text:
The Crystal City DoubleTree ballroom is dizzy with hand-stitched sequins, denim panels and silk kimono fabrics. The air is perfumed by spider-legged models and freshly cleaned carpets. Clicking cameras harmonize with clicking heels.
It is the first and only fitting for designer Brittany McCoy, a University of Maryland senior marketing and supply chain major, whose fashion line Dynasty walked in DC Fashion Week’s Emerging Designers Showcase. In true fashion-industry style, she rushes to set up her rack of designs on the side of the room, pick her models and fit all of her clothes to their body shapes in a matter of hours, all while keeping a piece of her mind on her neglected schoolwork.
At a university so often associated with scientific and technologic advancement, designers and creatives like McCoy often go overlooked. Few know that the University of Maryland is full of fashion-industry hopefuls, designers, stylists and more.
The process of developing a brand is no small feat. It can take designers years to create strong names for themselves. Building a brand while still working on a degree, maintaining a social life and, in most cases, holding additional jobs is just that much harder to accomplish.
A few students on this campus represent the Washington region in the fashion industry while still going to class, writing 10-page essays and cramming for midterms. These are their stories.
Still near the beginning of the developmental process is Oru Wonodi, a sophomore business student. Her brand, NOVA Prints and Apparel, was once a screen-printing business she started as a high school junior.
“At first, I was going to do just streetwear,” Wonodi said. “I had a line last summer where it was just screen-printed tees and tank tops.
In October, Wonodi got the idea to turn the line into a social venture in which each purchase would buy “a vaccination, or a net or something like that.”
After converting her brand, she started building an image.
“When you start a business, it’s honestly mostly about just messaging people,” Wonodi said. “Getting your logo out, finding people to help you design stuff. … All of the business classes I’ve been taking have shown me that while everyone thinks that it’s a straight line in business, it’s just a yarn ball of confusion and mistakes.”
While developing her brand, she saw a need to partner with a company and find funding.
She participated in the Do Good Challenge, an annual competition to fund the most beneficial and profitable companies and projects university students create. Additionally, she received a seed grant, which went to buying her materials.
“Right now, I’m partnered with Johns Hopkins,” Wonodi said. “In Nigeria, they have a place where they provide vaccinations to people. That’s my cause.”
To further aid her effort, she traveled to Nigeria to buy fabric from local marketplaces.
“I’m trying to do at least 80 percent locally sourced stuff,” Wonodi said. “I’m trying to buy fabrics and materials from vendors within any country that I’m trying to help. And I’m trying to keep the cost down so I can sell the clothes at normal prices.”
Thus far, it has required a massive collective effort to convert NOVA to a social endeavor. About 30 people have pitched in, she said.
“My aunt, who helped me with the John Hopkins stuff,” Wonodi said. “People in the business school. Even my high school art teacher, because she used to tell me I should sell my stuff. Maybe even 50 people, if I really start thinking about it.”
This spring, Wonodi will compile a pitch to give to angel investors, backers who support small ventures and then gather a team to help with production.
“I’m putting my first line together all while doing schoolwork and maintaining my job and my internship,” Wonodi said. “It’s been crazy, but I know it’ll be worth it in the end.”
ABOVE: Jordan Greenwald holds one of his creations for Meta Cartel. (Photo courtesy of Robert H. Smith School of Business)
Senior economics major Jordan Greenwald founded Meta Cartel, an urban streetwear brand currently specializing in headwear and commissioned art.
Like many young creatives, Greenwald has always been ambitious.
“I had always been interested in doing something different, just really crazy and extraordinary,” Greenwald said.
Growing up in New York, he faced a lot of opposition toward his dreams. He found moral inspiration in Toronto’s Drake.
“I look up to him,” Greenwald said. “This dude talks about a lifestyle that he actually made even when people were telling him, ‘You can’t do this; you can’t do that.’ My whole life, that’s all anyone ever told me. No one believed in me.”
That changed, though, when Greenwald traveled to Barcelona, Spain, for a study-abroad program a couple of years ago.
“It literally changed my life,” Greenwald said. “Everything about it. The people were so cool; the culture is so open; everyone is very progressive. People can do what they want.”
“I sublet for him while he was in Spain,” said Mauricio Garcia, Meta’s human resources director. “We were just sitting down and hanging out, and he brought up this idea about [how] he wanted to start his own brand because he was so inspired by the arts and street culture in Barcelona. He loved the political and provocative pieces, the thought-provoking pieces that you just wouldn’t see anywhere else.”
That atmosphere, along with a personally abundant appreciation for art, inspired Greenwald to come home with a head full of ideas.
“We started talking about what he wanted the brand to look like, and we came up with this sort of Renaissance imagery,” Garcia said. “That’s how we came up for the first images to put on the hats.”
Greenwald landed in the United States and within a week, he began making arrangements to register the company in the state of Maryland.
“Things were moving,” he said.
The first step was finding a graphic designer to help create all of his promotional and digital content. He put fliers up all over the business school asking anyone interested to contact him. Insert Rachel George, the brand’s current creative director and a Diamondback photographer, whom the rest of the team has come to consider Greenwald’s right-hand woman.
Within a few short months, he compiled a core team of six members: the founder, Greenwald; the creative director, George; the brand manager, Michael Bregenzer; the digital content director, Brandon Aksteter; the human resources manager, Garcia; and the brand artist, John Ortiz.
The team recently added two new members, Ornelle Chimi, the production designer and a Diamondback photographer, and Lucas George, the business development specialist. Together, the eight of them, along with models and manufacturers, develop the brand on a daily basis.
Even though Garcia officially joined the team only recently, he has been with Greenwald since the beginning. He endearingly recounts seeing the first batch of hats delivered to their apartment and shakes his head at the fact that the two once bought a sewing machine, thinking they were going to sew all of the tags onto their hats themselves. Working with Meta Cartel has revolutionized their lifestyles.
“Our apartment used to be so barren; now there’s art everywhere,” Garcia said.
The team has experienced its fair share of complications trying to get itself off the ground. After attempting to launch his first set of designs in November 2014, Greenwald experienced a six-month delay due to manufacturing complications.
“We submitted our designs to the manufacturer and waited, and when it came in, it was not what I ordered,” said Greenwald. “It was just wrong.”
The group has since released multiple collections, including nearly a dozen snapback and five-panel cap designs, as well as a beanie. Their most recent collection, the “Cognoscere” series, includes two five-panel hats featuring commissioned designs by university student Lucas Perrella on the under-brim. The two hats feature two halves of the same artwork printed in opposite colors to represent how “position affects perception.”
Art has now become a pivotal part of the brand.
Today, Meta Cartel is more or less a conglomeration of fashion, art and digital content developed through personal and collaborative efforts and exhibited on social media. The brand recently announced it will now be selling art commissioned from local artists, available for purchase through its website.
“We went to a lot of events specifically for fashion, and we saw that art was kind of always right next to it, so we decided to incorporate it into the brand,” Greenwald said.
With perhaps the largest team of on-campus designers, the company’s production value relies on employees’ ability to work together. Garcia ensures the eight members feel less like colleagues and more like close-knit friends by planning events such as potluck dinners, a Secret Santa exchange and the company’s one-year anniversary party.
Greenwald has devised his own methods for keeping all of his team members aligned. He creates “playing cards” for each member, index-card-sized pieces of paper on which he lists responsibilities and things to check up on. He updates them through each meeting, which he holds in the Dingman Center (he even made one for this reporter when we were arranging meetings).
In a year, Meta Cartel has become more than just a headwear brand; it is an artistic and cultural breeding ground for creatives with dreams of breaking out of a 9-to-5, Greenwald said.
“I think the hardest thing currently is maintaining your vision and your focus when everyone is pressuring you to do a ‘regular’ job,” he said. “Just do you.”
ABOVE: Models wear Nonich creations (Photo courtesy of Illicit Tales)
A couple of swipes through rising urban streetwear Instagram pages will probably lead you to this next brand.
Nonich is a year-old company started by sophomore marketing major Damar Bess, Henry Blanco, a sophomore enrolled in letters and sciences, and Rodrick Campbell, a junior photography major at Towson University. What started as a small shirt-screening company in Bess’s sophomore year of high school has now become a widely recognized and dynamic brand with one mission: to make clean, quality clothes.
In December 2014, Bess’ original company underwent a grand rebranding, developing a new name, Nonich, from the words “No” and “Niche.”
He wanted the name to represent the fact that the company “didn’t really want to have one main market.”
“Brands like Hood by Air are really out there and are kind of stuck there,” Bess said. “If Hood by Air made a suit, you’d be like, ‘What is going on?’ No one would buy it.”
Nonich seeks to remain uncategorized to prevent people from pigeonholing them. The brand is all-encompassing.
“Nonich is for everyone,” Campbell said.
Added Blanco: “Nonich is for the people.”
“For the grandmas,” Bess joked.
At its core, Nonich began as a merging of creative efforts.
“[Bess and I] had separate brands,” Campbell said. “We had different business partners. We were both struggling with our original brands and then we came together, sat down, and were like, ‘Look, here’s my situation.’ And then we just brought it all together.”
Blanco joined the team shortly after.
Together, the three handle finances and marketing. Campbell photographs the clothes for lookbooks and promotional material and functions as the “background dude that keeps the brand on track,” as Bess put it.
The hardest part about launching the line was finding a manufacturer. They started looking online into overseas manufacturers, which proved difficult.
Prior to Nonich’s rebranding, when Bess was just doing screen printing, the manufacturer he worked with was only a 30-minute drive away. With Nonich’s launch, the trio had to seek out new, higher-quality manufacturers to produce full bodies of clothes.
“In fashion, you’ve usually got to try a lot of times and hope you’re knocking on the right door,” Bess said.
A few months delayed, their first four-piece collection of “survivalist outerwear mixed with really clean pieces” launched this past fall. The line consists of a jersey, a modern tee, a pair of pants and a heavy coat.
“We wanted to mix a rugged REI jacket type of look with the pants and the jersey,” Bess said.
The clothes are a combination of machine- and handmade.
“The jacket detailing is hand-done,” Bess said. “The color blocking across the hood was hard to do on a machine.”
Currently, the only way to purchase their clothes is via their website, but their current stock is completely sold out. Their website’s lookbook features Matt Black, a popular Instagram model and rapper, as well as Bess’ younger brother, who broke his ankle a few days before the New York photo shoot and is seen styled in Nonich with his crutches.
“We had him crutching all up and down New York,” Blanco joked. “Damar had to carry him at one point.”
Their photo shoots have faced other complications. Bess describes one of their most recent as “chaotic.”
After waking up late and arriving to the location behind schedule, the team had to rush to dress all of the models, who had come in from out of town. New to the industry, the models weren’t accustomed to the etiquette of a photo shoot.
“These models brought friends, like an entourage,” Bess said. “We got everybody dressed, but people didn’t even know what they were shooting for. Some girl just showed up. … It was a learning experience.”
Achieving a balance between school and the clothing line has proven difficult.
“Sometimes, it comes down to: Am I going to go to class, or am I going to drive to drop off all of these jackets at our store in Montgomery Mall?” Bess said. “I try not to miss too much class, but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Because Blanco and Bess live together, they are able to take advantage of every down moment they have outside of schoolwork and regular jobs.
“We stay up late talking about the brand all of the time,” Blanco said. “You’ve got to figure out what your priorities are and do what you love first.”
Added Bess: “No XBox or PS4 in the room.”
Damar Bess's brother, Damian, models some of the line's clothing (Photo courtesy of Illicit Dreams)
Nonich will be launching its next collection, which currently exists only in messy sketches and notes in Bess’s and Blanco’s notebooks, in spring or summer 2016.
“Everything you see in the front is the result of me not paying attention in class,” Bess said while leafing through a graphite-covered textbook-sized notebook.
Alongside drawings of jackets, shirts and shorts were notes like “have to sublimize and KILL THIS” and labels like “The Bro Outfit.”
The inspiration for the next collection of six pieces came from a bus ride Bess took recently.
On his way to Route 1, Bess encountered a bus with a heavy population of “bros.” Another man on the bus didn’t seem to care for their aesthetic, and as the bros got off at their stop, he said, “Look at the bros in their candy-colored shorts and fucking polos.”
Bess knew then what he wanted to do with the next collection: “put a new take on old stuff to make it really stand out.”
“This collection, we want to make fun of the whole white frat-boy aesthetic,” Bess said. “So we made up a fake frat to be a part of the capsule collections, right after we release our spring stuff.”
The spring/summer collection also includes a cap tentatively referred to as the Abuelita Cap, based on a baseball hat Bess’ grandmother knitted for him for Christmas. Campbell and Blanco like it so much they plan to have her make a few in different colors for the next line.
There are also plans for their take on the polo shirt. They pulled inspiration for this piece from a rather unusual source: the Apple Store.
“We came into a store one day and saw how they embroidered their shirts, and I was like, ‘Yo, that shit is hard. We need to do that,’” Bess said.
One of the primary colors of the next collection comes from a special moment in hip-hop history. Remember Cam’ron’s infamous baby pink mink coat from Mercedes Benz Fashion Week circa 2002?
“Fire,” Campbell said.
As for the release date of the collection: “We’re aiming for February or March,” Bess said, “but we’re not too adhered to this schedule. We just want to work on our stuff and make sure it’s the best.”
“We’re definitely trying to have more pop-up shops,” Blanco added. “We’re just trying to get better. We want to grow globally.”
Hinted Bess: “Just know that we might be shooting at a country club near you. That’s all we’re saying for now.”
ABOVE: Models wear Dynasty designs (Photo courtesy of Brittany McCoy)
Last year’s Black Friday sales included some undeniable price cuts at local fabric stores, and McCoy, owner of Dynasty, just couldn’t help herself.
“I went not wanting to get anything, because that’s when I get the most inspired,” said McCoy.
She left with many yards of heavily embroidered creme-colored fabric, as well as plain blacks, soft pinks and other colors, without realizing they were all in a similar scheme. Soon after, she decided to use her purchases to create her next collection.
“In the past, I’ve kind of had to work my collections around a certain theme of a show that I was doing,” said McCoy, who has designed two African-themed collections for other university shows. “Like cater it to someone else instead of doing what I wanted to be doing.”
With this new collection, though, she wanted to “embody everything [she is] as a designer.”
“Every piece that I’m making is exactly what I would wear,” she said.
Before she’d even managed to put a stitch in the designs, McCoy received an email on an otherwise mundane Sunday morning. A representative of DC Fashion Week asked McCoy if she would be interested in having her line featured.
“I was literally running around in circles in my apartment,” McCoy said. “My roommates didn’t know what was wrong with me.”
Since beginning her fashion journey at the Fashion Institute of Technology’s pre-college summer program, seeing her designs walk in a Fashion Week has been one of McCoy’s biggest dreams. After spending a summer in New York learning to read patterns, use a sewing machine and maneuver the streets of Manhattan, McCoy felt designing a line was something she could see herself achieving.
Many years later, she’s finally able to brand her designs the way she’s always wanted to.
“In the past, with my previous collections, everyone kind of just thought I design African clothes,” McCoy said. “I want to show people who I really am.”
She started creating her collection for DC Fashion Week as soon as she got the news that she would be featured in the event.
“When I started, I had like five pieces in my head that I definitely wanted to do, and then I built my collection around that,” she said.
She went straight to cutting and sewing, skipping the drawing stages.
“I’m not really a sketcher; I think it’s a waste of time,” McCoy said.
This collection is a big leap in a new direction for McCoy’s designs.
“There are some things I have been dying to make that I just haven’t had the time to, so this is my chance to really do it,” she said.
While designing her own collection, McCoy checked up regularly on her favorite designers, usually through Instagram, to see what was in and what was out. She took screenshots of things she liked and kept them in a folder for reference. She loves watching Project Runway for inspiration.
“It just gets me in the zone,” McCoy said.
The name for the brand came later. McCoy gives full credit to her little brother, Xavier, for coining it.
“I wanted something that would embody someone who is ambitious, someone who’s vicious, goes out and conquers the world,” McCoy said.
While She and her brother were brainstorming together one day, he came up with Dynasty. McCoy fell in love with the name instantly, inflating Xavier’s ego.
“According to him, he’s my creative consultant,” McCoy said.
Now that her line has walked in Saturday’s sold-out Metropolitan Emerging Designers & Indie Artists Showcase, McCoy plans to start designing her next collection, for which she already has visions.
“I’ve been dying to make bathing suits, so I definitely want to experiment with those,” McCoy said. “I just want to expand on what I’m already doing.”
The fashion industry is cyclical process, down to the very core of creation. Designing a line is something most designers start from square one on, with nothing but color schemes and fabric swatches to guide a creative vision.
It’s about establishing a brand, producing for that brand and then continuing to put out product alongside promotional efforts to build up the name. But there are dozens of variations that come along with each individual name and designer.
This campus might be known for its science and technology programs, but it is even more renowned for what it promotes: ambition in the pursuit of passion. Few things encapsulate this better than a young college student who works, interns, attends classes and runs a fashion line all at the same time. Every degree-seeking designer should take a well-deserved bow, provided they can fit it into their schedule.
CORRECTION: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this story stated Oru Wonodi went through interviews with the Dingman Center for Entrepreurship to accelerate through the next round of the Do Good Challenge. It also stated she received a seed grant as a reward for advancing. This is an inaccurate description of the Do Good Challenge process. The article has been updated.


text:
PepsiCo is now the official food-and-beverage sponsor of the National Baskbetball Association, but don't expect to see Pepsi on the leaderboard.
That's according to MarketWatch, who reports that Mountain Dew, PepsiCo's citrus soft drink, will now take the spotlight, along with Aquafina, Brisk, Doritos, and Ruffles. Gatorade, another brand under the PepsiCo umbrella, will continue to be a featured sports drink.
Coca-Cola's partnership will end after 29 years. During that time lemon-lime flavored Sprite was touted as the lead NBA brand. Neither company explained why the partnership's ending, but apparently Mountain Dew's branding strategy bowled the higher-ups over.
Not only is the Dew at "the cutting edge of digital and engaging youth," Emilio Collins, NBA's executive vice president of global marketing partnerships, told MarketWatch, it's "growing geographically" in all the right places, i.e., southern and western states. This aligns with the NBA base and its focus on millennial fans.

domain: news


text:
Here’s a question for the aficionados of corporate social responsibility. Should Walt Disney allow the serving of shark’s fin soup at the new Disneyland in Hong Kong? According to a story in the Hongkong Standard, a professor at Hong Kong University has protested this because many sharks are endangered and because the harvesting is inhumane. Of course, this professor is a gweilo—a foreigner.
The Disney company says it has to conform to local customs, and by local custom, if you’re restaurant is going to do a business in fancy banquets, it has to serve that soup. I lived in Hong Kong 15 years ago, and that appeared to be the case then. (I had my share of shark's fin soup, but not the top-of-the line stuff.)
The environmentalists will say that shark’s fin soup is ‘unsustainable,’ and maybe it is. If it is, then it will eventually go away. But how much is it Disney’s responsibility to make that happen? Disney is a foreigner in Hong Kong. It is setting up shop in a former European colony, where the non-European people are sensitive about foreigners getting on a soap box and telling them what to do. Whether the people of Hong Kong are ready to swear off shark’s fin soup I do not know, but a campaign against it would have more credibility if a Chinese were behind it.
Then again, from an environmental point of view, it is much easier to put the screws on Disney than some Hong Kong company. I am reminded of another case, about toothpaste. It was about race relations, not environment, but otherwise similar.
For years a Hong Kong company made a toothpaste called Darkie, sold under the logo of a grinning black man in a top hat. When I moved to Hong Kong in 1989, they still sold that brand. I was amazed by it. Well, soon after I got there, the Hong Kong company was bought out by Colgate, and there was pressure to change the name and logo—not pressure in Hong Kong, but in the United States. And Colgate changed it. The new logo looked more like a white guy, and the name was “Darlie.” However, the name in Chinese--spelled in four characters--is still “Black Man Tooth Paste.”
You can see the before-and-after photos here.
The internationalization of sensitivities is one of the consequences of the internationalization of business. And whether Disney does or does not decide to serve shark’s fin, it is companies like Disney that will take it off the menu first.
Respond to Bruce.


text:
SALISBURY, N.C. — The Cheerwine Festival is back for its third consecutive year, bringing more music, more food and all the Cheerwine you can handle.
The free event is set to take place, Saturday in downtown Salisbury from noon to 10 p.m.
Smash Mouth, best known for its hit song, “All Star,” will headline the festival. In addition, two Carolina-based bands, Livehouse and StellaRising, along with Nashville-based band, The Southern Gothic, will perform.
For the first time, the festival will feature a scavenger hunt, with fans searching for clues all over downtown Salisbury for a chance to win prizes. To participate, you’ll need to check in with the Cheerwine Fan Club tent at the event.
Back for the first time since the brand’s centennial celebration in 2017, the Rowan Museum will feature a free Cheerwine exhibit that takes you through the soft drink’s last 102 years.
Festivalgoers can also sample a few of the delicious flavors of the Carolinas, free of charge, including hushpuppies from House-Autry, Cheerwine floats from Mooresville Ice Cream, Cheerwine barbecue sauce from Cackalacky and freshly baked biscuits from Renwood Mills.
Additional Cheerwine-infused fare that will be available for purchase include Cheerwine float popsicles from King of Pops, Barbecue Cheerwine tacos from El Patron, Cheerwine funnel cakes with Cheerwine icing from Beaver Food Service and Cheerwine lattes, frappuccinos and waffles from Mean Mug Coffee Company.
There will also be several Cheerwine-infused craft brews available for purchase including New Sarum Brewing Company's Cheerwine Lager, Bull City Ciderworks' Cheerwine Cider and Morgan Ridge Brewery & Eatery's Cheer Beer.
In addition, there will be street performers, local craft vendors and a kids’ zone featuring lots of family-friendly games and activities.
For more details on the festival, visit cheerwinefest.com.
© 2020 Cox Media Group


text:
|About us||General Info||To Exhibit||Exhibitors||Program||Gallery||Media||FAQ|
June 13-16, 2013
The largest event of the year 2013 of halal-industry in Russia will take place in Moscow, All-Russia Exhibition Centre, in June 13-16, 2013. More than 200 companies are expected to participate at the Expo, representing the industry of halal of different regions of Russia and also products and services from various foreign countries such as Iran, Turkey, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, etc.
According to a survey conducted by organizers of Moscow Halal Expo 2013 in social media, for the majority of respondents it is important to have the mark "Halal" on the packaging of products
Thomson Reuters, the world’s leading provider of intelligent information for businesses and professionals, has launched an Islamic finance development indicator in collaboration with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD)
Festival "Islamic style" is an event, which will not leave indifferent neither Muslims nor people related to the fashion-industry and sincerely interested in modest and elegant Muslim style


text:
Submit comment or question
Note: All comments are displayed with user's screen name. If screen name is not present, user's full name will be used. Please go to My Account to update your screen name.
Comment Policy: Urner Barry has made the comment feature available to encourage further discussion of our news stories. Defamatory or offensive comments, or comments deemed not relevant to the story will be removed, and if necessary, Urner Barry may restrict the right of individual subscribers to offer comments. In all cases, comments represent opinions of the poster only, and do not represent fact, news, opinions or estimates put forward by Urner Barry.
Email Address is required.
Password is required.
Nathan’s Famous Launches Brand’s First Natural Casing Footlong Hot Dog
Nathan’s Famous announced the creation of its first footlong hot dog. The footlong hot dog features all the makings of a Nathan’s Famous hot dog – the natural casing and the Nathan’s Famous secret spice recipe.
"Indulgence isn’t a bad thing, especially when it comes to a Nathan’s Famous hot dog,” states James Walker, Senior Vice President, Restaurants. “Whether you like it plain, or with just a little Nathan’s Famous mustard, or you go all out with our world-famous chili cheese dog, a Nathan’s Famous hot dog is certainly...
Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog Becomes First Official Plant-Based Dodger Dog of the LA Dodgers
Greenleaf Foods, SPC, owner of leading plant-based brand Field Roast™ ("Field Roast"), announced a multi-year partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers to feature the new, groundbreaking Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog as the Official Plant-Based Dodger Dog.
The Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog is the first plant-based hot dog to be recognized by the LA Dodgers with this designation. Fans can purchase and enjoy the Plant-Based Dodger Dog at select concession stands and in the suites at Dodger Stadium. The Plant-Based Dodger Dog will feature...
Nathan’s Famous Partners with Meatless Farm to Launch Gourmet Plant-Based Hot Dog
Nathan’s Famous announced its partnership with Meatless Farm to bring consumers the industry’s first gourmet, plant-based hot dog. To celebrate, select Nathan’s Famous restaurants will give away one free Nathan’s Meatless Farm hot dog to all customers who wish to try it for a limited time. The partnership brings to market Nathan’s 100+ year old secret recipe, a favorite of consumers all over the world, crafted with clean and simple plant-based ingredients. Starting in April, the Nathan’s Famous Plant-Based Hot Dog by Meatless Farm will be available exclusively on the Nathan’s online retail portal on Shopify, and then rolled out in select locations in May.
"As plant-based menu items continue to grow in popularity, we are excited to launch the first ever gourmet, plant-based hot dog, a product created not just for our flexitarian, vegetarian, and vegan customers, but...
Tyson Foods' Ball Park Introduces Fully Loaded Nacho Cheese Franks
The weather is warming, sounds of the ballpark are back in swing, and there’s a new frank on the team. Introducing the new Ball Park® Fully Loaded Nacho Cheese Franks, a summer flavor mashup in one frank that fans can enjoy at home.
A recent survey found hot dogs are the most-loved foods at stadiums and arenas, with nearly half of American adults indicating that hot dogs are among their favorite foods to eat when visiting a large sports or event space. The next-most popular foods at stadiums and arenas include nachos and popcorn.
With the new Fully Loaded Nacho Cheese Franks, consumers don’t have to choose between their favorites. Available starting this month, the franks are made with...
Field Roast and Roy Choi Bring First-Ever Plant-Based Kogi Dog to Los Angeles
Greenleaf Foods, SPC, owner of Field Roast Grain Meat Co™ (“Field Roast”) and renowned Chef Roy Choi, co-host of The Chef Show and co-founder of the world-famous Kogi BBQ Truck, are teaming up to bring food lovers throughout Los Angeles a flavorful plant-based hot dog experience.
Starting today and available only via Los Angeles and Orange County-based Kogi BBQ food trucks through September, the Kogi Plant-Based Dog (aka ‘The Home Run’) features the new Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog—the first plant-based hot dog that is double smoked using maple hard wood chips—topped with...
Field Roast Introduces Plant-Based Hot Dog
Greenleaf Foods, SPC, owner of Field Roast Grain Meat Co (“Field Roast”), is bringing a new level of flavor exploration to the plant-based hot dog category with the launch of its Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog, a plant-based premium hot dog that is naturally smoked. It is the first plant-based hot dog to be made from pea protein, rather than soy, and will be the first plant-based hot dog to be sold alongside traditional beef dogs when it becomes available in retail stores this spring.
Starting today, hot dog lovers can get a first taste of the Field Roast Signature Stadium Dog at select Wienerschnitzels, the world’s largest hot dog chain. The Field Roast Plant-Based Dog will appear on menus as...
Hot Dogs and Sausages Market Expected to Reach $96.4 Billion by 2025
According to Research and Markets, the hot dogs and sausages market are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.08% over the forecast period to reach a market size of US$96.405 billion in 2025 from US$75.839 billion in 2019.
The rate at which urbanization is taking place which in turn is buttressed by globalization and rural to urban migration is facilitating the adoption of new consumption trends which have accommodated the inclusion of sausages and hotdogs among others. As of 2018, North America was the most urbanized region of the world, wherein the urban areas constituted...
ANALYSIS: Pork 42 Trim vs. Beef 50 Trim
For some processed meat products, beef and pork trimmings can be used interchangeably on items such as...
What Does Prop 12 Mean for Egg, Veal, and Pork Producers in 2022?
NAMI and NPPC Urge the USDA and Congress to Address Port Challenges
Urner Barry Releases June Soy & Wheat Protein Report
NCBA Takes Action to Increase Producer Profitability Through USDA-Verified Labels
Alpha Foods Announces First Chief Marketing Officer Kierstin De West
URNER BARRY INDICES


text:
The Estonian e-residency programme is celebrating its two-year anniversary in 2017, and the idea of digital identity has attracted much attention from all over the world to the small country in northern Europe – even the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and The Pacific (ESCAP) has published a report on the role of Estonia’s e-residency programme in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
More than 16,000 people from different countries have applied for e-residency. It took about one and a half years to reach 10,000 e-residents. The program ambitiously aims to reach 10 million virtual residents by 2025.
E-residency is a transnational digital identity available to anyone interested in establishing and administering a location-independent business online. When it was announced, Estonia emphasised it as a step closer to aspirations of pioneering the first borderless e-society. E-residency was the first government-backed digital identity in the world. Estonian e-residents can register a company online, perform e-banking transactions, access international payment service providers, declare taxes online, manage a company remotely and digitally sign documents and contracts.
The e-resident smart ID card is not a physical identification or a travel document, and does not display a photo. Also, e-residency does not give citizenship or tax residency and does not confer the right to live in or visit Estonia or the European Union.
The main reason people all over the world are applying for Estonian e-residency is a desire to run a location-independent international business (37% of applicants). Twenty-one per cent of applicants were attracted by the opportunity e-residency presented to bring their businesses to Estonia (21%), 16% were fans of the innovative programme and 11% planned to use the technology for secure authentication.
Become an e-resident online in 10 minutes
The online application takes approximately 10 minutes to complete. After paying a nominal fee of €50, applicants have to visit an Estonian embassy or a consulate that is in 38 countries around the world, or the Police and Border Guard Board service point in Estonia to receive their e-resident’s digital ID card. The entire application process from online entry to card pickup takes approximately one month.
“We created e-residency to grow the digital economy, attract new investment and connect with new businesses. E-residency provides enormous advantages in convenience and flexibility for anyone who has an existing business or other connection to Estonia. But it also provides anyone, not just those connected to Estonia, with the tools and systems to own and operate their own business. In creating this program, Estonia hopes to unleash the world’s entrepreneurial potential,” Kaspar Korjus, the e-residency programme director, said.
British journalist Edward Lucas was the first person to become an e-resident of Estonia. “People may trust a foreign government more than they trust their own government and I think just as we have competing credit cards – we have VISA, Mastercard, American Express and so on – we should have competing providers of identity. This is the way forward and I think Estonia has done a really good job in getting offering on the table first,” Lucas explained.
The 10,000th e-resident, Manu Sporny, the CEO of Digital Bazaar, has never been in Estonia, but has followed the e-residency initiative. “I was originally interested in e-residency from a business perspective. I’m the CEO of a digital payments and identity company in the USA and we were looking for ways to establish a business presence in Europe. We had known about Estonia’s internationally acclaimed work in digital online identity for some time and thought it was the natural place for an international payments and identity company to pick as its European headquarters,” Sporny said.
e-residency should be perceived as an App Store
Different parties involved have taken advantage of opportunities offered by e-residency. For example, Garage48, a few month after e-residency was established, organised the first hackathon dedicated to this option. The focus was on building apps and services using the Estonian open ID platform to benefit both the e-residents and service providers. “Our goal is to draw attention to the fact that all developers and service providers are welcome to develop services to the open digital identity platform. The e-residency platform could in many aspects be compared to the App Store, as it allows to create many services to e-residents. It is very important that the new customer base is recognised by the developers and service providers, who may already offer their services to e-residents,” Taavi Kotka, the government CIO and the deputy secretary general of ICT at Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, noted. As a result, 130 people from 26 countries participated.
E-residents can get access to different information and services. For example, they can choose the best places to live and work from Teleport.org, invest in startups via Fundwise and lead and trade investments on Funderbeam’s worldwide startup marketplace. SignWise’s digital authentication and e-signature solutions make it easy for e-residents to transform paper-based business processes into fully digital ones. There is also a business networking platform, eResNetwork, which provides secure and transparent communications for e-residents. Crowd Valley, the leader and pioneer in private securities technology, is developing and extending its offerings.
Estonia also started to collaborate with Nasdaq by facilitating a blockchain-based e-voting service to allow shareholders of companies listed on Nasdaq’s Tallinn Stock Exchange, Estonia’s only regulated securities market, to vote in shareholder meetings. The e-residency platform vastly improves the ability to authenticate shareholders for the e-voting service, while blockchain technology will allow votes to be quickly and securely recorded, streamlining a proxy voting process that has historically been labour-intensive and fragmented. “On the heels of the successful execution of a blockchain transaction in the US private market, we are pleased to further advance this technology in Estonia,” Hans-Ole Jochumsen, the president of Nasdaq, said. “Estonia’s robust information society and forward thinking coupled with the agility its size affords, creates a unique opportunity to premiere the e-voting pilot in Estonia. We’re excited to see the development of this project over the coming months, and look forward to working closely with the government of Estonia to set a transformative example of the future of governance.”
Ready to go further
2017 is going to be an important year in further development of e-residency. e-residents are going to have the opportunity to remotely open bank accounts in Estonia. Up until now, an entrepreneur had to come to Estonia to open a bank account. “We would like to keep up with the times and make opening a bank account simpler and faster, while still ensuring that we maintain the necessary level of security. As technological solutions for remote person identification have been around for quite a while, it is sensible to allow them to be used for opening bank accounts. At this point I would especially like to thank all our private sector partners for their substantial contribution to the agreement on the draft legislation principles,” Hanno Pevkur, the Minister of the Interior, asserted.
The amendment to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act will allow banks to replace the requirement of an in-person meeting with potential customers with a three-stage person identification process. An information technology solution will be used to interview the person, and the interview will be saved. To identify the person, the document issued in Estonia for digital person identification, the personal identification document issued by a foreign state, and the person identification data entered in the database of personal identification documents will be used.
Additionally, banks will have to further enhance their measures for the prevention of money laundering. The first payment to the opened bank account needs to be made from a credit institution or the branch of a foreign credit institution registered in the Estonian commercial register or in a credit institution which has been registered or has its place of business in a contracting state of the European Economic Area or in a country where requirements equal to those provided for in this act are in force. A more detailed regulation is to be prepared by the Ministry of Finance. Naturally, the bank will retain the right to ask the person to provide an ID if they are applying in-person at a bank branch.
According to Kaspar Korjus, this is an extremely important milestone in the development of the e-residency programme. “The planned amendments will facilitate a business environment in which an individual’s intentions are more important than his or her origin or location. The number of people applying for e-residency during the beta phase has already exceeded initial plans; I believe that after the adoption of the changes, we will truly be able to unleash the world’s entrepreneurial potential.”


text:
— Honda is recalling more than 19,000 vehicles with front passenger Takata airbag inflators that may have been installed incorrectly during replacement.
- 2009-2014 Acura TSX
- 2011-2013 Acura TSX Sport Wagon
- 2010-2012 Acura ZDX
- 2008-2012 Honda Accord
- 2010-2011 Honda Accord Crosstour
- 2012-2014 Honda Crosstour
- 2006-2011 Honda Civic (Includes Civic Hybrid and Civic NGV)
- 2007-2011 Honda CR-V
- 2009-2013 Honda Fit
- 2010-2013 Honda Insight
- 2009-2015 Honda Pilot
The passenger inflators were installed as replacements during previous recall repairs at numerous dealerships before May 2018. An airbag inflator that wasn't installed correctly won't deploy properly in a crash.
The recall is expected to begin June 28, 2019, when Honda and Acura dealers will replace any affected passenger frontal airbag module assemblies.
Customers who want to learn more should call 888-234-2138.


text:
Butchertown eyes post pandemic boost from stadium sell-out
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Eleven months after it first opened, Lynn Family Stadium is anticipating its first sellout. COVID-imposed crowd restrictions will be fully lifted when Lou City FC takes the field at home on June 12. The day is viewed as a source of relief by Butchertown businesses.
“We need to achieve what we set out to achieve,” Andy Blieden, owner of Butchertown Market said. “We were so close and we had the rug pulled out from under us. And it was devastating. But, we can see light at the end of the tunnel.”
Blieden owns 25 commercial properties in Butchertown and lost 30 percent of his tenants during the pandemic. Promoted as one of the most walkable districts in town, the Butchertown neighborhood was banking on having a lot of foot traffic.
“It’s tough because you know we’ve hung on for so long,” Blieden said. “And we are optimistic, cautiously optimistic. But we feel like we’re definitely trending in the right direction.”
Lynn Family Stadium is expecting a sellout when restrictions are lifted bring 15,000 soccer fans to Butchertown. It will be a new experience for both the team and the neighborhood.
“I am looking so forward to people having a tough time to park in Butchertown,” said Matt Jaime, owner of Bourbon Barrel Foods.
The Butchertown business owner envisions “streets just lined with cars, with people flooding in and out of the stadium.”
“It’s going to be magical,” Jaime said.
Bourbon Barrell Foods lost 80 percent of its walk-in customers when the pandemic hit, Jamie said. But he pivoted, growing his e-commerce business 150%. Putting stadium crowds back into the mix seems to guarantee a post-pandemic boost for the businesses that survived.
Copyright 2021 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.


text:
Delicious Wild Species Plant Could Help Save Your Morning Brew!
Scientists say a "forgotten" coffee plant that can grow in warmer conditions could help future-proof the drink against climate change. They predict we could soon be sipping Coffea stenophylla, a rare wild coffee that tastes like high-quality Arabica coffee. Coffea stenophylla is a wild coffee species from West Africa which, until recently, was thought to be extinct outside Cote d'Ivoire. The plant was recently re-discovered growing wild in Sierra Leone, where it was historically grown as a coffee crop about a century ago. With stenophylla's rediscovery, the future of coffee just got a little brighter.
With Tanzania being Africa's fourth-largest coffee producer, agricultural marketing cooperative societies are planning to open three coffee processing factories in Shinyanga, ... Read more »
Rwanda, an east African country smaller than Belgium, has curbed Covid-19 cases so effectively that Rwandans were among the few people outside the European Union (EU) who were ... Read more »
Kenya's coffee risks losing its top spot in the world market following its rejection in Japan and South Korea due to high levels of chemical contamination. The chemical levels of ... Read more »
Coffee production has decreased from 6,706 tonnes in 2014/15 to 5,882 in 2018/19 due to a decrease in land for cultivation because of population growth which has led to farmers ... Read more »
Coffea stenophylla in the Botanischer Garten, Berlin-Dahlem.


text:
As the majority of UCSB students moved in this past weekend, local stores geared up for Gauchos looking for dorm and apartment necessities.
The beginning of the academic year is promising for businesses, as the influx of students consistently brings an increase in sales and advertising opportunities. Furthermore, stores prepared to provide students and families with the needed items at competitive, reduced prices.
According to Goleta’s Kmart manager Richard Slowikowski, Kmart offered shuttles to and from campus for families who needed to do some last minute shopping, which brought increased traffic to the store. Kmart raffled off bicycles, refrigerators and a $500 helmet last week, and Slowikowski also said that the entire front of the store is packed with UCSB apparel, bikes, mini refrigerators and other items geared toward students.
“We have everything from appliances to posters to coffee makers to party cups,” Slowikowski said. “So, our store right now is basically merchandised for what the student is looking for.”
Goleta’s Costco saw hundreds of UCSB parents and students searching for mattresses, food, refrigerators and basic house-cleaning products.
According to Costco’s Marketing Manager Kent Wells, the store stocked up on back-to-school items for UCSB students.
“We put in certain types of items, such as mini fridges, twin mattresses and things like that for incoming students,” Wells said. “We also have special membership offers for UCSB students and will be on campus promoting memberships.”
Wells said the student community is a huge boost for local businesses.
“The kids definitely help out our business,” Kent said. “I think any business would be silly to say otherwise.”
Grocery and home-appliance stores are not the only businesses experiencing an increase of sales as students return. Kelly Scott, owner of Isla Vista clothing boutique Miss Behavin’, located upstairs above Bagel Café, said she has seen an increase in store traffic and sales.
“I have noticed some more traffic,” Scott said. “Normally it gets really busy the second week of school.”
Scott said she has filled the store with women’s clothing, accessories and Halloween costumes. She said she has distributed fliers, bookmarks and coupons around I.V. to bring in new customers.
“Everything is really affordable and student-friendly,” Scott said. “We love I.V. and want to support I.V. businesses and students.”
September will be busy for local stores and Slowikowski predicts that the heightened volume of sales will continue through the end of October as students begin their Halloween shopping.


text:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1st 2017
The cocktail and fashion event that’s fighting for conservation.
November 28th Axis Pioneer Square — Fashion for Conservation brings twenty-four international designers from their September’s London Fashion Week show to Seattle’s Axis Pioneer Square for a celebration of fashion, cocktails and conservation benefitting Seattle and Peruvian Amazon based charity, Hoja Nueva.
The evening features themed specialty cocktails, fashion design inspired by elephants and rainforests, holiday pop-up shops of local and international brands that give back to the planet, keynotes hosted by jungle-dwelling Fashion for Conservation co-founder and Hoja Nueva president Samantha Zwicker, and more.
The Compassion with FASHION event brought the fashion community together to help two young individuals, 6-year-old Preston Scott fighting with cancer and 1-year-old baby Nikol Culver, recovering after a liver transplant and raised over $30,000 . Designers Third & Loom, Victoria Postolit, Elita Couture, MXN Clothing, Justin Zachary, and La Belle Rêve showcased their collections on the runway.
Live music was performed by Roger Fisher (Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and founding member of the band HEART), Solar Quantum Band with special guest Elena Maque, opera singer Faina Morozov, Svetlana & Demetrio Sanchez, and Constanin Sokolov.
Vancouver, BC: Ninety-six African elephants die from poaching every day. That adds up to 35,000 elephants a year. At this rate elephants will be extinct in 8 years. Elephantasia, a unique, pachyderm-inspired fashion collection by 12 international designers aims to bring conservation into couture. This travelling exhibition will raise awareness and funds for the African elephants killed for their ivory and their babies suddenly orphaned as a result.


text:
- Rainbow Beach
- Tin Can Bay
- What's on
- Real Estate
- APN Network
Motoring Changes are coming to Honda nationwide but company says it will stay
Motoring After record growth the new-car market is starting to slow. And that’s good news...
News TWO women — one of whom was heavily pregnant — has been killed in a horror...
Motoring A Tesla has been filmed spontaneously bursting into flames in LA.


text:
SPOTTED: In-hand photos of four new TaylorMade ‘Truss’ putters
Remember when Tiger Woods was spotted testing a TaylorMade “Truss” prototype putter at the Japan Skins event? Well, now we have a better look at that unique putter design, and it also seems TaylorMade has made the Truss into an entire family of putters.
On the putting green at The American Express in Palm Desert on Monday, TaylorMade revealed four new Truss putters to PGA Tour players. Each of the four models — TB1, TB2, TM1 and TM2 — have a triangular piece of material that connects the toplines of the putters and the hosels.
While TaylorMade hasn’t commented yet on the Truss putters, it seems that the TB1 and the TM1 models have a heel-weighted design, and the TB2 and the TM2 models have more of a center-shafted design.
The definition of truss is “a framework, typically consisting of rafters, posts, and struts, supporting a roof, bridge, or other structure.” Since a truss typically adds stability to structures, it’s not a stretch to think the Truss putters are designed to add stability at impact for greater forgiveness.
We’ll just have to wait and see what TaylorMade says about the new putters, and if they will become a retail offering in the future. In the meantime, enjoy photos of the four Truss models below.
TaylorMade Truss TB1
TaylorMade Truss TB2
TaylorMade Truss TM1
TaylorMade Truss TM2


text:
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) June 06, 2014
A chatty humanoid robot whose makers claim it can understand people's emotions made its first friends Friday as it struck up conversations with shoppers in Tokyo.
And the device -- named Pepper by its designers -- proved an effective marketing tool for mobile carrier SoftBank, delighting managers who put it to work collecting customer opinions.
"So you came to meet me today?" asked Pepper of one shopper in the store in the upmarket Omotesando area of Tokyo. "I am so happy to see you. What are you doing this weekend?".
The 120-centimetre (four-foot) tall robot which moves on rollers and has what looks like a tablet computer strapped to its chest, was unveiled Thursday by SoftBank president Masayoshi Son, who billed it as an "emotional" robot that understands "70 to 80 percent of spontaneous conversations".
After a couple of dance and a few stories, visitors were smitten.
"He is so cute. He is like a real child," said Itsumi Yabe, 28, who was visiting one of the outlets with two of her friends.
Shintaro Hamada, 23, was impressed by Pepper's capability to carry on conversations.
"I thought he would just talk regardless of what I say, but he really interacted with me. That was great," he said.
The robot, one of at least three stationed in the store, can also conduct automatic market research, said Kaname Hayashi, deputy director of SoftBank's business development and management department, because it is able to accumulate data about what kind of products and content make people happy.
"We've learned that he can get people's attention and has a greater impact than images streaming on television or screens at outlets," he said.
Terry Gou, chief executive of Taiwan's Foxconn which is to manufacture the robots when SoftBank starts selling them for about $2,000 each in February, said the robot industry was embarking on a new chapter.
"We use a lot of robots in factories..., but this is for consumers and also for communication," he told AFP. "This can really become a revolution."
More robots will work the floor of SoftBank's flagship Ginza store, before a fleet of them are rolled out at locations across the country.
All about the robots on Earth and beyond!
|The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.|


text:
Recall the Story Adahzionblog shared earlier on the shops of Nigerian traders in Ghana that was locked up by the Ghanian Authorities who are demanding $1m tax.
In a tweet, Geoffery Onyeama, The Minister of Foreign Affairs reacted to the action of the Ghanian Authority and he said:
‘Nigerian Government has watched with dismay the painful videos of the forceful closure of the shops of Nigerian traders in #Ghana. Urgent steps will be taken.”
See tweet below:


text:
Alibaba posted sales of 34.3 billion yuan renminbi (€4.6bn-$5.1bn) for the quarter to Sept. 30, representing a 55 percent increase on an annualized basis. For the second consecutive quarter sales exceeded Wall Street's expectations.
Income from operations was RMB 9,045 million (€1,201.8m-$1,337.8m) against RMB 6,395 million in the comparable quarter last year. Adjusted Ebitda of RMB 15,875 million (€2,109.5m-$2,348.0m) compares with RMB 11,146 million last year.
The strong sales performance in the quarter was attributed by the company to its increasing ability to monetize its 450 million mobile users through new and innovative social commerce experiences. Sales in Alibaba's core businesses of selling goods to Chinese consumers jumped by 41 percent. Beyond the strong performance of its core business, Alibaba also recorded the continued and rapid growth of its cloud computing business, with revenue growth of 130 percent, as well as a considerable potential in its newer digital media and entertainment unit.
Alibaba's China retail marketplaces reached 439 million annual active buyers in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2016, as compared to 434 million in the 12 months to June 30, 2016. The average annual spend per active buyer for the 12 months to Sept. 30, 2016 continued to increase from the previous quarters, the company said.


text:
University of Central Florida is aiming to become a major location for a national entrepreneurial program by the National Science Foundation, called I-Corps.
The university is already a pilot location for the program, the first in Florida, with its first class beginning Jan. 30.
I-Corps focuses on getting innovative research and startup companies into the marketplace faster, through a 10-week program to help students and faculty test their ideas so they can launch a profitable business.
UCF professor Ivan Garibay said the program has generated a lot of interest at UCF and other universities. If the teams involved in the program prove to have a good product, the Florida Angel Nexus is prepared to support them, Garibay said.
Only 15 sites in the U.S. have an I-Corps program, Garibay said.
"Currently we are only in line for $300,000 in funding over three years, so it's not necessarily a huge amount of money, but it is the blessing of the National Science Foundation and ability to tap into resources," Garibay said.
UCF will soon submit a bigger proposal for more funding through I-Corps, seeking up to $3.75 million over three years. Joining UCF in that effort will be University of Florida and University of South Florida, Garibay said.
The program features a so-called "lean startup" method that was partly pioneered by Jerry Engel, a professor at University of California-Berkeley.
The program matches an entrepreneur with an investigator and with mentors who can help guide them. The first class includes teams focused on driverless vehicles, smartphone spectrometers and e-book platforms, among others.
Apple seeks new hires
Tech giant Apple recently posted four new positions for its Orlando location, all of them labeled as hardware engineers.
Three of the new positions, posted Jan. 14, are listed as graphics engineers, and a third is identified as a verification engineer, on Apple's careers website.
The local Apple office hired several people away from microchip designer AMD in Orlando in 2013. Last year, it also posted 12 new positions in the Orlando office, which is called the Orlando Design Center.
Local tech experts said Apple was drawn to Central Florida because of the large number of graphics processing patents filed here.
Firm acquires N.J. office
Orlando accounting firm Rosenfield & Company opened a New Jersey office after acquiring the Florham Park, N.J.-based practice of KDMS CPA.
Three accountants and seven other employees in that office are joining the firm in a combination. The accountants are: Paul Kaplan, Howard Samuels and Jan Dulman.
The Rosenfield firm, lead by Ken Rosenfield, specializes in automobile dealerships, manufacturers and distributors, cruise lines and finance companies. The company already has offices in Orlando, Manhattan and McLean, Va.
email@example.com or 407-420-5660


text:
Human megaphone and recovering pill-popper Rush Limbaugh took the the radio waves Tuesday to lambast the villainous mainstream media for creating panic in the approach of Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 storm expected to hit the Caribbean Wednesday before turning toward Florida, where Limbaugh lives.
The National Hurricane Center—a government agency staffed by actual scientists—is calling the storm "potentially catastrophic." Limbaugh, whose only qualification is being part wind storm himself, dismissed Irma as a big ol' conspiracy theory drummed up to benefit local television stations, the bottled water industry, and, of course, the climate change industrial complex. He said:
There is a desire to advance this climate change agenda, and hurricanes are one of the fastest and best ways to do it. You can accomplish a lot just by creating fear and panic. You don’t even need a hurricane to hit anywhere. All you need is to create the fear and panic accompanied by talk that climate change is causing hurricanes to become more frequent, and bigger, and more dangerous, and you create the panic, and it’s mission accomplished, agenda advanced.
Now, how do you do this? Well, any number of ways. Let’s take south Florida television, for example. There is symbiotic relationship between retailers and local media, and it’s related to money. It revolves around money. You have major, major industries and businesses which prosper during times of crisis and panic, such as a hurricane, which could destroy or greatly damage people’s homes, and it could interrupt the flow of water and electricity. So what happens?
Well, the TV stations begin reporting this and the panic begins to increase. And then people end up going to various stores to stock up on water and whatever they might need for home repairs and batteries and all this that they’re advised to get, and a vicious circle is created. You have these various retail outlets who spend a lot of advertising dollars with the local media. The local media, in turn, reports in such a way as to create the panic way far out, which sends people into these stores to fill up with water and to fill up with batteries, and it becomes a never-ending repeated cycle. And the two coexist. So the media benefits with the panic with increased eyeballs, and the retailers benefit from the panic with increased sales, and the TV companies benefit because they’re getting advertising dollars from the businesses that are seeing all this attention from customers.
While Limbaugh publicly appears to a member of the climate-change-is-a-Chinese-hoax school of thought, he is apparently willing to believe when it comes to his own property. In 2015, a Florida gossip blogger reported that the professional shouter agreed to let the Army Corps of Engineers store sand on his $50 million Palm Beach compound in order to control erosion connected to sea level rise and climate change.
God forbid Irma is actually as dire as the National Hurricane Center predicts. But if it is, one would be forgiven to hoping Limbaugh records his next show in several feet of water.


text:
Beer and cider coming to more local grocery stores
The province has authorized 76 new grocery stores across Ontario to sell beer and cider as of June 30, including some in the local area.
New nearby locations will include Fortinos in Burlington at 1059 Plains Rd. E., Hamilton’s FreshCo at 905 Rymal Rd. and the Walmart Supercentre in Stoney Creek at 510 Centennial Pkwy. N.
Already there are 130 grocery stores in the province that can sell beer and cider, including 70 also authorized to sell wine.


text:
Drinking three to four cups of coffee a day could actually be good for you
If you’re anything like us, you live on caffeine. So when we heard this news, we brewed another pot. According to a new study, drinking three to four cups of coffee a day could actually be good for you. It’s basically the best thing we’ve ever heard.
The study was conducted by Robin Poole of the University of Southampton and published in the journal BMJ. Of course, we ~never~ need an excuse to grab a Peppermint Mocha or a Gingerbread Latte from the Starbucks holiday menu. Plus, other studies have shown that coffee can benefit us in other ways too, like making us better at working out. So for those of us who consume a Gilmore Girls amount of coffee, the new three-to-four-cups-a-day finding is GREAT news.
So, how exactly could drinking a few cups a day be good for us? Poole and colleagues reviewed coffee consumption. They looked at 218 existing meta-analyses. 201 of them were based on observational research and 17 were based on clinical trials. The former included 67 unique health outcomes and the latter had nine.
All of that is to say: “Coffee consumption was more often associated with benefit than harm for a range of health outcomes across exposures including high versus low, any versus none, and one extra cup a day,” the study states.
Drinking three to four cups a day showed various health-related outcomes.
For instance, high versus low consumption was associated with an 18 percent lower risk of incident cancer. The study also found that there’s a lower risk of several specific cancers and neurological, metabolic, and liver conditions. Plus, it could reduce the risk of other health issues, including all cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and cardiovascular disease.
Of course, the three to four cups a day standard doesn’t apply to everybody.
The study found that high coffee consumption in pregnant women was associated with low birth weights, preterm births in the first and second trimesters, and pregnancy loss. In addition, the study found that coffee-drinking women had a higher risk of bone fractures.
However, the study pointed out that there’s no “universally recognized standard coffee cup size.” It all depends on various factors, like how the coffee is brewed and the kind of bean that’s used.
All we know is, when science tells us there’s a chance that drinking three to four cups of coffee a day could be good for us, we listen. Speaking of which, we’d better go have another cup now.


text:
Youtube user, NM2255, managed to shoot another great video: a Porsche 918 Spyder caught at the Top Marques Monaco event. The prototype caught in Monaco was wearing a matte black paint with Martini Racing livery and racing number "23."
The production version 918 Spyder will be powered by a hybrid system that combines a 570-horsepower 4.6-liter V-8 engine with a pair of electric motors – one powering the front axle and one on the rear – that pump out 85 kW (114 horsepower) and 95 kW (127 horsepower), respectively. According to Porsche, the 918 Spyder will offer a driving range of 15 miles in electric-only driving mode and can hit a top speed of 202 mph when the gasoline engine and electric motors are working together.
The new 918 Spyder will be put on sale in September 2013 and pricing will start at $845,000.


text:
Latest News on Google Play Updated
Showing of 0 - 10 from 5 results
Google Play Updated - Total results - 5
Nov 19, 2012
New malware detected by Trend Micro steals imagesIn an official statement Trend Micro has elaborated on its latest find -- a malware that steals image files from all drives of an affected system and then sends them to a remote FTP server.
Oct 23, 2012
Trend Micro warns Android users about sharp rise in malwareAccording to Trend Micro, Android users should be more careful while downloading apps from Google Play as there has been a sharp increase in the amount of...
Oct 20, 2012
Malware found in 'Updates' app on Google PlayEven after the recent addition of a malware scanner on the Google Play store, malware is still finding its way on the store. According to PCMag, a trojan has...
Oct 15, 2012
Google Play store may get built-in malware scannerGoogle may have in the works an 'App Check', which it describes as a tool to allow Google to scan through every app that a user has already downloaded.
Oct 15, 2012
Google rolling out update for Play storeGoogle is rolling out an update for its official one-stop-shop for Android apps, Google Play. The latest update to the store allows you to remove apps from the


text:
A busy shopping season is here and it’s all about what gas prices are for a typical day.
But what about a busy shopping day for a single person?
That’s where your shopping experience becomes an opportunity for a different kind of retailer to take advantage of your attention.
That’s the idea behind a new kind of transactional commerce marketplace.
It’s being built in collaboration between WalMart and a Calgary-based company called Marketplaces Calgary.
Marketplaces’ website is a little confusing, but the platform it is built on is called Marketplace Marketplace for Gas, and it will let retailers and brands use one another’s sites to sell their goods and services.
For example, you can have a grocery store on the website, a discount grocer selling groceries on their website, or an online store that can offer a complete range of goods.
There are so many things you can sell on Marketplace for gas, and many of those items are being offered by individual retailers.
It has been a lot of fun to be a part of it, said Scott MacDonald, CEO of Marketplaces.
The marketplace is designed for convenience, MacDonald said.
It can be very efficient if you just buy something online and you go to the store and then you can go to a different store.
“There’s not too many people out there who can afford to buy gas,” MacDonald said, noting that most people in Alberta don’t have enough money to buy their own gas.
He added that the Marketplace for Gazes program, which launched earlier this year, has been instrumental in helping small businesses create sales opportunities for themselves.
The platform is currently open for two months, and is only available to consumers in Alberta.
MacDonald said the goal is to have all of the retail sites working by the end of October.
It is also looking to expand in other provinces, including Ontario.
The Marketplace for Oil website currently only supports Ontario, with no plans for other provinces.
MacDonald has said he expects to add new listings to the site soon, but he did not provide details.
“If we get it all done, we’ll have the Marketplace online for all of Canada,” MacDonald told CBC News.
“We’ll be launching that in September and the Marketplace in September.”
MacDonald said Marketplace for oil will be a “very exciting platform” for the industry, which is currently undergoing an industry transition to a cleaner, more efficient energy economy.
He said it will be interesting to see how many stores and stores of various sizes respond to the platform.
For now, MacDonald says he is focused on finding ways to connect retailers with each other and the people they sell to. “
That will be something we look at.”
For now, MacDonald says he is focused on finding ways to connect retailers with each other and the people they sell to.
“One of the things that has made this project so fun is the fact that there are so, so many different ways that we can engage,” he said, adding that he hopes to bring other retail players on board soon.
He says the Marketplace is also aiming to bring “an incredible experience” to customers who are looking to buy and sell goods.
“This is a really great platform for the people who are selling their goods online and want to be part of the experience,” he added.
“It’s really fun to see it and it makes people want to come back and shop.”


text:
Travel Photographer of the Year - third year in a row!
The results of 2018 Travel Photographer of the Year have been announced this week. I was delighted to find out that both my finalist images made it to the very final cut and won a second place and a highly recommended mention in the Smart Shot category of the awards, dedicated to photos taken with a smartphone. I am particularly proud as this is the third year in a row that I end up being one of the winners of such a prestigious award. Photographers from 142 countries submitt


text:
Earlier this year in February, it was announced that Facebook-owned instant messaging service WhatsApp will end support for some devices by the end of 2016. The team called this a tough decision that was needed to focus the resources on other devices.
The devices being talked about here are older versions of Android, Symbian OS, and others (the complete list is shared below). However, the company has decided to extend the support until June 30, 2017.
The company has updated its official blog post that recommended upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone version to continue using WhatsApp.
WhatsApp won’t work on these devices after June 30, 2017:
- Android 2.1 and Android 2.2
- Nokia S40
- Nokia Symbian S60
- BlackBerry OS and BlackBerry 10
- iPhone 3GS/iOS 6
- Windows Phone 7
It looks like WhatsApp is taking these steps as these older platforms hinder the growth of the app by not supporting the newer features.
“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future,” the company adds in its blog post.


text:
With Thanksgiving just a few days away, many people are preparing for the holiday season and planning for the extra spending that comes with gift giving.
Budgeting for who gets what and how hard that will hit the wallet is stressful enough, but this year shoppers are facing an additional hurdle to getting Christmas presents under the tree by Dec. 25 – the supply chain crisis.
There are a few extra steps Fort Campbell residents can take to not only ensure they don’t stretch themselves too thin financially, but also to avoid the disappointment of gifts that don’t arrive on time.
The transportation bottleneck
COVID-19 restrictions placed an extra burden on an already struggling supply chain that ultimately led to the import bottleneck that consumers are experiencing now in the form of empty store shelves, higher prices and shipping delays. Those who watch the news may remember the long line of cargo ships stretching into the waters off the coast of California when ports and docks became overcrowded because of a reduced ability to process incoming shipments.
The crisis came on the tail end of measures taken to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations to keep people safe, which led to reduced working hours and ultimately fewer staff. The result was a labor shortage in factory workers and truck drivers, the positions that are essential to the timely delivery of packages.
This year if Fort Campbell Families plan to rely on ShopMyExchange.com or other online retail stores for gifts, they’d better start ordering now rather than later, said Brett Ives, personal financial readiness specialist, Army Community Service-Financial Readiness Program.
“Short supply will mean higher prices on products,” Ives said. “If they are even available before the holidays people should consider ordering them now and to expect delays in shipping.”
Shopping at the Exchange could reduce the potential for delays, said Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Osby, the Army & Air Force Exchange senior enlisted adviser, in a released statement.
“Warfighters and their Families should shop now to ensure they get all the items on their lists in time for the holidays,” Osby said. “Whether in store or at ShopMyExchange.com, shopping the Exchange early gives the military community access to tax-free shopping and military-exclusive pricing while also helping to avoid the delays facing consumers this year.”
Aside from shopping early, Ives said Fort Campbell Families are in a good position to save on Christmas shopping through the Exchange and should take advantage of tax-free purchases and price matching.
“The Exchange retail stores will match a local competitor’s current price on any identical stock assortment item for the customer who makes the price challenge, [and there is a] 14-day price guarantee on any item originally purchased from the Exchange and subsequently sold at a lower price by the Exchange, or any local competitor,” he said.
Ives also suggests exercising discipline when it comes to buying gifts, and to avoid the temptation to buying impulsively.
Once a list is made and finalized, stick to it, he said, and try not to deviate from it, no matter how tempting.
“No unnecessary or unplanned extras should be bought on impulse,” Ives said. “One method to prevent overspending is to only bring cash when you shop so you aren’t enticed to swipe a debit or credit card. And avoid signing up for store-provided credit cards since the interest rates are typically very high.”


text:
This year, THQ Nordic plans to establish a brand-new studio based in Barcelona, Spain. The team’s first project will be an ambitious one–developing a Gothic remake for PC and next-gen consoles. Gothic’s return is happening due to overwhelming support THQ Nordic received after launching a playable teaser for the remake. A whopping 94.8 percent of the players surveyed following the teaser’s release say they want the publisher to pursue the RPG’s full recreation.
Since its December 2019 launch on Steam, more than 180,000 players have explored Gothic’s playable teaser. Of those many participants, 43,000 took a survey, the vast majority voting in favor of a remake. For the sake of transparency, THQ Nordic shared the survey’s results. The publisher and the studio in Spain aim to take feedback from the playable teaser to heart, too. Most notably, THQ Nordic cited players’ desire for “a grittier and less colorful world,” compared to the teaser.
In a statement, the publisher’s Business and Product Development Director, Reinhard Pollice, promised a faithful recreation of the cult classic. “We are up for the challenge to develop a full Gothic Remake, which will stay as faithfully as possible to the original experience and transport the atmospheric world of Gothic into a high quality look and carefully modernizing certain gameplay mechanics,” he said.
Full production will begin at an as yet unspecified time. It comes as no surprise, then, that THQ Nordic isn’t committing to a 2020 release date. In fact, the company is also maintaining silence about the remake’s release window.
Developer Piranha Bytes, now owned by THQ Nordic, released the first Gothic in 2001. The medieval fantasy franchise’s sequel, Gothic II, hit stores in 2002 and 2003 in Germany and North America, respectively. Gothic 3 arrived in late 2006, followed by the release of an expansion and mobile title. The series didn’t land a PlayStation release until 2013’s Arcania: The Complete Tale on PS3. This version included Arcania: Gothic 4 and its Fall of Setarrif expansion.
[Source: THQ Nordic]


text:
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has achieved a breakthrough in banana production, as the country’s apex agricultural research institution has developed two varieties of the fruit for cultivation in Sindh.
“The new varieties — NIGAB-1 and NIGAB-2 — will boost banana production in the country, which will further help in meeting domestic requirements as well as export targets,” said Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) Chairman Dr Muhammad Azeem Khan. He lauded the scientists involved in the development of NIGAB varieties.
According to details, the new varieties of banana were developed at the National Institute for Genomic and Advanced Biotechnology (NIGAB) of the National Agricultural Research Centre, where 300,000 disease-free plants have so far been produced through tissue culture.
These high-yielding varieties will have more shelf life, a basic requirement for export.
The two varieties have been approved by the Sindh Seed Council for commercial cultivation in the province, which is the largest grower of the fruit in the country.
Statistics showed that banana is cultivated over an area of 80,000 acres in Pakistan. However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, per-acre yield in Pakistan is lower when compared to India and China, which produce more than ten tonnes per acre.
Bananas are the world’s most exported fresh fruit with the volume of $10 billion per year. They are an essential source of income for thousands of rural households in developing countries. However, agrochemical-intensive production along with declining producer prices has given rise to many environmental and social challenges.
As per the FAO, global production of bananas and tropical fruits is projected to grow at 1.8pc per year between 2019 and 2028, after registering 2.3pc per year growth in the previous decade. Under the baseline scenario, production is expected to slightly exceed 255 million tonnes by 2028.


text:
The character formed the backbone of 2002 activity for the core range, starring in spoof ads which parodied the craze for reality TV. The idea behind them was that the brand sponsored Steve without his knowledge, but ended the arrangement when he was filmed eating a rival snack.
From the beginning of next month, new ads kick off with an apology to Steve on the premise that this snack' turned out to be hamster food. Two 10-second executions promoting Steve's compilation Hip Hoop Volume 1 CD and book entitled A Hoopy Old Life will follow.
Ads are scheduled during TV programmes which appeal to the brand's core market of 12 to 24-year-olds.
Other activity includes press advertising and posters as well as instore and web site promotions.
Steve's face will feature on multi and single packs of standard Hula Hoops and Minis, along with point-of-sale material.
It will also be seen on 64g Big Bags as part of the format's relaunch into impulse outlets.
New Barbecue Beef and Salt and Vinegar flavours join the range in a bid to encourage consumers to trade up.
After the relaunch period, packs will revert to the standard design but will feature a big bag' flag.
Owner KP added Shoks and Minis to Hula Hoops portfolio in 2002 and claims that these have helped grow the brand to £80m.
Last year's marketing was not without problems, though. KP had its knuckles rapped by advertising watchdogs for a scary Shoks campaign which showed electric eels emerging from water pipes.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
Report: Golfer Rory McIlroy on track to sign massive Nike deal
- Staff Portland Business Journal
The Irish Times on Saturday reported that McIlroy could reach a deal valued at $250 million with the Washington County sporting goods giant (NYSE: NKE) once his current contract with Titleist and Footjoy expires at the end of the year.
With Woods as the face of the brand, Nike Golf has grown to become a business that generated $726 million in sales for Nike last year.
- Most popular
- Heathman Hotel sold, long-time executive team out
- Heathman Hotel fallout: GM firing 'disappoints' Portland travel pros
- The cost breakdown of a $100 pair of sneakers
- Nike split about more than cash, says Arizona State exec
- Report: 8 Oregon companies in the IPO pipeline
- Nordstrom fires Portland employee for making Facebook threats
- Grocery chain Haggen plans massive expansion across the western U.S.
- Bye-bye, Cover Oregon. Legislators draft a bill to dissolve the agency
- Oracle v. Oregon: Pre-trial issues hint at a glacial resolution pace
- $500M propane pipeline proposal hits Portland's planning department
Sign up to receive Portland Business Journal's Morning Edition and Afternoon Edition newsletters and breaking news alerts.
Paid Search Coordinator Sq1 | Portland, OR
Executive Development Center Director Willamette University - Atkinson Graduate School of Management | Portland/Salem, OR
Finance & Operations Manager Oregon BEST | Portland, OR
Oregon BEST Program Associate Oregon BEST | Portland, OR
Chief Operationg Officer Confidential | Sandy, OR


text:
By Biz Carson, Emmie Martin, Julia Naftulin
From the advent of ride-sharing services to the invention of self-driving cars, transportation has become one of the most exciting and disruptive areas in tech.
Business Insider recently released its annual list of the Silicon Valley 100, highlighting the people who matter most in tech that made a difference in the past year. Here are the innovators and inventors from the list who are shaping the future of transportation.
Shervin Pishevar: Co-founder and managing director, Sherpa Capital
Pishevar was the person who persuaded Elon Musk to release his plans for the Hyperloop transport system to the public back in 2013. He now heads Hyperloop One, a startup that is trying to make Musk's vision real. Between his investments as a VC and his personal angel investments, he has had stake in a huge list of other startups, including Klout, Parse, TaskRabbit, Tumblr, Warby Parker and Washio.
Tim Kentley-Klay and Jesse Levinson: Co-founder (Kentley-Klay), co-founder and CTO (Levinson), Zoox
Zoox, a driverless taxi startup, has the exclusive permission to test drive in California. Kentley Klay and Levinson have stacked their staff with former Alphabet, Apple and Tesla workers to build technology that could rival Uber's ride-hailing service, though the company tends to stay under the radar with its driver-free projects.
Chris Urmson: Director of self-driving car project, Google
Google's parent company, Alphabet, teamed up with the Department of Transportation (US) to bring driverless car tech one step closer to reaching the consumer market. So far, Chris Urmson's driverless car prototype knows how to dodge streakers and women in wheelchairs, but it isn't quite foolproof yet. More tests are yet to come for Urmson and Google.
George Hotz: Founder, Comma.ai
Hotz is known for his previous life as a hacker. He has built a self-driving car from the comfort of his own garage and created Comma.ai -a kit that lets customers turn “dumb“ cars into self-driving versions -based on that technology. It caught the attention of Andreessen Horowitz, which invested $3 million in the startup.
Kyle Vogt: Founder and CEO, Cruise
Vogt might be onto something big. His startup, Cruise, is developing technology that can retroactively transform any car into an autonomous one. His idea is so huge, in fact, that Vogt sold the startup to General Motors for more than $1 billion in March, making him the automaker's point person in Silicon Valley.
Elon Musk: CEO, Tesla; CEO and CTO, SpaceX; chairman, Solar City
Musk is one of the world's most influential entrepreneurs -and preeminent multitaskers. In April, Musk unveiled Tesla's mass-market Model 3, racking up 3,75,000 pre-orders in one month. The company is reportedly struggling to meet demand.
John Zimmer and Logan Green: Co-founders, Lyft
Lyft cofounders Green and Zimmer are looking toward the future of transportation after raising $1 billion in the company's latest funding round in January, more than doubling its valuation to $5.5 billion from $2.5 billion in 2015.
It is testing a service allowing passengers to schedule Lyft rides up to 24 hours in advance. Earlier this year, Lyft signed a partnership with General Motors, along with a $500 million investment, that aims to pursue the development of self-driving cars.


text:
[November 10, 2022]
1. Major Canadian grocery retailer Sobeys was targeted by a cyber attack
Canada’s second-largest supermarket chain Sobeys was hit by a ransomware attack, which is one of the cyber attacks. Computer-related systems at more than 1,500 Sobeys stores across Canada have been shut down and computers and in-store systems have been disrupted. Business representatives are currently hiring cybersecurity experts to take immediate action to resolve the situation.
2. How DDoS attacks impact your business
According to a report by a cybersecurity company, there were 6,019,888 DDoS attacks worldwide in the first half of 2022. In this article, cyber hackers are looking for new ways to disrupt businesses with DDoS, and Email, sales force automation, customer relationship management, and other business services are the main targets of DDoS attacks. As the cyber threats become increasingly complex, businesses are struggling to prevent these attacks which are also costly.
Cloudbric WAF+ is for all businesses that primarily lack experience in cybersecurity without their own security experts or those who can’t afford expensive IT security solutions. Cloudbric provides a cloud-based fully managed WAAP (Web Application & API Protection) service that uses logic-based analysis detection technology to block the installation of malware, viruses, ransomware, and other new web security threats through application firewalls. Find out more about the most advanced Web Application Firewall with A.I & logic-based engine on our blog!
Check out Cloudbric’s product lines:
No.1 in the Asia Pacific – WAF with A.I & Logic-based detection engine: Cloudbric WAF+
Cloud-based DDoS attack defense service with edge computing: Cloudbric ADDoS
Zero Trust Network Access-based Remote Access Solution: Cloudbric RAS
Blockchain: Blockchain Security Solution


text:
Workers Need Higher Wages, Not A Huge Giveaway to Their Employers
“Jobs Trump Expectations,” the Drudge Report signaled in its midday headlines on Friday, reporting the monthly addition of 228,000 jobs nationally. The wordplay evidenced some glee for the president and was a continuing reflection of a generally strong economy.
The CNBC story referenced did laud the rise of consumer confidence and business trends behind the numbers, and did note that economists had predicted addition of 200,000 jobs, so the results were positive. The unemployment rate remained at 4.1%.
Of course, the story also said that the November figures were just slightly higher than expected, with few surprises for an expansion in the economy that has run unstopped monthly since mid-2009. And there is that little worry about inflation that the Federal Reserve raises.
But, hey, if Trump wants to take credit for the last 12 months, be my guest.
In fact, monthly job growth this year lags a bit with job growth last year, the year preceding the Trump Experience.
For me, I’d expect more —a lot more—from a Trump administration that has turned the economic front upside down in a highly publicized attempt to boost national economic productivity, job creation and promised new prosperity for Trump loyalists.
Those kind of results are difficult to see in these monthly, post-hurricane figures, so, as is my wont, I went to the Bureau of Labor statistics to take a look. There, you can get the kind of information that the pro-Trump headline is glossing over.
The most important findings were that even with growth, the number of unemployed remained unchanged at 6.6 million; over the last year, the number of unemployed has lessened by 799,000. And wage growth remains stuck at 2.5% as it has for months or longer.
So, statistically, more people are working but at stagnant wage growth. A tax bill even with a $2,000 maximum household break will not change that.
According to the bureau, which surveys households, jobless rates for adult men and women and for blacks and Latinos, remained statistically even. The unemployment rate improved for teenagers. Long-term unemployment remained the same as well. Indeed, the number of employed people per population has shown little movement all year.
The number of part-time workers who preferred full-time hours actually was down. The bureau said that among the 228,000 new jobs, manufacturing added 31,000. Employment rose in machinery by 8,000, fabricated metal products by 7,000, computer and electronic products by 4,000 and plastics and rubber products by 4,000. Since a recent low in November 2016, manufacturing employment has increased by 189,000. Other increases were noted in professional and business services and in healthcare, which added 30,000 jobs. Most were in ambulatory healthcare services (+25,000), which includes offices of physicians and outpatient care centers.
Among other industries, construction jobs were up, but mining, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information, financial activities, leisure and hospitality and government, changed little. Buoyed by seasonal hires, retail added 18,000.
OK, a lot of numbers. I’m sure that Trump would highlight the manufacturing additions. But a question: If we are at the height of consumer confidence, on the verge of a huge corporate tax cut and in a regulatory environment that corporations should see as lovely, is the addition of 31,000 American jobs nationwide a big number? I don’t think so.
Indeed, it raises the question of why this economy is so in need of a boost that we need the tax bill.
More to the point, it is this insistence on jobs, jobs, jobs that has motivated the discussion that the tax bill promotes re-investment of even bigger profits. But companies are plenty profitable now. The job figures indicate that there is modest job growth, in accordance with the same pattern that marked the eight years of Obama. They should be focusing on an increase in wages.
Federal Reserve policymakers apparently find the lack of wage growth to be significant in deciding whether further increases in the benchmark interest rates are justified. So, of course, do workers.
Maybe people should worry less about handing out credit and spend more time understanding what bigger problem they should be targeting.
Terry H. Schwadron is a former editor for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Providence Journal and is an active volunteer with immigrants and writers and plays trombone in New York City. He blogs here.
Featured Photo: Shane Theurer builds compact excavators at the Bismarck, N.D., Bobcat plant. Photo by Tom Stromme, the Bismarck Tribune.