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Just in time for Halloween, Voodoo Donuts has landed at Denver International Airport.
The Portland-based donut chain opened its first airport location in DIA’s Concourse B on Friday, making it the third location in the Denver area. The store is one of 56 concessions coming to the airport by 2023, including local favorites like Rosenberg’s, Uncle and D Bar.
Voodoo Donuts has 15 locations around the US, including in Texas, Oregon, Colorado and California. It opened its first Denver store, at 1520 E. Colfax Ave., in 2013 and a second at 98 S. Broadway in 2019. A fourth is set to open soon at 3210 Arapahoe St. in Boulder.
Some of the donut chain’s specialties, among 50 unique flavors, include Bacon Maple Bar, Memphis Mafia, a banana and cinnamon fritter with chocolate and peanut butter drizzle, and The Cannolo, a donut resembling a cannoli with cream cheese filling.
Subscribe to our new food newsletter, Stuffed, to get Denver food and drink news sent straight to your inbox.


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Uruguay Poised to Export Cannabis
Uruguay is gearing up to export marijuana now that it has legalized cannabis use, with one government official saying the country is “enthusiastic” about tapping the global market.
The move highlights missed opportunities – and future possibilities – for U.S. marijuana companies, which currently cannot sell cannabis to other countries because the drug is still illegal at the federal level.
If the U.S. government ever gets its act together and legalizes marijuana, it could open the door to cannabis exports – and tens of million of dollars in revenues for cannabusinesses.
The demand is sizable: Uruguay has already received inquiries from several countries – including Canada, Chile and Israel – that are interested in importing cannabis for medical use. Research institutes in other countries have also asked about setting up labs in Uruguay to study marijuana.
International demand is set to grow rapidly as more countries look to relax marijuana laws and approve the use of cannabis for medical or recreational purposes.
Last month, Uruguay became the first nation in the world to legalize the cultivation, sale and consumption of marijuana for general use. It is now developing regulations on cannabis businesses and expects to have final rules in place by April.
The two companies selected to grow and dispense medical cannabis in Minnesota have raised a [click to continue...]
Medical marijuana businesses in Vancouver, British Columbia, may soon be in the city’s crosshairs. The [click to continue...]
An increasing number of states are requiring cannabis companies to track every plant from seed [click to continue...]
The agency in charge of overseeing Oregon’s recreational marijuana industry is planning to add a [click to continue...]
Cannabis business owners harassed by federal prosecutors despite operating legally in their respective states would [click to continue...]
An attempt to legalize medical marijuana in Florida this year via the state Legislature is [click to continue...]
An Ohio organization pushing for medical marijuana legalization in the state says a stronger, more [click to continue...]
A dispensary run by the president of the California Cannabis Industry Association has come under [click to continue...]
Oregon officials in charge of regulating the state’s up-and-coming recreational marijuana industry expect roughly 2,000 [click to continue...]
One of the first commercial cannabis testing labs in the United States is seeking $5 [click to continue...]
The head of the Drug Enforcement Agency will resign next month, prompting cheers from cannabis [click to continue...]
The owners of a planned Las Vegas dispensary held a ceremonial groundbreaking on Monday despite [click to continue...]
Yet another national poll has revealed that attitudes towards legalizing cannabis have grown more tolerant [click to continue...]
Washington State cultivators must be hurting. The average price of a gram of retail cannabis [click to continue...]

domain: news


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California: Google denies rumors about Gmail as Technology giant Google has dispelled rumors suggesting the end of its Gmail service.
A social media post on X (formerly Twitter) featured a screenshot of a fabricated email, falsely claiming Gmail’s imminent shutdown.
Although the screenshot originated from a genuine email from Google, discussing the discontinuation of the Basic HTML view, it was manipulated to propagate the false rumor.
The viral post asserted that Google intended to cease Gmail operations, citing it as an important announcement. This declaration gained traction, fueled by recent closures of various Google services.
A website named ‘Killed by Google’ catalogues 293 products, including apps, services, and hardware discontinued by the company, further adding to the speculation.
However, Google swiftly refuted these rumors on X (formerly Twitter), affirming Gmail’s continuity with a post stating, “Gmail is here to stay.”


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Remember NTP? It became perhaps the most famously successful patent-holding company in history when it exacted $612 million in tribute from RIM (NSDQ: RIMM) back in 2006. The company’s new round of mobile lawsuits-against all the big industry players, including AT&T (NYSE: T), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Verizon, and others-were on hold while the U.S. Patent Office took a second look at RIM’s patents.
The U.S. Patent Office threw out many of RIM’s patents during the reexam; but RIM appealed the decision, and now has won on appeal, Bloomberg reports. That means the reexam proceedings will happen all over again, but with different guidance from courts.
NTP’s lawsuits were on hold pending the result of this appeal. Because the case has been remanded back to the Patent Office, it probably means there will be yet more delays before NTP can re-open its lawsuits. But it also means that the companies being sued by NTP (and again, that’s just about the whole industry) will have some potentially major suits hanging over their heads for months or even years to come.
The company says its patents are foundational technologies when it comes to sending e-mail over a mobile phone. Taking a look at today’s decision [PDF], the crux of the disagreement is that the panel of judges hearing the appeal believe that the patent office didn’t use the correct definition of the term “electronic mail.”
NTP was founded by Donald Stout, a patent lawyer himself. Stout reportedly collected $177 million personally from the RIM settlement. The giant NTP settlement came when a judge was on the verge of ordering a shutdown of RIM’s Blackberry network. Such a shutdown would be practically impossible for a patent-holding company like NTP to orchestrate today; a 2007 Supreme Court decision, eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) v. MercExchange, made it much harder for patent holders to get injunctions when they win lawsuits.
Stout declined to comment to Bloomberg on NTP’s win today.


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by Kathy Marson
Spokane, Wash., November 12, 2014 - With the weather getting colder, we are reminded how important warm clothing and blankets are.
A recent group of refugees from the Congo is in need of many warm items items. Please peek at the flyer (linked below) to see if you can help. Cold weather is here and brand new to these lovely immigrants. They desperately need warm clothes, boots, blankets, household items, linens and tutoring for the children.
Call Mable Dunbar at 509.323.2123 or Cherry Goodridge 509.868.8479 for more info or to let them know you can help.


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4 Examples of Successful Retail Pop-Ups Designed to Bring in New Customers
In recent years there has been a resurgence of popup stores. Part of the growth in the number of retail popups has come from direct to consumer brands that realize that approximately 90% of retail sales still taking place in stores. Customers still want to touch and feel products before purchasing them and popups allow customers to do this. From a brand’s perspective not only do popups allow new customers to discover them but it also allows brands to communicate with customers in a way that can be more exciting and experiential that what is offered in their existing stores. In some cases popups are simply spectacles designed to create viral social media buzz.
Direct to consumer brands such as Casper are not the only ones using popup stores, increasingly big brands such as Louis Vuitton and Coach are also seeing the benefits of these types of experiences. Speaking about a popup established by St. Ives, the Brand Director commented that its popup store is “a place where the millennial shopper is out and about and seeking new trends, and wanting to try new things, and open to new experiences.” Since experiences are especially important to millennials, popups that offer a great experiences can be away to cater to this segment. Instagram has also fuelled the popup trend as brands are using popups to create Instagramable experiences that lure customers in who are looking for something new and exciting to show off in the their Instagram feeds. From Amazon to Louis Vuitton see how these brands are capitalizing on the trend of popup stores.
1. Amazon’s first foray into physical retail in the UK involved a pop-up store in central London featuring Amazon fashion. The weeklong pop up, was the first of its kind in London for Amazon. Each day the popup which focused on men’s and women’s apparel had a different theme. The first two days focused on autumn and winter 2018 trends, the next two days focused on fitness and the remaining days focused on street and party wear. The popup also featured stylists to help customers find the perfect look. Speaking about the event a spokesperson for Amazon said: “this is a big learning experience for us to understand how Amazon fashion translates in physical retail.”
Will an Amazon fashion retail store be coming to a mall near you? A spokesperson for Amazon said: “never say never on physical fashion stores. We are always looking for what is the next best thing for the customer and to give them what they want. We will see what the future holds.” Similar to most eCommerce brands Amazon thought the popup would provide customers with an opportunity to touch and feel its merchandise. This is especially important for customers who have never considered Amazon to be a fashion brand.
In addition to purchasing merchandise in the popup store, customers also had the option of buying products while in the store using their phones. To do so all a customer had to do was open the Amazon app on their phone and using the camera option they could scan an item’s Smilecode which would direct them to the item’s product page on amazon.com.
In addition to showcasing its merchandise Amazon put on a great event which accompanied the pop up and included: a beauty trends discussion with Jessica Diner from Vogue magazine, yoga sessions, denim customizations by Pepe jeans and live music.
2. For the launch of Virgil Abloh’s first collection for Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton opened a popup store in London last October. The 2,000 sq. ft pop up had a Wizard of Oz theme, one of Abloh’s key inspirations for the collection. Featuring a yellow brick road staircase the popup felt more like an exhibition. To gain entry into the popup which sold hoodies, tailored clothing as well as must have accessories from the spring/summer 2019 menswear collection, visitors had to purchase tickets.
Louis Vuitton is the largest luxury retailer by sales and popups are a key element of its strategy. In 2018 it had 80 popups but it is increasing that number to 100 this year. Speaking about Louis Vuitton’s focus on popups, Loius Vuitton’s CFO, Jean-Jacques Guiony told analysts: “this trend in pop-up stores is extremely important, and we will continue to develop that because it enables us to be talking in a different way to our clients ... and it adds flexibility with our network.” Undoubtedly the retailer’s experiments with popup stores will help it to stay relevant with the lucrative millennial demographic.
3. Coach launched their version of the interactive pop-up with a 6-day event in SoHo, New York last June. Called Life Coach this was Coach’s first brand activation outside of one of its stores or runway shows. There were four interactive rooms each with its own aesthetic that featured blank walls that visitors could draw on, tarot card readings as well as carnival games. One of the Instagram worthy rooms looked like a day at Coney Island. The exhibit was inspired by New York the city where Coach was founded in 1941 and no products were on sale. Speaking about the event Coach’s Chief Marketing Officer said "we deliberately wanted to create a new environment and not have the limitations of a pre-designed retail space.” That way, guests “could roam throughout the spaces and be on a discovery mission and explore”. The goal? “That every single person that walked through it had a very unique experience and walked out of there with a sense of what Coach was about."
4. Vans has created an entirely different form of experiential retail with its House of Vans concept. In September of 2018, House of Vans popped-up for three days in Toronto. The three-day installation included: a skatepark that was built for the event, an art show, a live concert, a community-based market featuring local vendors, a photography exhibition and a photography workshop. The event also included “Get on Board”, an initiative focused on getting women to partake in the skateboarding culture by offering skateboarding clinics. All events and activities offered by the House of Vans were free of charge. Success of the concept is not based on sales but on creating a strong connection within the community. According to Alex Auchu, Marketing Manager at Vans Canada: “if the skate industry is healthy, then our brand is healthy.”
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text: This past weekend, I read in Managing Automation that TrueDemand, a supply chain analytics vendor, scored a second round of funding. While playing on the fringes of what we could traditionally describe as Spend Management, the fact that TrueDemand Software was able to raise a substantial round ($8 million) in a somewhat challenging environment bodes well for such early stage analytics providers such as aPriori and Akoya (I'd lump Apexon in with that list as well, but the vendor is really in its second iteration -- it's not really an early stage play anymore). According to Managing Automation, TrueDemand's "Forecasting and Replenishment Suite includes analytical products that use RFID, point-of-sale, and other demand-signal information to quickly produce forecasts down to the location and SKU level." In the retail sector, this type of pinpoint visibility and analytics capability is critical given the fast turns and short lifecycles of most of what sits on the shelf in a typical Big Box environment. But it appears as if manufacturers -- especially in high tech -- such IBM and Intel have been the vendor's early adopter customers so far.


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Samsung, one of the leading companies in display technologies, is preparing to introduce bendable and sliding screens. In a statement from the Samsung Display manager, it was stated that these screens will be available for sale this year.
The generally accepted form factor in the world of smartphones has changed over time with the advancing technology. 6-7 years ago, smartphones used thick bezels and physical keys on the front. Over time, smart phones screen sizes and screen body ratios increasedThe physical keys on the front are removed.
Now, almost all smartphone manufacturers can easily produce smartphones with very thin frames and high screen-to-body ratio. Of course, giant technology companies are in various searches to differentiate from their competitors at this point. At this point foldable, bendable and slide screens Activated.
Samsung releases its bendable and scrolling screens this year
We first saw smart phones with foldable screens with models released by companies such as Samsung, Huawei and Motorola. There have also been reports that other manufacturers, including Apple, are working on foldable screen phones. After the foldable screens We can see the bendable and scrollable screens live this year..
Samsung Display Senior Vice President Choi Kwon-young said in a statement after the company’s financial reports that the first bendable and scrollable screens will arrive this year. Of course, it is quite possible that we will see smartphones with this technology first on a Samsung device, but there is no official statement on this issue.
Samsung Shares Galaxy S21 Family’s Renewed ‘Over the Horizon’ Melody
The emergence of bendable and scrollable screens does not mean that the lug of foldable screens will be thrown out. The company can be used on foldable smartphones new technologies continues to improve as well. Well, what do you think about this subject? Do not forget to share your ideas with us in the comments section.


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Is it Safe to Eliminate Fish from My Diet?
Is it safe to eliminate fish from my diet?
A lot of health gurus have convinced Americans that fish is necessary for a healthy diet. However, more and more studies are showing that fish is not a health food!
A research study looked at fish consumption in 5,000 men and women as part of the Rotterdam Study in the Netherlands. After 11 years, the researchers concluded that those who consumed the most fish did not have reduced risk of heart failure as compared to other study participants.
Other articles have shown that eating fish increases the risk of prostate cancer and heart disease and have found no protective effects from eating fish.
The confusion over whether or not fish is needed in the diet is fueled by inaccurate statements about the need to consume fatty acids like EPA and DHA from food. But these are NOT essential fatty acids – only omega-3s and omega-6s are essential, and the body converts those to other fatty acids needed for body function like EPA and DHA.
There are more in-depth articles about this topic from the Wellness Forum.
The people insisting you need to eat EPA and DHA from food are missing this crucial fact, that there are only two essential fatty acids which are omega-6 fatty acids and omega-3 fatty acids.
So the bottom line in terms of fish consumption is that wild caught fish can be included in the diet as part of a 10% or less of calories from animal food. There’s no need to include fish if you don’t like it and there are absolutely no negative effects of eliminating fish from your diet.
So if you were wondering if it’s okay to avoid fish in your diet, that answer is a resounding yes!


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In an event feted as ‘never having been seen before’, Beam Suntory is presenting four legends of the spirits industry at the Australian Technology Park (Eveleigh Train Yards) in Sydney tonight; getting ready to rumble.
John Campbell, Laphroig Distillery Manager; Fred Noe, seventh generation Jim Beam Distiller; Dan Tullio, Canadian Club Global Ambassador; and Mike Miyamoto, the Global Ambassador for Suntory Whisky will all be in attendance fighting their corner in the great debate. From Scotland, Canada, Japan and the USA, whisk(e)y will be celebrated with Beam Suntory integrating the portfolio with the CCA team and customers.
In preparation, the four greats signed bottles for drinks bulletin…
Beam Suntory’s extensive range of are whiskies now available through Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA).


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NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Meridian Bioscience today reported a 1 percent year-over-year drop in fiscal 2014 first-quarter revenues with mixed results in both its Illumigene molecular diagnostics and core life science businesses.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, Meridian reported revenues of $44.8 million, compared to $45.4 million in the year-ago period and well short of the consensus analyst estimate of $49 million.
As Meridian noted last week when it released preliminary fiscal Q1 results, the drop in revenues was a result of several factors.
"Delays in shipments, ordering patterns, and a seasonal shift in influenza negatively impacted our core life science, foodborne, and respiratory product categories, respectively, and are expected to rebound during the second quarter," Meridian CEO John Kraeutler said in a statement this week.
Revenues from Meridian's diagnostics segment edged down to $34.8 million from $35.7 million in the year-ago period.
Within this business segment, revenues from Meridian's Illumigene line of isothermal amplification-based molecular diagnostic products increased 15 percent year over year, with the greatest contributions coming from its tests for Group A and Group B streptococci. This was offset, however, by its molecular Clostridium difficile test contributing at a lesser rate than expected, the company said.
"We believe one of the root causes of this weakness is related to reduced hospital admissions and declining disease incidence rates in hospitals," Kraeutler said. "As a result, our sales and marketing efforts are being stepped up with those products that are more suited to testing of ambulatory patients rather than hospital inpatients. Specifically, we are focusing on the testing of those persons undergoing prenatal screening as well as those suffering symptoms of upper respiratory infections and gastrointestinal distress."
Meridian said that it added 21 new Illumigene customers in Q1, a similar number as compared to the same period last year; and added 36 new tests on installed Illumipro systems. The company also noted that Illumigene Pertussis is currently awaiting clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration, and clinical trials for its CT/NG test are set to begin this quarter.
Meantime, Illumigene's life science business logged revenues of $10 million in Q1, a 3 percent uptick from $9.7 million in the year-ago period.
Meridian noted that its Bioline unit, which primarily sells reagents for PCR and other molecular biology techniques, achieved a 16 percent year-over-year increase offset by a 7 percent decline in core life science revenues.
Meridian reported Q1 net earnings of $7.4 million, or $.18 per share, compared to $8.5 million, or $.20 per share, in the year-ago period and falling shy of the consensus analyst estimate of $.22 per share.
Meridian spent $2.9 million on R&D in Q1 compared to $2.5 million in the year-ago period, while SG&A costs totaled $13.5 million in fiscal Q1 compared to $13.2 million in the year-ago period.
Meridian ended the quarter with $43.7 million in cash and cash equivalents.
The company reaffirmed its guidance for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2014, with anticipated net sales in the range of $203 million to $208 million and diluted EPS of between $0.98 and $1.03.


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MrBeast is one of the biggest YouTube stars on the planet. Having amassed more than 75 million subscribers on the platform, the YouTuber is the example of ‘anything is possible’.
MrBeast is not just a YouTuber but also the owner of a Burger chain called MrBeast. He launched Beast Burger and decided to operate out of already established kitchens. While the YouTuber has now expanded to more than 1,000 locations in USA, Canada, and UK combined, there are times when Beast Burger comes under fire for ‘disgusting’ orders.
Raw Chicken In The Burger
Recently, a similar incident occurred when one of the customers who ordered Beast Burger received raw chicken in their order. The customer who goes by the alias ‘Kingsavage07’ on reddit shared the picture of the order on the platform.
And to no one’s surprise, the post is going viral and people have started questioning MrBeast. Even though Kingsavage07 got a refund from the team of Beast Burger, it does not nullify the fact that a mistake was made.
Comments under the post poked fun at MrBeast and his burger initiative. One comment read “If you feed it, you might get some fresh eggs in a day or two”, while another said “It needs another couple of hours on the radiator. For real though, that’s incredibly dangerous. It could kill someone.”
To all the skeptics who claimed that the picture was not from BeastBurger brand, the post originator confirmed by posting the receipt of the order.
MrBeast Faces Criticism
This is the second incidence this week where YouTube sensation MrBeast was under hot water. Recently, he was also criticized for spending a lot of money on the recreation of the famous Netflix series, Squid Game.
“There is no part of me that understands this. They’re children’s games,” they said. “They’re based on real games children play. You can just play them, why do so many people think “Squid Game in real life” is cool?”
“Doesn’t even look good,” they commented. “It’s like a 20-foot paint job, most of the more intricate visual details are missing, especially in the alleyway set.”


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Midwest Real Estate News recently interviewed Max Rasansky, managing director of the Milwaukee office of CB Richard Ellis, for his thoughts on the strength of the commercial real estate industry in his slice of Wisconsin.
Midwest Real Estate News: How is the commercial real estate market faring today in the Milwaukee region? Rasansky: We are holding our own overall. We definitely saw an uptick in our business in the fourth quarter of 2010. We had a strong fourth quarter last year, particularly in November and December, among all sectors: retail, office properties, industrial. That is very important. It’s a strong indicator of the future health of our business. And I’d like to emphasis that we had a strong quarter on the investment end, too. We had very strong investment sales in our fourth quarter. We are seeing cap rates improving. There is very strong demand for the typical free-standing 15- or 20-year credit leases, whether for food stores or department stores or other types of businesses.
MWREN: How about in the industrial sector. That’s an important market sector for Milwaukee. Rasansky: I’m very encouraged by what is going on in our industrial sector. Being a Midwestern city, we are always looking at our industrial market. Our economy has often gone the way that our industrial sector has gone. In the fourth quarter of last year and in the first half of this year, we have seen a real uptick.
MWREN: How about in office? Rasansky: In office properties, certainly there are high vacancy rates, however there are major tenants that are looking at making a move in our market. It’s pretty well-publicized. There very well could be a new downtown office building here soon. All of this activity is good. Retail wise, our retail group had a very good year. That group had a strong fourth quarter, too. We are even starting to see more activity now with larger boxes. There is definitely activity in the marketplace. Our leasing group is very busy.
MWREN: Why do you think activity has gotten so much stronger lately? Rasansky: So much of our business is timing. The last two years have been very difficult. Now into 2011, we are seeing some good signs in our general economy. Retailers are still being cautious, but even they are starting to do some things. That is a good sign.


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True story: The night I went to see a performance by Gorillaz was the one night their cartoon screens weren't working. But Damon Albarn still hid in the stage-wing shadows for almost the entire show. This is what you call dedication to a deeply goofy concept.
Way back in the dawn-of-time era of 2007, we reported on the existence of Bananaz, a Gorillaz documentary by Ceri Levy, the director of the Blur doc Starshaped. 2007 was a long time ago, but we can now report that you'll finally be able to watch Bananaz pretty soon.
The movie will debut on the flash website Babelgum on April 20, and it'll stream there for four weeks. Babelgum will also launch a Gorillaz channel, which will feature Gorillaz live shows, videos, games, and other stuff. According to this MySpace blog post,
EMI plans to release the movie theatrically and on DVD in June. It features cameos from such Gorillaz collaborators as Dennis Hopper, De La Soul, Ibrahim Ferrer, Danger Mouse, Dan the Automator, D12, the Pharcyde's Bootie Brown, and Neneh Cherry, and the DVD contains an outtakes reel titled "The Bananaz Home Movie Club".
Judging by this trailer, Bananaz features a whole lot of giggling and mugging from Albarn. It looks pretty much unwatchable. You've been warned.


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60 years ago, Sept. 18, 1959
(Headline) New Pine River surplus store grand opening today and tomorrow
With more than 10,000 square feet of floor space available for merchandise display, Mr. Gearey has stocked the store with a large variety of items, including appliances, furniture, clothing, toys, etc.
50 years ago, Sept. 18, 1969
(Headline) Tigers tie Blackduck, play Walker there Fri
The Pine River Tigers, now well into the current football season, sport a record of 1 loss, 1 win and 1 tie, going into their Friday nite game at Walker, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
25 years ago, Sept. 15, 1994
(Headline) After nearly a decade, mayor, councilman Zaske steps down
Pine River mayor and past councilman since the early 1980s, Doug Zaske has failed to file for any position on the city council.
(Headline) $16 million school plan unveiled in Pequot
10 years ago, Sept. 17, 2009
(Headline) Depot dedicated at Heritage Days celebration
(Photo) Siblings Benjamin, Hannah and Julia Ruohoniemi get a helping hand from Barb Hines, of Pine River, in the Heritage Days tug-o-war.
- Compiled by Travis Grimler, Staff Writer


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Oscar De La Renta, Balenciaga and Valentino are offering an internship for auction.
Oscar De La Renta is auctioning off an internship.
The fashion house is being joined by Balenciaga, M Missoni and Valentino by partaking in a scheme with charitybuzz.com, with unpaid positions offered in sales, press, merchandising or PR.
Those wanting to take part must be over 18 and enrolled in an accredited college or university course.
All proceeds from the auction go towards Rosie's Theatre Kids, a New York-based charity which enriches youngsters lives through arts education.
Balenciaga currently has a highest bid of $1,350, while Oscar de la Renta has so far made $1,000.
Valentino and M Missoni has yet to receive any bids, with seven days of the auction left.
Oscar was recently involved in the takeover of a new store in London, where hairdresser Nicky Clarke has been for more than 20 years.
Oscar, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is rumoured to be paying close to $1.5 million for the lease on the property in Mount Street, opposite the Connaught Hotel.


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UK price pressures continue to soar with annual inflation rising to 5.4% in Dec from 5.1% in Nov while the core inflation rate y/y rose to 4.2% from a prior reading of 4.0%. Get your market update from nickcawley1 here:
Price pressures in the UK continue unabated adding further pressure on the Bank of England to hike rates further at the February meeting
UK price pressures continue to soar with annual inflation rising to 5.4% in December from 5.1% in November while the core inflation rate y/y rose to 4.2% from a prior reading of 4.0%. Both readings beat market expectations.One of the Bank of England’s favoured inflation readings, the consumer price index including owner occupier’s housing costs (CPIH) rose by 4.8% in the 12 months to December 2021, up from 4.6% to November. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS),
‘The 12-month inflation rate was the highest since September 2008, when it also stood at 4.8%. This is the highest recorded 12-month inflation rate in theNational Statisticsdata series, which begins in January 2006, and the highest rate since CPIH stood at 5.1% in May 1992 in the historical modelled estimates.’ Food prices grew strongly, along with increases in furniture and clothing, while petrol prices were stable this month.Read more: DailyFX »
Jan. 6 hearing live updates: Surprise witness, focus on 'recently obtained evidence'
The Jan. 6 committee is holding a surprise hearing Tuesday, after saying the focus would be on some 'recently obtained evidence' but revealing nothing more. Read more >>
Explainer: UK inflation nears 30-year high, but how fast will it fall back?British consumer price inflation looks set to hit a 30-year high of 6% or more in April, but the big question for the Bank of England and the wider public is how quickly it will then fall back. It falls now Transitory......ask America 😂 robertojirusta
U.K. Inflation Hits 30-Year High, Prompting Expectations of Rise in Interest RatesConsumer prices in the U.K. rose 5.4% in December compared with a year earlier, strengthening the case for further increases in the Bank of England’s key interest rate as the country’s economy emerges from the Omicron wave. SPREAD THE WORD: MAC MILLER MOLESTED CHILDREN Thats pretty good. In Turkey they have increased about 50%. I urge you to also post an article about that as well. wait how is Brandon increasing UK inflation as well
UK inflation surges to highest level in 30 yearsUK consumer price inflation has surged to the highest level in three decades, heaping pressure on households already facing a huge increase in energy costs. That damn Biden! 🤦♀🤪😂 Yet the GOP would have you believe inflation is only a problem for America & Biden is to blame🤷♂ World crisis has caused inflation to rise across the globe & until this pandemic is under control it will remain a problem! Passing BBB would help reduce it & the GOP know this🤷♂
UK employers add record number of jobs despite OmicronBritish employers added a record 184,000 staff to their payrolls in December, showing little impact from the Omicron variant of coronavirus, while job vacancies hit a new record high, potentially fuelling the Bank of England's inflation worries.
UK PM's former adviser says Johnson knew about lockdown partyA former senior adviser to Britain's Boris Johnson said on Monday he was willing to 'swear under oath' that the prime minister knew a party was being held at his residence during a COVID-19 lockdown, accusing him of lying to parliament. British media have reported that at least 11 gatherings took place at 10 Downing Street - the prime minister's official residence and office - or in other government departments between May 2020 and April 2021, when COVID-19 rules limited how many people could meet socially. Dominic Cummings, an architect of Britain's departure from the European Union and a former senior adviser to Johnson who left government under acrimonious terms in November 2020, said on Twitter that the prime minister had agreed that the drinks party should go ahead. GIVE HIM A BREAK HE IS A NEW PARENT WITH NO SLEEP 🙋🏽♀MLK
UK to Tighten Crypto Ad Regulations to Improve Consumer ProtectionThe U.K. government said it plans to strengthen the rules governing crypto ads to bring them in line with other financial assets, and published the results of a consultation that began almost two years ago. By iamsandali iamsandali DFY Digchain UK 🚀🚀🚀 iamsandali 👊 Jefe TOKEN 💠 2 Play-2-Earn Gamefi/NFT 👊 $Jefe swap now live 🎰 $Jefe play2earn competition going till Jan 19th 💎 Hand Holder rewards 💥 Chance to earn/win NFTS 👨 Team fully doxxed (on Video and socials on website) 🦸🦸♀Community driven + supporting our heroes and heroine iamsandali LUNI Luniverse LUNIGANG luniverseworld 👀👀👀👀


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- DIY Producer Society
When most people in the United States hear the word “manufacturing,” two images come to mind. The first recalls traditional assembly lines, men sweating over machines, and long trains of mass-produced goods coming out the other end, smoke billowing from their stacks. Automobile plants circa 1950 embody this image. The second image—epitomized by automobile plants circa 2012—is of shuttered factories and blue-collar workers displaced by foreign competition.
Consequently, policy discussions about manufacturing tend to follow this same dichotomy and to rely on conventional terms, regardless of their applicability. Most debates about the future of manufacturing focus on recovering a bygone era and become a discussion of what the U.S. economy is supposed to look like: Should we have more production and less consumption? How can the United States boost exports and reduce imports? Where will the good jobs come from?
What is most disappointing about this state of affairs is that it obscures a new type of producer society that is taking shape in the cracks in the old system. This do-it-yourself (DIY) producer society, driven by grassroots movements in tinkering, entrepreneurship, and small-scale manufacturing, has the potential to transform how we think and talk about American manufacturing—as well as its role in the U.S. economy.
This, of course, is not the first article to proclaim that manufacturing is changing. Accelerating manufacturing job losses during the Great Recession have spurred much talk about restoring the U.S. position as a country that makes things. Although the United States has never stopped making things in terms of output—it remains one of the top manufacturing countries in the world and exports billions of dollars of goods each year—there is a popular notion that we have left behind the golden age of American productivity and moved away from producing physical items, choosing instead to export that function. There are frequent indignant outcries that products like the iPhone and iPad are designed but not manufactured in America or that the U.S. Olympic team uniforms carried “Made in China” labels, [End Page 3] implying that such facts reflect America’s downward economic spiral. These cries often emerge from those who wave the ever-popular banner of needing to save American jobs. However, a close examination of this claim reveals a much more complicated economic story than that of savings-driven outsourcing.
Visions of the revival of traditional American manufacturing often include the return of lucrative jobs to American communities. However, the future of American manufacturing shouldn’t be circumscribed by a discussion of “reshoring” jobs. There is already a great deal of false hope around the re-shoring debate. For example, Boston Consulting Group released a report last year purporting to have found that, within half a decade, millions of lost manufacturing jobs would return to the United States because of rising labor costs in China. While it’s true that labor costs in China are rising consistently relative to the United States, it’s also true that labor costs constitute a falling share of manufacturing costs. The mix of labor, shipping, and energy costs will probably mean that some jobs once sent to China will return to North America; for many others, however, that calculus will not change. This is due in part to the fact that the decision of where to locate a manufacturing center is not determined by such cost measures alone.
The expectation that rising Chinese labor costs will result in the wholesale relocation of millions of jobs to the United States simplistically assumes that there is no other reason manufacturing jobs have been created elsewhere. Economists and others have long realized that the benefits of co-location—when engineering, design, and manufacturing jobs exist in the same geographic place—go well beyond job numbers. Spillovers and returns to proximity matter; moreover, when manufacturing jobs leave, the innovative potential of the remaining workers is undermined and, hence, the skills and knowledge level of the surrounding area go untapped. A recent article in Technology Review noted that A123 Systems, one of the most celebrated lithium-ion battery companies in...


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By Christine Schirato
The Panera Bread stores in Johnstown and Altoona will be giving Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber a boost by donating Pink Ribbon Bagel sales during their Go Pink campaign Oct. 5.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from bagel sales will go to Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber.
“We are just honored to be a part of it,” said Patty Felton, Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center director.
This isn’t the first time that Panera has helped out WMC.
“I believe it was last October they wanted to put a contribution container in their Johnstown store,” Felton said. “They have been giving us contributions. They presented us with a check at Girls Night Out in May.”
Pittsburgh area Panera Bread stores have been running the Go Pink campaign for a while.
“We do this every year in Pittsburgh,” said Bernadette Santucci, marketing director for Covelli Enterprises, which operates the nation’s largest Panera franchise.
“If you can’t come in and buy a bagel, you can drop your spare change in the canisters to support (WMC) also,” she said.
The pink ribbon bagel is shaped like a ribbon.
The center’s goal is two-fold.
“It is going to support patient services and we are going to put information out on that day to promote doing self breast exams and getting mammograms,” Felton said.
Best of all, donations will stay in the area, she said.
“People need to know that their money stays local, their donation stays here and helps the women in their community


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As a veteran of beer festivals and brewery visits, Laura Oldham noticed a boring trend. She always got handed either a plastic sampling glass or the same old pint glass.
So when she and others decided to launch their own beer festival in Columbus this year, they opted for a fancy tulip-shaped glass.
“For us, it was a matter of added value,” said Oldham, one of the organizers of the Grandview High Gravity Hullabaloo, set for Feb. 1. “If we give them the same pint glass they get at every other beer festival and every brewery, it’s just not as fun.”
Tasting glasses won’t make or break a festival, but many organizers fret over them.
It’s easy to understand why. Tickets to festivals aren’t cheap — $75 and up in some cases for the VIP treatment.
A nice souvenir glass to take home can make a big impression, especially with discriminating craft beer drinkers who know the difference between a throwaway plastic cup and a collectible that will be cherished for years.
“For the nicer events, you definitely need to have a really nice glass,” said Craig Johnson of Festivals Unlimited, which organizes the Beerfest events in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh.
With the proliferation of beer festivals (see sidebar on 2014 events in Ohio), there’s a huge range of sampling glasses offered at events.
The annual Blues & Brews festival in Akron has a miniature pint glass. The Winter Beerfest events in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus provide a nifty snifter for connoisseur ticket-holders. And Brewzilla, the final event for Cleveland Beer Week, has handed out miniature weizen glasses.
All feature a logo for the event, sometimes a year and logo of a sponsor.
The worst ones — at least in the eyes of many seasoned festival-goers — are plastic glasses.
The Oregon Brewers Festival announced last year that it was dumping plastic in favor of glass, saying plastic provides an aftertaste and glass is more environmentally friendly.
Plastic glasses often are given out at venues where organizers are concerned about breaking glass.
Inevitably at big indoor events, someone, whether drunk or not, drops a glass. When it shatters, a loud rumble of hoots and hollers flows over the crowd like an audible wave.
The Cincy Winter Beerfest switched from glass to an acrylic mug for most ticket-holders a few years ago. (The connoisseur level gets the snifter.) Johnson said he expected complaints when the change happened.
“We didn’t really get blowback from the public,” he said. “People used to really complain about the glass. Now it’s just a vessel.”
Sometimes, a plastic cup is more expensive than glass so it’s not a matter of organizers being cheap, Johnson said. Of course, he added quickly, a nicer, upscale event must provide glass as opposed to plastic.
Tom Aguero of Monroe, Ohio, who writes the blog Queen City Drinks (www.queencitydrinks.com), said he understands the worries of organizers. He also questioned whether a nice tasting glass is really necessary.
“If you’re trying 20-plus beers in an hour or two, you’re not getting much aroma or flavor after the first few, so you don’t need a fancy glass,” he said.
But many people collect the glasses and want them as keepsakes.
Julia Herz, the craft beer program director for the Brewers Association, a trade group in Boulder, Colo., that runs the Great American Beer Festival, World Beer Cup and Savor events, has a shelf devoted to her favorites. She’s partial to stemware.
Festival organizers can take the glass as seriously as they want — or not at all, she said.
More important than the shape, size or glass vs. plastic issue is that organizers make sure there’s no detergent or dirt residue that will interfere with the beer tasting experience.
“A clean glass is key and that’s a no-brainer,” Herz said.


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Following an announcement last year, Google has shut down the goo.gl URL shortener and is replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links.
If you’ve been using goo.gl to shorten and monitor your links, you probably already know this, but last year Google announced that it would be sunsetting the service this year. As a result, for the last year, anyone wanting to sign up for goo.gl has been unable to do so, while existing users will still be able to manage their links via the service console for another year. In 2020, they too will need to find an alternative service to use.
Some other good news is that Google is replacing its old URL shortener with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL for short). The decision to shut down goo.gl and move to FDL is a result of changes in the ways that people share information online. In its effort to keep up with these changes, Google is moving to “smart URLs” that redirects users in a variety of ways that were not possible back in 2009.
As Michael Hermanto, Google’s Firebase software engineer explains, “We launched the Google URL Shortener back in 2009 as a way to help people more easily share links and measure traffic online. Since then, many popular URL shortening services have emerged and the ways people find content on the Internet have also changed dramatically, from primarily desktop webpages to apps, mobile devices, home assistants, and more.”
With Dynamic Links, users can “get the best available experience for the platform they open your link on.” For example, “if a user opens a Dynamic Link on iOS or Android, they can be taken directly to the linked content in your native app.” Similarly, “if a user opens the same Dynamic Link in a desktop browser, they can be taken to the equivalent content on your website.”
If you still don’t want to use FDL though, there are many alternative URL shortening services that you can use. It’s also important to note that Google even recommends Bitly or Ow.ly as replacements for goo.gl.
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In an effort to save some cash during these troubled times, Travis decided to get rid of his cable TV subscription. And when he called up Time Warner to give them the bad news they said fine… that’ll be $30.
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — It’s a dying art and skill, the cobbler.
Few young people are entering the profession.
Years ago, at one time in East Tennessee, nearly every community had a shoe repair shop. Dozens were located in Knoxville, alone, yet few remain today.
There are fewer than 7,000 show repair shops in the country, according to the Shoe Service Institute of America. That’s just a fraction of the nearly 60,000 stores that were sprinkled throughout the United States in the 1940s.
Lots of footwear today is no longer stitched together as it once was because a machine steam presses the soles into the shoe — in half the time it would take to sew it. So, fewer repairs are made.
For the few repair shops that remain open, business is brisk.
One longtime cobbler says he has no plans of calling it quits.
WATE 6 On Your Side’s Don Dare shares the story of a cobbler in Fountain City who says he has no plans of retiring, but, his shop will soon be moving.
Hardy Johnson has been repairing shoes for decades
Shoe repair is a meticulous task and Hardy Johnson has been at it since the early 1940s.
Hardy Johnson has been tapping heels on shoes about all of his life — ever since he was a teenager. He’s 91 now.
Johnson is comfortable and happy with his profession in a room with old, worn out, repairable shoes. First, he started shining shoes working alongside his dad in a downtown Knoxville shop. Happiness is the key to his success. Hardy says if you love what you are doing, you will be successful.
“My father was in it and I started helping him,” Johnson said. “Then as the years went along, he became disabled. I took over the whole thing. It was a great job that I just couldn’t leave.”
For Johnson — who is highly skilled at repairing anything leather — this is not an 8-to-5 job. You have to go beyond the call of duty — even at the age of 91.
“You got to be able to work long hours, mostly. I have worked many an hour overtime. I just love the trade. That’s why I stay here so much. I’d rather be here than home,” he said.
His work home is bursting at the seams with shoes and the robust scents of dye, polish and glue.
Shoe repair shops disappearing
Custom Shoe Rebuilders in Fountain City has been located at several locations. Hardy remembers when there were once six shoe repair businesses just along Broadway.
Since 1953, all have closed in North Knoxville, but one.
“They are disappearing quickly. I think it is too much work for the young people to want to do,” says Hardy’s son, Jim Johnson.
Jim Johnson carries on the family trade that started in the 1920s. As his father worked with his dad as a teen, so has Jim. He now operates the business.
“It’s a pleasure,” Jim Johnson said. “He and I only had one disagreement in the whole time we worked together, that was over credit card machines. He just didn’t want to take credit cards.”
Jim won that disagreement. A credit card machine sits on their front counter. Jim says his dad now sees the wisdom of modernizing.
Over the years, Hardy Johnson has become a celebrity in the Fountain City community.
The wall of his shop is filled with local honors, mementos, and pictures with community leaders.
Nearly 70 years ago, there was a break in Hardy Johnson’s shoe repair career: He volunteered and joined the Army and served in the Korean War. However, not as a cobbler, but in the Signal Corps, climbing poles in Korea. Johnson said he enjoyed it.
Moving to new location
After nearly 10 years at their present location, their workspace has become crowded, they need more room.
So, they’re moving next door.
They have to be moved from 5503 to 5501 Broadway, which offers three times the amount of space. Hardy Johnson says he owes loving his job to everyone – to his customers, suppliers, and to his son. His passion has not waned.
In Knoxville today, Hardy Johnson says his business is one of two family-owned shoe repair shops still in operation.
Jim Johnson says their business remains viable not only because they repair shoes, but also provide shoe modifications – lifts, foot soles and heel replacement, as well as leather repair for purses, jackets and belts.
Some people remember wearing sneakers, or rubber sole shoes, only during gym classes, but not anymore. The sales of sneakers and other athletic footwear outsold dresses and casual shoe sales and leather shoes, 2 to 1 last year.
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LG's David VanderWaal said: "2018 will be the tipping point for the smart home".
LG focused a portion of its presser on a new line of OLED TVs with ThinQ on board. After having unveiled its ThinQ smart speaker along with its new range of speakers, the company is now all set to unveil its mammoth display that can be rolled. It comes as little surprise then that this year's TVs do look a lot like their predecessors. The company is expected to announce its price as well as the region-specific availability of the new TV series at the event.
What does this all mean for us smartphone enthusiasts? Like LG, Samsung too has kept majority of the specifications a secret for now.
Doug Jones cosponsors bill to renew CHIP funding
Part of the problem is they haven't been told by CMS how it will disburse money from the agency's so-called redistribution pool. You can't manage a health program like that. "They might not have a family physician, or a clear support system".
Now as mentioned earlier, this is just a concept, but considering how quickly LG moves from concept to reality we wouldn't be surprised if you could actually buy a finished product like this in less than a year. While this is as innovative as it gets, LG has not yet revealed the specifics of the TV.
LG Display plans to sell 2.8 million large-size OLED displays this year, and increase its sales target of large-size OLED displays to 6.5 million units in 2020.
The dawn of rollable OLED is nearly upon us, and it will bring with it some very impressive new form factors for phones, tablets, and, in this case, HDTVs. When there is no use of it, you can tool it back. It connects with Google services to display photos, other files and media saved in Google Drive.
Mr Park said enabling all appliances to talk to each other would allow devices to learn user habits and automatically carry out tasks such as controlling heating and re-ordering groceries. All screens will also offer regular HDR10, as well as HLG HDR technology. Imagine using a big 10-inch phone to read news or messages, and once done, rolling it into a compact form and keeping it in your pocket. LG, unsurprisingly, has continued its support for OLED, while Samsung still feels QLED is the way to go.
Canada launches global trade complaint against US
With its WTO filing, Canada is forcing the United States to put its logic to the test. Critics have accused the Trump administration of wanting to hobble the WTO.
Despite the improvements, it's still unlikely to match the black levels on LG's OLEDs, but it may well have the edge in colour reproduction. But the panel isn't OLED.
"The growing number of available OLED TV choices, especially high-profile Japanese and European brands, has resulted in more competition and pricing promotion activity in the OLED TV market". It's made up of small panels, so the TV can be produced in a variety of shapes and sizes. At 65 inches and a resolution of 4K, it's of the ideal size and specs for many living rooms, but what LG really wants you to focus on is the fact that it's basically a giant piece of electronic paper. The TVs also support 120FPS high frame rate video. Also, LG managed to further ideal its Crystal Sound OLED technology.
The real battle will be fought between the mid-range, more affordable sets. LG is just showing us one way of how its rollable TV could be put to use, which in this case is by hiding the display when not in use.
How fast the TV will arrive depends on market demand.
Hospital Bosses To Update Health Minister On Overcrowding
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has apologised to patients who have experienced long delays and waits on trolleys in emergency departments. The Health Minister has insisted "no effort or resource is being spared" to improve the overcrowding situation in hospitals .


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Alternatives to Bankruptcy in Illinois
Chicago Illinois Bankruptcy Lawyer
Often, someone who is overburdened with debts will be tempted to enter into an agreement with a "debt relief company". These companies claim to be able to negotiate with creditors to erase the bulk of your credit card debts through “tough bargaining”.
What they actually do is take and hold all of your normal monthly payments to your credit card companies in their account (minus their cut) month after month until they have a substantial amount, then call a card and say, “We can give you three thousand now instead of the ten thousand due on this card if you erase the rest of the debt owed.” Needless to say, the lender rarely agrees.
"Consumer Man" on MSNBC wrote the following in regard to these companies:
Some companies now claim they can negotiate a one-time settlement with all of your creditors that will reduce your principal by as much as 50 to 70 percent. By doing this, they say, your monthly payments will drop dramatically.
"That is virtually impossible under any circumstances," says Travis Plunkett, Legislative Director of the Consumer Federation of America. That’s why CFA warns consumers not to use debt settlement programs. "They are promising something they can’t deliver," Plunkett says.
The majority of these folks end up filing for bankruptcy, in any event, of course after these companies take their cut. Moreover, filing and completing the short bankruptcy process allows one to start fresh and create a relatively new credit identity rather than trudging through the mud of the former debt burden for months on end.


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In the early morning cool, 51-year-old Sao Na stood outside the Kandal Provincial Hall ground on Friday wearing a helmet, armed with rice, sweetcakes and one last slither of hope she would finally receive a long-promised payout.
After more than ten years of service, the Dignity Knitter factory stopped paying her in December 2019, then suspended operations, and then shut down without notice – leaving her and about 1,000 co-workers there and at the nearby ECO Base factory jobless and owed thousands of dollars each.
After a year of broken promises, the provincial court this month sold more than $1.1 million worth of equipment seized from the shuttered factories, which will be split between more than 1,000 workers, who have stood vigil at the factories around the clock for months and staved off multiple attempts by management to take back their goods.
“It’s not much but we have no choice,” Na said, of the $1,300 she was set to receive. “I feel nothing. I’ve waited too long.”
About 50 workers were waiting outside the court by 7am, each of them with a story of hardship brought on by losing their jobs in the middle of a pandemic – and many of them unable to move on without having resolved the dispute.
Na had done a few shifts guarding the factory but then went to work on a construction site alongside her husband. But after a few months earning $7.50 a day labouring, she was laid off, unable to keep up, and became the on-site cook.
“I had no choice but to go to a construction site. Factories won’t hire me because I am too old,” she said.
“Garment work is easier than construction work because factory work is regular,” she added, explaining how her job ironing at the factory came with a guaranteed $200 every month, compared to $7.50 per day labouring on a worksite.
While she did not have much to show for working at the factory for more than decade, she had sold it all, including a treasured necklace and bracelet, just to keep her three children fed.
The Labour Ministry will disperse more than 1.2 million to workers over two days –$1,110,009 from selling items seized from the factory and $160,000 lodged with the ministry by the Chinese factory owner, a provincial official told CamboJA.
A committee formed to resolve the dispute agreed to sell the goods at a reduce price earlier this month after two failed attempts to auction them with a reserve price of $1,777,000.
Ket Sokny, 30, who worked for 12 years at Dignity Knitter, said she had not found work since it was shuttered and had dedicated her time to guarding the factory and spending time with her five-year-old daughter.
With her husband’s earning from growing fruit irregular and Covid-19 putting a further squeeze on the family, they was forced to cut back on spending.
“I had to reduce expenditure on items which are not necessary, including new clothes and shoes,” said Sokny.
After more than a decade working in the factory producing socks, she would invest her $1,500 payout in her husband’s fruit farm and seek work in a new factory.
“At least we don’t have to sleep in front of the factory anymore,” she said.
The workers at the two factories had been claiming wages and bonuses withheld since December 2019, when the factories began to scale down operations before three months of work suspensions leading up to the official shutdown in June.
One in five garment workers go hungry on a daily basis, with 90% having reduced how much they eat during the pandemic, the Worker Rights Consortium, an international advocacy group, said in December after surveying about 400 workers in nine countries, including Cambodia.
Phorn Vanna, who spent 13 years in quality control at Eco Base, said that she had taken to selling drinks and sour fruit snacks in front of her home in Kandal Stung district.
She said she was just looking forward to not having to think about the dispute any more, but that her $1,700 compensation was sure to be gone fast, with $180 due in bank loan repayments each month.
“I have been selling for a year but it’s not regular income,” she said, adding that she made a few dollars a week. “I tell you the truth, I will use this money to reduce debt with the bank.”
Tens of thousands of Cambodian garment workers faced unpayable microfinance debt, human rights group Licadho, labour advocacy group CENTRAL and the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions said in June 2020.
Workers faced a “mounting human rights crisis as they struggle to feed their families and hold onto their land under immense pressure from microfinance institutions,” the groups said in a report.
Chhoeut Rany, 37, who worked for 10 years at Eco Base, said she received $1,200 on Friday – $50 short of what she owes to for a loan taken out to dig a well and feed the family while unemployed in her hometown in Prey Veng province.
“Everyday expenses have become problems since the factory closed, including paying for food every day and sending my children to school,” she said.
“It’s a bit late for a solution. We waited more than a year.”
Phin Sophea, a representative for the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union (CCAWDU) at Dignity Knitter and organizer of the push to be repaid, said he was happy that the nightly vigils at the factories could end.
After leading the push for compensation, he would consider going to work with the union in Preah Sihanouk, where manufacturing is booming inside multiple special economic zones – but he isn’t sure yet.
“In my heart, I want sell porridge or rice and soybean milk but I do not know yet whether I can do that,” Sophea said.
Ou Ratana, deputy secretary-general of the Committee for the Resolution of Strikes and Demonstrations at the Labor Ministry, said 600 workers would be paid Friday and the remainder Saturday, with a just a few thousand dollars left over from the $1.2 million.
“It might look as though this solution has taken a long time, but it has not been easy,” he said, refuting complaints from workers about a lack of commitment from officials.
While most of the 1,000 workers had found new work, the ministry would find work for any who had not, he added.
In 2020, 1,356 factories and enterprises closed and 108,825 workers lost their jobs, Labor Minister Ith Sam Heng said in a Facebook post, up from the same period in 2019, when 969 factories and enterprises closed and 85,889 workers lost jobs.
At the same time,103 factories opened and 61,257 additional jobs were created, the minister added.
For Na, the mother who arrived at provincial hall with rice and sweet cakes, the end of the saga and $1,300 payout will mark the beginning of a new chapter in her life, in which she will buy a new golden necklace before returning to her husband and kids in Prey Veng.
“I will use the rest of the money to buy some chickens and raise them back home,” she said.


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Friday, June 16, 2006, 07:00 am PT (10:00 am ET)
Reuters: Microsoft readying Apple iPod rivalMicrosoft Corp. is laying the groundwork to compete against Apple Computer's iPod digital entertainment device and iTunes service, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters on Friday.
The world's largest software maker reportedly held licensing discussions with the music industry to create its own music service.
At the meetings, an entertainment device that plays videos and music was also demonstrated, according to Reuters' source.
Microsoft has previously denied having aspirations of entering the digital music business, currently dominated by Apple in the United States.
On Thursday, the Redmond, Washington-based company announced a two-year transition process that will ultimately end with the departure of chairman Bill Gates.
On Topic: General
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- Christian Bale confirmed to play Steve Jobs in upcoming biopic, to start shooting soon


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BENSALEM, Pa. — December 28, 2020 — Pennsylvania-based textile manufacturer AKAS Tex has announced a significant increase in its knitting capacity.
Due to overwhelming demand of the fabrics that are used for face masks and surgical gowns, AKAS Tex has added five knitting machines in the year 2020.
Two machines are for double knits, such as its the ProCool® interlock; two machines are for its Zorb® Dimple spacer fabric; and one machine is for its TransWick® 1-Way Wicking fabric.
These five machines will add 200,300 pounds per year to the existing knitting capacity and generate much needed employment.
Posted December 28, 2020
Source: AKAS Tex


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Mar 28, 2013 Made in the USA is coming back into fashion in Silicon Valley. Today, the buzz is that Google is planning to make its long-awaited 'Google Glass' in California.
Mar 15, 2013 U.S. industrial production rose 0.7 percent last month. The growth, the greatest in three months, was led by strong manufacturing output.
Mar 11, 2013 We look at energy and environment myths and misperceptions we're uncovering on the Petro-state beat.
Jan 31, 2013 The U.S. government has approved China's largest auto parts maker Wanxiang's plans to buy A123 systems. The result might be a huge loss of jobs in America.
Dec 6, 2012 Apple's CEO reveals the company will shift some manufacturing jobs from China to U.S.
Nov 30, 2012 For decades, the story of American manufacturing has been all about outsourcing. Lately though, some new terminology has come into vogue -- 'insourcing.'
Oct 29, 2012 It's been 20 years since NAFTA was signed. These days, the mantra is that more manufacturing plants in Mexico should be good for the U.S.
Oct 24, 2012 Manufacturing activity in October rises to a three month high and China eclipses the U.S. in foreign direct investment.
Oct 15, 2012 U.S. retail sales rose 1.1 percent in September with Americans spending more on cars, electronics and gas.


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SaaS is hot in 2020. Tooling that helps facilitate remote work is hot in 2020. And we all know that anything related to video chatting in particular is on fire this year. In the midst of all three trends is Kudo, which just raised $6 million in a round led by Felicis.
But Kudo’s video chatting and conferencing tool with built-in support for translators and multiple audio streams wasn’t initially constructed for the COVID-19 era. It got started back in 2016, so let’s talk about how it got to where it is today before we talk about how much the pandemic and ensuing remote-work boom accelerated its growth by what the company described in a release as 3,500%.
Pain to proof to product
TechCrunch spoke to Fardad Zabetian, Kudo’s founder and CEO, earlier this week to learn about how his company got started. According to the executive, he started working on Kudo back in 2016 after feeling the need to add language support to what he calls decentralized meetings.
After getting a proof of concept (could interactive audio and video be compiled for remote participants with less than 500 milliseconds of latency?) in place, the company itself launched in 2017, and after more work its product was put into the market in September, 2018.
During that time, Kudo put together angel and friends-and-family money that Zabetian described as less than $1 million, meaning that the startup got a lot done without spending a lot. (In my experience, talking to founders over the last decade or so, that’s a good sign.)
All that work paid off this year when COVID-19 shook up the world, forcing companies to cancel business travel and instead lean on video conferencing solutions. Given the international nature of modern business — globalization is a fact, regardless of what nationalists want — the change in the world’s meeting landscape scooted demand toward Kudo.
Here’s how it works: Kudo provides a self-serve SaaS video conferencing solution, allowing any company to spin up meetings as they need. It also has a translator pool, and can supply humans to fill out a meeting’s needs if a customer wants. Or, customers can bring their own translators.
So, Kudo is SaaS with an optional services component, though given the lower margins inherent to services over software, I’d hazard that we should think of its services revenue as a helper to its SaaS incomes. There’s no need to fret about their impact on Kudo’s blended gross margins, in other words.
According to Zabetian, about three-quarters of its customers bring their own translators, while about a fourth hire them through Kudo’s cadre.
As noted, Kudo got into the market back in 2018, which means it was already selling its software in the pre-pandemic days. Lead investor Niki Pezeshki told TechCrunch that Kudo has “stepped up in a big way for its customers during the pandemic,” but that while COVID “has certainly accelerated Kudo’s growth, we think they are enabling a longer-term shift in the market by showing customers that it is possible to effectively run multilingual conferences and meetings without the hassle of international travel and all the planning that goes into it.”
Kudo was already right about where the world was going, then, even if the pandemic provided a boost.
That tailwind is evident in its round size, notably. Kudo’s CEO said that he set out to raise $2 million, not $6 million; the $4 million delta is indicative of a company that has become a competitive asset for the venture class to fight over.
And Kudo’s growth has brought with it notable financial benefits, including several months of cash flow positivity — something nearly unheard of amongst startups of its age and size. But the company will spend from its $6 million and push that line-item negative, it said. Kudo has 30 open positions today that it expects to fill in the next few quarters, including building out its sales and marketing functions, which to date it has not invested in (another good sign among startups is how long they can grow attractively without needing to spend heavily on sales and marketing). That won’t come cheap, in the short-term.
So that’s Kudo and its round. What we want to know next is its H1 2020 year-over-year revenue growth. Do write in if you know that number.


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Shares of Freshpet (FRPT 2.08%) were in the doghouse today after the fresh-pet-food maker missed the mark in its third-quarter earnings report. Supply-chain challenges and labor shortages weighed on the company's performance, and Freshpet slashed its guidance for the full year.
As of 2:48 p.m. EST, the stock was down 15.6%.
Despite the challenges, Freshpet still delivered strong top-line growth; it just wasn't enough for this high-priced stock to please Wall Street.
Revenue rose 27.8% to $107.6 million, which was short of the analyst consensus at $115.5 million. Wage increases, higher ingredient costs, and investment all weighed on gross margin, which fell from 43.5% to 38.6%. As a result, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) slipped from $17 million to $14.6 million. On a GAAP basis, the company reported a loss of $0.05 per share, compared to estimates at $0.07 per-share profit.
CEO Billy Cyr said: "Despite unprecedented supply chain challenges, Freshpet's long-term growth model remains intact. Like everyone else, we are facing extraordinary labor and material shortages, and accelerating inflation that have modestly delayed the start-up of new capacity and increased our costs more rapidly than we anticipated -- causing short-term challenges that we are addressing."
For the full-year, the company trimmed its guidance to 40% revenue growth to around $445 million from previous expectations of at least $445 million. It now expects a 7% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $50 million, below an earlier forecast of around $61 million as ongoing supply-chain issues are expected to impact the company.
Investors should be aware that these are short-term challenges weighing on the business' performance rather than structural deficiencies. It's not usual to see high-priced stocks get chopped like this when they miss estimates, but Freshpet is still growing fast and the growth plan is sound.
Cyr added, "The long-term trends driving Freshpet's growth remain strong, and -- thanks to our aggressive capacity expansion initiatives and the investments we made in maintenance, training and automation in Q3 -- we have never been better positioned to fulfill our mission of 'changing the way people nourish their pets forever' than we are today."
The broader tailwinds in the pet industry still favor the stock.


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L.L. Bean, the iconic Maine-based retailer of outdoor clothing and gear, reported 2012 revenue Friday of $1.521 billion, up from the previous year’s total of $1.517 billion.
A privately held company headquartered in Freeport, Maine, L.L. Bean does not disclose net income. But because of “significant improvement in productivity,” L.L. Bean said that it performed well during 2012, its 100th anniversary year, despite a “volatile retail environment.”
On the basis of that performance, L.L. Bean said it plans to give bonuses to about 5,000 full-time and part-time employees. The bonuses will be equal to 7.5 percent of an employee’s pay in 2012.
In a statement, L.L. Bean president and chief executive Chris McCormick said: “L.L.Bean has performed very well in a continuing volatile retail environment—with economic uncertainty, political distractions, and shaky consumer confidence. We ended the year with a modest gain in net sales over the prior year, but significant improvement in productivity.”
McCormick added: “We made substantial long-term productivity investments in the business beginning in 2010 – from Web enhancements to product assortment to free shipping – and we are now reaping the benefits. Our investments in the website have doubled starting in 2010, as our sales continue to shift to online and mobile. The free shipping that we implemented in 2011, while a risk, has been well received by our customers and is paying off. Focus on product assortment has led to greater productivity and bottom line contributions; Men’s and Women’s Apparel and Sporting Goods had their best sales in company history, and we have seen especially healthy improvements in our Hunting and Fishing categories.”
Outside of Maine, where L.L. Bean has its flagship store, there are 18 retail locations as well as 11 outlet stores. The company also has 20 stores in Japan and 62 in China.


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Verint Systems, a customer engagement platform, will expand its existing partnership with Adobe, which will let Verint customers combine their experience data from Verint Experience Cloud with data from the Adobe Experience Platform. By joining this data together, marketers will have more streamlined access to customer insights, which is an important element to delivering better customer engagement.
This partnership lets companies identify, analyze and act on “experience drivers” that are critical to meeting and anticipating customer needs, says Brian Koma, Verint’s vice president of experience management, partnerships and alliance.
The Verint Experience Cloud captures direct, indirect and inferred voice of the customer feedback from different marketing channels through an automated analytics engine.
“We want the integrations with Adobe Experience Cloud to be as actionable as possible, driving a deeper understanding of the intersection of customer attitudes and behaviors and how they can drive experiences that build loyalty,” said John Bourne, senior vice president of global channels and alliances at Verint.


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Video: Catastrophic tornado moves through Moore, Okla.
News 5's Todd Dykes with a walk-through of WLWT.com's Election 2012 app. It is available for Android or iPhone - and it is Free! Just search 'Commitment 2012' in your app store and download.
With everyone missing now accounted for from this week's deadly tornado, the long and difficult work of recovery can begin.


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Domestic benchmark indices started the last session of the week in green. The Sensex gained 220.93 points to touch 58519.73 points, and the Nifty50 climbed to as high as 17,437.90 points, up 222.95 points from its previous close. Here are a few shares that reached their respective 52-week highs as the markets escalated:
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
The shares of Mahindra & Mahindra Limited rose 1.32% to reach a fresh 52-week high of ₹ 1278.50. This was after the company said that it is all set to unveil its new electric car in India, this month on August 15, 2022. Many analysts said that the company has done extremely well on the SUV front.
They have changed the outlook of the company to a four-wheeler company rather than a tractor company. The shares had reached their all-time high of ₹1571.15 as of December 20, 2017.
Tata Elxsi Ltd
The shares of the design and technology provider zoomed 5.23% on Friday’s intraday trades to reach a new 52-week high of ₹9425.00 apiece. At this point, its shares are also at their all-time high.
The company’s net profit climbed 63% in the latest quarter to ₹184.72 crores. Analysts say that the company has been delivering consistent and industry-leading growth since the pandemic and that its business outlook continues to remain solid.
Varun Beverages Limited
The company has been associated with PepsiCo since the 1990s and produces and sells PepsiCo brands like Pepsi, Seven-up, Mirinda Orange, Mountain dew, Tropicana Juices and more. Its shares surged 3.99% on Friday to a fresh 52-week high of ₹1043.85.
The company reported a two-fold increase in its net profit after tax in the latest quarter. Its shares reached an all-time high of ₹1178.00 on June 09, 2021.
Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd.
The shares of the non-banking finance company quoted 3.20% higher on Friday as it reached a fresh 52-week high of ₹ 787.50. The shares reached their all-time high of ₹ 862 apiece on August 17, 2017. The share price of the company gained as the benchmark indices gained
Written by Simran Bafna
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BEAUTY Queen Siana Hemmings will battle it out to become Miss Great Britain after being crowned Miss Lincolnshire GB.
The news comes during what has been a whirlwind few months for the 21-year-old that has seen her open her own interiors shop, battle it out to become Miss England, sign up to a modelling agency and be crowned Natural Sparkle model winner 2013.
And now Siana is looking forward to a busy few months ahead before competing for the title during a two-day event in Leicester on November 14 and 15.
The event will include a swimwear round, an evening wear round and an interview.
She said: "I found out from a phone call, I was a bit giddy and very excited.
"I am really looking forward to it and it is good that it gets Scunthorpe on the map.
"Pageants get such bad press but they are really the best people that I have ever met."
Siana submitted photos impressed the judges enough to get down to the final five. She then met with the judges before being chosen to represent the county.
Siana hopes more local businesses can sign up to help in her bid to bring the title back to Scunthorpe.
"I already have local dress shop Nathalie French helping me out with my dress for the final which is amazing of them, and if any other businesses would like to get involved to help me bring the title back it would be much appreciated," she said.
"I think it is brilliant that so many local businesses have already got involved and hopefully I will be a great representative for them."
Ahead of the day, Siana plans to hold a number of fundraisers.


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Debora Jones of K-12 Clothing and PTA fundraising expert Alecia Whitaker share tips on how schools are reaching high fundraising targets on Wednesday, October 7, 2020
WARWICK, R.I. – Oct. 2, 2020 – SquadLocker, a leading provider of online tools and services for teams and organizations to manage custom apparel and equipment purchasing, is a proud supporter of the live webinar, “Tips to Boost Your School Organization's Fundraising in a Virtual World,” on Wednesday, October 7, 2020. Hosted by SquadLocker strategic partner, K-12 Clothing, the webinar provides tips on how to fundraise in today’s world of virtual education, and how parent-teacher associations are beating fundraising goals.
WHAT: Webinar, “Tips to Boost Your School Organization's Fundraising in a Virtual World,” Hosted by K-12 Clothing
WHEN: Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 1:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. ET
A recent study by PTO Today, the leading source of expert advice, ideas, and products for PTO and PTA leaders, showed that 51% of those polled said they need to raise even more money than ever this fall. With schools being online, or hybrid, and most parent-teacher organizations not being able to operate as they did in the past, how are schools going to reach these higher fundraising targets? Host Debora Jones, co-founder of K-12 Clothing, and her guest, Alecia Whitaker, PTA fundraising expert and young adult author, are showing how it’s being done.
Alecia Whitaker is the author of the award winning Wildflower trilogy (Wildflower, The Road to You, and The Way Back Home) as well as the bestselling novel, The Queen of Kentucky, which was optioned for film. She has a BFA in acting and has appeared on talk shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Martha, and The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, as well as Deal or No Deal. She also hosted a parenting advice YouTube show called The Baby Book and has been in numerous commercials.
Alecia became a mother in 2010, and now has four bright and rambunctious kiddos. When she’s not running PTA fundraisers, changing diapers or tripping over Legos, she is working on two screenplays and an early chapter book series.
Debora is a PTA mom and lawyer turned business executive excited about helping educational organizations achieve their goals. She brings two decades of business experience in sales, marketing, and operations to the education sector. As co-founder and advisor to K-12 Clothing, Debora focuses on strategic growth initiatives to propel K-12 Clothing into a leading role in the K-12 apparel market.
To register for the free webinar, go to:
About K-12 Clothing
K-12 Clothing is a PTA-Dad created full-service apparel company focused on providing high quality school apparel while increasing access to educational resources through fundraising in schools. K-12 Clothing offers schools uniforms, team uniforms, school spirit wear, and school staff uniforms at a competitive price. Offering a variety of brands, a diverse set of products, and a wide range of sizes all online simplifies the apparel process, allowing schools to avoid order and inventory management. With fundraising built in, schools can leverage the platform to support various initiatives at their school. For more information, visit https://www.k12clothing.com/ and connect on LinkedIn.
SquadLocker uses innovative technologies to reinvent the way sports leagues, teams, and schools design and purchase customized gear, including uniforms, spirit wear, and other apparel. Offering market-leading brands, the company manages the entire process – from instant online store creation to free graphic artwork assistance as well as decoration, production, and fulfilment – from its wholly-owned manufacturing facility. This makes it easier for league organizers and school administrators to manage sports and school programs, while coaches and teachers can spend more time mentoring and inspiring athletes and students. For more information, visit: www.squadlocker.com and connect on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
All trademarks recognized.
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