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Data breach is not real reason for Target’s profit warning

August 5, 2014, 1:52 PM ET
AFP/Getty Images

Analysts are skeptical that the costs of a massive data breach are the main reason for a profit warning from retailer Target on Tuesday.

The company said it expects to record $148 million of gross losses from the breach, in which hackers gained access to thousands of  customer credit- and debit-cards. The losses will be partially offset by a $38 million insurance payment.

“That’s like saying the reason your household is in financial stress is because you got a parking ticket last year,” said Steve Beck, founder of cg42, a management consulting firm that specializes in brand vulnerability.

Target /quotes/zigman/253872/delayed /quotes/nls/tgt TGT chalked up total sales of  $72 billion in 2013, which means the cost of the data breach is about 0.2% of sales — and 25% of that is covered by insurance.

Experts said the bigger fallout from the breach is the way it has distracted management from doing what the company does best — selling goods.

Jim Noble is an instructor with the New York Institute of Finance on cybersecurity issuess amd advises senior IT and board-level executives, said “significant” internal distraction is the biggest consequence of a breach like Target’s.

Target Brands, Inc.
Target CEO Brian Cornell

“Everyone in the management ranks has to dig deep to make sure there is not a reoccurrence,” said Noble. “And inevitably it causes an over-reaction.”

As Target’s data breach was carried out through one if its business partners that had access to its network, the company is probably  closing down similar access points and turning the company into a fortress.

“Organizations cannot work like this,” said Noble.

Target is known for unique co-branding deals with well-known personalities that offer affordable exclusivity to shoppers.

“You have seen a brand that has lost its way,” said Beck from cg42. “And the end result is poor performance.”

The challenge facing recently-appointed Chief Executive Brian Cornell is to bring new products to market, and right now the prospects are poor for the rest of this year, said Beck.  That means the focus now is on 2015, said Beck.

The retailer’s data breach isn’t its only concern.

Increased competition from Family Dollar Stores /quotes/zigman/226252/delayed /quotes/nls/fdo FDO  and Dollar General Corp.  /quotes/zigman/575788/delayed /quotes/nls/dg DG , as well as online retail giant Amazon Inc. /quotes/zigman/63011/delayed /quotes/nls/amzn AMZN are hurting in-store retailers like Target and Wal-Mart Inc. /quotes/zigman/245476/delayed /quotes/nls/wmt WMT , according to analysts.

Wal-Mart, known for its super-stores, is currently working to roll out a smaller store concept.

“We believe that the ongoing emergence of e-commerce is devaluing the impact of breadth of assortment in-store for general merchandise retailers,” said Goldman Sachs analysts in a research note.

“Consumers appear more focused on some combination of value and convenience. Narrow-assortment retailers, including dollar stores, drug stores, and warehouse clubs, are taking share from broad-assortment retailers, namely Wal-Mart and Target.”

Target’s expansion into Canada is another bugbear. The company said Canada sales will be softer-than-expected in the second quarter and that it is still spending money to clear inventory. The company will report second-quarter earnings on Aug. 20.

“There has to be some interesting rabbits pulled out of hats to make the holiday season interesting,” said Beck. “Turning that around takes time.”

– Sital S. Patel

More must-reads from MarketWatch:

Target still feeling data breach — but have customers moved on?

5 things not to buy at drugstores (e.g., drugs)

Retailer argues against data-breach disclosure

Why you should stop buying bottled water

Story Conversation

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About Behind the Storefront

  • Behind the Storefront is a blog about all things retail. It’s aimed at investors, shoppers and anyone else with a passion for learning about what drives consumer behavior. Hosted by Andria Cheng, Behind the Storefront will cover the business, brands and shopping behavior that’s behind some of the biggest companies, and largest employers, in the world. You can reach Andria at

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Apple’s Beats deal is happening — and it’s all about Dr Dre and Jimmy

May 23, 2014, 7:48 AM ET
Getty Images for NARAS
Music man, Jimmy Iovine

Is Apple buying Beats just to get Jimmy Iovine? That’s what some analysts were speculating earlier this month, as news broke of the deal that has yet to be signed, sealed and delivered.

It turns out those analysts may be right. Tech Crunch reported  late Thursday that Apple  /quotes/zigman/68270/delayed /quotes/nls/aapl AAPL is going to make it happen to get music-industry veteran Iovine and hip-hop billionaire Dr Dre on staff. Together, the pair founded Beats Electronics LLC, the maker of high-end headphones.

“They want Jimmy and they want Dre,” a well-placed source told Tech Crunch. “He’s got fashion and culture completely locked up.”

But the road to matrimony hasn’t been lined with roses. The same source said while the deal is “70% certain” to go ahead, it has been on the brink of falling apart many times. Also, that source said the Financial Times was right in early May, when it put a price tag of $3.2 billion on the deal — something that has had plenty carping.

The string of recent hires proves that Tim Cook has been trying to stock Apple with some hipsters and culturally savvy folks, the source said. Angela Ahrendts, highly respected former Burberry CEO, and Paul Deneve, former CEO of Yves St. Laurent, are just a couple of names on the roster now.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, speculated last week that Apple is probably wants “magic-ears” Iovine to lead Apple’s music and video business. But even Munster is not gaga over such a deal, and thinks that Apple would be better off buying companies like Yelp /quotes/zigman/9021597/delayed /quotes/nls/yelp YELP , Twitter /quotes/zigman/23556538/delayed /quotes/nls/twtr TWTR , Square and Yahoo /quotes/zigman/59898/delayed /quotes/nls/yhoo YHOO to bolster its online services.

Others contend Apple needs another hit product and one of the best ways is probably to buy Beats for the headphones, then bring in its streaming music for a tie-up with iTunes Radio. And then there’s the tax thing.

On Thursday, a Forbes article said a Beats acquisition would give Apple tax residency in Ireland, letting it make the purchase with foreign funds that haven’t been repatriated back to the U.S. A deal in the Emerald Isle could help bring the price tag down to $2 billion from $3.2 billion — but that’s pocket change, given the roughly $54 billion Apple is thought to have parked offshore, said Forbes.

– Barbara Kollmeyer writes for MarketWatch. Follow her @bkollmeyer

More must-reads from MarketWatch:

Google shoves Apple aside to become world’s most valuable brand

Apple extinguishes smoking-hot pot-dealing app, ‘Weed Firm’

Microsoft bills new Surface tablet as laptop-killer, aiming at Apple

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« ESPN's back-stage look at Penn State's training camp begins tonight | Back to Main Page | New book suggests Penn State's athletic director is clairvoyant »
August 21, 2013
Categories: ,
Posted by Mark Wogenrich at 11:59:26 AM on August 21, 2013

ESPN can shoot wide-angle, twilight video with the best of them. And there was plenty of it in Tuesday's one-hour debut of Training Days.

The network this week will devote three hours to Penn State's training camp. The second installment debuts at 6 p.m. Wednesday on ESPNU, with shows the same time Thursday and Friday. If the series continues as it did Tuesday, Penn State will be very happy.

ESPN had access to coaches' meetings, players' dorms, the locker room, training facilities and practice, meaning it could have delivered plenty of sausage-making that head coach Bill O'Brien might not have wanted to see on TV. Instead, the production team maintained a relative distance while going behind the scenes, a perfect combination for O'Brien and Penn State.

He was able to showcase his players and program in a very positive light, something that surely recruits and their parents will notice. Plenty of teams invite freshmen parents to get-to-know-us barbecues. But how many of them are on television? This could be three hours of free recruiting video, subsidized by ESPN and allowed by the NCAA.

ESPN has posted Tuesday's show online, which you can find below. In the meantime, here are a few highlights from the first hour.

1. Picking a quarterback

ESPN was masterful in showing quarterbacks Christian Hackenberg and Tyler Ferguson without delving too deeply into who they are. At least by that editing, Hackenberg appeared to have the early lead (though that gem of a TD pass to Brandon Felder likely would have been overruled by replay).

2. Plenty of personalities

As most coaches do, O'Brien raves about his players, saying they're the reason he allowed the ESPN cameras on campus despite initial doubts. And ESPN's early focus on John Urschel, Miles Dieffenbach, Garry Gilliam and Sam Ficken proved worthwhile.

A few more they (hopefully) found: Allen Robinson, Matt Lehman, Deion Barnes and Malcolm Willis.

3. Meet Spider

The short segment on Brad "Spider" Caldwell was a smart way to link the past and present. Caldwell, the team's equipment manager, has been the players' confidant for more than 30 years and probably knows more about them than anyone. His book, which he'll likely never write, would be fascinating.

Further, it was striking to see Spider holding one of Joe Paterno's shoes from the 1987 Fiesta Bowl. Penn State's equipment room is layered with such history. Spider could have had a half-hour of his own.

4. Waiting for Fitzgerald

The show teased an interview with strength coach Craig Fitzgerald, who has done wonders with Penn State's weight room and training program.

O'Brien has joked that he inadvertently made the high-strung Fitzgerald "a star," and most players love his energy and workouts. The physical gains made by the offensive linemen alone are noticeable. Expect more on the "Iron Lion."

5. No more guarding the 'S'?

Urschel gave away a little secret when he said players no longer guarded the 'S' located on the locker-room floor. The tradition wasn't very old, however, dating to the late 1990s.

Former defensive tackle Anthony Adams was among the first players to require pushups from those who walked on the 'S.' That current players required the same of ESPN's camera crew, though they don't of anyone else, reflected a level of comfort with them.

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« May 2006 | Main | July 2006 »

15 posts from June 2006

Phillies-Nats pregame, Friday 6/9

Posted by | June 09, 2006 at 05:28 PM

Two quick updates on the Phillies as they prepare for Game 2 of their four-game series in Washington.

1. The Phillies sent Eude Brito, who struggled in two starts after his recall from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, back to the Red Barons before Friday's game. Outfielder Chris Roberson was recalled from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to take his place. With the Phillies off Monday, they will go with four starters until the next day they need a fifth starter, which is June 17.

2. Mike Lieberthal said he may have to go on the disabled list for a second time this season. Lieberthal tried to run Friday but felt a pull in his left hip, which he strained Monday night in Arizona.

A good gamble

Posted by | June 07, 2006 at 10:58 AM

By now many of you have probably read about the transgressions of Kyle Drabek, the Phillies' first-round draft pick in Tuesday's MLB First-Year Player Draft. He cracked up his car in a one-vehicle accident. He was charged with public intoxication in January 2005, a charge that was later dropped.

My opinion on the pick: the Phillies took a good gamble in selecting Drabek, who may have been the most talented high school player available in the draft.

For starters, what 18-year-old kid doesn't do some things he or she shouldn't? Kids make mistakes. Heck, adults make mistakes. Drabek has time to mature. Repeat: he's 18.

The Phillies have also done a decent job when taking high school pitchers in the first round. Their 1999 first-round pick is now the ace of their staff (Brett Myers). Their 2002 first-round pick may be their next best starter (Cole Hamels). Their 2001 first-round pick, Gavin Floyd, still hasn't panned out, but he's just 23 and has at least reached the majors.

All reports indicate Drabek has big-time stuff. His fastball is mid-to-high 90s, and Baseball America rated his curveball the best breaking pitch of any high school player available in this year's draft. The Phillies like high-risk, high-reward guys, and Drabek seems to fit that mold.

I'm not saying I think Drabek will become a Cy Young winner like his dad, Doug. I'm saying the Phillies made a decent pick for someone that could be very good. There are fewer sure things in the MLB Draft than in the NBA or NFL drafts. Why not aim high?

Draft days ahead

Posted by | June 05, 2006 at 05:12 PM

While it doesn't receive the hype of the NFL and NBA drafts, the MLB draft is just as important to teams looking to build a winner. This year's two-day affair starts Tuesday afternoon.

The Phillies have two high picks, Nos. 18 and 37. Who they'll pick is tough to tell. The talent pool for this year's draft is considered shallow, especially when it comes to position players. Don't be surprised to see the Phillies go after a high school pitcher, which they've done several times this decade (Gavin Floyd, Cole Hamels).

For what it's worth, SI.com has the Phillies taking Kyle Drabek, a right-hander from The Woodlands High in Texas and the son of former big league pitcher Doug Drabek. The article claimed he is a top-5 talent but has character issues. I tried to find more details about the supposed character issues, but nothing specific was mentioned in any story I came across.

I'll be covering the draft tomorrow, so I'll pass along the pick info once I have it in hand.

Hamels update

Posted by | June 01, 2006 at 10:29 PM

Cole Hamels made a successful return to pitching Thursday night at Class-A Lakewood. He went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and one run. He walked two and struck out three, with the only run he allowed coming on a home run by Brent Lillibridge.

One tough month

Posted by | June 01, 2006 at 10:52 AM

June has arrived, bringing with it a brutal stretch of games for the Phillies. Starting tonight in Los Angeles, the Phillies play 20 of their next 29 games on the road. Thirteen of those games will come against teams that started Thursday at least six games over .500.

The nine home games the Phillies play in June won't be any easier. Six come against the Mets and Yankees, who both began Thursday at least 11 games over .500. The other three come against Tampa Bay, a struggling team that does have one big-time pitcher, Scott Kazmir.

The Phillies have played slightly better on the road (11-9) than at home (16-16), but this stretch will still challenge their depth. They will have to start it without Jon Lieber and Cole Hamels, though Hamels should return to the rotation on the West Coast. They will also have to show they can rise to the level of their opponents, because they will be playing some of baseball's best teams (Yankees, Red Sox, Mets).

A few other thoughts on the Phillies as they hit the Left Coast for the first time this year:

* Don't expect to see Dontrelle Willis in red pinstripes any time soon. Florida continues to deny it is shopping him. Plus the Marlins figure to wait until closer to the July 31 trade deadline to deal Willis, if they decide to go that way at all.

* Tonight's start could be a big one for Gavin Floyd. Should he continue scuffling, the Phillies could slide Hamels into his spot in the rotation Tuesday. The Phillies haven't said they're considering removing Floyd, but as long as his ERA remains above six, the questions will come up.

That's it for now. I'll try to post something on Hamels' rehab start before the day is out.


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Lidge is numb, Hamels praises Halladay, Howard's a standup guy

Posted by Mandy Housenick | October 08, 2011 at 02:12 AM

This was not only supposed to be the year of the pitchers, but it was supposed to be the year of the Phillies.

The two were not mutually exclusive.

The Cardinals crushed the Phillies' hopes of a capping off their 102-win season with a World Series when they stunned the Phils and won 1-0 in Game 5 of the NL Division Series on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park.

It was the second year in a row the Phillies were eliminated by a team who got into the postseason on the final day of the regular season.

Last year, the Giants, who beat the Phillies in six games in the NLCS, beat the Padres in Game 162 to win the NL West. This year, the Cardinals won the Wild Card in Game 162.

"I thought last year we had a good shot," Cole Hamels said. "I thought this year we had a good shot. It's not necessarily how many All-Star players you have. It's who's playing the best at that moment. Everything has to align."

That definitely didn't happen on Friday for the Phillies, who had never lost a postseason series when leading the series 2-1.

Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter faced the minimum six times on Friday. Raul Ibanez missed a three-run home run by 3 feet in the fourth inning. Chase Utley was caught stealing in the sixth inning. And Roy Halladay gave up one run on six hits and lost.

“I’m a little bit numb as to what’s going on right now," reliever Brad Lidge said.

The loss hit Ibanez, who will be a free agent, hard. He was also on the 2009 team that lost in the World Series and the 2010 team that was eliminated in the NLCS. Yet he struggled to find the right words to express his disappointment.

"It’s very, very hard," Ibanez said. "Probably the hardest one because we expected a lot more.”

KEEP IN MIND....Jimmy Rollins would not address the media after the loss. Ryan Howard, despite being in obvious pain ---- he couldn't stand without crutches because of what is likely a torn left Achilles --- stood and answered questions for quite some time. When I walked away, he had already been talking for more than six minutes.

A BIG CONCERN ... Howard's injury, assuming his Achilles is torn (which he said will require surgery if the MRI on Saturday proves that's the case), could keep him out of Spring Training or even the early part of the 2012 season. It's a tough surgery with a lengthy recovery.

HAMELS ON HALLADAY ... "It does have to hurt. It’s one of those things where you don’t get too many opportunities and I think he’s seen that, he’s played a lot of time ... and I think he fights harder than anybody I’ve ever seen."

HALLADAY ON THE CITY AND FANS ... "This is by far the greatest place I’ve ever played and the greatest fans that I’ve ever been around. That was as loud as I’ve ever heard it. It was really a special feeling and have the fans behind me like that. It was really electric, something I’ll never forget."

MADSON ON HIS IMPENDING FREE AGENCY: "I don’t even care right now. I came here to win today and keep playing. I could care less. All of that will take care of itself. I just wanted to win today."

HAMELS ON WATCHING THE REST OF THE POSTSEASON: "I don't like to admit it, but yeah, I probably will."

DINGERS: The crowd of 46,530 was the second largest in stadium history. ... Shane Victorino had his 14th multi-hit game of his postseason career, which is the most of an Phillie ever. ... The Phillies outscored the Cardinals 21-19 in the series, a number that was helped greatly by the 11 the Phils put on the board in Game 1.

A STEP BACK: Since the Phillies won it all in 2008, they've taken a step back in the playoffs each year. In 2009, they lost in the World Series. In 2010, they lost in the NLCS. In 2011, they lost in the NLDS. Does that trend mean that next year they won't even make the playoffs? Makes you wonder, especially when you consider that RollinsIbanez, Madson, Lidge and Roy Oswalt could all be gone next year. "I didn't even think about that," Hamels said when asked how different the team could look next year."

« Manuel was restless and optimistic today | | Phillies injuries worse than publicized »

Recent Comments

Well kudo's to the Phillies, they could have laid down and let Atlanta in, but they didn't. They had trouible with the Cards all season, yet choose to play them. They did control who they played and they did it with class.

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I gave blood yesterday to the Puget Sound Blood Center

It’s great: they have an online reservation system and send a bloodmobile to Microsoft campus pretty frequently (about every 8 weeks: (that’s how often you are allowed to give blood) how about that!)

Pretty convenient… except when you don’t know your ice hockey schedule. Typically I don’t want to play a hockey game for several days after donating: we won our playoffs, but it’s hard to predict when the next game will be because it depends on the win/loss status of a future game.

Each bloodmobile has a computer and each frequent donor has a card with a bar code on it. I just hand them my card and they know my name, address, blood type, prior donation history, etc. I suspect that the application was written in FoxPro, but can’t be sure. It prints out several adhesive labels which are used to identify all the different articles associated with that particular donation: including the main pint of blood, the several extra vials used for various testing purposes, and the paperwork. No more relying on reading handwritten labels.

It’s amazing how much computers can help with organizing data. I sometimes try to imagine a computerless world. What would I be doing? Perhaps teaching mathematics? It’s hard to believe that less than 3% of Americans farm and grow enough food for everybody else and then some. 200 years ago, probably the majority of people had to grow their own food.

The PSBC personnel are very friendly, and seem quite competent. They wear white lab coats, poke you in the finger, stick a thermometer in your mouth, take your blood pressure and pulse, all the while threatening to poke you with a big needle:  enough to get some adrenaline flowing.

Typically they ask a zillion personal questions (have you ever blah blah needle/sex/Aftica/AIDS/England/mad cow/West Nile/ blah….since 1970 ? )

Then they ask me if I work out at the gym or something. My pulse was too low: if it’s below 50 you’re rejected unless you exercise a lot.

The pain involved is quite minor, and is outweighed by the feeling that perhaps I’ve helped save someone’s life.

I sure am glad there is such an organization as the PSBC in case I may need blood sometime.


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Debugger Window Menu Items: Where should they be?
The VS debugger since 7.0 has put most debugger windows on the Debug menu, under the Windows sub-menu. I say 'most' because the Output window lives on the View menu, under Other Windows sub-menu.

Where do you expect debugger windows to be on the menu? (Ignore Output for now, we intend to fix that one independent of this). Your choices are:

  1. Where they have been since 7.0 (ie under Debug/Windows)
  2. Where every other window is (ie under View/Debugger Windows)?

We can't agree, so need the communities feedback.

If you have an opinion on this (I'm for #2 myself), chime in on the comments to Andy's post.


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• GerryO's Blog

    Moving On

    So, after ~ two years as the Certification Product Planner, in typical Microsoft fashion, it’s time to look at my next career move.  I have enjoyed planning the developer and SQL focused certification plans over the past couple of years but I am...
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One of the developer resources useful to IT folks that you might overlook in the vastness of is -- deep breath -- the Application Compatibility Testing and Mitigation Guide for Windows XP Service Pack 2

This download contains documentation and scripts for handling issues of application compatibility that also deal with problems that most sysadmins will face in deploying SP2.

On the Scripting Solutions Center of TechNet Script Center we've posted a set of supplemental scripts with their own readme that show how to perform most of the tasks in the Application Compatibility Guide, using WMI or the new Windows Firewall COM object model.  The Guide's scripts use mostly WSH and batch files.  The two sets of scripts complement each other -- there's something for everyone's needs and scripting preferences.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 Application Compatibility - Supplemental Scripts

Let us know how you're handling the deployment and management of SP2 and what issues you're encountering at:


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Microsoft Senior Sales Excellence Manager - Eric Ligman

Eric Ligman, Microsoft Senior Sales Excellence Manager, Blog

Work-life balance. What a scam…

Eric Ligman
  Connect with me
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Work-life balance. What a scam…

  • Comments 4

Here’s a slightly off topic thought for all of you out there.. Here we are on a weekend day, Super Bowl Sunday, the big game just under two hours away (for those of you sports fans or commercial lovers) and it got me thinking about an often discussed topic: work-life balance. How many times have you heard someone tell you that you need better work-life balance or do you hear the topic of work-life balance being portrayed as something to strive for?  For those of you who have yet to start your weekend or are “always on,” this may be a very familiar topic for you :-)  Every heard about subliminal messaging?

For those of you that work with me at Microsoft, you may have heard me talk about this before. So what does work-life balance have to do with subliminal messaging? Think about it. Every time someone says or writes it, what do you see and hear? Work always comes before life. So let’s try something new. Let’s strive for some Life-work balance, where life comes before work, where you step back, enjoy time with friends and family, and actually have weekends, vacation, and fun. Remember fun?

Now before someone posts a comment saying, “So where’s your sense of life-work balance, Eric, posting to the Blog on a weekend?” Let me assure you it’s well in check as I sit here with a room filled with friends and family watching the Super Bowl pre-game, holding a big bowl of homemade chili made with my favorites: Mrs. Dog’s Dangerously Hot Pepper Sauce and 90K super hot Cayenne pepper, as well as taquitos with salsa and guacamole, nacho platter with the works, desserts, and plenty of other favorites.

So yes, life-work balance is in full swing here in Washington. I just thought I would share wishes with all of you for a great Super Bowl weekend, whether you watch the game or not, and plant the small seed of life-work balance with all of you to remind you all to be sure to step back, relax with family and friends and enjoy life from time to time as life is often far too short and it is so easy to get wrapped up in the day to day whirlwind we all know as work.

Thank you, have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and here’s to some life-work balance.  Enjoy!

Eric Ligman
Microsoft US Senior Manager
Small Business Community Engagement
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

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  • It's not life-work balance if you are sitting in a room full of friends and family and rather than interacting with them you are posting to your blog. Keeping working on that life-work balance.

  • @ Amy - Very true, Amy.  Had it been an either/or situation it would have been far from life/work balance.  Actually, the notebook was out to view the items up on during pre-game and the post became an interactive affair.  For instance, seeing which of the kids could spell "Taquito" or "Guacamole" correctly provided a few laughs for all.

  • As this Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. has been approaching, I have spent some time reflecting back

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Another cliche from Baltimore

The Ravens are up 6-3 at the half. Anyone expect anything different? I mentioned the first cliche earlier, and here’s another: “Bend but don’t break.”

The Ravens defense withstood a 14-play drive by Pittsburgh, giving up only a field goal. The Steelers defense withstood a 15-play drive by Baltimore, giving up just a field goal as well.

A long, multi-play drive against a great defense — when they rarely happen — has a different feel to it than in other circumstances. Usually, you say, “This team is marching.” In this game, you feel like the more plays, the more chance for a turnover.

  • A lot was made of the “hatred” between these two teams, but both are keeping their emotions in check so far. And that’s crucial because a stupid 15-yard penalty in the second half could have major consequences.
  • From the “they’ve thought of everything” department: The soap in the restrooms here at M&T Bank Stadium … is purple.

Scott Hanson reporting from Baltimore

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Mohamed Abdelaziz's Blog Blog for hamada 2009-11-23T23:26:52+00:00 Apache Roller Shoal (A Dynamic Scalable Clustering) white paper posted hamada 2007-11-29T11:41:07+00:00 2007-12-06T18:57:34+00:00 In my previous post I gave an overview of the feature set provided by Shoal. The blog did not provide enough details about the clustering foundation.  I recently committed a white paper about Shoal's clustering, which should provide more details. Dynamic Scalable Clustering hamada 2007-10-06T12:20:38+00:00 2007-10-06T19:20:38+00:00 In today's information technology world, fault tolerance has become an expected system characteristic, as demands on such systems, not only requires the availability of data, but also the efficiency of such systems.

By clustering a set of servers, with minimal, or no configuration,  through a dynamic discovery protocol, a compute cluster can be formed to increase compute power, availability, security, and geographical distribution.

As a fault tolerance strategy, the Shoal clustering framework devises a self organization protocol, allowing nodes to autonomously elect a master for the cluster (based on discovery views), as well as candidates in the case of master failure.  This allows for dynamic deployment of clusters as well as expanding/shrinking an existing cluster.

Shoal, the cluster management framework, provides the foundation for network configuration and dynamic and autonomous cluster formation. The goals of the framework are:

Near Zero-configuration

Multi cluster support

Application specific clustering, eg. load balancer/HA cluster

Cluster traffic isolation

Added security

improved resource utilization

Dynamic clustering

Hot pluggable

Simplified addressing

By cluster, node, and channel name

Adaptive communication channels

Fault tolerance

Transparent multi protocol support  (tcp, udp, http)

Shoal 1.0 was release August 30th, and is utilized in GlassFish V2, which was released September 17th, for clustering and http session HA.

 Currently the following features are being worked on :

Enabling multi cluster support

Enabling cross sub-net and cross firewall  deployment

Solidifying lightweight cluster multicast

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The Register-Guard

Expanded coverage of University of Oregon men’s basketball, with practice notes, game comments and observations on the Ducks and the Pac-12.

Ducks at Missouri this year

The Oregon men’s basketball team will visit Missouri in the Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series next season. The Tigers, an NCAA Tournament team last season, will host the Ducks on Saturday, Dec. 5. The pairing means that Missouri will play in Mac Court in December 2010, one of the last games before the new Matthew Knight Arena is scheduled to open in January 2011.

Oregon State hosts Colorado on Dec. 4, and would pay back that game the following season.

Other matchups: Nebraska at USC, Washington at Texas Tech, USC at Texas, Baylor at Arizona State, Iowa State at Cal, Washington State at Kansas State, Kansas at UCLA, Arizona at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State at Stanford and Texas A&M at Washington.

Last season, the teams split the series 6-6.


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The Register-Guard

Expanded coverage of the University of Oregon track and field program and the state’s community of post-collegiate athletes.

Ducks set regional lineups

Welcome to college track and field’s version of destruction derby, also known as the regional qualifying system for the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, June 9-12, at Hayward Field.

As you probably know, there are two regional meets: the NCAA West Regional at the University of Texas in Austin, and the NCAA East Regional at North Carolina A&T in Greensboro.

Both will be held May 27-29.

The top 12 finishers from each men’s and women’s event at both sites will determine the championship fields for Eugene.

The West entries can be found here: men and women.

The East entries can be found here: men and women.

Here are the finalists for the decathlon and heptathlon, which are mercifully, exempt from regional qualifying.

Most people figured Andrew Wheating would get his wish and double in the 800 and 1,500, but there were a few mild surprises among the UO entries.

Nicole Blood deciding to run both the 5,000 and 10,000 will be a tall order, but given the expected dawdling pace at regionals, she’ll be fine with her miler’s kick.

A.J. Acosta is back for more punishment. He endeared himself to the UO faithful with his extraordinary triple at the Pac-10 championships last week – scoring 19 points in the 1,500, 5,000 and steeplechase – and he’s going to give the 1,500-5,000 double a shot.

Qualifying shouldn’t be a problem, but the NCAA finals in those events are separated by only 50 minutes.

Ashton Eaton and Brianne Theisen will both add the long jump to their workload. Eaton might even jump into the 4×400 relay semifinal if he’s feeling OK after completing Day One of the decathlon about 2 hours and 45 minutes earlier, assuming the mutli-events stay on schedule.

I think the Ducks were smart to lighten the load of the UO women’s sprinters.

Amber Purvis, Keshia Baker and Jamesha Youngblood will be in both relays, but Purvis will drop the 100 and focus on the 200, while Keshia Baker will just run the 400. Youngblood is still hoping to do both the long jump and triple jump. Mandy White fills out the 4×100 relay and also will run the 100. Michele Williams completes the 4×400 relay and Alexandra Davidson can help out in the 4×100 relay if needed.

The Ducks should also have huge upside in the 1,500.

Matthew Centrowitz and Mac Fleet will both be fresh for the 1,500. Similarly, Zoe Buckman and Jordan Hasay will only run that event at the NCAAs.

All in all, the Ducks will be taking about 46 athletes to Austin. It will be interesting to see if most can survive the three-day ordeal.

I don’t see much to recommend this meet as a spectator.

The only news will likely be bad when a favored athlete false starts, drops a baton, no-heights or grabs a hamstring. The days will be long, probably hot and humid, and the potential exists for multiple weather delays. There will be no team scoring, no finals and no winners.

Drama? Only if a jump-off for 12th place in the high jump gets your blood pumping.

On the positive side, it will make for a leaner NCAA championships schedule with semifinals and finals only.

UO director of track and field Vin Lananna is already pointing to Florida as the team to beat at the NCAA meet on the men’s side, while the UO women should be in the title hunt against Texas A&M.

“It will be very hard for the (UO men) to win nationals,” Lananna said on Thursday. “Florida is very good. If they do everything right, there’s no way they can lose. We can challenge for the title as long as we do everything right and they do something wrong. That’s what the NCAAs are all about … I think we’re good (on the women’s side). We’re talented, competitive and we’ve made smart decisions. It’s up to our kids to be able to survive this meet in Austin.”

Curtis Anderson covered UO track and field for The Register-Guard from 1990-96, and again since 2005. He covered the 2012 Olympic Games in London, in addition to the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in New Orleans (1992), Atlanta (1996) and Hayward Field (2008 and 2012). He is the winner of the Jesse Abramson Award, presented by the Track & Field Writers of America for excellence in coverage in 2008.


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Goldman Sachs should consider its own breakup

September 7, 2011

By Rob Cox
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)

Goldman Sachs has often helped chief executives boost their companies’ shares by breaking them into pieces. The U.S. bank run by Lloyd Blankfein is currently advising Kraft Foods on its split and counseling McGraw-Hill on whether it should do the same. So it’s logical that some inside Goldman have run the numbers on their employer. The results are compelling. Should the firm’s stock linger below its book value, or assets less liabilities, of about $130 a share for much longer, a breakup could be hard for the firm’s board to resist.

There’s no suggestion for now that Goldman is considering such a radical maneuver. Most of its peers are also trading at a discount to book value, suggesting a sector-wide issue rather than something Goldman can easily tackle individually. And the company has a long-held view that the individual pieces — an industry-leading investment bank, a massive securities trading operation and an asset management arm — function best in combination.

Yet based on current market metrics, Goldman’s parts are potentially worth a lot more than the whole. And many of the justifications that the firm has given in the past for maintaining its structure look out of step with the changing global regulatory framework.

The starkest illustration of this mismatch comes in asset management. The Volcker Rule provision of the U.S. Dodd-Frank Act stipulates that a bank’s own money cannot comprise more than 3 percent of a private equity fund it manages. At present Goldman’s own capital accounts for a third of the $20 billion fund overseen by GS Capital Partners. Once the Volcker Rule becomes effective, the benefit of investing Goldman’s money alongside clients’ cash will be much diminished.

It could, however, be the simple dollars and cents that eventually talk loudest. Valuing each of the firm’s pieces is art as well as science, partly because the company’s published financial statements do not show the profitability of each segment in detail. But the available information does support a rough sum-of-the parts analysis.

First take Goldman’s investment banking unit, which includes advising companies on mergers and acquisitions and underwriting on behalf of clients. If the group extends its first-half performance for the rest of the year, it will make about $5.4 billion in revenue. On a multiple of four times sales — a deserved premium to smaller rival Greenhill which trades at three times — the unit could be worth $22 billion.

Then there’s asset management, which oversaw $844 billion of assets as of June 30. This includes Goldman’s private equity funds, with all the Volcker Rule uncertainty over their future. It’s hard to value this business because its profitability isn’t clear. The firm is also restructuring the unit. But valued at 10 percent of assets under management — roughly in line with Blackstone Group — Goldman’s alternative investment activities alone may be worth $15 billion. At 2 percent of assets, the rest of the unit would fetch a price of around $14 billion.

Add these pieces up and fold in a near $7 billion stake in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and some other investments held directly on the Goldman balance sheet, and their value already exceeds the company’s $53 billion market capitalization.

That means Goldman’s Institutional Client Services arm, which generated 53 percent of revenue in the first half of 2011, comes for free. This business houses one of the industry’s top prime brokerages servicing hedge funds, as well as desks dealing in equities, fixed income, currency and commodities around the globe.

This business has its problems. In the six months ended in June, revenue declined 25 percent from the same period in 2010 partly as a result of new rules that prohibit banks making market bets with their own money. And there may be more bad news to come as the business further adjusts to new regulations. And while Goldman is a bank holding company with access to Federal Reserve lending, investors might balk at funding a standalone trading business in a crisis.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to see how Wall Street’s most profitable trading business over the last decade can have no value at all to shareholders. Breaking up Goldman may not be the legacy Blankfein hoped to carve out of his tenure. But if clients regularly take the firm’s advice to break up, it would be hypocritical of him not to consider the possibility himself.

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Comments on: Here’s how to handle Syria Thu, 28 May 2015 03:56:41 +0000 hourly 1 By: smanchwhich Tue, 22 May 2012 10:55:35 +0000 Why is unilateral American action “not in the cards?” Because it is an election year. It is shameful to see the pile of bodies ten thousand high continue growing because the leaders of the world are more concerned with their next election than they are about upholding the values which they so loudly extoll. I am American, and I am ashamed.

By: Calfri Mon, 21 May 2012 19:05:15 +0000 What’s wrong with arming some insurgents with guns,anti-tank weapons, and medical supplies and equipment? Mr. Serwer’s against this because, he says, it will only further inflame religious/sectarian tensions. No. I thought these were peaceful demonstrations until Assad started the violence. What we need to do is support the Syrian people and their desire to be rid of this 40 plus year dictatorship. As for Russian and Chinese facilitation of the Syrian government’s actions, it’s clear enough where they are coming from. They are afraid of democracy. We are too friendly to both countries and ought to review our portfolios with them, if they insist on aiding and abetting Assad’s killing machine.

By: lebaneese Mon, 21 May 2012 02:51:20 +0000 This Syrian Regime managed for 40 years to oppress its people and its Neighbors under the whispers slogan ” We stop Terrorism against Israel.” It is an old story now!

- How can a Regime stay in power where 85 percent of population are against? How can a Regime that kills its people stay in power?
- How can a regime that occupied its Neighbors and Harbor Terrorist groups from all kind stay in power for 40 years?
- How can such a minority group win over all population for that long? I have that answer for the Syrian regime lovers by committing all kind of terrorism against its people.
- History has taught us some Lessons, One that most dictators will loose at the End! I assure Syrian Regime will loose and Assad will be prosecuted for Genocide.

- For those of you that supporters of Hizbollah I say the truth about you and your masters in Iran: You never serve whats good for Lebanon you only serve whats good for the Aytollah Regimes of Iran and you do not represent the Lebanese citizens at all.

International community should act to stop this Genocide.

At the End Justice will prevail and I value Professor Daniel Serwer Opinion because the Syrian people are in great danger and they are looking for any Humanitarian support they can get.

I pray for Peace always.

By: mick68 Sun, 20 May 2012 16:10:10 +0000 Daniel, you’re under the delusion that NATO wants to see this end peacefully?

Right, that’s why they enlisted the Taliban then?

By: fatima05 Sun, 20 May 2012 02:20:09 +0000 US policy in ME is to create Afghanistan / Somalia like entities Iraq Libya AlQaida is a product of US ally Saudi Arabia, The regime that breeds, ideology and Money, Alqaida is well flourishing with petrodollar filled coffers

By: SvenBolin Sat, 19 May 2012 14:04:06 +0000 Why “handle” Syria? Whats it to you?
Go home stay home and take care of your own problems!

By: urownexperience Sat, 19 May 2012 12:44:37 +0000 What needs to be done? – Nothing. Every penny spent on other people’s wars takes money from the poor in America, while the rich lay back and enjoy the ego pop.

By: meleze Sat, 19 May 2012 07:46:45 +0000 It is amazing how weak are the measures you are recommanding here compared whith those which would have been taken in the past century before 1990 as Russia was USSR and your country involved in the cold war. In that time Turkey was the center of yours moves in the country and Greece and Turkey were used to work together. At present USA belongs no more other relay of its middle-east policy except Israel. Egypt is broken. Iraqi is broken.Lebanon is broken. Greece is broken by the crazy idea to put the olympics in Athena in spite of the corruption and the debt increase, in 2004 for the remembrance of the birth of the games. Will we see the end of the slaughters of Hassad as long as Greece will not be rescued?

By: xcanada2 Sat, 19 May 2012 01:54:04 +0000 Prof. Serwer:

“to bring down a regime that links Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah”

Is that your objective?

I don’t take it as a given that alleged links to Hezbollah is a bad thing. After all, Israel has twice completely violated Lebanon’s sovereignty, tried to bomb it into the ground, actually occupied it, in the first case almost twenty years, and the Hezbollah organization has twice saved Lebanon.

If these ties to Hezbollah are the reason the US and West is going after Assad, it makes me suspect the whole issue: we already see daily how the media distorts the Palestinian issues, so they likely are doing the same thing again, in support of Israel?

What exactly is the role of the West in the Syrian “uprising”?

Your concerns for Syrians don’t meet the smell test.

By: Fromkin Fri, 18 May 2012 22:08:57 +0000 So what about terrorists killing innocent people sir?

What should the UNSC do about S. Arabia and Qatar sending Al Qaida Jihadists in Syria to kill innocent People?

How about the U.S. staying away and stopping its support of terror activities in Syria?

I think the syrian State acted within its rights. No State can allow armed gangs,insurgeants,rebels, whatever you call them,to run around killing people under the pretext of protesting.

If these terrorist acts we see in Syria were committed in the U.S., Obama would have responded in the same way Assad is doing.

The U.S. told the world during the last 10 yeasrs that you can’t negociate with terrorists.


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October 26, 2010

We start this afternoon with the sad news of the demise of Paul, the psychic octopus who captivated the world this summer with his uncanny ability to predict the results of Germany’s World Cup soccer matches.

Fear not, though. There are other ways to divine the future, and especially the results of next week’s midterm elections.

GERMANY/But first of all Washington Extra would like to categorically deny that Paul, just before taking his last gulp of water, predicted that Republicans would win control of the House and Democrats would cling onto power in the Senate. It’s just not true. And if he did, he was only reading our poll data.

Talking of which (nice segue, huh?), our latest Reuters/Ipsos poll from Pennsylvania makes interesting reading today. It shows Democrat Joe Sestak drawing level with Republican Pat Toomey, with both men now tied at 46 percent.

It is quite a turnaround for Sestak, who was trailing by 10 percentage points in our last poll in late August, but seems to have struck a chord with voters after accusing his rival of wanting to export jobs to China.  Another clue, perhaps, that some of the midterm races might be a bit closer than they appeared a couple of months ago.

Here are our top stories from Washington today…

Key Pennsylvania Senate race in dead heat

A Senate race in Pennsylvania that could determine whether Democrats retain control of the chamber is deadlocked one week before the election, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed

For more of this story by Andy Sullivan, read here.

For scenarios of possible election outcomes, read here.

US Republicans poised to win House, gain in Senate

A Republican win in the House and gains in the Senate would likely slam the brakes on Obama’s agenda and spark a prolonged period of legislative gridlock. “I haven’t seen anything that makes me think there will be a drastic change in the public mood or trends in the next week,” Republican strategist Kevin Madden said. “It feels like the concrete was poured on the major issues months ago.”

For more of this story by John Whitesides, read here.

Obama to test Republicans after Nov. 2 elections

President Obama’s senior aides have accused Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of promoting political gridlock and gamesmanship by saying he wants to ensure Obama is a one-term president. “There will be more Republicans. We are ready to work together. The question is, are they ready to work with us?” senior adviser David Axelrod told MSNBC.

For more of this story by Steve Holland, read here.

Tighter derivatives rules gain headway in US, EU

The first global crackdown on the $615 trillion derivatives market gained momentum as regulators unveiled a new tool to police fraud and European officials urged tighter controls. From “quote stuffing” and “spoofing” to “banging the close,” the CFTC eyed certain trading practices closely, though it stopped short, for now, of proposing specific rules to curb high-frequency trading .– a trading strategy that may have contributed to the “flash crash.”

For more of this story by Roberta Rampton and Ayesha Rascoe, read here.

EU, US grapple with crunch in rare earth supplies

The European Union and the United States said they were pressing for solutions to concerns China may be exploiting its stranglehold on rare earth metals, crucial in the making of everything from portable phones to wind turbines. A Department of Energy official said she was not aware of any U.S. companies experiencing disruptions in rare earth metal shipments from China, but said firms were worried about shortages developing.

For more of this story by Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck and Paul Eckert, read here

Clinton: No problem with Iran Bushehr atomic plant

The United States has no problem with Iran’s Russian-built Bushehr nuclear reactor plant but with other sites where weapons work may be underway, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. Iran began loading fuel into the core of its first nuclear power plant at Bushehr earlier on Tuesday, its atomic energy chief said, the last major step to realizing its stated goal of becoming a peaceful user of nuclear energy.

For more of this story, read here.

For a Q&A on whether the West should worry about the plant, read here.

Consumer watchdog will go slow on rules-Treasury

The U.S. consumer watchdog will not inundate banks and other financial players with a host of new rules as soon as it is up and running in July. “There is a recognition that people need time to prepare,” said Eric Stein, the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for consumer protection.

For more of this story by Rachelle Younglai, read here..

China looms large over Clinton’s Asia-Pacific tour

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added a brief stop in China to her Asia-Pacific tour that begins on Wednesday, a 13-day trip that aims to bolster ties to a region increasingly under China’s shadow. The State Department described her detour to Hainan Island on Saturday as a simple courtesy to Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, a key figure in managing the strained U.S.-China relationship.

For more of this story by Arshad Mohammed, read here.

Fake chips from China sold to U.S. defense contractors

Shannon Wren ran what appeared to be a low-key computer business in Florida, but his real moneymaker was allegedly selling fake integrated circuits imported from China and Hong Kong to defense contractors and transportation firms. The case highlights the sophistication of counterfeiters. The Justice Department launched an intellectual property task force in February to focus on counterfeiting, trade secret theft and piracy.

For more of this story by Jeremy Pelofsky, read here.

What we are blogging…

Clinton sees diplomats of the future in cargo pants as well as pinstripes

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged Congress to finance a major new push on overseas development aid, arguing that only by building up a global middle class will the United States increase its national security. “The American people must understand that spending taxpayer dollars on diplomacy and development is in their interest,” Clinton wrote in an article in Foreign Affairs magazine.

For Andrew Quinn’s full post, read here.

Stewart, Colbert rally gets ‘puzzling’ endorsement

Jon Stewart’s Washington “Rally to Restore Sanity” has a new, puzzling promoter: Will Shortz. He’s editor of the New York Times crossword puzzle, which today devotes no fewer than eight clues to the Daily Show host, his fellow satirist Stephen Colbert and the joint rally they’re planning on the National Mall.

For David Morgan’s full post, read here.

Photo credit: Reuters/Kirsten Neumann (Paul the octopus oracle in July)

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We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/

Who needs an octopus when the GOP has the Kochtopus?

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Meet Trudi Alexander, A St. Louis Transplant From England Who Loves It Here, Plans To Stay

Courtesy of Alexander.
Trudi Alexander.
Earlier this month, we published a list of the top ten most common complaints from transplants in St. Louis, which sparked a lot of passionate comments and a rebuttal from RFT's own native St. Louisans. We received quite a bit of feedback from readers in comments and letters -- and one of Daily RFT's favorites came from a woman named Trudi Alexander, who sent us an e-mail titled, "True Brit comes to St Louis (A Transplant's Tale)."

That's right, a transplant all the way from London, who, as it turns out, really likes living in St. Louis -- and plans to stay.

"I'm really adapting quite well," Alexander tells Daily RFT. "The people are incredibly nice and helpful."

See also:
- Top 10 Reasons Transplants Criticize St. Louis
- Rebuttal: 10 Reasons St. Louis Hates Outsiders
- 25 Reasons to Love Summer in St. Louis

Alexander, who is in her 50s and moved to Frontenac last fall to live here with her husband, says she never imagined she would leave England, much less end up in the midwest.

The two met a decade ago in England, where Alexander was born. She is from a rural part of the country but most recently was living in London.

"I knew how to do everything in my own country," she says, "...and then I'm dragged to a new continent. It has been so weird."

But since her move, despite some difficulties adjusting to all sorts of unfamiliar American customs, she's enjoyed her time here -- and thinks she might stay in St. Louis for awhile, she says.

Courtesy of Alexnader.
Trudi Alexander and her husband at the Millenium Hotel revolving restaurant on Christmas.

Her husband, who, she says loves St. Louis and had previously worked at Washington University, was last year appointed as a Saint Louis University dean.

"He's always wanted to come back to America," Alexander says. "I must admit, I did not want to come at all."

She had only visited the United States once before she made the move last November, just in time for Thanksgiving, she says.

"To say I experienced culture shock would be an understatement and to console myself I posted little articles on Facebook poking fun at the local customs for the amusement of my British friends," Alexander wrote to Daily RFT in her original e-mail. "But now I have American friends and so I tend not to do that any more. How did I make friends in St Louis? I found it easy, actually. American people are very friendly and helpful compared to my wonderful British counterparts. Whenever anyone said 'we must go to lunch sometime' I would reply 'Absolutely! When exactly?'. It's not in a Brit's nature to be as forward as this but needs must and I now have around 6 good female friends who I see regularly and my husband I probably have around a dozen couples who we are both friends with."

In a follow-up phone chat, Alexander admits it hasn't always been easy. Driving on the right side of the street, for example, is still quite a challenge. And she says people here are kind and wonderful "until they get behind the wheel of a car. And then they turn into insane psychopaths, really."

Some other observations she shares with us: Groceries are organized very differently, iced tea here is strange, lemonade is disappointing, tornadoes are quite frightening and the public transportation is pretty terrible. And she'll never quite understand why people like guns.

Courtesy of Alexander.
Trudi and her husband at a neighbor's daughter's graduation party. It was so kind of them to invite us - this is what I mean about St Louis hospitality," she says.

People also often try to make her feel at home with some pretty silly questions, she adds.

"They talk about Downton Abbey...or Kate Middleton's baby," she says.

But people she meets here are generous and hospitable in an unexpected way, she says.

"They invite me to their homes. We meet for lunch," she says. "They are much nicer than UK people are to strangers."

St. Louisans, she says, tell her all the time, "If you want to be driven around St. Louis, just give us a call."

She's very worried about the humidity, she admits, but she's enjoyed going to the zoo, to local wineries, to community centers and to the symphony -- where, she notes, it is actually possible to park.

Alexander loves the local parks, especially Creve Coeur Park, which she says has been great for cycling. She also notes that she's met a lot of people who enjoy various volunteering activities.

Back home, Alexander used to run a horse riding center, and now she is looking for part-time work as a secretary or receptionist.

In the meantime, she says she is successfully making friends. "I am so lucky that people have taken me under their wing."

She adds, "We will be here for a long time."

Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Sam Levin on Twitter at @SamTLevin.

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The Morning Brew: 3.25

Senate passes massive school lunch bill. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 will require schools to be alerted to food recalls and improve nutritional standards. (USA Today)

While American populations of domesticated honeybees continues to decrease, their increasing around the world. Good news, but it's not enough to keep up with the demand for apples and avocados. (The New York Times)

There are a lot of songs about food. Some are metaphors for sex. But a lot are really just about food. Take a listen to some of the tastiest. (San Francisco Chronicle)

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Little Farms Benefit From Massive Egg Recall

Small egg farmers benefit from massive recall. CNBC reports that an Amish farmer in Kansas can't keep up with demand with her 100 hens as consumers turn to small producers in light of August's recalls from egg factory farms.

Other small farmers are growing crops they'll never consume. According to the Associated Press, Mormons - who abstain from drinking alcohol - are big producers of hops and barley for the beer industry, especially in Idaho where Mormon legislators are passing laws to benefit the beer industry on behalf of the farmers.

They probably won't need to adopt Kendall-Jackson Winery's latest tactic. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat says the winery set up a breathalyzer booth at their recent tomato festival. Revelers weren't required to take the test, but participants report that the tests did encourage some people to sober up before hitting the road.

A good cheese sandwich is priceless. Or, in the U.K., could cost over 100 pounds. BBC News visits the country's oldest cheese show in Somerset, where a chef is selling a cheddar sandwich with white truffles, sprinkled with gold dust. It's in the running for the Guinness world record for Most Expensive Sandwich.

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May 28, 2015

Both Parties Play Rope-a-Dope on Obama’s Climate Agenda

There’s nothing congressional Republicans can do to stop President Barack Obama’s assertive new moves against carbon pollution. There’s nothing the Democrats can do to help him. And both sides have concluded that trying could make their own political fortunes worse.

Which is why four years ago to the day is going to stand, until at least the end of the decade, as the legislative climax in the climate change debate.

That was the day the House passed sweeping legislation to significantly reduce and limit greenhouse gas emissions, create a new market in carbon release permits and mandate more electricity generation from renewable sources. (Coincidentally, it was also the climactic moment in the career of the bill’s principal sponsor, Edward J. Markey, at least until Tuesday’s special Senate election in Massachusetts.)

In the rearview mirrors of both parties, though, that 219-212 roll call was also the moment that first heralded the indefinite end of the House’s Democratic majority.

Six out of every seven caucus members backed Obama, who had just won the presidency with a commitment to curb climate change as a signature cause. Only eight Republicans joined them. And passage of that bill, four months before health care came up for a vote, did as much as anything to help the nascent tea party movement congeal into a visible force.

When the Democrats lost the House the next year, “yes” votes on cap-and-trade were largely to blame for at least half of the 51 incumbents defeated. Had the Senate debated a similar bill, the odds of a GOP takeover there as well would have gone way up.

That synopsis informs the current politics of environmental policy, where fossil fuels have temporarily replaced Social Security as the touch-and-you’ll-die “third rail” of congressional campaigns.

Today’s Democratic leaders on the Hill know that even sounding all that interested in reviving the global warming debate would turn their party’s projected 2014 losses in the House from slight to significant, complicate their calculus for holding the Senate and put all of their potential 2016 presidential aspirants at a disadvantage.

So they appear entirely content to stay silent while Obama uses his executive powers as assertively as possible to advance his environmental goals. Some proposals the president unveiled Tuesday — doubling the amount of renewable energy generated on federal land, putting thousands of solar panels in public housing projects, creating loan guarantees for carbon-capture technologies, ramping up hydropower production at existing government dams — are going to be difficult to deride as economically misguided or ruinous in any case.

Democrats were thrilled that Obama set an after-the-midterm timetable for finalizing his most controversial proposal: new EPA rules that will limit for the first time heat-trapping pollution from all existing coal-fired power plants, in addition to any new ones.

In other words, the less congressional Democrats have to engage in the greening of Obama’s second term, the better they think they’ll do in November 2014.

Today’s Republican leaders at the Capitol know the other side sees it that way, and they worry that approach could work.

So the GOP’s short-term strategy will be to get out of the way of the president’s proposals — the better to hang his ideas around the necks of Democrats. Their targets are especially those in red states, those most vulnerable to charges they are complicit in an Obama “war on coal” that would kill jobs and drive up the cost of energy.

The party’s eventual nominees for the Senate in Kentucky and West Virginia, along with incumbents Mark Begich of Alaska and Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, can expect to hear the accusations particularly often.

This political tactic is the best option for the Republicans because their ability to rebut the president’s policies is nonexistent. Quite simply, they lack the votes to thwart the new climate change agenda.

The GOP could push language through the House preventing the EPA from spending money to write the new rules. But such “limitation amendments” have no chance of acceptance by the Senate, either as part of an appropriations bill or for inclusion in what looks to be an inevitable year-ending catchall continuing resolution.

Speaker John A. Boehner also could win House adoption of one of the special measures allowing Congress to spike a new regulation during its first two months on the books. But that would have slim chances in the Senate, even though only a simple majority is necessary. Even then, an Obama veto would put an end to the discussion.

The strongest weapon the GOP has at the moment is the power to block Gina McCarthy’s promotion from air quality chief to head of the EPA. But keeping that job empty could end up looking obstructionist and punitive. And it would seem justified only if there was clear evidence she didn’t tell the truth at her confirmation hearing this spring, when she said her office wasn’t drafting new carbon-capture requirements for existing power plants.

By late Tuesday afternoon, McCarthy’s path to confirmation before the end of July seemed unchanged by the president’s speech.

The bureaucratic and regulatory pace means Obama will be a lame duck by the time all these proposals are put in place, if legal challenges don’t slow the process further.

While the Supreme Court has affirmed the EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, the legal parameters of such an effort are open to wide interpretation, and aggrieved power companies are destined to go to court to test those limits.

So it’s not unreasonable to expect that, four years from now, the justices will be announcing a ruling that serves as the next climactic moment in the climate change debate.

  • Winston Blake

  • Joe McGervey

    Thoughtful summary of why we may not see much activity on the Hill regarding Obama’s climate agenda. I expect many individual members will run against this initiative as this has been a successful tactic for the GOP. As noted, many parts of this agenda will go ahead with little argument because they work for everyone. The biggest piece is regulating CO2 from coal power plants, which will get a lot of discussion. Their aggregate emissions have been falling for several years as cheap natural gas and wind eat its lunch on the business side. This may be a case of finding a parade and getting in front of it.

    • EricFromTheHill

      “This may be a case of finding a parade and getting in front of it.”

      Not so fast. Fossil fuel production still pumps an astronomical amount of carbon into the atmosphere constantly, and you’re right that clean(er) energy has and will continue to make a dent. However, even more drastic reductions than can be accounted for by even the most optimistic near-term growth in natural gas/wind/solar/etc. must take place if we are to meet our own professed emissions goals. This is to say nothing of any international agreements or avoiding warmer greater than 2 degrees celsius.

      • Joe McGervey

        Sure, the decrease in GHG emissions from coal power plants is still small but it has started. Utility planners and the financial sector now view coal as a high risk investment. This change is mostly the result of current market conditions. My point was to suggest now is the time to lock in that trend with the coal emissions rules. Once the planners and investers know that coal has no future, they will move to other options that have become mainstream energy investments.

  • lee rase

    Why would anyone be opposed to reversing climate change? The fact of it is, that politics,money, and stupidity stands in the way. There are those hardliners, that hasn’t caught up to the 21st century yet. It seems that no one wants to give up fossil fuel, because there’s still money to be made, unfortunate.

  • Sixfiles

    Perhaps if we get three or more Sandy like events in a short stretch there will be a broader acceptance of the link by the public (even if individual events don’t link) and congress will be forced to act. It’s only a matter of when. Although I’m regularly amazed when intelligent friends who understand the science and reality, have no inclination to act. In this it is not just the flat earth folks with their head in the sand.

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49ers Blog and Q&A

News, notes and reader questions about the San Francisco 49ers

April 30, 2011
Round six: Niners take USC receiver, TCU safety

A team that's full of ex-Stanford coaches took its first Pac-10 product, wide receiver Ronald Johnson from USC. Johnson, 5-10, 185 pounds, caught 64 passes for 692 yards last year, 61 one of those yards against Vic Fangio's Cardinal defense.

ronald.jpg colin jones.jpg

Johnson obviously is very familiar to 49ers receiver coach John Morton, who coached at USC last season. It's the second year the 49ers have used a sixth-round pick on a small-ish receiver from the Pac 10. They took Arizona State's Kyle Williams last season. Williams appeared in five games in 2010. He had one catch for eight yards.

Johnson handled 22 punt returns last season for 312 yards including a touchdown. He said the 49ers were looking at him to help out on punt returns and to help stretch the field on offense. He ran a 4.5-second 40-yard dash at USC's pro day.

Asked if there was any animosity toward Jim Harbaugh at USC, Johnson said, no. "We all respected him," he said. "He's a great coach. He had his players doing the right thing on the field and off the field."

Later in the second round, the 49ers took Colin Jones, a 208-pound safety from TCU. Jones had three sacks and an interception last year and made a splash in TCU's Rose Bowl win.

Jones said he knew he would excel at TCU's pro day - well attended because of quarterback Andy Dalton - and he did just that. He ran his 40-yard dash in 4.34 and 4.38 seconds, had a 37-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot, 4-inch broad jump.

Jones said he's had a lot of contact recently with secondary coach Ed Donatell and special teams coordinator Brad Seely. "I had a workout with them earlier back at TCU and I talked to them a lot over the last two weeks," he said. Jones described himself as a blue-collar player who loved to play special teams. That promises to be his role in 2011.

-- Matt Barrows

Matt was born in Blacksburg, Va., and attended the University of Virginia. He graduated in 1995, went to Northwestern for a journalism degree a year later, and got his first job at a South Carolina daily in 1997. He joined The Bee as a Metro reporter in 1999 and started covering the 49ers in 2003. His favorite player of all time is Darrell Green.

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February 26, 2013
Battenberg keeps watchful eye on his old team, from afar

Terry Battenberg is keeping an eye on the playoff run of his former Capital Christian boys basketball team, but he's doing it from thousands of miles away.

Battenberg, who led Capital Christian to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V title last season before stepping down, is on a tour of Australia and New Zealand.

He's doing 13 coaching clinics during a month-long stay, his third trip to Down Under.

The veteran coach had to smile at one promotional flier, which listed him as a "renowned international coach and clinician."

"Just shows that you are 'bigger' when you are from another country," Battenberg said in an e-mail.

No. 2 seeded Capital Christian, now coached by Devon Jones, is playing No. 3 Ripon Christian in Wednesday's 7:30 p.m. boys section semifinal at Galt High School.

About the Prep blog

Bee staff writers Joe Davidson and Bill Paterson provide news, analysis and insight on the area high school sports scene in their Prep Blog. Have a question to ask them? Send them an email any time at jdavidson@sacbee.com or bpaterson@sacbee.com.

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Kings Blog and Q&A

News, observations and reader questions about the Sacramento Kings and the NBA.

October 21, 2013
Mbah a Moute practices; eyes playing Wednesday

Kings forward Luc Mbah a Moute returned to practice Monday after resting his sore right knee for two weeks.

It was Mbah a Moute's first full practice since training camp in Santa Barbara.

"He's been practicing portions of practices here and there but this is the first full practice since training camp down in Santa Barbara," said Kings coach Michael Malone.

Mbah a Moute was acquired from Milwaukee to add defensive toughness and possibly start at small forward. But he hasn't played since the Oct. 7 preseason opener at Golden State.

"It was great to have him back competing," Malone said. "He was happy to be out here. It's frustrating for him not being able to play with his teammates and play in a game so to have him out here was a great sign. He did some good things and hopefully we can get him back 100 percent soon rather than later."

Malone said he would speak with the team's medical staff before deciding if Mbah a Moute would play in Wednesday's preseason game against Golden State.

Mbah a Moute was confident he'd be available.

"I'll be ready to play Wednesday," Mbah a Moute said. "I don't make the decision on when I go in but I'll be ready."

Mbah a Moute's right knee has bothered in recent seasons and he had surgery on it last fall.

Mbah a Moute said he'll have no problem managing any discomfort this season with proper rest.

"With training camp all the practices combined I think my knee just kind of got sore," Mbah a Moute said. "I just needed to calm it down a little bit but now I'm feeling better."

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