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What's New
August, 2010
Seiko Sponsors 29er & 49er Class
Odyssey Time Inc. has agreed to sponsor the 2010 49er Canadian Championship and the concurrent 2010 29erXX North American Championship. This partnership with the local North American fleet builds on a running three year relationship between Seiko and the International 49er and 29erXX Classes. Since 2007, Seiko has been the official watch partner of the International 49er Class. In 2008 Seiko joined forces with the new and growing 29erXX class for women.
The 2010 Seiko 49er.ca Championship & Seiko 29erXX North Americans will be held from August 21 25 during Kingston, Ontarios annual Canadian Olympic Training Regatta (CORK). This event will be preceded by the North American Championships for the similar 29er class. This will be Seikos 2nd year running in Kingston, after having sponsored the 2009 49er North Americans.
The renewal of this partnership builds symmetry between Seikos efforts in Europe and in North America. This event will help align two strong, bold entities, said Trevor Parekh, President of the Canadian 49er Class Association. We are pleased to continue our relationship with Seiko locally to help build both brands in North America in 2010, said Parekh.
Jen Morgan Glass, 29erXX International Class President, added that, Seiko has been a huge supporter of the 29erXX since the beginning and our class has seen much success as a result. Seiko and the 9er brand share similar qualities: the need for precision and performance. This makes us a great match.
The International 49er Class is the Mens High Performance Dinghy for the 2012 Olympics in London. It has been an Olympic class since its selection in 1997. The class has nearly 1200 boats sailing on 6 continents. This year the class adopted a modern, full carbon mast to increase its performance. It is by far the most spectacular of all Olympic class sailboats and provides some of the most exciting racing. There are over 100 49er boats across North America.
The 29erXX is the Elite version of the 29er, with a high-powered rig for the existing 29er hull. The 29erXX features a square-head main, larger jib, masthead kite and twin-trapeze which add power and excitement to the standard 29er hull. All of these upgrades fit nicely on to the existing 29er platform, so upgrading is simplicity itself. The 29erXX narrowly missed Olympic selection for 2012. Regardless, the class continues to grow worldwide as sailors enjoy the technical, tactical, physical and fast nature of the boat. For more information please visit: www.29erXX.com .
July, 2010
Seiko, Official sponsor of 2010 IAAF Junior Championships!
In 1985, the IAAF invited SEIKO to be its timing partner for all its major international athletics championships. SEIKO has provided timing systems and personnel to no less than 10 World Championships, 5 Indoor Championships and many other international class events. At major championships, SEIKOs team will comprise over 40 skilled and full time engineers.
July 19 - 25, Seiko will be an official sponsor of the 2010 IAAF Junior Championships in Moncton, NB
May, 2009
The first Canadian SEIKO boutique
May marks a new era for the SEIKO brand in the Canadian market place.
David Cheong, President of Odyssey Time Inc is pleased to announce the grand opening of the first Canadian SEIKO boutique located at 131 Bloor Street West, Toronto Ontario.
The store is designed to showcase the very best of the SEIKO brand and is a unique platform for the most exclusive Seiko designs, including those that are entirely new to the Canadian market.
In the SEIKO boutique, a consumer will have the opportunity to view the latest models from the international Elite Collections: Premier, Arctura, Sportura, Velatura and coming this fall, Ananta. In addition, exclusive Japanese domestic products will be showcased.
Targeting a higher end consumer, the product available will range from retails of $500 to $10,000.
Not only will the SEIKO boutique offer each consumer a luxury retail experience but will provide a look into what makes SEIKO a world leader in the watch industry. With a chance to view and learn about the technologies and craftsmanship that SEIKO is most famous for, Spring Drive and Kinetic Direct Drive to name a few, the SEIKO boutique is the destination for watch aficionados of all classes.
Unveiling newly designed SEIKO branded showcases and advertising materials, the SEIKO boutique is a representation to which all SEIKO retailers can aspire.
Additionally, consumers can view the latest product from SEIKOs sister brand, Pulsar.
For further information, please contact Victoria Salemi (email@example.com) at Odyssey Time Inc.
March, 2009
Ananta. The craftsmanship of Katana. The cutting edge of SEIKO.
SEIKO Watch Corporation is proud to announce the launch, at Baselworld 2009, of a new Elite Collection, SEIKO Ananta.
SEIKO Ananta is an exclusive collection of luxury timepieces with Spring Drive and high-grade mechanical movements, targeted at those who truly understand and appreciate fine watchmaking. SEIKO Ananta is a watch designed to deliver a lifetime of delight and satisfaction, as it is supremely comfortable to wear, enjoyable to use and unrivaled in its quality of engineering. SEIKO Ananta is a watch for today and for all time.
The artistry of Katana
Katana is the ancient art of sword-making. First developed over 800 years ago, the Katana sword is a single sided, curved blade designed to be drawn from its scabbard and used in a single motion. Its legendary sharpness comes from a unique kind of steel and a particular forging process, developed over the centuries, which combines great handcraft skills with the highest technology. Today, Katana swords are still made and prized for their beauty and precision.
These themes of precision, artistry, parabolic curves and sharpness all find expression in the new Ananta collection. The side of the case has the distinctive Katana curve and a three-stage blade polishing process gives the case its remarkable mirror finish, as smooth and flat as a Katana sword. The long, graceful curve of the case is made possible by a unique construction in which the case back and lugs are crafted from a single piece of steel.
Ananta. The search for the Infinite
Ananta is a Sanskrit word that means the infinite. When the SEIKO product development team embarked on this project, they were given infinite scope to build a watch that embodied the SEIKO vision of the most technologically advanced craftsmanship in the world. They were allowed to use any movement, or build new ones. They had the freedom to explore any design direction and seek new inspiration wherever they chose. Ananta is the result. A collection that expresses SEIKOs dedication to infinite perfection.
Mechanical watchmaking at its finest
Ever since the late 1960s when SEIKOs mechanical watchmaking skills were recognised with the highest ever scores at the Geneva and Neuchatel Observatory competitions, SEIKO has refined its luxury watchmaking skills and has created a steady stream of ever more advanced and perfect movements, including, in 1998, the celebrated 9S caliber used in the Grand Seiko series. Most of these movements were used, until today, in timepieces reserved exclusively for the Japanese market.
With Ananta, SEIKOs high-grade mechanical watchmaking finally arrives on the global stage. The collection includes three mechanical calibers, two of which are new and all of which deliver superlative levels of precision, long term reliability and power reserve.
To see and feel each Ananta mechanical watch is to realize that it is an entirely authentic prestige watch in the mainstream of fine watchmaking. However, SEIKOs approach to mechanical watchmaking is unique. Our movement designers have always sought to satisfy the customer who seeks a watch for life. Over-elaboration is eschewed in favor of a profound level of quality and engineering elegance which increases the precision, longevity and performance of the watch. It also makes after-care easier and delivers functions that are easy to see and simple to use.
The 28800 vph mechanical movements in Ananta embody this watch for life concept.
The 8R28 Automatic Chronograph incorporates column wheel and vertical clutch systems for ultimate timekeeping precision.
The 6R24 Double Retrograde caliber offers day and date retrograde dials in a new layout and, like its companion 6R21, has an extended power reserve of over 45 hours.
All three calibers use SEIKOs unique SPRON 510 alloy for the mainsprings to deliver enhanced performance and all three use the Magic Lever system that SEIKO pioneered in 1959 and which still leads the industry today. The Magic Lever dramatically increases the efficiency and speed of the winding of the mainspring.
SEIKO Spring Drive. The quiet revolution continues
With the inclusion of Spring Drive in the Ananta collection, SEIKO opens a new chapter in the story of this remarkable movement. With its unique glide motion and industry-leading accuracy of one second a day, Spring Drive continues to re-define luxury watchmaking. Leading the Ananta collection is the Spring Drive Chronograph, the only luxury chronograph to measure elapsed time precisely, and not to the nearest tick. Alongside the chronograph is a Spring Drive GMT in which the extended power reserve of 72 hours is expressed in a Katana-blade shaped sub-dial.
Ananta opens a new chapter in SEIKOs history
SEIKO Ananta is a landmark collection whose arrival heralds an important new step forward for the whole SEIKO brand.
It is the first Elite Collection designed for the luxury watch market.
It is the first Elite Collection to be marketed both internationally and in Japan.
It includes 2 new calibers.
It is the first Elite Collection to include Spring Drive,
and, most importantly,
It is the first SEIKO collection to showcase SEIKOs high-grade mechanical watchmaking artistry.
With Ananta, SEIKO announces its long term aspiration to be a leading manufacture, and to offer the worlds most advanced craftsmanship to those who truly appreciate fine watches.
March, 2009
The two SEIKO fine watch studios.
Dedicated to perfection.
The precious responsibility of crafting SEIKOs very finest timepieces is shared between two remarkable studios, one in the woods of northern Japan near Morioka and the other high in the mountains of central Japan. In recent years, these studios have created some remarkable timepieces whose technology, artistry and quality craftsmanship have generated great interest among watch enthusiasts worldwide, including the Grand Seiko 9S caliber, the Spring Drive Sonnerie and the Spacewalk chronograph.
The Shizukuishi Watch Studio. Home of mechanical watch excellence
For over 70 years, SEIKOs Morioka facility has consistently and continuously developed its watchmaking skills in every area of the art, and today is one of the very few watchmaking houses to build every single component of its mechanical watches, including the balance springs and mainsprings. In 2004, the Shizukuishi Watch Studio was added to the Morioka facilities and given the responsibility to further develop its high grade mechanical watchmaking as demand from collectors and mechanical watch enthusiasts grew. Today, the Studio, which takes its name from the village of Shizukuishi, has over 60 members, 19 of whom are Master Craftsmen, and there are currently over 20 different mechanical calibers in production at the Studio.
The uniqueness of the Shizukuishi Studio is that it combines the very highest technology with hand craftsmanship of extraordinary quality. Thus, the most advanced miniaturization technology allows balance springs of 0.03mm to be made here while in the same facility, master engravers are at work, creating patterns on the movement bridges to a depth of just 0.15mm and modifying curves to within a tolerance of 0.01mm, by hand and eye alone. The Shizukuishi Watch Studio is a true manufacture in every sense.
This fusion of high technology and hand craftsmanship is more than a matter of professional pride in Shizukuishi. It brings real benefits to owners of Studios creations. In 1998 when the celebrated 9S movement was born, its extended power reserve (50 hours) and proven high accuracy (+5 to -3 seconds a day) were achieved though the combination of cutting edge CAE / CAD / CAM and the adjustment skills of craftsmen recognised as among the very best in the world, including Mr. Sakurada and Mr. Terui, both of whom have been awarded craftsmanship awards by the Emperor of Japan.
The respect for tradition and quality extends to even the furniture. Every desk is customized for its user and is made from a traditional Japanese wood, Iwayadou Tansu, coated in a locally made lacquer to give each desk a luxurious and calm atmosphere.
The Shizukuishi Watch Studios vision says it all: Building in quality with painstaking care
The Shinshu Watch Studio. Creating watches that deepen in character over time.
The visitor to the Studio is first impressed by its location. The small town of Shiojiri is high in the mountains of Nagano Prefecture in central Japan, and through every window, the Hida, Kiso and Yatsugatake mountains look down on the Studio, their height seemingly increased and their distance foreshortened by the cleanliness of the mountain air. The Studio takes its name, Shinshu, from the former name for Nagano.
Once inside, the eye is drawn to the many landmark timepieces that the Studio has created since its inception in the late 1990s. The Credor Spring Drive Sonnerie and the Spring Drive Spacewalk are proudly displayed around the extensive premises, in addition to many important pieces from SEIKOs historical collection. The Shinshu facility houses three separate studios that, together, contain every aspect of the watchmakers art.
The main studio (called Takumi, or Mastery) assembles and adjusts all the Spring Drive and other high-grade movements made by this Shiojiri facility. The jewelry studio works the precious metals and stones used in many SEIKO and Credor jewelry watches and effects the diamond cutting of the hands and indexes as well as the blade polishing of watches like the new Ananta.
Lastly, the Micro Artist Studio is home to an elite group of just 10 master craftsmen who make individual timepieces, including the Spring Drive Sonnerie, whose 5-per-year production is already reserved by customers for the next two years. It also made the Credor Spring Drive Eichi whose Torque Return system was a highlight of Baselworld 2008. This studio is a small but complete manufacture. The Micro Artists plan, design, manufacture, assemble and regulate all their watches themselves.
The Shinshu Studio has a very clear vision of its purpose. All 180 qualified technicians share the dream of making watches whose beauty and practicality are the most durable and long-lasting in the world. Their goal is to make watches whose design is impressive at first sight, but which are so well made, practical and durable that their appeal grows with the years.
A sign hangs nonchalantly outside the door to the Micro Artist Studio. It describes, in both Japanese and English, the philosophy and mission of the whole Shinshu Studio, including the words
Our watches bring long-term satisfaction, the feeling of Japanese and are reliable to wear until grandchildren.
Having seen the range of skills, the depth of dedication of the craftsmen and the high technology movement design that supports their work, every visitor to Shinshu will most definitely agree.
May, 2008
Mercury Free
SEIKO to lead the watch industry by switching to mercury-free batteries.
With its unique Spring Drive and Kinetic technology and its industry-leading initiatives in compliance with global regulations and standards, (including the EU WEEE, Nickel and RoHS Directives), SEIKO has always been at the forefront of environmental actions in the watch industry.
In 2007/08, SEIKO will again reduce the environmental impact of its products by converting to the use of mercury-free batteries in advance of changes in button battery regulations in the world.
Mercury: A dangerous element
It has long been recognised that mercury is a noxious and dangerous substance and the usage of mercury batteries has been banned for many years in most countries. However, exceptions have always been made for button-type watch batteries because of the very low levels of mercury they contain and because mercury's anti-corrosion properties contributed to the overall product safety. Mercury has been used to control the corrosion of the zinc within the battery; this was necessary to eliminate the generation of hydrogen gas which could cause the battery to swell and leak. Today, all silver oxide batteries have up to 2% mercury by weight. The introduction of mercury-free batteries could eliminate hundreds of kilograms of this dangerous metal entering the environment every year.
Challenge of quality
SEIKO has had high and unique quality standards even for batteries. This switching to mercury-free battery installation is not an exception. As a result of passing the series of serious quality tests, SEIKO mercury-free batteries ensure the high quality, keeping a stable voltage with low leakage, they have good preservation longevity even in a wide temperature range. Seiko Instruments Inc., as a battery producer, for example, has developed new mercury-free silver oxide batteries, which are not only more environmentally friendly but performance has also improved. Using a new electrolyte, the new SEIKO batteries work better at low temperatures range to -20°c to 60°c. Furthermore, leakage resistance has been increased by 50%, thanks to the introduction of a new micro-machine 'crimping' manufacturing process.
Immediate Implementation
SEIKO watches started to install mercury-free batteries from April, 2007 and all SEIKO watches will have mercury-free batteries by June 2008 on production basis. With this action, SEIKO once again is taking the lead in environmental responsibility in watch industry.
May, 2008
When the Arctura collection made its first appearance in 1997, it made a strong impact with its radical design; Arctura was adventurous, sleek, high-tech and bold.
Today, eleven years later, Arctura is re-born. Still true to its heritage of audacious design, the new Arctura has an aerodynamic profile whose strength bears witness to the power of the Kinetic movements.
The concept of Arctura is the arc, the most emotionally satisfying of the many shapes in our world. The arc might be found in nature, like a rainbow, or it might be in man-made creations like the dome of a Renaissance cathedral. Wherever it is to be found, it is a form that pleases the eye and speaks of continuity, eternity and purity. The new Arctura collection pays homage to the perfection and beauty of the 'arc' with its sleek lines, accentuated curves and circular accents.
Arctura will be at the center of SEIKO's global campaign in 2008. With its 16 different styles and no less than 5 different calibers, the collection embraces timepieces for men and women, for the collector and the sports enthusiast and for lovers of pure design.
Kinetic, The six-month Power Reserve with Retrograde Day Indicator
These creations house a new Kinetic movement which offers a six month power reserve and a retrograde day of the week indicator. The shape of this indicator echoes the arc of the planets in the sky and the passage of time that they measure. The new caliber is Kinetic technology at its pure and simple best. Move, and the watch generates, on its own, the electricity it needs to power the high-accuracy movement. Put it down and its power reserve keeps the watch working at full accuracy for no less than six months.
SEIKO Arctura . The women's Kinetic watch comes of age!
The much-demanded SEIKO Kinetic range for women has arrived. As women often have a wide repertoire of watches, SEIKO Kinetic offers them the ultimate convenience of a long, 6 month power reserve and unfailing accuracy. The new Arctura Kinetic collection for women comprises three models, two with diamond and mother-of-pearl dials.
May, 2008
At Baselworld 2007, SEIKO launched a new marine collection, Velatura, to great acclaim. Over the past year, Velatura has found favor among the world's sailing and marine community with its distinctive design and its high functionality. The 2007 collection included two new calibers, the Yachting Timer and Kinetic Direct Drive. For 2008, these are joined by a new Diver Chronograph and new design innovations in the collections for both men and women.
The Velatura Diver Chronograph
The chronograph caliber 7T92 is well suited to the Velatura design and the 200 meter water resistance offered by the screw crown, screw button, and screw caseback completes this new offering in the Velatura collection. Perfectly designed for all marine sports, the new Diver Chronograph has all the features that have made the collection so successful - the sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, the high-legibility dial, and the design touches that reflect the world of high-performance marine sport. It is offered in two executions, one with a urethane strap and the other with a steel bracelet, inset with urethane panels.
Velatura. The choice of the best racers.
In 2007, SEIKO was chosen as the watch partner of the International 49er Association and Velatura has become the watch of choice for the leading exponents of this, the fastest of all Olympic sailing classes. In 2008, SEIKO and the International 49er Association renewed the agreement and the gold, silver and bronze medallists at the 2008 World and European Championships in Australia and Spain respectively, received Velatura Yachting Timers in recognition of their achievements. The feedback from the 49er Class Association and its leading sailors will help to shape future generations of Velatura designs.
May, 2008
SEIKO Stand
Visitors to the Hall of Dreams at this year's Baselword exhibition will be met with a strikingly bold new sight, The Cube. This all-new stand has been designed not only to provide a suitably prestigious setting for SEIKO's new collections, but also to express the essence of SEIKO as a brand and as a watch manufacturer.
Viewed from afar, the stand presents a striking and sharply angled white profile. As the visitor approaches, he or she will see that the tall white rectangles of the exterior enclose a corridor, accessible from both ends of the stand, along which are showcases containing more than 50 new designs drawn from all new SEIKO collections, all of which are presented to the world for the first time at Baselworld 2008. The corridor is called the Crystal Canyon, with no less than 40,000 crystals lining its walls which rise nine meter into the air.
Once the visitor has passed along the Crystal Canyon, a new vista presents itself. The bright light and confined width of the canyon gives way to an open space whose walls are lined with rock, from the floor to the full height of the hall itself. The feeling is one of awe and yet, at the same time, of peace. The space is impressive but welcoming and SEIKO's guests will be able to explore the new collection at their leisure in this remarkable atmosphere.
The design of the stand reflects the character of SEIKO. The simplicity and impact of the rectangular exterior expresses the clarity of SEIKO's vision. Innovation and Refinement are blended together in this impressive façade and the single, small showcase cut into the exterior angle provides an opportunity to see these values embodied in one single watch.
The inner strength of SEIKO, its expertise in every area of the watch manufacturer's art, is captured in the drama of the Stone Square. Just as every SEIKO watch, Spring Drive, mechanical, Kinetic or quartz, has strength at its core in a movement of world-leading technology, so the new SEIKO stand has at its center the Stone Square expressing the strength of the brand by solid rock.
The new stand is also a study in contrasts. The immensity of the exterior contrasts with the intimacy of the interior. The white and simple exterior finds its counter-point in the organic materials of the inner court. These differences are brought together in harmony by the design of the stand, just as the many different skills that SEIKO brings to bear in its watchmaking are blended together into every individual timepiece. In this way, the orchestration of differences, which is at the heart of SEIKO's DNA, is also reflected in the design of the new stand.
The stand was designed in Japan in a collaborative project between SEIKO's own in-house designers and a leading design firm specializing in displays, stands and exhibitions. The new SEIKO stand, The Cube, also features the Atrium lounge and the Sky Room, luxuriously appointed spaces designed to welcome a record number of visitors for meetings or a brief moment of relaxation.


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Population: 95,849,000
Monetary unit: piso (Piso in Filipino; peso in English and Spanish)
Capital city: Manila
Major languages: Filipino; English
Major religions: Roman Catholic 64.9%; independent Christian 17.7%7; Muslim 5.1%; Protestant 5.0%; traditional beliefs 2.2%; other 5.1%.
Ethnic composition: Tagalog 20.9%; Visayan (Cebu) 19.0%; Ilocano 11.1%; Hiligaynon (Visaya) 9.4%; Waray-Waray (Binisaya) 4.7%; Central Bikol (Naga) 4.6%; Filipino mestizo 3.5%; Pampango 3.1%; other 23.7%.
Age breakdown: under 15, 35.6%; 15–29, 28.4%; 30–44, 18.8%; 45–59, 11.2%; 60–74, 4.9%; 75–84, 1.0%; 85 and over, 0.1%.
Life expectancy: male 70.0 years; female 74.0 years
Education: Percentage of population age 25 and over having: no formal schooling 3.8%; primary education 38.5%; incomplete secondary 12.5%; complete secondary 17.2%; technical 5.9%; incomplete undergraduate 11.8%; complete undergraduate 7.3%; graduate 0.7%; unknown 2.3%.
Urban/Rural split: urban 48.7%; rural 51.3%.
Income per household (USD): -
Broadband internet users (%): -
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
The Philippines, home to 7,100 islands and 95 million Filipinos, is one of the world's major markets. It is also one that is rapidly getting to grips with PR. "There is higher awareness of public relations today," says Rochelle Gamboa Hilario, marketing and communications manager of Philex Mining Corporation, the country's largest mining company.
For those in the extractive industry PR is predominantly about the firm's social responsibility. "We have learned lessons from Enron and BP," says Hilario. "It is no longer enough to simply manufacture, market and measure. Now more than ever, mining and oil companies need to win public trust and acceptance."
For example, Philex has run the 'This Mine Is Yours' campaign to transform the reputation of a gold and copper mining project in Zamboanga del Norte. It ran mine tours for national and local press and academics, radio roadshows, mining forums in the region, and publicity tours with the media. The result is that the media are now much more willing to listen to the company's position on the mining project.However, she believes this is also an issue for those in other sectors. "FMCGs have to show they care for the holistic wellness of their customers, the environment and the communities. Banks need to keep their customers happy. Politicians need to win and sustain public trust."
As a result industry observers point to mounting professionalism within the Philippine PR industry. Both the Public Relations Society of the Philippines and the Philippine chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators are actively developing the PR industry by promoting the best campaigns, tools and leaders primarily through annual awards ceremonies.
Edwin Hernandez, president and general manager at Jardine Distribution, says: "One of the primary strengths of our PR industry is our healthy media environment both in traditional print and broadcast, and in the new social media."
On television, the main battle for viewers is between network giants ABS-CBN of the Lopez family and GMA7. Third spot is held by relative newcomer, TV5 which is owned by Manny Pangilinan of the Metro Pacific group.
For radio, the top radio stations for news and public affairs are DZMM, which is owned by the ABS-CBN group, DZBB, which is owned by the GMA network, and DZRH.
In print, the top three dailies are Manila Bulletin, Philippine Star and Philippine Daily Inquirer, with Bulletin claiming the highest circulation and readership. In terms of business dailies the Business Mirror has overtaken the Business World and Malaya Business Insight.
Important lifestyle magazines include People Asia, Travel Life, and Lifestyle Asia. In motoring and sports Top Gear and C Magazine are worthy of mention, as are the Philippine editions of FHM, and Cosmopolitan. The only significant business magazine is Entrepreneur.
While all the most global brands are present in this important market there are many Philippine brands which have been making good progress on their PR in recent years. As well as the mining
Myla Pilao, director of core technology marketing at TrendLabs, says: "There's a growing appreciation of the need to partner with a credible agency, not only so they can help you build your brand, but also so they can act as an unbiased pair of eyes and ears in your marketplace."
She continues: "Our agency, Weber Shandwick, constantly updates us on what's coming up in
the our industry and what our competitors are doing, and we adjust our communication plan accordingly. The agency has also taken an active role by creatively challenging our plans and bringing us back to reality to focus on what we can realistically achieve."
In terms of the global groups, Weber Shandwick is highly visible in the Philippines, as are
Fleishman-Hillard and Ogilvy. Edelman operates through affiliate EON, and Euro RSCG/Agatep is strong on advocacy.
Local agencies such as Full Circle for issues management and crisis communication, and Stratworks for branding, remain important players in this growing market.
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subset: commoncrawl


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December 19, 2013
Associated Press
RENTON, Wash. (AP) -- Seattle Seahawks cornerback Brandon Browner was suspended indefinitely by the NFL on Wednesday for violating the league's substance abuse policy.
The suspension is the second in two seasons for Browner. He was suspended four games last season for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances. He's the second Seahawks player to be suspended for violating the substance abuse policy this season. Fellow cornerback Walter Thurmond is serving the final week of a four-game suspension.
Browner, whose suspension is effective immediately and without pay, sent out a lengthy statement vowing that he would continue to fight his suspension and sounding resigned that his career with the Seahawks was over.
"I want to thank the Seahawks organization for the incredible opportunity they gave me when they took a chance on a player who was out of the NFL and playing in the CFL for 4 years," Browner wrote. "I also want to thank all of my teammates, coaches, trainers, staff and the 12's (fans) for their support, respect, and friendship and for helping me grow into the player, father, and person I am today. I have been treated with nothing but first class by everyone associated with the Seattle Seahawks and for that I am forever grateful.
"Although I disagree with the circumstances surrounding my suspension, I accept responsibility for all of my actions and I apologize for any that causes any unflattering reflections of my family and the Seahawks. I believe in my innocence and will continue to fight with all legal resources available to me to."
Browner, who was injured in Week 10 against Atlanta and hasn't played since, filed an appeal of the suspension while injured and the Seahawks were waiting for an answer from the league. Seattle coach Pete Carroll said earlier Wednesday before the suspension was announced that he was frustrated the process for making a determination on Browner's status had taken so long.
"It has taken a long time and I've been a little disappointed in that, but we're handling it," Carroll said.
Browner is in his third season with the Seahawks. He started all 26 games he has played for the Seahawks and has 19 tackles, one interception and 10 passes defensed this season. He was a Pro Bowl selection in 2011 when he had 23 passes defensed and six interceptions, but had not been able to match those numbers in the subsequent two seasons.
Browner was to become a free agent after the season and could file for reinstatement after one year.
News of the suspensions for both Browner and Thurmond came as the Seahawks were returning from their bye in late November. Browner is the seventh official suspension for a Seattle player for substance-abuse or performance-enhancing drugs violations by the league since 2011. That doesn't include Richard Sherman, whose suspension was overturned on appeal late last season.
The two suspensions have given chances to backups Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane. They have played well enough that it was not guaranteed Thurmond or Browner would get their starting spots back when they returned.
December 12, 2013
By Everett L. Glenn
NNPA Special Contributor
(As a sports agent, Attorney Everett Glenn has negotiated contracts for some of the biggest names in sports, including NFL Hall of Famers Jerry Rice, Richard Dent and Reggie White as well as 11 first round draft picks. He has also had a front-row seat observing how Black athletes and the Black community are exploited, enriching others while leaving the community and, ultimately, the athletes themselves destitute. Sports are a $500 billion per year industry, but few of those dollars return to the African-American community. According to Sports Illustrated, by the time former NFL players have been retired for two years, nearly 80 percent of them "have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce." Within five years of retirement, approximately 60 percent of former NBA players are broke. After more than three decades of looking at this tragedy on the collegiate and professional level, Attorney Glenn pulls back the cover on these practices in a 3-part series for the NNPA News Service and, more importantly, outlines what can be done to halt the wholesale exploitation and initiate economic reciprocity.)
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – A description of Rice University's stand-alone major in sports management describes the enormity of the sports business: "Experts conservatively estimate the sport industry at $500 billion a year making it one of the top 10 industries in the nation."
Touting its sports management program, George Washington University in the District of Columbia observes: "No single aspect of our culture receives as much media attention nor has the power to bring people together as sport."
It is clear from above that universities are following the money in hopes of their students getting a larger slice of it and, along the way, praying that alumni will not forget their alma mater when they write checks to charity.
However, as we've seen in Part I and Part II of this series, Black athletes are primarily fueling this money-machine at the collegiate and professional levels yet African-Americans are excluded from everything from getting in on construction contracts, agent representation, media advertising and accounting to financial planning.
This must change.
In its TV commercials, the NCAA accurately states that most college athletes will turn pro in a field other than athletics.
I hereby submit Community Action Plan #1:
Petition the NCAA to finance a study to determine what happens to the 99 percent of Black student-athletes in college basketball and football who do not go pro.
Some who do turn pro are ill-equipped for life.
One of the saddest spectacles I have ever witnessed was former All-Pro defensive end Dexter Manley of the Washington Redskins testifying before Congress in 1989 that he could not read, write or spell. He was failed at every point in his life – from high school and university coaches who allowed him to play football without mastering basic academic skills to the NFL that allowed him to continue on his dead-in path to nowhere.
That's one of the reasons we at the National Sports Authority established our Business of Sport Success program (BOSS). Essentially, we use sports as a vehicle to motivate middle and high school students to complete high school and go on to college by exposing the students to the business side of athletics.
To get our young Black males pointed in the right direction, we hereby submit Community Action Plan #2:
As part of the BOSS initiative, convene a national conference, to be jointly sponsored by such organizations as 100 Black Men and male Greek organizations for the fall of 2014 to address Black male issues, including Black male student-athletes.
As was pointed out in Part I of this series, Black athletes represent 52.9 percent of Ohio State University's basketball and football rosters and dominate among its star players, fueling a nearly $130 million athletic department budget on a campus where Black males represent only 2.7 percent of the student body. The disparity between the graduation rate for OSU's Black football players, at 38 percent, and all student-athletes, at 71 percent, represent the highest disparity in the Big-10.
Community Action Plan #3:
Petition the NCAA and each of the six major conferences (ACC, Big East, Big-10, Big-12, Pacific-12 and SEC) to impose sanctions on their members, including the loss of scholarships and/or a ban on bowl appearances, if the graduation rate of Black student-athletes in basketball and football is not within 20 percent of the graduation rate of all student athletes in their respective institutions, commencing in 2016 when the NCAA's new eligibility standards for prospective student-athletes go into effect.
In Part II, we cited examples from the long list of professional athletes who earn millions of dollars yet, in the case of Allen Iverson, for example, he had reached to point where he said he could not afford to buy a cheeseburger.
Again, this is where family and friends – true friends, not vultures looking for a soft landing spot – can assist.
It was inspiring to see that Philadelphia 76ers rookie Michael Carter-Williams, who is being managed by his mother and her best friend, is placing his entire salary in a trust fund that he cannot touch for three years. Instead of dipping into his salary of $4.5 million over his first two season – with the possibility of earning $10 million if the 76ers pick up the final season of his two-year deal – Carter-Williams is living off of the money he is making from endorsement deals with Nike and Panini trading cards. Other pro athletes should follow his example.
Of course, athletes need stadiums and arenas in which to play. And, like everything else related to the business side of sports, Blacks are Missing in Action.
Our taxes are used to help finance new or modernized sports facilities, but we do not get a return on our investment.
Approximately two-thirds of the $21.7 billion spent on the 95 stadiums and arenas built between 1990 and 2000 were heavily subsidized or entirely financed by tax revenues. The carnival of construction taking place today is proceeding without an effective strategy to ensure meaningful participation by Black construction professionals. The National Sports Authority (the "Authority"), of which I am president, was established in last year, in large measure, to reverse this trend.
The entire Black community will benefit if we can redirect just 10 percent of the sports industry spend on goods and services. Such a shift will create new and exciting opportunities for Black accountants, construction professionals, consultants, financial and real estate professionals in the sports industry.
It will also have the trickle down effect of increasing discretionary income available to Black professionals and businesses to support institutions and organizations in our community, from the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Action Network and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to Black churches that have been the backbone of our community.
We know from first-hand experience this can work.
The National Sports Authority was able to secure more than $25 million in contracts for people of color on the Levi's Stadium project, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers, even though the project was already 60 percent complete and contracts for more than 80 percent of the work had been awarded.
On the heels of that experience, our organization has initiated conversations with the principals on the new $500 million Sacramento Kings arena and the $1 billion-plus Atlanta Braves stadium/entertainment center project, with a view towards creating even more opportunities by being engaged from the very start of those and other projects.
Our effort was supported by more than 12 million Blacks who are members of the California Black Chamber, the National Association of Minority Contractors, the Empowerment Experiment, the Fritz Pollard Alliance, the NAACP, National Action Network, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, the National Baptist Convention, the National Urban League and the U.S. Black Chamber, Inc., as well as the San Francisco and Oakland African-American chambers.
Of course, the problem extends beyond sports.
A Nielsen report, produced in cooperation with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) titled, "Resilient, Receptive and Relevant: The African-American Consumer 2013 Report," disclosed that although annual Black spending is projected to rise from its current $1 trillion to $1.3 trillion in 2017, advertisers allot only 3 percent of their $2.2 billion yearly budget to media that target Black audiences.
To address this and related problems, we offer Community Action Plan #4:
Convene a national conference in July of 2014 jointly sponsored by major civil rights organizations and the U.S. Black Chamber to develop strategies for holding colleges, professional leagues and major corporations accountable for the lack of economic reciprocity in their goods and services they purchase.
As Cheryl Pearson-McNeil, senior vice-president, public affairs and government relations for Nielsen, said, "Until we do a better job as consumers in the choices we make and invest in companies that invest in us, we are not going to have any changes."
We hope you'll join our nationwide effort at the National Sports Authority to empower our community by letting everyone know that sports in more than a game – it's a business.
Everett Glenn of the National Sports Authority can be reached at 562.619.8460 or
December 05, 2013
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Here's another adjective Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin can call his ill-timed two-step onto the field last Thursday night against Baltimore.
The NFL fined Tomlin $100,000 on Wednesday for interfering with Baltimore's Jacoby Jones on a kickoff return in the third quarter of a 22-20 loss to the Ravens on Thanksgiving night.
The fine is the second-highest ever levied by the league on a head coach, behind only the $500,000 the NFL docked New England's Bill Belichick in 2007 for spying on an opponent's defensive signals.
There is also the chance the Steelers have a draft pick taken away "because the conduct affected a play on the field." Though he was not penalized, the league said the Steelers should have been flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.
All that from what Tomlin called an "embarrassing, inexcusable" case of being "mesmerized" while standing in a restricted area that separates the sideline from the playing field and staring at the video board during Jones' 73-yard return.
Jones had to swerve to avoid running into the coach and was tackled during a return that might have gone for a touchdown if not for the obstruction. Tomlin briefly stepped onto the field before he jumped back.
Tomlin insists the "blunder" was not intentional but has no plans to appeal the ruling.
"I apologize for causing negative attention to the Pittsburgh Steelers organization," Tomlin said in a statement Wednesday. "I accept the penalty that I received. I will no longer address this issue as I am preparing for an important game this Sunday against the Miami Dolphins."
Jones didn't blame Tomlin for his own inability to score on the return but allows it put the coach and the league in a difficult position.
"I'm not going to lie, it's tough," Jones said. "I can't say he did it on purpose because I don't know what he was thinking. It definitely sends a message across the league. He stepped across the line, which definitely threw it off."
Tomlin said he was following his normal routine on the play and said standing on the 6-foot wide strip is common practice.
New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin didn't disagree. Coughlin drew a 15-yard flag during the preseason for stepping onto the field during a field goal attempt.
"You find yourself sometimes running down the sideline on the white, but nevertheless, you're not even supposed to be even on the white because the officials have to have access there," Coughlin said. "That is a most difficult thing to absorb."
Tomlin's players leapt to his defense in the immediate aftermath, and safety Ryan Clark allowed he is "always on the field." The 12-year veteran, however, is hardly surprised the NFL is considering taking an extra step of stripping the Steelers of a draft pick.
"It's not supposed to be fair," Clark said. "It's Roger Goodell, so when has he been fair?"
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger doesn't believe Tomlin's near-trip will serve as a distraction for Pittsburgh (5-7), which remains in the playoff hunt as December begins despite an 0-4 start.
"If anything, guys joke about it more," Roethlisberger said. "They're the ones pulling up the pictures online and joking with coach about something. If anything maybe it's a light-hearted fun thing."
The league will not determine whether to take a pick away from Pittsburgh until after the draft order has been set. It would be an unprecedented move for a coach getting involved during a live play.
The NFL fined the New York Jets $100,000 in 2010 when cameras caught strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi tripping a Miami player on the sideline. Alosi was suspended by the Jets and eventually resigned after the season.
Tomlin is hardly in danger of losing his job, and said Tuesday he had not spoken to team owners Dan and Art Rooney II about the situation.
"I would imagine if the Rooneys thought that I was capable of that or they thought my intentions were that, I wouldn't be sitting at this table talking to you guys," he said.
Tomlin makes $5.25 million a season and the fine constitutes less than 2 percent of his annual salary. He can absorb the relatively small financial hit. He's far more concerned about the uncomfortable position he put the league and the Steelers in after failing to get out of the way with any sense of urgency.
"I will take this as an opportunity to strenuously defend the game of football and the NFL. I won't defend myself," Tomlin said. "The people that know me, I don't need to do that. The people that don't know me, they are going to make their judgments any way."
Tomlin's predecessor, Bill Cowher, raised eyebrows but not the ire of the commissioner's office in 1997 when he feigned tackling Jacksonville's Chris Hudson as Hudson ran back a Pittsburgh field goal attempt for a touchdown on the final play of a 30-21 Jaguars victory.
While Tomlin has no plans to change the way he goes about his business, he plans to do a better job of policing himself. The 41-year-old understands this will stick with him once the furor dies down. His goal is to make sure it doesn't stain the team as well.
"The only thing we can control is our preparation and ultimately our play this week," he said. "That's the now and what's immediately ahead of us. I try to relay that sentiment and attitude to our team, and I think it's something they embrace."
By Ken Brooks
LAWT Contributing Writer
The Cavaliers' 23-game winning streak ended with a consensus sentiment, by those in attendance, that they were shafted. Officials flagged them 12 times for 115 yards as opposed to Chaminade, which received two penalties for the entire Western Division championship game. The final and heavily discussed phantom pass interference call was not detected on replay. It was one of multiple daggers that halted one of the great runs in all of California.
Since the inception of the California State Football Championship Bowl, Serra is the one local program that proved it can reach it with a degree of consistency and come out on top. Its relevancy is evidenced by state titles in different divisions with completely different rosters.
Other perennial powerhouses in the community too have impressively represented at the state bowl and are not to be ignored. But its back to square one for everybody and for some more so than others. From Narbonne, Crenshaw has taken the last key to the City Section which is becoming extinct as it is incorporated into the Southern Section. And after 13 seasons, Long Beach Poly will have a new head coach in 2014.
As Serra has proven it can go the distance, it leaves local football fanatics anxious for the next winning streak and everything that usually comes with it. And so, let the next chapter begin.turning a page toward another chapter. –Ken Brooks Photo
NNPA Special Contributor
(As a sports agent, Attorney Everett Glenn has negotiated contracts for some of the biggest names in sports, including NFL Hall of Famers Jerry Rice, Richard Dent and Reggie White as well as 11 first round draft picks. He has also had a front-row seat observing how Black athletes and the Black community are exploited, enriching others while leaving the community and, ultimately, the athletes themselves destitute. Sports is a $500 billion per year industry, but few of those dollars return to the African-American community. According to Sports Illustrated, by the time former NFL players have been retired for two years, nearly 80 percent of them "have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce." Within five years of retirement, approximately 60 percent of former NBA players are broke. After more than three decades of looking at this tragedy on the collegiate and professional level, Attorney Glenn pulls back the cover on these practices in a 3-part series for the NNPA News Service and, more importantly, outlines what can be done to halt the wholesale exploitation and initiate economic reciprocity.)
WASHINGTON (NNPA) — There have been so many former professional athletes in the news recently who have gone from rags-to-riches-back-to-rags again that they could form their own reality show.
Future Hall of Famer Terrell Owens, for example, accumulated some amazing stats during his 15-year NFL career as a wide receiver: second in league history with 15,934 yards, tied for second with 153 touchdowns and sixth with 1,078 catches.
Instead of talking about his on-field accomplishments, however, fans and sportscasters are talking about his interview with Dr. Phil in which he disclosed that he has lost all of his money, estimated to be between $80 million and $100 million.
After falling behind in child support payments to baby mama Kimberly Floyd, a judge ordered T.O. to complete eight hours of community service, which he performed at a Los Angeles Goodwill store.
And there was former NBA baller Allen Iverson, who says he's broke after earning more than $150 million during his 15-year NBA career, plus a Reebok endorsement worth $50 million . At his divorce proceedings last year, Iverson shouted to his estranged wife, Tawanna, "I don't even have money for a cheeseburger."
Hundreds of other former professional athletes – including former Boston Celtic Antoine Walker, boxer Mike Tyson and track star Marion Jones – could be added to the list. And no matter how often their stories are told, we're likely to see still more stories of personal and financial ruin.
Let's be clear: athletes who spend lavishly and regularly travel with as many as 50 freeloaders must accept direct responsibility for their current predicament. But they are not the only ones at fault in a system that routinely separates Black athletes from their community while they are still enrolled in college, steering them away from wives who look like them and White agents who don't share their culture.
What separates the exploitation of the Black athlete at the professional level, where Black athletes make up roughly 80 percent of the NBA and 70 percent of the NFL, is money. Big, big money. And big money in the hands of unsophisticated Black athletes is a train wreck waiting to happen, attracting agents, financial advisers and other professionals who view them as easy prey.
In the typical scenario, a "qualified" agent lands a client and then quickly recommends a financial adviser. Or, vice versa. Maybe the pair recruits together. Maybe they just vouch for "their guy." Maybe there are kickbacks. Maybe there is the expectation of future swaps. However it goes down, in the end, a player thinks he has two sets of independent, trustworthy eyes on his money when, in fact, he has none.
How is it that well-paid agents and advisers are absolved of any responsibility and/or liability for their complicity in players' financial fatalities? We read about Iverson's financial problems with no mention of his agent, Leon Rose of CAA. We know about Terrell Owens' money worries but Drew Rosenhaus, his "super agent," isn't held accountable. If you check the websites of major agents, they all in one form or another claim a "family-first" approach. The only family they put first is theirs.
The same media that ignores their colossal failures had no problem demonizing Don King. He single-handedly changed the economics of the fight game with such promotions as the "Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila," yet White-owned corporate media have portrayed King as an unrepentant villain. But they don't make similar claims about his chief rival, Bob Arum, whom promoter Dana White accused of "sucking the life out of the sport (boxing)."
Because coaches and university boosters, most of whom are White, steer Black athletes to White agents, many Black agents – such as Angelo Wright, Al Irby, Alvin Keels, Kennard McGuire and Tony Paige – don't get a fair opportunity to represent most Black athletes. My guess is that Black player agents represent less than 15 percent of all NBA and NFL players.
According to Sports Illustrated, by the time former NFL players have been retired for two years, nearly 80 percent of them "have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress because of joblessness or divorce." Within five years of retirement, approximately 60 percent of former NBA players are broke. By virtue of their numbers, it's clear that Black agents are not leading a parade of Black athletes into bankruptcy or financial distress nor are they sitting by silently watching their clients commit financial suicide.
The top 15 agents/agencies represent the majority of players, and practically all of the stars and superstars, including the two most amazing meltdowns in recent sports history, Allen Iverson and Antoine Walker, who reportedly lost a combined $320 million.
The top agencies include Athletes First, BDA Sports, Creative Artist Agency (CAA), Excel Sports Management, Lagadere, Landmark Sports, Octagon, Priority Sports & Entertainment, Relativity Sports, Rosenhaus Sports, and Wasserman Sports Management, who collectively manage more than $10 billion in player contracts.
Can you image what would happen if the tables were reversed? Suppose Black agents dominated 85 percent of the agent game at a time White players dominated the NBA and NFL and more than 80 percent of NFL players and more than 60 percent of NBA players were going bankrupt. Led by Fox News, there would be a public outcry, the appointment of a special commission and at least one televised congressional inquiry.
The exploitation extends far beyond the playing field and basketball court.
Take the case of the $1.2 billion Levi's Stadium that is being completed with less than 1 percent of minority participation. It will be the new home of the San Francisco 49ers, which has a roster that is 80 percent Black. Moreover, the stadium, expected to open in August 2014, will be located in Santa Clara County, where Whites make up less than half of the population.
According to Fox News, in 2010, there were 10 NFL teams facing major stadium issues. If people of color received a share of the business constructing or overhauling the football facilities in numbers that approximate their representation in the local population, they could significantly empower their communities. If that practice were expanded to the NBA and Major League Baseball, the sharing of the economic pie more fairly could radically transform urban America.
When it comes to agents, perhaps the professional leagues should adopt uniform standards for agents, including an educational requirement, a clean criminal history and no record of fraud. Today, no legal training is required to negotiate player contracts. There are no apprenticeship requirements. And there are no widely accepted ethical standards. The NFL Players Association issues this warning about agents: Certification is "neither a recommendation, nor a warranty of the contract advisor's competence, honesty, skills or qualifications."
In other words, buyer beware.
(Next week: The Solution)
Page 8 of 42


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Free Chili... Free Friday at Kroger/QFC/Fred Meyers! Free Powerbar... Popsicle Money Maker w/New Coupon and Fred Meyer Dea... About the Author Jaime: Ex-ASE Certified, DIY-Lovin, Blogging Mom of 4 who can regularly save 50-75% on her grocery bill. Couponing has helped her family pay off debt and live above their means and she love to share this info with others. → Read More Posts by Jaime


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Share your comments
Rachel getting married [videorecording]
Demme, Jonathan
Adult Fiction Drama RACHEL
Demme, Jonathan
Adult Fiction Drama RACHEL
What other readers are saying about this title:
MaggieMay said:
A confusing, Snooze-O-Rama I will never figure out why this movie was all the buzz during award season- and how it actually won awards. This story picks up in the middle and doesn't ever really explain characters or offer background information. I thought this movie felt like watching the wedding video of your neighbor's coworker. Full of random people you know nothing about, have never met and will never see again. I thought unimportant plot points were too lengthy and important scenes were glossed over. Lengthy: The scene with all the toasts at the rehearsal dinner, and all of the time spent on the wedding band and the guests that sang, danced or recited poems. Glossed over: The scene with the whole family in the dad's living room and the scene in the mothers living room the night before the wedding. Not to mention that much of the film is as if it were recorded with a handheld video recorder. Too much was unconnected and unexplained. I was expecting a much different film and was disappointed. BOOOORRING
posted Jun 17, 2009 at 2:08PM
SitkaSpruce said:
Boring! I fast-forwarded through a lot of the zero dialogue, non-Anne Hathaway scenes. Don't waste your time on this one.
posted Jun 25, 2009 at 4:25PM
itascapark said:
Rachel Getting Married is a gift. It's both a celebration of a union and a tense, webbed family drama. The filming style is documentary, like we're peeking—eavesdropping—in on the characters. There are moments of humor, anger, joy, violence and affection. It's not an easy, conventional story; certain ends do not meet, some things remain unresolved, but the movie offers a certain cathartic release and finally a kind of solace, a kind of peace. I was very moved by it.
posted Oct 4, 2010 at 11:00AM
Kim B said:
I agree with itascapark. I found this film moving, well-acted and true to life. Anne Hathaway is really good in this. And I really enjoyed seeing Debra Winger in a movie again. Her character was unlikable but as always, she's an excellent actor.
posted Oct 5, 2010 at 3:52PM
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By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Department of Education needs to get tougher on enforcing a ban on incentives for college and vocational school recruiters to discourage deceptive practices, the Government Accountability Office said in a report on Thursday.
Recruiters at some schools, in particular for-profit schools that train students for blue- and pink collar jobs such as air conditioner installer and medical assistant -- have been accused of overly aggressive and deceptive practices.
The Education Department banned most payments to recruiters 1992 and is seeking to close remaining loopholes when it issues a package of final rules around November 1.
Even as the battle rages over whether to tighten the rules, the GAO urged the Education Department to strengthen auditors' procedures, change procedures to focus on schools most likely to violate the ban and update its guidance on penalties for violating the ban.
While the report made little specific mention of for-profit schools, the issue of recruiter incentives is a big one for the schools.
Critics have said many of the schools fail to teach real skills and leave students heavily in debt with student loans. The S&P education services index closed down 1.74 percent on Thursday at $96.09.
The Education Department proposed on June 15 tightening rules against incentives for recruiters.
Currently, safe harbors allow up to two salary or hourly wage adjustments in any 12-month period and allow profit-sharing if it is available to all full-time employees.
Other rules would require schools to give prospective students their graduation and job placement rates.
In July, the department proposed a rule that said for-profit schools would have to prove their former students were either paying off loans or could do so.
Under the proposed rules, the federal government would no longer lend to programs if more than 65 percent of former students failed to pay the principal on federal loans and if their graduates' debt was more than 30 percent of discretionary income and 12 percent of total income, the department said.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan forecast that five percent of programs would lose federal funds.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Andre Grenon)


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Blizzard hasn't cheaped out on us like that yet, and I don't expect them to. However, I can see them doing something during an expansion that reflects on those areas. I mean, on PTR Thrall was in Nagrand doing his shammy training; so we're already seeing Cataclysm related additions to older expansions.


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UAE Police Claim BlackBerry Outage Made Roads Safer
Re:"campaign against the use of ... while driving" (206 comments)
because natural selection doesn't take into account the intelligent getting killed off by idiots swerving into their lane?
Welcome to the Slashdot Beta site -- learn more here. Use the link in the footer or click here to return to the Classic version of Slashdot.
Before you choose to head back to the Classic look of the site, we'd appreciate it if you share your thoughts on the Beta; your feedback is what drives our ongoing development.
Beta is different and we value you taking the time to try it out. Please take a look at the changes we've made in Beta and learn more about it. Thanks for reading, and for making the site better!
Re:"campaign against the use of ... while driving" (206 comments)
because natural selection doesn't take into account the intelligent getting killed off by idiots swerving into their lane?
Re:This wouldn't be a big deal except (560 comments)
You won't have to join Google+. You'll already have an account when they eventually buy out FaceBook. Anyone miss the days when Google was just a search engine?
Re:Falsifying evidence? (666 comments)
Depending on what part of the world you're in, you can be lucky if trespassing doesn't get you shot rather than arrested.
Re:Gives lawyers everywhere a bad name. (120 comments)
Isn't "giving lawyers a bad name" akin to saying "Lord Voldemort is kind of a douche?"
Re:Somebody's Been Pushing This For Years (932 comments)
The people that drive most often along hospitals and schools will be nurses and teachers, though.
Ugh (365 comments)
The comments on that GamePron link make me want to gouge my eyes out. They're worse than the Official WoW forums! The argument where people claim to pirate games because they're "poor" and it's justified in that not everyone can get decent jobs? It makes the mind boggle.
Be real (545 comments)
The RIAA knows it would never see that kind of money. What they really want is to force LimeWire into bankruptcy.
Re:How does that Hopey-Changey horseshit taste? (652 comments)
"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. " - Douglas Adams
Re:Crimebook? (122 comments)
Alot considering moot's had trouble of his own in the past with forum posters.
This article is meaningless (183 comments)
RapidShare actually seems pretty gung-ho (and somewhat efficient) about removing copyrighted content, so I can understand their outrage. They've made alot of effort to ensure that what copyrighted content does get uploaded is removed to the best of their ability. I mean, hell, YouTube does the exact same thing, and you can almost certainly find copyrighted material there right this minute. I would reckon that Google is used to an extent in piracy. How many people do you think find cracks via google? And anyway, there was a time when UseNet was the most active means of software piracy. Does that mean that UseNet should have been shut down? (Trick question: most people don't use UseNet anymore anyway)
Dammit, Slashdot! (393 comments)
That's not fair, linking me to TVTropes. Every time I go there, I wind up reading dozens of barely related articles. I guess it's a good thing I didn't have any plans today.
A dark omen (200 comments)
I'm pretty sure this is the first sign that SkyNet has become self-aware. I mean, he WAS an Austrian with living tissue over metal endoskeleton, maybe his neural net processor had learned things that made it a threat to the system.
Re:Change we can believe in (569 comments)
You must have missed the part where Hitler hated Communists almost as much as he hated Jews.
Re:Change we can believe in (569 comments)
Rights are not granted by gods but by societies. According to the Bible, "God" gives you the right to beat your slaves as long as you don't kill them. And, also, "God" gives men but not women the right to speak in church, and gives women the right to force their rapists to marry them.
Re:Change we can believe in (569 comments)
Please go back to 4th grade civics. This isn't socialism. It's fascism.
It would be bad (171 comments)
Glad to know I'm not the only one fuzzy on the whole good / bad thing.
Re:Er, (457 comments)
In all of the examples you've cited, you're depriving a person of the actual physical property. Your analogy is flawed. 1) Shoplifting a couch deprives the store of property in the form of a sale that the store would have potentially made. For piracy to apply to this analogy, you would have to assume that the pirate would buy the software, when in fact he may only be getting it because it's there and free. 2) Again, you're depriving another person of this vehicle. For piracy to apply here, the pirate would have to steal the software off of someone's computer, and then delete it, and THEN seed the machine in such a way that it can never be put back onto the machine. 3 & 4) Now you're just comparing piracy to violent crime.
Re:Wheel of Bug Chasers! (177 comments)
"I used to mindlessly wipe asses and roll people over for two weeks for that." Whats up, fellow Nursing Assistant?
It must be nice! (267 comments)
So basically, he's suing for 3 million dollars over 5 years because he's addicted to a video game? If he won, that would make him the first person to make $600,000 a year playing video games. At 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, that averages out to $288.46 cents an hour for playing Lineage 2. Most of us will never make that sort of money doing anything, let alone for playing an MMO.
Re:Maryland, the outhouse of the nation (878 comments)
To be fair, I'm from the Lower Shore of Maryland. No one cares what the Lower Shore thinks. To illustrate that, one time during the late 80s, early 90s, the Governor at the time, Willie Don Schaffer, referred to the Lower Shore as a "****house." The Lower Shore was outraged, the rest of the state apparently agreed, because he got re-elected.


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Cranky Kong
This article is about the original Donkey Kong. For information about the current Donkey Kong see here.
"Arrrrgh! This story's even worse than Donkey Kong Country's."
Cranky Kong is Donkey Kong's fourth wall-breaking, constantly complaining and rambling grandfather. He can also be described as argumentative, old, and bad-tempered. He is the elderly form of the original Donkey Kong from the Donkey Kong arcade game.[1] Cranky has been playable in four games when including Japan-only games.
Cranky Kong is the original Donkey Kong from the arcade games (although Nintendo has sometimes ignored this in the past, they do ultimately support Rare's decision). During his youthful prime, Cranky Kong kidnapped Pauline, was kidnapped and trapped in a cage by Mario, and even battled Mario's cousin Stanley in a greenhouse. Not counting the "modern" mixes in the Game & Watch Gallery series, his final role as Donkey Kong was in Donkey Kong '94. After that event, he retired when he relinquished the name to his grandson.
Donkey Kong Country series[edit]
Donkey Kong Country[edit]
Cranky's first appearance as Cranky was in Donkey Kong Country. Here Cranky lives in a slightly rundown shack known as "Cranky's Cabin". From here, Cranky gives randomly selected advice on the game's various items and locations, mostly pertaining to the first few levels, to the new Donkey Kong and his friend Diddy Kong. Unlike the sequels, Cranky asks no fee for his advices and he can be consulted as many times as the player wants to.
In the GameBoy Advance version, Cranky appears after each boss battle to provide commentary. He makes similar appearance in the GBA ports of Donkey Kong Country 2 and Donkey Kong Country 3.
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest[edit]
In Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, Cranky sets up his "Monkey Museum" on Crocodile Isle. It appears as though, through his further aging, it has become more difficult to walk, as he stands with two canes. Once again, Cranky will give out information, this time for a price. In this game, Cranky also scatters several DK Coins throughout the game's various levels. Once Kaptain K. Rool is defeated Cranky will tally Diddy and Dixie Kong's "hero status" by how many DK Coins they have collected. Donkey Kong Country 2 also introduced Cranky's wife, Wrinkly Kong. A poster of Thunder from Killer Instinct can be seen in his house.
In the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 2, Cranky's role remains relatively the same as in the original game, although it was slightly expanded with a new sidequest; it seems with the "fabulous fortune" he made in Donkey Kong Country Cranky bought a racing ostrich he named Expresso. After bulking up Expresso using Golden Feathers, the Kongs can race Expresso for Cranky and try to get trophies for the grouchy old Kong in exchange for rewards.
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble![edit]
In Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, Cranky's appearances have been more or less reduced to just cameos. In Swanky's Sideshow, Cranky Kong acts as Dixie and Kiddy Kong's opponent in various ball throwing minigames. Cranky also appears at the end of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble to criticize Dixie and Kiddy's victory over KAOS and Baron K. Roolenstein, resulting in Dixie and Kiddy Kong approaching him ominously while he tries to avoid an inevitable beating by putting on glasses. If players manage to get the game's "best" ending, Cranky will do a few water-skiing tricks before holding up a sign which says "THE END" in runny ink. He is also top of the All-Time Greats list at the end of the game, having beat the game in 04:22 with 103%. If the player beats the game with the TUFST code activated, thereby attaining 105%, they will get a trophy of Cranky Kong in a black belt's outfit and will be named the 'Immortal Monkey!'.
In the Game Boy Advance version of Donkey Kong Country 3, Cranky runs several dojos, aptly named Cranky's Dojo to prepare for his "first" game, Cranky Kong Country. In Cranky's Dojo, players can gain the ability to play as a shield wielding Cranky during a Bristles dodging minigame. Cranky's Dojo minigame must be beaten at least once to gain a Banana Bird.
Donkey Kong Country Returns[edit]
Cranky appears in Donkey Kong Country Returns and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. In the game, he runs a shop in each world and will often make sarcastic remarks over what Donkey and Diddy Kong buy. Aside from Donkey and Diddy, Cranky is the only Kong from the original trilogy to make a return appearance. According to him, the reason he made the shop was because his pension was revoked, so he has to sell things to make money.
To buy things in Cranky Kong's shop, the player needs to have Banana Coins. In his shop, there are Extra Life Balloons bundled into groups of 1, 3, and 7 balloons. There is also a Heart Boost, which gives Donkey or Diddy the ability to have three hearts for the duration of one level, Banana Juice, which gives limited invincibility like a Starman, and Squawks the Parrot, who helps the Kongs collect undiscovered Puzzle Pieces in levels. There is also a key for sale, which gives access to the locked path in each world.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze[edit]
Cranky Kong is a playable partner character in Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, marking the first time he has been fully playable in a Donkey Kong Country game[2]. Cranky is able to use his cane to bounce upward, as well as on spikes, and defeat certain enemies that the other Kongs cannot. He can also use his cane to attack enemies underwater and shoot dentures with his Denture Popgun.
Club Nintendo[edit]
"Donkey Kong Country"[edit]
He also appeared in the Club Nintendo comic "Donkey Kong Country". He is the first one to discover that King K. Rool has stolen the Kongs' Banana Hoard, which follows the story of the game. Cranky's appearance in the comic differs slightly from his standard look, as he is wearing a blue shirt instead of a gray or brown one.
"Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24"[edit]
In the comic "Donkey Kong in: Banana Day 24", published in the same magazine, he supported Donkey, Diddy, Dixie and Kiddy on their mission to save the Earth from being pulled away from the sun by a giant UFO. It was his idea to carry on negotiations with the aliens so they would release the Earth. The President of the United States puts a space shuttle at the Kongs' disposal, and Cranky is the one to navigate it. He beams Donkey, Diddy and Dixie into the UFO and stays in the Kongs' space shuttle meanwhile. When their mission succeeds, he navigates the space shuttle back to Earth, where the Kongs are being hailed by the people. Euphorically, Cranky tries to kiss a random girl, much to her disgust. After returning to their jungle, Cranky gets in trouble with his wife Wrinkly because of this. During the events of this story, Cranky did not show much of his grouchy traits as often discovered in the games, but instead appears as a helpful person.
Donkey Kong Land series[edit]
While Cranky does not appear in any of the Donkey Kong Land games, the instruction booklet for the first Donkey Kong Land explains that the game happens because of Cranky. Slightly jealous of Donkey and Diddy's success over the evil King K. Rool, Cranky tricks them into making a bet with him: if Donkey and Diddy can reclaim Donkey's Banana Hoard from King K. Rool again, this time on an eight-bit system, he will admit that they are adequate gaming heroes. In the end, Cranky ends up eating his words when Donkey and Diddy once again defeat K. Rool and the Kremling Krew.
Additionally, the instruction booklet for Donkey Kong Land II accidentally states that "Even old Cranky charges for his words of wisdom", having copied and pasted the line directly from the Donkey Kong Country 2 manual[3]
Donkey Kong Country television series[edit]
Cranky was also a main character on the Donkey Kong Country television series. Here, Cranky was as grouchy and bitter as he was in the games. However, he's far less arrogant than in the video games. On the show, instead of living in a cabin on the ground like in the games, Cranky instead lives in a cabin on a tree-top village, similar to ones seen in the area Vine Valley from the Donkey Kong Country game. On the show, Cranky was also seen to be adept at potion-making and magic, a trait later carried on into the games.
Donkey Kong 64[edit]
Professor Cranky appeared in Donkey Kong 64, having now taken up science. Cranky's Lab can be found in every area of Donkey Kong 64 except Hideout Helm. At Cranky's Lab, the Kongs can pay Cranky for several potions that can give them new powers and abilities. Also, if the Kongs manage to collect fifteen Banana Medals, Cranky will allow them to play Jetpac, an early Rare game. The Kongs must beat the Jetpac game in order to obtain the Rareware Coin. Cranky also acts as the Kongs' coach during their boxing match against King Krusha K. Rool.
A very little known fact about Cranky's role in Donkey Kong 64 is that it was one of several themes based on the old Donkey Kong Country TV show, in which Cranky was sometimes seen mixing up magic potions to use on either himself or others to advance that episode's plot.
Super Smash Bros. series[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Cranky makes a small cameo in the background of Jungle Japes, where he can be seen pacing back and forth in his cabin.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he once again appears on the Super Smash Bros. Melee stage Jungle Japes. He also appears in his 8-bit form from Donkey Kong on the 75m stage, derived from the third (second in the NES version) stage by the same name in said game. He is mostly not seen on the stage, but will occasionally show up and deal damage and decent knockback to anyone who touches him. He also throws Springs across the top of the stage, similar to how he did in the original arcade game. The "stage start" theme from Donkey Kong can be heard when he shows up on the stage. Lastly, Cranky Kong also appears as a sticker and a trophy.
Cranky's trophy states that his first playable appearance is in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, however this is only the first game in which Cranky is playable in all regions, as he had been playable in the earlier Japan-only release Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku.
Donkey Konga series[edit]
Cranky also appears in the Donkey Konga series, though he is only playable in the series' third installment, Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku.
DK series[edit]
DK: King of Swing[edit]
In DK: King of Swing Cranky Kong, along with the ghost of his wife Wrinkly, teaches Donkey Kong how to use the games unique controls in Cranky's Lectures. Cranky, along with Candy Kong, is the only Kong who is not playable in DK: King of Swing's Jungle Jam mode.
DK: Jungle Climber[edit]
Cranky once again appears in DK: Jungle Climber. He teaches DK and Diddy how to play the game, and also appears in various levels to teach them moves. Cranky has a very active and good-tempered role in this game, as he follows DK, Diddy and Xananab throughout the various islands. He also tells the characters what they can do with the various Banana Coins, DK Coins, and Oil Barrels they find throughout the levels once they are collected.
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast[edit]
Cranky appears in Donkey Kong Barrel Blast as an unlockable character, unlocked by completing Challenge 24 of Candy's Challenges. He has oddly high stats, and is a rival to King K. Rool.
Contrary to popular belief, this is not Cranky's first North American playable appearance (which was stated on his trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl), as he was playable in the Cranky's Dojo minigame in the GBA version of Donkey Kong Country 3. He was also playable in the Japan-only Donkey Konga 3: Tabehōdai! Haru Mogitate 50 Kyoku.
Identity confusion[edit]
Rareware originally created the Cranky Kong character as an older version of the original Donkey Kong from the Donkey Kong game, though it has been disputed if he is supposed to be the current Donkey Kong's father or grandfather. The developers have made conflicting statements, although Cranky Kong being his grandfather was the more frequent and popular story; the general conundrum is that there have generally been more in-game indications throughout the series of Donkey Kong being his grandson, while certain supplemental materials will occasionally state otherwise. Cranky's relation to Donkey Kong is not explicitly stated in the television series, although he actively acts as a father figure and once said that he considered him like a son. However, Rare tried to maintain consistency in their last game, Donkey Kong 64; Cranky Kong consistently addresses him as "son", implying a direct parental role. In Rare Scribes, one of the key writers explained that the modern Donkey Kong was intended to be an adult Donkey Kong Jr., and requested players to completely ignore the instances where Cranky was stated to be his grandfather. Fans have since been split on whether or not to take this statement seriously.
After Rare left Nintendo, Donkey Kong's nature was left open for some time, which led some to think that Nintendo had changed their stance on the matter. Mario vs. Donkey Kong was advertised by stating that Donkey Kong was Mario's oldest rival. However, this was refuted by Mario Superstar Baseball (which attributed Pauline's kidnapping to Cranky), though it remained ambiguous about the two apes' relationship by merely stating that Cranky was the current Donkey Kong's "ancestor". Subsequently, Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis implies that Donkey Kong met Pauline for the first time and becomes smitten at first sight. The remake of Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! stated that Cranky Kong's first starring role would be called "Cranky Kong Country" (though he may have been talking about the first game he would be playable in). Super Smash Bros. Brawl claims that the original Donkey Kong is the current Donkey Kong's grandfather, though it does not take place in-universe and is thus not necessarily accurate. As of Retro Studios' Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo's position of Cranky Kong being the grandfather of the modern Donkey Kong has been reaffirmed.
Game appearances (as Cranky)[edit]
Official profiles and statistics[edit]
Trophy information from Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
Super Smash Bros. Brawl sticker information[edit]
Names in other languages[edit]
- Rewrite Requested
- Kongs
- Donkey Kong Country
- Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
- Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!
- Donkey Kong 64
- DK: King of Swing
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Parents
- Mentors
- Married
- Primates
- Crucial Kongs
- Shopkeepers
- Merchants and Salespeople
- Unlockables
- Playable Characters
- DK: Jungle Climber
- Donkey Kong Allies
- Donkey Kong Barrel Blast
- Donkey Kong Characters
- Donkey Kong Country (television series)
- Donkey Kong Land
- Donkey Konga
- Super Smash Bros. Stickers
- Super Smash Bros. Trophies
- Grandparents