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Carnival Cruise Line suddenly removed all May 2021 sailings from its website. Many guests have already started noticing that they have been unable to book any cruises for that month.
UPDATE: It has now been made official and Carnival has extended its suspension through May 2021 including the cancellation of Mardi Gras’ inaugural cruise.
This could now be a sign that Carnival will be following in the footsteps of another major cruise line while it continues to work with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention on a safe return to operations.
May Cruises Removed From Carnival Website
As of Tuesday evening, Carnival Cruise Line removed all cruises for May 2021. This does now seem to be the case for everyone, and guests have been unable to book any cruises for that month.
At the moment, the only cruises showing are from June 2021 onwards, with a total of 289 results featuring multiple vessels and ports. The last time Carnival removed all its sailings in April, the cruise line announced a further suspension of operations less than a day later.
Even though nothing has officially been announced, Carnival Cruise Line Ambassador John healed has posted that there will be an announcement at 1 PM Eastern Time. However, there is still a possibility that this could be site maintenance or related to passenger capacity, which we know is part of the requirements from the CDC’s Conditional Sailing Order.
The cruise line has already announced a further suspension for operations in Australia recently. Carnival Splendor cruises are canceled through June 28, 2021, and Carnival Spirit cruises through September 12, 2021.
It Comes as No Surprise
Carnival Cruise Line removing all its May sailings does not come as any surprise at all. Norwegian Cruise Line had already canceled all its operations for May, and when one major line does this, it’s usually just a matter of time until others follow.
All three major cruise lines in the U.S. are dealing with the same requirements from the CDC, and we’ve already seen hints of a further delay for several weeks. Cruise lines have been waiting on the CDC for more details on resuming operations, and until this happens, there will be no test sailings. With no test sailings, there can be no guest sailings.
Worth Reading: Carnival Cruise Line’s CCO Responds to Frustrated Guests
Any new protocols need to be stress-tested first, and cruise lines need to have plans in place if an outbreak occurs. The good news is that there have already been cruises in Europe and out of Singapore, and health measures are working.
Wait and See
For now, we’ll just have to wait and see if the removal of the May cruises does mean a further suspension. Carnival had previously announced its extended suspension on January 22 when it canceled sailings through April 30, 2021.
Carnival has already canceled select cruises for much longer into the fall due to delayed dry docks. The much-anticipated debut of the new Mardi Gras out of Port Canaveral was delayed again to May 29, 2021. The hope is that the LNG-powered mega-ship won’t be delayed again for the fifth time. Carnival Radiance which is being completely transformed won’t be returning to service until November 2021 out of Long Beach.
New details could be about to be released and Cruise Hive will keep readers updated on any new developments.


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The Port of Brunswick: Investment, Growth & Opportunities
Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz announced that Colonel’s Island Terminal marked its highest tonnage volume ever at the State of the Port address. He also outlined actions required to achieve continued growth and prepare the Port of Brunswick for future prosperity.
“The Port of Brunswick experienced a remarkable recovery in FY 2010 (July 1, 2009 – June 30, 2010),” said Foltz. “The 26.2-percent increase in total annual tonnage of 1.672 million tons compared with the previous year allowed the GPA to surpass the record levels reached in FY2008 and continue its momentum gaining market share across the Southeast.”
In FY2010, GPA posted its best year ever for agri-bulk exporting more than one million tons, which was a 37-percent increase compared with FY2009. Soybeans nearly doubled with a 93-percent increase compared with FY2009, as a strong export to Asia. Other commodities included soybean meal, barley malt and wheat.
During FY2010 the GPA posted a 16-percent increase in auto and machinery units handled with a total of 332,100 units. The Port of Brunswick has increased its U.S. East Coast market share for autos by 66 percent and its total U.S. market share by 72 percent in the last three years.
“Georgia’s deepwater ports are one of the brightest spots in the Georgia economy right now,” said GPA’s Chairman of the Board Alec L. Poitevint. “Brunswick has become the sixth largest U.S. auto port by having the best workforce, unsurpassed infrastructure, room to grow and a sound marketing plan to capitalize on its strengths.”
According to a University of Georgia study released earlier this year, Georgia’s deepwater ports supported more than 295,000 jobs throughout the state during FY2009, which was an increase of 9,000 jobs in retail, transportation and logistics industries compared with the previous study in FY2006.
Additionally, Foltz lauded the new Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) facility, which opened its doors at the Port of Brunswick in January 2010. As the second vehicle processing center on the southside of Colonel’s Island Terminal, the MBUSA center also brought three ocean carriers, NYK, MOL and K-Line, to start calling the port regularly. He also discussed significant expansion opportunities and new infrastructure that will accommodate Georgia exports for biomass fuels.

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Get a load of THIS, Sonic!
We’ve seen LEGO and Nintendo team up for a giant LEGO Bowser in the past, and now LEGO has turned their attention to SEGA for another giant collab.
LEGO and SEGA have put together not one, but two massive LEGO builds from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. In the video above, you can see a life-sized Sonic LEGO statue alongside an impossibly huge LEGO Eggman in his Death Egg.
According to LEGO, these creations took over 380k LEGO bricks to put together, and 1450 hours of manpower. The end result is absolutely staggering, and you can check them out in-person at this year’s gamescom.


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By AUSTIN OWOICHO, Abuja
The Consumer Protection Council (CPC) on Wednesday condemned arbitrary billing by the electricity distribution companies (DISCOs), while urging them to embark on aggressive metering system to curb estimated billings.
Mr Babatunde Irukere, the Director General of CPC gave the advised at the customers’ engagement town hall meeting organised by Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC) in collaboration with CPC in Lagos.
Irukere said that the town hall meeting necessary to engage with electricity consumers directly and fashion out ways to listen and address their complaints with regards to electricity in a civilised and matured manner.
He said that group disconnection of consumer’s electricity without consideration for those paying their constituted an abuse of consumer rights.
He said that engaging with consumers remains the best option in resolving consumer’s challenges and complaints, adding that power continues to be greatest challenge in our country experiencing today.
According to him, power is a national challenge. All the values chain in the sector needs to come together to address the power sector challenges, which remains the best option.
Irukera, while expressing understanding about challenges in the industry, said “there is no excuse for how consumers are treated” noted that, “the key complaints that we receive are arbitrary, unsupported and unreasonable billing.
“People not being treated with dignity, the complaint resolution process is either lacking or unclear and there’s really no respect for people”.
The DG said consumers’ complaints have not been primarily about supply, “but about billing for non-existent supply”, adding that “as a matter of fact, a vast majority of supply complaints are attributed to the fact that you (DISCOs) are asking them to pay for something that was not supplied and the other significant reason is group disconnection”.
He however, lauded the management of EKEDC on their commitment towards ensuring complaints associated with estimated billing and metering are addressed, adding that the Disco has demonstrated commitment, fairness and responsibility towards effective customers service delivery engagement with consumers
According to him, “DISCOs have gotten to a point where no one takes their bills seriously anymore because they are considered outrageous.
“ I think the pressure on metering will not be so bad if the estimated billing was more transparent and reasonable” he noted.
Irukere charged the Discos to engage in aggrieve metering of consumers to address issues of estimated billing.
“The group disconnection usually adopted by distribution companies because of the debts owed by some members of the affected groups, unfortunately, disregards and undermines the rights of other consumers in the groups who did not owe.
“You see people who are complaining about supply because they, as individuals, have been responsible, but the DISCOs have painted them with a broad stroke and disconnected even the responsible people.
“As a lawyer, our approach to criminal work, even legal work, has always been that let the guilty man go free instead of punishing the innocent man.
“For me, there’s something fundamentally, absolutely irreparable and inexcusably wrong with penalising people because of the conduct of others. It is just not excusable.
“ The government should never do that to its people. But if the government does it as a state actor, as inexcusable as it is, it might even be permissible,’’ he added.
Irukere said that the fundamental principle of fairness required that people should pay for what they used, adding that estimated billing is not a Nigerian phenomenon but Nigerians condemns arbitrary billing,
“There should be cost reflective billing on consumption, consumers has the right to insist to pay for what they used.
“Estimated billing should be fair and not arbitrary, the group disconnection is unfair, community should not be held responsively for equipments
“Transformer should not be community effort, however, it is expected that DISCO are transparent, sensitivity and responsiveness as a o service provider
“The three will not increase mega watts but reduced consumer’s frustrations. We ensure that consumers are rightfully billed,’’ he added.
Mr Adeoye Fadeyibi, the Chief Executive Officer, EKEDC said that that company has improved tremendously on its customers service delivery system in ensuring effective and prompt service delivery to its customers within its operations.
Fadeyibi said that EKEDC has the responsibility to satisfy its customers, adding that the company is trying all it could to ensure maximum satisfaction of electricity supply to its customers .
He said that the company has also stepped up on prompt response to address faults and outage within its network, while condemning attitude of some consumers towards vandalising its equipments and bypassing meter to shortchange the company.
According to him, In spite of our effort in ensuring effective metering within our network to ease customer’s complaints, we noticed that over 70,000 customers had not vended (recharged the pre-paid meter) in the last one year.
“Some customers are in the habit of bypassing meter and engaging in energy theft, this has also affected the company negatively. Most of our transformers are being vandalized in some areas which cost the company huge amount to replace.
“This are part of the challenges affecting the company, we need to tell ourselves the truth. Consumers should also be our watchdog in their various locations by reporting those engaging in energy theft and equipment vandalisation
“`Because the money that was meant to develop other infrastructures has been diverted to repair vandalized equipment,’’ he said.
The managing director said that the Metering Assessment Programme (MAP) initiative will go a long way in addressing metering gap within the network, adding that the company had metered over 150,000 customers.
He said that efforts are being made to address the metering gap with more meters for consumers and the adoption of an interim plan of metering transformers for a more accurate estimation.


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KARACHI(Reuters): The Ministry of Textile Industry is working on a plan to enhance cotton production to 22 million bales by utilising technology, supportive policies and effective research work.
This was stated by Ms Rukhsana Shah, Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry, during her visit to Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) here on Thursday where she met all segments in the cotton trade.
She apprised the KCA members that the US Department of Agriculture is coordinating with Pakistan to work out on a plan to eradicate Curl Leave Cotton Virus (CLCV) and has donated over 4,000 cotton germ-plasma which is being used in developing new cotton varieties with desirable traits.
The secretary said that the textile sector in Pakistan has remained stagnant over the last decades due to a number of factors.
These include subsidies given to cotton growers by several countries which distort international prices, marketing constraints, global recession and increasingly stringent conditions laid down by buyers.
Consequently, Rukhsana Shah said cotton production has remained stagnant at about 13 to 14m bales per annum mainly due to poor seed quality, low germination levels and absence of Plant Breeders Right Act, which would have opened up doors to new technologies and varieties necessary for achieving higher yield.
Another constraint was the resistance to grading and standardization of cotton bales by ginners and spinners which consistently lowered the value of Pakistani cotton by around 10 cents per pound in the world market, she added.
Ms Shah warned that new countries from Africa and Latin America were fast joining production of cotton and its marketing which is based on both technologically sound and environmentally sustainable instruments based on standardisation system and on-line data verification of every bale of cotton they would produce.
In order to face these challenges, the secretary disclosed that her ministry recently re-introduced the CSF and also restructured the Pakistan Cotton Standards Institute so that it may play an important role in improving quality and contamination levels in our cotton.
Karachi Cotton Association chairman Amin Hashwani expressed concern over the recent intervention of Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) in the market.
He further said that such initiatives would reap windfall profits for ginners instead of growers, create distortions in the market, making the downstream industries uncompetitive.
The TCP cotton procurement, he said, would also burden the government with billions of rupees losses.
Amin Hashwani suggested that it would be prudent to give subsidy directly to growers as it would have been effective as well as more economically for the national exchequer.
Published in November 14th, 2014


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During Market hours on Friday – 22.04.2022
- The Dow (Symbol: DIA) went down 2.71%. The S&P 500 (Symbol: SPY) lost 2.74% and the Nasdaq (Symbol: QQQ) dropped 2.62%.
- American Express (Symbol: AXP) — Shares of the payment firm dipped 2.8% despite American Express topping earnings expectations for the first quarter. American Express reported a profit of $2.73 per share, versus the Refinitiv consensus estimate of $2.44 per share. Earnings got a boost from spending by millennials and Gen-X consumers, the company said.
- Verizon Communications (Symbol: VZ) — Shares of Verizon fell 6.1% after the company reported a loss of 36,000 monthly phone subscribers during the first quarter, compared with a FactSet estimate of a 49,300 loss. Verizon also posted earnings and revenue for the quarter that were in line with Wall Street forecasts.
- HCA Healthcare (Symbol: HCA), Universal Health Services (Symbol: UHS), Intuitive Surgical (Symbol: ISRG) — The health-care sector was under pressure Friday, with HCA Healthcare as its greatest laggard after reporting disappointing full-year earnings and revenue guidance. HCA dropped 19%, Universal Health Services tumbled 13%, and Intuitive Surgical declined about 13%.
- SVB Financial Group (Symbol: SIVB) — Shares for the regional bank soared more than 11% after the company reported strong earnings. SVB Financial Group earned an adjusted $6.22 per share, compared with a consensus estimate of $5.60 from FactSet. The company’s net interest income also beat expectations.
- Kimberly-Clark Corporation (Symbol: KMB) — Shares for the consumer products company spiked nearly 9% after Kimberly-Clark exceeded earnings expectations. The firm earned $1.35 per share in its most recent quarter, versus consensus estimates of $1.23 per share from Refinitiv. Kimberly-Clark also raised its full-year organic sales forecast.
- Gap (Symbol: GPS) — Shares for the retailer fell about 20% after Gap announced the chief executive officer of its Old Navy business, Nancy Green, is leaving the firm this week. Gap also cut its outlook for net sales growth this fiscal year.
During Premarket hours today (Monday – 25.04.2022):
- Coca-Cola (Symbol: KO) — Shares of Coca-Cola rose about 1% after the company beat analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines in the recent quarter. The beverage giant reported adjusted earnings of 64 cents per share on revenues of $10.5 billion, while analysts expected 58 cents per share on $9.83 billion in revenue.
- Twitter (Symbol: TWTR) — Twitter ticked 5% higher on reports that the social media giant is close to a deal with Elon Musk. It comes a day after the company’s board reportedly met Sunday to discuss a takeover bid from Elon Musk, who has already secured $46.5 billion in financing.
- Oil stocks —Shares of energy companies fell on Monday as oil prices fell on fears of a global slowdown amid lockdowns in Shanghai. Chevron (Symbol: CVX), ConocoPhillips (Symbol: COP), and Marathon Oil (Symbol: MRO) dipped 2.2%, 2.6% and 2.8% respectively.
- Kellogg (Symbol: K) — Shares of Kellogg dipped 1.8% after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to a hold. The bank cited the impact from workers’ strikes, rising inflation and supply chain disruptions among the reasons for the downgrade.
- Verizon (Symbol: VZ) — Verizon shares fell 1% after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock to neutral. The bank said Verizon is situated well for 5G growth but offers a lower potential return compared to peers like AT&T.
- Penn National Gaming (Symbol: PENN) — The gaming stock rose 2.8% after Morgan Stanley named it a buy despite its recent underperformance. The bank also sees opportunities in its Barstool Sports and theScore businesses.
- Warner Bros. Discovery (Symbol: WBD) — Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock fell 2.5% as investors continued to digest the news that the company would shutter its CNN+ service weeks after its launch.
*Any information contained in this article, including any information contained in external third party links, if any, is solely for informational purposes and does not contain, or should not be construed as containing, investment advice or an investment recommendation, or, an offer of or solicitation for any transactions in financial instruments. Past performance does not guarantee or predict future performance. Colmex Pro Ltd does not take into account your personal investment objectives or financial situation and makes no representation, and assumes no liability to the accuracy or completeness of the information provided, nor for any loss arising from any investment based on presented information.


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If Netflix’ position on net neutrality was justified on the merits, why does Netflix need to say so many deceptive things that are demonstrably untrue, in order to justify its case for its version of net neutrality?
Netflix knows that it is spreading falsehoods when it says that: 1) broadband is a “natural monopoly;” 2) Comcast is a “monopoly;” 3) Comcast wants to charge “the whole Internet;” and 3) “the Verizon network is crowded now.” Netflix knows that the truth and facts are not on their side, so apparently they are resorting to deception.
Before we expose Netflix’ biggest public deceptions, it is instructive to learn and spotlight what Netflix actually wants from the FCC’s net neutrality proceeding in the words of their own CEO, on their own corporate blog post, because when one understands what they actually are asking for it is much more understandable why Netflix would want and need to deceive the public to advance its cause.
- “Strong net neutrality additionally prevents ISPs from charging a toll for interconnection to services like Netflix, YouTube, or Skype, or intermediaries such as Cogent, Akamai or Level 3, to deliver the services and data requested by ISP residential subscribers. Instead, they must provide sufficient access to their network without charge.” [Bold emphasis added.]
Simply, Netflix’s position is that the Internet’s heaviest users and biggest beneficiaries of the Internet, i.e. Netflix, Google-YouTube, Amazon, and other large Internet companies, should not have to pay for any usage-based Internet interconnection, because consumers alone should shoulder the total cost of maintaining and upgrading the Internet’s infrastructure.
It is also important to appreciate how extraordinarily out-of-the-norm Netflix’s Internet streaming usage is, given that they are demanding that the FCC mandate that they pay nothing for their highest usage and consumers must subsidize Netflix’s business model.
Netflix consumes 34.2% of America’s downstream Internet bandwidth daily per Sandvine; in comparison, Google-YouTube consumes 13.2%, Apple-iTunes 3.6%, Facebook 2.0% Amazon 1.9% and Hulu 1.7%.
Netflix is in about a third of homes and it says its average-streaming-hours-per-user is roughly an hour a day. Since the average American household watches ~8 hours of traditional TV a day and ~15 minutes of online video per day excluding Netflix, that means Netflix consumes 34.2 % of the Internet’s downstream bandwidth to deliver just ~4% of U.S overall TV-video consumption. Not the most efficient video distribution to say the least.
Any way one slices it, Netflix gorges on more absolute and relative Internet bandwidth consumption than any other entity — by far.
Now we can better understand why Netflix is also the most outspoken proponent of defining “strong net neutrality” as FCC price regulation that ensures Netflix does not have to pay anything for its exceptionally outsized use of the Internet delivery system.
While Netflix opposes a pay-for-priority or use delivery model for the Internet, Netflix wants people to forget that Netflix became the leading video subscription service in the U.S. via a pay-for priority and use delivery model, which involved paying the U.S. Postal Service several hundred millions of dollars a year to deliver their DVDs directly to its customers’ mailboxes. Interesting how one’s position can change when hundreds of millions of dollars in potential FCC zero-price subsidies are on the table.
Simply, Netflix’ net neutrality position is that the company that consumes the most Internet bandwidth, and which most benefits and profits from that bandwidth, should pay nothing for it, because it should be consumers responsibility, not Netflix’ responsibility, to pay for Netflix’ Internet inefficient streams to consumers.
Exposing Netflix’ Net Neutrality Deceptions
First, Netflix knows broadband is not a “natural monopoly.”
A “natural monopoly” exists where economies of scale and scope preclude the possibility of competitive facilities or services. Netflix knows that the U.S. broadband industry could not have successfully invested $1.2 trillion in private risk capital over the last decade in competitive broadband facilities over copper, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, WiFi, WiMax, mobile 4G LTE, fixed wireless, and satellite, if broadband was in fact a “natural monopoly” of one technology and one provider.
“Natural monopoly” facilities, like electricity, water and gas, are based on the monopoly economics of a single-use and uniform-delivery. Netflix knows that broadband is competitive because all of the broadband facilities discussed above are digital and hencemulti-use (voice, video, high-speed, HD video, etc.), and all broadband services inherently can be variably provided at different speeds, capacities, capabilities, and prices to satisfy consumers’ different needs, wants and means.
Second, Netflix knows Comcast is not a “monopoly.”
Netflix knows the U.S. is the only country in the world with two ubiquitous wireline broadband infrastructures (cable and telco) and that the latest FCC report says that 91% of the U.S. population enjoys a competitive choice of at least three wireless broadband providers and 82% at least four, all because of America’s successful facilities-based competition policy.
And Netflix also knows that the White House said that: “In 2012, North America’s average mobile data connection speed was 2.6 Mbps, the fastest in the world, nearly twice that available in Western Europe and over five times the global average.” Moreover, Netflix knows those four national wireless broadband networks using LTE have only gotten much faster and more available since the White House’s 2012 assessment of broadband competition
Furthermore, Netflix knows that their customers routinely watch Netflix on tablets and smart phones over Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile’s wireless broadband networks, many WiFi hotspots, and satellite broadband networks as well. Simply, Netflix knows full well Comcast is not the only entity that can stream its service to customers. Comcast is obviously no monopoly.
Third, Netflix knows Comcast does not want to charge “the whole Internet.”
Netflix knows that Para 97 of the FCC’s Open Internet Remand NPRM indicates the FCC would not allow ISP’s to charge “the whole Internet:” “Consistent with the court’s ruling, we tentatively conclude that the revived no-blocking rule should be interpreted as requiring broadband providers to furnish providers with a minimum level of access to their end-user subscribers.” In plain English, the FCC’s proposed rules indicate that ISPs will not have the ability to charge anyone, whether they are a lone citizen, a start-up, an entrepreneur, or an Internet company for a basic “minimum level of access” to the Internet.
Most all of the net neutrality debate and fight over the Open Internet rules is whether or not the largest Internet companies (probably a couple of dozen companies or less, like Netflix, Google-YouTube, Amazon, etc., that could generate massive volumes of Internet traffic) have to pay more for the extraordinary high volumes of bandwidth their businesses require.
Netflix knows that it needs to deceive users and the media by telling them that the FCC proposed rules allowing “commercially reasonable” negotiations for large-volume interconnection to the Internet backbone would capture average users and start-ups, when Netflix knows the proposed rules plainly do not propose that scenario.
Netflix knows if users knew the truth — that the issue is largely just about corporate welfare for the richest, least-taxed, least-regulated, least diverse, most-immunized-from-liability, Internet companies — users would not support Netflix’s deceptive and self-serving net neutrality position.
Simply, Netflix knows Comcast and other ISPs only want to negotiate “commercially reasonable” interconnection arrangements with the largest cost causers on the Internet.
Lastly, Netflix knows it is not true that “the Verizon network is crowded now.”
As the Verizon Blog “Shifting Blame” explained, Netflix’ screen message to its streaming customers when they encounter buffering, “the Verizon network is crowded now,” is deceptive and untrue.
- Per Verizon: “The source of the problem is almost certainly NOT congestion in Verizon’s network. Instead, the problem is most likely congestion on the connection that Netflix has chosen to use to reach Verizon’s network. Of course, Netflix is solely responsible for choosing how their traffic is routed into any ISP’s network. … It would be more accurate for Netflix’s message screen to say: “The path that we have chosen to reach Verizon’s network is crowded right now.”However, that would highlight their responsibility for the problem.”
Deceptively, Netflix banks on the fact that most people do not know that the U.S. Internet has long exchanged traffic in an unregulated manner among the literally thousands of networks based on the volume of traffic one brings to an interconnection or peering point. They also don’t want people to know that there have long been three tiers of Internet backbone services based on traffic volume.
In addition, Netflix knows most people do not appreciate that Netflix is bringing hugely asymmetric downstream traffic to peering arrangements that have long been based on much more symmetric downstream/upstream traffic profiles.
Netflix is deceptively hiding the fact that it is Netflix’ extraordinarily asymmetric traffic flow that gobbles up one third of the U.S. Internet’s downstream traffic that is the new issue here, and that is changing and threatening sound economics of the Internet backbone infrastructure going forward.
What Netflix, Google-YouTube and the Internet Association members seek is a proverbial free-lunch subsidized and paid for by consumers. In addition, they don’t want to admit that is what they are asking the FCC for because they know how crass, self-serving and off-putting it would be if they were honest and transparent with consumers and the media.
In sum, Netflix has to deceive people with demonstrable falsehoods to distract them from what Netflix wants from the FCC and to convince them to support their policy position.
Why? Netflix has long deceived its investors that net neutrality regulations protect their core business model and guarantee no-financial-cost-downside for Netflix shareholders.
Now Netflix is doubling down on their deceptive approach by trying to deceive the public, media, Congress and the FCC that broadband is a “natural monopoly” and Comcast is a “monopoly” when they know they are not, and also that Comcast and Verizon are degrading Netflix streams to consumers when it actually is Netflix that is manufacturing the congestion problem for PR benefit in order to advance its net neutrality gambit.
Netflix Research Series
Part 1: Level 3 & Net Neutrality – Ignorance Unleashed! [11-30-10]
Part 2: Level 3-Netflix Expose their Hidden Agenda [12-3-10]
Part 3: Sinking Level 3 Seeking FCC Internet Regulation Bailout [12-8-10]
Part 4: Netflix’ Open Internet Entitlement Hubris [2-1-11]
Part 5: Fact-Checking Netflix’ Net Neutrality WSJ Op-ed [7-8-11]
Part 6: Netflix’ Glass House Temper Tantrum Over Broadband Usage Fees [7-26-11]
Part 7: Netflix Crushes its Own Momentum [9-20-11]
Part 8: Netflix the Unpredictable [10-10-11]
Part 9: Is Netflix the AOL of Web Streaming? [3-9-12]
Part 10: Netflix’ Net Neutrality Corporate Welfare Plan [5-9-12]
Part 11: 5 BIG Implications from Court Signals on Net Neutrality – A Special Report [9-13-13]
Part 12: Video: Why FCC Title II Reclassification of Broadband is a Legal Non-Starter [9-22-13]
Part 13: Is Net Neutrality Trying to Mutate into an Economic Entitlement? [1-12-14]
Part 14: Exposing Netflix’ Extraordinary Net Neutrality Arbitrage [1-24-14]
Part 15: Net Neutrality is about Consumer Benefit Not Corporate Welfare for Netflix [3-21-14]
[Originally published at Precursor Blog]


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Come January and all major airlines have to brace for a lean season which extends till March. But nevertheless, Jet Airways, Kingfisher, SpiceJet and their competitors have already fine-tuned business strategies to attract customers.
Come January and all major airlines have to brace for a lean season which extends till March. But nevertheless, Jet Airways , Kingfisher Airlines , SpiceJet and their competitors have already fine-tuned business strategies to attract customers. Form offering ‘buy one get one’ to ‘cash back’ offers, airlines are trying their luck at every possible marketing gimmick to fill up seats.
“Declining domestic air traffic has hit airlines hard and hence they are forced to introduce these temporary offers. Ticket prices have dropped due to the lean season and airlines feel the need to attract more passengers since many may have opted to travel by train,” says Subhash Goyal, president of STIC Travel Group.
Meanwhile, these carriers which had a flight occupancy of nearly 100% in the Oct-December period are now struggling to scale up their passenger loads which are hardly inching to 50% these days.
“Our yields were anything between Rs 6-8 in the Oct-Dec period, which is up 10% year-on-year. But now our bookings have dropped over 30% and our yields are under pressure,” says a sales executive at Jet. Yield is the revenue an airline earns per passenger per kilometer.
Jet seems confident of earning atleast Rs 2,000 crore from passengers in the December quarter when compared with Rs 1,541 crore which it earned in the corresponding quarter last fiscal. But the airline industry is highly cyclical in nature and seasonal fluctuations in traffic often reduces their cash balance during off-peak period which has just begun.
Hence, to fulfill its short-term cash requirement airlines take to discount route. Jet has quickly announced an advance purchase scheme by which if a traveler books a seat 21 days in advance, he will get the lowest fare by any standards. Kingfisher too has a great saver scheme in which you save around Rs 1,500 on a Mumbai-Delhi return fare of around Rs 7,500. SpiceJet too is offering a discount upto Rs 1000 on fares which are already 60% lower then what they were a month ago. Similarly, online booking engine makemytrip.com is offering a round trip ticket free on purchase of a ticket of same denomination.
But these offers can be tricky cautions Iqbal Mulla, president, Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) “Airlines have different discounts if booked 30, 21 or 15 days ahead of the departure date. One has to be really sure of making that trip on the date reserved as cancellation charges can be as high as 50% of the fare, if booked through the available offers.”
Did You Read: Limited downside seen in Spice Jet, Jet Airways: Tulsian
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Things are changing. Widespread consumer demand for plastic products that are free of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) has precipitated some significant positive changes in the way that food, beverage and water containers are manufactured. That’s the good news.
But a new study out of Germany has found that thousands of other potentially harmful chemicals are still leaching from plastic products into food and beverages, including an endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC) known as di(2-ethylhexyl) fumarate, or DEHF, that is completely unregulated.
Martin Wagner and colleague, Jorg Oehlmann, from the Goethe University Frankfurt, learned this after conducting tests on 18 different bottled water products to look for the presence of EDCs. The team identified some 24,520 different chemicals present in the tested water.
But the biggest concern, and what appears to be the foundation of the study’s findings, was DEHF, a plasticizer chemical that is used to make plastic bottles more flexible. According to reports, DEHF was clearly identified in the tested water as the most consistent and obvious culprit causing anti-estrogenic activity. Despite trace amounts of more than 24,000 other potentially damaging chemicals, DEHF stood out as the only possible EDC capable of inducing this particular observed activity, a highly concerning observation.
The study’s published abstract explains that 13 of the 18 bottled water products tested exhibited “significant” anti-estrogenic activity, while 16 of the 18 samples were found to inhibit the body’s androgen receptors by an astounding 90 percent. Additionally, the other 24,520 chemical traces besides DEHF were also identified as exhibiting antagonistic activity, which means that they, too, are detrimental to the body’s hormonal system.
The Mystery Nasty.
Apparently DEHF is not alone in causing significant damage to the endocrine system. The team was unable to identify this chemical as being specifically anti-androgenic. This suggests that there is some other chemical, or chemical combination, being leached into bottled water that is interfering with the body’s chemical signaling system, which is, of course, responsible for hormone production and use within the body.“We confirmed the identity and biological activity of DEHF and additional isomers of dioctyl fumarate and maleate using authentic standards,” report the researchers. “Since DEHF is anti-estrogenic but not anti-androgenic we conclude that additional, yet unidentified EDCs must contribute to the antagonistic effect of bottled water.”
So while these specific findings concerning DEHF are groundbreaking, the overall conclusion to be drawn from this research is that far more study is needed to determine the types of chemicals that are being leeched from plastic into our food and water, not to mention the extent of this leeching. And since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the rest of the three-letter government agencies will surely never get around to conducting this important research, independent science will simply have to take up the charge.
You can read the full study abstract here:
Water filters; Luxury? Necessity? What would YOU do if this was your drinking water and you didn’t own a water filter?
Several top officials in Crystal City, TX, were recently arrested by the FBI on corruption charges.
The circumstances have left local residents with little recourse amid a sudden tap water crisis that saw their tap water turn black and smelly.
“Not dark or murky water — black water,” Gawker reported.
Schools Superintendent Imelda Allen took matters into her own hands.
“She went ahead and did what she had to do: ordered hand sanitizer and bottled water for the district schools and trucked in huge five-gallon jugs to provide to cafeterias. No, she couldn’t get a water filter for everyone. her budget didn’t go that far.
“I wasn’t going to wait for anyone to call me from City Hall,” Allen said “I know that leadership is not present at the time.”
The spate of arrests was prompted by what is allegedly a deep level of corruption in the city.
“All but one top official in [the] city of 7,500, about 130 miles southwest of San Antonio, is facing some kind of criminal charge. The mayor, mayor pro tempore, a council member and the city manager were arrested this month on sweeping bribery and conspiracy charges. And another member of the city council is in a federal detention center after he admitted to smuggling undocumented Mexican immigrants across the border,” the Post reported.
“Mostly, [officials are] accused of taking bribes from a local gambling ringleader in exchange for allowing his illicit business to operate and snuffing out his competition. Then, the mayor was arrested again after allegedly scuffling with a local woman at a city council meeting,” Gawker reported.
The city has since weighed in on its black tap water, which locals are comparing to crude oil.
“The city said the problem occurred when the city’s elevated water tank was drained for the first time in decades and built-up sediment in the bottom of the tank got into the water,” CNN reported.
Ian: So.. what do you think?
What if this happened to you and you DIDN’T have a good water filter?
Luxury or necessity?
It’s pretty simple really. Most water supplies are already alkaline.
So why are you paying premium dollars for bottled alkaline water – in plastic?
Yes, we’ve all accepted that drinking alkaline water was good for us and the metastudy we have on our website proves it.. but no-one asked about the water they already drink from their home tap and whether drinking $5 worth of bottled water (sent from Italy to Australia or America) a day will actually restore our alkaline balance.
So here’s the truth. It won’t! The best way to restore the alkaline minerals used up by our bodies in counteracting our acid overload is simple. Replace them in quantities sufficient to restore balance.
Sounds so simple, and it is. Yes, alkaline water will help, as will alkalizing foods, but for my money, taking the actual minerals in their original form is the obvious answer. That’s why every morning I take a glass of UltraStream water, and add a teaspoon of Alkaline Booster. That way I have my molecular hydrogen and my alkaline minerals aplenty.
Take a look at this video as I explain in full.
Common contaminants found in our drinking water
This toxic element is found naturally in soil and bedrock. Ingestion in high amounts can lead to serious health problems.
Small amounts of salt are natural. Higher levels are unnatural and may indicate a faulty water softener, road salt, septic waste or fertilizer contamination.
A natural part of the microbiology of soils, insects, and warm-blooded animals, coliform bacteria is the primary indicator for the presence of disease-causing organisms in water.
Found naturally in water, but now artificially added. While low levels of fluoride are desirable, excessive amounts may stain teeth.
Interferes with cleaning tasks from laundering and dishwashing to bathing and personal grooming. Clothes laundered in hard water may look dingy and feel harsh and scratchy. Dishes and glasses may be spotted when dry. Hard water may leave film on glass shower doors, shower walls, bathtubs, sinks, faucets, etc. Hair washed in hard water may feel sticky and look dull. These deposits also collect in household plumbing lines, water heaters and appliances, reducing their efficiency.
A gas dissolved in water. It is easily detected by its rotten egg odor.
Not considered hazardous to health, but when the level of iron exceeds 0.3 mg/l water may leave behind red, brown, or yellow stains on laundry, glassware, dishes and fixtures. The water may have a metallic taste and an offensive odor, or even restrict or clog piping and fixtures.
Houses built before 1985 may contain lead pipes or lead-based solder. Lead can cause serious health problems in young children.
A metal found in rock, which does not occur naturally in its pure form. It is often accompanied by iron and hydrogen sulfide and causes black stains. Evidence of manganese staining is typically found in the dishwasher.
Elevated levels can be an indication of farm chemical or lawn fertilizer contamination, or even septic saturation. Nitrates can pose a serious health risk to infants.
High levels of sulfates can cause odors, leave spots, taste bitter and have a temporary laxative effect.
Ian: There are many, many more now in our water beyond this list. The US EPA tells us that there are 600 identified toxins for which they ahev insufficient data on danger levels.
Then, of course, there are the toxins added by water supplies, including chlorine, chloramines and (see list) fluoride. Chlorine can combine with organics to create even more toxins.
Visit any supermarket. You see them stacked, row after row, brand name upon brand name.
We are spoiled for choices … but we are fast learning that the ‘plastic habit’ can indeed be quite costly when added up.
And then there’s the plastic question. Naturally, it’s better to choose glass rather than cheap plastic which leaches toxic chemicals such as Bisphenol-A which could affect health when taken frequently and long term.
We are, of course, talking about bottled water. So why should we have to buy bottled drinking water? Why is this massive industry, totally dependent upon plastic, transport costs and robbing local areas of their good water?
Remember the sixties? The idea of someone charging for water in bottles would have been laughable. I still have a somewhat sinister regard for the fact that we’re being charged for water, and not without reasoning: There just could be something covertly sinister and devious going on.
There are indeed a number of people who have educated themselves enough to realize that they don’t want to choose drinking tap water with fluoride and other chemicals.
But why should we even have a need to choose the more expensive bottled water option and put up with the chemically-treated tap water?
Surely, it’s up to us to do something about this?
Fracking and our water supply
As a water lover I have to ask: why has the dangerous process of fracking technology been allowed to carry on without due study of the effects on our water supply?
Fracking uses hydraulic pressure blasts (some 40,000 plus gallons of water containing over 600 toxic chemicals) to fracture shale rock to get at its contents of gas and oil to be extracted. Much of this toxic chemical water contains methane, formaldehyde, mercury, uranium, lead and carcinogens – and is is never recovered. It inevitably finds its way into our groundwater. It can pollute wells, thus polluting our water supplies.
As well as environmental damage, the reckless insanity of fracking has now been linked to earthquakes and ill health with people and animals living in nearby areas.
It’s pretty obvious that fracking corporations are buying off the politicians and people connected.
So am I right? Is there something devious going on. Let’s look at the link between tap water to fracking.
Water, one of the most essential of life’s commodities is deliberately becoming more and more precious to obtain.
When you control the water supplies you can control the people.
It’s a crazy thought but.. perhaps the reason for fracking with its water-polluting deadly toxic chemicals going by unchecked is that it puts the people in a situation whereby their local water supplies in wells and taps is not longer usable so they have no other choice than to go to the stores and buy the corporation’s water supplies.
Think of the astronomical amounts of money the manipulators of all this could make from the quantities of water needed from folks all over the world in their everyday lives!
I can clearly remember when polycarbonate water bottles were the best bottle to buy. It wasn’t so long ago! And now we are seeing results coming in on the effects.
PA in mothers’ urine linked to low birth weights in China
It appears that a pregnant woman’s exposure to BPA can increase the risk of delivering babies with low birth weights,
During the course of the Chinese study from 2012 to 2014, 452 mother-infant pairs were selected from Wuhan, the most populous city in Central China.
Urine samples were collected from the mothers at delivery and measured for bisphenol-A . Using birth weight data obtained from medical records, the researchers then evaluated the relationship between urinary BPA levels and low birth weight.
They found that mothers of newborns with lower birth weights had significantly higher BPA levels in their urine than the control mothers, according to the study published this month in Environment International.
They also found that the relationship between low birth weight and higher BPA levels was stronger among the female babies, suggesting female babies might be more susceptible to BPA than males.
The study was the first of its kind in China, and it certainly adds to growing evidence that fetal exposure to BPA might cause developmental problems.
BPA is an endocrine-disrupting chemical that can act like estrogen in the body. Human and animal studies have linked the chemical to reproductive, behavioral and endocrine effects.
Even the most diligent mothers-to-be may find it challenging to avoid contact with BPA. It is ubiquitous—used to make polycarbonate plastics and commonly found in food and drink packaging, and in thermal cash register receipts.
The study doesn’t prove BPA caused the low birth weights. Low birth weight can happen for a number of different reasons.
Bu… it is concerning as babies with low birth weights may be more at risk for other health problems, such as increased susceptibility to disease and infection, or longer-term problems such as learning disabilities or delayed motor and social development.
And it isn’t the first study to link prenatal BPA exposure to impaired development. In 2013, findings from a Dutch study suggest that BPA exposure at levels commonly found in people may slow fetal growth.
In addition, a 2014 study linked high BPA levels in the placenta to lower birth weights.
As you are probably aware, we have a no-BPA policy at alkaway. We are in the front line, delivering water bottles and filters that are using every day, year in, year out. That’s why we spent the money on the most stringent testing in the world for the UltraStream; the EU safety certification tests. To our knowledge we are the ONLY water ionizer in the world to have this certification. Given that you may be spending thousands on a water ionizer, I strongly recommend that you ask for independent test proof of the product’s BPA status.
I’m working on a downloadable document that attempts to collect and refine all the ways we can drink water to optimise health. Boy, there’s a lotta theories out there but not a lot of science. Stick around.
We all know that soda packs lots of addictive sugar. Few of us know that soda has another ingredient that’s worth knowing about.
Some caramel-colored sodas could contain a potential carcinogen, suggests a new study from Johns Hopkins University.
Caramel color is a dark brown food additive. It helps give drinks such as cola their special hue. The one you think as ‘natural’ (ha ha!) It’s made by heating and caramelizing sugars. Sounds simple, right?
The problem is this: some types of caramel color are made using chemicals such as ammonium hydroxide to push along the caramelization process. During the chemical reactions, something called 4-methylimidazole (4-MEI) can form.
Researchers tested 12 sodas purchased in California and New York for 4-MEI content. They found a wide range, from 9.5 micrograms per liter to up to 915 micrograms per liter. The sodas with the highest 4-MEI levels were Malta Goya and the New York samples of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi One.
Researchers estimated that consumption of the studied drinks could contribute to anywhere from 78 to 5,011 extra cancer cases in the U.S.
In some cases, drinks sold in California had lower levels of 4-MEI. California’s Proposition 65 law lists 4-MEI as a carcinogen and requires manufacturers to include a warning label on products with more than 29 micrograms of the chemical. It seems that the manufacturers used a different formula for products sold in California in order to comply with the state’s regulations, says study author Keeve Nachman, Ph.D., MHS.
So is there good news? Both PepsiCo and Goya have released statements saying that they’ve reduced levels of 4-MEI in their products since these researchers took their samples. They say that all products now meet the California standards.
Still, it’s possible that there’s no truly safe level of intake of 4-MEI, says Nachman. If you’re concerned about exposure to the potential carcinogen, it’s smart to read labels and choose products that don’t contain caramel color.
Ideally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will step in and regulate this chemical. “What we think makes the most sense is for the FDA to set a tolerance level for the formation of 4-MEI for the caramel color that’s used in beverages,” says Nachman.
Possible risks of caramel color don’t come with much benefit. “One other dimension to this whole thing is it’s not like the caramel color itself really serves an important function,” says Nachman. “Caramel color is just for changing the color of the beverage. It doesn’t play a role in flavor or preservation.”
About half of a group is ischemic stroke patients were found to be dehydrated when they arrived at the hospital, a Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Stroke Center team reported—and they did poorly compared to the patients who arrived hydrated.
Presenting a study at the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference in Nashville, Tenn., Mona Bahouth, MD, a Johns Hopkins Hospital stroke fellow, said that the report suggests all stroke patients should get fluids.
The problem is that rehydration poses a risk of hypervolemia, which can put stress on the heart and cause fluid to back up in the lungs.
In the study, Bahouth and colleagues followed 168 patients admitted with ischemic stroke. They found that stroke condition worsened or did not improve in 42% of the dehydrated group, but that only 17% of the hydrated group worsened or did not improve.
The patients’ progress, or lack of it, was tracked with MRI scans, and NIHSS scores.
Discussing the results, Bahouth said it is already known that about 60% of stroke patients are dehydrated, and that the condition may in itself cause strokes. “When patients don’t drink enough water, their blood gets sludgy,” she said. That could mean that as it travels through the brain, this thicker blood flows slowly and can back up in narrowed or blocked blood vessels.
“The beauty here lies in the simplicity of this potential treatment,” she said, “Rehydration is cheap and can be given to people even in the most remote locations.” But that does not mean these patients should be told to immediately drink water after the onset of a stroke. That could lead to choking.
The research also did not resolve the question of whether the patients’ dehydration signaled other medical conditions that could have contributed to their tendency to have poorstroke outcomes.
Still, Bahouth added, in general, “as people get older they tend to avoid drinking enough water, partly because they don’t want to have to use the bathroom as often—particularly if they have a disability.” That reluctance to drink water could be contributing to stroke risk, she said.
The study found that dehydration in the group of patients followed was not linked to race, gender, ethnicity or diabetes status. Patients with kidney disease were not included in the study.
Ian: Hmmm. I relate to the bit about getting older and not wanting to pee so often.. but I made the choice. Pee more and drink enough. And yet the underlying question is whether consistent hydration supports stroke immunity.
From all we read.. especially the comment about sludgy blood – means to me that hydration is incredibly important!
We could take this question much farther. Your salt ratio relates to your ability to hold water. And then we can look at the effect of changed pH on the effect of water. I had the experience for most of my life of bloating with tap water or bottled water, but as soon as I began drinking high hydrogen alkaline water this all changed.
Just one other point I picked up.. I had never heard of hypervolemia. Obviously it only applies when someone is dehydrated and attempts fast rehydration, but surely a better answer is a daily program or target of hydration?
Nearly three- quarters (72 percent) of Americans will be committing to “drinking enough water” in 2015, according to a new survey conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of the Council for Responsible Nutrition.
“Water is a must! It’s essential to many bodily functions for people of all ages. We’re encouraged to see that people recognize the importance of appropriate levels of hydration,” said Duffy MacKay, N.D., senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, CRN. “But water is only one of the healthy habits that this survey demonstrated people found most important. Let’s remember that the key to good health is a constellation of healthy habits, not just one habit in isolation.”
According to the survey, “drinking enough water” was the number one health and wellness habit American adults are committing to in 2015, with the following four options rounding up the top five:
- eating healthy/healthier in general (66 percent)
- getting more physically active (62 percent)
- getting more sleep (49 percent)
- taking vitamins (47 percent)
In the bottom five were starting the day off right with..
- a healthy breakfast (37 percent)
- spending more time with family and friends in real life, instead of online (34 percent)
- staying cool, calm and collected when stuck in traffic (30 percent)
- visiting the doctor before getting sick (23 percent)
- tracking meals/exercise via mobile app(s), online tool(s) or personal gadget(s) (17 percent)
Over one in five (22 percent) selected “other health and wellness habit(s)” and eight percent responded that they are not committing to any health and wellness habits in 2015.
This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of CRN from Dec. 8 to 10, 2014, among 2,021 adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
Can we have hydrogen rich water anywhere we go? Yes we can!
Ian compares an electronic portable hydrogen rich water product with our AlkaPod and comes up with some surprising results.
Both make fresh molecular hydrogen infused in water on the go.
Both alkalize the water using minerals.
Both give the water good ORP.
One is a visible process, the other isn’t.
One uses electricity, the other doesn’t.
One is renewable, the other works as long as it works.
One holds H2 far more efficiently that the other.
One may go ‘Bang’ if you don’t do it right.
Please let us know what YOU think of these products. We thrive on your feedback.
Bottled Water versus owning your own UltraStream Alkaline Water Ioniser
Author Diana Michaels is one of our many Alkaway distributors, way down in Busselton, Western Australia .
Ian: Diana, thank you so much for this!
The cost of 15 litres of bottled water delivered to your home is about $19.95. A commercial price could be as low as $13.00 per 15 litres. Note that the costs used in this comparison for the bottled water were actual costs quoted by one of the largest distributors in Australia for the supply of water to a medium size corporate business earlier this year, 2014.
The cost to a business who used 1 x 15 litre of spring water weekly at a cost of $13.00 per 15 litre with a fortnightly delivery would be:
At $13.00 per week for only one 15 litre bottle the annual cost would be $676.00 – (780 litres of water per annum) . The cost of the UltraStream replacement filter cartridge is $199.00 and it produces 3000 litres of alkaline and ionised water.
Both the chilled water dispenser and the UltraStream unit cost to initially purchase – the water dispenser is approximately $200 the UltraStream is $499 (and for a commercial application an undersink kit is recommended which is $175). If no power source is available that would need to be installed for the water dispenser but not required for the UltraStream. The UltraStream does not require a plumber to install the Unit it can he installed by anyone who is handy;
The cost in the first year of the chilled water dispenser (buying only 1 x 15 litre bottle delivered fortnightly) is $676 for the water; approximately $200 for the dispenser; an additional cost of $1.25 fuel levy per delivery ($1.25 x 26 fortnights) adds 32.50; and in some cases the cost of installing a powerpoin and some power consumption – amounts to an estimated $908.50;
The cost in the first year of the UltraStream plus the undersink kit and a replacement filter is $499 for the UltraStream; $175 for the undersink kit; and $199 for the replacement filter (this is for next years 3000 litres of water); – this amounts to $873.00;
The cost in the second year of the chilled water dispenser with exactly the same usage (assuming that there has not been a price rise) is $676 for (780 litres of water) plus $32.50 for the fuel levy and some power consumption – amounting to around $708.50;
The cost of the second year of the UltraStream is $199.00 for the replacement filter (which you already purchased in your UltraStream Startup Kit). If you buy a replacement filter in the second year you will always have one on hand;
Subsequent years (assuming no increase in price) the bottled water will cost at least $708.50 plus power and the UltraStream will cost $199.00 for the replacement filter, plus a small amount for shipping;
UltraSteam wins hands down!
To read more click on this link …… In my capacity as a Occupational Health and Safety Advisor
Diana Michaels – Starlight Wellness Centre July 2014
It’s almost a week since we arrived in Tokyo on our mission to investigate the molecular hydrogen phenomena.
Those of you who have been following this blog would already be aware that we have developed the UltraStream, the world’s first validated non electric water filter and hydrogen producer, and that it has tested better than the most expensive electric system on the market. We knew that there was more to learn and we knew that japan was the place H2 was ‘happening’.
Along the way, we also wanted to check out some of the sales supporting stories we have all heard over the years and see if they were true.
Firstly, we wanted to see if,a s we have been told, alkaline ionized water was available ‘everywhere’.
We looked in the many 7-11’s. We looked in supermarkets, drugstores and in the myriad slot machine drink dispensers and the closest we came to alkaline water was a bottle called ‘Pocari Sweat’. Assured by Western colleagues that this was indeed the ionized water that was Kirin Brewery’s success story, we dropped some yen in the slot and took a bottle back to the hotel. The first swig revealed the awful truth. It was sugar laden; a real ‘kiddy drink’, yet this is supposed to be the most popular water based drink in Japan. A quick Google search revealed that although it has alkaline electrolytes of sodium potassium magnesium and calcium it is NOT ionized.
Our second commonly held assumption was that there are ionized water machines in many supermarkets. When I posted on my Facebook page that we couldn’t find one anywhere, an indignant respondent from Enagic sent an image of one somewhere in Japan, accusing me of malicious intent, whatever that means. Well, our truth is that we couldn’t find one dispenser.
We also believed that if, as is so often quoted, one home in 5 in Japan has a water ionizer, (and there are 18 companies selling them) there should be evidence of them in large department or whitegoods stores. Surely if one in 5 homes have one, they have gotten to the realm of mass merchandising, which would mean normal retail?
Again, nothing. Even stores selling water filters had no ionizers (unlike Taiwan which has stacks of them in stores) so in the absence of actually knocking on doors of private residences, I have no supportive evidence of the 1 in 5 claim.
We had some great discussions with industry leaders, one of whom gave us some good data on actual sales. They sold 100 units per day. That’s 36500 per year. They have 60% of the market, so this in my reckoning equals around 600,000 per year. Now at around 128,000,000, and an average family size (let’s be generous and say 4 people per home) that equals 32 million homes. If there is an ionizer in every 5th home, that means there are 6,400,000 ionizers installed in Japan. At present sales rates, this would take ten years to fill the demand. So.. is it true? I don’t know.
We are committing AlkaWay to finding, testing, developing and offering any way that allows our customers to access molecular hydrogen, and we’ve brought home not just a lot of knowledge but also some interesting technologies we’ll be testing out immediately. Times have changed and we are changing with them.
More Than 24,500 Chemicals Found in Bottled Water
by Dr. Jennifer Landa
Bottled water has become a fashion trend – specific brands with unique shapes that tell the world a little something about you. While your bottle of water might make you appear to be a purveyor of optimal hydration, it’s also a sign you may be exposing your body to an onslaught of chemicals.
Recently, a study by German researchers, found nearly 25,000 chemicals lurking in a single bottle of water. Many of these chemicals mimic the effects of potent pharmaceuticals inside your body, according to the study published in the journal PLoS One.
The study was broken into two parts.
For the initial portion, the researchers tested 18 samples of various commercially sold water bottles from around the globe. Through chemical analyses, they tested the water to determine if it interfered with the body’s estrogen and androgen receptors. Tap water was tested as well, for comparison. The researchers were shocked to learn that most of the bottled waters revealed interference with both kinds of hormone receptors; amounts as little as 0.1 ounces inhibited estrogenic activity by 60 percent and androgenic activity by 90 percent. The tap water, on the other hand, showed no activity on either form of receptor.
During the second part of the study, the scientists sought to pinpoint which chemicals were the cause of reproductive hormonal interferences. Using other forms of detection to isolate the various chemicals, the researchers found more than 24,500 different chemicals in the bottled waters – including two classes of chemicals, maleates and fumarates, which are known potent endocrine disruptors (hormonally active chemicals). Maleates and fumarates are utilized to manufacture plastic resins, which are used to make water bottles, and they may also appear as contaminants of other plastic chemicals.
As a healthy adult, the occasional sip from the “toxic fountain” of bottled water won’t kill you. However, small children, women of child-bearing age, and pregnant women are at greater risk of poor outcomes when exposed to these chemicals.
Effects can include stunted growth, early puberty, premature birth, infertility and early menopause – just to name a few. The remaining population should still exercise caution, as more and more research is discovering that these chemical can also trigger diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.
Make it a habit to carry a refillable glass, stainless steel or BPA-Free water bottle. Many cities and states are beginning to convert water fountains to more easily accommodate refilling your water bottle. This began as an effort to protect the environment, but following this study, it would appear the benefits are dual fold. Earlier this year the FDA banned bisphenol-A (BPA), a common chemical used to make plastic bottles and linings of cans, from some food-related plastics. The ban also included baby bottles and sippy cups, though manufacturers say they had already eliminated the chemical in their products. It would seem, however, BPA isn’t the only problem when it comes to chemicals leaking into the food supply.
We Can Take control of our health. No-one else will!
Invest in a reusable water bottle and buya water filter that you can trust, then simply fill your bottle with pure healthy water at home. Choose a bottle made of nontoxic glass or stainless steel – highly recommended to ensure your health and safety. Some manufacturers have begun making glass bottles covered by a rubber cover to prevent breakage and simplify your commitment to health. And, of course there is one more benefit – by choosing to carry a refillable water bottle, you avoid that $2 plus charge every time you’re thirsty.
Do you go to the gym to lose weight then have a Coke to cool off?
The biggest mistake many of us make is going to the gym and then failing to clean up our diet. For many of us, diets are a daily kitchen battlefield. And one of the biggest mistakes that individuals often make is by substituting diet soda for regular soda.
While cutting out soda is one of the smartest things a person can do – intaking calories via liquid is never a good ide. And yet that’s what many of us do. We even try it with the so-called zero calorie drinks. Be warned: the calorie count may read “0” – but there are still serious negative drawbacks associated with diet sodas.
A brand new study conducted by researchers at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland shows that many, many overweight or obese people who drink diet sodas are more likely to consume a higher amount of calories from food than people who don’t drink soda.
Lead author of this particular study, Sara Bleich, stated that “overweight and obese adults who drink diet soda eat a comparable amount of total calories as heavier adults who drink sugary beverages, they consume significantly more calories from solid food.” This encompassed both meals and snacks and it should give cause for concern to people who may be looking at diet sodas as a quick fix.
Furthermore, people who drink diet soda are more likely to have a higher body mass index (BMI) according to this study.
The data set is strong: it involves information gleaned from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999 to 2010. That survey was focused on discovering nationwide patterns in adult diet beverage intake and also took into consideration overall calorie intake.
The researchers involved in the John Hopkins study found that drinking diet sodas did not promote excess eating in normal-weight individuals but that overweight or obese people who drank diet soda would eat significantly more and would also consume more snack food than those who drank regular sodas.
The reason for this is likely because of artificial sweeteners, which basically trick the brain into thinking you are less full than you actually are. This can cause cravings which ultimately ruin diets and lead to unhealthy food choices. The researchers involved with the study also noted in their abstract that consumption of diet soda has risen from 3% in 1965 to 20% as of 2013.
Ian: How about it? Where are you substituting liquid for solids with the idea it’s better?
Most recently, one of the largest studies of its kind, which included nearly 60,000 post-menopausal women who were followed for about 10 years, found that drinking just two diet drinks a day can dramatically increase your risk of an early death from heart disease.4, 5 The findings were presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 63rd Annual Scientific Session in Washington, DC.6 As reported by the University of Iowa:7
“…[C]ompared to women who never or only rarely consume diet drinks, those who consume two or more a day are 30 percent more likely to have a cardiovascular event [heart attack or stroke] and 50 percent more likely to die from related disease.
‘This is one of the largest studies on this topic, and our findings are consistent with some previous data, especially those linking diet drinks to the metabolic syndrome,’ says Dr. Ankur Vyas… the lead investigator of the study.
…The association persisted even after researchers adjusted the data to account for demographic characteristics and other cardiovascular risk factors, including body mass index, smoking, hormone therapy use, physical activity, energy intake, salt intake, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and sugar-sweetened beverage intake.
On average, women who consumed two or more diet drinks a day were younger, more likely to be smokers, and had a higher prevalence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and higher body mass index.”
Thank you Joe Mercola!
My business Guru, Seth Godin, talked today about value of things.
He used this example:
” A $400 bottle of water is too expensive to just about everyone, even to people with more than $500 in the bank. They have the cash, but they sure don’t want to spend it, not on something they think is worth less than it costs.”
How very true. And how many ways do different people manage the mental work of purchase? As Seth points out, ‘worth’ to one person means something else entirely to another.
If I said to you that you can buy 3ooo litres of purified alkaline hydrogen water, delivered home, you’d probably say no because you’d wonder where to put it, how to drink it and whether you dog might drown in it. The price might be important, and the actual value in the market for that amount of water in individual bottles is around $5000!But buying an UltraStream that uses your tap to convert the same amount of water into the elixer of alkaline hydrogen water, when a filter will produce over 3000 litres without wasting nary a drop at $199.
How does the mind work out NOT to order one immediately?
Sherry Brescia sent me this excellent post about the best soda.
“I have a talent for hitting the grocery store at the precise moment when it’s mobbed, the lines are a mile long and there are cashiers in training.
Recently as I waited in a L-O-N-G, slow line to pay for my groceries, I began doing one of my favorite things.
Peeking in other people’s carts as they walked by.
Most times when I do this, what I see isn’t pretty–there are a LOT of people out there whose 4 food groups are Kraft, Frito-Lay, Campbell’s and Kellogg’s.
But recently my observations were especially disturbing…
Because every single cart I looked in had soda in it.
Some people are aware that plastic containers leach endocrine-disrupting compounds into food and water. Given that the term “endocrine-disrupting” is thrown around a lot, it’s important you understand what this means. Your endocrine system produces hormones that act as chemical messengers that govern certain processes in the body (such as sexual development in young people). An endocrine-disruptor is something that interferes with this process. Given that hormones work in microscopic doses, it doesn’t take much of a foreign compound to cause problems (this is why when health officials tell you that very little leaches out of plastic containers, they are demonstrating their fundamental ignorance of how hormones work). Endocrine disruptors are known to cause cancer, birth defects, and developmental disorders. This isn’t theory. This is known fact. Further, they can cause the feminization of males and the masculinization of females.
You may have heard of BPA (Bisphenyl-A). Perhaps you’ve also heard about phthalates (pronounced thal-ates), plasticizers added to various products to keep them flexible. These are endocrine-disrupting compounds we’ve known about for some time. Now get ready for fumarates and maleates. Both of these classes of compounds are endocrine-disrupting. Maleates are chemicals that are structurally similar to phthalates, so it is no surprise they function similarly in the human body. The real bummer of all of this: these compounds (fumarates and maleates) do not appear to be regulated by any health agency; therefore, you are leaving your health in the hands of companies who do not have your best wishes in mind. I do not mean to sound like it is a big conspiracy theory, but plastics of all kinds that contact our food and water are not beneficial to our health. Companies hide behind statements designed to confuse the consumer, implying there isn’t enough information to demonstrate causality (when, in fact, there is).
The incidence of cancer in the United States, by some estimates, now stands at 2 in 5. That means that 2 in 5 people will contract cancer in their lifetime (1 in 2 males, 1 in 3 females). The abundance of endocrine-disrupting compounds, combined with poor diets that cannot power a vital immune system, are a contributing factor (of many factors) to all of this. Focusing on the health of your endocrine system is one important way to assist with the prevention of cancer. One of the ways we accomplish this is to stop drinking any liquid out of a plastic container. Period. If it isn’t in glass or some other relatively inert material, don’t drink it. If you don’t like your tap water (and many people don’t, water which passes through a great distance of plastic tubing), then gather spring water in glass containers (such as large carboys). It may sound like a lot of work, but it contributes to a healthy endocrine system by keeping your body more free of harmful chemicals. Don’t be an uninformed consumer. You are too important to somebody on this planet to depart early due to a preventable health issue.


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Thus far in the mobile revolution, Intel (INTC -2.31%) has been a non-player. The chip giant has made big pushes in recent years, including its Medfield Atom that debuted last year, but has little to show for it in the way of design wins or consumer mindshare. The handful of Google (GOOGL -1.82%) Android devices that it's powered haven't been blockbusters by any measure, such as the Motorola RAZR i.
Well, Intel may have just scored a big mobile win. Online benchmark results from GFXBench have been spotted that suggest that Intel may have won a spot in an upcoming Samsung tablet, likely the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. For those unfamiliar with Samsung's bizarre naming methodology, that's the unreleased 10.1-inch version of the South Korean company's third-generation tablet that could be sporting Intel silicon inside.
Specifically, investors could be looking at a dual-core Clover Trail Atom under the hood, a notable departure from the Samsung Exynos or Qualcomm (QCOM -1.62%) Snapdragons typically utilized in similar devices. Previous benchmarks that have popped up put the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 on performance par with the Snapdragon 600 and Exynos 5 Octa. The predecessor Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 featured an OMAP processor from Texas Instruments, who has since ditched the sector.
Much like in smartphones, Samsung is rising as Apple's biggest threat in tablets, currently occupying the No. 2 spot in the market behind the Mac maker. Samsung has a wide range of devices, so Intel scoring one a spot in one of these wouldn't be a game changer by any stretch of the imagination. It could, however, be the start at chipping away at both Qualcomm and Apple as two of the dominant forces in mobile chips today.
Intel's current mobile success hinges upon Microsoft (MSFT -1.94%) Windows 8, as its current tablet spots are predominantly Windows tablets. Windows 8 continues to see tepid adoption at best, and even longtime Windows OEMs are hedging their bets on the platform by exploring alternatives. For instance, Hewlett-Packard just launched its SlateBook x2, an Android convertible running on an NVIDIA Tegra processor -- decidedly as un-WinTel as it gets.
Perhaps the biggest challenge will be app performance on Intel's x86 architecture. Android is built in a way that is relatively architecture agnostic for most apps, but apps that are ARM-native (such as many 3-D games) may see some performance issues. Even if Intel scores a spot, the real test will be if the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 sells.


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Jahez's Growth from 2021 to 2022
Jahez is a Saudi Arabia’s online food-delivery unicorn who successfully listed on Saudi’s secondary market, Nomu, and raising a $2.4 billion initial public offering (IPO) in 2022. Jahez achieved this stellar exit within 5 years of establishing itself, while delivering a cumulative 100 million meals to Saudi customers through 19,900 merchants and 52,400 delivery partners. A year prior to IPO-ing, the food-delivery start-up grew from serving 22 cities to serving 47 cities, capturing 28% of the country’s food delivery market share. In March 2021, the company served over 1.3 million customers. Fifteen months later, Jahez’s consumer-base had grown 67% to serve 2.4 million customers.


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Why did Apple acquire Metaio?
This week, Apple added Augmented Reality company Metaio to its portfolio. The news broke when a document surfaced confirming the purchase. Why did Apple acquire Metaio? Apple hasn’t shared any details, but this investment is a significant one – and it whispers that Apple has big plans for Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
Metaio, Apple and Augmented Reality
Apple is swimming in a market already frothing with device and R&D innovation. Samsung’s GearVR is gaining traction among developers, and the Microsoft HoloLens shows promise. Google has encouraged widespread low-cost VR use with their Cardboard Head-mounted display, and they bought Augmented Reality startup Magic Leap for $542M in October. At Google I/O this week, Google announced Jump, a content partnership with GoPro, demonstrating further progress toward making Virtual Reality and 3D video ubiquitous.
But until now, Apple has kept their AR and VR operations quiet. In February, Apple posted jobs for Virtual Reality developers, sparking rumors of a head-mounted VR display. The acquisition of Metaio, one of the most established AR companies in the world, gives Apple a broader set of technology and developer network to work with for either AR or VR applications.
What will Apple do next?
Apple’s wide reach and deep expertise in experience-driven consumer technology open thrilling possibilities for new products, hardware, and software.
Changes are already in the works. TechCrunch reported that earlier this week, Metaio announced on its website that its products are no longer available. This means that over 1,000 clients like Ikea, Ferrari, and Adidas, will have to find new resources for AR development and cloud services.
Shutting down Metaio’s products also suggests that Apple sees more value in the research and development capabilities instead. A glance at Apple history shows that Apple often builds on synergy with key parts of its acquisitions. With Beats, for example, the value ran much deeper than the product line of candy-color headphones – the Beats streaming service had a unique features that the company needed.
Metaio boasts a similarly broad range of assets. As an Augmented Reality company, Metaio has invested in research and development of new computer vision applications as well as developer tools. A few of the things that Metaio was already on the road to creating: Markerless Augmented Reality experiences, and Thermal Touch AR interfaces for wearables and surfaces. Combined with an Apple-developed headset, these interactions could become key features.
Apple could be eyeing a combination of Metaio’s Augmented Reality development and Apple’s own research and development in VR and AR. Apple already holds a patent for a Head-mounted display system, suggesting that Apple has had an eye on the space for years.
This would pair well with the set of SDK’s – including supporting depth-sensing cameras – that Metaio has created. The IP in computer vision sets Apple up to compete with Google’s Project Tango.
Get Ready for Apple Reality
An Augmented Reality headset could be the next breakout Apple device. Bringing Apple’s user experience thinking to AR would be a powerful transformation – centering around human usability was perhaps the biggest hurdle to adoption for Google Glass.
Apple also has an immediate opportunity to take Augmented Reality mainstream. As 9 to 5 Mac reports, Apple will be able to add Augmented Reality features to its existing map products, immersing AR into everyday life.
Alternatives to Metaio: VisualCommerce and more
Apple’s acquisition will bring about some shifts in the landscape. Metaio’s SDK for Unity was a competitor to Qualcomm® Vuforia™, dropping Apple into competition with Qualcomm, maker of one of the chips in the iPhone 6. This means that Metaio clients searching for alternative Augmented Reality resources will have both platform choices and product options in the marketplace, with varying levels of capability. Marxent’s VisualCommerce™ software runs on Vuforia and is the only cross-platform SaaS designed to manage infinite 3D products on multiple platforms including iOS, Android, and heads-up displays like Samsung GearVR. VisualCommerce™ is used by clients like Lowe’s, Simmons Bedding Company, AZEK Building Products, and Hammacher Schlemmer. Several emerging options also utilize Vuforia, including Daqri, ScopeAR, and TwoBulls.
The Apple-Metaio acquisition comes just a week before the Augmented World Expo (AWE), one of the biggest annual gatherings of Augmented and Virtual Reality experts in the world. Marxent will be exhibiting and participating on a panel, and we are interested to hear the chatter about the acquisition and what it means. We’ll share those thoughts as part of our coverage of AWE.


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Aboard the Queen Mary, Suzanne King and a half-dozen volunteers were surrounded by a sea of pink as they wrapped raffle items in rosy cellophane and finalized the details of Saturday’s “Runway Alive in Pink” fundraiser.
The volunteer crew, known by Queen Mary staff as the “pink ladies,” is led by King and members of the Pink Ribbons Crusade. The Texas-based charity is responsible for bringing the exhibit “Diana: Legacy of a Princess” to the Queen Mary last year, and they are updating the exhibit this weekend and hosting a fundraiser.
“We Work for Breast Cancer and The Queen,” the volunteers’ T-shirts proclaim. It’s a fitting motto for the nonprofit, which manages a traveling exhibit featuring the world’s largest private collection of Princess Diana dresses as well as historical memorabilia from British royalty. The exhibit is used as a way to raise money to support breast cancer prevention and awareness.
King, who personally owns many of the items on display, said the Pink Ribbons Crusade is raising money this weekend to support a local charity called Breast Cancer Angels that helps patients, survivors and their families cope.
The Breast Cancer Angels help assist women, men and children who need help paying for the essentials, such as food, clothing, medicine and housing. The volunteer-operated nonprofit was founded by Faye Dietiker in 2002 and is based in Cypress.
Dietiker’s goal was to create an organization that operated entirely on volunteers that would give away 100 percent of the money raised to those in treatment and their families.
“I am a stage 4 breast cancer survivor,” said Dietiker, who is going to be walking down the runway Saturday. “I met a lot of women in the chemo room, and a lot of the women were struggling. … They were too sick to work.”
Breast Cancer Angels helps women who mostly are long-term metastatic and stay with the organization until they pass away. Without the help of the Angels, Dietiker said some are women who otherwise would have died alone in their cars.
To support the cause during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, King said “Diana: Legacy of a Princess” will feature an expanded showcase of fashions worn by the icon. For a limited time, the exhibit will include a formal pink and cream satin dinner dress that graced the cover of People Magazine in 1988 and a short Versace black dress that the princess donned for the 1995 “Apollo 13” premiere, among other designs.
And, although the models will not be able to wear the princess’s dresses, those walking the runway will be wearing a mix of modern and vintage-inspired dresses made by some of Diana’s favorite designers. The models on the runway will include Miss California 2013 Crystal Lee, Miss California 2012 Leah Cecil, other titleholders and breast cancer survivors.
“The Breast Cancer Angels are not a well-known charity, but they deserve tremendous credit for what they are doing,” King said. “We hope to raise a ton of money, but part of what we are doing too is raising awareness about their organization. We are sincerely here to do something good.”
Available starting today, the expanded exhibit, “Diana: Legacy of a Princess,” is open daily on board the Queen Mary and tickets start at $27.95 for adults and $18.95 for children.
“Runway Alive in Pink” includes admission to the exhibit as well as a sit-down luncheon, fashion show, designer boutique, silent auction, gift bags and free parking. The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Tickets start at $99 per person. For details, visit www.dianadresses.org.
Ashleigh Ruhl is an editor with Gazette Newspapers. She can be reached at email@example.com.


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PARIS, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The legendary saxophone maker Henri Selmer Paris said on Wednesday it would sell a majority stake to an investment fund, ending more than 130 years of family control over the firm.
Founded in 1885, the company has remained in the Selmer family’s hands since then, but some of its 55 shareholders have decided to sell out to investment fund Argos Soditic, it said in a statement.
The company, which has a staff of 500 and booked revenues of 35 million euros ($41.90 million)in 2017, said bringing in the fund as a shareholder would help it tap into growing demand in the face of growing competition.
Though it also makes clarinets, bassoons and trumpets, the company is best known for saxophones played by jazz legends like John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter.
Selmer’s Mark VI tenors were in particular the saxophone of choice for many of the jazz greats from the 1950s and 1960s and vintage instruments remain in high demand and fetch equally high prices.
$1 = 0.8354 euros Reporting by Leigh Thomas; editing by John Irish
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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Plant-based meat has seen its ups and downs in recent years, but one brand in particular has been riding out the storm for a long time and, apparently, just barely staying above water. After facing a stagnant market in the United States, Beyond Meat appears to be seeking fresh opportunity in the UK alongside its ongoing partner Pizza Hut.
Beyond Meat and Pizza Hut are bringing their collaboration, the Plant-Based Beyond Pepperoni Pizza, to Pizza Hut locations nationwide in the UK for a limited time, per an announcement from the two brands. The plant-based pepperoni will be available on Pizza Hut’s Big New Yorker Pizza, Beyond Pepperoni Feast Pizza, and in a Beyond Pepperoni Melt. Customers in the UK can try the new items now via Pizza Hut Delivery locations nationwide, but pepperoni won’t be available at any dine-in restaurant locations until January 2024.
Based on a survey of 48 Gen Z consumers in the UK conducted in July 2023 by Beyond Meat, the brand found that 80% said they’d love to try a plant-based pepperoni pizza. (That’s a small sample size, but reflective of the public’s widespread willingness to try this stuff at least once.)
Here in the United States, Beyond Meat has had its share of struggles, ranging from layoffs to a lawsuit filed by investors to partnerships with fast food chains that never seem to scale up. In fact, the only somewhat lasting partnership the brand appears to have in North America is with Pizza Hut.
Beyond Meat and Pizza Hut kicked off their relationship in November 2020 with the launch of a Beyond Italian Sausage pizza. In 2021, the two brands took the collaboration to the next level by debuting Beyond Pepperoni domestically, also a limited-time offering.
Beyond Meat has also collaborated with McDonald’s, Starbucks, KFC, Taco Bell, and Panda Express in the past to create limited-time menu offerings in the U.S. None of these partnerships have led to permanent menu items, though Beyond Meat confirmed to The Takeout that it continues to partner with McDonald’s. (The McPlant Burger, which features a Beyond patty, has previously seen only a limited release in the U.S. but is currently available in the UK, Austria, Germany, and Ireland.)
The plant-based company has been in something of a financial tailspin for some time. For the first quarter of 2023 Beyond Meat’s revenue was $92.2 million, 15.7% less than the previous year. And although 19.8 million pounds of product were sold during that period, this was a decrease of 7.3% from the previous year as well. Now in the third quarter of 2023, the company has reported net revenues of $75.3 million, a year-over-year decrease of 8.7%.
Beyond Meat has tried to find success in other foreign markets such as China, but once again saw enthusiasm for its products burn out, as reported by Bloomberg. However, in this most recent quarterly report, Beyond CEO Ethan Brown said international retail sales increased 39% and international food service sales were up almost 80% due to high demand for the brand’s plant-based burgers in Europe. Even if Beyond Meat’s American Dream appears to be dying, its European ventures could secure the company’s future.