Formula 1 fans, the media and Ferrari themselves have pored over YouTube clips from the Brazilian Grand Prix that appeared to show Sebastian Vettel overtaking Jean-Eric Verge before the end of a yellow flag zone on lap four.
Yet although this short video was enough to prompt Ferrari to ask for clarification about the matter, detailed analysis of the incident by high level sources shows that the Red Bull driver was entirely within the regulations - and that there are no grounds for further investigation.
An FIA spokesman confirmed to AUTOSPORT that during the race itself there had been no report from a marshal about any overtaking under yellow flags, as would most likely have happened if a breach of the regulations had taken place.
Furthermore, an in-depth look of the warning lights and marshal's post set-up at the Interlagos circuit showed that Vettel's pass took place after he had passed a green flag.
Although the 'yellow' sector itself starts at a light panel just before Turn 3, and ends about 150m before Turn 4, the light panels are a supplement to the traditional flags and are rarely in the same location.
With the use of lights, due to increased visibility, the track can be divided up into fewer sectors as line-of-sight is not always needed between them. At Interlagos, there were 22 marshals' posts while the FIA installed 16 light panels, which means there was overlap in places. The warning lights are also linked to the display in the cockpit.
According to high level FIA sources, the light panel that was showing yellow for Pastor Maldonado's stricken Williams was shown 100 metres before the next marshal post, which was located near the exit of the pitlane.
At this marshal's post a green flag was being waved on lap four - at the same time as the light signal at Turn Four was displaying green.
The separation of these two posts was about 350 metres and FIA race director Charlie Whiting has made it clear to drivers since lights were introduced more than five years ago that when there are consecutive signals from both a flag and a light, it is the first one that counts.
So if, for example, a yellow flag is displayed followed later by a yellow light, then the no overtaking area begins at the first yellow signal which would be the flag.
So, as happened in the Vettel case, if a driver is given a green warning flag followed by a green warning light, it is the first green that counts.
Vettel's pass took place after the first green flag but before the green light, so was wholly legitimate.
This was why race control was not informed of any potential infringement and the matter was never subject to a post-race inquiry by the stewards.
Holiday gift ideas for food and drink lovers. Now, I know that covers everyone because we all eat and drink but some of us care more about what we eat than others.
We are the connoisseurs, or gluttons if you will, or perhaps the wine or beer aficionado who talks incessantly about the new breweries or local wine. Hey, that's me! Anyway, I've come up with a list of ideas for the foodie (I was trying to avoid that word) in your life.
First, I think everyone should be giving gift certificates to restaurants, breweries and wineries with a note attached saying, "We're going together because part of this gift is that we are spending time together and enjoying great food and drink." So, we really could end all this holiday gift quandary right now.
However, if you want something a little bit different, get someone on your list a cooking class at Stages at One Washington in Dover. Chef Evan Hennessey's concept restaurant in the mills there has two or three themed dinners each month and the chef has thrown something new into the mix ? you can take a cooking class that cooks the dishes for a given dinner. Alice in Wonderland? Indulgence? Sounds like a ton of fun. The kitchen is spectacular, I really want to get my hands on some of that equipment and the food will be delicious. www.stages-dining.com
While we're on classes, take a brewing class. At A&G Homebrew Supply in Portsmouth and The Homebrew Barn in Hampton, you can get someone the gift of learning how to brew beer and wine or even cider, vinegar or make cheese. That's something you can do together, too! www.aghomebrewsupply.com and www.thehomebrewbarn.com.
In October I did something that was a heck of a lot of fun. Over at the Lindt Chocolate Outlet in Kittery they have Create Your Own Chocolate Bar set up where you get a tray with melted chocolate, which is just like a Lindt bar (so much so that it actually is a Lindt chocolate bar), and then you go over to the bar where you can festoon it with all sorts of treats like gummy sharks, hot cinnamon hearts, coconut, nuts ? oh about 30 or so fun "toppings" in all colors. Then, the expert there will put it into a machine to harden it, wrap it up and label it and voila! You have a personalized, creative, and delicious gift for someone. This is one of those things your kids can make and give to Grandma and Grandpa (which was always the difficult part at the holidays for me). It's just $10. Now, while I was there, I discovered all sorts of new things about Lindt, including chocolate bars I'd never seen before (the outlet has a vast selection including many made in other countries). They also introduced me to the technique of putting one of those Lindt truffle balls into my coffee. I had a big "hey why didn't I think of that" moment. They have their fun gold foil-covered bears and colorful foil Santas as well as many other chocolate figures this year too. www.lindtusa.com.
I'm also recommending, as did Oprah, the Corkcicle, which you put in the freezer, then your white wine and your wine stays nice and chilled. www.corkcicle.com.
The SodaStream is on my gift list too (you can carbonate vodka!) because you can make your own soda out of an infinite list of flavor possiblities (bacon!). www.sodastreamusa.com.
I'm thinking about getting a juicer too after seeing "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," and there are many to choose from at all price points. I love kale and carrot juice, I really do!
There are many great food-related books on the top of my list this year, including "Pastries," by Alison Pray who owns Standard Baking Co. in Portland (co-writer Tara Smith) Down East Books. The book is wonderfully designed and the recipes are easy and tasty.
Timothy Ferriss just came out with "The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life" (Kindle Edition and in hardback from Amazon Books) His whole premise is that you can become a world-class chef in six months or less and he takes us from Manhattan to Okinawa, and from Silicon Valley to Calcutta, unearthing the secrets of the world's fastest learners and greatest chefs.
Ferriss uses cooking to explain "meta-learning," a step-by-step process that can be used to master anything, whether searing steak or shooting 3-pointers in basketball. That is the real "recipe" of "The 4-Hour Chef." You'll train inside the kitchen for everything outside the kitchen. Featuring tips and tricks from chess prodigies, world-renowned chefs, pro athletes, master sommeliers, super models, and everyone in between, this "cookbook for people who don't buy cookbooks" is a guide to mastering cooking and life." I'm pretty intrigued by this. He brings you through meta-learning, then the building blocks of cooking, foraging and more before sending you on your way to lifelong mastery of everything.
Wine lovers will like "The Juice," by Jay McInerney. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). It's a collection of his columns from the Wall Street Journal and you learn about wine through entertaining and well-written stories from his life. He's quite an expert. He'll also be at The Music Hall Loft tonight (Nov. 29) if you can get there.
There is always a great new cookbook from Phaidon press to get, and this year it's "The Lebanese Kitchen," the definitive book on Lebanese home cooking, featuring 500 authentic and delicious recipes that are simple to create at home. Salma Hage is a Lebanese housewife from Mazarat Tiffah, with more than 50 years of experience as a family cook and the recipes are simple and elegant at the same time.
If you know any restaurateurs or anyone who works in a restaurant, get them "The Art of the Restaurateur," which reveals the hidden stories behind some of the world's best restaurants, and celebrate the complex but unrecognized art of the restaurateur. It's by Nicholas Lander who owned L'Escargot in London in the 1980s and is now a renowned food columnist for the Financial Times. It covers everything you ever wanted to know about the highs and lows of the restaurant business, presenting the untold stories of the world's best restaurateurs, from luxurious Michelin-starred restaurants, to bustling neighbourhood bistros, to stylish fast-food cafes.
I also like "Jerusalem" (Ten Speed Press, 2012). This is a collection of 120 recipes exploring the flavors of Jerusalem from the New York Times bestselling author of "Plenty," Yotam Ottolenghi along with Sami Tamimi. You'll explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city ? with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities.
Also great is "Burma: Rivers of Flavor" by Naomi Duguid (Artisan, 2012). She tells terrific stories interspersed with 125 recipes and teaches you about the culture through food.
That's all for now! As I find more, I'll post them on my Facebook and Twitter pages so follow Rachel Forrest on both.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Exeter. Her column appears Thursdays in Go&Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Buy "Maine Classics: More Than 150 Delicious Recipes from Downeast," written by Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier with Rachel Forrest at www.rachelforrest.com. She can be reached by e-mail at rachel.forrest@dowjones.com.
We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or fill out this form. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication.Food and drink lovers: Rachel Forrest's 2012 gift guide | SeacoastOnline.com
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If your gift recipients like Lindt chocolate, they'll love making their own giant bar.Andrew Moore courtesy photo
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Holiday gift ideas for food and drink lovers. Now, I know that covers everyone because we all eat and drink but some of us care more about what we eat than others.
We are the connoisseurs, or gluttons if you will, or perhaps the wine or beer aficionado who talks incessantly about the new breweries or local wine. Hey, that's me! Anyway, I've come up with a list of ideas for the foodie (I was trying to avoid that word) in your life.
First, I think everyone should be giving gift certificates to restaurants, breweries and wineries with a note attached saying, "We're going together because part of this gift is that we are spending time together and enjoying great food and drink." So, we really could end all this holiday gift quandary right now.
However, if you want something a little bit different, get someone on your list a cooking class at Stages at One Washington in Dover. Chef Evan Hennessey's concept restaurant in the mills there has two or three themed dinners each month and the chef has thrown something new into the mix ? you can take a cooking class that cooks the dishes for a given dinner. Alice in Wonderland? Indulgence? Sounds like a ton of fun. The kitchen is spectacular, I really want to get my hands on some of that equipment and the food will be delicious. www.stages-dining.com
While we're on classes, take a brewing class. At A&G Homebrew Supply in Portsmouth and The Homebrew Barn in Hampton, you can get someone the gift of learning how to brew beer and wine or even cider, vinegar or make cheese. That's something you can do together, too! www.aghomebrewsupply.com and www.thehomebrewbarn.com.
In October I did something that was a heck of a lot of fun. Over at the Lindt Chocolate Outlet in Kittery they have Create Your Own Chocolate Bar set up where you get a tray with melted chocolate, which is just like a Lindt bar (so much so that it actually is a Lindt chocolate bar), and then you go over to the bar where you can festoon it with all sorts of treats like gummy sharks, hot cinnamon hearts, coconut, nuts ? oh about 30 or so fun "toppings" in all colors. Then, the expert there will put it into a machine to harden it, wrap it up and label it and voila! You have a personalized, creative, and delicious gift for someone. This is one of those things your kids can make and give to Grandma and Grandpa (which was always the difficult part at the holidays for me). It's just $10. Now, while I was there, I discovered all sorts of new things about Lindt, including chocolate bars I'd never seen before (the outlet has a vast selection including many made in other countries). They also introduced me to the technique of putting one of those Lindt truffle balls into my coffee. I had a big "hey why didn't I think of that" moment. They have their fun gold foil-covered bears and colorful foil Santas as well as many other chocolate figures this year too. www.lindtusa.com.
I'm also recommending, as did Oprah, the Corkcicle, which you put in the freezer, then your white wine and your wine stays nice and chilled. www.corkcicle.com.
The SodaStream is on my gift list too (you can carbonate vodka!) because you can make your own soda out of an infinite list of flavor possiblities (bacon!). www.sodastreamusa.com.
I'm thinking about getting a juicer too after seeing "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead," and there are many to choose from at all price points. I love kale and carrot juice, I really do!
There are many great food-related books on the top of my list this year, including "Pastries," by Alison Pray who owns Standard Baking Co. in Portland (co-writer Tara Smith) Down East Books. The book is wonderfully designed and the recipes are easy and tasty.
Timothy Ferriss just came out with "The 4-Hour Chef: The Simple Path to Cooking Like a Pro, Learning Anything, and Living the Good Life" (Kindle Edition and in hardback from Amazon Books) His whole premise is that you can become a world-class chef in six months or less and he takes us from Manhattan to Okinawa, and from Silicon Valley to Calcutta, unearthing the secrets of the world's fastest learners and greatest chefs.
Ferriss uses cooking to explain "meta-learning," a step-by-step process that can be used to master anything, whether searing steak or shooting 3-pointers in basketball. That is the real "recipe" of "The 4-Hour Chef." You'll train inside the kitchen for everything outside the kitchen. Featuring tips and tricks from chess prodigies, world-renowned chefs, pro athletes, master sommeliers, super models, and everyone in between, this "cookbook for people who don't buy cookbooks" is a guide to mastering cooking and life." I'm pretty intrigued by this. He brings you through meta-learning, then the building blocks of cooking, foraging and more before sending you on your way to lifelong mastery of everything.
Wine lovers will like "The Juice," by Jay McInerney. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). It's a collection of his columns from the Wall Street Journal and you learn about wine through entertaining and well-written stories from his life. He's quite an expert. He'll also be at The Music Hall Loft tonight (Nov. 29) if you can get there.
There is always a great new cookbook from Phaidon press to get, and this year it's "The Lebanese Kitchen," the definitive book on Lebanese home cooking, featuring 500 authentic and delicious recipes that are simple to create at home. Salma Hage is a Lebanese housewife from Mazarat Tiffah, with more than 50 years of experience as a family cook and the recipes are simple and elegant at the same time.
If you know any restaurateurs or anyone who works in a restaurant, get them "The Art of the Restaurateur," which reveals the hidden stories behind some of the world's best restaurants, and celebrate the complex but unrecognized art of the restaurateur. It's by Nicholas Lander who owned L'Escargot in London in the 1980s and is now a renowned food columnist for the Financial Times. It covers everything you ever wanted to know about the highs and lows of the restaurant business, presenting the untold stories of the world's best restaurateurs, from luxurious Michelin-starred restaurants, to bustling neighbourhood bistros, to stylish fast-food cafes.
I also like "Jerusalem" (Ten Speed Press, 2012). This is a collection of 120 recipes exploring the flavors of Jerusalem from the New York Times bestselling author of "Plenty," Yotam Ottolenghi along with Sami Tamimi. You'll explore the vibrant cuisine of their home city ? with its diverse Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities.
Also great is "Burma: Rivers of Flavor" by Naomi Duguid (Artisan, 2012). She tells terrific stories interspersed with 125 recipes and teaches you about the culture through food.
That's all for now! As I find more, I'll post them on my Facebook and Twitter pages so follow Rachel Forrest on both.
Rachel Forrest is a former restaurant owner who lives in Exeter. Her column appears Thursdays in Go&Do. Her restaurant review column, Dining Out, appears Thursdays in Spotlight magazine. Buy "Maine Classics: More Than 150 Delicious Recipes from Downeast," written by Chefs Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier with Rachel Forrest at www.rachelforrest.com. She can be reached by e-mail at rachel.forrest@dowjones.com.
We reserve the right to remove any content at any time from this Community, including without limitation if it violates the Community Rules. We ask that you report content that you in good faith believe violates the above rules by clicking the Flag link next to the offending comment or fill out this form. New comments are only accepted for two weeks from the date of publication.
Philipsburg:--- Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt announced on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that he is still working on balancing the final draft 2013 budget which has a deficit of 29 million guilders. Minister Tuitt said that he is hoping to finalize the 2013 draft budget by Friday this week which will he submit to the CFT and Council of Advice before sending it over to Parliament for approval. The Finance Minister said he is trying hard to have the budget dealt with in Parliament before the Christmas recess. One way the Minister of Finance is looking into to collect more revenues is to offer incentives to businesses that are not paying their share of taxes. Minister Tuitt said that his Ministry is focusing heavily on tax compliance and if the businesses respond accordingly then St. Maarten would be able to balance its budget without any hardships. Tuitt said because the government placed heavy focus on the compliance of taxes they already have six million guilders more than they had last year. The intention he said is to be able to cover 10 million in tax collection next year. The Finance Minister said government is busy putting certain tools in place to further increase the tax compliance. Tuitt also issued a stronger appeal to the businesses on St. Maarten to comply with his request and pay their dues. Tuitt said that his Ministry is willing to put incentives for businesses for the month of December 2012 for those businesses that show interest in paying their taxes. He said government is willing to waive the penalties that were placed on businesses who did not comply and pay their taxes over the past years. Another step the government is trying to take is to collect its dividends from the Central Bank and to privatize the granting of scholarships that are given to students annually. Tuitt said government gives out over Naf. 4 million annually on scholarships. The Finance Minister said the idea is to place the scholarships in a fund that would be tasked with collecting the monies past (old) students owes the government. He said over time this fund will become self-sufficient and government would no longer have to contribute to it or budget for it. Tuitt said there is one worrisome item in the budget and that is the debt ceiling that St. Maarten has. The Finance Minister made clear that this is one topic he intends to discuss with the Government of the Netherlands. Tuitt said when the calculations are done St. Maarten would be in a position to borrow as much as 620 million guilders. The Finance Minister also announced on Wednesday that the government of St. Maarten is considering levying more taxes on the sale of alcohol and tobacco. He said St. Maarten is not the only country heading in this direction because the State of France already implemented laws to add more taxes on the sale of alcohol and tobacco. The Minister of Finance also intends to meet with the various casinos on the island to inform them that government is also contemplating the implementation of Turn over Tax (TOT) on casinos. Those meetings the Minister of Finance said are scheduled to take place next week.
Linux wizard Michael Larabel has been marking his benches over at Phoronix and in the process he's proved that the Samsung Exynos 5 Dual processor -- currently found in some of our favorite tablets and budget notebooks -- is remarkably nifty with Ubuntu. The chip, which contains two Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.7GHz and a Mali-T604 GPU, was stacked up against the A9-based Tegra 3 from NVIDIA plus a few Intel Atoms to represent the x86 side of things. Although the various test rigs couldn't be totally spec-matched in terms of RAM and storage, the scores were focused on pure computational grunt and they gave Samsung's SoC a "surprising" lead. Check out the source link below and you'll see that the majority of the graphs look similar to the one above, with the two weaker Atoms and the aging Tegra 3 being left for dust and only the Core i3, with its much higher wattage, being able to keep that Exynos ego in check -- at least until the eight-core version gets here.
China and India should work together to build "new type of international relations", a Chinese expert said here Wednesday at a conference to look into the implication of the onceinadecade leadership change in Beijing.
"We are the two most populous countries and the two fastest growing economies...the rise of the two together will be (an) important phenomenon in global arena," said Huang Huaguang, director general, Research Office, International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC).
Huang, one of the delegates from China at the conference on 'Implications of the Change in Leadership in PRC: Internal and External Dimensions', organised by the Observer Research Foundation, said: "We want to have better relations with India."
China, one of the world's strongest economies, earlier this month witnessed a leadership change that put Xi Jinping on top of the Chinese political hierarchy and the next president after Hu Jintao. His party colleague Li Keqiang will step into the shoes of Premier Wen Jiabao.
Huang suggested that the two countries should have "better strategic communication and coordination" and people to people exchanges should take place.
He said that in various fora, "we should work together to build a new type of international relations".
Huang pointed out that "complex changes" are taking place in the global arena. "The world is not as stable as we want...there are many issues."
He referred to the global financial crisis and also noted that in certain regions "we see hegemony and intervention in other countries".
"Generally speaking, we are optimistic of the growing forces of peace and stability. At the same time, we must not overlook the challenges...We don't see it (challenges) resolving under the existing order."
China, he stressed, wants to resolve conflicts in a peaceful manner through dialogue.
Also addressing the conference was Li Junru, former vice president, Central Party School of the CPC, who said the rise of China would help build lasting peace.
He said the Chinese people dream of walking out of poverty and wanted a strong China. The Chinese people, he added, want "peaceful coexistence and not repeat the past of powerful countries invading other countries".
Li said the US was the world's largest economy and China the second strongest. "One day, we will surpass them and the US is worried about this."
Both China and the US should not "misjudge each other".
He said that America is also worried about China's military development. "Our military power is enough to defend our own territory and US need not worry," he said, stressing that Beijing was keen on long term stability.
Zhang Yansheng, secretary general, Academic Committee, National Development amp; Reform Commission, suggested inking of a free trade agreement between the two countries so as to allow market access.
He sought strengthening of the strategic economic dialogue.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two of President Barack Obama's chief negotiators will meet on Thursday with congressional leaders to gauge prospects for a deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff."
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House legislative chief Rob Nabors will meet separately House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California.
The sessions are seen as an important step in determining how the government will avoid a year-end package of tax increases and spending cuts that could throw the economy into recession.
Republican lawmakers and the White House are at odds, in particular, over Obama's push to let tax cuts expire for wealthier Americans.
Obama has chosen to delegate discussions with lawmakers to his team until the makings of a deal firm up enough for him to engage directly. He met with the four leaders on Nov. 16 and spoke with Boehner and McConnell by phone last week.
The Treasury Department announced Thursday's meetings, which will take place on Capitol Hill.
The Baseball Writers Association of America just released the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot. It, along with information about past voting totals and an overview of all of the candidates? careers, can be read at the BBWAA website. ?Here?s the list of players:
Sandy Alomar Jr. Jeff Bagwell Craig Biggio Barry Bonds Jeff Cirillo Royce Clayton Roger Clemens Jeff Conine Steve Finley Julio Franco Shawn Green Roberto Hernandez Ryan Klesko Kenny Lofton Edgar Martinez Don Mattingly Fred McGriff Mark McGwire Jose Mesa Jack Morris Dale Murphy Rafael Palmeiro Mike Piazza Tim Raines Reggie Sanders Curt Schilling Aaron Sele Lee Smith Sammy Sosa Mike Stanton Alan Trammell Larry Walker Todd Walker David Wells Rondell White Bernie Williams Woody Williams
The holdovers from last year?s ballot are Bagwell, Martinez, Mattingly, McGriff, McGwire, Morris, Murphy, Palmeiro, Raines, Smith, Trammell, Walker and Williams. ?All the rest are new.
We will be going over all of the candidates? cases in the coming days and weeks. ?But up first ? in a few short minutes ? will be a comprehensive treatment of the Bonds and Clemens candidacies. Which I?m sure you are all dying to read.
After 15 years of working for someone else Mikaal Abdulla finally got smart and started his own company. He is the co-founder and CEO of 8 Securities. This is part of an occasional series on marketing tips and strategies for startups.
If you are building a consumer internet business, you have probably spent 90 percent of your time on product development, building a team, chasing funding, and defending your decision not to get a ?real job? to your mother. If you are lucky, then you spent the other 10 percent getting some sleep. The one area of execution that I typically see Asian startups least equipped to tackle is advertising.
Probably best to ignore Bad Advice Kitty.
As I have written before, there is a dangerous and false notion that products sell themselves. They don?t. Your product will not go viral and anyone that bets the success of their startup on tweets is a fool (and will eventually have to admit to their mother that she was correct). Advertising is to be taken seriously and you need to provision for both investment and time to learn how to acquire and retain customers online. There is no question that startups in Asia have an engineering bias ? and that?s a good thing. But we are far behind our counterparts in Berlin, London, New York, and Silicon Valley when it comes to the quality of our UX (user experience) and marketing execution. Today I will focus on paid banner advertising, which is also known as display advertising. (I will cover search engine marketing, retargeting, email marketing, mobile advertising, social, public relations and UX in future posts on TechInAsia).
Online eyeballs
I spent over a decade spending an average of US$20 million a year in advertising for my previous employer (now current competitor). That marketing investment was almost entirely online and distributed into 15 different geographies across Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Having benefited from that responsibility at a young age I learned a thing or two about online consumer behavior, building a brand online, and of course the ins and outs of digital advertising on a global scale. I also learned that fucking up once in a while was normal, and success in achieving marketing ROI (return on investment) is done through the systematic process of spend, track, learn, adjust, and then scaling the investment when you see returns. Even today, I accept that 70 percent of my teams individual advertising campaigns will either fail or break-even, but it is our job to ensure that the 30 percent that work get the majority of the investment and can scale up fast. It?s not dissimilar to the portfolio theory of a venture capitalist. They know most of their investments will fail but their ability to rapidly identify and ramp up investment in the winners is the name of the game. Treat your marketing tactics and campaigns the same way. Without some level of risk there will be no reward.
When I launched my startup into the very traditional bricks and mortar consumer financial services industry in Hong Kong, I had a theory that it could be built and operate entirely online. I had faith that consumers had evolved faster than the businesses serving them. I saw a disconnect between consumers demands and the stale business models that faced them. This was simply the opportunity. 8 Securities is new company going head to head with huge competitors such as HSBC and Bank of China. If we want to win in the long-term, we have to acquire new customers at scale, add value to their lives and strive every day to make them happy. In 2012 we will have spent approximately US$500,000 in advertising and 100 percent of that is online. Here are some lessons learned and recommendations that that I hope are useful for you.
Tip #1: It all starts with your value proposition
As a consumer internet startup, your paramount objective is to solve a problem for your customers. In doing so, you need to crystallize what differentiates you and precisely how that benefits your customer. Only once you have done this can you begin to think about your message to the market.
Defining your value proposition is no easy task. After nine months in the market we are still refining ours as we are constantly learning from our customers and striving to meet their needs. What we thought might be a benefit often has no resonance with customers, and only by listening do you really understand their pain point and the solution. Your value proposition and your brand have a symbiotic relationship in that one can not live without the other. Your brand is your promise to the customer. Your brand equity is what is left after you subtract your brand?s value proposition with that of your competitors. Marketing can not be effective until you are very clear on how you will position your value proposition in the market and and ultimately in the mind of your customers.
Many of the ?marketing professionals? across Asia maintain a false belief that brands can not be built exclusively online. Furthermore, many media planners are still very traditional in their thinking and will advise you that ?offline? marketing is a necessity to build brand strength and trust (they also earn more from traditional media). Leave the ?offline? advertising to your competitors that are dinosaurs and focus your marketing efforts online where your customers eat, sleep, and breath. With the exception of any public relations you are able to generate in the press or TV, I would ignore the offline channel all together. Marketing in print advertising, outdoor, and on TV is a luxury and certainly not a necessity for a company born on the internet.
Tip #2: Banner advertising and the economics of lead acquisition
The first online banner in history belonged to US telecoms company AT&T. It was hosted on a website called Hotwired and got an astounding 78 percent click-thru rate. The average click-thru rate today is 0.07 percent ? and falling fast. Online banner advertising is tough but if you crack the code it will give you a tremendous competitive advantage and a much lower acquisition cost per account than more traditional competitors.
The main advantage of banner advertising is that you can scale it at a rate not always available through paid search. There are three main variables you must optimize when running online banner advertising. First, you need to negotiate a viable CPM (cost per 1,000 impressions) if you are not running a pay per click campaign. Theoretically, an ?impression? is defined as each page load where your ad is displayed in front of a real set of human eyeballs. That said, a vast majority of your purchased impressions will not be seen as we have trained ourselves to ignore advertising as we browse content. This is among one of the biggest factors why we have seen click-thru rates plummet.
Many online properties where you will want to advertise still operate on a CPM basis and that includes Yahoo. For the sake of this example, let?s assume you negotiate a CPM of $5 on a site that generates quality traffic that you would like to target. If you invest $5,000 then you are purchasing one million impressions for your ad.
Second, the quality of your advertisement is critical. The most common mistakes are banners that try to convey too much information, don?t have a clear call to action, or don?t visually stand out from the background. We usually find that we have to change our messages and creative two or three times before we get it right. In terms of media, your creative can span simple flash all the way to expandable video ads. We have run a number of video based campaigns on Yahoo and LinkedIn (one of the first in Asia to do so) and saw a CTR (click-thru rate) of over one percent. Most of the videos we ran would drive interaction from over 50,000 unique visitors, but that of course is all a function of our investment level.
The benefit with video is that it?s a more effective medium to grab attention, to tell a story, and build your brand identity, but it comes at a greater cost both in terms of production and the media buy. For the purpose of this example, lets assume we run a standard three rotation flash banner. Let?s assume we beat the average and can achieve a CTR of 0.10 percent. If you invest $5,000, you have purchased one million impressions. If 0.10 percent click on your ad then you will have generated 1,000 unique visitors to your landing page (also known as the campaign page).
Finally, you need a great landing page on which your sole goal is to convert the visitor who clicks on your advertisement into a qualified lead or user. Don?t make the mistake of sending your leads to your home page as you need to isolate their experience to the objective at hand. The conversion rate of visitor to qualified lead really depends on your specific business and the information you are capturing. That said, you should aim for a minimum of 15 percent of your visitors to convert.
The fundamental elements of a great landing page are:
Your call to action and design elements must be consistent between the landing page and the ad that was clicked. If the experience is not seamless and logical then your visitor is lost.
Have a very clear headline and body copy. You must tell your visitor what it is and what you want them to do. If you are not promising to solve a problem for them then they have no reason to stay and will bounce off.
Don?t over-engineer your online form to capture lead information. Make it as simple and clear as possible. If you don?t need their mobile phone and home address then don?t ask for it. Keep it to a minimum and ideally just just ask for name and email, or use social log ins. Don?t forget to clearly highlight your privacy policy if you expect their trust. A simple ?We promise we won?t share your email? will often suffice.
Plus, here are ?101 Landing Page Optimisation Tips? from one of the brightest minds in the business ? so there are already no excuses for getting it wrong.
In summary, we have invested $5,000 in our example to generate 1,000 visitors to our landing page with a minimum goal of converting 15 percent, or 150, of those visitors into qualified leads or users. This results in a cost per user of $33. Do you expect the lifetime value of your users to be greater than $33? If so, the investment makes sense. Know your ROI and constantly optimize your lead funnel as there is always room for improvement.
Tip #3: Tracking and optimizing your advertising investment
Anyone that knows me would be right to say I am crazy about analytics and data. I have invested a great deal of time testing hundreds of tools to measure the entire life cycle of our customers from the point of advertisement to engaged customer. We currently track the specific advertising source that a customer clicked on and bind it to the customer?s activity so we can assess in real-time the revenues ultimately generated by the specific ad, the channel, and the campaign.
There are no endorsements here, but I wanted to lift the hood for startups so you can see what marketing systems we run. We use MediaMind for our ad serving platform. From this platform we host and deploy our banner ads across different websites and geographies. On a daily basis we track CTR, conversion, and revenue metrics on the specific ads and campaigns we are running. We are constantly optimizing our media mix based on this data.
To track interaction on our landing page and website we use Google Analytics. This provides invaluable insight in terms of how visitors are engaging and navigating our store front. Tools such as CrazyEgg provide a deeper real-time heat map so you can optimize the layout of your page.
The most important tool I use when it comes to lead acquisition and conversion tracking is MixPanel. MixPanel provides event driven funnels based on your defined flow. In our case, we measure leads from the point they arrive on the landing page through each of the six steps of our online application. I can see specifically where customers may drop out of our online application and work to make the process simpler. Once we generate potential customers online, we use Salesforce to auto route the prospect to the appropriate sales person based on language, geography, and product experience. This of course increases the sales conversion rate as you are matching customer needs with the person best equipped to help them.
We use Salesforce as our end-to-end CRM system. As a transaction-driven business we measure our revenue and core business metrics in an OLAP (online analytical processing) tool called MicroStrategy. For pre-revenue startups you can very likely tackle this manually until you reach a point of scale where it makes sense to invest in automation. Rather than waste time logging into all of these systems I publish them to the entire office in real-time through a dashboard called Geckoboard. As they say, you manage what you measure.
Focus on these three core areas and you will be running very effective and performance-driven online banner campaigns in no time. Remember, be prepared to take risks and accept that failing fast and pivoting is a normal part of the marketing process.
A Dutch court ruled today (via IDG) that Samsung Galaxy products running Android 2.2.1 and higher, which don?t use Samsung?s own proprietary image gallery software are banned from sale, for infringing on an Apple patent related to scrolling through images on a touchscreen device. The ruling from The Court of The Hague stipulates that Samsung must report its profits from Galaxy device sales since June 27, 2011 to determine a penalty, and that Samsung risks incurring a $129,000 fee per day every day it fails to uphold the ban from this ruling on.
The decision comes after a preliminary ruling dealing with the same patent resulted in a sales ban on the Galaxy S, SII and Galaxy Ace last year, which prompted a software workaround implemented by Samsung to get the products back on the market. Samsung claimed at the hearing that since Samsung Benelux, the company?s Netherlands-based subsidiary, was no longer selling the infringing devices. Presiding judge Peter Blok told the court that was not sufficient to prevent a sales ban, and that Samsung?s refusal to sign a declaration of its intention not to infringe the patent was grounds enough to bar device sales in the country.
Apple?s patent deals specifically with a ?bounce back? animation effect that allows you to preview the next image in a series, but reverts to the current image when you raise your finger if you haven?t swiped all the way in one direction. Samsung?s workaround was to replace it with a blue glow highlighting the edge of the image, rather than using the bounce-back.
Apple could be in for another sizeable payday here, depending on how much of Samsung?s profits the court believes Apple is entitled to as a result of sales of infringing devices and barring any appeal attempts. But the ban itself seems unlikely to have much force; Samsung can implement the workaround described above on any devices that still use Android?s native Gallery app to sidestep the block on any future sales. In fact, Samsung argued in September that it already does this in all products sold in the Netherlands, but judges didn?t believe the Korean company provided sufficient evidence to make its case.
April 1, 1976
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Started by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, Apple has expanded from computers to consumer electronics over the last 30 years, officially changing their name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc. in January 2007. Among the key offerings from Apple?s product line are: Pro line laptops (MacBook Pro) and desktops (Mac Pro), consumer line laptops (MacBook Air) and desktops (iMac), servers (Xserve), Apple TV, the Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server operating systems, the iPod, the...
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Samsung is one of the largest super-multinational companies in the world. It?s possibly best known for it?s subsidiary, Samsung Electronics, the largest electronics company in the world.
Added: 6 hours ago via: Android Market Category: Lifestyle By: Hobby Lobby... Updated: November 15, 2012 ????? 60 ratings Requires Android 2.3.3 and up
Now you can take Hobby Lobby with you wherever you go! Download our new Android app to get the latest coupon, see the weekly savings, locate stores near you, check your gift card balance, and much more! The weekly savings and convenience you have come to love is now just a tap away. We are not just an arts and crafts store. With over 65,000 items to explore including Home Accents, Crafts, Hobbies, Picture Framing, Jewelry Making, Fashion Fabrics, Floral, Cards & Party, Baskets, Wearable Art and Holiday Supplies, Hobby Lobby is the place to shop with super savings and super selections every day! Coupon The Hobby Lobby coupon you have come to love is just a tap away! Use it in the store or online! Weekly Savings Do you have a project in mind or simply need inspiration? Hobby Lobby offers our customers an exceptional selection and value each week. Tap to view our weekly ad and you are sure to find what you need. Store Locator Tap to find the closest Hobby Lobby! Each store provides an enjoyable and enriched shopping experience providing exceptional value and the widest variety of home dcor merchandise and crafting supplies, all under one roof. Gift Cards Did you receive a gift card and need to check your balance? Tap to check your balance. Now you can plan your next shopping experience at Hobby Lobby! Feedback Tell us how much you love the Hobby Lobby app. Make sure to tell your friends and family to download it too!
I want to keep investing in my Fidelity 401 K. But I?m changing employeers and my new employer does not offer a 401 K with Fidelity. I do not want to roll over to my new employer?s 401 K plan or an IRA. So can I contribute to my old Fidelity 401 K out of my own pocket?
Mykayla Comstock, 7, was prescribed medical marijuana to help with the side effects of chemotherapy, but her father disagrees and is taking legal action. Keep reading to find out more details!
Ten days after 7-year-old Mykayla Comstock was diagnosed with T-cell leukemia, an aggressive form of the disease that affects 10 to 15 percent of patients, her mother, Erin Purchase, began giving her?medical marijuana.
?As soon as they told me she had leukemia, I knew that I would be going to get her medical marijuana card,? Erin, 25, told The Oregonian. ?That was just a no-brainer for me completely.?
But her father, Jesse Comstock, strongly disagrees with his ex-wife?s decision, and contacted child welfare officials, police and Mykayla?s oncologist to have the prescription removed.
?She was stoned out of her mind,? the 26-year-old father said of his visit with Mykayla in August. ?All she wanted to do was lay on the bed and play video games.?
Though medical marijuana is often used to combat the side effects of chemotherapy, which often include nausea, pain and anxiety, it is rarely prescribed to children. Mykayla is one of 52 children with legal permission to obtain marijuana in the state of Oregon.
?We use it for nausea, for pain, to reduce anxiety,? Erin explained. ?We use it to fight cancer itself.?
And little Mykayla, who likes to call herself ?Brave Mykayla,? agrees. ?Without the cannabis, I feel more tired, and with the cannabis I have more energy to, like, play and stuff,? she said. ?It makes me feel funny, happy.?
Instead of smoking joints, Mykayla swallows a capsule form of the drug two times a day. Sometimes, she snacks on a gingersnap or brownie baked with marijuana-laced butter. ?It helps me eat and sleep,? she said while nestling close to her mother. ?The chemotherapy makes you feel like you want to stay up all night long.?
And according to her mom, the pot is helping. ?She?s like she was before,? Erin added. ?She?s a normal kid.?
Despite her improved attitude, Jesse worries that his daughter will become addicted with continued use of the drug. ?She?s not terminally ill,? he said. ?She is going to get over this, and with all this pot, they are going to hinder her brain growth. It?s going to limit her options in life because of the decisions her mother has made for her.?
Despite her young age, Mykayla has already developed a strong opinion concerning her pain-relieving medication. ?They should make it not illegal,? she declared, ?everyone should use it.?
Watch the video of ?Brave Mykayla? below!
Do YOU think a 7-year-old should be given medical marijuana?
Jennifer Kamm
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How Your Yogurt Fix Could Be Giving Your Unborn Baby Asthma!
IVF Couples Advised: ?Don?t Try For Twins & Triplets!?
Unborn Babies Given Weight Loss Drug To Prevent Them From Getting Too Fat!
A more concerted effort is required from civil society to bring effective pressure to bear on the government agencies and ministries with primary responsibility such as the police and the courts to protect women from violence, the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) says.
In a statement on the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women, which was observed yesterday, the GHRA said that despite the many statements, activities and commemorations of the Day which are no doubt sincere, the response to the incidence of violence against women remains inadequate and ineffective. ?A more concerted effort is required from civil society at all levels, individuals, families and organizations to bring effective pressure to bear on the Government agencies and Ministries with primary responsibility such as the police and the courts,??..
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The lawsuit over the name of the consolidated Augusta State and Georgia Health Sciences universities will become simpler next month.
In response to the University System of Georgia and the Board of Regents? claim of sovereign immunity as a defense to a federal lawsuit, Regent University in Virginia decided to drop part of its legal challenge to the name Georgia Regents University.
Regent had claimed that Georgia was violating its rights under state and federal constitutions, but will drop that claim. The Virginia university isn?t conceding Georgia?s argument, but by narrowing the legal issue, both sides will save time and money.
In an order signed Nov. 20, the federal judge gave Regent University 14 days to amend its lawsuit originally filed in September. Georgia will have the opportunity to respond afterward.
The Virginia school first sent a cease-and-desist letter and then filed suit after the Georgia board decided to named the combined Augusta campuses Georgia Regents University. According to court documents filed this month, the decision to include ?Augusta? as an unofficial part of the name doesn?t settle the complaint for the Virginia university.
Regent University intends to pursue the lawsuit on grounds of trademark infringement and unfair competition. The school has had a trademark on the name since at least 1990.
On Aug. 7, the Georgia Board of Regents voted on the new name for the combined schools in Augusta. The board bypassed the results of a nationwide survey that ranked ?University of Augusta? as the top choice. A community campaign, Save the A, led to a compromise decision to add the city?s name to the school, although it is unofficial.
The Thanksgiving feast is over, and the majority of travelers will be heading back home Sunday. It?s a busy day that could prove challenging if Mother Nature decides to tag along. NBC?s Michelle Franzen reports.
Fathers and Families is asking NC Governor Pat McCrory to start talking with NC Senate and House leaders about bringing the presumption for Equally Shared Parenting to NC Children so that they can experience direct support, love, guidance, and nurturing from both parents and extended families. As a reader of this article, be it a non-custodial parent, step-parent, grandparent, or other interested party, it is important to widely share this article with other NC non-custodial family members on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and other networks to help rally them around this issue. Governor Pat McCrory needs to hear from NC non-custodial families numbering in the millions that they are tired of being marginalized in their childrens lives as visitors 5 days a month. NC Governor Pat McCrory needs to understand that having two equal parents at the table for children that are providing emotional, physical, psychological, and direct financial support to them brings far greater resources and opportunities than any big government enforcement agency like child support enforcement can ever deliver. Fathers and Families strongly believes that in situations where custodial parents who are receiving expanding social services like educational assistance, housing assistance, food assistance, medical assistance, job assistance, and other programs which is creating havoc on the NC budget, that there will be less of a need for these programs when you have the non-custodial parent and extended family in the lives of children. NC Governor Pat McCrory needs to understand that currently in the NC Family Law system, non-custodial parents and families are pushed to the margins of kids lives and can only offer financial help to their children.
Fathers and Families did not endorse Candidate McCrory in his run for the Governor, nor is the posting of this video meant to imply an endorsement for future elections. This video is here to remind Governor McCrory of NC non-custodial family struggles as outlined below.
Governor Pat McCrory and the NC Family Law System
Governor McCrory must understand that the current family law courts are about one parent winning, and the other parent losing. This system sets the stage for further despair, animosity, anger, and anxiety for the non-custodial parent and extended family after a divorce. Father and Families believes that no one parent should win in the court system, and that courts should reward two parents for working together for the betterment of the children.
Governor Pat McCrory and the NC Legislature must understand that the current Family Law system puts NC children at an economic disadvantage for decades. Currently, the average child custody battle costs EACH parent about $20,000 and statistics show that these parents will fight two in eighteen years. Additionally, parents will find minor contempt battles, child support enforcement battles, custody modification battles, and other battles costing more money. Fathers and Families believes that NC Parents spend at a minimum of $100,000 over the life of the minor child. Fathers and Families would like to see this money go towards a child?s education, healthcare, a home, or to start a business.
Governor Pat McCrory and The NC House and Senate needs to understand that the current NC Family Law System pits two parents against each other in an attempt to win a court battle. NC Parents are using every means available to win and this has dramatic negative effects on children. Through Shared Parenting, there is nothing to win because both parents will be equalized. When NC Judges change the current stage from ?OK, You guys fight it out and whoever has the most dirt loses? to that of ?You both are going to present a shared parenting plan for the benefit of the child and whoever does not abide by it loses? then you will see less conflict between parents.
Consistently, more and more studies show that children who have significant access to fathers (the usual non-custodial parent) do better in school, have less emotional problems, are able to resist drugs, and avoid pregnancy until later in life.
Governor Pat McCrory must understand that we believe hundreds of thousands of NC non-custodial parents do not have the money for an attorney to seize visitation rights to their children, or advocate for them in the courts. There should be no pay wall for a parent to see his/her children.
Governor Pat McCrory and NC Representatives and Senators must understand that 40% of children born today in NC come from non-married parents, and under current law, the biological father has zero rights and access to the child unless he can find $5000-7000 and hire an attorney to legitimate the children. This is assuming if he is ever aware that he has a child.
Governor Pat McCrory and the NC Legislature needs to understand that NC non-custodial families are going bankrupt hiring private attorneys at $5000 per incident when custodial parents get free government lawyers each time child support wants to be modified by the custodial parent.
Governor McCrory and NC Representatives should be aware that whenever a custodial parent gets into trouble financially, social service is able to save them using housing assistance, job assistance, food assistance, medical assistance, psychological assistance, other assistance programs and tax incentives. When non-custodial parents get into trouble financially, they go to jail. Governor, would it not make more sense to strengthen BOTH parents for the good of NC children?
Fathers and Families is sending the message to NC Governor Pat McCrory that it is time to stop ALL NC adoptions until amended legislation is in place protecting a biological father from having a child he did not know existed from being adopted out. Consistently, we are hearing more and more fathers tell us that they learned about a biological child of theirs being adopted out because the mother of the child refused to help adoptions agencies discover the father. Fathers and Families is not against adoptions, but we do believe that a biological parent?s natural love outweighs an adoptive family?s love. This issue not only affects NC Fathers, but the many women in paternal families who have a natural love for their biologically related children.
Statement on Positive Outcomes with NC Shared Parenting
Fathers and Families believes there are many positive outcomes for NC children in families with shared parenting, and we are asking Governor Pat McCrory to review this information when considering legislation surrounding it.
First and foremost, despite the breakup of a marriage, NC Children still have a family. Equally Shared Parenting is the next best thing to preserving that feeling of knowing that you have a mother, father, grandparents, and aunts and uncles that are consistently in your life. Under current NC Law and in the family law courts, non-custodial parents and extended families are pushed far into the margins of a child?s life.
A NC Equally Shared Parenting initiative means less drain on Welfare and Low Income Assistance programs. When NC non-custodial parents, step-parents, and other family members are brought into equality with the custodial parent and have considerably more time to directly support children, there will be 50% more resources and opportunities to meet kids needs, thus decreasing the need for public assistance.
Governor Pat McCrory should know NC Family Law reform and equally shared parenting creates more free time for custodial mothers to further a college education (or add to formal education), learn a trade, start a business, or pursue social endeavors.
Equally Shared Parenting will allow fathers the opportunity to put into action fatherhood initiatives have taught them. Why have a fatherhood initiative if you are never going to allow these parents to put what they learned into action?
Mandating shared physical custody or equally shared parenting will lead to a reduction in bitter, destructive child custody battles, which put intense emotional strain on children following a divorce or separation. Fathers and Families believes that Governor Pat McCrory surely understands the importance of this.
NC Shared Parenting will decrease domestic violence. Many times prior, during, and after a divorce, one parent will fear losing touch with their kids because it is widely known in NC that there is a system that mandates that one parent has the majority of time with the children, and the other parent does not. In NC, 85% of parents are fathers in a State that has no presumption for which parent gets custody. Additionally, Family Law Judges consistently allow a custodial parent to move a child hundreds of miles away from a non-custodial family. This fear, anxiety, despair, and emotional struggle unfortunately leads to domestic violence.
Statement on Social Security Title IV-D Legislation
Fathers and Families wants Governor Pat McCrory to understand that the Social Security Act, Title IV, Part D, and specifically section 458 which is entitled ?Incentive Payments To States? is a revenue stream for NC Social Services Jobs, Programs, and Services. In NC, for each dollar collected in Child Support, the State gets back a match amount of federal money that is then used to replenish Welfare money. While at face value this may seem positive, it actually isn?t because the State of NC has become dependent on this money and NEEDS non-custodial parents as far from their children as possible so that they pay greater child support money and trigger greater federal money. Fathers and Families has faith in Governor McCrory, the NC Senate, House of Representatives, and Family Law Judges to find an alternative way to fund Social Services outside of separating kids from half of their family.
Opposition Governor Pat McCrory Is Likely To Receive From Those Opposed To Shared Parenting and NC Family Law Reform
American Bar Association/NC State Bar: If Governor Pat McCrory decides to encourage the NC Senate and House to consider Shared Parenting in NC, he is going to meet serious resistance from Lawyers and Judges. While they will have a myriad of cherry picked reasons why shared parenting is dangerous for children, the fact is under shared parenting, without parents fighting for 18 years NC lawyers are not receiving their enormous retainer fees and hourly fees that are charged in Family Law cases. NC Judges will resist Family Law reform and shared parenting because it will take away their discretion in what they say is needed because every case is different. Unfortunately, with 100% discretion comes the ability to abuse the system and legislate from the bench or allow biases to come into play without an accountability.
Governor Pat McCrory will undoubtedly meet resistance from ?Womens Rights Groups? like the National Organization For Women? who also will bring cherry picked statistics and reasons why Family Law Reform and Shared Parenting is a bad idea for Women and Children. The immediate problem we see for these organizations is that for decades they were about advancement for equality, but in Family Law they are asking for inequality. To Fathers and Families this smells of disingenuous agendas and politics at play. Furthermore, and this is important, there are a LOT of women who are hurt in a divisive Family Law system. These women include step-mothers, paternal grandmothers, aunts, female step-children, now adult female children, and even custodial mothers with male children who will find themselves marginalized later in life if we do not have Family Law reform in NC.
Domestic Violence Groups in NC will also oppose any type of Family Law Reform and Shared Parenting because they feel that Shared Parenting means that Fathers will have greater access and chances to kill and hurt children and former spouses. In addition, these groups will have their own set of cherry picked statements and professionals in the radical Womens groups with what seems like compelling data. However, Fathers and Families asks Governor Pat McCrory to use some common sense around domestic violence. First, custodial mothers and women hit, intimidate, and use control every day and nobody in these groups are talking about them crossing some hurdle to be with their kids. And, if you believe THEIR statistics that more domestic violence is committed from men, does it really matter WHO is doing it the most? The problem is Domestic Violence, not which gender is doing it the most. And, in reality, does Governor McCrory really believe that the best way to de-escalate a father from committing domestic violence is to completely alienate him from his children, see them moved hundreds of miles away, and watch as the women in his family get hurt? Fathers and Families is appealing to Governor Pat McCrory not to give into the gender warfare and politics surrounding Domestic Violence by those who want to make it a political football for their agendas.
Statement on False Allegations of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse
Fathers and Families hears daily from many non-custodial families, be it fathers, mothers, and men and women in the extended family who tell us that the majority of child custody battles and child support enforcement cases today involve some type of false allegation of Domestic Violence or Abuse in the hopes of gaining a tactical advantage in the NC Family Courts. Given the emotion surrounding these issues, many NC Judges are allowing these false allegations to proceed to conviction to ?be on the safe side.? The problems with this is, that a simple allegation in NC can lead to complete alienation of children from their fathers, step-mothers, grandmothers, aunts and uncles, and step-siblings.
Governor Pat McCrory and NC Non-Custodial Family Voters
Undoubtedly Governor Pat McCrory is aware of the divorce statistics in NC, and rate at which parents are having children outside of marriage. With that, Fathers and Families believes that roughly HALF of the NC population has either a direct tie or indirect tie to a NC non-custodial family member who sees the struggle they endure within the NC Family Law system and courts. Furthermore, Governor McCrory needs to understand that non-custodial families come from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, political party affiliations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. And, one can clearly see that many WOMEN in non-custodial families are equally hurt in the NC Family Courts unless we bring about reform for the presumption for Equally Shared Parenting.
How You Can Help Send The Message To Governor Pat McCrory That Family Law Reform in NC Is Needed, And That Shared Parenting Is In The Best Interest of Children.
1) Contact the Governor via email and send him to this blog, and be sure to show your support for Fathers and Families Shared Parenting mission: (Coming Soon Once The Newly Elected Governor Has a Website Up)
2) Call Governor McCrory personally and tell him your story as a non-custodial family member: (Coming Soon)
3) Send a message to the Governor on his Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/PatMcCroryNC
4) Using Twitter, tweet this blog to the Governor under his Twitter name: @patmccrorync ? Be sure to add the Twitter hashtags #ncleg #ncga and #ncpol to the end of your tweet.
5) Find your local NC Representative and Senator and email them a link to this blog: For House Representatives: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=House and for State Senators: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/members/memberList.pl?sChamber=Senate
6) Extensively share this article on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and other networks.
7) Help Support Fathers and Families: http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/give-a-gift
8) Join Fathers and Families on Facebook
9) If you have a website or blog, please copy and paste the code below into your site to help support Governor Pat McCrory in bringing Equally Shared Parenting and Family Law reform to NC
Ask <a href="http://www.fathersandfamilies.org/2012/11/24/nc-governor-pat-mccrory-family-law-reform-for-shared-parenting" target="_blank">Governor Pat McCrory</a> To Support Equally Shared Parenting in NC.
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Formula 1 fans, the media and Ferrari themselves have pored over YouTube clips from the Brazilian Grand Prix that appeared to show Sebastian Vettel overtaking Jean-Eric Verge before the end of a yellow flag zone on lap four.
So if, for example, a yellow flag is displayed followed later by a yellow light, then the no overtaking area begins at the first yellow signal which would be the flag.
Philipsburg:--- Minister of Finance Roland Tuitt announced on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that he is still working on balancing the final draft 2013 budget which has a deficit of 29 million guilders. Minister Tuitt said that he is hoping to finalize the 2013 draft budget by Friday this week which will he submit to the CFT and Council of Advice before sending it over to Parliament for approval. The Finance Minister said he is trying hard to have the budget dealt with in Parliament before the Christmas recess.
Fathers and Families is asking 