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Digital Radically Disrupts HR
Digital technology is evolving at breakneck speed, changing the way businesses and governments fundamentally operate in a wide variety of ways. HR is no different. As digital enables talent management to become more democratized and more of an activity that is embedded into the fabric of everyday business, it will provide a significant opportunity to change for HR. Five major developments are poised to move this revolution forward:
1. Data and Integration will be King
Analytics—the use of data to produce business-relevant insights that lead to action—has been heralded as the new step change for HR. Yet few HR organizations have a robust analytic capability, as collecting data can be expensive and time-consuming. In the future, companies will integrate existing warehouses of HR and talent data with Big Data obtained from social and local data sources—tweets, blog posts, RSS feeds, customer service feedback, GPS coordinates and more—to get a complete picture of their workforce's abilities, wants and needs.
Analytics could make HR the strategic powerhouse it was meant to be—by positioning it to move from historical analysis (understanding what happened) to predictive analysis (forecasting what's going to happen and what talent levers HR must pull to improve business performance).
2. Digital will give Power—and People Management—to the People
Technology advances are enabling HR to put the "human" back into human resources, and helping give people management back to the people. This could include involving employees and managers in high-impact talent processes—including recruiting, hiring, succession planning, learning and shaping career paths. All this will happen thanks to an emerging class of social and market-based tools that will let employees manage almost every aspect of their professional lives digitally.
In this future, the administrative burden that HR organizations currently carry may lighten up considerably. Technology will continue to enable shared responsibilities across business and HR to maximize business results.
3. Consumerization of Employee Used Applications
Closely linked to the advent of cloud computing is the rise of businesses like LinkedIn, where talent management systems live on the web and are shared by companies. Today, employees and job candidates can input their resumes and skills on such sites. By doing so, they may circumvent the need for internal talent profile databases that aggregate individuals' skills, job history, education, competencies and more.
Already, some organizations are drawing more on such external, public sites and integrating data from these sites into their own HR information systems. Although doing so may require some work matching data definitions used in external sites to data definitions used in internal systems, some companies are successfully blurring the line between internal and external applications.
4. Digital Technologies will Enable Customized Talent Management
Most organizations have already achieved maximum cost savings by using information technology to standardize and harmonize their people practices across their global operations. But HR professionals can now leverage that standardized framework to tailor employment practices to every worker. For example, companies can simply offer a greater variety of standard practices—such as different compensation, development or performance appraisal processes tailored to different employee segments. Or, they could let employees choose from a menu of predefined, standard options.
Just as digital changed marketing by enabling customization of products and messages, digital is similarly transforming HR. Digital can now be used to push out customized offerings, including learning and job opportunities, targeted, personalized messages, or personalized information based on an analysis of an individual's social media digital trail and artificial intelligence that predict what an individual needs and values based on their unique employee segment.
5. Cloud Computing will Provide further Flexibility and Agility
Increasingly, organizations are accessing shared resources, software and information over the Internet on a pay-as-you-go basis. This cloud computing approach will give HR more flexibility to support the business. With the advent of software-as-a-service, for example, companies can now update and introduce the latest innovations enabled through software every three to six months instead of every few years.
In the consumer world, people are becoming accustomed to smaller, single-use applications available for iPhones and iPads. By using similar kinds of applications in the enterprise, organizations can provide employees with the functionality they need and can avoid costly seldom-used features.
The Impact on HR
Additionally, as digital infuses nearly every aspect of talent management and work itself, it will transform how HR organizations operate and how they serve the business. We see it impacting HR in the following ways:
Agile-style HR Function
The HR function may become more focused as digital tools more efficiently enable transactional processes and as line managers and employees adopt consumer-like applications to handle HR activities themselves. HR may become more project-oriented and aimed at improving organizational effectiveness—such as helping to integrate a new acquisition.
Core Activities of the HR Function
HR may start acting like a marketing organization, by analyzing employee, business and social data to create a 360-degree view of the employee; creating customized talent offerings; and marketing, branding and educating employees about talent and HR activities. Already, in some leading companies, HR analytics groups have been established whose mission is to analyze data to proactively predict drivers of workforce performance.
HR Information Management and Technology Roles
As the line continues to blur between internal and external applications, the role of HR information management and technology professionals could change. As software becomes increasingly user-friendly and intuitive, HR professionals may configure packaged software instead of IT experts. Eventually, software and the manipulation of data may become so user-friendly that employees themselves may even be able to manage their own data, with only limited involvement from the IT or HR function.
For years, the human resources function has shouldered much of the responsibility for managing people, in a largely segregated operation. Technology advances will change all this, by integrating talent management into the fabric of everyday business. HR IT will further integrate with the business side of Human Resources thus becoming a vital component of organizational performance in an increasingly competitive and fast-changing world.


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A Wall Street Journal columnist, Bret Stephens, has demonstrated the importance of a growing U.S. population and the need for immigration to sustain such growth.[1]
"A decade ago, America's fertility rate, at 2.12 children for every woman, was just above the replacement rate. That meant there could be modest population growth without immigration. But the fertility rate has since fallen: It's now below replacement and at an all-time low."
"Without immigration, our demographic destiny . . . [would leave] us with the worst of both worlds: economic stagnation without social stability. Multiethnic America would tear itself to pieces fighting over redistribution rights to the shrinking national pie."
However, this "doesn't have to be our fate. [I]immigrants aren't a threat to American civilization. They are our civilization—bearers of a forward-looking notion of identity based on what people wish to become, not who they once were. Among those immigrants are 30% of all American Nobel Prize winners and the founders of 90 of our Fortune 500 companies—a figure that more than doubles when you include companies founded by the children of immigrants. If immigration means change, it forces dynamism. America is literally unimaginable without it."[2]
The importance of immigrants for U.S. vitality was an important conclusion of a recent study of 46 Midwestern metropolitan areas conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, a nonpartisan organization. In these metropolitan areas immigrants are helping offset population loss and economic strains caused by people moving away and by the retirements and deaths of native-born residents. In at least one of these metropolitan areas (Akron Ohio) immigrants and refugees were filling entry-level jobs for local manufacturing and food-processing companies that have had trouble hiring for those slots. This will become even more important in the future when many of the native-born workers will be retiring.[3]
Another recent study concluded that international immigration is giving a boost to population growth in big urban areas in the U.S. even as local residents flee for places with lower housing costs. The top beneficiaries of international immigration were primarily major coastal cities, led by the Miami metropolitan area.[4]
A more nuanced view of U.S. immigration is taken by Mark Krikorian, the Executive Director of Washington, D.C.'s Center for Immigration Studies, who would "limit immigration to the husbands, wives and young children of U.S. citizens; to skilled workers who rank among the top talents in the world; and to the small number of genuine refugees whose situation is so extraordinary that they cannot be helped where they are." [5]
He claims that almost all of the arguments for limiting immigration share a common theme: protection. Even those advocating much more liberal immigration policies acknowledge the need to protect Americans from terrorists, foreign criminals and people who pose a threat to public health. Supporters of stricter limits, such as me, seek wider protections: protection for less-skilled workers, protection for the social safety net, and protection for the civic and cultural foundations of American society."
Krikorian cites a study by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine finding that immigration boosts economic growth in the long term and modestly improves the country's demographic profile as the native population ages while creating a small net economic benefit. But this net economic benefit involves a redistribution from labor to capital.
In contrast to the U.S., Bret Stephens points out, is Japan. Its birth rate is very low. Its life expectancy is very high. Its immigration is very low. As a result, Japan has an aging, declining population. "Japan's population shrank by nearly a million between 2010 and 2015, the first absolute decline since census-taking began in the 1920s. On current trend the [current] population [of 127 million] will fall to 97 million by the middle of the century. Barely 10% of Japanese will be children. The rest of the population will divide almost evenly between working-age adults and the elderly."
Moreover, as "Morgan Stanley's Ruchir Sharma has noted, lousy demographics mean a lousy economy.. . . In 2016, Japan's growth rate was 1%—and that was a relatively good year by recent standard. . . . The average rate of GDP growth in countries with shrinking working-age populations is only 1.5%."
In short, Stephens concludes, "Americans may need reminding that the culture of openness about which conservatives so often complain is our abiding strength. Openness to different ideas, foreign goods and new people. And their babies . . . are also made in God's image."[6]
[1] Stephens, 'Other People's Babies,' W.S.J. (Mar. 20, 2017).
[2] Another example is New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, whose father, Wladyslaw Krzysztofowicz, was born in Romania (now Ukraine) and who came to the U.S. in 1952 with the sponsorship of a Presbyterian church in Portland, Oregon after he had been arrested by the Gestapo in World War II and imprisoned in a Yugoslav concentration camp after the war. (Kristof, Mr. Trump, Meet My Family, N.Y. Times (Jan. 2, 2017).
[3] Paral, Immigration a Demographic Lifeline in Midwestern Metros, Chicago Council on Global Affairs (Mar. 23, 2017); Connors, In the Midwest, Immigrants Are Stemming Population Decline, W.S.J. (Mar. 23, 2017).
[4] Kosisto, International Immigration Gives Boost to Big U.S. Cities, Study Says, W.S.J. (Mar. 23, 2017)
[5] Krikorian, The Real Immigration Debate: Who to Let In and Why, W.S.J. (Mar. 24, 2017) The Center for Immigration Studies asserts that it is "an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization. Since our founding in 1985, we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States."
[6] Therefore, Bret Stephens asserts that Iowa's Congressman Stephen King was misguided and mistaken in his tweet about Dutch anti-Muslim politician Geert Wilders who called his country's Moroccan population as "scum." King said: "Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny, We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies."

subset: commoncrawl


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elcome to Kevin O'Brien's Official Website
Kevin O'Brien is currently Vice Captain of the Ireland Cricket Team and holds the record for the fastest century ever scored at a World Cup, coming from 50 balls against England on 2 March 2011.
He started playing cricket with Railway Union Cricket Club in Dublin and has been there ever since. He made his Irish debut in 2006 and took a wicket with his first ever ball in One Day International game, the 3rd person to do that in history of game.
In the 2007 World Cup in West Indies Kevin was an integral part of the squad which beat Pakistan on St Patrick's day, beat Bangladesh in the super 8's and tied with Zimbabwe in Ireland's first ever World Cup game.
He played in the T20 World Cup in 2009 held in England. Scored 39 not out in 17 balls against Bangladesh to seal our Super 8 participation.
Kevin is a patron of cricket in Ireland and has set up The Kevin O'Brien Cricket Academy. The Academy works with Irish clubs, colleges and schools in improving their game through tailored coaching, 1 on 1 sessions and team development, with remarkable success to date. School/summer camps and 1 on 1 consultations are also available.


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Over breakfast one morning, a woman said to her husband, "I bet you don't know what day this is."
"Of course I do," he indignantly answered, going out the door to the office.
At 10 AM, the doorbell rang, and when the woman opened the door, she was handed a box containing a dozen long stemmed red roses.
At 1 PM, a foil wrapped , two pound box of her favorite chocolates arrived.
Later, a boutique delivered a designer dress. T
he woman couldn't wait for her husband to come home . "First the flowers then the chocolates, and then the dress!" she exclaimed. "I've never had a more wonderful 'Arbor Day' in all my life!"


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Indigo Herbs have a brilliant chocolate making kit with the extra plus side that it is also healthy for you too.
Thursday, 11 January 2018
Indigo Herbs Organic Chocolate Making Kit Giveaway
Indigo Herbs have a brilliant chocolate making kit with the extra plus side that it is also healthy for you too.
123 comments:
It is a sweet treat that leaves me feeling good!ReplyDelete
Chocolate always makes me feel great and it is good with everything!ReplyDelete
- Solange11 January 2018 at 19:58
I love it's rich, creamy flavour and the way it melts in my mouth.ReplyDelete
I love the rush it brings. And the flavour it leaves in your mouthReplyDelete
I love dark chocolate and using cacoa to flavour bakingReplyDelete
I just love the taste especially with a nice cup of coffeeReplyDelete
Chocolate is so tasty and I love snuggling down on after a busy day and eating the whole bar.ReplyDelete
- maria rogers11 January 2018 at 22:01
Flattery will get you everywhere, CHOCOLATE gets you there faster!ReplyDelete
Love chocolate nice treat to have and shareReplyDelete
- Dean T11 January 2018 at 23:14
I love choccy because it helps cheer me up when I have had a poor day, nothing like a block of dairy to cheer me upReplyDelete
I'd love to try this proper chocolate!ReplyDelete
I love how it melts in your mouth!ReplyDelete
It just tastes so good and feels like a great treatReplyDelete
I love chocolate,it can cheer me up when needed, very comforting taste and would love to try thisReplyDelete
when I eat chocolate it gives me a wee lift for the dayReplyDelete
Because it tastes so good :) one of life's little pick me upsReplyDelete
It is delicious and I find it a great comfort foodReplyDelete
- Gwyn Sharps12 January 2018 at 12:04
WOW! I'm vegan and this would be totally awesome for me. I didn't know this existed! xReplyDelete
- Anonymous12 January 2018 at 13:03
I love both the taste and the texture and eating it gives me a sense of well being.ReplyDelete
It is a real treat and a comfort food when I have had a rough day.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it is always a treat but especially at certain times of the monthReplyDelete
love chocolate and it goes well with a cup of tea xReplyDelete
- nicola day12 January 2018 at 15:22
I like trying different flavours such as salted caramel chocolateReplyDelete
i love chocolate because it makes me happy when i eat itReplyDelete
yum chocolateReplyDelete
- helen tovell12 January 2018 at 19:24
It can give you a lift at some of the most down est timesReplyDelete
I love the flavour plus I think it definitely makes me feels betterReplyDelete
- Elizabeth13 January 2018 at 00:39
Anyone who wants to know why I love chocolate has never tasted it. In which case, I feel sorry for them.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because its delicious & makes me feel good inside - I'm a complete chocoholicReplyDelete
Chocolate and a cup of tea always seems to solve all your problems!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it always makes a bad day better! :) xReplyDelete
What a wonderful idea - I would love to make this with children - yummyReplyDelete
Oooh I like this idea for valentines day! Nothing no nicer than being in the kitchen with your loved one, cooking with chocolate ❤ReplyDelete
I like good quality chocolate especially the dark variety.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it never fails to make me feel better when I have had a hard day! I'd choose chocolate over wine any day! :-)ReplyDelete
good quality chocolate is yummy and fills a spot nothing else canReplyDelete
Love the texture and the soft creamy taste - milk chocolate for me xReplyDelete
apart from being tasty and filling, it gives me a boost of energyReplyDelete
It saves me from insanity :) Just me and chocolate hiding in the wardrobe from my family so I can have 5 minutes peace hahaReplyDelete
Its such a nice treat to perk you up after a bad day.ReplyDelete
I love it cuz it just makes my days seem that little less stressfullReplyDelete
It tastes delicious and cheers you up when i am feeling down xReplyDelete
- Anonymous13 January 2018 at 22:18
Tasty, melts in the mouth. Nice with a cup of tea, and great for sharing. Love to share chocolate/s with family and friends.ReplyDelete
Rachel Craig
- Sadiyya maryam13 January 2018 at 22:27
Total comfort treat especially after a tough day and delicious.ReplyDelete
It helps me with my workouts I know but its true.ReplyDelete
I love the snap when you break a bar, the smell and the feeling of warmth when you eat it!ReplyDelete
I like chocolate as a treatReplyDelete
Just how it melts in your mouth and it always tastes better when you are snuggled up in a blanket or bedReplyDelete
It makes me so happy and tastes incredible!ReplyDelete
At the moment I am on a strict 3 shake no food diet so I love it even more because I can't have it. I usually love it when I am allowed it because there are so many varieties available so I can always use the 'I've not tried that one yet' so you don't feel guilty.ReplyDelete
chocolate is the best thing that was ever invented!ReplyDelete
The taste, the way it melts in your mouth, and the fact it feels so naughty but is so good.ReplyDelete
I love the texture of chocolate, the way it melts in your mouth. My husband is dairy intolerant and really misses chocolate, so I'd love to win to see if I can create something he would enjoy!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it tastes great and it lifts my moodReplyDelete
- lynsey Buchanan16 January 2018 at 03:51
I love chocolate it always feel like a treat and lifts my mood.ReplyDelete
its a real treat and comfort food at any time of the dayReplyDelete
- Shan G16 January 2018 at 17:07
Because it brings me such pleasure when I taste it! It calms the nerves, smooths pmt and always feels like such a treat.ReplyDelete
Why does anyone love chocolate - it is LIFE! - Dopemine flood, time to yourself - even a one minute meditation on the sweet sugar and fat dissolving in your mouth... mmmmmmmm!ReplyDelete
Chocolate makes me feel happy and I also love cooking with it !ReplyDelete
Eating chocolate makes me feel good :-) until after when I feel fat lol. That is only because I always eat a family size bar rather than just a little bit. I could never cut chocolate out of my life!ReplyDelete
How can anyone not love chocolate, it makes me happy, I love to cook with it and its very versatileReplyDelete
It's a lovely sweet treat which makes everything better =DReplyDelete
Because it tastes so nice how can you not love itReplyDelete
do you need a reason to love chocolate? its just soooo amazing! tastes so good and can always cheer you up no matter what!!!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it tastes so good. I'm on a diet so I try and stick to dark chocolate at the moment.ReplyDelete
i have allways loved chocolate, it reminds me of being a kidReplyDelete
Just it's my comfort food so love it as my treatReplyDelete
it always makes me feel better!ReplyDelete
It's delicious, comforting and brightens every dayReplyDelete
Chocolate is definitely mood boosting and tastes delicious which is why I love it so much.ReplyDelete
it makes me happier! nice and relaxed :PReplyDelete
I just love the taste of all chocolate. . Who doesn'tReplyDelete
choco choco chocolate yes please i just love it!ReplyDelete
Its just the best naughty treat in the world ever!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate as it tastes amazing from dark chocolate to milk chocolate, It all tastes so good even if it doesn't go well as part of my diet.ReplyDelete
Its what I call sanity, I'm still crazy thoughReplyDelete
I really like it as is it is the perfect snack and pick me up! and helps you recover from dementor attacks ;)ReplyDelete
Chocolate is comfort food,delicious with coffee or tea,or melted on icecream.ReplyDelete
It is the go to snack in the larder of an evening.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it's so comforting, a bad day always feels better after some chocolate...if only I only ate it on bad days!ReplyDelete
I have such a sweet tooth! Chocolate is just so yummy and helps me relax.ReplyDelete
I just love chocolate, I love the flavour, that you can give it as a gift and it instantly improves the mood. What is there not to love about Chocolate?!ReplyDelete
I love the way that chocolate just melts in your mouthReplyDelete
Looks like an amazing kit!ReplyDelete
Looks like an amazing kit!ReplyDelete
Chocolate tastes good, smells good and gives me that feel good feelingReplyDelete
I can actually lose weight and keep my weight down eating some black organic chocolate and its good for anxiety disorder which I suffer. For me chocolate is healthy and the dark is my favourite !ReplyDelete
Chocolate is the best because it never fails to cheer me upReplyDelete
The smoothness, the melting on the tongue, the sugar hit...ReplyDelete
- Jessica Barber6 February 2018 at 19:33
It's sooo delicious and comforting! It makes any dessert better in my view!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it is so deliciously melt in the mouthReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it is very good for me, tastes delicious and you only need a little to feel very comfortable indeed!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it melts in your mouth and it's delicious. I'm now not eating chocolate except for the weekend, because I love it too much!ReplyDelete
It makes me happy!ReplyDelete
The silkiness as it melts on my tongueReplyDelete
Would love to win this! 😍🤞⭐ReplyDelete
i like chocolate and now apparently it also healthy in small amounts, dark chocolate also helps you sleep. got an excuse to eat it nowReplyDelete
It tastes great and always cheers me upReplyDelete
- Anonymous8 February 2018 at 11:39
I like dark chocolate because it reminds me of my grandma.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate as it is so yummy and picks me up when I am down 🙈ReplyDelete
I love the silky, melt in your mouth taste of chocolate.ReplyDelete
- IAN CHEYNE8 February 2018 at 17:52
Chocolate is just a great chill out product. It is either chocolate or nothingReplyDelete
I love the taste of course, but I also love that it comes in so many varieties and flavours. Thank you for the competition.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it always lifts my spiritsReplyDelete
It's sweet, it's tasty and if it's good chocolate it's wonderfully rich.ReplyDelete
This comment has been removed by the author.ReplyDelete
It is just amazing , luxurious taste and sweet , love it.ReplyDelete
Good for the heart and soulReplyDelete
- Lauren Jones9 February 2018 at 10:11
This looks so good, Id love to try this and get my little niece to helpReplyDelete
- fiona johnstone9 February 2018 at 10:16
Just love the taste, dark chocolate specially. Rich and smooth YummyReplyDelete
Do love the range of flavours and textures you can get. Oh and who thought that you could have "chili" and chocolate? It's very yummy though.ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it tastes great and can give a little energy boost, provided you use it carefully for that.ReplyDelete
Chocolate is the best comfort food! It's delicious with coffee or tea, or sprinkled on icecream!!!ReplyDelete
The way the velvety texture melts in my mouth and makes me feel special!ReplyDelete
I enjoy the taste of different chocolates especially crunchy praline my favourite :-)ReplyDelete
Honestly what is there not to love about chocolate, I am a self confessed chocoholic, it makes me feel happy and just tastes so divine - not so good for the waist however :-)ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it tastes so yummy, it's comforting and there is a flavour and texture for every occasion!ReplyDelete
chocolate is a nice treat, as I am not supposed to have dairyReplyDelete
It satisfies my sweet tooth... x x xReplyDelete
It's delicious and great for when yoir feeling down xReplyDelete
It's heaven on earth!ReplyDelete
I love chocolate because it gives me something to look forward to a few times a week!ReplyDelete
It's heaven on earth and the person who buys it for me is an angel (Hint, hint to my other half!)ReplyDelete


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Are you looking for a cute Valentine's gift that isn't candy related? Then you've got to check out these cute little finger puppets from Counting Sheep Décor! You can purchase the patterns as an instant download or even purchase the kits with everything included. Easy Peasy!
Just a quick update about our sweet little preemie, Emmett. I posted about him month ago, but he's come a long way since then. He's about 6 weeks old now, is 4lbs 7oz, and is doing fabulous. We really couldn't ask for him to be doing any better. He's met 2 of the 3 benchmarks required for going home - breathing on his own and holding his own body temperature. He's using a bottle and nursing now, but we're still working up to 100% oral feedings (as opposed to getting anything through the feeding tube). He eats like a champ, he just gets worn out quickly. Once he's able to eat 100% on his own, then he'll be able to come home with us! We're hoping it will only be another 2 weeks, but it all depends on him. He's such a sweet boy though. He just melts my heart! The picture above was a little collage I put together one night while holding him. You can see the dates on the pictures, but they were taken exactly one month apart. He's definitely starting to fill out and get some baby chub. It's obvious when you look at his legs and his cheeks.
These Lemon Bars from Sewlicious Home Décor look so yummy!! Delish!
The Valentine's Day Categorically Crafting Party is open. We'd all love to see your Valentine's projects!
This coming Friday, the St. Patrick's Day Categorically Crafting Party will be open. Be sure to come back and link up your St. Patrick's Day projects.


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Rugby World Cup 2023 Italy Flag Pin
Show your support for the Italian rugby team at the Rugby World Cup 2023 with this stunning silver plated flag pin. Featuring the vibrant colors and iconic design of Italy, this high-quality pin is a must-have accessory for rugby enthusiasts. Attach it to your bag, clothing, or cap to proudly display your support. Get your Rugby World Cup 2023 Italy Flag Pin now and be ready to experience the excitement of this global event. Comes on a RWC 2023 branded backing card with authenticity hologram.
Enter your order number and email address to start - Please ensure this is the full order number and delivery address you used to place the order. Follow the instructions and select the items you want to return. Once your request is approved, you will get a confirmation email with shipping guidelines.
If you are looking to have an order delivered into Japan - you have to shop in the dedicated store . The Japanese store is a completely separate store, with a separate stock holding.
However, if you are based in Japan, but you are looking to have your order delivered to anywhere else outside Japan, you can shop with us here. If you have any questions, please contact us here.
Use this popup to embed a mailing list sign up form. Alternatively use it as a simple call to action with a link to a product or a page.
By clicking enter you are verifying that you are old enough to consume alcohol.


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There is the old saying that is far to frequently used as a comparison to older people being set in there ways and unwilling to change. That saying is, you cannot teach an old dog a new trick. You would be surprised what your dog is capable of with some patience and time, and a bit of planning your dog can start learning some new commands and actions.
Now most dogs keep their character traits and maintain the same personality from the time there a puppy until they're a full-grown dog. For example a dog that is nervous or in general scared of other people or dogs, without your assistance and intervention isn't likely to change their behavior.
A solid option that is with in your control is to teach your dog to behave in specific situations a certain way. Like the ability to remain calm and attentive to you're commands in a threatening situation. You want your dog to look to you as the pack leader. This is imperative if you expect your dog to follow your directions when it comes to learning a new task or trick.
It's important to teach the correct response to hand signals and voice cues. This is a vital method of communication to a dog you're training. You must remain consistent and patient during this process; your dog can sense your frustration and aggravation. So if at any time you are feeling anxious or just not in a great mood, give your dog some space and move training time back a bit to when your feeling in better spirits.
Using treats is a very good way to keep your dog interested in learning a new trick. Using the sit command, as an initial learning experience for your dog is a great idea, now for the most part even older dogs already know how to perform this command without much effort. This comes very naturally to dogs.
Studies show, that out of all domesticated animals, dogs are the most cable of picking up on facial expressions and visual and audible cues to accomplish goals that you set out in front of them. So in essence no matter what shape and size or even age your dog is, they ultimately have this all wired into there genetic make up.
Lay down is an important command to teach your dog. It shows submission in a situation where they might have been doing something you don't care for, for example barking at the neighbor as they walk by the window out front of your home. Or even when you're walking with them down the block for their daily romp around the neighborhood on a leash. Keep the treats in your pocket; get them to stop barking, once there calm and focused solely on you, then its appropriate to give them a treat.
Only after they have 100% relaxed and become calm submissive, then and only then do you reward them. This teaches them a learned behavior or "trick" using a treat to reward your dog is called conditional stimulus and is the most common way to train your dog to follow your directions.
Just remember to consciously follow through with a reward for the action once accomplished and you should very likely see the dog learning this new behavior and what will occur once they complete the task or action.


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Skype, Spotify creators hope to inspire European innovation
Angry Birds, Skype and Spotify may all be the product of European creativity, but if the old continent is ever going to challenge Silicon Valley for tech supremacy, it's going to have to do a lot better.
Angry Birds, Skype and Spotify may all be the product of European creativity, but if the old continent is ever going to challenge Silicon Valley for tech supremacy, it's going to have to do a lot better.
Acknowledging the global dominance of U.S. brands such as Facebook, Google and Apple, the European Commission launched a campaign this week to encourage more technology entrepreneurship on Europe's side of the Atlantic.
'Europeans need to be creative and fearless,' Neelie Kroes, the European commissioner responsible for digital issues and technology, said as she launched Startup Europe on Wednesday.
'That's how dozens of the world's most exciting web and tech companies were born in the EU, and I want the world to know it.'
Kroes's campaign aims to help local innovators create and develop businesses while remaining in Europe. From January next year, it will be accompanied by a separate program to provide research funding for European startups.
'We're trying to show that running to America or selling out your company to America isn't necessary to be successful,' said Ryan Heath, the EU Commission's spokesman on digital issues.
Tech startups create around three million new jobs in the United States each year. But in Europe, the track record is more mixed. Finland and Estonia may provide a good environment for innovation, but Greece, Spain and Belgium are more difficult places to be a small business developers, Heath said.
European innovators have shown they can do it in the past, so the hope is that specialist funding and support, including guidance from successful entrepreneurs, will help innovators achieve big things in the future.
The role models in Europe include Skype, the web-based calling service that now handles a third of international calls, and Angry Birds, a Finnish-designed app that has branched out into merchandise, advertisements and a movie.
'I've long believed that Europe's technology entrepreneurs should come together to discuss important issues that affect us all,' said Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, an online digital music service created in Europe.
Speaking after entrepreneurs held an inaugural meeting on Wednesday to share ideas about supporting innovation, Ek said he was glad to 'help shape policy in areas that will create the growth and jobs of the future'.
Follow HT Tech for the latest tech news and reviews , also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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Carsten Rahbek
Section for Biodiversity
Universitetsparken 15, 2100 København Ø
Medlem af:
Aktuel forskning
I'm the director of Center for Macroecology Evolution and Climate (CMEC) and have an active interest in all its research activities.
My main personal research interests are patterns of species distribution, species range sizes, species assemblages, species richness and what determines such patterns (contemporary and historical factors or perhaps also just a bit of chance). Recent focus has been on the issue of climate change, the role of scale and conceptual formulation and practical design of null- and predictive models that allow direct testing of hypotheses related to patterns of diversity in the past, today and in the future. The natural "other side" of my research relates how evolutionary and ecographical principles can be used to identify robust priorities for conservation of biodiversity.
Biodiversity (3. year, block 1), lecturer.
Conservation Biology (3. year, block 2), responsible teacher and lecturer.
Macroecology (Masterlevel, 4. year, block 4), responsible teacher and lecturer.
Other information
Elected member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
Elected Member of The International Ornithological Committee
Country representative for International Biogeography Society
Fulbright Scholar
Editor-in-Chief of Ecography;
Subject Editor of Journal of Ornithology
On the publication board of Oikos, Ecography and Journal of Avian
Elected member of "Akademisk Råd", Faculty of Science, UC
Member of the board and Director of Admittance of (the Danish) International Ph.D. School of Biodiversity Sciences (ISOBIS)


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Full Time, 12 Hour, Nights
Sign on bonus: Up to $15,000 / Relocation bonus: up to $5,000
Minimum of 3 years ICU experience
The Clinical Nurse assumes principal responsibility for the total nursing care, assessment, planning, implementation, evaluation of each assigned patient. The staff nurse initiates teaching and educates the patient and family/or significant other to attain optimal health. Access to all Patient Health Information for treatment purposes only.
- Obtains information and interpret information in terms of the patient's needs.
- Demonstrates knowledge of growth and development.
- Understands the range of treatment needed as appropriate to the ages of the patients served.
- Independently cares for two critically ill patients.
- Assesses and recognizes change in condition and notifies the physician appropriately; report to physician is accurate and concise; documents completely including reassessments.
- Provides head to toe critical assessment and reports utilizing critical thinking skills; includes change in condition; treatment rendered and vasoactive medication dosages.
- Manages multiple drips and sedation.
- Assesses and cares for patients on ventilators and understands alarms and parameters of the patient.
- Understands hemodynamic status of the patient; correlates swan reading BP; UO to assess appropriately.
- Assists with bedside procedures- arterial line,
- Initiates interdisciplinary communications and incorporates recommendations.
- Consistently demonstrates the knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the ages of the patients served on the assigned unit.
- Acts as a liaison between patient, physicians, family/significant other and other health disciplines.
- Develops, implements and updates an individualized teaching and discharge plan.
- Initiates and documents progressive patient and family/significant teaching.
- Facilitates the discharge process ensuring all goals are addressed prior to discharge.
- Utilizes current theories and knowledge for accurate assessments and evaluations.
- Completes acuity evaluation on all assigned patients according to unit protocol.
- Consistently performs proficiently on nursing unit. Including but not limited to: Manages an average caseload specific to unit. Adapts to altered work patterns, sets priorities, and modifies assignments to meet patient needs utilizing available resources and staff ability and availability.
- Administers medications prescribed by physicians according to policy, including IV's, blood and blood products. Knows actions, indications, contraindications, precautions, adverse reactions, dosage and route of administration on all drugs before administering to patient
- Verifies against MAR for accuracy on an ongoing basis.
- Consistently recognizes, evaluates and intervenes appropriately in life-threatening situations.
- Consistently checks for new patient orders throughout the shift and implements them in an appropriate timeframe.
- Completes an end of shift review of physician orders.
- Consistently recognizes variances of diagnostic tests, vital signs and assessments. Notifies the physician in time appropriate to the variance.
- Functions as a charge nurse as assigned.
- Supports changes in clinical practice as evidenced by the plan of care for the patient and subsequent documentation.
- Functions as a resource to co-workers. Acts as preceptor, and other duties as assigned.
- Ensures compliance with Departmental policies and procedures. Assume responsibility for knowledge and implementation of policy, procedure, practice, CPG, changes.
- Maintains competence in nursing practice through in-services and participation in ongoing continuing education per year.
- Participates in the Quality Improvement Program.
- Follows appropriate chain of command for problem resolution approaching problem solving with a positive attitude and suggestions.
- Consistently demonstrates accountability for supervision and communication when assigned with students/orientates, and float personnel.
- Reports, documents, and takes appropriate action (by the end of shift) for incidents and or quality care issues that may affect the patient's or staff well-being.
- Consistently assesses patients for risk of injury and takes appropriate action to reduce risk and promote safety.
- Uses restraints according to policy and consistently explores other options less restrictive. Accurate documentation demonstrated in medical record.
- Serves as advocate for patient/family by providing information and assists in utilization of available resources and or alternatives for making health care decisions (i.e. advanced directives, ethics consult etc.)
- Handles and disposes hazardous waste safely and appropriately
- Consistently handles oxygen safely
- Consistently practices hand washing and use of protective wear
- Establishes or assesses proper identification prior to delivery of care.
- Requests clarification of Physician orders as necessary
Minimum of 3 years recent ICU experience.
- Current CA Registered Nurse License
- Associate Degree in Nursing from an accredited school of nursing (ADN for Job Code G70AK only)
- Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from an accredited school of nursing (BSN for Job Code G70AD only)
- Current American Heart Association BLS certification (maintain current at all times)
- Current American Heart Association ACLS certification (maintain current at all times)
- Effective verbal and written skills to communicate with people on all levels and able to maintain positive working relationships with parents, families, and co-workers
- Possess active listening skills
- Compassionate and non judgmental care giver and advocate
- Able to independently manage multiple priorities
- Must comply with Respiratory Fit Testing Protection Policy
- Must successfully complete EKG test within the first 30 days of entry into this position
- NIHSS within the first 30 days of entry into this position
Tenet complies with federal, state, and/or local laws regarding mandatory vaccination of its workforce. If you are offered this position and must be vaccinated under any applicable law, you will be required to show proof of full vaccination or obtain an approval of a religious or medical exemption prior to your start date. If you receive an exemption from the vaccination requirement, you will be required to submit to regular testing in accordance with the law.
Palm Springs, California
Desert Regional Medical Center
Employment practices will not be influenced or affected by an applicant's or employee's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status or any other legally protected status. Tenet will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue hardship.
Source: Indeed.com
Click Here To Apply


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Nokia loses $1.2B in 1st quarter
Struggling cellphone maker Nokia Corp. said Thursday that tougher-than-expected competition pushed it to a net loss of $1.2 billion in the first quarter as sales plummeted, including for smartphones.
The loss compared with a profit of $447 million a year earlier, while revenue fell 30 per cent to $9.6 billion from $13.5 billion in 2011.
Net sales of devices crashed 40 per cent to $5.5 billion, with smartphone sales dropping by more than half to $2.2 billion, and the company gave a dim outlook.
It said operating margins in the second quarter would be "similar to or below the first quarter 2012 level of negative three per cent," and that it would speed up a cost cutting goal of $1.3 billion by 2013.
The Finnish company said it would share "further details as quickly as possible."
CEO Stephen Elop conceded the company had faced "greater than expected competitive challenges" and some challenging markets, including Britain.
"We exceeded expectations in markets including the United States but establishing momentum in certain markets ... has been more challenging," he said. "We are navigating through a significant company transition in an industry environment that continues to evolve and shift quickly."
Colin Giles, head of global sales since January 2010, will leave the company as it restructures the sales unit, "reducing a layer of sales management," a statement from Nokia said.
The company has been the leading handset maker since 1998 but after reaching a global goal of 40 per cent market share in 2008, its share has continued to shrink.
Nokia hopes to remedy the slide with its new Windows Phone 7, which launched in October, eight months after Elop announced a partnership with Microsoft Corp.
Nokia has adopted the Windows operating system in its new phones, phasing out the MeeGo and Symbian platforms, considered clumsy by many operators.
Still, sales of smartphones dropped to 12 million in the first quarter, from 24 million a year earlier, while volume sales of cellphones fell to 83 million from 108 million in 2011.
Elop, who earlier described the first-quarter as disappointing, said Nokia had sold more than 2 million Windows-based Lumia phones in the first quarter and that it had a "clear sense of urgency to move our strategy forward even faster."
In 2011, Nokia announced more than 10,000 layoffs to lower expenses and has not ruled out more cutbacks.
No targets released for 2012
The company has said it would not provide annual targets for 2012 since it was in a "year of transition."
It said operating margins in the network operations — called Nokia Siemens Networks — would "clearly improve in the second quarter 2012 compared to the first quarter 2012 level of negative five per cent," but it gave no figures.
Last year, Nokia was still the world's top cellphone maker with annual unit sales of some 419 million devices. But in the last quarter of the year it posted a net loss of $1.4 billion, a marked reverse from the $972 million profit a year earlier, as sales slumped 21 per cent with smartphone sales plunging 23 per cent.
Its stock has fallen by half since Elop announced the deal with Microsoft, and it dropped to a 15-year low of €2.98 ($3.89) earlier this week after Moody's ratings agency downgraded its debt grade to near junk status.
On Thursday, its share price dipped only one per cent to €3.00 ($3.92) in Helsinki, as investors had been expecting a downturn after last week's profit warning.


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DIY Shelves v2 (Black Magpie)
DIY shelves v2, black magpie version
Shelves brings to Eurorack modular systems something we are all very familiar with: the 4-band parametric EQ typically found in console channel strips. But this time, there's CV control!
The first band is a low-pass shelving filter, the fourth band a high-pass shelving filter, and bands #2 and #3 have full-blown parametric controls with bandwidth (Q) adjustment. All analog.
Shelves will provide a subtler spectral shaping and coloring than standard multimode filters. It is particularly useful in the feedback loop of effects or more generally in feedback patches in which the slightest tonal change has drastic consequences.
Or as a novel way of shaping sounds obtained by west-coast techniques. Or as a formant-ish filter. Or to emulate the body of instruments in the context of physical modelling patches…
Unlike console EQs, each band is not restricted to a narrow range of frequencies: it can be swept across the entire audio range, from 20 Hz to 20kHz – with unexpected phase cancellations or reinforcements when corrections compete in the same frequency range.
All parameters have direct CV control. Global frequency and cut/boost CV inputs allow simultaneous CV control of all channels.
|Module Parameters


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Change is Good
If you want to make enemies, try to change something.
— Woodrow Wilson
I've been watching with great interest over the past few weeks as the naysayers seem to have gone CRAZY overboard trying to bash Google Glass every chance they can. I've seen articles in Wired and on CNN and on blogs, etc., all stating how terrible Google Glass is. Oh NO, geeky white dudes are wearing Google Glass! This will never work! Oh no, someone wore a pair into the shower! Oh no, I will punch someone in the face if they try talk to me with them on — all sorts of gibberish.
There's nothing like change to bring out the absolute haters.
It seems like every time something comes out that represents change, people freak the fcuk out.
It's not enough to say, "oh no, this thing is not for me." People have to go absolutely overboard, talking about how horrible some new thing is for everybody ELSE.
I remember when I waited in line overnight (with my pal Robert Scoble, probably today's biggest Google Glass cheerleader) for the very first iPhone. Robert's son Patrick was the very first person to buy an iPhone at the Palo Alto store.
I'm not sure I'd ever been mocked by people so much. "You waited in line overnight to pay HOW MUCH?" for a stupid phone??? People thought the iPhone was the dumbest thing ever. "Why would you ever need a phone to surf the web?" "Why would you pay so much for a phone?" They laughed at me for camping out overnight to get the first generation phone — even though camping out overnight in front of an Apple store has been one of the most fun things I've ever done. Getting to hear Apple luminaries like Andy Hertzfeld and Bill Atkinson talk about Apple's early days was a blast! It's where I first met the awesome guys from SmugMug. Was it dorky and geeky? Sure, but whatever.
Read some of these early quotes about the iPhone when it first came out. Even though some of us loved it early, so many more were so "doom and gloom" on it. Now, of course, everybody loves the iPhone and the whole generation of Android and other smartphones that followed.
I remember when Twitter first came out. People hated that too. "Twitter is still a fad, and according to a study out today, it looks like it�s popularity may soon fade," wrote BusinessWeek. People constantly mocked Twitter — "who wants to read a dumb post about what someone had for breakfast," they'd say. I hopped on Twitter right away while so many of my friends refused to join. Those same friends now complain about how everybody else has more followers than they do.
The same naysayers took umbrage with Google+. Despite being named earlier this week as the second largest social network, the "change is bad" crowd hated Google+ when it came out. How many articles out there were written about Google+ being a ghost town? My good friend Trey Ratcliff passed 5 million followers on Google+ earlier this morning. That sure is an awful lot of ghosts if you ask me.
I'm having the best time on Google+. I've met some of the most talented and interesting photographers in the world, I've been on tons of great live hangouts and photowalks, and it's been the best designed social network I've ever been a part of. I'm glad I joined it the first day it was available to the public.
When one of my heros, William Eggleston, had the first color photography show at MOMA in New York, a lot of people hated that too. Many people called it the most hated fine art photography show ever. Ansel Adams, the most famous photographer in the world at the time, even wrote a letter to MOMA curator, John Szarkowski, trashing the change that Eggleston represented. Now everybody loves Eggleston and color photography is firmly established as a photographic fine art aesthetic. Just last month the Independent called him the world's greatest living photographer.
I remember when I first started posting my photos online at Flickr back in 2004, their first year in existence. So many photographers gave me a hard time. They kept going on and on about how my photos would be "stolen." "Who the hell cares," I'd answer back. Now everybody posts their photos online, everywhere — well, almost everybody.
So what is it about Google Glass, the iPhone, Twitter, Google+, color photography, photo sharing that scare people so much? What is it that brings out the naysayers and haters?
It's simple: most people hate change. Most people fear change. Most people hope the world around them never changes and turns into something else. They are afraid that change will take their job, or their income, or somehow hurt them. A lot of these people are also lazy. They groan about having to learn a new thing or technology. They worry they will be left behind. So it's easier for these people to bash whatever is new and interesting and jump on the anti-change bandwagon.
As far as Google Glass goes, I have no idea if it's going to be a hit or not. I do think it represents an interesting new tool to use for street photography and I'm excited about trying them out myself at some point. I think it's dumb though to see article after article by scared people trying to talk the rest of the world out of them — articles that try to paint them as dorky or geeky or creepy. These are just more of the same old complainers/haters who hate on every new thing that comes along.
Change is good. Don't let the naysayers tell you otherwise. The next time somebody brings up some new idea, check yourself. Instead of immediately starting to bash it, resist that urge and keep an open mind. Every so often you just might be surprised.
Oh, and personally speaking, I think journalists that like to bash change are far, far, dorkier than bloggers who like to take showers with their Google Glass on. 😉


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Sculpture was a favoured medium of artistic
expression on the Indian subcontinent. The art of Indian sculpture manifested in the form of an abstract
human form which was used for religious instructions and practice. The sculpted figure was conceived of as perfect and
beyond transitory human appearance. Later on the craft of sculpture moved into use of stone and use in temples.
Temples, and buildings in ancient India were profusely adorned with sculpture of all kinds.
Modernism in Indian sculpture finds its roots in the adaptation of Western art tradition
in the early 20th century. Sculptors trained in realist styles and worked on abstract and secular subjects.
Our artistic partners have crafted sculpted creations from metal, wood, stone, brass and more.
Choose from artistic sculptures that depict animals,
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When you buy a product on www.worldartcommunity.com ,
you can be sure that you are buying an original, one-of-a-kind creative product directly from its creator.
That's because we work only with artists, craftspersons, designers and creators who design and
craft hand-made products and showcase them on our platform to our aware and discerning consumers.


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Click here to visit the Amazon site and you'll be able to score "The Time Machine by H.G Wells" for free. If you don't have a kindle, no worries because you can still able to read it online through their free apps. Click here for more information on that.
*Make sure the price is $0.00 before you checkout because Amazon prices can change
Also if you're shopping for a kindle, Amazon currently has one for $69 here
Image Credit: Amazon


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The start of school is just around the corner, but summer is report card time for various groups focused on reducing bribery and corruption.
This post highlights two such report cards: Transparency International's Annual Progress Report of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and The OECD Working Group on Bribery Annual Report.
Transparency International 2010 Progress Report of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention
On July 28th, Transprancy International (TI) (see here) released its sixth annual Progress Report on Enforcement of the OECD Convention.
"The 2010 report covers 36 of the 38 parties to the Convention, all except Iceland and Luxembourg. It covers enforcement data for the period ending 2009 unless otherwise stated and includes reports on recent case developments through June 2010. Like prior reports, this report is based on information provided by TI experts in each reporting country selected by TI national chapters."
According to Appendix A of the report, the U.S. experts responding to the TI questionnaire were Lucinda Low (here) and Tom Best (here) of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
In summary fashion, the report states:
"The increase in the number of countries with active enforcement from four to seven is a very positive development, because active enforcement is considered a substantial deterrent to foreign bribery. With the addition of Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom, which previously were in the moderate category, there is now active enforcement in countries representing about 30 per cent of world exports, 8 per cent more than in the prior year."
"The number of countries in the moderate category has changed from 11 to 9 countries, because three countries have moved up to the active category and one country, Argentina have moved up from the lowest category. The risk of prosecution in the nine countries with moderate enforcement – representing about 21 per cent of world exports – is considered an insufficient deterrent. Among this group are G8 members France and Japan."
"The most disappointing finding is that there are still 20 countries – including G8 member Canada – with little or no enforcement, representing about 15 per cent of world exports. That number has shown little change in the last five years. This is deeply disturbing because companies in these countries will feel little or no constraint about foreign bribery, and many are not even aware of the OECD Convention. Governments in these countries have failed to meet the Convention's commitment for collective action against foreign bribery."
The report contains the following conclusions.
Current Levels of Enforcement are too Low to Enable the Convention to Succeed
"With active enforcement in only seven of the 38 parties to the Convention, the Convention's goal of effectively curbing foreign bribery in international business transactions is still far from being achieved. The current situation is unstable because the Convention is predicated on the collective commitment of all the parties to end foreign bribery. Unless enforcement is sharply increased, existing support could well erode. Danger signals include efforts in some countries to limit the role of investigative magistrates, shorten statutes of limitations and extend immunities from prosecution. The risk of backsliding is particularly acute during a time of recession, when competition for limited orders is intense."
Cause of Lagging Enforcement: Lack of Political Will
"The principal cause of lagging enforcement is lack of political will. This can take a passive form, such as failure to provide adequate funding and staffing for enforcement. It can also take an active form, through political obstruction of investigations and prosecutions. The lack of political will must be forcefully confronted not only by the Working Group on Bribery but also by the active involvement of the OECD Secretary-General, as well as high-level pressure on the laggards from governments committed to enforcement."
Although the TI Report probably did not have the U.S. and U.K. in mind when making the above statement, many have questioned whether both the U.S. and U.K. governments lacked the political will to charge BAE, a large defense contractor to both governments, with bribery offenses. The U.S. enforcement action (see here) was not an FCPA enforcement action and the U.K. enforcement action (here) merely concerned a book keeping issue in Tanzania. And of course, TI's statement about lack of political will was made before the Giffen Gaffe (see here).
Positive developments noted in the TI Report include:
"During the last year prosecutors in the US, Germany and the UK announced a number of settlements of important foreign bribery cases in which the defendants agreed to pay fines amounting to many hundreds of millions of dollars. These settlements demonstrate the ability of prosecutors to resolve cases without interminable litigation. The settlement levels provide a sharp wake-up call to international business regarding the gravity of foreign bribery."
In seeming recognition of how aggresive enforcement of bribery laws can become a cash cow (see here for more) for the enforcing government, the report then states: "[The settlements] should also make clear to laggard governments that investing in adequate enforcement can have substantial returns."
Other snippets from the TI Report.
As to the U.K.'s delay of the Bribery Act (see here for more) the report states:
"… it is regrettable that the entry into force of the law has been delayed until April 2011. There should be no further delay. It is also important that the consultation on the publication of official government guidance on compliance will not result in weakening any provision of the law."
As to the use of alternative resolution vehicles such as non-prosecution and deferred prosecution agreements – a common way corporate FCPA enforcement actions are resolved (see here and here for more) and a model the U.K. SFO seeks to follow – the report contains this recommendation:
"The Working Group should undertake a study on the use of negotiated settlements to resolve foreign bribery cases. There are strong reasons for negotiated settlements, most importantly to avoid the high costs, long delays and unpredictable outcomes of litigation. However, there is concern that these settlements could be questionable deals between prosecutors and politically influential companies. Therefore, procedures should be adopted to make settlement terms public and subject to judicial approval. This should follow a public hearing where representatives of the country where the bribes were paid, competitors and other interested stakeholders such as public interest groups should be given an opportunity to present their views."
The report also states as follows:
"TI considers that all settlements should be submitted to judicial review independent from the Prosecutor's Office. This review should include a public hearing with representatives of the country where the bribe was paid, competitiors and civil society organisations before the settlement becomes final and published detailed conclusions."
In a section of the report discussing current cases and trends, the report notes that some fines and penalties are based on the amount of the bribe while in other cases the fines and penalties are based on the amount of profit or gain from the transaction.
In apparent recognition that many FCPA fines and penalties (even eye-popping ones such as Siemens) still result in the company seemingly emerging from the prosecution with a net profit from the improper activity, the report states:
"TI considers that corporate fines should exceed the amount of profit from the wrongdoing."
Further, the TI report questions whether the increase in enforcement and the penalties imposed are actually making any difference as it states: "[w]hile the amounts paid by companies are rising steadily in some jurisdictions, the question remains whether there is adequate deterrence."
Continuing the dialogue on the question of "where should fines and penalties" go (see here and here for more) the report states:
"It would be desirable for the OECD Working Group on Bribery to conduct a study on corporate liability and penalties. TI considers that part of the fines paid or profits reimbursed should be made available for the benefit of the country that suffered from the offence."
In addition to Transparency International, the OECD itself issued a summer report card.
OECD Working Group on Bribery Annual Report
On June 15th, the OECD Working Group on Bribery issued its annual report (see here).
As stated in the report, "the OECD has been at the forefront of international efforts to combat corruption in business, taking a multi-disciplinary approach, via its Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, as well as through its work in the areas of taxation, development aid, and governance."
The Anti-Bribery Convention (here) has been implemented by 38 countries (see here) and these countries comprise the OECD Working Group on Bribery.
Among recent achievements noted by OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría are:
"Israel—the Working Group's newest member— […] underwent a series of intense
evaluations and implemented significant anti-bribery legislative changes to the anti-bribery standards expected of candidates for membership of the OECD;" and
"Chile, which recently became a member of the OECD, also passed legislation that holds Chilean companies liable for bribing foreign public officials when doing business abroad;".
Secretary General Gurria also noted that "in 2009, Russia officially asked to join the Anti-Bribery Convention as part of its OECD membership drive" and that the OECD is also deepening relations on anti-bribery issues with China, India, Indonesia and Thailand, and hopes to bring other countries on board."
As the report notes, 2009 "marked the completion of ten years of monitoring Parties' implementation and enforcement of the Anti-Bribery Convention."
This is the first year that official data on enforcement efforts by Parties
to the Anti-Bribery Convention is publicly available. The data (see here) is from "Decisions on Foreign Bribery Cases from 1999 to December 2009."
According to the report, "the data has been compiled and published by the OECD Secretariat on the basis of statistics, data and information provided by the Parties to Convention in order to provide a realistic picture of the level of enforcement in the jurisdiction of each of the Parties. However, the responsibility for the provision and accuracy of information rests solely with the individual Parties."
Further, in a seeming reference to U.S. enforcement of the FCPA and the frequency by which FCPA enforcement actions are resolved through non-prosecution agreements, the report notes that the data includes information "provided on a voluntary basis by certain countries concerning the number of foreign bribery cases that have been resolved through an agreement between the law enforcement authorities and the accused person or entity, with or without court approval."
Interested in how many individuals and business entities have been criminally sanctioned by OECD signatory nations for bribery? Curious as to how many investigations are currently pending by signatory nations? Want to compare Hungary to Iceland or the U.S. to Germany?
It is all possible with OECD data.


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SWISSVALE, Pennsylvania (WABC) -- Jeni Stepien waited 10 years for this day. On the eve of her wedding day, Jeni met for the first time, the man who now lives with her father's heart.
It was a meeting filled with emotion for Jeni, and the entire Stepien family.
Jeni's father, Michael Stepien was murdered back in 2006.
He donated his organs, including the heart Arthur Thomas had been waiting 16 years for. On Friday, Jeni felt her father's heart beat for the first time in a decade.
"I am so excited. It's like the whole family's here now. It's like everybody's here," Jeni said.
Click on the video player above to watch the full story.
Thomas and his wife traveled to Pittsburgh from New Jersey to be there for Jeni's big day. Everyone gathered at St. Anslem Church in Swissvale, where the ceremony took place.
"We've been talking to him and writing letters and calling, and receiving flowers and sending gifts for the past 10 years, and now it's finally here," said Jeni.
"Just hugging him made me feel like I was close to my dad again, which on this day was perfect. It was what I needed," added Jeni's sister, Michelle Stepien.
However, there is even more to this special meeting.
"Jeni wrote me a letter, and she said 'Tom, I'm the daughter of the man whose heart's inside you, and I'm going to get married on August 6th. One further thing, if you're willing - would you walk me down the aisle?'" said heart transplant recipient Arthur Thomas.
Thomas got the OK from his daughter, and the rest is history.
"First person I'll ever be walking down the aisle," Thomas said.
Jeni said it was just like having her dad there on her wedding day.
"And just better because we get to share this story with other people and, you know, other people see that organ donors do matter," she said.


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Saturday, 16 November 2013 06:30 AM EST
BEIJING — Don't expect a new Chinese baby boom, experts say, despite the first easing of the country's controversial one-child policy in three decades.
Some 15 million to 20 million Chinese parents will be allowed to have a second child after the government announced Friday that couples where one partner has no siblings can have two children. But the easing of the policy is so incremental that demographers and policymakers are not anticipating an influx of newborn babies a time when young Chinese couples are already opting for smaller families, driving the country's fertility rate down to 1.5-1.6 births per woman.
"A baby boom can be safely ruled out," said Wang Feng, professor of sociology at the University of California Irvine.
Wang noted that although Chinese couples where both parents have no siblings have for some time been allowed to have a second child, many have elected to have only one.
"Young people's reproductive desires have changed," she said.
Xia Gaolong and his wife are among those who will be allowed to have a second child as a result of the new policy, but he said he has no intention of giving his 10-year-old son a sibling.
Xia, who runs a tour bus business in the thriving city of Nanjing in eastern China, said the high cost of living and fierce competition for schools and jobs would deter him from bringing another child into the world.
"No way will I have another child," said Xia, who is in his late 30s. "There are so many pressures in life in today's society, and our children will only face more pressures."
Experts estimate that the new rules allowing couples where one partner is an only child to have a second baby will result in 1 million to 2 million extra births per year in the first few years, on top of the 16 million babies born annually in China.
Cai Rong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the figure could be even lower because of the growing acceptance of small families.
In an unscientific survey on the Chinese-language social media platform Sina Weibo, more than 60 percent of those who self-identified as being eligible for the new exemption from the one-child limit said they would have a second child.
"A second child is absolutely necessary, and we thank the new policy," said May Zha, 34, of Beijing, the mother of a 3-year-old.
Zha said that her husband is an only child, making the couple eligible for the new exemption, and that they plan to have another baby as soon as possible. "Time does not wait," she said.
Still, experts say an onslaught of newborn babies is unlikely because couples will have different time plans for the second child, and not all intentions will become reality.
The central government apparently does not want to see a spike in births, even regionally.
Wang Pei'an, a deputy director of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said China is opting for the incremental step because a universal two-child policy would result in a major fluctuation in population, putting pressure on basic public services. Some demographers, however, have argued that even a reversal of the one-child policy would not result in a spike in births because of fundamental changes in the public's reproductive behaviors.
Faced with a growing population, China's government began to implement birth planning policies in the 1970s and placed a de facto one-child limit in 1980. It eased restrictions four years later to allow many families to have two children — including couples who do not have any siblings and rural couples whose firstborn is a girl. Millions of Chinese families also have managed to have additional children by paying fines or — in recent years — by giving birth outside China.
On Friday, three days after China's top leaders concluded a meeting to hash out upcoming policies, Beijing announced the new exemption to the one-child policy, which will largely benefit urban couples.
Though the limited easing in the one-child policy is unlikely to address China's demographic concerns, experts see it as a meaningful step toward reversing the strict family planning and returning the reproductive rights back to parents.
"It is a decisive shift away from the one-child policy," Wang Feng said. "At least, it is not putting oil to the fire, which is the low fertility rate."
"The significance of this is that it is the beginning of what I would expect to be a very speedy abolishment of the policy overall," Wang said. "China is testing the water now."
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In my year and a half or so at my current company, I have slowly built a real security program where none had existed.
I've introduced event management and data leak prevention. We now filter URLs to keep employees off of websites that present security or legal risks to the company. I've introduced two-factor authentication, locked down mobile devices and written and promoted a slew of modern security policies and processes.
Trouble Ticket
Outlook Anywhere makes it possible for users to download email to any device -- and leave sensitive documents on unsafe PCs. Action plan: Restrict the use of Outlook Anywhere to clients that are behind the firewall.
But as I said, this has been a slow process, and I still have a lot of work to do. One neglected area has been email. Email is probably the most vulnerable repository of documents in our company. But it's also the most widely used application and is a huge business enabler, so I've been reluctant to address its security shortcomings head on. After a close call involving some of our intellectual property, however, I can no longer put this off.
We have approved three legitimate ways for employees to access their Exchange mail remotely. The first is via Outlook Web Access (OWA), a Web-based version of the Microsoft Outlook client. I like the fact that OWA mail doesn't reside on the user's computer unless the user takes extra steps to save it locally. And for an additional level of security, I plan to require two-factor authentication for access to OWA.
The second way to obtain email remotely is through ActiveSync, which we use to synchronize email, contacts and calendar information with mobile devices. To enhance security with this option, we push a security policy to all devices that synchronize.
The third way to access email remotely, called Outlook Anywhere and formerly known as RPC over HTTPS, keeps me up at night. With Outlook Anywhere, employees can directly connect their Outlook clients to our Exchange server. It isn't devoid of security features: The connection is secure, and users must enter their network credentials before email can be downloaded to or sent from the client. But once downloaded, any emails, attachments, contacts or calendar items remain on the device, even after the application has been closed. And the device could be anything from a relative's or friend's PC to a computer in a public library or an Internet cafe. That means that sensitive company documents could be lying around on devices accessible by pretty much anyone.
A Close Call
A few weeks ago, the manager of a local hotel called to tell us that the hotel staff had discovered over 1GB of our company email on the computer in the hotel lobby. One of our IT staffers headed over there for a look and found that the email belonged to one of our sales representatives. I told the IT staffer to copy the email to a .pst file and remove it from the hotel computer as best as possible.
We were lucky; this could have turned out much worse. We do a lot of business with that hotel, and the manager, eager to maintain good relations, assured us that the PC would be re-imaged.
A review of the .pst file showed that the sales rep had left behind sensitive corporate data, including information about pending deals and copies of contracts and internal memos, plus a good deal of his own personal information, including some data related to finances.
I now plan to restrict access to Outlook Anywhere to devices located behind our firewall. Remote users will need to sign on to the full-client VPN, and they are allowed to do that only from company-issued PCs. This constitutes a cultural change, so I expect some grumbling, but given the risks involved, I think it's justified as part of my efforts to close serious security holes.
This week's journal is written by a real security manager, "Mathias Thurman," whose name and employer have been disguised for obvious reasons. Contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Join in the discussions about security! computerworld.com/blogs/security
Read more about security in Computerworld's Security Topic Center.


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Graduate students at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory showed off their latest research at the university's Wireless retreat on Monday, outlining software-defined MIMO, machine-generated TCP optimization, and a localized wireless networking technique that works through sound.
Swarun Kumar's presentation on OpenRF – a Wi-Fi architecture designed to allow multiple access points to avoid mutual interference and focus signals on active clients – detailed how commodity hardware can be used to take advantage of features otherwise restricted to more specialized devices.
There were several constraints in the 802.11n wireless standard that had to be overcome, Kumar said, including a limitation on the total number of bits per subcarrier signal that could be manipulated, as well as restricting that manipulation to one out of every two such signals.
Simply disabling the Carrier Sense restrictions, however, proved an incomplete solution.
"Access points often send these beacon packets, which are meant for all clients in a network … you cannot null them at any point if you're a client. Unfortunately, these packets will now collide" in the absence of Carrier Sense, he said.
The solution – which involved two separate transmit queues – enabled OpenRF to automatically apply its optimal settings across multiple access points, distributing the computational workload across the access points, rather than having to rely on a beefy central controller.
Kumar said the system can boost TCP throughput by a factor of 1.6 compared to bare-bones 802.11n.
Keith Winstein attacked the problem of TCP throughput slightly differently, however. Using a specialized algorithm called Remy – into which users can simply input network parameters and desired performance standards – he said that networks can essentially determine the best ways to configure themselves on their own.
"So these are the inputs, and the output is a congestion control algorithm," he said. "Now this is not an easy process – this is replacing a human protocol designer. Now, it costs like $10 to get a new protocol on Amazon EC2."
Remy works via the heuristic principle of concentrating its efforts on the use cases where a small change in the rules results in a major change in the outcome, allowing it to optimize effectively and to shift gears quickly if network conditions change.
"Computer generated end-to-end algorithms can actually outperform human generated in-network algorithms, and in addition, human generated end-to-end algorithms," said Winstein.
Even though Remy wasn't designed or optimized to handle wireless networks, it still handily outperforms human-generated competition, he added.
Peter Iannucci is a researcher looking into highly localized ways of providing wireless Internet, which he refers to as room area networks. Having dismissed a number of technologies as insufficient – Bluetooth was too clunky, NFC had limited uptake – he eventually settled on sound.
Iannucci's acoustic network – which he has dubbed Blurt – uses high-frequency sounds to transmit the ones and zeroes of a network connection. It's well-suited for a network confined by design to a small space.
"Acoustic networks provide great low-leakage properties, since doors and walls are intentionally sound-absorbent," he said. "[They] work over moderate distances, using existing devices, and they don't require any setup for ad hoc communications."
Iannucci acknowledges that Blurt isn't without its problems. Given that sound waves move about a million times slower than radio waves, speed is an issue – he said that Blurt can handle about 200 bits per second when using frequencies inaudible to humans, with more speed possible only at the cost of an audible whirring chirp, reminiscent of old telephone modems.
But that's really not the point – the idea would be more to do things like verify users of a business' free Wi-Fi are actually sitting in the restaurant, or any other tasks involving heavily location-dependent network services.
Email Jon Gold at firstname.lastname@example.com and follow him on Twitter at @NWWJonGold.


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by Thomas Purcell | January 13, 2013 12:07 am
Get this: The federal government is offering tips on New Year's resolutions.
I stumbled upon its "Popular New Year's Resolutions" page on: usa.gov[1], the official Web portal of the United States government.
"Lose Weight" is one. When I clicked the link there, it took me to the page for the Weight-control Information Network (WIN), a government agency tasked with keeping the public informed about obesity, weight control, physical activity and nutrition.
WIN's advice: "To lose weight you need to take in fewer calories than you use" and "create a healthy eating plan."
Excited by such groundbreaking information, I moved along to "Manage Debt" — something the government surely knows plenty about.
Its link took me to the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Protection page. There I was advised that if I'm knee-deep in debt, I'll want to develop a budget and contact my creditors. I was also warned to be leery of debt-restructuring agencies.
So useful was that advice, I couldn't wait to move on to "Save Money." Its link took me to a page that offered 66 ways to save.
I clicked on "Credit Cards" and was informed that, to avoid a late fee, I ought to send in my payment five to 10 days before the bill is due. I also learned that I can avoid interest charges if I pay off my balance each month!
Since I own some rental properties, I was curious to see what money-saving tips the government is giving to prospective renters.
To wit: Renters are encouraged to shop around for the best deal — or find a building they want to live in and contact the building manager to see if there is availability.
And before signing a lease, renters should be cautious: "Remember that signing a lease probably obligates you to make all monthly payments for the term of the agreement."
Probably? I've written a few leases in my day. I've been careful to keep "probably" out of the final drafts.
Nonetheless, the government offers two other useful suggestions: "Drink Less Alcohol" and "Quit Smoking Now."
The first link brought me to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism page. The existence of this government agency struck me as ironic.
Our government is doing so much to cause us to drink — spending, deficits, debt — that it has to establish another government entity to help us stop?
The smoking link took me to another government Web site,: smokefree.gov[2], where I learned that smoking isn't good for you. I was able to get live online help from a federal employee at the National Cancer Institute.
Though I don't smoke, I was so delighted by the "free" government support, I'm looking into starting.
"Reduce Stress Overall" was another resolution suggestion. The link took me to MedlinePlus, an online encyclopedia of health information. It is a service of another government entity, the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
There I learned that long-term stress isn't good — that to address it, one must get to its underlying causes.
Well, here are some underlying causes.
Our government has gotten so bloated, it is offering tips on New Year's resolutions — and directing us to government agencies to help us keep them?
If any entity should be making resolutions, shouldn't it be the federal government – and shouldn't its resolutions be based on the will and direction of the people?
Of course the birds in charge are ramming through legislation regardless of our will.
It's enough to drive a man to drink.
When I break that resolution, the last place I'll go for support is the federal government.
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