Small businesses, beware the Office 365 fine print
By Ed Bott | October 21, 2011, 3:00am PDT
Summary: If you sign your small business up with Office 365, make sure you read the fine print carefully. An obscure clause in the terms of service limits the number of recipients youre allowed to contact in a day. As one reader discovered, the effect can be very bad for business.
Morality is the bedrock of human development.
This is like no other subject that is known to man. It is the lubricant of human relationships and progress. It shapes the extent to which society is able to be united, strong, stable, secure, free and prosperous.
When immorality invades a nation, instability beckons. Uncertainty replaces certainty, wickedness replaces righteousness, injustice replaces justice, greed becomes a virtue, inequalities in society become more glaring, honesty becomes a frowned-upon value and corruption becomes the main currency in human interactions.
When this happens, a nation’s moral account is depleted of values such as honesty, care, integrity, respect, transparency, industry, personal responsibility and patriotism. At that point, such a nation is morally in deficit or in the red and on its way to moral decline. A moral deficit situation incapacitates a nation whose nationals then fail to exhibit moral values in their dealings and relationships.
Such a state of affairs breeds more greed, delivery of sub-standard services, conflicts, public anger and more poverty. The biggest threat to Uganda’s transformation is evident when she gets herself marred in the quagmire of immorality.
There is a view that our nation is currently witnessing an unprecedented level of degradation of her moral standards and values and that consequently, a mist of immorality is fast descending upon Uganda.
This is in the wake of an ongoing battle for the soul of Uganda between moralists and immoralists. The latter are having a field day seeking to knock down whatever is of God in favour of what is not. As a consequence, our nation is heaving and sighing under the full weight of the immorality juggernaut.
This is what is causing my heart to be burdened by the state of our nation’s moral health. Recent revelations on CHOGM and Uganda’s oil have brought to the fore a real threat to Uganda. Supremely selfish acts by officials to steal or be bribed funds which are the equivalent of many years of several districts’ annual budgets in one go smacks of treachery of a new kind that our nation has not seen since Uganda became a sovereign state.
This kind of evil is a threat to Uganda’s stability, peace, unity and prosperity. Its perpetrators should be dealt with harshly by the law. They should also be held in contempt and isolated by Ugandans. They qualify to be regarded as Uganda’s enemy number one!
The future of our great nation is worrying.
What were considered as obscenities, indecent behaviour or abominations yesterday are now being argued to be a ‘human right.’ Take the case of pornography. It is the most extreme form of human depravity ever known to man. In our nation, it is now hell-bent on overthrowing morality and replacing it with an amorality that hides behind the desire for choices.
Nowadays, it is a ‘human right’ to be immoral!
Just yesterday, a person had to go out of his way to find pornography. Today, Ugandans are going out of their way to avoid it. Concerned parents are sounding an alarm, decrying the fact that they can no longer protect their children from the pornography industry. They helplessly see it invading our society and slithering onto our streets and into the living rooms of this nation as radio, computer, satellite and video porn with vengeance.
It is to be regretted that some sections of our media and entertainment industry have proved to be unworthy of our nation’s dignity. They are continuing to brazenly splash lewd material and lurid pictures and headlines on television screens and in public places even when majority of Ugandans find this repulsive and offensive.
Our government’s efforts to insist on the good instead of the bad are receiving a knock from apologists and advocates of immorality. Uganda’s sovereignty is no longer respected. Rather worryingly, officials that should check this moral attrition against our nation are gripped with fear lest they antagonise powerful interests who are seeking to overthrow the moral order that has so far served our nation well.
The buck stops with the government which bears the biggest responsibility for determining the moral tenor of the nation as well as keeping Uganda’s moral account in the black. It has the means to shield the nation from ravages of moral depravity.
This is my suggestion. Given the centrality of morality in human development, our government should regard morality as a supremely critical development issue which should attract the biggest share of our national budget.
The author is Executive Director, Institute of Development Studies (U).
As a student of the Oriental Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University, Najma Akhter was fascinated with Bengali women in their many moods, human relationships and nature as subjects. She did many paintings in the oriental style — featuring Bengali women in traditional avatar. At one stage, Akhter realised that the confines of oriental art were not suitable for her modern sensibilities. She made a transition from oriental to abstract art in 2003. This was a new world of lines, colours, forms and texture — an imaginative and cerebral realm. Initially, Akhter was a little confused about her paintings where colours and forms were the main elements. However, when she exhibited her paintings for the first time at a gallery in Dhaka, critics and art enthusiasts appreciated the works.
Najma Akhters latest solo exhibition, titled ?Escaping Shadows?, is now on at Zainul Gallery, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka.
The painter has been seemingly inspired by nature. She understands nature and its varied elements appear to her in a vibrant way. Her works appear as pieces of land where she cultivates her desires, bliss and yearning.
One could be easily drawn to Akhters works, as the mood is relaxed and uncluttered. Figures appear in a number of her paintings, but they do so in a sublime manner. It is obvious that the painter has experimented with layers of colours and tonality. Akhter seems to be quite conscious about the use of space in her paintings. The colours involved are blue, crimson, yellow, emerald green and black.
The artist says: ?I can best express myself in paintings, especially through the modes of semi-abstract and pure abstract. I choose my subjects from the surroundings — it could be any experience.?
At present, the painter likes to work in acrylic, in which she finds a taste of serenity. The medium helps her work promptly and she can meticulously shape her forms and compositions.
Considering the works at the current exhibition, its apparent that the painter likes to play with texture. She feels that it has happened unintentionally. Her works look mature. Another aspect of Akhters work is her demonstration of the aesthetic elements.
The exhibition will continue till October 25.
For Iowa City restauranteur Jim Mondanaro, feeding the massive crowds that filter through his restaurants on homecoming weekend is something of an art.
That means offering specials that don?t take long to make ? prime rib for example ? and getting tables in and out in 90 to 110 minutes.
?That doesn?t mean we go up there with a shotgun and tell them, ?You have to leave,?? he said, ?but you?re just busy.?
Sales typically double on homecoming weekend compared to other weekends, said Mondanaro, who owns five restaurants in Iowa City, including Joseph?s Steakhouse and the Bread Garden.
When the big weekend comes, Mondanaro does what most restaurant owners do to prepare: staff more people than usual, stock more ingredients than usual and go over a jam-packed reservation list.
?It books pretty solid on homecoming weekend,? Mondanaro said, adding that each of his restaurants already has hundreds of reservations.
The University of Iowa?s homecoming is no small event in Iowa City. Alumni travel from across the country to see the Hawkeye football game, and this year?s 11 am game against Indiana University is sure to be no exception.
The average Big Ten conference home football game brings as much as $15.5 million into the local economy, and homecoming will be right around there, said Josh Schamberger, president of the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. The average home football season has a $100 million economic impact locally, he said.
For businesses, that means tons of preparation in order to capitalize on the huge influx of potential customers. It helps that the crowd is a bit different than that of an average football game. More of the fans are older alumni with a higher disposable income.
Doug Alberhasky, store manager at John?s Grocery, stocks the cooler with ?a lot of the micros and less of the macros.? He said he sells less Keystone Light and more Millstream. Wine is also a hot seller on homecoming.
?It?s definitely more of an upscale weekend,? he said, adding that there?s a lot of third-generation fans in town ? grandparents, parents, even young children. ?When you have multiple generations, people tend to be a little bit more responsible.?
At the end of the day, any smart business owner is going to embrace the football culture and market to the masses, said Mark Ginsberg, owner of MC Ginsberg, an upscale jeweler in downtown Iowa City.
?Those who remain open, those who program their marketing and outside events to these specific programs ? athletics or cultural ? I think will reap the benefits,? Ginsberg said. ?It?s silly not to take advantage of the leverage the university creates for us as private citizens.?
Ginsberg sent invites to his customers to come into the shop during homecoming weekend for an open house and enjoy wine and live music. In the past, alumni in town for homecoming have popped in his store and purchased expensive items.
Hotels cash in big, too. All 2,700 rooms in the area were booked well before the weekend, Schamberger said. That?s a far cry from, say, Ohio State, in a city with 27,000 rooms, he said. For that reason, Schamberger said he tells people, ?Every year when you check out, make a reservation for the following year.?
Businesses generally pay close attention to what time of day the game is and which team is playing the Hawkeyes. For dinner places, a 1 pm or 2:30 pm game is ideal, because they get full lunch and dinner crowds, but a 6 pm game would clean some places out.
At the same time, ?11 o?clock games don?t do anything for lunch business,? Mondanaro said.
Alberhasky agreed.
?It doesn?t do anybody a lot of good in business for the early games,? he said. ?With late games, people tend to linger a bit more and make a full day of it.?
By Sue Newman October 22 2011
At an age when many men were thinking of taking it easy, Leslie Smart started a new career.
The gentle days of retirement werent for him when he hit 65; doing nothing was a surefire path to boredom, he said.
Instead, Smart decided to sign on as a harness racing trainer and while he might not be one of the big guns in the standardbred world, he does what he does for sheer enjoyment and the odd bit of spending money in stakes.
He might have been a latecomer to training, but hed been around the industry for years, working with his son and investing his hard earned cash in the odd horse or two.
I was getting near retirement age and wondered what I was going to do.
I thought to myself, you cant play bowls all the time so I decided to get myself a horse and get my trainers license, he said.
That was about eight years ago and now Smart says he doesnt have time for bowls.
His two horses keep him busy and its a kind of busyness he loves.
Monday is a big day on the Ashburton Trotting Clubs calendar with its high stakes Labour Day meeting and its a big day for Smart as well.
Hes lining up his much loved I Am Amy in race one and while the six-year-old is working well, he knows shell be up against some top opposition.
Shes drawn two, next to hot favourite, the Mark Purdon trained Smolda.
That wont bother Amy, he said.
Shes good from a standing start and likes to make the pace early on.
And while she might not have the most impeccable form, shes notched up a win and given Smart around $11,000 in race day earnings.
I am Amy will be driven by junior driver Tim Williams.
He wont be putting the house on his horse winning, but she could run in a tidy place, he said.
Shes a funny wee thing. When shes tied up in the stalls at the races, she throws her head around. Shes working pretty good, but shes not a world beater.
Smarts a two horse trainer, with his unraced three year old Riverboat Princess just coming into work.
When he leased the filly she came with the unflattering name Ratso.
That was no name for a lady, he decided, and promptly made the change.
Now, with the princess just coming back into work, hes hoping she rewards him with some good performances on track.
He might have only two in work, but two horses are enough to keep him busy and at the stables every day.
I dont know a hell of a lot about this really, but I do know, if I was paying trainers fees I wouldnt be doing this.
Yes, hes probably covered his costs over the eight years hes been training, but for him, training is more about enjoying his horses and spending his days doing something he loves.
Mondays race day has attracted very strong fields, with a lineup of New Zealand Trotting Cup contenders in the feature race, $60,000 RX Plastics Flying Stakes.
The other big race on the cards, The Pres Ashburton Trotters Flying Mile has also attracted a full field of top horses.
First race at the Labour Day meeting is .
Pictured: Leslie Smart and I Am Amy, talking tactics ahead of the Ashburton Trotting Clubs Labour Day race meeting.
Photo Kirsty Graham
Week 2
Pastimes 8, B J Ryans 0
Justin Floody of Pastimes threw a 50-yard bomb to Abe Prior for the games only touchdown. Pastimes got its other two points on a safety.
Jamie Ireland and Demott Battle had interceptions and Ireland had a sack for Pastimes (2-0).
Freeman Hardason had a pair of sacks for B J Ryans (0-1).
Tucci Lumber 16
Fairfield County Vending 6
Tucci Lumber quarterback Tom Taliercio completed a pass to Pat Moffit for a touchdown. A safety gave Tucci two more points and an 8-0 lead at the half.
In the second half, quarterback Ben Slutsky of Fairfield County Vending hooked up with Vinny Derosa for a 35-yard touchdown pass. Ryan Mitchell of Tucci Lumber finished off the scoring, connecting with Jerry Boggs on a 40-yard TD past. Mitchell ran in the point after.
Taliercio and Pete Tucci each had a sack; Brian Taliercio had a pair of sacks, and Moffit had an interception for the winners (1-1).
Dwayne Johnson had a sack, and Derosa, Matt Murray and James Gary had interceptions for Fairfield County Vending (0-2).
Black Bear 16, AK 47 0
Quarterback Ricky Lindstrom of Black Bear hit Dan Taylor with a 35-yard touchdown pass. Drew Smith caught the PAT. Smith also had a 1-yard touchdown run, and Matt Petrini hit Shawnelle Philo for the extra point.
Joey Smith had a pair of sacks and an interception for Black Bear (2-0).
Lou Inforado had two sack and Kevin Soderstrom one for AK 47 (0-2)
Gingerman . . .
raquo; continued on next page raquo;
The accordion stylings of longtime Museum Arts Center member and volunteer Helen Bucher (pictured) and Elsy Laresser will fill the MAC Exhibit Center, 175 W. Cedar St. in Sequim, on Friday, Sept. 23, during an after-hours reception and “Pastimes” history exhibit opening for MAC members. Photo by Renee Mizar
A young single friend mentioned recently that marriage, that most intimate of human relationships, sounds like “work,” so why bother?
It seems to me a lot of people, young and old, are asking exactly that. It’s likely one reason why marriage rates around the world are plummeting, including in the United States.
Couples are still “coupling,”
of course; they are just increasingly living together without being married. That, in turn, allows a person to walk away from a troubled relationship more easily than one can today walk away from a marriage.
Consider that in almost anything in life, we hold most dear what we have invested in the most heavily. What has “cost” us. Who goes to medical school thinking, “I know it will be a piece of cake, and that will make it worth it”? Does anyone come back from the gym and say, “I didn’t work out very hard at all — I feel great”?
We would find such things silly. But, suddenly, when it comes to relationships in general, and marriage in particular, we get scared off by the work involved.
When a man and a woman come together in matrimony, they are starting from a point of being very different. That’s a gift! When you strive to serve and understand and appreciate and have patience with someone who is innately so different, your own soul can expand in a way it might never do otherwise.
What an amazing opportunity so many people miss when they live together without marriage so they can easily walk away if things get rough.
It seems we have fewer opportunities than ever for permanent relationships. Marriage aside, members of extended families — in which one could surely experience the gift of complicated, enduring relationships — now often don’t live near each other, so there’s no need to interact much. People often choose to have fewer and, increasingly, no children, perhaps because it’s “easier” that way. And on it goes.
Of course, I’m all for joyful, fun relationships. They can be a taste of heaven. But the conflict and just the complexity of permanent relationships can be a gift, too.
Yet in so many ways we can and do avoid the work of relationships today. What’s interesting is that I sure don’t notice a culture of people happier for it. Maybe it’s that without the work of relationships, it’s just easier to live selfishly today than it used to be.
Well, it seems to me no irony that that is a taste of paradise lost.
Scripps Howard News Service
Two
days ago, as Right-Wing Watch reported,
leading tea party group Tea Party Nation sent a message to its members calling
for a strike of American small businesses against the movement for global
socialism. Activist Melissa Brookstone wrote:
I, an American small business owner, part of
the class that produces the vast majority of real, wealth producing jobs in
this country, hereby resolve that I will not hire a single person until this
war against business and my country is stopped.I hereby declare that my job creation
potential is now ceased.Im on strike!
On
the heels of this initiative to pressure companies not to hire employees, Fox
is complaining about a company trying to help unemployed Americans find jobs:
Fox linked to a report by The Hill that referred to a partnership Facebook has struck with the Obama
administration to offer employment resources to Americans:
[Labor Secretary Hilda] Solis said the goal
of the partnership is to connect employers with people looking for employment.
The initiative will allow the Labor Department to provide information and
resources to the millions of users on Facebook, Solis said.[...]
As part of the partnership, Facebook created
a Social Jobs Partnership page to provide job information and
resources to users. Think of this as a free online job fair that can be
accessed seven days a week, day or night, said Marne Levine, Facebooks
vice president of global public policy.The page will offer Labor Department
resources, including job listings and job search services, along with resources
from partnering nonprofits.Facebook will target public announcements to
users in the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates and Puerto Rico. The
announcements will include information about job resources available in the
users area.Levine also said Facebook plans to invest in
developing new social technologies to help people find jobs.
Fox
later changed its headline to read: Facebook and Obama Join Forces Again.
As
weve noted, and as Fox News own Bob
Beckel pointed out yesterday,
Fox News relentlessly promoted the tea party movement in 2009.
Stockpiles at U.S. Companies Increase 0.5% as Autos Rebound
October 14, 2011, 10:22 AM EDT
More From Businessweek
By Bob Willis and Timothy R. Homan
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Inventories at U.S. companies rose more than forecast in August as businesses anticipated faster growth in sales.
The 0.5 percent increase in stockpiles matched the advance in July that was larger than initially estimated, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. The median projection in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 0.4 percent advance. Sales climbed 0.3 percent in August.
The biggest jump in auto and parts stockpiles in more than a year signals supply-chain constraints from Japan’s March disaster have abated. The gain in goods on hand also indicates companies are prepared for improving demand after a report today showed retail sales rose more than forecast in September, easing concern slumping confidence and scant hiring will derail spending.
“Businesses haven’t lost heart, they are just using their heads,” David Semmens, a U.S. economist at Standard Chartered Bank in London, said before the report.
Estimates for stockpiles ranged from gains of 0.1 percent to 0.8 percent in the Bloomberg News survey of 49 economists. July stockpiles were revised from a previously reported 0.4 percent advance.
Purchases at retailers advanced 1.1 percent in September, the biggest in seven months, other Commerce Department figures showed today. The median forecast of 85 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.7 percent rise last month.
A report from the Labor Department showed prices of imported goods unexpectedly rose in September, reflecting a jump in metals and higher costs of crude oil that have since receded. The 0.3 percent gain followed a revised 0.2 percent decrease in August.
Retail Inventories
Retailers’ inventories, the only part of today’s stockpile report not previously released, climbed 0.8 percent in August, the most in five months, as sales increased 0.3 percent.
Auto and parts stockpiles increased 1.5 percent, the biggest gain since August 2010.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest car maker, is ramping up its U.S. inventory levels to catch up with demand after plant shutdowns earlier in the year due to Japan’s March earthquake.
“Virtually all of our plants are working overtime, and fourth quarter production will actually exceed our initial plans,” U.S. sales vice president Bob Carter said on an Oct. 3 conference call. “The flow of Toyota, Scion, and Lexus vehicles is rapidly increasing and so will all our inventories.”
Factory inventories, which comprise about 38 percent of total stockpiles, grew 0.4 percent in August, the Commerce Department said Oct. 4. Another 30 percent of inventories, held by wholesalers, grew 0.4 percent during the month, figures showed Oct. 7.
Goods on Hand
At the current sales pace, businesses had enough goods on hand to last 1.28 months in August, the same as in the prior month, according to today’s figures.
The economy expanded at a 1.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter after growing at a 0.4 percent pace in the first three months of this year, the weakest six-month period of the recovery that began in June 2009. Stockpiles subtracted 0.3 percentage point from gross domestic product in the second quarter, while in the prior quarter they added 0.3 point, Commerce Department figures showed on Sept. 29.
–Editor: Carlos Torres
To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Willis in Washington at bwillis@bloomberg.net; Timothy R. Homan in Washington at thoman1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net
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