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The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are winding down, Osama bin Laden is dead, and the federal government is deeply in debt. This spells the end of what was a golden decade for the defense industry.
Tags: Industry
Archive for August, 2011
When Googles chairman Eric Schmidt gives the MacTaggart lecture to an audience of television executives in Edinburgh on Friday, the first person from outside the broadcasting sector to do so, he will deliver a positive message: Google needs you.
Schmidt is expected to tell delegates that Google wants to help the industry realise a bright future. That is a striking change from the companys uncompromising stance in the past, when it was fighting legal actions from broadcasters and film studios over alleged copyright infringement.
It would be surprising if Schmidt didnt arrive at the industrys most prestigious gathering armed with a few conciliatory words, but his message is heartfelt, sources close to the company insist. Chatter about Googles most talked-about projects, including mapping the worlds streets and digitising every book, can disguise the fact they are driven by commercial necessity rather than corporate altruism. Despite its status as an internet giant with annual revenues of just under $30bn (£18bn) and an 85% share of the search market, Google needs content creators in order to thrive.
Good content drives search, and search drives advertising. The more compelling the content there is online, the more money Google makes. In Schmidts view, that makes Google and the TV industry potential partners and, in the right circumstances, natural collaborators.
Relationship review
The contents of Schmidts speech are a closely guarded secret. But a headline-grabbing initiative – perhaps a Google programming fund that production companies could bid for? – may help recalibrate the relationship between the IT nerds from Mountain View, California and the creatives from Soho and Salford.
Several years ago, that prospect would have seemed remote. Broadcasters watched with frustration as Google-owned YouTube generated traffic by allowing users to post clips from hit shows, while Google allowed others to find pirated material available elsewhere on the internet. Googles retort to content providers who complained – that they should be grateful some of that traffic was being redirected to their own websites – was starting to wear thin.
Since then, however, the company has reached an accommodation with several of them, striking revenue-sharing deals that have smoothed ruffled feathers. Google did so by creating a program, Content ID, that scans the internet for pirated material. Content producers can then decide whether to remove those pages or leave them untouched and advertise against them; if they choose the latter option, they pocket all the associated revenue.
It is an olive branch that many groups have seized. In 2009, Channel 4, BBC Worldwide and ITN were among broadcasting organisations agreeing a deal with YouTube allowing it to put ads around their content. Today, only one major lawsuit is outstanding, although it is a big one – MTV and Paramount owner Viacoms $1bn action alleging massive intentional copyright infringement.
The subtle shift in the balance of power between Google and the television industry is a phenomenon Schmidt is likely to acknowledge on Friday night. The emphasis will be on collaboration with content companies and major domestic players including the BBC and C4. He is likely to compliment the creativity that has enabled British broadcasting to claim that is the most successful in the world. The UK exports more formats than any other nation, according to Pact, the industry body for independent producers; it will reveal later this week that total international revenues generated by indies alone grew by 34% last year to £590m. Selling British formats overseas now accounts for a quarter of the sectors total revenues.
In the meantime, Googles long-anticipated assault on television has stalled. Google TV, which turns a television set into a web browser, launched in the US in the spring but it has flopped. That is partly because Logitech, which manufactures the set-top box required, priced it at $249 (it is preparing to slash it to $99). Worse, Google TV is clunky and difficult to use.
Those teething problems can be solved (the $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola Mobility last week may help because the group is a big player in set-top boxes), but as Google marches on to broadcasting territory, it is proving to be less sure-footed than many feared.
One of Googles mantras is that it is a technology company, not a content company, and as it focuses on the crucial mobile market it is becoming less interested in the material users search for and more focused on the platforms they use to do so. It announced in April it would spend $100m creating original content for YouTube, but that is less than half of Channel 5s annual programming budget.
Audience booster
Schmidts message is designed to reassure television executives concerned that Google would affect them in the same way it has other businesses, which have struggled to replace revenue lost to the internet. Yet unlike film studios and music and newspaper groups, commercial TV has always given its product away. Technological advances and new platforms, including the BBCs iPlayer, have led to bigger overall audiences – the ability to watch TV streamed live or on catchup services online has expanded the market. The average UK viewer watched 18 hours and nine minutes of commercial linear TV a week (two hours, 35 minutes a day) during the first six months of 2011, according to Barb figures published last week. That is an increase of 48 minutes a week (seven minutes a day) on the same period in 2010. As many as one in five people now view hit BBC shows such as EastEnders after theyve been broadcast. Last month, for example, an EastEnders episode won a Monday evening audience of 8.8 million, with a further 1.8 million watching later. A single Sunday night edition of Top Gear was watched by just over 8 million on BBC2, and a futher 2.8 million downloaded it on iPlayer.
Television is also defying the adage that media groups must be prepared to charge a lot less for digital ads that would have cost hundreds of pounds in the old analogue world. The cost per 1,000 impacts for online TV advertising is often higher than for linear TV, according to commercial TV marketing body Thinkbox. That is partly because the online audience tends to be typically between 16 and 34, a demographic advertisers covet. A 30-second commercial that reaches that audience on linear TV costs advertisers £19 per 1,000 views, industry sources point out, but the same ad costs between £25-£27 per 1,000 for an on-demand show.
The convergence of TV and the internet may not put an end to the business model that has served traditional commercial broadcasters well for more than 50 years. Viewers seem willing to accept TV advertising online, while not tolerating pop-up and banner ads. The online catchup version of The X Factor runs nearly eight minutes of ads per hour, almost the same as the live show.
So there may be grounds for optimism, but not everyone will be swayed by Schmidts charm offensive. [Googles] search business is mainly driven by quality content it pays nothing for, says one senior industry source. But content owners have realised they have more power than they thought. [Schmidt] is going to say nice things and expect were all going to bow down, but its not enough. [Were saying to him] Youve got to put your hand in your pocket.
Rallying cry
Radical proposals include a one-off monopoly tax, which TV executives argue could be justified by pointing to Googles 85% UK search share, with the proceeds used to fund programming. Given Googles Downing Street connections – David Camerons director of strategy, Steve Hilton, is married to Googles global head of public affairs, Rachel Whetstone – that idea is unlikely ever to get off the ground.
There was a time when Schmidt might have used a set-piece speech to fire a warning shot. The fact he is likely to deliver a rallying cry instead suggests TV executives will gain more than they lose by accepting that they need Google as much as Google needs them.
Tags: Industry
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A match worth making? A response to Orthodox Jewish straight marriages
19 August 2011
By Rabbi Andrea Myers
Author
The Choosing: A Rabbis Journey from Silent Nights to High Holy Days
Move to Denver! It was all I could do to keep myself from shouting at the screen while watching Brokeback Mountain a few years ago. In a New York City movie theater, this behavior would not stand out. Jack and Ennis, the central characters, secret lovers for decades, were fighting. Jack was insisting that they could have had a good life together, and Ennis was trying to push him away. I was rooting for Jack, for the possibility that the two of them could have been a couple instead of entering into heterosexual marriages. I, and a number of fellow movie-goers, wanted to tell them: Please go somewhere that you can live your lives together already.
By Rabbi Andrea Myers
I had similar thoughts when I read that Rabbi Areleh Harel, an Orthodox rabbi living in the West Bank, is acting as a matchmaker between gay men and lesbians. Rabbi Harels idea is that marrying gay men and lesbians to each other allows them to have families, while keeping their secret and staying within their religious world. Presumably, having them marry someone who is gay instead of someone straight is meant to lessen the collateral damage that Jack and Ennis families suffered.
Still, collateral damage is easy to imagine in this situation. The people who enter into these arrangements, no matter how pure their intentions, are deceiving their families and their communities. Every affirmation they receive for their wedding is based on a fiction. They are modeling a marriage that is not based on romantic or sexual intimacy and love. They are setting themselves up for infidelity and a life lived under constant threat of exposure.
I also wonder where God is in the legal fiction of these marriages. Harel abdicates responsibility for the consequences of these marriages, saying that if adultery takes place it is not [his] business. There is a Jewish teaching that if you make three successful matches, you earn a place in the world-to-come. Where do you go if you have set up a situation that could cause tremendous pain and suffering to entire communities?
I also wonder why, if these marriages are meant to conceal the identities of the couples, Rabbi Harels work is being featured so prominently in national and international media. Lavender marriages have been going on for centuries, and have been discussed in other traditional communities for years. Why has the Harel story gone viral, and why now? It may be that the trend towards the legalization of same-sex marriage has upped the ante, and made those who oppose it want to show alternatives. Why risk disapproval by marrying your same-sex partner, if you could find an opposite-sex gay or lesbian person to marry and gain heterosexual privilege instead?
I have to believe that the people who are entering into these marriages are sincere. They are trying to find a way to live lives that are normative in their communities. What disturbs me is that this is being presented as their only choice, the only way that they can continue to live as observant Jews. In this situation, Move to Denver! need not mean: Leave your religious practice! Rather, it means: Find another way. Lech lecha, go forth like Abraham did. The territory may feel unknown, but with faith you can make it there. Live the life that is yours to live.
The key problem with these matches is coercion, people feeling forced into marriage because they see no viable alternative. Notably, this is a problem in same-sex and heterosexual marriages as well. Recently, there has been talk about the pressure on same-sex couples to get married in New York. A recent New Yorker cartoon shows two men in bed, one turning to the other and saying: Please stop looking at me like now Im gonna propose. And in July, the New York Times ran an article titled: Ready to Wed? No, Mom Some Parents of Gay Children Push for Marriage. This phenomenon, in which partners and parents pressure people to wed, is old news for straight couples, and almost everyone who is single.
The situation in the Orthodox community that Harel and his clients inhabit is one in which it is virtually impossible to have a social life without being married with children. In this world, being known to be gay would be cause for condemnation, exclusion, or worse. No wonder then, if these individuals feel like they have to live a lie, they would rather have companionship, social standing, and safety. But how many people, in the secular or liberal religious world, also feel immense pressure to be married, as if their only options are to be married or to be miserable? How many single people in our communities feel like their social and even professional options are limited by their single status? How many of them settle for mediocre marriages, preferring that to being alone?
Marriage should be an option for everyone but it needs to be a choice, not a foregone conclusion. I fought to support marriage equality in New York State, as a lesbian and as a rabbi. My partner and I had our religious wedding back in 2001, when no one was pressuring us to get married; it happened entirely by the force of our own wills. What gives marriage its value is that it is chosen. Choose life, the Torah teaches, that you and your children may live. (Deut 30:19) As a liberal rabbi, I believe in informed choice: it is our privilege and our obligation to educate ourselves about our options and choose wisely, informed by our tradition and by our values, by our hearts and by our minds. It may be that for the gay men and lesbians who are calling Harel, they feel that this is their best choice. I wish that they could see more choices in their lives.
Some would argue that marriage has always been a business arrangement, a societal tool to create stable families. But in Judaism, marriage has always promised something more. Even in Biblical times, Rebecca needs to agree to her match with the patriarch Isaac, and her agreement is seen to set legal precedent: you cannot have a Jewish marriage without the consent of both parties. Indeed, Isaac and Rebeccas marriage is the first one which the Torah describes as involving love. In another venerable Jewish source, Fiddler on the Roof, a daughter sings for the matchmaker to make her a match. But then she realizes that a bad match is worse than no match at all, and so she concludes:
Matchmaker, matchmaker, plan me no plan,
Im in no rush, maybe Ive learned
Playing with matches a girl can get burned
So bring me no ring,
Groom me no groom,
Find me no find,
Catch me no catch,
Unless hes a matchless match!
The Jewish wedding ceremony culminates in the sheva brachot, seven blessings. In them, the couple is described as reim ahuvim, loving companions. Their voices on their wedding day are meant to be kol sasson vkol simcha, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of happiness. I want to suggest another blessing, and it is this: may everyone be blessed with the ability to truly choose whether, and to whom, they will be wed. Then, as the wedding blessings promise, we will truly be celebrating with loving companions, their voices ringing out with happiness. Now that is a match worth making.
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Tags: Marriages
Aug. 10, 2011
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Louisville football team and second-year head coach Charlie Strong hosted the programs annual media day activities on Wednesday afternoon at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium.
Strong, defensive coordinator Vance Bedford, assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Mike Sanford and selected players met with members of the local, regional and national media to preview the Cardinals 2011 season. Prior to the days activities, the Cardinals practiced for approximately two hours at the grass practice fields. Louisville continues preseason drills with a pair of practices on Thursday.
The Cardinals open the 2011 season at home against Murray State on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 6 pm, and the game will be televised nationally by ESPNU.
Tags: Activities
LinkedIn (LNKD) connected with a solid performance in its first financial report since going public, reporting late Thursday results that handily beat analyst expectations.
The online professional networking site said Q2 revenue jumped 120% from the year-earlier quarter to $121 million, above analyst views of $104.7 million.
LinkedIn said per-share profit minus items rose 43% to 10 cents from 7 cents a year ago. Analysts expected a loss of 3 cents.
Tags: Items
Downtown Canton was packed with children and parents having fun and collecting valuable things for school the evening of Friday, Aug. 5.
Several area churches and Petersen Corp. held a Back-to-School Bash at Jones Park, featuring family activities centered on preparing students for school, along with a giveaway of 425 book bags filled with school supplies.
Canton Assembly of God, Covenant Community Church, Canton Evangelical Free Church, Canton First Christian Church, Canton First Church of the Nazarene and Wesley United Methodist Church, along with Petersen Corp., were co-sponsors the event.
Families received free book bags filled with school supplies for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
The event also included many school-related giveaways and family fun activities. The bouncy houses were provided by Macomb Skateland. Carnival-style games, face painting, and balloon artists also offered fun activities for the kids.
Area organizations such as the Canton police and fire departments were in attendance to offer information.
A local dentist offered free toothbrushes and local hair stylists offered free haircuts for students.
The Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-H also were also present to offer information on their programs.
The evening was filled with free food and free music.
The Back-to-School Bash originated from a desire to help families as they prepare their children to return to school, according to a spokesman.
All the churches and organizations involved in the Back-to-School Bash expressed their thankfulness for the success of the event.
They hope to offer the event to the community in 2012.
It was phenomenal. We were so excited to see how well it turned out. We are very glad that the community came out and supported the event and we are very thankful to all those that helped, says Patty Hoffman, childrens pastor at Covenant Community Church.
Tags: Activities
DOGS of all shapes and sizes took over Urangan#39;s Dayman Park yesterday for the 2011 Dogs Day Out.
Fraser Coast Regional Council hosted the day to raise awareness of responsible pet ownership.
Hundreds of local owners turned out to see Fraser the dog, a council mascot, make a special appearance.
Stallholders, community groups and the council hosted displays and workshops throughout the morning to teach owners local laws regarding pet ownership and how to responsibly look after their animals.
Dog owners and their furry friends also took to the Urangan beach for the Pet Walk and best-dressed dog competition.
All proceeds from the pet walk will be donated to Guide Dogs Queensland.
The National Pet Register was also on hand to provide subsidised microchipping for cats and dogs.
The organisation provides a national identification and recovery service to reduce the number of lost and stray pets.
Tags: Pets
After the big wind and rainstorm we had in Cornelius on Aug. 11, I saw news stories and pictures about huge branches that had fallen, some on houses, causing lots of damage. However, Im not sure anyone had a branch that caused the destruction that happened on my property.
My dogs were in the house during the storm to keep them safe and dry. They do have doghouses, but I feel better with them in the house.
After the storm, we looked outside and saw that one of the doghouses had been destroyed.
First, I have to explain the setup of our dogs houses. When their bodies are in the houses, the dogs hang their heads outside; so we put the houses under something else, either the trampoline or the patio table, to protect their heads.
The damaged house was under the patio table. The wind had picked up a medium-size tree and speared it down with such force it went through the patio table and the doghouse. I think my dog would have been speared, too, had he been in there.
So please, if possible, bring your pets inside when the weather is bad. Im glad my dog was safe and dry.
Thank you from salon owner
Two weeks ago I wrote about Baohannah Lee, owner of Expressive Image Salon in Cornelius. Lee was going to cut hair in the Back 2 School Bash and had asked for donations of cases of bottled water.
Lee told me that, thanks to the readers of this column, I collected 35 cases of water. Some people just stopped by and dropped off water.
Lee also said her son, 7-year-old Christopher, told everyone … he is the most popular person because he is (pictured) in the paper.
Fall Sports
Registration for fall sports already has started. For information, call 704-892-6031, ext. 160, or go to www.corneliuspr.org.
Cornelius-Lake Norman youth baseball
Register until Aug. 27; for ages 5-16.
Flag football
Register until Aug. 28; for ages 4-14.
Youth lacrosse beginner clinics
Register until Sept. 8; for ages 5-17.
Takes place three Sunday afternoons in September.
Cornelius-Huntersville youth lacrosse league
Register until Sept. 12; for ages 5-14.
Intra-league play on Sunday afternoons. Previous lacrosse experience required.
Sell to the dogs?
The Cornelius PARC Department is getting ready for the 11th Annual All American Dog Show, 5-8 pm Oct. 8 at Bailey Road Park.
For information: 704-892-6031, ext. 160.
Freelance writer Lisa Daidone loves living in Cornelius. E-mail her at ldaidone@hotmail.com.
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Tags: Pets
One of the most important responsibilities of any cat or dog owner is to ensure that their pet isnt transporting any hitchhiking parasites such as fleas or ticks.
Since these potentially harmful creatures can transmit disease to animals, including humans, its crucial that pet owners take a few precautions to ensure their cat or dogs safety as well as their own.
According to Dr. Michael Patnaude, a senior research biologist at Smithers Viscient Laboratories in Wareham, its risky to take your dog for a hike in the woods or in areas covered by tall grasses. He also suggests that canines be walked in the center of paths to avoid the risk of encountering ticks hiding in vegetation.
Ticks like edge habitats, he warns, adding that the pesky parasites hang a foot off the ground on tall grass and slowly crawl to the tip where they wait until they feel a vibration from a passing animal or human.
They are passive and wait for an opportunity to latch on, the respected scientist reveals.
Patnaude, who earned a doctorate in medical entomology from the University of Florida-Gainesville, urges owners to use repellents specially formulated to treat pets.
He also advises hikers entering high-risk areas to wear socks pulled over the cuffs of trousers, and to dress in light colored clothing.
Do a tick check at the end of the day, Patnaude urges, noting that ticks that climb onto pets like to hide in the folds of skin and in ears.
Noting that it can take between 36-48 hours for a deer tick to transmit Lyme disease, Patnaude urges individuals to remove the parasite as quickly as possible.
Use a fine pair of tweezers and get as close to the skin as possible and pull it out firmly, he suggests. Patnaude adds that while smearing the tick with Vaseline might prevent the parasite from breathing, the tick corpse will not detach for at least two days and could still transmit a potentially deadly disease.
Burning a tick still attached to animal will cause the parasites internal organs to explode, spilling its contents into the open wound bite and transmitting disease if the tick is infected.
Another potentially harmful parasite is the flea, which can cause anemia and skin allergies or transmit tapeworms.
According to author and pet writer Amy Shojai, there are more than 2,200 species of fleas worldwide, with the cat flea being the most common variety found in North America.
Shojai tells that dogs with fleas can scratch incessantly to try to stop the itch. Since fleas seem to like to hide on a canines posterior, many dogs chew their flanks and above their tail.
One way to check for the pesky insects is to part the dogs fur to search for flea dirt, which looks like tiny black specks. These droppings of flea waste are actually digested blood and turn red when placed on a damp cloth.
The popular author advises that one of the safest and most natural techniques for eliminating these potentially harmful bugs is to use a flea-comb, which can be purchased at most pet stores. Frequent vacuuming removes up to 90 percent of flea eggs and 50 percent of larvae from carpeting.
Dont neglect washing pet beds, carriers, blankets and throw rugs as well as any sofa cushions or other favorite resting places, Shojai advises.
Since fleas dont thrive in direct sunlight, the pet expert tells owners to keep lawns short to allow light to infiltrate the grass and help control the parasite population. Gardeners can also scatter nematodes worms that eat immature fleas that are available from garden supply and lawn care centers.
The respected writer, whose comprehensive newly revised book, Pet Care in the New Century: Cutting-Edge Medicine for Cats and Dogs, should be included in every pet owners library, reveals that one flea bite can cause major problems for dogs that are allergic to the troublesome parasites. Allergic dogs are highly sensitive to flea saliva and can damage their skin by constant scratching. If left untreated, these open wounds can be come infected and painful.
Shojai recommends using a product that will not only kill fleas but will also repel the tiny irritants.
New products are released all the time, and your veterinarian will have the latest, best recommendation for your individual pets, she discloses. Its important to read labels and not combine products, too, because whats safe for a healthy dog may be deadly on a cat or young or sick pet and mixing flea and tick products can create a deadly combination. If your cat grooms your dog, that could also be an opportunity for toxicity, so just take care so that all the fur kids stay safe.
For more information about flea and tick control, visit Shojais blog: http://puppies.about.com/b/2011/08/03/ticked-off-about-fleas-ticks.htm.
Swansea resident Brian J. Lowney has been writing about pets for more than a decade. He is a past president of the Wampanoag Kennel Club, an active dog show judge and shares his home with two shelter-adopted cats. All of Brians columns are available online in our new pet section. Visit http://pets.SouthCoastToday.com
Tags: Pets
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