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January 31, 2011 2 Comments
2004. There is a party atmosphere in the Amsterdam Arena as Ajax are cruising to a victory over NAC Breda. The ball is played into their gangly young striker with his back to goal, surrounded by defenders. His first touch is poor, taking it towards an onrushing defender. However he manages to outmuscle the defender in the tackle and glide forward, expertly feigning a shot to send two defenders the wrong way. Then he starts to have fun. At the edge of the box, still the whole of the Breda defence to beat he feigns again with his left and moves off at lightning speed on his right. The ball seems to have come under his irrepressible spell as he jinks and dances through the box. An island of cool amongst a sea of chaos he feigns a shot on his right, calmly shifts the ball onto his left and slots the ball in for an astounding individual goal. This is the magic of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Since that remarkable goal Ibra has regularly produce such moments of magic on an incredible march of seven league titles in seven seasons with four different clubs. It seems strange then, that he still divides opinion, attracting as much criticism as adulation.
With Ibra it seems to be an issue of personality, both on and off the pitch. On the pitch he is criticized for his supreme laziness. Critics observe he only emerges into the game when it most suits him, unwilling to sacrifice himself for the 'greater good' of the team. However this completely misses the point. Ibrahimovic is not very good at defending, so why should he waste his energy bustling around a la Carlos Tevez, when he could save that energy to do his job- win games. However the problem with this apparent sloth is more that it doesn't endear Ibra to people. It portrays an arrogance, an ego that is very hard to like, no matter how talented the individual. There is no denying, Ibrahimovic is an arrogant guy and his strange, maverick personality has lead to many problems in his career. He often antagonises teammates for no apparent reason other than his own boredom, with bizarre incidents such as when footage emerged of him karate kicking his Milan teammate Rodney Strasser or when Van der Vaart claimed he deliberately injured him in an international friendly (which led to his departure from Ajax). The fact he seemed to think Pep Guardiola was 'scared of' him is evidence that his distinct personality was a major reason for him leaving Barcelona.
While it has caused him some trouble, this exuberant individualism, a throwback to the likes of Chinaglia and Best, it is one of the qualities that makes him so fascinating. The modern football landscape often seems devoid of personality, but Ibra refutes that claim. His gigantic ego and confidence are part of what makes him such a good player as well. In many ways his contradictory and incomprehensible personality defines the way he plays. Tall and strong and in the exact same moment quick and agile, both a bull and a ballerina. It is this all round ability that makes him such a fearsome opponent. He has the physicality and directness to demolish teams, the searing pace to get in behind them and the sheer skill to make goals out of nothing. Sometimes he is defined as a poacher but this couldn't be further from the truth, his all round hold up play is excellent, expertly bringing other players into the game or picking a pass. And obviously his goalscoring record is phenomenal but not in the simple numbers, which are impressive (broadly averaging a goal every other game in his career), but rather in the incredible range of goals he scores. Acrobatic volleys, simple tap ins, spectacular long range efforts, powerful headers he is both a great goalscorer and a scorer of great goals. With Milan this year he appears to have reached his zenith, leading a decent team to the top of Serie A with 8 assists and 13 goals in just 21 matches, producing countless moments of Ibra magic. It is often said Ronaldo and Messi are on a different planet, but in terms of modern attackers they're not too far away from Planet Zlatan.
The player has his faults. He can be temperamental, disinterested and infuriatingly anonymous. But they come as part of the Ibrahimovic package and it is some package. At his best he is a literally unstoppable attacking force, one of only a few players who can consistently produce moments of pure inspiration. No matter his detractors they cannot take away his incredible success. Surely no player has ever done what he seems on course to and win eight league titles in eight seasons with five different clubs. He has an unlimited capacity to dazzle and annoy, enthral and infuriate all at once. To watch Ibrahimovic is to be spellbound.
by Ryan Murphy


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When the negotiations for IDA17 were wrapped up in December, there was great relief that IDA deputies were supportive of an IDA expansion despite their own significant budget difficulties. As part of that package, the World Bank Group itself pledged to give IDA $3 billion from profits.
This was a generous gesture by the World Bank (albeit a drop in the bucket of total aid), but how good was it for the global development effort? Consider the following—net disbursements of official grants and concessional loans (the category where IDA flows appear) have expanded from $39 billion per year in the 1980s (in constant 2005 dollars) to $85 billion in 2010 and 2011. In contrast, official non-concessional lending (the category where IBRD and IFC flows appear) has stayed steady. The latter was $15 billion in the 1980s and $22 billion in 2010/11. This picture is even more striking when considering the amounts in terms of recipient GDP. Grants and concessional flows to low income countries have gone from 3% of their GDP in the 1980s to 13% today, while non-concessional flows to lower middle-income countries (excluding India and China) have gone from 0.7% to 0.3% of their GDP. In fact, from 2000 to 2009, non-concessional flows to lower middle- income countries (and to developing countries as a whole) were negative, implying that developing countries repaid more to official development agencies than they received in gross disbursements.
The world has made a concerted effort to increase aid and this is good news for low income countries, but it is of scant help for middle income countries. Even though there are many more lower middle-income countries today than ever before, their aggregate share of grants and concessional assistance has remained the same. The pie simply has to be spread among more countries and more people.
The main agency responsible for helping lower middle-income countries is the IBRD. The IBRD was for many years the largest member of the World Bank Group. But in 2013 an astonishing landmark was passed—IBRD commitments were smaller than those of either the IFC or IDA. IBRD has become the "little sister" of the WBG after years of being the "big brother" that would always take care of its siblings.
So should we be applauding the transfer of large resources from IBRD to IDA?
This is a complicated question with no easy answer, and I don't want to try and be comprehensive here. IDA needs to be large and strong to play a leadership role in a world where there are many more providers of aid and growing fragmentation. But the same applies to IBRD. So the question about taking from one to give to the other should at least be asked and seriously studied. A back-of-the envelope calculation shows what is at stake.
Let's assume that global development is best served by trying to maximize the grant element of resources that are transferred to developing countries (I know that there are issues about aid effectiveness, but leave these aside for now). For each dollar transferred from IBRD to IDA, IDA can provide one additional dollar in grants.
But if the money was kept within the IBRD to build up its equity, it could lend more. IBRD is a leveraged institution, with an equity:loan ratio of around 27% in 2013. This means it can lend out about $4 for each dollar in retained profits. Today, one of the most common instruments of IBRD lending is a 12 year, floating interest rate loan. This loan currently has an interest rate of 0.618%, and a front-end fee of 0.25%. At a discount rate of 10 percent (to approximate what lower middle-income countries might have to pay in commercial capital markets on their own, that is the opportunity cost of funds to them), the grant element of the loan is about 40 percent. This means that each dollar of capital invested in IBRD could generate 1.6 dollars of grant equivalence to developing countries.
So the mystery is this. Why isn't there more discussion about how to increase IBRD's capital and lending, using official resources? (Only a few, like Devesh Kapur and Scott Morris are raising the issue.) Is the world better off if IBRD profits go to increase IDA, an unleveraged institution, or if they go to increase IBRD loans instead? In many cases, the client countries would be identical—there are 18 "blend" countries that are eligible for IDA credits and IBRD loans. And the grant equivalence could be raised by 60 percent if the money were kept in IBRD instead of being transferred to IDA!
Of course, in an ideal world, development advocates like myself would argue for both more IDA and more IBRD. Yes, there was a direct trade-off in the IDA negotiations, but in the overall picture of financing for development the amounts were small. But now that IDA17 is complete, we should shift attention to how to increase IBRD lending. There are plenty of ideas that don't require a capital increase and the unpleasant budget politics that would entail. The World Bank's Board has approved several proposals to enhance revenues and capacity: cost-savings, fee increases, and greater leverage can add significantly to the Bank's ability to lend. Now it must make sure that it does not discourage countries from borrowing by unnecessary procedures and time delays.
This was a generous gesture
This was a generous gesture by the World Bank (albeit a drop in the bucket of total aid), but how good was it for the global development effort?
Very interesting article. It
Very interesting article. It seems like proposals to use IDA funds to leverage IBRD lending have surfaced before: http://www.cgdev.org/publication/leveraging-world-bank-resources-poorest-ida-blended-financing-facility-proposal-working Any insights as to whether such proposals were ever taken seriously by the Bank? If yes, why weren't they implemented? If no, why not?
Thanks, Elina. Over the years
Thanks, Elina. Over the years, the Bank has often offered a vision of sharply higher lending, based on various administrative measures, but has never been able to implement that vision. Some argue that is because shareholders don't want too big a bureaucracy, others that there simply isn't the demand from middle income countries because of the complexity of complying with the social and environmental safeguards that accompany Bank financing; and slow speed and cumbersome decision-making is always mentioned. Efforts to improve on these fronts have delivered small gains, but haven't solved the problem yet.

subset: commoncrawl


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Comcast Censors Critical Nightline Story Image courtesy of
The Sleepy Comcast Technician featured prominently in Nightline's story last Friday, but you wouldn't know that if you were watching with Comcast's tv-over-inernet service. Watch this screen snag:
The Sleepy Comcast Technician featured prominently in Nightline's story last Friday, but you wouldn't know that if you were watching with Comcast's tv-over-inernet service. Watch this screen snag:
MAYBREY: And what about that Comcast video?
VINCERT: (sigh) That Comcast video… was a classic…
–abrupt cut—
BASHIR: That first crossed our attention when a million dollar Ferrari…
Compare this to the original.
See, Comcast was so sure the adamant the incident would never happen again that they didn't want anyone to know it happenned in the first place. How contrite can they truly feel if they can't admit their faults to their own subscribers?
Don't bother trying to delete it from YouTube, we've got a hard copy.
Previously: Comcast Censored Nightline. Help Us Nail 'Em.
(Ultra thanks to The Compulsive Shouter for the clip!)
UPDATE: Comcast and ABC say they have a reasonable explanation.
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.


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He plays the game hard and smart; he's the grit the team has been accused of lacking. A third baseman by trade who will not get the opportunity because of David Wright, he was moved to left field, and now in the Arizona Fall League is playing second and first.
Versatile defensively, and patient offensively, Murphy is on the inside track of being a star. All this, and he's not making any money.
Yes, there's a lot to like about Murphy, and no doubt, other teams have noticed. He could very well be the Mets most tradeable commodity on the major league level. That's why the Mets should think about dealing him now when his value is high.
Let's face it, the Mets aren't going to deal Wright or Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran's contract makes him difficult to deal. As far as Carlos Delgado, his age, contract, and the question if his second half was a fluke makes him hard to trade.
Who else on the major league level can be used to acquire the pitching that's needed. Trust me, I like Murphy. I think he can be a star. But, the Mets' have pressing needs that maybe he, in the right package, can can solve.
Given that, dealing him might be the way to go.


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SOURCE: Elsevier Business Intelligence
November 19, 2012 12:08 ET
New Wave of Newer Classes Will Be Discussed by Experts at Campbell Alliance
New Wave of Newer Classes Will Be Discussed by Experts at Campbell Alliance
BRIDGEWATER, NJ--(Marketwire - Nov 19, 2012) - Next week Elsevier Business Intelligence will host the 7th Annual Therapeutic Area Partnerships (TAP) at The Westin Copley Place in Boston on Nov. 28-30, 2012. TAP is the most efficient partnering meeting for biopharmaceutical companies and executives seeking to understand, within their therapeutic area portfolio, the strategic outlook for new products in development, alliance opportunities, and current industry pipeline needs and future projections.
One of the six therapeutic areas featured at the conference, oncology remains by far the largest and most active deal-making space in the biopharmaceutical industry. While many new drugs will reach the market in the next few years, existing blockbusters and other widely used agents will soon go generic, potentially impacting reimbursement and uptake for novel medications. Emerging diagnostic biomarkers, immunotherapies and conjugated biological therapies have the potential to transform the way patients are treated. The fast-changing oncology landscape and its implications for the industry will be the subject of a roundtable of oncology business development leaders from four major global pharmaceutical firms guided by an expert team from Campbell Alliance, an industry leader in biopharmaceutical and medical technology consulting and part of inVentiv Health.
The oncology-specific segments of TAP include a panel discussion and presentation of the Top Projects to Watch. The panel, including executives from AstraZeneca, Genentech, EMD Serono and Sanofi, will give attendees actionable intelligence on the trends, hurdles and opportunities that will shape the future of oncology drug development, alliances, and commercialization.
The Top Projects to Watch in oncology were hand-picked by the Campbell Alliance team based on their likelihood of success as future products. The companies confirmed to present their oncology projects this year are:
Apogenix GmbH: (Apocept) APG101
BIND Biosciences: BIND-014
Ceres Oncology: VGX-100
Jennerex Biotherapeutics: JX-929
KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: KB004
Macrogenics: MGAH22
MEI Pharma: ME-344
EnGeneIC: EDV technology
Shape Pharmaceuticals: SHP 141
Cerulean: CRLX101
"The next decade in oncology will see newer classes of agents added to the treatment armamentarium," said Guru Muralimohan, engagement manager at Campbell Alliance. "Cytotoxics will become smarter and more targeted. Immunotherapies will produce a new wave of blockbusters as they leverage the human body's own immune system to help combat cancer. And, next generation agents targeting cancer cell metabolism will have the potential for disruptive change in the oncology treatment paradigm."
"These ten assets represent the leading edge of this sea change in oncology, and were chosen through an exhaustive process that took into account a variety of factors," added Jonathan Betts, Engagement Manager at Campbell Alliance. Such factors included what key opinion leaders have defined as the most promising mechanistic approaches and emerging trends based on Campbell Alliance's 2012 Dealmakers' Intentions Survey as well as the firm's understanding of areas of high current licensing activity within oncology and knowledge gained through assisting multiple companies develop oncology strategies.
Both Muralimohan and Betts will co-present the oncology Top Projects to Watch.
TAP is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to assess some of the most promising drugs in development and available for partnering in Oncology, Cardiovascular/Metabolic Diseases, Neuroscience, Infectious Diseases, Autoimmune/Anti-Inflammatory Diseases, and Hot Space. Attracting the highest concentration of senior-level biotechnology and pharmaceuticals executives, TAP has come to be regarded as one the most productive, results-oriented deal-making conferences in the industry. For more information, or to register for this event, visit www.tapartnerships.com.
About Elsevier Business Intelligence
Elsevier Business Intelligence, a global leader in the field of healthcare industry information, provides business intelligence on regulatory, business and reimbursement issues that are vital to the healthcare industry. Through a range of products including publications, conferences, e-learning, databases and reports, Elsevier Business Intelligence places biopharma and medical device professionals, and those who focus on these industries, at the forefront of knowledge, by providing the perfect combination of news and information together with penetrating insight and analysis. Our leading publications include PharmAsia News, IN VIVO and "The Pink Sheet." For more information, visit: http://www.ElsevierBi.com.
About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
Media contact:Mike Fergus
Elsevier Business Intelligence
908-547-2167 Email Contact
Media contact:Mike Fergus
Elsevier Business Intelligence
908-547-2167 Email Contact
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Window Watching
Roseann E. Dreasher 1/27/2005 7:04:06 AMI would LOVE to see this in black and white! The composition is wonderful!! #209464
Eric Schneider 1/27/2005 7:16:12 AMHere is your request. Which do you like best? thanks for the comments #1066604
Kevin Burns 1/27/2005 7:27:50 AMI needed a good smile today.
Dale Ann Cubbage 1/27/2005 8:12:13 AMI love seeing your crazy cats! They are always up to something!
da #1066816
Eric Schneider 1/27/2005 8:28:07 AMThanks a bunch Dale, Kevin, and Roseann. #1066848
Lori Ditlefsen 1/27/2005 8:49:02 AMI like both the color and black and white. It's just a nice shot and nice catch of the trio, Eric! #1066867
Roseann E. Dreasher 1/27/2005 10:12:49 AMb&w gets my vote..I just love it!! #1066984
Paul Michko 1/27/2005 12:27:49 PMSame with my cat. They gotta have their entertainment too. LOL!!! Great shot, Eric. #1067106
Anita Hogue 1/28/2005 1:00:01 PMThis is a really nice photo,Eric! I vote for the color. #1069525
Eric Schneider 1/28/2005 7:16:15 PMThanks so much to Anita, Paul M., Roseann, and Lori D. #1070123
Claudia Kuhn 2/18/2005 5:24:31 PMToo cute, congratulations Eric! #1112479
Kelly Abernathy 2/18/2005 7:30:55 PMCongratulations on a wonderful finalist! -K #1113723
Stanley J. Contrades 2/19/2005 12:28:14 AM*Hands clapping*! One more hana hou, Eric, and CONGRATULATIONS again!
Noel Baebler 2/19/2005 9:00:16 AMTriple Fabulous Shot, Eric! #1116876
Karen Engelbreth 2/19/2005 9:13:49 AMCongratulations on your fantastic finalist, Eric! #1116948
Lisa Deaton 2/19/2005 8:29:29 PMAnother great image. Congrats!! #1118959
Anette Linnea Rasmussen 2/19/2005 10:01:04 PMAbsolutely beautiful Eric! Just love it!
Best wishes Linnea #1119074
Jill Flynn 2/20/2005 2:51:50 PMLove this shot and love looking at your cat photos Eric. Congratulations! #1120757
Charlene Bayerle 2/21/2005 3:29:48 PMCongratulations Eric...way to go!!!! #1123500
Noel Baebler 2/21/2005 4:06:04 PMCongratulations, Eric! Three cool cats! #1123687
Anette Linnea Rasmussen 2/21/2005 4:54:17 PMAbsolutely gorgeous Eric!
Best wishes Linnea #1123898
Jill Flynn 2/21/2005 4:58:31 PMCongratulations Eric on your second place win!! #1123912
Kelly Abernathy 2/21/2005 6:15:55 PMCongratulations on your win! Way to go! -K #1124173
Stanley J. Contrades 2/22/2005 12:42:36 AMYou got a 'hana hou'... way to go, Eric! CONGRATULATIONS once again!!
Donna W. Neal 2/22/2005 4:48:13 AMCONGRATULATIONS on your win's Eric ..:) #1125222
Eric Schneider 2/22/2005 5:35:57 AMBig thanks to Donna, Stan, K S., Jill, Anette, Noel, Charlene, Lisa, Karen Claudia #1125354
Karen Engelbreth 2/22/2005 7:28:23 AMCongratulations on your win, Eric! #1125642
Judy S. Fung 2/23/2005 3:17:36 AMCongrats on your win, Eric! #1127610
Eric Schneider 2/23/2005 6:26:39 AMThanks a lot Karen and Judy! #1128093
Kristi A. Howson 2/23/2005 7:40:32 AMCongratulations Eric..this is sooooo sweet:) #1128321
Uyen 2/24/2005 6:17:48 PMCongrats again, Eric. This is too cute. :) #1131612
Hanggan Situmorang 2/24/2005 9:49:18 PMCute pose of those cute cats, Eric. Nice angle and background, as well. Great moment captured, congratulations! #1131916
Tammy McAllister 2/25/2005 2:09:44 AMCongratulations Eric...where do you get all this cat stuff from.....way to cool!!! #1132038
Carolyn J. Connolly 2/25/2005 7:42:03 AMMANY congratulations on your very deserved Second Place win with 'Window Watching', Eric!! :-) What beautiful cat models you have!! ;-) This is a great concept shot... [I also VERY much like this image in monochrome, Eric - it would be very hard to choose between them! ;-) ] #1132786
Eric Schneider 2/25/2005 8:17:33 PMThanks Carolyn, Tammy Hanggan, Uyen and Kristi.
Jasmine Chua L. 3/16/2005 9:38:55 PMHi Eric, congrats on your win. #1183333
3 windows, 3 cats. Our cats love to watch anything that moves outside. Especially birds. 1/100, F3.2 no flash and handheld
Uploaded on 1/27/2005 7:01:57 AM
Copyright for this gallery photo belongs solely to Eric Schneider. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the expressed, written permission of the photographer.
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DOAJ proposed criteria and my comments in bold
We have tried to construct objective criteria that can facilitate compliance verification easily. In order to be listed in the DOAJ, a journal must meet the following criteria:
- Journal will be asked to provide basic information (title, ISSN, etc.), contact information, and information about journal policies
- Journal is registered with SHERPA/RoMEO
- Journal has an editorial board with clearly identifiable members (including affiliation information)
- Journal publishes a minimum of five articles per year (does not apply for new journals)
Another important point is that journals that have ceased to publish should still be made available. DOAJ should work towards noting that the journals are inactive, rather than eliminating them from DOAJ. Otherwise, authors who choose to publish in a journal in part because it is listed in DOAJ may find their work eliminated from DOAJ simply because the journal ceased to exist - a common occurrence even in the print / subscription world. Also, libraries use the DOAJ list to include open access works in library catalogues and serials lists, and dropping ceased journals is a loss of valuable content.
Finally, as may be obvious from the example above of the journal that refused to publish one year, a requirement of a minimum of 5 articles per year may drive journals to publish articles that they would otherwise decline. In other words, this will sometimes be an incentive to publish lower quality articles.
- Allows use and reuse at least at the following levels (as specified in the Open Access Spectrum, http://www.plos.org/about/open-access/howopenisit/ ):
- Full text, metadata, and citations of articles can be crawled and accessed with permission (Machine Readability Level 4)
- Provides free readership rights to all articles immediately upon publication (Reader Rights Level 1)
- Reuse is subject to certain restrictions; no remixing (Reuse Rights Level 3)
- Allow authors to retain copyright in their article with no restrictions (Copyrights Level 1)
- Author can post the final, peer-reviewed manuscript version (postprint) to any repository or website (Author Posting Rights Level 2)
Machine readability is another example of a good practice to encourage which should not be required for inclusion in DOAJ. There will be variations in the ease with which different journals can achieve machine readability. Even PLoS uses locked-down PDFs, for example. More research is needed to determine whether machine readability of journal articles is always desirable. For example, if pictures of people are included, does the researcher have rights to permit facial recognition software? With the PLoS locked-down PDFs, do we really want the PDFs unlocked to facilitate data mining - wouldn't it be much more useful to work towards having scholars share the data as open data, preferably linked to from the journal but housed elsewhere? Sometimes machine readability does make sense and is highly desirable - for example, I'd like to see the default for electronic works in general to be works that can be instanteously translated into the format of the reader's choice, whether PDF, html, daisy or braille. Here, what is needed is not refusal to include journals in DOAJ if they are not at this standard, but rather education and support to help journals develop this capacity.
Provides free readership rights to all articles immediately upon publication is very basic to the definition of open access; this makes sense. I suggest adding the word "global" to avoid confusion with regionally limited free access, to: "Provides free global readership rights to all articles immediately upon publication"
Reuse is subject to certain restrictions; no remixing. It is good to see that journals that prefer to include some restrictions can be included in the Directory of Open Access Journals, but this statement is confusing and counter-productive. For example, as stated any journal that does allow re-use should rejected, so good-bye to the likes of PLoS and BMC!
Allow authors to retain copyright in their article with no restrictions (Copyrights Level 1) Comment: it may be useful to encourage author rather than journal copyright retention, however this is not an essential part of open access and may not always be possible or desirable. For example, in the case of works-for-hire, some authors will not be able to claim copyright ownership. Another example came up at a recent conference, where scholars working with First Nations peoples are granting copyright in research articles to the First Nations peoples. A narrow requirement of author copyright retention would tend to prevent innovations in scholarly copyright at a period in time when I would argue that encouraging experimentation (articulating the commons) is optimal. Plus if a journal retains copyright but is clearly open access, the journal should be included in DOAJ.
Author can post the final, peer-reviewed manuscript version (postprint) to any repository or website (Author Posting Rights Level 2)
Comment: suggest add "at minimum" to encourage the common practice of allowing deposit of any version including the final version. Finally, thanks very much to DOAJ, PLoS and everyone else involved in this initiative and the Open Access Spectrum. While as this post likely makes clear I strongly disagree with many of the specifics, I do greatly appreciate all the work that the people involved in these initiatives have contributed towards open access. Update June 13: PLoS participating in the selection criteria team is a conflict of interest, because PLoS is one open access publisher and what they are attempting to do here is to control the definition of open access - if this is accepted, this will give them a competitive advantage over other open access publishers. Reader comments that meet the standard for commenting on IJPE are welcome, i.e. no anonymous comments and if you work for or are affiliated with a journal, publisher, or other initiative with an interest in these questions this affiliation must be stated in the comment.
Other posts on IJPE on related topics include the Creative Commons and Open Access critique series and through the open access definition label.


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Film Review: FrozenWhen Queen Elsa casts a spell that freezes her kingdom, her sister Anna must find a way to rescue their people in Disney's lavish return to the fairytale genre.
Disney pulls out all the stops for Frozen, an adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen." Not quite the return to form that the studio may have hoped for, the movie's grand scale and full-fledged musical score will still insure its long commercial afterlife.
Drastically revising Anderson's story, Frozen opens as two royal sisters play in a palace at night. Elsa (voiced by Idina Menzel) has the magical ability to turn anything into ice. To her younger's sister Anna's (Kristen Bell) delight, Elsa builds a skating rink in a ballroom, then piles of snow to bounce on. By accident she freezes Anna, a spell broken by nearby trolls. The incident scars Elsa, who becomes a hermit so she won't harm anyone else.
Anna grows up on her own, naive about life and lonely for her sister. When their parents die, Elsa reluctantly agrees to open her coronation ceremony to the public. Anna meets the handsome Hans (Santino Fontana), who so sweeps her off her feet that she asks Elsa's permission to marry him. Elsa has secret reasons for forbidding the marriage, but when Anna persists she flies into a rage that casts her kingdom into perpetual winter.
Elsa flees into the snowy mountains outside the city. Anna bravely pursues her, determined to break her wintry spell. She's helped by Kristoff (Jonathan Groff), a handsome ice merchant, and his reindeer Sven. The three reach Elsa's enchanted ice castle, where they meet Olaf (Josh Gad), a talking snowman.
Despite Anna's pleas, Elsa won't break her spell. Unable to control her magic, she freezes her sister again in a fit of anger. As a troll warns Kristoff, only an act of love can thaw Anna's frozen heart now.
Frozen's palaces, magical spells, inanimate sidekicks, and elaborate slapstick and chases are familiar territory for Disney, evoking the glory days of Beauty and the Beast. And on a visual level, Frozen is astonishing. The castles, harbors and snowscapes are meticulously rendered, while the lead characters are consistently engaging. (Olaf and the trolls wear out their welcome pretty quickly.) Bell brings an appealing tomboy tone to Anna, while Broadway vet Menzel is expert at conveying Elsa's anger and confusion over her magic. Groff and Fontana contrast nicely as Kristoff and Hans, although Frozen is more interested in its female characters.
The plot works up credible emotions, particularly during its cliff-hanging climax, and screenwriter Jennifer Lee (who joined Chris Buck as co-director after production started) thankfully dials back the story's life lessons. Unfortunately, Frozen's score is sadly unmemorable, without the catchy tunes and wordplay found in movies like Tangled. There's no showstopper like "Be Our Guest." Instead, "In Summer" works more for its visual gags than its lyrics.
Studio executives are no doubt counting the days until Frozen becomes part of "Disney on Ice." Children will find plenty to love here, and even the most hardhearted adult will admire the movie's professionalism.
For some viewers, the best part about Frozen will be the short accompanying it in theatres. Directed by Lauren MacMullan, Get a Horse! is an ingenious and thoroughly delightful work that manages to tie together the earliest Mickey Mouse sound cartoons with contemporary computer 3D animation. In the short, Mickey (voiced in a bit of sonic legerdemain by Walt Disney himself) battles Peg-Leg Pete (Billy Bletcher and Will Ryan) for a hayride date with Minnie (Marcellite Garner and Russi Taylor).
Starting out in black-and-white and the old Academy frame, Get a Horse! recreates the barnyard humor and anarchic perspectives that the early Disney shorts employed. Then like Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr., Mickey and the gang lose control of the screen, and are transported to a 3D world. To say more would spoil the fun, but Get a Horse! manages to cram in more animation history than seems possible in six minutes, even while restoring Mickey to his place as one of cinema's great comedians.


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The Austen is a delightful detached 5 bedroom family home. The home features a large kitchen with double doors onto a large dining room. The living room features a large bay window and double doors onto the garden. There is also a study, utility, downstairs WC and double garage. Upstairs features an impressive master bedroom with en suite and dressing room. There are a further 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.
Use this tool to compare two floorplans of available properties on this development
Use this tool to compare two floorplans of available properties on this development
Fully fitted kitchens with soft close doors and drawers
Post formed worktops and upstands (Silestone in 5 bedroom homes)
1 ½ bowl stainless steel sink with a stainless steel Hansgrohe mixer tap, aerated to reduce water wastage
A rated Bosch double electric oven and 5 ring gas hob to 4 and 5 bedroom homes
A rated Bosch single electric oven and 4 ring gas hob to 2 and 3 bedroom homes
Glass splashback and integrated extractor
Bosch integrated dishwasher
A rated Bosch full height integrated fridge and integrated freezer to all 5 bedroom homes
A+ rated Bosch integrated fridge/freezer (60/40) to all 2, 3 and 4 bedroom homes
Bosch integrated washer/dryer in the kitchen or space for freestanding in the utility room
Pull out recycling bins to one kitchen cupboard
Spacia flooring by Amtico to the kitchen,
bathroom, en suite and cloakroom
Wardrobes to bedroom 1 with sliding mirror
doors (and bedroom 2 in 5 bedroom homes)
Skirting and architrave finished in white
Timber staircase with white painted
balustrades, oak hand rail and newel caps
both finished in clear satin varnish
Walls painted in Dulux Gardenia emulsion
throughout and all ceilings to be pure
brilliant white
Call us 01903 908980
'My Crest' Portfolio makes searching for your dream Crest Nicholson home so much easier.
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TRENTON, N.J. — Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. has recalled dozens of lots of its generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor because some may contain tiny glass particles, the latest in a string of manufacturing deficiencies that once led US regulators to bar imports of the Indian company's medicines.
Ranbaxy, a subsidiary of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., India's biggest drug maker, is operating under increased scrutiny from the US Food and Drug Administration because of quality lapses at multiple Ranbaxy factories over the past several years.
On Friday, Ranbaxy posted a notice on its US website, saying it's recalling 10-, 20-, and 40-milligram doses of tablets of atorvastatin calcium. That's generic Lipitor, the cholesterol fighter that reigned for years as the world's top-selling drug.
Patients who've filled a prescription can contact their pharmacy to determine whether it was made by Ranbaxy or another generic drug maker and, if it's from Ranbaxy, whether it came from a recalled lot.
Associated Press


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230 VAC Demand Pumps
Designed for heavy duty spraying and fluid transfer applications, the SHURflo 230 VAC diaphragm Demand pump has spherically shaped EPDM valves and automatic demand switches.
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Jerome Chouraqui needed a new other design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 31 designs submitted by 9 freelance designers.
We would need an electronic greeting card to send out to our clients that would be simple, nice, formal and animated.
The Media Faculty
The Media Faculty is a training company for media professionals.Please see the 2 contests we have been proposing on 99designs prior to this one :
- http://99designs.com/contests/9860 (website)
- http://99designs.com/contests/13087 (brochure)
- http://99designs.com/contests/8701 (logo)
We would like to send out a happy new year card to our clients via email that would be nice to recieve
- Animated (animated gif preferred or anything that displays automatically when the mail is viewed)
- Needs to contain the logo
- Has to display the text :
"L'équipe de The Media Faculty vous souhaitent de
joyeuses fêtes et une bonne année 2009"
- Item 1...


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Manchester United and Chelsea will play their FA Cup quarter-final replay on Monday April 1 with a 12.30pm kick-off.
There had been much deliberation when the arranged date would be after the international break and severe fixture congestion for Chelsea due to their Europa League exploits complicated things.
But the Football Association have come together and have decided that Easter Monday is the best possible time for the two clubs to battle it out for a place in the final four of the competition following their entertaining 2-2 draw on Sunday.
Due to the fixture change, Chelsea's Premier League game against Southampton, originally scheduled for Easter Sunday, has been brought forward to the Saturday.
United are also in action that Saturday when they travel to Sunderland.
A 12.30pm kick-off is scheduled at Stamford Bridge where the winners will face Manchester City in the semi-finals at Wembley on the weekend of April 13 and 14.
DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeFootball Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeFootball.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeFootball.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.


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Establishing themselves as the benchmark in endurance racing technology and strategy, Audi has proven once again they know what they are doing. The company has secured another Manufactures WEC title after finishing second and third at the Shanghai 6 hours this past weekend.
Audi was also able to establish their hybrid e-tron R18 racecar as a force to be reckoned¬. Even after its win at the Le Mans 24 Hours and nipping at the heels of Toyota all season long. Even out shining Toyota and all their "proven" technology driven by a majority of former Peugeot drivers.
While Audi Celebrated their Manufactures Championship, drivers Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer would take home the overall drivers championship after finishing third in Shanghai. Second place drivers championship would also go to an Audi team. Tom Kristensen and Alan McNish would stand aside their "young guns" to continue the Four Ring domination of the podium that's been so prevalent all season long.


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Run, Little Mitt, Run!
Yes, it seems that Mitt Romney has been running for president forever. But we did some digging, and you don't know the half of it. As Robert Draper discovered, Romney has been driven by a force larger than himself for a very long time
"I never imagined that I would be running for president of the United States.... I spent my life in business. I sort of backed into getting involved in politics."—Mitt Romney, Council Bluffs, Iowa, January 2012
On July4, 1962, 15-year-old Mitt Romney delivered his first-ever stump speech. The venue was a high school football stadium in Lansing, Michigan, where his father, George, was campaigning for governor. Someone informed the candidate that he was way behind schedule and needed to depart for another event. But, campaign staffers fretted, who would speak to the crowd in George Romney's place?
"I wasn't nervous—just panicky," young Mitt later wrote for Read, a biweekly youth magazine. "Luckily I had about five minutes during another person's speech to try to think of something to say.... Naturally, the minute I stood up at the microphones, everything I'd thought of dropped out of my mind.... But once I got the first words out, it wasn't bad at all. I talked about ten minutes on what the Fourth of July meant to me, and the people seemed to like it. One thing is sure; I never realized before how tough it is to be a candidate."
It was clear, however, that Mitt loved campaigning alongside his dad, whom he plainly worshipped. Of the four Romney children, George would observe that the youngest, Willard Mitt, was, not unlike the father, "never still, mentally or physically." At the age of 11, Mitt built his first miniature all-metal car, prompting the proud American Motors Corporation CEO to write to a relative that "he insists that [designing automobiles] is what he is going to do when he grows up." The lad shadowed his father everywhere: on morning jogs (in those pre-Nike days, George wore wingtip shoes wrapped in duct tape, yet as Mitt would write, "he runs over three miles, and isn't easy to keep up with"), on the golf course (where George whacked away at the ball "with an unorthodox but effective swing that has been likened to that of a farmer killing a snake," as one reporter put it), and, whenever he could, on the campaign trail. At local events, Mitt would set up a booth and hand out buttons. Often he and his mother, Lenore, would drive together in a small bus and pass out literature. "I haven't kissed any babies," he wrote in Read, "but every book at school probably has a Romney sticker on it."
The teen ended his article with a seasoned politician's head fake. "Even though these past few months have been fun," he wrote, "I haven't made any plans to run for public office. I hope very much to become a doctor."
Romney with his future wife, Ann Davies, in 1964.
The more Mitt Romney has immersed himself in politics, the more vigorously he has peddled the narrative—what Newt Gingrich has termed "pious baloney"—that politics was just something that the life-long businessman stumbled into, more or less in the manner of a fellow who strolls into his local diner for a cup of coffee in the middle of a stickup and is thereupon transformed, albeit reluctantly, into a civic hero. Romney's selective elucidation of his own biography seems of a piece with his fuzzy ideology. As one of his former senior advisers admits, "Mitt's flaw is authenticity. Someone who changes his mind can be effective as a business leader or running the Olympics. But when you change your mind on such core issues as abortion, then what? Where's the authenticity?"
Romney's story line has undergone a few crucial revisions. As recently as February, he told supporters in Nevada, "I never imagined I would one day run for president of the United States," but back in December 2007 he had a different recollection when I asked him when he first thought about taking up residency in the White House. "It was probably, oh, back when I was with Senator [Bob] Bennett of Utah after the Olympics, when I was governor a couple of years, around 2004," he replied. "He just said to me, 'Y'know, you don't have to decide if you want to be president. But you do have to decide if you want the option to become president.' [In a recent interview, Bennett clarified to me that he first put this in memo form.] And it's like, 'Wow. I'm a one-term governor from Massachusetts. You think I've got that kind of opportunity?'
Mitt's French Adventure
(Click to see the letter)
Mitt Romney doesn't talk much about his formative years. But the candidate would most certainly count his thirty-month stint as a Mormon missionary in France as a character builder. In June 1968, the 21-year-old was nearly killed in an auto accident. A month later, he was back preaching and cheerily wrote his parents.
"But of course," Romney went on, "you know, did it pop into my mind at other times in my life? Of course. But not as a 'Hey, I've really got a shot at doing this,' but more 'This is a serious course for me.' "
So why did the boy who dreamed of designing cars or practicing medicine instead become the single most driven presidential aspirant of the twenty-first century? Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, gave away the answer to a reporter in 1999, a few years before anyone fully appreciated what it meant. "Politics," she explained, "is in Mitt's blood." Or as Mitt himself would write, "I had become my father's son."
That Mitt would follow in the footsteps of George Romney—who, barely a year after becoming governor of Michigan, acknowledged his presidential ambitions and eventually ran for the high office—should not have surprised anyone who knew father and son. One who saw them together was then–Massachusetts governor William Weld. It was in early 1995, and Mitt—who had just lost his Senate race against Ted Kennedy—had notified his fellow Republican that George was in town promoting volunteerism, a subject of interest to Weld. "Mitt sat on a sofa, and George and I sat in chairs," Weld recalled to me. "George talked about volunteerism. He spoke for an hour, with me occasionally interjecting. Mitt did not say one word the entire hour. But he did do something: He looked at his father the entire time. And if I've ever seen hero worship, it was in his eyes right then."
The apt pupil would often repeat his role model's words: "Never get into politics too young. Only after you've proved yourself somewhere else, and your kids are raised." Implicit, however, in George Romney's message was: You will run, and you will serve. George's quest for the presidency ended in early 1968 amid ridicule over his claims that he had been "brainwashed" by American generals into supporting the Vietnam War. His political life was later resuscitated by President Nixon, who picked George as his secretary of housing and urban development, and within months of his appointment, Romney openly mulled running for Michigan's U.S. Senate seat. He ultimately declined (his wife, Lenore, ran instead and lost), but after leaving HUD in early 1973, he considered a run for Senate in Utah, even going so far as to rent an apartment in Salt Lake City so as to establish residency. Once again he decided against running.
Still, George Romney never denied who he was or what coursed through his veins. In 1987 he celebrated his eightieth birthday by rounding up more than three dozen members of the Romney brood, among them 40-year-old Mitt, and taking them on a three-day nostalgia tour of Washington, D.C. The trip included one special stop: a private tour of the Oval Office, the endgame George never quite reached.
Romney at Bain Capital in 1993.
Well before the White House visit—and even before he ran to unseat Senator Ted Kennedy in 1994—Romney had politics on the brain. For as Mitt confessed to a Boston reporter during the '94 campaign, he'd had his eye on Kennedy's job "probably since a year or two after I got here." That dates Romney's political aspirations to at least 1973, when he was 26.
Romney finally took the plunge in 1994, after spending the better part of his adulthood as an ecutive at Bain Capital. He was by then a millionaire many times over, his children were teenagers or out of the house, and his Rolodex was stuffed with wealthy conservatives. Indeed, his decision to run was very much made in accordance with "the Bain Way," which Mitt told me involves "the widest array of options... seeking opinions of very different people... a very rigorous, analytical, deliberative process." The data looked quite agreeable in 1994. Democrats nationally were out of favor and would soon be buried under the avalanche of Newt Gingrich's Republican revolution. Meanwhile, Kennedy's at-times oafish conduct had made him a vulnerable figure at home, and voting for a Republican in Massachusetts now seemed a plausible option, thanks to the wildly popular Governor Weld. The state GOP bench was weak. A well-funded and telegenic newcomer could waltz right in.
In 1994, the younger Romney would run a campaign eerily similar his father ran in 1962. During that gubernatorial race, George Romney cast himself—in the language of an internal campaign memo—"as a citizen running for Governor because he is fed up with hearing Michigan calleda'problemstate.' "He saw himself as a citizen heeding the cry of his community. What he had done for the ailing American Motors Corporation, he would do for economically battered Michigan. "We need a million more jobs by 1970, and I know what it takes to create them," George would proclaim. Along the way, the job creator's economic record came under attack. As he would write that year to his political mentor Dwight D. Eisenhower, "My opponents are charging that I am a Wisconsin industrialist who took jobs out of Michigan." But the accusation didn't catch on, and George Romney was elected governor that November.
1994, during his senatorial campaign.
In 1994, ads for George's son claimed: "Mitt Romney has spent his life building more than twenty businesses and helping to create more than 10,000 jobs.... Doesn't it make sense for us to have a senator with real-world experience?" Standing in front of the offices of Staples—at that point his most famous business start-up—the Bain ecutive said of Kennedy, "I don't think he has a clue how to create jobs." (That line, of course, echoes almost verbatim the raison d'etre of Romney's presidential campaign.)
The Kennedy camp responded just as George Romney's 1962 opponents had (and as Mitt's Republican opponents would two decades later), by claiming that the private-equity titan was in fact a destroyer rather than creator of jobs. But unlike George's foes, Kennedy had ammunition—namely, a host of workers who had been laid off by Bain's consolidation of Ampad and who subsequently starred in withering attack ads. Because the layoffs had occurred when Romney was on leave from Bain, he found the charges unworthy of his response— a fatal error. Just before Kennedy's ads ran, Romney had pulled one point ahead of the senator. After the Ampad blitzkrieg, Mitt's numbers plummeted, and the campaign never recovered.
Near the end of his unsuccessful campaign, Romney held a press conference, and a reporter in the room raised the matter of the candidate's Mormon religion—which, despite Romney's reticence on the subject, had often been raised during the campaign. (One of his primary opponents referred to Mitt during a debate as "Mr. Mormon.") The reporter wondered if the family's faith had also come up when his father, George, had run for office.
From the back of the room came a loud voice: "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues." Everyone turned. It was the elder himself. Later, on the day of the election, George bitterly complained, "There wasn't a thing [Kennedy] said about my son that was true."
Mitt reacted to his double-digit defeat with the conviction that politics wasn't for him. "Under no circumstances" would he run again, he declared. Just two weeks later, however, he told a reporter that he might challenge the other Massachusetts senator, John Kerry, in 1996. "Today I say I will leave the door open," he said.
For weeks after the defeat, Romney stayed awake at night replaying what had gone wrong. The CEO clearly did not possess the visceral gifts of a retail politician. He was spotty on the issues and became bewildered when his Republican-primary opponents attacked him for having donated to the campaigns of several Democrat friends. ("They're killing me for this, and it isn't fair!" a confidante remembers him complaining.) Similarly, he had no response for Kennedy's devastating criticism of Bain for laying off workers. But his greatest mistake, he believed, was hiring a team of political warhorses led by campaign manager Bob Marsh, whom Mitt derisively dubbed Marshmallow. "Rightly or wrongly, in the back of Mitt's mind, he blames his loss on these classic textbook types," a close adviser in his 2002 gubernatorial race told me. "Next time around, he wanted a campaign that was run like a business."
At the 2002 Olympics, where he revived his public life.
Mitt's eight years in the political wilderness were not exactly traumatic. "Running in '94 was the best thing that could've happened for his business," says a political ally from that time, "because he became that much more of a personality when he'd be out raising money for Bain Capital." Mitt's fortune multiplied throughout the late 1990s even as he decided not to run against John Kerry and attended the bare minimum of state GOP functions. He remained, according to one close aide to then governor Paul Cellucci, "well regarded, and people hoped that he would be a future candidate. But he also had access to money; he had a whole different Rolodex from the usual political crowd."
Mitt's civic call to duty came in February 1999, when he agreed to relocate to Salt Lake City and head the scandal-ridden Olympic Winter Games. Upon being approved by a voice vote of Olympic trustees, he joked, "Where were you when I needed you? I wish I had a few of these voters in 1994!"
At the same time, his charmed personal life had taken some tragic turns. George Romney had died in 1995 at the age of 88—fittingly, while ercising on his treadmill. (Three years later, in The Boston Globe, Mitt published a deeply heartfelt ode to George on Father's Day.) In 1998, his mother died as well. That same year, Ann Romney was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. His jovial-capitalist mien now tempered by the whiff of mortality, Romney declared, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life earning more money."
While turning around the Olympics, from 1999 through 2001, Mitt made no secret that, as he said to a reporter, "there is no question that I would seriously consider running for office again." He now widened his prospects to both the Senate and the governorship—in either Massachusetts or Utah. As a Romney aide would later tell me, "Yeah, he wanted to be governor. Whether it was governor of Massachusetts or Utah or Oklahoma, he didn't much care. It was about winnability. He was a practical guy, and he didn't want to lose twice." Ever the pragmatist, Romney was also concerned about the timing. "He was an ideal candidate," says Scott Simpson, then the ecutive director of Utah's Republican Party. "But the message he gave us was that he was all about the Olympic Games and he wasn't going to get involved in partisan politics."
That began to change at the beginning of 2002, when Massachusetts Republican governor Jane Swift's election chances grew bleak in the wake of several statehouse scandals. Two local Republican activists, Jon Spampinato and Denise Jillson, began a draft-Mitt movement among GOP state delegates. Apprised of this, Mitt from Utah called Spampinato one morning and by way of greeting said, "You're my hero." He added that he would give the matter some thought. When Spampinato e-mailed later that he and Jillson had locked up sufficient delegates for Romney to qualify for a primary runoff, the Olympics boss wrote back, "That's great!"
In late February, a team of four Massachusetts Republicans, led by Neil Chayet, arrived in Salt Lake City. France's ice-skating team was just leaving Mitt's office as Chayet's group entered. Getting right to the point, Chayet said, "Mitt, how about you running for governor?"
Mitt's face lit up. "Well, let's talk about that," he said. For the next hour, they discussed the prospects. Less than a month later, Mitt Romney returned home to Belmont, Massachusetts, and seeing that she could not match the popular and well-funded Olympic savior, Jane Swift reluctantly stepped aside.
Romney's right-hand man during the gubernatorial race was Bob White, his partner at Bain Capital. White immediately set to work implementing Mitt's more businesslike vision of a campaign. He snatched up a few staffers from the political ranks, but at least as many were from the corporate world. Two Bainies, Eric Kriss and Kelt Kindick, ran the policy shop, while another, Brian Shortsleeve, served as deputy campaign manager. A BYU classmate of Mitt's son Tagg, Alex Dunn, became deputy political director. The one hire with experience in both worlds, the linchpin of the group, was campaign manager Ben Coes, who had been a speechwriter in the first Bush administration before joining a private-equity firm. Coes, a staffer told me, "was bilingual, the translator. We'd say to Ben, 'Here's how we need to structure Mitt's day.' And Ben would say, 'Yeah, but we need like three or four spreadsheets and a deliverables checklist, and we need to put it all in a PowerPoint presentation so Bob and Mitt will understand it.' And that would enable Mitt to sign off on it."
Mitt's corporate-minded senior staff eschewed the typical campaign playbook. "We used a lot of techniques that had to do with what credit card companies do—identifying customer demographics, determining their interests and what they believe in," recalls one senior staffer.
They also incorporated another element of "the Bain Way": cramming as many points of view as could fit in a room. Applied to a political campaign, which normally relies on one or two masterminds, such discursiveness could prove unwieldy. One ally recalls contacting a midlevel aide and offering some strategic advice. "I'll take the message in—we're just about to have a big meeting," the aide told him. "Who's he in there with?" the ally asked. "There's a lot of Bain people," she said.
Yet even with all the Bain models and Bain personnel, Romney still felt uneasy about his chances. "His confidence was still shaken by what happened in 1994," a senior aide recalls. "As a candidate who could take a script and give a performance to a camera or at a press conference, he was a thoroughbred.... But behind the scenes, he always had a lot of doubts. The primary deciding factor for Mitt was, would it work? Sometimes it was just the petty issue of the day. 'You're going to get asked about this, Mitt, so what do you think?' He'd say, 'Well, I don't know. What do you think I should say? What do our polls say?' On issues he didn't have strong feelings about—and by and large he didn't have strong opinions about most issues—he was willing to be wherever he needed to be to put the campaign in a position to win."
What particularly worried Mitt, according to another top aide, was that his opponent, state treasurer Shannon O'Brien, would use his Bain past against him as Ted Kennedy had: "Mitt was extremely concerned to the point of being pretty upset that they were going to do to him what they'd done to him in '94. But [top strategist Mike] Murphy sat in Mitt's kitchen and told him, 'Look, they're not electing a senator this time. They're not looking for someone they like. They're electing a boss.' " Murphy predicted—accurately, as it would develop—that the visuals of laid-off workers might actually intrigue voters who craved a reformer unafraid of rolling a few heads.
Camera-ready though he was, the CEO still saw the campaign through rational, data-driven eyes rather than Clintonesque instincts. An aide recalls driving with the candidate to meet a group of mayors and hearing Mitt say, "I just don't understand why I'm meeting with these people. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm their worst nightmare: I'm Mitt Romney, a Republican running for governor. I'm the last thing these mayors want."
"I was dumbfounded—he was so antsy," recalls the aide. "He just wasn't a backslapper, and you had to tell him what to say."
As a corporate-turnaround specialist, Mitt had learned how to be a practitioner of "creative destruction"—how to downsize, send in an army of lawyers, and demolish whatever stood in the way of maximum shareholder value. But as a high-level strategist, Mitt's hands remained clean throughout. He had not yet developed the stomach for hand-to-hand political combat—particularly when the adversary was a woman, as was the case in 2002 with Democratic nominee O'Brien. That fall, the Boston Herald ran a cartoon depicting the two candidates squaring off, about to brawl—with O'Brien's arm bulging in the manner of Popeye, while Mitt looked like a stick figure. That damning image, recalls a top adviser, "had a dramatic impact. He really started going after her."
Still, by the fall, Romney was once again behind his opponent by double digits. He confronted his chief strategist, Murphy—who, some feared, had been spreading himself too thin by also handling Florida governor Jeb Bush's reelection campaign. "Mike, this is really important," the candidate said. "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I can't do anything if I don't win this one."
Murphy responded with an eye-catching but devastating ad comparing O'Brien with a worn-out basset hound. It helped propel Romney to the governorship. And at what point after Mitt Romney's victory did it become apparent that the governor-elect had his eye on an even higher office? "About a minute or two after the returns came in," one adviser recalls. "Remember, with these private-equity guys, it's all about options: 'If we keep our options open, one of them's going to come back as a home run.' Running for president or being picked as vice president immediately became two of those options."
Romney's presidential preparations began almost immediately. In July of 2003—six months into his governorship—a small team of advisers began to discuss forming a political-action committee so that Mitt could begin testing the presidential waters, distributing money and ingratiating himself with key figures in the early-primary states. They eventually formed the Commonwealth Political Action Committee, which consisted of a federal PAC and four state PACs, each set up to operate in what was believed at the time to be early-primary states for 2008: Iowa, South Carolina, Michigan, and Arizona. A PAC for neighboring New Hampshire was rejected so as to "tamp down expectations that he was actually contemplating a presidential run and so as to not hurt his agenda in Massachusetts," according to one participant in these discussions. "We did that structure because in the federal PAC you can only give so much, while in [some] state PACs people could give unlimited amounts of money. It was a very small group of people who funded the initial PAC. Most of it was Bain money. Some of the Bain guys were writing $30,000 checks. Everything was intentionally under the radar."
Mitt himself approved the formation of the Commonwealth PAC in the summer of 2004, months before he received the Bennett memo. That July, a GOP operative in Des Moines—who would later become Mitt's top Iowa strategist for the 2012 caucus—began distributing checks to local kingmakers. On October 16, Mitt traveled to Des Moines for a GOP fundraiser. When a reporter asked him about his own presidential aspirations, he dismissively but ambiguously replied, "I see myself as governor of Massachusetts.... We've got a good bench. The bullpen—pick whatever sports metaphor you want—is full."
A month later, a Spartanburg, South Carolina, Republican official named Rick Beltram was surprised to find in his mail a check for $1,000 from something named the Commonwealth PAC. He called the PAC director, Trent Wisecup, and asked, "Why'd you send us that?"
"We just want to help your local activities," Wisecup replied.
"Well," chuckled Beltram, "let me put words in your mouth: Governor Romney is probably gonna run for president in 2008, and he wants some name recognition down here."
Beltram recalled to me that Wisecup "hemmed and hawed, but he didn't deny it." Beltram, the Spartanburg County GOP chairman, suggested that Governor Romney deliver the keynote speech at their Presidents' Day banquet the following February.
On February 21, 2005, Mitt Romney came to Spartanburg. His speech was filmed by a C-SPAN crew that was producing a series called Road to the White House. Two things in particular from that event would stand out to Beltram seven years later. First, the PAC performed with corporate high efficiency: "Hardly a day went by in the six weeks before the dinner," he says, "that they weren't monitoring what we were up to. They even had an advance team come down a week before and go over every detail—how we assigned tables, how we'd have the back drapes, how we'd do the invitations." Even more impressive to Beltram was the governor himself: "He gave a great speech, working from a well-prepared text. He had certain qualities we hadn't seen before in terms of his business acumen and success. He talked about the success of Staples and Domino's and other household names that he'd had a hand in."
Mitt did something else memorable that evening: The Massachusetts moderate slung the red meat like an Ivy League incarnation of Jesse Helms. "Being a Republican in Massachusetts is a bit like being a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention," he told the crowd of nearly 400. Mitt emphasized his pro-life beliefs and his deep opposition to gay marriage. South Carolina Republicans walked away pleasantly surprised. Back home, many of Romney's long-time supporters were surprised as well.
After all, back in his 1994 Senate campaign, Mitt had met with the state chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, a group representing gay and lesbian voters. "When he talked about an inclusive Republican Party, he was very sincere and convincing," recalls Abner Mason, who was the Massachusetts LCR's president at the time. Mason asked the candidate to put in writing his commitment to gay rights (minus gay marriage, which wasn't in play back then). Mitt did so, and the Log Cabin Republicans officially endorsed him—believing, Mason told me, "that if he had won, he would've been an enormous force for change."
Ten years later, Romney was reluctantly on the front lines of the gay-marriage debate. As governor of Massachusetts, he proposed a compromise that banned gay marriage but permitted civil unions. "My sense," Mason told me, "is that here you have a progressive Republican who's committed to equality, but he was forced to take a position that made some think that he is somehow antigay, which is totally untrue." Mason argues that Mitt showed his true colors in a New Hampshire primary debate, when he reminded voters that as governor he had appointed a gay man to his cabinet and that "if people are looking for someone who will discriminate against gays...they won't find that in me."
"In my mind," says Mason, "he's in the same place as the Clintons and Obama." Then Mason added unprompted, "I am glad Romney's current campaign better reflects the real Romney. They should have run on his business record then, as they are doing now."
Fortenyears running, Mitt Romney has been nothing more and nothing less than a professional politician. He attends fundraisers, delivers speeches, studies polls, sits in on marathon policy sessions, shakes hands, denounces the president, and makes promises, all to advance his second career. Still, watching Mitt, the dazzlingly successful CEO, gamely succumb to the rituals of his chosen second vocation is at times like watching Michael Jordan chase a curveball. Politics is an industry overstuffed with pseudoscientists, but its master practitioners are instinctual. By all available evidence, the Bain Way remains the Mitt Romney way. As a former senior adviser told me, "The gold standard for him is the decision that's made with a complete set of data." And it's worked for him, so far.
How it would work for America is another matter. An admiring member of Governor Romney's cabinet said to me, "The interesting question is: If your ambitions for the presidency pull you away from the moderate middle, what happens when you're elected and you don't have to worry about that ambition anymore? I want to believe the answer is that he'll become that pragmatist again and move back to the center."
Many such Mitt supporters maintain that he is at heart a Realpolitik businessman, just like his father—which also helps explain why neither Romney has ever been a beloved member of their chosen party. The legendary Detroit Free Press columnist Judd Arnett once described George Romney as "a populist-radical-progressive-conservative-liberal," who was widely viewed within the GOP as self-righteous and quick to remind others of his superiority. And of course a generation later, Republicans have yet to warm to Mitt. Neither man was a dyed-in-the-wool party animal. Arnett could also have been referring to Mitt when he wrote of George in 1969, "He went to the Republicans because that was where he had the majority of his contacts, but he never felt wholly comfortable with them, nor they with him."
In the end, the elder Romney grew uncomfortable with the whole process, especially the notion that government—or business—could heal social ills. "One of the principal mistakes we make," George wrote during his final weeks at HUD, "is that we are trying to solve problems that are fundamentally spiritual, moral, and social with money. It just can't be done." He spent his last years crusading for volunteerism, leaving politics for the next generation.
No doubt his son approved. After winning his first—and thus far only—political campaign in 2002, and thereby completing his full transition to the public sector, governor-elect Mitt Romney asked many of his campaign aides to serve in his administration. At least one aide demurred, indicating a lack of interest in state government.
"That's great to hear," said Romney. "No one should make their career in politics."
_Robert Draper is a GQ correspondent. _


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mediaworkz necesitaba un nuevo diseño de otro y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 23 diseños de 15 diseñadores freelance.
Helping car buyers connect with car dealers in order to get the lowest price on their next vehicle.
Car buyers looking for deals.
- 3 static GIF or JPG banners (same basic creative, 3 different sizes)
- Banners must include 1px, #666666 border
- The 3 sizes required are: 728x200, 728x90, 160x600
- Banners should include the URL "LocateCarDealer.net"
- Preferred file sizes: 728x200 (<50k), 728x90 (<30k), 160x600 (<30k)
- Style of banners should incorporate the look of the website
- If you're including vehicle images, please stick to the following: Honda, Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, Nissan
- Include the following copy: "Locate a Car Dealer and Save Big on a New Car"
- Include button that says: "See Blowout Prices"
- Final delivery of files will include the GIF or JPG banners at the indicated file sizes, as well as all original Photoshop, Illustrator, and/or Fireworks files
If you're looking for more contests like this one, please visit http://99designs.com/people/mediaworkz. We've got a bunch of contests running or about to be launched.


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Ah trading a ridiculous amount pays off. It seems as though JuvyD has a yellow and a blue clone for me, leaving me short only the red non-ARC.
Hmmph, tres boring
Oh look what arrived today, three colored clone troopers. I appear to be all done the latest animated figures. Hmmph, tres boring
I thought they were 2 per case?
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Helen V. Totten, 70, of Long Pond, died Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Golden Living Center, East Stroudsburg.
Born in the Bronx, N.Y., she was the daughter of the late James and Helen (Maloney) Phillips.
Helen was a resident of the Long Pond area for the past five years, and prior to that she lived in the Marshalls Creek area for three years and had spent most of her life in the Cranford, N.J., area. While living in the New Jersey area, she worked as a county clerk for Monmouth County in Freehold, N.J. Helen was of the Catholic faith.
She is survived by a daughter, Ann M. Dean and her husband, James, of Long Valley, N.J.; two sons, Sean R. Boas and his wife, Kim, of Long Pond, and Michael Pherlan of East Stroudsburg; four grandchildren, Jimmy, Allie, Samantha and Michael; and her good friends, Lillian, Carolyn and Rhonda. Helen was preceded in death by a daughter, Bridget Boas.
A Catholic Prayer Service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, from the Joseph J. Pula Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 23 N. Ninth St., Stroudsburg, with Monsignor John Bergamo officiating. Cremation will follow the services. Visitation will be held from 11 a.m. until the time of the services Saturday, Jan. 26, at the funeral home.
Joseph J. Pula Funeral Home
and Cremation Service
23 N. Ninth St., Stroudsburg
Helen V. Totten
Helen V. Totten, 70, of Long Pond, died Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Golden Living Center, East Stroudsburg.


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Varnadow Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Graduate Program Coordinator
School of Materials Science and Engineering
Courtesy appointment in School of Chemical Engineering
Helmerich Research Center
Oklahoma State University
700 North Greenwood Avenue, HRC-200
Tulsa, OK 74106-0700
Office Phone: 918-594-8645
Cell Phone: 405-338-8999
Fax: 918-594-8628
firstname.lastname@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com
Dr. Ranji Vaidyanathan is presently the Varnadow Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at the Helmerich Research Center at OSU Tulsa. He directs the Next Generation Materials Laboratory at the Helmerich Research Center at OSU Tulsa. He is a Riata Faculty Fellow with the Riata Center for Entrepreneurship at the School of Entrepreneurship, Spears School of Business at OSU. He was previously the Director of the New Product Development Center (NPDC) and the Inventors Assistance Service (IAS) at Oklahoma State University for linking the innovative ideas and capabilities of small manufacturers and inventors with the knowledge and multi-disciplinary expertise of the land grant university faculty, in order to develop and commercialize economically competitive new products that strengthen rural economies, create new and enhanced jobs, capital investment and an increased tax base. At Oklahoma State University, Dr. Vaidyanathan works collaboratively with faculty members from various disciplines and colleges to develop products and solutions for Oklahoma small manufacturers. As the Varnadow Professor, Dr. Vaidyanathan works with the Helmerich Research Center (HRC) faculty to develop a major research and technology transfer thrust in composite materials. As a Riata Faculty Fellow in Entrepreneurship, Dr. Vaidyanathan works with small businesses and start-up companies to advance the technologies developed at HRC into enterprises and sustainable companies. Dr. Vaidyanathan also has a joint appointment with the School of Chemical Engineering at Oklahoma State University.
Prior to coming to Oklahoma State, Dr. Vaidyanathan was the director for advanced polymer composites at Advanced Ceramics Research (ACR) in Tucson, AZ for 9 years. While at ACR, he worked as the PI on 23 Phase I and 11 Phase II Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) projects, funded by the Navy, National Science Foundation, NASA, USDA and Air Force. Ranji has a total of eighteen patents including sixteen U. S. patents. He has developed six different products from concept stage to commercial stage including Aquacore™ and Aquacast™ water-soluble tooling materials commercially being sold to Airbus, Eurocopter, Lockheed and Boeing at a level of $2 million per year. His previous responsibilities also included post-doctoral positions at Rutgers University, Johns Hopkins University and North Carolina A&T State University.
|State of Ohio
|Ceramic Engineering
|North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC; 1992
|Materials Science and Engineering
|North Carolina A&T State University
Greensboro, NC; 1988
|Mechanical Engineering
|Banaras Hindu University
India; 1980
|Metallurgical Engineering
Varnadow Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Helmerich Research Center, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, OK, July 2011 – present
Carl G. and Gladys L. Herrington Professor in Advanced Materials
Helmerich Research Center, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, OK, October 2009 – June 2011
Research Professor and Director
New Product Development Center (NPDC) and Inventors Assistance Service (IAS), Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, August 2007 – March 2011
Adjunct Associate Professor
Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engg., Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, August 2000 – August 2007
Director, Composite Materials July 2004 – July 2007
Manager, Advanced Materials July 2000 – July 2004
Senior Research Scientist July 1998 – July 2000
Advanced Ceramics Research (ACR), Inc., Tucson, AZ
Senior Research Scientist
Materials and Electrochemical Research (MER) Corporation, Tucson, AZ, August 1996 – July 1998
Post-doctoral Research Fellow
Dept. of Mech. Engg., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, December 1995 – July 1996
Research Associate
Center for Ceramic Research, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, January 1994 - November 1995
Research Associate
Dept. of Mech. Engg., North Carolina A&T State University, NC, June 1992 - December 1993
Courses taught by Dr. Ranji Vaidyanathan
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cloeqigong needed a new stationery design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 203 designs submitted by 45 freelance designers.
Facilitating Self-Corrective Mechanisms.
Body-Mind Whisperer.
Promoting Body-Mind balance sheet for good health and good cellular communications.
Natural therapy to enhance natural processes-
This will be the logo that will be on my business cards, brochures, letter heads as well as my site...the main symbol....
- balance...water fire...yin yang sign would be best
- yellow and white color is great...not limited to it...5 elements are good
- or 5 colors green, red,yellow/gold, white and purple/dark blue/
- black and white with gold always great.
- hand holding the earth-yin-yang symbol
- between Heaven and Earth main theme
- essence- spirit- energy
- simple and yet catchy
- classy and yet striking
- elegant yet real
- sticky yet letting go
- calm sleek serenity balance quiet paeceful minimalist, powerful...I want it...NOW
- Item 1...
- not too busy
- not complicated
- no controversial


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How should I begin my correspondence with a member?
Communication should begin via messaging or use of winks. When meeting new people, we recommend you have an open mind, nevertheless, we recommend you be wary of odd behavior or inconsistencies. The person at the other end may not be who or what he or she says. Trust your instincts.


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For easy future reference, here is a roundup of all the MAC lipstick swatches together. This post will be joining the other links in the "Hot Topics" section, so you can pull them up in one click.
MAC lipsticks are $14.50 each, and vanilla scented. MAC also recycles all of its plastic and glass product packaging (the program is called Back to MAC), and you can exchange any 6 items for a brand new lipstick (or lipgloss, or eyeshadow, if you take them to a free-standing store in the U.S.). You can't Back-to-MAC for a Viva Glam lipstick, because 100% of their purchase price is donated to charity.
Of the lipsticks below, Red Pepper, Charred Red, Fusion Pink, Sin, Full Fuchsia, Show Orchid, Smoked Purple, Violetta, Fleshpot, Peachstock, Neon Orange, and Full Chocolate are pro shades — but anyone can buy them by visiting a MAC Pro store, or by calling 1-800-387-6707 to order.
Click to read the original post for any of these finishes:
Amplified Creme (cream-finish, medium-to-full pigment)
Cremesheen (moisturizing, cream-finish, medium-to-full pigment)
Frost (frosty finish, medium pigment)
Glaze (somewhat glossy, sheer-to-medium pigment)
Lustre (glossy, sheer-to-medium pigment)
Matte (matte, full pigment)
Pro Longwear Lipcreme (satin-shine, medium-to-full pigment depending on skintone, long-wear)
Satin (long-wear, semi-matte, medium-to-full pigment)
Sheen Supreme (glossy finish, medium coverage, moisturizing lipsticks. There's a second post with additional shades.)
Slimshines ("skinny tube," sheer, moisturizing lipsticks — now discontinued)
Viva Glam (various finishes, all proceeds donated to charity. This post also contains more information about the amazing Viva Glam program.)


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MOSCOW, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- An 11-year-old boy in Russia has discovered the almost-complete 30,000-year-old carcass of a woolly mammoth, Russian media reported.
Yevgeny Salinder found the 1,100-pound mammoth in the tundra of the Taymyr peninsula in northern Russia, Moscow News said.
Scientists using axes and steam hoses worked for a week to dig it out of the permafrost it's been encased in for centuries.
Woolly mammoths have been found in the permafrost in Siberia since at least 1929, but this is one of the best preserved with tusks, mouth and rib cage almost completely intact, NewScientist.com reported.
The mammoth is informally being called Zhenya, Yevgeny's nickname, but is officially the Sopkarga mammoth.
Paleontologists in Moscow and St. Petersburg plan to study the mammoth before it is returned to the Taymyr Natural History Museum for permanent display.


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LMFAO: Man Gets A Bit Heated When Tryna Battle On Ustream! "Oh You Mad Cuzz I'm Stylin'On You... THATS YOUTUBE RAPS! "
One of our viewers just this video of them battlin. They report "taking u stream seriously haha , smh grown ass man ,"THATS SOME YOUTUBE SHIT I SWEAR TO GOD" henz0 from bk vs t-boy from miami "
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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What kind of father-in-law would Hulk Hogan make? Would he turn every family dinner into a chance to tell everyone about the time he body-slammed Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III? Would he insist that his grandkids train, say their prayers and eat their vitamins? Would he tell you that if you don't take good care of his daughter, the 24-inch pythons will run wild on you?
Cowboys center Phil Costa is about to find out. Costa got engaged to Brooke Hogan, daughter of the Hulkster, this weekend.
"Happiest moment of my LIFE. I am marrying my best friend. I woulnt choose anyone else. I am so lucky and so grateful," Brooke Hogan wrote on Instagram.
Costa became the starter in Dallas in 2011, but last year injuries limited him to just three games. This year he could lose his job to first-round draft pick Travis Frederick, so it's good that he's marrying a reality TV star who can be the family's bread winner.
Most fathers walk their daughters down the aile to the tune of "Here Comes the Bride," but as a 1980s wrestling fan who was there at the Pontiac Silverdome on the day when the Hulkster's popularity reached its pinnacle, I'm hoping Hulk walks Brooke down the aile to the tune of "I Am a Real American."


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This is an activity about magnets and magnetism. Learners first make predictions about magnets, such as a list of the types of materials a magnet will pick up, how a magnet can be made, and how a compass can be made. Next, learners test their... (View More) predictions using simple experiments, and, finally, reflect on their predictions. This is the second activity in the Mapping Magnetic Influence educators guide. (View Less)
Audience: Middle school, High school


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Can Android Challenge Embedded Linux?
Jan 21, 2014 11:10 AM PT
Is the Android OS morphing into a new form of embedded Linux?
Android is a Linux OS derivative perched to make inroads beyond its growing user base in smartphones and tablets. Some auto makers are considering the potential for Android-connected communications systems in their vehicles. The Android OS is already available as an all-in-one desktop computer powered by System on a Chip circuitry.
So how much potential is there for Android-powered gadgets to sprout in devices as the Internet of Things gathers steam? Some Android product developers have thrown down the gauntlet, at least philosophically, in a discussion of whether the Android OS can become the new embedded Linux.
A panel of developers at last year's Android Builders Summit rejected that notion. Their reasoning: The litmus test is that Android must be used in classic embedded projects. Based on that qualification, Android fails, they concluded.
That logic seems to agree with the premise that Google custom-built Android as a mobile operating system that comes with its own ecosystem, separate from the classic Linux ecosystem.
"It is nice to think about Android being that one platform that is good for everything, but at the moment this seems unnecessary and unsuitable for Android," Tuong Huy Nguyen, a principal research analyst at Gartner Research, told LinuxInsider.
Nevertheless, some Android application developers remain open to the idea that Android fits the task of embedded Linux functions, and they see potential for the Android OS to become an alternative to embedded Linux.
Shut the Door
The lack of support for an actual movement to build in an embedded nature for Android is significant. The Android Builders Summit is a technical summit for OEMs, their device manufacturers, integrators, custom builders, and the growing Android and Linux Kernel developer communities.
It would seem counterproductive for efforts to rise outside of this quasi steering committee for Android development. The Android platform is expanding into an increasing number of industry segments in addition to smartphones and tablets. The Summit as an organization of Android developers recognizes that a need exists for the ecosystem of builders to collaborate on a common solution for existing limitations and desired features across all of these device categories.
Embedded Passion
Not all Android app developers share the view of the Android Builders Summit regarding what it takes to be an embedded OS.
Embedded versions of Android can be a very workable classification, in the view of Ron Munitz, CTO of Nubo Software.
"Android is an embedded Linux distro simply because it has the Linux kernel. It has become more popular among all kinds of devices and already has the largest developer community and a huge ecosystem of apps," Munitz told LinuxInsider.
Android not only is becoming the leading embedded Linux platform, but also is penetrating other categories, such as workstation OS, and even running on servers, he explained. In fact, Nubo is developing Android on a server.
A Matter of Interpretation
In a classic sense, qualifying as an embedded operating system entails meeting some rigid technical standards and the ability to serve multiple purposes. That has long been a forte of the Linux OS in embedded appliances.
In a broader sense, multiple definitions of "embedded operating systems" exist today, noted Matthias Eckermann, senior product manager for enterprise server at Suse. What may be seen as an embedded OS with Android on a consumer device might not be considered an embedded OS in the enterprise space.
"Embedded consumer devices would be Android on a television screen or Android as the user interface system for an automobile. These are some areas where embedded Android might have a place," Eckermann told LinuxInsider.
Single-Purpose Shortfall
Vendors and consumers like Android because they are looking for compatibility and accessibility across their devices. To be able to provide that, the OS would need to be flexible, noted Gartner's Nguyen.
"When you look at single-purpose machines, consumers do not need that degree of flexibility with an ability to load applications," he said.
It is that single-purpose ability that is so demanding for an embedded operating system in the enterprise. That is where the concept of embedded Android falls short.
"With single-purpose and single-use devices, the suitable OS tends to be in the opposite direction," explained Nguyen. "Embedded Linux already provides that. It is very clean-cut and focused. At the moment, Android is not designed to do that. It has not been designed to do specific tasks on an embedded level."
More Than One Embedded Type
There are many different types of embedded operating systems. There are also different needs and uses for each type of embedded platform.
"Many embedded OSes do not need to have apps, per se, and certainly do not need to have Android certification. So I think there will always be a need for a general purpose Linux embedded operating system," Al Gillen, program vice president for system software at IDC, told LinuxInsider.
Think along the lines of robotics, machine control, vending machines and white box appliances, he suggested, where the ability to be Android certified/branded and capable of running generic Android apps would be of zero value.
"In applications such as those, the app portfolio will likely have a total count of one, and it will be highly specific to operating the device it is embedded within," Gillen said. "If a given device intends to somehow compete in or function in the mobile device space, using an Android-compatible build becomes a lot more important and has tangible value, and may open up a portfolio of Android apps that have applicability to the device."
Purposeful Treatment
A line should be drawn between the notion of true embedded Linux distros and adapting Android's solitary distro for embedded consumer functions, said Suse's Eckermann. He does not see Android going into enterprise areas involving integrated systems.
"With flexibility, Android is one stack and one purpose. That is not the case with a full-fledged embedded Linux used for multiple purposes," said Eckermann.
In areas of consumer orientation, Android has options, he noted. These involve cars, televisions, tablets and phones. On the other hand, there are many Linux use cases in which Android would not be suitable for embedded use.
Enterprise Exclusion
One example of Android not being up to speed is in the auto industry.
Android will not be everywhere in cars, said Eckermann. Why? The embedded systems in cars have much different requirements than Android can produce.
"From that perspective, we can say that most uses in cars beyond user interface will not be a good choice for Android. Even on the user interfaces, there are other embedded systems that will challenge the use of Android," he explained.
Enterprise grade is something much different, noted Eckermann. Android is end-user ready, but as good as Android is, it lacks that enterprise-grade quality, he added.
Major Limitation
Another drawback to developing Android as an embedded OS is its lack of timely upgrades. At best, there are just one or two upgrades per year.
That is a critical limitation for using embedded Android in the enterprise, Eckermann said.
"It is very constrained. It gets one image rolled out. Linux is component-oriented on the updates," he pointed out. "With Android, the only updates you typically get are the ones for the apps you run on it."


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Examine the product components and select those you want to uninstall.
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After you are satisfied with your selections, click Next.
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text: Being environmentally sustainable is essential to Gustavus Adolphus College's commitment to its core values of excellence, justice, community, leadership, and faith. Faith calls us to care for the environment which sustains our community. We are not just if clean air and water are not available for all, nor are we leaders if we lead in the destruction the natural world and its life-sustaining functions. And excellence is only possible when we can live, as Wendell Berry says, "without destroying the sources of our life." As a liberal arts institution, our values guide us as we face complex global environmental issues that require innovative and sophisticated solutions built on an understanding of science, social values and economic realities.