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http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/09/us/governors-object-to-domestic-cuts-in-reagan-budget.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524105230id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/09/us/governors-object-to-domestic-cuts-in-reagan-budget.html | GOVERNORS OBJECT TO DOMESTIC CUTS IN REAGAN BUDGET | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.105230 | WASHINGTON, Feb. 8— Governors and state legislators warned today that the cuts President Reagan has proposed for federally financed domestic programs in the next fiscal year could jeopardize his plan to turn over more than 40 Federal programs to the states.
''It would be unrealistic to expect the states to support another round of deep budget cuts in 1983 with still greater responsibilities looming in fiscal 1984 and beyond,'' Gov. Richard A. Snelling of Vermont, the Republican chairman of the National Governors' Association, said in a statement.
Officials of the National Conference of State Legislators issued a similar statement, saying, ''We cannot accept a plan which jeopardizes the fiscal soundness of the states in order to decrease the Federal budget.'' Reagan Defends Plan
But President Reagan, beginning a two-day visit to the Middle West in Minneapolis, defended the budget proposal he sent to Capitol Hill today. ''In the days ahead, you're going to be submerged in demagoguery about the 1983 budget,'' he said and urged that ''horror stories about people who are going to be thrown out in the snow'' be ignored.
Mr. Reagan decided this morning that the budget, rather than the ''new federalism'' initiative, would be his m ain subject this eveningand would figure in his two major speeches Tu esday, according to Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press s ecretary. ''He wants to answer the critics who are making snap judgme nts,'' Mr. Speakes said.(Page B14.) Support Last Year
President Reagan had the support of most governors and state legislators last year when he pushed the first round of budget cuts through Congress. At the time they were willing to go along with the cuts in order to win more authority in running Federal programs, a goal they have in part achieved.
However, the cuts enacted last year and a decline in revenues have left many states in such a fiscal bind that they have been either cutting services or raising taxes, or both, in order to make ends meet. No state has yet filled the gap left by the cut in Federal grants.
Now, state officials are saying they have no choice but to oppose the second round of proposed cuts. In explaining the governors' break with the President, Mr. Snelling said, ''These cuts would fall heavily on many of the nation's needy citizens and would shift unacceptable burdens to state and local governments already struggling with the recession and deep 1982 Federal aid reductions.'' Many states, he said, ''will not be able to protect the needy from the cuts.''
The governors' opposition is considered important because it could help delay Congressional consideration of the President's ''new federalism'' until the budget cuts are settled. Some of the President's critics have charged that his ambitious plan for turning programs back to the states was partly intended to divert attention from the recession and the anticipated struggle with Congress over the budget.
''These reductions, when coupled with additional proposed Federal mandates on the states, would have an adverse effect on our ability to cope with citizen needs,'' Ross Doyen, president of both the Kansas Senate and the National Conference of State Legislators, said in a statement with Assemblyman William Passannante of New York,, president-elect of the conference.
''We expected Federal aid reductions as part of the President's economy recovery program both last year and this, but, when teamed with more mandates, funding in some states for basic services will be difficult,'' the statement said.
The new mandates to which the statement refe rred include such things as req uirements for job searches before applicants can receiveaid under the food stamp and Aid to Families with Dependent Children programs, req uirements the states would have to enforce. Of particular co ncern to state legislators, they said, was the President's p roposed cut in welfare programs.
In New York, Mr. Passannante said, ''the proposed cutbacks in Medicaid alone may cost us some $80 million if the programs were maintained at the current levels.'' Some Actions Applauded
Governors and legislators have applauded the President's willingness to sort out which responsibilities rest with the Federal Government and which with the states, along with his statements that his proposal is subject to negotiation.
Beginning in 1984, the President wants the Federal Government to assume the cost of Medicaid, the health program for the poor, while the states take over aid to dependent children and food stamps. Until 1988, more than 40 other programs would be turned over to the states, with the Federal Government providing a trust fund from excise taxes to help pay for them in the first years.
Mr. Snelling and other governors, however, have expressed skepticism about the Reagan Administration's figures showing that the states would be protected from large losses of revenue.
''In part because of the cuts projected in this budget,'' Mr. Snelling said, ''it appears that the Administration's federalism plan would put an additional $10 billion burden on the states in 1984.''
Organizations representing the cities, which usually are the first to oppose any Presidential proposal to cut domestic programs, have been uncharacteristically silent since the budget was released over the weekend. Both the United States Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities said today that they were studying the budget document. Individual city officials, including Mayor Koch of New York, however, have already expressed opposition to the budget. | Governors and state legislators warned today that the cuts President Reagan has proposed for federally financed domestic programs in the next fiscal year could jeopardize his plan to turn over more than 40 Federal programs to the states. ''It would be unrealistic to expect the states to support another round of deep budget cuts in 1983 with still greater responsibilities looming in fiscal 1984 and beyond,'' Gov. Richard A. Snelling of Vermont, the Republican chairman of the National Governors' Association, said in a statement. Officials of the National Conference of State Legislators issued a similar statement, saying, ''We cannot accept a plan which jeopardizes the fiscal soundness of the states in order to decrease the Federal budget.'' Reagan Defends Plan But President Reagan, beginning a two-day visit to the Middle West in Minneapolis, defended the budget proposal he sent to Capitol Hill today. ''In the days ahead, you're going to be submerged in demagoguery about the 1983 budget,'' he said and urged that ''horror stories about people who are going to be thrown out in the snow'' be ignored. | 4.943925 | 0.981308 | 42.925234 | low | high | extractive | 300 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/09/world/poland-outlines-new-economic-program.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524105242id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/09/world/poland-outlines-new-economic-program.html | POLAND OUTLINES NEW ECONOMIC PROGRAM | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.105242 | WARSAW, Feb. 8— The Government issued the outline of a program for economic and political changes today intended to make Poland economically independent from the West and self-sufficient in food production.
The program, discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Friday, calls for the planning commission and various ministries to submit plans in February, March and April for overcoming the economic and political crisis.
Only the overall goals were announced today. They include expansion of trade and economic cooperation with other Soviet-bloc countries, a reorientation of industrial production for agriculture, a move to lessen the dependence of the economy on imports from the West, and wage and pension reform.
''Recommendations were made to work out the basis for restructuring the economy with a view to regaining Poland's economic sovereignty,'' the Government spokesman said.
The program was a further refinement of the line laid down by Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Polish leader, in a speech to Parliament on Jan. 25. The Cabinet meeting on Friday and the publicity given it today were designed to suggest that the martial-law regime was working on the country's problems. Classes Resume at Universi ties
Publication of the program coincided with signs of a continued easing of tensions. About 12,000 students at Warsaw University resumed classes after a two-month break, and other universities also reopened.
In addition, policemen in front of the United States Embassy permitted Poles to enter to apply for visas for the first time since martial law was imposed Dec. 13. And travel curbs were eased for Western diplomats, who may now travel within Poland after notifying the Foreign Ministry of their plans.
With the Solidarity union still suspended under martial law, a major issue for the Government to resolve will be the future shape of the labor movement. Today's document said a committee headed by Mieczyslaw Rakowski, a Deputy Prime Minister, would present this month ''a set of political premises for reviving the trade union movement.''
Unions, the document said, are to be ''authentic, independent and self-governing representatives'' of the workers, but it added that they must be ''harmoniously integrated'' into the overriding objective of ''consolidating the state and socialist democracy.''
Today a new series called ''We Accuse'' began over the radio. It is a compendium of quotations from Solidarity leaders and interpretations designed to substantiate the notion that the union had been after nothing less than an overthrow of Communism. Union's 'Backstage Activities'
Newspapers have begun publishing articles trying to show that Solidarity leaders were undemocratic and loose with union funds. Charges of embezzlement have been raised.
A recent issue of Zolnierz Wolnosci, the army newspaper, spoke of what it called ''the backstage activities of those who termed themselves heralds of moral rebirth.'' It compared what it said were financial irregularities in the Gdansk local with embezzlement in the Government's Radio and Televsion Committee under Edward Gierek. Today's Cab inet document conceded that the economy had further deteriorated. The major problem, it said, is a lack of raw materials and spare par ts from the West, caused partly by the lack of hard currency for imports and by the American and British sanctions.
The documents called for a switch in production to goods that can be manufactured with domestic raw materials and also for expanded cooperation with Comecon, the Soviet bloc's economic alliance.
The Polish press agency announced a devaluation of the zloty in relation to the currencies of other Soviet bloc countries, reflecting a decline in the zloty's purchasing power. The change, it said, will mainly affect tourists and will not influence settlement of foreign trade accounts among the countries.
In another announcement, the radio said that the registration of unemployed males was proceeding and that industrial calm prevailed throughout the country. Under martial-law regulations, all males between the ages of 18 and 45 must work. Some 3,500 people were conscripted for labor in the Katowice region last month, the radio said.
Illustrations: 2 photos of scenes from Poland | The Government issued the outline of a program for economic and political changes today intended to make Poland economically independent from the West and self-sufficient in food production. The program, discussed at a Cabinet meeting on Friday, calls for the planning commission and various ministries to submit plans in February, March and April for overcoming the economic and political crisis. Only the overall goals were announced today. They include expansion of trade and economic cooperation with other Soviet-bloc countries, a reorientation of industrial production for agriculture, a move to lessen the dependence of the economy on imports from the West, and wage and pension reform. | 6.421488 | 0.983471 | 41 | low | high | extractive | 301 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/11/us/11-vie-for-mayor-in-capital-contest.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524105425id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/11/us/11-vie-for-mayor-in-capital-contest.html | 11 VIE FOR MAYOR IN CAPITAL CONTEST | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.105425 | WASHINGTON, April 10— The District of Columbia, once disenfranchised for a century, has fielded no less than 11 mayoral candidates this year, and more may be coming before the filing deadline in July.
For Mayor Marion Barry Jr., the 45-year-old former civil rights activist who was elected in 1978 and is seeking re-election to a second four-year term in November, the flock of opponents represents both a criticism of his sometimes flamboyant incumbency and an opportunity to continue it by dividing the opposition.
The eight Democratic challengers to Mayor Barry include four members of the City Council, with whom the Mayor has sometimes had snappish relations. Also running is Patricia Roberts Harris, 57, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and later Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter Administration, former Ambassador to Luxembourg and dean of the Howard University Law School.
The odds might change, but a telephone poll taken in February by American University's department of government and another by NBC News and The Associated Press showed that Mr. Barry and Mrs. Harris were the mayoral players to watch. Both are black. A Democratic Free-for-All
Almost any Democratic candidate who survives the party primary on Sept. 14 is virtually assured of being elected on Nov. 2 by the District's overwhelmingly Democratic electorate. So the Democatic primary campaign has become an early and unusual election-year freefor-all.
There are two Republican mayoral candidates, both little-known whites.Arthur A. Fletcher, a black Republican who ran a suprisingly strong race against Mr. Barry four years ago, calls the Republican race ''a waste of time. ''
The city is 70 percent black, and Republicans now make up only about 9 percent of the registered voters. Only two Republicans won seats in the election last year of 45 delegates to the District statehood convention, now in the throes of drafting a proposed constitution in an effort to persuade Congress to make the District the nation's 51st state. Statehood would give the city two senators and a representative, and the new members of Congress would almost certainly be black Democrats.
The statehood constitution, which may be the only real issue on the November ballot, is regarded warily by local Republicans, and is viewed by most politicians here as yet another reason for Republican gloom.
But being a virtually one-party city hardly makes local politics dull.Local polls show that the high name recognition of Mr. Barry and Mrs. Harris makes them the greatest potential vote getters, and they are by far the favorites of campaign financiers.
The other two most prominent Democrats, according to the polls, are both members of the City Council. They are John Ray, a black lawyer with biracial support, and Betty Ann Kane, a white former member of the school board. 100 Years of Disfranchisement
From 1874 to 1974, the District of Columbia was a political anomaly. The locally elected home-rule municipal government that Congress established when the city was incorporated in 1802 was abolished 72 years later by Congress. In a reaction to fiscal excesses and a growing number of blacks on the City Council, Congress took direct control of the District's government with a Mayor appointed by the President and a commission chosen by Congress. Residents of the District were disfranchised.
The present system of government, approved in a referendum in May 1974, provides for an elected Mayor and a 13-member City Council but reserves for Congress the right to review the budget and legislation passed by the Council.
Mr. Barry, a native of Itta Benna, Miss., who in 1960 was the first national chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, defeated the the incumbent Mayor, Walter E. Washington, in a threeway primary in 1978. Mr. Barry's support included a big turnout in a largely white area west of Rock Creek Park.
Race remains a major factor in politics here. Councilman David A. Clarke, a white liberal who had planned to run for the council chairmanship, announced this week that he was abandoning the campaign because of ''an unfortunate but growing racial distrust.''
Mr. Clarke said that private polling showed that his campaign against the incumbent chairman, Arrington Dixon, who is black, would founder in northwest Washington's predominantly black, middle-class ''gold coast'' because as many as 20 percent of the voters there indicated that they ''would not vote for a white for chairman.''
In a number of interviews with political figures here, most noted that within the black establisment there was also a further line that one politician, who asked not to be identified by name, described as ''intramural racism.'' This practice, for example, pits the more polished, middle-class appearance of Mrs. Harris and Mr. Ray against Mr. Barry's nuances of youthful Mississippi poverty.
Mrs. Harris, who has been a director of the Chase Manhattan Bank and International Business Machines, opened her campaign last weekend by emphasizing her civil rights record. It includes membership on the board of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., cochairmanship of President Kennedy's National Women's Committee for Civil Rights and participation in a sit-in in 1943 at a segregated cafeteria here. | The District of Columbia, once disenfranchised for a century, has fielded no less than 11 mayoral candidates this year, and more may be coming before the filing deadline in July. For Mayor Marion Barry Jr., the 45-year-old former civil rights activist who was elected in 1978 and is seeking re-election to a second four-year term in November, the flock of opponents represents both a criticism of his sometimes flamboyant incumbency and an opportunity to continue it by dividing the opposition. The eight Democratic challengers to Mayor Barry include four members of the City Council, with whom the Mayor has sometimes had snappish relations. Also running is Patricia Roberts Harris, 57, who was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and later Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare in the Carter Administration, former Ambassador to Luxembourg and dean of the Howard University Law School. | 6.109756 | 0.987805 | 57.304878 | low | high | extractive | 302 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/13/science/the-doctor-s-world-the-growing-importance-of-the-family-history.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524105703id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/13/science/the-doctor-s-world-the-growing-importance-of-the-family-history.html | THE DOCTOR'S WORLD - THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF THE FAMILY HISTORY - NYTimes.com | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.105703 | ONE of the most valuable diagnostic procedures doctors can do is free of risks, involves no advanced technology and costs only the time it takes to ask pertinent questions.
This procedure is the taking of the family history as part of the medical history. Its importance for the patient as well as for grandchildren and future generations increases each passing year as more is learned about the hereditary nature of many common disorders and as newer therapies become available for them.
Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings at lectures and in medical journals, doctors overlook the family history all too often - to the potential detriment of the health of patients as well as their families.
The only tools the doctor needs are paper and pencil as he records the family treeand probes for diagnostic clues to ailments that may affect the patient and blood relatives. Although ways of taking a family history may differ from one doctor to another, the questions are usually straightforward. For example:
- Are your mother and father alive and well? If not, what ails them? If deceased, what did they die of?
- Are all your brothers and sisters alive? Were there any who died? From what?
- Does any relative have the same problem that you do?
- Is there any disorder that runs through your family?
- Is there a genetic disorder that affects your family?
- What is the ethnic origin of the family, if known? The answers may lead to even more questions. For example, the doctor might also ask if relatives had married each other in a patient's family, or if there was a common last name on both sides of the family.
Periodically, doctors update and review the family history because it can provide a wealth of information that can be, in some cases, more important than anything they do in a physical examination or a laboratory test.
For example, now that public health officials have developed screening programs to detect and treat hypertension, more doctors have begun to ask if other members of the family are known to have had high blood pressure. Such a record can help prevent death at an early age and ward off strokes and kidney disease.
Similarly, doctors may ask if a blood relative has had a heart attack prematurely, say at the age of 50. If so, the physician would carefully examine, among other areas, the skin around the eyes and on the arms and feet for yellow discolorations resulting from deposits of fat.
The physician would check for risk factors by, for example, repeating blood pressure readings and ordering tests to measure lipids, cholesterol and other substances in the blood. And then, depending on circumstances in each case, the physician might advise changes in diet and other habits.
The family history can often be helpful in diagnosing, even preventing some cancers. Although cancer is very common and is bound to affect someone somewhere in most families, a few cancers occur in a pattern known as autosomal dominant inheritance. In such family cancer syndromes, each child born to an affected parent has a 50-50 chance of developing the condition.
Knowing the hereditary nature of many common diseases sometimes leads physicians to advise examining other family members as a form of preventive medicine.
Consider Wilson's disease, a rare disorder in which an enzyme defect leads to a toxic accumulation of copper and damages the liver, brain and other organs. It can be successfuly treated with Dpenicillamine. Because such drug therapy can benefit affected individuals before the damage is evident, doctors seek undetected cases among blood relatives who have abnormally large amounts of copper but have not yet manifested symptoms of the disorder.
Inherited disorders can lead to abnormal responses to drugs. One example is malignant hyperthermia. Affected people have no symptoms unless they receive an anesthetic gas. Then the body temperature can rapidly shoot to as high as 107 degrees. In some forms, each child born to an affected parent has a 50-50 chance of having the same condition. When such a reaction occurs, warnings are issued to other blood relatives.
Several years ago, when I investigated an unusual hereditary disorder that damages the eyes, skin and blood vessels, I traveled around the country to examine relatives of my patients for the disorder called P.X.E. (pseudoxanthoma elasticum). I detected several previously unsuspected cases among people who knew the condition ran in their families. Some had not told their doctors. Others had, but their doctors failed to recognize it.
Such an example shows how a diagnosis sometimes becomes apparent only when a doctor reviews the medical records or physically examines all family members. This is particularly true in disorders affecting the central nervous system. Because some cases can be mild, the disorder may not be correctly diagnosed unless all the evidence is examined in a family context.
If family history can be so valuable, why do so many doctors pass it over so lightly? Among the reasons: There is little financial incentive to take the time to work out a family history in this technological era when doctors can earn bigger fees by ordering electrocardiograms and other tests.
Although it is the physician who should customarily ask about a family history, you can do yourself a favor by thinking about the ailments affecting your relatives before a visit to the doctor. Then, if your doctor does not ask, raise the point.
There are far too many hereditary disorders to list here. In considering any such disorder, though, it is important to keep in mind that not all family clusters of an illness stem from genetic factors. The familial occurrence of a disease can be a result of common environmental exposure of several family members to the same infectious or toxic agent.
Illustrations: chart of sample family medical history | ONE of the most valuable diagnostic procedures doctors can do is free of risks, involves no advanced technology and costs only the time it takes to ask pertinent questions. This procedure is the taking of the family history as part of the medical history. Its importance for the patient as well as for grandchildren and future generations increases each passing year as more is learned about the hereditary nature of many common disorders and as newer therapies become available for them. Unfortunately, despite repeated warnings at lectures and in medical journals, doctors overlook the family history all too often - to the potential detriment of the health of patients as well as their families. | 8.95935 | 0.98374 | 42.056911 | low | high | extractive | 303 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/09/us/praise-and-protest-await-reagan-s-visit-to-college.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524105929id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/09/us/praise-and-protest-await-reagan-s-visit-to-college.html | PRAISE AND PROTEST AWAIT REAGAN'S VISIT TO COLLEGE | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.105929 | EUREKA, Ill., May 8— Taverns are forbidden in pristine little Eureka. Movies like ''Wilderness Family'' play at the downtown theater, and posters propped in shop windows around the square promote the upcoming visit of the Hoxie Brothers Circus. This is a conservative, family town.
And among the 4,300 residents, who live in modest houses on neat streets lined by stately trees, there is considerable feeling that government is too big, that the national debt is too high and that taxes should be cut.
This is also Reagan Country. President Reagan, therefore, can expect to receive a warm reception when he arrives Sunday to take part in commencement ceremonies at Eureka College, from which he graduated in 1932.
Indeed, the 86 members of the graduating class plan to give the President a gift of a 30-foot maple tree, recently planted on campus and marked with a plaque, that will henceforth be known as the ''Presidential Shade Tree.'' Not So Welcome in Peoria
But later in the day, when Mr. Reagan travels 20 miles west to Peoria to attend a reception for alumni, he will be among angry senior citizens, frustrated workers laid off from the area's four Caterpillar Tractor Company complexes and others unhappy with his economic policies.
As the President is being praised at the alumni reception at the Continental Regency Hotel, members of United Automobile Workers Local 974, which represents workers at Caterpillar, plan to rally with other protesters at the Peoria County Courthouse, then march about a quarter mile to the hotel.
''The feeling is that Reagan should not be allowed to leave Peoria without knowing that Reaganism is not playing here,'' James O'Connor, president of Local 974, said.
In Eureka, in comparison, sentiment toward the President's visit is overwhelmingly positive. Many people here retain fond memories of the days when Mr. Reagan studied, worked and began his acting career in student plays.
Joseph Klaus, 71 years old, said the President would probably remember him better as ''Zip Klaus.'' ''Dutch was probably as good a friend as I had,'' Mr. Klaus said, using Mr. Reagan's boyhood nickname. ''We used to double-date together.''
Mr. Klaus, who said he would be at the reception Sunday, recalled an incident from his college days with the President. ''We were driving to a town about 85 miles away,'' he explained, ''when suddenly, a cow decided to cross the road. We were going about 50 miles per hour, pretty fast in those days, but I managed to swerve and missed the cow.''
''In my yearbook, Dutch wrote, 'Don't hit that cow!' On the 25th anniversary of our graduation in 1957, I showed him the book and asked him if he remembered the incident,'' Mr. Klaus continued. ''He said yes, and that if I had not missed that cow, things might be different for all of us!''
George Robinson, who attended Eureka College a few years behind Mr. Reagan and now owns Robinson's Radio Lab, an electronics business that has operated on Main Street since 1945, said of Mr. Reagan, ''He certainly enjoys popularity here, and people will be happy to see him come here.
''He and his brother were cheerleaders for the basketball team and I thought he was very good. And he was a Sunday school teacher for a time.''
That religious note is typical in a town that has remained slightly different from its neighbors ever since it sprang up as a four-blocksquare hamlet along the railhead in 1859.
While other towns grew from farms and homesteads, Eureka was settled by highly religious people, members of the Disciples of Christ, who left Ohio and Kentucky to get away from slavery and came to Illinois for the cheap land, $1.25 an acre, said Burrus Dickinson, a former president of Eureka College and the retired publisher of The Woodford County Journal, a weekly newspaper.
Today, Eureka differs from its neighbors in that it has a triple financial base. It serves as a farming center, as the Woodford County seat and as a Peoria suburb. Cutbacks Hurting Eureka Students
But 50 years after young Ronald Reagan and the rest of the Class of '32 left Eureka College, school officials say some students are being forced to drop out because of President Reagan's cuts in student aid programs.
About 60 percent of the students at the 127-year-old college receive Federal or state aid to help defray the $6,000-a-year costs of tuition and room and board, according to George Hearne, Dean of College Relations.
The September enrollment was 439 students, as against 461 enrolled for the fall of 1980. Thirty students, 12 more than is usual, dropped out this school year ''because of fear of the financial situation,'' Mr. Hearne said.
The problem at Eureka was considered serious enough for Donald Whitler, a banker whose daughter, Cindy, is a sophomore, to initiate an ''Adopt-a-Student'' effort in which alumni, including Mr. Reagan, have been asked to contribute $1,250 ''above and beyond their regular giving.''
Despite the new hardships, many students expressed pleasure that their famous alumnus would be visiting. ''The cuts in student aid probably had to be made but they came at a bad time,'' said Paul Wenz, a junior, who added, however, ''It is neat that the President is coming back.''
''I think it will be an honor that the President is coming,'' said Janet House, a freshman. But she also expressed worry about Mr. Reagan's policies: ''I fear that I might not be able to come back next year because of the budget cuts. I feel he could have cut areas other than education.''
The students' concerns about the nation's economy were echoed in Peoria. Douglas Crew, a Caterpillar spokesman, said half of the 3,000 company workers scheduled to be laid off nationwide in May and June work in the facilities spread around the Peoria area.
''This is the first time Peoria has been faced with such economic problems in 20 years,'' said Mr. O'Connor, the union president. ''Sunday's activities will represent the beginning of a groundswell of grassroots opposition to Mr. Reagan's policies here.''
''My people are blue-collar workers who have always been staunchly conservative and who have voted largely Republican,'' he said. ''But now there is talk of getting Reagan and Robert Michel out.'' Mr. Michel, the House Minority Leader, has represented this area in Congress for 26 years.
''There is ill feeling toward them both because people feel they are no longer responsive to our needs here,'' Mr. O'Connor said.
Illustrations: photo of downtown Eureka, IL map of IL, showing location of Eureka | Taverns are forbidden in pristine little Eureka. Movies like ''Wilderness Family'' play at the downtown theater, and posters propped in shop windows around the square promote the upcoming visit of the Hoxie Brothers Circus. This is a conservative, family town. And among the 4,300 residents, who live in modest houses on neat streets lined by stately trees, there is considerable feeling that government is too big, that the national debt is too high and that taxes should be cut. | 14.728261 | 0.98913 | 45.141304 | low | high | extractive | 304 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/21/nyregion/connecticut-housing-with-architect-builder-tips-selecting-architect.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524111408id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/21/nyregion/connecticut-housing-with-architect-builder-tips-selecting-architect.html | CONNECTICUT HOUSING with the architect and the builder | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.111408 | FOR the increasing number of people contemplating major renovation or remodeling work, the selection of an architect poses a dilemma. Unlike accountants, physicians or lawyers, architects are not wellknown enough for friends or colleagues to be much help in recommending names from which to begin to make a choice.
There is also the matter of the criteria by which an architectural concern should be judged. What are the key questions? How are fees determined? What is the range of services provided by an architect? And where do you start to look?
Both Peter Borgemeister, executive vice president of the Connecticut Society of Architects, and Wayne Linker, executive director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, report that their offices have been handling a growing number of inquiries from homeowners in the last two years.
The scarcity of prime land, escalating interest rates plus the energy crisis have spawned a need for the sort of substantial renovation work that requires the attention of an architect, they have found.
''I used to get two or three of these calls a month,'' said Mr. Borgemeister. ''Now I get two or three a week.'' People undertaking these large jobs, said Mr. Borgemeister, include older couples who decide to stay put after finding out the cost of moving into a condominium and homeowners who want to insure that their passive solar additions harmonize with the original style of the house.
The renovators also include people who need to build an office or studio onto their home, those who have an elderly relative or handicapped person living with them, and those who want a more sophisticated, updated architectural environment. The latter frequently find that remodeling is a more thrifty, customized way to move up without moving on.
What has changed in recent years, observed Richard Bergmann, a New Canaan architect, is that there is now far less emphasis on increased space and far more on upgrading existing kitchens, bathrooms or entertaining areas.
Before homeowners approach an architect, Mr. Borgemeister recommends that they write an accurate description of the project and the needs it is intended to serve.
''Going through the exercise helps develop a more detailed program, putting your thoughts into focus,'' he explained. ''And later it will furnish the architect with a clear idea of what is truly important to you.''
A homeowner's list of potential architects should come from as wide a variety of sources as possible, he said - neighbors, colleagues, information provided by professional organizations and even the Yellow Pages.
Architecture, Mr. Borgemeister said, is a very individualized service and there is a tremendous difference in approach and ways of operation. But it is important for the homeowner to feel confident with the personality of the architect, as well as his services, he added.
Architectural concerns should be approached first by mail, he suggested, with the written outline enclosed. Not everyone, he pointed out, will be interested or able to bid for the project.
Architects do not normally charge for the initial interview with a client. However, if the visit is being used to gain information from the architect about his ideas, he may feel justified in sending a bill, particularly if he does not do the job in the end.
''If I just say hello and spend half an hour I won't charge,'' explained Abraham Rothenberg, a Westport architect. ''But if they pick my brain for two hours and I don't get the job, I would probably charge something.''
However, Mr. Rothenberg pointed out that such a consultation may be worthwhile in itself for anyone eager to avoid the expense of full architectural services. Expect to pay between $50 and $150 for this sort of a consultation, he said.
Mr. Borgemeister recommended seeing some of the work of the architect, as well as interviewing former clients before making a final decision. Some architects even insist upon it.
''We take them to see our other houses,'' explained Frederick Biebesheimer, an architect in Old Lyme who handles restoration work. ''You have to be on the same wavelength. Each house has a very personal sort of signature.''
There are no hard and fast rules covering architectural fees. But Mr. Borgemeister urged homeowners to approach negotiations with confidence. ''There is always flexibility,'' he said. ''So don't just feel you have to pay what is asked.''
The nature of the work and the relationship between architect and client is sufficiently important that the fee should not be the prime factor in the decision, he said, especially if there is only a little difference. Often, he pointed out, an architect can save the difference somewhere else in the project.
Many architects set rates based on a percentage of the construction cost. Mr. Rothenberg, for instance, normally charges approximately 15 percent of construction costs for the full range of services. These include drawings and specifications, helping select the contractor and overseeing the job in progress. | FOR the increasing number of people contemplating major renovation or remodeling work, the selection of an architect poses a dilemma. Unlike accountants, physicians or lawyers, architects are not wellknown enough for friends or colleagues to be much help in recommending names from which to begin to make a choice. There is also the matter of the criteria by which an architectural concern should be judged. What are the key questions? How are fees determined? What is the range of services provided by an architect? And where do you start to look? Both Peter Borgemeister, executive vice president of the Connecticut Society of Architects, and Wayne Linker, executive director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, report that their offices have been handling a growing number of inquiries from homeowners in the last two years. | 6.326797 | 0.973856 | 35.27451 | low | high | extractive | 305 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/28/magazine/summer-skin-care.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524114559id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/28/magazine/summer-skin-care.html | SUMMER SKIN CARE | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.114559 | In the name of fitness, men now lavish time and money on exercise programs and gear, and even executives follow demanding aerobic schedules. But good health involves more than exercise. ''Even though they may be doing great things for their heart and lungs and arms and legs, they tend to overlook the health of their skin,'' says Dr. John H. Epstein, clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and president of the American Academy of Dermatology. ''If a man is going to exercise outdoors,'' he says, ''he should make a point of protecting his skin. He should also be careful indoors - a lot of men who go to health clubs and gyms to work out end up sitting under a sun lamp and damaging their skin.''
''Women want to have soft, smooth skin, but, with men, it is the other way around,'' says Dr. Frederick Urbach, professor and chairman of the department of dermatology at Temple University Skin and Cancer Hospital in Philadelphia. ''My favorite example is the Marlboro Man - the cowboy on a horse. The dark leathery tan, the wrinkling around the eyes and the deep furrows are all considered macho. Such sunlight damage - changes that people mistakenly associate with the aging process - makes men feel more virile, more like our image of the rugged he-man.'' In the long run, however, sunlight takes a very heavy toll on a man's skin. In fact, the risk for a man may actually increase at a faster rate than for a woman. Because, according to a report by Dr. Sam Shuster and his colleagues at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, a man's skin gets progressively thinner - and therefore more vulnerable -throughout the adult years, whereas a woman's skin does not start to thin until after menopause.
That tough, thick-skinned macho look produced by a dark tan could not be more deceptive, says Dr. Epstein. The skin is neither tough nor thick - it only appears so. ''In fact, it becomes so thin as a result of chronic sun damage that it tears quite easily,'' he adds. And this is only one of the many deleterious changes that occur with prolonged sun injury in both the epidermis, the outer layer of the skin, and the dermis, the skin's supporting structure. Chronic exposure to the sun leads to wrinkling, mottling and''broken'' blood vessels, and, eventually, to various forms of skin cancer.
Epidermal damage is reflected in the scaliness and apparent dryness that chronically exposed skin has, as well as in unsightly discoloration. ''You may get a loss of melanin in spots - which shows up as white splotches,'' Dr. Epstein says. ''That is one result of damage to the melanocytes, the cells that produce melanin pigment. Or you may get an irregular increase in pigmentation, also because of melanocyte damage. That, too, gives the skin a mottled appearance.''
Sun injury at the dermal level causes further types of discoloration, starting with vascular damage in several disfiguring forms. Telangiectasis - the ''broken'' blood vessels that are actually dilated, not broken - are aggravated by years of sun exposure. Another result, and one very common in men, is rosacea: the red, often bulbous, nose. ''W. C. Fields had a dandy,'' Dr. Epstein notes. And there is a tendency for men to develop small pustules on the face as well.
Wrinkling is another inevitable consequence of sun damage. ''The mechanism is not all that clear,'' says Dr. Epstein, ''but it could be related to the injury and destruction of collagen and the connective tissue support of the skin. There may be abnormal deposition of degenerating colloid material as well -the yellowish bumps that are frequently seen rising just under facial skin.''
Although cosmetic surgery can be an option, skin that has been exposed to the sun presents problems that unexposed skin does not. ''What men don't realize,'' says Dr. Robert L. Cucin, assistant professor in surgery (plastic) at the New York Hospital/ Cornell Medical Center, ''is that sun-damaged skin does not hold a face lift well or long. The skin is inferior to what it would have been without 20 years or more of sun exposure. If you have a lift, you can get rid of the big wrinkles,'' he explains, ''but the fine wrinkles - which are part of the leather-hide look of sun-abused skin - are impossible to do anything about surgically. You can do a chemical peel, and this makes the fine wrinkles less noticeable. It also makes the skin even thinner than before, however, and the vascular damage now becomes more evident. So the blotchiness ends up being far worse.''
Chronic sun damage can eventually lead to solar keratoses as well as other abnormal growths, and finally to skin cancer in the later years. The two main kinds of skin cancer known to be directly linked to sunlight exposure, Dr. Urbach says, are basal-cell carcinoma and squamous-cell carcinoma. Together, they account for nearly all instances of skin cancer in the United States, he says. Melanoma, by far the most dangerous form of skin cancer, is responsible for only 14,000 of the 350,000 to 400,000 annual cases among men and women. About two-thirds of all basal-cell cancers, the most common type of skin malignancy, are due to chronic sunlight exposure, Dr. Urbach says. Squamous-cell carcinoma, less common but more serious, is almost entirely due to the long-term effects of solar radiation.
Squamous-cell cancer is seen more often in men than in women. The reason, Dr. Urbach points out, is that a woman's hair protects the ears and the back of the neck, the two sites where there is an extremely high incidence of squamous-cell cancer (75 to 80 percent of all skin cancers occur in the head and neck). This is why any man who is bald should guard his head well against undue sun exposure. ''Bald men must wear hats,'' cautions Dr. Epstein. ''I don't think even a sun block with a sun protection factor of 15 will do the job for them. It is hard for men to put that stuff on their head; they don't do it well enough. They have got to wear hats.''
Sun damage is cumulative, Dr. Urbach stresses. ''Time at the beach is but a small fraction of the outdoor exposure you get,'' he notes. ''The important thing is the total amount of time you are ex-posed to the sun's rays. This includes every minute you spend waiting for a bus or crossing the street as well as jogging, walking, biking and playing tennis. Each photon of sunlight that reaches your skin adds to the toll. Some of this damage,'' Dr. Urbach explains, ''gets mended by your body's repair systems. Some does not. So the more exposure you get year after year, the more likely you are to get into trouble.''
A man should use a good sunscreen daily from late March through mid-October, in Dr. Urbach's opinion. ''A sunscreen with a sun protection factor of eight or more protects you very well,'' he says. ''I suggest using it as though it were an after-shave lotion on the face and neck. It is also a good idea to put some on the back of the hands. Then, whenever you go outside, you are protected.'' As for getting a tan, Dr. Epstein has this advice: ''The safest way to get a tan is to put one on - with a bronzer.'' | By Jane Ogle In the name of fitness, men now lavish time and money on exercise programs and gear, and even executives follow demanding aerobic schedules. But good health involves more than exercise. ''Even though they may be doing great things for their heart and lungs and arms and legs, they tend to overlook the health of their skin,'' says Dr. John H. Epstein, clinical professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, and president of the American Academy of Dermatology. ''If a man is going to exercise outdoors,'' he says, ''he should make a point of protecting his skin. He should also be careful indoors - a lot of men who go to health clubs and gyms to work out end up sitting under a sun lamp and damaging their skin.'' | 9.610063 | 0.974843 | 75.842767 | low | high | extractive | 306 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/29/world/study-cites-peril-in-world-agricultural-decline.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524115954id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/29/world/study-cites-peril-in-world-agricultural-decline.html | STUDY CITES PERIL IN WORLD AGRICULTURAL DECLINE | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.115954 | WASHINGTON, March 28— Deteriorating biological systems around the world pose a grave threat to the global economy, according to a new report issued by the Worldwatch Insitute.
The report warns that excessive pressure on crop and grazing lands, forests and fisheries, combined with continued rapid population growth, portend inevitable declines in living standards in many nations and regions of the world.
It asserts that the decline already has started in the area south of the Sahara in Africa and may soon begin in the Andean region of South America. Even the major industrial nations will not be spared over the long run if these trends continue, it concluded.
''It is increasingly clear that the world is on the edge of an environmental crisis that is undermining the global economy,'' in the view of the institute, a private research organization concerned with international economic and environmental problems. International Effort Sought
The report, issued on Friday and entitled ''Six Steps to a Sustainable Society,'' calls for international efforts to address environmentally based economic problems that, it says, are beginning to afflict many countries without regard to their political or economic systems.
The report was written by Lester R. Brown and Pamela Shaw and is based on Mr. Brown's recently published book, ''Building a Sustainable Society.''
At a news conference held to introduce the report, Mr. Brown commented: ''If we want to know what economic indicators will be like 10 years from now, we should look at the ecological indicators of today. If we want to know, for example, what will be happening to food prices by the end of the century, we should look to soil erosion today.''
In 1964, the report points out, the per capita world production of wood peaked and has been declining since. In the 1970's per capita world production of fish, beef, grain and oil also peaked and declined, all after a long period of uninterrupted growth. Causes of Decline
These trends are unlikely to be reversed without a concerted effort because they are caused by severe environmental degradation and excessive exploitation, the report contends. Wood production is declining because of deforestation, it says. Food production is down because of soil erosion and the spread of deserts. Cattle lands have been overgrazed and oceans and lakes overfished.
Meanwhile, continued rapid population growth is inexorably increasing demand for the products of the earth's biological system, the report says. Projections, such as one by the United Nation, that the world population will stabilize at around 10 billion, compared to today's 4 billion, are based on assumptions of economic development by countries where the growth rate is highest. But the very fact of rapid population growth combined with the deteriorating biological systems will lead to economic decline rather than growth and continued high birth rates, the report argues.
These trends are so new, Mr. Brown said, that policy makers in most governments are not fully aware of them and their implications. The report lists six steps that must be taken if economic decline is to be averted and sustainable growth achieved worldwide:
- Population must be stablized gradually so that it levels off at the 6 billion mark around the year 2020.
- Soil erosion and other soil losses must be reversed.
- A large scale, sustained global reforestation program must be undertaken.
- Industrial nations and poorer countries must move toward a systematic recycling of materials.
- Energy must be conserved through creation of a more energyefficient economic system.
- Renewable sources of energy must be developed. ''Efforts to put society on a sustainable footing will tax the capacity of individuals and institutions everywhere to change and adapt to the new circumstances,'' the report says. ''Some forwardlooking countries with effective leadership will adjust in time to avoid severe economic and social stresses. Others will learn the hard way.'' | Deteriorating biological systems around the world pose a grave threat to the global economy, according to a new report issued by the Worldwatch Insitute. The report warns that excessive pressure on crop and grazing lands, forests and fisheries, combined with continued rapid population growth, portend inevitable declines in living standards in many nations and regions of the world. It asserts that the decline already has started in the area south of the Sahara in Africa and may soon begin in the Andean region of South America. Even the major industrial nations will not be spared over the long run if these trends continue, it concluded. | 6.405172 | 0.982759 | 39.827586 | low | high | extractive | 307 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/20/nyregion/8-candidates-to-meet-with-panel-seeking-a-city-u-chancellor.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524120126id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/20/nyregion/8-candidates-to-meet-with-panel-seeking-a-city-u-chancellor.html | 8 CANDIDATES TO MEET WITH PANEL SEEKING A CITY U. CHANCELLOR | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.120126 | Eight candidates for the chancellorship of the City University of New York, all of whom had previously been interviewed, have been invited back to meet individually with the search committee this weekend for what is expected to be the final round of interviews, sources close to the search said yesterday.
A chancellor will probably be chosen within two weeks, according to James P. Murphy, chairman of the university's board of trustees and head of the search committee.
Dr. Robert J. Kibbee, the chancellor for the last 10 years, said last spring that he would retire this July.
There has been no official announcement of the names of those being considered for the job, but the sources have provided a list of the apparent finalists.
They are Leon M. Goldstein, acting deputy chancellor of the City University; Dr. Donald N. Langenberg, deputy director of the National Science Foundation; Dr. Gerald W. Lynch, president of John Jay College, and Dr. Frank J. Macchiarola, Chancellor of the New York City public schools.
Also, Dr. Joseph S. Murphy, president of Bennington (Vt.) College; Dr. Frank Newman, president of the University of Rhode Island; Dr. Percy A. Pierre, a defense consultant and former assistant secretary for research of the Department of the Army, and Dr. David Z. Robinson, vice president of the Carnegie Foundation.
Five of the eight have current or former affiliations with the City University. In addition to Mr. Goldstein and Dr. Lynch, who are now with the university, Dr. Macchiarola is a former faculty member, Dr. Murphy is a former president of Queens College, and Dr. Robinson is a former member of the City University board of trustees.
The sources said an attempt was probably going to be made to add at least one woman to the list of those scheduled to meet with the search committee this weekend. | Eight candidates for the chancellorship of the City University of New York, all of whom had previously been interviewed, have been invited back to meet individually with the search committee this weekend for what is expected to be the final round of interviews, sources close to the search said yesterday. A chancellor will probably be chosen within two weeks, according to James P. Murphy, chairman of the university's board of trustees and head of the search committee. Dr. Robert J. Kibbee, the chancellor for the last 10 years, said last spring that he would retire this July. | 3.218182 | 0.981818 | 40.054545 | low | high | extractive | 308 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/06/obituaries/margaret-banning-wrote-40-books-and-400-stories.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524122709id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/06/obituaries/margaret-banning-wrote-40-books-and-400-stories.html | MARGARET BANNING - WROTE 40 BOOKS AND 400 STORIES - NYTimes.com | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.122709 | Margaret Culkin Banning, author of 40 books and more than 400 short stories in a career that spanned six decades, died Monday night at her home in Tryon, N.C. She was 90 years old. ''She was working on another novel at the time of her death,'' said Tanner Banning, the author's son.
An early and longtime advocate of women's rights, Mrs. Banning declared in an interview in 1947: ''Women should get over being afraid of being seen without men. I believe in personal in dependence for all women .'' At that time, and into the 1960's, she was well known as a wr iter, for in addition to her books, she frequently appeared in R eader's Digest and many other magazines.
Mrs. Banning's last 30 novels, including ''Such Interesting People,'' which came out in 1979, were published by Harper & Row, her son said. Among her best-known novels are ''Fallen Away'' (1951), which dealt with mixed religious marriages, and ''The Vine and the Olive'' (1965), about birth control. Book on Mining Industry
Mrs. Banning was often characterized as a ''woman's novelist,'' but ''Mesabi'' (1968) dealt with the mining industry, a subject she became interested in after her marriage to LeRoy Salsich, a former president of the Oliver Iron Mining Company. The marriage to Mr. Salsich, in 1944, took place 10 years after her first marriage, to Archibald Tanner Banning, ended in divorce.
Mrs. Banning, born in Buffalo, Minn., was long active in social and national affairs. She went to England to study the conditions of British working women during World War II and after the war she worked in refugee camps in Germany and Austria.
A 1912 graduate of Vassar, Mrs. Banning was a trustee of the college from 1937 to 1945. In addition to her son, who lives in Duluth, Minn., Mrs. Banning is survived by a daughter, Mary Banning Friedlander of Milwaukee. A funeral service will be held Friday at 11 A.M. in St. John's Roman Catholic Church in Tryon. | Margaret Culkin Banning, author of 40 books and more than 400 short stories in a career that spanned six decades, died Monday night at her home in Tryon, N.C. She was 90 years old. ''She was working on another novel at the time of her death,'' said Tanner Banning, the author's son. An early and longtime advocate of women's rights, Mrs. Banning declared in an interview in 1947: ''Women should get over being afraid of being seen without men. I believe in personal in dependence for all women .'' At that time, and into the 1960's, she was well known as a wr iter, for in addition to her books, she frequently appeared in R eader's Digest and many other magazines. | 2.85034 | 0.993197 | 73.863946 | low | high | extractive | 309 |
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/22/style/the-evening-hours.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150524125106id_/http://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/22/style/the-evening-hours.html | THE EVENING HOURS | 1970-08-22T05:22:04.125106 | T WO men on horseback playing polo are not a common sight on Fifth Avenue at 52d Street, but they didn't actually stop traffic Wednesday night. They just slowed it a bit. A few passersby stopped to watch briefly. Others were more blase, like the two middle-age women who were hurrying along the street. One tugged at the other's sleeve when she saw the horses, but the other said impatiently, ''I don't have time for this.''
The polo-playing demonstration was held outside Cartier's while a party was held inside in honor of a polo tournament the jewelry store is sponsoring in Palm Beach, Fla., beginning March 16. A highlight of the tournament will be the Cartier International Polo Ball to benefit World Wildlife Fund-U.S.
The partygoers were a varied lot. They included Mary Sanford, honorary chairman of the ball; Francis L. Kellogg, a former president of the wildlife group; Joseph F. Coleman 3d, chairman of the Philip Morris Company and head of the executive committee of the fund; Diane Love; Michael Butler, and his sister, Jorie Butler Kent, whose husband, Geoffrey, plays polo.
Patti Davis, daughter of Marvin Davis, the Colorado oilman and movie magnate, dashed in late, blond hair spilling over the shoulders of her sable coat, and said, ''I just got into town, and I'm going back to California. Did I miss the polo playing?''
She did, but Paul Nitze didn't. Paul, who will be 4 years old in two weeks, walked around the store in his double-breasted navy coat and red rubber boots and said, yes, he liked the horses. But, with a tidbit clutched in each tiny fist, he seemed more interested in the food.
''I was to take him to dinner at the Promenade Cafe,'' explained his mother, Ann, ''but it was closed. So I brought him here, and he filled up on hors d'oeuvres.''
T HERE was more substantial food at the Plaza Hotel's 75th anniversary party, held in the Terrace Room. Buffet tables held shrimp, crab claws, oysters, beef fillets, stuffed artichokes, steak tartare, various pates and terrines, smoked salmon and all manner of cakes, mousses and petits fours.
It was the opening event in a series of anniversary celebrations to culminate in a formal ball on Oct. 1, the opening day of the hotel in 1907. This week's party celebrated the publication of a book on the hotel, entitled, aptly enough, ''The Plaza.''
The 400 partygoers ate and drank with gusto and listened appreciately to Hildegarde - in red taffeta cape, black dress and long black gloves -sing a string of old songs, including ''Happy Birthday.'' Hildegarde announced that she's really the same age as the hotel, but she prefers to transpose the figures to 57.
After her performance, Hildegarde held court on the upper level of Terrace Room. Among her admirers was Donald Smith, who recalled seeing a poster advertising a Hildegarde show in Boston when he was 8 years old. He asked his aunt to take him to a performace, but she replied, ''We don't go to nightclubs.'' Some years later, Mr. Smith saw Hildegarde for the first time at the Persian Room at the Plaza.
Only Bill Harris, author of ''The Plaza,'' was a little disappointed with the Plaza anniversary party. ''They left my name off the book,'' he said. ''The publishers say it was an accident and they'll put it on the second printing.''
T HE party William Randolph Hearst Jr. gave for the 35th anniversary of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Cancer Fund was held at the fund's headquarters on West 56th Street. The building was originally the Woolworth family mansion and later a nightclub.
On the marble staircase in the entry hall the other night, Mr. Hearst welcomed the guests, who included Louisa and Moorhead Kennedy, Sharman Douglas, Damon Runyon 3d, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Celeste Holm, Wesley Addy and Betsy and Walter Cronkite. Mr. Cronkite was rather surprised to discov er he was the guest of honor. ''All I know is I was invited to a cocktail party,' ' he said. ''Then I got here and found out it was for me. I have no i dea why.''
After the party, Mr. Hearst dashed over to the ''21'' Club to join his wife, Austine, for dinner. She had spent the early part of the evening at a benefit for the Musicians Emergency Fund.
''You've heard of separate rooms,'' she said. ''We have separate charities.'' Anne-Marie Schiro | T WO men on horseback playing polo are not a common sight on Fifth Avenue at 52d Street, but they didn't actually stop traffic Wednesday night. They just slowed it a bit. A few passersby stopped to watch briefly. Others were more blase, like the two middle-age women who were hurrying along the street. One tugged at the other's sleeve when she saw the horses, but the other said impatiently, ''I don't have time for this.'' The polo-playing demonstration was held outside Cartier's while a party was held inside in honor of a polo tournament the jewelry store is sponsoring in Palm Beach, Fla., beginning March 16. A highlight of the tournament will be the Cartier International Polo Ball to benefit World Wildlife Fund-U.S. | 6.226667 | 0.993333 | 78.566667 | low | high | extractive | 310 |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/22/wwdc-rumor-roundup-its-the-apple-tv-show/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150525005204id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/05/22/wwdc-rumor-roundup-its-the-apple-tv-show/ | WWDC rumor roundup: Welcome to the Apple TV show! | 1970-08-22T05:22:05.005204 | The shape is right there in the middle of the invitation to this year’s much-sought-after* World Wide Developer’s Conference: A black square with rounded corners.
See it? That’s Apple TV, which took the form of a black cube five years ago and hasn’t changed since.
Apple TV’s function hasn’t changed either: It’s a set-top box that plugs into an HDTV and connects to the Internet.
Steve Jobs called it a hobby, and although it’s been generating more than $1 billion a year for at least three years it’s still one of the lesser stars in Apple’s product line up. It never did for television what the iPod did to music or the iPhone to telephony.
Yet now, according to the invitation, it’s about to become “The epicenter of change.”
How it gets from here to there is still not clear, but there are plenty of hints in the leaks, rumors and prognostications that cross my screen several times a day.
According to the Apple rumor mill, here’s what we can expect at WWDC15:
p.s. It doesn’t fit the Apple-TV-as-epicenter-of-change theme, but according to several sources, including Global Equities Trip Chowdhry, Apple Watch programmers will also be getting a full-fledged SDK at WWDC15.
The show starts with a Moscone Center keynote the morning June 8. I’ll be there.
*Note to Tim Cook: Please give John Siracusa a ticket!
Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter at @philiped. Read his Apple AAPL coverage at fortune.com/ped or subscribe via his RSS feed. | Apple's biggest event of the year is more than two weeks away, but it's not too early to see the shape of things to come. | 11.206897 | 0.62069 | 0.896552 | low | low | abstractive | 311 |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/26/luxury-residential-amenities/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150527062918id_/http://fortune.com/2015/05/26/luxury-residential-amenities/ | The latest residential amenities: Supersized luxuries | 1970-08-22T05:22:07.062918 | The New York Times called 2015 the Year of the Condo, noting so many new buildings of condos under construction that there are fears of a glut. Bloomberg recently noted a rise in rentals above $50,000–the number tripled since 2008. One thing is clear: there is no shortage of domestic developments aiming for the one percent, whether they hail from the U.S. or abroad.
Residential amenities in these new developments have supersized along with real estate prices, going far beyond the typical gym or concierge service. They’re boasting resort-like features that blur the line between a luxurious vacation and everyday life, so that residents need never leave the building, like bars and restaurants and spas for humans and pets alike. But tower-dwellers can still go outside and have plenty to do on rooftop beaches with pool cabanas, observatories, and outdoor kitchens.
The lowest-priced properties of the buildings featured here are studio apartments going for nearly half a million dollars, and prices soar way up into the millions from there. See what special features are included. | As the high-end residential market booms, developers are competing with amazing, resort-like amenities. | 10.1 | 0.6 | 0.9 | low | low | abstractive | 312 |
http://fortune.com/2015/05/26/rubrik-archive-data/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150528231102id_/http://fortune.com:80/2015/05/26/rubrik-archive-data/ | Rubrik lands $41 million to archive your company data | 1970-08-22T05:22:08.231102 | It’s probably safe to say that analyzing vast quantities of company data can lead to making better business decisions for your organization. But the process of obtaining useful business insights from all that stored information is only as good as the quality of the data you maintain. If something were to go wrong with that data, there’s a chance that you might not have anything to analyze.
This is why it’s important for companies to properly backup and archive their data, and doing just that is what Palo Alto-based Rubrik wants to make a name for itself in. The startup–which was founded a little over a year ago by former Google, Facebook, and Oracle engineers–will announce on Tuesday that it has landed a $41-million series B funding round. The new financing comes just a few months after the startup raised $10 million.
When companies archive their data, they usually have to buy three things, Rubrik CEO and co-founder Bipul Sinha explained in an interview with Fortune. They have to buy a hard drive, a server to store that hard drive, and data-archiving software to run on top of all that hardware.
Rubrik sells a hardware appliance that’s essentially an all-in-one data archiving system that negates the need to buy all three of those items separately. The device comes loaded with both spinning disk drives and flash memory, which is useful for backing up company data that doesn’t need to be accessed a whole lot, as well as critical data that can’t afford to go down even for a minute or two.
For example, if a company using an Oracle database to power one of its applications experiences a hiccup that causes the database to fall apart, the Rubrik appliance can supposedly sync a backup copy of that Oracle database (stored in flash memory) and allow the application to continue running as if an error never happened. “You just redirect to our platform,” said Sinha.
The startup isn’t the only player in the data-archiving space, explains analyst George Crump of Storage Switzerland. It has a host of competitors, including products sold by Symantec SYMC , IBM IBM , Asigra, and a fast-rising startup called Actifio that’s now worth over $1 billion.
What separates Rubrik from the pack is the ability to scale its appliance rapidly, meaning companies simply have to drop more Rubrik appliances into their data center if they want more backup storage. The Rubrik software will automatically tether all the appliances together so they read as one machine, Crump explained.
“They are one of the few scale-out architectures,” the analyst said. “They are the only scale-out architecture in this end of the market that scales the backup process.”
Crump explained that backup storage can be considered “the Rodney Dangerfield of the data center,” in that archiving data doesn’t get as much respect as other areas of operations like networking and data processing. But its importance can’t be understated, because companies need to ensure that their systems can continue to operate in the face of disaster.
Greylock Partners led Rubrik’s latest funding round, along with Lightspeed Venture Partners and Microsoft Chairman John W. Thompson, ServiceNow CEO Frank Slootman, Nutanix CEO Dheeraj Pandey, and Mark Leslie of Leslie Ventures. Rubrik has 40 employees and $51 million in total funding.
For more about big data, check out the following Fortune video: | Rubrik sells a hardware appliance that the company claims can backup data and help applications stay alive in the case of emergency. | 28.913043 | 0.73913 | 2.130435 | medium | low | mixed | 313 |
http://fortune.com/2015/02/03/marketing-magic-monopoly-maker-hides-real-money-in-games-special-edition/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150530071105id_/http://fortune.com/2015/02/03/marketing-magic-monopoly-maker-hides-real-money-in-games-special-edition/ | Monopoly maker hides real money in game's special edition | 1970-08-22T05:22:10.071105 | This post is in partnership with Entrepreneur. The article below was originally published at Entrepreneur.com.
Hasbro HAS is taking a page out of the Willy Wonka marketing playbook. In honor of Monopoly’s 80th anniversary, French players of the eminent board game will have a chance to win actual cash hidden in sets of the game.
Eighty boxes out of 30,000 different games will have varying amounts of cash ranging between about $170 and $342. Meanwhile, the big winner will get a box that has every piece of Monopoly money replaced will real euros, adding up to about $23,200.
While certainly not enough to buy a railroad or an ocean-front property, it’s still a fairly substantial chunk of change. Florence Gaillaird, Hasbro France’s brand manager, told the AFP that the bills were delivered to the local packing center with a supreme amount of secrecy.
Of course, Monopoly isn’t the first brand to take a “golden ticket” approach. In 2010, Nestle, which owns the Wonka name, put prizes in its Exceptionals candy bars. Two years later, in a slightly more off-putting move, the candy company put GPS trackers in Kit Kats to award 12,000 euros to winners in Ireland and the UK.
Monopoly is available in 114 countries and 43 languages.
This ‘Exploding Kittens’ Card Game Is Blowing Up on Kickstarter
‘Game Guru’ of Candy Crush Saga Leaves King Digital to Found New Gaming Startup
Watch more of the latest news in toys and games from Fortune’s video team: | For its 80th anniversary, 80 winners will find real cash when they buy the board game in France. | 14.8 | 0.75 | 1.15 | low | low | abstractive | 314 |
http://www.people.com/article/abduljalil-alarbash-student-hero-mosque-bombing | http://web.archive.org/web/20150531215802id_/http://www.people.com/article/abduljalil-alarbash-student-hero-mosque-bombing | Kansas College Student Hailed as 'Hero' for Trying to Stop Mosque Bombing | 1970-08-22T05:22:11.215802 | The scene outside the Shi'ite al-Anoud mosque
05/31/2015 AT 11:15 AM EDT
Abduljalil Alarbash, an honors student at a Kansas university, is being called a "hero" after he and relatives prevented a suicide bomber Friday from entering a mosque full of people in Dammam, Saudi Arabia,
However, Alarbash wasn't spared from the deadly blast, which also killed three others including his brother, Mohammed, and their cousin, according to CNN.
"Abduljalil saved hundreds of lives ... including my father and some of my friends," Mohammad Aljady, a fellow Wichita State University student, told CNN. "We believe what he did made him a hero and the world will never forget heroes."
The official account of the attack, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility, is that the terrorist was intercepted by "security men." Sources with knowledge of the investigation confirm to CNN that the terrorist was confronted by men volunteering to search entrants to the Shi'ite al-Anoud mosque for prayers.
"The suicide bomber approached the mosque wearing [a traditional robe worn by women]," Alarbash's father said. "They suspected him so they stopped him and uncovered his face."
Alarbash, an electrical engineering major at Wichita State, had returned to Saudi Arabia to get married, according to CNN. He was affectionately known as "Jalil."
"I think the way in which he passed away shows a lot about the person," Alicia Newell, director of the university's engineering career center, told CNN. "He was definitely a pleasure to work with."
ISIS has claimed responsibility for two attacks on Shiite mosques in Saudi Arabia since May 22. That first attack killed or wounded more than 100 people, CNN reports, citing the Saudi Press Agency.
Some experts believe the group
of violence, terror and chaos after similar, and enduring, efforts in Iraq and Syria. | His family and friends say he helped stop a suicide bomber from entering the mosque before detonating | 21.941176 | 0.647059 | 1.235294 | medium | low | abstractive | 315 |
http://fortune.com/2015/06/04/spencer-rascoff-keeping-your-best-employees/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150605074458id_/http://fortune.com/2015/06/04/spencer-rascoff-keeping-your-best-employees/ | 9 ways to recruit extraordinary employees | 1970-08-22T05:23:25.074458 | The Leadership Insider network is an online community where the most thoughtful and influential people in business contribute answers to timely questions about careers and leadership. Today’s answer to the question “How do you keep your best employees?” is by Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Zillow Group.
My most important job as CEO of Zillow is to identify, recruit, retain, and motivate extraordinary people. It’s what I spend most of my time on. Here are some of the ways we do this at Zillow:
Read all answers to the Leadership Insider question: How do you keep your best employees?
Why this CEO encourages failure in the workplace by Amy Errett, CEO and co-founder of Madison Reed.
Sarah Kauss: Why a pay bump isn’t the answer to employee happiness by Sarah Kauss, CEO and founder of S’well.
The one perk that will guarantee employee happiness by Ryan Harwood, CEO of PureWow.
The secret to holding on to your best employees by Amit Srivastav, president of Infinite.
3 ways to prevent your employees from quitting by Niraj Shah, CEO of Wayfair. | Create a company culture that rewards innovation, rather than success. | 17.916667 | 0.333333 | 0.333333 | medium | low | abstractive | 316 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/06/04/single-test-for-all-virus-exposure-opens-doors-for-researchers/uZ7DwhaIHXha1ux1dtdb4K/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150607184707id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/06/04/single-test-for-all-virus-exposure-opens-doors-for-researchers/uZ7DwhaIHXha1ux1dtdb4K/story.html | Single test for all virus exposure opens doors for researchers | 1970-08-22T05:23:27.184707 | NEW YORK — Using less than a drop of blood, a new test can reveal nearly every virus a person has ever been exposed to, scientists reported Thursday.
The test, which is still experimental, can be performed for as little as $25 and could become an important research tool for tracking patterns of disease in various populations, helping scientists compare the old and the young, or people in different parts of the world.
It could also be used to try to find out whether viruses, or the body’s immune response to them, contribute to chronic diseases and cancer, the researchers said.
“I’m sure there’ll be lots of applications we haven’t even dreamed of,” said Stephen J. Elledge, the senior author of the report, published in the journal Science, and a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
“That’s what happens when you invent technology — you can’t imagine what people will do with it,” Elledge said. “They’re so clever.”
The test can detect past exposure to more than 1,000 strains of viruses from 206 species — pretty much the entire human “virome,” meaning all the viruses known to infect people. The test works by detecting antibodies, highly specific proteins the immune system has made in response to viruses.
Tried out in 569 people in the United States, South Africa, Thailand, and Peru, the blood test found that most had been exposed to about 10 species of virus — mostly the usual suspects, like those causing colds, flu, and gastrointestinal illness. But a few had evidence of exposure to as many as 25 species, something Elledge said the researchers had yet to explain.
There were some differences from continent to continent. In general, people outside the United States had higher rates of virus exposure. The reason is not known, but the researchers said it might be due to “differences in population density, cultural practices, sanitation, or genetic susceptibility.”
Scientists not associated with the work said it has vast potential.
“This will be a treasure trove for communicable disease epidemiology,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious-disease expert at Vanderbilt University. “It will be like the introduction of the electron microscope. It will allow us to have more resolution at a micro level.”
One possibility, Schaffner said, would be to deploy the test in large populations to find out the ages at which children are exposed to various illnesses in order to help determine the best timing for vaccinations.
Another idea, he said, would be to test collections of frozen blood samples — government laboratories and some universities store them from previous studies — to learn about historical patterns of disease.
Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, a professor of microbiology and medicine and codirector of the Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, called the new technology “really amazing” and said it was the first method to produce “big data” about viral exposures.
By showing the full repertoire of antibodies that a person has produced against viruses, the test may shed light on many illnesses, he said.
The research was paid for by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Elledge said Brigham and Women’s Hospital has applied for a patent on the test, named VirScan.
The test can take up to two months to complete, but if it were taken on by a company and streamlined, it could be done in days, Elledge said. | Using less than a drop of blood, a new test can reveal nearly every virus a person has ever been exposed to, scientists reported Thursday. | 24.535714 | 1 | 28 | medium | high | extractive | 317 |
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/08/freedoms-of-suburbia-paul-barker | http://web.archive.org/web/20150616095845id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/nov/08/freedoms-of-suburbia-paul-barker | The Freedoms of Suburbia by Paul Barker | 1970-08-22T05:23:36.095845 | I grew up on the west side of Sheffield, close to Broomhill, a place which, in 1961, John Betjeman celebrated as "the prettiest suburb in England". Is it pretty? Handsome would be a better word, though I only think so now. At the time, I neither loved it nor hated it; those streets, wide and quiet, were simply a backdrop for my interminable teenage psychodramas. Besides, it was the 1980s. The city centre was unimaginably bleak. Hardly anyone lived there and, in my opinion, no one in their right mind would want to if they could help it. The city was where you went to buy cheap shoes and Thorntons toffee. Then you went home again, on the bus, for the miraculous price of 2p.
When I was 18, however, I met a boy called Crispin, who was going to the same university as me. Crispin was different to everyone I knew and not only because of his neon sign of a middle-class name. I remember the evening he told me that his parents – they were academics – had bought a terraced house in town, close to Sheffield United's football ground. Wasn't that cool? Inwardly, I felt nothing but astonishment. What? Outwardly, I bluffed. Yeah, really cool, I said. I mean, who wants a house with a... drive?
Thus, in one fell swoop, I became an unsuspecting modernist. So far as suburbia was concerned, I now had a position. Years later, when a girlfriend told me how little she cared for bay windows, I managed not to say: "But they allow such a lovely feeling of space and light!" I nodded gravely and thought of a certain redbrick house in Bramall Lane. That was flat-fronted, too.
The Freedoms of Suburbia pushes gently at this kind of learned snobbery, though its author, Paul Barker, admits that he, too, was once prey to it; when he bought a flat-fronted house in London's Kentish Town – "the kind that modernists approved of" – his first act was to uproot the privet hedge in the front garden, his second to chip its enamelled name, "Bowerhayes", from the fanlight above the door. He also bricked up any remaining fireplaces, which gives you an idea of how long ago this must have been, though he does not provide a date.
These days, Barker is a little more open-minded. Partly, this is down to age. We all get there in the end. I grow old... I grow old.... and I want, if not to wear my trouser bottoms rolled, certainly to have a pocket-sized garden and the illusion that my neighbours are more than three feet away from me. But it is also that the suburbs have endured like almost nothing else in British life. Some 84% of us now live in some form of suburbia, the vast majority in houses inspired, even if only distantly, by the arts and crafts architects CFA Voysey and MH Baillie Scott.
London is now, thanks to its suburbs, a 100-mile city. Such victories do not mean that we must all learn to love pebbledash. But perhaps – Lord Rogers excepted – we can finally accept that a semi with bay windows and a hall wide enough to hold what used to be called a console table is a fine thing indeed and a good deal more humane than anything that ever leapt off Berthold Lubetkin's drawing board.
Barker's book is a ramble rather than a polemic, but it meanders through this hoary old argument nevertheless: naturally, the Smithsons, architects of the brutalist Robin Hood Gardens in Poplar, east London, are here in all their unsmiling, totalitarian glory, standing proxy, as usual, for everything that went wrong in postwar planning. But he is careful to remind us that the modernists did not invent suburbophobia. It was in 1829 that George Cruikshank published his cartoon "On the march of bricks and mortar", in which he fretted about the houses then being thrown up in Camden Town and Islington.
In 1928, Clough Williams-Ellis, the architect of Portmeirion, and his wife, Amabel, published England and the Octopus. The octopus was suburbia. Nine years later, they published Britain and the Beast. The beast was the bungalow (which first became popular in the 1860s). This is useful information if, like me, you are the kind of person whose blood pressure rises terrifyingly on catching site of a scarlet-bright Wimpey development, though there is, I suppose, a tipping point and perhaps the south of England has already reached it.
What Barker mostly relishes about suburbs – the irony! – is their quirky individuality. Far from being bland, boring and uniform, they are, he thinks, bricks-and-mortar proof that an Englishman's home is his castle – literally, in some cases. Among many fine photographs in the book is one of Highfort Court flats, in Kingsbury, north London, designed in 1936 by the architect Ernest Trobridge to demonstrate his Swedenborgian belief in symbolism (the building's chimneys are turrets, its entrance a drawbridge).
It is Barker's contention that, whatever the architects tell us, the semis of Kenton and Bromley are far more important to us collectively than the Barbican and Trellick Tower, and he is surely right about this, though I cannot share his enthusiasm for shopping malls. But for me, the real effect of his essay was appropriately small scale and site-specific. Flipping through the book again, I found myself staring hungrily at a particularly fine piece of topiary in Waltham Abbey, Essex. I'd like a bit of that action in my garden, I thought. Dear me. How times change. | We love to hate the suburbs but for Paul Barker they are places of humanity where individuality flourishes. By Rachel Cooke | 51.318182 | 0.727273 | 1.090909 | high | low | abstractive | 318 |
http://www.people.com/article/britney-spears-expenses-fortune | http://web.archive.org/web/20150618150955id_/http://www.people.com/article/britney-spears-expenses-fortune | Inside Britney Spears' Expenses and Fortune : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:23:38.150955 | 06/17/2015 AT 11:20 PM EDT
Simply put, it would be awesome to be
The singer, 33, earned $14 million in 2014 and had total assets valued at $45,982,505.75 by the end of December, according to a
In the documents, much of the pop star's day-to-day expenses were revealed and ranged from the fabulous – $49,383.35 on wardrobe, $19,791.69 on makeup and hairdressing, and $3,058 on Christmas decorations – to the mundane, like Starbucks runs.
Another standout detail: $24,720.95 spent on pet care.
Judging from the look on this adorable pooch's face, it was pampering that is much appreciated.
A photo posted by Britney Spears (@britneyspears) on Jun 15, 2015 at 2:27pm PDT
While her budget is a
larger than most people's – and there were some splurges at higher-end shops like Sur La Table – a good chunk of the $41,471.28 she spent on household supplies went to Target and grocery stores.
The report also revealed that Spears – who recently
by three months – is a bit of a real estate mogul, with her residential expenses for homes in Malibu, Louisiana and Thousand Oaks, California, totaling $963,139.11. | Financial details of Britney's day-to-day life were revealed with the annual conservatorship report this week | 11.85 | 0.7 | 2.3 | low | low | mixed | 319 |
http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Former-49ers-Pro-Bowl-RB-John-David-Crow-dies-at-6335898.php | http://web.archive.org/web/20150619114433id_/http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Former-49ers-Pro-Bowl-RB-John-David-Crow-dies-at-6335898.php | Former 49ers Pro Bowl RB John David Crow dies at 79 | 1970-08-22T05:23:39.114433 | John David Crow holds his 1957 Heisman Trophy before beginning an 11-year pro football career that ended with four seasons playing for the 49ers.
John David Crow holds his 1957 Heisman Trophy before beginning an...
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 1967, file photo, San Francisco 49ers' John David Crow (44) grinds out 18 yards against the New Orleans Saints during the third quarter of an NFL football game at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. Crow, the bruising running back who won the 1957 Heisman Trophy with Texas A&M before a Pro Bowl career in the NFL, died Wednesday night, June 17, 2015, surrounded by his family, Texas A&M said. He was 79.
FILE - In this Oct. 23, 1967, file photo, San Francisco 49ers' John...
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 1957, file photo, John Crow, Texas A&M halfback, center, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Crow of Springhill, La., hold Heisman Memorial Trophy award to Crow as the outstanding college football player of 1957 at dinner at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York. Crow, the bruising running back who won the 1957 Heisman Trophy with Texas A&M before a Pro Bowl career in the NFL, died Wednesday night, June 17, 2015, surrounded by his family, Texas A&M said. He was 79.
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 1957, file photo, John Crow, Texas A&M...
FILE - this undated file photo, shows John David Crow of the San Fransisco 49ers. Crow, the bruising running back who won the 1957 Heisman Trophy with Texas A&M before a Pro Bowl career in the NFL, died Wednesday night, June 17, 2015, surrounded by his family, Texas A&M said. He was 79.
FILE - this undated file photo, shows John David Crow of the San...
UT Coach Darrell Royal and Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow shown in Austin, Texas Thursday June 28, 2007 with a 1957 Chevy Belair. KEVIN GEIL/STAFF
UT Coach Darrell Royal and Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner John...
Former 49ers Pro Bowl RB John David Crow dies at 79
John David Crow, the 1957 Heisman Trophy winner who earned the last of his four Pro Bowl berths with the 49ers, died Wednesday night at 79.
Mr. Crow, a running back, was the No. 2 overall pick of the Chicago Cardinals in 1958. He spent the final four seasons of his 11-year career with the 49ers.
He earned Pro Bowl recognition in 1965 when he ranked ninth in the NFL in touchdowns (nine) and yards from scrimmage (1,007) and 10th in yards per rushing attempt (3.9). In 1966, he won the Len Eshmont Award, given to the team’s most inspirational player.
Mr. Crow was among the best pass-catching running backs of his era. He averaged 14.3 yards and scored 35 touchdowns on 258 career receptions (3,699 yards). He had 4,963 rushing yards, averaged 4.3 yards per attempt and scored 39 touchdowns on the ground.
He finished his career in 1968 as a tight end and matched his career high in catches (31) and had a career-high 531 yards.
The versatile player also has the most completions (33) of any non-quarterback in NFL history and his do-it-all ability netted him the Heisman in 1957 at Texas A&M. A two-way player, Mr. Crow earned the award after rushing for 562 yards, throwing five touchdown passes and grabbing five interceptions.
In his retirement, Mr. Crow, who spent his later years in College Station, Texas, was an assistant coach at Texas A&M and in the NFL with the Browns (1972-73) and Chargers (1974). He had a 20-34-1 record as the head coach at Northeast Louisiana from 1976 through ’80. He also served as the athletic director at Northeast Louisiana (1983-88) and Texas A&M (1988-93).
Mr. Crow is among several prominent 49ers who have died this year. Offensive tackle Bob St. Clair died April 20 at 84 and running back J.D. Smith died April 1 at 83.
Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @Eric_Branch | John David Crow, the 1957 Heisman Trophy winner who earned the last of his four Pro Bowl berths with the 49ers, died Wednesday night at 79. Mr. Crow, a running back, was the No. 2 overall pick of the Chicago Cardinals in 1958. The versatile player also has the most completions (33) of any non-quarterback in NFL history and his do-it-all ability netted him the Heisman in 1957 at Texas A&M. A two-way player, Mr. Crow earned the award after rushing for 562 yards, throwing five touchdown passes and grabbing five interceptions. In his retirement, Mr. Crow, who spent his later years in College Station, Texas, was an assistant coach at Texas A&M and in the NFL with the Browns (1972-73) and Chargers (1974). Offensive tackle Bob St. Clair died April 20 at 84 and running back J.D. Smith died April 1 at 83. | 4.574586 | 0.972376 | 30.353591 | low | high | extractive | 320 |
http://www.people.com/article/jazz-jennings-advice-transgender-teens | http://web.archive.org/web/20150622081158id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/jazz-jennings-advice-transgender-teens | Jazz Jennings Advice for Transgender Teens : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:23:42.081158 | By Emily Strohm and Jodi Guglielmi
06/19/2015 AT 10:30 AM EDT
As soon as Jazz Jennings was able to talk, she was telling her parents something just didn't feel right. Jennings – who was designated male at birth – says she always knew she was meant to be a female. At the age of 5, she became one of the youngest people diagnosed with gender dysphoria. Since going public with her transition in 2007, Jennings, now 14, has become a major spokesperson in the transgender community. "I tell [other transgender kids] to always stay strong and be your authentic self, and to keep moving forward because if you have a positive attitude things will get better." She uses this same advice in her own life. With Jennings starting high school in the fall, she plans to count on the support of her friends to ward off any negativity that comes her way. "I'm just, you know a little bit concerned," she says, "but I know that if I have my friends and love myself along the way, that whatever they say won't be worth it and it won't matter to me." For more on Jazz Jennings, pick up your copy of this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday. And catch her new show, I Am Jazz, July 15 on TLC | The teen stresses the importance of self-acceptance to other transgender youths | 19.846154 | 0.538462 | 0.692308 | medium | low | abstractive | 321 |
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/style-points/201506/baylor-has-enough-football-alt-uni-combinations-last-least-10-years | http://web.archive.org/web/20150623205306id_/http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/style-points/201506/baylor-has-enough-football-alt-uni-combinations-last-least-10-years | Baylor Has Enough Football Uniform Combinations To Last At Least 10 Years | 1970-08-22T05:23:43.205306 | Baylor's transition from college football laughingstock to powerhouse has been as swift as it is impressive. Suddenly, the Bears have built a solid program that became even more successful after its Heisman-winning quarterback left for the NFL.
The Bears used that momentum to build a brand-new college football stadium seen as maybe the most technologically advanced in the country. And now Baylor is now trying to win another all-important battle: it's taking on Oregon and other schools in the race to own the most exciting jerseys.
To that end, Baylor made new additions to its jerseys options this summer that create a number of new combinations the team can use on game day. The team's equipment manager, Jeff Barlow, explains in a YouTube video that the Bears now have 120 different uniform combinations that feature six helmet options, four jerseys and five different sets of pants.
If the team uses a different combo every week, it's currently set to debut an original combo every game for the next 10 years.
"You'll never see that. I don't think you will. But yeah, that's a lot,” Barlow says. "Really it's all about recruiting ... that's just part of the program -- the uniforms, the fast offense, just the relentlessness of how we play fast, physical, fearless."
Recruiting is right. Oregon used its relationship with Nike to gain the attention of recruits in faraway parts of the country. Former Oregon Duck and one-time Heisman candidate LaMichael James once said that, as a high school star in Texas, he only knew one thing about the Ducks' football programs.
Yes: It was the jerseys.
Baylor is hoping that similar attractions can persuade blue-chips to move to Waco, Texas. It's not the Garden of Eden, but the Bears have got a lot of shiny sweeteners for anyone who wants to play football.
They've even got a winning program, too. But as Baylor and Oregon will tell you, winning isn't all that matters to recruits.
College Football Financial Rankings, 2014
Alex Morgan Quizzed On Canadian Lingo
This text will be replaced | Baylor's transition from college football laughingstock to powerhouse has been as swift as it is impressive. Suddenly, the Bears have built a solid pr... | 15.071429 | 0.964286 | 24.178571 | low | high | extractive | 322 |
http://www.people.com/article/brandi-glanville-confirms-real-housewives-beverly-hills-exit-podcast | http://web.archive.org/web/20150627003659id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/brandi-glanville-confirms-real-housewives-beverly-hills-exit-podcast | Brandi Glanville Confirms Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Exit on Podcast : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:23:47.003659 | 06/24/2015 AT 02:00 PM EDT
has cemented a reputation on
for creating drama, but she says there are no hard feelings when it comes to her exit from the series.
Glanville, 42, broke her silence Wednesday on her podcast,
"After a lot of careful thought and deliberation, I have decided not to return to
," she said. "They've been awesome, and Bravo will always be my family. Like
said, it's the Mafia. You never really get to leave us. And they've been so great to me, and if I'm available and they need me, they know where to find me."
June 18 that the former model won't appear on the reality show next season along with
also won't be back full time.
"Brandi got too big for her britches. She was a diva, and it came around to bite her," a source told PEOPLE last week. "By the end, she couldn't get along with anyone, and no one wanted to shoot with her."
Glanville, who has appeared on
for four years, added that she has some new, "exciting" projects in the works.
"So," she finished, "See you when I see you, peeps." | The reality star compared Bravo to the Mafia | 32 | 0.75 | 1.25 | medium | low | abstractive | 323 |
http://www.people.com/article/47-year-old-man-shark-attack-north-carolina | http://web.archive.org/web/20150628220115id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/47-year-old-man-shark-attack-north-carolina | 47-Year-Old Man Attacked : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:23:48.220115 | Shark near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, on June 15
A 47-year-old man was bitten by a shark in Avon, North Carolina, and received numerous injuries to his right leg and lower back.
On Friday morning – around 11:45 a.m. – a 911 call was received saying that the man had been injured about one mile north of the Avon Fishing Pier,
Like the other recent shark attacks in North Carolina, the incident happened in waist-deep water.
of Oak Island, North Carolina, posted a message to her Facebook page that read: "Please, everyone. Don't relax your vigilance when you're at the beach and go into the ocean. I STILL suggest going no deeper than your knees. Stay alert to your surroundings."
This attack is the latest in a string of shark sightings and shark attacks in recent weeks.
Kiersten Yow, who was also attacked by a shark in Oak Island, North Carolina, on June 14, is on her way to recovery.
The young girl frequently posts updates to her
, and on Thursday, the
shared the latest news with her supporters.
Yow, who lost her arm after the attack, had surgery on June 16 and 19, and she had her first reconstructive surgery on Thursday. A team of surgical specialists covered her leg wound with a skin graft and completed initial reconstruction of the elbow.
Yow's friends and family and the hospital staff are in awe of her progress and morale.
"Kiersten continues to amaze her entire care team with her upbeat, can-do attitude, which is truly extraordinary for a girl her age given the trauma she experienced," the update reads. "There's been no 'Why me?' or sulking, just a dogged determination to re-establish her independence and return to a normal life – and we are proud to play our part in getting her and her family there."
Although she suffered a leg injury, with rehabilitative therapy, doctors expect her to master walking independently and even be able to exercise.
On the same day as her surgery, Yow posted on Facebook that she was experiencing pain in the area of her skin graft, but she added that she played games and watched movies to keep her entertained.
Since Yow's attack, sharks have continued to make their presence known along the coastline.
A hammerhead shark was spotted in the water at Ocean City, Maryland, on Wednesday and Thursday, according to
Beachgoers took photos and videos of the shark swimming through the waves, and at one point, it came very close to the shore.
"We saw a potential hazard, our lifeguards handled it, and now life goes on," Butch Arbin, captain of the Ocean City Beach Patrol, told the news outlet.
Arbin added that the shark, which may have been hurt, was 6 to 7 feet long and posed no risk to swimmers in the bay.
in Surf City, North Carolina.
He suffered minor leg and foot injuries from what appeared to be a small bite and was taken to the hospital by his parents, the Surf City Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE.
told PEOPLE that despite the recent shark attacks, beachgoers shouldn't avoid the ocean.
"You have a higher chance of getting into a car accident driving to the beach than you do getting attacked by a shark when you get there," Cahoon, professor of biology and marine biology at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, says. "The fact is that sharks have millions of contact hours with humans on beaches every year, yet attacks are really rare. Just be smart."
"Sharks are frightened of us," he adds. "They normally will only attack us if they mistake us for their typical prey, like skate and rays."
But when they do attack, just swim back to shore as fast as you can, he advises.
"People say to swim slowly back to shore, but what is that going to do? Swim to shore as fast as you can – a shark that means to eat you will keep coming. You need to call for help. People who survive all but the least damaging shark attacks got immediate help from others," he says. "Basically, don't swim alone in shark waters." | A man was bitten by a shark on Friday in Avon, North Carolina | 60.571429 | 1 | 4.714286 | high | high | mixed | 324 |
http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Even-if-he-wins-4th-ring-Brady-s-no-Montana-6041560.php%26c%3DR1K5hgPxPGWnfmljYBeZPAR_Ka10GfOrbfOvP6sv2vk%26mkt%3Den-us | http://web.archive.org/web/20150629115357id_/http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/Even-if-he-wins-4th-ring-Brady-s-no-Montana-6041560.php&c=R1K5hgPxPGWnfmljYBeZPAR_Ka10GfOrbfOvP6sv2vk&mkt=en-us | Even if he wins 4th ring, Brady’s no Montana | 1970-08-22T05:23:49.115357 | Photo: Charles Krupa / Associated Press
Tom Brady won three Super Bowls early in his career, but none since 2005.
Tom Brady won three Super Bowls early in his career, but none since...
Joe Montana lets out a yell after leading the 49ers to a comeback victory over the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII in Miami, the third of his four career NFL championships.
Joe Montana lets out a yell after leading the 49ers to a comeback...
Even if he wins 4th ring, Brady’s no Montana
Think there’s nothing at stake for a Bay Area football fan in this year’s Super Bowl?
Joe Montana’s legacy is on the line. With a New Super Bowl win on Sunday, Tom Brady — who grew up on the Peninsula idolizing Montana — will match the 49ers’ quarterback’s record with four Super Bowl wins.
The only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls are Montana and Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw isn’t part of the “greatest of all time” conversation, because his Pittsburgh teams were centered on defense, and he didn’t have the type of offensive numbers or skill to enter the pantheon of greatest-ever quarterbacks.
For people who count championships, Montana is considered the best ever. Hard to get much argument about that in these parts. Today’s generation might know him as the guy scarfing down Peyton Manning’s extra pizza or flashing his four Super Bowl rings at some other old men in a phone commercial, but those who watched him play knew they were watching history. Watching the best.
Now Brady is, once again, making a bid to be considered Montana’s equal, or even his superior, if he beats the Seahawks on Sunday. This is Brady’s third shot at Super Bowl victory No. 4. And we’ll get back to that issue a little later.
The East Coast media machine already has cranked up the story line: Brady will be considered the best ever if the Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX.
Why? Because, the East Coast reasoning goes, Brady has had less talent around him. His excellence has lasted longer. He is working in an era of free agency, in which it’s harder to keep good teams together. He came back as good as ever from 2008 reconstructive knee surgery. He is the shining light and reason behind the Patriots’ success.
Listen, there’s no doubt that Brady’s career is mind-boggling. Now 37, this will be his sixth Super Bowl appearance in 14 seasons. He has played in nine AFC Championship Games.
But here at West Coast Central, we’re not buying that one more ring means Brady will pull even with or surpass Montana. Not for a second.
Sure, Brady plays in a different era — but the biggest difference isn’t free agency but how much protection the quarterback gets. League rules now are designed to keep the quarterback upright, successful and playing for years. Montana didn’t have that advantage.
Montana had more talented teams? Let’s not forget that Jerry Rice teamed with Montana for only two Super Bowls. That first 49ers Super Bowl team in January 1982? Earl Cooper, Bill Ring, Ricky Patton — Montana’s teammates in that game in Pontiac, Mich., make Brady’s first Super Bowl team look like an All-Star roster.
Bill Belichick is as responsible for the Patriots’ success as Brady. Montana also shared the credit and glory with Bill Walsh. One difference: Montana was able to continue his greatness without Walsh, leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl the year after Walsh stepped down and George Seifert took the job.
Let’s look at the numbers:
Brady: Six Super Bowls in 14 seasons. Nine conference championship games.
Montana: Four Super Bowls in nine seasons. Six championship games in 10 seasons, plus one more in 1993 with the Chiefs.
Brady: Two interceptions in Super Bowls.
Montana: Zero interceptions in Super Bowls.
Brady: Super Bowl quarterback rating of 93.8.
Montana: Super Bowl quarterback rating of 127.8.
Montana: 4-0 in Super Bowls.
Brady: 3-2 in Super Bowls.
Montana didn’t need three shots at the fourth ring. He did not lose when he got to his sport’s biggest stage. He won in runaway fashion and he won with a breathtaking comeback. But he always won.
Then there are intangibles that help shape the legacy. Brady’s Patriots, as Raiders fans painfully can tell you, made it to their first Super Bowl only thanks to the incredibly stupid tuck rule. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since Spygate in 2007, tarnishing their franchise’s reputation. And they enter this Super Bowl under the dark cloud of Deflategate, which reflects more poorly on Brady than on anyone else with the Patriots.
Montana’s 49ers didn’t have any of those cloak-and-dagger issues. None of that controversy.
Oh, and to add to his legend, Montana had back surgery in 1986 — many thought his career was over — between his second and third Super Bowl wins. In fact, doctors told him he should retire.
He didn’t. He won two more Super Bowls and played in four more championship games, before finally retiring at age 38, after two seasons in Kansas City.
And when he gave up the game, many were sure they’d witnessed the greatest ever. Their eyes didn’t lie.
“Joe Montana,” Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman immediately answered a few months ago, when asked to name the best ever. “And I don’t care if we’re comparing him against anyone from today’s game or not. Or what his numbers may or may not look like. I saw him do it on the biggest stage, in the biggest moments, and bring his team back. And do the things that I think are required of the position.”
Many think Brady won’t make this conversation even relevant, that he will lose for the third time in the Super Bowl when he faces the Seahawks.
But if Brady wins that fourth ring, we here at West Coast Central still think he’ll be only second best in the conversation about the greatest ever.
Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @annkillion
A look at the postseason careers for Joe Montana and Tom Brady: | Think there’s nothing at stake for a Bay Area football fan in this year’s Super Bowl? Think again. Joe Montana’s legacy is on the line. With a New Super Bowl win on Sunday, Tom Brady — who grew up on the Peninsula idolizing Montana — will match the 49ers’ quarterback’s record with four Super Bowl wins. The only quarterbacks to win four Super Bowls are Montana and Terry Bradshaw. Bradshaw isn’t part of the “greatest of all time” conversation, because his Pittsburgh teams were centered on defense, and he didn’t have the type of offensive numbers or skill to enter the pantheon of greatest-ever quarterbacks. For people who count championships, Montana is considered the best ever. Today’s generation might know him as the guy scarfing down Peyton Manning’s extra pizza or flashing his four Super Bowl rings at some other old men in a phone commercial, but those who watched him play knew they were watching history. [...] Brady is, once again, making a bid to be considered Montana’s equal, or even his superior, if he beats the Seahawks on Sunday. This is Brady’s third shot at Super Bowl victory No. 4. [...] we’ll get back to that issue a little later. The East Coast media machine already has cranked up the story line: Brady will be considered the best ever if the Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX. Why? [...] the East Coast reasoning goes, Brady has had less talent around him. Listen, there’s no doubt that Brady’s career is mind-boggling. [...] 37, this will be his sixth Super Bowl appearance in 14 seasons. [...] here at West Coast Central, we’re not buying that one more ring means Brady will pull even with or surpass Montana. Sure, Brady plays in a different era — but the biggest difference isn’t free agency but how much protection the quarterback gets. League rules now are designed to keep the quarterback upright, successful and playing for years. Montana didn’t have that advantage. Montana had more talented teams? Ricky Patton — Montana’s teammates in that game in Pontiac, Mich., make Brady’s first Super Bowl team look like an All-Star roster. Bill Belichick is as responsible for the Patriots’ success as Brady. Montana was able to continue his greatness without Walsh, leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl the year after Walsh stepped down and George Seifert took the job. Let’s look at the numbers: Six Super Bowls in 14 seasons. Nine conference championship games. Four Super Bowls in nine seasons. Six championship games in 10 seasons, plus one more in 1993 with the Chiefs. Two interceptions in Super Bowls. Zero interceptions in Super Bowls. Super Bowl quarterback rating of 93.8. Super Bowl quarterback rating of 127.8. Montana: 4-0 in Super Bowls. Brady: 3-2 in Super Bowls. [...] there are intangibles that help shape the legacy. Brady’s Patriots, as Raiders fans painfully can tell you, made it to their first Super Bowl only thanks to the incredibly stupid tuck rule. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since Spygate in 2007, tarnishing their franchise’s reputation. [...] they enter this Super Bowl under the dark cloud of Deflategate, which reflects more poorly on Brady than on anyone else with the Patriots. Oh, and to add to his legend, Montana had back surgery in 1986 — many thought his career was over — between his second and third Super Bowl wins. [...] doctors told him he should retire. “Joe Montana,” Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman immediately answered a few months ago, when asked to name the best ever. [...] I don’t care if we’re comparing him against anyone from today’s game or not. Or what his numbers may or may not look like. I saw him do it on the biggest stage, in the biggest moments, and bring his team back. [...] do the things that I think are required of the position. Many think Brady won’t make this conversation even relevant, that he will lose for the third time in the Super Bowl when he faces the Seahawks. [...] if Brady wins that fourth ring, we here at West Coast Central still think he’ll be only second best in the conversation about the greatest ever. A look at the postseason careers for Joe Montana and Tom Brady: Playoff touchdowns Playoff interceptions Playoff QB rating Playoff passing yards Playoff game-winning drives Super Bowl record Super Bowl touchdowns Super Bowl interceptions Super Bowl QB rating Super Bowl passing yards | 1.3102 | 0.895899 | 18.683491 | low | medium | extractive | 325 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/12/millenium-tower-condos-mostly-sold-local-buyers/pCwUuVeioo650zwWWs7MYO/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150630235426id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/12/millenium-tower-condos-mostly-sold-local-buyers/pCwUuVeioo650zwWWs7MYO/story.html | Millenium Tower condos mostly sold to local buyers | 1970-08-22T05:23:50.235426 | Millennium Tower, the 60-story luxury condo building going up at Downtown Crossing, is 70 percent sold, its developers said, with three-quarters of those sales to local buyers.
Millennium Partners, which is financing the building’s construction, said Thursday the sales of most of the building’s 442 condos have generated more than $650 million. The company, whose 256-unit Millennium Place building opened in 2013, also said its total sales downtown since fall 2013 have hit $1 billion.
“We are thrilled with the initial sales momentum of Millennium Tower Boston and how the project has been embraced by the local community,” said Richard Baumert, one of the building’s developers, in a statement.
The Millenium Tower’s $37.5 million penthouse, a 12,000 square foot residence to be built 600 feet above Downtown Boston, is still on the market, a spokesperson for the company said. Previously, the developers said that some units that have sold went for over $9 million. | The 60-story condo being built at Downtown Crossing is 70 percent sold, although the penthouse is still available. | 9.5 | 0.85 | 2.35 | low | medium | mixed | 326 |
http://fortune.com/2014/02/05/for-google-a-leg-up-in-the-artificial-intelligence-arms-race/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150705015348id_/http://fortune.com:80/2014/02/05/for-google-a-leg-up-in-the-artificial-intelligence-arms-race/ | For Google, a leg up in the artificial intelligence arms race | 1970-08-22T05:25:05.015348 | FORTUNE — Google’s executives have long dreamed of solving one of the technology industry’s biggest riddles. How do you predict what people want — hockey scores or new Ugg boots, for example — before they even ask for it? Reading user’s minds, or at least seeming to, would make Google’s products that much faster and more convenient. It could also help the company fend off rivals.
Last week, Google GOOG took its biggest step yet to ramp up its predictive powers. It acquired DeepMind Technologies, a British startup focused on artificial intelligence, for a reported $400 to $500 million. DeepMind develops algorithms that learn as they comb through mountains of data. The company had been working on technology for simulations, e-commerce, and video games, although the exact details were not disclosed.
The addition could help Google’s perpetual efforts to improve its search results and make its ads more relevant. Helping tag photos and improve the accuracy of voice recognition are among the other possibilities.
“Artificial intelligence can become part of the fabric for all of Google’s products,” said Colin Sebastian, an analyst with R.W. Baird. “Google has a knack for adapting and innovating. For a company its size, that’s a requirement — or you risk becoming a Yahoo or AOL,” two companies that are struggling because of an aversion to change.
MORE: Google to investors – we still care about hardware. Just not boring phones
Artificial intelligence isn’t new. Researchers have worked on the technology for decades. But it has been slow-going because computers haven’t been powerful enough to handle the number-crunching that’s necessary. Recent advancements in technology have sped up the progress.
“Powerful algorithms and computers are able to solve problems that were intractable just a few years ago,” said David Bader, executive director of high performance computing at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Google has been working on artificial intelligence almost since its founding 16 years ago. Its efforts focused on improving search results, translation, and filtering spam. Google Now, a digital personal assistant within Google’s mobile search app, is among the most ambitious of its efforts to date. It guesses what information users want based on their past search history and location, and then gives it to them.
“Google Now can do simple things like give you directions to work or figure out that you have a flight,” Bader said. “But to really predict what you’re really going to do or to understand your lifestyle, and be able to do that in multiple languages and cultures requires this new technology.”
MORE: Why Google, not Apple, bought Tony Fadell’s Nest Labs
Google already collects a huge swath of personal data about its users including their search histories, locations when using their smartphones, and any purchase history made through Google products. Google’s engineers — or rather algorithms — have plenty of information to crunch so as to create user profiles and gauge user intent.
DeepMind, which was founded four years ago, has been trying to get computers to learn much like the human brain does. Algorithms search data for patterns and then draw conclusions from it in what’s known as deep learning. The company, which has around 50 employees, has yet to come up with a commercialized product. But a recent paper published by some of its researchers provides a window into its progress.
The paper describes a computer that learned to play seven Atari 2600 games. Feeding the computer with information about how to play specific games was unnecessary, the researchers said, a sign that the system learned to play from first-hand experience.
Google’s rivals are also hard at work on artificial intelligence. Amazon AMZN , Microsoft MSFT , and Facebook FB all have big efforts underway. It’s a new arms race in the Internet industry. As the DeepMind acquisitions shows, companies are wiling to spend huge amounts of money to keep up.
MORE: Where Google Ventures is pinning its hopes
Analysts said it’s impossible to tell whether artificial intelligence will lift Google’s profits. Rather, they said any improved products that come from the technology would help the company defend its leadership position.
“It’s all about staying ahead of the competition,” said Jan Dawson, an analyst with Jackdaw Research. “You won’t be able to point to a specific product and say ‘A.I. contributed this.’”
Artificial intelligence could play an especially big role in Google’s new business lines. For example, earlier this month, Google said it would pay $3.2 billion to acquire Nest Labs, the maker of Internet-connected devices for the home. A thermostat the company already sells infers when homeowners come and go based on usage patterns. Any future appliances that come out of Nest may also depend on artificial intelligence — at least in part — to control the settings or, in the case of a smart television, recommend shows to watch.
Google is also pushing into robotics through the acquisition of a number of companies including Boston Dynamics. A separate project to build self-driving cars is running parallel. Both initiatives require sophisticated technology to be able to maneuver independently of humans. Artificial intelligence is therefore a given, but it’s unclear whether it would involve DeepMind.
MORE: How to innovate? Google exec explains
Although artificial intelligence is a huge opportunity, Google will have to tread carefully. Privacy concerns and the “creep factor” may rule out certain uses. Imagine if people wearing Google Glass, Google’s science fiction-inspired eyeglasses, could use facial recognition technology to identify everyone passing by them on the street and to pull up detailed information about them. Public opposition would be intense.
Another potential problem is if an algorithm were to draw an inaccurate conclusion based on your personal data. Google might wrongly conclude that you’re seriously ill, for example. Or it could accurately deduce as much and then inadvertently share that information with someone who borrowed your computer by suggesting all sorts of drugs to take.
“Artificial intelligence can be really scary when it crosses the line,” Dawson said.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to the Georgia Institute of Technology as “Georgia Tech University.” It is known simply as Georgia Tech. | Its acquisition of DeepMind Technologies holds promise for its advertising, autonomous vehicle, and "smart home" businesses. | 58.047619 | 0.619048 | 0.904762 | high | low | abstractive | 327 |
http://www.people.com/article/lucy-hale-boyfriend-bikini-hawaii | http://web.archive.org/web/20150705233032id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/lucy-hale-boyfriend-bikini-hawaii | Pretty Little Liars' Lucy Hale Seen with Boyfriend Anthony Kalabretta in Hawaii : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:25:05.233032 | Lucy Hale and Anthony Kalabretta in Maui, Hawaii
07/03/2015 AT 11:10 AM EDT
is making waves with another man.
The actress, 26, and boyfriend Anthony Kalabretta were all smiles as they enjoyed some fun in the sun in Maui on Thursday. The new couple was spotted showing some sweet PDA in the tropical destination, where they're on vacation with several friends – including Hale's BFF Anne Breiter.
As the group did some sightseeing on a boat tour, Hale opted for Triangl's blue, white and black structured
, paired with a straw hat.
Earlier in the week, the star was spotted wearing a fluorescent and blush bikini from
The actress, who plays Aria Montegomery on the hit ABC Family show, and Kalabretta, a musician, were first spotted together on June 18 at a Los Angeles Dodgers game.
Hale has been actively documenting the group's getaway on social media, sharing images with Breiter and her new man on Instagram.
In one pic from Thursday, Hale recreates the iconic
boat pose with arms spread wide, while friend and travel companion Adam Davis stands behind her – just like
"Where's Celine when we need her," Hale captioned, referencing the movie's theme song, performed by singer
The "You Sound Good to Me" singer, who turned 26 on June 14, says she's still getting used to being a "grown up."
"I haven't said it out loud yet," she joked of her age to PEOPLE at the 2015 Children Mending Hearts Fundraiser in California on her big day, adding, "But it's like, 'Wow, I'm in that mid-twenties now. Okay.' I feel like, I just got a house. I'm through my wild phase."
The star says older age has definitely made her wiser.
"I finally feel, and this is cheesy, but I finally feel like I know who Lucy is," Hale says. "Whereas at 21, I said it. It felt like I was more grown-up, but I really feel like I went through this weird couple of years where I just sort of, on the outside, had it together and was doing all these things and was still on a TV show and going to all these events. But I was sort of just like, 'What do I want to do? What really makes Lucy happy?' "
Hale says she "finally, at 25, kind of figured it out. So it's cool to know that I like to have my place." | The Pretty Little Liars star and her boyfriend are on vacation in Maui | 39 | 0.692308 | 1.153846 | high | low | abstractive | 328 |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/12/23/15/27/zombie-church-rises-in-broken-slovenia | http://web.archive.org/web/20150707055903id_/http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/12/23/15/27/zombie-church-rises-in-broken-slovenia | Zombie Church attracts disillusioned voters | 1970-08-22T05:25:07.055903 | Members of the The Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing take part in a street march. (Supplied)
"In the name of the Bell, the Pan and the Holy Pot..." Slovenia's newest religion may have the strangest of scriptures, but in a country plagued by corruption scandals, its anti-graft gospel has gained a huge following.
The Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing has become the country's fifth biggest religion in less than a year, according to its founder Rok Gros, with already over 10,000 faithful in a nation of two million.
"We are a group of intellectuals who instead of caring only about ourselves, decided to care for others," high priestess and Ljubljana University English lecturer Mojca Belak told AFP.
Once a model EU and eurozone state, Slovenia has been hit by spectacular church and state corruption, with one jailed former prime minister still securing massive support in recent elections, while other public figures have remained in high positions despite allegations of impropriety.
So appalled was Pope Francis by a $US1 billion church financial scandal, he fired the country's two leading Catholic clerics.
But it was the jailed former premier Janez Jansa who gave the Church its name when he dismissed those who demanded his resignation as "zombies". Protesters adopted the insult as a badge of honour.
Now the Zombie Church hopes to weed out graft with the help of cowbells and pots and pans which followers ring and beat in front of parliament -- the "sanctuary of corruption" -- at zombie "masses" every Wednesday.
"We are led by a pack of elite lunatics in 'Corruptland'... we have to ring our bells until they are rung away," the zombie "Holy Book" says.
The Church has been compared to other parody religions like the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster or the Jedi Church, and the thoughts expressed in its Holy Book are quirky to say the least.
Among other things, it says its zombies resurrect daily, the holy drinks are beer and pina coladas, and while the Church worships cows, it recommends eating the super succulent Japanese Kobe beef.
Gros meanwhile holds the title of high priest, founder and keeper of the Pot and the Pan, and ends his sermons with a "Bong" -- the Church's version of the Catholic "Amen".
But for Ales Crnic, a cultural studies professor at Ljubljana University, there is more to the Church than zany ideas.
"It is a criticism of the modern state that has been failing to fulfil its social commitments," he told AFP.
Gros, a 37-year-old entrepreneur and father of two, said he had the idea for this new faith after taking part in mass anti-corruption protests in 2012-2013 that led to the resignations of ex-prime minister Jansa and the mayor of Slovenia's second largest city Maribor.
"All those who have led the country in the last 10 years wouldn't get more than an unsatisfactory grade," he told AFP, insisting his religion was no parody.
He confirmed that the name "zombie" comes from the word that Jansa, who was sentenced to two years for corruption but has since been released pending appeal, used to describe the protestors.
The Zombie Church was set up at a time when unemployment had hit a record high and Slovenia looked on the brink of a bailout. Even the local Catholic Church was on the verge of bankruptcy after its major scandal.
For many Slovenians the new religion has become a welcome alternative.
Alongside its kookier precepts, the Zombie Church advises against taking out loans that can't be repaid, advocates free contraception for women and collects food, clothes and money for the needy.
"It sets a mirror that shows the absurdity of (other) religions," said one follower, Martin Trampuz.
Bojana Drpic, from northeastern Slovenia, had a more practical reason for joining. "The holy pot and pan help me every day prepare my daily meal," she said, tongue-in-cheek.
The Church organises most of its activities through its Facebook page and has no actual place of worship.
But the Trans-Universal Zombie Church of the Blissful Ringing could have a future even beyond Slovenia, according to Crnic.
"We could hardly imagine such religions ever becoming mainstream... (But) it is possible that the Church spreads to other countries since it addresses universal dilemmas that the Western world faces," he said.
Gros was similarly optimistic: "We will spread our faith and Church all over the world."
Do you have any news photos or videos? | Facing economic woes and corruption, Slovenians have flocked to religion - but it is the Zombie Church which has become country's the fastest growing church. | 32.5 | 0.785714 | 1.285714 | medium | medium | abstractive | 329 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/12/cramer-these-stocks-making-market-show-top-behavior.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150710122755id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/03/12/cramer-these-stocks-making-market-show-top-behavior.html | Cramer: These stocks making market show 'top behavior' | 1970-08-22T05:25:10.122755 | The parabolic moves of stocks such as Plug Power and FuelCell Energy have the stock market exhibiting "top behavior," CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday.
Cramer said he has tracked the fuel cells stocks since his days as a hedge fund manager. Runups in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae also had him worried.
Those stocks saw huge losses during Tuesday's trading after sharp increases in share prices, with Plug Power reaching an all-time high of $11.72 on Tuesday, up from 15 cents last April. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—the mortgage lenders taken under government control during the financial crisis—also saw big declines that continued into Wednesday morning.
If those stocks can cool off and return the market to normal, then regular investors should remain unharmed, Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."
(Read more: Byron Wien: There's still time to buy stocks)
"They weren't worth a dollar just a few weeks ago, and that's the parabolic move that marks a top," Cramer said. "And I don't want to see a top. I'd obviously like to see regular stocks come back to the fore. ... I've been looking at those stocks for a decade and all they know how to do is lose money."
Cramer was expanding on a theme he broached Tuesday evening on "Mad Money" that the moves downward in fast-growing stocks such as Plug would mean good news for the rest of the market.
(Read more: Biz Stone: We're not living in dotcom bubble 2.0)
"When fevered behavior goes away and we return to making money the slow methodical way, then the market is a safer, more rational place," Cramer said. | The parabolic moves of companies such as Plug Power make CNBC's Jim Cramer uneasy about the health of the five-year bull market. | 13.076923 | 0.692308 | 2.230769 | low | low | mixed | 330 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/16/most-americans-see-stock-market-either-flat-or-lower-by-end-of-2014.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150710132208id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/16/most-americans-see-stock-market-either-flat-or-lower-by-end-of-2014.html | Most Americans see stock market either flat or lower by end of 2014 | 1970-08-22T05:25:10.132208 | William Leyser, 74, a retired machinist from Las Vegas, thinks the stock market may fall by as much as 10 percent next year. He has taken some of his money out of stocks this year and put it into bonds.
"I'm concerned there is going to be a big correction here," says Leyser, who invests in mutual funds. "When it gets high, it always goes down a little bit."
The poll also shows that individuals are less optimistic about the outlook for the stock market than many investment professionals.
While few market strategists expect stocks to keep climbing at the same pace, many see it extending its gains at a slower rate. Bank of America/Merrill Lynch predicts the S&P 500 index will end next year at 2,000, about 13 percent higher than its current level. Wells Fargo Advisors forecasts the index will climb as high as 1,900, a gain of about 7 percent.
(Read more: What every investor has to prepare for this week)
Stocks have rallied since bottoming out after the financial crisis and the start of the Great Recession, lifting the S&P 500 index 162 percent from its low in March 2009. Despite those steady returns, the poll suggests that Americans are still nervous about buying and holding stocks.
Of those polled, 71 percent consider investing in the stock market to be "generally risky," compared with 27 percent who think of the market as "generally safe."
The perception of stocks as a risky investment has lessened since the spring, when 75 percent of respondents said it was "generally risky" and 18 percent said it was "generally safe." | Americans aren't expecting another bang-up year for the stock market, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. | 13.333333 | 0.5 | 1.083333 | low | low | abstractive | 331 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/07/ten-things-you-may-have-missed-tuesday-from-world-business/BDikk7Dp12VzXwywEeKwQI/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150711031041id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/07/07/ten-things-you-may-have-missed-tuesday-from-world-business/BDikk7Dp12VzXwywEeKwQI/story.html? | Ten things you may have missed Tuesday from the world of business | 1970-08-22T05:25:11.031041 | SHANGHAI — China’s Shanghai Composite index fell to a three-month low early Wednesday on concern that measures to stabilize equities are failing to stop a bear-market rout. The index tumbled 4.2 percent to 3,570.83 at 10:17 a.m. local time, after plunging as much as 8.2 percent, the most since 2007. Only 13 stocks among the 1,106 that trade in Shanghai rose. The latest attempts to stem losses, which include a wave of Chinese companies halting trading and regulators unveiling measures to prop up small-cap stocks, follow purchases by state-directed funds and interest-rate cuts by the central bank. They have so far failed to convince investors that valuations are cheap enough after a 28 percent drop in the Shanghai Composite from this year’s high on June 12. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
If you access the Internet via Comcast, your streaming of “Orange is the New Black” could be getting speedier. The company said it will boost download speeds for certain customers without raising their bills. Households that currently have a triple play package and pay for download speeds of up to 25 megabits per second would get speeds of 75 megabits per second, and people who pay for the 105-megabit package will be boosted to 150 megabits. The changes will put those Comcast customers well above the average Internet speed in Boston. According to Speedtest.net, a popular connection-testing site, average download speeds are 34 megabits per second in the Boston area, and 46 megabits per second among Comcast subscribers. — JACK NEWSHAM
The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has ordered the parent company of Santander Bank to make significant improvements in the next two months in the oversight provided by its board of directors and in its plans for managing risk and capital. The Boston Fed took action against Boston-based Santander Holdings USA Inc., the US subsidiary of the Spanish financial services company Banco Santander SA, but did not fine the institution. The company must submit written plans within 60 days and progress reports after the end of each quarter, according to the agreement released by the Federal Reserve. The enforcement action was prompted by a recent inspection that found deficiencies in Santander’s management and planning, raising questions about how it would cope with a severe recession. This spring, Santander failed the Fed’s so-called stress test for second time in as many years. — DEIRDRE FERNANDES
SurveyMonkey, a fast-growing online company whose chief executive, David Goldberg, died in May, said Tuesday that William Veghte would fill the job. The appointment is the company’s most significant move since Goldberg’s death, which left employees and the board juggling how to handle grief and the search for a new leader. Until last week, Veghte oversaw the split of Hewlett-Packard’s businesses and was its chief operating officer. Early in his career, he was one of the first members of Microsoft’s Office business, now a critical producer of Microsoft’s revenue. He also knew Goldberg for three decades, dating from their time together at Harvard University. — NEW YORK TIMES
Two Cambridge companies, Nanobiosym and Zaiput Flow Technologies, will get to test their technologies on the International Space Station and split $500,000 as winners of the state’s inaugural Galactic Grant Challenge. Governor Charlie Baker presented the awards Tuesday at the International Space Station Research and Development Conference in Boston. Nanobiosym has created a system called GeneRadar, a mobile device that analyzes blood and other bodily fluids to detect disease-causing microbes by their genetic profiles. Zaiput Flow, founded in 2013, will test the behavior of fluids and liquids in microgravity. — NIDHI SUBBARAMAN
NEW YORK — It wasn’t a robocall, but a judge left a message Tuesday when he awarded $229,500 to Araceli King of Irving, Texas, saying Time Warner Cable crossed the line when it harassed her with 153 robocalls. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan cited the New York company’s ‘‘particularly egregious’’ behavior in violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991. King had repeatedly asked the company to stop the calls. The judge tripled the $1,500 penalty for each call because Time Warner continued calling even after King complained that the calls were apparently meant for someone else. The judge noted 74 calls were made after Time Warner got a copy of King’s lawsuit. The company’s ‘‘recurring theme’’ was that it was an unwitting victim of a flawed law that turned an innocuous call to a wrong number into large damages. King’s lawyer said the ruling tells consumers to ‘‘stop taking it on the chin’’ with robocalls. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
Delta Dental of Massachusetts named Steve Pollock, 46, its chief operating officer, as thenext chief executive of the dental insurance company. Pollock will succeed Fay Donohue,who retired. Donohue had also served as operating chief and as president. Pollock, who has worked 16 years at Delta Dental, held several senior positions before becoming chief operating officer in 2011. In that capacity, he led the company through implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act. Delta Dental insures more than 2 million people in Massachusetts. — KARISHMA MEHROTRA
NEW YORK — The world’s largest cruise company could be heading to Cuba. Starting in May, Carnival Corp. plans to offer trips from Miami to the Caribbean island nation, the company said. Carnival would be the first American cruise company to visit Cuba since the 1960 trade embargo began. The trips will be through its new brand, fathom, which focuses on trips in which passengers sail to a destination in order to volunteer there. The weeklong cruises will be aboard the 710-passenger Adonia. The ship is relatively small; ships sailing under the company’s namesake line carry nearly 3,000 passengers. The itinerary is still being finalized as Carnival awaits Cuban government approval. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — The food company General Mills announced a major move toward cage-free eggs Tuesday under its updated animal welfare policy, which now covers its global supply chain. The company committed itself to 100 percent cage-free eggs for its US operations, a move that several other large companies have taken recently. The company did not set a deadline but said it will work with its suppliers to determine a ‘‘reasonable timeline,’’ given the disruption that bird flu has caused to the US egg supply. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new pill from Novartis to treat heart failure. Studies showed the combination drug Entresto reduced rates of heart-related death and hospitalization, compared with older drugs. More than 5 million Americans and more than 25 million people worldwide have heart failure, which causes the heart to gradually lose its pumping power. It kills up to half of patients within five years and costs the global economy an estimated $108 billion annually. Prevention is a key goal for health care providers. — ASSOCIATED PRESS | MARKETS
Chinese stocks open sharply lower
SHANGHAI — China’s Shanghai Composite index fell to a three-month low early Wednesday on concern that measures to stabilize equities are failing to stop a bear-market rout. The index tumbled 4. | 28.391304 | 0.891304 | 28.282609 | medium | medium | extractive | 332 |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/07/13/15/59/is-this-the-worlds-coolest-dad | http://web.archive.org/web/20150716002527id_/http://www.9news.com.au:80/world/2015/07/13/15/59/is-this-the-worlds-coolest-dad | Is this the world's coolest dad? Pilot shows four-year-old mid-air aerobics and micro-gravity flight | 1970-08-22T05:25:16.002527 | French-Canadian pilot Raphael Langumier has revealed the moments he took his daughter Léa for some aircraft gymnastics and micro-gravity in the clouds.
Nonplussed at first as she sits strapped in behind her dad, the young girl begins squealing and laughing uncontrollably when her dad guides the aircraft through the sky in thick, undulating loops.
Clutching the railings, a beaming Lea adorably then shoots her old man an enthusiastic thumbs up. Just weeks later, she ventured into the atmosphere again.
Tucked in this time directly by his side, the toddler seems completely at ease clutching controls in front of her as Mr Langumier gently guides the plane into the atmosphere.
Once in the clouds, he places a toothbrush on the dashboard in front of the pair, then tilts the aircraft in such a way that the object shudders then lifts in front of them, hovering towards Lea – who catches it in her tiny left hand. | Is this guy the world’s coolest dad? His four-year-old daughter probably thinks so after getting to experience mid-air acrobatics and even micro gravity during a recent flight. | 5.057143 | 0.4 | 0.4 | low | low | abstractive | 333 |
http://www.people.com/article/dog-shot-milwaukee-following-lion-sighting-reports | http://web.archive.org/web/20150723163951id_/http://www.people.com/article/dog-shot-milwaukee-following-lion-sighting-reports | Dog Shot in Milwaukee After Reports of Lion Sighting : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:25:23.163951 | 07/23/2015 AT 10:40 AM EDT
A dog in Milwaukee is expected to make a full recovery after it was shot – supposedly
, that's said to be wandering city streets,
The white, blue-eyed, pit bull took a bullet to its right paw on Tuesday in the city's North Side, about two miles from the reported lion sightings, animal control officials said.
"It's ludicrous. It's not tall and not anywhere near the size of a lion," Karen Sparapani, director of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission told
. "We are trying to tell people not to panic."
A phone call and email by PEOPLE to the Milwaukee Police Department were not immediately returned.
Police were notified of the incident when Cynthia Wilburn called, reporting to see a lion near her neighbor's home. A cell phone video she took showed a blurry image of a large cat-like animal making its way through the neighborhood.
"Animal experts have advised that no attempts should be made to capture the animal, as it may be a dangerous predator," the Milwaukee Police Department said in a
Wisconsin doesn't have a ban on owning exotic animals as pets,
reports. It's possible the lion belongs to a Milwaukee resident.
The Milwaukee Zoo took to Twitter on Tuesday to reassure the community all its lions were right where they belong. "We're not sure what's running around the city, but all of our lions are safe and sound! #mkelion," they wrote, alongside a photo.
We're not sure what's running around the city, but all of our lions are safe and sound! #mkelion pic.twitter.com/zbyoD0QsBI
Apparently, someone has created a
for the lion, and has been sending light-hearted tweets on its behalf. The lion now has more than 1,500 followers.
"Out for a stroll," read its first tweet on Tuesday.
There are more than 100 tweets so far. "Guys where should I go while I'm in Milwaukee? #mkelion" read another.
guys where should I go while I'm in Milwaukee? #mkelion
In real life, neither the lion nor the dog's owner have been found. | A white pit bull in Milwaukee is shot in paw following lion sightings | 33.461538 | 0.923077 | 1.692308 | medium | medium | mixed | 334 |
http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/heroes-villains/201507/after-fifa-resignation-sepp-blatter-plans-career-most-popular-radio | http://web.archive.org/web/20150724135410id_/http://www.thepostgame.com:80/blog/heroes-villains/201507/after-fifa-resignation-sepp-blatter-plans-career-most-popular-radio | After FIFA Resignation, Sepp Blatter Plans Career 'Most Popular' Media: Radio | 1970-08-22T05:25:24.135410 | Sepp Blatter -- protector of soccer, champion of women's sports, patriarch of corruption -- has set a date for the election of the next FIFA president, meaning there is a timeline for his departure as the head of soccer's governing body.
Though he's 79, Blatter has no intention of retiring to the Swiss Alps and living a quiet life (hopefully, from his perspective) free of U.S. criminal indictments, or, heaven forbid, his capture by Swiss authorities related to the hundreds of millions of dollars fraudulently acquired under his FIFA stewardship. No, Blatter plans to stay busy and in the public eye -- or, at least, in the public ear.
At a press conference Monday, he made this revelation:
Sepp Blatter says that after he quits FIFA in Feb he will become a radio journalist. 'I think radio is the most popular form of information'
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceIndy) July 20, 2015
Through this tweet, we learn two things.
First, we understand that Blatter sees himself as someone with personal value, or possibly that he doesn't see his aspirations as a narcissistic drive for celebrity, power and influence.
Second, we have it on record that Blatter considers radio the most popular form of media in the world. This is exactly the perception you would hope for and expect when dealing with a misogynistic octogenarian from Switzerland who smugly grins at the rest of the world while slaves in Qatar build his soccer stadiums.
I will not be listening to Sepp Blatter's future radio show, but I'm thrilled to know he sees this career move as bringing him to the forefront of media innovation.
The Sepp Blatter character has always depended on projecting an image of progressive leadership while clinging to outdated attitudes and condescending to the non-rich elite. But it's satisfying to see where this path to power ultimately leads: Sepp Blatter is now out-of-work, facing legal trouble, and publicly campaigning for a job in talk radio while comedians throw fake money in his face.
It's the ending he deserves, but don't expect him to get the punchline.
Chargers DE Corey Luiget's Africa Trip
This text will be replaced | Sepp Blatter -- protector of soccer, champion of women's sports, patriarch of corruption -- has set a date for the election of the next FIFA president... | 14.266667 | 0.966667 | 28.033333 | low | high | extractive | 335 |
http://www.people.com/article/amanda-bynes-michael-costello-fashion-event | http://web.archive.org/web/20150726212214id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/amanda-bynes-michael-costello-fashion-event | Amanda Bynes Makes Surprise Appearance at Fashion Event in L.A. | 1970-08-22T05:25:26.212214 | 07/24/2015 AT 10:40 AM EDT
attended her first Hollywood party in a long time Thursday night, making a surprise appearance at the launch of fashion designer Michael Costello's pre-fall capsule collection in Los Angeles.
Bynes, 29, who was last spotted in public
following two years of well-documented troubles, was photographed in a white lace minidress and dark sunglasses.
The former child star, who has attended fashion school herself at L.A.'s Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, toured the event and also spent time with Costello – a season 8 contestant on
– in a back room, perusing the outfits and chatting with his team about design and sketching.
A friend who knows the Costello team reached out to let the designer know Bynes was a fan and wanted to see his new collection.
"[The friend] called and said, 'Can she please come to the event? She's, like, the biggest Michael Costello fan.' I think it's so cute when you hear that big celebrities are fans of yours," Costello tells PEOPLE.
The actress, whom her attorney said in June was in a better place after a turbulent few years of troublesome behavior, smiled for photographers as she left the Costello event.
"Michael was a doll to her, and she had a great time," a friend of Bynes tells PEOPLE. "Amanda was there as a student of design ... She was in a back room with Michael looking at dresses and talking to his staff about design and sketching."
Costello also spoke with PEOPLE about the
wore in a promo for E!'s
"It's kind of cool," he said. "I had no idea she was going to wear the dress. A mutual friend of ours who is a stylist couldn't even tell us what was going on until the promos came out. My boyfriend showed me the promo and said, 'Don't freak out. Don't have a fit. But I have something really cool to show you.' I was like 'Oh my God, this is so cool.' " | The actress, last seen in public in early June, showed up in a white minidress and dark sunglasses | 20.6 | 0.85 | 2.15 | medium | medium | mixed | 336 |
http://www.people.com/article/ice-t-does-voice-over-jimmy-fallon | http://web.archive.org/web/20150801080758id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/ice-t-does-voice-over-jimmy-fallon | Ice-T Hilariously Voices Care Bears and More on Jimmy Fallon | 1970-08-22T05:26:41.080758 | 07/31/2015 AT 01:45 AM EDT
He's a father and grandfather with another child on the way.
still needs a bit practice when it comes to reading a nice bedtime story.
On Thursday, the rapper, 57, appeared on Jimmy Fallon and revealed a hidden talent for adding rather inappropriate voice overs to children's cartoons.
In the hilarious clip, Ice made the audience roar with laughter as he voiced characters from
and Diego in an episode of Nickelodeon's
Perhaps Ice is brushing up on his parenting skills, as on Friday, he and wife Nicole "CoCo" Austin announced they're
The couple also announced a new talk show they'll be hosting together. | The Law & Order: SVU actor shared one of his hidden talents | 10.153846 | 0.307692 | 0.307692 | low | low | abstractive | 337 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/2015/07/30/irrational-man-woody-allen-latest/nPxosvaGB7wM8szjupKqxN/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150803012009id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/arts/movies/2015/07/30/irrational-man-woody-allen-latest/nPxosvaGB7wM8szjupKqxN/story.html | In ‘Irrational Man,’ Woody Allen goes to school | 1970-08-22T05:26:43.012009 | Lately Woody Allen’s movies have been offering an ill-disguised alternative version of his private woes to counter the ugly image of him shared by almost everyone else. The scenario usually involves an older, smarter man, who may be neurotic but is probably a genius, and either an older, neurotic, deceitful woman or a much younger, naive — if not ignorant — and sometimes deceitful ingénue, or both. Read into this what you will, but don’t expect a lot of laughs.
The same holds true for his new film. “Irrational Man” also starts the trademark Allen pointy-headed name-dropping early — it shares its title with William Barrett’s classic book about existentialism. There’s plenty more of this to come, as the film’s protagonist, Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix — potbellied, mumbling, and dyspeptic), is a philosophy superstar — brilliant, bibulous, and a babe magnet as he drags his angst across the academic world, never staying anywhere long as his antics quickly eclipse his appeal. Most recently he’s taken up residence at fictitious Braylin College, in Newport, R.I., where, as one female prof puts it, he should put some Viagra back into the department.
Alas, Abe has found that teaching and writing about futility is itself futile. He’s lost his raison d’etre, not to mention his mojo — as passion-starved, age-appropriate chemistry professor Rita Richards (Parker Posey) learns to her dismay.
Bereft, Abe opens his heart and mind to bright and fresh-faced student Jill Pollard (Emma Stone, bringing nuance and depth to a cipher). Being a strict if unconventional moralist, Abe discourages Jill when she throws herself at him with increasing ardor. He knows it would do her no good, especially since his Dasein has lost its Gelassenheit.
Then, in a flash of inspiration derived from “Crime and Punishment,” “The Stranger,” “Strangers on a Train” and Allen’s own “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and “Match Point,” Abe comes up with a plan to restore his joie de vivre. But one has to wonder if this is such a good idea. Wasn’t his mopiness what turned women on in the first place?
Good question. Allen, though, seems more interested in demonstrating how a genius is misunderstood and unfairly judged by the standards of petty moralists. His case is not helped by the use of that lazy expository tool — a prolix, perfunctory voice-over. Actually two voice-overs — both Abe and Jill contributing their versions of the story, a duplication of effort that fails to illuminate and is, in retrospect, preposterous. Even Allen’s outstanding cinematographer, Darius Khondji, can’t deliver a spark; his drab Newport might just as well be Newport News.
In the end, this feeble effort remains tainted, however unfairly, by the creator’s personal life. Maybe Allen should have titled it “Rationalizing Man.” | In “Irrational Man,” Woody Allen offers a campus tour. | 44.307692 | 0.769231 | 1.538462 | high | low | mixed | 338 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/22/marc-faber-why-us-stocks-could-drop-up-to-40.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150803121703id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/22/marc-faber-why-us-stocks-could-drop-up-to-40.html | Marc Faber: Why US stocks could drop up to 40% | 1970-08-22T05:26:43.121703 | The U.S. stock market could "easily" drop 20 percent to 40 percent, closely followed contrarian Marc Faber said Wednesday—citing a host of factors including the growing list of companies trading below their 200-day moving average.
In recent days, "there were [also] more declining than advancing stocks, and the list of 12-month new lows was very high on Friday," the publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report told CNBC's "Squawk Box."
"It shows you a lot of stocks are already declining."
Faber said U.S. stocks are on the "high side" right now, despite Tuesday's decline, and expectations are quite high, which can lead to big disappointments such as Apple after issuing a softer revenue outlook. The company's earnings just beat estimates, turning off investors.
"In the U.S., the market could easily drop 20 percent to 40 percent," he said. The downside risk is lower in already depressed markets outside the U.S., he added.
Faber has been predicting the meltdown of U.S. stocks for years, only to see the market climb higher.
Faber, who lives in Asia, said he sees "no growth" coming from the economies there, with some countries in recession. As a result, Faber does not see much strength coming from the rest of the world. He called the expansion in Europe "anemic."
The situation in Greece, where the nation is receiving bailouts to pay back borrowed money, is "basically Ponzi finance" that can't last, Faber said.
He's also concerned about the recent weakness in commodity prices.
"Supplies haven't gone up that much, and do not reflect the price weakness," he said. "The prices weakness is because of weak demand."
"May be this the signal that there are strong deflationary forces despite all the money printing by central banks," he added. | Closely followed contrarian Marc Faber cites many factors, including the growing list of companies trading below their 200-day moving average. | 17.045455 | 0.909091 | 8.909091 | medium | medium | extractive | 339 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/16/former-mass-banking-commissioner-steps-down-from-federal-consumer-agency/Zmc2B1sz0bcvB0TshUUflL/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150804194655id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/16/former-mass-banking-commissioner-steps-down-from-federal-consumer-agency/Zmc2B1sz0bcvB0TshUUflL/story.html | Former Mass. banking commissioner steps down from federal consumer agency | 1970-08-22T05:26:44.194655 | Steven Antonakes, the former Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks who went to Washington to help lead the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, said Thursday he was resigning.
In an e-mail to employees Antonakes announced that he planned to step down as deputy director of the agency formed after the financial crisis and return to Massachusetts.
“I have logged hundreds of thousands of miles and missed entirely too many class plays, teacher conference meetings, and Little League games,” said the father of five, who has been commuting between Boston and Washington for the past five years. “Accordingly, I have decided to return home to Massachusetts and pursue opportunities that will ensure that I am home for dinner with my wife and family.”
Antonakes, who serves as deputy director of the agency, did not disclose his last day or what he plans to do upon his return to Massachusetts.
Richard Cordray, the agency’s director, called Antonakes’ contributions “extensive.”
Antonakes was the state’s banking commissioner for seven years until 2010. | Steven Antonakes said Thursday he was resigning. | 25 | 1 | 5 | medium | high | mixed | 340 |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/07/29/00/59/sweden-sub-wreck-imperial-russian-vessel | http://web.archive.org/web/20150806020532id_/http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/07/29/00/59/sweden-sub-wreck-imperial-russian-vessel | Sweden sub wreck 'imperial Russian vessel' | 1970-08-22T05:26:46.020532 | A wrecked submarine found off the coast of Sweden is thought to be a Russian vessel that ran aground a century ago after colliding with a Swedish naval ship.
Speculation has been swirling about the origins of the craft, which was found by divers nine months after a high-profile hunt for a mystery submarine in Swedish waters.
Stockholm's Dagens Nyhter newspaper said on Tuesday it was most likely the wreck was an Imperial Russian Navy sub that sank with an 18-member crew in May 1916 after a collision with a Swedish vessel.
Sweden's armed forces are refusing to be drawn on its identity, with a spokeswoman saying, "We do not want to speculate right now."
Swedish divers announced on Monday the vessel had been found about 1.5 nautical miles off the coast of central Sweden.
According to Stefan Hogeborn, a diver with the Ocean X Team that made the discovery, the mini-sub was "completely intact" with "no visible damage to the hull" and the hatches were closed.
"It is unclear how old the submarine is and how long it has been laying at the sea floor, but the Cyrillic letters on the hull indicate that it is Russian," he said in a statement.
Dagens Nyhter, citing unnamed experts, said it was a Som class submarine built for the Imperial Russian Navy in Vladivostok in 1904 and integrated into the naval fleet in the Baltic Sea in 1915.
In October, Sweden's navy launched a massive hunt for a foreign submarine, suspected to be Russian, in the Stockholm archipelago.
The military subsequently confirmed that "a mini-submarine" had at some time violated its territorial waters but was never able to establish the vessel's nationality.
Do you have any news photos or videos? | A submarine wreck discovered off the coast of Sweden is said to probably be an Imperial Russian Navy vessel that sank in May 1916 after a collision. | 12.214286 | 0.928571 | 3.571429 | low | medium | mixed | 341 |
http://fortune.com/2010/11/17/googles-boutiques-com-opens-for-business-today/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150806030138id_/http://fortune.com:80/2010/11/17/googles-boutiques-com-opens-for-business-today/ | Google’s Boutiques.com opens for business today | 1970-08-22T05:26:46.030138 | The product of Google’s acquisition of Like.com comes alive as a social fashion shopping site.
Boutiques.com is an interesting play for Google and, from the website, you’ll notice that it is unlike anything Google GOOG has done before. There isn’t any advertising and the imagery is big and beautiful. This is all about shopping.
You’ll notice that there isn’t any Google branding on the site. The shop site was fast-tracked to market and was a product of its Like.com acquisition earlier this year. Google says there was no time to put in their own branding but subsequent iterations of the site might show some Google logos.
This is a shopping site where users can compare thousands of brands of clothing in a big, visual way. “Google’s vision is to help people find and shop for all the world’s products.”
I’m not seeing a lot of men’s clothing listed. In fact, I’m pretty sure there isn’t any men’s clothing listed here at all. This is clearly a site for women.
Google will launch a companion iPad app to complement the experience.
A big draw of Boutique.com is its “Celebrity Boutiques.” Much like celebrity playlists on iTunes, Celebrity Boutiques show the favorites of celebrities consumers may want to emulate in one way or another. Google has an impressive lineup of both entertainment stars and celebrity bloggers listed at its opening.
Anna Paquin, April Bowlby, Ashely Olsen, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, Ashley Benson, Carey Mulligan, Debi Mazar, Elisabeth Moss, Emma Roberts, Ginnifer Goodwin, Iman, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Jane Krakowski, Jenna Fischer, Jessica Lowndes, Katharine McPhee, Katrina Bowden, Kelly Osbourne, Kim Raver, Krysten Ritter, Lindsay Price, Maggie Q, Malin Akerman, Mary-Kate Olsen, Miranda Lambert, Olivia Palermo, Rashida Jones, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Shay Mitchell and Vivica A. Fox
Google also lined up an impressive initial set of designers including:
Alice & Olivia, Andrew Marc, Anna Sui, Badgley Mischka, Mark & James, Catherine Malandrino, Christian Siriano, Cynthia Rowley, Cynthia Steffe, Derek Lam, Elise Overland, Erin Fetherston, Geren Ford, Grey Ant, Isaac Mizrahi, Kate Spade, Lulu Guinness, Marchesa, Oscar de la Renta, Rag and Bone, Rebecca Taylor, Tracy Reese, Betsey Johnson, Diane Von Furstenberg, Halston Heritage, Karen Millen, Nicole Miller, TemperleyTibi,Tory Burch, William Rast and more are being added.
The idea is that people can create their own boutique and share their clothing preferences with friends and publish those online. Friends would share their finds with other friends.
It wouldn’t be a Google product without search, and Boutiques.com employs a powerful visual product search pulled from Like.com that allows consumers to filter by color, silhouette, pattern, size, style, merchant, and of course price.
Inspiration photos – Try a search for [yellow pumps] and you’ll see matching outfit ideas to the right of the search results. We feature images from streetstyle sites, and collage and styling sites to provide you with the online equivalent of styled mannequins to give you inspiration.
Complete the Look – Ever wonder what to pair with that dress? Our fashion designers wrote hundreds of style rules—like “heavily patterned handbags don’t tend to go with heavily patterned dresses”—that we used to develop a tool to suggest items that match.
Visual search – Sometimes you love an item but not in a particular color. We analyze the photograph of an item for its color, shape and pattern and try to help you find visually similar items.
Boutiques on your tablet – Download our iPad application, lean back and move through inventory as if you were flipping through clothes on a rack at the store.
Since it is a legacy product from Like.com, Boutiques still operates on a CPC (cost per click) or CPA (cost per action) basis, unlike Google’s product search, the unit which it will be operating under. Google wouldn’t say whether they’d be keeping that model or if they’d eventually try advertising against the site. Or both.
Google is having a launch event tonight in Soho New York. We’ll be on hand to watch it unfold. | The product of Google's acquisition of Like.com comes alive as a social fashion shopping site. Boutiques.com is an interesting play for Google and, from the website, you'll notice that it is unlike anything Google has done before. There isn't any advertising and the imagery is big and beautiful. This is all about shopping. You'll notice that there… | 11.486111 | 0.875 | 7.625 | low | medium | mixed | 342 |
http://www.people.com/article/kelly-clarkson-prince-purple-rain-cover | http://web.archive.org/web/20150807173723id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/kelly-clarkson-prince-purple-rain-cover | Kelly Clarkson Takes It Back To The '80s, Covering Prince's Purple Rain : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:26:47.173723 | 08/06/2015 AT 01:15 PM EDT
has earned her title as the queen of covers.
winner took it back to the '80s on Tuesday in Saint Paul, Minnesota, giving Prince's "Purple Rain" a
"Everyone knows it," she told the crowd. "It's such a classic that I ask you to love me and not judge me because it's such a great classic song from someone from here."
The singer, 33, has dazzled her audiences with her ever-increasing
, including, 'NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye,"
' "Wrecking Ball." Earlier this month,
on Clarkson's rendition of "Blank Space."
After the "Since U Been Gone" hitmaker finished Prince's number, she admitted to being nervous the entire time.
"I don't think y'all know – I was really about to pee on myself that whole time," she joked. "I was like, 'Oh God, please don't screw it up too much.' "
No need to worry, Kelly! You did more than fine. | Her title as the queen of covers continues! | 24.222222 | 0.888889 | 5.555556 | medium | medium | mixed | 343 |
http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-aniston-justin-theroux-arrive-for-honeymoon-bora-bora | http://web.archive.org/web/20150807195332id_/http://www.people.com/article/jennifer-aniston-justin-theroux-arrive-for-honeymoon-bora-bora | Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux Married, to Honeymoon in Bora Bora : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:26:47.195332 | Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux
08/07/2015 AT 09:00 AM EDT
on Thursday to begin their honeymoon – but not without a little help from their famous friends.
in a top-secret ceremony on Wednesday at their Bel Air, California, home, were photographed arriving at the Polynesian destination with a group of travel buddies including
Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston arrive in Bora Bora
In the photos, Aniston, 46, wears the same striped shirt and straw hat she donned for departure. The headwear is pulled down low over her face.
Theroux, 43, is also still clad in his earlier ensemble, sporting a white, short-sleeve T-shirt and a fedora.
The pair flew with their friends on a private plane out of Los Angeles, inviting the honeymoon tag-alongs because they want the celebration to last as long as possible, a source told PEOPLE.
The trip isn't their first to the tropical destination. The pair celebrated Theroux's birthday and their second anniversary
at this time last year.
The couple tricked many of their 75 guests into thinking they were attending the actor's birthday party, and then surprised them by exchanging vows.
The reception, held in the couple's backyard, drew an impressive guest list, including Lisa Kudrow, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Sandra Bullock and even Terry Richardson. | Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux touched down in the Polynesian island a day after tying the knot in a surprise ceremony | 12.809524 | 0.666667 | 1.809524 | low | low | mixed | 344 |
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/05/27/01/48/media-ceos-the-highest-paid-us-executives | http://web.archive.org/web/20150809050314id_/http://www.9news.com.au/world/2015/05/27/01/48/media-ceos-the-highest-paid-us-executives | Media CEOs the highest-paid US executives | 1970-08-22T05:26:49.050314 | Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav earned US$156m last year. (AAP)
They're not Hollywood stars, they're not TV personalities and they don't play in a rock band, but their pay packages are in the same league.
Six of the 10 highest-paid CEOs last year worked in the media industry, according to a study carried out by executive compensation data firm Equilar and The Associated Press.
The best-paid chief executive of a large American company was David Zaslav, head of Discovery Communications, the pay-TV channel operator that is home to Shark Week.
His total compensation more than quadrupled to $US156.1 million ($A199.6 million) in 2014 after he extended his contract.
Les Moonves, of CBS, held on to second place in the rankings, despite a drop in pay from a year earlier. His pay package totalled $US54.4 million.
The remaining four CEOs, from entertainment giants Viacom, Walt Disney, Comcast and Time Warner, have ranked among the nation's highest-paid executives for at least four years, according to the Equilar/AP pay study.
Pay packages for CEOs overall grew for the fifth straight year in 2014, driven by a rising stock market that pushed up the value of executive stock awards.
Median compensation for the heads of Standard & Poor's 500 companies rose to a record $US10.6 million, up from $US10.5 million the year before.
For the annual CEO pay study, Equilar assessed data from 338 companies that filed proxy statements with regulators between January 1 and April 30, 2015.
To calculate a CEO's pay package, Equilar and the AP looked at salary, stock and option awards, perks and bonuses.
The study only includes chief executives who have been at the helm of their company for at least two years.
Do you have any news photos or videos? | Six of last year's highest-paid US CEOs came from the media industry, the best paid raking in $US156.1 million. | 14.038462 | 0.846154 | 2.230769 | low | medium | mixed | 345 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/08/05/city-awarded-help-startups/ZBepLfTMJhYBnFTpoe0JdK/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150812102811id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/08/05/city-awarded-help-startups/ZBepLfTMJhYBnFTpoe0JdK/story.html | City awarded $50,000 to help startups | 1970-08-22T05:26:52.102811 | Boston is a winner in the Small Business Administration’s
The SBA has awarded 27 cities and Native American communities $50,000 each to help them streamline licensing, permitting, and other requirements involved in starting a business, as part of the Startup in a Day Competition. Funding nationwide totaled $1.6 million.
President Obama introduced the competition in June to encourage mayors to make it easier for startups to get off the ground in less than 24 hours. Boston was one of the initial 11 cities to sign on to the initiative.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Mayor Martin J. Walsh said the city “has been working to make the permitting process in Boston easy, transparent, and predictable and this will help us expand those efforts.”
The city said that in the last 18 months, it has made the fire and public works departments’ permits available online, reduced plan review times for building permits, and developed an online tool to let applicants see where their permits are in the review process.
The announcement of the SBA winners was part of the first White House Demo Day on Tuesday, when 32 startups showcased their innovations for the president and his staffers.
Beyond entrepreneurship, the city has also made moving van permits and city data available online during Walsh’s time in the mayor’s office. | The federal government awarded 27 cities and Native American communities $50,000 each to help streamline licensing, permitting, and other requirements needed to start a business as part of the Startup in a Day Competition. | 6.605263 | 0.894737 | 8.263158 | low | medium | extractive | 346 |
http://www.people.com/article/geno-smith-new-york-jets-quarterback-suffers-broken-jaw-after-sucker-punch | http://web.archive.org/web/20150813114853id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/geno-smith-new-york-jets-quarterback-suffers-broken-jaw-after-sucker-punch | Geno Smith, New York Jets Quarterback, Suffers Broken Jaw After Sucker Punch : People.com | 1970-08-22T05:26:53.114853 | 08/12/2015 AT 07:50 AM EDT
New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith suffered a broken jaw on Tuesday after a teammate "sucker punched" him in the locker room.
Smith will be out six to 10 weeks for the injury, which happened as a result of a dispute with linebacker IK Enemkpali,
Enemkpali reportedly bought a $600 plane ticket so Smith could attend his charity football camp in Pflugerville, Texas, on July 1, sources told ESPN.
But Smith never showed, claiming a close friend died in a motorcycle accident just before the event, according to ESPN.
Enemkpali then demanded that Smith reimburse him the money. When Enemkpali confronted him on Tuesday, the two got into an argument and the linebacker ended up punching the quarterback in the jaw, according to multiple reports.
Enemkpali, a free agent who was drafted by the Jets in 2014, was let go over the incident.
"It had nothing to do with football. It was something very childish," head coach Todd Bowles said in a statement later Tuesday. "He got cold-cocked, sucker punched, whatever you want to call it, in the jaw. He has a broken jaw, fractured jaw.
"The team knows it's something we don't tolerate, something we can't stand. You don't walk up to a man and punch him in the face."
Enemkpali has since apologized for his behavior, telling the Associated Press in a statement: "Geno and I let our frustration get the best of us, but I should have just walked away from the situation.
"I deeply regret and apologize for my actions. It was never my intention to harm anyone. I appreciate the opportunity I had with the Jets."
As for Smith, he's not going to let the injury stop him. The quarterback posted a picture to Instagram on Tuesday with the caption, "ILL BE BACK!"
A photo posted by Geno Smith III (@genosmith7) on Aug 11, 2015 at 11:03am PDT
Smith will likely be out until October. | Geno Smith suffered a broken jaw after being sucker punched by a now former teammate | 26.8 | 0.8 | 2.933333 | medium | medium | mixed | 347 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/13/why-the-yuan-may-deck-singapore-property-stocks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150814002458id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/13/why-the-yuan-may-deck-singapore-property-stocks.html | Why the yuan may deck Singapore property stocks | 1970-08-22T05:26:54.002458 | The price gap at the high end between Singapore and Hong Kong high-end property has widened, possibly to as high as 80 percent as the Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar, while the Singapore dollar has weakened, he noted. A Singapore apartment goes for around $15,251 per square meter, compared with around $22,814 in Hong Kong, according to data from Global Property Guide.
Additionally, a flight to safely may spur people to pay premium prices for Singapore assets, he said, with demand not only coming from China.
"The greater concern closer to home is flight to Singapore by Malaysian investors because the ringgit has been weakening even faster than the Singapore dollar," Cheong said. "There seems to be no end in sight on the damage caused to the global perception of Malaysia. It's quite serious and it's very difficult to repair that."
Malaysia is facing an extended period of political uncertainty. Amid calls for his resignation, embattled Prime Minister Najib Razak shuffled his cabinet in July, sacking his deputy after he called on Najib to explain the controversy surrounding a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that nearly $700 million from heavily indebted quasi-sovereign wealth fund One Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB) was deposited into the prime minister's personal bank accounts.
Najib has denied accepting money for personal gain and is reportedly considering a defamation lawsuit against the WSJ. On Monday, Malaysia's anti-corruption commission said the funds in Najib's private accounts were a "contribution" from a Middle East donor unconnected to 1MDB; it said the donor's identity couldn't be disclosed.
Amid the turmoil, the country's currency has plunged to levels not seen since 1998, during the Asian Financial Crisis.
—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1 | Singapore's property shares, already hit by expectations of rising rates, took a beating after China devalued its currency and more pain may be ahead. | 12.535714 | 0.535714 | 0.535714 | low | low | abstractive | 348 |
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jun/01/ybas-versus-old-masters | http://web.archive.org/web/20150814151110id_/http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jun/01/ybas-versus-old-masters | Young British Artists versus old masters | 1970-08-22T05:26:54.151110 | In the late 1990s I used to hang out a bit with the coterie of conceptualists that became known as the Young British Artists – I make no apology for this: they threw the best parties, indulged in the most riotous behaviour, and seemed delightfully untrammelled by that distinction between the possible and the likely that can always circumscribe creativity. Damien Hirst smoking 100 cigarettes a night and getting out his wing-wang, Tracey Emin intoxicated quite as much by her own ego as alcohol, the late Angus Fairhurst wreathed in a sort of cosmic diffidence which – with the curse of hindsight – can be seen as foreshadowing his subsequent suicide: these were some of the runners and riders on the sinuous, moneyed back of the Blairite boom.
I admired them for their take-no-prisoners attitude and their conscious rejection of all codified styles and modes. And I believed – despite plenty of evidence to the contrary – that the challenging nature of their subject matter (sex, death and neurosis) betokened a commensurately subversive attitude towards money and power. Most of all, I cleaved to the conceptualists because, by and large, they produced artworks which, by their very nature, demanded no actual aesthetic response – no "eye" as it's commonly understood – but only an intellectual one: a willingness to "get" the artwork as if it were a sight-gag.
I mention this because I need to give the background to my own change of direction as an art-consumer towards the more durable satisfactions of those handmade paintings and sculptures that, with all the vicissitudes of time and taste, have nonetheless gone on providing luscious nutriment for the eyes and the mind. In part, of course, it's simply a matter of my own ageing: as they get older most people find sitting quietly on a padded bench peering at a Renaissance nude rather more enjoyable than standing in a bare gallery goggling at a naked pre-op transsexual whose hormones and implants allegedly qualify him/her as a "living artwork".
Still, I don't want to put off the young and the reckless from hanging around the old masters – and nor do I believe there's a danger of this (because it seems I'm not alone in finding the likes of Velázquez's Rokeby Venus sexier than all contemporary comers). While the contemporary art market has tanked since the recession, attendance at all the big public galleries and museums shows no sign of diminishing: in Britain in 2012, all of us, young and old, care about the visual arts, and – thanks in no small measure to the abolition of entrance charges – we regard our free access to them as something of a right. Long may this continue.
Back in 2006, when the National Gallery mounted an important exhibition of Velázquez's work, I was fortunate enough to have a friend who was a trustee. This meant she had the privilege of taking people in after hours. This wasn't the first time I'd been in a gallery after hours – but it was the first time I'd had such leisurely and unrestricted access to paintings of the stature of the Rokeby, or Velázquez's portraits of Sebastiàn de Morra and Pope Innocent X. Then there's the particular atmosphere of the National Gallery itself: marmoreal and brooding, William Wilkins's edifice lies across the top end of Trafalgar Squarein London, a recumbent Italianate form that implicitly teases all those stonily erect generals and monarchs with its promise of a lush and oily interior. Established in the 1820s by private connoisseurs who felt keenly the lack of a British equivalent to the great state collections of continental Europe, the gallery has always been an anomalous institution: private in origin, but public in aspiration – its very location was determined by a desire to make its treasures as widely accessible as possible, and not simply to le bon ton of the West End.
The current culture of art appreciation, while vigorous, leans too heavily on a TV talent-show mentality to whip up enthusiasm: so-called blockbuster exhibitions funnel the punters past the daubs as if they were so many goggle-eyed lemmings, and this concentration on a handful of must-sees leaves much more quietly disregarded. No one is more aware of this than Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery since 2008. To me he put it succinctly: "I don't think that people who calculate on having successful exhibitions deserve to succeed – I find something disreputable about it." Penny is a tall, spare man, his en brosse brown quiff falls over a high forehead behind which is secreted a vast amount of knowledge about art – knowledge he imparts with an enthusiasm so exquisitely modulated by an innate diffidence that it's impossible not to hang on his every word. Impossible, that is, if you have the good fortune to survey the National Gallery with its director – a benison granted me in the flesh, but which is also available to anyone who gets hold of a copy of his short book in the Scala series, Director's Choice, and uses it to pilot their way around the permanent collection.
There are times in life when not to gush is proof that you are indeed the dried-up stick that you feared you'd always become: viewing paintings of this calibre with no obstructive heads, or marauding columns of Euro-yoof to disturb you is pleasurable enough, but to have a scholar of Penny's calibre acting as your audio-guide adds several more dimensions of absorption. "Dimension" is, perhaps, the key word here: originally an academic – he taught at Manchester University, and was the Slade professor at Oxford when still in his early 30s – Penny's writings on art have been voluminous: up until his appointment by the National Gallery he was a steady contributor to the London Review of Books, and he still writes fairly regularly for the Burlington Magazine.
To read Penny on art is to enter into a profound contemplation of pictorial space – and also into the complex relationship between what is depicted and how this is done. He is preoccupied by the conjuring of three dimensions out of two, and how the positioning of figures, objects and landscape within the pictorial space can harmonise – or not. The alchemy whereby a painter will use the subtle relief of oils to express other layering – of embroidered cloth, or drapery – arouses in him a near-mystical fervour. Yet his chef d'oeuvre Taste and the Antique (written with Francis Haskell and published by Yale in 1984), is a painstaking survey of the canon of classical sculpture – the Apollo Belvedere, the Venus de' Medici, the Farnese Hercules – and an analysis of how this body of work came to be constitutive of "taste" itself in the modern era, before in the last century being unceremoniously consigned to the architectural salvager's dump bin. So, rather than being like an art critic who tells us what's good, Penny is a sort of historiographer of the canonical: explaining why canons of art come about, and what the point of them is.
Not that he's a slouch when it comes to the business of attribution either: in 1991 Penny – who was by then a curator at the National Gallery – identified the Madonna of the Pinks as definitively by Raphael, rather than being a copy of a lost original as previously supposed. All this was, you might say, the perfect background for a director of a national collection – and there was some surprise when Penny was passed over in 2002 in favour of Charles Saumarez Smith. Penny went off to Washington, where, as well as taking up a professorship at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art, he busied himself acquiring sculpture for the gallery. Finally, in 2008 he became director of ours.
I reminded him that when he got the post he told a journalist that he had a seven-year plan: "I do look back at some of the things we projected, and I don't think I've deviated in any extraordinary way, except that I haven't done a number of things I wanted to. I very rashly thought that it would be easy to convert a huge amount of the scholarly activity of the National Gallery – stretching back over the last 100 years and more – and make it more immediately available online. I'm fascinated by the very earliest catalogues of the National Gallery – by Ottley and Landseer – and I think it would be very good if, when you see any picture on the gallery's website you were invited to read the current label, then the fullest catalogue entry, dating back perhaps 30 years, and then these very earliest entries."
Written out like this Penny's approach sounds dry: but in fact he's quietly passionate about this business of instructing us in the history of art, and in the course of our conversation he mentioned Kenneth Clark, a famous previous director, a couple of times. Clark – who was director from 1934-45 – went on to become a celebrated populariser of the classical art canon with his television series Civilisation (1969), but Penny's approach to his educative role as the nation's Grand Conservator seems far more nuanced. In the dark wood and glass of his office, he gently told me about the origins of anaglypta wallpaper (apparently its fleshy appearance came about because originally it was imitating the leather wall hangings popular in the 17th century). Penny constantly drew my attention to the way elements of a painting match or "rhyme" each other: a mandrill and stone ball, two counterpointed figures. In his last book he encouraged viewers increasingly accustomed to looking at artworks onscreen to reabsorb themselves in the totality of the pictorial space – and in the book he's currently planning he's going in the opposite direction, and concentrating on very fine details: a fly poised on the surface of a canvas, or the "RX" notation on a painting of a manuscript that meant a half-millennium ago – as it still does to this day in the US – "receipt".
For an art historian who made his name with a spectacular attribution, Penny is less concerned with who-painted-what than might be imagined. "The connoisseurship I most admire is not exclusively directed to the identification of hands but also to the discrimination of quality." He likened the "reading" of pictures to the practical criticism of literary texts, and said that while he valued the expertise that leads to attributing this painting to that artist it remained "very important not to be afraid to be undecided".
Although he was not personally its curator, the National Gallery's hugely successful recent Leonardo show seems to have embodied much of the Penny philosophy: scrupulously hung, relatively small in scale, and placing the securely attributed works by the master – of which there are remarkably few – in the context of others, both paintings and drawings, by his contemporaries. And there was the determination to keep the numbers in the galleries relatively low – a throughput half that of comparable blockbuster exhibitions. Everybody may not get the opportunity to wander the marble halls alone, but their director is at pains to make the experience of the National Gallery as comfortable as possible. He has no wish to knock the policies of other major institutions, but it's clear that he's keen to avoid any hint of exit-through-gift-shop commercial showmanship.
The cult of personality is hardly a new thing in the visual arts – one can cite Vasari's Lives of the Artists – but talking to Penny I gained a sense that for him the works themselves will always transcend their makers. "I don't mind what people do," he said, "although I do think the sudden accessibility of contemporary art – art for the most part descended from the 20th-century avant-garde – is a bizarre development." Penny doesn't altogether hold with the vogue for the large public galleries exhibiting the ephemeral alongside the timeless: "You note," he says waspishly, "that the contemporary artists never want their work placed next to that of Duchamps or any of their immediate predecessors, it's the validation of time that they need."
And at another point he remarked, in response to my prodding him to prick the contemporary art asset bubble: "I did look into the figures for the bestselling artists in the 1970s, and … well … put it this way: they aren't names that anyone would be that familiar with now." The contemporary art juggernaut troubles him: "In sheer practical terms, these vast new installations landing on them drive their historic collections underground."
The underfunding of the regional galleries bothers Penny a lot – he's no metropolitan triumphalist; and although the acquisition of the Titians (Diana and Callisto was secured in March of this year, on similar terms to Diana and Actaeon in 2008-9, by the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland) has been a considerable coup, I sense a certain ruefulness in him about the way – in the wake of the appeals necessary to secure these paintings – more bequests, legacies and other donations have come his way.
Talking to Penny you get a sense that the politics of national prestige are neither here nor there to him. I wouldn't imagine that he wants to rock the boat in any way, but he's keen to emphasise that historically the gallery is an independent institution, and that whatever its reliance on government funding, it embodies a strongly egalitarian ethos – if you like, a sort of democratic elitism. When we left – sharing a cab to south London – he explained how he would reorder the statuary in Trafalgar Square so as to beautify their workplace: "Anything that happens in the square should be designed to enhance the gallery." As for the fourth plinth, and its often less-than-satisfactory short-let tenants, Penny's idea would be to knock George IV off the eastern one and resite him in the middle of the steps, thus allowing for two contemporary sculptures.
The day after I visited I received an email from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade asking me to contribute to a petition against an arms manufacturer being allowed to hold a reception at the National Gallery. I immediately wrote to Penny asking him what his position was, and he replied: "I completely understand the point of view of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. I don't want to comment here on the case to which you allude except to point out that the reception associated with the Air Show, word of which had reached CAAT, will not in fact take place in the National Gallery." He went on: "Sometimes going through the galleries I think of the pictures as poems in an anthology but I do constantly reflect on the often unappealing purposes they served or ideas they were made to support; to say nothing of the people who commissioned them or for whose delight they were made … equivalent reflections are rare when one reads."
Penny's position is essentially that the gallery represents a moral counterweight to the short-termism and profit/growth motivation of both business and government. For him the gallery is the latter-day equivalent to those monastic orders into which the rulers of medieval Europe placed their ill-gotten booty, in the hope that this act alone would offset their rapaciousness. "Perpetual growth, global reach, market share and so forth are inappropriate and even incompatible with our real purpose." And furthermore, "it seems to me essential to emphasise the ways in which the National Gallery is concerned with the distant future and the distant past." And when all's said and done it's this long-term view that one wants from our taste-makers: in place of the zeitgeisty flash of a wing-wang, a steely determination to maintain an erection … for centuries.
• A longer version of this essay appears in the July issue of Esquire. | Will Self, once a YBA fan, now finds himself seduced by the old masters. He takes a guided tour of the National Gallery with its director Nicholas Penny | 99.354839 | 0.709677 | 1.548387 | high | low | mixed | 349 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/television/2015/08/15/auteur-david-simon-shows-where-live-and-messy/RRwLKvFNMUkwZnKd1FG9kN/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150815101256id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/television/2015/08/15/auteur-david-simon-shows-where-live-and-messy/RRwLKvFNMUkwZnKd1FG9kN/story.html | TV auteur David Simon shows us where we live, and it’s messy | 1970-08-22T05:26:55.101256 | If I said you were going to watch a six-part miniseries about 200 units of public housing in 1980s Yonkers, N.Y., and absolutely love it, from the contentious, gavel-pounding city council meetings to the specs for the public housing’s prefab construction, would you believe me?
If I then told you that the scripted miniseries in question, HBO’s “Show Me a Hero,” was the latest from writer-producer David Simon, whose past work includes “The Wire,” “The Corner,” and “Generation Kill,” who has an artistic vision that can turn the least glamorous and most socially damning stories into dark, gripping TV classics, would you believe me?
Since he left his job as a Baltimore Sun reporter in the 1990s, Simon has become one of our most interesting, unexpected, and uncompromising TV auteurs. Along with David Chase, Alan Ball, David Milch, Vince Gilligan, and Matthew Weiner, he is an essential player in the so-called Golden Age of TV. He’s remarkably consistent, too. Unlike most of the others, he hasn’t ever been associated with a botch since he began writing on NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street,” an adaptation of his book that ran from 1993-99.
David Simon sees the rifts over public housing as reflective of a country that isn’t “very good at sharing.”
In 2000, Simon gave us “The Corner,” an indelible, verite-styled portrait of junkie desperation in a hollowed-out Baltimore neighborhood. Then “The Wire,” his expert, novelesque piece of social criticism, ran from 2002-08 and became what some call scripted TV’s finest moment. His bracing, morally complex look at the first weeks of the invasion of Iraq, 2008’s “Generation Kill,” defined a new kind of hell. And “Treme” was a beautifully character-based, Altmanesque take on post-Katrina despair in New Orleans, as well as the saving grace of music and culture.
Now, “Show Me a Hero,” which premieres Sunday at 8 p.m., proves to be yet another faceted Simon gem. While network and cable TV schedules are rife with also-rans and full-on disasters, the guy — with help from writing and production partners including Ed Burns, William F. Zorzi, and the late David Mills — just keeps moving from strength to strength.
Jim Belushi (left) and Oscar Isaac, who plays Mayor Nick Wasicsko in “Show Me a Hero.”
The true story in “Show Me a Hero,” which is based on Lisa Belkin’s 1999 book, recalls some of the heated desegregation clashes in 1970s Boston. Yonkers has been ordered by a federal judge to build 200 low-income housing units in white neighborhoods. Simon brings us into the loud neighborhood protests, with their racist roots, through the tragic story of Nick Wasicsko (Oscar Isaac). A Yonkers councilman and later mayor in the late 1980s, Wasicsko’s political career gets torn and frayed in the upheaval, all with his favorite Bruce Springsteen anthems in the background and Maalox mixed with vodka in his glass.
What sets Simon’s work apart? What is his brand? Among TV creators, he is the Designated Realist, the one who hews closest to nonfiction. In a way, all of Simon’s series, with their socioeconomic themes and journalistic perspectives, can sound boring when you describe them — like homework. I can imagine elevator pitches for his series coming off like chapter titles in a sociology text: For “The Wire,” I can hear him saying, “It’s a show about institutional dysfunction in Baltimore,” or “It will look at how urban systems don’t work,” to yawns all round and maybe a tug at the “STOP” button. Simon doesn’t feature the likes of vampires, cowboys, or Mafiosi, more popular milieus that networks and publicists know they can sell to viewers. Local politics? Drug abuse? Poor people with guns? A predominantly black cast in the years before “Empire”? Thank you, no.
Likewise, Simon unfailingly refuses to lean on crowd-pleasing TV conventions in his storytelling. He doesn’t pander to audiences who, ultimately, want to feel good, who need to go to bed thinking that we’re winning the war against government indifference, racism, drugs, and poverty. No escapist, he. While “The Wire” has frequently been called “Dickensian,” and while it did indeed evoke Dickens in its social sprawl, from the homeless to the wealthy, Simon has never relied on two Dickensian basics: sentimentality and neat, happy endings. He even sometimes declines to give us orderly introductions to his large casts of characters, or easily followed plotlines, to create an emotional effect. In the chaotic “Generation Kill,” viewers often felt confused, like the Marines with whom we were traveling. Just as they longed for a solid sense of where they were going in Iraq, and why, we yearned for a clearer narrative arc.
Director Paul Haggis (left) confers with writer-producer David Simon.
And yet, all of Simon’s big ideas have inevitably resulted in the richest, most humane, and most challenging kind of scripted TV out there. By grounding his stories in social realism, he reaches viewers where we live — in cities and towns plagued by apathy and political agendas, in a country afflicted with racism. The ring of truth in his shows is commanding. “Show Me a Hero” is a period piece — ah, those phone booths and smoky bars — but of course it still feels terribly relevant, with its tale of institutionalized bias and self-interested leaders caught in the winds of public opinion. This is our country, Simon seems to be saying, and a lot of things aren’t working out. Let me show you in stunning detail; there are life and death forces at war. Like Jon Stewart, who became a national figure during the same years as Simon, Simon is working out of passionate, caring outrage. Surely his next project, an HBO pilot about the New York sex industry, will come from the same place.
Creatively, he delivers the specificity of character and the striking realism that documentary filmmakers lust after. Like Omar, or Snoop, or Marlo with his dead stare in “The Wire,” or Antoine and his beloved horn — his “bone” — in “Treme,” the people in Simon’s shows provide our emotional entrée into the larger themes. They aren’t just the generic poor folks or criminals TV too often condescendingly relies on; they are unique individuals whose impossible situations we come to understand. They are the people behind the statistics. In “Show Me a Hero,” whose title comes from the F. Scott Fitzgerald quote “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy,” we follow not only Wasicsko, but a number of residents in old, crime-ridden Yonkers housing, as they hope to find a new start in the 200 units.
Best of all, over the years Simon has come up with some of the strongest and most haunting performances ever put on TV. That they don’t tend to win Emmy acknowledgment is proof of their power, in a way. In “The Corner,” Khandi Alexander was so hard to watch, as her character fell further and further into heroin abuse and her face became increasingly ghostly, that voters may have been effectively turned off. As Wasicsko in “Show Me a Hero,” Isaac is remarkable as a guy who gets swept up in doing the right thing in a country where justice and politics are often at odds. As one of his nemeses, Henry J. Spallone, played by Alfred Molina, is pure venom, working his toothpick like a pin popping balloons of hope.
There are small bits of redemption and optimism in Simon’s work — Bubbles in “The Wire,” for example, who does finally get clean. And there are always grains of wry humor in these shows, and broad ironies, too — in “Generation Kill,” those first Marines in Iraq think they’ll be done in a just a jiffy. But Simon’s ultimate goal in taking us on these difficult and ill-fated journeys remains steadfast along the way — to lead us to a place of awareness and, most importantly, compassion. | Simon’s new HBO miniseries, “Show Me a Hero,” is the latest example of his gift for turning the least glamorous stories into gripping television drama. | 52.967742 | 0.870968 | 3.129032 | high | medium | mixed | 350 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/11/bond-yields-spike-market-looks-for-capitulation.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816121313id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/11/bond-yields-spike-market-looks-for-capitulation.html | Bond yields spike, market looks for capitulation | 1970-08-22T05:26:56.121313 | "This is starting to become a bad omen. This is not good. There's enough leverage out there in different forms, where if this is the end of the 'easy money, low long-term rates' story and the Fed is not going to be able to hike, the long-term interest rates market is going to do the tightening for the Fed, and this will be bad for most financial assets," said George Goncalves, head of rate strategy at Nomura.
"If this move is really a referendum on central bankers providing too much liquidity and if this is the hangover part, it could go much further," said Goncalves.
The sharp move higher in rates caught many in the markets by surprise, since Friday's post-jobs report decline in yields seemed to be setting the stage for consolidation. But U.S. yields followed European yields higher Monday and then moved even further on their own.
Bond yields have been moving higher for two weeks now, after the reversal in European sovereign yields, particularly the bund. The market had viewed Friday's jobs report to be neutral enough to keep Fed rate hikes on hold until the fall.
"There's relatively little going on right now so it seems like a situation where even though rates backed up to a level that we haven't seen in quite some time, it feels like nobody wants to be the first one in the pool because they're just not sure where it's going to go," said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies. He said the lack of liquidity in the bond market was helping to exaggerate the move.
"The bond market is getting beaten like a rented mule," said McCarthy. "I think it's one of these situations where it's the early stages of (quantitative easing). QE has always caused some counterintuitive market behavior. I think right now, we're in the early stages of ECB (European Central Bank) QE." Even before the ECB embarked on its QE program, European yields headed lower to the point where the German 10-year had been closing in on a zero rate, before switching direction.
The U.S. 10-year touched a high 2.28 percent Monday and the 30-year bond yield reached a high of 3.05 percent for the first time since November. The selloff accelerated and stocks fell with it in afternoon trading.
"That it's happening with mediocre growth tells me this is a major headwind," for stocks, said Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at Lindsey Group. The Dow fell more than 100 points but recovered some losses late in the session, closing down 85 at 18,105.
"This is a global trend change," said Boockvar, pointing to the decline in European yields. He also highlighted a bottoming in commodities prices, which has some traders betting that inflation will re-emerge, a trigger for the Fed to raise interest rates.
"The bond's been bleeding all morning. European bond markets traded poorly. The more the day went, the 10-year yield was up another tick. There's obviously a trend change going on. Rallies are now being sold. They're all giving back Friday's rally. There's a big-time change going on in the global bond market."
The market is now focused on three auctions this week and whether the selloff will stabilize. The Treasury auctions $24 billion in three-year notes at 1 p.m. EDT Tuesday. But the most important are the $24 billion 10-year note auction Wednesday, and the $16 billion in 30-year bond auction Thursday.
"I thought we dodged the bullet last week. The key is going to be how these auctions are taken down," said Goncalves. "They're big auctions. If people are actually interested in buying them because there's value, they'll overlook the weird momentum. If they don't, it means the strong hands didn't step in."
Besides the auctions, there is the JOLTS report on job openings for March at 10 a.m. EDT Tuesday, and the NFIB small-business survey is released at 9 a.m. As for data, markets are most focused on Wednesday's retail sales report.
San Francisco Fed President John Williams speaks at 12:45 p.m. EDT in New York, and New York Fed President William Dudley participates on a panel in Switzerland at 3:15 a.m. EDT on the implications of diverging monetary policy.
McCarthy said the rise in rates won't hurt the economy, but the move up in the 10-year will show up in mortgage rates. The move higher could get some borrowers off the sidelines if they believe the shift will continue, he said.
"It's a relatively low-volume trade. It's not capitulation as much as it is reluctance to stand in front of the move," said Ian lyngen, senior treasury strategist at CRT Capital. He said some market players were pointing to the upcoming auctions as a reason for the selling but that didn't make sense.
"The selloff in Treasurys is outpacing the selloff in bunds today," he said, adding Mondays are notoriously low-liquidity days.
—CNBC's Rick Santelli contributed to this report. | Treasury yields ripped higher Monday, putting pressure on stocks and signaling a possible sea change in the global rate environment. | 45.590909 | 0.681818 | 1.045455 | high | low | abstractive | 351 |
http://fortune.com/2013/05/03/why-the-jobs-report-calls-for-more-fed-action/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816141203id_/http://fortune.com/2013/05/03/why-the-jobs-report-calls-for-more-fed-action/ | Why the jobs report calls for more Fed action | 1970-08-22T05:26:56.141203 | FORTUNE – If the U.S. Federal Reserve’s remarks earlier this week seemed at all vague, today’s jobs report should give us a clearer picture of what the central bank might do next to boost the economy.
U.S. businesses added 165,000 jobs in April. Stocks soared and Wall Street cheered, as the figure came in better than the 140,000 jobs expected. But while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 7.5% in March from 7.6% the previous month, it adds to reasons why the Fed won’t pull back efforts to stimulate the economy. The central bank has been buying up billions of dollars worth of bonds every month, which has driven down the cost of borrowing to record lows. Though the measures have led to more home sales and business investments, it hasn’t translated to many more people finding work.
If anything, April’s job report underscores why there’s room for the Fed to do more.
Officials have said interest rates won’t rise until unemployment drops to at least 6.5%. But that statistic is easily misunderstood. The unemployment rate says little, if anything, about how many people are actually working because it counts only people actively searching for work. So while the unemployment rate has declined, much of that has to do with workers giving up their job search as opposed to actually landing a job.
MORE: More money does buy happiness
On Wednesday, the Fed acknowledged that the economy, while improving, isn’t ready to ride without its training wheels. Officials said it would continue with its stimulus campaign at the same pace it has since December, but analysts have disagreed on the central bank’s intent. Some think the Fed will do more, while others believe it at least won’t pull back any time soon.
Whatever the intent, April’s report shows more action is needed. The share of Americans with jobs hasn’t significantly changed much. Since 2010, just as the economy emerged from recession, the employment-to-population rate has stood steady at about 58%, even as the unemployment rate has fallen by more than 2 percentage points. Which means that while companies have stopped shedding workers, the economy is only creating just enough jobs to keep up with population growth, even while the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised upward its estimate for job creation in February and March.
In the months ahead, there could be an uptick in layoffs as higher federal taxes and spending cuts that kicked in earlier this year begins to work their way into the economy. The recession may be behind us, but the Fed has been particularly worried about how the policy changes might weigh on the economy. Private companies may be creating more jobs, but the government has continued to be a drag. It shed 11,000 jobs in April, and that likely will continue.
All this gives the Fed reason to maintain its stimulus program, and perhaps further reason to do more. | It was a stronger-than-expected jobs report, but we're still a long way from the Federal Reserve's key target of 6.5% or lower. | 18.096774 | 0.645161 | 0.903226 | medium | low | abstractive | 352 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/07/10/boe-meets-as-sterling-hits-uk-recovery.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816142455id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/07/10/boe-meets-as-sterling-hits-uk-recovery.html | BoE holds fire amid fears of sterling strength | 1970-08-22T05:26:56.142455 | It would also choke off the U.K's export recovery, he added, and the cost of borrowing for businesses will go up, he said, meaning they might be more reluctant to borrow and spend on more expansion and investment projects.
Businesses might be voicing concerns about this continued move higher for the pound but in the currency markets in the City of London, traders are positioning themselves for what seems like the inevitable. Valentin Marinov, director of FX strategy at Citi, told CNBC Thursday that hit main investment call is to buy the pound.
Read MoreFive myths holding back UK growth
"It is still the strongest convection view," he said. "We got some disappointment earlier this week, manufacturing production was particularly disappointing but taken as a whole the bigger picture is still one where we would expect (the BoE) to move first."
"Correspondingly we'd expect the pound to do fairly well," he added, stating that he believed the euro would fall to 0.78 against the pound, from its current position of 0.7865 euros. | The BoE left interest rates and its asset purchase target unchanged amid concerns that a strong sterling is choking off an economic recovery. | 8.5 | 0.458333 | 0.541667 | low | low | abstractive | 353 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/10/stocks-could-continue-to-lose-ground.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150816173828id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/04/10/stocks-could-continue-to-lose-ground.html | Stocks could continue to lose ground | 1970-08-22T05:26:56.173828 | Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab, said he has been expecting a selloff for the past several weeks, but he is not negative on the market and still expects to see the S&P end the year at 1,900.
"I do think this correction would be a healthy thing. There was some technical support at 1,848. We ploughed through there today, and that's gone," Frederick said, adding he is now watching the 100-day moving average at 1,828.
Read MoreArt Cashin: 'We need to be very careful'
Meanwhile, the start of earnings season parallels a shift to negativity about stocks. Earnings are expected to grow by 1 percent for the S&P 500, while revenues are expected to grow 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters. The S&P financial sector is expected to be one of the worst performers, with an earnings decline of 2.8 percent.
"I don't think any individual name is very critical but if the trend is negative, and we see big names missing, that will add to the pessimism," he said. "If they're weak, it won't do the market any good. My expectation was we'd see better revenues and weaker earnings per share. The big surprise will be if we have lower earnings and lower revenues."
Frederick said the drop off in share buybacks may also affect earnings, and this quarter there could be a decline in buybacks. As companies buy their stock, their float shrinks, driving up the amount of earnings applied to each share. A reversal of that trend would eliminate some of the earnings growth rate.
"That's part of what will cause the EPS to be a little lower. It means they're either hiring or spending it ... in the long run, that's good," he said.
Rafferty Capital analyst Dick Bove agrees the slowdown of share buybacks could impact earnings and also the stock market this year. He said the stock market will be impacted by fewer buybacks just as the Fed is removing liquidity.
Bove, vice president of equity research, financial sector, said J.P. Morgan earnings could show someoperational weakness, and Wells Fargo could continue its string of record profits
According to Thomson Reuters, JPMorgan is expected to earn $1.40 per share on revenues of $24.5 billion. The consensus for Wells Fargo is 96 cents per share on revenues of $20.595 billion.
Bove said the other major banks—Citigroup and Bank of America—are both expected to be hit by fines, but the midrange banks should have decent earnings, with a good lending environment and costs under control.
"Companies like U.S. Bancorp, PNC, Regents Financial, Suntrust—the banks that are midrange, should have good earnings in the quarter," he said.
Bove said the other major banks – Citigroup and Bank of America – are both expected to be hit by fines, but the mid-range banks should have decent earnings, with a good lending environment and costs under control.
The sector is undervalued, he said. "They're selling about half of what their normal valuation would be on a price-to-book basis," he said. "They should sell around two times book and they're selling around 1 time book value." | Even if the market manages to bounce Friday, "I would be careful here," one technical analyst says. | 29.045455 | 0.727273 | 1.090909 | medium | low | abstractive | 354 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/24/gop-gov-hats-off-to-wal-mart-on-confederate-flag.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150818215818id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/24/gop-gov-hats-off-to-wal-mart-on-confederate-flag.html | GOP gov: 'Hats off' to Wal-Mart on Confederate flag | 1970-08-22T05:26:58.215818 | Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday the decision by Wal-Mart, one of his state's largest employers, to stop selling Confederate flag-related items "makes some sense" from a sensitivity standpoint.
"They set an example and a high standard, and hats off to Wal-Mart," added the Republican governor—stressing retailers need to make their own judgments and government should not get involved in banning products.
The recent debate over the Confederate flag, a symbol of the Civil War, started in the wake of last week's deadly mass shooting at a prominent African-American church in South Carolina.
Lawmakers there agreed on Tuesday to hold a debate later this summer on whether to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the Statehouse, after South Carolina's Republican governor, Nikki Haley, joined calls for its removal. | Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson tells CNBC the decision by Wal-Mart, one of his state's largest employers, to stop selling Confederate flag-related items "makes some sense." | 4.657143 | 0.942857 | 21.342857 | low | medium | extractive | 355 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/02/se-to-selling-10b-in-assets-dj-citing-sources.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150823204536id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/02/se-to-selling-10b-in-assets-dj-citing-sources.html | DJ, citing sources | 1970-08-22T05:27:03.204536 | Verizon could soon close deals to sell more than $10 billion in assets including cellphone towers and parts of its wireline business, Dow Jones reported on Monday, citing sources.
Multiple buyers would be involved in the transactions, which could be announced later this week, the news service said. The largest American wireless carrier is looking to chop down debt and cover the $10.4 billion it bid for licenses in last week's FCC wireless spectrum auction.
Read MoreAT&T led bidding in wireless spectrum auction | Verizon could soon close on deals to sell $10 billion in assets, according to a report. | 5 | 0.842105 | 2.842105 | low | medium | mixed | 356 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/12/year-of-the-hack-a-billion-records-compromised-in-2014.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824035023id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/12/year-of-the-hack-a-billion-records-compromised-in-2014.html | Year of the hack? A billion records compromised in 2014 | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.035023 | Interestingly, there were 176 data breaches among retailers, accounting for just 11 percent of the total number of incidents. Yet this accounted for 55 percent of the total number of records stolen in 2014, highlighting the vulnerability of retailers in particular.
Experts said this could be because users often have one passwords across several retailer websites, making it easy for hackers to gain access to several accounts.
"Hackers know people use the same passwords for multiple accounts. If you can infiltrate one retailer, the chances that the data you steal from one retailer can be used again and again," David Emm, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, told CNBC by phone.
He added that retailers in particular may not have the security expertise and, as such, data protection could be lax.
"A lot of providers are not securing passwords and not storing information in encrypted formats. If the data is not protected, not only does the breach happen, but then data can leak out," Emm added. | Over a billion personal data records were compromised by cyberattacks in 2014, a report revealed, driven by high-profile breaches. | 8.125 | 0.541667 | 0.791667 | low | low | abstractive | 357 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/17/us-companies-wont-always-be-so-hackable-commentary.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824065253id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/17/us-companies-wont-always-be-so-hackable-commentary.html | US companies won't always be so hackable | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.065253 | But the reality is, U.S. corporations today are simply outmatched when it comes to cybersecurity. And that's not entirely their fault. A big part of the blame rests with the security technologies they're forced to rely on.
But it won't always be that way.
Read MoreOfficials see China link in Anthem hack: report
Over the past few years, the cybersecurity industry has begun to focus on a new strategy in the war against hackers: using the clues discovered in one cyberattack to prevent others from taking place. In the cybersecurity world, this is known as "threat intelligence," and it's the most talked-about technology of the past few years. And for good reason. Threat intelligence is still a nascent technology, but what it could eventually offer is the ability to predict cyber attacks ahead of time and block them before they ever leave the attacker's server. In a way, it's like a real-world cyber version of the precrime division in "Minority Report," preventing crime before it has a chance to occur.
Threat-intelligence systems are already being implemented in many of America's biggest companies. These are still rudimentary systems right now, because we don't as yet have access to the full bevy of attack data that exists in cyberspace. Before we can access that, we need Congress to pass legislation authorizing companies to more easily share data on cyberattacks with the federal government. In its present form, threat intelligence is sort of like a firehose with the water turned off. But once companies are legally allowed to share data on the attacks that have hit or probed their networks, we'll see a dramatic transformation in how companies are able to defend themselves against many types of attacks that seem so unstoppable today. If nothing else, we'll see a diminishment in the "cyber spree" style attacks that take down one company after another using the same malware or security flaw. The attackers might get company A, and they may even get company B, but they won't get companies C, D and E.
But there's more to the threat intelligence story. Threat intelligence is just the beginning of what could be a sweeping change in how cybersecurity operates. With the emergence of machine learning and artificial intelligence, the potential for cybersecurity at the corporate level is almost limitless. It is highly probable that, within the next few years, we'll see the introduction of the first machine learning-based cyber defense system at a major U.S. company. Once this happens, the playing field, which now seems so tilted in favor of the hackers, will shift back to the defenders.
Read MoreHackers gonna hack: Taylor Swift's social media hijacked
Imagine a company that is able to automatically refocus and adjust its cybersecurity defenses within a millisecond of receiving new data warning of a potential attack. With the eventual rollout of machine learning-based defenses, fed by an unlimited stream of threat-intelligence data, U.S. companies could make it significantly harder and costlier for hackers to attack them -- and exponentially harder to repeat the same attack on someone else. While this won't eliminate the threat of hacking altogether -- after all, no system is perfect and other countries could potentially use the same machine learning systems to launch attacks -- it would raise the bar so high for hackers that only the most well-funded countries would be able to compete, while at the same time making it riskier for them to do so. After all, with the swamp drained, it will become easier to to narrow down the list of suspects. In the meantime, lower level groups like organized crime and hacktivists could be forced to look for other targets altogether.
While today's companies struggle to anticipate and block every sophisticated attack that comes their way (and they are targeted thousands of times every year, if not more), it's important to keep in mind that we're currently in a transitional period between an older, now outmoded way of defending against what used to be basic hack attacks, to a new machine-based system of automatic defense. With the rise of threat intelligence, machine learning and artificial intelligence, cybersecurity will be fundamentally transformed and cyber-criminals will pay the price.
Read MoreThese scammers are targeting your elderly parents | There's a new tactic in the war against hackers that could make US companies far less hackable in the future. | 37.454545 | 0.727273 | 2 | high | low | mixed | 358 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/26/europe-seen-lower-as-global-markets-wobble.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824110442id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/26/europe-seen-lower-as-global-markets-wobble.html | Earnings, Yellen help Europe shares end higher | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.110442 | On the data front, the latest gross domestic product (GDP) data from Spain confirmed that the country grew 2 percent year-on-year in the last quarter. In the U.K., year-on-year GDP was confirmed at 2.7 percent and the German unemployment rate also stayed at a record low in February.
In Asia, Japanese shares outperformed the region by reaching a new multiyear high, but the rest of Asia traded mixed on Thursday, following a flat finish on Wall Street Wednesday amid firming oil prices, housing data and debate over Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony.
Concluding a two-day series of testimonies to various committees within U.S. Congress, Yellen said there would be no interest rate hike for "at least the next couple of FOMC meetings." She said an eye would be kept on the improving jobs picture and inflation. U.S. weekly jobless claims will be in focus for investors in the day ahead.
U.S. stocks reversed to trade mostly higher on Thursday, as investors digested mixed economic data and declines in oil.
The Dow Jones industrial average flirted with positive territory, led by Cisco and McDonald's, despite Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Caterpillar each declining more than one percent.
Energy also fell more than 1 percent as the greatest decliner in the S&P 500. | European equities rallied on Thursday, closing nearly 1 percent higher as investors reacted to a raft of corporate earnings and fresh economic data. | 10.12 | 0.6 | 1.08 | low | low | abstractive | 359 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/03/the-stock-capitalizing-on-lumber-liquidators.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824160512id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/03/the-stock-capitalizing-on-lumber-liquidators.html | The stock capitalizing on Lumber Liquidators | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.160512 | As stocks sold off quickly on Tuesday, Cramer was left wondering; does the decline in the averages indicate that investors should be more cautious?
"I'm not necessarily saying that we're complacent here, and I'm certainly not saying that we've been riding a wave of irrational exuberance, because the tremendous rally in the averages last month made plenty of sense," the "Mad Money" host said.
Cramer spoke with Mark Sebastian, a technician and founder of OptionPit.com. He's the guy that "Mad Money" turns to with questions about the CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX.
The VIX is also widely known as the fear gauge because of its ability to measure the amount of overall fear in the stock market. Essentially if the S&P 500 has a selloff like it did on Tuesday, the VIX should spike to correspond with a rising level of fear and volatility.
Sebastian was not worried that the VIX rose on Tuesday; that is completely normal. What worries him the most, is the timing. He believes that the market may be filled with turmoil for the next two weeks as we head into the Federal Reserve meeting on March 17, followed by the quarterly Fed news conference on March 18.
Investors are desperate to hear whether Fed Chief Janet Yellen will shed further light on when the first rate hike will happen. Sebastian pointed out that historically, the most volatile periods in the past 36 months have been associated with Fed meetings—especially those that included a press conference.
Looking at the charts for the S&P 500 and the VIX from the past year, it is a clear pattern that the market freaks out ahead of these meetings over and over again. Sometimes the VIX even heads higher, regardless if there is a selloff in the market or not. Thus, Cramer thinks it would be arrogant to assume that this time will be any different.
Read More Cramer: Get ready—Fed will cause turmoil in March
One stock that was hit hard on Tuesday was TrueCar. This volatile small-cap stock was down 7 percent, based on a negative article posted on Seeking Alpha.
TrueCar is an online platform that allows consumers to purchase cars by showing a comparison on what other people in the area have paid for the same vehicle, with the ultimate goal of providing transparency in the car buying process.
The company posted disappointing earnings just over a week ago, showing multiple declines in its revenue, unique visitors and number of cars sold. Additionally, next Thursday 33.4 million shares will be unlocked for insiders to sell. That is a huge quantity considering it has a total of 45 million shares.
"Even if you like the TrueCar story, it might pay to wait and see what happens when we get to that lockup expiry," Cramer said.
To find out where the company could be headed, Cramer spoke with TrueCar CEO Scott Painter.
"TrueCar as a company grew 53 percent year over year, and our TrueCar branded channel…had 125 percent growth. So I wouldn't say that we are declining in any way," Painter said
In the Lightning Round, Cramer gave his take on a few caller favorites:
Idexx Laboratories: "We love those guys! it quietly goes higher and higher. You've got a winner there!"
World Wrestling Entertainment: "WWE is making a comeback, and yet I still don't see the business model generating the kind of cash that I like. So I am not there. I am going to be in the don't buy camp."
Read MoreLightning Round: This quietly goes higher | “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer spots one company getting the best of this bad story. | 39 | 0.611111 | 0.722222 | high | low | abstractive | 360 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/04/what-happened-to-big-savings-at-the-gas-pump.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824161601id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/04/what-happened-to-big-savings-at-the-gas-pump.html | What happened to big savings at the gas pump? | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.161601 | Some big savings at the pump seem to have gone missing.
The plunge in gasoline prices has generated a windfall for American drivers. But so far, there's little evidence those savings are producing a widely anticipated boost in consumer spending.
So where is all that money going?
There's no question the sharp drop in pump prices since last summer means a much smaller bite out of consumers' wallets. Though fuel prices have bumped up a bit, they're still some 30 percent lower than the five-year average cost.
Read More Gasoline prices rising at rapid clip
Even though prices didn't fall until late last year, Americans saved some $14 billion on gasoline last year, or an average $115 per driver, according to estimates from AAA. The group figures if pump prices stay tame, those savings could amount to as much as $75 billion this year.
That kind of saving—if consumers spend it elsewhere—could provide a powerful boost to the U.S. economy, much like a tax cut. But, so far, that spending boost isn't showing up in the data.
The latest read from the Commerce Department showed that retail sales in January barely budged after dropping in December. Those figures are echoed in separate government data on overall spending. While outlays on energy-related goods and services plunged in December and January, total personal spending on goods and services also weakened.
Read MoreBetter fill 'er up now: Gas prices halt freefall
Some consumers may be betting that the drop in pump prices is only temporary, a view likely reinforced by the bounce in prices last month.
"All the confidence gauges are now giving back ground as the novelty of lower gasoline prices wears off," said Action Economics' chief economist, Michael Englund, in a recent note. | Cheaper gasoline has generated billions in savings for American drivers. But so far, there's little evidence they're spending it. | 14.708333 | 0.916667 | 6.583333 | low | medium | mixed | 361 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/03/jpmorgan-to-pay-50-mln-over-improper-mortgage-practices-doj.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824162234id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/03/jpmorgan-to-pay-50-mln-over-improper-mortgage-practices-doj.html | JPMorgan to pay $50 mln over improper mortgage practices: DOJ | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.162234 | JPMorgan Chase will pay $50 million as part of a national settlement agreement to compensate homeowners in bankruptcy over the use of robo-signing and other improper practices, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
The settlement includes cash payments, mortgage loan credits and loan forgiveness to more than 25,000 homeowners, the department said in a statement.
Read More JPMorgan Chase tilts towards consumer
Between 2011 and 2013, JPMorgan Chase filed more than 50,000 mortgage payment change notices in bankruptcy courts that had not been improperly signed and reviewed.
More than 25,000 of them had the signature of former or current JPMorgan employees who "had nothing to do with" reviewing the accuracy of the bankruptcy filings, the department said.
"Our payment change notices were appropriately reviewed and substantively correct in the overwhelming majority of cases even though the process for filing them electronically was flawed," JPMorgan spokesman Jason Lobo said in an emailed statement.
He added that the company had improved its processes on electronic signatures for bankruptcy filings.
Read MoreCiti to sell consumer finance unit for $4B
As part of the proposed settlement, JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay $22.4 million in credits and second lien forgiveness to about 400 homeowners. Another $10.8 million will be paid in the form of credits or refunds to more than 18,000 homeowners.
The lender will also allow its operations to be scrutinized by an independent compliance reviewer.
The settlement is subject to court approval. | JPMorgan Chase will pay $50 million to compensate homeowners in bankruptcy over the use of robo-signing and other improper practices. | 11.541667 | 1 | 12.75 | low | high | extractive | 362 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/05/rob-fords-crack-confession-tie-sells-for-13000.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824162941id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/05/rob-fords-crack-confession-tie-sells-for-13000.html | Rob Ford’s “crack confession” tie sells for $13,000 | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.162941 | It's one of many pieces of "memorabilia" being auctioned off by the former mayor, including a pair of pyjama pants which, according to the post, Ford wore "on a shopping trip to Wal-Mart." The pants sold for C$600.
Read MoreEx-Toronto Mayor Rob Ford turns to eBay with crack kitsch
Ford rose to international notoriety in 2013 when a video surfaced that allegedly showed the mayor smoking crack-cocaine. Ford later admitted to using the drug at the press conference. He had already owned up to an alcohol problem.
Despite the controversy, Ford remained popular among voters and had originally planned to run for re-election, but stood down after being diagnosed with abdominal cancer in September. He subsequently won a position on city council. | A necktie worn by disgraced former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford when he confessed to smoking crack has fetched $13,000 on eBay. | 6.565217 | 0.652174 | 1.26087 | low | low | abstractive | 363 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/20/will-uk-banks-leave-london-as-bank-levy-rises.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824165323id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/20/will-uk-banks-leave-london-as-bank-levy-rises.html | Will UK banks leave London as bank levy rises? | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.165323 | And an economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), one of the most-respected economic think-tanks in the U.K., has warned that the increasing pressure on banks may discourage investment.
"At some point, the environment becomes so unfavourable that everyone shifts wholesale to somewhere else," Stuart Adam, senior research economist at the IFS, told reporters Thursday.
"If I was a bank boss I'd also be remembering that the government introduced a measure that will stop me offsetting losses from the crisis against more than half of profits. I'd be wondering: what's the next restriction that's going to be introduced? And that risk could put me off making investment decisions." | Within days of the announcement of raised charges on banks in the U.K., talk of at least one London-based bank relocating elsewhere has emerged. | 4.892857 | 0.571429 | 1.142857 | low | low | abstractive | 364 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/27/use-a-computer-rather-than-your-brain-fund-manager.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824171421id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/27/use-a-computer-rather-than-your-brain-fund-manager.html | Use a computer rather than your brain: Fund manager | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.171421 | One of the U.K.'s most successful hedge fund managers has spoken of the benefits of using the "emotionless systematic approach" of automated stock-picking rather than following a consensus trade.
With $25 billion in assets under management and 340 employees, David Harding's Winton Capital is the world's 14th-largest hedge fund firm, according to investing publication Alpha magazine. Winton is a commodity trading adviser (CTA) fund which is a hedge fund that uses financial innovations like futures contracts and are usually systematic traders or trend-followers.
Often dubbed as the "Wizard of Winton," Harding is known in the industry for profitable long-term bets on oil and gold, as well as making hay during the global financial crash of 2008. Harding is a fan random stock-picking – selecting any 50 stocks and weighting them equally -- rather than tracking an index like the S&P 500.
He told CNBC Thursday that his computer has helped take advantage of the trends in the oil markets, the sovereign debt markets and the U.S. dollar which have made the firm "lots of money."
"Last year, the CTAs, fortunately for them, for once, were a clear winner," Harding told CNBC at the Investors Choice Awards in London on Thursday. | One of the U.K.'s most successful hedge fund managers has spoken of the benefits of the "emotionless systematic approach" of automated stock-picking. | 8.75 | 1 | 13.5 | low | high | extractive | 365 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/01/indias-it-plans-suffer-from-power-cuts-congestion--and-monkeys.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824201613id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/01/indias-it-plans-suffer-from-power-cuts-congestion--and-monkeys.html | India's IT plans suffer from power cuts, congestion - and monkeys | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.201613 | "We've built outdoor Wi-Fi-access routers specifically keeping in mind Indian environmental conditions," Dinesh Malkani, Cisco's India country head, said in an interview.
"You cannot predict what challenges you are going to come up against."
Bringing some order to India's chaotic cities with technology is a daunting task.
India's urban population is forecast to swell by an additional 220 million to 600 million by 2031, potentially overwhelming already inadequate infrastructure.
Many of the new digital projects are simply aimed at improving existing civic amenities: time traffic information to help people better plan their journey, or systems that allow individuals to monitor water leakages or waste management and then inform local authorities.
Vinod Kumar Tripathi, an urban planning expert in Varanasi, said Modi's initiatives needed to be coupled with huge investments in improving basic services like housing, roads and waste management.
"Everything here is old, outdated and the population pressure just makes it worse. This place was a small temple town and is now a commercial centre," Tripathi said in his office overlooking the Banaras Hindu University.
The free Wi-Fi service that started in February is certainly stimulating the consumer economy. Boatman Sandeep Majhi makes a living ferrying pilgrims and bereaved families who scatter ashes in the river after performing cremations.
He recently purchased his first smartphone to download music and exchange videos with friends, and promote his boat business to tourists on Facebook.
But he said the government needed to pay equal attention to the municipal services in a city where cars, rickshaws and carts fight for space through narrow, potholed roads lined with litter. Varanasi remains dependent on a 500-year-old, leaky drainage system for its sewage.
"Free Wi-Fi is a good facility for tourists but I think the officials should think about cleaning the ghats," said the 20-year-old, referring to the steps down to the river, which are often caked with cow dung. | As India launches an $18B plan to spread the information revolution to its provinces, it faces power cuts, badly planned, congestion and monkeys. | 13.607143 | 0.5 | 0.5 | low | low | abstractive | 366 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/26/japan-inflation-eases-for-seventh-month-in-february.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824202110id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/26/japan-inflation-eases-for-seventh-month-in-february.html | Japan inflation eases for seventh month in February | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.202110 | Goldman Sachs agrees: "Core CPI is expected to turn negative on a weak trend even ignoring cheap oil," it said in a note.
"For some time, now our inflation outlook has called for the core CPI to slow moderately after peaking on a year-on-year basis in April 2014. Today's February core national CPI data are broadly in line with our medium-term outlook. We forecast that core national CPI will turn negative year-on-year around the April-June quarter with the drop in energy prices cancelling out cost-push pressures from yen depreciation," it said.
However Zidle remains bullish on Japan.
"We think the Nikkei will continue to go higher through 2015 and the reason is because we're in a policy driven market here, not a fundamentally driven market, right? We're in a market that's being driven by Bank of Japan balance sheet expansion, weakening the yen, and in a policy driven market, ironically, bad news is good news," he said.
Japan's economy has been on the backfoot ever since the government raised nationwide consumption tax to 8 percent from 5 percent last April, in a bid to reduce the country's massive debt.
The economy narrowly escaped a recession in the fourth quarter of 2014, expanding an annualized 1.5 percent, after two straight quarters of contraction.
In other data, household spending for February fell 2.9 percent from the year before marking the eleventh straight month of decline. That was better than expectations for a 3.2 percent decline and up from January's 5.1 percent decline.
Meanwhile, retail sales fell 1.8 percent in February, worse than expectations for a 1.5 percent decline but better than a 2 percent drop in January.
"While probably having undervalued the strength of headwind from the fall in real income so far, we are still bullish to the consumption in coming months (including this month) as consumer sentiment has begun to improve with good prospects on the wage hike and higher equity prices (wealth effects)," JPMorgan said in a note.
"Indeed, sales in department stores (which mainly sell luxury goods) rose impressively in February, even excluding the booming purchases of foreign tourists (the department stores are in general merchandise category in the retail sales)," it said.
The jobless rate edged down to 3.5 percent in February from 3.6 percent in the previous month. | Japan's consumer inflation eased in February for a seventh straight month increasing expectations that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will have to undertake further stimulus measures to achieve its price target. | 13.371429 | 0.628571 | 1.028571 | low | low | abstractive | 367 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/25/theres-a-huge-sentiment-split-building-in-market.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150824210157id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/25/theres-a-huge-sentiment-split-building-in-market.html | There's a huge sentiment split building in market | 1970-08-22T05:27:04.210157 | Unusually low bullish and unusually high neutral sentiment levels coincide with better-than-average market performance in ensuing six- and 12-month periods, according to Charles Rotblutt, editor of the AAII Journal and vice president of the organization.
Investors face three challenges in the current landscape: A weakening economy that may see first-quarter gross domestic product growth of less than 1 percent; deteriorating corporate earnings that could see an annualized profit loss on the S&P 500 for 2015; and a Federal Reserve expected to tighten monetary policy at a time when its central bank counterparts around the world are loosening, leading to a stronger dollar.
"We've seen so much volatility in the last six months that I think we're almost inured to a three-, four-, five-hundred-point drop in the Dow, and then recover three days later," said Diane de Vries Ashley, a corporate finance instructor at Florida International University. "As a result, you don't necessarily have any rational thought that accompanies that. Where that leaves us follows a little bit of what our friends at the Fed are doing. They're of a seesaw mindset, too."
Read MoreSomething's troubling about the market: Trader
The declining profits presents an especially nettlesome problem.
The S&P 500's rally off its March 2009 lows can be traced both to extreme easing from the Fed and a recovering profit picture from the crisis bottom. Should the earnings engine stall, as it appears to be doing at least judging by analyst estimates, then further stock market gains could be hard to achieve.
"We've updated our earnings forecast several times in the last few months ... we haven't been able to keep up," said Dan Suzuki, senior U.S. equity strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "Given that currencies are where they are, that's provided significant downside to our numbers, which call for flattish growth."
Indeed, the S&P 500 now is expected to show just 0.3 percent profit growth for the full year, down from 8.6 percent expected as recently as Dec. 1, according to S&P Capital IQ.
Read MoreProfit recession: This is what you need to know
One consolation is that most of the weakness is coming from energy stocks, which as a sector make up just 7.8 percent of the S&P 500. The extreme expectations for loss—a 62.5 percent annualized drop in the first quarter alone and about the same in Q2—are playing a disproportionate role in the poor earnings picture.
"Ex-energy, the rest of the sectors are seeing mid-single-digit growth," Suzuki said. "It's a very industry-specific dynamic. It's not telling you the (growth) cycle is over."
Still, in the past profit recessions and economic recessions often have gone hand in hand.
Money movement recently has reflected the unease. Equity funds overall netted about $14 billion last week, but there was a huge divide: Exchange-traded funds, primarily the playing field of institutional investors, took in $18 billion, but mutual funds, which are more the territory of the retail side, lost $4 billion, according to BofAML data.
"I know some very canny retail investors who are in major Zen mode at this point," de Vries Ashley said. "Most ignore what so-called professionals are doing and go much more with their own thinking, or, if they're really honest, what their gut is telling them. To me, this is a go-with-your-gut kind of market." | Professional investors and the mom-and-pop crowd have developed a starkly different view about which way stocks are heading. | 30.086957 | 0.565217 | 0.565217 | medium | low | abstractive | 368 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/02/5-bargain-cities-for-summer-travel-to-europe.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825025309id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/02/5-bargain-cities-for-summer-travel-to-europe.html | 5 bargain cities for summer travel to Europe | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.025309 | For travelers, currency fluctuations have put a summer trip to Europe closer in reach, but you'll still need to be smart about booking and spending to reap the savings.
The euro's value against the dollar has weakened in recent months, driven largely by the launch of the European Central Bank's 1 trillion euro quantitative easing program last month. On Thursday, $1 U.S. bought 0.94 euro, up from 0.72 a year ago, according to OANDA.com. That's like paying $213 for a 200 euro hotel room, instead of $277, or about 23 percent less.
Read MoreTake full advantage of weaker euros on vacation
Savings aren't universal. "Don't expect every European country to be a value," said Brian Kelly, founder of ThePointsGuy.com. Countries that aren't on the euro, including Sweden and the U.K., won't have the same currency advantage, although there may be other deals. (See chart below for some popular destinations where prices have dropped year-over-year.) Destinations like Greece, Portugal and Spain may have even better pricing due to economic woes, he said. | Tricks to maximize currency advantages for your European vacation. | 21.7 | 0.6 | 0.6 | medium | low | abstractive | 369 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/27/the-relationship-between-stocks-and-bonds-may-be-changing.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825030414id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/27/the-relationship-between-stocks-and-bonds-may-be-changing.html | The relationship between stocks and bonds may be changing | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.030414 | A less dramatic explanation may be that the fixed income market's reaction to last week's Fed statement—wherein bonds rallied on the expectation that rate hikes aren't coming anytime soon—was simply overdone.
"Bonds had gotten overbought after the strong post-FOMC rally," is how Ira Jersey, director of fixed income strategy with Credit Suisse, explained the parallel moves in bond and stocks.
Still, market participants are painfully aware that the first rate hike is drawing ever nearer with each breath, even as none of us knows when the dreaded day will finally arrive.
Andrew Burkly, head of portfolio strategy with Oppenheimer, said Thursday on CNBC that "a specific catalyst today could have been the jobless claims data, which is yet another piece of evidence that the job market is improving here, and it just gives the Fed a little more confidence that they can continue on their path to normalization."
With bonds responding aggressively to every bit of data that emerges, perhaps Treasury will indeed dance to different music than stocks—and days when bonds fall (or rise) alongside the stock market will become more common.
—CNBC's Lawrence Lewitinn contributed to this article. | The traditional relationship between equities and Treasurys appears to be breaking down. Here's why. | 13.470588 | 0.470588 | 0.470588 | low | low | abstractive | 370 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/09/why-mitch-mcconnell-is-wrong-on-pollution-rules-commentary.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825034251id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/09/why-mitch-mcconnell-is-wrong-on-pollution-rules-commentary.html | Why Mitch McConnell is wrong on pollution rules-commentary | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.034251 | The senator cities unnamed economists who predict the regulations "could cost our country about a third of a trillion dollars in compliance costs and cause electricity price hikes in nearly every state," but I'll wager that his sources fail to account for the jobs and businesses created by investments in clean, renewable energy alternatives or the high price of pollution-related health-care costs.
Read MoreSenate leader McConnell promises no default on debt
Since 2007 in California alone, nearly a quarter-million rooftop solar installations have created some 3,500 businesses and 25,000 jobs in the hard-hit construction industry. By contrast, a Kentucky state report shows "employment at all Kentucky coal mines and related facilities … was estimated at 12,342." Nationally 140,000 people currently work in America's solar industry and the economic benefits of wind, hydro, biomass and other clean renewables add still more to that total.
Nor are the health consequences of burning fossil fuels often included when citing the costs of pollution-control measures. A study conducted in southern California that was published earlier this month in the New England Journal of Medicine found that "reducing air pollution leads to improved respiratory function in children ages 11 to 15, a critical period of lung development." These benefits coincided with federal and state regulations that cut fine particulates "by 50 percent and nitrogen dioxide levels by 35 percent in the communities" of the study's area and timeframe. What is the economic value of the health of our kids?
Read MoreClimate-change deniers need to shut up and go away: Terry Tamminen
Or what is the value of the ability to learn? The Canadian Medical Association recently reported that researchers measured air pollution in schools and found "working memory improved 7.4 percent among children in highly polluted schools compared with 11.5 percent among those in less polluted schools." They also report that adults benefit from air-pollution reduction, too: about 21,000 premature deaths are attributed to air pollution in Canada each year.
Yes, the cost of delaying air-pollution controls are very real, though apparently not considered by our lawmakers. Nor do they talk about the cost of coal-ash spills. Just one such disaster in North Carolina will add $100 million to utility-customer costs, not including the cost to cleanup the Dan River; or compensate victims whose farms were destroyed; or cover costs for polluted water supplies as far downstream as 70 miles.
And what is the cost of mercury poisoning of our fish from coal- fired emissions; mine accidents and deaths; black lung disease; and the cost of climate change impacts already being measured and paid for by the most vulnerable people on earth, from New Orleans in Hurricane Katrina to epic droughts in Texas and California, where crop and livestock losses have surely contributed to increases in food prices for consumers. How do these hidden costs help that middle class the senator wants to protect?
Read More10 countries that may be hit hard by climate change
Mr. McConnell also states that Congress is "devising strategies now" to fight the USEPA. With all due respect, I suggest he turn congressional attention instead to dealing with these local, national, and global impacts of continued pollution from burning fossil fuels. As a former state regulator, I can attest to the benefits of thoughtful pollution controls (which may be achieved from many different approaches, to be sure), but I can equally assure the senator that the cost of inaction is far greater to public health, the economy, and the natural resources upon which our lives depend.
Commentary by Terry Tamminen, former secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency. He is also the president of Seventh Generation Advisors and co-founder of the R20 Regions of Climate Action. Follow him on Twitter @terrytamminen. | Here's why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's argument that new pollution rules are an "attack on the middle class" is wrong, says Terry Tamminen. | 24.066667 | 0.633333 | 0.766667 | medium | low | abstractive | 371 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/17/where-down-payments-are-the-lowestand-highest.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825053630id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/17/where-down-payments-are-the-lowestand-highest.html | Where down payments are the lowest...and highest | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.053630 | RealtyTrac released an interactive map—get it here—that shows the percentage of homebuyers with 3 percent or less down, the median home price and the average down payment percentage.
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, for instance, had 28.68 percent of loans with 3 percent or less in down payments to go with a median home price of $74,900 and an average down payment percentage of 11.18, or $8,373.82.
By contrast, Marin County, California, had only 1.7 percent of loans in the 3 percent or less category, with a median home price of $864,500 and an average down payment of 27.81 percent, or $240,417.45.
Overall, low or no down payment loans hit their lowest level in at least a decade in 2014, accounting for 25 percent of the total, down from a record 46 percent in 2009 and from 27 percent in 2013, according to RealtyTrac.
Executives quoted by the firm said programs that help out first-time buyers with down payments are being extended even to higher-end buyers.
"Programs in high-cost markets may offer even greater down payment help, and income and home price limits are typically increased to fit the market," said Rob Chrane, president and CEO of Down Payment Resource. "There's a general lack of awareness among first-time homebuyers about down payment programs which may be keeping more of them on the sidelines longer than necessary." | Homebuyers in areas with the lowest costs are making half the down payments as those in more expensive areas, according to new data from RealtyTrac. | 10.148148 | 0.62963 | 1 | low | low | abstractive | 372 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/15/what-to-watch-from-unitedhealth-earnings.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825054127id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/15/what-to-watch-from-unitedhealth-earnings.html | What to watch from UnitedHealth earnings | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.054127 | Sterne Agee CRT analyst Brian Wright said he expects United could wind up being the biggest winner of the frenzied merger dance, by sitting it out. He thinks the nation's largest insurer will gain market share while its competitors are distracted trying to win approval for their deals. Aetna and Humana will likely have to address their overlapping businesses in some Medicare Advantage markets.
"In order to get approval from the [Department of Justice], we estimate that Aetna will probably have to divest 500,000 Medicare Advantage lives," Wright said, "which would be about 13 percent of the combined company's membership."
Argus' Toung doesn't buy the distraction theory.
"I'm not putting a lot into Humana and Aetna being so distracted they're going to lose market share," Toung said. "It's possible they're already taking corrective action."
But Wright said it's the size of the deals that could prove a problem. Anthem is reportedly still in pursuit of Cigna, after the latter rejected a $54 billion merger bid last month. One of the issues that has held up a deal is disagreement over who would lead the combined company. Together, they would be the nation's largest health insurer ever, with over 50 million members.
"Given the size of the transactions that are being contemplated and proposed, the operational and execution risk is greater than we've ever seen," Wright said. "I think the degree of difficulty in integrating these sized acquisitions is greater than what we've historically seen." | UnitedHealth may not be in the hunt to acquire a rival, but industry consolidation will be a big topic when it releases earnings. | 11.96 | 0.52 | 0.52 | low | low | abstractive | 373 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/24/cramer-remix-can-twitter-keep-climbing.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825061848id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/24/cramer-remix-can-twitter-keep-climbing.html | Cramer Remix: Can Twitter keep climbing? | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.061848 | Another trend that Cramer is seeing in the market recently, is the bull market of healthcare staffing. He attributed this to an improving economy and the Affordable Care Act which have driven more patients to hospitals. This translates to a need for more doctors and nurses.
The healthcare rally is evident in stocks like AMN Healthcare, which is up 18 percent for the year. AMN is the largest healthcare staffing and physician search company in the country.
Could the stock have more room to run? Cramer spoke with AMN Healthcare Services CEO Susan Salka to find out.
"We started to see the momentum begin in the second quarter, and it really picked up into the second half of the year. In fact, as we started this year we have continued to see it. Our orders in nursing in particular are over double that of last year," Salka said.
Another stock that is up big for the year is Gogo. And as Cramer continues to explore the various ways in which the Internet of things can branch into our lives, he decided to sit down with Gogo CEO Michael Small to discuss how the future of the connected aircraft could impact the airline industry.
"Our role in life is to bring bandwidth to the sky. As we do that, it is going to be used for more and more things. We got our start with passenger connectivity, but it is very clear that the connected aircraft is the future," Small said.
The CEO predicted that ultimately Gogo will generate more revenue from connecting the plane and the crew than it does from the passenger.
In light of the Germanwings tragedy that occurred in the southern France on Tuesday, Cramer asked Small if further innovation with Gogo's technology could ultimately be added to aircraft black boxes.
"Absolutely, and our hearts go out to the families involved. It's an awful situation. But yes, the connected aircraft will help," he responded.
Read More Cramer: Airline tech in focus after tragedy
In the Lightning Round, Cramer gave his take on a few caller favorite stocks:
La Quinta Holdings: "I don't care about the supply. Sometimes supply begets demand. I like LQ here."
Visa: "I think that Visa after the split, it was a four for one, and here's the problem: you get one and then you get four, and you decide to sell one. It's going to churn here for a while and then it's going to go up. Remember that the split doesn't matter as much as Charlie Scharf's leadership and Charlie Scharf is best in show."
Read MoreLightning Round: Problem with Visa's split | Tweeting big changes? Mad Money host Jim Cramer shares his thoughts on Twitter’s ability to make money. | 26.05 | 0.35 | 0.35 | medium | low | abstractive | 374 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/19/monsters-of-rock-cruise-hits-the-high-seas.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825071338id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/19/monsters-of-rock-cruise-hits-the-high-seas.html | Monsters of Rock' cruise hits the high seas | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.071338 | Now 51 with a family at home, he said he's been "looking for an out" from the grueling work and long stretches away from home as a rock tour manager. He calls that "a younger man's game."
Four years ago, Morand hooked up with cruise industry veteran Mike London, and the Monsters of Rock Cruise was born. The tour is based on the old Monsters of Rock annual festivals, which once regaled rock listeners at England's Castle Donington.
As it turns out, touring the ocean is a lot more work than driving cross-country in a tour bus. Yet this is just a 5 day tour, and for Morand and the bands on board, the beautiful backdrop of Miami and the Bahamas makes it seem easier.
Read MoreMeet the Austrian trying to mainstream Asian pop
This year's lineup includes more than 30 classic hard rock artists like Night Ranger, Cinderella, Queensryche, Lita Ford, Tesla, and Extreme.
Although these rockers can't fill large arenas like they used to, they can still play to a sold-out ship. The tour is using one of the largest cruise ships in the world, the MSC Divina, and more than 3,400 rock fans paid around $1,000 for the privilege of rocking out to classic acts. | The "Monsters of Rock" cruise is promising five days of "fun, sun and debauchery." Don't forget the ear plugs! | 9.296296 | 0.592593 | 0.888889 | low | low | abstractive | 375 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/14/nba-tests-waters-in-cuba-but-not-everyones-happy.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825085619id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/14/nba-tests-waters-in-cuba-but-not-everyones-happy.html | NBA tests waters in Cuba, but not everyone's happy | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.085619 | The Heat's reaction highlights the difference in Cuban sentiment in Florida versus that of the rest of the U.S. In research released earlier this month, 41 percent of Cuban-Americans in Florida supported normalizing relations, compared to 69 percent outside the state.
Still, if major U.S. sports leagues tread carefully, outreach in Cuba can lay the framework for a potentially valuable—and geographically close—international market.
"The proximity is very attractive. These types of camps are ways to dip your toes into the water without making a big statement," said Manish Tripathi, an Emory University marketing professor and co-founder of Emory Sports Marketing Analytics.
Read MoreOne way to (possibly) make money in Cuba
The NBA and FIBA camp can build grass-roots support for the sport in Cuba, Tripathi said. While the Cuban men's team has played in six Olympic Games and some Cuban nationals have made NBA rosters, basketball has room to grow there, he said.
Retired stars Steve Nash and Dikembe Mutombo will headline the group going to Cuba. Aside from teaching the game to Cuban youth, the NBA and FIBA plan to renovate three outdoor courts in Havana.
The NBA declined to comment on how the event will affect its business growth, pointing CNBC to its press release on the camp.
"We've seen the bridges that basketball can build between cultures," NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said in the release. "We look forward to sharing the values of our game with Cuban youth and learning together through the common language of sports."
But that doesn't mean that league doesn't have to be careful.
"There is the potential for it to negatively impact the NBA brand. The whole workshop has to be carefully orchestrated, and the NBA knows this," said Ross Steinman, chairperson and associate professor of psychology at Widener University, who has studied fan psychology. | The NBA is going to the island nation for a youth basketball camp, but political undertones may force the league to tread lightly. | 14.72 | 0.72 | 0.96 | low | low | abstractive | 376 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/12/china-developer-evergrande-classifies-debt-as-equity-cuts-leverage.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825093029id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/12/china-developer-evergrande-classifies-debt-as-equity-cuts-leverage.html | China developer Evergrande classifies debt as equity, cuts leverage | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.093029 | Excessive leverage is not a problem as long as China's No. 4 property developer manages debt payments and credit markets remain liquid, but analysts say it has a small margin of error if markets dry up or lose momentum or if it runs into liquidity issues.
"Evergrande needs to rely on short-term loans such as bank and trust lending to refinance when the short-term debt matures. This is risky capital management because banks loosen and tighten lending from time to time and it's unpredictable," said Moody's Investors Service analyst Franco Leung.
Evergrande declined to comment for this article on its strategy for managing its debt.
It began issuing perpetuals in 2013, doubling the amount to 52.9 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) as of end-December, equivalent to nearly half of its equity, corporate filings show. It has the highest value of perpetual use among China's 10 biggest developers by sales, according to a Reuters review of the companies' 2014 balance sheets.
Read MoreChina market bubble? Bull vs. bear
Evergrande executives have previously said it has issued perpetuals to finance projects. Asked whether it would issue more this year, Chief Financial Officer Tse Wai Wah told a March 30 earnings briefing: "It depends on market conditions... and market reaction," he said.
An economic slowdown and a raft of cooling measures have focused investor attention on the high levels of debt that developers took on to build projects that were not sold. China's property sales in the first two months of 2015 dropped the most in three years amid a housing supply glut and slower property investment.
Smaller homebuilder Kaisa Group Holdings is negotiating with bondholders on restructuring $2.5 billion in offshore debt. Failed talks may mean it risks becoming the first Chinese developer to default on offshore debt.
In Evergrande's 2014 earnings report, published on March 30, its net debt-to-equity ratio was 85.9 percent. If perpetuals were classified as debt, that figure jumps to 292 percent, Barclays said in a note published a day later.
CFO Tse told the earnings briefing that shrinking debt was a priority for 2015. He set a mid-to-long term target for a net debt-to-equity ratio of 70 percent and put a moratorium on bond issues for the year.
Read MoreWill China's slowdown derail reforms?
Among developers, Evergrande has been particularly hard hit with most of its projects in less developed cities, where home prices have had some of the biggest drops. It has also borrowed heavily to diversify into food, energy and sports: it finances the Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao soccer club along with e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings.
Evergrande reported gross debt rose 43 percent to around 156 billion yuan ($25.2 billion) at end-2014, and concerns about its leverage have led to speculative-grade ratings from Moody's and Fitch.
Independent financial analysts CreditSights, which classifies perpetuals as debt, says Evergrande's 2014 debt was 11.7 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), meaning it would take 11.7 years to repay based on its current cashflow.
That ratio is 50 percent higher than the sector average, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Evergrande has also increased fair value gains on investment properties, with the largest single-year gain - 9.4 billion yuan - recorded last year. The gains are based on a unbiased estimate of an asset's potential market price, and help boost a company's equity.
Tse told Reuters after the earnings briefing the majority of the fair value adjustments were on shops and car parks and the revaluations were not inflated. | Evergrande Real Estate Group has cut leverage on its balance sheet by classifying some of it debt as equity, according to analysts' calculations. | 26.923077 | 0.769231 | 1.076923 | medium | low | abstractive | 377 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/17/ceos-to-cramer-our-advantage-over-wells-fargo.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825111659id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/17/ceos-to-cramer-our-advantage-over-wells-fargo.html | CEOs to Cramer: Our advantage over Wells Fargo | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.111659 | Sometimes Jim Cramer never know what will come from an interview.
The "Mad Money" host spoke with various top brass CEOs from around the country this week, and they each provided their inside perspective on how their companies are fairing in the market. Don't take it from Cramer, this one comes straight from the horse's mouth!
CEOs featured in order of appearance:
Performance Sports Group CEO Kevin Davis
---------------------------------------------------------- Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer: How to pick a stock Cramer: Stocks that signal a raging buy Cramer: Effective pro trading technique ---------------------------------------------------------- | Executive guests from the week tell “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer how they take on the competition. | 5.65 | 0.7 | 1 | low | low | abstractive | 378 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/08/23/report-dismisses-need-for-extra-gas-pipelines/RiG4dFBqEVoyRpShu9e4wO/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825131023id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/08/23/report-dismisses-need-for-extra-gas-pipelines/RiG4dFBqEVoyRpShu9e4wO/story.html | Report dismisses need for extra gas pipelines | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.131023 | The conventional wisdom among energy regulators in New England is that more gas pipeline capacity will help get the region’s high electricity prices under control.
But the state’s primary importer of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is determined to challenge that line of thought.
Last week, GDF Suez Energy North America began to send copies of a new report to policy makers — including Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey — that says plans to charge electric ratepayers for more pipelines would hurt consumers.
GDF Suez, which runs the LNG terminal in Everett and an offshore port near Gloucester, commissioned the study to assess New England’s energy markets and the implications of using funds from electric ratepayers to build gas pipelines.
The report, unsurprisingly, echoes GDF Suez’s official position: that only modest pipeline improvements are needed for the long-term stability of the region’s electricity grid.
The region’s LNG supplies, the report said, along with backup turbines that use oil, can help cover shortfalls.
GDF Suez, part of the French conglomerate now known as Engie, has motivation to prevent more pipelines from being built. Additional gas from lower-priced domestic sources could compete with the liquefied gas that GDF Suez delivers by ship to Massachusetts.
The report, prepared by Energyzt Advisors LLC, provides new ammunition to the environmental groups that are determined to fight the pipeline subsidies being considered on Beacon Hill. Critics say the electric grid’s overseer, ISO New England, has already created a system to help ensure power plants run on cold days.
“Market rule changes that would avoid public pipeline subsidies appear to be bearing fruit,” Peter Shattuck, Massachusetts director at the Acadia Center, a nonprofit environmental group, said by e-mail. “[These changes] should be allowed to take full effect before signing customers up for an untested approach that transfers billions of private risk to the public [and] undermines climate commitments.”
Few consumer issues are as pressing to New England’s governors as the sharp rise in electric bills that constituents saw in recent winters. In large part, the increases were blamed on the region’s constrained gas pipeline capacity. Heating customers use up most of the region’s natural gas on frigid days, leaving little for the gas-fired power plants. As a result, power plant operators often elect to shut down, use backup generators with more expensive oil, or buy pricier gas imported from other countries.
To combat this dynamic, New England’s governors started nearly two years ago pursuing the unprecedented concept of imposing a tariff on electric ratepayers to pay for more natural gas pipelines. The thinking was that the upfront cost would be more than offset by the savings achieved from plentiful domestic gas supplies on cold days.
The Baker administration is taking a somewhat different approach now, but the end result would still be the same: Electric ratepayers would cover costs for gas pipeline construction.
GDF Suez’s Energyzt report aims to blow apart the theory behind this prevailing way of thinking. The report argues that the real beneficiaries of these major pipeline projects would be companies looking to export the gas to other countries. The extra capacity would be needed only on the coldest days, the report says. Meanwhile, electric customers could end up with the tab.
But Anthony Buxton, a Maine lawyer who represents a pro-pipeline group with a number of industrial members, argues that policy makers should give more credence to a report the Deval Patrick administration commissioned last year. That report said an increase of about 20 percent in New England’s pipeline capacity is needed to meet the demand in Massachusetts.
“We have more heating demand than we have pipeline capacity, let alone for electricity generation, in the wintertime when we need the heat,” Buxton said. “The mathematics are pretty simple.”
Buxton also cautioned against relying too heavily on LNG over domestic sources of gas, such as the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania.
“The availability of [imported] LNG depends almost entirely on foreign policy factors and events not in control of anybody in the United States,” Buxton said.
When asked for a reaction to the Energyzt report, a spokesman for Baker’s energy office noted that the administration has recently filed bills to spur more solar panel installations and bring in more hydropower from Canada.
“The administration has prioritized reducing and stabilizing the rising cost of energy for consumers,” spokesman Peter Lorenz said in a statement, “and remains committed to pursuing innovative opportunities to ensure a diversified energy portfolio that is both cost- effective for ratepayers and environmentally conscious.” | GDF Suez Energy North America began last week to send copies of a new report to policy makers — including Governor Charlie Baker and Attorney General Maura Healey — that claims plans to charge electric ratepayers for more pipelines would hurt consumers. GDF Suez, which runs the LNG terminal in Everett, commissioned the study to assess New England’s energy markets and the implications of using funds from electric ratepayers to build new gas pipelines. | 11.240506 | 0.987342 | 15.974684 | low | high | extractive | 379 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/16/another-massive-chicken-recall-is-happening.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150825151638id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/16/another-massive-chicken-recall-is-happening.html | Another massive chicken recall is happening | 1970-08-22T05:27:05.151638 | Aspen, a Koch Poultry Company division, is recalling 1,978,680 pounds of frozen, raw, stuffed and breaded chicken, which was produced between April 15 and July 10 with "best if used by" dates between July 14, 2016 and October 10, 2016.
The impacted items have the establishment number "P-1358" inside the USDA inspection mark and were shipped across the country.
Read MoreBlue Bell attracts billionaire in comeback quest
This comes on the heels of a separate massive chicken recall from Barber Food this week totaling 1.7 million frozen, raw stuffed chicken products that may be contaminated with Salmonella.
To put these two recalls totaling 3.7 million pounds in context, approximately 18.7 million pounds of food were recalled during the entire year in 2014.
On June 23, the USDA's inspection branch was notified of a cluster of Salmonella illnesses, which were linked to the Aspen chicken.
Read MoreLatest victim of the egg shortage: Fried rice
Consuming food contaminated with Salmonella can cause a bacterial foodborne illnesses with symptoms including diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after exposure. While most recover without treatment, people with weakened immune systems are more likely to develop a severe illness from it.
Also on Wednesday, Murry's recalled about 20,000 pounds of Bell & Evans gluten-free breaded chicken breast nuggets due to Staphylococcal enterotoxin contamination.
For more information about which chicken items were recalled from Aspen Foods, check out the USDA's website. | If you cook chicken, it's time to check your fridge and freezer. | 18.8 | 0.6 | 0.733333 | medium | low | abstractive | 380 |
http://www.sfgate.com/49ers/article/49ers-Eric-Mangini-has-had-success-against-6467761.php | http://web.archive.org/web/20150831002939id_/http://www.sfgate.com:80/49ers/article/49ers-Eric-Mangini-has-had-success-against-6467761.php | 49ers’ Eric Mangini has had success against Peyton Manning | 1970-08-22T05:27:11.002939 | Photo: David Zalubowski, Associated Press
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick takes part in drill before facing the Denver Broncos in an NFL football scrimmage at the Broncos' headquarters Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2015, in Englewood, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick takes part in...
49ers’ defensive coordinator Eric Mangini has had a good amount of success against Peyton Manning.
49ers’ defensive coordinator Eric Mangini has had a good amount...
49ers’ Eric Mangini has had success against Peyton Manning
CENTENNIAL, Colo. — During his 17-year NFL career, 49ers defensive coordinator Eric Mangini has learned plenty from his mentors, Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells and New England head coach Bill Belichick, a winner of four Super Bowls.
However, another person who has made Mangini a better coach has blown up the NFL record book, but hasn’t blown a whistle. His name: Peyton Williams Manning.
Mangini and the Broncos’ quarterback were on the same field again Wednesday for the first of two joint practices between the 49ers and Broncos. And they didn’t need an introduction.
Mangini, 44, has helped game-plan against Manning, 39, as a defensive assistant or a head coach 14 times since Manning joined the league in 1998. For Mangini, the countless hours spent poring over video of Manning in advance of those meetings has provided an education.
“Oh, yeah, he’s made me a better coach,” Mangini said. “You have to be. If there’s a weakness in your scheme, he’s going to find it. If there’s a problem that you have and you think you have it fixed, he’s going to test to make sure that’s accurate. If there’s a person that he can exploit, he’s going to find him.”
It’s debatable how beneficial two joint practices will be, but Mangini is pleased they are coming against Manning, who posted a 157.2 passer rating and broke Brett Favre’s record for career touchdown passes in a 42-17 romp over the 49ers in October.
Said safety Eric Reid after Manning’s surgical performance: “I’m not sure what their coaches do, but they probably don’t have to do much. … You’re playing against a coordinator when you’re out there.”
This week, the 49ers get to face Manning without the specter of being humiliated in prime time. And the four hours of practice time should provide a few lessons for a nine-man cornerback corps that includes seven players 24 or younger (the corners have combined to play in 143 games, 113 fewer than Manning). In addition, the back-to-back sessions will allow Mangini to get a better handle on the system he installed in the offseason.
“To me, in going against him, it’s more ‘Are we sound?’” Mangini said. “‘Where are we not sound? What the areas he sees out here that he thinks he can get after?’”
On Wednesday, Manning threw one interception in team drills and it came courtesy of safety Antoine Bethea, 31, who spent his first six seasons as Manning’s teammate in Indianapolis.
Bethea, a sixth-round pick from Howard University, gives Manning plenty of credit for a career that has included three Pro Bowls. During his days in Indianapolis, he said, he thought his toughest challenge came in the days before kickoff.
“In games, he just made it so easy,” Bethea said. “Going up against one of the best quarterbacks in practice — when game time comes, the game slows down. So he helped me out a lot, even if he doesn’t know it.”
Mangini shares the sentiment. He was a 27-year-old Jets assistant when New York walloped Indianapolis 44-6 in the third game of Manning’s 256-game career. The 22-year-old quarterback threw two interceptions and posted his second-lowest passer rating (39.3).
Two months later, however, the kid quarterback exacted his payback. Manning erased a 13-point, second-half deficit with two touchdown passes in the final 16 minutes of a 24-23 win over the Jets.
“He got us on two hard-sell, play-action shots that changed the whole complexion of the game,” Mangini said Wednesday, 17 years later. “… It’s not like you’re ever going to go through a game and he doesn’t get you. It’s just how many times he’s going to get you.”
Mangini’s teams have actually gotten Manning quite a bit over the years. Including playoff games, Mangini has an 8-6 record against Manning as a defensive assistant or head coach (Manning went 1-7 against New England when Mangini was the Patriots’ secondary coach, 2000-04).
“They’ve always been a well-coached bunch, always been really sound in their schemes, and he’s had good players in the places that I have played him against,” Manning said of Mangini. “So I’ve always thought it has been a challenge going against his defenses.”
For his part, Mangini said he has enjoyed scheming against Manning — “I don’t know if the word is ‘fun’ exactly,” Mangini said, smiling. He understands that he might not have another chance after Saturday’s night preseason meeting.
Manning, after all, could be embarking on his final season, and the 49ers won’t meet the Broncos in the regular season. Mangini and Manning aren’t buddies, but they have had a few casual conversations over the years. And the coach plans to have at least one more chat with the quarterback before the 49ers leave Colorado.
“I hope to talk to him here and just reiterate how much I respect him,” Mangini said. “He makes you a better coach.”
Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: [email protected] Twitter: @Eric_Branch | During his 17-year NFL career, 49ers defensive coordinator Eric Mangini has learned plenty from his mentors, Hall of Fame head coach Bill Parcells and New England head coach Bill Belichick, a winner of four Super Bowls. [...] another person who has made Mangini a better coach has blown up the NFL record book, but hasn’t blown a whistle. Mangini, 44, has helped game-plan against Manning, 39, as a defensive assistant or a head coach 14 times since Manning joined the league in 1998. [...] the four hours of practice time should provide a few lessons for a nine-man cornerback corps that includes seven players 24 or younger (the corners have combined to play in 143 games, 113 fewer than Manning). [...] the back-to-back sessions will allow Mangini to get a better handle on the system he installed in the offseason. On Wednesday, Manning threw one interception in team drills and it came courtesy of safety Antoine Bethea, 31, who spent his first six seasons as Manning’s teammate in Indianapolis. Bethea, a sixth-round pick from Howard University, gives Manning plenty of credit for a career that has included three Pro Bowls. The 22-year-old quarterback threw two interceptions and posted his second-lowest passer rating (39.3). Manning erased a 13-point, second-half deficit with two touchdown passes in the final 16 minutes of a 24-23 win over the Jets. Including playoff games, Mangini has an 8-6 record against Manning as a defensive assistant or head coach (Manning went 1-7 against New England when Mangini was the Patriots’ secondary coach, 2000-04). Manning, after all, could be embarking on his final season, and the 49ers won’t meet the Broncos in the regular season. | 3.256983 | 0.952514 | 29.310056 | low | high | extractive | 381 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/09/01/sisters-rebuild-foxborough-wedding-venue-after-fire/iE8brWuBjIPTj52U0lRpvJ/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150902184946id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/09/01/sisters-rebuild-foxborough-wedding-venue-after-fire/iE8brWuBjIPTj52U0lRpvJ/story.html | Sisters rebuild Foxborough wedding venue after fire | 1970-08-22T05:28:22.184946 | Anastasia Tsoumbanos and Natalia Kapourelakos have probably never felt so relieved to be setting up tables and chairs.
They had much bigger concerns on April 5, 2014, when the function hall they owned, Lakeview Pavilion in Foxborough, burned down just after a couple said their wedding vows. The nearly 110-year-old structure was destroyed by a discarded cigarette, but the wedding guests and workers all made it out safely.
Now, the two sisters are gearing up for their first wedding celebration since that fateful night. The big event is scheduled for Friday.
“This is our passion,” Tsoumbanos said. “We love this industry. We had no doubt we wanted to rebuild.”
The sisters said their new facility cost $7 million. Much of the expense was covered by insurance, but they said they wanted to make the new building bigger, beyond what the policy would cover. The old facility was about 16,000 square feet in size. This one, they said, is 25,000.
One of the biggest differences: The new function hall can accommodate two weddings, while the old building could only handle one at a time. One of the new ballrooms can accommodate as many as 165 people, while the other has room for 400. (The rooms can also be combined for as many as 500 guests.)
Each of the ballrooms, Kapourelakos said, has a private entrance, bridal suite, cocktail area, and outdoor deck.
The old building was a retrofitted ballroom-dancing hall. But this time around, the sisters were able to tailor the structure for their specific needs.
“We made every decision about the design and features about the new venue with the brides and grooms in mind,” Kapourelakos said. “It still has the high ceilings [but] it’s more modern right now. . . . We changed to an all-white decor so our venue would be like a blank canvas for the brides to decorate with their own special touches.”
Architect Lou Allevato said he aimed for a simple design without many flourishes. He also envisioned a building that would impress brides, grooms, and their parties as they pulled up for the big event.
“To see it rising from what were the ashes of that devastating event, it’s really quite fulfilling,” said Allevato, whose firm, Allevato Architects Inc., is based in Franklin. “Anastasia and Natalia were absolutely committed to making one of the best wedding venues in this part of the country.”
Natalia Kapourelakos (left) and Anastasia Tsoumbanos at the rebuilt Lakeview Pavilion. | Much of the $7 million expense to rebuild was covered by insurance, but the sisters said they wanted to make the building bigger, beyond what the policy would cover. | 15.212121 | 1 | 5.848485 | low | high | mixed | 382 |
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/09/02/five-follow-top-picks-from-tuesday-techstars-demo-day/QFbWy4woM4gssxaWp2y1GO/story.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150905063443id_/http://www.bostonglobe.com:80/business/2015/09/02/five-follow-top-picks-from-tuesday-techstars-demo-day/QFbWy4woM4gssxaWp2y1GO/story.html | Five to follow: Top picks from Tuesday’s Techstars demo day | 1970-08-22T05:28:25.063443 | Picking the most promising startups from an accelerator’s latest graduating class is a foolish task: promising teams split up, ideas that seem flimsy turn out to be massive, early momentum with a few enthusiastic customers fades. But with the caveat that we’re handicapping companies at a very early stage, here are my five favorite ideas from yesterday’s showcase of the latest set of Techstars Boston participants. • LovePop wants to disrupt Hallmark. Founder Wombi Rose says that buying greeting cards “has become a chore,” and that his Harvard-spawned startup is “bringing the magic back to an industry that has lost its way.” The cards are incredible — intricate pop-ups that are made in Vietnam at LovePop’s own production facility. They sell for $8 to $13, and a LovePop table in the lobby was doing brisk business at the conclusion of Tuesday’s proceedings. The company has seven retail kiosks in Massachusetts, Nevada, and California, and Rose says that the company’s current revenue run rate is $1 million. Not bad for a company born in early 2014.
• Provender is out to connect restaurants with farmers, fisherman, and foragers by creating a kind of digital farmer’s market. With fewer intermediaries, prices are lower for restaurants, and they can pay a single Provender invoice rather than dozens of separate ones. The company began serving Eastern Canada first, and has more recently expanded to New England, Florida, and Colorado. CEO Caithrin Rintoul says that the startup’s average order size is nearly $1,500, and that its operations in New England hit $100,000 in bookings a little more than two months after launching here. Rintoul says the startup aspires to create “the operating system of agriculture.” Barry Maiden, formerly the chef at Hungry Mother in Cambridge, has signed on to be the startup’s “ambassador” for the New England region.
• Shearwater International aims to keep international students from dropping out of college, by building an online platform that connects them with young alumni who have been trained as mentors. CEO Jackson Boyar says that while international students spend $27 billion on tuition, room, and board each year, roughly 40 percent of them haven’t graduated after six years. Shearwater wants to supply a support system that will change that statistic — and eventually ensure that those students give back to their alma mater as donors. Shearwater is already working with two dozen colleges and boarding schools, Boyar says — and nine of them are paying customers.
• Netra is an idea that normal folks will find creepy, but big retailers may find powerful. It uses video from surveillance cameras that already exist to better understand what is happening inside and outside stores. How many people walk past versus enter — and can you change that with different signage or window displays? How many people peruse the merchandise without buying? How long are lines at the register at different times of day?
Co-founders Richard Lee and Shashi Kant met at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and they created software that can track the same individual as he is spotted by different cameras inside and outside a store — though Lee notes that they are not trying to identify individuals by face. He compares the kind of tracking that Netra wants to do to the way websites today track users using cookies — small data files stored in your browser that can tell online retailers what pages you visit and how frequently you return. Lee says that most brick-and-mortar retailers are not as sophisticated as online retailers, and that to help them compete Netra wants to “create the quantified store.”
• ThriveHive has built a dashboard for small businesses that makes marketing easier — from supplying pre-fab e-mails for various times of the year to helping manage Google advertising campaigns. The company raised a $1.5 million seed round back in 2012. Key to success will be showing that ThriveHive itself has a marketing approach that will attract scads of customers, without sending salespeople out knocking on doors of every dentist’s office, dry cleaner’s, and hair salon around America. (ThriveHive’s demo was introduced by S. Prestley Blake, right, the centenarian co-founder of Friendly’s, who also happens to be the grandfather of ThriveHive co-founder Adam Blake.) | Here are Scott Kirsner’s favorite ideas from the showcase. | 75.181818 | 0.818182 | 1.545455 | high | medium | mixed | 383 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/10/dorsey-and-insiders-bet-this-is-twitters-bottom.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150905074233id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/10/dorsey-and-insiders-bet-this-is-twitters-bottom.html | Twitter stock pops 7% on insider bets and bullish talk | 1970-08-22T05:28:25.074233 | Citigroup analyst, Mark May, pointed out that Dorsey himself had sold 400,000 shares of stock in the last couple of quarters amid turbulence after Dick Costolo stepped down as CEO and stock dropped.
"I think the endorsements from the insiders who are buying stock is a good sign, but you have to take it into the broader perspective," he said Monday in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
"The amount of stock that these insiders have bought in the recent weeks pales in comparison with the amount they sold in the last few months. So I'm not reading too much into that," Dorsey said.
Read MoreTweet this: Twitter has lost nearly half its value in 4 months
It's worth noting that there have been several calls for Dorsey to remain the permanent CEO of the company, despite his role as executive chief at Square.
Early Twitter investor Chris Sacca on Friday urged the company's board to keep Dorsey as CEO, saying he has "product vision." In a string of tweets, Sacca also recommended Twitter name executive Adam Bain president and chief operating officer, while making co-founder Evan Williams chairman of the board.
—CNBC's John Melloy and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.
Disclosures: Mark May does not own shares of Twitter, but his firm owns shares in excess of 1 percent. | Twitter interim CEO Jack Dorsey is just one of a few insiders to buy the stock in recent days. Could this signal a bottom? | 10.230769 | 0.615385 | 0.692308 | low | low | abstractive | 384 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/aven-sector-could-be-ready-to-collapse.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150905082539id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/aven-sector-could-be-ready-to-collapse.html | This safe-haven sector could be ready to 'collapse' | 1970-08-22T05:28:25.082539 | The potential for a rate hike in the next year will hit utilities stocks hard, pointed out Andrew Burkly, head of institutional portfolio strategy at Oppenheimer. He also warned against counting on the consumer staples sector, which has more global and emerging market exposure.
Instead, Burkly recommends turning to telecom stocks, which have fallen 6 percent year to date.
"They tend to be more domestic plays, and they've been big underperformers so they yield pretty attractively at this point too," Burkly said, also on "Trading Nation."
For instance, AT&T yields 5.8 percent, and Verizon nearly 5 percent. That beats out yields of utilities stocks like ConEd (4.2 percent) and PG&E (3.8 percent).
On Wednesday morning, the utilities sector was the only S&P 500 sector in the red, losing about 0.3 percent.
Want to be a part of the Trading Nation? If you'd like to call into our live Wednesday show, email your name, number and a question to [email protected]. | As stocks sell off, traders warn that a "safe-haven" sector could be in danger as well. | 8.954545 | 0.454545 | 0.454545 | low | low | abstractive | 385 |
http://www.people.com/article/george-michael-listen-without-prejudice-25th-anniversary | http://web.archive.org/web/20150905165141id_/http://www.people.com:80/article/george-michael-listen-without-prejudice-25th-anniversary | George Michael's | 1970-08-22T05:28:25.165141 | George Michael in 1990, with Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista
09/03/2015 AT 10:45 AM EDT
In 1990, the pressure was on for
. The star had succeeded in breaking away from his early success with Wham! with his hit solo album
in 1987, which sold over 25 million copies and sent four singles to the top of the charts.
arrived on Sept. 3, 1990, and seemed almost purposefully designed to fail, even before people heard its largely acoustic, moody cuts. Michael announced in advance of the album that he would not be doing any press to promote it, nor would he be appearing in any of its videos or on its cover. Instead, the album shipped with a 1940 photograph of Coney Island's jam-packed beach, shot by Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, a photographer known primarily for his black and white shots of crime scenes.
But it was "Freedom '90," the third single from the album, that made the biggest cultural impact. Directed by David Fincher, who was then hot off his video for Madonna's "Vogue,"
for "Freedom '90," true to Michael's promise, didn't feature the singer at all. Instead,
, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and
all appeared in his place, lip-syncing the song's lyrics. Propelled by the bold choice and photogenic cast, the video went into heavy rotation on MTV.
was far more successful in the U.K. than Stateside, the record went onto sell eight million copies worldwide, and was certified platinum in Canada, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland in addition to the U.S. and U.K. | Michael famously refused to do any promotion for the album, or appear on its cover or videos | 17.666667 | 0.722222 | 1.388889 | medium | low | abstractive | 386 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/25/cbo-says-us-revenue-gains-push-down-deficit-delay-default.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906000709id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/25/cbo-says-us-revenue-gains-push-down-deficit-delay-default.html | CBO says US revenue gains push down deficit, delay default | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.000709 | The waning deficit may temper some demands in Congress for deeper spending cuts or weaken resistance to lifting the "sequester" spending caps on discretionary programs as lawmakers negotiate new spending legislation for the 2016 fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1.
But Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, a Republican, warned against budget complacency.
"I would caution those who would use this report as an opportunity to take these short-term savings and push for more spending. If our nation is serious about balancing our budget and reducing Americas debt, real, substantive budget reforms and savings will have to be on the table during any spending negotiations," the Wyoming Republican said in a statement.
The stronger-than-forecast tax collections mean that the U.S. Treasury's extraordinary cash management measures, employed since a debt limit extension expired in March, can stave off a federal default on payment obligations a bit longer.
Read MoreMarket talk suddenly turns to specter of QE4
The CBO previously said that the Treasury would likely exhaust all remaining borrowing capacity in October or November. In its latest guidance, it said that deadline will now likely come between mid-November and early December due to the additional revenues.
The CBO also revised its forecast for real gross domestic product growth for 2015 to 2.3 percent from 2.8 percent, bringing it in line with private forecasters. The data used for the changes, however, was locked on July 7, before the start of a global sell-off in financial markets sparked by worries about China's economic slowdown.
The revised forecasts do not change the CBO's view that based on current tax and spending laws, deficits will start to rise again later in the decade due to the costs of caring for the rapidly aging Baby Boom generation, topping $1 trillion again by 2025. | The U.S. budget deficit is likely to fall by $60 billion in 2015 due to strong revenue gains, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday. | 12.428571 | 0.678571 | 0.821429 | low | low | abstractive | 387 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/31/the-growth-vs-value-debate-takes-on-technology-stocks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906013131id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/31/the-growth-vs-value-debate-takes-on-technology-stocks.html | The growth vs value debate takes on technology stocks | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.013131 | "In the tech sector, you want to have a more growth-oriented approach," said Eddie Perkin, chief equity investment officer at Eaton Vance on "Power Lunch" Monday, who prefers companies such as Facebook. "You want to favor some of these mega trends, whether it's mobile, or advertising."
August's technology sector swings are far from the first to spur the growth versus value debate, which dates back to famous investors like T. Rowe Price and Warren Buffett.
But even if an investor squabbles with the details of investment strategies, Katz and Perkin said there are technology stocks that meet both value and growth criteria, like Hewlett Packard, trading down 30 percent year to date, and Google, trading up 18 percent year to date.
Disclosure: Eddie Perkin owns shares of Google.
Read More6 trades on momentum tech stocks | With shares of large-capitalization technology companies in correction territory, value and growth investors debate good buys. | 8.35 | 0.7 | 1.1 | low | low | abstractive | 388 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2014/06/12/us-health-care-data-points-to-much-weaker-first-quarter-gdp.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906024951id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2014/06/12/us-health-care-data-points-to-much-weaker-first-quarter-gdp.html | US health care data points to much weaker first-quarter GDP | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.024951 | The U.S. economy likely contracted at a much sharper pace in the first quarter than previously estimated with data on Wednesday showing weaker health care spending.
The Commerce Department's quarterly services survey, or QSS, showed health care outlays were not as strong as the government had assumed when it published its second gross domestic product estimate for the first quarter last month.
The government reported that the economy contracted at a 1.0 percent annual rate in the January-March period. But with health care spending data now in hand, economists say growth probably declined at a rate of at least 1.7 percent.
A widening of the nation's trade deficit in March had already led economists to anticipate a downward revision to GDP when the government publishes its third estimate later this month.
Read More Home is where the money is for medicare advantage plans
Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania said the latest numbers on services spending "made the first quarter look even worse."
"Health care spending did not add nearly as much to growth as we initially thought in the first quarter," he said.
It is not unusual for the government to make big revisions to GDP numbers as it does not have complete data when it makes its first and second estimates, and the QSS has led to big revisions at times over the last several years.
Even if the economy turns out to have been much weaker than previously thought, there is little cause for concern as many of the factors that held it down in the first quarter were temporary and data ranging from employment to factory and services sector activity indicate it has since rebounded.
Read MoreThe most expensive medical condition to treat is... | Data released shows weaker health care spending in the US. | 30 | 0.727273 | 2 | medium | low | mixed | 389 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/business-wire-xfinity-on-demand-top-20-tv-for-the-week-of-august-17-a-august-23.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906030828id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/business-wire-xfinity-on-demand-top-20-tv-for-the-week-of-august-17-a-august-23.html | Xfinity On Demand Top 20 TV for the Week of August 17 - August 23 | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.030828 | PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The top 20 TV episodes on Xfinity On Demand that aired live or on Xfinity On Demand during the week of August 17 – August 23 were:
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150901006653/en/
1. Fear the Walking Dead (series premiere), AMC2. Ballers (season finale), HBO3. Teen Mom 2 (episode 7), MTV4. Love & Hip Hop Atlanta (season finale), VH15. Bad Girls Club (episode 2), Oxygen6. I Am Cait (episode 5), E!7. Hard Knocks: Training Camp (episode 2), HBO8. Mr. Robot (episode 9), USA9. Basketball Wives LA (episode 7), VH110. Ray Donovan (episode 7), Showtime11. Zoo (episode 7), CBS12. Bachelor in Paradise (episode 6), ABC13. The Last Ship (episode 11), TNT14. Dance Moms (episode 32), Lifetime15. Bachelor in Paradise (episode 7), ABC16. Scream: The TV Series (episode 8), MTV17. The Real Housewives of Orange County (episode 11), Bravo18. Playing House (episode 5)*, USA19. Teen Wolf (episode 9), MTV20. Suits (episode 9), USA
The top 20 TV series on Xfinity On Demand for the week of August 17 – August 23 were:
1. Ballers, HBO2. Power, STARZ3. Playing House, USA4. Bachelor in Paradise, ABC5. Mr. Robot, USA6. Game of Thrones, HBO7. Ray Donovan, Showtime8. Big Brother, CBS9. Impractical Jokers, TruTV10. I Am Cait, E!11. Teen Mom 2, MTV12. Love & Hip Hop Atlanta, VH113. America’s Got Talent, NBC14. The Last Ship, TNT15. True Detective, HBO16. Bad Girls Club, Oxygen17. Scream: The TV Series, MTV18. Empire, FOX19. Dance Moms, Lifetime20. Family Guy, FOX
With nearly 3 billion hours viewed each year, Xfinity On Demand is one of the most viewed platforms for time-shifting on TV. It includes 55,000 choices, including a growing collection of current season TV shows and hit movies, many now available to own and access anytime.
Ranking for the top 20 TV episodes is based on the total Xfinity On Demand views on the TV within seven days of an in-season show’s original airing. Shows marked with an (*) indicate it premiered on Xfinity On Demand in advance of the live airing. Shows airing new episodes back-to-back are counted together. Views of most broadcast and cable programming within the first three days are included in Nielsen L+3 ratings.
Ranking for the top 20 TV series is based on cumulative past or current episode views of any TV series on Xfinity On Demand. This includes programming that is no longer airing as well.
Both lists are inclusive of all TV programming across broadcast, cable and premium networks.
Comcast Cable is the nation's largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. Comcast has invested in technology to build an advanced network that delivers among the fastest broadband speeds, and brings customers personalized video, communications and home management offerings. Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150901006653/en/
Comcast CorporationLisa Scalzo, [email protected] Frey, [email protected] | 1. Fear the Walking Dead, AMC 2. Ballers, HBO 3. Teen Mom 2, MTV 4. Love& Hip Hop Atlanta, VH1 5. Bad Girls Club, Oxygen 6. I Am Cait, E! Robot, USA 9. Basketball Wives LA, VH1 10. Ray Donovan, Showtime 11. Zoo, CBS 12. Bachelor in Paradise, ABC 13. The Last Ship, TNT 14. Dance Moms, Lifetime 15. Bachelor in Paradise, ABC 16. Scream: The TV Series, MTV 17. The Real Housewives of Orange... | 6.201835 | 0.788991 | 3.633028 | low | medium | mixed | 390 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/business-wire-donald-r-knauss-and-robert-l-edwards-named-to-target-corporationas-board-of-directors.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906105801id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/12/business-wire-donald-r-knauss-and-robert-l-edwards-named-to-target-corporationas-board-of-directors.html | Donald R. Knauss and Robert L. Edwards Named to Target Corporation’s Board of Directors | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.105801 | MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) announced today its board of directors elected Donald R. Knauss, former executive chairman and former chairman and chief executive officer of The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX), and Robert L. Edwards, former CEO of Safeway Inc., as new directors, effective immediately.
Mr. Knauss, 64, served as chairman and CEO of Clorox from October 2006 until November 2014. He then served as executive chairman until July 1, 2015. Before joining Clorox, he was president and chief operating officer of Coca-Cola North America. He is also a former U.S. Marine Corps officer.
Mr. Edwards, 60, served as CEO of Safeway from May 2013 until April 2015. He also served Safeway as president and chief financial officer, from April 2012 to May 2013. He joined Safeway in 2004 as executive vice president and chief financial officer.
“Don and Robert each bring a deep understanding of the consumer and a wealth of relevant expertise to Target. Don has a lengthy track record of driving the strategic growth of prominent, consumer brands at global companies. Robert has held leadership positions in the grocery industry for more than a decade and will offer a fresh perspective on our food reinvention, in particular. Don and Robert will be important additions to our board as we continue to transform Target and elevate the guest experience,” said Brian Cornell, chairman and CEO of Target.
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) serves guests at 1,799 stores and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target has given 5 percent of its profit to communities; that giving equals more than $4 million a week. For more information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow @TargetNews on Twitter.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150812006189/en/
Target CorporationMedia Contact:Dustee Jenkins, 612-761-9537orInvestor Contact:John Hulbert, 612-761-6627 | MINNEAPOLIS---- Target Corporation announced today its board of directors elected Donald R. Knauss, former executive chairman and former chairman and chief executive officer of The Clorox Company, and Robert L. Edwards, former CEO of Safeway Inc., as new directors, effective immediately. Before joining Clorox, he was president and chief operating officer of... | 6.283333 | 0.966667 | 18.9 | low | high | extractive | 391 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/28/pr-newswire-lionsgate-partners-with-take-two-interactive-software-inc-gearbox-software-and-producers-avi-and-ari-arad-on-film-adaptation.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906112337id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/28/pr-newswire-lionsgate-partners-with-take-two-interactive-software-inc-gearbox-software-and-producers-avi-and-ari-arad-on-film-adaptation.html | Lionsgate Partners With Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., Gearbox Software and Producers Avi and Ari Arad on Film Adaptation of Blockbuster Video Game Borderlands® | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.112337 | SANTA MONICA, Calif. and NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, is teaming with the publisher and creators of Borderlands®, and renowned producers Avi and Ari Arad to adapt Gearbox Software's critically-acclaimed blockbuster video game Borderlands into a tent-pole feature film, the parties announced today. Borderlands is an action role-playing first-person shooter video game created and developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K, a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
The award-winning Borderlands franchise has been lauded by critics and over the years has built a passionate global fan base, shipping more than 26 million copies around the world since its launch in 2009, including 8 million copies shipped during Take Two's fiscal year 2015 alone. Set in the frontier of a sci-fi universe, Borderlands is best known for Gearbox's blending of irreverent humor and characters, with a unique comic-book art style, and co-operative four-player genre-bending, loot-grabbing gameplay. It's a franchise that in the last six years has ushered in a new and popular category of first-person shooters.
The Borderlands film creative team will be led by producers Avi and Ari Arad, who are responsible for some of the most successful motion picture and television franchises in history, including Iron Man, Spider Man, The Amazing Spider Man, X-Men, Ghost Rider and Blade.
"We believe that we've brought together the right partners, the ideal creative team and the perfect property to launch a new motion picture tent-pole for a global audience," said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger. "Part of our strategy in entering the game space under Peter Levin has been to source new brands with built-in audiences that will translate into great films and television shows. The Borderlands games don't pull any punches, and we'll make the movie with the same in-your-face attitude that has made the series a blockbuster mega-franchise."
"Our Borderlands franchise continues to grow in popularity, and we've assembled a team with the strengths needed to introduce this amazing cross-platform property to a whole new global audience," said Take-Two Interactive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Strauss Zelnick. "Lionsgate has emerged as a major creative force in the global marketplace with an incredible portfolio of brands; our partners at Gearbox have pioneered and cultivated an iconic property; and Avi and Ari Arad are two of the most successful producers of action franchises. This alliance is ideally positioned to create a bold, provocative, no-holds-barred motion picture phenomenon that will delight Borderlands' current legions of fans and captivate moviegoers around the world."
"We're thrilled to extend our partnership with Jon Feltheimer, Michael Burns, Rob, Patrick and the amazing team at Lionsgate and join forces with Take-Two and Gearbox on this incredible property," said Avi and Ari Arad. "Borderlands has a unique story-driven narrative energy and rich multidimensional characters that position it to become a singular motion picture event."
"Creating, developing and continuing to build the Borderlands franchise at Gearbox Software has been an incredible ride where the most powerful fuel to our engine has been the astonishing outpouring of love and devotion from the fans," said Randy Pitchford, President and Co-Founder of Gearbox Software. "It is the passion of the fans driving the growing success of Borderlands that brought what I believe to be the best team of film producers, marketing and distribution experts in the world together to deliver the exciting story and unique characters of Borderlands to the big screen."
The deal was orchestrated by a Lionsgate team led by President of Interactive Ventures & Games Peter Levin, Summit Entertainment President of Production Geoff Shaevitz and Lionsgate Motion Picture Group President of Business & Legal Affairs Patricia Laucella.
Headquartered in New York City, Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a leading developer, publisher and marketer of interactive entertainment for consumers around the globe. The Company develops and publishes products through its two wholly-owned labels Rockstar Games and 2K. Our products are designed for console systems and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets, and are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms and cloud streaming services. The Company's common stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol TTWO. For more corporate and product information please visit our website at
Founded in 2005, 2K develops and publishes interactive entertainment globally for console systems, handheld gaming systems and personal computers, including smartphones and tablets, which are delivered through physical retail, digital download, online platforms and cloud streaming services. 2K publishes titles in today's most popular gaming genres, including shooters, action, role-playing, strategy, sports, casual, and family entertainment. The 2K label has some of the most talented development studios in the world today, including Firaxis Games, Visual Concepts, Hangar 13, Cat Daddy Games and 2K China. 2K's stable of high quality titles includes the critically acclaimed BioShock®, Borderlands™, and XCOM® franchises, the beloved Sid Meier's Civilization series, the innovative Evolve™, the popular WWE 2K franchise and NBA 2K, the #1 rated and #1 selling basketball franchise*. 2K is headquartered in Novato, California and is a wholly owned label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO). For more information, please visit
*According to 2008 - 2015 Metacritic.com and The NPD Group estimates of U.S. retail video game sales through July 2015.
Gearbox Software is respected industry wide for award winning, best-selling video games developed for all major video game platforms. Founded in 1999 and headquartered near Dallas, TX, Gearbox Software is well known for the creation, development and management of its original blockbuster video game franchises including the critically acclaimed, award winning Brothers in Arms franchise and the record-breaking, genre-setting Borderlands franchise. In addition to having developed video games in some of the world's greatest video game brands, including Half-Life and Halo, Gearbox Software has also acquired and produced content for powerful, landmark intellectual property including Duke Nukem and Homeworld. Gearbox Software's success has been supported through many key and mutually beneficial business relationships with the world's greatest video game platform and publishing partners including Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve/Steam, Apple and Take-Two/2K.
Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, new channel platforms, video games and international distribution and sales. Lionsgate currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black, the multiple Emmy Award-winning drama Mad Men, the hit broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show, the acclaimed drama Manhattan and the breakout series The Royals.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such successes as the blockbuster first three installments of The Hunger Games franchise, the first two installments of the Divergent franchise, The Age of Adaline, CBS/Lionsgate's The DUFF, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions' Love & Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films' Addicted and Pantelion Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. www.lionsgate.com
For further information, please contact:Peter D. [email protected]
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lionsgate-partners-with-take-two-interactive-software-inc-gearbox-software-and-producers-avi-and-ari-arad-on-film-adaptation-of-blockbuster-video-game-borderlands-300134569.html | SANTA MONICA, Calif. and NEW YORK, Aug. 28, 2015/ PRNewswire/-- Lionsgate, a premier next generation global content leader, is teaming with the publisher and creators of Borderlands ®, and renowned producers Avi and Ari Arad to adapt Gearbox Software's critically-acclaimed blockbuster video game Borderlands into a tent-pole feature film, the parties announced... | 25.184615 | 0.953846 | 40.338462 | medium | high | extractive | 392 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/beijings-wwii-military-parade-hopes-to-mask-china-growth-markets-troubles.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906121118id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/01/beijings-wwii-military-parade-hopes-to-mask-china-growth-markets-troubles.html | Beijing's WWII military parade hopes to mask China growth, markets troubles | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.121118 | Aside from China's domestic concerns, Thursday's holiday showcase contains a message for the Asian region too.
The President will be accompanied by more than 20 global leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. Notably, Western and Japanese leaders won't be in attendance, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe rejecting Beijing's invitation, a move that may further strain ties between the two Asian giants.
"Official sources suggest Abe was further concerned that his presence would be interpreted as conceding to aggressive Chinese activity in disputed waters," noted the CFR's Dickey, referring to a long-standing territorial conflict over a set of islands in the South China Sea.
Indeed, state-owned Chinese newspaper The People's Daily reported earlier this year that the parade was aimed at intimidating Japan and discouraging Tokyo from pursuing an "unrestrained China policy," all the more significant now that Japan has amended its pacific constitution.
However, South Korean President Park Geun-hye will be there despite Beijing's close relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who will not be not be attending. Analysts say her presence is aimed at expressing solidarity with China seeing as both countries suffered from Japan's war crimes and both are awaiting a "sincere" apology from Prime Minister Abe.
At Japan's WWII anniversary last month, Abe expressed remorse over his country's war actions but stopped short of a formal apology.
Ultimately, Thursday's festivities have been engineered to send a message to those who challenge China's regional and global standing, Dickey said.
"The intent is to remind onlookers near and far of China's commitment to its own strength and prosperity - through any and all means necessary." | A parade of military firepower may be Beijing's latest means of reinforcing its legitimacy in the eyes of mainland citizens. | 15.409091 | 0.636364 | 0.818182 | low | low | abstractive | 393 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/17/is-your-financial-advisor-stuck-in-the-stone-age.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150906172132id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/17/is-your-financial-advisor-stuck-in-the-stone-age.html | Is your financial advisor stuck in the Stone Age? | 1970-08-22T05:28:26.172132 | I'm talking specifically about the robo-advisor movement. For nearly two years, the financial services industry, and the media that cover it, have been obsessed with these online investing platforms. While there's a lot of hype, too many advisors are ignoring what the new technology really means.
Robo-advisors have already gathered more than $19 billion of assets. And some forward-looking "traditional" advisors have begun integrating them into their businesses—letting the robos handle automatable tasks such as asset allocation and security selection, as well as the more mundane operational tasks, reallocating those resources to a better client experience.
Read MoreTrust a robo-advisor—at age 64?
Those advisory firms have come to understand that robo-advisors can do these things just as well as they can, at lower cost. By using them, advisors can free up time to focus on value adds such as tax advice and estate planning. Moreover, computers can rebalance and tax-loss harvest far better than any human, offering enhancements that most advisors fail to provide.
But plenty of advisors have their heads in the sand. In a recent survey by consulting services firm Accenture, just 19 percent of U.S. and Canadian advisors said they see robos as a serious threat. A full 40 percent say they pose no threat at all. | Financial advisors, slow to use automated wealth management technology for client benefit, risk losing important millennial mind share. | 12.285714 | 0.428571 | 0.428571 | low | low | abstractive | 394 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/23/why-business-guru-marcus-lemonis-wont-take-companies-public.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150907180510id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/23/why-business-guru-marcus-lemonis-wont-take-companies-public.html | Why business guru Marcus Lemonis won’t take companies public | 1970-08-22T05:28:27.180510 | While there are benefits for companies that decide to go from private to public, serial investor and entrepreneur Marcus Lemonis said Tuesday there's a reason he's not interested in offering shares of his companies to public investors.
"I'm not a seller. I'm a holder," he said in an interview with "Power Lunch" from the CNBC iConic conference in Los Angeles.
Lemonis, CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Enterprises, leads more than 6,000 employees in over 100 cities across the United States. The only reason he'd ever want to offer shares in his companies to the public is to give people the opportunity to invest side by side with him, he said.
"If I ever took a business public I wouldn't want to take the shares off the table," Lemonis explained. "I don't want people thinking I'm doing it just to make money and then going to run for the hills. I think that's a very important distinction."
It's not uncommon for founders and early investors of private companies to sell shares during an initial public offering. When Facebook went public in 2012, about 241.2 million shares came from existing shareholders. Founder Mark Zuckerberg sold more $1.1 billion worth of stock at the time in order to pay taxes.
Read MoreCompanies that act like start-ups
Just because Lemonis hasn't decided to take the plunge himself, he said there are benefits to a company going public. Not only does it provide liquidity for the business, it also will ensure there is a succession plan in place, he noted.
"Businesses are going to exist long after you and I are gone so what's the plan going to be? A public vehicle provides the structure, the discipline and the board structure—it's just a lot clearer for the business," said Lemonis, who stars in CNBC's "The Profit."
Kip Tindell, CEO of The Container Store, said going public in 2013 was the right decision for his company. The alternative would have been to either find another private equity investor or become a takeover target.
"One of the best things about it is that you get to get more stock in the hands of employees," Tindell told "Power Lunch."
However for Life Is Good co-founder and CEO Bert Jacobs, staying private is really the only option for his business, which shuns advertising and donates 10 percent of its net profits to help kids in need.
By going public it becomes "very difficult to become focused on anything but dollars per share per quarter and for us, the business is a tool to do more than just make profit," he said.
Read More Life is Good's $100 million ad-free global success story
—CNBC Kerima Greene and The Associated Press contributed to this report. | While there are benefits to an IPO, Marcus Lemonis said there’s a reason he’s not offering shares of his companies to public investors. | 20.481481 | 0.888889 | 4.444444 | medium | medium | mixed | 395 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/23/how-millennials-can-max-out-their-savings.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150908031748id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/23/how-millennials-can-max-out-their-savings.html | How millennials can max out their savings | 1970-08-22T05:28:28.031748 | For millennials, retirement can seem like a very distant goal. But there's one big incentive to start saving early: If you start contributing to a retirement account when you're young, your money can grow exponentially by the time you need it.
"It's magical stuff," said certified financial planner Harriet Brackey, director of investments at GSK Wealth Advisors in Hollywood, Florida. "Retirement is such a distant concept for younger people. A lot of people miss the opportunity to make themselves millionaires simply by saving."
That milestone is not out of reach if you save early and consistently. Let's say you're 25 and making $60,000 a year, for example, and have an employer that matches your 401(k) contributions up to 5 percent of your salary. If you contribute just $250 a month (or 5 percent of your current pretax income) and your employer matches it, you could stick with the same contribution amount until you retire at 65 and end up with nearly $1 million in your account. (That's assuming a 6 percent average annual return.) Increase your contribution a little more, and your retirement nest egg could be even larger.
Want to make sure you're maxing out your savings? Here are four common mistakes and how to avoid them.
Don't assume the default rate is enough.
A whopping 64 percent more workers between the ages of 18 and 34 started contributing to 401(k) plans last year compared to 2013, according to data on the 2.5 million people participating in retirement plans administered by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. A big reason for the increase: widespread adoption of auto-enrollment programs.
By the end of 2013, about 65 percent of companies reported having auto-enrollment programs, in which employees are automatically defaulted into a plan with an option to opt out, a feature that became increasingly widespread after passage of the Pension Protection Act in 2006, which provided safeguards for employers that adopted it. (Before the law passed, an estimated 20 percent of employers had retirement plans with auto enrollment; the number has nearly quadrupled since.)
But the default contribution rate for most of those plans remains at 3 percent, the amount many companies adopted when they first added the feature.
"A lot of folks accept the default, and it's not until later they realize they are invested way too conservatively for someone their age," said certified financial planner Howard Pressman of Egan, Berger & Weiner in Vienna, Virginia. Most advisors suggest a 10 to 15 percent contribution, including the match.
Don't leave match money on the table.
Each employer is different, but one 2013 analysis found that companies match up to 4.5 percent on average. That means that if you contribute 4.5 percent of your pre-tax salary to your 401(k), your employer will match that 4.5 percent—typically at 50 cents or a dollar per every dollar you put in. It's essentially free money.
Read MoreEmployees miss out on $24B in match money
By 2013, the "vast majority [of employers] offered some type of employer-matching contribution" to encourage workers to save more, according to a recent Aon Hewitt analysis of nearly 150 plans with 3.5 million eligible employees. | Millennial retirement savers have time on their side. But in order to max out their savings, they should avoid these four common mistakes. | 24.346154 | 0.730769 | 1.038462 | medium | low | abstractive | 396 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/28/business-wire-wipro-selects-nexenta-open-software-defined-storage-platform-for-its-hybrid-cloud.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150908082544id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/08/28/business-wire-wipro-selects-nexenta-open-software-defined-storage-platform-for-its-hybrid-cloud.html | Wipro Selects Nexenta Open Software-Defined Storage Platform for Its Hybrid Cloud | 1970-08-22T05:28:28.082544 | Wipro Leverages Nexenta's Open Source-driven Data Center Software to Create a Scalable Data Storage Infrastructure for Thousands of Virtual Desktop Users
SAN FRANCISCO & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nexenta (@Nexenta), the global leader in Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage (#OpenSDS), today announced at VMworld® 2015 US that Wipro Ltd. (NYSE:WIT), a global information technology, consulting and business process services company has selected NexentaStor to create a storage infrastructure for Wipro’s virtual desktop requirements based on VMware Horizon® 6.
Wipro will deploy NexentaStor, Nexenta’s flagship OpenSDS platform, on x86 hardware in its facility in Bangalore, India. Subsequent to successful internal deployment of VDI Infrastructure, Wipro will also deploy the Borderless business project infrastructure to 4,000 users in its Bangalore facility. The deployment of Nexenta SDS, SSDs, NL-SAS disks as well as VMware Horizon and VMware NSX, will enable employees to work seamlessly from anywhere and get the respective desktop image, while ensuring data security.
"We needed a cost-effective storage solution that could scale with our VDI implementation. Nexenta demonstrated that we can achieve great performance metrics while being able to scale the storage capacity at an optimal cost," said Raja Ukil, Chief Information Officer, Wipro Limited. He added, “We are excited to work with Nexenta for our internal storage requirements and also offer the same solution to our customers."
“The combination of VMware Horizon 6 and NexentaStor solutions enables streamlined deployments of virtual desktops and applications,” said Shankar Iyer, vice president, Products, End-User Computing, VMware. “Together, the two solutions offer customers the ability to realize enhanced value and improved return on investment.”
"Skyrocketing storage costs and vendor-specific legacy hardware lock-in via long-term punitive contracts are paralyzing organizations across the globe, but it doesn't have to be that way," said Tarkan Maner, Chairman and CEO, Nexenta. "At Nexenta, we combine cost-optimization, performance, and scalability to deliver a software-defined storage solution that provides economic viability, flexibility, and open source-driven customization for Wipro and, more importantly for its customers."
Tweet This: .@Wipro selects @Nexenta and @VMware for thousands of virtual desktop employees. #opensds #opensdx #virtualization www.nexenta.com
Nexenta is the global leader in Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage (OpenSDS) with 6,000+ customers, 400+ partners, 33 patents, and more than 1,200 petabytes of storage under management. Nexenta uniquely integrates software-only “Open Source” collaboration with commodity hardware-centric “Software-Defined Storage” innovation. Nexenta OpenSDS solutions are 100% software-based; and 100% hardware-, protocol-, and app-agnostic providing organizations with Total Freedom protecting them against punitive vendor lock-in. Nexenta provides organizations with the "true" benefits of Software-Defined Everything-centric Cloud Computing – from data centers to end users; from the infrastructure to apps. Nexenta OpenSDS enables everyday apps from rich media-driven Social Living to Mobility; from the Internet of Things to Big Data; from OpenStack and CloudStack to Do-It-Yourself Cloud deployments – for all types of Clouds – Private, Public, and Hybrid. Founded around an "Open Source” platform and industry-disrupting vision, Nexenta delivers its award- and patent-winning software-only unified storage management solutions with a global partner network, including Cisco, Citrix, Dell, HP, Quanta, SanDisk, Seagate, Supermicro, VMware, Western Digital, Wipro, and many others.
For more information, visit, www.nexenta.com, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube. Also, download the newly published Nexenta Special Edition Software Defined Data Centers (SDDC) for Dummies eBook. Tweet this.
Nexenta, NexentaStor, NexentaConnect, NexentaEdge and NexentaFusion are trademarks or registered trademarks of Nexenta Systems Inc., in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, service marks and company names mentioned in this document are properties of their respective owners.
VMware, VMworld and Horizon are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150828005161/en/
NexentaAllison Darin, 831-359-8208Director of Communications and Public [email protected] | SAN FRANCISCO& SANTA CLARA, Calif.---- Nexenta, the global leader in Open Source-driven Software-Defined Storage, today announced at VMworld ® 2015 US that Wipro Ltd., a global information technology, consulting and business process services company has selected NexentaStor to create a storage infrastructure for Wipro’ s virtual desktop requirements based on... | 13.934426 | 0.934426 | 12.639344 | low | medium | extractive | 397 |
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/22/charts-and-fundamentals-disagree-on-oil-stocks.html | http://web.archive.org/web/20150911011847id_/http://www.cnbc.com/2015/04/22/charts-and-fundamentals-disagree-on-oil-stocks.html | Charts and fundamentals disagree on oil stocks | 1970-08-22T05:28:31.011847 | As the recent energy rally cools off, technical and fundamental traders have very different ideas about what the next move will be.
Oil services stocks have risen nearly 10 percent in the last month, as crude has bounced back 24 percent.
But as the oil services ETF (OIH) fell alongside crude on Tuesday, Cowen's head of equity sales trading, David Seaburg, pronounced the energy bounce over.
"A lot of the rallies we've seen have been predicated by short covering," he said on CNBC's "Power Lunch." "I think the short-cover rally is over. I think you're going to look back and see these stocks at much lower levels going forward."
Further, Seaburg warns that many of the companies in the OIH look vulnerable ahead of earnings.
"There is a lot of small names that make up that ETF that are at massive risk of missing. So I think there is a lot of concerns out there," he said.
But Rich Ross, head of technical analysis at Evercore ISI, has a very different forecast.
"We think the pullback in crude has created a compelling buying opportunity here," he also said on "Power Lunch."
"We know there's going to be volatility in here. It's not all rainbows and unicorns out there. But you have to take advantage of days like today so you don't feel like you're chasing the move." | Is the recent energy bounce over? The charts and the fundamentals appear to tell different stories. | 15.888889 | 0.666667 | 1.111111 | medium | low | abstractive | 398 |
http://fortune.com/2009/11/05/fortune-magazine-names-apples-steve-jobs-ceo-of-the-decade/ | http://web.archive.org/web/20150915065152id_/http://fortune.com:80/2009/11/05/fortune-magazine-names-apples-steve-jobs-ceo-of-the-decade/ | Fortune magazine names Apple’s Steve Jobs CEO of the decade | 1970-08-22T05:28:35.065152 | Runners-up include Gates, Buffett, Page, Brin, Winfrey, Stewart and — wait for it — Madoff
Steve Jobs is the CEO of the decade, according to the new issue of Fortune magazine.
“Jobs is back,” writes Adam Lashinsky in the cover story published Thursday. “It’s as if his signature ‘one more thing’ line now applies to him as well. After a six-month leave of absence in the early part of this year, during which he received a liver transplant, he is once again commanding a 34,000-strong corporate army that is as powerful, awe-inspiring, creative, secretive, bullying, arrogant — and yes, profitable — as at any time since he and his chum Steve Wozniak founded Apple AAPL in 1976.”
The piece includes the revelation that Jobs twice considered taking Apple private, once in a leveraged buyout with Silver Lake Partners and once a few years earlier with financing lined up by his old friend Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle ORCL .
Sure to stir controversy is Fortune’s provocative list of also rans, which includes, along with some obvious contenders (Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, for example), two convicted felons: Martha Stewart and Bernie Madoff.
CNNMoney.com (which carries this blog) has put together an elaborate online editorial package that includes excerpts from Lashinsky’s story, a video of him explaining the choice, praises of Jobs from the rich and famous, celebrities’ favorite iPhones apps, an interactive timeline, rarely seen photographs and more. The entry point is here.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped] | Runners-up include Gates, Buffett, Page, Brin, Winfrey, Stewart and -- wait for it -- Madoff Steve Jobs is the CEO of the decade, according to the new issue of Fortune magazine. "Jobs is back," writes Adam Lashinsky in the cover story published Thursday. "It's as if his signature 'one more thing' line now applies to… | 4.202703 | 0.851351 | 10.040541 | low | medium | extractive | 399 |
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