It is too early, after just eight Tests as captain, for James Horwill to have that bouquet unreservedly but he is well on his way after being the inspirational heart of the Wallabies storming back into an epic rugby series against the British and Irish Lions.The primal, clenched-fist scream that James Horwill unleashed in Melbourne on full-time last Saturday night when his team somehow found a way to win came from the very core of Australian rugby.
The "Big Kev'' nickname sprung from his youth when he was compared to the excitable TV salesman with that moniker. The mood was back in Melbourne in that one celebratory moment before his mind quickly switched to Saturday's series decider in Sydney.The closed-roof venue in Melbourne made the night more like a rock concert than a rugby Test. Horwill was on lead guitar bullocking ahead, urging, cleaning out.
That Saturday's shot at history could tonight be ripped away from him by the International Rugby Board scuttling their own judicial process to re-try him on a trampling charge is without precedent.Crushing. A call on his intregrity when he said it was an accident? Absolutely.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting is another with a make-up like chiselled cement. His experience of being deprived of a milestone 35 years in the making in 2004 is a glimpse at how Horwill may be feeling on Saturday night unless the second hearing clears him as well.Numbness, tears and elation...Ponting felt them all in the dressing room in Nagpur when Australia clinched a series win in India for the first time since 1969-70.
"Missing those first three Tests in India was the hardest thing I had to do in my career,'' Ponting once said.It was a broken thumb that caused Ponting's deep sense of loss even in victory. He was part of it but not part of it because sportsmen only get the true fulfillment being in the battle.
In an era where too many alcohol-fuelled or late night dining footballers don't get it, indoor positioning system. It is one of the reasons that Wallaby great John Eales rates Horwill so highly.Horwill has played just 36 of the 73 Tests of the Robbie Deans reign since 2008 which means he has spent as much time ploughing into rehab at the Reds and Wallabies for major injuries as he has playing.
It has never been idle time. He has contributed at Queensland Rugby Union board level, he has sold the rugby message at countless speaking engagements and he's got to understand rugby's commerical and media world. He's devoted time to know the game from top to bottom.
The one-time firebrand has also absorbed wise lessons in risk-taking as a captain.Eales predicted before the series that Horwill's Reds' background of knowing when to roll the dice by waving away a penalty goal attempt to press for a try could be pivotal in the series. It happened on cue with the scrum he called rather than go for three points with 10 minutes to play.
It was a great captaincy call in the try build-up.This series has been a marvellous event, not the least because of the carnival pulse that the travelling Lions fans give it.There is fun but needle at the same time.At 3pm last Saturday, Lions fans were lampooning Kurtley Beale at full volume in song in a riverside bar in central Melbourne.
"He kicked, he slipped and now he's on the piss...Kurtley Beale, Kurtley Beale,'' went the roaring verse in repetition.By 10pm, the Lions fans were silent but the voice will be back for Sydney.Whether the Lions can pull themselves back together from the jolting loss is another thing. The whole momentum of this series has changed because no longer are they serenely sailing along.
Selection changes, self doubt, massive pressure to breakthrough for their first series victory since 1997 and keeping the now holidaying players in the squad on the straight and narrow at their Noosa camp this week are all major challenges.
"One measly kick. One desperate lunge for glory. One last chance for redemption. Poor Leigh Halfpenny. At least Kurtley Beale could curse the turf or his moulded studs...It was a long, long effort - more than 50 metres and on the angle. The only man who will blame Halfpenny is Halfpenny himself. He hung his head in despair as the kick fell short. Will Genia gathered and booted it joyfully into the stands. Halfpenny could barely look anyone in the eye as they tried to console him and the opposition preferred hands. He was a man apart in his misery. Rugby the ultimate team game? Not for everyone. The loneliness of the long-distance kicker."
"If you took this storyline to a Hollywood producer you'd be thrown out on your ear for stretching credibility way beyond breaking point. As entertainment this was appalling, as edge-of-the-seat, nerve-shredding drama it was utterly compelling...Needs must, as the old saying has it and, needing a win to take the series to Sydney, the Wallabies went to their well of sporting resilience and mustered the victory that they so badly needed. The crowd roared their approval at the death and skipper James Horwill, with that disciplinary cloud hanging over him, raised twin fists at the Lions, the critics and anyone else who wanted a piece of him."
"Whatever the result of next Saturday's deciding Test in Sydney, North will return to the British Isles this summer with his name etched into Lions folklore...When North gathered an up-and-under near the Lions' 22-metre line and he saw Israel Folau charging towards him he looked to be up the creek without a paddle...Rather than getting himself in the best position to present the ball for the seemingly inevitable maul to follow, North used Folau's iron-tight grip to his own advantage, scooping the 6ft 5in, 15st 6lb wing up in the air and over his shoulder with gobsmacking ease. With a global audience watching in awe North then pumped his legs, taking Folau with him as he gained significant ground - even using the Wallaby as a shield for would-be tacklers."
Click on their website www.ecived.com/en/ for more information.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Hernandez faces long legal road in murder case
Aaron Hernandez’s appearance in Attleboro District Court in Massachusetts on Wednesday was just the first step in what could be a long legal process for the former New England Patriots tight end, who faces six felony charges, including first-degree murder.
Hernandez was ordered to remain in jail without bail by Judge Daniel J. O’Shea. He is legally entitled to a bail review hearing in Massachusetts Superior Court, and that could occur within days. His attorneys have not responded to a request for comment on future hearings.
Hernandez’s lawyers argued that because of the constant media presence outside of his home in North Attleborough, Mass., and because of the frequent communication between the defensive team and prosecutors in previous days, Hernandez is not a flight risk.
Hernandez’s next scheduled appearance in O’Hara’s court has been tentatively set for July 24 for a probable cause hearing, though prosecutors could convene a grand jury before that date to seek a formal indictment, said Chris Dearborn, a criminal law professor at Suffolk University in Boston.
Dearborn, a former public defender and defense attorney, said he would expect a grand jury hearing within the next two or three weeks, at which point the case would be transferred to a Superior Court that has jurisdiction over murder cases.
“The standard for the grand jury is probable cause, which really is not a high threshold,” Dearborn said. “It wouldn’t be a shock at all for an indictment to return, and it doesn’t mean anything at all about whether they can prove the case.”
New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez made his first appearance in court shortly after he was arrested and charged with killing a friend, Odin Lloyd a few days after they got into a dispute at a nightclub.
Hernandez was flanked Wednesday by his team of defensive attorneys from two high-profile Boston law firms. Michael Fee, primarily known as a corporate attorney, spoke on Hernandez’s behalf and made the case for bail. Fee called the prosecution’s case “circumstantial” and “not strong” and successfully argued for affidavits regarding the case to be sealed.
Hernandez is also represented by James Sultan and his partner Charles Rankin, who have a long track record of serving as defense attorneys in high-profile cases and for famous clients.
“Jamie Sultan is a very highly respected criminal defense lawyer in Boston,” said David Siegel, a law professor at New England Law Boston.
Sultan represented the Amirault family in post-conviction litigation of the famous Fells Acre Day Care Center child abuse case, and successfully had convictions overturned on appeal. More recently, he won new trials for two clients convicted of murder, winning appeals for Linrose Woodbine in 2012, and Thomas Toolan in 2011.
“Both (Sultan) and Charlie are really, really smart lawyers that are good at identifying issues and solving problems. Both are very talented legal writers and have a reputation for being top-notch appellate lawyers,” said Dearborn, who worked for Sultan and Rankin before moving to academia. “But they both have very good trial skills, and do a phenomenal job in the court room during the trial.”
That legal mettle will be tested in front of a national audience should the defense team choose to appeal the decision by O’Shea to hold Hernandez without bail.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was not allowed to post bond when he was arrested in 2000 on murder charges. His Atlanta-based attorney Ed Garland told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday that Hernandez’s team should be “very aggressive to get bond.”
Garland was successful in getting Lewis freed on $1 million bond. Lewis eventually plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges and went on to play 12 more years in the NFL before retiring after last season.
“The first thing I did was file a motion for bond, and then we supported it with all sorts of facts, claiming the weakness of the case, claiming they rushed to judgment, showing all of the positive things we could show, bringing the team owners, and on and on and on. We were able to make a substantial showing that it was a defensible case, and there was no risk of flight,” Garland said.
It was notable to Garland that the Patriots did not show similar support for Hernandez. The team released Hernandez less than two hours after he was arrested, and several hours before the charges were announced publicly at the arraignment.
Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en/!
Hernandez was ordered to remain in jail without bail by Judge Daniel J. O’Shea. He is legally entitled to a bail review hearing in Massachusetts Superior Court, and that could occur within days. His attorneys have not responded to a request for comment on future hearings.
Hernandez’s lawyers argued that because of the constant media presence outside of his home in North Attleborough, Mass., and because of the frequent communication between the defensive team and prosecutors in previous days, Hernandez is not a flight risk.
Hernandez’s next scheduled appearance in O’Hara’s court has been tentatively set for July 24 for a probable cause hearing, though prosecutors could convene a grand jury before that date to seek a formal indictment, said Chris Dearborn, a criminal law professor at Suffolk University in Boston.
Dearborn, a former public defender and defense attorney, said he would expect a grand jury hearing within the next two or three weeks, at which point the case would be transferred to a Superior Court that has jurisdiction over murder cases.
“The standard for the grand jury is probable cause, which really is not a high threshold,” Dearborn said. “It wouldn’t be a shock at all for an indictment to return, and it doesn’t mean anything at all about whether they can prove the case.”
New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez made his first appearance in court shortly after he was arrested and charged with killing a friend, Odin Lloyd a few days after they got into a dispute at a nightclub.
Hernandez was flanked Wednesday by his team of defensive attorneys from two high-profile Boston law firms. Michael Fee, primarily known as a corporate attorney, spoke on Hernandez’s behalf and made the case for bail. Fee called the prosecution’s case “circumstantial” and “not strong” and successfully argued for affidavits regarding the case to be sealed.
Hernandez is also represented by James Sultan and his partner Charles Rankin, who have a long track record of serving as defense attorneys in high-profile cases and for famous clients.
“Jamie Sultan is a very highly respected criminal defense lawyer in Boston,” said David Siegel, a law professor at New England Law Boston.
Sultan represented the Amirault family in post-conviction litigation of the famous Fells Acre Day Care Center child abuse case, and successfully had convictions overturned on appeal. More recently, he won new trials for two clients convicted of murder, winning appeals for Linrose Woodbine in 2012, and Thomas Toolan in 2011.
“Both (Sultan) and Charlie are really, really smart lawyers that are good at identifying issues and solving problems. Both are very talented legal writers and have a reputation for being top-notch appellate lawyers,” said Dearborn, who worked for Sultan and Rankin before moving to academia. “But they both have very good trial skills, and do a phenomenal job in the court room during the trial.”
That legal mettle will be tested in front of a national audience should the defense team choose to appeal the decision by O’Shea to hold Hernandez without bail.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis was not allowed to post bond when he was arrested in 2000 on murder charges. His Atlanta-based attorney Ed Garland told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday that Hernandez’s team should be “very aggressive to get bond.”
Garland was successful in getting Lewis freed on $1 million bond. Lewis eventually plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges and went on to play 12 more years in the NFL before retiring after last season.
“The first thing I did was file a motion for bond, and then we supported it with all sorts of facts, claiming the weakness of the case, claiming they rushed to judgment, showing all of the positive things we could show, bringing the team owners, and on and on and on. We were able to make a substantial showing that it was a defensible case, and there was no risk of flight,” Garland said.
It was notable to Garland that the Patriots did not show similar support for Hernandez. The team released Hernandez less than two hours after he was arrested, and several hours before the charges were announced publicly at the arraignment.
Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en/!
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Seeing Hamilton through the lens of Instagram
Did you know that sometimes at Churchill Park turtles shuffle into the warm open spaces to lay their eggs? What about West Avenue North and how the neighbourhood kids have recently drawn messages on the road in chalk to deter would-be speedsters? I bet you didn't know that Tiger-Cats offensive lineman Peter Dyakowski gave a signed player card to his realtor, thanking him for the house he sold to him.
If you type in #hamont in the Instagram search bar, more than 50,000 images, like the ones I just described, appear: thank you letters, graduation celebrations, a couch for sale, friends hiking, people jumping and waving. Instagram is a U.S.-based website where you can post pictures from your Apple cellphone camera, or from other phones if it allows the Instagram program.
Below each image is a brief sentence. The backdrop for all of these fleeting moments: Hamilton, Ontario. These are just snippets of a brief time period captured in a vintage hue on Instagram. It's a virtual world made real where people seize and share the poetry of everyday city life.
Dr. Alexandre Sévigny, associate professor, department of communication studies and multimedia, McMaster University, said social media platforms such as Instagram help build closeness within a city.
"Generally this happens around a crisis, such as the Tim Bosma investigation, where the public will rally around a cause that is something spectacular," he said. "But more people are interested in the everyday things, small things — like a jumping dog — because it's a moment in someone's life and it becomes real to people who live in the indoor positioning system."
Hamiltonian Michael Pett said he and his wife found a stick-figure drawn in chalk on their street, West Avenue North, last Saturday evening. Next to the stick figure it read: Stop! Don't run over me. It was one of about a dozen images that had been drawn by the neighbours' children, Pett said.
"I can't say for certain that their intentions were to deter speeding with the drawing, but the problem is a well-known issue on our street," he said. "I was intrigued by the juxtaposition, its message, and the sad reality that the issue has become so widespread that even the children on our street are speaking up about it."
Last Wednesday while walking her dog in Churchill Park, Shannon Aiken stopped in her tracks; she came across a turtle out in the open. "Our dog Ella was most curious about this strange creature and was not shy about approaching her," she said. "I don't think the turtle was thrilled with the attention."
Jordan Cumberland took his photo of an underpass covered in graffiti at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Leaving the parking lot he saw a little trail that led down to the where he took his photograph.
"One of the reasons why I enjoy Instagram so much is because it makes me look at the world in a different way," he said. "I want to explore and capture the beauty of Ontario so I can share it with the world and inspire tourism to our beautiful province."
Prior to this digital phenomenon, Sévigny said people were living concrete lives where you'd have to meet in person, perhaps over a coffee, to reveal information. Now, it's instantaneous.
"Social media reveals everyday life for us. It shifts away from our print culture of rules and regulations, shifting toward a more oral culture where life is fluid and more emotional," he said. "The majority of information we send is nonverbal and more visual. If you look at Vine, YouTube, Instagram — we are more comfortable and more welcoming with visuals than with words."
A 2011 study by Zachary McCune from Cambridge University titled A Case Study of the Instagram iPhone App revealed after four-weeks of researching why people share photos on Instagram, users wanted to experience a sense of community. He also found that people wanted to exchange images with others, were excited about the social interaction and wanted to find users who shared common interests.
A University of Gothenburg study looked at how visitors used smart phone technology in a museum. When the researchers sifted through the data they found patrons often uploaded many images during their visit that were carefully planned and edited. This is contrary to popular belief that most Instagram photos are mostly shots of food and "selfies". The study also indicated smart phones have changed the way we share experiences.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, recently announced that Instagram will now include a 15-second video component, matching other video social media streams such as Vine, SocialCam and Viddy. The video option will provide 13 different visual filters that will include a Cinema feature, a function that will help stabilize your shaky footage taken on the go.
"If you live in Ancaster or Dundas, and you see photos of people in shops and walking their dogs at parks, you become aware of the boundaries of the everyday life," he said. "Social media opens up the rest of the city to you. You see people experiencing parts of the city in a compelling way, and then it becomes real to you."
David Everett is the British cryptographic expert hired by the RCM to develop the MintChip prototype. Everett said it all when he was quoted in the April 30 The Star newspaper as saying, “I would look on it very much as an alternative, and hopefully a replacement, for physical cash. Today, people obviously use coins. They use bits of metal and bits of paper. The future is obviously going to be much more electronic.”
MintChip has been under consideration by the RCM for some time. The mint began the process more than a year ago with its MintChip Challenge contest. Contestants were to create payment applications that demonstrate potential for digital cash to replace physical cash. Jan Hannemann from Victoria won the grand prize with his MintWallet concept.
Hannemann’s idea is to make virtual currency to be “like instant messaging for your wallet.” Hannemann suggested using cloud technology and push notifications, with users using MintChips for payments.
Hannemann said of his idea, “The concept of cash that’s peer-to-peer is very appealing,” adding “Communicating with people, we use social networks, instant messaging. The same can be true with money, using MintChip.”
According to the April 30 The Star article, “MicroSD cards loaded with money were sent to hundreds of developers a year ago by the Royal Canadian Mint. The tiny chips had logos on them, representing MintChip, and the recipients were some of the first people outside the mint to get a glimpse of Canada’s electronic currency prototype.”
If you type in #hamont in the Instagram search bar, more than 50,000 images, like the ones I just described, appear: thank you letters, graduation celebrations, a couch for sale, friends hiking, people jumping and waving. Instagram is a U.S.-based website where you can post pictures from your Apple cellphone camera, or from other phones if it allows the Instagram program.
Below each image is a brief sentence. The backdrop for all of these fleeting moments: Hamilton, Ontario. These are just snippets of a brief time period captured in a vintage hue on Instagram. It's a virtual world made real where people seize and share the poetry of everyday city life.
Dr. Alexandre Sévigny, associate professor, department of communication studies and multimedia, McMaster University, said social media platforms such as Instagram help build closeness within a city.
"Generally this happens around a crisis, such as the Tim Bosma investigation, where the public will rally around a cause that is something spectacular," he said. "But more people are interested in the everyday things, small things — like a jumping dog — because it's a moment in someone's life and it becomes real to people who live in the indoor positioning system."
Hamiltonian Michael Pett said he and his wife found a stick-figure drawn in chalk on their street, West Avenue North, last Saturday evening. Next to the stick figure it read: Stop! Don't run over me. It was one of about a dozen images that had been drawn by the neighbours' children, Pett said.
"I can't say for certain that their intentions were to deter speeding with the drawing, but the problem is a well-known issue on our street," he said. "I was intrigued by the juxtaposition, its message, and the sad reality that the issue has become so widespread that even the children on our street are speaking up about it."
Last Wednesday while walking her dog in Churchill Park, Shannon Aiken stopped in her tracks; she came across a turtle out in the open. "Our dog Ella was most curious about this strange creature and was not shy about approaching her," she said. "I don't think the turtle was thrilled with the attention."
Jordan Cumberland took his photo of an underpass covered in graffiti at the Royal Botanical Gardens. Leaving the parking lot he saw a little trail that led down to the where he took his photograph.
"One of the reasons why I enjoy Instagram so much is because it makes me look at the world in a different way," he said. "I want to explore and capture the beauty of Ontario so I can share it with the world and inspire tourism to our beautiful province."
Prior to this digital phenomenon, Sévigny said people were living concrete lives where you'd have to meet in person, perhaps over a coffee, to reveal information. Now, it's instantaneous.
"Social media reveals everyday life for us. It shifts away from our print culture of rules and regulations, shifting toward a more oral culture where life is fluid and more emotional," he said. "The majority of information we send is nonverbal and more visual. If you look at Vine, YouTube, Instagram — we are more comfortable and more welcoming with visuals than with words."
A 2011 study by Zachary McCune from Cambridge University titled A Case Study of the Instagram iPhone App revealed after four-weeks of researching why people share photos on Instagram, users wanted to experience a sense of community. He also found that people wanted to exchange images with others, were excited about the social interaction and wanted to find users who shared common interests.
A University of Gothenburg study looked at how visitors used smart phone technology in a museum. When the researchers sifted through the data they found patrons often uploaded many images during their visit that were carefully planned and edited. This is contrary to popular belief that most Instagram photos are mostly shots of food and "selfies". The study also indicated smart phones have changed the way we share experiences.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, recently announced that Instagram will now include a 15-second video component, matching other video social media streams such as Vine, SocialCam and Viddy. The video option will provide 13 different visual filters that will include a Cinema feature, a function that will help stabilize your shaky footage taken on the go.
"If you live in Ancaster or Dundas, and you see photos of people in shops and walking their dogs at parks, you become aware of the boundaries of the everyday life," he said. "Social media opens up the rest of the city to you. You see people experiencing parts of the city in a compelling way, and then it becomes real to you."
David Everett is the British cryptographic expert hired by the RCM to develop the MintChip prototype. Everett said it all when he was quoted in the April 30 The Star newspaper as saying, “I would look on it very much as an alternative, and hopefully a replacement, for physical cash. Today, people obviously use coins. They use bits of metal and bits of paper. The future is obviously going to be much more electronic.”
MintChip has been under consideration by the RCM for some time. The mint began the process more than a year ago with its MintChip Challenge contest. Contestants were to create payment applications that demonstrate potential for digital cash to replace physical cash. Jan Hannemann from Victoria won the grand prize with his MintWallet concept.
Hannemann’s idea is to make virtual currency to be “like instant messaging for your wallet.” Hannemann suggested using cloud technology and push notifications, with users using MintChips for payments.
Hannemann said of his idea, “The concept of cash that’s peer-to-peer is very appealing,” adding “Communicating with people, we use social networks, instant messaging. The same can be true with money, using MintChip.”
According to the April 30 The Star article, “MicroSD cards loaded with money were sent to hundreds of developers a year ago by the Royal Canadian Mint. The tiny chips had logos on them, representing MintChip, and the recipients were some of the first people outside the mint to get a glimpse of Canada’s electronic currency prototype.”
Sunday, June 23, 2013
British cyclists size up bike-friendly America
With the assistance of air travel and a boat, they'll eventually make their way to Ireland, Wales and finally down to London, where they plan to end their journey on Portland Place, home to the Royal Institute of British Architects, in August.
Along the way, they've met with the government officials and bicycle advocates in Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and several other cities to learn about the "cylicization of cities," absorbing ideas that they'll compile in a report. Their project has drawn the attention of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who earlier this year pledged to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.54 billion) on cycling infrastructure over the next 13 years. He's so synonymous with London's efforts to be more cyclist-friendly that the signature blue bikes in the city's bike-sharing system are colloquially known as "Boris Bikes."
The cyclists gathered Saturday at Bike Pittsburgh, whose Lawrenceville office is on one of those very streets -- a narrow passageway flanked by parked cars -- that may have reminded Mr. Murray of London. There, they talked shop with city officials -- including bicycle/pedestrian coordinator Stephen Patchan and Councilman Bill Peduto's policy director -- and Bike Pittsburgh co-founders Scott Bricker and Louis Fineberg.
In a roundtable discussion, they touched on a variety of topics related to challenges of making cities more bike-friendly. Both Pittsburgh and London deal with a similar problem with infrastructure: how do you adapt roads that were built for horses and carts to accommodate cars, parking and cyclists?
Patrick Roberts, the principal transportation planner for the city of Pittsburgh, said it's going to require a paradigm shift, getting transportation engineers to build roads to include cyclists. As it stands, roads are constructed with the idea that there will be a growth in the number of cars, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when roads aren't built with cyclists in mind.
Roger Hawkins, a 53-year-old rider and architect, said reducing speed limits had a dramatic effect in bringing out cyclists. Of the 100 employees in his office -- based in the London borough of Islington -- none drives to work and about half ride their bikes. He attributes the proliferation of cyclists to Islington's maximum speed of 20 mph. He called it "simple physics" that fast-moving traffic would scare cyclists off their bikes.
With the assistance of air travel and a boat, they'll eventually make their way to Ireland, Wales and finally down to London, where they plan to end their journey on Portland Place, home to the Royal Institute of British Architects, in August.
Along the way, they've met with the government officials and bicycle advocates in Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and several other cities to learn about the "cylicization of cities," absorbing ideas that they'll compile in a report. Their project has drawn the attention of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who earlier this year pledged to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.54 billion) on cycling infrastructure over the next 13 years. He's so synonymous with London's efforts to be more cyclist-friendly that the signature blue bikes in the city's bike-sharing system are colloquially known as "Boris Bikes."
The cyclists gathered Saturday at Bike Pittsburgh, whose Lawrenceville office is on one of those very streets -- a narrow passageway flanked by parked cars -- that may have reminded Mr. Murray of London. There, they talked shop with city officials -- including bicycle/pedestrian coordinator Stephen Patchan and Councilman Bill Peduto's policy director -- and Bike Pittsburgh co-founders Scott Bricker and Louis Fineberg.
In a roundtable discussion, they touched on a variety of topics related to challenges of making cities more bike-friendly. Both Pittsburgh and London deal with a similar problem with infrastructure: how do you adapt roads that were built for horses and carts to accommodate cars, parking and cyclists?
Patrick Roberts, the principal transportation planner for the city of Pittsburgh, said it's going to require a paradigm shift, getting transportation engineers to build roads to include cyclists. As it stands, roads are constructed with the idea that there will be a growth in the number of cars, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when roads aren't built with cyclists in mind.
Roger Hawkins, a 53-year-old rider and architect, said reducing speed limits had a dramatic effect in bringing out cyclists. Of the 100 employees in his office -- based in the London borough of Islington -- none drives to work and about half ride their bikes. He attributes the proliferation of cyclists to Islington's maximum speed of 20 mph. He called it "simple physics" that fast-moving traffic would scare cyclists off their bikes.
A day before the six-month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the National Rifle Association extolled Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval for "standing up for the Second Amendment."
Sandoval, a rising Republican star, had followed through on a pledge to veto one of the few gun control measures ever to have emerged from the Nevada Legislature.
Sandoval's veto message two weeks ago said Senate Bill 221 would have eroded "Nevadans' Second Amendment rights under the United States Constitution" and subjected "law-abiding citizens to criminal prosecution."
Not wanting to let the moment pass, the NRA urged its members to email Sandoval and "thank him for standing up for the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in Nevada."
Facing loss of federal funding for his state's largest psychiatric hospital, Sandoval halted the busing last month. The exportation of firearms is an entirely different matter.
California has laws protecting against gun sales to felons and people who have a history of severe mental illness. But people so inclined can drive to a Reno gun show, find a private individual with a weapon to sell and throw down sufficient cash to cover the price.
The seller need not ask questions. The buyer doesn't have to offer answers. There's no requirement that private-party sellers run buyers' names through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to check for a history of criminal convictions, domestic violence or mental illness. It's called the gun show loophole.
Legislation by U.S. Sens. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., would have closed the gun show loophole nationally. It failed in April. On June 3, the Nevada Legislature gave final approval to Senate Bill 221 to close that state's gun show loophole, only to have Sandoval veto it June 13.
The author, Sen. Justin Jones, a Las Vegas Democrat, viewed it as a stopgap until Congress can pass legislation requiring all sellers nationwide to run background checks. Without a national standard, gun laws in one state are "only as effective as the laws in the next state over."
Two months earlier, Bedell tried to buy a gun from a California dealer, only to be denied because of his history of hospitalization for mental illness. Nineteen days later, he bought one of his handguns at a Las Vegas gun show, no questions asked.
As part of his research, Dr. Garen Wintemute, a UC Davis medical school professor who studies gun violence, has counted license plates in the parking lots outside Reno gun shows. Fully 30 percent of the cars had California plates, he said.
"Northern California had a direct personal interest in that debate in Nevada," Wintemute said. "It would have made it more difficult for prohibited persons to obtain firearms. It would have made it harder to get crime guns into California."
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued its latest annual report documenting the origins of guns used in crimes in all 50 states. The agency traced 31,244 guns used in crimes in California. The largest number came from within California.
Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en/!
Along the way, they've met with the government officials and bicycle advocates in Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and several other cities to learn about the "cylicization of cities," absorbing ideas that they'll compile in a report. Their project has drawn the attention of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who earlier this year pledged to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.54 billion) on cycling infrastructure over the next 13 years. He's so synonymous with London's efforts to be more cyclist-friendly that the signature blue bikes in the city's bike-sharing system are colloquially known as "Boris Bikes."
The cyclists gathered Saturday at Bike Pittsburgh, whose Lawrenceville office is on one of those very streets -- a narrow passageway flanked by parked cars -- that may have reminded Mr. Murray of London. There, they talked shop with city officials -- including bicycle/pedestrian coordinator Stephen Patchan and Councilman Bill Peduto's policy director -- and Bike Pittsburgh co-founders Scott Bricker and Louis Fineberg.
In a roundtable discussion, they touched on a variety of topics related to challenges of making cities more bike-friendly. Both Pittsburgh and London deal with a similar problem with infrastructure: how do you adapt roads that were built for horses and carts to accommodate cars, parking and cyclists?
Patrick Roberts, the principal transportation planner for the city of Pittsburgh, said it's going to require a paradigm shift, getting transportation engineers to build roads to include cyclists. As it stands, roads are constructed with the idea that there will be a growth in the number of cars, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when roads aren't built with cyclists in mind.
Roger Hawkins, a 53-year-old rider and architect, said reducing speed limits had a dramatic effect in bringing out cyclists. Of the 100 employees in his office -- based in the London borough of Islington -- none drives to work and about half ride their bikes. He attributes the proliferation of cyclists to Islington's maximum speed of 20 mph. He called it "simple physics" that fast-moving traffic would scare cyclists off their bikes.
With the assistance of air travel and a boat, they'll eventually make their way to Ireland, Wales and finally down to London, where they plan to end their journey on Portland Place, home to the Royal Institute of British Architects, in August.
Along the way, they've met with the government officials and bicycle advocates in Portland, Ore., Minneapolis and several other cities to learn about the "cylicization of cities," absorbing ideas that they'll compile in a report. Their project has drawn the attention of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who earlier this year pledged to spend 1 billion pounds ($1.54 billion) on cycling infrastructure over the next 13 years. He's so synonymous with London's efforts to be more cyclist-friendly that the signature blue bikes in the city's bike-sharing system are colloquially known as "Boris Bikes."
The cyclists gathered Saturday at Bike Pittsburgh, whose Lawrenceville office is on one of those very streets -- a narrow passageway flanked by parked cars -- that may have reminded Mr. Murray of London. There, they talked shop with city officials -- including bicycle/pedestrian coordinator Stephen Patchan and Councilman Bill Peduto's policy director -- and Bike Pittsburgh co-founders Scott Bricker and Louis Fineberg.
In a roundtable discussion, they touched on a variety of topics related to challenges of making cities more bike-friendly. Both Pittsburgh and London deal with a similar problem with infrastructure: how do you adapt roads that were built for horses and carts to accommodate cars, parking and cyclists?
Patrick Roberts, the principal transportation planner for the city of Pittsburgh, said it's going to require a paradigm shift, getting transportation engineers to build roads to include cyclists. As it stands, roads are constructed with the idea that there will be a growth in the number of cars, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when roads aren't built with cyclists in mind.
Roger Hawkins, a 53-year-old rider and architect, said reducing speed limits had a dramatic effect in bringing out cyclists. Of the 100 employees in his office -- based in the London borough of Islington -- none drives to work and about half ride their bikes. He attributes the proliferation of cyclists to Islington's maximum speed of 20 mph. He called it "simple physics" that fast-moving traffic would scare cyclists off their bikes.
A day before the six-month anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the National Rifle Association extolled Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval for "standing up for the Second Amendment."
Sandoval, a rising Republican star, had followed through on a pledge to veto one of the few gun control measures ever to have emerged from the Nevada Legislature.
Sandoval's veto message two weeks ago said Senate Bill 221 would have eroded "Nevadans' Second Amendment rights under the United States Constitution" and subjected "law-abiding citizens to criminal prosecution."
Not wanting to let the moment pass, the NRA urged its members to email Sandoval and "thank him for standing up for the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners in Nevada."
Facing loss of federal funding for his state's largest psychiatric hospital, Sandoval halted the busing last month. The exportation of firearms is an entirely different matter.
California has laws protecting against gun sales to felons and people who have a history of severe mental illness. But people so inclined can drive to a Reno gun show, find a private individual with a weapon to sell and throw down sufficient cash to cover the price.
The seller need not ask questions. The buyer doesn't have to offer answers. There's no requirement that private-party sellers run buyers' names through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System to check for a history of criminal convictions, domestic violence or mental illness. It's called the gun show loophole.
Legislation by U.S. Sens. Patrick Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., would have closed the gun show loophole nationally. It failed in April. On June 3, the Nevada Legislature gave final approval to Senate Bill 221 to close that state's gun show loophole, only to have Sandoval veto it June 13.
The author, Sen. Justin Jones, a Las Vegas Democrat, viewed it as a stopgap until Congress can pass legislation requiring all sellers nationwide to run background checks. Without a national standard, gun laws in one state are "only as effective as the laws in the next state over."
Two months earlier, Bedell tried to buy a gun from a California dealer, only to be denied because of his history of hospitalization for mental illness. Nineteen days later, he bought one of his handguns at a Las Vegas gun show, no questions asked.
As part of his research, Dr. Garen Wintemute, a UC Davis medical school professor who studies gun violence, has counted license plates in the parking lots outside Reno gun shows. Fully 30 percent of the cars had California plates, he said.
"Northern California had a direct personal interest in that debate in Nevada," Wintemute said. "It would have made it more difficult for prohibited persons to obtain firearms. It would have made it harder to get crime guns into California."
Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives issued its latest annual report documenting the origins of guns used in crimes in all 50 states. The agency traced 31,244 guns used in crimes in California. The largest number came from within California.
Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en/!
Thursday, June 20, 2013
National Payments Strategy Workshop Opens In Accra
Mr Terkper said effective payments systems were necessary for the effective implementation of monetary and fiscal policies as well as for financial stability and also served as an essential input for monitoring budgetary and fiscal performance, and for the advancement of financial inclusion and poverty alleviation, which were the key goals of government.
“All over the world, governments and central banks, being responsible for the financial system, are interested in payments system development. This stems from the fact that an efficient payment system is necessary for effective implementation of monetary and fiscal policy and the promotion of financial stability. Electronic payments bolster the effectiveness of fiscal operations through efficient receipts and payments, security of government transactions, elimination of wastes and leakages, and a strong transaction audit trail. It also provides a comprehensive electronic data warehouse on fiscal operations, essential inputs for budget preparation and monitoring fiscal performance,” he noted.
The Finance and Economic Planning Minister noted that, there appeared to be a strong reluctance on the part of the general population to embrace non-cash modes of payment.
“The high demand for cash to pay for goods and services reduces the life span of currency and increases the frequency and cost of currency printing. The large volume of currency in circulation also greatly hampers the implementation of effective monetary policy. Furthermore, cash attracts robberies and other social vices including corruption. A “cash lite” society reduces this attraction and makes Governments’ efforts to fight crime easier because of the ability to track payments from the source to the destination,” Mr Terkper stated.
He, therefore, pledged to work closely with the relevant agencies of government and with the Bank of Ghana to deliver continuous public awareness programs and pursue a financial literacy agenda for both public officials and the general public that would create the necessary demand side synergy for increased usage of electronic payments.
He also called on the media to sensitise the public about new electronic payments systems and urged the Bank of Ghana to review and harmonise the legal regime to create a more enabling environment for new modes of payment to thrive.
Mr Terkper was delivering the keynote address at the opening of a National Payments Strategy Workshop in Accra, yesterday.
The three-day workshop, which is being facilitated by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Inter-Bank Payments and Settlements System (GIPSS) and the Standard Chartered Bank, is taking place on the theme: ‘Driving Efficiency and Value through Innovative Solutions’
The workshop is stakeholder collaboration to chart the vision of Ghana’s national payment system landscape and to enhance the efficiency of the modes of payments and transfers in Ghana.
In his opening remarks, Dr Henry Akpenamawu Kofi Wampah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the smooth functioning of payment and settlement systems was crucial for the effective implementation of the central bank’s monetary policy and for maintaining financial and monetary stability.
Dr Wampah noted that several developments had occurred within the payments and settlements landscape since the launch of the first Ghana National Payment Systems Strategy in the year 2000.
He said the major payment infrastructure implemented during the period included the Ghana Interbank Settlement System (RTGS), E-zwich Biometric Cards, Cheque Codeline Clearing System (CCC), Ghana Automated Clearing House (GACH), a National Switch based on smart card technology (Gh-Link), SWIFT Sanctions Screening Engine and the Central Securities Depository (CSD).
He said to enable the orderly and continued development of the payment systems, it had become imperative to draw up a new framework and that the Bank of Ghana would promote the development of a framework that would offer a suite of payment and settlement products, streams and services to meet the various needs of the public, adding that the Bank of Ghana had a statutory responsibility for the payment and settlement systems in the country.
“As a central bank we have a keen interest in the safety and efficiency of payments and settlements system. As you are all aware, the Bank of Ghana has a statutory responsibility for the payment and settlement systems in the country. This responsibility requires the Bank to promote, regulate and supervise these systems to ensure that they are safe, reliable and efficient. The smooth functioning of payment and settlement systems is crucial for the effective implementation of the central bank’s monetary policy and for maintaining financial and monetary stability,” Dr Wampah indicated.
Further dimming the hopes for prospects like Jeremy Kelley and the awesomely named Rodrick Rumble is the fact that 3-4 players are virtual locks to make the team. Only an injury or unforeseen disaster can displace Reggie Wayne or free agent pickup Darrius Heyward-Bey. Wayne is an unquestioned team leader, and DHB, like most high profile free agent signings, will be given more than just a training camp to prove himself if he struggles early.
The two 2012 draftees, T.Y. Hilton and LaVon Brazill, have a leg up on the competition as well. As drafted players each entering their second season, it would take some astounding play from the group of camp hopefuls to unseat them.
Hilton had a strong season, catching 50 passes on 91 targets for 861 yards and 7 touchdowns and returned 26 punts for 300 yards and a touchdown. An explosive player with the potential to be even better this year, Hilton is an obvious safe bet to make the roster and contribute extensively in the slot, but he will need to be considerably more sure-handed than he was as a rookie.
Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en/!
“All over the world, governments and central banks, being responsible for the financial system, are interested in payments system development. This stems from the fact that an efficient payment system is necessary for effective implementation of monetary and fiscal policy and the promotion of financial stability. Electronic payments bolster the effectiveness of fiscal operations through efficient receipts and payments, security of government transactions, elimination of wastes and leakages, and a strong transaction audit trail. It also provides a comprehensive electronic data warehouse on fiscal operations, essential inputs for budget preparation and monitoring fiscal performance,” he noted.
The Finance and Economic Planning Minister noted that, there appeared to be a strong reluctance on the part of the general population to embrace non-cash modes of payment.
“The high demand for cash to pay for goods and services reduces the life span of currency and increases the frequency and cost of currency printing. The large volume of currency in circulation also greatly hampers the implementation of effective monetary policy. Furthermore, cash attracts robberies and other social vices including corruption. A “cash lite” society reduces this attraction and makes Governments’ efforts to fight crime easier because of the ability to track payments from the source to the destination,” Mr Terkper stated.
He, therefore, pledged to work closely with the relevant agencies of government and with the Bank of Ghana to deliver continuous public awareness programs and pursue a financial literacy agenda for both public officials and the general public that would create the necessary demand side synergy for increased usage of electronic payments.
He also called on the media to sensitise the public about new electronic payments systems and urged the Bank of Ghana to review and harmonise the legal regime to create a more enabling environment for new modes of payment to thrive.
Mr Terkper was delivering the keynote address at the opening of a National Payments Strategy Workshop in Accra, yesterday.
The three-day workshop, which is being facilitated by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Inter-Bank Payments and Settlements System (GIPSS) and the Standard Chartered Bank, is taking place on the theme: ‘Driving Efficiency and Value through Innovative Solutions’
The workshop is stakeholder collaboration to chart the vision of Ghana’s national payment system landscape and to enhance the efficiency of the modes of payments and transfers in Ghana.
In his opening remarks, Dr Henry Akpenamawu Kofi Wampah, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, said the smooth functioning of payment and settlement systems was crucial for the effective implementation of the central bank’s monetary policy and for maintaining financial and monetary stability.
Dr Wampah noted that several developments had occurred within the payments and settlements landscape since the launch of the first Ghana National Payment Systems Strategy in the year 2000.
He said the major payment infrastructure implemented during the period included the Ghana Interbank Settlement System (RTGS), E-zwich Biometric Cards, Cheque Codeline Clearing System (CCC), Ghana Automated Clearing House (GACH), a National Switch based on smart card technology (Gh-Link), SWIFT Sanctions Screening Engine and the Central Securities Depository (CSD).
He said to enable the orderly and continued development of the payment systems, it had become imperative to draw up a new framework and that the Bank of Ghana would promote the development of a framework that would offer a suite of payment and settlement products, streams and services to meet the various needs of the public, adding that the Bank of Ghana had a statutory responsibility for the payment and settlement systems in the country.
“As a central bank we have a keen interest in the safety and efficiency of payments and settlements system. As you are all aware, the Bank of Ghana has a statutory responsibility for the payment and settlement systems in the country. This responsibility requires the Bank to promote, regulate and supervise these systems to ensure that they are safe, reliable and efficient. The smooth functioning of payment and settlement systems is crucial for the effective implementation of the central bank’s monetary policy and for maintaining financial and monetary stability,” Dr Wampah indicated.
Further dimming the hopes for prospects like Jeremy Kelley and the awesomely named Rodrick Rumble is the fact that 3-4 players are virtual locks to make the team. Only an injury or unforeseen disaster can displace Reggie Wayne or free agent pickup Darrius Heyward-Bey. Wayne is an unquestioned team leader, and DHB, like most high profile free agent signings, will be given more than just a training camp to prove himself if he struggles early.
The two 2012 draftees, T.Y. Hilton and LaVon Brazill, have a leg up on the competition as well. As drafted players each entering their second season, it would take some astounding play from the group of camp hopefuls to unseat them.
Hilton had a strong season, catching 50 passes on 91 targets for 861 yards and 7 touchdowns and returned 26 punts for 300 yards and a touchdown. An explosive player with the potential to be even better this year, Hilton is an obvious safe bet to make the roster and contribute extensively in the slot, but he will need to be considerably more sure-handed than he was as a rookie.
Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en/!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
AMD lifts the veil on Opteron
AMD has unfolded its server-chip roadmap for next year, and the road ahead appears to be a sensible motorway with no hair-rasing hairpin turns or unexpected switchbacks – although there is one bright shiny new vehicle on the road.
You can forgive AMD for being somewhat cautious – heck, you should congratulate them for their clear-headed approach. With Intel gearing up to refresh the midrange and high end of its Xeon E5 family of processors with "Ivy Bridge" updates in the second half, it can't be a particularly relaxing ride for CEO Rory Read and his minivan of chipmakers.
That said, fortunes can turn on a dime in the server-chip biz. Remember that the much-improved chips that have come out of Intel in the past four generations since AMD's Opteron woke the Chipzilla beast up would not have happened had it not been for AMD. Data center managers who never spent a dime on Opteron servers nonetheless owe AMD thanks due to the excellent engineering and gritty competition embodied in the "Hammer" family of x86 chips that took the IT market by storm a decade ago
And truth be told, those same data center managers had better hope AMD rises again to keep Intel on its toes; the fight between these rivals doesn't just result in cheaper servers, but also better ones.
But if you think that AMD is looking for a rematch in the Xeon-Opteron fight, think again. The company is not opening a can of feisty whupass, but instead sensibly putting together a portfolio of Opteron chips based on x86 and ARM cores, while at the same time giving those customers who do like "Piledriver" Opteron 3300, 4300, and 6300 systems a little more bang for the buck, as well.
The new roadmap is not a sledgehammer smashing in the doors to Santa Clara's corner offices, as was the case with the original Opterons back in 2003. It's a practical plan based on the needs of server buyers and what AMD can deliver through its fab partner, GlobalFoundries, in a timely fashion and without making mistakes.
Some people may react unenthusiastically to the lack of brashness in AMD's server-chip roadmap because they want a indoor Tracking. They need to realize that is not going to happen in a global economy that remains skittish, and in a server market that's undergoing gut-wrenching transformations in the supply chain, manufacturing base, and processor and related networking and storage architectures.
It's in that environment that AMD is extending the existing "Piledriver" Opteron processors with a new chip code-named "Warsaw", and following it up with a new ceepie-geepie hybrid code-named "Berlin" for the Opteron X-Series. And, finally, AMD is lifting the veil a little bit on its future ARM server chips, code-named "Seattle."
"What we are doing with the Warsaw Opteron is ripping out cost and power and increasing performance, and it is compatible with the existing G34 socket," Andrew Feldman, general manager of the server business unit at AMD, explains to El Reg. The chips use the same Piledriver cores as the existing Opteron CPU lineup – with some tweaks, as is always the case – and are implemented in the same 32-nanometer process and etched by GlobalFoundries.
This is significant because the "Roadrunner" Open Compute 3.0 system boards that AMD created with motherboard partners are getting some traction, particularly among data center managers in the financial services area who are not particularly pleased that Facebook has denser and cheaper server infrastructure than they do.
It looks like Warsaw is just an upgrade of the existing Opteron 6300 chips, which came out in November 2012. The Warsaw chip will offer about 20 per cent higher performance per watt than the Opteron 6300, says Feldman, and will come in twelve-core and sixteen-core variants. Importantly, the Warsaw chips will slide into the same exact G34 sockets used in two-socket and four-socket servers and will not require recertification for software, since it is not really a new chip at all – it's a deep bin sort and improving yields that are at work.
The Warsaw Opteron, presumably to be called the Opteron 6400, will be available in the first quarter of 2014 in the wake of Intel's "Ivy Bridge" Xeon processor rollout, which will be in the midrange in the third quarter and at the high-end in the fourth quarter.
It doesn't look like there will be an Opteron 4400 at that time, and the Opteron 3300 has been effectively replaced by the Opteron X-Series, launched in late May and aimed at both entry Atom and Xeon servers. If AMD needs an Opteron 4400, it can no doubt do another bin sort.
In the case of Warsaw, what companies are looking for is improvement in performance per dollar and throughput per dollar, and goosing the existing Piledriver chip is the easiest and cheapest thing to do. And it may not be sufficient to blunt the market-share gains that Intel is making with its current "Sandy Bridge" Xeon E5 server chips and its future Ivy Bridge kickers.
In the wake of the Opteron X-Series APU launch only three weeks ago, AMD says it is preparing a kicker with more heft on both the CPU and GPU sides of this hybrid processor. This Berlin APU is going to shake some things up, and do so in traditional server computing and in any area where a GPU can be used to accelerate workloads.
"Berlin is cool, and it uses a new Steamroller core from us and delivers tremendous compute and power efficiency," says Feldman. "When you have a huge amount of compute in a single-socket part, this is ideal for workloads where performance per watt per dollar and compute density per dollar are paramount."
Steamroller is the brawny core designed to be used in high-end Opteron x86 processors, not the lighter "Jaguar" core used in the Kyoto server chips and other desktop and notebook chips. AMD is saying very little about the Steamroller core at this point, except that it offers double the performance of the Jaguar core and will max out with twice the memory capacity, too.
If you are wondering why single-socket machines (workstations or microservers) seem trapped at a 32GB limit, Feldman explained, "DRAM pinouts require a huge amount of pins because you are using a huge amount of communication between the DRAM and the CPU. So you put two channels down, that gives you two DIMM slots with 16GB each. If you put four DIMMs down, then your die area gets bigger, and that takes you out of some of the opportunities you want to be in. There are no 32GB DIMMs available in the mainstream, and as you get off the mainstream, the prices go through the roof anyway."
You can forgive AMD for being somewhat cautious – heck, you should congratulate them for their clear-headed approach. With Intel gearing up to refresh the midrange and high end of its Xeon E5 family of processors with "Ivy Bridge" updates in the second half, it can't be a particularly relaxing ride for CEO Rory Read and his minivan of chipmakers.
That said, fortunes can turn on a dime in the server-chip biz. Remember that the much-improved chips that have come out of Intel in the past four generations since AMD's Opteron woke the Chipzilla beast up would not have happened had it not been for AMD. Data center managers who never spent a dime on Opteron servers nonetheless owe AMD thanks due to the excellent engineering and gritty competition embodied in the "Hammer" family of x86 chips that took the IT market by storm a decade ago
And truth be told, those same data center managers had better hope AMD rises again to keep Intel on its toes; the fight between these rivals doesn't just result in cheaper servers, but also better ones.
But if you think that AMD is looking for a rematch in the Xeon-Opteron fight, think again. The company is not opening a can of feisty whupass, but instead sensibly putting together a portfolio of Opteron chips based on x86 and ARM cores, while at the same time giving those customers who do like "Piledriver" Opteron 3300, 4300, and 6300 systems a little more bang for the buck, as well.
The new roadmap is not a sledgehammer smashing in the doors to Santa Clara's corner offices, as was the case with the original Opterons back in 2003. It's a practical plan based on the needs of server buyers and what AMD can deliver through its fab partner, GlobalFoundries, in a timely fashion and without making mistakes.
Some people may react unenthusiastically to the lack of brashness in AMD's server-chip roadmap because they want a indoor Tracking. They need to realize that is not going to happen in a global economy that remains skittish, and in a server market that's undergoing gut-wrenching transformations in the supply chain, manufacturing base, and processor and related networking and storage architectures.
It's in that environment that AMD is extending the existing "Piledriver" Opteron processors with a new chip code-named "Warsaw", and following it up with a new ceepie-geepie hybrid code-named "Berlin" for the Opteron X-Series. And, finally, AMD is lifting the veil a little bit on its future ARM server chips, code-named "Seattle."
"What we are doing with the Warsaw Opteron is ripping out cost and power and increasing performance, and it is compatible with the existing G34 socket," Andrew Feldman, general manager of the server business unit at AMD, explains to El Reg. The chips use the same Piledriver cores as the existing Opteron CPU lineup – with some tweaks, as is always the case – and are implemented in the same 32-nanometer process and etched by GlobalFoundries.
This is significant because the "Roadrunner" Open Compute 3.0 system boards that AMD created with motherboard partners are getting some traction, particularly among data center managers in the financial services area who are not particularly pleased that Facebook has denser and cheaper server infrastructure than they do.
It looks like Warsaw is just an upgrade of the existing Opteron 6300 chips, which came out in November 2012. The Warsaw chip will offer about 20 per cent higher performance per watt than the Opteron 6300, says Feldman, and will come in twelve-core and sixteen-core variants. Importantly, the Warsaw chips will slide into the same exact G34 sockets used in two-socket and four-socket servers and will not require recertification for software, since it is not really a new chip at all – it's a deep bin sort and improving yields that are at work.
The Warsaw Opteron, presumably to be called the Opteron 6400, will be available in the first quarter of 2014 in the wake of Intel's "Ivy Bridge" Xeon processor rollout, which will be in the midrange in the third quarter and at the high-end in the fourth quarter.
It doesn't look like there will be an Opteron 4400 at that time, and the Opteron 3300 has been effectively replaced by the Opteron X-Series, launched in late May and aimed at both entry Atom and Xeon servers. If AMD needs an Opteron 4400, it can no doubt do another bin sort.
In the case of Warsaw, what companies are looking for is improvement in performance per dollar and throughput per dollar, and goosing the existing Piledriver chip is the easiest and cheapest thing to do. And it may not be sufficient to blunt the market-share gains that Intel is making with its current "Sandy Bridge" Xeon E5 server chips and its future Ivy Bridge kickers.
In the wake of the Opteron X-Series APU launch only three weeks ago, AMD says it is preparing a kicker with more heft on both the CPU and GPU sides of this hybrid processor. This Berlin APU is going to shake some things up, and do so in traditional server computing and in any area where a GPU can be used to accelerate workloads.
"Berlin is cool, and it uses a new Steamroller core from us and delivers tremendous compute and power efficiency," says Feldman. "When you have a huge amount of compute in a single-socket part, this is ideal for workloads where performance per watt per dollar and compute density per dollar are paramount."
Steamroller is the brawny core designed to be used in high-end Opteron x86 processors, not the lighter "Jaguar" core used in the Kyoto server chips and other desktop and notebook chips. AMD is saying very little about the Steamroller core at this point, except that it offers double the performance of the Jaguar core and will max out with twice the memory capacity, too.
If you are wondering why single-socket machines (workstations or microservers) seem trapped at a 32GB limit, Feldman explained, "DRAM pinouts require a huge amount of pins because you are using a huge amount of communication between the DRAM and the CPU. So you put two channels down, that gives you two DIMM slots with 16GB each. If you put four DIMMs down, then your die area gets bigger, and that takes you out of some of the opportunities you want to be in. There are no 32GB DIMMs available in the mainstream, and as you get off the mainstream, the prices go through the roof anyway."
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Kansas higher ed dealing with budget cuts
Leaders at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University are warning that the cuts, along with what legislators called a “salary cap,” will damage everything from farming programs to the ability to educate doctors to the ability to help Wichita’s aerospace industries create new jobs. The dean who runs K-State’s Research and Extension Service even wrote last month that the cuts would damage the state’s 4-H programs.
And the big plot twist in this narrative of dispute is that some of strongest criticism of the cuts is coming from some of the state’s better-known conservative budget hawks.
Legislators such as Ray Merrick, the Republican speaker of the House, and Marc Rhoades, chairman of the House’s appropriations committee, have said in written public statements that legislators were merely trying to hold universities more accountable when they approved budget cuts.
They chided universities for tuition increases like the 8 percent increase requested by WSU earlier this month. The Board of Regents will vote on that request, and tuition increase requests from all the other Regents universities, this week.
Merrick and Rhoades, in a statement last month, wrote that “ever increasing tuition rates … put a burden on middle class families, even when state funding has remained constant over the last 12 years. The average tuition rate at the six major state universities went up from $1,243 in 2000 to $3,195 in 2012, an increase of 157 percent over 12 years. During the same time period, the U.S. inflation rate rose about 33 percent.
“Historically, Kansas families have borne the brunt of university budgets that continue to increase every year through both higher tuition rates and state taxes,” Merrick wrote. “The House budget plan found savings across all areas of state government, including the Regents, that will ensure our ability to keep the tax burden on Kansas families low.”
Brownback let stand cuts in higher-education spending in signing the state budget, even though he’d opposed any reduction in state funding and went on a statewide tour in April and May to build opposition to the idea. In a message to legislators, he called on them to work with the state Board of Regents to “craft a shared vision for higher education,” according to the Associated Press.
Susan Wagle of Wichita, the Kansas Senate president, warned that the cuts are “devastating” to some of the state’s finest educational institutions, including WSU. She said it will harm the state’s ability to create jobs if the cuts aren’t restored.
Wagle voted for the budget package that included the cuts. But she said last week that the Senate only agreed to the budget bill as a last resort, when it became apparent that the House was unwilling or unable to pass a budget without a salary cap.
Fred Logan, a Brownback appointee to the Kansas Board of Regents, said last week that the salary cap – on top of the budget cuts – is “one of the worst public policy moves I have seen in recent years.” He called the cap “a nightmare,” “horrible public policy,” and said it will do “irrational harm.”
New limitations on salaries in the state university system were portrayed as a salary cap in debate in the state Legislature. But because of the way the law is written, the cap actually represents a substantial cut in funding for salaries at the universities.
Unlike most agencies, state funding for the universities’ salaries comes through a block grant to the Board of Regents. It is that grant that was reduced, leaving less money to pay employees.
Although there is an amount designated for salaries in the funding they receive from the state, universities do have the flexibility to shift money from other budget lines to employee pay.
This year, budget negotiators in the Legislature, seeking to cut state funding for universities, took money from those universities that overspent or underspent their salary budget line.
Universities that have shifted funds to pay their employees more than the state budgeted for personnel saw their salary funding cut by the amount of the additional employee pay.
Universities that spent less state money than they were budgeted for salaries, generally due to open positions, in most cases had their salary line reduced to what they actually spent.Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
And the big plot twist in this narrative of dispute is that some of strongest criticism of the cuts is coming from some of the state’s better-known conservative budget hawks.
Legislators such as Ray Merrick, the Republican speaker of the House, and Marc Rhoades, chairman of the House’s appropriations committee, have said in written public statements that legislators were merely trying to hold universities more accountable when they approved budget cuts.
They chided universities for tuition increases like the 8 percent increase requested by WSU earlier this month. The Board of Regents will vote on that request, and tuition increase requests from all the other Regents universities, this week.
Merrick and Rhoades, in a statement last month, wrote that “ever increasing tuition rates … put a burden on middle class families, even when state funding has remained constant over the last 12 years. The average tuition rate at the six major state universities went up from $1,243 in 2000 to $3,195 in 2012, an increase of 157 percent over 12 years. During the same time period, the U.S. inflation rate rose about 33 percent.
“Historically, Kansas families have borne the brunt of university budgets that continue to increase every year through both higher tuition rates and state taxes,” Merrick wrote. “The House budget plan found savings across all areas of state government, including the Regents, that will ensure our ability to keep the tax burden on Kansas families low.”
Brownback let stand cuts in higher-education spending in signing the state budget, even though he’d opposed any reduction in state funding and went on a statewide tour in April and May to build opposition to the idea. In a message to legislators, he called on them to work with the state Board of Regents to “craft a shared vision for higher education,” according to the Associated Press.
Susan Wagle of Wichita, the Kansas Senate president, warned that the cuts are “devastating” to some of the state’s finest educational institutions, including WSU. She said it will harm the state’s ability to create jobs if the cuts aren’t restored.
Wagle voted for the budget package that included the cuts. But she said last week that the Senate only agreed to the budget bill as a last resort, when it became apparent that the House was unwilling or unable to pass a budget without a salary cap.
Fred Logan, a Brownback appointee to the Kansas Board of Regents, said last week that the salary cap – on top of the budget cuts – is “one of the worst public policy moves I have seen in recent years.” He called the cap “a nightmare,” “horrible public policy,” and said it will do “irrational harm.”
New limitations on salaries in the state university system were portrayed as a salary cap in debate in the state Legislature. But because of the way the law is written, the cap actually represents a substantial cut in funding for salaries at the universities.
Unlike most agencies, state funding for the universities’ salaries comes through a block grant to the Board of Regents. It is that grant that was reduced, leaving less money to pay employees.
Although there is an amount designated for salaries in the funding they receive from the state, universities do have the flexibility to shift money from other budget lines to employee pay.
This year, budget negotiators in the Legislature, seeking to cut state funding for universities, took money from those universities that overspent or underspent their salary budget line.
Universities that have shifted funds to pay their employees more than the state budgeted for personnel saw their salary funding cut by the amount of the additional employee pay.
Universities that spent less state money than they were budgeted for salaries, generally due to open positions, in most cases had their salary line reduced to what they actually spent.Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
I saved a toddler trapped on a roof
I had plenty of practice climbing drainpipes as a teenager, when I'd regularly use one to access a girlfriend's bedroom. It wasn't a skill I expected to need again on a sunny bank holiday more than two decades later.
I'd arranged to meet my wife and a couple of friends in the beer garden of a local hotel. As I approached, I could hear raised voices. I thought maybe a group of people had drunk too much and things were about to turn nasty, but as I walked into the garden, I saw everyone looking up, including my wife and friends. Following their gaze, I saw a child in a red hat perched on top of a roof jutting out from the hotel. It made no sense – how had he got there?
I realised the people in the garden had arranged themselves underneath, in the hope that one of them would be able to catch him if he fell. From the other side of the roof, I heard a woman's voice imploring him to sit down and keep still. It was the boy's mother, who had tried to climb up to him and become stranded halfway along a flat roof.
The child ignored his mother's voice and his every movement brought a fresh gasp of anxiety from onlookers. The fire brigade had been called, but no one knew how long they'd take. I imagined the fire engine working its way across the city, slowed by holiday traffic. The thought of looking on helplessly as the boy lost his footing made me feel sick. The knot in the pit of my stomach was too much to bear – scanning the side of the building, I quickly worked out the quickest way up and made for the drainpipe.
It was old and looked as if it might break away from the wall, but I hauled myself up, grabbed on to a gutter that cracked ominously as it took my weight, then quickly heaved myself on to the tiles. Above me, the child paid me little attention and didn't appear to be frightened at all. He was younger than I'd thought – no older than two – and the roof was steeper than it had appeared from the ground. The situation suddenly seemed even more grave. I realised I'd be unable to predict a toddler's responses, and imagined diving across to grab him if he stumbled, knowing there would be nothing to arrest our fall if I did.
My only option now was to keep climbing. I launched myself upwards and tried to ignore the tiles fracturing beneath me, a couple slipping free underfoot and clattering down.
The roof narrowed as it rose and I planted myself as firmly as I could on the ridge, grabbed the boy and swung him on to my lap. In my precarious position, just holding on to him was a indoor Tracking – he wouldn't stop wriggling.
Below me, the hotel's customers remained rooted to the spot, staring up at us, occasionally shouting words of encouragement. My wife, unable to watch, was playing with our four-year-old daughter, attempting to keep her distracted. It occurred to me suddenly that the life of this stranger's child was literally in my hands. I had no doubt he was safer now I was holding on to him, but if we fell, would I be blamed for the consequences?
I also began to question what had led me to act so impulsively. I'm an artist, and over the years I've engaged in many public performance pieces, some of them quite risky – attempting to sell my identity, offering myself for 24 hours as the prize in a raffle, all sorts of projects with unknowable outcomes – but nothing compared with this.
It took only about 15 minutes for the fire brigade to arrive, but I was more than ready. A long ladder slid towards us, and a fireman clambered up, warning me not to move until he was directly below me. I felt a surge of relief as I passed the boy over, then waited to take my own turn climbing down, glad the situation was now in someone else's hands.
I learned later that the boy was called Charlie. His mum had been in the garden with a friend, waiting to be picked up by her husband. She took her eyes off Charlie for only a minute, and it seems he was able to climb so high because a small stepladder was leaning against a trellis, which in turn connected with the roof. No one could have foreseen his fearless ascent.
Whereas rumors once swirled that Microsoft’s Xbox One would require a true always-on connection — one that required the Xbox One to be online literally all the time — the policy turned out to be a simple check-in once every 24 hours. As long as a game is being played on your own Xbox One, rather than a friend’s — which requires an admittedly draconian hourly check-in — you can technically have an internet outage for the majority of the day and still be able to play your games. However, a common argument against an always-online Xbox is that some people just can’t afford an Xbox plus internet service, but no one ever seems to go out and survey to see the extent to which this is true.
This argument assumes that people can afford an Xbox One, games, and a display, but not an internet service. To see if this is true, you’d compare the prices of two groups of products and services. The first is everything you’d need to use an Xbox One without an always-on internet requirement — the Xbox One, a television or monitor with appropriate inputs, and at least one game purchasable from a brick-and-mortar store.
The second group would be an internet connection and a device to utilize the connection — a computer. You’d include the computer in the second group for the same reason you have to include a display and a game in the first group. An Xbox One without a display and a game cannot be used, and an internet connection without an internet-capable device cannot be used.
I'd arranged to meet my wife and a couple of friends in the beer garden of a local hotel. As I approached, I could hear raised voices. I thought maybe a group of people had drunk too much and things were about to turn nasty, but as I walked into the garden, I saw everyone looking up, including my wife and friends. Following their gaze, I saw a child in a red hat perched on top of a roof jutting out from the hotel. It made no sense – how had he got there?
I realised the people in the garden had arranged themselves underneath, in the hope that one of them would be able to catch him if he fell. From the other side of the roof, I heard a woman's voice imploring him to sit down and keep still. It was the boy's mother, who had tried to climb up to him and become stranded halfway along a flat roof.
The child ignored his mother's voice and his every movement brought a fresh gasp of anxiety from onlookers. The fire brigade had been called, but no one knew how long they'd take. I imagined the fire engine working its way across the city, slowed by holiday traffic. The thought of looking on helplessly as the boy lost his footing made me feel sick. The knot in the pit of my stomach was too much to bear – scanning the side of the building, I quickly worked out the quickest way up and made for the drainpipe.
It was old and looked as if it might break away from the wall, but I hauled myself up, grabbed on to a gutter that cracked ominously as it took my weight, then quickly heaved myself on to the tiles. Above me, the child paid me little attention and didn't appear to be frightened at all. He was younger than I'd thought – no older than two – and the roof was steeper than it had appeared from the ground. The situation suddenly seemed even more grave. I realised I'd be unable to predict a toddler's responses, and imagined diving across to grab him if he stumbled, knowing there would be nothing to arrest our fall if I did.
My only option now was to keep climbing. I launched myself upwards and tried to ignore the tiles fracturing beneath me, a couple slipping free underfoot and clattering down.
The roof narrowed as it rose and I planted myself as firmly as I could on the ridge, grabbed the boy and swung him on to my lap. In my precarious position, just holding on to him was a indoor Tracking – he wouldn't stop wriggling.
Below me, the hotel's customers remained rooted to the spot, staring up at us, occasionally shouting words of encouragement. My wife, unable to watch, was playing with our four-year-old daughter, attempting to keep her distracted. It occurred to me suddenly that the life of this stranger's child was literally in my hands. I had no doubt he was safer now I was holding on to him, but if we fell, would I be blamed for the consequences?
I also began to question what had led me to act so impulsively. I'm an artist, and over the years I've engaged in many public performance pieces, some of them quite risky – attempting to sell my identity, offering myself for 24 hours as the prize in a raffle, all sorts of projects with unknowable outcomes – but nothing compared with this.
It took only about 15 minutes for the fire brigade to arrive, but I was more than ready. A long ladder slid towards us, and a fireman clambered up, warning me not to move until he was directly below me. I felt a surge of relief as I passed the boy over, then waited to take my own turn climbing down, glad the situation was now in someone else's hands.
I learned later that the boy was called Charlie. His mum had been in the garden with a friend, waiting to be picked up by her husband. She took her eyes off Charlie for only a minute, and it seems he was able to climb so high because a small stepladder was leaning against a trellis, which in turn connected with the roof. No one could have foreseen his fearless ascent.
Whereas rumors once swirled that Microsoft’s Xbox One would require a true always-on connection — one that required the Xbox One to be online literally all the time — the policy turned out to be a simple check-in once every 24 hours. As long as a game is being played on your own Xbox One, rather than a friend’s — which requires an admittedly draconian hourly check-in — you can technically have an internet outage for the majority of the day and still be able to play your games. However, a common argument against an always-online Xbox is that some people just can’t afford an Xbox plus internet service, but no one ever seems to go out and survey to see the extent to which this is true.
This argument assumes that people can afford an Xbox One, games, and a display, but not an internet service. To see if this is true, you’d compare the prices of two groups of products and services. The first is everything you’d need to use an Xbox One without an always-on internet requirement — the Xbox One, a television or monitor with appropriate inputs, and at least one game purchasable from a brick-and-mortar store.
The second group would be an internet connection and a device to utilize the connection — a computer. You’d include the computer in the second group for the same reason you have to include a display and a game in the first group. An Xbox One without a display and a game cannot be used, and an internet connection without an internet-capable device cannot be used.
Friday, June 7, 2013
A thorn in each other’s side
What Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan was able to keep under wraps for more than 10 years has eluded Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi to cover up for less than a year. Hence, the link between growing tensions in Cairo and the unprecedented anti-government protests in Istanbul. Oddly enough, Egyptians may be the closest observers-- outside Turkey—in following up the Turkish turmoil.
Few weeks after Mursi took office last summer, many people in the traditionally diverse Egyptian society saw through the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood from which the president hails.
It became increasingly clear that Mursi, who had portrayed himself during the election campaign as a “president for all Egyptians”, is only the president of his clan. His successive decisions and biased political discourse have exposed him as being manipulated by his group to impose a prejudicial cultural agenda.
In contrast, Erdogan was smart and shrewd enough to spend long years to carry out his ideological project during which he surmounted numerous obstacles, including a military coup bid in 2007. Thus, he was able to lead Turks into believing that he followed a secular ruling system and that his key objective was to achieve economic development, which has shown steady success in recent years.
Erodgan also demonstrated commitment to the Western-style democracy. On his re-election in 2007, he pledged to advocate freedom, justice, welfare and democracy for all Turks, confirming respect for those who did not vote for him.
In July last year when the Brotherhood followers were celebrating Mursi's win of the presidential post, Mohamed Al Beltagui, a leading official in the group’s Freedom and Justice Party, went on the record as saying that the 48.5 per cent of the Egyptians who had not voted for Mursi are “mere ghosts.”
Pathetically, around five months into office, Mursi’s decisions and addresses as well as his group’s actions sharply divided Egyptians into backers and opponents. Each side espouses an identity and an agenda alien to the country’s age-old features. This division has been repeatedly reflected in massive rallies staged by the Brotherhood and its allies aimed at flexing muscles against opponents.
Last week, Erdogan said he could mobilize millions of his supporters in response to the massive anti-government protests held in several Turkish cities.
Years into a rule often termed as wise, Turkey now figures prominently among countries infringing freedom of the press. Weeks after Mursi took office, his backers encircled the state-run Media Production City and filed a flurry of lawsuits and even made threats against media figures.
Contrary to his calls on the Egyptian regime to observe secular rules, Erdogan has recently enforced anti-freedom codes including monitoring the people’s public conduct.
Such laws are not yet in place in Egypt. Yet, artists in Egypt have recently become the target of Islamist radicals on religious TV stations. The militant TV clerics have also accused their critics of defaming religion, a charge on which several Egyptian politicians and media personalities have recently been quizzed.
However, the ruling systems in the two countries are different on one score. It took Erdogan many years before trying to do this. For its part, the Mursi regime has been unwise enough to rush into carrying out its project at cultural, political, social and legal levels.
Egyptians and Turks share the possibility of confronting their own rulers to block the controversial ideological project, regardless of whether it has already fulfilled achievement as in Turkey, or proved a fiasco as in Egypt.
Coincidently, the Egyptian and Turkish rulers have come to be a burden for each other. The matter is not limited to the similarity in the names of the ruling parties in both countries. It’s the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt; Erdogan’s party is called Justice and Development.
Egypt’s Islamist rulers have often portrayed Erdogan’s ruling system as their ideal example. Erdogan, meanwhile, has presented himself in the past two years as the regional sponsor of the new rulers in Tunisia and Egypt. Erdogan’s Turkey has also been involved in triggering changes in Libya and the war in Syria.
With Egypt’s economy in the doldrums, Turkey has repeatedly unveiled economic support for Cairo, showing Ankara as a staunch backer of Egypt’s Brotherhood rule. The Brotherhood's opponents have come to view Ankara as throwing its weight behind bids to change Egypt’s cultural identity.
In a Facebook comment, Erdogan described Mursi as “an example that should be followed by youths". During a visit to Cairo last September, Erdogan called the situation in Egypt “an awakening that spreads like waves in the world".
In the meantime, Brotherhood officials, mainly the deputy supreme guide Khayrat Al Shater, have made a series of trips to Turkey in recent months. Mursi himself attended a recent congress of Erodgan’s Justice and Development Party.
This interrelationship between two types of Brotherhood emphasizes the similar suffering facing society in Egypt and Turkey. Each is in the grip of a renewed identity crisis, which dates back to long decades.
Irrespective of intrinsic differences including those between Ataturk’s project in Turkey and Nasser’s in Egypt, both leaders have instilled in their own people deep-seated values, which cannot be changed overnight.
In the past two weeks, Egyptians have shown sympathy for Turkish protesters probably more than some Turks have done. The reason is that the Egyptian sympathizers hope to see the model widely publicized by Egypt’s Brotherhood as their ideal will be politically routed.
Most Egyptians have no idea about the demands made by the Alawite minority in Turkey or reasons for the heated conflict between Ataturkists and Erdoganists. Still, these Egyptians eagerly want to frustrate the Brotherhood backers, who vehemently advocate Erdogan’s ideology in Egypt.
At the same time, the Brotherhood’s ruling in Egypt and the resultant problems have made the Turkish public aware of the outcome of Ankara’s support for governing Islamists in the Arab world and the shift Erdogan’s ruling system has taken.
With demonstrations mounting in Turkey amid political uncertainty, Egyptian protest groups brace for mass nationwide rallies on June 30, which marks the first anniversary of Mursi’s presidency. The protesters will call for withdrawing confidence from Mursi.Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
Few weeks after Mursi took office last summer, many people in the traditionally diverse Egyptian society saw through the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood from which the president hails.
It became increasingly clear that Mursi, who had portrayed himself during the election campaign as a “president for all Egyptians”, is only the president of his clan. His successive decisions and biased political discourse have exposed him as being manipulated by his group to impose a prejudicial cultural agenda.
In contrast, Erdogan was smart and shrewd enough to spend long years to carry out his ideological project during which he surmounted numerous obstacles, including a military coup bid in 2007. Thus, he was able to lead Turks into believing that he followed a secular ruling system and that his key objective was to achieve economic development, which has shown steady success in recent years.
Erodgan also demonstrated commitment to the Western-style democracy. On his re-election in 2007, he pledged to advocate freedom, justice, welfare and democracy for all Turks, confirming respect for those who did not vote for him.
In July last year when the Brotherhood followers were celebrating Mursi's win of the presidential post, Mohamed Al Beltagui, a leading official in the group’s Freedom and Justice Party, went on the record as saying that the 48.5 per cent of the Egyptians who had not voted for Mursi are “mere ghosts.”
Pathetically, around five months into office, Mursi’s decisions and addresses as well as his group’s actions sharply divided Egyptians into backers and opponents. Each side espouses an identity and an agenda alien to the country’s age-old features. This division has been repeatedly reflected in massive rallies staged by the Brotherhood and its allies aimed at flexing muscles against opponents.
Last week, Erdogan said he could mobilize millions of his supporters in response to the massive anti-government protests held in several Turkish cities.
Years into a rule often termed as wise, Turkey now figures prominently among countries infringing freedom of the press. Weeks after Mursi took office, his backers encircled the state-run Media Production City and filed a flurry of lawsuits and even made threats against media figures.
Contrary to his calls on the Egyptian regime to observe secular rules, Erdogan has recently enforced anti-freedom codes including monitoring the people’s public conduct.
Such laws are not yet in place in Egypt. Yet, artists in Egypt have recently become the target of Islamist radicals on religious TV stations. The militant TV clerics have also accused their critics of defaming religion, a charge on which several Egyptian politicians and media personalities have recently been quizzed.
However, the ruling systems in the two countries are different on one score. It took Erdogan many years before trying to do this. For its part, the Mursi regime has been unwise enough to rush into carrying out its project at cultural, political, social and legal levels.
Egyptians and Turks share the possibility of confronting their own rulers to block the controversial ideological project, regardless of whether it has already fulfilled achievement as in Turkey, or proved a fiasco as in Egypt.
Coincidently, the Egyptian and Turkish rulers have come to be a burden for each other. The matter is not limited to the similarity in the names of the ruling parties in both countries. It’s the Freedom and Justice Party in Egypt; Erdogan’s party is called Justice and Development.
Egypt’s Islamist rulers have often portrayed Erdogan’s ruling system as their ideal example. Erdogan, meanwhile, has presented himself in the past two years as the regional sponsor of the new rulers in Tunisia and Egypt. Erdogan’s Turkey has also been involved in triggering changes in Libya and the war in Syria.
With Egypt’s economy in the doldrums, Turkey has repeatedly unveiled economic support for Cairo, showing Ankara as a staunch backer of Egypt’s Brotherhood rule. The Brotherhood's opponents have come to view Ankara as throwing its weight behind bids to change Egypt’s cultural identity.
In a Facebook comment, Erdogan described Mursi as “an example that should be followed by youths". During a visit to Cairo last September, Erdogan called the situation in Egypt “an awakening that spreads like waves in the world".
In the meantime, Brotherhood officials, mainly the deputy supreme guide Khayrat Al Shater, have made a series of trips to Turkey in recent months. Mursi himself attended a recent congress of Erodgan’s Justice and Development Party.
This interrelationship between two types of Brotherhood emphasizes the similar suffering facing society in Egypt and Turkey. Each is in the grip of a renewed identity crisis, which dates back to long decades.
Irrespective of intrinsic differences including those between Ataturk’s project in Turkey and Nasser’s in Egypt, both leaders have instilled in their own people deep-seated values, which cannot be changed overnight.
In the past two weeks, Egyptians have shown sympathy for Turkish protesters probably more than some Turks have done. The reason is that the Egyptian sympathizers hope to see the model widely publicized by Egypt’s Brotherhood as their ideal will be politically routed.
Most Egyptians have no idea about the demands made by the Alawite minority in Turkey or reasons for the heated conflict between Ataturkists and Erdoganists. Still, these Egyptians eagerly want to frustrate the Brotherhood backers, who vehemently advocate Erdogan’s ideology in Egypt.
At the same time, the Brotherhood’s ruling in Egypt and the resultant problems have made the Turkish public aware of the outcome of Ankara’s support for governing Islamists in the Arab world and the shift Erdogan’s ruling system has taken.
With demonstrations mounting in Turkey amid political uncertainty, Egyptian protest groups brace for mass nationwide rallies on June 30, which marks the first anniversary of Mursi’s presidency. The protesters will call for withdrawing confidence from Mursi.Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
German Electric Vehicle Players Launch Charging Info-Exchange Network
The German chancellor confirmed last week a plan to have one million electric vehicles on the road in Germany by 2020. That calls for cars, charging stations, and electricity—and some kind of organization to connect the parties behind them— with as little fuss as possible. It's an important issue, because Germany's energy sector is very decentralized. The country has more than 1,000 utilities. Many are small local businesses, with most activities only in one city. What matters here is that the driver of an electric car should be able to charge anywhere in the country without signing a thousand contracts.
Enter Hubject. It's a poor name when a German says it because it sounds like abject, but it's a great idea. Germany is good at setting up organizations, so it should work well.
Hubject is a joint-venture between two car manufacturers, BMW and Daimler (Mercedes and Smart), two of the largest utilities, EnBW and RWE, and two huge conglomerate companies, Bosch and Siemens. Hubject invented a protocol (OICP, Open InterCharge Protocol) for exchanging information between an electric car and its driver, a charging station and a utility. If it works as good as expected, drivers will never need to know a thing about it.
Hubject just launched the Intercharge network, and what's relevant to drivers is that with a single Hubject subscription, they will be able to use any charging station in the network. Plug in anywhere as much as you want, and receive one single bill at the end of the month. The Hubject scheme has been several months in the making, but there was a big surprise last week when news broke that the Intercharge network had spread across Germany's borders. Several hundred public charging stations in Belgium, in Austria and in Finland joined the network. France is also working on something similar, with the name of Gireve, but Germany's clearly doing it bigger and better having chargers from several countries right from the Indoor Positioning System.
Volkswagen hasn't made any official statement regarding Hubject yet, but with some of the biggest German companies supporting it, there is a strong possibility that Hubject will become dominant in some areas. And that could change many things. Today, EV drivers are happy to go to the first charging station they manage to find. Sometimes they are unable to use it because a registration or a RFID card is needed. In the future, EV drivers might look for an Intercharge charging station, where they will be certain that it's compatible with their car and that they can charge without trouble (because they will be identified in the system). Nothing's for sure yet, but the idea is that since BMW is one of the founders of Hubject, the upcoming BMW i3 could be Intercharge-ready, with all cars sold with a Hubject subscription (on the German market at least), and all Intercharge stations loaded into the navigation system.
Some people may not like the idea of a single electricity supplier recording all their charging sessions, but the idea of being able to use thousands of chargers in several countries with a single monthly payment is certainly nice. With most drivers still unsure about EVs, the idea of a continent-wide single payment system backed by well-known brands should give added confidence. So electric vehicle owners and shoppers should probably hope the Intercharge network grows fast and big.
Where the S500 comes into its own is with the ports. On an Ultrabook, you'd be stuck with just a few meager sockets, but here there's a full-sized HDMI port, along with VGA, USB 3.0 and a proper Ethernet port too. On the other side, there's a pair of USB 2.0 ports, combined headphone and microphone socket and an SD card reader. This is a great spec for any machine, and is something you just can't cram into the smaller and lighter Ultrabooks.
We do think it's worth noting though, that once an SD card is in the reader, it protrudes from the side of the laptop, and while that's no problem when the PC is sitting on the desk, you could damage the card and the computer if you catch it when moving it about. Small point, but worth remembering.
What's more, typists will like the solid-feeling keyboard which has decent-sized keys and a proper numeric keypad. This all gives the machine a feel that it's really designed for business users who need a solid, dependable PC, rather than something that's the lightest machine on the market. We found accuracy on the keyboard to be reasonable, although it took us awhile to learn the key positions and adapt to the slightly different layout. This is something that you'll soon get used to though.
Enter Hubject. It's a poor name when a German says it because it sounds like abject, but it's a great idea. Germany is good at setting up organizations, so it should work well.
Hubject is a joint-venture between two car manufacturers, BMW and Daimler (Mercedes and Smart), two of the largest utilities, EnBW and RWE, and two huge conglomerate companies, Bosch and Siemens. Hubject invented a protocol (OICP, Open InterCharge Protocol) for exchanging information between an electric car and its driver, a charging station and a utility. If it works as good as expected, drivers will never need to know a thing about it.
Hubject just launched the Intercharge network, and what's relevant to drivers is that with a single Hubject subscription, they will be able to use any charging station in the network. Plug in anywhere as much as you want, and receive one single bill at the end of the month. The Hubject scheme has been several months in the making, but there was a big surprise last week when news broke that the Intercharge network had spread across Germany's borders. Several hundred public charging stations in Belgium, in Austria and in Finland joined the network. France is also working on something similar, with the name of Gireve, but Germany's clearly doing it bigger and better having chargers from several countries right from the Indoor Positioning System.
Volkswagen hasn't made any official statement regarding Hubject yet, but with some of the biggest German companies supporting it, there is a strong possibility that Hubject will become dominant in some areas. And that could change many things. Today, EV drivers are happy to go to the first charging station they manage to find. Sometimes they are unable to use it because a registration or a RFID card is needed. In the future, EV drivers might look for an Intercharge charging station, where they will be certain that it's compatible with their car and that they can charge without trouble (because they will be identified in the system). Nothing's for sure yet, but the idea is that since BMW is one of the founders of Hubject, the upcoming BMW i3 could be Intercharge-ready, with all cars sold with a Hubject subscription (on the German market at least), and all Intercharge stations loaded into the navigation system.
Some people may not like the idea of a single electricity supplier recording all their charging sessions, but the idea of being able to use thousands of chargers in several countries with a single monthly payment is certainly nice. With most drivers still unsure about EVs, the idea of a continent-wide single payment system backed by well-known brands should give added confidence. So electric vehicle owners and shoppers should probably hope the Intercharge network grows fast and big.
Where the S500 comes into its own is with the ports. On an Ultrabook, you'd be stuck with just a few meager sockets, but here there's a full-sized HDMI port, along with VGA, USB 3.0 and a proper Ethernet port too. On the other side, there's a pair of USB 2.0 ports, combined headphone and microphone socket and an SD card reader. This is a great spec for any machine, and is something you just can't cram into the smaller and lighter Ultrabooks.
We do think it's worth noting though, that once an SD card is in the reader, it protrudes from the side of the laptop, and while that's no problem when the PC is sitting on the desk, you could damage the card and the computer if you catch it when moving it about. Small point, but worth remembering.
What's more, typists will like the solid-feeling keyboard which has decent-sized keys and a proper numeric keypad. This all gives the machine a feel that it's really designed for business users who need a solid, dependable PC, rather than something that's the lightest machine on the market. We found accuracy on the keyboard to be reasonable, although it took us awhile to learn the key positions and adapt to the slightly different layout. This is something that you'll soon get used to though.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Is Other Music Next?
Erstwhile iTunes software designer and marketing leader Alec Marshall had a front row seat to watch music downloads chip away at the CD, starting in the ’90s. He says the streaming services replacing the download for many of us are not capable of returning recorded music revenue to its high water mark, either.
His answer: a new kind of sponsorship that includes artist pages where user activity from social networks can be monitored, and sponsorship ads served, in such a way that he claims will earn them more money. All that changes is the target URL on the end of the artist’s tweets, Facebook updates, and so on. The company is called Vidiam (screenshot above), although the version at that URL is not what is launching later this summer.
Vidiam’s first target is EDM, or electronic dance music, which he claims is a few steps ahead of where the rest of the industry is going. As things stand now, here’s how a typical EDM artist repeatedly uses social media to promote single a piece of music.
The goal of all of this stuff, he points out, is not to sell anything beyond the artist’s reputation. To EDM artists, the most important download store is Beatport — even though artists on the Beatport top 20 chart make as little as a couple thousand dollars a year from selling downloads there, he claims. Instead, their real financial goal is to climb the Beatport sales charts in order to book bigger venues, establish DJ residencies at bigger clubs, and play larger festivals. He’s talking about EDM, but really, the same trends are happening in other areas of music too.
“The [recorded] media that they’re putting out has become more of a calling card, especially in the electronic music space, because the pain points in this specific genre are reflective of what I think the pain points for the rest of music are going to be in the next few years,” said Marshall by phone. “Down to a T, the artists in this space literally use music and media as business cards in order to get better and better gigs.”
Because that chart is so important, EDM artists do whatever they can to climb it, even including costly promotions. His idea: to monetize the self-promotion artists already do online, by channeling their Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, SoundCloud, and anything else into a more controlled space on Vidi.am. An artist would start directing all their traffic to that artist page — everything in the numbered list above. If the traffic logs show interest, Vidi.am can activate its brand team to seek out a sponsor for the page, and the artist gets paid (percentages and amounts vary by deal) for what they’re already doing anyway.
Unlike on YouTube or other general sites, he says, ads surrounding the videos (other than the pre-roll) will be copacetic with the artist’s own goals.
“YouTube is using retargeting cookies and all sorts of tracking mechanisms to try and put behavioral ads around the content that you’re watching,” explained Marshall. “With that, I’ve been bouncing around to all the EDM sites, and I follow a link in from one DJ, I’m really likely to get ads from another DJ surrounding [the song]. That’s really distracting, and it’s a negative environment for the artist, and it’s negative for the advertiser, and definitely not appreciated inside of the fan base.”
Top EDM artists such as Ti?sto already earn significant money through sponsorships, but Marshall sees two problems there. First, brands only tend to go after the very top artists — the same one percent or so who are also making decent money anyway. Second, those promotions fizzle after the artist fulfills their contractual obligations.
Instead, Vidi.am lets the sponsorship continue for a month or so, and everything the artist links to online goes to that page. This sort of sponsorship makes sense, as much as those of us who DJ-ed college radio in the ’90s might cling to the idea that Corporate Rock Sucks. All of that content is surrounded by ads anyway, so why shouldn’t the artist try to make those ads make more sense — and more money, like, for them, directly?
If this sort of sponsored communication works for EDM artists, other genres could be next. Will tomorrow’s country, rock, and pop stars end up copying what EDM artists are doing already, issuing and promoting new music content on a weekly basis, and then trying to turn all of that communication into a sponsorship opportunity? We’ve certainly heard sillier things said about the future of music.
“EDM [is exhibiting this trend of prolific, occasionally sponsored fan/artist communication] because the competition’s so high,” said Marshall. “Really, there’s 18 young DJs nipping at the heels of every DJ that has a solid residency, or every DJ that’s getting paid enough to tour, so they can support their teams and the production value of the gig. They’re seeing that there are no record labels sponsoring that.The funny part is that some of these DJs have elevated into higher levels of artist management [so] we’re talking to the same management company that are managing major country bands, jam bands, rock bands. They are saying ‘Yeah, if so-and-so country music star stops touring for a month, they’re going to get their house taken away.’”Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
His answer: a new kind of sponsorship that includes artist pages where user activity from social networks can be monitored, and sponsorship ads served, in such a way that he claims will earn them more money. All that changes is the target URL on the end of the artist’s tweets, Facebook updates, and so on. The company is called Vidiam (screenshot above), although the version at that URL is not what is launching later this summer.
Vidiam’s first target is EDM, or electronic dance music, which he claims is a few steps ahead of where the rest of the industry is going. As things stand now, here’s how a typical EDM artist repeatedly uses social media to promote single a piece of music.
The goal of all of this stuff, he points out, is not to sell anything beyond the artist’s reputation. To EDM artists, the most important download store is Beatport — even though artists on the Beatport top 20 chart make as little as a couple thousand dollars a year from selling downloads there, he claims. Instead, their real financial goal is to climb the Beatport sales charts in order to book bigger venues, establish DJ residencies at bigger clubs, and play larger festivals. He’s talking about EDM, but really, the same trends are happening in other areas of music too.
“The [recorded] media that they’re putting out has become more of a calling card, especially in the electronic music space, because the pain points in this specific genre are reflective of what I think the pain points for the rest of music are going to be in the next few years,” said Marshall by phone. “Down to a T, the artists in this space literally use music and media as business cards in order to get better and better gigs.”
Because that chart is so important, EDM artists do whatever they can to climb it, even including costly promotions. His idea: to monetize the self-promotion artists already do online, by channeling their Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, SoundCloud, and anything else into a more controlled space on Vidi.am. An artist would start directing all their traffic to that artist page — everything in the numbered list above. If the traffic logs show interest, Vidi.am can activate its brand team to seek out a sponsor for the page, and the artist gets paid (percentages and amounts vary by deal) for what they’re already doing anyway.
Unlike on YouTube or other general sites, he says, ads surrounding the videos (other than the pre-roll) will be copacetic with the artist’s own goals.
“YouTube is using retargeting cookies and all sorts of tracking mechanisms to try and put behavioral ads around the content that you’re watching,” explained Marshall. “With that, I’ve been bouncing around to all the EDM sites, and I follow a link in from one DJ, I’m really likely to get ads from another DJ surrounding [the song]. That’s really distracting, and it’s a negative environment for the artist, and it’s negative for the advertiser, and definitely not appreciated inside of the fan base.”
Top EDM artists such as Ti?sto already earn significant money through sponsorships, but Marshall sees two problems there. First, brands only tend to go after the very top artists — the same one percent or so who are also making decent money anyway. Second, those promotions fizzle after the artist fulfills their contractual obligations.
Instead, Vidi.am lets the sponsorship continue for a month or so, and everything the artist links to online goes to that page. This sort of sponsorship makes sense, as much as those of us who DJ-ed college radio in the ’90s might cling to the idea that Corporate Rock Sucks. All of that content is surrounded by ads anyway, so why shouldn’t the artist try to make those ads make more sense — and more money, like, for them, directly?
If this sort of sponsored communication works for EDM artists, other genres could be next. Will tomorrow’s country, rock, and pop stars end up copying what EDM artists are doing already, issuing and promoting new music content on a weekly basis, and then trying to turn all of that communication into a sponsorship opportunity? We’ve certainly heard sillier things said about the future of music.
“EDM [is exhibiting this trend of prolific, occasionally sponsored fan/artist communication] because the competition’s so high,” said Marshall. “Really, there’s 18 young DJs nipping at the heels of every DJ that has a solid residency, or every DJ that’s getting paid enough to tour, so they can support their teams and the production value of the gig. They’re seeing that there are no record labels sponsoring that.The funny part is that some of these DJs have elevated into higher levels of artist management [so] we’re talking to the same management company that are managing major country bands, jam bands, rock bands. They are saying ‘Yeah, if so-and-so country music star stops touring for a month, they’re going to get their house taken away.’”Read the full story at www.ecived.com/en!
Sunday, June 2, 2013
What is that, ask Bangaloreans
The Bengaluru Santhe on Swami Vivekananda Road that was inaugurated on May 8 with much fanfare by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) wore a deserted look on Friday, with hardly any customers paying it a visit. Though there is a provision to allot 83 stalls for artisans and members of self-help groups, the BMRCL has succeeded in attracting only about 40 artisans and those who support the cause of artisans in rural areas.
The artisans who have been exhibiting their products at these stalls for more than 20 days have been sitting idle most of the time owing to lack of customers.
“Some people visit our stalls during the weekends but not on weekdays. I think that the lack of awareness or publicity about Bengaluru Santhe might be a reason for the low response and lack of encouragement from public,’’ said M Manjula, member of a self-help group, Suruchi, which exhibits cotton bags at the Santhe.
The objective of Bengaluru Santhe was to promote and help artisans from rural areas. The exhibition was supposed to be a platform for artisans to showcase their best products. The terms and conditions of participation offered to rural artisans and members of self-help groups includes a fee of Rs100 per stall per day. The artisans have to share 5% of the revenue with the BMRCL. The shops can be rented out for a maximum period of 60 days. The artisans have no problem to pay the fee of Rs 100 per day but they are worried about the lack of response from the public. “
We are very happy with the guidance and cooperation of K Prabhakara Rao, the chief executive officer of BMRCL. Though his intentions are good, the need of the hour is publicity. Not many people are aware of the existence of Bengaluru Santhe,’’ said Rajeswari Manjunath of Shiva Home Products from Shimoga.
Lack of other facilities such as eateries, entertainment and parking place for vehicles are attributed as the other reasons for the lack of footfalls at Bengaluru Santhe.
“Many visitors have told us that they faced lot of problems to find space for parking vehicles. If the authorities concerned take measures to provide a suitable place for parking vehicles, there will be more visitors. I request the BMRCL authorities to put up more banners on Swami Vivekananda Road to create awareness about the Santhe,’’ said Hema Sekhar, who won a national award for her skills in making batik tie-and-dye products.
Meanwhile, Prabhakara Rao agreed on the need to create awareness among Bangaloreans about the Santhe. “We are mulling over several options to ensure sufficient publicity. As far as the issue of vehicle parking is concerned, not many people are aware of the two-acres of land nearby meant for parking. Ours is the only Metro rail station in the country to have such a vast space for parking vehicles,’’ said Rao.
Three Rivers owner Tripp Kline makes his first pitch of the summer auction season June 4 with the opening half a doubleheader featuring a Latrobe “gentleman's collection.” The opener of the twin bill touches all the bases in the country and Americana categories with selections of furniture, clocks, collectibles, glass, silver, jewelry, china and ceramics. Along with some well-done reproductions, the sale includes many period pieces.
One of the better works of art in the sale is a still-life painting by Dorothy Lauer Davids, a Greensburg artist who earned a memorial show at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art shortly after her death in 1980. Born in York, Pa., Davids settled in Western Pennsylvania and painted ordinary scenes of daily life in her community, such as a farmhand resting after a hard day's work in the fields or shoppers at a local market. During 2009, the museum featured her work again in its “Four Perspectives on Fifty Years.”
Keeping local, the sale offers signed pieces by Malcolm Parcell and Robert Griffing, whose paintings capture the spirit of Pennsylvania's Eastern Woodland Indians during the 18th century. Bidders also will discover older maps and prints of Greensburg and other towns in the southern reaches of Western Pennsylvania.
A campaign curiosity shows how politicians helped voters get their heads around the issues in the early 20th century. After splitting from the mainstream Republican Party, former president Teddy Roosevelt formed the National Progressive party, also known as the Bull Moose Party. A well-preserved bandana captures the party's spirit with images of a bull moose, Teddy's initials and a depiction of a bear carrying a big stick.
As the temperatures outside rise, owner Dan Pletcher promises to turn up the heat in the bidding arena with a new “absolute” selling policy, even in the wake of a $41,000 hammer price for a Tiffany lamp during the May 25 sale. After losing out on several items during an out-of-state sale on which he placed the high bids because of hidden reserve prices, Pletcher vowed that all reasonable top bids on “big ticket” items at C&P events will take home that merchandise. Along with what he calls the company's low, competitive fees, Pletcher says the absolute approach will help sell more merchandise at fair market prices for consignors and bidders.
A couple of 14-karat gold rings will be among the first pieces put to the test. Both stunning in their own right, one ring sports a 4.74-karat round diamond at its center, with 12 smaller sparklers surrounding it on the gold band. The other ring packs a 2.03-karat diamond on an elegant gold band. The rings come with International Gemological Institute certification papers.
Along with the two diamond rings, the jewelry and silver selections are strong overall. A Tiffany sterling-silver owl figure, with a screw-on head, is a fine example. Flatware serving sets, coffee sets, teapots, sterling and tortoise-shell snuffboxes further burnish the silver offerings. A women's 18-karat gold Rolex wristwatch is on offer, as well.
In the furniture section, a three-door American Victorian bookcase from Pleasant Unity, Pa., is elegantly understated for Victorian furniture. The bookcase provides plenty of storage for a reader's favorite tomes behind a trio of tall glass doors. Beneath, three drawers provide space for bookmarks and other reading accessories. On the other hand, a miniature 18th-century painted Italian secretary is perfect for smaller spaces.
Another round of black Americana comes to market during this sale in the shape of salt and pepper shakers, advertising items, calendars, books and other pieces in the 35 lots up for grabs.
Artistically speaking, Japanese and Asian ivory figures, prints, antique bells, palace seats and garden urns bring a hint of the Far East. Paintings feature works from European and American artists, including several prints, engravings, mezzotints and more from a local country club that is downsizing its collection.Click on their website www.ecived.com/en for more information.
The artisans who have been exhibiting their products at these stalls for more than 20 days have been sitting idle most of the time owing to lack of customers.
“Some people visit our stalls during the weekends but not on weekdays. I think that the lack of awareness or publicity about Bengaluru Santhe might be a reason for the low response and lack of encouragement from public,’’ said M Manjula, member of a self-help group, Suruchi, which exhibits cotton bags at the Santhe.
The objective of Bengaluru Santhe was to promote and help artisans from rural areas. The exhibition was supposed to be a platform for artisans to showcase their best products. The terms and conditions of participation offered to rural artisans and members of self-help groups includes a fee of Rs100 per stall per day. The artisans have to share 5% of the revenue with the BMRCL. The shops can be rented out for a maximum period of 60 days. The artisans have no problem to pay the fee of Rs 100 per day but they are worried about the lack of response from the public. “
We are very happy with the guidance and cooperation of K Prabhakara Rao, the chief executive officer of BMRCL. Though his intentions are good, the need of the hour is publicity. Not many people are aware of the existence of Bengaluru Santhe,’’ said Rajeswari Manjunath of Shiva Home Products from Shimoga.
Lack of other facilities such as eateries, entertainment and parking place for vehicles are attributed as the other reasons for the lack of footfalls at Bengaluru Santhe.
“Many visitors have told us that they faced lot of problems to find space for parking vehicles. If the authorities concerned take measures to provide a suitable place for parking vehicles, there will be more visitors. I request the BMRCL authorities to put up more banners on Swami Vivekananda Road to create awareness about the Santhe,’’ said Hema Sekhar, who won a national award for her skills in making batik tie-and-dye products.
Meanwhile, Prabhakara Rao agreed on the need to create awareness among Bangaloreans about the Santhe. “We are mulling over several options to ensure sufficient publicity. As far as the issue of vehicle parking is concerned, not many people are aware of the two-acres of land nearby meant for parking. Ours is the only Metro rail station in the country to have such a vast space for parking vehicles,’’ said Rao.
Three Rivers owner Tripp Kline makes his first pitch of the summer auction season June 4 with the opening half a doubleheader featuring a Latrobe “gentleman's collection.” The opener of the twin bill touches all the bases in the country and Americana categories with selections of furniture, clocks, collectibles, glass, silver, jewelry, china and ceramics. Along with some well-done reproductions, the sale includes many period pieces.
One of the better works of art in the sale is a still-life painting by Dorothy Lauer Davids, a Greensburg artist who earned a memorial show at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art shortly after her death in 1980. Born in York, Pa., Davids settled in Western Pennsylvania and painted ordinary scenes of daily life in her community, such as a farmhand resting after a hard day's work in the fields or shoppers at a local market. During 2009, the museum featured her work again in its “Four Perspectives on Fifty Years.”
Keeping local, the sale offers signed pieces by Malcolm Parcell and Robert Griffing, whose paintings capture the spirit of Pennsylvania's Eastern Woodland Indians during the 18th century. Bidders also will discover older maps and prints of Greensburg and other towns in the southern reaches of Western Pennsylvania.
A campaign curiosity shows how politicians helped voters get their heads around the issues in the early 20th century. After splitting from the mainstream Republican Party, former president Teddy Roosevelt formed the National Progressive party, also known as the Bull Moose Party. A well-preserved bandana captures the party's spirit with images of a bull moose, Teddy's initials and a depiction of a bear carrying a big stick.
As the temperatures outside rise, owner Dan Pletcher promises to turn up the heat in the bidding arena with a new “absolute” selling policy, even in the wake of a $41,000 hammer price for a Tiffany lamp during the May 25 sale. After losing out on several items during an out-of-state sale on which he placed the high bids because of hidden reserve prices, Pletcher vowed that all reasonable top bids on “big ticket” items at C&P events will take home that merchandise. Along with what he calls the company's low, competitive fees, Pletcher says the absolute approach will help sell more merchandise at fair market prices for consignors and bidders.
A couple of 14-karat gold rings will be among the first pieces put to the test. Both stunning in their own right, one ring sports a 4.74-karat round diamond at its center, with 12 smaller sparklers surrounding it on the gold band. The other ring packs a 2.03-karat diamond on an elegant gold band. The rings come with International Gemological Institute certification papers.
Along with the two diamond rings, the jewelry and silver selections are strong overall. A Tiffany sterling-silver owl figure, with a screw-on head, is a fine example. Flatware serving sets, coffee sets, teapots, sterling and tortoise-shell snuffboxes further burnish the silver offerings. A women's 18-karat gold Rolex wristwatch is on offer, as well.
In the furniture section, a three-door American Victorian bookcase from Pleasant Unity, Pa., is elegantly understated for Victorian furniture. The bookcase provides plenty of storage for a reader's favorite tomes behind a trio of tall glass doors. Beneath, three drawers provide space for bookmarks and other reading accessories. On the other hand, a miniature 18th-century painted Italian secretary is perfect for smaller spaces.
Another round of black Americana comes to market during this sale in the shape of salt and pepper shakers, advertising items, calendars, books and other pieces in the 35 lots up for grabs.
Artistically speaking, Japanese and Asian ivory figures, prints, antique bells, palace seats and garden urns bring a hint of the Far East. Paintings feature works from European and American artists, including several prints, engravings, mezzotints and more from a local country club that is downsizing its collection.Click on their website www.ecived.com/en for more information.
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