base and also with even net new, we still have a very strong acquisition budget in place in our consumer business and we do see that offer of the combined set of offering is being very competitive and we are still happy with our conversion rates across that up sell. So, we got a long way to go of being able to grow our ARPU within our own customer base. I think we also have a renewed energy on partnerships in the world and making sure that we can go to market with other memberships. And I think we're going to look to the future also being able get some more growth from partnering with other companies as we address their customer base. So, we like the ability to continue to grow our consumer business for the long haul and we think that our cyber safety positioning is very strong, especially with the attention that's happening in the world today around consumer privacy and identity protection being a big piece of that. So, we think we've got a long way to go in that business.
Hi, Ketih, so a couple of things I think on the margin side to keep in mind is just as much as we're focused on the growth of the business, we're focused on those margins. And I think we've been pretty specific about over the past, the costs we've taken out and the commitments we've made on costs as well as pretty consistent in terms of how we talk about margins going forward. There will always be elements of costs that move from one quarter to another. I wouldn't call anything specific for this quarter versus prior. Obviously, we have a -- versus the guidance that beat on revenue that we see the benefit of in terms of the margins recognized in Q2. So, as we look at the rest of the year, we are guiding for what we see in the business, we're guiding for what we see in the top line as well as in the cost base. And as we build in the restructuring, which we think is really full effect of which is a benefit to FY '20, we'll talk about the benefits from that as well.
And our next question is from line of Michael Turits from Raymond James.
Hey, guys. Michael Turits from Raymond James, good evening. Can you talk about competition in the Enterprise Endpoint, how that's going and what you retention rates have been on renewal and if any change in those? And then I have one financial question.
Yes. So, I think the endpoint a hotly contested environment as we're all aware in cyber defense, as a lot of start-up companies and heavily funded venture-backed organizations that are chipping away at it. We are pleased with our product effectiveness. We have been rated as the best, not just on the size of our business through ability to execute, but also in the vision side, we have also been rated the best by Gartner in the last period on Endpoint. And we are very effective in the Enterprise context around protecting against malware in the endpoint, whether it be through traditional signature-based detection and prevention technologies as well as our AI. Our AI has been extremely powerful in detecting and preventing cyber attacks and so we think we are competing well there. From a -- question that you asked on our renewal rates, I think we've had some good wins in Endpoint that I talked about in some of the prepared remarks. We are taking accounts away from others and we're pleased with our renewal rates. I think if you look at some of the other bigger players in effectiveness of Endpoint, we are a lot, lot better and so believe that some of the growth we're seeing in the other start-up companies that are maybe executing reasonably well is coming out of other people share.
Great. Thanks, Greg. And then. Nick, I was wondering if you could just update us on the cash restructuring charges for this year and at least directionally how we expect into next year?
Sure. So, as you know, Michael, we give you a P&L look at the world and I think the best way to look at that is actually in our supplemental materials as well as in our 8-K for the earnings release. So, in the supplemental materials for FY '18, you're going to see a line called restructuring transition and other costs of $410 million. And then in addition to that in the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP operating income and EPS, that's attached to the 8-K, you're going to see an impact from restructuring transition and other costs of about $285 million. So that's just a calculation, OK? So, I think what you need to consider when we think about cash flow for the future is we have a reducing set of costs that show up in that P&L, that will roll into cash. And what we've been saying and saying pretty consistently is that our restructuring and transition type expenses are largely coming to a close in this fiscal year, which means that from a cash perspective, we'll see the benefit of that roll off as we go into FY '20. It's not going to be exact, because cash is always going to fall off P&L by some set of days and months type of thing, but we expect to see a benefit from the completion of those restructuring transition types events in '19 and as we go into '20.
Great. Thanks very much, Nick.
And our next question is from line of Brad Zelnick from Credit Suisse.
Fantastic. Thank you so much. Greg, forgive me if I missed it in the prepared remarks, but I don't believe I heard you mention anything about the U.S. federal market, especially having just completed the U.S. federal fiscal year. Can you maybe just talk a little bit about how you feel you performed, what you're seeing in that market and what the appetite is for which type of solutions from Symantec in security more generally you're seeing?
Yes, so thanks for the question, Brad. I think we have a substantial footprint, U.S. federal government across both the defense sector and also the civilian side. So, we're very happy with our installed base in federal. I think federal was not an area for out-performance in the first half and a few factors to consider there, we did see an extension of the annual budget in the federal year end to be granted a two-year budget and I think some pressure that used to exist in prior periods to spend everything in the September time frame was alleviated this year. Going forward, we feel very good about our relevance in the federal government, our partnership with the federal government as not just in the United States, but also globally. And that I think we're well positioned to pick up some adjacencies in that market as we go forward.
Thanks very much, Greg. And just one quick one for Nick. Nick, I noticed you disclosed the breakdown of Consumer revenue in your recent 10-K filing. Can you give us a sense of how Identity Protection did in the quarter, especially as we think about lapping the Equifax breach?
So yes, there are tables that we do once a year in the disclosure in the 10-K that are related to Identity Protection and all of the pieces that you saw. So we won't have a disclosure that looks exactly like that in the quarter. Suffice it to say or for the quarter or for Q1 or for Q2 because both of those Qs are coming here. We hope shortly as we get back on file, those are annual tables, suffice it to say the Identity Protection side of our business continues to do quite well as Greg alluded to earlier and especially as we bring in the cross-sell and the other pieces of privacy et cetera, we are -- we feel good about the trajectory of the business. And the final part, I'd talk about there is we also had a pretty significant event occur a year ago in terms of the Equifax event and the amount of paying subscribers that came to our platforms than that are now built in. And we've seen very good retention from it.
Excellent, Nick. We look forward to seeing you soon.
And our next question is from the line of Karl Keirstead from Deutsche Bank.
Thank you. Two questions on Starboard's equity stake and new Board seats. I guess the first one is, Symantec has had investors quite involved in the past. I'm just curious, as CEO, how you view this effort any differently? And then secondly, maybe a little bit more specific, and maybe Nick could weigh in. I obviously can't speak to their playbook, but assuming it's focused on margin improvement, do you think 40% operating margins are achievable over time for Symantec and assuming most of that will come from the Enterprise side, what do you view as the biggest potential margin improvement opportunities on the Enterprise side? Thank you.
So, just to answer your first question, I think the Directors that we added to our Board are excellent executives and very experienced Directors. So, we very happy with the addition of the Directors that came in from Starboard. So, I have nothing -- there is no -- nothing but accolades for the contribution that they make. They are very seasoned and experienced people. And also, Dale Fuller is as an example of someone who has deep domain experience, both in Consumer and Enterprise security and Peter Feld and Rick Hill, I think the rest may stand on their own. So, I think we feel that we have a very strong Board. We have a very decent set of diverse points of view on our Board and an excellent governance as you can see from our 10-Q.
And Karl, let me make a comment there in terms of your question on margins. As you heard in the scripted commentary, we have a significant focus on margins and we talked about our outlook for FY '20 with Company -- total Company operating margins in the mid-30s and certainly there is a set of margin growth there that comes from the Enterprise side. And as we look, by the way at Enterprise and the impact of just the divestiture on the last year, it's something like 6 points or 7 points of margin quarter-over-quarter in terms of that impact. So, as we look to '20 in that mid-30s operating margin that is work we're doing. We've talked about the restructuring elements, we've talked about the topline elements and the leverage from topline. We have not gone further than that, in terms of talking about where margins may get to, but obviously we feel like we have a platform here between the two elements of business that has the opportunity for topline growth. We've talked about that, have the opportunity for continued leverage and earnings and cash flow benefits.
All right. Okay, terrific. Thank you, both.
And our next question is from line of Shaul Eyal from Oppenheimer.
Thank you. Hi, good afternoon, gentlemen. Quick question on some of the dynamics taking place -- trying to differentiate between the U.S. and Europe. Greg, can you talk to us -- you did mention, you did disclose couple of sizable transactions, but just wishing to understand better what is that that you seeing happening from a sales force perspective and also from a customer demand perspective? Thank you for that.
Yes. So, I think demand in Europe is strong. And therefore, we look at the history of European performance, we are not seeing any slowdown in what's going on in cyber defense in Europe, I think I covered a substantial example in the prepared remarks that was European. Our European pipeline is in a great spot and we feel very positive about our ability to execute in Europe especially with the backdrop of cyber problems, the size of companies in Europe and our brand is extremely strong in all the major economies in the territory. So, I would go further to say that the softness experienced in the first half has not been experienced in Europe.
So, as we think about the U.S., pipeline is very strong. We have a business case that can't be ignored when we have the best -- arguably the best product in the category and three of those products need to be integrated together. We go into a customer with an integrated set of things that they would have to buy individually and integrate themselves. That value proposition, both from a Cyber Defense effectiveness point of view and a total cost of sustainment, which is the long-haul in cloud is a very strong business case in the United States. We have a very healthy pipeline and the slowdown that we saw in the first half is -- in the majority in the U.S.
And our last question is from line of Ken Talanian from Evercore ISI.
Hi, this is Fenn Hoffman on for Ken. Thanks for taking my questions. Could you just talk a little bit about your -- what success you're seeing with upselling ATP on SEP renewals?
Yes. So, that's a good question for folks on the line. ATP is a very powerful advanced threat platform that works well with all of the Symantec portfolio, but it's extremely powerful as an EDR element for Endpoint. That has been a great success story for us. We have a very strong attach (technical difficulty) ATP to the Symantec Endpoint installed base.
Okay, great. And, could you give us a sense for how much visibility you have into the pipeline of hardware-based secure web gateways?
So, how much visibility we have into the pipeline, I'd say, visibility of our hardware installed base is very good. We can see them, they get signatures and virus and bad website definitions from us all the time. So, we know where they are and we like our situation in our hardware footprint. As we move forward, we have offered our customers a very easy path to migrate from that footprint to pure cloud. And many of them take us up on that and quite a few of them enjoy a hybrid environment where they have some of that and some cloud as we talked about before. But we are pleased with our network attach. If you look at the five examples that I gave in the prepared remarks, you'll see some pretty substantial network proxy footprint in those examples.
And I'm showing at this time we have no further questions. I'll now turn it back to Cynthia for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone for joining us this afternoon and we look forward to updating you again on our next call.


Earth is one of man's oldest building materials and most ancient civilizations used it in some form. It was easily available, cheap, strong and required only simple technology. In Egypt the grain stores of Ramasseum built in adobe in 1300BC still exist; the Great Wall of China has sections built in rammed earth over 2000 years ago. Iran, India, Nepal, Yemen all have examples of ancient cities and large buildings built in various forms of earthen construction.
It is significant that the oldest surviving examples of this building form are in the most arid areas of the world. The strength of unstabilised earth walls comes from the bonding effect of dried clay. If this becomes wet the strength is lost and indeed the wall will erode or even fail completely. Different countries have different approaches to this problem.
In Mali the Grand Mosque of Djenne is given a new coat of mud plaster each spring to replace the coating washed away by the rainy season (click thumbnail for large image).
In the Yemen specialist workers burn limestone to make hydraulic lime with which they plaster their earth buildings (click thumbnail for large image).
In England there is ample evidence of earth's use as a building material, as around 60% of scheduled "ancient monuments and archaeological sites" are constructed of earth or have earthworks associated. But it became regarded as a material of limited durability and thus inferior to more permanent materials, such as stone or fired clay bricks. Consequently, within the last few centuries, it has most commonly been used for workers cottages, barns and perimeter walls where cost was more important than longevity. This is evident from the fact that fewer than 2% of the 450,000 listed buildings in England are made of earth.
The modern version of earth building, which is stabilised to solve the longstanding problem of solubility, has developed through an interesting set of international connections. An English trained Architect and Engineer, George Middleton, worked at the Experimental Building Station in Sydney in the late 1940's. Looking for methods of building low-cost housing, he experimented with stabilising earth and produced a publication from the Station: "Bulletin 5, Earth Wall Construction", which eventually became a standard reference for earth building in Australia. In 1953 he published a book: "Build Your House of Earth; A Manual of Earth Wall Construction", which has been reprinted several times. Middleton advised the Israelis on low-cost housing and their developments were published in "Soil Construction - Its Principles and Application for Housing" in 1957 by S. Cytryn. This publication, which introduced the term Stabilised Rammed Earth, came to the notice of the architect Tom Roberts and artist Giles Hohnen in 1975 in Western Australia. Their interest in earth-wall building started with the search for an aesthetic and cost effective wall material for a new Winery at Margaret River. Western Australia at the time was a "brick and tile" state, with the only other option, timber frame, viewed as a "low rent" building material, actively discouraged by local councils. This, combined with the 1973 OPEC oil price hikes (prices quadrupling between 1973 and 1974 and rose a further 150% in 1979 in the wake of the Iranian Revolution) created an inflationary period that the brick industry seemed to be cheerfully exploiting. Apart from jacking prices, they were able to dump failed experiments in brick and tile fashions on the country builders and Margaret River was facing a creeping rash of what they called " tropical disease" houses with speckled mixes of brown, cream, white, pink and green walls and roofs.
Based on Cytryn's advice, these men took the critical decision to use local lateritic gravel and stabilise it with a low percentage of (approx 2-3% initially) cement rather than use earth with 40% clay as had been done previously in Australia. They built a shed in Stabilised Rammed Earth at Cape Mentelle in 1976 to demonstrate to the Council the durability and strength of the material, which still stands today in pristine condition unaffected by the weather. The following year the council approved the construction of the first stage of the winery and within 10 years approximately 20% of new houses in the shire were of SRE. This was the start of a SRE building boom in Margaret River, Western Australia, where within a few years, 20% of new houses were being built in this new material.
At about the same time, David Eastern in the USA and Patrice Doat and Hugo Houben in France were rediscovering earth building. They initiated renewed interest in their countries and have built many buildings since, extending their knowledge and publishing excellent books on this subject.


Connor Lee Werth, son of Brandon and Amanda Werth, Dodge City, was born July 25, 2011.
He was 8 pounds, 3 ounces. He was 20.5 inches long.
He has a sister, Sadie.
Grandparents are Dave and Debbie Werth, Hays, and Darren and Lisa Koehn, WaKeeney.
Great-grandparents are Matt and Georgine Staab and Cliff and Helen Werth, all of Hays, Stan and Jeanie Walters, Mount Airy, Ga., and Nancy and Tracy Small, Denver.
Keaton Gage Gottwald, son of Justin and Jennifer Gottwald, Victoria, was born Aug. 16, 2011, at Hays Medical Center.
He was 7 pounds, 5 ounces. He was 20 inches long.
He has a brother, Treydon, 3.
Grandparents are Michael and Sandra Robben, and Dave and Cindy Gottwald, all of Victoria.
Great-grandparents are Norbert and Donna Robben, and the late Theresa Robben.
Great-great-grandmother is Josie Robben, Victoria.


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Home » Cricket » 'Test cricket is not easy, not many of his slower balls and yorkers will be effective': T Natarajan's coach cautions left-arm quick ahead of third Test against Australia – cricket
'Test cricket is not easy, not many of his slower balls and yorkers will be effective': T Natarajan's coach cautions left-arm quick ahead of third Test against Australia – cricket
The current tour of Australia has been nothing short of a dream for T Natarajan. Drafted in as a net bowler, the left-arm pacer could return to India with debuts in all three formats of the game if the management decides to field him in the XI for the third Test at Sydney in place of the injured Umesh Yadav.
Natarajan who got his T20 and ODI caps on this tour, is in the race with Navdeep Saini to bag the Test cap for the third Test starting January 7. But the left-armer's coach feels the talented youngster has a long way to go before he can become a finished product in Test cricket.
Also Read | Brisbane Test in doubt as Indian team shows reluctance in accepting quarantine proposals: Report
"See, I am very happy for him and want him to play Tests and wishing him success. But I am not saying he is going to be immediately successful. He has to learn and I am sure he is a quick learner. We have to see if he is ready for Test cricket. It will depend on how he grabs the opportunity (if it comes)," Tamil Nadu head coach Diwakar Vasu told The Indian Express.
Vasu has been working with Natarajan for the last couple of seasons and feels the left-arm quick needs to work on swinging the ball because at his pace he can't terrorise the batsmen with bouncers.
Also Read | 'He cannot do that on Australian pitches,' Sunil Gavaskar explains what's ailing Mayank Agarwal
"He needs to swing the ball. He needs to bowl a more consistent line. He also needs to cut the ball (off the seam). Test cricket is not easy. Not many of these slower balls and yorkers are going to be effective as far as Test cricket is concerned. And I don't think that at his pace (around 130kph), bouncers could be a (wicket-taking) option. I think (if he plays), he needs to bowl up, work on his swing, work on his angles. That would be a better option for him," the Tamil Nadu coach observed.
Vasu also pointed out that Natarajan can be used as the third seamer who can support the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
Also Read | No fixed cast for India's opening show
"Somebody who is making his Test debut, who is not express and who doesn't swing the ball (much); you cannot expect him to be the strike bowler. There are other strike bowlers. He can be used as a bowler who comes in and bowls, and takes a couple of wickets.
"He (Natarajan) is a very good trier and I'm sure that working with (Bharat) Arun (India's bowling coach), he will learn quickly. As a left-arm seamer, he has that natural angle (the ball that slants across the right-hander) and with the red ball, he could bring the ball in also. But it's a learning process for him," Vasu said.
ahead Australia balls cautions coach cricket easy effective leftarm Natarajans quick slower Test yorkers	2021-01-03

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, shows the Dao Valles and Niger Valles, a system of outflow channels on Mars.
The image was taken during orbit 528 in June 2004, and shows the Dao Valles and Niger Valles areas at a point where the north-eastern Hellas impact crater basin and the Hesperia Planum volcanic region meet.
The image is centred at Mars longitude 93? East and latitude 32? South. The image resolution is 40 metres per pixel.
The outflow channel system is, in some areas, 40 kilometres wide. The north-eastern ends of the two valleys are almost 200 metres deeper than the south-western regions which are also shown here. The northern Dao Valles, 2400 metres deep, is about 1000 metres deeper than the more southern Niger Valles.
The structure of the valley floor of the Niger Valles is characterised by terraced basins and chaotic fractures. The floor of the Dao Valles is much smoother, but covered with strongly eroded remnants.
These eroded valleys are in a region which is part of the southern flank of the Hadriaca Patera volcano. The surrounding surface is formed by lava streams, probably in a 'runoff' process.


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Q: Sylius Installation - ProductBundle is Missing I'm new in sylius development and I'm getting trouble to install some sylius bundles. I want to build a small online store and I pretend to use SyliusProductBundle, SyliusCartBundle and the required SyliusResourcesBundle.
How can I add them to my project?
Just to test, I've downloaded and installed the sylius full stack and I've noticed that the ProductBundle isn't there. I've read the documentation of both ProductBundle and CartBundle. The ProductBundle was replaced?
So, I have 2 problems:

*

*Figure out what bundles should I use (I think Product and Cart but ProcuctBundle is aparently missing)

*How to install this standalone bundles via composer.

I'm using symfony 2.3.1

A: As far as I'm aware the product bundle is still active (last commit was 7 days ago). To install and use the product bundle specifically, follow these steps from the docs:
http://docs.sylius.com/en/latest/bundles/SyliusProductBundle/installation.html
You can install any other bundle stand alone by adding the package, as found on packagist, to your composer.json file and running composer update <packagename>. The sylius bundles are here:
https://packagist.org/packages/sylius/
In terms of the specific bundles you'll need, there are 2 places you'll be able to learn more:

*

*Documentation - covers integrating product, cart and resource bundles pretty well. The remaining bundles are WIP.

*Sylius Demo - the features and the last successful travis build will give you the best indication of the functionality supported by Sylius.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Bracelet measures 6" long by 1/4" wide. It's made of 14 gauge pewter. The material is thick but slightly flexible making it a great gift for someone even if you don't know their wrist size.
Please let me know what saying you'd like stamped on the cuff in the notes to seller box when checking out. If no notes are left, I will assume you'd like it as shown with "teaching is a work of heart" stamped. Thanks!


It's our mission to make sure that as many people experience it as possible. With your support, we can guarantee Rich Mix continues to make a powerful impact on individuals and communities across east London and beyond.
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Six years old. You are eleven.
until you catch my gaze in the mirror.
You practise a release and laugh.
the day you tell me what he's done to you.
Our mother returns. Keys open the car.
One day we'll all crash.
This entry was posted in 54.0: NO THEME V and tagged Alison Gorman. Bookmark the permalink.
Alison Gorman has published poetry in Meanjin, Southerly, Contrapasso, Cordite and in two recent anthologies, A patch of sun and Grieve. She was the winner of the 2016 Dorothy Porter prize. She completed a Masters of creative writing at the University of Sydney and teaches creative writing to children at the Kuringai Arts Centre.


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Classlist • Members Stories • Press
Working with Parents: Case Study from The Key (Jan 2018)
Christ Church Cathedral School is an independent school in Oxfordshire for boys aged 3-13.
It uses a free private social networking app for parents called Classlist.
The app's network of parents is overseen by the school's parent teacher association (PTA). We spoke to the former chair of the PTA, Maria Blick, about how the school uses the app to engage with parents and generate funding for the school.
Selling tickets for school events
Maria said that the school uses the app to make selling tickets online easier and quicker.
She said that by using the app, more tickets have been sold and more income generated for the school through events. Using the app has also reduced the administrative burden of events for the school office staff.
Adverts for local businesses
Maria explained that she approached a number of local businesses, both those who work with the school and those run by parents.
Three local businesses set up an arrangement with Classlist where they paid upfront to advertise on the app. A proportion of this went to the school.
Through this set-up the school raised £1,600, which it spent on a new playground.
Marketplace for second-hand uniform
Maria saw that a number of parents were already communicating about lost property on the app's social network platform.
She saw an opportunity for the school to establish a second-hand uniform marketplace to meet this need, which could also generate further income for the school.
Selling merchandise from the PTA
Maria also established a marketplace to sell leftover school merchandise items organised by the PTA, such as teatowels and calendars.
Christ Church Cathedral School: http://www.cccs.org.uk/
NOTE: This case study was originally published on The Key


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United Samurai Beer Fund® is a charitable organization that meets the requirements of section 501(b)3 of the Eternal Revenue Disservice code. All contributions are tax corruptible.


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Daniel Neiditch and Sugar Ray Leonard Fight to Knock Out Diabetes
Photo Credit: Daniel Neiditch
Sugar Ray Leonard is back in the fight, but this time, he's not swinging his lightning-fast fists to knock out a lightweight competitor. The champion boxer recently teamed up with New York City entrepreneur and philanthropist Daniel Neiditch – a heavy hitter in his own field – to face off in a friendly boxing match in support of the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation, which supports childhood diabetes.
The fundraiser took place at Sugar Ray Leonard's Pacific Palisades residence, where donors and supporters of the Foundation gathered to watch the match. Leonard and Neiditch clocked in for the super middleweight standoff, both weighing in at 165 pounds. After throwing a few well-calculated punches and swift hooks, the match ended in good humor, with both contestants sharing the victory.
Once the gloves came off, the six-time world champion, 1976 gold medal winner, and three-time golden glove champion showed off his gold medal and championship belts. The event successfully raised donations from generous benefactors and boxing enthusiasts to fund research and care for pediatric diabetic patients.
Leonard, whose father struggled with diabetes, established the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation with his wife, Bernadette, in 2009 to benefit and create awareness for childhood type one and two diabetes. The former boxer was inspired to jumpstart his charity after witnessing his father's uphill battle with the disease and the complications that affected every aspect of his life. His foundation strives to help children with diabetes live healthier, longer lives through diet and exercise while supporting research efforts to fight back against the childhood condition that affects more than 20,000 children in America alone.
This boxing match wasn't Daniel Neiditch's first fight. In October of 2019, he entered the ring with heavyweight champ Evander Holyfield, that time in support of Global Autism awareness. He may have been punching above his weight class in that match, but still came out on top as a champion for his cause.
Leonard and Holyfield are just two of the famous faces Daniel Neiditch has worked with to support various charitable causes. Neiditch is known for his philanthropic work, aimed primarily at empowering disadvantaged children, and for harnessing the potential of celebrity influence for a good cause. In the past, he's teamed up with other famous faces to benefit charity. He bowled a few frames with Paul Rudd on behalf of the Stuttering Association for the Young and joined Steven Colbert and Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Montclair Film's annual fundraiser in Newark, benefitting children in underprivileged communities.
In 2019, Neiditch took to the mound at Target Field to throw out the first pitch at a Twins game on behalf of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. He also tossed one across the plate at Fenway Park in front of Red Sox fans. A live auction led by Neiditch offered donors the chance for an enlightening lunch and ride in a Lamborghini to benefit the Max Alexander Foundation.
Through his philanthropic work, Neiditch demonstrates an ability to combine creative fundraising efforts with the power of the celebrity. While celebrities themselves are more than capable of giving to charitable foundations on their own, the influence they evoke when they publicly support a specific cause creates a much larger ripple.
Bringing a well-known name or face to a movement enhances the awareness around the cause and even lends a heaping dose of credibility to it. While marketing and advertising agencies use this "celebrity effect" to their advantage to boost profit, Daniel Neiditch sees it as an opportunity to make a positive difference where it counts. Celebrities, socialites and business moguls all over the world have a tremendous power that, yielded in the right way, can make a monumental impact on philanthropy and charitable efforts. Their superstar status amplifies their voice and gives them a stage from which they can encourage a giving spirit and draw attention to important issues that desperately need resolution.
Daniel Neiditch's efforts illustrate the positive effect of combining creative philanthropy with the biggest names in the world. So, while the match with Leonard may have ended in a draw, it marks a victory in the endeavor to use celebrity influence for good, and a win for the kids of the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation.
'Tis The Season For Giving! Hollywood Stepped Out To Celebrate At
Top Celebrity Hairstyles For 2022


Since launching earlier this decade, Uber and Lyft have become ubiquitous in major cities such as Houston. Whether for a convenient ride downtown or a safe ride home, when you don't want to (or can't) drive yourself, the ability to summon an inexpensive ride with a few taps on your phone has revolutionized the way that many of us get where we need to go.
But, hiring an Uber or Lyft driver is not without its risks. While both companies tout their driver screening policies, it is not hard to get set up as a driver. You certainly do not have to be a professional, and there is no way for Uber or Lyft to ensure that their drivers observe the rules of the road or adequately maintain their cars. When you add Houston's high volume of commercial trucks into the equation, it is of little surprise that many local Uber and Lyft passengers have suffered injuries in dangerous collisions.
If you were injured in a commercial truck accident while riding with an Uber or Lyft driver, who do you sue? Is your driver liable? The ride-sharing company? The trucking company? As in other cases, the answer depends on all of the unique facts and circumstances involved.
Your Uber or Lyft driver could be liable if he or she was at fault (or partially at fault) in the accident. While the circumstances of your accident are somewhat unique, the same general legal principles apply: If your driver's negligence led to your injuries, your driver is liable for your injury-related losses. Uber and Lyft both require their drivers to carry insurance (as does Texas law); so, in most cases, if your driver is to blame, it is his or her insurance company that will bear the financial responsibility.
It is possible that you may also have a claim against Uber or Lyft. These companies also carry insurance for accidents caused by their drivers. If the evidence suggests that Uber or Lyft played a role in causing your accident (for example, by approving a driver who should not have been approved), then you will likely want to pursue a claim against your chosen ride-sharing company as well.
Many truck accidents involve some form of negligence on the part of the truck driver or trucking company. From following too closely to driving drunk or distracted, truck drivers often make mistakes that lead to serious collisions. Trucking companies can face vicarious liability for their employees' mistakes, and they can be held liable for their own mistakes (such as hiring an unqualified driver or failing to adequately secure cargo) as well.
Finally, it is important not to overlook the possibility that a third party caused your accident. This could be another driver, a vehicle manufacturer, or the contractor responsible for building or maintaining the road. When seeking compensation for accident-related injuries, ride-sharing passengers should be sure to consider all possible sources of financial recovery.
If you were injured in an accident involving a commercial truck, we encourage you to contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation about your legal rights. To speak with one of our experienced injury lawyers in confidence, book a consultation on Attornify today.


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Measure G Parcel Tax - 2/3 Approval Required
To learn more about measures, follow the links for each tab in this section. For most screenreaders, you can hit Return or Enter to enter a tab and read the content within.
8,182 votes yes (73.69%)
2,922 votes no (26.31%)
100% of precincts reporting (22/22).
11,879 ballots counted.
Quality Education and Local Control Funding Measure G
— undefined
To maintain quality education at our neighborhood elementary and middle schools by attracting and retaining quality teachers, strengthening strong reading, math and science, maintaining music and art programs, keeping school libraries open, class sizes small and campuses clean and safe, shall Moreland School District renew its expiring school parcel tax at $142 per year for eight years, with an exemption for seniors, a citizens' oversight committee, no money for administrator salaries, and every dollar benefiting Moreland schools?
What is this proposal?
Measure Details — Official information about this measure
Impartial analysis / Proposal
A school district may levy a qualified special tax upon approval by two-thirds of the votes cast on a measure pursuant to section 4 of article XIIIA of the California Constitution and sections 50075 et seq. of the California Government Code.
The Board of Trustees (Board) for the Moreland School District (District) proposes renewing and increasing an existing parcel tax. If approved, the renewed parcel tax will commence on July 1, 2017 and expire on June 30, 2025 and will be levied in the amount of $142 per parcel per year. The existing parcel tax, which will expire on June 30, 2017, is levied at $95 per parcel per year.
An exemption from the proposed tax is available for any parcel that is an owner-occupied, single-family residence for (1) a person 65 years or older; (2) a person receiving Supplemental Security Income for a disability regardless of age; or (3) a person receiving Social Security
Disability benefits whose yearly income does not exceed 250 percent of the 2012 federal poverty guidelines issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The Measure states that persons currently exempted from the expiring parcel tax shall automatically be exempted from the renewed parcel tax without a new application.
State law requires the District to state the specific purposes for which the tax proceeds will be used and only spend the proceeds of the tax for these purposes. The stated purposes of the tax proposed are to: (1) attract and retain high-quality teachers; (2) strengthen strong, innovative reading, math, and science programs; (3) maintain music, visual and performing arts programs; (4) keep school libraries open; and (5) maintain clean and safe school properties. The Measure states that revenue generated by the tax will not be used for District administrators ' salaries, benefits, or pensions.
The District is required by law to provide additional accountability measures for the proceeds. These measures include: (1) depositing the proceeds into a fund that is separate and apart from other District funds; and (2) providing an annual written report to the Board stating the amount of funds collected and expended, and the status of any project authorized to be funded from the tax proceeds. The Board will maintain its existing Citizens' Oversight Committee to provide oversight as to expenditures of parcel tax revenues.
Measure G was placed on the ballot by the Board.
A "yes" vote is a vote to approve a parcel tax of $142 per parcel on parcels within the District for eight years commencing on July 1, 2017.
A "no" vote is a vote to not approve a parcel tax of $142 per parcel on parcels within the District for eight years commencing on July 1, 2017.
Orry P. Korb, County Counsel
Published Arguments — Arguments for and against the ballot measure
Arguments FOR
Measure G extends an existing measure to maintain the high quality of education students receive in our local schools by protecting core academic programs in math, science, technology, and reading, and helping to attract and retain the highest quality teachers to educate our students.
Moreland schools shine as models of educational excellence. Our schools are part of what make our neighborhoods special and our excellent teachers and rigorous math, science and reading curriculum have prepared generations of students to succeed. This measure is critical to help us retain and attract outstanding teachers and continue to ensure that our students are fully prepared for their bright futures.
Measure G is a local measure. All funds generated will stay here, for Moreland students. This money cannot be taken away by the State.
Specifically, Measure G will:
• Continue funding for core programs in math, science, technology, arts and reading
• Help attract and retain high quality teachers
• Provide funds for innovative science education programs
• Keep school libraries open
• Maintain smaller class sizes in kindergarten through 8th grade
• Maintain funding for integrated classroom technology
Measure G is a modest, thoughtful proposal supported by parents, teachers and community leaders because it protects core academics and will help to ensure that our children are prepared to compete in the global economy.
Measure G provides an exemption for senior citizens, and includes an independent citizens' oversight committee to ensure funds are spent as promised. Measure G funds cannot be spent on administrator's salaries.
Great schools make great communities by protecting our property values and keeping our neighborhoods strong and prosperous. Measure G is a wise investment that will protect our local schools.
Join neighbors, parents, teachers and local community leaders to support our local schools. PLEASE, VOTE YES on G.
www.yesonmoreland.com
/s/ Heather E. Sutton
Moreland School Board President, Parent
/s/ Shveta Bagade
H&SC President, Latimer; H&SC Treasurer, MMS; Prospect Parent
/s/ Carl Guardino
President & CEO/Silicon Valley Leadership Group
/s/ Manny Barbara
Vice President, Silicon Valley Education Foundation
/s/ Robert Varich
Trustee, Moreland School District
— Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters
Arguments AGAINST
This latest parcel tax from Moreland School District tries to use the state budget crisis to grab unearned money. The district wants to "extend" (read: increase) the 2009 parcel tax of $95 per year for another 8 years, a year before its scheduled end in 2017 - when we were expecting our family budgets to get that boost.
And they want an increase to $142 per parcel to replace the $95 per parcel tax from 2009.
Have they earned a 50% tax increase, to $142 per parcel?
Let's look at the student test scores for English learners making annual growth targets in learning English:
2011-12 school year results: 64.4%
(Source: Education Data Partnership,
www.Ed-Data.org/district/Santa-Clara/Moreland)
That's a steady decline!
Should we, the voters, reward declining scores with a pay increase?
If you answered "no," we encourage you to vote NO on Measure G.
The statewide average expense per student is $8.788/year, versus Moreland School District's $9,226. or 105% above average. Yet, they want more of your hard-earned money to pad their salaries and fat pension plans.
The measure says that none of the funds will be used for administration. But, funds generated outside of this parcel tax can be used for administration expenses without limits. So, that is really an empty promise. Do not be fooled.
Here are the latest average teacher salaries:
2014-15: Salary = $73,292 | Statewide average = $74,090
2013-14: Salary = $73.062 | Statewide average = $74,090
Plus teachers get a super generous benefits package. Their "family plan" costs us $18,396/year per teacher in benefits.
Tell Moreland School District's board to be financially responsible, by voting NO on G.
For more information please visit us at:
www.SVTaxpayers.org/2016-moreland-parcel-tax.
/s/ Mark W.A. Hinkle
President: Silicon Valley Taxpayers Association
Replies to Arguments FOR
This latest parcel tax tries to use the state budget crisis to grab unearned money. Moreland School District wants to "extend" (read: raise) the 2009 parcel tax of $95 per year for another 8 years, a year before its scheduled expiration of 2017—when we thought our family budgets would finally be getting a reprieve.
And they want to hike it to $142 per parcel, to replace the $95 per parcel tax from 2009.
Let's look at student test scores for English learners setting annual growth targets in learning English:
2012-13: 62.4%
www.Ed-Data.org/district/Santa-Clara/Moreland
Should we voters—the customer—reward worsening scores with a pay increase?
The statewide average expense per student is $8,788/year, versus Moreland School District's $9,226—105% above average. Yet, they want more of your hard-earned money to pad their salaries and fat pension plans.
Please tell Moreland School District's board to be financially responsible, by voting NO on G.
For more information, please visit us at:
/s/ Mark W. A. Hinkle
Replies to Arguments AGAINST
As longtime Moreland residents, leaders, and community members - we know the facts and we're voting YES on Measure G. Good schools educate our children and protect our property values and local economy.
The out-of-town opponents of Measure G are misleading voters with inaccurate, untruthful statements. Don't be deceived.
Moreland schools provide an excellent education and prepare students for college and careers. One of the reasons we live here is because of our great schools. Meeting a high standard of excellence equally across all our neighborhoods requires resources.
Measure G will allow us to attract and retain high quality teachers and fund essential programs in math, science, reading and technology. These core courses are critical as we prepare Moreland students for a successful future. Measure G will also allow our teachers to offer innovative courses and help the District keep our school libraries open longer and allow us to keep our school campuses clean and safe.
Measure G can only be used for for programs to benefit students, NOT administrators' salaries.
Measure G funds must stay local and cannot be taken away by the State. Independent citizens' oversight committee and mandatory performance and financial audits are required to ensure that local taxpayers are protected.
Measure G is a modest measure to make sure Moreland Schools continue to provide a great education and our neighborhoods remain strong.
Join local community leaders and residents, please Vote YES on Measure G to protect Moreland schools. For more information, visit www.yesonmoreland.com
/s/ Charles "Chappie" Jones
City of San Jose, District 1, Councilmember
/s/ Brenton Lee
Sports in Moreland Chair, Parent
/s/ Elizabeth Gibbons
Vice Mayor of the City of Campbell
/s/ Johann Garcia
Moreland Education Foundation President, Parent
/s/ Rosemary Kamei
Santa Clara County Office of Education Board Member and resident
Read the proposed legislation
INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
To continue funding for core programs in math, science and reading, provide local reliable funding for local schools that cannot be taken by the State, attract and retain high-quality teachers, maintain innovative science programs, maintain school libraries, keep class sizes small, purchase textbooks and classroom materials, preserve programs in art, music and performing arts, integrate technology to enhance instruction in math and science and maintain clean and safe school properties and grounds, with no proceeds used for administrators' salaries, benefits and pensions, the Moreland School District ("District") proposes to renew and extend its existing education and local control parcel tax for a period of eight years from its current expiration date (June 30, 2017), starting on July 1, 2017 at a rate of $142 per parcel per year, with an exemption available for senior citizens and certain disabled persons, and to implement accountability measures, including citizen oversight, to ensure the funds are used to help:
• Attract and retain high-quality teachers;
• Strengthen strong, innovative reading, math and science programs;
• Maintain music, visual and performing arts programs;
• Keep school libraries open; and
• Maintain clean and safe school properties.
The proceeds of the parcel tax shall be deposited into a separate account created by the District.
DEFINITION OF "PARCEL"
For purposes of the high quality education parcel tax, the term "Parcel" means any parcel of land which lies wholly or partially within the boundaries of the Moreland School District, that receives a separate tax bill for ad valorem property taxes from the Santa Clara County Assessor/ Tax Collector, as applicable. All property that is otherwise exempt from or upon which are levied no ad valorem property taxes in any year shall also be exempt from the education and local control parcel tax in such year.
For purposes of this education and local control parcel tax, any such "Parcels" which are (i) contiguous, and (ii) used solely for owner-occupied, single-family residential purposes, and (iii) held under identical ownership may, by submitting to the District an application of the owners thereof by June 15 of any year, be treated as a single "parcel" for purposes of the levy of the high quality education and local control parcel tax.
EXEMPTION FOR SENIORS AND SSI RECIPIENTS
Pursuant to California Government Code Section 50079 (b)(1), any owner of a Parcel used solely for owner-occupied, single-family residential purposes and who are either (a) 65 years of age or older on or before June 30 of the fiscal year immediately preceding the year in which the tax would apply, or (b) persons receiving Supplemental Security Income for a disability, regardless of age, or (c) receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, regardless of age, whose yearly income does not exceed 250 percent of the 2012 federal poverty guidelines issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, may obtain an exemption from the parcel tax by submitting an application therefore, by June 15 of any year, to the District.
Persons who are owners of Parcels used solely for owner-occupied, single-family residential purposes and currently exempted from the District's expiring Measure A parcel tax shall automatically be exempted from this Measure without having to file a new application.
The District may establish administrative procedures to periodically verify the continuance of any previously granted exemption.
With respect to all general property tax matters within its jurisdiction, the Santa Clara County Treasurer and Tax Collector or other appropriate county tax officials, shall make all final determinations of tax exemption or relief for any reason, and that decision shall be final and binding. With respect to matters specific to the levy of the high quality education and local control parcel tax, including any exemptions and the classification of property for purposes of calculating the tax, the decisions of the District shall be final and binding.
REDUCTION IN TAX IF RESULT IS LESS OTHER GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
The collection of the education and local control parcel tax is not intended to decrease or offset any increase in local, state or federal government revenue sources that would otherwise be available to the District during the period of the parcel tax. In the event that the levy and collection does have such an effect, the District may cease the levy or shall reduce the parcel tax to the extent that such action would restore the amount of the decrease or offset in other revenues.
ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURES
In accordance with the requirements of California Government Code Sections 50075.1 and 50075.3, the following accountability measures, among others, shall apply to the parcel tax levied in accordance with this Measure: (a) the specific purposes of the parcel tax shall be those purposes identified above; (b) the proceeds of the parcel tax shall be applied only to those specific purposes identified above; (c) a separate, special account shall be created into which the proceeds of the education and local control parcel tax must be deposited; and (d) an annual written report shall be made to the Board of Trustees of the District showing (i) the amount of funds collected and expended from the proceeds of the high quality education and local control parcel tax and (ii) the status of any projects or programs required or authorized to be funded from the proceeds of the parcel tax, as identified above. In addition to the accountability measures required by law, the District will maintain its existing Citizens' Oversight Committee to provide oversight as to the expenditure of parcel tax revenues.
Additional Resources (1)
More Nonpartisan Resources
Measure G Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) — Moreland School District
Measure G Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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9 ways to fail at Vine
If you're thinking of throwing a few Vines out there as part of your social marketing strategy, be sure to avoid these common 'fails'…
You are reading: 9 ways to fail at Vine
27th September 2013 26th May 2022
Social Media, Vine
Matt Batterham
Every now and then we're all guilty of posting the odd piece of 'filler' content on the likes of Facebook and Twitter.
Fair enough really – we can't be awesome ALL of the time, and the short shelf life of a tweet teamed with the general noisiness of the average Twitter stream means that most tweets get lost within minutes anyway.
So, to a point, the the odd 'filler' tweet can be forgiven. At least no one's going to shoot you down for it.
But, and it's a big but, for those who publish actual content – specifically Vines, in this instance – with the same 'meh'-style execution as their tweets cannot be graced with the same levels of forgiveness. I'm referring more to brands here, who really should know better.
Many brands make excellent use of Vine and have proven that six seconds is more than enough time to tell a story and capture the attention of their audience (VW's Shark Week Vines are a personal favourite of mine). Unfortunately, there are also many who are failing.
So, if you're thinking of throwing a few Vines out there as part of your social marketing strategy, be sure to avoid the following points. I've thrown in a few examples for good measure.
1. Cram in as many frames as possible
Make most of the precious few seconds you have by condensing as many shots as possible into one Vine. Really, go mad. The more the better.
2. Lead with sound
Doing this ensures that when people view your Vine with the sound off (as many will) they won't have a clue what's going on.
3. Ensure music is tinny and fragmented
Particularly if you're promoting something like, oh I don't know, a music channel.
4. Jump on trends a bit late
Because the Harlem Shake is definitely still awesome.
5. Don't worry too much about video quality
It's only six seconds after all, and people don't expect much from you – a brand, with a strategy, time, budget, and a team of experienced, professional marketers at your disposal.
6. Be boring
'Fun' content is overrated, and if there's one thing people like to watch in their spare time, it's people at work, having meetings.
7. {{Wobble}}
It worked for Cloverfield, didn't it?
8. Record a six second still
Video – just like a photo, only wobblier, loopier and less imagy-er.
9. Film inanimate objects
Bonus points for inaudible background mutterings that provide zero explanation for your video of said inanimate object.
If you have any favourite Vine fails or tips for certain failure, we'd love to hear them!


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Indian Army Conducting Workshop For Field Commanders On Negotiation, Communication Skills
Friday, January 14, 2022 by Indian Defence News
The Indian Army said on Thursday it was conducting a workshop for its field commanders on negotiation and communication skills so that they can deal with "dynamic and emerging challenges". A delegation of the Indian Army officers is currently holding the 14th round of talks with its counterpart in the Chinese Army to resolve the border dispute in eastern Ladakh.
The main focus of this round of talks is to carry forward the disengagement process at Hot Springs (Patrolling Point 15), military sources said.
The Indian Army said on Twitter on Thursday, "Indian Army in its quest for excellence and professionalism, is conducting a workshop for Field Commanders in "negotiation and communication skills" to enable them to deal with dynamic and emerging challenges it faces everyday in the discharge of its multifaceted roles."
Labels: Army, BI, Border, China, India


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Search CTV Kitchener Close
Tickets, fines issued at large Guelph gathering on Homecoming weekend
KITCHENER -
Tickets and fines were handed out at a large gathering in Guelph over Homecoming weekend.
The gathering was outside an off-campus student housing complex on Saturday night.
The University of Guelph and the city's mayor both expressed disappointment over the large gathering because of COVID-19 concerns.
Guelph police said hundreds of people came to the party on Chancellors Way, and there were more than 1,000 people at certain points of the night.
"It was just a big party blockade, it was sort of hard to avoid especially since I love on this street," said Carson Wilson, who witnessed the party.
In a statement, U of G president Charlotte Yates said she was disappointed by the size of the gathering and some of the behaviours that took place. She also thanked emergency services for their efforts. She said the university will be working collaboratively to find solutions.
The university also said there were reports of litter, people in shopping carts and vehicles being unable to leave the area because of the crowd. Officials also said there were incidents of bottles being thrown, hitting people and vehicles.
The University of Guelph's Campus Safety Office responded to other gatherings on campus on both Friday and Saturday, where tickets were issued for trespassing, alcohol consumption and other violations.
Mayor Cam Guthrie expressed his displeasure on social media, saying the participant were only thinking of themselves and put many at-risk, including emergency service staff.
"I was disappointed, especially the large gathering that was illegal happened a mere steps from the front door of our public health unit," he said in an interview with CTV News. "We still have public health guidelines and many of the students that are here you are guests in our city, we are one of the most vaccinated cities in Canada but it doesn't mean you flaunt the rules."
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph health unit said large gatherings like the one held on the weekend can "lead to a surge" of COVID-19 cases.
"WDG Public Health is aware of the unsanctioned gathering that took place on Chancellors Way this weekend. Large events that ignore public health guidelines put attendees and the wider community at risk," the health unit said in a statement. "We urge anyone who attended this gathering to avoid unnecessary contacts, monitor themselves for symptoms and get tested if symptoms appear."
Many students who spoke to CTV Kitchener said they understand concerns about the pandemic, but also know that students want to party.
#UofG addresses large unsanctioned gathering at Chancellor's Way: https://t.co/nncvKCthhu
We thank local police, fire and campus safety officers for their hard work and commitment. pic.twitter.com/QooSkITMbj
— University of Guelph (@uofg) September 26, 2021
Hey thousands ignoring public health guidelines, enjoy the fines & upcoming academic discipline hearings you rightly deserve. All during an ongoing pandemic, thinking only of yourself, putting many at risk, including our own emergency services staff dealing with this. Nice job.🤦🏼♂
— Mayor Cam Guthrie (@CamGuthrie) September 26, 2021