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Cloud seeding projects can't get underway without storms
February 10, 2012
Clarification: This article did not clearly define the toxicity of silver iodide used in cloud seeding. The chemical is listed by the Environmental Protection Agency as having a low level of toxicity. In cloud seeding it is applied in amounts so small they have not shown toxic effects in soil, water or vegetation, according to the California Water Plan.
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Even weather modification experts are having a difficult time manipulating much white stuff from this year's clear skies.
"You can't just make it snow or rain," said Hans Ahlness, vice president of operations for Weather Modification Inc., which operates cloud seeding projects in the American River watershed. "You have to have the cloud there and all you can do is make it more efficient."
Cloud seeding is a method of enhancing precipitation that falls from storms. Silver iodide, a chemical similar in molecular structure to ice particles, is either dropped by an airplane or released by a "generator" upwind of storms. Dry ice is sometimes also used in airplane seeding. The tiny particles give moisture in the clouds something to condense around and cause it to fall, as rain or snow, from the sky.
The Sierra Nevada has been under cloud seeding projects for decades. Water managers in California and Nevada have contracted the service to augment the area's snowpack and improve supply.
"We're just trying to add a little more water to the runoff," said Arlen Huggins, an associate research scientist with Desert Research Institute, which does cloud seeding in the Tahoe-Truckee watershed.
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Cloud seeding in California can add as much 300,000 acre feet or about one four-hundredths of Lake Tahoe to the state's annual water supply. Depending on the storm, cloud seeding can add 5 percent to 10 percent of precipitation than would've dropped normally, said Maurey Roos, a hydrologist with the Department of Water Resources.
But conditions must be right for seeding to be effective. Air temperature at storm altitudes, usually around 9,000 feet, must be around 23 degrees Fahrenheit. The storm must contain "super-cooled" liquid, or moisture that's colder than freezing, and must not have too strong of winds, Roos said. And for airplane seeding, the storm must be high enough off the ground for the craft to fly into.
So far this year hasn't produced too many chances. In the Tahoe-Truckee area, there have only been six cloud seeding operations from their ground generators so far. Last year, Desert Research Institute conducted 25 to 30 by March, Huggins said. In the American River area, the airplanes have seeded seven times, Roos said.
"They haven't had a lot of opportunities," Roos said. "You're not going to create clouds or snow out of a clear sky."
Needless to say, water managers aren't looking at weather modification as a solution to the abnormally dry winter, though it may help a little bit.
"The amount you add from cloud seeding is not going to change the overall conditions of a dry year," Huggins said. "Like right now, we're running about 30 percent water content of normal. If we add 10 percent, it's not going to make much of a difference."


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Alpha and Omega - A Novel of Jesus
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Author: Francis Wolfe
Downloads: 1916
Pages: 377Published: 6 years ago
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Book Description
Written from a Catholic viewpoint; examines in novel form the human spiritual growth of Jesus, alongside his divine nature. Like Job, Jesus undergoes trials to perfect his human faith. Calamity hits, and Jesus ends up working off his debt as a caravan camel herder. He uses the time to perfect his soul, which is the only thing remaining. Honor, wealth, future have all be stripped from him. Jesus even looses his foster son. After five years as a caravan worker, Jesus enters an Essene monastery (they really existed). His mission in Galilee is just his domestic Essene mission, with one new bit of doctrine...the Messiah is now in Israel, and it is he! You know the rest of the story, but not like this...New miracles, new parables, new wilderness trials. All doctrinally correct, but more, so to speak. The book has an exceptionally moving Garden of Gethsemane scene. Also available in print paperback, ISBN 1482513552

subset: commoncrawl


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It's been quite awhile since I have posted. Sorry to those who have been checking my blog often. You may want to just add your name to my email list so that when I do post, you will get emailed instead of having to check in to see if I have posted.
I have so much to share with you and hope to start making more videos soon. If you would like to be emailed when I post, all you have to do is add your email in the little box near the top left hand of my page and then click on the 'Get email updates' box below it and then follow the steps. You can remove it at any point as well.
I have mentioned in other posts a little about Shelli Gardner (CEO of Stampin Up) as she is an amazing person with a passion for stamping/art and life in general. Liz passed along a link to me today which I thought I would share with you as Stampin Up has created some videos and is sharing them on U-tube now.
Here is the link: www.youtube.com/stampinupvideo . Check out the video below to learn a little about Shelli and a bit about how she started her amazing business.
Hope you are all getting a little taste of spring where ever you are (wasn't winter just a tad too long this year!). Karen


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Peer-Reviewed Publications
Found 509 resultsTitle
Expert clinical assessment of thorax stiffness of infants and children during chest compressions." Resuscitation. 2009;80(10):1187-91."
Fatal child cervical spine injuries in motor vehicle collisions: Analysis using unique linked national datasets." Injury. 2009;40(8):864-7."
Feasibility of an interactive voice response tool for adolescent assault victims." Acad Emerg Med. 2009;16(10):956-62."
Front versus rear seat injury risk for child passengers: evaluation of newer model year vehicles." Traffic Inj Prev. 2009;10(3):297-301."
An initial evaluation of a culturally adapted social problem-solving and relational aggression prevention program for urban African-American relationally aggressive girls." J Prev Interv Community. 2009;37(4):260-74."
Investigating the link between gun possession and gun assault." Am J Public Health. 2009;99(11):2034-40."
Making the most of the worst-case scenario: should belt-positioning booster seats be used in lap-belt-only seating positions?" Traffic Inj Prev. 2009;10(6):580-3."
Management of pediatric tumor lysis syndrome in the emergency department." Emerg. Med. Clin. North Am.. 2009;27(3):497-504."
Non-fatal and fatal crash injury risk for children in minivans compared with children in sport utility vehicles." Inj. Prev.. 2009;15(1):8-12."
Passenger compartment intrusion as a predictor of significant injury for children in motor vehicle crashes." J Trauma. 2009;66(2):504-7."
Pediatric abdominal injury patterns generated by lap belt loading." J Trauma. 2009;67(6):1278-83; discussion 1283."
Pediatric CPR quality monitoring: analysis of thoracic anthropometric data." Resuscitation. 2009;80(10):1137-41."
Primary access to vehicles increases risky teen driving behaviors and crashes: national perspective." Pediatrics. 2009;124(4):1069-75."
Recognition of "Plastic Bronchitis" in the Emergency Department." Pediatr Emerg Care. 2009;25(9):621."
Teen perceptions of good drivers and safe drivers: implications for reaching adolescents." Inj. Prev.. 2009;15(1):24-9."
Translating community-specified indicators of program success into measurable outcomes." J Public Health Manag Pract. 2009;15(6):E22-30."
Adolescent Drivers' Perceptions of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Abstention from In-vehicle Cell Phone Use." Accident Analysis & Prevention. 2010;42(6):1570-76."
Analysis of spinal motion and loads during frontal impacts. Comparison between PMHS and ATD." Ann Adv Automot Med. 2010;54:61-78."
The association of weight percentile and motor vehicle crash injury among 3 to 8 year old children." Ann Adv Automot Med. 2010;54:193-9."
Birth outcomes among offspring of women exposed to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks." Obstet Gynecol. 2010;116(4):917-25."
Child and parent perceptions of monitoring in chronic illness management: a qualitative study." Child Care Health Dev. 2010;36(5):655-62."
The Child Stress Disorders Checklist-Short Form: a four-item scale of traumatic stress symptoms in children." Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2010;32(3):321-7."
Cultural translation: acceptability and efficacy of a US-based injury prevention intervention in China." Inj. Prev.. 2010;16(5):296-301."
Development, validation, and utility of internet-based, behavioral health screen for adolescents." Pediatrics. 2010;126(1):e163-70."
Developmental and behavioral disorders grown-up-intellectual disability." J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2010;31(1):61-71."


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WASHINGTON (CIRCA) – U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley recently arrived late for a meeting of the group's Security Council, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The Post reported Wednesday that Haley then left the event while her Palestinian counterpart Riyad Mansour was speaking.
Tuesday's event illuminated growing tensions between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority over this week's violence in Gaza.
Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Dannon was also late to the meeting, which came a day after protests in Gaza turned violent.
Haley ultimately blamed Hamas for the carnage, which the group's health ministry reported resulted in the death of more than 60 Palestinians Monday.
Representatives for the Security Council's 14 other members held a moment of silence for the victims Tuesday before Haley derided Hamas over their deaths.
"Make no mistake: Hamas is pleased with the results from yesterday," she said, before detailing how it goaded protesters into entering dangerous areas along Israel's southern border.
"I ask my colleagues here in the Security Council: Who among us would accept this type of activity on your border?" Haley continued. "No one would."
"No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has. In fact, the records of several countries here today suggest they would be much less restrained."
This is a remarkable -- deeply symbolic -- image by Getty's @drewangerer. US ambassador Nikki Haley walks out of a UN Security Council meeting as Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour begins to speak. pic.twitter.com/wscS9dznWz— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) May 16, 2018
Mansour, who was an invited guest to Tuesday's meeting, then compared the Gaza protests to anti-gun violence demonstrations in the U.S.
"We reject the racist discourse that turns us into excluded victims of humanity," he said. "We have the right to demonstrate as families against the occupation and end its arrogance."
Gaza burst into chaos Monday after the U.S. opened its Embassy in the contested city of Jerusalem.
President Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital late last year, altering decades of American policy on the issue.
Israel considers Jerusalem its undivided capital, while the Palestinians hope that the eastern part of the city serves as the capital of their desired state.
The latest death toll in Gaza is 62 Palestinians, including an 8 month old girl.— Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani (@AdrienneMahsa) May 15, 2018
Nikki Haley said Israel showed "restraint" and then walked out of a U.N. Security Council meeting when the Palestinian envoy began to speak.https://t.co/y8kmMpv2vy


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The 2012 Table of Contents highlights the updates to the 2011 Standard Details. Each Standard Detail is coded as follows:
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Table of Contents / Deleted Details 2012
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Ex-Visteon chief Stebbins named CEO of Superior Industries
Donald Stebbins, the former CEO of Visteon Corp. who was ousted in 2012 after a two-year dispute with board members, today was named CEO of aluminum wheel supplier Superior Industries International Inc.
The move is effective on May 5, more than a month after previous CEO and chairman Steven Borick's March 31 retirement. Stebbins also will join Superior's board.
Superior appointed a new chairman and two interim co-CEOs last month; it continued its search after Borick's retirement. Borick had been CEO since 2005 and a board member for 33 years.
Acquisition strategy
At Visteon, Stebbins pushed for an acquisition strategy while some board members tied to large bondholders wanted him to streamline the company. On Aug. 2, 2012, he told Bloomberg in an interview that the company would continue to pursue an acquisition strategy.
"I don't think there is anything wrong with the strategy," Stebbins said in the interview. "We will continue to move down that path."
But just over a week later, the company announced Stebbins' departure. Visteon named Tim Leuliette CEO in October 2012; he had served in an interim role after Stebbins' exit.
Stebbins, 56, began his Visteon stint as president and COO in May 2005. He became CEO in June 2008.
After spinning off from Ford Motor Co. in 2000, the electronics and interiors supplier never posted an annual profit before entering bankruptcy in May 2009. Stebbins presided over Visteon during the 16-month bankruptcy reorganization process.
Highly paid
During his time at Visteon's helm, Stebbins often was one of the highest paid executives in the auto supply chain.
After its reorganization, Visteon in 2010 awarded Stebbins a compensation package worth $27 million, based on values calculated by the company at the time.
Stebbins' compensation package that year included a stock award valued at $21.2 million. In 2012, Stebbins' compensation was valued at $9.5 million, which included a $2.4 million severance payment.
A Superior spokesman said today the amount of Stebbins' compensation is not yet available.
'Deep experience'
Chairman Margaret Dano, in a company statement, said: "Our board is confident that Don's proven managerial skills, deep experience in the automotive industry and motivation for success will be instrumental in growing the company and enhancing shareholder value, as well as further strengthening our brand among customers and providing opportunities for all employees.
Stebbins sits on the boards of supplier ITT Corp., which has a product line that includes brake pads, and WABCO Holdings Inc.
"Superior is one of the great iconic brands in the automotive sector," Stebbins said in the statement. "I proudly look forward to leading the company and its outstanding team, as it continues to demonstrate the highest degree of professionalism, product excellence and customer service, and as together, we embark on a new era pursuing opportunities for growth and value creation."
Superior, based in Van Nuys, Calif., ranked No. 66 on Automotive News' list of the top 100 parts suppliers to North America, with an estimated $822 million in sales to automakers in its 2012 fiscal year.
Louis Borick, Steven Borick's father, founded Superior in 1957 as a maker of bug deflectors, overload springs and wheels. Superior got its big break in 1972 when it became the wheel supplier for the Ford Mustang, its first auto contract.
Dustin Walsh and Philip Nussel contributed to this report.
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Local Indiana State Trooper Teusch gets promotion to detective rank
Monday, August 26, 2013 7:57 AM
Indiana State Police Senior Trooper Matthew B. Teusch has been promoted to the rank of detective and transferred to the Criminal Investigation Command of the ISP.
In his new position, Teusch will assume investigative duties in both Huntington and Whitley counties.
His promotion took effect on Sunday, Aug. 18.
Teusch, a 1990 graduate of Huntington North High School, attended both Indiana State University and Vincennes University, earning an Associate Degree in criminal justice in 1992. He was employed as a sergeant for the Indiana Department of Corrections at the former Northeast Juvenile Correctional Facility in Allen County for five years before being accepted to the 62nd Indiana State Police Recruit Academy.
Teusch was appointed as a trooper on Dec. 27, 2001, and assigned to the Fort Wayne Post. He was responsible for patrol duties in both Adams and Wells counties. Following the closing of the Redkey Post in November of 2010, he assumed patrol duties in both Blackford and Jay counties in addition to his original assignment.
Teusch has served as a member of the Tactical Intervention Platoon, as a field training officer, as a member of both state and district Interdiction Teams and as a member of the OWI "Wolfpack" at the Fort Wayne Post. He has been recognized by the Drug and Alcohol Consortium of Allen County for his OWI enforcement efforts and was twice honored as the Wells County Officer of the Year.
Teusch and his wife April live in Huntington County with their four children, Kaitlyn, Rebecca, Levi and Luke.


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Well, perhaps he was not a lot worse than Pau, but he sure as hell wasn't any better. But Pau is getting all the blame.
Odom averaged around 12 points, 6,5 rebounds and 2 assists on ,459% shooting.
Pau averaged around 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 1,7 blocks on ,420% shooting.
Compared to how they played during the regular season, they both sucked. Big-time.


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ONLY people over 65 should receive free bus travel, a leading charity has concluded, to ensure more cash can be spent on other pensioners.
Age Scotland said the entitlement age should be increased from 60, saving the Scottish Government as much as £40 million a year.
The charity believes those savings could then be spent on local schemes, especially in rural areas, which provide tailored transport for elderly people who otherwise have no way of getting out.
The call was made at a session of Holyrood's finance committee yesterday, as it studied the impact of massive demographic change in Scotland, and an ageing population.
Speakers from social services and housing associations said far more effort would be required to help elderly people remain at home, rather than be forced into hospital and residential care.
A Scottish Government "Change Fund", designed to help reform public services, was praised for its intent, but critics said it was not delivering.
The programme was going in "the wrong direction", one housing chief told MSPs. Others said that not enough money was being promised up front, with the result that necessary changes would not be pushed through.
The calls come with Labour leader Johann Lamont having sought a debate about the affordability of Scotland's public services in the face of massive cutbacks due to the financial crisis, and extra demand due to the "greying" of the population.
Scottish ministers have pledged £500m over the next few years to back a new drive for "preventative spending", with the aim of funding new ideas across the country to reduce the burden on the public purse.
At the same time, the Scottish Government is still paying for a raft of "free" public services, such as free concessionary bus travel for over 60s, free personal care and free tuition.
Callum Chomczuk, senior policy and parliamentary officer for Age Scotland, said that the amount of cash from the Change Fund going on preventative spending was "paltry", and claimed that some of the money had instead been spent on publicly-funded communications officers in councils.
"We couldn't see from a layman's point of view how that was delivering a preventative outcome," he said.
He called for more money to be spent on local travel schemes which take pensioners on shopping trips or on social activities.


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Where traditional craft meets achingly covetable modernity. The perfect new Aran knit.
Westport Aran Sweater by McConnell. Reimagined traditional Aran sweater in soft cream lambswool. Modern, pared down boxy silhouette with ribbed turtleneck and seamless hemline. Relaxed fit by design. True to size. Comprises: 100% lambswool. Dry clean or delicate hand wash. Designed and made by McConnell Woollen Mills. #WhereDidYouGetThat McConnell at www.youngbritishdesigners.com
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How fans, friends & followers wear YBD.
@leboudoirselectif wearing YBD's Simeon Farrar Attention Tote at London Fashion Week.
@jodieldun wearing YBD's Kelly Love Lost Innocence Blouse at London Fashion Week.
DJ @becky.tong wearing YBD's SYKES Grace Roll Neck Body in Zebra and Eudon Choi Rachel Trouser in Camel Cotton to the Dior Exhibition Launch at the V&A Museum, London. ..
@thelondonchatter x Dear Frances @thelondonchatter wearing YBD's Dear Frances Spirit Boot in Black Croc.
Me voilà en route vers mes derniers jours / mes dernières semaines avant "LA" rencontre tant attendue. Et je dois dire que depuis que je suis en congé maternité, j'évite au maximum les tenues un ..
@thelondonchatter x YBD I love supporting British designers and this week I thought I'd showcase a few favourite pieces from some of the newer brands on my radar, each ..
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09/11/2012 (09:00PM - 09:30PM) (Tuesday) : RYAN BEGINS TO APPRECIATE THE SUPPORT GROUP - Ryan (Matthew Perry) struggles to keep the group and his "real life" separate, but comes to learn he'll get better faster if he really lets them in. Meanwhile, Steven (John Cho) wants to be there for Ryan and help him overcome his loss, but his efforts to do so are awkward and comical.
Laura Benanti, Julie White, Tyler James Williams, Suzy Nakamura and Brett Gelman also star.


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5 Steps On How to Get French Girl Bedhead
We've talked about bedhead in great length—expert tips, its up-do counterpart, the best dry shampoos to help you make it to day two—and take it from us, we've learned a lot. That being said, we'd like to present the accumulation of our knowledge: a beauty editor's tried-and-true, step-by-step guide to getting French girl texture at home.
You'll get the best results if you pick a shampoo and conditioner that's been formulated to deliver volume and texture, both of which you'll need for a lived-in look. We like Bumble and bumble's Surf Foam Shampoo ($24) and Fekkai's Full Blown Volume Conditioning Foam ($20). No matter what, avoid the formulas in your shower that promise 'smooth, sleek, or straight hair. Post-shower, add a dollop of mousse from root to tip for grip. We like Leonor Greyl's Au Lotus Volumizing Mousse ($46) and Garnier Fructis' XXL Body Mousse ($5).
Rough dry your locks with a blow-dryer on high heat, or let your strands air dry. (Extra points if you're working with day-two hair!) Once dry, finger comb your strands and blast your roots with a dry shampoo. Use a stronger formula if you have an oily scalp (like the Instant Dry Shampoo ($6) from Psssssst) or a lighter formula if you have normal to dry strands (like the Full Detox Dry Shampoo ($24) by Ojon). This will add fullness and movement—as well as preventing an oily scalp before it starts.
Think of this step as adding bends to your locks, not curls. How? Hold your curling rod or iron horizontal and wrap the mid-sections of your locks around the barrel for a few seconds, not letting go of the end of that section. Release, but don't let go of the end of the section of hair with your hand. Instead, gently shake the curl loose as it cools, until you get a gentle bend. Repeat on each section of hair, going in different directions.
We like Sultra's The Bombshell Iron ($130) and Bed Head's Curlipops 1-Inch Styler ($30).
Once you have your bends, it's time to add texture. The goal is to add dry, piecey texture that will give your hair definition, without taking away movement. Fine hair benefits from a matte volumizing spray, like Sachajuan's Dark Volume Powder ($32), while thicker locks should use something stronger, like Bumble and bumble's new City Swept ($29). To apply, tilt your head to one side to fan out your strands and spray through the middle sections. Repeat on the other side.
This style may not be precise, but it still needs to stay in place! No hairspray has a finer nozzle than L'Oreal Paris' Elnett ($15). Translation? It will lock your look in place, without taking away the movement and texture you've worked so hard to create. Et Voilà!
Bumble and bumble Surf Foam Shampoo ($24)
Fekkai Full blown Volume Conditioning Foam ($20)
Ojon Full Detox Dry Shampoo ($24)
Psssssst Instant Dry Shampoo ($6)
Sultra The Bombshell Iron ($130)
Bumble and bumble City Swept ($29)
Sachajuan Dark Volume Powder ($32)
Leonor Greyl Au Lotus Volumizing Mousse ($46)
Bed Head Curlipops 1-Inch Styler ($30)
Garnier Fructis XXL Body Mousse ($5)


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3:00 pm
Saddle Club "Pedigree" Samantha Askew, a wealthy girl with a link to the royal family, is visiting Pine Hollow. Veronica sets out to improve everything and everyone, but "Sam" befriends Stevie.G
3:30 pm
Biz Kid$ "How to Achieve Your Financial Goals" Join us and you'll learn to track your expenses, get control of your spending, and invest what's left over to reach your financial goals. You'll see the importance of starting young, while time is on your side. Meet some high school entrepreneurs who started a sports business. D
4:00 pm
Growing a Greener World "Living Walls; A New Way to Make Great Neighbors" That old expression; "great walls make great neighbors" is more true today thanks to a much more "neighborly" twist. The great, living walls of today are lush with plants and vines to dazzle the senses. With an abundance of wall space yet shortage of open land, gardeners are looking up. D
4:30 pm
Hands On Crafts for Kids "Animals - Vertebrates - Mammals - Carnivores" Today's animal category is carnivores. These are mammals with a backbone that feed mostly on meat. What an animal eats is influenced by how it looks. D
5:00 pm
Cuisine Culture "Jean-Denis Rieubland, Nice, France" Ashley James travels to Nice, the gateway to the French Riviera and one of the best places to sample typical French fare. He visits the kitchen of Jean-Denis Rieubland at Le Chantecler, a One-Star Michelin restaurant in the luxurious Hotel Negresco. Chef Rieubland does not fail to impress as he chooses the best produce and fish from the Cannes market to create his dishes. D
5:30 pm
Mexico -- One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless "Cooking In Wine Country" Ever dream of owning a winery? Don and Tru Miller made their dreams come true 12 years ago when they built Adobe Guadalupe in the Valle de Guadalupe. Rick's dream of cooking in their stunning kitchen, with its handmade wood-fired oven, comes true this season when he cooks for the Millers and other local winemakers. Along the way, Rick shops for just-picked produce at the idyllic farm stand on the grounds of Mogor Baden Winery, artisanal cheeses at Rancho La Campana (a 100-year-old cheese cave) as well as for breads and olives at the charming Cremeria los Globos. D
6:00 pm
Globe Trekker "New Zealand 2" Hosts Ian Wright and Zay Harding meet Maori warriors and watch canoe races, see firsthand the stunning locations for "The Lord of the Rings" films, dabble in extreme sports in Queenstown, hike in the glacial Mount Cook National Park, relax in the hot springs of the Great Barrier Island and participate in a sheep shearing contest at Masterton.G
7:00 pm
The Victory Garden "Friends: Entertain with a Twist" Join homeowners Chris and Mindy Johnston of Medford, Mass., on a quest for the perfect deck and watch the transformations made by host Jamie Durie and gardener Kip Anderson. Follow chef Michel Nischan's simple steps to bring color to any party with these crisp appetizers. Shake things up as lifestyle co-host Sissy Biggers demonstrates her recipe for a fresh Bloody Mary, perfect for entertaining friends.G
7:30 pm
The Woodwright's Shop "The Tiny Tool Kit" How can you stretch a basic kit of tools to build impressive casework? Chris Schwarz, editor of Popular Woodworking Magazine, shows how with the toolkit of young Thomas, hero of the 1839 book The Joiner and Cabinet Maker. D
8:00 pm
Woodturning Workshop "Shipping Tube Ornament" It's time for Woodturning Workshop's Annual Viewer Holiday Ornament project. This year's winning turning is made with walnut, veneer, inlay and a shipping tube. It may sound a bit strange, but you will have to trust Tim on this one!. D
8:30 pm
Glass with Vicki Payne "Pop-Up Daises" Sun catchers are fun little projects created out of small pieces of colored glass. Learn how to create a field of bright little sun catchers to adorn your windows or give as gifts. Today's tip shows you how to work with wire to create special effects for your stained glass projects. D
9:00 pm
Scheewe Art Workshop "Woodland Wayside" Preserve the memory of a restful stroll in the woods with this beautiful forest scene. A glorious tranquil stream gently flows through this dense forest. D
9:30 pm
Best of the Joy of Painting "Seascape Fantasy" Such magnificence in sky and sea . watch the creative brushes of Bob Ross as he paints a spectacular ocean scene. D
10:00 pm
Essential Pepin "Fabulous Fins" Cured Salmon In Molasses; Tuna Steaks With Tapenade Coating; Tuna Tartare On Marinated Cucumbers; Poached Salmon In Ravigote Sauce; Ray Meuniere With Mushrooms. D
10:30 pm
Burt Wolf: What We Eat "Here's Looking at You Kid: The Story of Wine In The Americas" Burt looks at the history, folklore and culture of winemaking in America from the earliest plantings by Spaniards, through prohibition to today's prized vintages.G
11:00 pm
Great Conversations "Katharine Graham and Andrea Mitchell" In an interview taped in 1997, Katharine Graham, former publisher of The Washington Post and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, talks with Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, NBC News. D


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UW Men's Rodeo Team Moves into Second Place in Region
A solid weekend showing at the Colorado State University (CSU) rodeo enabled the University of Wyoming men's rodeo team to climb into second place, inching the Pokes closer to the overall Central Rocky Mountain Region (CRMR) lead.
The Cowboys were just 65 points from winning in Fort Collins, Colo., in the second of five spring rodeos. Overall CRMR leader Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) won team honors with 625 points, while the UW men scored 550 on the strength of a couple of individual performances.
UW overtook Gillette College for second place in the regional standings and holds just a 50-point lead over the Pronghorns. EWC leads the pack with 3,053.3 points, while the Cowboys have 2,770. Just the top two schools in the region qualify full teams to the College National Finals Rodeo this summer in Casper.
Senior Tyler Schnaufer from Pueblo, Colo., moved into individual tie down contention with a win in Fort Collins. Schnaufer scored 180 points, winning both rounds of competition and also the average. Teammate Clayton Van Aken, a Descanso, Calif., junior, picked up third place in the average.
junior Justin Moldaschel of Stanton, Minn., won the second round of bareback riding to place second in the average. He earlier had the second-best ride in the opening round.
Wyatt Clark, a Wellfleet, Neb., senior, added fifth-place points in saddle bronc riding, while teammate Thomas Smith of Eden was fifth in the steer wrestling average. Sheridan's Casey Collins, whose points didn't count in the overall UW team standings, was sixth in the bulldogging competition.
The UW women continued to struggle in the early going of the spring season, scoring just 100 points at the CSU rodeo.
The Cowgirls' lone points came in the team roping competition when senior Lydia Coe of Salinas, Calif., partnered with Dalton Ward of Otero Community College to place second in the average. The pair and the winning team of Derek Weinreis and Levi O'Keefe of EWC were the only teams with successful times in the short go.
Despite finishing sixth at the CSU rodeo, the Cowgirls maintained second place in the overall regional standings. Northeastern Junior College (Sterling, Colo.) remains the overall leader with 2,130 points, while the UW women are just 167.5 points back. Two-time defending CRMR champion Gillette College is third with 1,920 points.
Central Wyoming College took the women's team title at Fort Collins with 380 points while Chadron State College was 50 points back for second place.
EWC hosts this weekend's regional rodeo.
For complete individual and team results from the CSU rodeo, click here.


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Our Vineyards
Organic Vineyards - Celebrating 32 vintages (1986-2018)
Yorkville Cellars has two main vineyards on our ranch in Yorkville, California. Both are certified organic. The vineyard behind the tasting room is called Randle Hill Vineyard and is planted to Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. A total of 14 acres, it mainly dates back to 1982 and was expanded in 1989. The vineyard along Highway 128 in front of the tasting room is called Rennie Vineyard and was planted in 1990. It includes all six of the main red grapes originating in Bordeaux, France: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Malbec and Petit Verdot.
Here's a few statistics to help you realize how rare four of the eight varietals we grow are. (Total acreage is from the 128,372 acres in the North Coast premium grape growing area, which includes the counties of Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake. From 2012 California Grape Acreage Report.)
|Bearing Acres
|Percent of Total
|Sauvignon Blanc
|Cabernet Sauvignon
|Cabernet Franc
|Petit Verdot
The wine growing industry in Mendocino County consists of about 350 growers farming small family farms, with an average vineyard size of 50 acres. Vineyards have been planted in Mendocino County almost from the beginning of white settlement. The oldest living vineyards were planted in 1878, and are still economically viable today. There are many fourth and fifth generation wine growing families in the county.
Most of Mendocino County's vineyards are planted in the footprint of an existing agricultural enterprise. The county has seen a succession of crops including hops, prunes, apples, and pears on many of the ranches where wine grapes now grow.
To live in Mendocino County is to be in awe of nature. There are dramatic changes in the seasons, with wet, cold winters; mild springs; hot, dry summers; and colorful, hazy autumns. Nearly every vineyard is bordered with trees, riparian areas or wild lands. Industrial-style vineyards are the exception, not the rule.
[From: The Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commision]
CCOF - Certified California Organic Farmers
California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) certification ensures that no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers are ever used. This certification process takes 4 years of testing and our vineyards achieved this status in 1986. We believe our farming practices ensure a healthy soil that will be sustainable. Healthy soil and robust plants yield vibrant, complex grapes – the basis of great wine.
To learn more about the CCOF, click here
Unlike in the rest of California where less than 3 percent of wine grapes are grown organically, in Mendocino County more than 20% of vineyards are certified organic. For more information please click here
"Yorkville Highlands" - now 20 years old.
What is AVA? It's an approved viticultural area by the BATF. Across the vast State of California, there are ever increasing numbers of approved viticultural areas. For a list of all California AVAs, click here.
Yorkville Highlands is one of the newer, having been approved on March 13, 1998. All of our front labels now proudly make note of this.
Our Farming Practices
Since the planting of our vineyard in 1982, there has been a commitment to following organic farming practices. CCOF (California Certified Organic Farm) certification ensures that no pesticides, herbicides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers are ever used on the property. In addition, we believe our farming practices will ensure a healthy soil that will be sustainable for agriculture in the future. We respect the delicate land and the balance of nature. Healthy soil and robust plants yield vibrant, complex grapes, the basis of great wine.
Organic farming practices in a small-scale vineyard are about 125 percent of the costs of a conventionally farmed vineyard. However, in spite of the costs, our organic farming practices will continue as we believe that organic farming ensures the highest possible quality fruit. We have been fortunate to find a "natural" (and generally cooperative) ally in nature. Summer breezes ensure low humidity, reducing the chances of fungus. Cool nights help reduce the bug population. Resident raptors keep the rodents under control. Ladybugs and lacewings help to fend off unfriendly pests.
We have worked to build the quality of our soil by cover cropping, composting, and appropriate tillage. To replace the nutrients that grapes remove each year we apply compost and a row of cover crops. Our compost has in the past contained Peruvian bird guano but more recently we've used kelp. Seaweed, kelp and other aquatic plants have been used for fertilizer, and crop production since (and probably before) the times of the Roman Empire. It wasn't until the 20th century that science discovered that seaweed and its extracts contain trace nutrients, plant hormones, chelating agents, and anti-microbial compounds.
Many years we plant cover crops after harvest in the fall, including fava beans, winter peas and oats, which are subsequently tilled back into the soil in the spring. As our soil becomes richer, we will convert the vineyards to a permanent cover crop of dwarf grasses and clovers. Typically, we limit our use of fertilizers to organic fish emulsion delivered via the drip irrigation system.


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Netty Nance is 24 but can seem much younger. Her hair dangles in long, wild braids over enormous gold medallion earrings. On her hand, tattooed in thick script, is her daughter's name, Samani. She's my miracle baby, Netty tells me. If it wasn't for me getting pregnant, this never would have come out. She is referring to the discovery she made, one so dramatic it upended her life and the lives of the people closest to her. She's spent much of the past year both embracing what she learned and trying to wish it away.
Seven years ago, Netty was a senior in high school living in a poor section of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and got pregnant. By the fall, she couldn't hide it anymore, and didn't want to. She was excited. Her cousin Brittany was pregnant, too, and now they could be mothers together. But she needed prenatal care, and to get free services from the state, she had to have a birth certificate. Her father, Robert Nance, was a sometime drug dealer who only saw Netty now and then. It was her mother, Ann Pettway, who raised and supported her. But when Netty asked her mother how to get the documents, Ann brushed her off. She said she was going to handle it, Netty says.
Netty got tired of waiting. She searched through Ann's things, found a document with her name and birth date on it, and brought it to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in New Haven. The clerk couldn't find her records. Netty was furious. But when she pressed, a supervisor all but accused her of trying to assume a false identity. She told Netty that if she kept trying to pass off what she had as I.D., she might be arrested. Netty exploded. Keep it, she said, and left the office.
When Netty got home, she told her mother what had happened. Ann shook her head. I told you I was going to handle everything, she said.
Before long, the Department of Children and Families called the house for Netty's mother. Netty wasn't privy to what they talked about. They might have just asked about the paperwork, or they might have mentioned that without proper I.D., Netty would need to enter their system, becoming a ward of the state. Whatever they spoke about, Ann called Netty several days later, before leaving work, and told her she wanted to talk to her when she came home.
When Ann came through the door that night, she went straight upstairs to Netty's room, sat down on the bed, and started weeping. In her whole life, Netty had never seen her mother shed a tear. What are you crying for? Netty asked.
Your mom left you, Ann Pettway told her, and she never came back.
It was a full seven years before Netty learned the rest of her story. Her real name was Carlina White. She had been abducted as a newborn baby, nineteen days after her birth, from Harlem Hospital and never seen again. And Ann Pettway was not only not Netty's real motheraccording to the police, she was her kidnapper.
Carl Tyson has large, bright eyes and caramel-colored skin. The resemblance to Netty is unmistakable. We're having lunch at a diner near his home in Queens. The whole time Netty was missing, he tells me, he never lost faith. I always felt that my daughter was going to come back. I didn't know when, but I knew. Joy was the same way. She always had that feeling.
Joy White and Carl Tyson had been the first couple among their friends to have a baby. It was 1987. Carl was 22, driving a truck and working nights in a parking garage. Joy was 16 and still in high school. They had grown up in Harlem housing projects across town from one another, and were together a year when Joy called Carl at work one day, saying she felt sick. The pregnancy wasn't planned, but the couple stayed together. Carlina Renae White was born at Harlem Hospital on the afternoon of July 15, a healthy eight pounds.
Joy and her mother took care of the baby at her place; Carl stopped by at night after work. But on August 4, when Carlina was 19 days old, she developed a high fever. Joy called Carl, and they took the baby back to Harlem Hospital. On their way in, Carl remembers being directed by a heavyset black woman in her twenties wearing a nurse's uniform. Carl didn't think much about it at the time, but he'd glanced around for her name tag and couldn't find one.
The doctor wanted Carlina to spend the night, and Carl searched for a phone to call their mothers. When he looked back down the hall, he saw the woman in the nurse's uniform again, talking with Joy. The baby don't cry for youyou cry for the baby, the nurse told Joy. She seemed to be saying that the baby was fine; it was Joy who needed help. It struck Carl as a strange way to console a young mother.
The couple decided that Joy would spend the night at the hospital, but first Joy wanted to get some things. They left together at about 12:30 a.m., about the same time as the nurses' shift change. Carl dropped off Joy at her mother's apartment, went home, and fell asleep.


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Volleyball opens season at Virginia Tech
October 6, 2012 | Blacksburg, Va.
The Liberty Flames men's volleyball team kicked off the 2012-13 season with three matches at Virginia Tech on Saturday, Oct. 6. Though Liberty managed to push two of the matches to a decisive third set, the Flames were unable to come away with a victory.
The men played well in the first match against the host school, but the Hokies were able to gut out a 2-1 victory (21-25, 25-19, 15-12) at War Memorial Gymnasium.
Liberty took on a team of alumni from Virginia Tech later in the day, with the Hokies again coming out on top, this time 2-0 (25-21, 23-25).
Liberty closed out the day with a match against JMU, with the Dukes coming out on top 2-1 (25-23, 9-25, 15-13).
"The team is much better than last year and the fact that we were competitive with nationally ranked teams (JMU and Va. Tech) said a lot about our improvements," said Bryan Rigg, Flames head coach. "Hopefully some minor adjustments and more practice will help us win close games instead of lose close games."
The Flames will have a couple weeks off before their next matchup on Nov. 3 when they take on the University of North Carolina at 9 a.m. Location is TBD.


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Ckoskosky avait besoin d'un nouveau design de logo et a lancé un concours sur 99designs.
Un gagnant a été sélectionné de 36 designs proposés par 10 designers freelance.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Illuminations
As a partnership between the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) and the Verizon Foundation, the Illuminations (http://illuminations.nctm.org/) project provides free online resources for prekindergarten through high school mathematics teachers. For more than a decade, Illuminations has offered Standards-based resources that improve the teaching and learning of mathematics for all students.
The Illuminations Writing Group is comprised of educators who will work to create math lessons to be used on the Illuminations website.
The logo will be featured on our website and promotional collateral. The logo, in general, should be easy to print and should translate to a smaller scale. The logo should feature:
•"Writing Group" with the Illuminations logo (attached) following underneath "Writing Group" The Illuminations logo can be changed in color as the designer sees fit.
•Two colors
•Should easily translate to black and white
•Would like it to be linear in design, similar to the layout we have for another professional development group, the Illuminations Summer Institute. Please see attachment for what we mean by "linear design."
•Math references should be incorporated tastefully into the design.
Thank you for your time and consideration of our project!
Savoir comment fonctionne un concours de design ou en savoir plus sur nos services de design de logo.


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Friday, January 28, 2005
On demand computing: the rebirth of service bureaus
Application service providers (ASP), which provide application software hosting, were supposed be the "next big thing" of the Internet boom. But, around 2001, ASPs fell into disfavor, along with all things dot-com.
But now that the hype is gone, ASPs are quietly gaining ground, mostly under the latest buzzword, "on demand computing." The latest evidence is that IBM is buying Corio, one of the major remaining independent ASPs. It's a small deal for IBM--the price tag was only $182 million. But it indicates that IBM, which spends a lot of time thinking about the future of IT, thinks that on demand computing is more than the latest marketing slogan.
Back to the future
Whether you refer to it as on demand computing, or the ASP model, it's really the return to a very old concept in business computing: service bureaus. Service bureaus started in the late 1950s when computers were very expensive and beyond the reach of all but the largest companies. So in order to expand the market and make computers available to smaller companies, the big computer vendors, such as IBM, Burroughs, Univac, and Control Data, set up service bureaus to sell computer time on a shared basis. In other words, time-sharing.
Today, businesses are faced with a problem that is the same--only different. The problem is not that computing hardware is too expensive--those prices have been dropping every year to the point the laptop I am using at this moment to write this article has more computing power than the IBM mainframe that I programmed twenty years ago. The problem today is that software packages, especially enterprise applications, such as ERP and CRM, are too expensive and too difficult to administer for small companies. Smaller companies might be able to afford the hardware, but most can't afford the IT staff and infrastructure that it takes to support a major enterprise application. Therefore, a service bureau, or time-sharing approach, needs to be applied, not to hardware but to software. We need service bureaus for software.
Service bureaus, time-sharing, ASPs, and on demand computing are pretty much all the same concept. The customer doesn't run the system, and may not even own the system. The vendor runs the system, and the customer pays for it as he uses it.
For IBM, on demand computing is the closing of a full circle. IBM was forced to abandon time-sharing as a business in 1973 when it settled an antitrust lawsuit by selling its Service Bureau Corporation subsidiary to Control Data Corporation (CDC). Now in offering application hosting, and buying Corio, it's fully back in the time-sharing business.
Software vendors offering on demand services
Among the major enterprise software vendors, Oracle has been particularly aggressive in promoting its ASP service, called "Oracle OnDemand," which allows small companies to deploy Oracle's entire E-Business Suite, with Oracle hosting the system in its own data center for a maximum of $150 per user per month. The customer still has to pay Oracle's software license fee, but the hosting service relieves the customer of having to provide the infrastructure and staff to support the system. Other major vendors, such as SAP, offer similar programs.
The CRM vendors in particular seem to be having the most success in promoting the ASP model. Vendors such as Salesforce.com have been gaining traction, as small companies and even some large companies find that the ASP model makes a lot more sense in supporting sales reps as they roam the field. Salesforce.com is a pure-play ASP system, designed specifically for the hosted model, and the monthly per-user charge, which starts at $65 per month, includes everything--there's no up-front software license fee. Faced with the success of Salesforce.com, CRM market leader Siebel last year acquired hosted CRM provider Upshot and is now offering it as its own Siebel CRM OnDemand, going head to head against Salesforce.com at a comparable $70 per user per month.
In addition to the Salesforce.com, there are other pure-play ASP systems. NetSuite, an ASP that built its own enterprise system offering from the ground up to take advantage of the ASP model, continues to expand its product footprint, and now offers complete ERP (NetERP) and CRM (NetCRM) functionality, on top of its accounting system formerly known as NetLedger. Unlike Oracle OnDemand, NetSuite does not require an upfront license purchase, but can be purchased simply on a per-user, per month, basis.
Advantages of on demand computing
The ASP model is a good fit for small companies that do not have the IT staff or infrastructure in-house to manage information systems. Implementation is typically quicker than with systems deployed in-house, and the in-house support requirements are fewer. The ASP is responsible for all necessary software upgrades and system maintenance. The ASP also relieves the customer of having to worry about IT infrastructure requirements, such as security, backups, and disaster recovery. The ASP model also makes good sense for systems that support employees that are frequently on the road--applications such as sales force automation, expense reporting, and field service support are proving to be good choices to deploy on a hosted basis.
My own consulting firm, Strativa, is a good example of a company that benefits from using an ASP. We use a professional services automation system on a hosted basis that takes care of all our CRM, time and expense tracking, and billing requirements. Even though we do technology consulting, we'd rather have our staff spend their time delivering consulting services than maintaining an internal information system. Therefore, the ASP model is perfect for us. For a flat monthly fee, it gives our consultants instant access to the system anywhere, any time, through a Web browser, and it requires zero internal technical staff.
There is one other application that is well suited to the on demand model, and that's e-commerce systems. Because such systems can experience sudden and huge variation in transaction volume, it makes sense to host such systems under an on demand model that can flex to provide the computing power needed to accommodate such spikes. For example, if you host your own Web storefront and you're selling a product that suddenly gets favorable press in the Wall Street, your sudden good fortune can bring down your Web storefront. Not a good thing for customer service. Similarly, few small companies can afford the IT security and recovery measures that need to be in place to provide secure e-commerce. Therefore, small and mid-sized companies ought to consider the on demand model for any Internet-based application that are critical to the business. Even larger companies should consider this approach.
Disadvantages of on demand computing
Where the ASP model does not make a lot of sense, however, is in large companies that have multiple systems that must be integrated with each other or with custom systems written internally. Someday, with widespread adoption of a service oriented architecture (SOA) by software vendors, it might become easier for customers to integrate in-house systems with ASP-hosted systems. But today, if you have a mix of systems from different vendors, or a combination of packages and custom software, it's better to locate such systems within the same corporate data center.
Update, Jan. 30. Darrell Miller has posted a long comment to this post, disagreeing with my view:The problem is that we are trying to avoid the root cause and find a workaround solution. As you stated "enterprise applications, such as ERP and CRM, are too expensive and too difficult to administer for small companies". This is the problem that we should be attempting to fix. CRM apps and ERP apps should not be difficult to administer.Darrell makes some good points. Read his whole comment, then post your thoughts. What do you think?
Related posts
ASPs making a quiet comeback
Siebel loses $59M and responds by going on a shopping spree
Mid-market may be sweet for CRM ASPsby Frank Scavo, 1/28/2005 04:36:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, January 27, 2005
MAPICS agrees to acquisition by Infor
The news has just hit the wire this morning. MAPICS has just signed a deal to be bought by Infor at $12.75 a share, up from the MAPICS close yesterday of 11.62.
Infor is on quite a roll, having made a number of acquisitions in the past year. The company already has done a number of deals in the past year or so, such as Agilisys, Infor, Lilly, IncoDev, daly.commerce, and Varial. The MAPICS acquisition adds three more major products: the original MAPICS for the IBM iSeries (formerly AS/400), Syteline (which MAPICS picked up from Symix), and MAPICS XE (formerly Pivotpoint). If I were Infor right now, I'd take break from its takeover spree and spend some time to rationalize these various systems and consolidate the portfolio.
Concerning the MAPICS takeover, I've been wondering what was up. Quite a few people seem to have known something was in the works, because for the past several days, I've been getting a surprising number of search engine hits on the keywords for "MAPICS" and "acquire."
There's a press release out, but not much more.
Related posts
Agilisys continues acquisition binge
Rumor confirmed: Agilisys is acquiring daly.commerce
Infor aquires Lilly Software: vendor consolidation continues
Infor acquires process ERP vendor, IncoDev
Agilisys changes name to Infor Global Solutions
Agilisys acquires Infor
Agilisys continues acquisition bingeby Frank Scavo, 1/27/2005 04:48:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, January 22, 2005
Benchmarking in buying and implementing enterprise systems
Management fads come and go, but one that seems to have lasting appeal is benchmarking: measuring your company's performance against others. Like former New York mayor Ed Koch, executives constantly like to ask, how am I doing?
Enterprise systems, such as ERP, CRM, and supply chain management, are largely sold on the basis of their promise to improve business performance. Therefore, it is no surprise that software vendors are using benchmarking as a way to determine where there are the greatest opportunities to improve a prospect's business performance and to establish credibility with top management.
Benchmarking in the system sales cycle
To show the extent to which the major software vendors use benchmarking as a sales tool, let me relate a recent experience. Last year, I began preliminary work with a large company that was considering purchase of a new ERP system. Before long, word hit the street that this company might be shopping for software, and several software vendors tried to get a foot in the door.
SAP and PeopleSoft were two of them, and I was surprised that, without any prior contact with this client, both vendors sent benchmarking reports that compared the financial performance of this company with others in the same industry. (Public financial metrics for this company were readily available, making it possible for the vendors to do this.) Both vendors also identified possible opportunities where this company could improve its financial performance by implementing SAP or PeopleSoft software.
Based on work we had already done for this client, I didn't feel that the vendor benchmarks were particularly relevant or useful. But the point is that both vendors saw benchmarking studies as a key part of their initial sales contact. Both vendors must find this approach to be effective, otherwise they wouldn't be using it so early in the sales cycle.
One mid-market vendor's approach
Use of benchmarking in the sales cycle is not limited to larger vendors such as SAP and PeopleSoft (now Oracle). I interviewed several mid-tier vendors during the APICS International Conference last year, and I was surprised to find that at least one such vendor, MAPICS, uses the same approach, but with some interesting twists.
MAPICS's use of benchmarking is interesting for two reasons. First, it's free to anyone visiting the MAPICS web site. Several years ago, MAPICS purchased benchmarking data on 4,000 manufacturing companies, which it updates quarterly. It allows visitors to its web site to use this database to compare their performance against other companies of similar size and industry.
Second, if the prospect turns into a client, MAPICS uses the benchmarking data to set objectives for the implementation and configures MAPICS business intelligence reporting to measure how well the client actually achieved those objectives after the implementation. This holds the client, and MAPICS, accountable for delivering real business value.
In a follow up discussion with MAPICS VP Joe Marino, I asked what led MAPICS to the use of benchmarking in selling new systems. Joe said that in the late 1990s, with the rush to implement new systems for Y2K, many companies lost focus on the business value of new systems. MAPICS was already using an earlier version of its benchmarking tool at the end of the sales cycle, to plan implementation. But they realized that with the downturn in the tech sector, it would be helpful to introduce the benchmarking tool at the beginning of the sales cycle, while prospects are simply gathering information from vendors. Their experience showed that introducing benchmarking early in the sales cycle can help focus attention on the business value of the new system.
At Joe's invitation, I've been playing around with the benchmarking tool. After initial registration the tool asks you what industry you are in and asks you to fill in eight financial metrics and five operational metrics. From these 13 metrics, the tool then plots the performance of your company against the average performance for your industry and against the performance of the top 25% of the sample for each metric, which MAPICS uses to indicate world class performance. Performance is compared along seven so-called keys to success:
The tool also provides a separate benchmark comparison of your company on a purely financial basis, against the average and 25th top percentile in your industry.
- Speed time to market
- Streamline outsourcing processes
- Exceed customer expectations
- Reduce lead times
- Cut operations costs
- Manage the global enterprise
- Improve business performance visibility
My overall assessment of the MAPICS benchmarking tool? I like the intention: getting companies to focus on what it is they want in terms of business value from new systems. I have some question about how the tool can go from 13 metrics to the seven "keys," but, again, I like the overall intent of the exercise. It's a good first step for someone that wants to start thinking about benchmarking business performance. Joe estimates that about half of new MAPICS sales involve use of the benchmarking tool, confirming that the approach is appealing to prospects.
If you want to try out the benchmarking tool yourself, you can find it under the link for the MAPICS World Class Performance Calculator on the MAPICS web site.
Limitations of Benchmarking
Although benchmarking can be a useful exercise when planning for the implementation of an enterprise system, executives should understand the limitations of benchmarking and the danger of taking any benchmark at face value. Here are four errors that I see when companies attempt to do benchmarking:
Benchmarking continues to hold great appeal to executives. Therefore, enterprise system vendors, such as SAP, Oracle, MAPICS, and others will continue to use benchmarking as a way to get the attention of prospects during the sales cycle. Companies should hold themselves and their vendors accountable for delivering business value, and benchmarking is a useful tool to do that. At the same time, companies should be aware of the limitations of benchmarking. Use benchmarking for focusing the implementation effort, but use it wisely.
- Only considering financial performance. Because publicly held companies openly disclose financial statements, financial metrics are the easiest to benchmark. But financial performance is a lagging indicator. A key driver of strong financial performance is operational excellence. For example, if your company's gross margins are lower than the industry average, is it because your product quality is sub-standard, requiring you to sell at a lower price than your competitors, or because your raw material costs are higher, or some other reason? A more detailed analysis would be needed to determine the operational metrics that are key to your success and then to compare your performance on those metrics against others in your industry. Therefore, the best benchmarking study is one that combines both financial and operational metrics.
- Not taking into account operational differences. For example, manufacturing companies that make to stock typically have much shorter customer delivery lead times than companies that make to order. If your company is "make to order," and the companies in the benchmark sample are largely "make to stock," it will appear that your delivery performance is sub-standard. But it won't be a meaningful comparison. The same problem occurs when comparing a company that outsources much of its manufacturing against a group of companies that do most of their manufacturing internally. Comparisons of inventory turnover in such situations will be meaningless.
- Not understanding differences in strategy. For example, if your strategy is to compete on delivery lead time, allowing you to command a higher price, and the companies in the benchmark are largely competing on price, it will appear that your gross margin performance is superior to the benchmark. But the reality might be that your gross margins are still too low to make up for the sales that you lose on price. You'll never know that unless you understand more about the companies in the benchmarking sample.
- Only comparing yourself to companies in the same industry. The problem here is that you may look good relative to other companies in your industry but be missing opportunities to achieve truly world class performance. For example, if you are an industrial manufacturer and you want to achieve world class performance in your customer call center, who do you want to compare yourself to? Other industrial manufacturers, or companies such as Lands End that are truly world class in call center management? Sometimes you need to look outside your own industry, or you'll simply become the "best house" in a bad neighborhood.
Related posts
Escaping the ROI trap
Escaping the ROI Trap, Part 2
Four problems with ERP
Solving the four problems with ERP
Business changes needed to ensure enterprise system successby Frank Scavo, 1/22/2005 06:50:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Wednesday, January 19, 2005
SAP to provide maintenance for PeopleSoft products
In a strange twist to the Oracle/PeopleSoft drama, SAP has just acquired TomorrowNow, a third-party provider of annual maintenance and support services for PeopleSoft customers. SAP is touting this move as a way to provide companies "a safe passage away from the uncertainties" around Oracle's acquisition of PeopleSoft.
SAP says that it is focused on serving customers that run SAP's applications alongside those of PeopleSoft and the former J.D. Edwards, which PeopleSoft acquired. But SAP no doubt has its eye on transitioning those customers to SAP's offerings before Oracle can convert them to its next generation product, code-named Project Fusion. I'm sure that SAP will not object, either, if PeopleSoft customers in general approach TomorrowNow with the need for annual maintenance and support.
SAP's move shows how in the large company sector there are very few new deals to be won. The battle is now being fought over extending the footprint of each incumbent, taking away user seats from its competitors. SAP's move to buy a PeopleSoft service provider is a smart move.
SAP has a press release on the acquisition.
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Competitors swarm around PeopleSoft customersby Frank Scavo, 1/19/2005 09:33:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Oracle to steer new customers away from PeopleSoft products
I was too conservative. Last month ago, I wrote, "...it would not surprise me if, soon after the PeopleSoft acquisition is complete, Oracle refuses to sell any new PeopleSoft deals on anything but Oracle's database."
As it turns out, Oracle is going to steer new deals away from PeopleSoft's product lines altogether. Oracle won't actually refuse to sell those products, but it won't make it easy to buy them. According to an eWeek article,As for new sales, Oracle's existing suite will be the focus. If the customer should demand PeopleSoft, "we're happy to exchange our software for money" Ellison said. PeopleSoft prices will now be published, he said....To be fair, Oracle reiterated its pledge to continue to provide support and enhancements for PeopleSoft products until 2013. Still, the fact that if you are a company looking for an ERP system, two good systems (PeopleSoft's and the former J.D. Edwards products that PeopleSoft acquired and continued to market) will no longer being actively marketed.
"Oracle's salesforce will try to persuade you, if you ask an Oracle salesperson what product should I buy, and you're a net new customer... we will recommend and push for E-Business suite," he said.
In the same meeting, Oracle announced a massive development effort, code named "Project Fusion" that will merge Oracle's three product lines into one. Interestingly, Oracle has put a former PeopleSoft executive, Jesper Andersen, in charge of the strategy group that will develop the product roadmap for Oracle's three product lines.
The San Francisco Chronicle has a short recap of Oracle's press conference yesterday. You can watch the entire three hour Oracle meeting, via Webcast, on Oracle's web site.
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PeopleSoft's final gift to customersby Frank Scavo, 1/19/2005 08:32:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, January 17, 2005
Competitors swarm around PeopleSoft customers
Like ticket scalpers outside a football stadium, Oracle competitors are jockeying for position in front of PeopleSoft customers. A few are already making offers:
Lawson is offering a migration program targeting PeopleSoft customers running on IBM's iSeries (formerly AS/400) hardware, mostly those running software from the former J.D. Edwards.
Microsoft is offering a 25% discount on its business applications, such as Great Plains and Axapta. I voiced my opinion on Microsoft's offer last week.
SAP apparently doesn't have a formal switch program, yet. But that hasn't stopped SAP from approaching PeopleSoft customers aggressively on a case-by-case basis. According to Computerworld, "...an SAP AG spokesman said that his company has reached out to PeopleSoft users ever since Oracle announced its intention to buy the firm in June 2003."
OpenMFG, a semi-open-source ERP vendor, has a different approach. Ned Lilly, CEO, wrote me last week pointing to his offer to PeopleSoft employees that are laid off by Oracle. He wants these "PeopleSoft refugees," as he calls them, will form consulting firms to rep OpenMFG.
Generally, I don't think any of these offers are going to get much traction, at least immediately, and I don't think Oracle is worried about them. Installed base customers are generally a conservative group, and I suspect most will take a wait-and-see approach with Oracle. Furthermore, if software professionals laid off by PeopleSoft want to form their own firms, they're more likely to do it in some way to support PeopleSoft's installed base.
Which brings me to my last point. One area that may get Oracle's attention is competitors that offer alternatives to Oracle's annual maintenance and support contracts. Several third party support firms, staffed with former PeopleSoft and JDE employees, are lining up to take annual maintenance fees away from Oracle. Firms such as Klee Associates and TomorrowNow offer annual maintenance and support at a price that is significantly less than what PeopleSoft used to offer. Inasmuch as PeopleSoft's maintenance revenue stream was one of the things that justified Oracle's sweetened offer, Oracle is probably not going to stand by and watch these customers depart. I'm no lawyer, but it wouldn't surprise me if Oracle launches some sort of legal attack against these firms, on whatever basis Oracle can come up with.
Update, Jan. 20. SAP has now formalized its switch program. SAP is offering 75% discounts to PeopleSoft customers who switch to SAP. See the Mercury News article for details. It is also offering reduced annual maintenance fees through its acquisition of PeopleSoft third-party support provider TomorrowNow. See my Jan. 20 post for details on SAP's TomorrowNow acquisition.
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SAP to provide maintenance for PeopleSoft productsby Frank Scavo, 1/17/2005 10:26:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, January 15, 2005
SAP continues to expand footprint of Business One
SAP has announced the general availability of SAP Business One 2004, the latest version of its separate solution for small and mid-sized business. According to SAP's press release, There are new MRP capabilities, enhancements to the financial modules, and embedded CRM--something you don't always see in solutions targeting this market. This latest version shows that SAP intends to be a major player in a market where it is not normally considered a contender.
Interestingly, this latest version also shows that SAP is increasingly aligning itself with Microsoft. It is uses Microsoft Outlook as a key component, and it is using a direct interface to Microsoft Excel to provide business intelligence capabilities. The Excel integration uses technology that SAP recently picked up through its acquisition of a Norwegian firm, iLytix Systems AS.
The fact that SAP is aligning with Microsoft is another example of how major vendors can cooperate at one level and compete on another. Microsoft, of course, wants the small and mid-size market as its own, through its Microsoft Business Solutions group, which offers products such as Great Plains, Solomon, and Navision that often go head-to-head against SAP Business One.
In a short research note, Simon Bragg of ARC Advisory Group commented, "This demonstrates SAP's quiet determination to succeed amongst Tier 3 companies, particularly companies from $10 million to $70 million in revenues. Over the last couple of years, it has developed the reseller channels, and created partnerships, for instance with SoftBrands to enhance Business One's manufacturing capabilities. Also, announcing today that their total software revenues increased 10% in 2004, it has the resources to succeed. Competitors in this sector such as Infor, who in Germany claim a higher market share in this sector than SAP, will be concerned."
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Microsoft counters SAP with Axapta price cutby Frank Scavo, 1/15/2005 01:23:00 PM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Friday, January 14, 2005
The ax begins to fall at PeopleSoft
Still waiting for word on total headcount cuts by Oracle at PeopleSoft, but there's some news out of the Pacific Rim:The New Zealand Press Association confirmed 15 of PeopleSoft's 50 NZ staff have been let go and said there was a similar cleanout in Australia. News.com reported 200 jobs would be lost in the Asia Pacific region alone.Yesterday, CNET reported that Oracle has been taking a rather insensitive approach to how it fires people:
Oracle appears to be adding insult to injury in its merger with PeopleSoft--taking the unusual step of notifying workers of their termination by sending pinks slips via express mail to their homes.Because employees will be receiving pink slips by mail over the weekend we won't know the full impact until sometime next week. The number 6,000, or half of PeopleSoft's employee base, has been mentioned both by Ellison last year and more recently by several industry analysts. But whatever the final number turns out to be, so far, Oracle's approach does not bode well for it's stated goal of keeping the best of PeopleSoft's people on board. And that doesn't bode well for ongoing support of PeopleSoft's customers. Stay tuned.
Shipments to thousands of PeopleSoft employees across the country are expected over the weekend, according to sources close to the company. Those spared pink slips will get packages too--containing new Oracle employment contracts....
"The view of most of the employees out there is that it's a really callous way to do it," said Joe Davis, chief executive of Coremetrics and a former group vice president at PeopleSoft who stays in touch with his former co-workers.
"They view it as just another in a series of steps where they feel like they're not being treated in a very humane way."
Update, 2:45 p.m. According to news wires, Oracle is now saying that the cuts will hit 5000 employees, or 9% of the Oracle/PeopleSoft combined headcount. Oracle doesn't say it, but that's about 42% of PeopleSoft's headcount, if all the cuts fall on PeopleSoft. But there's no telling how many of the cuts were against Oracle headcount vs. PeopleSoft's.
Update, 5:05 p.m. The Denver Post is reporting on the impact of the layoffs among PeopleSoft employees of the former J.D. Edwards facilities. Estimates run from 100 to 1000 heads to roll.
Update, Jan. 15. This is turning into a case study on how NOT to do a layoff. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Oracle is apparently stringing out the layoffs over a 10 day period.Oracle created more uncertainty for PeopleSoft veterans by noting in an afternoon statement that although some employees would learn their fate Friday, many others would hear over the next 10 days — or even later. More commonly at big businesses, layoffs occur on a single day.Again, I say that if Oracle intends to keep the best and the brightest on board, this is not the way to do it. If PeopleSoft's support for customers suffers as a result of Oracle's mishandling of the layoffs, there could be a real danger of triggering PeopleSoft's Customer Assurance Program.
A 10-day layoff period "is just leaving the organization to go over it and over it, like a recurring nightmare," said outplacement expert John Challenger of Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. "Especially in a situation where there was such antagonism between the leaders, this almost seems vindictive."
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Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Oracle/PeopleSoft employees face Black Friday
Oracle says that job cuts resulting from the acquisition of PeopleSoft will be announced this Friday. Although both Oracle and PeopleSoft employees are "eligible" the cuts are expected to hit PeopleSoft folks the hardest.
An article in the local East Bay Business Times seems to have the best information. It quotes Jeff Embersits, an analyst with Shareholder Value Management in San Francisco, as expecting 6,000 to be terminated, or 11% of the combined firm's 53,805 employees, in the first round.
On the other hand, it has another source saying that only 2,500 will be cut, mostly from HR and administrative functions.
On the third hand, Richard Davis at Needham & Co. expects Oracle to cut up to 90% of PeopleSoft employees in administration, as well as 80% of PeopleSoft's salespeople, while keeping most of its research and development team. In light of Oracle's interest in maintaining PeopleSoft customer satisfaction, I think that would be a mistake.
SAP and Sybase are both reporting an increase in resumes arriving from PeopleSoft staffers.
Then there is the expected hit on employee morale:One source said that the resulting morale is so poor that many employees were coming in late and leaving as early as 2 p.m. But another source inside the company said that the slackness was due more to the normal breather employees take at the end of the quarter.Check out the East Bay Business Times for the whole story.
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Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Microsoft wants PeopleSoft customers but doesn't have much to offer
The ink is barely dry on the Oracle/PeopleSoft acquisition, and Microsoft is already trying to get PeopleSoft customers to jump ship. Microsoft is offering a 25% discount on its application software to PeopleSoft customers who convert.
Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't have much to offer. It is pointing users of PeopleSoft's Enterprise (the original PeopleSoft product line) to Microsoft's Great Plains product, and it is urging users of PeopleSoft's Enterprise One and World products (the former JDE products) to consider Microsoft's Axapta product.
Anyone who has evaluated these products knows that there are significant functionality gaps between the PeopleSoft and Microsoft offerings. For example, the last time I looked, none of the Microsoft applications offer true multi-site functionality (i.e. the ability to plan and manage multiple separate inventory and production facilities on the same system instance). So this offer is a non-starter for many PeopleSoft customers.
So, why is Microsoft even making this offer? As I've pointed out in the past, the battle between Oracle, PeopleSoft, Microsoft, SAP, and IBM is not really about applications. It is about the technology stack that lies beneath the applications. Currently, many or most of the PeopleSoft Enterprise One customers are running over Microsoft infrastructure technology (MS SQL Server, over Windows NT/2000), and there is little doubt that Oracle would like to move those customers, ultimately, to its own technology stack (Oracle database and tools, over Unix or Linux). So, Microsoft has to do something, but only has its small and mid-tier applications to offer.
The battle for the infrastructure stack explains why, after Oracle made its initial bid for PeopleSoft, Microsoft approached SAP for a merger. Microsoft knew that it didn't have a product to compete with Oracle/PeopleSoft. The deal with SAP never materialized, so now Microsoft is stuck with this empty offer.
There's additional analysis in a CNET article. My favorite part is a quote at the end from AMR's Jim Shepherd, who says that the Microsoft offer "is barely worth the paper the press release was written on."
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First look at Microsoft's Axaptaby Frank Scavo, 1/11/2005 09:19:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, January 10, 2005
New blog on offshore outsourcing
I found a new blog yesterday, called "Offshore Software Development Liverpool: Thoughts." Most writers on offshoring come from the position of those that are threatened by the trend. But this writer, Tony Radford, is on the other side of the debate: he is the founder of Redland Software, an offshore software development firm in Romania, with offices in Liverpool, UK.
Interestingly, Tony is a Brit, not a Romanian. He tells the story of how he came to set up shop in Romania, while on a mission of mercy.On my first trip to Romania (to assist on projects with orphans) I fell in love with the country. Perhaps it was the wonderful climate, or maybe the (mostly) friendly and generous people - who knows. Anyway I returned there several times and always enjoyed myself.Tony's blog is new, but hopefully he'll keep posting. Check it out.
I decided that I wanted to have a good reason to stay working with Romania. I did some research into the IT industry in Romania and discovered that the IT guys there are very talented, hard working and well motivated. Also, the salaries are a lot lower than in the UK. So I decided to set up a software development company in Timisoara in western Romania.
It took a couple of years of hard work to get the software development team working well. For the first two years the business was run on a part-time basis. Now it is a full time activity for me. I formed Redland Software. 'Redland' has nothing to with Romania being a former Communist country (as in 'red' 'land') but is in fact the name of a nice district of my home town of Bristol.
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Offshore outsourcing driving down US IT salariesby Frank Scavo, 1/10/2005 08:08:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Saturday, January 08, 2005
Hope and fear in the IT job market
An article in Datamation points out that although the IT job market appears to be improving, there's still a lot of uncertainty among IT professionals."From one day to the next, you didn't know if they were going to come in and drop the bomb on you or the guy next to you," says an IT professional at an $8 billion company based in the mid-West. "I guess things are getting a little better. There are more jobs out there now... but I'm nervous. I'm still insecure."There is little doubt that, overall, the economy is improving, leading to better IT job prospects generally. But mergers, acquisitions, restructuring of positions, layoffs, and offshoring initiatives at individual firms still give IT professionals plenty of reasons polish their resumes.The Hudson Employment Index, which measures worker confidence, fell 1.3 points this past December to 103.6, its lowest reading of 2004. Key contributing factors included a drop in worker ratings of personal finances and increased expectations of staff cuts. However, the Index has risen 3.6 points year over year, reflecting an overall improvement in worker outlook compared to December 2003.Datamation has more on the current state of careers and job hunting in IT.
The Hudson report also studies four other sectors: accounting, finance, healthcare and manufacturing. The report shows that IT was the least stable of all sectors studied, posting both the highest reading of worker confidence, along with the most dramatic stumbles. Hudson analysts attribute the wild fluctuations to the "volatile and unpredictable" outlook on the job market and employment issues.
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IT budgets: spending less but getting moreby Frank Scavo, 1/08/2005 10:01:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Thursday, January 06, 2005
Lawson increases net loss, faces SEC investigation
Lawson Software continued its pattern of bad news yesterday. First, it announced Q2 results that are depressing: revenue of $83M (down 1.5% from the same quarter last year), license fees of $13.2M (down 23.6%), and a net loss of $3M, compared to a net loss of $1.3M a year ago. Only service revenues were up, 4.1%.
Second, Lawson said that the SEC has launched an "informal investigation" into its revenue recognition practices. In response, Lawson has already spent about $2.2M in fees and expenses to hire an independent accounting firm to investigate the situation--money that I'm sure customers would rather see spent on developing better software, rather than digging into Lawson's accounting practices.
Remarkably, CEO Jay Coughlan continues to blame Oracle for Lawson's financial problems. "Our license revenue came in as expected, given that the business environment during the entire quarter reflected the uncertainty of the Oracle/PeopleSoft merger," he said. I laughed when Coughlan tried out this excuse last quarter. Now, I'm concerned that he might actually believe it.
Lawson shares plunged over 11% in after hours trading, after the announcements. Over the past 3-4 months, Lawson has refused to say whether it could be the target of an acquisition. The latest news does not bode well for Lawson remaining an independent company.
Update, 6:35 p.m. Lawson's stock has recovered from the drop in after hours trading, finishing about even with the close yesterday. In addition, some analysts are upbeat about Lawson's prospects. According to CBS Marketwatch,Lehman Brothers analyst Neil Herman said Lawson's pipeline for the current fiscal third quarter and the year looks good, adding that management was "more optimistic about business prospects than we have heard in quite some time"....CBS Marketwatch has more.
Herman also downplayed concerns about the SEC investigation, which centers on the company's revenue recognition practices, as Lawson has already completed an independent audit and found no major issues.
At Wells Fargo, analyst Eric Upin said he's still "very positive on the long-term picture for Lawson." ....
"We continue to see potential for further license growth, operating margin expansion, and, therefore, upside to our EPS projections, based on Lawson's market opportunity, strategy and new cost structure," he said.
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Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Software package pricing to fall
Companies investing in new systems have grown accustomed to the fact that hardware prices keep dropping from year to year, while the prices for packaged software, at best, stay the same. As a result, software has been growing as a percent of corporate IT spending.
But maybe that's about to change. Meta Group is now predicting that, over the next 3-5 years, packaged software pricing will decrease for the first time in over a decade. The reasons? Meta points to the ability of companies to more easily develop (or contract to develop) their own software on top of infrastructure services from IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Oracle; the alternative of open source software; the growth of third-party application service providers (ASPs), and the trend to cheaper offshore labor. (Each of these reasons is a subject onto itself, which I won't develop further for now.)
If Meta is correct, the trend toward vendor consolidation will continue as it simply becomes more difficult for vendors of packaged software to make money in this market. In fact, Meta predicts that the number of traditional software vendors will drop 35% by 2008, and another 15% by 2010.
"This shift has so many implications that it would be hard to overstate. We are not only seeing consolidation trends, but more importantly, we are beginning to see a burgeoning new software industry being germinated by IBM, SAP, and Microsoft that is cutting a swath through every layer of traditional IT. These events are redefining the economics of the technology market in some fundamental ways," said META Group Research Director, Dale Kutnick. "We are already seeing the major technology vendors positioning themselves and investing more aggressively in infrastructure and Web services, where they believe their products can support this more stable model, versus battling it out in the old packaged application software market. Many vendors are terrified and questioning what to do and where to go next."All of this is good news for software buyers, who are finally in a stronger position at the negotiating table. Kutnick continues:
Traditionally, customers were beholden to their software vendors for the long term simply because alternatives were costly; ongoing maintenance and service support nearly guaranteed ongoing commitment to legacy vendor partners. This vendor "gravy train" is now in jeopardy due to emerging alternatives. As software becomes more interoperable and structured in a more flexible nature, customers can realistically threaten to bring their business elsewhere or explore to low-cost offshore alternatives if they are unhappy with their current vendor.Meta's predictions match what I am seeing in deals lately. Vendors of packaged applications seem more reasonable in their pricing expectations, and more flexible in how they structure deals. Although there are fewer vendors than there were five years ago, there are still enough vendors to make every deal competitive, especially in the mid-market, and vendors are hungry. Furthermore, even though there is an overall trend to vendor consolidation, new vendors keep appearing, often with specific niche solutions in certain vertical industries that keep challenging the attempts of established vendor to hold the line on pricing.
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IT budgets: spending less but getting moreby Frank Scavo, 1/04/2005 09:28:00 AM | permalink | e-mail this!
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Monday, January 03, 2005
PeopleSoft people await word on layoffs
According to an e-mail from Larry Ellison to PeopleSoft employees, Oracle plans to announce on January 14 who will be terminated. According to the East Bay Business Times, a local business journal, it appears that in the short term, Oracle may lay off fewer PeopleSoft employees than it originally indicated. But over the long term, the cuts could be deep.
"In the short run, I would say (Oracle officials) will be spending most of their time integrating the two companies," said Joy Bhadury, chairman of the management and finance department at Cal State Hayward's College of Business and Economics. "After saying early on he would fire almost everybody, Larry Ellison has done a 180 and promised he would keep the PeopleSoft staff intact for a period of time. But make no mistake, jobs will be gone. It's clear this is really not a merger, but a buyout. One army has indeed conquered the other. Eventually, PeopleSoft will be Oracle-ized."Where will the terminated employees land? I would expect to see some of the best picked up by other enterprise system vendors. It would not surprise me, also, to see some of them join technical services firms to provide services to the PeopleSoft installed base, or start new firms to do so. That could create some interesting competition in the market for PeopleSoft services.
Bhadury predicts that between 4,000 and 6,000 of PeopleSoft's 12,000 employees will be out of a job within a few years. Who is front and center on the chopping block?
"My feeling is PeopleSoft's senior management is gone," he said. "On the other hand, Oracle can't afford to lose the top people in all parts of the company. They do not want to lose high-performing salespeople, designers and product support personnel. Oracle will need to find the key people and keep them on board."
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text:
Summary: In 1972, a scale of measurement was established for alien encounters. When a UFO is sighted, it is called an encounter of the first kind. When evidence is collected, it is known as an encounter of the second kind. When contact is made with extraterrestrials, it is the third kind. The next level, abduction, is the fourth kind. This encounter has been the most difficult to document...until now.
Structured unlike any film before it, "The Fourth Kind" is a provocative thriller set in modern-day Nome, Alaska, where—mysteriously since the 1960s—a disproportionate number of the population has been reported missing every year. Despite multiple FBI investigations of the region, the truth has never been discovered.
Here in this remote region, psychologist Dr. Abigail Tyler (Milla Jovovich) began videotaping sessions with traumatized patients and unwittingly discovered some of the most disturbing evidence of alien abduction ever documented.
Using never-before-seen archival footage that is integrated into the film, "The Fourth Kind" exposes the terrified revelations of multiple witnesses. Their accounts of being visited by alien figures all share disturbingly identical details, the validity of which is investigated throughout the film.
Release Date: November 6, 2009
Studio: Universal Pictures
Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Screenwriter: Olatunde Osunsanmi
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Will Patton
Genre: Thriller
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for violent/disturbing images, some terror, thematic elements and brief sexuality)
Official Website: TheFourthKind.net
Review: Not Available
DVD Review: Not Available
DVD: Not Available
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Movie news :The Fourth Kind
Posted by fauzan masykur at 9:19 PM
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