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Bid to Ease the Squeeze on Business

May 16th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

By MAGGIE BEIDELMAN

San Francisco is notorious for making it difficult to open and run small businesses. For Juliet Pries, who just opened The Ice Cream Bar in Cole Valley, it meant months of red tape and rent to realize her goal. Maggie Beidelman reports.

For decades, San Francisco has been a difficult place to set up and run a small business—especially a restaurant. Eager to keep entrepreneurs on their feet and attract new ones, the city is trying to make it easier.

The Board of Supervisors in January proposed an ordinance to reduce the number of restaurant definitions, each with its own zoning regulations, from 13 to three—Restaurant, Limited Restaurant, and Bar.

“There are all these really contradictory rules,” said City Supervisor Christina Olague, who proposed the ordinance along with Supervisor Scott Wiener. The board is expected to consider the measure in the coming weeks.

The move is one of several in San Francisco aimed at helping small businesses start up and keep running.

Mayor Ed Lee announced an additional $1.5 million for the city’s Small Business Revolving Loan Fund in January, and the Board of Supervisors recently approved it. That follows the establishment in 2008 of the Office of Small Business, a program to help potential business owners navigate the city’s cumbersome licensing and permitting requirements, which include a lengthy review process in which neighbors get a say on any new business plans.

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Lori Eanes for The Wall Street Journal

Juliet Pries said she spent nearly $300,000 and two years to open The Ice Cream Bar in San Francisco.

The goal is to avoid the kind of experience Candace Combs recently had with her day spa, In-Symmetry. When she decided in 2010 to move her nine-year-old business from one location in San Francisco to another, Ms. Combs ran into zoning regulations and other city rules that dragged out her search for a year and a half. She took on five real-estate agents to find a space with the appropriate zoning and paid roughly $15,000 in permit fees before reopening in December.

“San Francisco is a nightmare,” said Ms. Combs. “You’re constantly butting your head up against the most ridiculous city bureaucracy.”

Restaurants face some of the most onerous rules. An eatery in San Francisco typically completes up to 12 permit applications and filings. The entire process of opening a restaurant usually takes nine to 14 months, sometimes longer, said Regina Dick-Endrizzi, director of the Office of Small Business.

In contrast, a restaurant in Oakland could open in as little as four months, with only three permits, not including county permits, according to Oakland’s Planning Department. The process rarely takes longer than nine months, and Oakland’s planning code has just four definitions of restaurants, compared with San Francisco’s 13.

“In San Francisco, you could spend a year or two paying rent through the permit process,” said Rob Black, director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, a nonprofit trade association. “In Oakland, they will bend over backwards to help you open a restaurant.”

The city of San Francisco acknowledges the thicket of regulations and even pokes fun at itself for it. Last year, the Planning Commission created a YouTube video, “Hello City Planner,” quoting directly from the planning code. One sample line: “How big is the space you would be renting? 1,000 square feet or less would make you a Small Self-Service restaurant. Above that, you would be a Large Fast-Food Restaurant. …Wait, it doesn’t matter in this district anyway, because neither one is permitted here.”

Overall, there were 71,000 small businesses in San Francisco as of July 2011, not including insurance companies or banks, according to the Office of Small Business. Small businesses employ about 50% of all employees in the city and contribute about 52% of the total sales tax.

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Lori Eanes for The Wall Street Journal

Dela Messex serves a cone.

San Francisco’s layers of small-business regulations date to 1987, when the city rezoned its mixed-use neighborhood corridors into neighborhood commercial districts, allowing for a more detailed review process. Before the rezoning, the city approved 97% of the permit applications submitted for small businesses, according to the San Francisco Planning Department. By 2007, the latest year for which data were available, only 30% were approved.

The situation began to change in 2008, when then-mayor Gavin Newsom launched the Office of Small Business. The office is a one-stop shop for small businesses looking for help on how to open and operate in the city. It now handles 140 to 185 inquiries a month, 65% of them coming from people who want to start a business.

In 2009, the city started the Revolving Loan Fund with $670,000, to help create jobs and get small businesses access to capital. Microlender Working Solutions distributes the fund and provides five-year assistance for borrowers.

“I can think of nothing worse than seeing vacant storefronts,” Mayor Lee said. “We must make capital available to entrepreneurs to open up shop and support existing small businesses through the revolving loan fund.”

Ron Miguel, a member of the Planning Commission, cautioned that “you’re never going to do away with the bureaucracy,” but added, “We can always come up with a better way of doing things.”

For some small-business owners, the new moves are coming too late. Juliet Pries, 44 years old, said she opened The Ice Cream Bar in Cole Valley in January after spending nearly $300,000 and two years to get her zoning-designated Full-Service Restaurant off the ground.

“I thought I had all the information. But every step I took, there was something more,” Ms. Pries said. If the proposed restaurant ordinance had already been in effect, she added, “I would have been open a year and a half ago.”

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Serena Williams launches teaser of new rap song

May 16th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Dubai: Tennis star Serena Williams is trading in her racket for the microphone. Williams, who announced last year she was pursuing a musical career, launched a teaser of her new song on Saturday. According to acesshowbiz.com, the champ is yet to reveal the title of the song.

According to the report, the song describes her powerful personality: "I ball hard no tennis racket/I can’t see these haters through my Gucci glasses/I make hits like batting practice — they be like ‘Serena, is you really rapping?’

"That’s me, thanks for listenin’/schooling all these rappers, they should pay tuition/ I make a lot of money but that ain’t yo business/you can tell the people I said this."

She makes a reference to her sister Venus Williams in the song as well, rapping "I win, I really mean it/Swag out this world, you should call me Venus/That’s my sister, my name is Serena/on the court I serve ‘em up, no subpoena."

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Deadly clashes hit Lebanese port

May 16th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

At least two people have been killed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli as clashes erupted between Sunni Muslims and members of the Alawite minority.

The violence began overnight as armed groups from an Alawite enclave clashed with Sunni fighters, after security forces arrested a Sunni cleric who was reportedly helping Syrian refugees.

Tensions in the northern port city have mounted since Syria's uprising began.

Similar recent clashes have highlighted how tensions can spill over to Lebanon.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite.

In February at least two people were killed in Tripoli as supporters and opponents of Mr Assad clashed.

But the city's Alawite minority has fought with its Sunni neighbours on several occasions since the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.

The latest fighting began last night after the Lebanese security forces arrested a Sunni cleric, named as Shadi al-Moulawi, on charges of aiding a terrorist organisation.

His supporters said he had been helping Syrian refugees.

Two rocket-propelled grenades fell on the Bab Tabbaneh neighbourhood of Tripoli and reports say explosions were heard across the city.

"The clashes peaked at dawn. The sound of gunfire is still echoing in the city," a security official said, quoted by Reuters.

Lebanese Army units were deployed between the rival neighbourhoods, and the army said reinforcements were on their way.

A soldier was among the people killed in the fighting.

Tripoli is dominated by Sunni Muslims, who support the anti-Assad uprising in Syria.

Members of the minority Alawite sect – an offshoot of Shia Islam – occupy key positions in the Syrian government and security forces.

Syria's majority Sunni community has been at the forefront of the revolt against the president and borne the brunt of the state's crackdown.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul says that community leaders in Lebanon have repeatedly warned of the possibility that the violence in Syria would spill over the border. Lebanon is already hosting thousands of Syrian refugees.

In recent years the fear of renewed civil war has helped persuade the various Lebanese factions to put aside their historic disagreements, but Syria is proving a very tough test for a country with so many sectarian divisions of its own, our correspondent says.

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Firms Map Routes to Recovery

May 16th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

By CLARE ANSBERRY

(See Corrections & Amplifications item below.)

Associated Press

Many U.S. executives are optimistic sales will increase next year, but believe that their staffing levels will remain the same. Above, workers at a Caterpillar plant.

Corporate America is emerging from the worst downturn since the Great Depression smaller and thriftier.

To survive, companies have laid off millions of workers, closed hundreds of factories and vacated acres of office space. Like those who grew up in the Depression and still reuse sheets of aluminum foil, the experience has left them financially conservative and wary of risk.

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The road to recovery will likely be marked by slow and steady acceleration, rather than speed. Some companies will see opportunities to amass undervalued assets or steal customers. But it is unclear if their efforts will create enough new jobs to spark broader economic growth.

Though appliance sales are expected to rise for the first time in four years, Whirlpool Corp.,

which closed about a tenth of its production capacity in 2009, says it will continue cutting costs and paring capacity this year. It plans to close its Evansville, Ind., plant that made refrigerators and ice makers, shifting some output to Mexico.

The appliance maker will also hold on to its cash. “Given the amount of uncertainty that remains across the globe, we will carry a high cash balance over the course of the year, and we think that is appropriate,” says Chief Executive Jeff Fettig.

Nearly every American industry ended last year in better shape than it started. Among the 95% of companies in the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index that have reported fourth-quarter results, the majority beat market forecasts. But in many cases their improved performances were driven more by cost cutting than revenue growth. With the economy growing again, many CEOs expect broader revenue gains this year.

AP

Already corporate spending on technology has started to rebound. Computer-chip giant Intel Corp.,

considered a bellwether for the tech industry, had one of its most profitable quarters ever in the fourth quarter as sales rose 28%. The company, which a year ago announced that it would close several older factories as the economy slumped, displacing 5,000 to 6,000 workers, is investing billions of dollars in its U.S. plants as demand for consumer and business computers recovers.

The auto industry, which tanked in 2008, taking a sizable chunk of the economy with it, is starting to see some life, and the pickup is filtering down to its suppliers. Alexander “Sandy” Cutler, CEO of Eaton Corp.,

said the company’s truck and auto-related businesses, typically among the first to respond to an economic recovery, are seeing growth in both volume and profitability, and the company is carrying a hefty backlog. “That gives us a good feeling early in the year,” he says.

Stilll, Mr. Cutler, whose salaried U.S. workers were required to take four weeks of unpaid leave last year, says he doesn’t see broad economic growth until 2011. For now, Eaton can make due with overtime and temporary workers, rather than permanent new hires.

Retailers ended 2009 on a high note, as did delivery companies, as consumers lost some of their skittishness. Industries driven by capital spending, such as data processing, machinery and heavy-equipment manufacturing, are beginning to benefit from looser corporate purse strings as well as public-works spending in China, India and Brazil. Manufacturing output grew at a 20% annualized rate in the fourth quarter and the sector, which has shed 2.2 million jobs since 2007, added jobs in January for the first time in nearly three years.

“Compared to last year, this environment is like day and night,” says Klaus Kleinfeld, president and CEO of Alcoa Inc.,

which bolstered its cash holdings in 2009 in part by pressing customers to pay their outstanding balances. Mr. Kleinfeld is projecting 10% growth in the market for aluminum, half of which is coming from China. “If you ask the doomsayers, they say ‘Yeah, but that growth rate is compared to a very bad 2009.’ It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Some industries, such as aerospace and commercial construction, continue to lag. Hampered by continued instability in the housing market and uncertainty about infrastructure projects, the construction-machinery business was expected to end 2009 with an overall 43% drop in sales, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, a Washington trade group.

“I think there is a lot of lingering gloom,” says Don Washkewicz, chairman and CEO of Parker Hannifin Corp.,

which supplies hydraulic parts to several industries. A case in point: on Jan. 19, when the company reported quarterly earnings that nearly doubled market expectations and raised its forecast of profit from continuing operations by 44%, its stock, after an initial uptick, ended the day lower than it started.

Much of the uncertainty in markets and boardrooms can be traced to jobs, the economy’s big wild card. One out of four of the 8.4 million American jobs lost during the recession isn’t expected to come back, leaving it up to growing industries to fill the void. In January, on the same day United Parcel Service Inc.,

the world’s largest package handler by volume, projected better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, it also said it would eliminate 1,800 management and administrative jobs.

Having cut jobs and capacity, streamlined production, distribution and logistics, many companies like their slimmer look. “We have put the genie back in the bottle, and I’m not ready to let it out,” says Parker Hannifin’s Mr. Washkewicz.

Indeed, while some employers have added modestly to their payrolls, the absence of broader hiring remains a problem for the nation’s economy, which depends on consumer spending.

More than 60% of the 1,000 chief executives surveyed by YPO Global, a network of 17,000 executives, expect their work forces to be the same a year from now. About 30% see an increase and 7% a decrease.

Rather than hiring or adding capacity, some companies hope to use their accumulated cash to make bargain-priced acquisitions. Eaton, which has been on the sidelines for the past year, is looking for opportunities, says Mr. Cutler, its CEO.

Other companies are positioning themselves in different ways. Heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar

is preparing for the recovery by making sure its supply chain is ready to pick up pace quickly and smoothly. “Our ability to ramp up is really a function of how well we manage the supply chain and suppliers,” CEO Jim Owen told investors recently. “We’re way out in front compared to any previous cycle I know of in getting ready for that eventuality.”

Headwaters

MB, a Denver investment bank, is coming out of the recession with a new gameplan. Dave Maney, chairman and co-founder, says the board met in the fall of 2008 and gave senior management carte blanche to ensure the company’s survival. As a result, Headwaters laid off all but seven key employees, and invited the others to form independent member firms. Using its contacts to drum up business, Headwaters directed transactions to those firms, keeping a cut for itself.

The restructuring drastically reduced fixed costs and also freed management to do more marketing, rather than day-to-day investment-banking transactions. “It was a good strategy for us and positioned us for the future,” Mr. Maney says.

Headwaters expects to add more independent firms by the end of the first quarter and be back up to its pre-recession head count of 42, including its own full-time employees and those working at its new affiliates.

Write to Clare Ansberry at clare.ansberry@wsj.com

Corrections & Amplifications

Some of the former employees at Headwaters MB, a Denver investment bank, left of their own accord. This article incorrectly said Headwaters laid off all but seven key employees.

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Some Small Firms Cut Clients

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

By RAYMUND FLANDEZ

It’s the beginning of the tough-love era. Some small-business owners are ending relationships with aggressive customers who ask for more discounts and concessions or want more leeway on payment time.

Hampered by a slackening economy, these businesses, mainly service providers, are cutting loose nonpaying or late-paying clients who divert resources away from more loyal or profitable clients. Last fall, many businesses retained customers by discounting, providing special payment terms or creating loyalty programs. But today, they can no longer afford to do so.

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Chris Cole, of Volvo Construction Equipment Rents in Riverside, Calif., is stricter with delinquent customers.

For the first time since she started her business five years ago, Kishau Rogers, owner of Websmith Group LLC in Richmond, Va., had to “drop or avoid clients that are high-maintenance or late payers.” Some of her clients, mainly retail-store owners or solo entrepreneurs, often asked for discounts because of their own tight budgets or an expanded level of service beyond the agreed-upon contract.

As a result, by eliminating 5% of her clientele this year, the 36-year-old is saving 20% more of her time while the Web-site development firm’s 2009 revenue is on track to rise 10%. “It was the best decision I’ve made, because it really reduced the level of frustration that I was experiencing,” Ms. Rogers says. “It freed me up to the clients that are loyal and pay on time.”

Still, the drastic action is bringing separation anxiety for some small-business owners. For years, many have prided themselves on customer service and even staked their reputations on customer loyalty. And some small businesses, suffering from a drop in sales, fear they can’t afford to be picky.

But problematic customers need to be fired, says Valarie Zeithaml, a marketing professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “That is a scary thing to do in an economy like this,” she says. “But to have to continue to have a customer that’s losing the company money with every transaction is not a good strategy either.”

It is taking four days longer to collect receivables this year at an average of 27.4 days, compared with 23.7 days last year, according to Sageworks Inc., a private-company financial-data provider in Raleigh, N.C.

Alice Bredin, small-business adviser for American Express Open, says small-business owners should drop difficult clients carefully. As always, she says, “when you choose to no longer do business with someone, be courteous and professional.”

This year alone, Ren Moulton, chief executive of Dogmatic Products Inc., a New York maker of interactive pet toys and treats, has dismissed 30 out of 300 small-business clients, mainly because of slow payments by the independent pet specialty stores.

Over the past year, Mr. Moulton has meticulously taken delinquent clients to task by calling them for payments. Some of them made up excuses or told him they just forgot to pay, he says. “We understand it’s a tough time for everyone,” he says. “So sometimes, we’d let it go. After a while, it wasn’t an efficient way to kind of run things.” He adds that it isn’t worth it for his 10 employees to spend five hours for an account that may only generate $2,000 in sales over the year. Dogmatic expects to post $4 million in revenue this year.

Now, he’s doing more to protect his company from problematic customers, such as running credit checks for the first time on smaller accounts, sending contracts ahead of time and reiterating terms and obligations. For international clients, he now has a pay-upfront policy. Before, they only had to pay half upfront. “I do believe in firing bad accounts,” he says.

Recently, Chris Cole, owner of a Riverside, Calif., franchise of Volvo Construction Equipment Rents Inc., received an urgent call from a dispatcher of a construction company who needed to rent some equipment the next day. He refused to fill the order immediately. The client had been 100 days behind in payments. He didn’t tell the customer “no,” but said he couldn’t shuffle his other commitments and would only be able to get the request done at a later time. It was a good decision. The next day, Mr. Cole received five local orders, which he wouldn’t have had time to fulfill if he had rented out his equipment to the delinquent customer. “Those customers are better off being served by your competitors than by you,” he says. Still, some maintain a relationship with troubled clients.

Ed Engoron, co-founder and president of Choclatique Inc., a high-end chocolate and confection maker in Los Angeles, decided to help out a client that entered bankruptcy court instead of leaving the customer in the lurch. He read about his client’s predicament online in May and was worried that he would never receive the several thousands of dollars that Choclatique was owed. So, he talked to the Phoenix-based upscale grocer and worked out a deal where the debt is being set aside until the customer’s finances improve.

“I want my company to be remembered as a company that worked with them and did not cut them off,” he says. He adds that the client was nice to work with and had always paid on time. The grocer is even now placing holiday orders and making regular payments.

“It’s a sacrifice,” Mr. Engoron says, “but it’s a worse sacrifice if I don’t have additional income coming in.”

Write to Raymund Flandez at raymund.flandez@wsj.com

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El ex presidente de Yahoo le dijo a la junta que tiene cáncer

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Por AMIR EFRATI

Antes de renunciar a la presidencia ejecutiva de Yahoo durante el fin de semana, Scott Thompson reveló a la junta directiva de la empresa y a varios colegas que había sido diagnosticado con cáncer de tiroides, según fuentes al tanto.

Este anuncio, hecho a finales de la semana pasada cuando se conoció evidencia de que parecía contradecir la palabra del presidente ejecutivo, quien dijo que no era responsable de un error en su historial académico, dijo una de las fuentes.

La decisión de Thompson de renunciar fue influenciada en parte por su diagnosis de cáncer, dijo esta persona, mientras la junta investigaba por qué su hoja de vida incluía erróneamente un título de ingeniería de sistemas. El error apareció en un documento presentado a los reguladores y en el sitio web de Yahoo.

El domingo, Yahoo anunció que Thompson renunciaría y que sería

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Scott Thompson

reemplazado por Ross Levinsohn, un alto ejecutivo de Yahoo quien asumirá la presidencia ejecutiva de forma interina. Yahoo también anunció un acuerdo para poner fin a la disputa con uno de sus mayores accionistas, Third Point LLC.

Thompson le dijo a un colega que no deseaba revelar públicamente su diagnóstico debido a que deseaba mantener sus asuntos personales en privado, dijo la fuente. También le dijo que ya había comenzado el tratamiento contra la enfermedad.

El viernes, Thompson también le dijo a algunos colegas que renunciaría, dijo otra fuente.

Thompson no pudo ser contactado para obtener sus comentarios.

El diagnóstico de cáncer es otro giro en la novela de Yahoo, que durante el fin de semana también anunció que nombraría nuevos miembros de su junta directiva, incluyendo al líder de Third Point, Dan Loeb. Por varios meses, Third Point había librado una lucha para obtener un asiento en la junta directiva. El fondo de cobertura vio el error en el registro académico de Thompson en un documento presentado por los reguladores a finales de abril y reveló su hallazgo el 3 de mayo.

Después de que se desató la controversia, Thompson le dijo a sus colegas y a la junta que no sabía del error hasta que este fue descubierto por Third Point. Sin embrago, el viernes, una firma de reclutamiento de ejecutivos que ubicó a Thompson en Pay Pal le dijo a la junta de Yahoo que contaba con evidencia que parecía contradecir a esas afirmaciones.

El acuerdo para que Thompson dejara Yahoo, el cual incluye un pequeño pago, fue completado el sábado, según fuentes al tanto.

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World Cafe Looks Back: Beck

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Story By: World Cafe

Beck has been an influential creative force for two decades, popular for his sharp, intelligent and often humorous lyrics. Slickly genre-hopping from punk to folk, alternative and electro, he’s put out albums both acoustic and electric, but always innovative. Today’s installment of World Cafe revisits three of his interviews from the past decade or so.

A 1999 interview finds Beck having just released his first of many Nigel Godrich-produced albums â Mutations, his sixth studio record. Next, a 2002 interview with Michaela Majoun was recorded after Beck’s emotional and personal Sea Change came out. We close with Beck’s 2007 visit to World Cafe, on the heels of his album The Information. Over the course of this hour, hear Beck discuss everything from songwriting to sampling, as well as his adolescent journey into music discovery.

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Exclusive: Tunisia licenses first Islamist Salafi party

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Exclusive: Tunisia licenses first Islamist Salafi partyTarek Amara (Reuters, May 11, 2012)

Tunis, Tunisia – Tunisia’s Islamist-led government has granted a license to a political party based on puritanical Salafi Islam for the first time in one of the most secular Arab nations, the party founder and a government source said on Friday.

While Islamists did not play a prominent role in the 2011 uprising that toppled secular dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, a struggle over the role of religion in government has since polarized politics in the North African state.

Banned under Ben Ali, who severely repressed Islamists, the moderate Islamist Ennahda party won 42 percent of seats in Tunisia’s first free election in October and now leads the government.

But ultra-conservative Salafi Islamist groups, who have pushed for the creation of an Islamic state and the imposition of sharia, or Islamic law, did not take part in that ballot.

The newly-licensed Islah (Reform) Front will be eligible to take part in parliamentary elections due next year.

Mohammed Khoja, the head of the Reform Front told Reuters his Salafists respected democracy and the civil nature of the state. “There are some religious currents that say politics is dirty and does not agree with religion,” he said by telephone.

“We say this is not true and we do not agree with them and we say Islam is a religion of freedom and democracy.”

A government source confirmed that the license had been granted in accordance with the parties law, which stipulates respect for the civil nature of the Tunisian state.

Salafis follow a strict interpretation of Islam and seek to emulate the sayings and doings of the earliest Muslims more than 1,000 years ago.

SHIFT TOWARDS ACTIVE POLITICS

Until last year, they had tended not seek a role in parliamentary politics, which many denounced as a Western import. But they have begun to shift their position in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings.

In Egypt, where protests unseated Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, Salafis have since played an active role, winning over a quarter of parliament seats and making a bid for the presidency.

In Tunisia, analysts say the rise of Ennahda, which is ruling in coalition with two secular parties, has persuaded some Islamist groups to revise their stance and enter politics.

Ennahda’s co-founder and leader, Rached al-Ghannouchi, had said previously that Salafi parties should be licensed as long as they embrace democracy, offering them a stake in the new system rather than locking them out as Ben Ali had done.

Ennahda has promised not to impose the veil or ban alcohol has many secularists had initially feared.

But secular Tunisians worry that more conservative Salafis will seek to impose their views, raising pressure on women to cover up or restaurants to stop serving wine, transforming the Mediterranean tourist destination into a religious state.

The Reform Front is expected to encourage observance of Islamic values, but by democratic means.

“We will not impose anything like clothing or anything else. Our party will be open to all Tunisians who agree with our principles, the principles of reform within the Islamic heritage,” said Khoja, whose party, like Ennahda, includes several members who were jailed under Ben Ali.

“But we will not accept any assault on our religious sacraments and we will seek to express the demands of the Muslim people.”

The new Salafi party has not yet spelled out what its election platform will be but is expected to woo voters to the right of Ennahda who are not currently represented.

Published by: WorldWide Religious News (wwrn.org)

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Xerox Shares Get a Barron's Bounce

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

SHARES OF Xerox (ticker: XRX) jumped 8% in midday trading Monday after a Barron’s story said the shares were undervalued. Investors quoted in the story said the stock could jump at least 50% in the next year, and …

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About that after-credits scene in ‘The Avengers’

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Editor’s note: Please be aware that this article may contain spoilers.

While EW confirmed that, yes, a new scene was being created, we didn’t share everything we knew because, well, … who wants to hear the punchline to a joke before the setup? Now that the movie has opened, and people are discovering the scene for themselves, we can exclusively reveal its backstory.

Read on, but only if you’ve already sat through “The Avengers” until the end of the credits (or if you’re a joyless, spoiler-craving churl.)

In true Scooby-Doo fashion, the filmmakers would have gotten away with this scheme if it hadn’t been for that meddling Robert Downey Jr., who revealed at an April 12 press conference that the superhero actors were reuniting that very night to film one last bit of footage for the movie.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige went into “Oh, that wisecracking, Robert” denial mode, and writer-director Joss Whedon did his best John Ehrlichman-during-Watergate effort to keep it under wraps, since any detail from what they were doing could ruin the fun of it.

Many who had seen “The Avengers” just days earlier couldn’t fathom the concept: Marvel was shooting a new scene two days after the Hollywood premiere? Wha ….?

Rumors that it was a coda to the movie were especially puzzling because the film already had a scene that popped up during the credits, revealing (Again: MAJOR SPOILER ALERT) the secret villain who was aiding Loki’s alien-invasion of Earth.

For those non-comic-geeks who saw this scene and had no idea who the character was (at the premiere, someone asked, “Is that Hellboy?”), we’ll direct you to this explanation from EW’s Darren Franich, and just say that he factors into Feige’s plan to explore the larger universe within “the Marvel universe” in their upcoming films.

Lo and behold, “The Avengers” did have another post-credits scene in the works, and EW learned all about it when we interviewed Whedon and the rest of the superhero cast for the exclusive roundtable discussion that would become last week’s cover story. (You can see videos from that trash-talking conversation here.)

That conversation answered a few burning questions, among them: how was Chris Evans going to recreate Captain America, since he not only had a buzz cut now (easily fixed with a wig) but he had a full beard â and still did a day after shooting? (That, obviously, is not so easily fixed.)

Last chance to get off the train before we speed fully into Spoilerville …

Still here? Okay.

So, if you’ve seen the movie, you know that in the climactic New York battle against the alien invaders Iron Man does something selfless and noble and nearly loses his life for it. As he tumbles back to Earth, he is rescued mid-plummet by the Hulk, who breaks the fall by surfing down the side of some buildings and deposits Iron Man’s limp form on the pulverized street below.

EW, coincidentally, was on the New Mexico set of the movie during filming of this scene, in which Chris Hemsworth’s Thor and Chris Evans’ Captain America rush over and Thor rips off Iron Man’s mask to reveal an unconscious Tony Stark.

In the original script (SPOILER ALERT â and, do I really need to keep saying that at this point?) the billionaire awakens with a start and asks, “What’s next?”

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But during filming, Downey is notorious for pushing for variations and felt that line could be something snappier. Whedon agreed, and penned several new versions of the scene in a notebook the day of shooting. “Peek behind the curtain,” Whedon told EW, showing us the scribbles. “It was one line â now it’s three pages.”

Those new lines were the seed that led to the last-minute scene, though no one knew that at the time â not even Whedon. Otherwise, he surely would have shot the post-credits sequence before his cast scattered and had to be reunited by the movie’s premiere.

What was in those pages? “Please tell me nobody tried to kiss me,” Stark says, looking up at a looming Thor and Cap. That line made the finished movie, but others didn’t. There were several other variations in which Stark congratulates his fellow Avengers on winning the battle, and then â realizing it’s not over yet â wearily begins making suggestions about how much time off they’re going to be owed.

The line that made the final cut was a slightly more random one: Stark learns that there is more fighting left to do, and says fine, as long as the others agree to hit a good shawarma restaurant he knows in the neighborhood. (I guess after spending all that time in the Middle East, Stark developed a taste for Arab slow-roasted meats.)

We’re not doing justice to the jokes here, but Stark’s other cracks seemed to be a little funnier than the shawarma one, which seemed a little obscure. Of course, that changes dramatically if you pay it off with a scene of Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the re-humanized Hulk all grabbing an after-work bite at said restaurant.

And that, dear readers, is what Whedon and Marvel realized after the fact, too.

When “The Avengers” is over â and we mean over-over, when the last credit has rolled â we cut to the gang sitting silently around a table, munching on pitas like any colleagues who have just put in a lot of overtime. In the background, restaurant workers quietly clean-up debris in the apocalypse-adjacent eatery.

And they say… nothing. After saving the planet, they are spent. It’s basically an awkward kind of funny.

You can find bootleg clips of the scene online, but why do that? You’ve already seen the movie, right?

Right?

Anyway …

We join “The Avengers” reunion already in progress.

It’s the day after filming the new scene â weirdly, two days after the premiere â and Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner are seated at a conference table in the Four Seasons Hotel, joking about the look of their respective LEGO figurines. Mark Ruffalo is playing “Hulk SMASH!” with a few of the Hasbro toys scattered across the table while Joss Whedon looks on. We’re waiting for the rest to arrive.

Robert Downey Jr. has just entered the room, and immediately begins mocking the prosthetic that Evans needed to hide his beard for the scene. (Evans also, you’ll notice, covers his face throughout that footage by resting his cheek against his hand.)

“Where is Chris Evans? Getting his face replaced?” Downey asks.

Movie and DVD Guide: Get the latest news, photos, and more

Evans hasn’t arrived yet, but that doesn’t hold back Downey. “Chris, why the long face? Chris, why the WRONG face?” Downey says as the other guys laugh.

Ruffalo shakes his head, his lips pursed. “Oh no …”

“I felt so bad for him!” Hemsworth says, wincing. He makes a swallowed sound, like someone trying to speak through glued-shut lips.

Downey twists his face into an Elephant Man snarl. “Hey guys, I am not an animal,” he mutters.

Pah! Out of nowhere, a rocket from an Iron Man toy fires just past Ruffalo’s head, nearly hitting the real Iron Man beside him.

“What the f–k did you just do?” Downey asks, still giddy.

“Say that to my face … my real one.”

(Photo: Zade Rosenthal)

Ruffalo is still turning over the toy, trying to figure that out. “I just shot myself,” he shrugs.

Whedon, who has been silent this whole time (making ixnay eyes because THERE’S AN EW REPORTER SITTING RIGHT THERE) finally gives up, and tells Downey: “Thank you for having every reporter ask me what we were shooting.”

“You’re welcome,” Downey says, unapologetic about revealing plans for the scene at a press conference the afternoon before.

Whedon was exaggerating, of course. Not every reporter had asked that question … yet.

“So what were you shooting today?” your friendly neighborhood EW reporter inquires.

Whedon squints his eyes, like Mr. Peabody when he’s fed up with Sherman.

Downey opens his arms. “Carnival barker!” he declares. “Last night, I just wanted to make sure the excitement was there.”

Whedon breaks into an impression of what he’s been dealing with all day: “‘So I hear you’re shooting a scene?’” he says in the voice of a curious reporter. Leaning back and twiddling his thumbs, the filmmaker offers his fake-smiley response: “‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean!’”

Then Whedon decides to tell them how it turned out. “We actually went through it as you guys left. It’s awesome. We found three bits, beginning, middle, and end, and the end one was just supreme.”

“So it’s [going to be] the last 30 seconds?” Ruffalo asks.

“They. Are. Tired,” Whedon tells him. “And then at the last second, he is just like [CHOMP],” the filmmaker says, gesturing toward Hemsworth and miming a big bite from a stuffed pita.

“I thought I might be sick, by the way,” Hemsworth says. “I ate one [pita] each take, you know! And by the end, I was like, Whooooaaa …”

“Hello, sir!” Evans says cheerfully as he enters the conference room â unaware that his prosthetic-covered lower face, and the difficulty he had speaking, are the hot topic.

“Not without my beard,” Downey says, mumbling like his jaw is wired shut.

Suddenly Renner, who has been low-key this entire time, breaks into a Chris-Evans-with-prosthetic-make-up Buffalo Bill impression from The Silence of the Lambs: “‘I’d f–k me!’”

Downey, as you can imagine, just loses it.

Evans laughs along like a good sport, but it was probably easier on him when the other Avengers had their faces stuffed with shawarma.

See the full article at EW.com.

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Combating Cyber Stick-Ups

May 15th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

“Let’s be careful out there!”

Police Desk Sergeant Phil Esterhaus uttered this cautionary exhortation to his shift during the first 3½ seasons of Hill Street Blues, the Emmy-winning police drama that ran on NBC from 1981 to 1987. I was reminded of Esterhaus’ warning last week when I read at krebsonsecurity.com that a Dominican “street gang” in New York City, believed to have breached security at credit-card giant Global Payments between January and February of this year, might actually have broken in months earlier—in June 2011. The street gang allegedly compromised 1.5 million MasterCard and Visa accounts. The final list of victims might be far higher.

Street gang? Whatever happened to those quaint zip guns? In the 21st century, thuggery has gone digital. Last year, according to the FBI, there were 314,426 Internet-crime complaints with losses of $485 million. In 2008, there were 275,284 complaints and $264 million in loses. Identity theft was the second-most-frequent type of online fraud. No. 1 involved online criminals posing as FBI agents.

No agency breaks out data for financial institutions alone, but regulators confirm that attacks are on the rise. So are attacks on bank customers. In January, the FBI warned the public about phoney e-mails from the National Automated Clearing House Association (Nacha), the Federal Reserve Bank, or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) that infect recipients’ computers with malware and allow access to their bank accounts. The malware is appropriately called “Gameover” because once it’s on your computer, it can steal all of your user names and passwords.

Bank robberies, on the other hand, are decreasing. There were 5,546, looting $43 million, in 2010, versus 6,700 and loot of $62 million in 2008. Complete data for 2011 aren’t yet available.

Governments have engaged in the dark electronic arts, too. China notoriously hacked into both the Pentagon and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

If government agencies and private institutions are vulnerable, then how safe are you and I? Might we discover one day that an angry Iran has attacked the computers holding our financial information and wiped them clean? Bank regulators assure me that customer records are safe—backed up daily off-site and instantly recoverable in the event of a disaster. The banks also are on guard against cyberattack, sharing information about attempted breaches. The U.S. Treasury’s Comptroller of the Currency employs 200 examiners who monitor cybersecurity for 1,365 national banks and 596 federal savings associations.

Of course, one can’t ever feel 100% secure. “The attackers have an advantage being on the offensive, and we constantly are learning,” says Donald Saxinger, Senior Examination Specialist for Technology Risk Management at the FDIC. “That’s why it is important to note that deposit holders are protected not just by cybersecurity. There is deposit insurance should a bank fail, and regulations to protect bank customers against unauthorized account transactions.”

In this new criminal age, consumers have a responsibility to check their accounts frequently for signs of tampering and to notify the bank immediately if something seems askew. And since attackers do have an advantage, Saxinger conceded that it wouldn’t hurt for us to print out copies of our most recent statements. After all, not even China can hack paper.

E-mail:
jim.mctague@barrons.com

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What Caused JPMorgan’s Loss Of $2 Billion?

May 14th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Story By: All Things Considered

Audie Cornish speaks with Gregory Zuckerman about one of the men behind JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion loss. He’s a special writer for The Wall Street Journal and author of The Greatest Trade Ever.

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From Minister To Atheist: A Story Of Losing Faith

May 14th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Story By: by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

Teresa MacBain walks her dog, Gracie, at a park near her Tallahassee, Fla., home. After a lifetime in the church, MacBain came out as an atheist at an American Atheists’ convention in Bethesda, Md.

Teresa MacBain’s husband, Ray MacBain, says he still believes in God but defends his wife’s right not to.

Teresa MacBain pauses while talking about her ongoing job search. She has been out of work since leaving her position as a Methodist pastor earlier this year.

Teresa MacBain makes breakfast for her son David, 22, while he is home on leave from serving in the Army. MacBain says she is still adjusting to life outside the church.

‘Life Is Just Different’

A few minutes later, Teresa MacBain goes for a drive to the church at the center of her story. She says she has butterflies â this is the first time she’s seen her church since she went public. Its 11:20 a.m., nearly time for the sermon. She’s glad she’s not inside.

“Not because of the people or anything,” she says, “but because if I were in there, I know what I’d be doing. And that would be standing up and proclaiming something that I no longer believe in. So, yeah, I’m relieved that I don’t have to do that.”

Back at home, MacBain doesn’t hesitate when she’s asked what she misses most about her old life.

“I miss the music,” she says. MacBain sang in church choirs and worship bands most of her life, and even though she no longer believes the words, she still catches herself singing praise songs.

She says she also misses the relationships â she’ll often pick up the phone to call someone, then realize she can’t. And she misses the ritual and regularity of church life.

“It’s what I know. It’s what I knew. And I still struggle with it. Life is just different,” she says.

When it’s pointed out that she hasn’t said whether or not she misses God, MacBain pauses.

“No, no,” she says. “I can’t say that I do.”

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Thousands ‘stroll’ in civic action in Russia

May 14th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 13, 2012 17:40
Updated: May 13, 2012 17:40

MOSCOW: Several prominent novelists are leading a rare unsanctioned gathering of around 10,000 people along a central boulevard in Russiaâs capital.

The gathering is just one of several impromptu protests which have taken place in Moscow since President Vladimir Putinâs inauguration Monday, which was marked by unprecedented security measures. Police detained hundreds of people who tried to get near Putinâs cortege.

Activists have also staged flash mobs across Moscow, suddenly assembling in public places where they camp and remain for the night. Many of them have been detained for taking part in an unsanctioned gathering.

The writers led what they termed a âstrollâ Sunday, defending peopleâs rights to gather on the streets without authoritiesâ permission. None of the marchers chanted slogans, or carried posters as has been the case in previous events.

Around 400 people were arrested at an unsanctioned rally last Sunday.

Trade courtroom for fiction

May 14th, 2012 | Author: Zach Richards

Clark published her first novel, “Guilt by Association,” last year to strong sales and positive reviews. It featured Rachel Knight, a strong-willed deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, with a deep sense of justice and a bit of a rebellious streak. Sound like anyone familiar?

Now Rachel Knight returns in “Guilt by Degrees,” which hits book stores May 8. This time out Rachel is looking for a homeless man’s killer. In her investigation she uncovers a connection to the brutal murder of a Los Angeles police officer. As Rachel gets closer to the truth, she becomes the target of a cunning psychopath.

Given her background, it’s no surprise that Clark’s writing crackles with authenticity. The courtroom exchanges in her latest novel are crisp and brimming with tension. The lawyers, cops and bad guys feel real. The story is fast-paced and will keep readers interested to the end.

While Clark closed the door on her career as a prosecutor, she continues to stay active with the law by working on appellate court cases. She’s also a frequent legal commentator and analyst for several TV networks, including CNN, but Clark says writing has become her real passion. She recently talked to CNN from her home in Los Angeles. The following is an edited transcript:

CNN: I understand you’re a longtime fan of crime fiction. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Clark: This has been a lifelong addiction for me. It started with Nancy Drew. She was my hero. I loved reading those stories. When I was 10 or 11 I cracked her code. I figured out the formula that every time her dad went out of town she caught a case. I was still fascinated. Then I graduated into crime fiction of the adult variety. I was so addicted that even when I was a prosecutor I was reading murder mysteries, authors like James Ellroy and watching “Law & Order,” as well as doing it for real all day long. So that’s obsessed.

CNN: It seems like you share a lot in common with your heroine, Rachel Knight. How autobiographical are your books?

Clark: I share traits in common with all the characters. I don’t know if there’s a way to avoid putting yourself into each and every character, the bad guys as well as the good ones. I’d like to try because I certainly don’t want the book to be about me, but it is about a female prosecutor so there’s going to be things in common. I was only conscious of giving her my bad traits. I think of Rachel as being so much better than me, with the exception of the places where she’s like me and then she’s not so good.

CNN: How did being a prosecutor help you in becoming a writer?

Clark: First of all, the experience of meeting the kind of people that you meet being a criminal attorney, whether its prosecutor or defense attorney, is unmatchable. There’s nothing like it. There’s no duplicating that in any other job or career. You run into worlds of people you would never ordinarily meet. That gives you a sense of the kinds of characters that are out there. As a criminal lawyer, especially as a prosecutor, you have to be able to tell a story and put that story together as cogently as possible and then try to present it as cogently as possible. You do set up a case with the idea in mind that you’re going to be telling a story as effectively, as comprehensively, and as dramatically as you can. Now judges can get in the way of that, every time an objection gets sustained and every time you get a bad ruling things can go awry. You can’t control it all, but you try.

CNN: What kind of feedback have you had from other lawyers?

Clark: From what I’ve heard so far they agree that it feels spot on. What I was trying to do was capture more than the technical and procedural details, because sometimes I had to bend those rules, shorten time frames and things like that. If I have to start talking about the backlog at the crime lab or how long it takes to get a rape kit tested — snore! I need to tighten that up and make it sound like we can get our results as fast as we wish we could. Other than that, I wanted to share the feeling of camaraderie among prosecutors and police officers, the kind of humor they share, their dialogue, the way they’re always needling each other, messing with each other, that kind of sense of sharing a world together, I wanted to convey that feeling. The people who have read the books who are in the business tell me it feels very real.

CNN: Do you miss your days in court?

Clark: I get as much as I want from doing appellate work. I handle criminal appeals. That’s something you can do from home. You review transcripts for technical errors and you write briefs, so it’s all written. It keeps me up to speed with how cases are being tried today, as opposed to back when I was in court. It keeps me up to speed with the technology they’re using in courtrooms, the kinds of crimes that are being prosecuted, the kinds of criminals that are coming through. So it keeps me fresh that way. I really don’t miss the trials and courtroom appearances.

CNN: As a legal analyst, I expect you’re following the Trayvon Martin case. What’s your take?

Clark: I would expect now what’s going to happen is this is going to go away for quite some time. If I’m a defense attorney what I want is for everybody to calm down, go away and forget about the case and let tempers cool. Because right now it’s still very hot, there’s a lot of hard feelings and emotion in the air. That’s the last thing the defense wants if you go to trial under these circumstances. So, I would expect the defense to do everything they can to delay the trial and it wouldn’t surprise me if it took at least a year to get into court.

CNN: Is this a case you would have wanted to prosecute?

Clark: I can’t say there’s any case I look at and say, “Gee, I wish I was the prosecutor.” I’m really done. I’ve really closed that door.

CNN: What’s next for you?

Clark: I’m sticking with the books. I’m wrapping up book three right now and then jumping into book four. I just want to continue the Rachel Knight series and focus on that because I’m really loving it. I just know if I had to stop writing Rachel, I’d miss her!

Connect with Marcia Clark on her website.

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