Eat Drink Perth is back ? March 2013 ? The Food Pornographer

Authentic Moroccan food at Shak Shuka, Twilight Hawkers Market

It?s time to get into your eating pants again. Eat Drink Perth 2013 is on throughout the month of March in the City of Perth. I?m one of five official bloggers for Eat Drink Perth this year. The full program is available at the Eat Drink Perth website, but here are some events and features that have caught my eye.

Twilight Hawkers Market ? win a trip to South East Asia
Regular readers will know what a big fan I am of the Twilight Hawkers Market, at Forrest Place in Perth every Friday night 5-9pm until end of April 2013.

During Eat Drink Perth month, there?s more than delicious street food to enjoy ? visit Twilight Hawkers Market on Fridays in March (1, 8, 15 or 22 March) and for every meal purchased, you?ll get a chance to win a trip for two to Holiday Hawker Heaven ? Bangkok, Penang, Singapore or Taipei, with thanks to Air Asia.
Note: the market will not be on 29 March due to Easter.

Perth Home Grown
Forrest Place will host a Sunday market with locally grown produce including fruit and vegetables, free range eggs, honey, home-baked and hand crafted goods. Get there early and grab some brunch ? bacon and egg burgers, crepes and organic smoothies.
Sunday 3, 10, 17 and 24 March. Free entry.
10am to 3pm in Forrest Place.

Perth City?s Greatest Dish Photo Wall
In March, post your food photos to the Show Me Perth Facebook page or to Instagram (use hashtag #eatdrinkperth), including the restaurant name and date taken. Every day, Show Me Perth will select one image to be displayed on the giant photo wall in Forrest Place. All entries will go into a draw to win a dinner for two at a City of Perth restaurant.

Bishop?s House Pop-Up Bar.
Weeknights in March, 4pm to 8pm ? sounds like a good place to unwind with mates, especially if you work in the city. No entry fee (but you?ll have to pay for your drinks, of course).
Lamont?s Bishop?s House, corner Spring St and Mounts Bay Rd, Perth.

Gin fans, there?s a Pop-Up Gin Garden at the WA Museum. Note: door sales will be limited, so visit the WA Museum?s Pop-Up Gin Garden page for booking details.

Progressive dinners
There are three progressive dinners available, each showcasing one or more of the city?s newest dining venues. If you?re keen, get your booking in quick. I?m sure these will be very popular.

• Tuesday 5 March 6pm, AU$95 per person
  Andaluz, Lalla Rookh, Greenhouse and Helvetica. All dishes are matched with a glass of wine or a cocktail.
  Bookings: 9325 7077
• Brookfield Place ? this is the one I?m most excited about, as I haven?t been to most of the Brookfield Place venues yet.
  Tuesday 12, 19 or 26 March, at 6pm or 7pm, AU$140 per person
  Bar Lafayette (entree and cocktail), The Trustee (main course), Print Hall (dessert) and Bobeche (after dinner drinks).
  Bookings: 9428 6400
• CBD Progressive Fine Dining Experience
  Mondays and Tuesdays 6.30pm AU$140 per person
  Freshly shucked oysters with beer or wine at The Print Hall, main course and premium WA wine at Lamont?s Bishop?s House garden veranda and finish with cheeses in the dining room at the Terrace Hotel with matching dessert wine. Strict dress standards apply. Details and bookings via www.twofeet.com.au

Cake Blessing and Aussie BBQ
For Mothering Sunday on 10 March there will be a Cake Sale and BBQ in aid of the Perth Women?s Refuge, 5pm at St George?s Cathedral, 38 St Georges Terrace. More info: 9325 5766.

Classes and workshops
There are classes and workshop to suit a range of tastes and budgets, including:

Sadly, some of the classes that appeal to me will be held in the middle of the day and I?ll be at work ? but if you go to any, I?d love to hear what you thought/learned/ate.

Tastings and classes at European Foods
If you can get yourself to Northbridge around lunch time on Thursdays, European Foods at 93-101 Aberdeen Street is holding free tastings and classes. For more information: 9328 7455.

• Coffee and food pairing ? have a chat with local coffee experts and enjoy tasty food treats designed to match locally roasted coffee. Thursday 7 March 11am to 3pm
• Artisanal cheese tasting in European Foods? cheese room, the largest in WA. All cheeses are available for purchase. Thursday 14 and 28 March, 11am to 3pm.
• Espresso based cocktails ? the European Foods Specialty Beverage Team with special industry guests will show you how to get the best out of coffee beans and create espresso based cocktails. Thursday 21 March 11am to 3pm

Yum Cha in the Park is back for 2013, with yum cha and other food stalls, live music, lion dances and a roving magician. Also back is the chicken feet eating competition, which was hotly contested last year.
23 March, 11am to 2pm in Northbridge Piazza. Free entry.
My write-up of Yum Cha in the Park 2012.

Chicken feet eaters at Yum Cha in the Park, 2012.

The Eat Drink Perth passport is packed with over 60 exclusive dining offers from Perth city food retailers. You can preview the passport here, but only original vouchers will be accepted by the participating retailers, so make sure you order yours online or grab one at the i-City Information Kiosk in Murray Street Mall. You can also pick up Small Bar, Coffee Stops and Food and Drink guides at the i-City Kiosk.

I?ve only mentioned some of the events for Eat Drink Perth. To find out more and get the latest info:

I?ll be out and about at events during March, so if you see me (probably pointing my camera at something), do say hi.

Mobile food and drink vendors in the City of Perth

This isn?t related to Eat Drink Perth but food lovers may be be pleased to know the City of Perth will be reviewing/revising local laws that govern mobile food and beverage operations in the city. The underlying principle is to encourage mobile food/drink vendors to make use of under-utilised city spaces, especially where there may currently be limited food options, and outside of normal trading hours, to avoid direct competition with other rate-paying fixed businesses.

Those who follow me on Facebook know I am all for regulations that take into account the established businesses in the area as well support mobile vendors. Well done to Roy Chin of Jumplings for starting the Perth Gourmet Food Van initiative last year and to the City of Perth for agreeing to review/revise the mobile food and beverage vendor regulations.

Tagged as: city of perth, Eat Drink Perth, Events, Markets, Perth

Source: http://www.thefoodpornographer.com/2013/02/22/eat-drink-perth-is-back-march-2013/

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Voting Starts For Kaplan International?s Latest Facebook Competition

(PRWEB UK) 21 February 2013

Kaplan International Colleges has opened the voting process for their Love at Kaplan Facebook video competition.

Inspired by Valentine?s Day, Kaplan International Colleges launched Love at Kaplan; a competition designed to encourage students and staff to share messages of love to their friends, families and partners by using video messaging and social media.

The competition was met with great enthusiasm by staff, students and fans alike who declared their love via video. All the entrants are competing for the prize, which is a romantic meal for two at a restaurant of the winner?s choice.

Voting for the competition has now officially opened on the Kaplan Facebook page and will last a week. The winner with the most votes will receive the prize of restaurant vouchers to the amount of ?100.

Hazel Marie Francis, Kaplan?s social media assistant, said: ?Valentine?s is a great time of year for engagement with our social media channels and Love at Kaplan has sparked creative and fun video content. I?m looking forward to seeing who will win the prize ? and how their date goes!?

Kaplan, a leading provider of English language courses, recently reached a social media milestone by reaching more than 75,000 fans on their global Facebook page.

About Kaplan International Colleges

Kaplan International Colleges is part of Kaplan, Inc., an international education services provider offering higher education, professional training, and test preparation. Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO). http://www.kaplaninternational.com

Source: http://uk.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10454744.htm

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Dundee bakery still sending cookies to the troops

Article posted: 2/13/2013 2:26 PM

The spirit still exists, but public enthusiasm is waning for "Operation Sweettooth."

In December, with Christmas being the traditional busiest time for orders for cookies to be sent to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, the project's coordinators, Roger and Diane Ahrens, sent only six boxes of the holiday treats.

"And many of those boxes went to the USO site in Bahrain airfield (in the Middle East)," Diane said. "We hardly had any orders this Christmas. Maybe people are getting too used to the project."

The Ahrens own the Piece-A-Cake Bakery in East Dundee. For seven years, they have been shipping cookies and Rice Krispie Treats to Dundee Township area residents in the military and stationed in the war zones.

When they started their project, they mailed from 15-17 boxes during December. Families of the soldiers ordered the cookies and paid for the postage. The North River Street business owners, baked them, wrapped them individually, and mailed them to the military men and women.

"We put 75 sugar, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin cookies, and Rice Krispie Treats in each box," Diane said. We wanted the people receiving them to be able to share them with the people they are will."

Christmas wasn't the only time the confections were ordered.

"We received orders all year and for all different occasions: birthdays, Valentine's Day," Diane said. "One time we sent cookies to a father who was stationed overseas. It was a baby announcement; his wife had twins."

The couple knows how important it is to receive packages from home. Both of them served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Remembering the excitement of opening her mail, they vowed to continue with "Operation Sweettooth" until the troops are home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We still have troops in Iraq, and we have troops in Afghanistan," she said. "I've promised to continue this until they are home. I don't want them to think they are forgotten. I know what it's like to be hot and tired. I've received thank-you notes from many of the soldiers. I know that their whole moods change by receiving the packages."

The program will continue in 2013.

"I'll keep going until they are home."

To order cookies or to make a donation to "Operation Sweettooth" call the bakery at (847) 836-6703.

Source: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130213/news/702139785/

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Business Help, Advice and Tips on Strategic Planning from John ...

For the past eleven years I have been teaching a class at the Wharton School of Business on strategic thinking/planning, and in preparation for my return in a few weeks for year number twelve, I decided to take a hard look at where the practice of strategic thinking and creating organizational strategy stands today.

During the past decade the velocity of change, hyper-fast technological shifts, globalization and turbulence in the global economy has dramatically impacted the way organizations create strategies. I have some very strong opinions about this, which I will share with you at the end of this memo, but I thought this wonderful blog from the Harvard Business Review would be a good place to start a discussion on strategy, strategic thinking and strategic planning.

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Don?t Let Strategy Become Planning?? By Roger Martin

I must have heard the words ?we need to create a strategic plan? at least an order of magnitude more times than I have heard ?we need to create a strategy.? This is because most people see strategy as an exercise in producing a planning document. In this conception, strategy is manifested as a long list of initiatives with timeframes associated and resources assigned. Somewhat intriguingly, at least to me, the initiatives are themselves often called ?strategies.? That is, each different initiative is a strategy and the plan is an organized list of the strategies. But how does a strategic plan of this sort differ from a budget? Many people with whom I work find it hard to distinguish between the two and wonder why a company needs to have both. And I think they are right to wonder. The vast majority of strategic plans that I have seen over 30 years of working in the strategy realm are simply budgets with lots of explanatory words attached. This may be the case because the finance function is deeply involved in the strategy process in most organizations. But it is also the cause of the deep antipathy I see, especially amongst line executives, toward strategic planning. I know very few who look forward with joy to the commencement of the next strategic planning cycle.

To make strategy more interesting ? and different from a budget ? we need to break free of this obsession with planning. Strategy is not planning ? it is the making of an integrated set of choices that collectively position the firm in its industry so as to create sustainable advantage relative to competition and deliver superior financial returns. I find that once this is made?clear to line managers they recognize that strategy is not just fancily-worded budgeting and they get much more interested in it.

Obviously you can?t execute a strategy without initiatives, investments, and budgeting. But what you need to get managers focused on before you start on those things is the strategy that will make these initiatives coherent. That strategy is a singular thing; there is one strategy for a given business ? not a set of strategies. It is one integrated set of choices: what is our winning aspiration; where will we play; how will we win; what capabilities need to be?in place; and what management systems must be instituted? That strategy tells you what initiatives actually make sense and are likely to produce the result you actually want. Such a strategy actually makes planning easy. There are fewer fights about which initiatives should and should not make the list, because the strategy enables discernment of what is critical and what is not.

This conception of strategy also helps define the length of your strategic plan. The five questions can easily be answered on one page?and if they take more than five pages (i.e. one page per question) then your strategy is probably morphing unhelpfully into a more classical strategic plan. This definition of strategy can be?disconcerting to those who have spent a lifetime generating traditional strategic plans. Not long ago I facilitated a day long strategy session with the senior team of a very successful $10 billion company with an outstanding CEO. By the end of the day (in part thanks to a goodly amount of pre-work by the head of strategy), we got to a nice set of integrated choices. I congratulated the group on its great thinking and working and affirmed what I judged to be?an excellent strategy. My enthusiasm notwithstanding, the CEO was troubled. I asked him why. ?Is that all we have to do?? he asked, as if he thought he had cheated on an exam. I am sure he expected that he had to fill binders and long lists of initiatives to feel that he had been thorough in this year?s strategic planning process. I reassured him that he had given strategy anything but short shrift. And that day strategy prevailed over planning. I suspect that CEO will never go back.

So if you pass the five-page mark is time to ask: Are we answering the five key questions or are we doing something else and calling it strategy? If it is the latter: eject, eject!

Roger Martin (www.rogerlmartin.com) is the Dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto in Canada.

?

Five questions, five pages, not a budget? I agree completely with all of these, I very much like the way, Roger Morton approaches the idea of strategy and strategic planning. Let me share with you some other fantastic thoughts from a gentleman named Max McKewon who wrote a superb book called: ?The Strategy Book? (super creative title!!). Here are a few samples of what resonated with me out of Max?s book?

?There are strategy tools and processes that can help, but the real heart of strategy is the strategist. It?s what you know, how you think, and how you get people to care enough about what you?re doing to achieve your goals.?

?There is no guarantee that the future will turn out the way you want. Just writing a plan does not mean that the plan will happen. The world is more complex than our ability to plan, but that?s part of what an effective strategist learns to accept. You learn that reacting and responding to events is just as important as planning.?

?Strategy is about the shortest route between means and ends. It?s either about out-thinking the competition ? or ? even better ? about finding new, even greater opportunities. Opportunities that the competition hasn?t found yet, or opportunities the competition doesn?t understand because it hasn?t been doing the kind of thinking that you have.?

?It?s possible to be?a strategic thinker without using any strategy tools, but it?s not possible to create brilliant strategy without being a strategic thinker. There is an important difference between creating strategy documents and creating strategy to get you where you want to be. There?s also a valuable difference between managerial thinking and strategic thinking.?

?It?s difficult for some people to accept that reacting (not just planning) is a good thing. Managers have been taught?the value of being (or looking!) organized. They have learned that being ?proactive? is what the business world wants. They have been told that being reactive is a bad thing. It?s good to plan but it?s bad to think that you can plan for everything. You need a prepared mind ready to recognize unplanned opportunities.?

Reactive as well as proactive ? being a strong strategic thinker- understanding that the complexity of today?s business world is too great to plan long-term ? yet that it is still imperative that you make a plan? again, I find myself in very close agreement.

Here are a few things that I?ve learned in more than a decade of thinking about and teaching strategic thinking/strategic planning and conducting hundreds of strategic planning retreats?

?

Effective strategy = valued differentiation x disciplined execution

?

Please reread the equation I just presented, it is deceptively simple and extremely powerful.

?

One of the main talents of a great strategic leader is figuring out what NOT to do.

?

Again, please reread the idea I just presented, it is deceptively simple and extremely powerful.

?

Max said in his book, but I will reiterate it here, it is impossible to create great strategy without being a great strategic thinker ? unfortunately the vast majority of managers/leaders that I work with do not invest an adequate amount of time in building their business acumen and exposing themselves to great/unique/different/new ideas ? which is exactly what they must do if they endeavor to become a strong strategic thinker. The first step of being a superior strategic thinker is being a lifelong student of business, strategy, marketing, positioning, branding? all the elements that create differentiation.

This is exceedingly simplistic, but I basically see the entire process of creating an effective strategic plan as six core steps:

1. Investing time and real effort in ?strategic learning.?
2. Combining strategic learning with your actual industry and organizational experience.
3. Looking for patterns/anomalies/trends that would point to a potential strategic competitive advantage.
4. Creating a dynamic strategic plan that offers true valued differentiation to your target customers.
5. Creating a very specific, measurable and binary strategic execution plan that ensures your great ideas will turn into effectively executed actions that can be tracked, measured, coached, improved and amended as changes occur in the marketplace/competition.
6. Review and evaluate the effectiveness of the plan often ? return to step one and start the process again.

As I look over this list a few things come to mind:

1. Far too few leaders spend enough time in strategic learning.
2. Far too few leaders spend enough time looking for patterns.
3. Unless you work in a highly stable industry ? most strategic plans today only look out about 18 to 24 months.
4. Most organizations do not revisit their plan often enough to keep it fresh, agile and adaptable.
5. Far too few organizations invest an equal amount of time in strategic planning ? and strategic execution planning. The best ideas in the world are useless if they are not effectively executed, therefore the leaders of the organization should invest a significant amount of time in ensuring that their spectacular strategic plan will be efficiently and effectively executed with high levels of both personal and mutual accountability across the entire organization.
6. Far too few organizations take the time to do an ?after action review? of the strategy from the last year ? whether it was successful or unsuccessful ? so they never truly learn from their failures or successes.
7. Far too many organizations, as was mentioned?in the blog post above, are basically run on a budget that is called a strategic plan ? managed by numbers and financial goals ? not by a true strategy that would allow them to create a defendable advantage through ?offering something unique, differentiated and highly valuable to the marketplace.

Well, I think that?s enough for right now, my main goal in this memo was simply to get you thinking about strategy, strategic thinking, strategic planning and strategic execution.

I very much welcome your questions, comments, thoughts and suggestions ? there?s still much to be learned about the art of strategy.

Take good care, and as always if you need anything please do not hesitate to send or a call, I?m here to assist in any way I can ? John

John Spence?has twice been named by Trust Across America as one of the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders in America and has been recognized?by that organization as one of the top 100 Thought Leaders in the world in the area of ?Trustworthy Business Behavior.? Other recipients of this award include: Sir Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group, Howard Schultz ? CEO of Starbucks, Tony Hsieh?- CEO of Zappos, acclaimed business consultant Ram Charan, internationally renowned author Thomas L. Friedman, and business authors Patrick Lencioni, Tom Peters, Rosabeth?M. Kanter and Jim Kouzes. In 2011 John was also selected as a leading small business influencer?in America along with Malcolm Gladwell, Seth Godin and Apple.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 at 11:02 am and is filed under John's Rants, Leadership, Strategy.

Source: http://blog.johnspence.com/2013/02/thoughts-strategic-palnning/

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Green Blog: Steep Challenges for a Chinese Eco-City

TIANJIN, China ? Fifty years ago, during a time of food shortages, China?s young socialist government singled out a few farm villages as role models for the nation, saying that their high crop yields made them examples that other communities could learn from.

Today, facing challenges like runaway urbanization, soaring energy consumption and environmental degradation, China ?is hoping to establish a different set of paragons. With its cities expected to swell by another 350 million residents in the next 25 years, ?according to World Bank estimates, the government is scurrying to find sustainable urban solutions. ?To that end, it hopes to have 100 model cities, 200 model counties, 1,000 model districts and 10,000 model towns by 2015.

But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Dongtan, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems like official corruption and goals that proved overly ambitious.

Conversely, an eco-city in Tianjin created in concert with the government of Singapore is the latest, biggest and most successful of the projects to date. The Chinese government hopes that it will emerge as an economic powerhouse along the lines of regional agglomerations of cities in the Yangtze River and Pearl River Delta regions.

A little more than five years ago, this area on Tianjin?s outskirts was a blend of nonarable saline and alkaline land that was virtually uninhabitable. But today, in contrast to water in much of the rest of China, the tap water here is drinkable. More than 400 residents have already moved into the pilot district, which is nearing completion. Around 5,000 apartments have been sold. The city plans eventually to house some 350,000 residents.

This eco-city also stands out because of the attention afforded to it by the Chinese central government. China?s deputy prime minister, Wang Qishan, is a co-chairman of its steering committee.

Tianjin has some of China?s strictest building energy-efficiency standards, and the eco-city is trying to go beyond this by offering developers certification based on more advanced green building standards, said Axel Baeumler, the lead author of a 2012 World Bank report on Chinese eco-cities and a 2011 book about Tianjin.

Perfecting technologies like these could prove useful and cost- effective for retrofitting projects in other Chinese cities, he suggested.

?This is as serious as an experiment currently gets in China and the most advanced of China?s eco-cities, Mr. Baeumler said. ?I think they have a fair chance of getting it as right as one can get it right.?

?The key is that they take stock now, after phase one, and see what works, what isn?t working, and extract lessons learned,? he said.

Looming wind turbines can be spotted as you drive into the city along an avenue lined with solar photovoltaic street lights, but Dalson Chong, a government official said the wind power is apparently not yet connected to the grid. According to a 2009 World Bank report, the city?s heat and power supply will come mainly from outside the city, and renewable energy resources in the area are relatively scarce.

Questions are also being raised about other eco-friendly aspects of the city. Government officials assert that by 2020, 90 percent of travel within the city will be made on foot, by bicycle or via public transportation. Tian Xian, a new resident of the eco-city, said that she walked to work and to stores and traveled by bus when she left the areas.

Each apartment also comes with an underground parking space, however, and government officials said that charging stations and subsidies for electric cars are planned. ?The question is,?If I drive an electric car, how do I charge it?? ? said Yang Fuqiang, a senior adviser on climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Beijing. ?It has to be convenient,? he said. ?If, in the beginning, they get the details wrong, it is hard to make changes later.?

Wide tarmac roads designed for cars dwarf the narrow bike lanes and sidewalks running alongside them here. And while many of the city?s tall slimmer buildings are clustered together to increase walkability, these giant blocks are about four times the size of a typical block in Manhattan and make pedestrian and bike journeys cumbersome, said Arish Dastur, an urban specialist at the World Bank.

It is this lack of a human scale in the basic urban plan, which will be nearly impossible to change once the city is fully built, that has drawn the most criticism.

Critics also say that little is being done to educate residents about energy efficiency and recycling. Although neighborhood centers intended to teach people about sustainable practices will be scattered across the eco-city, each would serve an average of about 20,000 residents. The eco-city has a more complicated recycling system than the rest of the country, with residents being asked to separate their discards into five categories.

Some experts suggest that generous government investment, a strong partnership with Singapore and the city?s location on the bustling coast make what successes Tianjin has achieved hard to replicate.

But Mr. Baeumler is more optimistic about the prospects for other eco-cities and about Tianjin itself. ?It?s very easy to say, ?Look at Tianjin, it won?t work,? and a lot of people do,? he said. ?But the other way of looking at it is, China is moving 350 million people to cities over the next 20 years, so you have to think differently.?

?This is one model,? he said. ?There are others out there. Let?s look at them, take stock, and take it from there.?

Michael Lu, a resident who moved into his new apartment in November, seems to agree.

Outside the lone supermarket in the eco-city, he scanned an eerily quiet cityscape dotted with cranes. ?Of course I?m not satisfied with the current state of the eco-city,? Mr. Lu said. ?But I?m hoping that in three or four years, it?ll be very different.?

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/steep-challenges-for-a-chinese-eco-city/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Devlin Announces London Headline Show At Koko On The 30th April 2013

To celebrate the release of his new album 'A Moving Picture', Devlin has announced a headline show in London this Spring.

The rapper will play Koko on the 30th April, with tickets on sale at 9am on Friday 15th February.

Following the Top 10 success of recent single 'Rewind', Devlin released his second album 'A Moving Picture' last week. The London rapper established himself as one of the leading lights of the UK grime scene with his 2010 debut album 'Bud, Sweat and Beers' and has confirmed his critical standing with the follow-up and his status as one of the genre's few authentic voices.

'A Moving Picture' includes collaborations with Katy B, Ed Sheeran, Wretch 32, Etta Bond and Chasing Grace.

Devlin Live:
30th April - London, Koko

MORE INFORMATION:

http://officialdevlin.com

Source: http://www.contactmusic.com/press/devlin-announces-london-headline-show-at-koko-on-the-30th-april-2013

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Self Help Anger Management Incredible Android apps Self Help ...

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Source: http://hundasdavis.blogspot.com/2013/02/self-help-anger-management-incredible.html

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How Obama is wielding power in 2nd term

WASHINGTON (AP) ? This is what "Forward" looks like. Fast forward, even.

President Barack Obama's campaign slogan is springing to life in a surge of executive directives and agency rule-making that touch many of the affairs of government. They are shaping the cost and quality of health plans, the contents of the school cafeteria, the front lines of future combat, the price of coal. They are the leading edge of Obama's ambition to take on climate change in ways that may be unachievable in legislation.

Altogether, it's a kinetic switch from what could have been the watchword of the Obama administration in the closing, politically hypersensitive months of his first term: pause.

Whatever the merits of any particular commandment from the president or his agencies, the perception of a government expanding its reach and hitting business with job-killing mandates was sure to set off fireworks before November.

Since Obama's re-election, regulations giving force and detail to his health care law have gushed out by the hundreds of pages. To some extent this was inevitable: The law is far-reaching and its most consequential deadlines are fast approaching.

The rules are much more than fine print, however, and they would have thickened the storm over the health care overhaul if placed on the radar in last year's presidential campaign. That, after all, was the season when some Republicans put the over-the-top label "death panel" on a board that could force cuts to service providers if Medicare spending ballooned.

The new health law rules provide leeway for insurers to charge smokers thousands of dollars more for coverage. They impose a $63 per-head fee on insurance plans ? a charge that probably will be passed on to policyholders ? to cushion the cost of covering people with medical problems. There's a new fee for insurance companies for participating in markets that start signing customers in the fall.

In short, sticker shock.

It's clear from the varied inventory of previously bottled-up directives that Obama cares about more than "Obamacare."

"I'm hearing we're going to see a lot of things moving now," Hilda Solis told employees in her last day as labor secretary. At the Labor Department, this could include regulations requiring that the nation's 1.8 million in-home care workers receive minimum-wage and overtime pay.

Tougher limits on soot from smokestacks, diesel trucks and other sources were announced just over a month after the Nov. 6 election. These were foreseen: The administration had tried to stall until the campaign ended but released the proposed rules in June when a judge ordered more haste.

Regulations give teeth and specificity to laws are essential to their functioning even as they create bureaucratic bloat. Congress-skirting executive orders and similar presidential directives are less numerous and generally have less reach than laws. But every president uses them and often tests how far they can go, especially in times of war and other crises.

President Harry Truman signed an executive order in 1952 directing the Commerce Department to take over the steel industry to ensure U.S. troops fighting in Korea were kept supplied with weapons and ammunition. The Supreme Court struck it down.

Other significant actions have stood.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an order in February 1942 to relocate more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast to internment camps after Japan's attack on the Pearl Harbor naval base. Decades later, Congress passed legislation apologizing and providing $20,000 to each person who was interned.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George W. Bush approved a series of executive orders that created an office of homeland security, froze the assets in U.S. banks linked to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, and authorized the military services to call reserve forces to active duty for as long as two years.

Bush's most contentious move came in the form of a military order approving the use of the military tribunals to put accused terrorists on trial faster and in greater secrecy than a regular criminal court.

Obama also has wielded considerable power in secret, upsetting the more liberal wing of his own party. He has carried forward Bush's key anti-terrorism policies and expanded the use of unmanned drone strikes against terrorist targets in Pakistan and Yemen.

When a promised immigration overhaul failed in legislation, Obama went part way there simply by ordering that immigrants brought illegally to the United States as children be exempted from deportation and granted work permits if they apply. So, too, the ban on gays serving openly in the military was repealed before the election, followed now by the order lifting the ban on women serving in combat.

Those measures did not prove especially contentious. Indeed, the step on immigration is thought to have helped Obama in the election. It may be a different story as the administration moves more forcefully across a range of policy fronts that sat quiet in much of his first term.

William Howell, a political science professor at the University of Chicago and the author of "Power Without Persuasion: The Politics of Direct Presidential Action," isn't surprised to see commandments coming at a rapid clip.

"In an era of polarized parties and a fragmented Congress, the opportunities to legislate are few and far between," Howell said. "So presidents have powerful incentive to go it alone. And they do."

And the political opposition howls.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., a possible contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, said that on the gun-control front in particular, Obama is "abusing his power by imposing his policies via executive fiat instead of allowing them to be debated in Congress."

The Republican reaction is to be expected, said John Woolley, co-director of the American Presidency Project at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

"For years there has been a growing concern about unchecked executive power," Woolley said. "It tends to have a partisan content, with contemporary complaints coming from the incumbent president's opponents."

The power isn't limitless, as was demonstrated when Obama issued one of his first executive orders, calling for closing the military prison at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba and trying suspected terrorists housed there in federal courts instead of by special military tribunals. Congress stepped in to prohibit moving any Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S., effectively blocking Obama's plan to shutter the jail.

Among recent actions:

?Obama issued presidential memoranda on guns in tandem with his legislative effort to expand background checks and ban assault-type weapons and large capacity magazines. The steps include renewing federal gun research despite a law that has been interpreted as barring such research since 1996. Gun control was off the table in the campaign, as it had been for a decade, but the shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in December changed that overnight.

?The Labor Department approved new rules in January that could help save lives at dangerous mines with a pattern of safety violations. The rules were proposed shortly after an explosion killed 29 men at West Virginia's Upper Big Branch mine in 2010, deadliest mining accident in 40 years. The rules had been in limbo ever since because of objections from mine operators.

?The government proposed fat, calorie, sugar and sodium limits in almost all food sold in schools, extending federal nutritional controls beyond subsidized lunches to include food sold in school vending machines and a la carte cafeteria lines. The new proposals flow from a 2010 law and are among several sidelined during the campaign.

The law provoked an outcry from conservatives who said the government was empowering itself to squash school bake sales and should not be telling kids what to eat. Updated regulations last year on subsidized school lunches produced a backlash, too, altogether making the government shy of further food regulation until the election passed. The new rules leave school fundraisers clear of federal regulation, alleviating fears of cupcake-crushing edicts at bake sales and the like.

?The Justice Department released an opinion that people with food allergies can be considered to have the rights of disabled people. The finding exposes schools, restaurants and other food-service places to more legal risk if they don't accommodate patrons with food allergies.

?The White House said Obama intends to move forward on rules controlling carbon emissions from power plants as a central part of the effort to restrain climate change, which the president rarely talked about after global-warming legislation failed in his first term. With a major climate bill unlikely to get though a divided Congress, Obama is expected to rely on his executive authority to achieve whatever progress he makes on climate change.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to complete the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from new coal-fired power plants. The agency also probably will press ahead on rules for existing power plants, despite protests from industry and Republicans that such rules would raise electricity prices and kill off coal, the dominant U.S. energy source. Older coal-fired power plants have been shutting across the country because of low natural gas prices and weaker demand for electricity.

?In December, the government proposed long-delayed rules requiring automakers to install event data recorders, or "black boxes," in all new cars and light trucks beginning Sept. 1, 2014. Most new cars are already getting them.

?The EPA proposed rules to update water quality guidelines for beaches and control runoff from logging roads.

As well, a new ozone rule probably will be completed this year, which would mean finally moving forward on a smog-control standard sidelined in 2011.

A regulation directing federal contractors to hire more disabled workers is somewhere in the offing at the Labor Department, as are ones to protect workers from lung-damaging silica and reduce the risk of deadly factory explosions from dust produced in the making of chemicals, plastics and metals.

Rules also are overdue on genetically modified salmon, catfish inspection, the definition of gluten-free in labeling and food import inspection. In one of the most closely watched cases, Obama could decide early this year whether to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Daly, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Mary Clare Jalonick and Sam Hananel contributed to this report.

.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-wielding-executive-power-2nd-term-125939108--politics.html

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National Briefing | Education: Carnegie Mellon Chooses a New President

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Subra Suresh, the director of the National Science Foundation, has been chosen as the next president of Carnegie Mellon University and will assume the post on July 1.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/education/carnegie-mellon-chooses-a-new-president.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Peterson double winner of AP NFL awards

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Adrian Peterson called it a blessing in disguise.

Strange way to describe career-threatening major knee surgery.

The Minnesota Vikings' star came back better than ever, just missing Eric Dickerson's longstanding rushing record and closing out the season with two of the top NFL awards from The Associated Press: Most Valuable Player and Offensive Player of the Year.

As sort of an added bonus, he beat Peyton Manning for both of them Saturday night.

"My career could have easily been over, just like that," the sensational running back said. "Oh man. The things I've been through throughout my lifetime has made me mentally tough.

" I'm kind of speechless. This is amazing, " he said in accepting his awards, along with five others at the "2nd Annual NFL Honors" show on CBS saluting the NFL's best players, performances and plays from the 2012 season. The awards are based on balloting from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL.

Manning's own sensational recovery, from four neck surgeries, earned him Comeback Player honors.

"This injury was unlike any other," said the only four-time league MVP. "There really was no bar or standard, there were no notes to copy. We were coming up with a rehab plan as we went."

Before sitting out 2011, Manning had never missed a start in his first 13 seasons with Indianapolis. But he was released by the Colts last winter because of his neck issues, signed with Denver and guided the Broncos to the AFC's best record, 13-3.

"Certainly you have double variables of coming off injury, not playing for over year and joining a new team. That certainly added a lot to my plate, so it was hard to really know what to expect," Manning said. "I can't tell you how grateful and thankful I am. I can't tell you how happy I am to be playing the game of football we all love so much."

Also honored were:

?Washington's Robert Griffin III, who beat out a strong crop of quarterbacks for the top offensive rookie award.

? Houston end J.J. Watt, who took Defensive Player of the Year, getting 49 of 50 votes.

? Bruce Arians, the first interim coach to win Coach of the Year after leading Indianapolis to a 9-3 record while head man Chuck Pagano was being treated for leukemia. Arians became Arizona's head coach last month.

?Carolina linebacker Luke Kuechly, the league's leader in tackles with 164, who won the top defensive rookie award.

Peterson returned better than ever from the left knee surgery, rushing for 2,097 yards, 9 short of breaking Dickerson's record. He also sparked the Vikings' turnaround from 3-13 to 10-6 and a wild-card playoff berth.

He received 30 1-2 votes to 19 1-2 for Manning.

"I played my heart out, every opportunity I had," Peterson said. "The result of that is not what I wanted, which is being in the Super Bowl game. But I have a couple of good pieces of hardware to bring back and (put) in my statue area. So it feels good."

Was the knee injury the toughest thing he'd ever overcome?

"Losing my brother at 7, seeing him get hit by a car right in front of me, that was the toughest," he said. "But as far as injuries, yes."

New England QB Tom Brady was the last winner of MVP and Offensive Player in 2010.

"Trying to get two or three like Peyton, trying to get to your level," Peterson said of his first MVP award. "But I won't be there to accept it because I'll be winning with my coach, the most important award, the team award, the Super Bowl."

Dickerson predicted Peterson could get back to 2,000 yards.

"I hope he does have a chance to do it again," Dickerson said, adding with a laugh, "but do I want him to break it? No, I do not."

Wearing a burgundy and gold tie in honor of his Redskins, Griffin said his goal is to be ready for the season opener.

"It's truly a blessing to be up there ? to be able to stand, first and foremost," said Griffin, who underwent knee surgery last month. He added that next season "you'll see a better Robert Griffin."

Arians moved up from offensive coordinator and helped Indianapolis make the playoffs at 10-6, making him an easy winner in the balloting.

"It's hard to put into words the feelings of this past year," he said. "This was kind of the cherry on the top, whipped cream and everything else you put on top."

Watt swatted the competition as Denver's Von Miller got the only other vote in the most lopsided balloting of all the awards.

"It sets the bar for me," Watt said. He led the NFL with 20 1-2 sacks and also blocked an astounding 16 passes. "I want to go out and do even better. I want to do even bigger things."

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/peterson-double-winner-ap-nfl-awards-030138387--nfl.html

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Effect Social Media Buying Behavior | Social Media Marketing ...

As a business on social media, a certain responsibility comes with interacting with your customers via those channels. You can only engage with customers when they want you to or when they are expecting a response from you. The point behind social media is not just to acquire customers. If that is your only goal then you are not utilizing social media to the best of its ability.

Social media is also a study of social behavior and the study of why customers buy what they do. Your marketers are able to use social media to create lots of messages about your products and services. However, it can only go so far as a business to customer standpoint. Your marketers can?t insert themselves on the customer-to-customer or peer-to-peer level where a lot of buying decisions get made.

Your company has the power to listen in on these social media channels though, as many keyword monitoring and data analysis tools have been created to help you. This can be a double-edged sword as you will be able to see every conversation in which a product of yours is being sold. The question for you and your company is do you respond to other users conversations?

This mostly depends on the size of your business. A small business could get away with it, but a medium or large business would be almost impossible to keep up with the amount of conversations about their products. Keep in mind that only a small percentage of customers want your company to enter into their conversation as well.

This is for general conversations about your product and whether or not people are going to buy it. When customers are complaining about your product or needing support with something, absolutely make sure to have a trained customer service representative respond to those users as soon as possible. This kind of response from a company will help boost customer satisfaction.

When customers are close to making a purchase they are more likely to listen to friends, family, the people they work with, the reviews of products on websites or any other number of sources. Due to this fact, social media needs to be seen as a more potential place to do product research. How are your products being received by your customers and have they brought up any concerns that can be fixed with a future product?

Remember that social media is more than a place to get customers. Once you have customers, you have to listen to their concerns and understand how they use your product. This is what will make you a successful company on social media.

Source: http://www.searchprosystems.com/the-effect-of-social-media-on-buying-behavior

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