text:
Wed, Apr 21st 2010 3:51pm
Filed Under:
advertising, dvrs, tv
TV broadcasters have long struggled with how to deal with DVRs and how they allow users to skip over commercials. Perhaps the favored approach has been to come up with technological responses to try and prevent people from fast-forwarding; fewer companies have figured out that advertising is content, and needs to be treated as such. Viewers need to be given a reason to watch ads, whether it's simply entertainment or because the content offers some other value. Another idea that's being tested: not stopping the show during ad breaks. On one show on CNN, when the ads start, the studio cameras keep rolling, showing "behind-the-scenes" footage in a small box in the corner. The belief is that if there's still some bit of "program content" going, it will be enough to keep people from flipping channels or skipping ahead, even if it is just paper shuffling and makeup being touched up. It's an interesting proposition, but once viewers realize they're not missing anything of value, won't they switch away or fast-forward? And if the program content actually is valuable, won't people just not pay attention to the ads? The problem here seems to be that this is just an effort to recreate a captive audience. But without offering anything of value to the viewer -- whether it's the ads themselves or this "program content" -- they're not going to stick around and suck up the ads.
If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
- Cable's Response To Surging Streaming Competition? More Price Hikes
- 2019 Brings Another Wave Of Cable Programming Blackout Feuds Nobody Wants To Address
- CBS Eyes Ditching Nielsen As Streaming, Cord Cutting Change The Game
- Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio Claims Three Publications Did $300 Million In Damage To His Pristine Reputation
- New White House Press Conference Rules Leave Door Open To Future Challenges
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:05pmI love my DVR and I hate commercials. Unlike some at this site, I see no value in commercials, even those Old Spice ones that Mike likes for reasons that are beyond me. I don't want ads mixed in with the shows I want to watch or vice-versa. Dammit, I pay for cable, lots of money every month, way too much money. I feel like I pay enough to skip the commercials. I might feel different if I was getting the TV signal for free over the air but I'm not.
I have seen a couple of shows on the Bravo network that try to thwart skipping the commericals on your DVR by having commericial length clips of the show between commercials. You get a commerical or two then a short clip of the show then more commercials then more show. Super annoying, makes it hard to skip over everything with the DVR.
Advertising is content my ass.
Robert Haas, 7 Apr 2012 @ 7:33am
Re: Tv advertisingNO programming should be allowed to be unterupted from beginning to end....Add it up for DirectTV for insstance. 30 million subs and average 100 per month.....now why do we have to suffer from all the bs ads anyway. DirectTV will only give you a lot of LIP service as I have tried twice.
Thanks for listening and if you share my thoughts call or email: 269 782-2454 email email@example.com. Tv USED to be good entertainment but with soo many interuptions I forget what it is Im watching........
Ron (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:11pm
Or ...... viewers could continue to watch the little box and still ignore the ads the way most of us do now. The ones that will watch the ads are the ones who currently do that so there will be little gain in viewership.
yourrealname (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:20pmAs long as it's not those annoying ads that come up at the bottom of the screen during the show. I hate that!
Robert Ring (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:24pm
Re:Exactly what I was going to say. You get people who go about this the wrong way, and what results is angry fans, like with the recent countdown clock for "V" on screen during ALL of Lost. Not only did it annoy everyone, it literally blocked wording on an in-show note that people were meant to be able to see.
Ads Encroaching into the ProgramI've been noticing that ads are appearing in the regular program. While not oppressive it is irritating.
Not stopping the show for some ads would be a good idea. CNBC has scrolling financial screens. When the financial data is not obliterated by the commercial, I tend to stay and watch. When the commercial obliterates the data, I leave.
Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:25pmsome sports channels try that with side by side ads or similar. in the end i think the advertisers are not going to be that impressed because people wont watch the ads they will just watch the second screen instead.
BigKeithO, 22 Apr 2010 @ 1:36pm
Re:TSN up in Canada does that with F1 races. The race continues but the sound is changed to the commercial sound and the screen splits into 2, same sized boxes, side by side.
Me and the wife still skip those sections of the race. Ad's are pretty annoying, so annoying that we pretty much don't watch live TV unless we have no other option. Everything we want to watch is PVR'd and watched when we have time.
Brooks (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:41pm
Ugh.Ok, so I'm not wild about the idea. The value-add of watching someone get their makeup fixed seems very low, and like more of a novelty that might get people to watch an ad or two, not change behavior.
But this post veers dangerously close to the negative stereotypes of Techdirt and associated sites: that there's a deep seated hatred for traditional media companies that goes beyond business.
Shouldn't we be lauding CNN for experimentation, even if we also say that this particular idea seems unlikely to succeed? There's way too much "oh, those idiots are at it again, look at the incredibly stupid thing they did this time" tone around here. Which is often fair, as many companies act against their self interest. But it doesn't need to be applied in every single case, does it?
Kudos to CNN for trying something different. Maybe there are other interesting experiments to be done.
Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:48pmSee The Cullman Liquidation Center commercial, which says" These are mobile homes, not mansions. "
That is a commercial that people love - we need more of those.
Is it hard to be that creative? Yes. So work a little harder, marketers!
Bill W (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 4:53pm
Experimentation!I'm with Brooks that I think it's great that they are experimenting with different ideas.
Rick, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:05pmIt's fairly obvious few of the above commenters have seen what CNN is doing. It's being used on John King USA, since Carlo neglected to mention it for some reason. It's also not new.
Anyway, I like it. Besides the little mini screen of the studio, which is interesting, they also keep a News ticker going. The ticker is what keeps me watching rather than skipping or leaving the room for the commercials. All of this is packaged into a banner no larger than the standard banner on the bottom of any cable news screen. It's very similar to how Bloomberg Newsz has done forever...
The little mini-screen is simply the studio between commercials - you dot lose the ability to actually see any content. The only content is actually the new ticker, which adds value to the commercial(s) running above the banner.
NAMELESS.ONE, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:05pm
WRONGand we invent lil text files that will skip that
and OR move to non commercial areas
OR we'll cut crap out seriously
sign sign everywhere a sign barking up the scenary breaking my mind
do this don't do that can't ya read the sign
Robert Fisher, 21 Apr 2010 @ 5:32pm
to be innovative.......means they have to do some market research. And the best way to do that is experiment with ad placement through out the program being watched and then get feedback in some way.
But I think the issue here is that they are still trying to deliver ads in the traditional manner. I am no media expert, but we hear it day in and day out that the media companies are attempting to hold onto their traditional media outlets when they should be creating new innovative ways to deliver the same content and get the same or better results. it comes down to how to do this, and they should be commended for experimenting with new ways...I would just like to see it done in different more exotic ways.
Patrick, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:00pmAbout 20 years ago when my daughter was 4 or 5 she had a few commercials that she loved to watch. Sometimes she could be in another room and hear the ad and she would run to see the TV. I believe that you don't have to watch a commercial, only hear it.
Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 6:02pm
So wait.........I should fast forward past the commercials? !!!
What the heck, no wonder I thought the commercials were so long, I had it backwards.
Robert Haas, 7 Apr 2012 @ 7:39am
Re: So wait.....NO programming should be allowed to be unterupted from beginning to end....Add it up for DirectTV for insstance. 30 million subs and average 100 per month.....now why do we have to suffer from all the bs ads anyway. DirectTV will only give you a lot of LIP service as I have tried twice.
Thanks for listening and if you share my thoughts call or email: 269 782-2454 email email@example.com. Tv USED to be good entertainment but with soo many interuptions I forget what it is Im watching........Best is to list the products and services which annoy you and boycott them altogather!
stephen, 21 Apr 2010 @ 8:06pm
commercialsWhen my wife and I watch something live, we mute the commercials and read stuff on our PDAs. This has become especially necessary during Lost this season b/c there's an extra commercial break.
What I don't understand is why commercials aren't designed for fast forwarders. Instead of having quick cuts and flashing images, why not long cuts that look just as good in fast forward and convey the message silenty?
Tom, 21 Apr 2010 @ 9:07pm
Movie CreditsLook at the people that stay for the movie credits while bloopers and outtakes are being shown, it will work unless someone really needs to go to the bathroom.
Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 9:35pmI like what family guy did: they had the characters do some shtick for an ad of a major sponsor as soon as the commercial break started.
If the ad is relevant to what you're watching, it'll go a lot further.
Or, how about this: stop making commercials so friggin annoying. If I have to see that progressive lady one more time...
Paul Hobbs (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 9:35pm
Surely there can be life without ads??First up, I hate ads. For the most part I subscribe to the definition of advertising as being an attempt by someone to persuade me to buy something I probably don't need. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and I understand that a business with a new product or service has to let people know about that product or service somehow. I also understand that companies are competing for my dollars - whether it be toothpaste, a new car, or a pair of jeans. They obviously want to let me know why their product is better than the next guy's. But it doesn't change the fact that I hate ads. I also get the economic reality that advertising dollars are largely behind the development of TV shows - if ratings for a particular show drop, it means less people see the ads, which supposedly means the ads are less likely to drive sales of the product or service, so advertisers pull their ads from that show, so the show gets cancelled, etc.
But, that doesn't seem to be how movies work. I am no economist, nor am I an entertainment industry insider, but it seems to me that movies make money directly from the paying public (not via advertising). A movie is released, and we pay to see it at the cinema - good movies make lots of money, bad movies don't (most of the time). Perhaps that should be popular movies make money. And I agree that popular doesn't necessarily mean good. After the cinema run, people buy the movies on DVD (not all people, but lots). I have a large (and growing) DVD collection (over 200); I also love going to the cinema (although with two young children I don't go as often as I would like); and I freely admit that I occasionally download a movie via bit torrent. The point is that over the years I have spent thousands of dollars on movies, and I fully expect to spend many more thousands in the years to come. The other thing to note is that there are no ads DURING the movie - sure there are ads before the movie starts, but the movie is not interrupted by ads, and if you really don't want to see the ads, you can stand outside the cinema until the ads are finished.
I personally agree with a lot of what Jerry Mander wrote in his book "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television". In my view, TV has become little more than a moving billboard. It's PRIMARY function seems to be to sell stuff. TV shows are merely there to fill the space between ads. Even the news isn't really news - it is basically just useless trivia - a house burned down in town X; two people died in a car accident today; etc. I am reminded of Steve Martin's character in "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" when he is giving John Candy a tongue lashing: "If you're going to tell a story, here's an idea. Have a point!" If the news is going to tell me about something, have a reason (other than that it is "sensational" and is of interest from a purely voyeuristic perspective).
I only watch a handful of TV shows (and none of them is the news) - in my opinion, most TV is unmitigated crap. I would happily pay a fee of some kind to have access to the TV shows I like, on the condition that they were ad-free. Why don't I just subscribe to cable, you ask? Several reasons: it isn't available in my street; it has ads; I am locked in to a minimum 12 month contract; I can't pick and choose the shows I want - I have to choose a channel (or a package of channels), where most of the shows are of no interest to me.
I want to present an alternative view of how TV might work. Let's suppose there was no advertising on TV. Or perhaps only community service announcements from the government. Obviously the funding stream for TV shows would dry up, so if we want to continue watching TV, we need to find an alternative way to fund production. What if it was basically the same as movies? Suppose you could buy access to specific TV shows, just like you pay for a ticket to see a specific movie. I don't know what the price point would be to make it viable. Maybe actors would have to accept reduced salaries to keep production costs down. In principle I accept the notion that an actor should be able to demand whatever they want for a role. But I would rather be an actor who works regularly for $10,000 per episode, than an actor who is out of work because I demand $100,000 per episode. I remember reading that the cast of Friends were getting paid $1,000,000 each, per episode. Frankly, that seems crazy to me. As an aside, it seems to say something interesting about our values if we pay comedy actors millions of dollars, but we pay teachers and nurses pitiful wages - but that is a separate conversation. Getting back to the original topic (buying TV shows), I don't know if people would accept such an idea. But if it did happen, I can see several things resulting from this approach.
1. There would be fewer TV shows being made (which in my opinion is a good thing cos most of them are crap). People would be forced to be more judicious about what they watch if they have to pay for it. It astounds me how many truly bad TV shows are made. Granted, they are on at 2:00 in the morning, but still, someone pays those actors and crew and writers to make this drivel. Personally, I wouldn't be at all upset if that kind of crap just disappeared. Ah - but now I'm being elitist, you say, and only the shows that I like should be made. Well, not really. If enough people like it enough to pay for it, it would continue to get made.
2. The price of products and services would drop (or should drop) because the cost of advertising is not baked into the price
3. People would watch less TV - this can only be a good thing. People would go out more, read more, play more sport, etc. Or maybe they would just spend more time watching YouTube videos.
How would it work? Suppose FOX wanted to make a new TV show - say a new drama about Lawyers (cos we don't have enough of those). They make the first episode and I can watch the first episode for free. Or maybe the first 3 episodes are free to watch. But if I want to watch any more, I have to pay. Perhaps I even have to pay for the first three in order to watch any more. If enough people like it, and decide to buy the show, it will continue to be made. If people stop buying it, it presumably means that the story is no longer of interest, so it gets cancelled. OR, perhaps FOX can solicit feedback from the subscribers as to what could be done to improve the show. Maybe shows would only have a life span of just one or two seasons so they remain fresh, instead of running for 7 or 8 seasons (or more) and becoming stale.
Like I said earlier, I'm not an economist so I don't know if this idea is viable. I'm sure I'm not the first one to think of it. I also don't know the detailed mechanics of how it would work - Do you pay for each individual show or do you pay for a whole series up front, or just a block of shows (say 5 at a time)? Who do you pay? The broadcaster or the network making the show? Years ago I read a very interesting article which proposed a model that might solve this and other related problems (eg: music "piracy"). If my ADSL service cost me an extra $10 or even $20 per month, but it meant I had unlimited access to music, TV shows and movies, all of it free of ads, I would pay it in a heart beat.
Sorry for the long comment.
Paul Hobbs (profile), 21 Apr 2010 @ 9:43pm
Re: Surely there can be life without ads??I suppose I should have somehow made a connection to the original story about CNN trying something new to get people to watch the ads. If I am a studio or network, for me the real question isn't "how do I get the people to watch the ads"? The real question is "how can I make the show without advertisers (or their money)"? In my opinion, the capacity for advertising dollars to continue funding the development of TV shows is dwindling. More and more people record shows, and fast forward through the ads; or they just download shows via bit torrent. As an advertiser, I would start questioning the sense of paying for TV shows to get made if no-one is going to see my ads. So, as the TV show maker, I would be trying to find ways to make shows that don't rely on advertising.
Michael, 22 Apr 2010 @ 7:54am
Re: Surely there can be life without ads??Unfortunately, you are turning the broadcast TV industry business model (arguably not working that well) into the Movie industry model - which also no longer really works.
If we do what you are suggesting, what is to stop "pirates" from recording the show and re-broadcasting it on the internet for free? Yup - the old IP laws. They are falling apart and causing all kinds of problems.
An ad-supported model is using the content - which is an unlimited resource because it can be copied - and turning the attention of the viewers it attracts into something that can be sold to advertisers. Sell physical goods by attracting people with virtual goods - that business model works.
The problem is they used to have a captive audience so they could simply stick ads in the middle of the content. They have lost this because of technology and need to come up with another plan. Trying to turn the virtual goods into something they can sell goes against economics (if the supply is infinite, the price will fall to zero).
I think the approach of running content behind the commercials is creative and suggests new thinking. It may not work, but it is admirable that they are trying.
Paul Hobbs (profile), 22 Apr 2010 @ 5:25pm
Re: Re: Surely there can be life without ads??
An ad-supported model is using the content - which is an unlimited resource because it can be copied - and turning the attention of the viewers it attracts into something that can be sold to advertisers. Sell physical goods by attracting people with virtual goods - that business model works.I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. Sure, in the past this is how it worked. And for the most part it still works this way now (or else advertisers would have given up on TV completely). I don't have the stats to back this up (and I don't know how you would even measure this), but my gut feel is that TV ads are less effective now than they used to be, and will be even less effective in the future. Once DVRs become as ubiquitous as DVD players, TV viewing habits will start to change. I know when I got my TiVo that my viewing patterns changed dramatically - I rarely watch "live" TV anymore. I record what I want, watch it when it is convenient, and fast fwd through the ads.
In Australia we have a system called FreeView - this is basically all the free-to-air channels along with an EPG. DVR manufacturers are only FreeView compliant if their devices are limited to a maximum fast forward speed of 32x. As long as they comply with this restriction, they can display the FreeView logo, and they have access to the EPG. Personally, I have no issue with 32x - it is fast enough that I can zip through 3 minutes of ads in a few seconds.
I think we are still a few years off yet, but the day is coming (IMHO) when advertisers will decide that TV no longer offers a good ROI. I would say that gimmicks like the one CNN is experimenting with are no more than re-arranging deckchairs.
In principle I agree with you that if a supply is infinite, the price will drop. But I'm not convinced it is always like that. One example might be bottled water. Pretty much everyone (where I live anyway) has access to clean, drinkable water, straight from the tap. And for all intents and purposes, it is an infinite supply. Yet people still buy massive amounts of bottled water, despite the fact that it is more expensive than petrol and offers no advantages over tap water.
I don't like Apple (the company or their products), but my business partner and I have decided that we should invest in an iPhone so we can demo our products/services as an iPhone app. Basically it comes down to wank value. Anyway, our new iPhone arrived yesterday - very nice looking phone, easy to use, etc - I can completely understand why lots of people buy them. But as part of the process of setting it up (just last night), I discovered something interesting. On iTunes I can buy an entire season of a TV series for $9.99. I never knew this was possible. As much as I can't stand Apple, this is pretty much what I have been looking for. I don't know if I can buy TV shows (from iTunes) here in Australia - it seems like many of the products that are available in the US are not available here. But it is nice to know that it is happening.
Maybe my idea above (actually, it isn't really my idea) won't work. Maybe people won't pay for TV shows, even if the price of goods and services drops as a result of lower advertising costs. But if I was CNN (or NBC or FOX or whoever) - I would still be exploring ways of being able to pay for the development of TV shows without relying on advertising dollars.
Michael, 23 Apr 2010 @ 3:58am
Re: Re: Re: Surely there can be life without ads??TV ad revenue is pretty good this year. There was a major dip last year when the US auto manufacturers had their issues, but, for the most part, the dipping economy has gotten a lot of people to stay in and watch TV. Selling their attention is still working (Mike can look at my IP address and tell you I probably know what I am talking about).
How to ensure their attention during the commercials is up in the air, but the business model is still pretty viable.
Your bottled water example is great. However, it illustrates the opposite of your point. People don't buy bottled water for the water. Bottled water is bought for convenience and (sometimes) social status. The abundant part (yup - the water) is important to adding value to the scarce part (yup - the plastic shell) and the combination generates demand.
For an example, try selling water from a pump on the side of the road. Bottled water is a great example for the media companies, but they tend to think only in terms of the water being sold and completely miss the packaging.
Michael, 23 Apr 2010 @ 4:09am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Surely there can be life without ads??Just to add to the bottled water example.
The fact that you cannot sell water from a pump on the side of the road does not mean water has no value. We cannot live without it, so it has tremendous value. It is 'free' because it is very abundant. Bottled water companies combining it with a scarcity (the bottle) reduces the supply of the overall product - and that is why the market bears a price that is not zero.
If you don't think it is convenience they are selling, visit the supermarket and look at the bottled water. You will find 12-16 ounce bottles and gallons. The gallons have been around for a long time. They are clearly a better deal for the amount of water you get. When is the last time you saw someone carrying around a gallon jug of water?
It was a genius to come up with the idea of selling bottled water.
By the way - that PET plastic they make water bottles out of is difficult (read: expensive) to recycle and they are filling landfills with it. Everyone needs to buy a water bottle and refill it from their tap and put these guys out of business before they destroy our planet.
Robert Haas, 7 Apr 2012 @ 7:56am
Re: Surely there can be life without ads??NO programming should be allowed to be unterupted from beginning to end....Add it up for DirectTV for insstance. 30 million subs and average 100 per month.....now why do we have to suffer from all the bs ads anyway. DirectTV will only give you a lot of LIP service as I have tried twice.
Thanks for listening and if you share my thoughts call or email: 269 782-2454 email email@example.com. Tv USED to be good entertainment but with soo many interuptions I forget what it is Im watching........Best is to list the products and services which annoy you and boycott them altogather!
I share and agree with the many thoughts of Paul Hobbs but where do we start to join a coalition for this cause? I dumped DirectTV for three years and was forced by other family members to get it back........Much to my suprise the ad content, promos and little popup, banner ads were worse than before. Question is where is the United Support for us to share and with and then petition the networks......TV advertising is soo out of control I now get most all content from internet.....
Mark Strunk (profile), 4 Sep 2014 @ 1:46pm
Re: Surely there can be life without ads??I agree about most of your Anti Ads sentiment and TV content, but your dismissal of News / Press as an Opponent to Government is Wrong.
Press is the Only Business mentioned in the Bill of Rights.
Press as opposed to Infotainment is necessary to maintain Freedom of Expression. You say the Free Public Access TV could only cover Government "community service announcements". This is only one part of the Government Propaganda. The Press covers: General, Community, Arts & Leisure, Business, and Opinion. They are different Sections of the news paper, another fading and failing Media. Free is Good on the internet, but as the Owners are fond of: "Nothing is Free". We only get Free Infotainment, NOT Free Expression, Liberty, or Pursuit of Happiness.
We only have Freedom to choose Which "Person, Place, Thing" to associate/rent/lease/purchase.
Anonymous Coward, 21 Apr 2010 @ 10:31pmI enjoy many television shows - I watch them on my DVR without ads. I'm glad ads exist - without them, many of my favorite shows wouldn't exist.
It's the same as the internet - some subset of users browses the web mostly without ads, while the vast majority does, and without them things on the internet would cost more/not be free.
This is a good thing.
CN, 22 Apr 2010 @ 4:51am
Strap you in with eyelid clips...All these always on logos burning into my screen, annoying ads running even when I am trying to read the credits, things popping up and dancing in the corner advertising some other show... *sigh* These are the reasons I stopped watching TV!
Ellen Marie (profile), 10 Oct 2010 @ 7:01pm
Re: Strap you in with eyelid clips...MY PARTNER AND I DETEST WATCHING A GOOD MOVIE AND IDIOTS FLASH ADS FOR ANOTHER SHOW, OR THE NAME OF THE MOVIE WE ARE WATCHING IN THE CORNER OF THE SCREEN. ITS EXTREMELY DISTRACTING AND TERRIBLY ANNOYING.THEY DIDN'T ANNOY US WITH THIS CRAP YEARS AGO, WHAT ARE THEY TRYING TO PROVE BY ANNOYING PEOPLE SO MUCH.IT MAKES ALOT OF US THINK TWICE ABOUT EVEN WATCHING THE DAMNED TV ANYMORE.
Big_Mike (profile), 22 Apr 2010 @ 5:54amSimple, make the commercial worth watching "Milka-what?"
Desco (profile), 22 Apr 2010 @ 7:40am
How Cable Screwed Up.Over a dozen years ago, the cable companies already had the technology to be able to stream shows. Like the new Netflicks or podcasting, the shows we "subscribe" would be sent to us automatically and be saved to our set top boxes, and we could watch them at our leisure. Instead, cable (probably because of fears of the media companies) stick to the old "broadcast" model where if you aren't home when it airs, or if more than one show you want to watch airs at the same time, you're screwed. This is completely outdated, and as I said the technology to prevent this has been in place for over a decade. (I've had cable modem service for what, 15 years?)
Commercials can be shown in the menu while we're deciding what to watch, or after a show is done, show commercials until we reactivate the menu. As it is, my current DVR goes back into the menu when a show is done, and the menu screen sits there doing nothing while I get up for a snack, or while I'm waiting for the girlfriend to get back from a wee. Hell, when I pause the show to answer the phone or talk to someone, show ads while the content is paused-- I might be more inclined to pay attention to commercials because I'm not currently engaged in the content! Instead they stick to interleaving commercials between content and because when I'm watching content all I want is content, I definitely want to skip commercials to get back to the content.
If they really want to stick to this model, maybe make the DVRs just a little bit smarter-- instead of blindly skipping 30 seconds, where I might skip into the middle of some ad I don't care about (or worse, skip into the middle an ad that I might actually watch but because it's in the middle I don't know what it's for) skip to the beginning of the next commercial. That way, commercial makers are guaranteed that the first second of a commercial WILL be seen, so they can put all their eye-catching images/phrases there so I can decide immediately if I want to watch or skip the commercial.
Anonymous Coward, 22 Apr 2010 @ 7:41amThey need to just go back to the old way of pure product placement in the program.
I heard the Marketing guy form Coke talk about this NEW product placement advertising plan was the genius of the old days. Pretty hard to fast forward through a commercial when the main character sits back and sips a coke and in the regular dialogue comments how refreshing it is.
RadBag, 22 Apr 2010 @ 4:30pm
Surely there can be life without ads??Many,(many) years ago Hockey Night in Canada was sponsored by Esso (Exxon sub in Canada) and then shared with Ford. The ads were highly transparent (you could see all the action thru them) and not annoying and the game went on. I never complained about those ads because they were imaginative and not disruptive to the action. They also didn't require a stoppage in action. These games took about 2 hours and a bit. They changed to "Official Time Outs" (or Commercial time outs). The game then lasted almost 3 hours and was very disruptive to a fast action game like hockey. The current system of stoppages has changed the strategy of the game (and not for the better, but that's another discussion). However, (a big however) given the choice of no hockey without ads or the current regime, give me my hockey! (could I be anything other than a Canadian?)
Jacob solomon, 28 Jun 2010 @ 10:02am
AdvertisingProduct placement during the show. Anything beyond that and you're getting too fucking greedy.
Anonymous Coward, 10 Oct 2011 @ 11:13ammhgljhfljxdlud
Sammi, 2 May 2012 @ 12:14am
The Commercials on TV TodayARE downright insulting to anyone with a half a brain.
Its a fact that -intelligent people are not going to simply buy a product because some moron is telling to..Intelligent people know what they need or want -research the product they are interested in..then buy.
Another point,,,If we were too add up the amount each Cable /satellite ..Television provider earns from the billions of people that subscribe...
There should be NO commercials!!!! We do pay a fortune to watch tv..
Alfred, 19 Aug 2013 @ 3:21pm
I want something to turn sound off during advertsWhy does not someone invent some gadget that can detect an advert - or receive and internet signal that tells it that an advert has commenced - so that the sound can be turned off, and back on at the end of each advert.
I have taught my kids to turn on silent mode during adverts and they never ask to buy the crap being advertised. As a result, they consume tiny amounts of sugar and are tall and slim and never hungry.
Anyone who thinks adverts don't work for them, only for others, is like a person who thinks that everyone can simultaneously have an above-average IQ.
Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2013 @ 3:06pmThese ads are so annoying that watching the TV show is impossible with all this JUNK. Soon the TV will only be useful for watching DVD's.
Elliander Eldridge, 2 Jan 2016 @ 8:30am
This is why I cut the cableI never used a DVD and never minded commercials, but when cable TV started putting ads on top of the show I am watching that was when I cut the cable. I refuse to sit through the objects obstructing my view of the show. There is usually a logo in the bottom right corner, a count down to their new show I don't care about in the top right corner, and an ad that doesn't just appear on the bottom, but animates to draw my eyes away from the show on the bottom. Television has become like some poorly designed website. That was the last straw for me and the motivation to switch to downloads even before streaming media was a thing and now I stream on Netflix and Youtube primarily. I will NEVER go back to cable TV. As far as I am concerned it's dead.


text:
Mike Epps Rates Nicki Minaj A 7 1/2 & Lil Kim A 5!
Fabolous & Mike Epps Rate Lil Kim, Kim Kardashian & Nicki Minaj. Shout out to Canalp
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
I am first-generation Polish-American. My father's ancestors were from the old city of Zamosc on the eastern edge of Poland; my mother's were from Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian partition now part of Ukraine.
Journals from my mother tell stories of soldiers marching through their small village in World War I, of school events and parties, of unexplained illnesses. Because I have these bits of history, I chose to explore the small village of Ottynia on the western edge of Ukraine where, in 1919, my mother lived with her grandmother. I wanted to see this place – to walk in the footsteps of my ancestors.
My daughter and I spent 10 days touring the major cities of Poland. At the end of the escorted tour we added two days for Ottynia.
Our plane left the busy Warsaw airport on a Saturday morning in September. When we landed in Lviv, Ukraine (called Lvov by Poles), our adventure began.
Arriving passengers crowded a hot, stuffy section of the terminal building to have their documents checked. We heard murmurings in many languages. In the typical airport confusion, we stood in several wrong lines, and our frustration grew.
Unhelpful personnel loomed formidably in sharp green uniforms: form-fitting jackets, epaulets adorned with brass stars, slim trousers, heavy black shoes. Their green hats fit snugly around the crown of the head, flat on top, stiff bills, also adorned with brass stars. They walked with military-like posture, offering no welcoming smiles or gestures. My first impression was not a confident one. I had arranged for a guide, and hoped things would improve.
As we cleared the last immigration station, a check for health insurance, I looked beyond the small wooden barrier to the crowd greeting incoming passengers. Alex carried a sign, but even without it I would have known him. Stocky and barrel-chested, light hair cut short, ruddy complexion, wide smile, happy countenance. I had formed a picture of him from our Internet and phone conversations, and it fit perfectly. He waved, and as my daughter and I passed the barrier, he met us with an exuberant hello and embrace. Hope surged for a productive trip.
We loaded our single duffel into Alex's old Volkswagen station wagon and drove to Ivan-Franko, the largest city near Ottynia, where we would spend the night. Roads were narrow, traffic swift, but it was a chance to see the countryside, to note how parts of the country had been slow to emerge from the oppression that once gripped the country. Carts pulled by oxen were not unusual. Livestock walked freely on the road.
Dinner was a Polish favorite: mushroom soup, followed by stuffed chicken breast and asparagus. Two bottles of local wine ended the meal.
The hotel building dated to 1907, and until 1939 had been privately owned, then became an administrative building. In 1991 it became a small hotel. Our room was charming and Old World, with floors of polished wood. Two narrow iron beds were dressed in crisp white linens. We opened the one tall window as wide as possible. Across the street, in a dimly lighted park, two people shared a small bench.
In Ottynia on Sunday, Alex introduced us to a former mayor of the village and to a 75-year old woman who had lived her whole life in Ottynia. Our first stop was a 1917 building that had been a school, now in disrepair. The yard was covered with tall grass and weeds, but the front door was visible. For a moment I visualized teens going to school in 1919 – my mother among them.
The next stop was the church. The original building – the only Catholic church in 1919 – still stands, although newer buildings have been built around it. This church, the church of my ancestors. And here I was, 90 years later, with my daughter standing in the same place my mother might have stood. It was overwhelming.
Our last stop was the train station. The pages of mother's journal describe the station as a place with much emotion, a place of many poignant moments and tearful goodbyes. The station was quiet on this Sunday afternoon, and I stood as silently and peacefully as I could to embrace all I had experienced in just two days.
We left Lviv on Sunday night. Alex dropped us at the main entrance to the terminal. We knew what lines to stand in. We smiled at the airport personnel, even if they didn't smile back. I had touched a small part of Ukraine and a large part of my heritage, and it had touched me.
Register reader Caroline Sallenbach lives in Villa Park. She submitted this story as part of the Register's ongoing series of "Reader Reports."


text:
WSJ 125th - Wall Street
Over the past 125 years, Wall Street has been the financial engine for the United States and much of the world. These days, Wall Street is more of an industry than a place. But in 1889, it all happened on the Street itself. Photo: Associated Press
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I do ... that ... over the past one hundred twenty five years Wall Street has been the financial engine to the United States and much of the world ... these days Wall Street the mortgage industry to Netflix ... eighteen eighty nine it all happened on the street itself ... and thus were three man team Dow Jones and Berks Chester ... transform their financial newsletter business into a daily newspaper ... the four P's Wall Street Journal A debut in July eight eighteen eighty nine for two cents a copy from finis was catastrophic in nineteen twenty nine ... between the black there's a selloff on October twenty four ... and what to say on October twenty nine ... stock market lost over twenty six billion dollars ... the indicator postwar optimism the roaring twenties access ... the Wall Street Journal reported that extraordinary shrinkage in Belize resulted in severe impairment of speculative holdings ... the crash ushered in the great depression ... all Western industrialized countries for decades to come ... create a political and economic order with the theme of the Bretton Woods conference in the second World War was still underway in New Hampshire meeting in July nineteen forty four ... was attended by seven ... thirty representatives from forty four Allied nations ... be hammered out agreements that led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and later the World Bank big question on Wall Street this morning which way was the New York Stock Exchange going to go it's likely those delegates can never have imagined forces ... me to another black day on Wall Street in nineteen eighty seven ... stockmarket crash tested crude to lead article in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday Oct twenty ... according to Dow points twenty three percent ... the crash made worse by automated computer trading ... but over the next decade ... the tech boom helped propel Wall Street's new heights ... and the Dow soaring over ten thousand in nineteen eighty nine ... the longest bull market ... records masses historic barrier for the Journal of a ... milestone worth the astonishing success and giddy exuberance of the U S economy ... with a record share of Americans participating in the market ... he would closely monitor the situation in financial markets ... console with my economic advisors ... less than ten years later however the bubble would burst ... this time tied to an overheated housing market ... in September two thousand the ... store to Journal called ... one of the most tumultuous weekend in Wall Street's history AIG Lehman Brothers Merrill Lynch were brought to their knees setting off the two thousand eight financial crisis that shook the American financial system to its core effects reverberated around the world and still being felt today ...


text:
You're on the first date with him, you've finished the meal,
you're both talking, having a great time,
and then you're compelled to open that fortune cookie.
Is tonight's destiny in your hands?
Unfortunate Cookies are original humor clips
written by the readers and editors of GAYTWOGETHER.
If you would like to send your Unfortunate Cookie ideas to us,
email us at firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
The tobacco industry may be making strides in the health department, but a new report shows it still has a ways to go to make sure children aren't being exploited by the multi-billion-dollar trade.
Continue Reading Below
Child tobacco workers labor 50 to 60 hours a week in the heat, using dangerous machinery and climbing unsafe storage rafters several stories tall, all while being exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The study is the latest blow to an industry that has been plagued for years with mounting health concerns, one that has been forced to adapt to a rapidly changing regulatory landscape that includes vivid warnings on cigarette packs, and invest in innovative, healthier products such as e-cigs.
The watchdog interviewed 141 children in the trade ages 7 to 17 who worked in North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia – responsible for 90% of tobacco grown in the U.S. -- between May and October 2013.
Nearly 75% reported the sudden onset of serious symptoms, including vomiting and difficulty breathing, while working in the fields or in barns next to dried tobacco leaves and dust. Human Rights Watch says many of the symptoms are consistent with acute nicotine poisoning.
"Human Rights Watch believes that no child under age 18 should be permitted to perform work in which they come into direct contact with tobacco in any form," the watchdog says, urging the U.S. government and tobacco manufacturers to take "urgent steps to progressively remove" children from these tasks.
The group specifically called out Altria Group (NYSE:MO), British American Tobacco, China National Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco, Lorillard (NYSE:LO), Philip Morris International (NYSE:PM) and Reynolds American (NYSE:RAI) for their relationship with U.S. farms.
Philip Morris welcomed the report, saying the study uncovers "serious child labor abuses that should not occur on any farm, anywhere." PMI has worked to address child labor through its Agricultural Labor Practices program that has reached half a million small farmers, but says "more work" is needed.
"Of the companies approached by Human Rights Watch, PMI has developed the most detailed and protective set of policies and procedures, including training and policy guidance on child labor and other labor issues which it is implementing in its global supply chain," said PMI chief André Calantzopoulos.
An Altria spokesperson says the company does not condone the exploitation of farm workers, especially those under the age of 18, and in fact works closely with its suppliers through a program in partnership with the government known as Good Agricultural Practices to provide guidelines about labor management and make sure growers are adhering to the rules.
"We don't have farms of our own. We're doing it because the sustainability of our agriculture supply chain is critical to our businesses" an Altria spokesperson said.
Reynolds American told FOX Business that its contracts with growers require that they comply with laws regarding underage labor. The company, which trains and audits North Carolina farmers, said it has only found three instances where under-18 workers were being utilized, and in all three cases the farmer was in compliance with the law.
"The issue of whether existing laws go far enough in regulating work conditions for those under 18 is complex," a Reynolds American spokesperson said. "Reynolds fully intends to participate in the group's efforts."
Lorillard did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the report.


text:
Ind. Bill Would Waive Non-Resident RV Sales Tax
January 18, 2012 by RVBusiness · Comments Off on Ind. Bill Would Waive Non-Resident RV Sales Tax
Indiana Rep. Tim Neese, R-Elkhart, has authored legislation to boost recreational vehicle sales in both Elkhart County and throughout Indiana. According to a report in the Goshen News, the bill would exempt sales tax of RVs and cargo trailers for nonresident purchasers who take their new RV purchase out of Indiana.
According to Neese, the bill would exempt from the state's 7% sales tax on any RV or cargo trailer transported out of Indiana for registration or use in another state.
"The bill's intent is to bolster Indiana's RV sales and keep the revenue in Indiana," Neese said. "Creating an incentive for customers outside of Indiana to purchase RVs in our state will hopefully attract added customers to Indiana RV retailers, strengthening Elkhart County and the state of Indiana's economy."
Under current law, Indiana RV and cargo trailer dealers are required to collect the 7% sales tax for sales to nonresidents who plan to register their RV in a state that does not provide reciprocal drive-out exemptions.
"Elkhart County is a nationwide leader in RV manufacturing. We don't want to penalize those from out of state who are giving Indiana business or lose dollars that could be coming into Indiana," Neese said. "This is an important issue for RV retailers. My hope is that this will be one step closer to boosting sales for Indiana businesses, to strengthen our economy and provide job opportunities for hard working Hoosiers."
Neese said the bill is supported by the Indiana Manufactured Housing Association and the Recreational Vehicle Indiana Council.
The bill was read and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.


text:
Loaded Baked Potato Dip, Chicken Tagine, Sparkling Watermelon Sangria, Ethiopian Butter, and African Peanut Stew
We brought you a small taste of Africa this week in our new recipes, with beef and peanut stew, braised kale with tomatoes, and a bright Moroccan tagine of chicken, apricots, and chickpeas. There was a tempting South African sandwich, too, and a tutorial on how to cook lentils on the stovetop. Watermelon was an inspiration this week as well, with a watermelon-feta salad and sparkling watermelon sangria for backyard parties this weekend. And to cap it all off: the right dish for your first tailgate of the year: Loaded baked potato dip with homemade chips!
• Loaded Baked Potato Dip with Homemade Chips
• Sparkling Watermelon Sangria
• Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Almonds & Chickpeas
• How To Cook Lentils on the Stovetop
• Ethiopian Spiced Clarified Butter (Niter Kibbeh)
• African Beef and Peanut Stew
• South African Cheese, Grilled Onion & Tomato Panini (Braaibroodjie)
• Sukuma Wiki (African Braised Kale with Tomatoes)
• Watermelon Salad with Feta and Mint
Previous Week's New Recipes: Penne alla Vodka, Perfect Pesto, Broiled Zucchini, Sweet Corn Soup, Norwegian Lefse Flatbread, The Gold Rush & More
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)


text:
We are no longer updating this page and it is not optimised for mobile devices.
Freedom of information procedures and initial contact points
Inquiries concerning the procedures for seeking information from the Museum under the Act may be made in writing, by telephone, or in person at the official FOI access point shown below:
FOI Coordinator
National Museum of Australia
Lawson Crescent
Acton ACT 2601
Mail address:
GPO Box 1901
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone: (02) 6208 5365
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
The Director is the authorised decision maker under the Act.
Facilities for access
The access point at which members of the public may make inquires on FOI matters, submit formal requests for access to documents, or inspect documents to which access has been granted, is listed above, and is open from Monday to Friday during business hours.
Categories of documents
The Museum holds minutes, reports and submissions associated with the Council and its committees; general records, including correspondence, reports and minutes of internal meetings in relation to the activities and functions of the organisation; administrative documents such as management, staffing, finance and personnel records; and documentation relating to the Museum's collections.
Some educative material is made available for purchase by the public. Documents made available to the public free of charge include descriptive brochures about the Museum's public programs.


text:
Bic National Park, Cap à l'Orignal, Québec
This panorama with ambiant sound is at: www.photojpl.com/tour/08bic/08bic.html
After the snowstorm...
The three masted barque Belem in Quebec City
Mass Rally for Health Care in Montreal
This panorama with ambiant sound is at: www.photojpl.com/tour/08debutmarche/08debutmarche.html
Montreal's Canadiens Hockey practice at the Bell Center
Huntingdon's mayor watching the floods
The river was getting higher and floods were treatening Huntingdon's town in Quebec. The mayor Stéphane Gendron overlooks the area in the town...
Fireworks competition in Montreal - Event from the France team
Seen from Jacques-Cartier bridge.
Tribute to Leonard Cohen at Montreal International Jazz Festival
This panorama can be viewed with ambiant sound at: www.photojpl.com/tour/08jazzcohen/08jazzcohen.html
Quebec National Day celebration parade in Montreal
This panorama can be viewed with ambiant sound at: www.photojpl.com/tour/08stjean/08stjean.html
Bran Van 3000 in concert at Montreal International Jazz Festival
This panoramic can be seen with ambiant music at: www.photojpl.com/tour/08branvan/08branvan.html
Pointe-à-Callière's Port Symphonies, Montreal
Concert with sounds made by ships in the port. This panorama with ambiant music can be seen at: www.photojpl.com/flash/08portuaires.html
Accident on the highway in Montreal
That 1 Guy at the Montreal International Jazz Festival
At the Heineken Pavillon temporarily builted in Montreal. This panorama can be viewed with ambiant music at:...
The 2008 twins parade in downtown Montreal. There were around 1500 twins in the streets. You can see this image with ambiant sound at:...
Montreal Grand Prix festivities on St-Laurent boulevard
Toro, the mythical Corridas
From Oposito site: Why TORO? For twenty years we have travelled through the cities of France and elsewhere, to produce our mythical Corridas. But...
Montreal F1 Grand Prix open day
Toronto Waterfront
Wren Lake - Haliburton, Ontario
Cordula's Backyard
I have tried hard but the panorama isn't perfect. I don't have a spherical tripod head, nor do I have a fisheye lens (what I have is a wideangle...


text:
We have a secret to share. The Fort Lauderdale Garden's Club's annual Secret Garden Tour is Saturday.
So put on your comfortable shoes and walk behind the gates at Fort Lauderdale's most-prestigious addresses to peer at spectacular waterfront gardens.
Maps to the $25 self-guided tour are handed out from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Church by the Sea. Proceeds fund the club's charitable work, which includes scholarships to Wekiva Youth Camp in Apopka.
"This year, we are featuring themed gardens with five homes on the tour," says organizer Sandra Lynch, of the Parkinsonia Garden Circle, one of several chapters of the club. "Each year, we like to present something for everyone to appreciate, something to inspire them."
Much inspiration can be found on the tour's highlight, a 7-acre oasis on the south fork of the New River. "Charlie's Palmarum" is brimming with native and exotic palms and tropical trees and plants heavy with brilliant blooms.
Palms of note include a native thatch, bismarcks, brown fuzzy, petticoat and a Coco de Mer, found only in the Seychelles.
A crowning jewel is the majestic, 100-year-old kapok tree towering 70 feet. Steps away, baby manatees occasionally lumber into the lagoon that narrows into a tidal creek running through the monster property.
Jade vine with long, trailing blooms seemingly kissed by leprechauns drip over a weathered wall on one side of the house. Up the path, giant orbs of orange flowers adorn the Panama flame tree. .
"I'm a caretaker of this place, and I love to share it," says Charles Slater, 53, who's owned the property since 1993. "This used to be a marshy 1940s fish camp. I added three feet of fill over five acres. I've planted over time to turn this place into a piece of living art. I think I've achieved my goal."
Other featured gardens include a welcoming entryway, a backyard garden perfect for entertaining and a 200-bush rose garden.
The tour is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and begins at Church by the Sea, 2700 Mayan Drive, in Fort Lauderdale. Limited tickets cost $25 and $30 on Saturday, 954-561-8475, FLGC.org.


text:
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Marimekko fall favourites
While I'm on the Marimekko trail... These are my favourite clothes from their autumn/winter collection. Not sure I could get away with wearing those bold horizontal stripes, but one can dream, right? The top right outfit looks like something my grandmother used to wear. Maybe that's why I'm attracted to it :-) What it lacks in sex appeal I'm sure it makes up for in comfort!
3 comments:
- Francesca said...
oh my god i have to have that stripy jumper dress. i don't care how much it costs! love your little marimekko seasonal round-ups. you should get commission. x
- August 18, 2011 at 2:00 PM
- Janne said...
It's gorgeous, isn't it? Glad you enjoy my little Marimekko round-ups!
- August 18, 2011 at 2:04 PM
- Jacqui said...
Love the top middle two. The others are great but I think I'd look like a sack of potatoes in them (sadly).
- August 18, 2011 at 2:54 PM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Midway through the HBO docudrama "Too Big to Fail," the head of the
of New York despairs that ordinary Americans "have no idea the whole thing is about to fall down."
He's referring not to the stock market, which already was plunging as the global financial crisis struck in late-2008, but to the entire U.S. economy as the conflagration on Wall Street threatened to spread far wider.
I covered Wall Street for The Times during that period, and the movie accurately depicts the panic that gripped the Fed and the
— and eventually a slow-to-comprehend Wall Street — as they scrambled to avert another Great Depression.
The movie, based on a book by
columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, captures the frustration of government officials as each hole they patched was followed by an even bigger leak.
"Too Big to Fail," which premieres Monday, hews closely to actual events. But like most docu-dramas, it does condense events and conjure dialogue that never took place.
For example, Richard Fuld, the chief executive of Lehman Bros. doesn't appear to have uttered the sacrilegious "screw
" remark when the famed investor offered to buy a stake in the company at what the CEO considered a fire-sale price. Fuld did, however, reject Buffett's proposal and, within weeks, Lehman tipped into a record-setting bankruptcy that dwarfed earlier failures such as Enron Corp.
In an industry of aggressive personalities, Fuld was infamous for his drive and intensity — as well as his clenched jaw and the angry scowl that seemed to be permanently soldered onto his face. A mediocre student surrounded by Ivy Leaguers, Fuld was a gritty trader who was determined to push Lehman into Wall Street's elite.
Another scene that probably was embellished — and was not in Sorkin's book — was when Treasury Secretary
supposedly yelled at then-presidential nominee
. In the movie version, Paulson barks at McCain that if the
senator doesn't back his plans, the next Great Depression will be his fault.
But several of the more vivid moments, such as the
-induced vomiting of Paulson, are grafted directly from the book. Also, the film's take on
, then chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, asking — hesitantly and incompetently — for the Lehman bankruptcy closely matches Sorkin's work too.
Another pair of dramatic scenes — Federal Reserve Chairman
's exhorting lawmakers to fund a massive Wall Street bailout and Paulson's summoning Wall Street CEOs for a fateful meeting — occurred largely as shown. "Too Big to Fail" aptly conveys Wall Street's transformation from boom-era complacency to nail-biting angst.
The Masters of the Universe — as
dubbed them in "The Bonfire of the Vanities," his fictionalized 1987 portrayal of Wall Street excess — toggled from greed to fear. They loathed the idea of aiding rivals but became spooked by the deteriorating financial system — not to mention the threat to their sumptuous lifestyles.
The movie deviates from Sorkin's book by making Paulson — the former head of
who reluctantly had agreed to become Treasury secretary two years earlier — the spine of the narrative. He engaged in high-stakes brinksmanship to coax banks to fortify themselves through mergers and lawmakers to steady the economy through a
Set several months after the government had rescued Bear Stearns by midwifing its sale to
Chase, Paulson prods Lehman, the smallest of the four remaining investment banks, to raise capital to prevent a domino effect on other banks.
He exerted as much pressure as he could on Fuld, whose denial of his company's mounting crisis led to its destruction. Lehman had survived a near-death experience in the early 1980s, and Fuld was convinced it could again.
Though Lehman sank, the cumulative efforts to revive the financial system and the global economy eventually took hold. The U.S. economy remains soft to this day. But it could have been much worse.


text:
How To: Edit Photos on iPhone (French)
Monday, January 28
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.
Apple DIX30
Go to My Reservations to cancel your reservation
Make your photos look their best. We'll explore some key elements of photo editing using the Photos app for quick fixes or fine adjustments. Bring your iPhone, and follow along as we show you how to enhance your images with built-in filters and features. Then discover all the ways you can share your favourite photos.
9120 boul. Leduc
Brossard, QC J4Y 0L3


text:
Peterborough Volkswagen is the only Audi local authorized service department and warranty facility in Peterborough, Ontario.
From Wheels to Base Carrier Bars; customize your Volkswagen to suit your lifestyle with Volkswagen Original Accessories. Designed specifically for your vehicle, while also maintaining the standards you've come to expect from Volkswagen. Explore the complete line of Volkswagen Accessories at Peterborough Volkswagen Ltd..
Volkswagen Original Accessories, purchased from Peterborough Volkswagen Ltd., in Ontario, are protected by the new vehicle 4-year / 80,000 km limited warranty, if installed prior to vehicle delivery. If purchased from an authorized dealer, during the new vehicle warranty period, accessories qualify for the balance of the new vehicle warranty coverage or a 1-year / 20,000 km limited warranty, whichever is greater*.
When it comes to personalizing, protecting and preserving your Volkswagen, nothing beats Volkswagen Original Accessories.
Volkswagen Accessories are covered for the 2 years/ 40,000 km (whichever occurs first) CPO limited warranty extension, when purchased at the time of a CPO vehicle with Assurance Premium purchase.
*Certain conditions may apply. Contact your Volkswagen Dealer for full details. Limited warranty is supplied by Volkswagen Group Canada Inc.
Show off your love for your Volkswagen. We've got authentic swag for every VW enthusiast. Shop the full Volkswagen Collection of clothing, sports gear, lifestyle accessories and more. Explore it now.


text:
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
FamilySearch Blogger Dinner at FGS (FGS2013 Update 2)
As usual, FamilySearch has big plans, and they shared them with us.
First, we got the scoop that Diane Loosle was the new director of the Family History Library. This is a great choice on their part. We were lucky enough to hear some of her plans and upcoming changes at the Family History Library.
Loosle said that the FHL will have collaborative research spaces, with staff coming out from behind the counters to assist patrons. These spaces will be divided loosely by research interest and have all the tools one needs to do that research. She gave an example of the Nordic area of the library. Usually we get a film in one area and go to the microfilm readers in another area, or a computer in another. In the collaborative space, many of these things are grouped together. This lets Nordic researchers work among each other. What happens then is that they start talking and helping each other. Add that to the staff that are out and about and that's how collaborative research happens.
Paul Nauta then gave the most recent stats for FamilySearch holdings. They are up to 2.9 billion searchable names, with 1.7 million names being added daily. They are still filming like crazy with 237 camera teams around the world.
Nauta also hinted at a new kind of Family History Discovery Center. These are more interactive and outreaching than the traditional local Family History Centers we all know. They will include oral history recording studios and bells and whistles to help the casually interested folks get their family history down. The Discovery Centers--I think he said 4 or 5 are being planned initially--will be in high traffic/high tourist areas. He was pretty secretive about the locations so stay tuned for that.
FamilySearch Family Tree is coming along. It's technically not being promoted to the public yet, but it's growing fine. I know this because a client is paying me to use this service and I've already added several hundred names and 1050 photos to the big tree. I asked about the ability to add documents. He said that's coming this year, as well as the ability to add videos. Yay!
Family Search Indexing is launching an international marketing campaign in 10 languages to raise awareness and attract volunteers on a global level. I tried to find the video online to share but gave up. If anyone who was at the dinner has the link, can you let me know?
Nauta also gave a RootsTech 2014 update. The upcoming conference will expand to 600 satellite locations with an estimated 120,000 remote attendees. Registration opens this week and involves an early discount so sign up now.
That's it on the FamilySearch update front. They gave the bloggers a nice gift or a solar phone charger with flashlight. They always bring the quality swag.
Thank you, FamilySearch for the great evening.
5 comments:
Thanks for the recap! And thanks for asking about when we'll be able to add documents to Family Tree. That's awesome news that this feature will be added this year. Hurray!ReplyDeleteReplies
Thanks, Jana! Yeah, I have all these multi-page WW2 letters that I want to add. It was the first question I asked of FamilySearch.Delete
I'm really looking forward to hearing more about the Discovery Center thing. I feel like if there was a place I could take non-genealogy friends and family to say, "This is what it's all about," they'd have a much clearer understanding of how all this works and why it's important. I'd be all over that.ReplyDelete
Gracias por tus noticias!ReplyDelete
Thanks for posting this, Amy. I can't wait for the Discovery Centers - maybe they'll put one here in Los Angeles so I can go all crazy on it.ReplyDelete


text:
Liberty News
Students fight rain, continue tree lighting tradition
Despite looming rain, Liberty University students filled the outdoor area in front of Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center Monday evening for the second-annual Christmas in Lights celebration, which was capped off by the lighting of a 30-foot tree.
The event was a chance for students to celebrate the Christmas season together before Christmas break begins Dec. 16. Spring Semester 2012 begins Jan. 16.
"I love Christmas in Lights because it's a celebration of what Christmas is all about, and that's the birth of Jesus Christ. … We need to be ever reminded of that fact," sophomore James Black said.
The Liberty Concert Choir, Chamber Singers and University Chorale, along with the Brass Ensemble, led students in carols on the front steps, and those willing to brave the rain stayed to enjoy hot chocolate, candy canes and cookies.
The event was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., but was pushed up to 5 p.m. due to the chance of inclement weather. About 15 minutes after the beginning of the ceremony, the rain became much steadier.
"I loved standing up there and singing with everybody. … The time change threw a lot of us off, but we adapted," said Andy Mallory, a junior communications major and member of the Concert Choir.
At 5:18 p.m., a slow clap began, and the tree was lit. A giant cheer arose from the students, and more caroling ensued.
The tree was purchased from Crystal Springs Farm, near the Poconos in Pennsylvania, and will stand in front of DeMoss Hall until Christmas. It will be lit up each night after dark.
Christmas in Lights was sponsored by the Student Activities Office, which is hosting other campus events for the Christmas season, including a Christmas-themed campus artist series on Thursday; a Christmas movie night with Elf and Home Alone on Friday; and Christmas Coffeehouse on Friday, Dec. 9.


text:
I am working with Flash, specifically with shape tweening and I was wondering if anyone had a good definition or explanation of Distributive Shape tweening vs Angular Shape tweening. I took a brief look around Macromedia's site and didn't see anything about it or in the help files in the program and I don't have the $l00t to buy a book.
I've noticed that angular seems to work better with more complex images but when I create something simple to see the difference I can see a difference but am not sure what that difference is. I'd like to know in what situation you'd use one versus the other.
If anyone can point me to any info or give me a crumb of knowledge I'd be most thankful.


text:
Chevrolet, Toyota, and Nissan Show Their Raptor-Fighters
Dealer-Delivered Attitude
In the past quarter-century, a handful of trucks were game-changing models. The second-generation supercharged Ford F-150 SVT Lightning and the Chevrolet 454SS were among them. These two defined the performance-truck segment in the 1990s and 2000s. The Dodge Ram SRT10, while colossally powerful and undeniably cool, was priced out of the realm of many truck enthusiasts' budgets. But the most impactful truck of the last few decades has been the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. The second truck effort of Ford's factory hot-rod division, while not as objectively fast as its pavement-pounding predecessor, had a greater impact on the overall truck market and much broader popularity.
Naturally, success rarely goes unnoticed or unrivaled, and Chevrolet, Toyota, and Nissan are coming up with their own off-road trucks, each with a unique twist. Here's a look at some Raptor-esque models that could be coming to a showroom near you soon.
2014 Chevrolet Silverado Reaper
When the Reaper was unveiled at the 2014 North American Dealers Association conference in New Orleans recently, it received a lot of attention from Chevrolet dealers as well as some attention from automotive enthusiast sites and blogs before the official reveal. The truck's unveiling came at an opportune time for Chevrolet dealers, as the Ford F-150 Raptor SVT is entering its final year of officially announced production. Although many expect a Raptor or Raptor-like version of the new 2015 F-150 will eventually be offered, there's likely to be a 1-2-year wait until we see its successor.
We wanted a more in-depth look at the origins of the Reaper project and the collaboration between renowned domestic performance tuning company Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and Southern Comfort Automotive for this melding of Yankee engineering know-how and Southern style. We talked with Mike Copeland, vice president of Operations at LPE, about how the Reaper came to be, and what's planned.
Copeland said the idea for a performance off-road-oriented Silverado began in 2012, when the company became aware of the imminent introduction of the all-new K2XX-series GM trucks. The company initially planned to do all styling and performance upgrades in-house. The original name for the concept was T-Rex, and it was envisioned as a rival to the Roush- and Shelby-tuned versions of the Ford Raptor. Lingenfelter got its first 2014 truck in May 2013 and immediately started development on the engine performance packages. With a Magnacharger on the 5.3-liter EcoTec V-8, the truck ran an impressive 13.89-second quarter mile at over 100 mph, even with a tall 3.08 axle ratio.
While his company was moving full speed ahead on the T-Rex project, Ken Lingenfelter received a call from Michael McSweeney of Southern Comfort Automotive, based in Trussville, Alabama. Southern Comfort was working on its own customized Silverado and called on Lingenfelter for performance upgrades for the truck. After the prolonged call between Lingenfelter and McSweeney, Copeland and Lingenfelter flew down to Alabama to see what the company was working on. Impressed with the aggressive styling treatment Southern Comfort had created for the Silverado, the two companies decided to join forces on the truck that would become the Reaper.
While the Raptor is the most obvious rival to the Reaper at first glance, Copeland points out the differences in approach. "The Raptor is a factory-built truck. [OEMs] have the opportunity to apply lots of resources and spend lots of money developing something." But Copeland doesn't feel Lingenfelter or Southern Comfort are necessarily at a dis-advantage from a factory-built effort. "We don't have the advantage of huge budgets, nor do we have hundreds of trucks to use for development, but we're able to move fast and make decisions quickly."
The package will be offered in all the Silverado's cab configurations, and non-factory parts will be covered by a 3-year, 36,000-mile limited warranty. Prices are expected to start in the mid-$50,000s with the final price dependent on personalization options selected by the customer. Trucks are planned to be available for purchase starting in late spring/early summer 2014. You can find more information on the Reaper at reaperperformanceusa.com.
Toyota 4Runner TRD Pro
If you want your off-road attitude in an SUV, Toyota will offer the TRD Pro package on the 4Runner. The functional upgrades to the 4Runner TRD Pro are similar to those of the Tacoma, with minor differences. The front springs give the SUV 1.5 inches of lift and increase wheel travel by 1 inch, and the wheels are 17-inchers. Like the Tacoma, the 4Runner gets a unique block-letter grille and front and rear black bumper accents.
2015 Toyota Tundra & Tacoma TRD Pro
There's little doubt whom Toyota had in mind with its TRD Pro Tundra. The block-letter grille treatment, though a longtime Toyota styling trademark used in the modern era on the FJ Cruiser, was clearly inspired by the Raptor's block-letter grille. Toyota's transformation of the Tundra isn't quite as extensive as the Raptor's, but it's significant nonetheless and includes reduced-rate springs with 2 inches of additional front lift, Bilstein remote-reservoir shocks, and a front skidplate. The interior gets unique red stitching and an instrument panel decorative insert. There are no big updates to the powertrain, but with the 381-hp, 5.7-liter i-Force V-8, there's not a great need for more power. If you want more go, there's always the available dealer-installed TRD supercharger that brings output up to more than 500 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque.
Is the Tundra a little bigger than you want or need? Get the TRD Pro package on the smaller Tacoma. Are the PreRunner and Baja T|X models not hard-core enough for you? The Tacoma TRD Pro stands out from its more subdued stablemates with a unique "TOYOTA" block-letter grille, black "TRD Pro" badging, and a front skidplate. Functional upgrades include Bilstein remote-reservoir shocks, TRD-tuned springs with 2 inches of front lift, and a decreased spring rate for a smoother ride over uneven terrain. The TRD Pro model also gets unique 16-inch beadlock-style wheels, BFGoodrich All-Terrain tires, and a TRD exhaust. The interior gets TRD-logo floormats and shift knob.
Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner Concept
When we first saw the advanced press material on the Nissan Frontier Diesel Runner concept, we simultaneously thought "Awesome!" and "We told you so." Awesome because it presents the strong possibility of a third midsize diesel truck in the U.S. market; and "we told you so" because reading between the lines of comments made by Nissan and Cummins officials at last summer's Nissan 360 event, it was clear the two companies were considering collaborating on other projects beyond the officially announced Titan diesel. The Frontier Diesel Runner concept is proof that Nissan is strongly considering a Cummins diesel option for the junior member of its truck family.
Based on the current-gen Desert Runner 2WD model, the Diesel Runner employs Cummins' 2.8-liter I-4 diesel producing close to 200 hp and more than 350 lb-ft of torque. It's mated to a ZF 8HP70 eight-speed automatic enabling the combination to achieve up to 35 percent better claimed fuel economy than the current V-6 Frontier, meaning highway fuel economy could be as high as 28 or 29 mpg, and payload and towing capacities would be comparable with the current Frontier V-6.
For the concept truck, the unique powertrain is designated by generous applications of red accents throughout the exterior and interior of the truck, with red being Cummins' signature color. The Diesel Runner gets painted in a unique red and silver two-tone paint scheme with carbon-fiber film accents. To make sure observers know what's under the hood, a transparent acrylic section shows the carbon-fiber engine cover featuring the Cummins logo and "Cummins Turbo Diesel" front fender badges. The front wheels are silver with satin black accents, while the rears are red with black accents. The brake calipers are the inverse: red in the front and silver in the back.
On the inside, the Diesel Runner gets carbon-print leather trimmed seats with red accents and gray stitching and "tracks" embroidery. There are also a diesel-specific three-gauge pod on the instrument panel, embroidered floormats, and shift knob and steering wheel accents.
Nissan says it built the Diesel Runner to gauge customer interest in a diesel engine option in a midsize truck. We have a feeling the reaction will be overwhelmingly positive.


text:
Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model. NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) hit a new 52-week high Friday as it is currently trading at $55.62, above its previous 52-week high of $55.53 with one million shares traded as of 12:31 p.m. ET. Average volume has been 2.3 million shares over the past 30 days. Cree has a market cap of $6.32 billion and is part of the technology sector and electronics industry. Shares are up 58.9% year to date as of the close of trading on Thursday. Cree, Inc. develops and manufactures lighting-class light emitting diode (LED) products, lighting products, and semiconductor products for power and radio-frequency (RF) applications. The company has a P/E ratio of 112.9, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.
- EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Jim Cramer's Protégé, Dave Peltier, only buys Stocks Under $10 that he thinks could potentially double. See what he's trading today with a 14-day FREE pass.


text:
This is Retro Video Game.
It was created for the new Darkpulse's template.
It's a very special opener, full of electronic sounds and digital rythmic. It will be perfect for all your motion template of this kind.
VideoHive authors, let's do magic together! Get inspired by browsing my portfolio or by using The Finder, a new tool to find exactly what you need. Just click on the tag you want, and voilà! And if you need an extra version to fit exactly to your project, feel free to contact me anytime!


text:
The problem with this assertion is that in the US, the average height is 5'10" for men and 5'4" for women'. Contemporary measures of standard deviations for American height vary a bit, from about 2.5 inches to 3 inches. For the sake of argument, we'll error on the high end and call it 3 full inches. If we take a sample with an equal number of American men and women and match them randomly with someone of the opposite sex (presuming the height distributions for both men and women are Gaussian, which is a pretty safe assumption), in only about 8% of couplings will we find a man paired with a woman who is taller than he is.
Consequently, the fact (and it is as much) is sub-optimal for use as a starting block in engaging in HBD-related conversations with those of a PC mindset because even if height was a neutral rather than a desirable trait in men, the vast majority of men would be taller than the women they are with.
Further, tying Game to HBD-realism is inherently flawed, since Game relies on men being able to train themselves to negate the realities of HBD. This is why Game most appeals to (and benefits) men who traditionally, due to the realities of HBD, have difficulty attracting women. Game gives them ways to appear to have higher levels of status than they actually do, by making themselves out to be more popular than they actually are, more self-assured than they actually are, commanding more resources than they actually do, etc. To the extent that Game is effective, it is because human biodiversity does not imply genetic determinism, only predispositions and general patterns that, to varying degrees, can be 'overcome'.
Game functions not on dwelling on biological realities and their inherently limiting factors like HBD does. To the contrary, it relies on the same optimism that OneSTDV describes political liberalism relying on:
Liberalism feels good because anyone can succeed. And this underpins its success; realist ideologies advocate fatalism and no one likes that.


text:
|2011-04-26, 04:54
|Link #1
Lost in my dreams...
Join Date: Jun 2006
Age: 32
Hanasaku Iroha - Spoilers & Speculation
The purpose of this thread is to allow free discussion of theories and speculation of the Hanasaku Iroha anime series, but be warned since it may contain unmarked spoilers. Having a central location may help focus the discussion instead of spreading speculation over the various episode discussion threads.
Acceptable post topics
Spoiler Policy
|2011-05-03, 00:27
|Link #4
♪~ Daydreaming ~♪
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Italy
|2011-05-03, 01:01
|Link #5
Monarch of Rughzenhaide
In all seriousness... if I had to guess, it would be Ohana's grandmother passing away.
|2011-05-03, 01:13
|Link #6
Join Date: Jan 2008
Age: 30
lovely thing about this show is that there is no source, so everything is speculation. i'll reiterate my theory that someone will get pregnant in the show. after all, one of the first things said in the show was Ohana's belief about the stork theory rather than the cabbage patch theory. and there's always that stork (which is technically a heron, but w/e) flying around.
also, something big did happen in ep 3. EPIC CAR CHASE.
|2011-05-03, 01:41
|Link #7
Crossdressing Menmatic
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Where you live... the question is, do you see me?
Age: 25
-As Ohana's grandmother foreshadows, the inn goes bankrupt; Fukuya buys out Kissuiso, and everyone works for Yuina now. Her first celebratory action is to get a larger massage chair.
-Ohana is promoted to the position of manager. Then, she picks up a copy of Peter Drucker's Management, and uses business theory in order to make Kissuiso the most popular inn in Japan... wrong anime.
-Ko visits the inn. Yeah! If a car chase in episode 3 is "big" then Ko visiting Ohana is groundbreaking. Bonus points if they lock lips. Mega bonus if they sleep in the same room... SUPER bonus if Ko decides to work at the inn together with Ohana. Long distance relationship, officially over.
-The bonbouri festival happens; Nako leaves (emotionally ) to pursue her dream as a world-class swimmer. AKA: The fans complained too much, enjoy your free bus ride off our show.
-Minko thinks of a better insult for Ohana. That would be huge.
-Jiroumaru wins the Akugatawa prize for his greatest perverted work "Ohana, Minko and Nako: Let's Sparkle Together at the Inn!" which sells over a million copies. His later memoir "How I Nearly Jumped Off A Cliff Because I'm Not Really an Author" releases to far less acclaim.
|2011-05-03, 07:42
|Link #8
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 32
Hmm, well, I'm going to speculate the big event of episode 10 will be Ohana's mother coming to the inn. She needs to come back into the story at some point. She has issues to straighten out with her mother, and her daughter as well. Ohana has never complained about it, but I bet that deep down, she resents her mother a bit for basically abandoning her and running away with some dude.
|2011-05-03, 09:37
|Link #10
♪~ Daydreaming ~♪
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Italy
Remember a recurring rule of 2 cours anime, which is putting one of the strongest arcs/plot evolutions/revelations in the middle, at the end of the first cour (approx. ep.11-12-13) or right at the beginning of the second cour (approx. ep.14-15-16). If this event is placed in episode 10, then it looks like a set up element for a main arc in the following episodes.
So it would be something with enough relevance to carry a 3-4 episodes arc. In this regard, Kou or Ohana's mother would both seem valid theories. Personally I'd be more inclined towards the Kou theory, as I believe things with Satsuki will be dealt later.
|2011-05-03, 09:54
|Link #11
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: East Cupcake
The anime is fairly straightforward, so Kou's arrival is more or less pre-destined and will only be held off as so long as the staff can stretch the anticipation (which depends greatly on how interested they are in showcasing stories concerning the other workers/members of the inn, stories about the village/school, etc), but 5 more episodes until Kou seems reasonable (especially if writers keep dropping little hints as to his arrival).
That being said, I do want a Festival arc, and that seems like a perfect time for a variety of different storylines (Minko confessing to Tohru; Kou arriving; the Grey Heron leading a full assault on the Town; etc) to converge into one gigantic melodrama.
|2011-05-04, 17:47
|Link #12
Have some salt
lol pregnancy. Actually that would be a fairly decent topic that is often avoided in anime, since in anime, children come from nowhere. My god, things have consequences?
However, such a topic would take masterful script writing to work. A show of Ano Hana's caliber could handle that. I'm not too sure I'd like it in this show though.
|2011-05-04, 19:49
|Link #14
Monarch of Rughzenhaide
Lol pregnancy indeed, but I highly doubt teenage pregnancy will be an topic in this anime, or in any popular anime in general. Unless this anime wants to bomb badly, it would make any commercial sense not to explore that or else... you're going to get some otakus to overreact due to their obsession of "purity" and "innocence". See what happened to Kannagi and K-on's Ritsu for example just because it was hinted they had boyfriends in the past... let alone teenage pregnancy.
Not that I would mind it. It would be refreshing to see some slice of life anime not "idealise" its characters.
Btw, Archon Wing why you still watching this? I thought you hated teen dramas
|2011-05-04, 22:06
|Link #15
Have some salt
|2011-05-04, 22:38
|Link #16
Monarch of Rughzenhaide
Thankfully, Hanasaku Iroha falls within at least the "good" category + it is the best animated anime this season. And no, I don't consider crayon-art Nichijou to be well animated. Sorry Nichijou fans
|2011-05-04, 22:39
|Link #17
Have some salt
I do guess I am biased towards anime, maybe because of the visuals. ^^ I actually am an even worse hater about live action tv, just so tired of it.
And yes this anime is gorgeous. I can watch it just for that.
|2011-05-05, 00:31
|Link #18
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Inside of frog
But of course I have no intention to spoil anime by reading manga, though I even don't know whether anime version is preceded by manga or not. (definition of spoiler here means manga's information, right?)
|2011-05-05, 03:57
|Link #19
Kana Hanazawa ♥
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: France
Age: 32
How about we merge our ideas? In episode 10, Satsuki (Ohana's mom) and Ko will both visit the inn to announce to everyone Sachiko is pregnant with Ko's child and that they're planning to marry soon.
Last edited by Kanon; 2011-05-05 at 06:03. Reason: corrected :p
|2011-05-05, 05:05
|Link #20
♪~ Daydreaming ~♪
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Italy
^ Is "Sachiko" a result of the merging? Because the name of Ohana's mother would be Satsuki. But then again, most of the girls have their share of "chi" in their nickname (Minchi, Nakochi, Ohana who was leaning towards Hanachi) so it wouldn't even be so wrong.
|Thread Tools


text:
Effects of Treatment With Aprepitant (Emend®) in HIV Infected Individuals. 375 mg Dose
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01300988
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : February 23, 2011
Last Update Posted : June 3, 2016
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
The investigators' in vitro data suggest that Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonists like aprepitant will decrease the expression of CCR5, an essential co-receptor in the life cycle of HIV, in the surface of macrophages and lymphocytes to levels at least similar to those observed in patients heterozygous for the CCR5 32 mutation. Together with a direct potential antiviral effect this could alter disease progression in patients with HIV infection.
The investigators' hypothesis is that aprepitant is safe, tolerable and has antiviral activity in HIV infected individuals.
This is randomized, placebo controlled, double blind study to determine the safety and antiviral activity of aprepitant by comparing the change in HIV RNA viral load after 2 weeks of aprepitant monotherapy.
18 HIV infected males and females ≥ 18 years old who have early infection with CD4 cell counts ≥ 350 cells/mm3. Subjects will be randomized 1:1 to receive 375 mg of aprepitant (Emend®) or placebo.
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infection
|Drug: Aprepitant Drug: Aprepitant placebo
|Phase 1
Show Detailed Description
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|18 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|Triple (Participant, Care Provider, Investigator)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|A Phase Ib, Randomized, Placebo Controlled, Double Blind Study to Determine the Safety, Viral Suppression, Pharmacokinetics and Immune Modulatory Effects of Treatment With Aprepitant (Emend®) in HIV Infected Individuals
|Study Start Date :
|December 2010
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|August 2013
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|August 2013
Active Comparator: Aprepitant
Aprepitant (Emend®) 375 mg daily for 14 days
Drug: Aprepitant
Aprepitant (Emend®) 375 mg daily for 14 days
Placebo Comparator: Placebo
Aprepitant (Emend®) placebo for 14 days
Drug: Aprepitant placebo
Aprepitant(Emend®) placebo for 14 days
- Virologic: Change in log10 HIV-1 RNA from baseline to Day 14 [ Time Frame: 14 days ]For the purposes of assessing the primary analysis of efficacy of aprepitant in reducing viral load we will be assessing the difference between the log10 viral load at baseline and at 4 weeks, and constructing a 95% confidence interval around this mean difference within each dose group.
- Safety: Incidence of Grade 2, 3, and 4 adverse events [ Time Frame: 42 days ]The frequency of grade 2,3 and 4 adverse events for the duration of the study will be measured to assess the safety of the compund in this population. Exact binomial confidence intervals will be calculated around the event rates for any individual adverse events that occur and for the overall rate of adverse events within each body system. For each patient the highest grade occurring adverse event within each body system will be assessed. Tables for adverse events by body system and severity of adverse event will be constructed.
- Pharmacokinetic [ Time Frame: 14 days ]Individual patient data will be summarized using a noncompartmental analysis (NCA) approach as well as a model-based approach.
- Immunologic [ Time Frame: 14 days ]
A descriptive analysis of the following parameters by arm at each time point will be done:
- CCR5 mRNA copy number per cell and CCR5 density by flow cytometry.
- CD4+ cell count at baseline, Days 3, 7, 10, 14, and 42.
- Time to permanent discontinuation of study treatment for any reason.
- Baseline coreceptor phenotype (CCR5, CXCR4, or mixed).
- Time to change from CCR5-only virus to mixed CCR5/CXCR4 or CXCR4-only virus as detected by the phenotype/genotype assays that will be used in this study.
- Neurologic [ Time Frame: 14 days ]Evaluate individual changes from baseline to 14 days for these subjects in the HAM-D 17 Depression Rating Scale score, the HAM-A, and the PSQI
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- HIV-1 infection, as documented by a rapid HIV test or any FDA-Approved HIV-1 Enzyme or Chemiluminescence Immunoassay (E/CIA) test kit and confirmed by Western blot at any time prior to study entry.
- CD4+ cell count >= 350/mm3 obtained within 90 days prior to study entry
- Plasma HIV-1 RNA of >=2,000 copies/mL as measured by any standard assay and performed within 90 days prior to study entry.
- CCR5 tropic virus exclusively as determined by the Monogram tropism assay (PhenoSense Entry™) to be performed within 90 days of study entry.
Laboratory values obtained within 30 days prior to study entry, as follows:
- Absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >= 750/mm3
- Hemoglobin >= 10.0 g/dL
- Platelet count >= 100,000/mm3
- Creatinine <= 2 x ULN
- AST (SGOT), ALT (SGPT), and alkaline phosphatase <= 2 x ULN
- Total bilirubin <= 2.5 x ULN
- Albumin >= 3 g/dL
- Female subjects of reproductive potential must have a negative spot urine pregnancy test result (with a sensitivity of at least 50 mIU/mL) performed at entry, prior to starting initial study treatment.
- All subjects must agree not to participate in a conception process while on study drug and for 30 days after stopping the medication.
- Karnofsky performance score >= 80 within 30 days prior to study entry.
- Men and women > 18 years of age.
- Ability and willingness of subject to give written informed consent.
- Willing to return for a follow-up visit on day 42.
- Subjects taking any precautionary concomitant medications must be on stable doses for >8 weeks prior to study entry and have no plans to change medications or doses for the duration of the study.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Receipt of antiretroviral treatment within the 16 weeks prior to study entry or intent to initiate antiretroviral therapy within 60 days after entry.
- Diabetes requiring treatment with oral hypoglycemics or insulin therapy.
- Pregnancy within 90 days prior to study entry.
- Breast-feeding.
- Use of drugs that are inhibitors or inducers of metabolism by the cytochrome P450 CYP3A4 or CYP2C9 (such as warfarin and phenytoin) within 7 days of study entry.
- Use of systemic corticosteroids or hormonal agents within 90 days prior to study entry.
- Use of any immunomodulator, HIV vaccines, or investigational therapy within 90 days prior to study entry.
- Any vaccination within 30 days prior to study entry.
- Use of systemic cytotoxic chemotherapy within 90 days prior to study entry.
- History of allergy to aprepitant or its formulations.
- Active drug or alcohol use or dependence that, in the opinion of the investigator, would interfere with adherence to study requirements.
- History of chronic active hepatitis B or C infection or severe hepatic dysfunction (Child-Pugh score > 9) regardless of etiology
- Serious illness requiring systemic treatment and/or hospitalization until subject either completes therapy or is clinically stable on therapy, in the opinion of the investigator, for at least 14 days prior to study entry.
- Weight < 40 kg or 88 lbs. within 90 days prior to study entry.
- History of severe psychiatric comorbidities, such as depression, schizophrenia, mania, psychosis.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT01300988
|United States, Pennsylvania
|Clinical Trials Unit. University of Pennsylvania
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104--607
|Principal Investigator:
|Pablo Tebas, MD
|University of Pennsylvania
|Responsible Party:
|University of Pennsylvania
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01300988 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
U01MH090325 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|February 23, 2011 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|June 3, 2016
|Last Verified:
|June 2016
Keywords provided by University of Pennsylvania:
HIV infection
Neurokinin-1 receptor antagonist
CCR5 expression
Treatment Naive
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists
Autonomic Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Gastrointestinal Agents
Neurotransmitter Agents
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action


text:
The Latest Liverpool FC News and Views
This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.
In-form Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge says he is desperate to continue his goal-scoring run with England.
The Premier League's top-scorer was forced out of England's crucial double header with Ukraine and Moldova last month - but he is now available for the final two qualifiers with Poland and Montengero.
Sturridge is now hoping that his form for Liverpool will be enough to earn a start for Roy Hodgson's side.
"I'm fit and ready to go and I'm really happy about that, as I was really gutted to miss the last two England games," said Sturridge.
"I feel I'm in the form of my life and hope to give the England boss a selection problem."
Wayne Rooney also missed England's last double-header, but like Sturridge is now available and captain Steven Gerrard is delighted to have both available.
"I'm glad Wayne Rooney and Daniel Sturridge will be available for us after missing the last two games because they are players that can make an awful lot of difference to the squad," said Gerrard.
"Every opposition will have their tricky players and Montengero and Poland with have their match winners as well, but we will have the better match winners - I tell you that!"
Source: Sky Sports


text: By recommendation of Superintendent Coker, the School Board voted to approve an amended school calendar to complete this school year. The change takes into account unused weather days built into the annual calendar. Students will dismiss at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 22 [previously scheduled to dismiss 3:00 p.m. on 5/24.] Teachers will complete their contracted days on Friday, May 25, dismissing at 11:30 a.m., rather than the previously scheduled 3:00 p.m. The extra teacher time without students will be utilized for professional development for the next school year.