Adele-2012 Grammy Performance – Video
Posted: February 14, 2012 at 1:02 am
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Adele-2012 Grammy Performance - Video
The Body Project – Video
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The Body Project - Video
Strong commenter opinions on evaluation, salary of two-year college chancellor Freida Hill
Posted: at 1:02 am
Birmingham News reporter Marie Leech reported Sunday that the Alabama Board of Education will discuss two-year college Chancellor Freida Hill's future at an upcoming meeting after an evaluation showed the board is sharply divided over her performance.
Of the nine board members, four -- Ella Bell, Stephanie Bell, Betty Peters and Dr. Charles Elliott -- gave Hill many low marks on an evaluation that rates her in dozens of categories grouped into four sections: goals, personal qualities, performance and key job responsibilities, and relations with the public.
Hill began the job in December 2009, and her three-year contract expires Nov. 30. According to her contract, Hill receives an annual salary of $289,900, as well as the use of a car and a housing allowance of $24,000 a year. She also can earn up to $15,000 a year in performance bonuses, but has not received any bonuses since joining the system.
Go here to read the board's evaluation and the full story.
Here are some reader comments on the story:
doddfrank:
Those giving her low grades are probably just parroting what some of the two-year college presidents have been saying. The presidents want it to go back to the way it was before when they had more control and had some money to spread around at their discretion.
testerman:
Surely there are more qualified individuals who would be willing to work for half she is paid. What on earth has she done to deserve that much public money ? If she is getting exceptional results by all means give her big bucks, but it looks like she is mediocre at best.
sixpetdad:
Look at who ranked her lower and you get a good picture of what is going on. Stephanie Bell and Ella Peters consistently oppose efforts to move education forward in this state. Hill should highlight their disapproval as a bullet point on her resume. The fact they don't like her raises her several notches in my estimation.
5000Names:
I disagree with you 100%. If Ella Bell and Stephanie Bell both gave her a low performance, that should tell us VOLUMES about her work performance.
And personally I believe that if she can't afford a house payment out of $289,000 a year why is she in charge of ANYTHING? Cut the housing allowance. Now.
RIALgal:
I don't know anything about Chancellor Hill, her qualifications, or her job performance so I have no opinion about the evaluation. What I do know, however, is that (according to this article) she is the sixth person to hold this position in as many years. Something's wrong somewhere for that kind of turnover. Whatever that problem is needs to be fixed before anyone will have success.
John:
I know Dr. Hill to be an outstanding person who has only the best interests of the Alabama System at heart. I have known her for many years and those of you that are commenting negatively absolutely do not know what you are talking about. Alabama's system can never go back to the days of old. No one should want that. This person is a professional and I am sure that some of the decisions that she makes do not satisfy people who are used to the old corrupt system. These folks should check their ego and if they cannot be loyal they should do the honorable thing and resign. Local politicians should reach out and try to not take every little thing as a slight. After all you are the representative of the people and not the king or queen of the area you represent. Alabama is fortunate to have this person.
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Strong commenter opinions on evaluation, salary of two-year college chancellor Freida Hill
Personal Assets Tst. – Interim Management Statement
Posted: at 1:02 am
Personal Assets Trust plc
Interim Management Statement
For the Three Month Period from 1 November (Stuttgart: A0Z24E - news) 2011 to 31 January 2012
Investment Objective
Personal Assets is an investment trust run expressly for private investors. Its capital (Berlin: 3IF.BE - news) structure is the simplest possible for an investment trust, consisting only of ordinary shares. Its (Euronext: ALITS.NX - news) investment objective is to protect and increase (in that order) the value of shareholders' funds over the long term and to earn as high a total return as is compatible with a risk equivalent to that of the FTSE All-Share Index. Since Personal Assets invests for the long term, the Board assesses performance not annually at the end of each accounting year but over rolling three-year periods.
We aim to pay as high, secure and sustainable a dividend as is compatible with maintaining our investment flexibility. Our policy is for the present dividend rate to grow over the long term in real terms relative to both the Retail Price Index and the Consumer Price Index and never to cut the dividend rate, so shareholders know that each payment will at least equal the previous one.
The Board's policy is to ensure that the shares of Personal Assets always trade at close to NAV.
Performance Summary
As at
31 January
2012
As at
31 October
2011
Movement
Market capitalisation
£434.7m
£393.4m
10.5%
Shareholders' funds
£425.9m
£383.9m
10.9%
Effective liquidity (1)
51.0%
50.4%
-
Share price
£342.10
£336.80
1.6%
Net (Frankfurt: A0Z22E - news) asset value per share
£335.20
£328.67
2.0%
Premium to NAV
2.1%
2.5%
-
FTSE All-Share (FTSE: ^FTAS - news) index
2,932.91
2,860.86
2.5%
(1)Includes holding in physical gold bullion of 14.7% at 31 January 2012 (31 October 2011: 12.9%).
Period Review and Material Events
Economic growth has surprised on the downside in Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURUSD - news) , the UK and in a number of emerging economies. The US's performance has been marginally better, although not as good as the consensus had hoped. 2011 was a year of realisation. Investors entered the year full of optimism of a sustained economic recovery which had begun in mid-2009. We have been very sceptical of the recovery as it was based on unsustainable monetary and fiscal stimuli. As fiscal policy reversed, the underlying weakness of the economy was revealed. Gradually there was recognition that 'balance sheet' recessions take far longer to recover from as the drag of deleveraging takes effect.
The New Year's optimism reminds us of that old phrase of the famous baseball coach, Yogi Berra; "Its déjà vu all over again". The start of 2012 feels alarmingly familiar and that's because it is ― 2010 and 2011 began in similar ways with over optimism and renewed faith that policymakers would address the threats of excessive sovereign credit. As we enter 2012, there is renewed expectation of economic recovery. This may be yet another triumph of hope over experience.
Valuations look less than compelling to us with the UK stock market yielding less than 3.3%. Added to this, historic earnings on which these valuations are based may be highly misleading, as they have been flattered by unsustainable credit growth at the government, corporate and consumer levels. The pain of deleveraging, felt first by banks and highly geared companies a few years ago, is now emerging in unfamiliar and supposedly safe places.
The profits warning from Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) in January provided evidence that even the strong were beginning to suffer from lower demand. It may come as a surprise to some that in this case we were guilty of over optimism, when we are well known for our caution. Tesco's challenges are a microcosm of the new economic reality we face in a post 2008 world. Consumer and business demand is re-adjusting, which will be a prolonged and painful process, and as result we will need to tread with even greater care. As noted earlier, our fear at the start of 2012 is that history will repeat itself. We are positioned accordingly.
Our reluctance to be seen doing something for the sake of being seen to do something meant that the portfolio underwent very few changes over the course of the three months under review.
During the period we acquired one new holding. Agnico-Eagle (SES: E2:E04.SI - news) is a gold miner operating in Canada, Finland and Mexico. Until recently it was the darling of the sector, with strong production growth forecast for the next five years. The initial appeal to us was the location of its assets in territories that traditionally respect the rights of private property ownership. However, a high valuation had always put us off. 2011 was an annus horribilis for Agnico. It has suffered material interruptions to production at two of its six operating mines, which has led to the shares more than halving from their 2011 peak. The share price is back to where it was in 2007, when Agnico was producing just 20 per cent of the gold it is mining today.
Over the three months ended 31 January 2012 the Company issued 102,362 Ordinary shares for a total consideration of £34.4 million, representing 8.8% of the Ordinary shares in issue at the beginning of the period.
On 24 November 2011 the Company announced a third interim dividend of £1.40 per share. This was paid to shareholders on 20 January 2012. On 26 January 2012 the Company announced a fourth interim dividend of £1.40 per share. This will be paid to shareholders on 20 April 2012.
Top Ten Equity Holdings as at 31 January 2012
Company
Percentage of shareholders' funds
Percentage of equity exposure
British American Tobacco
4.3
8.8
Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - news)
4.0
8.2
Coca Cola (NYSE: KO - news)
3.2
6.5
Nestle (BSE: NESTLE.BO - news)
3.2
6.5
Philip Morris International
2.7
5.5
Diageo (Other OTC: DGEAF.PK - news)
2.6
5.3
GlaxoSmithKline (Other OTC: GLAXF.PK - news)
2.5
5.1
Becton Dickinson (NYSE: BDX - news)
2.4
4.9
Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news)
2.3
4.7
Imperial Oil (Toronto: IMO.TO - news)
2.3
4.7
Other equities (11)
19.5
39.8
Total (Other OTC: TTFNF.PK - news)
49.0
100.0
Geographical Analysis as at 31 January 2012
Country
Percentage of shareholders' funds
UK equity exposure
20.3
US equities
20.3
Canadian equities
3.3
European equities
3.2
Australian equities
1.9
Liquidity
51.0
Total
100.0
Sector Distribution as at 31 January 2012
Sector
Percentage of shareholders' funds
Oil ∓ Gas
2.3
Basic Materials (Madrid: ESI500200000.MA - news)
5.0
Consumer Goods
19.8
Health Care
7.1
Consumer Services
3.2
Telecom (Stuttgart: 882336 - news)
2.0
Utilities (Santiago: UTILITIES.SN - news)
2.3
Financials (Euronext: IXEFI.NX - news)
1.7
Technology
5.6
Liquidity
51.0
Total
100.0
Additional Information
Further information regarding the Company, including Quarterly Reports and Investment Plan documents can be obtained from the Company's website http://www.patplc.co.uk or from Steven Budge, Personal Assets Trust plc, 10 St. Colme Street, Edinburgh EH3 6AA. Telephone: 0131 538 6605.
Email: steven.budge@patplc.co.uk
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Personal Assets Tst. - Interim Management Statement
Dolly Parton Reacts To Jennifer Hudson's 'I Will Always Love You' Performance
Posted: at 1:02 am
Nary was a dry eye left in the house inside Staples Center on Sunday night, when Jennifer Hudson took the stage to perform "I Will Always Love You" as a tribute to Whitney Houston.
But the performance was increasingly personal for one fellow music icon, who has a special connection to that song - Dolly Parton.
PLAY IT NOW: LA Coroner’s Press Conference: What Killed Whitney Houston? (February 13, 2012)
"I was brought to tears again last night, as I'm sure many were, when Jennifer Hudson sang 'I Will Always Love You' on the Grammys in memory of Whitney," Dolly - who originally the song in 1974 - said in a statement to Access Hollywood on Monday.
Although Whitney brought the song to new heights when she recorded it for "The Bodyguard" soundtrack in 1992, with the track spending an astounding 14 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, it was Dolly who originally wrote the song in June 1973 for her longtime partner & mentor Porter Wagoner - achieving her own chart success, hitting #1 twice with the song on the Billboard country charts.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Grammys 2012: Inside The Show
"Like everybody else, I am still in shock. But I know that Whitney will live forever in all the great music that she left behind. I will always have a very special piece of her in the song we shared together and had the good fortune to share with the world," Dolly's statement continued. "Rest in peace, Whitney. Again, we will always love you."
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Dolly Parton Reacts To Jennifer Hudson's 'I Will Always Love You' Performance
Personal success comes with a FEA: Have you paid? – Video
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Personal success comes with a FEA: Have you paid? - Video
How Do You Spell SUCCESS?
Posted: at 1:02 am
PHOENIX, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sweaty palms, memory lapses, indigestion, crying, headaches, and fainting. While they aren't symptoms of a mysterious tropical disease, they are experienced by countless school children in the classroom - all in the name of education. The cause? Let's call it Spelling Bee-itis.
Spelling Bees are a long-standing and important tradition in our educational system. Each year, thousands of elementary and middle school children study wood roots, definitions, spelling and etymologies countless hours; all for the honor of being crowned their school's spelling champ. M&I, a part of BMO Financial Group, announces that it has continued its multi-year support of the Yavapai County Spelling Bee with sponsorship of this week's county event held in Prescott. The winner of the state spelling bee will travel to Washington D.C. later this year to participate in the 85th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, where last year's winner took home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
"Providing our young people a quality education is a critical component to their success as an adult," said Steve Johnson, Arizona Regional President, M&I, a part of BMO Financial Group. "Programs such as the Yavapai County Spelling Bee help enforce a number of life skills in addition to improving the child's spelling skills. BMO Harris is pleased to continue our financial funding of this event and the part it plays in support of our educational system."
About BMO Harris Bank N.A.
Based in Chicago, BMO Harris Bank N.A. provides a broad range of personal banking products and solutions through approximately 700 branches and approximately 1,350 ATMs in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. BMO Harris Bank's commercial banking team provides a combination of sector expertise, local knowledge and mid-market focus throughout the U.S. Deposit and loan products and services provided by BMO Harris Bank N.A. Member FDIC. BMO Harris Bank(SM) and M&I® and Harris® are trade names used by BMO Harris Bank N.A. BMO Harris Bank is part of BMO Financial Group, a North American financial organization with 1,600 branches, and a retail deposit base of approximately $180 billion.
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How Do You Spell SUCCESS?
Facebook's success: It's about making people feel better
Posted: at 1:02 am
Among the fascinating outgrowths of the Facebook phenomenon are the psychological studies on what Facebook tells us about human behavior. One new study, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, suggests that people experience an uptick in mood when they are on social networking sites.
In the study, researchers exposed 30 healthy people to a slide show, the person's own Facebook account or a mathematical test. During each three-minute exposure, the participants underwent tests to measure several physiological processes, such as brain-wave activity, blood flow, pulse, respiration and pupil dilation, and other tests that indicated changes in mood and stress.
Not surprisingly, the three minutes spent on Facebook was more rewarding than the relaxing slide show or the stressful math test. However, being on Facebook also triggered a response that indicated a positive mood shift.
The effect of Facebook points to what the authors refer to as the "broaden and build" theory of positive emotions. This theory suggests that positive emotions lead to creativity and social bonds that in turn build personal resources. These resources can be drawn on later for coping and survival.
Facebook's "activities lead to a positive emotional experience that people appreciate and seek again," the authors said.
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Facebook's success: It's about making people feel better
How Henderson turned tragedy to success with help from friends
Posted: at 1:02 am
Still a Wagga boy at heart … Rebels powerhouse Nic Henderson said he had to contend with a void in his life following the tragic death of five childhood mates in an accident at a train crossing in 2001. Photo: Craig Abraham
Coming to terms with personal loss has made the Rebel a winner on the field, writes Stathi Paxinos.
There is a point on the Olympic Highway near Gerogery in southern NSW that Nic Henderson avoided for a decade. If the Melbourne Rebels front rower was heading that way, he would take an alternative route.
It was there that five teenagers from Wagga Wagga died when their car drove into the path of a train.
On January 27, 2001, Kyle Wooden, Cameron Tucker, Luke Milne, Graham Kelly and Ben Wilkins had been on their way to Albury to watch Henderson play a trial game for Melbourne Storm.
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They never made it - a coronial inquest suggesting a lack of safety warnings, such as boom gates, contributed to the accident.
Near the point where the train line crossed the road - flashing lights and bells the only warning of trains approaching at 160 kilometres an hour - there is now an overpass named Five Mates Crossing.
''I've only ever driven it once since the accident, which seems funny, but I superstitiously would always go the back way,'' he says. ''It's a nice way to remember them even though they're never really forgotten.''
Henderson had grown up with the five teenagers, going to the same high school - and primary school with two - and like many youngsters in country areas, forging a bond through sport, in their case basketball and rugby league.
When they were killed, Henderson was living away from home in Brisbane, playing for the Storm's then feeder club Brisbane Norths. But with the support of family in Wagga and that of his girlfriend and now wife Jodie and her family in Brisbane, he worked his way through the loss, initially spending a few moments before every game remembering his friends.
''I used to say a few things before a game, but superstitiously I haven't done that in I don't know how long,'' he says. ''The biggest thing … was there's a huge void in your life. All of a sudden where five of your best mates are no longer there to laugh with or call or talk to, it's not how do you fill it but where do you go from there."
The 30-year-old, who switched to rugby union after two years in the Storm reserves, says there is no shying away from the tragedy when he returns to Wagga.
''There's a whole bunch of us left behind to remember them … the first thing we do is remember them and talk about them and laugh about them,'' Henderson says. ''I know a lot of us are still close to the parents of the guys who passed away. I'm lucky to call a few of them very close, almost second mothers and second fathers, which is great …''
Despite spending his early life on a sheep-grazing farm run by his father, Henderson said farming life had never been for him.
"Mum and dad split when I was eight or 10 years old so half my [childhood] was spent on the farm and the other half was living in Wagga, so I never really planted firm enough roots in the country to follow in my old man's footsteps," Henderson says.
That fell to his elder sister, Katie, who is "now a fully fledged farming girl" and has taken control of the operation of a property just outside Wagga after her partner was killed last year in a farming accident.
Henderson, who was recruited from the Western Force, is off contract with the Rebels this season and says he would like to continue his career in Melbourne for a few more years yet. As for life after rugby, that is still something he is working on. ''It's something that I've never really had a clear direction in life - what I'm going to do once football finishes," Henderson says.
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How Henderson turned tragedy to success with help from friends
Patheon announces changes to its Board of Directors
Posted: at 1:01 am
TORONTO, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Patheon Inc. (TSX: PTI.TO - News), a leading provider of contract development and manufacturing services to the global pharmaceutical industry, announced today that Ramsey Frank has resigned as Chairman of the Board and a Director of Patheon Inc. effective today. The Board has appointed Paul S. Levy, Managing Director, JLL Partners, as Patheon's new Chairman. Mr. Levy joined the Board in April 2007.
Mr. Levy founded JLL Partners in 1988. Prior to founding JLL Partners, Mr. Levy was a Managing Director at Drexel Burnham Lambert. Previously, Mr. Levy was Chief Executive Officer of Yves Saint Laurent Inc., Vice President of Administration and General Counsel of Quality Care, Inc., and an attorney at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP.
Patheon is also pleased to announce the appointment of Nicholas O'Leary, Associate, JLL Partners, to its Board of Directors, filling the vacant seat left by the departure of Mr. Frank. Mr. O'Leary joined JLL Partners in 2009. Prior to that, Mr. O'Leary worked as an analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co., Mergers and Acquisitions Group. He received a B.A, Economics from Washington and Lee University, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
As well, Mr. Michel Lagarde has been appointed Chair of Patheon's Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Lagarde joined JLL Partners in 2008 and Patheon's Board of Directors in December 2011. He was previously the CEO and CFO of the Domestic Appliances and Personal Care division of Philips Electronics North America. He also held positions as CFO of Philips Electronics Indonesia and Financial Controller of Philips Electronics Hong Kong. Mr. Lagarde currently serves on the Boards of ACE Cash Express and SOS Children's Villages - USA. He received a B.B.A from European University Antwerp and an Executive Master in Finance and Control from the University of Amsterdam.
Mr. Daniel Agroskin, Managing Director at JLL Partners, Inc., and a current member of the Board, will become a member of Patheon's Corporate Governance Committee, filling the position vacated by Mr. Clark. Mr. Agroskin joined JLL Partners in 2005. Prior to joining JLL, he worked at JP Morgan Partners and in Merrill Lynch's Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Mr. Agroskin is a graduate of Stanford University and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined Patheon's Board of Directors in December 2009.
About Patheon
Patheon Inc. (TSX: PTI.TO - News) is a leading global provider of contract development and manufacturing services to the global pharmaceutical industry. The company provides the highest quality products and services to approximately 300 of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Its services range from preclinical development through commercial manufacturing of a full array of dosage forms including parenteral, solid and liquid forms.
The company's comprehensive range of fully integrated Pharmaceutical Development Services includes pre-formulation, formulation, analytical development, clinical manufacturing, scale-up and commercialization. The company's integrated development and manufacturing network of 10 manufacturing facilities, nine development centers and one clinical trial material packaging facility across North America and Europe, enables customer products to be launched with confidence anywhere in the world.
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Patheon announces changes to its Board of Directors