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Y-cook India Private Limited - Supporting food processing with strong social impact
Y-cook India Private Limited
Supporting food processing with strong social impact
Y-cook India Private Limited (Y-cook) was set up in 2013 and is based in Bengaluru, India. The company produces a range of healthy ready-to-eat food products that are preservative-free and can be stored for up to a year at room temperature.
The range includes boiled vegetables, fruits and lentils marketed under the brand Ta-daa.
Over 1,300 smallholder farmers supply Y-cook with produce. Y-cook works closely with its suppliers, offering a programme of services including soil testing and training on good agricultural practices and quality control.
Y-cook procures its own seeds, which are sown in centralised nurseries. The nurseries provide the seedlings to farmers free of charge.
The company also provides its leftover produce free of charge for use as fodder by cattle owners in local villages.
Y-cook has won several awards in India. In 2017 Y-cook was named one of the top three start-ups at World Food India 2017, an award presented by the President of India.
Oikocredit's partnership with Y-cook, which started in 2018, aligns with Oikocredit's strategy to invest in companies that aim to deliver social impact and help improve the quality of life of smallholder farmers.Download this project as a PDF


Tennsco 76"H Add-On Unit For Snap-Together Open Shelving, SandSKU: 565856
Includes adjustable 12" deep shelves
- Shelf supports and 5 dividers per shelf help keep files organized.
- Less harsh chemicals — made with fewer harsh chemicals, or safer chemicals than typical alternatives, helping reduce your use of and exposure to substances that may be more harmful to your health and the environment.
- SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certified — meets strict indoor air quality guidelines. Ranked in two tiers: Certified and Gold
|Number Of Shelves (Total)||6|
|Weight Capacity (Total)||399.17 lb|
|Dimensions||76 in. X 36 in. X 12 in.|
|Eco-Conscious||Recycled Content; Less Harsh Chemicals|
|Eco-Label Standard||SCS Indoor Advantage Gold|
|Post-Consumer Recycled Content Percentage||30 %|
|Product Type||Utility Shelf|
|Total Recycled Content Percentage||30 %|
|Product Name||Shelf Add-on Unit|


Eurogroep in Netherlands is an international industrial corporation that manufactures high-tech industrial equipment for companies in the logistics, solar and horticulture industries. As these industries have grown significantly in the past year, Eurogroep in Bleskensgraaf has invested heavily in its production department to meet the increasing demand for their products. In contrast to the increased production, air quality was in decline, raising health concerns Eurogroep had to act upon.
Because production within the Eurogroep has been growing in past years, the demand for more complex machining parts in larger volumes was a key factor for Eurogroeps need to make machining more efficient. We therefore started investing in new machine-tools and automation. Machining used to be a bottleneck at Eurogroep with only a three-axis machines operational without automation. When the series and the diversity of products became larger and more complex, realizing a stable machining process was a major challenge. For this reason, they started five-axis machining four years ago. With automation and modern machining centers, they can now efficiently produce hundreds of different products, usually in one setup.
Soon after the new machines were running, the issue with oil mist became noticeable. Due to the high rotational speeds achieved by the spindles in the new machining centers a lot of fine oil mist was generated, which was difficult for the mechanical filter to cope with. As the air quality decreased drastically, the cost for replacing filters on their mechanical oil mist system was steadily increasing.
The old filters had to be replaced every second month. Especially with unmanned production. Replacing filters would cost us an average of half an hour of labor per machine per month at a price of 400 euros per filter. Not counting the production stops.
Mr David den Hartigh, Production Manager Eurogroep
Not only was the situation causing an increase in filter consumption and maintenance costs, but the oil mist was also raising health
concerns and affecting overall production. It became especially noticeable during weekends when production was unmanned. A film of oil mist was present in the workshop, and the entire production area was damp and greasy. The compressors that provide cooling as well as the control-cabinet were full of grease. Indirectly this can lead to failures and downtime and ultimately increases costs.
Nevertheless, it was the health concerns that made Eurogroep take action. “You really don’t want to have your staff exposed to oil mist” Says David den Hartigh . It was through 3nine’s distributor for the Benelux area, Glavitech B.V. that Eurogroep came across 3nine’s oil mist separators and signed up for a test.
To fully evaluate the 3nine oil mist separator, they decided to measure the particle concentration in the air before and after installing the 3nine oil unit. At the end of the evaluation, they concluded that they progressed from highly contaminated air by oil mist particles to virtually zero particles coming out from 3nine oil mist separators. Shortly after the test, they decided to go over to 3nines technology on all machine tools. In addition to a healthy air quality and working environment, and as a result of changing from mechanical filters to 3nine’s disc stack technology, filter consumption and maintenance has now been reduced to a minimum. Even though 3nine has a H13 as an end filter, the filter will last for several years as the disc stack technology will separate most of the oil particles out from air.
We can only imagine how much coolant we have saved when switching to 3nine’s disc stack technology. All that mist accumulating in the workshop is now separated out from air and led back to production. As our main objective with purchasing 3nine’s units was to improve the air quality, the fact that we could make these cost savings made a great impact in shortening the payback period.
Jan Bakker, CEO Eurogroep


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Hardcover in Fine condition, dustwrapper with some light shelfwear but otherwise in Fine condition. First edition, pp xxxiii, 392, b&w illustrations, notes bibliography, indices. THE PACKED WEIGHT OF THIS BOOK IS OVER 1KG, SO FOR UK FIRST CLASS AND INTERNATIONAL, ADDITIONAL POSTAGE COSTS WILL BE REQUIRED. View More...
Read more here.

domain: literature


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Made in Finland and Exclusive to Willies Ice Hockey Emporium UphillSports Pond anti-cut socks are made with a thin 3-layer structure with Merino Wool.
This provides the perfect balance of warmth, moisture control, and breathability.
The sock has a fitted heel with extra padding to the forefoot providing fantastic support and comfort.
A Twaron Anti-cut panel is included to the calf offering the athlete the ultimate anti cut protection.
Features and benefits
Anti-Cut protection - Prevents skate cuts to skin
3- Layer structure - High durability and Keeps feet dry
Padding on the front of the ankle - comfort against the skate
Thermal grade: 4
43 % Polyamide, 33 % Merino wool, 16 % Twaron, 16 % Polypropylene, 2 % Lycra
All yarn materials are OEKOTEX 100 certified.
All socks are suitable for a 40-degree machine wash. Tumble drying is not recommended. Socks may appear smaller after washing - it is recommended that you re-form the socks after washing for a better fit. Many socks have elastic yarns and because of this, they may seem smaller than they really are. Merino wool properties get even better after usage and washing.


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Imagination Technologies Group plc Given Hold Rating at Deutsche Bank (IMG)
Imagination Technologies Group plc (LON:IMG)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Deutsche Bank in a report issued on Tuesday. They currently have a GBX 200 ($3.40) price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank’s price objective indicates a potential downside of 14.24% from the company’s current price.
Shares of Imagination Technologies Group plc (LON:IMG) traded down 3.56% on Tuesday, hitting GBX 233.20. 968,844 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Imagination Technologies Group plc has a 1-year low of GBX 142.20 and a 1-year high of GBX 365.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average is GBX 218.9 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 195.6. The company’s market cap is £619.8 million.
A number of other firms have also recently commented on IMG. Analysts at BNP Paribas reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Imagination Technologies Group plc in a research note on Monday. Separately, analysts at Liberum Capital downgraded shares of Imagination Technologies Group plc to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 6th. They now have a GBX 250 ($4.24) price target on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Imagination Technologies Group plc has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of GBX 245.40 ($4.17).
Imagination Technologies Group plc is engaged in multimedia and communication technologies. The Company operates in two segments: Technology business and the Pure business.
Get Analysts' Upgrades and Downgrades via Email - Stay on top of analysts' coverage with Analyst Ratings Network's FREE daily email newsletter that provides a concise list of analysts' upgrades and downgrades. Click here to register now.

domain: economics


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What: Scott Helmer Concert
When: Friday, October 17, 2014 at 7:00pm
Where: Constitution Park, downtown Waynesboro (rain location: Main Street United Methodist Church)
Tickets: General Admission – Pay What You Will, VIP tickets – $25 each
Country singing star Scott Helmer will pause his Million Dollar Tour across America for a benefit for the Wayne Theatre. The goal of the Friday, October 17 benefit performance is $5000 to support the work of the Alliance.
The Waynesboro performance is one of the many Helmer is making in his 25,000 mile tour. Starting in Anaheim California, through the Midwest, and now on the East Coast, Helmer has been using his talents to support charities and nonprofits throughout the nation.
Helmer is recognized as a master of reinvention and like his music, an inspiration. His contagious, radio-friendly blend of rock and pop infuses memorable guitar riffs, catchy sing-along choruses and lyrics that tell real stories of love, pain and starting over. These songs, co-written and recorded with his talented photographer/musician brother, Rich Helmer, have also crossed over to fans of country & Americana, where solid songwriting and storytelling are so highly valued.
Today, as Scott continues his musical journey, he has opened up for legendary acts like Heart, Eddie Money, 3 Doors Downand Big Country, and is using music as a vehicle to connect with listeners on the deepest level. His messages are relevant, relatable and real. Whether it helps a listener get through tough times or gain insight from Scott’s roller-coaster life experiences, his music is popular with fans both local and international. They say, “Once you hear Scott’s sound you’ll understand why.” Now is the chance for WTA audiences and supporters to join the fan club.
Helmer’s tour will move from Waynesboro to the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Virginia and the Historic North Theatre in Danville. From there the Million Dollar Tour goes to North Carolina, Alabama, and Florida. After excursions into Texas, Montana, Iowa, and other points west, Helmer will end the year-long tour in Michigan in April, 2015.
The WTA benefit will be the headliner for the Alliance’s October River City Radio Hour. The Boogie Kings and Marsha Howard will open the evening. The benefit performance is scheduled for Constitution Park at 7 pm. The Radio Hour’s admission is pay-what-you-will. The audience is urged to bring a lawn chair.
To meet the $5000 goal of the benefit performance, the Alliance will offer a special VIP package for $25 which includes a dinner by Rick’s BBQ, a “Meet and Greet” with Helmer and reserved seating at admission to the concert. A special sponsorship is also available. It includes admission, dinner, “Meet and Greet” with Scott Helmer and reserved seating in the VIP section for two. The cost of the sponsorship is $250. VIP Tickets and Sponsorships are available by calling WTA’s office at 540-943-9999.
In case of inclement weather, the performance will move to the Main Street United Methodist Church at 601 West Main in downtown Waynesboro.

domain: entertainment


Providing Professional Services and Technical Support
The Division of Engineering provides professional engineering and construction services to county departments (e.g., Transportation, Parks, Aviation, MCC, Sheriff, Facilities, Community Hospital, and Pure Waters) that require technical support for capital planning, engineering design, and construction management. Projects include building renovations and construction; environmental assessments; and roadway, bridge, sewer, treatment plant process, pump station, park, jail, courtroom, and zoo improvements.
The Division is also responsible for overseeing all real estate functions within the county including leasing of county-owned/required space and facilities, lease management, acquisition and disposition of real estate, open space acquisition, easements, right-of-way, options, licenses and permits. Topographic surveys are also conducted and coordinated by the Division.
In addition, the Division enforces the NYS Unified Building Code, issues demolition and building permits and certificates of occupancy, and manages ADA accessibility compliance for over 400 County owned and leased facilities.
The following are examples for recently completed projects by the Engineering Division:


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Druid Theatre Company will present their five-star production of ‘The Last Return’, Sonya Kelly’s award-winning new comedy, at Roscommon Arts Centre on February 9, 10 and 11 as part of their national tour.
Directed by Sara Joyce, The Last Return is a thrilling comedy about conflict, peace and the pursuit of territory at any cost. One final night. One last chance. Five people queue for a ticket to the hottest show in town. All they must do is simply wait in line. But what in life is ever simple? Who will triumph, who will fail, and who will walk away with… The Last Return?
The play has earned five-star ratings from The Times, What’s On Stage, The Arts Desk and The Wee Review, and praise such as ‘pitch black comic mayhem’ from The Guardian, ‘wonderful’ from The New York Times, and ‘shocking and very funny’ from The Irish Times.
As part of their commitment to new Irish writing, Druid’s world premiere production of Sonya Kelly’s comedy opened at Galway International Arts Festival this July, then toured to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a prestigious Scotsman Fringe First Award, and recently finished a run at the Gate Theatre as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. The Last Return will visit also Limerick, Clare, Donegal, Meath, Cork, Kerry and Galway on this national tour.
Garry Hynes, Druid’s Artistic Director: ‘Following runs in Galway, Edinburgh and Dublin, I’m delighted that our world premiere production of Sonya’s wonderful new comedy will tour Ireland next spring. I look forward to sharing this cracker of a play with audiences from Donegal to Kerry.’
Tickets, priced €25/23, are available from the box office on 09066 25824 or online at www.roscommonartscentre.ie

domain: artistic


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Illustrator, lawyer and mum
Lauren is a Melbourne-based illustrator who loves drawing, painting and all things creative. She taught herself to draw in 2019 from books and online videos and realised it was her happy place.
Lauren wants to bring kindness to the world through colourful illustrations and fun books. Lauren is also a lawyer at Legalite in Melbourne, where she is also the Wellbeing Champion.


Pictures from the Mars Perseverance rover are coming through, giving us a new perspective of what the surface of the Red Planet looks like. And the Ingenuity Mars helicopter is almost ready to start working, to increase the mission’s scope.
Mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California have received the first status report from the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which landed on 18 February 2021, at Jezero Crater attached to the belly of the agency’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover.
The downlink indicates that both the helicopter, which will remain attached to the rover for 30 to 60 days, and its base station (an electrical box on the rover that stores and routes communications between the rotorcraft and Earth) are operating as expected.
“There are two big-ticket items we are looking for in the data: the state of charge of Ingenuity’s batteries as well as confirmation the base station is operating as designed, commanding heaters to turn off and on to keep the helicopter’s electronics within an expected range,” says Tim Canham, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter operations lead at JPL. “Both appear to be working great. With this positive report, we will move forward with tomorrow’s charge of the helicopter’s batteries.”
After Perseverance deploys Ingenuity to the surface, the helicopter will then have a 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) experimental flight test window. If Ingenuity survives its first bone-chilling Martian nights – where temperatures dip as low as minus 130 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 90 degrees Celsius) – the team will proceed with the first flight of an aircraft on another world.
If Ingenuity succeeds in taking off and hovering during its first flight, over 90% of the project’s goals will have been achieved. If the rotorcraft lands successfully and remains operable, up to four more flights could be attempted, each one building on the success of the last.
“We are in uncharted territory, but this team is used to that,” says MiMi Aung, project manager for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at JPL. “Just about every milestone from here through the end of our flight demonstration program will be a first, and each has to succeed for us to go on to the next. We’ll enjoy this good news for the moment, but then we have to get back to work.”
Next-generation rotorcraft, the descendants of Ingenuity, could add an aerial dimension to future exploration of the Red Planet. These advanced robotic flying vehicles would offer a unique viewpoint not provided by current orbiters high overhead or by rovers and landers on the ground, providing high-definition images and reconnaissance for robots or humans, and enable access to terrain that is difficult for rovers to reach.
Main picture: In this illustration, NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet’s surface as NASA’s Perseverance rover (partially visible on the left) rolls away.


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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Climate change scientists don't like to use the term "prediction." Rather, they're making "projections" about the future of the planet as sea levels rise, wildfires sweep the West and hurricanes become more ferocious. There's a good reason for that. In a world awash in misinformation — about medicine, politics and climate, and pretty much everything else — part of a scientist's job now involves teaching the public about how science works. Convincing the public to have faith in science means making precise, measured projects about the future. They've got to overcome the big...
Germany's parliament will officially elect Olaf Scholz on Wednesday as the country's next chancellor, bringing the curtain down on Angela Merkel's 16-year reign and ushering in a new political era with the centre-left in charge.
Scholz led his Social Democrats to victory against Merkel's conservative CDU-CSU bloc in an epochal election in September, as the veteran chancellor prepared to leave politics after four consecutive terms in office.
Together with the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, Scholz's SPD managed in a far shorter time than expected to forge a coalition that aspires to make Germany greener and fairer.
"I want the 20s to be a time of new beginnings," Scholz told Die Zeit weekly, declaring an ambition to push forward "the biggest industrial modernization which will be capable of stopping climate change caused by mankind".
The centre-left's return to power in Europe's biggest economy could shift the balance on a continent still reeling from Brexit and with the other major player, France, heading into presidential elections in 2022.
But even before it took office, Scholz's "traffic-light" coalition -- named after the three parties' colors -- was already given a baptism of fire in the form of a fierce fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
'No red lines'
With intensive care beds running out in some regions and a rampant rise in infection numbers showing no signs of abating, Scholz and his new team have been pressed -- including by Merkel -- to agree new curbs even before they are sworn in by parliament.
After Austria set the example and with Germany struggling to boost stagnating vaccination numbers, the parties also came under pressure to make an about-turn on a pledge made earlier in the pandemic not to make vaccinations compulsory.
Scholz has since spoken out in favor of mandatory vaccination, saying he wanted MPs to vote on the issue before year's end with a view of implementing it in February.
"For my government, there are no red lines on what must be done. We're ruling nothing out," he told Die Zeit.
"That's not something we can do during a huge natural disaster or a health catastrophe like a pandemic."
Dubbed "the discreet" by left-leaning daily TAZ, Scholz, 63, is often described as austere or robotic.
But he also has a reputation for being a meticulous workhorse.
An experienced hand in government, Scholz was labour minister in Merkel's first coalition from 2007 to 2009 before taking over as vice-chancellor and finance minister in 2015.
Yet his three-party-alliance is the first such mix at the federal level, as the FDP is not a natural partner for the SPD or the Greens.
Keeping the trio together will require a delicate balancing act taking into account the FDP's business-friendly leanings, the SPD's social instincts and the Greens' demands for sustainability.
Under their coalition deal, the parties have agreed to secure Germany's path to carbon neutrality, including through huge investments in sustainable energy.
They also aim to return to a constitutional no-new-debt rule -- suspended during the pandemic -- by 2023.
Incoming foreign minister Annalena Baerbock of the Greens has also vowed to put human rights at the centre of German diplomacy.
In a recent interview, she signaled a more assertive stance towards authoritarian regimes like China and Russia after the commerce-driven pragmatism of Merkel's 16 years in power.
Critics have accused Merkel of putting the country's export-dependent economy first in international dealings.
Nevertheless she is still so popular in Germany that she would probably have won a fifth term had she sought one.
The veteran politician is also widely admired abroad for her steady hand guiding Germany through a myriad of crises.
She made one more push for Germans to get vaccinated, and thanked those who adhered to curbs, saying: "You demonstrate the civic responsibility that's so marvellous about our country, without which no chancellor or government can achieve anything."
© 2021 AFP
Ilhan Omar calls Kevin McCarthy 'a liar and a coward' for refusing to condemn Boebert's Islamophobia
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar castigated House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Sunday morning, calling the Republican leader both "a liar and a coward" for refusing to condemn recent Islamophobic comments and behavior by Rep. Lauren Boebert, a freshman Republican from Colorado.
"Words matter. And words can cause violence. And [Boebert] knows that the language she's using—the audience that she's using it for—is going to incite violence against myself and my community."
Speaking with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union," Omar—who Boebert joked about being a suicide bomber and repeatedly says is a member of the "Jihad Squad" due to her Muslim faith—said that the GOP leader has shown his true colors as fellow members of Congress have demanded Boebert be censured and stripped of her committee assignments due to her hateful rhetoric.
After watching footage of McCarthy on Friday defending Boebert and explaining why no public condemnation of her was warranted from his perspective because she had already apologized, Omar said, "McCarthy is a liar and a coward."
"He doesn't have the ability to condemn the kind of bigoted Islamophobia and anti-Muslim rhetoric that are being trafficked by a member of his conference," she added.
Asked why that is, Omar responded, "Because this is who they are. And we have to be able to stand up to them. And we have to push them to reckon with the fact their party right now is normalizing anti-Muslim bigotry."
Watch the exchange:
Asked to describe how many death threats she has received recently based on her faith, Omar told Tapper it was "too many to count."
When Tapper asked Omar if she fears for her life, Omar responded by saying that while she and her staff do have a "general fear" for their own safety it is also the safety of the wider community that is vital to understand.
"We constantly hear from so many people across the country where there are children whose hijabs have been pulled off—my own daughters have experienced this. I have experienced this as a young person in this country. And we know that kind of language this member is using leads to," she continued, referring to Boebert.
Speaking off specific death threats directed at her, including a recording of one she recently played during a news conference, Omar said, "We know that the kind of man who leaves that voicemail for a member of Congress is not going to spare a young Muslim girl when he sees her taking the bus or walking home from school or when he runs into her in the grocery store. So we have a responsibility as leaders. Words matter. And words can cause violence. And [Boebert] knows that the language she's using—the audience that she's using it for—is going to incite violence against myself and my community."
Since Boebert's comments about Omar surfaced last month—and as subsequent exchanges and an aborted phone call between the two last week in which Omar said she was forced to hang up because it was so "unproductive" and hateful—numerous fellow lawmakers and outside groups have come to Omar's defense and demanded that Boebert be held to account.
On Tuesday, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) urged the House Democratic leadership to remove Boebert from her committee assignments and take "all other appropriate measures" in response to her continued bigoted attacks on Omar.
That GOP leaders like McCarthy have refused to condemn the behavior has stirred deeper outrage.
In a series of tweets on Friday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) slammed McCarthy and other GOP leaders for their refusal to condemn Boebert or support the call for her committee assignments to be stripped.
"It's embarrassing that there is any hesitation on this," said Ocasio-Cortez. "How can we have different consequences for different kinds of bigotry or incitement? This should be treated equally and consistently. Incite against a member and you’re stripped. End of story. She refuses to even apologize."
"It’s a pretty simple question: does the House accept violent Islamophobia or not?" she continued. "We should feel ashamed every time Congresswoman Omar or anyone is forced to defend themselves against threats in their workplace alone bc the institutions they serve in won’t protect them. It’s messed up.
None of the alt-right Charlottesville guys admit their guilt — it's always someone else's fault: CNN reporter
Ahead of her special on the Charlottesville Nazis and white supremacists, CNN reporter Elle Reeve told Jim Acosta about the interviews she conducted with those who lost lawsuits after the march.
According to Reeve, the man have all explained that they weren't at fault for anything that happened in Charlottesville.
"I mean, you spoke with a number of them," Acosta said. "They were ultimately found liable for millions of dollars in damages. Are you picking up on any remorse? I mean, it sounds like Spencer there, for example, is still very defensive about what he did and what he has said."
"Yeah. I'd say the main message from most of them is 'it wasn't my fault, maybe it was someone else's but not mine,'" Reeve summed up. The crying Nazi, "Chris Cantwell, for example, played an excruciatingly slow-motion video of him punching someone over and over again from behind and tried to tell the jury he was acting in self-defense. But others in more private moments will say, 'Maybe I shouldn't have trusted these people on the internet, maybe I should've said something when they were talking about violence.'"
Reeve has been following the white supremacist movement since 2015, first for VICE News and now for CNN. She said that from the early days of the organizing, she explained that organizer Jason Kessler actually wanted violence.
"He always framed it as self-defense, but he was talking about provoking anti-fascists and attacking them going as far as telling people don't open carry guns because then counterprotesters will be scared and they won't attack us," said Reeve. "Further, he reached out to Matthew Heinbach, who is associated with the white power movement, and asked groups to come who were associated with street fights. He wanted, like, skinhead gangs from the '90s because they had the reputation for being capable of violence."
Spencer, by contrast, created a kind of upper-class version of that with pressed white shirts and khakis walking through the streets of Charlottesville with tiki torches. He too denied responsibility, saying that he just wanted to be famous and that anyone who followed him essentially did so because they wanted to be famous and were jealous of him.
See the full discussion below:
It's everyone else's fault www.youtube.com

domain: news


Orsha: investigation into BPF members' case expands its geography
On 8 December in Orsha a member of the Sojm
of the Belarusian Popular Front Party A. Shutau was visited by a representative
of the inquiries department of the Orsha City Police Department.
As it was explained by him, the Orsha police received an investigation request to interrogate Shutau as a witness in the case of Kalita, Semyanyuk and Hubarevich.
We remind that the matter concerns an alleged clash of activists with a drunken guard of the former headquarters of the Belarusian Popular Front in Krapotkin Street 93A on 13 August. Many observers consider the incident to be a provocation staged against the oppositional party.
Ales Shutau was extremely surprised by the visit of the investigator to him. He was absent at the session of the Sojm on 13 August and did not see those events. However, investigators for some reason decided to question him. The questions he was asked caused even more surprise. Shutau was asked whether Kalita, Semianiuk and Hubarevich misuse alcohol. In order to get an answer to such a vital question, investigators sent a request 220 kilometers away from Minsk, to Orsha.


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Hey! I just discovered that my cousin has a website! Can I just say that I'm so proud of her
?!! This cousin o' mine is almost exactly nine months younger than me (her mom says I was the inspiration that made her want to have a baby
), and she and I were always good friends growing up. Anyway, when we were teenagers, she taught herself to play the guitar. Later on we kept telling her that she had to get her voice out there, and you know what? She did! She mostly tours with her music to play live (cuz it is cheaper than producing CDs), but she has self-produced a CD, and she's going to start working on her second soon (she's been trying to get the resources to do that for a while). She and her dog Nacha came and stayed with us last year when she came to CO on her tour. It was so much fun! Anyway, I am just so darn proud of her. And now I just was playing around and decided to see if she had anything up on the net, and she does! Her page is so cool! This girl is awesome. Check it out: http://www.geocities.com/cerulean_123/
. It's so cute! You can even hear some of her music on the site (although it takes a while to load and the sound quality is not at all as good as on her CD, plus she didn't play the songs I like best
, but hey). I think this girl deserves some serious praise
. She's really done well for herself!


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SCHUBERT 8 Symphonien Abbado 4236512
. . . outstanding . . .
. . . a compelling reading in which the Italian conductor simply allows the music to speak for itself . . . [Abbado] just about has the perfect finish of the "Unfinished" . . . Both tempi and dynamics are beautifully handled. Abbado's ability to unravel the emotional turmoil that underpins this work is incomparable.


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I can paint! You love painting too? Mix and paint in one of the best art games!
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|Name||I Can Paint - Art your way|
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|Abuse||Report APP/request deletion|
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domain: hobby


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Exploring the Cades Cove Grist Mill: An Icon of Time
Preserving Tradition in the Heart of Cades Cove
Milling lay at the heart of the small community that inhabited Cades Cove from the 1820s to the 1940s. The old Cable Grist Mill still stands proudly, a testament to the industrious past of this charming valley. Built between 1865 and 1868, the Cades Cove grist mill was the economic core of Cades Cove and has been lovingly restored to operate as a historic mill, breathing life into its rich history.
A Journey Through Time
As you embark on your scenic drive along the Cades Cove loop road, an enchanting surprise awaits you around the halfway mark—the Cades Cove Grist Mill. This remarkable structure, painstakingly constructed between 1865 and 1868, served as the economic epicenter of Cades Cove during its heyday. What’s truly awe-inspiring is that this mill remains nearly untouched by time, offering an authentic window into the past.
Preserving Tradition with Precision
The Cable Grist Mill proudly showcases two distinct millstones, both of which have stood the test of time since their installation in 1868. Periodically, these millstones undergo meticulous hand-sharpening and re-chipping, ensuring their ability to produce the finest grains. In days gone by, settlers of Cades Cove would journey to the mill, trading their corn for a one-eighth share of the resulting product—a small fee for the miller’s invaluable service.
Unveiling the Cades Cove Grist Mill’s Inner Workings
Operating as an overshot mill, the process begins with the gentle flow of stream water cascading over a rustic wooden water wheel situated just outside the mill house. This cascading water sets the wheel into a rhythmic turn, which, in turn, activates a series of gears. These gears, working in perfect harmony, set one of the millstones, known as the “runner stone,” into motion. This stone, in turn, grinds the corn or wheat against the second stone, aptly named the “bed stone,” creating the coveted powder.
Initially, the mill boasted six gears, all crafted from metal. As time marched on and the mill flourished, these gears were gradually replaced with more durable counterparts. Together, this intricate network of gears achieves an impressive turning ratio of 25:1, with each rotation of the millstone translating to 25 turns. The mill draws its power from a nearby stream, a mere 150 yards from the main building. A carefully constructed canal directs the water’s flow over the mill wheel, complete with water gates to regulate the flow.
A Legacy of Mills in the Cove
In its heyday, Cades Cove was home to an impressive count of six or seven mills, as evidenced by numerous millstones dotting the landscape. Today, the Cable Grist Mill stands as the lone surviving original mill in the vicinity, restored during the early 1930s. It stands not as a relic but as a living monument, operating daily between April and October. Visitors have the unique opportunity to catch a glimpse of life as it once was for Cades Cove’s early settlers. Volunteer millers continue the operation and educate tourists.
Captivating Charm and Photographic Inspiration
The Cable Grist Mill’s allure is undeniable, capturing the hearts of all who encounter it. It stands as the undisputed star of the area, a must-see attraction along the Cades Cove loop road. For photographers, this historic treasure has been a subject for years. It is not uncommon to find it on posters, T-shirts, and sold as fine art.
The Cades Cove Grist Mill is more than a relic, it’s a living testimony to a time when community life revolved around the productivity of milling. Its idyllic setting, authentic operation, and rich history make it an unparalleled attraction along the Cades Cove loop road. A visit to this historic mill is a journey back into history; a chance to see Cades Cove as it once was. Here, tradition and natural beauty converge to craft an unforgettable experience. Whether you’re a history aficionado, a nature enthusiast, or a photography buff, the Cades Cove Grist Mill is timeless.

domain: history


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Richard Thoman is not your typical chief executive officer. Most Fortune 500 CEOs, when asked how they intend to increase shareholder value, will talk about increasing sales, creating new leading-edge product lines, or pursuing mergers and acquisitions. But Thoman, who was appointed CEO of the $20 billion Xerox Corporation last summer, isn’t content with such conventional strategies. He believes one of the strategic keys to Xerox’s future is something so intangible, so invisible to traditional bottom-line thinking and corporate practice, that it doesn’t even show up on the balance sheet.
“My focus is intellectual property,” he declares. “I’m convinced that the management of intellectual property is how value added is going to be created at Xerox. And not just here, either. Increasingly, companies that are good at managing IP will win. The ones that aren’t will lose.”
Intellectual property? Five years ago, that phrase wasn’t even in the vocabularies of many CEOs, let alone a part of their business strategies. Indeed, many chief executives still regard patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual property as legal matters best left to the corporate attorneys to fuss over while the CEOs concentrate on the truly strategic stuff of competitive warfare.
Not Thoman. Where others see mere legal instruments, he sees business tools. And where others see obscure pieces of paper gathering dust in the corporate legal office, he sees “Rembrandts in the attic” waiting to be exploited for profit and competitive advantage.
To understand why Thoman thinks that way, you have to go back to his days as chief financial officer at IBM. There, he saw firsthand how an aggressive intellectual-property effort boosted annual patent-licensing royalties a phenomenal 3,300%—from $30 million in 1990 to nearly $1 billion today. This $1 billion per year, it should be noted, is largely free cash flow—a recurring net revenue stream that represents one-ninth of IBM’s annual pretax profits. That money goes straight to the bottom line. To match that sort of net revenue stream, IBM would have to sell roughly $20 billion worth of additional products each year, or an amount equal to one-fourth its worldwide sales.
Thoman is taking a similar approach to IP management at Xerox. He plans to boost the copier and document management company’s patent royalties from just under $10 million to more than $200 million annually within two years. And that’s not all. Just as IBM now leverages its patents for strategic and economic gain—Big Blue used them as the currency for $30 billion worth of new component sales in 1999—Thoman also believes that Xerox’s rich portfolio of patents could become passports to lucrative new market opportunities. He believes patents could help the company regain its leadership role in the global technology industry.
Thoman’s concentration on intellectual property marks him as one of a new breed of chief executive. These IP-savvy business leaders believe that, in a world where battles are increasingly being waged not for control of markets or raw materials but for the rights to new ideas and innovations, the management of intellectual property must become a core competence of the successful enterprise. Though still a minority among their peers, they nonetheless lead some of America’s most successful companies, including Microsoft, Lucent, IBM, Dell, Dow Chemical, and Gillette. These leaders all recognize that the knowledge economy has given rise to a new ecology of competition in which intellectual assets rather than physical assets are the principal wellsprings of shareholder wealth and competitive advantage.
Therein lies one of the next great corporate challenges: figuring out how to unlock the hidden power of patents. In this article, we will demonstrate how companies can manage and deploy their patents not just as legal instruments but also as powerful financial assets and competitive weapons that can enhance their commercial success and increase shareholder wealth. We use the terms patents and intellectual property interchangeably in this article, but patents are actually only one type of intellectual property (or legally protected intellectual assets); others include trade secrets, trademarks, and copyrights. We focus on patents for two reasons. First, patents are the most tangible form of intellectual property, they enjoy the strongest legal protection, and (except in the media and entertainment fields) they have the greatest effect on the commercial success and market value of companies today. And second, patent databases are a virtual Alexandrian library of information. When combined with new automated data-mining and visualization software, these databases can be powerful sources of rich competitive intelligence.
We recognize, of course, that patent strategy is not some Holy Grail for business success, and it is certainly no substitute for quality products, excellent operations, or effective marketing. But the strategic management and use of patents can significantly enhance a company’s success in three broad ways: by establishing a proprietary market advantage, by improving financial performance, and by enhancing overall competitiveness.
Establish a Proprietary Market Advantage
Patents enable companies to stake out and defend a proprietary market advantage. That is their most powerful benefit. Properly deployed, patents can translate into category-leading products, enhanced market share, and high margins. In some cases, they can even serve as the foundations for a new industry. (Chester Carlson’s original xerography patent comes to mind.) This is true even in the emerging e-commerce industries, where it was once thought the advantage simply belonged to those who got to market first. The collapse of competitive barriers and blurring of industry boundaries on the Internet suggest that patents may become one of the most effective—and sometimes even the sole—means of creating a proprietary, defensible market advantage.
Barnes & Noble, for example, discovered to its dismay that because it lacked any proprietary advantage or patent defense against on-line rivals, its market share could be easily “Amazoned” by the upstart bookseller of the same name. Amazon.com itself may have faced a similar threat from its ever widening circle of on-line competitors if it hadn’t received a patent for its “one-click” system for processing customer orders, which is now widely copied by other Internet retailers. In October 1999, Amazon deployed that patent as a competitive weapon; it filed an infringement suit against Barnes & Noble. Similarly, Priceline.com is using its “name your own price” auction patents as a shield to keep rivals at bay, as its recent infringement suit against Microsoft demonstrates. Let’s look at three ways patents can help companies secure a proprietary advantage.
Protect core technologies and business methods.
To the extent that they have a patent strategy, most companies focus it on protecting the proprietary technologies that give their products and services an advantage over those of competitors. The aforementioned seminal xerography patents, for example, allowed Xerox to legally monopolize the copier market for nearly 20 years; double-digit margins and earnings growth were the result. But when Xerox was forced to license those copier patents under the terms of a federal consent decree in 1975, the company saw its market share, margins, and industry dominance quickly erode. (Court rulings later overturned the presumptive view at that time that patents were inherently anticompetitive.)
But what if the true source of a company’s competitive advantage lies not in its products or services but in its innovative way of doing business? For example, Dell Computer owes its success in the PC business not to the technological superiority of its products—though of good quality, they are made mostly with off-the-shelf components—but rather to its innovative “build to order,” direct-sales business model. In other words, Dell’s advantage lies not in its computers but in its system for selling, distributing, and providing after-sales support for those computers. In similar fashion, Wal-Mart owes its $138 billion-a-year retailing success not to its products but to the sophisticated purchasing, marketing, and distribution systems that enable the company to operate more efficiently, maintain lower prices, and achieve higher rates of customer satisfaction than its competitors do.
But notice the difference in how Wal-Mart and Dell have attempted to sustain and leverage their respective competitive advantages. Dell has secured 42 issued and pending patents on its innovative business model. The patents cover not only the customer-configurable on-line ordering system but also the methods by which that system is integrated with Dell’s “continuous flow” manufacturing, inventory, distribution, and customer service operations. No one knows if Dell will ever use the threat of a patent infringement suit to block a potential direct-sales rival, such as Compaq, from copying its system too closely; the company says its plans in this area are confidential. But Dell has already leveraged those patents to bolster its market advantage: in 1999, the company used its patents as the collateral for a $16 billion cross-licensing deal with IBM that provides it with lower-cost components. Dell is freed from having to pay IBM tens of millions of dollars in royalties, which makes Dell more price competitive.1 Wal-Mart, meanwhile, hasn’t patented its business systems; it is relying instead on the notoriously ineffective protections of trade-secret law. As a result, the retailing giant couldn’t even prevent key employees from walking out the door and taking their knowledge of Wal-Mart’s proprietary systems to potential on-line rivals such as Amazon.com.
The critical point here is that companies must ensure that they protect and leverage whatever it is that adds the most value to their business and whatever represents the most vital sources of their competitive advantage.
Boost R&D and branding effectiveness.
Patents can help companies build category-leading products as well as enhance the branding efforts devoted to those products. Hitachi, for example, tries to develop only those products for which patents can help it establish market-dominant share. These aren’t necessarily the most technically complex products, either. Hitachi’s automotive airflow sensor would be easy for rivals to copy, for example, but the company has built such an effective patent wall around it that rivals were forced to look for more complex and expensive—and therefore less competitive—design approaches in their own airflow sensors.
Smart biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies also think about the potential strength of patents when setting their research and development priorities. The biotech firm Genetics Institute decides which version of a drug to develop partly based on which iteration shows the best results in clinical trials but also according to which version can command the strongest patent protection. Genetics Institute’s patent counsel says the strength of the potential patent position is “a leading factor” in deciding what research to pursue.
But few companies (and certainly no consumer product company) can top Gillette’s use of patents to secure and sustain a market choke hold, as the development of its Sensor shaver a decade ago demonstrates.
According to John Bush, Gillette’s former vice president of corporate R&D, the first challenge in developing the Sensor was mapping out the patent landscape surrounding the shaver’s key performance attribute: its ability to deliver a closer and more comfortable shave because of its twin, independently moving blades. The technology behind this innovation was called floated-angle geometry, and it involved mounting tiny springs to twin blades within a cartridge in such a way that each blade moved independently along the contours of the user’s face. The engineers had developed seven different designs for mounting the blades, but it wasn’t immediately clear to the engineering team which design the company should use. Aided by Gillette’s patent attorneys, the R&D team undertook a full patent analysis of all seven versions of the design, examining the strengths and weaknesses of the patent positions for each design compared with those of potential rivals. In the end, Bush says, “We chose the design that competitors would have the most difficulty getting around.”
That was only the first of 22 patentable inventions that were eventually incorporated into the shaver. According to Bush, the next task was to determine which of the product’s features best communicated the shaver’s brand personality and performance advantages to consumers—and then patent them. “We patented the key design features in the cartridge, the springs, and the angle of the blades,” he explains. “There were also patents covering the handle and some of its characteristics. We even patented the container that had the proper masculine sound and feel when it was ripped.” In the end, he says, “We created a patent wall with those 22 patents. And they were all interlocking so no one could duplicate that product.”
Building a patent wall around a product—clustering, as it’s sometimes called—is not the only way to hamper competitors. Sometimes it’s possible to use patents to hem in a competitor’s initial market lead through a process called bracketing. Imagine that your competitor has invented a new, high-intensity light and has patented the filament. But it turns out that the filament requires a more durable glass bulb and socket housing to absorb the added heat, as well as more heat-resistant shade construction and electrical connectors. New manufacturing processes are required, as is new packaging, because the new-style bulbs can be ruined by the oils from human hands. Your competitor may have patented the filament, but if you patent everything else, then the competitor is locked out of much of the market. That’s the essence of bracketing.
Anticipate market and technology shifts.
Even the best-laid product development plans and market strategies won’t prevent loss of market share and margin erosion if a company is unprepared for shifts in technology or market demand. A patent strategy can help companies anticipate those shifts and then respond with new products and services.
That is precisely what Texas Instruments did in 1997 when executives realized that demand for higher-speed Internet communications made a technology called Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) a leading contender for next-generation modems. TI moved quickly to acquire a small company called Amati Communications for $395 million, which TI believed held the seminal DSL patents. That was an unprecedented price to pay for Amati, which had lost $30 million on barely $12 million in sales. But in buying Amati’s patents, TI gained more than just the exclusive rights to the technology. One advantage of owning intellectual property is that it lets companies develop very favorable partnerships and licensing relationships (as Dell and IBM have done recently with their patent portfolios). Another advantage is that it helps to keep costs down, which TI will need to do to develop affordable DSL modems.
Owning intellectual property lets companies develop very favorable partnerships and licensing relationships.
To sum up, whether we’re talking about products, technologies, or business methods, patents can significantly enhance a company’s ability to secure and defend sources of marketplace advantage, even in times of rapid technological change.
Improve Financial Performance
Companies’ biggest assets today are intangible ones like patents. And that’s not true just in technology-intensive industries. The asset base of U.S. manufacturing firms has also shifted dramatically during the past 20 years. In 1982, physical assets such as plants, factories, and equipment constituted 62% of manufacturing companies’ market value. Today they represent less than 30% of their market value, according to economists at the Brookings Institution. Thus even for manufacturing firms, the bulk of their value now lies in their intellectual assets. Given that fact, it’s appropriate to ask how well these assets are being managed and used. The answer, in most cases, is not very well at all.
A 1998 survey by the technology transfer firm BTG International reported that 67% of U.S. companies own technology assets that they fail to exploit. The study noted that these companies on average let more than 35% of their patented technologies go to waste simply because the technologies have no immediate use in products. BTG put the value of those wasted technology assets at more than $115 billion. But that estimate is surely too conservative; it assumes that $1 invested in R&D yields a return of only $1. Economic data indicate the return is more like ten to one, thereby suggesting that corporate America is wasting a staggering $1 trillion in underutilized patent assets.
Given the pressures on companies these days to maximize shareholder return, this underutilization of technology assets represents either a stinging indictment of corporate myopia regarding intellectual property or the greatest opportunity to be handed to chief financial officers in a generation. Indeed, the current run-up in intellectual asset values—demonstrated not least by the growing gap between the book and market values of public companies—suggests that patent rewards may be as great as the rewards the leveraged buyout kings obtained 20 years ago when they capitalized on the undervalued real estate and pension holdings of corporate America. Let’s look at ways to realize the hidden financial value of patents.
Tap patents for new revenues.
Revenues from the licensing of patent rights have skyrocketed in the last ten years, increasing from $15 billion in 1990 to more than $110 billion today. Companies are slowly realizing that intellectual property can be among their most valuable and flexible assets. And the licensing market is still in its infancy; experts say revenues could top a half-trillion dollars annually in ten years.
Yet most companies remain completely unaware of the earnings potential of their patent holdings. Those few that do begin licensing efforts tend to do so only when pressed to the wall financially or when struggling to turn around their competitive fortunes. That was certainly the case for IBM when, in the midst of its early-1990s restructuring and revitalization efforts, it began to systematically mine its patent portfolio for revenues. (As we noted earlier, it now nets nearly $1 billion a year from the effort.)
Texas Instruments is another company that began portfolio mining out of desperation; it launched its patent-licensing effort in the mid-1980s, when it faced bankruptcy. Since then, TI has earned a phenomenal $4 billion in patent royalties, and its current licensing revenues are thought to be in the neighborhood of $800 million a year. Last May, TI signed yet another licensing pact for its semiconductor patents—this time with Hyundai. That deal added 12 cents to TI’s second-quarter 1999 earnings and is expected to net a total of $1 billion in additional royalties over the next ten years.
Some companies take a more enlightened approach and treat portfolio mining for revenue as a business in its own right. Under Rick Thoman’s leadership, for example, Xerox has established a new business unit to create profit and competitive advantage from the company’s patent assets. “If you only use your patents to protect your products, which is the old paradigm, you’re missing all manner of revenue-generating and other opportunities,” explains Jan Jaferian, vice president of intellectual property at Xerox.
Lucent, too, recently centralized its patent assets in a 266-person business unit and reportedly already earns several hundred million dollars a year from it. But with 12% of its $30 billion in annual revenues now invested in R&D, Lucent is reportedly stepping up licensing efforts in pursuit of even better returns on that investment.
In some cases, patent-savvy companies have taken advantage of other companies’ underutilized patent potential. For example, in the mid-1980s, semiconductor vendor SGS-Thomson (now STMicroelectronics) saw a major revenue opportunity in the patents of chip maker Mostek, then owned by United Technologies. It bought Mostek for $71 million and within seven years managed to squeeze out more than $450 million in licensing revenues.
The critical point here is that once issued, a patent becomes a sunk cost. One can either leverage that sunk cost as a source of R&D funding or bottom-line revenue, or one can simply ignore it. We believe patents just like any other business asset, should be required to generate returns.
The proper management of patent assets can also yield significant savings in the form of reduced portfolio maintenance costs and taxes. Perhaps the best-known example of reducing costs through patent management involves Dow Chemical. In 1994, as part of a corporate cost-cutting effort, Dow initiated a year-long audit of its IP assets—an audit that became somewhat legendary in intellectual property circles. (New automated technology tools can now do this in days.) Each of the company’s patents, 29,000 at that time, was valued and assigned to one of 15 major business units. The units thereafter assumed financial responsibility for the patents’ use. “Intellectual-asset managers” from each business unit met regularly to review patent activity company-wide and to identify licensing, commercialization, and joint venture opportunities for individual patents or groups of patents.
The proper management of patent assets can yield significant savings in the form of reduced portfolio maintenance costs and taxes.
As a result of its audit, Dow achieved immediate savings of $50 million in taxes and maintenance fees on unneeded patents that were pruned from the portfolio and donated to universities and nonprofit organizations. (Last year DuPont followed Dow’s example and earned a $64 million tax write-off when it donated 23 patents to universities.) Licensing revenues have also risen since the audit, from $25 million to more than $125 million. And according to Gordon Petrash, the former director of Dow’s Intellectual Asset Management team, if one factors in the commercial benefits of more effectively aligning the company’s technology assets with its business goals, the audit probably produced “billions and billions” in new revenues. (For more on patent audits, see the sidebar “Auditing Your Patent Portfolio.”)
Auditing Your Patent Portfolio
Attract new capital and enhance corporate value.
By thinking creatively, companies can often repackage their patents to be highly attractive to investors. The aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, for example, over the years had assembled a large cache of 3-D flight simulator patents that gathered dust in the corporate legal office. But in 1997, the company used those patents as the foundation for a new venture called Real3D that it spun off to compete in the PC graphics and video game business. Real3D attracted investments from Intel and Silicon Graphics, and it’s currently valued at several hundred million dollars. Lockheed was able to take a group of fallow patents valued on its books at exactly zero and transform them into a strategic presence in a potentially lucrative new market. It also gained a 40% stake in a high-flying start-up.
The same approach can be used by hidebound industrial age companies to move into high-growth, new-economy businesses—provided they have patent assets that can be used to establish beachheads into those new markets. Even bankrupt companies can find hidden opportunities in their patent portfolios: TM Patents, for example, was split off from the defunct Thinking Machines Corporation two years ago precisely in order to realize several hundred million dollars worth of untapped royalty potential in its patent holdings.
Then there’s Walker Digital, an intellectual property laboratory modeled after Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park inventors’ laboratory. In exchange for giving its first spin-off company, Priceline.com, the rights to 19 of its e-commerce business model patents, Walker Digital received 7.5 million Priceline shares. Those shares are now worth a phenomenal $1 billion to Walker Digital.
Patents are also useful in bolstering corporate financing efforts. In the first-ever use of patents as vehicles for off-balance-sheet financing, a San Francisco-based investment banking boutique called Global Asset Capital last year said it intended to securitize the future royalties of drug company patents and sell the notes to investors. IP securitization is unlikely to become widespread until risk factors are more easily quantified, but this example is indicative of the expanding role that patents are playing as financial instruments.
Patents can help companies communicate their asset picture and earnings potential to investors and the financial community. Indeed, Wall Street is slowly waking up to the asset value of patents, spurred in part by research from economists such as Professor Baruch Lev at New York University’s Leonard Stern School of Business. Lev and doctoral student Zhen Deng recently studied the stock performance of hundreds of companies over a ten-year period. They found that companies whose patents were more frequently cited in the patents of other companies saw their stock prices rise far more rapidly than those of companies with less frequently cited patents. As Lev recently told Forbes, “Hardly any financial analyst on Wall Street takes patents into account when they study a company, [but] if they knew about the correlation between patents and profits, they might change their approach.”
In point of fact, however, some stock analysts have begun looking at companies’ IP capabilities when evaluating earnings potential and competitive prospects. This is partly the result of the effects patents sometimes have on stock prices—like the one-day 28% jump in Affymetrix’s stock price after it settled its patent infringement suit against rival gene technology firm Incyte Pharmaceuticals. But analysts are also becoming more aware of the effect that patents have on companies’ financial and competitive prospects in today’s knowledge economy.
For example, James Oelschlager, fund manager of the White Oak Growth Stock Fund, uses patents “as a measure of productivity”—and to fairly good effect apparently, because the fund has beaten the market with a five-year 32% annualized return. Oelschlager believes today’s economic climate and pace of technological change are similar to the rapid growth phase of the industrial revolution. “Patents accelerated then, and patents are accelerating now. Many [investors] missed the first industrial revolution, and I think many will miss this one, too.” As more money managers and investors adopt this view, the effect of a well-managed patent portfolio on a company’s market value will only increase.
The value of patents as competitive weapons and intelligence tools becomes most evident in the day-today transaction of business. Indeed, whether a company is trying to block a competitor’s product development plan, gain entry into a hotly contested new market, find the most attractive acquisition opportunity, or reduce the risks involved in a high-stakes merger, patents can be potent weapons—and quite possibly the greatest source of competitive intelligence on earth. Let’s look at some ways that companies are bolstering their competitiveness by using patent strategies.
In early 1998, S3 was a small chip-design firm with a big problem. The company knew that Intel’s patent wall would eventually stall its high-performance graphic chip business. So S3 hatched a plan to fix the problem. Acting anonymously, S3 outbid Intel to acquire the patents of bankrupt chip maker Exponential Technologies for $10 million. In doing so, S3 obtained a patent that predated Intel’s Merced chip patents and, according to analysts, could potentially hold Intel’s next-generation processor business hostage. S3’s bold IP gambit paid off when it revealed itself as the buyer and forced Intel to cross-license its patents to S3 in exchange for the rights to that “hostage” patent.
Over in the tool sector of the chip business, meanwhile, Quickturn Design Systems also had a problem. The company had sued rival Mentor Graphics for patent infringement and had gotten an injunction that blocked U.S. sales of Mentor’s key product. Quickturn then faced a hostile bid by Mentor to acquire the company and thereby scuttle Quickturn’s injunction. Quickturn resisted, of course, and the two companies battled through the summer and fall of 1998. Quickturn knew it could not fend off Mentor’s advances forever, so it dropped its intellectual property hankie (as it were) in front of white-knight Cadence Design Systems, which responded with a $253 million buyout offer that the much-relieved Quickturn happily accepted. Its flanks no longer exposed to hostile M&A action from Mentor, Quickturn continued to press its infringement case until Mentor agreed last June to withdraw its SimExpress product from the market.
Exploit new market opportunities.
Patents can also give companies patent-protected entry into lucrative new markets. The $3.5 billion Avery Dennison Corporation offers a case in point. In 1994, one of Avery’s embryonic business units developed a new film for use in product labeling. The film unit had already won an important contract to provide the labels for Procter & Gamble shampoo bottles, and corporate managers thought the unit had considerable growth potential. But an analysis of patent activity indicated that Dow Chemical was also beginning to move into the business. Should Avery commit the huge resources needed to exploit the market opportunity for the film unit, especially when it looked like Dow might become a formidable competitor?
Paul Germeraad, the former vice president and director of corporate research at Avery Dennison, describes what happened: “We saw that we had the more fundamental patents in this area,” he recalls, “and we strengthened those with additional patent filings. Then, with the support of the CEO, we went to Dow and basically told them that they couldn’t manufacture that film anymore. They had to shut down their team, dismantle it, and withdraw from the market. And that’s exactly what Dow did. Thanks to the strength of our patents—and to our CEO’s willingness, based on that IP strength, to bet our total resources on building the unit—we were able to stop Dow in the market and have it basically all to ourselves. As a result, that unit became one of the fast-growing, highest EVA units in the company.”
One might also consider the Machiavellian M&A maneuverings over patent rights in the stent business. Stents are tiny wire-mesh medical devices that keep a coronary artery open after it has been cleaned out through angioplasty. Until 1997, three companies—Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, and Arterial Vascular Engineering—had divided the spoils in this $1.3 billion-per-year market.
But all that changed in October 1997, when Guidant Corporation received FDA approval for its new Multi-Link stent. Horrified at the thought of having to divide $1.3 billion by four instead of three, Johnson & Johnson filed a patent infringement suit. Guidant responded three days later with a surprise maneuver: rather than file a patent countersuit, Guidant bought EndoVascular Technologies. The deal surprised analysts because EndoVascular doesn’t even make stents. But reporter Herb Greenberg, then writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, revealed Guidant’s logic in his October 8, 1997, column: “What nobody talks about is patents. [Guidant] will also be getting its hands on a potentially lucrative patent that could give [it] control over the superheated U.S. coronary stent market.”
It seems the Guidant deal was really aimed at acquiring an unused EndoVascular stent patent that may prove to be a legal bombshell. The patent in question was issued two years before Johnson & Johnson’s patent was issued. Does Guidant now hold a winning weapon in the stent wars? It remains to be seen. But doubtless Guidant already feels that the $170 million it paid for EndoVascular and its key stent patent was money well spent: in its first six months in the stent business, the company sold $350 million worth of the devices.
IBM has chosen a slightly different and very enlightened approach to seizing an opportunity in the telecommunication components industry. Because of users’ voracious need for routers and networking equipment, this market is exploding. But rather than spend buckets of cash to enter the market or cut component prices to rock bottom in the hopes that users would buy its products, IBM used its patents to structure a win-win deal with Cisco, the market leader. The $2 billion pact guarantees the sale of IBM’s components to Cisco for two years and gives IBM a substantial foothold in a new market for its products.
As a vital source of competitive intelligence, the information contained in patents can also help companies steer their R&D and M&A programs around infringement and due diligence potholes.
The most famous example where a company failed to use patent information to reduce its risk involves the great patent war between Polaroid and Eastman Kodak over the instant photography business. Kodak ignored the “patent thicket” that its much smaller rival Polaroid had erected around its fast-growing instant-camera business. In 1975, Kodak launched a line of instant cameras and films that many people—including key Polaroid executives—felt bore too close a resemblance to Polaroid technology. The patent case that resulted finally concluded in 1990 with a judgment that Kodak had indeed infringed on Polaroid’s patents.
The total cost to Kodak of its misguided patent strategy? The company was ordered to pay Polaroid a staggering $925 million in damages. Kodak was also forced to shut down its $1.5 billion manufacturing plant, lay off 700 workers, and spend nearly $500 million to buy back the 16 million instant cameras it had sold to consumers between 1976 and 1985. Legal fees during the 14-year-long court battle cost Kodak an additional $100 million, and a decades-long R&D effort had to be written off as a total loss.
Kodak’s $3 billion market disaster may be the most expensive example of IP mismanagement in the history of corporate R&D, but it is hardly unique. In 1991, Minolta was ordered to pay Honeywell $127.5 million after a court ruled it had infringed on the latter’s autofocus camera patent—a patent that Minolta may have thought it safe to infringe upon because Honeywell was not using the technology in any products. More recently, tiny Fonar Corporation hauled General Electric into court for infringing on Fonar’s patented MRI technology, which is used to detect cancers and other diseases in the human body. To its great shock, GE was forced to pay Fonar $128.7 million—an amount equal to ten times the little company’s annual revenues at the time—which Fonar distributed to its shareholders in the form of “patent infringement dividends.”
Many executives consider it unnecessary to spend the time and money to map out the patent landscape and avoid infringement dangers. After all, they say, in today’s fast-paced economy, the life span of a new product may be shorter than the time required to obtain a patent for it. But that kind of thinking is extremely risky. Who has the time (or the millions of dollars) it takes to defend against a patent suit? And who can afford to devote a year or more to the research and development of a product, only to have to abandon it later because of an infringement problem that could easily have been spotted and designed around early in the process?
Another consideration is the emerging threat of board liability and shareholder lawsuits regarding patents. Failing to make best efforts to steer R&D away from potential infringement problems could be seen as the intellectual property equivalent of negligently building your factory atop a seismic fault. Indeed, the prospect of shareholder lawsuits over “IP wasting” is very real, according to Steven Bochner, an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the California-based law firm that represents more Silicon Valley boards of directors than any other.
Besides protecting research efforts, patent mapping can also reduce the risks inherent in mergers and acquisitions. And here, unfortunately, many managers would be surprised to discover just how abysmal most due diligence efforts regarding intellectual property actually are. “I’d say—and I’m speaking very generally now—that patent analysis is usually just a pro forma component of the due diligence process in most M&As,” admits a senior executive at one of Wall Street’s leading investment banks. “Most M&A companies, including ours, simply don’t look closely at the patent portfolios involved, either for valuation issues or for exploitation possibilities.”
Most investment banks have teams of accountants, tax advisers, management consultants, and regulatory affairs experts to structure their deals to a company’s greatest advantage. But one would be hard-pressed to find a major investment bank that employs even one individual with experience in evaluating patent portfolios. Doubtless this will change as corporate America and Wall Street become more attuned to the financial and strategic value of intellectual property, but as matters stand now, “due diligence” regarding patent assets is usually more myth than reality.
That is sometimes true even in the drug industry, where companies live or die on the strength of their patent holdings. According to Cynthia O’Donohue, principal information specialist at global drug company Allergan, businesses don’t always look closely enough at the patent issues involved in a merger or acquisition. “A company may see that the firm it wants to buy has all these wonderful patents,” she explains, “but sometimes they don’t ask when those patents expire. And especially if they’re acquiring a smaller firm, executives have to ask if the company has maintained its patents. If the maintenance fees are not paid, then those patents have elapsed. What’s more, can those patents be invalidated? Are there loopholes or improper claims or prior art errors in them? If you can invalidate them, so can someone else. And what about the engineers and key executives? Are they going to remain once the company is acquired? It’s not just the patents, but the human expertise behind them that you want.”
Those are only a few of the due diligence issues that need to be addressed in M&As that involve the transfer of intellectual assets. Are the acquisition candidate’s patents being cited less often by other companies, suggesting that its technology is not as innovative as it once was? Are its own citations of other companies’ patents older and less frequent, indicating that its innovative pace has slowed? That is just a small sample of the intelligence that can be gleaned from patent data.
In the examples in this article, we have tried to spotlight some of the benefits to be gained by treating patents not just as legal tools but as business assets of enormous financial and competitive value. The power of patents to influence and even determine competitive outcomes will only grow—especially in the booming e-commerce industries. History shows that after the initial race to innovate and grab market share in an emerging industry, there is a period of shakeouts and consolidation—precisely the period we are entering in the Internet’s life cycle—and patents then often become decisive. As one observer of the history of U.S. patenting has noted, “The ultimate winner in the race to capture the lead position in a new industry is often determined by the outcome of a patent shoot-out.”
Indeed, the first shots in what will likely become one of the Internet’s most important battles were fired in October 1999: Priceline.com filed a patent infringement suit to prevent Microsoft’s Expedia group from deploying a “name your own price” auction system similar to Priceline’s. Two weeks later Amazon filed its own suit against its chief rival in online book retailing, Barnes & Noble. Whatever the results in these particular lawsuits, the wars over e-commerce patents are sure to become increasingly common—and increasingly bloody—in the knowledge economy.
Tapping the financial and competitive rewards of patents will require top-level involvement and enterprisewide organizational muscle; that means building a structure in which patents and the information they contain are available throughout the organization and are managed by senior executives as strategic assets of potentially enormous value to the enterprise. Companies that treat their patent portfolios as a strategic asset and a new core competence will enjoy a big advantage over those that don’t.
The effort is made easier now by technological advances in patent asset management. There are now automated systems that provide platforms for organizing, analyzing, and visualizing patents across an industry, for conducting patent audits, and for uncovering competitors’ strategies. Patent-mapping efforts that used to take months can now be done in hours or days. Once-unintelligible text documents can now be presented in 3-D reports that highlight patterns and relationships in technology development. The scope of change that these new tools make possible is comparable to the changes we saw when electronic spreadsheets were introduced to the public two decades ago.
If patents are the “smart bombs” of tomorrow’s business wars, then companies that fail to develop offensive and defensive strategies for their use will do so only at their peril.
1. The IBM side of this deal may be even better. By using its patents to forge a win-win deal with Dell, IBM has turned a competitor into a customer. The deal lets IBM lock in a long-term opportunity for reducing costs and increasing sales. Enlightened companies in the future will use this type of patent leverage not just to collect short-term royalties, as they do now, but to drive the business.


An unidentified Ghanaian doctor is being celebrated online for going far and beyond the call of duty.
Another colleague doctor of his, Afua Lee, shared the news online of how the male doctor agreed to become a vital life support for a baby who was born prematurely.
According to Afua, the baby had to be taken out of the incubator because other babies were in need of the incubator.
However, this baby still needed some form of heating and since her mother had not fully recovered, she wasn’t in the position to provide that bodily heat.
It was at this point that the unidentified male doctor volunteered to carry the baby on his stomach in what medical professionals call kangaroo mother care.
“Today I am proud to have met this young man. Glad to have worked alongside with him. Ghanaians are glad to have you with us,” Afua said in her Facebook post.
Thanks to the doctor.
Click on the comment box below and leave us your thoughts. Thank you


text:
“Uniquely U!” by Patrice
The Power of Serving others! Do you desire to help others, especially during these difficult times? And yet, do you feel there’s nothing original left for you to do?
The truth is: YOU are God’s Original Masterpiece. U are Uniquely U!
No one is exactly like you!
No one has your thumbprint.
No one touches the world exactly the way you do!
No one has your iris.
No one sees the world through your eyes.
No one has your DNA.
No one sings, or feels, or thinks, or acts, or walks, or talks exactly like you!
God wants to speak through YOU.
He wants to write and tell stories through YOU.
God wants to listen to others through YOU.
He cares to smile, to laugh, to cry with others through YOU.
He desires to paint and photograph through YOU,
He desires to design through YOU,
He wants to cook and bake through YOU,
He’s waiting to write songs and sing through YOU,
He wants to garden through YOU,
He longs to mentor, guide, and teach through YOU.
“We are masks that God wears as He cares and loves through us to reach the world.” PATRICE
He wants to say things through you. Because when you say them, they touch people differently. He has people waiting to be UNIQUELY ministered to through U!
Especially in these isolating quarantine days, have you ever spent time praying about what YOU can do to show others you care? What simple gifts and talents you’ve been given that can bless and inspire others.
God waits patiently to speak thru your hands, your heart, and your mind to the audience He has chosen. The audience that only You can bless in your “UNIQUELY U” way!
Perhaps you feel called to be a painter. Thousands of people have felt called to paint the Red Rocks of Sedona, AZ. And I must say, I am deeply moved every time I view Sedona’s Red Rock in person, in an artist’s photograph, or in a painting! And with each new artist’s rendering, I see something different. . .be it the light, the shadow, the depth of color. . . . My heart is moved anew!
“So, God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God, He created them; male and female He created them.” Genesis 1:27
"I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalm 139:14
"We are fearfully and wonderfully created in God’s Image. . .strengths AND weaknesses! UNIQUELY U!”
“Everything is Askable!” PATRICE
Let’s ASK, starting with prayer, how God desires to serve and inspire others through us... using our gifts and talents...both individually and together.
“Change your thoughts. Change your world. Become who you’re meant to be!” PATRICE


Post Ligeti, got in to this, the great Hamlet Gonashvili, with the Rustavi Choir (mostly).
I have a complete album, but many of the YT recordings are the same.
Fans of Werner Herzog may recognize one song, "Tsinskaro."
There is another recording of the Rustavi Choir on Nonesuch as well, that is great.
Of note, Basiani are a young Georgian choir that have inherited the mantle, and are touring internationally.
I, like a common idiot, just missed them.


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Famous as the birthplace of Mozart, Salzburg has hosted an annual summer festival of music and the performing arts since 1920 – which makes 2020 an opportunity to celebrate Salzburg Festival’s 100th birthday.
With a state exhibition entitled “Great World Theatre” at the Austrian city’s main museum running from the spring, various festivities and events will culminate in an ambitious programme of 222 performances in 44 days at 15 different venues.
Founded in 696, Salzburg is the fourth-largest city in Austria, located on the site of the former Roman settlement of Iuvavum. The city’s historic centre is renowned for its Baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps, with 27 churches. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
“The entire city is a stage” is how the founders of the Salzburg Festival – Max Reinhardt, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss – formulated their intentions a century ago. Since then, it has become one of the most important festivals for the performing arts worldwide. August 2020’s operatic highlights will include Mozart’s ‘-“Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”, Strauss’s “Electra” and Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” while theatrically “Jedermann” will once again be the focus of attention – including Jedermann Day on 22 August 2020, as a tribute to the first performance on that day in 1920. Musically, the concert programme comprises 91 events with a thematic focus on Ludwig van Beethoven, who would have celebrated his 250th birthday in 2020. Star performers will include divas Anna Netrebko and Cecilia Bartoli, conductors Mariss Jansons and Teodor Currentzis as well as renowned singers Ildar Abdrazakov and Plácido Domingo.
A total of over 240,000 tickets will be available for purchase online from the end of March.
Photo: Evening mood at the Siemens Festival Nights at Kapitelplatz


Cable TV customers could end up paying more as part of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to help balance a nearly $339 million budget deficit next year.Emanuel’s administration hopes to bring in $9 million in 2014 by raising the city’s amusement tax by two percentage points on cabl
Victims of torture by Chicago police under former commander Jon Burge would get reparation payments, free community college and a formal apology under a proposal introduced to the City Council Wednesday.
Despite a federal lawsuit, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he will move forward next year with a plan to phase out taxpayer-funded health care subsidies for tens of thousands of retired city workers.
There have been more than a hundred shootings and dozens of murders within a block of newly-designated “Safe Passage” routes, according to a WBEZ analysis. Chicago Public Schools is hoping the 600 new workers who start guarding those routes Monday can help stanch the violence and keep students safe.