Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/seth-rogen-dances-with-the-backstreet-boys-watch-now/
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Army says no to more tanks, but Congress insists
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Built to dominate the enemy in combat, the Army's hulking Abrams tank is proving equally hard to beat in a budget battle.
Lawmakers from both parties have devoted nearly half a billion dollars in taxpayer money over the past two years to build improved versions of the 70-ton Abrams.
But senior Army officials have said repeatedly, "No thanks."
It's the inverse of the federal budget world these days, in which automatic spending cuts are leaving sought-after pet programs struggling or unpaid altogether. Republicans and Democrats for years have fought so bitterly that lawmaking in Washington ground to a near-halt.
Yet in the case of the Abrams tank, there's a bipartisan push to spend an extra $436 million on a weapon the experts explicitly say is not needed.
"If we had our choice, we would use that money in a different way," Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, told The Associated Press this past week.
Why are the tank dollars still flowing? Politics.
Keeping the Abrams production line rolling protects businesses and good paying jobs in congressional districts where the tank's many suppliers are located.
If there's a home of the Abrams, it's politically important Ohio. The nation's only tank plant is in Lima. So it's no coincidence that the champions for more tanks are Rep. Jim Jordan and Sen. Rob Portman, two of Capitol's Hill most prominent deficit hawks, as well as Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. They said their support is rooted in protecting national security, not in pork-barrel politics.
"The one area where we are supposed to spend taxpayer money is in defense of the country," said Jordan, whose district in the northwest part of the state includes the tank plant.
The Abrams dilemma underscores the challenge that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel faces as he seeks to purge programs that the military considers unnecessary or too expensive in order to ensure there's enough money for essential operations, training and equipment.
Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, faces a daunting task in persuading members of Congress to eliminate or scale back projects favored by constituents.
Federal budgets are always peppered with money for pet projects. What sets the Abrams example apart is the certainty of the Army's position.
Sean Kennedy, director of research for the nonpartisan Citizens Against Government Waste, said Congress should listen when one of the military services says no to more equipment.
"When an institution as risk averse as the Defense Department says they have enough tanks, we can probably believe them," Kennedy said.
Congressional backers of the Abrams upgrades view the vast network of companies, many of them small businesses, that manufacture the tanks' materials and parts as a critical asset that has to be preserved. The money, they say, is a modest investment that will keep important tooling and manufacturing skills from being lost if the Abrams line were to be shut down.
The Lima plant is a study in how federal dollars affect local communities, which in turn hold tight to the federal dollars. The facility is owned by the federal government but operated by the land systems division of General Dynamics, a major defense contractor that spent close to $11 million last year on lobbying, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
The plant is Lima's fifth-largest employer with close to 700 employees, down from about 1,100 just a few years ago, according to Mayor David Berger. But the facility is still crucial to the local economy. "All of those jobs and their spending activity in the community and the company's spending probably have about a $100 million impact annually," Berger said.
Jordan, a House conservative leader who has pushed for deep reductions in federal spending, supported the automatic cuts known as the sequester that require $42 billion to be shaved from the Pentagon's budget by the end of September. The military also has to absorb a $487 billion reduction in defense spending over the next 10 years, as required by the Budget Control Act passed in 2011.
Still, said Jordan, it would be a big mistake to stop producing tanks.
"Look, (the plant) is in the 4th Congressional District and my job is to represent the 4th Congressional District, so I understand that," he said. "But the fact remains, if it was not in the best interests of the national defense for the United States of America, then you would not see me supporting it like we do."
The tanks that Congress is requiring the Army to buy aren't brand new. Earlier models are being outfitted with a sophisticated suite of electronics that gives the vehicles better microprocessors, color flat panel displays, a more capable communications system, and other improvements. The upgraded tanks cost about $7.5 million each, according to the Army.
Out of a fleet of nearly 2,400 tanks, roughly two-thirds are the improved versions, which the Army refers to with a moniker that befits their heft: the M1A2SEPv2, and service officials said they have plenty of them. "The Army is on record saying we do not require any additional M1A2s," Davis Welch, deputy director of the Army budget office, said this month.
The tank fleet, on average, is less than 3 years old. The Abrams is named after Gen. Creighton Abrams, one of the top tank commanders during World War II and a former Army chief of staff.
The Army's plan was to stop buying tanks until 2017, when production of a newly designed Abrams would begin. Orders for Abrams tanks from U.S. allies help fill the gap created by the loss of tanks for the Army, according to service officials, but congressional proponents of the program feared there would not be enough international business to keep the Abrams line going.
This pause in tank production for the U.S. would allow the Army to spend its money on research and development work for the new and improved model, said Ashley Givens, a spokeswoman for the Army's Ground Combat Systems office.
The first editions of the Abrams tank were fielded in the early 1980s. Over the decades, the Abrams supply chain has become embedded in communities across the country.
General Dynamics estimated in 2011 that there were more than 560 subcontractors throughout the country involved in the Abrams program and that they employed as many as 18,000 people. More than 40 of the companies are in Pennsylvania, according to Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., also a staunch backer of continued tank production.
A letter signed by 173 Democratic and Republican members of the House last year and sent to then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta demonstrated the depth of bipartisan support for the Abrams program on Capitol Hill. They chided the Obama administration for neglecting the industrial base and proposing to terminate tank production in the United States for the first time since World War II.
Portman, who served as President George W. Bush's budget director before being elected to the Senate, said allowing the line to wither and close would create a financial mess.
"People can't sit around for three years on unemployment insurance and wait for the government to come back," Portman said. "That supply chain is going to be much more costly and much more inefficient to create if you mothball the plant."
Pete Keating, a General Dynamics spokesman, said the money from Congress is allowing for a stable base of production for the Army, which receives about four tanks a month. With the line open, Lima also can fill international orders, bringing more work to Lima and preserving American jobs, he said.
Current foreign customers are Saudi Arabia, which is getting about five tanks a month, and Egypt, which is getting four. Each country pays all of their own costs. That's a "success story during a period of economic pain," Keating said.
Still, far fewer tanks are coming out of the Lima plant than in years past. The drop-off has affected companies such as Verhoff Machine and Welding in Continental, Ohio, which makes seats and other parts for the Abrams. Ed Verhoff, the company's president, said his sales have dropped from $20 million to $7 million over the past two years. He's also had to lay off about 25 skilled employees and he expects to be issuing more pink slips in the future.
"When we start to lose this base of people, what are we going to do? Buy our tanks from China?" Verhoff said.
Steven Grundman, a defense expert at the Atlantic Council in Washington, said the difficulty of reviving defense industrial capabilities tends to be overstated.
"From the fairly insular world in which the defense industry operates, these capabilities seem to be unique and in many cases extraordinarily high art," said Grundman, a former deputy undersecretary of defense for industrial affairs and installations during the Clinton administration. "But in the greater scope of the economy, they tend not to be."
___
Online:
Abrams tank: http://www.army.mil/factfiles/equipment/tracked/abrams.html
__
Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rplardner
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/army-says-no-more-tanks-congress-insists-115422396.html
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Why This Prom in Georgia Just Changed History
Earlier this month, TakePart reported on the efforts of a group of high school students in Georgia raising funds to hold their county?s first multi-racial prom?otherwise known as regular prom in the rest of the country.
Last night, those kids got their wish at Wilcox County's first-ever "Integrated Prom," where students of all races were welcome. By all accounts, it was a remarkably successful event.
According to local crews, the entrance to the dance was so swarmed with news cameras, it resembled something closer to a Hollywood red carpet event, rather than a high school dance. Students made their way in front of reporters, stopping for pictures while throngs of parents cheered them on and held back tears.
Quanesha Wallace, one of the students responsible for organizing the event, told one news reporter, ?It turned out really well. I didn?t even know this many people were coming. I didn?t even know this many tickets were being sold.?
Wilcox County, GA has had a segregated prom system since the school was racially integrated just several decades ago. The school's dances have always been privately funded and held away from school grounds, allowing for the segregation to continue without any legal consequence.
But this year, a group of students at Wilcox County High School had enough, with one in particular, Keela Bloodworth, explaining to WSFA, ?It?s embarrassing to know that I?m from the county that still does this.?
That?s when Bloodworth, Wallace, and a goup of their friends decided to raise funds on their own to hold an integrated prom. While their initial thoughts were of local bake sales and car washes, those became unnecessary once online news sites got a hold of their story. Just two days after that story broke, those students reached their funding goal, according to their Facebook page. Then they quickly surpassed it.
Since then, they?ve continued to collect donations from supporters across the country, with the excess money going towards their own college scholarships, as well as to funds for two unidentified local families, each of whom have recently ?suffered a major loss.?
In the weeks leading up to the dance, the students reported there had been some community backlash, mostly in the form of their fliers getting ripped down and disappearing.
And though several of Georgia?s lawmakers publicly championed the students? efforts, Georgia?s own governor, Nathan Deal initially refused to comment on the events because he didn't "want to take sides," according to a statement released by his spokesperson.
Nonetheless, after several weeks of mounting public pressure, Deal did release a carefully-worded statement, that concluded with, ?I think that people understand that some of these are just local issues and private issues, and not something that the state government needs to have its finger involved in.? And that may explain why segregation is alive and well in Georgia.
While their governor seemed content to sit this one out, these very determined high school students took it upon themselves to effect a change in their county, one that will hopefully be recognized for generations to come. In the meantime, if these are the kids who are representative of our future, we might be okay.
What would be your response if you found out that your county held segregated proms? Let us know in the Comments.
Related Stories on TakePart:
? These Los Angeles Cops Are Super-Excited About Taffeta and Tiaras
? What Every Parent Should Know: How to Help Your Kids Deal With Peer Conflicts at School
? Could Compassion Be the Key to Reducing Dropout Rates?
A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.??In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a webeditor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for?TimeOutLA.com.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-prom-georgia-just-changed-history-185442149.html
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Friday, April 26, 2013
Samsung reportedly launching new 8-inch tablet in June, Galaxy S 4 Active in July
Samsung Gulf president Young Soo Kim reportedly made casual mention of an upcoming rugged take on the Galaxy S 4 at a press event earlier in the week, but left out any details. Sources for the Wall Street Journal claim to know more of the story, and it sounds like the toughened phone won't be alone this summer. The Galaxy S 4 Active, as it's rumored to be called, would arrive in July and carry the dust- and waterproofing of spiritual predecessors like the Galaxy Xcover 2 while maintaining the GS 4's design language. A smaller, 4.3-inch parallel to the GS 4 would appear at the same time -- Galaxy S 4 Mini, anyone? The same tipsters also expect the release of a new 8-inch "Galaxy-line tablet" in June, which suggests the Galaxy Note 8.0 may get a regular Tab counterpart. We wouldn't base our buying strategies around the rumors when Samsung hasn't said anything that's truly on the record, but it might be wise to hold off if you're not in a rush.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Wall Street Journal
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/UQYXvR8iaaE/
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
France legalizes gay marriage after harsh debate
PARIS (AP) ? France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday after a wrenching national debate and protests that flooded the streets of Paris. Legions of officers and water cannon stood ready near France's National Assembly ahead of the final vote, bracing for possible violence on an issue that galvanized the country's faltering conservative movement.
The measure passed easily in the Socialist-majority Assembly, 331-225, just minutes after the president of the legislative body expelled a disruptive protester in pink, the color adopted by French opponents of gay marriage.
"Only those who love democracy are here," Claude Bartelone, the Assembly president, said angrily.
In recent weeks, violent attacks against gay couples have spiked and some legislators have received threats ? including Bartelone, who got a gunpowder-filled envelope on Monday.
One of the biggest protests against same-sex marriage drew together hundreds of thousands of people bused in from the French provinces ? conservative activists, schoolchildren with their parents, retirees, priests and others. That demonstration ended in blasts of tear gas, as right-wing rabble-rousers, some in masks and hoods, led the charge against police, damaging cars along the Champs-Elysees avenue and making a break for the presidential palace.
Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told lawmakers that the first weddings could be as soon as June.
"We believe that the first weddings will be beautiful and that they'll bring a breeze of joy, and that those who are opposed to them today will surely be confounded when they are overcome with the happiness of the newlyweds and the families," she said.
When President Francois Hollande promised to legalize gay marriage, it was seen as relatively uncontroversial. But the issue has become a touchstone as his popularity has sunk to unprecedented lows, largely over France's ailing economy.
But the most visible face in the fight against gay marriage ? a former comedienne who goes by the name of Frigide Barjot ? said the movement named "A Protest for Everyone" will continue beyond the law's passage and possibly field candidates in 2014 municipal elections. She said anyone involved in protest violence would be marginalized, but blamed the government for its failure to listen.
"The violence comes from the way in which this was imposed," Barjot told France Info radio.
French conservatives, decimated by infighting and the election loss of standard-bearer Nicolas Sarkozy, had found a rallying cause in same-sex marriage. Hoping to keep the issue alive, the conservative UMP party planned to challenge the law in the Constitutional Council.
French civil unions, allowed since 1999, are at least as popular among heterosexuals as among gay and lesbian couples. But that law has no provisions for adoption, and the strongest opposition in France as far as same-sex couples goes comes when children are involved. According to recent polls, just over half of French are opposed to adoption by same-sex couples ? about the same number who said they favored same-sex marriage.
Christophe Crepin, spokesman for the police union UNSA, says the extraordinary security Tuesday includes a total of about 4,000 officers in the area near the National Assembly building and water cannon positioned nearby. One group of anti-riot police swarmed the banks of the Seine River about a quarter-mile from the legislature, hours before protests were scheduled there.
France is the 14th country to legalize gay marriage. On the cover of Tuesday's Liberation newspaper, the famed gay photographers Pierre and Gilles took over the front page and several of the inside pages, splashing them with some of their most provocative photos, including one of three soccer players ? nude but for the footwear ? facing the camera.
In New Zealand, where gay marriage enjoys popular support, people gathered outside Parliament and joined in singing a traditional Maori love ballad after a vote last week making it legal. Nine states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. also recognize such marriages, but the federal government does not.
___
Follow Lori Hinnant at https://twitter.com/lhinnant
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-legalizes-gay-marriage-harsh-debate-151608251.html
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U.S. security agency delays plan to allow small knives on planes
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Transportation Security Administration on Monday delayed a controversial policy change that would have allowed small knives to be carried onto airplanes for the first time since September 11, 2001.
The decision, announced in a letter to TSA employees after a week of heightened security tensions following the Boston Marathon bombings, was greeted with cautious relief by flight attendant unions, which have been waging a high-profile campaign to overturn the plan.
"The 90,000-member Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which has opposed the TSA's ill-advised plan from the start, remains resolute: no knives on planes ever again," the group said in a statement.
Last month, the TSA said that starting on Thursday, it would allow folding knives with blades 2.36 inches or shorter, to be carried onto airplanes, as well as hockey sticks, golf clubs, ski poles and billiard cues.
The agency had determined that these items would not pose a catastrophic threat to an aircraft, and confiscating them from passengers in airport security queues was distracting security officers from screening for greater threats, such as non-metallic explosive devices.
Hijackers in the September 11 attacks used small knives to attack crew members and gain control of aircraft. Cockpits on commercial planes have since been required to have locked doors during flights.
But flight attendants have argued that they could be put at risk from knives carried onto planes and have sought input into the TSA's decision.
"By delaying this policy, the TSA is taking a solid, common sense step in the direction of safer skies," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and one of several lawmakers working with the flight attendants.
"This delay acknowledges that permitting knives on planes is a bad idea. Now the TSA should go the rest of the way and end this flawed policy altogether," Schumer said.
(Reporting by David Lawder)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-security-agency-delays-plan-allow-small-knives-012809424.html
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Three killed in Syrian army gas attack: monitoring group
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A woman and two children were killed and 16 people injured in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Saturday in what an anti-government violence monitoring group said was a gas attack by Syrian government forces.
Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, cited witnesses as saying that two gas bombs had been dropped from an army helicopter.
Doctors in the town of Afrin, where the injured were taken, told the Observatory that victims had "hallucinated, vomited, had excess mucus and felt their eyes were burning".
Reuters cannot verify such reports from Syria due to severe reporting and security restrictions.
A team of United Nations-led experts is waiting in Cyprus for the go-ahead to investigate three previous allegations of chemical weapons attacks in Syria, including one the government said was a poison attack by rebels in Aleppo last month.
The government of President Bashar al-Assad has rejected demands by the opposition that the inspectors be sent to investigate cases in Homs and Damascus where rebels say government forces used chemical munitions.
Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud district, where the two bombs were dropped on Saturday, is controlled by rebels. The Observatory distributed photos taken by opposition activists of remnants of what it said were the bombs.
It also sent photos of a dead woman and two children, who it said were both under two years old. None of the three had any visible injuries.
About 70,000 people have been killed in an uprising against four decades of Assad family rule that turned into a civil war after Assad's forces suppressed protests and opposition members took up arms. Both sides have been accused by rights groups of war crimes.
(Reporting by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/three-killed-syrian-army-gas-attack-monitoring-group-114916953.html
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Sandy Hook mom makes plea for 'common sense' gun controls
All across the country Saturday, people turned out at rallies to demand tougher gun laws. Meanwhile, Sandy Hook mother Francine Wheeler made an emotional appeal for national gun-control legislation. NBC's Kristen Welker reports.
By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News
A mother who lost her 6-year-old son in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School made an emotional plea for national gun-control legislation in an address from the White House.
Francine Wheeler made her appeal in lieu of the president?s weekly address. Her appearance is the only time President Obama has handed the address to anyone other than Vice President Joe Biden since the two first took office. Wheeler was joined by her husband David.
?I have hear people say that the tidal wave of anguish our country felt on 12/14 has receded, but not for us,? Wheeler said. ?To us it feels as if it happened just yesterday, and in the four months since we lost our loved ones, thousands of other Americans have died at the end of a gun.?
The address, taped Friday, comes as several Sandy Hook families have mounted an aggressive effort to get a gun-control bill passed by Congress. Wheeler and her husband wrote the remarks after they were approached, the White House said.
?We have to convince the Senate to come together and pass common sense gun responsibility reforms that will make our communities safer and prevent more tragedies like the one we never thought would happen to us,? Wheeler said.
Jessica Hill / AP file
Francine Wheeler, mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Benjamin Wheeler, cries as she listens to Vice President Joe Biden speak during a gun violence conference in Danbury, Conn., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013.
Family members of the Newtown victims were present on Capitol Hill Thursday when Senators voted 68-31 to move forward with the process of debating a gun bill that several Republican lawmakers had threatened to filibuster. Several Republican senators have said that the presence of Newtown families helped contribute to the unexpectedly overwhelming vote to move forward with the bill.
Among the more than a dozen relatives in the gallery was Jillian Soto, whose sister was killed at Sandy Hook.
?The tears that we had weren?t tears of joy, but tears of remembering this is happening,? Soto told NBC News shortly after the vote. ?We?re here because of what happened to us.?
During her remarks, Wheeler and her husband wore green pins to commemorate the 20 schoolchildren, including their son, and six adults who died in the December shooting. The Wheelers? older son Nate, a 4th grader at Sandy Hook, survived the shooting.
?Sometimes I close my eyes and all I can remember is that awful day waiting at the Sandy Hook volunteer firehouse for the boy who would never come home ? the same firehouse that was home to Ben?s Tiger Scout Den 6,? said Wheeler, choking back tears. ?But other times I feel Ben?s presence filling me with courage for what I have to do for him and all the others taken from us so violently and too soon.?
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Saturday, April 13, 2013
Second chances a first priority on 'The Moment'
By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor
Charlie Ebersol knows what it's like to get a second chance: In 2004 he was in a private jet with his father and younger brother Teddy when it crashed in Colorado. His brother lost his life, and Charlie and his father Dick, a longtime NBC producer and co-creator of "Saturday Night Live," survived their injuries.
"When the plane crashed, I was so angry," he told TODAY's Willie Geist Friday. "I wasn't scared or sad ... I was going to lose out on the opportunity to do all these things I loved that I wasn't doing."
His mother instructed him to "take control of his life," and he did, selling off his company and focusing on the things he loved. Ultimately, he decided to create a TV series that would help others get a second chance at their own dreams. "The Moment," which began airing on USA Network on Feb. 20, is the result of his new priorities.
As Ebersol explained, the show doesn't just hand opportunities over to individuals who want them; it isn't "Fantasy Island." Instead, he helps facilitate tryouts and interviews for people who want to do something they've never done before, and helps them get trained or mentored for two weeks before what he called "the ultimate job interview."?
"It's a brutal show," he said, "because in some respects you are getting a shot, your second chance. But it's a legitimate interview -- if you don't do well, you don't get offered the job."
"The Moment" airs on USA Network on Thursdays at 10 p.m.
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Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/04/twitters-big-challenge-too-much-twitter/
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Friday, April 12, 2013
'Vonn-tourage' takes over Masters
By Steve Keating
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 11 (Reuters) - Tiger Woods got his Masters campaign off to a solid start on Thursday but the world number one was forced to share the Augusta spotlight.
When first round action began it seemed for a moment as if the 14-times major winner was part of girlfriend Lindsey Vonn's 'Vonn-tourage' as hundreds of media and thousands of spectators scrambled to catch glimpse of the Olympic skiing champion.
As Vonn sightings surfaced a bizarre buzz swept across Augusta National adding some celebrity intrigue to the year's first major.
While Vonn's appearance created a distraction for the galleries, Woods remained focused on the task at hand and mixed three birdies with a single bogey for an opening two-under 70 to sit just four back of co-leaders Marc Leishman of Australia and Spaniard Sergio Garcia.
It was a good omen for Woods, who shot 70 in the opening round in three of his four Masters wins. Only once in 19 Masters has Woods started with a score lower than 70.
"It's a good start," summed up Woods. "Some years some guys shot 65 starting out here. But right now I'm only four back and I'm right there.
"It was a good day. A solid day."
It also appeared to be a very good day out for Vonn, who is recovering from knee surgery but made the trip to Augusta to support her boyfriend.
A smiling Vonn, sporting a wide brimmed hat, tan sun dress and a leg brace, made her way down the first fairway to watch Woods tee off then, according to reports, retreated to one of the hospitality areas to ice her knee and drink a glass of "chilled champagne."
It marked the first public appearance for the sports world's newest power couple since announcing last month that they were dating.
With the world number one ranking back beside his name and three PGA Tour wins from five starts this season, including his final two Masters tune-up events, Woods arrived at Augusta as betting favourite to add a fifth green jacket to his collection.
Anyone backing Woods this week will not be disappointed in his workmanlike effort during the opening round, which included three birdies and one bogey.
Woods's surge back to the top of the world rankings last month was supported by a sizzling putter which he just could not get firing on Thursday on Augusta's tricky greens.
"I thought the greens were a little bit tough ... they didn't have the roll out," said Woods. "A couple of putts, we were talking about it in our group, that just weren't that fast.
"The wind picked up in the middle part of the round. Got a little bit swirly there at Amen Corner, as usual.
"But overall I think the biggest challenge today was just the speed of the greens. They just weren't quite there." (Editing by Frank Pingue)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/golf-woods-upstaged-vonn-tourage-takes-over-masters-230522831--golf.html
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Thursday, April 11, 2013
The Fun, Nautical Workspace
Today's featured workspace is a cheery space with a nautical theme for a crew of four. It belongs to design studio Pacific Helm, whose motto is "real artists ship." This is where the team's creativity ships from.
It's a tight space?just 150 square feet ?but it doesn't look cramped, thanks to the open layout. The bright ocean graphics and colorful toys give this workspace more character than your average small office. The company advises "Don't be afraid to be relentlessly fun in your office space!" on Apartment Therapy, where you can take a full workspace tour.
If you have a workspace of your own to show off, post them to our workspaceshowcase forum. Make sure any photos you include are at least 640x360. Keeping them to 16:9 helps, too! Include a little text about the stuff you used, how you came up with the design, and any other relevant details. If your clever organization and good design sense catches our eye, you might be the next featured workspace.
Ahoy! Pacific Helm's Happy Modern Office | Apartment Therapy
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/Zq__kHUx_J8/the-fun-nautical-workspace
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
A Decade of Influence: The wd~50 Family Tree -- Grub Street New ...
Wylie Dufresne, the man at the top.Photo: Photo by Kelsey McNeal/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
On April 9, 2003, Wylie Dufresne opened wd~50, and if you've eaten a meal out in New York City in the decade since, you've felt the restaurant's influence ? in a sous-vide slab of beef; in a frosty glass of Cereal Milk; in a cheeky take on eggs Benedict. While the restaurant confounds some customers, it is mythical in food circles, as much for its boundary-pushing food as for its ability to survive in a city gripped with farm-to-table fever and recession-rooted comfort-food cravings. Through it all, Dufresne has mentored a fellowship of curious cooks, bartenders, and pastry savants who helped shape and evolve not just the restaurant, but New York City's entire food landscape.
"I don't think any creative endeavor in all of history has been the work of one person," Dufresne says. "My hope is that when someone talks about what was it like to be at wd~50, they'll say, 'It made me think.'" Talking with people who have gone through Dufresne's kitchen, a common theme emerges: Everyone speaks of Dufresne's insistence that each cook contribute and execute their own ideas. "There are a lot of restaurants where you can go work and get by without paying attention too desperately," Dufresne says of his approach. "But I was never looking for robots and automatons."
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On April 9 of this year, he'll get the band back together at the restaurant, with a tenth anniversary dinner prepared by some of wd~50's most prominent alumni ? an influential crew that includes cult bakers (Christina Tosi), Mexican food pioneers (Alex Stupak), red sauce slingers (Mario Carbone), and dive bar bosses (Sam Mason).
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A restaurant goes through a lot of people after a decade in business ? especially a place like wd~50, where young cooks are clamoring to get in ? but in honor of the occasion and the anniversary, Grub Street got in touch with many of the people who made the restaurant what it is today.
Click below to see the full wd~50 family tree.
Source: http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2013/04/wd-50-10-year-anniversary-family-tree.html
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Asana Adds More Powerful Search, Bug Tracking And More To Simple Task-Management And Productivity App
Asana, the high-profile productivity startup that's trying to redesign the workplace around tasks (instead of email), is announcing a major update today, adding more powerful search functionality, bug tracking capabilities and manager reporting.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/hN3TsSR0ISA/
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Do Green Improvements Improve The Resale Value Of Your Home ...
Do Green Improvements Improve The Resale Value Of Your Home?
Most of us see our homes not just as a place to live and grow, but as a value, an investment. Many homeowners attend to that idea of investment by making various kinds of improvements or modifications to the home with the hopes that it will yield a higher resale value for the home; and lately, with so much emphasis in the culture placed on green living, many homeowners are starting to make green improvements to their homes with the hopes that, like many other improvements, these green amendments will improve the resale value of the home. But, are they right? Will green improvements really improve the resale value of your home? Let?s take a look.
For many years, the industry-standard model for home improvements that most-positively affect your home?s resale value were the bathrooms and the kitchen. The idea that spending money on improving the kitchen and bathrooms will yield higher resale values is still widely utilized by homeowners as well as builders for the simple fact that it is mostly true. Most successful home improvements (and by successful we mean improvements that lead to ROI) are built around the concept of utility and functionality rather than decoration or aesthetics; a kitchen with good cabinets, cooking space and appliances are much more likely to succeed than installing a 2-story fountain or tiling the entirety of the bathroom in salmon-colored tiles flown in from Greece or Italy. This is because while everyone?s aesthetics are different, we all have the same utilitarian needs, and it?s those features that cater to those needs that push the value of a house.
This idea of utility improvements can work very well for certain green improvements as green improvements are almost always about utility instead of aesthetics. Installing low-flow toilets, for example, is a great home improvement as it?s an improvement in one of your target rooms and one that can save big bucks on the energy bill over time. Moreover, many green improvements can positively affect your home?s resale value if they have the potential to lower costs (after the purchase, of course) down the road. That said, some of the best green improvements you can make include installing energy-efficient windows and doors or making sure the home is properly insulated. As we?re still in the midst of an economic depression, many home buyers are likely going to be much more amenable and interested in just about any aspect of the home that could save money?without requiring too much of a lifestyle change (for instance, outdoor, rainwater showers?while economical?are very unlikely to generate much interest on the market).
Unfortunately, as green home improvements and LEED certification are a newer phenomenon, and at a time when real estate is low to begin with, much of the data is lacking on just how successful green improvements can be to resale values. According to the Washington Post, a study conducted by the Earth Advantage Institute in Portland, Oregon found that new homes with energy certifications sold for 8 percent higher than those homes without the certification and older homes who?ve met the certification requirements sold for 30-percent higher (articles.washingtonpost.com). Even though the data is from a small section of the country, those numbers should be inspiring to those looking to do some green improvements on their home, the data taken as a synecdoche of where the rest of the country might be going.
Installing photovoltaic solar panels can be an expensive improvement, but with the amount of government subsidies, many of the PV installations added value to the house at approximately 97 percent of the improvement?s costs. While certainly not a small endeavor, that recoupment should be very enticing to homeowners. Similarly, replacing water heaters with tank-less heaters can save on water and energy but can also require new gas lines, which, depending on the size of the house, can be just as expensive as a traditional water heater.
When planning your green improvements, consider projects that will lower utility expenses without breaking the bank. You might also want to make your decisions based around the market area of your home. Don?t risk bringing up the value of your house too much if the surrounding properties?aren?t?of a similar persuasion. Green improvements to doors, windows and plumbing are relatively cheaper and will usually have positive results in resale terms; you?ll have to decide for yourself, or by consulting with a realtor, to determine if your house warrants some of the more expensive improvements.
Source: http://www.greenwerkspro.com/do-green-improvements-improve-the-resale-value-of-your-home/
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Maryland lawmakers approve medical marijuana
(Reuters) - The Maryland legislature approved the use of marijuana for medical purposes on Monday, and Governor Martin O'Malley has said he would sign the measure and make Maryland the 20th state to legalize medicinal cannabis.
The Democratic-controlled state Senate passed the bill by a 42-4 vote. The House of Delegates had approved it last month.
The measure allows seriously ill residents to obtain medical marijuana via state-regulated programs administered by academic medical centers.
O'Malley, a Democrat and seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2016 elections, has vowed to sign the bill into law.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow the medical use of marijuana. Colorado and Washington last year became the first U.S. states to legalize the sale and possession of marijuana for recreational use.
A poll last week showed for the first time that most Americans backed legalizing marijuana.
(Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington; editing by Matthew Lewis)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maryland-lawmakers-approve-medical-marijuana-185506615.html
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Sunday, April 7, 2013
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/bgdailynews/posts/10151559400256346
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Fidel Castro advises friend North Korea against war
By Jeff Franks
HAVANA (Reuters) - Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro warned ally North Korea against war on Friday and described the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula as one of the "gravest risks" for nuclear holocaust since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Saying he spoke as a friend, Castro wrote in Cuban state media that North Korea, led by 30-year-old Kim Jong-un, had shown the world its technical prowess and now it was time to remember its duties to others.
North Korea, which along with Cuba is one of the world's last communist countries, has been ratcheting up pressure by declaring war on neighbor South Korea and threatening to stage a nuclear strike on the United States.
Few observers believe it will actually attack anyone, but Castro has become an anti-nuclear advocate in recent years.
"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was always friendly with Cuba, as Cuba always has been and will continue to be with her," Castro wrote, using an almost paternalistic tone.
"Now that it has demonstrated its technical and scientific advances, we remind it of its duties to other countries who have been great friends and that it would not be just to forget that such a war would affect in a special way more than 70 percent of the world's population," said the 86-year-old, who turned Cuba communist after taking power in a 1959 revolution.
Castro called the present situation on the Korean Peninsula "incredible and absurd," but said "it has to do with one of the gravest risks of nuclear war since the Crisis of October (Cuban Missile Crisis), 50 years ago."
He led Cuba through the October 1962 showdown when the United States and Soviet Union nearly went to war over the placement of Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, 90 miles south of Florida.
At one point, Castro wrote a letter to Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev urging a nuclear attack on the United States, which he assumed was about to invade the Caribbean island.
Cooler heads prevailed as Khruschev and President John F. Kennedy reached an agreement in which the Soviet missiles were removed and the United States promised never to invade Cuba.
Castro ruled Cuba for 49 years before age and ill health forced him to step down in 2008.
He was succeeded as president by younger brother Raul Castro, 81, but remains a power behind the scenes and writes occasional columns for Cuban press.
The elder Castro also said the United States had the responsibility to prevent war, which he said if unleashed would make President Barack Obama look like "the most sinister person in the history of the United States."
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fidel-castro-advises-friend-north-korea-against-war-160232730.html
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Saturday, April 6, 2013
Hillary Clinton to headline NY women's conference
NEW YORK (AP) ? There's been plenty of star power already at the Women in the World summit in New York: Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep both were part of the opening night program.
But a different sort of star is sure to get a rapturous reception Friday at the annual two-day conference, which focuses on global women's issues: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It's her second high-profile speech this week, following one at the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards in Washington, and it coincides with the announcement Thursday of her new memoir about her years as secretary of state. She's addressed this forum before, but now there's the added excitement of all the speculation: What's next for her?
The main focus of the women's conference, though, is the plight of women across the globe, and Jolie had the most emotional moment Thursday, introducing ? via video from Britain ? Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating for girls' education.
"Today I'm going to announce the happiest moment of my life," the 15-year-old said in the brief video, wearing a bright red headscarf and at one point shyly covering her face with her hands. She said that thanks to the new "Malala's Fund," which she will administer, a new school in her homeland would be built for 40 girls. "Let us turn the education of 40 girls into 40 million girls," she said.
Malala has garnered huge global attention since she was shot in the head in October by Taliban attackers angered by her activism. She was brought to Britain for treatment and surgery, including skull reconstruction. She's now started attending school there. She recently signed a deal to write her memoir, and she was also shortlisted for Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" in 2012.
Jolie gave a poignant rendition of her story. "Here's what they accomplished," she said of Malala's attackers. "They shot her point blank range in the head ? and made her stronger. The brutal attempt to silence her voice made it stronger."
After Jolie's introduction, Tina Brown, the Newsweek/Daily Beast editor who created the Women in the World summit, now in its fourth year, told the audience that Jolie had just committed $200,000 personally to the fund, which was established by Vital Voices, with a donation from the Women in the World Foundation.
Jolie was not the only Hollywood star on the stage of Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater Thursday. Streep was there to honor another activist, Inez McCormack of Northern Ireland, who died in January of cancer. At the first summit in 2010, Streep had played McCormack in a short play, called "Seven," with McCormack herself watching from the audience. Streep spoke some lines from the play on Thursday evening ? in a flawless Irish accent.
The evening began with a dance performance by Michaela DePrince, who grew up as an orphan in war-torn Sierra Leone, where her father was killed and her mother starved to death, as she explained in an accompanying film. She was adopted by an American family and now dances with the Dance Theater of Harlem.
Barbara Walters moderated a panel on Syria, Charlie Rose interviewed South African political activist Mamphela Ramphele, and Christiane Amanpour led a panel on "The Next Generation of Malalas," featuring two other young women fighting for girls' rights in Pakistan.
Jolie, who is a special envoy for the U.N. refugee agency, told an anecdote about Malala that had the audience smiling. She said the girl's father had shown his daughter, in the hospital, a poll that said she was the sixth most influential person in the world, and that President Barack Obama was seventh. But the girl, according to the story, said she wasn't so happy ? she didn't think human beings should be categorized like that.
"So there's a lot we can learn from this little girl," Jolie said with a grin.
_
Online: http://womenintheworld.org/pages/women-in-the-world-summit-2013
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'Game of Thrones' star: 'I have less than $5'
By Bruna Nessif, E! Online
Jason Merritt / AFP - Getty Images
Lena Headey plays Queen Cersei on "Game of Thrones."
Lena Headey is battling on a budget.
The "Game of Thrones" star, who filed for divorce from her hairdresser husband Peter Loughran in July, claims in her latest court filing pertaining to the split that her bank account is down to single digits.?
"At the present time, I have less than $5 in my bank account and have been using credit cards to pay for living expenses for myself and our son Wylie," states Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister on the HBO hit, in the 79-page filing obtained by E! News.?
NEWS: Judge denies Kim Kardashian's request to move up divorce trial date?
According to the documents, Headey asked her estranged hubby for her share of their 2011 tax refund, stating in a declaration that, after she married Loughran, she became pregnant with their first and only child, who's now 2, and was deemed not insurable due the pregnancy and was unable to work.?
Because of that, the British actress says, they "burned through their savings" and "incurred a substantial amount of consumer debt to pay for our living expense during marriage." She is currently asking for a $6,000 advance from her half of the 2011 tax refund and a hearing has been scheduled for April 26.
PHOTOS: Celebs have their day in court?
--Reporting by Claudia Rosenbaum?
Related content:
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Thursday, April 4, 2013
Analysis: Spills flame Canadian oil debate, but won't curb flows to U.S
By Jeffrey Jones
CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Two high-profile oil spills won't stem the now-record flow of Canadian oil into the United States, despite the frenzy that the spills triggered among friends and foes of the Keystone XL pipeline to the main U.S. refineries.
The fate of Keystone remains undecided, yet Canadian crude will become an increasing part of the U.S. energy mix, despite growing competition from new U.S. production.
U.S. thirst for Canadian crude has shot up nearly 30 percent over the past five years as refiners opt to buy from the north instead of bringing in more expensive OPEC oil, thanks to a boom in production from the vast Alberta oil sands.
Midwest refiners have invested billions of dollars to tweak plants to take more of the heavy crude from the region, and a small but growing network of rail routes have sprouted up to augment existing pipelines.
So even as environmentalists seized on oil spills last week in Arkansas and Minnesota to warn about the impact of expansion in the tar sands -- the world's third-largest crude deposit -- it appears only a crash in the price of oil or unexpected regulation will derail the growing energy interdependence.
"Short-term, this is not good for producers, it's not good for Canadian oil going south, it's not good for Keystone," John Stephenson, vice-president and portfolio manager at First Asset Investment Management in Toronto said of the two spills.
"But I think the reality is this oil is going to make it south of the border, quite likely by rail or one of the other pipelines across the Canadian-U.S. border, so I see it as a short-term hiccup at worst."
Canada's black gold has allowed the Obama administration to crow about dwindling reliance on oil from less-friendly suppliers in the Middle East and elsewhere. In addition, a glut of the Canadian heavy oil has tempered higher gasoline prices, especially in the U.S. Midwest.
That may trump increasingly bad PR for Canada's oil, much of which is produced by energy- and carbon-intensive methods such as mining or steaming, making it a prime target in the battle over policies to fight global warming.
Yet the growing role of Canadian crude in the U.S. economy cannot be denied. Overall U.S. oil imports fell to 8.5 million barrels a day last year from over 10 million in 2007, but supplies from Canada jumped to 2.4 million barrels a day, from just under 1.9 million, over the period, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
That puts Canadian crude at nearly 29 percent of foreign supplies in the United States, despite the remarkable increase in U.S. domestic light oil output from regions such as the North Dakota Bakken that has fueled predictions of North American energy self-sufficiency in 15 years.
In fact, the two types of crude compete little for refinery space, as Canada's heavy crude is being directed at U.S. Gulf Coast plants that are configured to process heavy oil, which now arrives in dwindling volumes from Venezuela and Mexico.
"If that's the case, then Obama's left with not an energy choice -- he's left with a geopolitical choice," said Michal Moore, director of energy and environmental policy at the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and a former California energy regulator.
"Do you want to piss off Canada by not letting oil into the refineries that can handle it most easily? I don't know how he makes that judgment but I will say that this doesn't help."
Other refiners have also invested to process more feedstock from Canada, with BP sinking $4 billion into its Whiting, Indiana plant to take more of the heavy, sour oil.
In addition to heavy tar sands oil, Canada also exports large volumes of conventional lighter crude.
In January, the U.S. imported over 1.5 million bpd of heavy Canadian crude, defined by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers as having an API Gravity of less than 27 degrees, and nearly 1.15 million bpd of lighter, easier to refine oil, according to the EIA.
PIPELINE, RAIL ACCIDENTS
Last week's spills both involved oil from Canada.
On Friday, Exxon Mobil Corp's
The incident followed an oil spill in rural Minnesota on Wednesday after a Canadian Pacific Ltd
Producers shipped about 45,000 barrels of Canadian oil into the United States by train last year, up from almost nothing just five years earlier, based on Reuters calculations of data from Canada's National Energy Board. Current shipments could be as much as 150,000 barrels a day, estimated Steven Paget, analyst at FirstEnergy Capital Corp.
The spills are the latest in a string of problems for shippers of Canadian crude that have inflamed the debate over the oil sands. The largest spill was the Enbridge Inc
U.S. regulators last month ordered Enbridge's U.S. affiliate to do more cleanup at the site, pushing the bill to near $1 billion.
TransCanada Corp
"I don't think it will have an impact (on Canadian exports and the approval of pipelines). Look, it's being seized on by those who oppose hydrocarbon development, but if you follow their logic to its conclusion, what they're saying, I guess, is they don't want to see any pipelines built," Canadian Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said of the Arkansas spill.
"It's not because of Canadian crude that there was a spill. It was an old pipeline, more than 60 years old."
Oliver has led Ottawa's intense lobbying campaign in favor of the 830,000 barrel a day Keystone XL project, which will take Canadian crude to Gulf refineries. Washington is set to decide on the line this summer and it could be in service in 2015.
PRODUCTION PREDICTION
All predictions are for a steady climb in Canadian production, explaining the industry and government's quest for new markets in the United States and non-traditional areas such as Asia, one of the biggest drivers engines of world oil demand growth.
Canada's National Energy Board has predicted output will average 3.6 million barrels a day this year, up 12.5 percent from 2012, putting it nearly 400,000 barrels a day ahead of No. 2 OPEC producer Iraq's current output.
The industry sees a jump in output to 4.7 million barrels a day by the end of the decade, with new pipelines such as Enbridge's contentious Northern Gateway to Canada's Pacific Coast and TransCanada's Energy East line to the Atlantic provinces planned to move much of the increase.
Last week, Wood Mackenzie, the energy research firm, predicted output of bitumen from the oil sands, will increase by 540,000 barrels a day over the next two years.
Almost three-quarters of that will come from projects that have already been approved and have a break-even oil price below $60 a barrel, WoodMac said. The current price for Canadian heavy oil is about $80 a barrel.
(Additional reporting by Scott Haggett in Calgary and Patrick Rucker in Washington; Editing by Janet Guttsman, Matthew Robinson and Leslie Gevirtz)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-spills-flame-canadian-oil-debate-wont-curb-211202673--finance.html
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013
PFT: Flynn officially heads to Raiders? |? Florio
APTwo years ago, draft expert Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly created a stir with a biting critique of quarterback Cam Newton, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
?Very disingenuous ? has a fake smile, comes off as very scripted and has a selfish, me-first makeup,? Nawrocki wrote.? ?Always knows where the cameras are and plays to them.? Has an enormous ego with a sense of entitlement that continually invites trouble and makes him believe he is above the law ? does not command respect from teammates and will always struggle to win a locker room . . . .? Lacks accountability, focus and trustworthiness ? is not punctual, seeks shortcuts and sets a bad example.? Immature and has had issues with authority.? Not dependable.?
Nawrocki has now issued scouting reports for Geno Smith and Matt Barkley, regarded as the top two quarterback prospects in this year?s draft.? And at a time when many believe Smith will be taken before Barkley, Nawrocki calls Barkley a first-round pick and Smith merely a ?top-50 pick.?
Apart from Nawrocki?s critique of Smith?s mechanics, Nawrocki adds this assessment of Smith:? ?Not a student of the game.? Nonchalant field presence ? does not command respect from teammates and cannot inspire.? Mild practice demeanor ? no urgency.? Not committed or focused ? marginal work ethic.? Interviewed poorly at the Combine and did not show an understanding of concepts on the white board.? Opted not to compete at the Senior Bowl and has approached offseason training as if he has already arrived and it shows in his body with minimal muscle definition or strength.? Has small hands and glaring ball security issues (32 career fumbles).? Really struggled handling the snow in Pinstripe Bowl (took two safeties) and will be troubled by the elements.? Needed to be coddled in college ? cannot handle hard coaching.?
Nawrocki then makes a strong prediction about Smith?s future.? ?Smith is a gimmick, overhyped product of the system lacking the football savvy, work habits and focus to cement a starting job and could drain energy from a QB room,? Nawrocki writes.? ?Will be overdrafted and struggle to produce against NFL defensive complexities.?
Smith will indeed be drafted high, due to the possibility that his positives eventualy will outweigh his negatives, allowing him to become the one thing every team needs:? A franchise quarterback.? If enough teams agree with Nawrocki, however, Smith may not be drafted as high as some would believe.
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Monday, April 1, 2013
Strategies For VCs To Increase Startup Success Odds | TechCrunch
Editor?s note:?David Teten is a partner with?ff Venture Capital?and founder and chairman of?Harvard Business School Alumni Angels of Greater New York. Follow him on his blog or on Twitter?@dteten.
Lots of venture capitalists claim to add value to the companies in which they invest. But how do they do it?? And does it really produce better?returns?for their investors??We recently wrapped up a?study?on best practices of venture capitalists in creating portfolio company value through operational support, exploring exactly these questions.
We found that certain VCs are aggressively building out a focused portfolio operations skill set and recruiting more people with operational backgrounds. Based on a range of sources, we believe that most funds with well-developed portfolio operator models have top-quartile returns (typically above 20 percent IRR in the relevant time periods).
Given the mediocre median?returns?of the VC industry and the high?failure rate?of the typical entrepreneur, techniques to improve the odds of success are highly needed.
?Adding Value
VCs can add more value to their portfolios through team building, operations, perspective, skill building, customer development, analysis, and the network (the ?TOPSCAN? framework):
Team Building:?Designing and?recruiting?for a startup?s most important asset, its human capital base.
Operations:?Enhancing administrative, accounting, legal, and technological capabilities.
Perspective:?Strategy, competitive positioning, defining the target market, and scoping the product.
Skill Building:?Building the right skills, especially for senior management.
Customer Development:?Identifying and gaining access to the right customers.
Analysis:?How entrepreneurs measure, understand, and report the performance of their early-stage companies.
Network:?The cheapest and sometimes most value-added service that an investor can provide is access to his/her network, particularly to?potential investors?and acquirers.
The portfolio operator strategy has potential to boost returns.
A company?s need for these services is greatest in its earlier life. However, even among private-equity funds that invest in late-stage, stable, established companies, we see many such funds?building portfolio operations groups.?Later-stage, private-equity firms clearly believe that their portfolio companies benefit from a similar pool of operational talent, despite the fact that their companies are far more complete in their management and developed in their strategy than the companies backed by VCs.
The portfolio operator strategy has potential to boost returns. Our thesis that greater participation correlates with higher returns is consistent with two other formal studies: ?Returns to Angel Investors in Groups?, and ?Prediction and Control Under Uncertainty: Outcomes in Angel Investing.? Both studies found that higher levels of angel participation in investments, as measured by number of hours per week interacting with a portfolio company, correlates with higher returns.
In addition, VCs (particularly those focused on Internet investments) live in a social-media-enabled world where almost every investor has a very visible public resume on LinkedIn; many have a public blog; and blogs and sites such as?TheFunded.com?closely track their behavior. Social media footprints make it exceptionally easy for entrepreneurs to assess precisely how much value a potential investor can add and reach out to those investors specifically.?Deal origination?becomes very easy for firms with a strong reputation for adding value.
Current Practices
VCs have five main resources with which to increase portfolio company value: cash, brand, industry network, funding network and in-house expertise.
- Cash.?A significant operational toolkit is expensive. Given the?low average returns of the VC industry, and the modest assets under management of VCs relative to the assets under management of a typical private-equity fund, many VCs simply cannot afford to invest meaningful dollars in a large portfolio acceleration infrastructure.
- Brand.?The fact that a company has been funded by a well-respected fund/partner alone can increase a company?s odds of success, because that brand makes it easier for the company to attract talented employees and follow-on investors. By definition, startups have no brand at launch.
- Industry network.?One entrepreneur observed about one of the most prominent VCs in America: ?[X]?s default response to all problems is to email introduce you to 3-10 people in his network who can help.?
- Funding network.?Later-stage VCs pay careful?attention?to the earlier funders in a company, using the reputations of the funders as a proxy for their own diligence. The next-best asset to a large pool of capital in-house is the ability to easily help raise more capital in later rounds from past syndicate partners.
- In-house expertise.?VCs can provide consulting, accounting, or operational resources, both directly from their own staff and from preferred service providers.
All of the resources above are synergistic, i.e. more success creates more cash, which strengthens the brand, which increases the industry and VC network, which strengthens the in-house expertise. This is one of the key reasons that venture capital is one of the few asset classes in which?past performance is predictive of future results.
There are three common categories of VCs in terms of attitude and practices toward investing and portfolio company support: financiers, mentors, and portfolio operators, ranked in order of increasing level of operational involvement.
1. Financiers: ?I?m a banker, not an operator.?
The financiers are the most traditional group of VC investors; one said he views venture capitalists as ?glorified commercial bankers.? Financiers believe that the most value added by a VC comes from carefully scrutinizing early-stage companies, generating leads, conducting a thorough due diligence process, and eventually investing the right amount of capital at the right valuation and structure. The relationship to their portfolio after making the investments primarily consists of monitoring.
Of course, the financiers are not completely detached from what is going on in their portfolio companies, but they tend to focus more on formal interaction. Examples include VCs taking board seats, suggesting structures for board meetings, and providing monthly reporting templates.
The most perfect example of a financier is?Correlation Ventures, which some have called the ?Moneyball? of venture capital. Even though the firm?s two managing partners are both former startup entrepreneurs, Correlation never takes board seats and has only modest operational involvement. They gain access to investment opportunities by offering a very rapid?investment decision (two weeks or less), with a very low hassle process, leveraging their large investment in predictive analytics. They have $165 million in assets under management. Other examples are?Right Side Capital Management?and?i2x.
2. Mentors: ?I try to be the CEO?s consigliere.?
Most VCs can be classed as mentors. Mentors believe their fund and personal assets can improve the performance of the ventures they invest in. The most important asset they bring to the table is their personal and professional network, which they leverage to strengthen portfolio companies. Throughout our research, we observed many examples of this: introductions to potential customers, suppliers, partners, and executive-level employees.
What distinguishes the mentors from the portfolio operators, however, is that they deliberately choose not to institutionalize the support they give to their portfolio companies. Support is almost always initiated by the entrepreneur and does not involve preset systems or processes. As one mentor said, ?My entrepreneurs have my cell and email address ? and I always answer them.? As a result, mentors assessing a new investment need to be comfortable that their input will be heard by the companies ? that the CEO is coachable.
In the past few years, there has been a?surge?of small, solo-GP funds, typically with under $40 million in assets. Although in many cases, these solo GPs have strong operational track records, they typically have limited resources to engage in-depth with their portfolio, and so would normally be classified as mentors.
3. Portfolio Operators: ?We have a structured, standard process for adding value.?
Portfolio operators agree with mentors that their unique personal and fund assets can be used to develop their portfolio companies. However, unlike mentors, portfolio operators do this in an institutionalized and structured way. Whereas mentors tend to be reactive in their support, portfolio operators pro-actively look for ways to improve the performance of their investments through systems and processes. We know of numerous instances in which companies took lower valuations to win portfolio operator VCs as investors versus other categories of VCs, because the entrepreneurs so valued the resources a portfolio operator could bring to bear. In other cases, entrepreneurs have offered board options or other sweeteners to highly attractive portfolio operator VCs.
The most common service portfolio operators offer their portfolio companies is recruiting assistance. Most of the VCs in this category not only provide personal references to interesting candidates, but also use their own websites as job boards for portfolio companies. First Round Capital takes this a step further by running a program in which they recruit MBAs for internships and full-time positions with their portfolio companies.
We find that portfolio operator VCs are building teams of employees that are unusually large for the VC industry and include many people with strong?operational backgrounds. These larger teams tend to be accompanied by a transition toward pyramidal organizations, which are increasingly becoming the norm in portfolio operator funds.
As Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman discusses in his?paper??Upside-down Venture Capitalists and the Transition Toward Pyramidal Firms: Inevitable Progression, or Failed Experiment?? ?VCs have long been structured as ?upside-down pyramids? in which general partners outnumber more junior employees. This phenomenon is attributable to the fact that VCs are ?knowledge intensive firms in which esoteric expertise predominates over standard knowledge.?
Moving Toward The Pyramid
The need to exchange rich information in the course of pre-investment activities (e.g. due diligence) serves as a dis-incentive to expand the firm beyond a certain size or adopt formal, pyramidal structures. Those structures are, to a certain extent, an emergent property of large and/or complex organizations, in which workers become specialized and need to structure their interactions more. Although later-stage VCs have the luxury of concrete quantitative data, early-stage VCs rely on more tentative information for which analysis cannot be easily delegated.
Post-investment activities such as operational support for portfolio companies, however, can be delegated and benefit from economies of scale. Pyramidal structures are the most efficient means of systematizing and delivering this support due to the benefits of leverage, delegation and specialization.
Three trends are accelerating the transition to pyramidal models and operational focus. First, the cost of starting a company has come down dramatically, and as a result young entrepreneurs with modest capital and only angel/Series A investors can find themselves leading significant businesses beyond their management capacity.
Second, the rate at which startups can scale has increased dramatically, so the judicious application of VC resources can have an exponential impact.
The pyramidal model ultimately won out in more mature knowledge-intensive industries.
Finally, we have moved to a more transparent world in which both VCs and entrepreneurs find it easier to conduct due diligence. This puts pressure on VCs to differentiate themselves substantively. The pyramidal model ultimately won out in more mature knowledge-intensive industries, such as law and investment banking, and the same may occur in venture capital.
Snapshots: Portfolio Operators
An example of a portfolio operator VC is?Andreessen Horowitz, which has raised $2.7 billion since it was founded in 2009 and has made investments in Airbnb, Facebook, Skype, Twitter, Instagram and many other highly successful startups. They give their portfolio companies structured support through one of their four operational support teams, focused on executive recruiting, marketing/PR, technology, and business development. The fund has seven partners and employs?more than 40 operational staff, helping portfolio companies with preparing negotiations, making client introductions and providing preferred suppliers.
My firm,?ff Venture Capital, has a similar strategy; it?has made more than 160 investments in more than 60 companies since 1999. As of October 2011, the firm had $38 million in assets under management and today has 16 full-time employees (including three general partners). We offer our portfolio companies resources,?including a?job board,?recruiting assistance,?strategy consulting, a?mentor network, a pool of service providers, a portfolio?executive community and?accounting services.
First Round Capital?is another example, with seven partners with more than $400 million in assets under management and 22 full-time employees. FRC has a wide range of initiatives to support portfolio companies. For example, they organize yearly CEO, CFO and CTO summits in which executives of all portfolio companies in certain roles come together, as well as a related online community. Because of the internal, closed nature of the platform, it has become a trusted source for advice (e.g. ?Our finances are out of control and we need a CFO yesterday; what should we do??). They offer the portfolio free access to a ?venture concierge,? a lightweight consulting and research service that helps their entrepreneurs save time on research-related tasks.
Google Ventures?has over 115 portfolio companies, makes 60-80 investments per year, and is investing north of $100 million per year. They leverage both Google?s vast resources and a dedicated?54-person?team, including 10 partners. Joe Kraus, partner,?observed, ?We believe helping companies plays more of a role than most people give it credit for.?
Given the economic constraints of the industry, how else can VCs systematically increase the odds that their portfolio companies will be successful?
This is a summary of the full original study, which was co-authored with Adham AbdelFattah, founder and CEO of CircleVibe and a consultant on leave from McKinsey & Co.;?Koen Bremer,?a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group in Amsterdam, Holland; and?Gyorgy Buslig, a consultant with McKinsey & Co. in Budapest, Hungary.??
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