U.S. district court to hold special FRAND mini-trial in ... - FOSS Patents

Yesterday the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled on a Microsoft motion for partial summary judgment in a litigation involving FRAND-pledged, standard-essential Motorola Mobility patents allegedly covering mandatory parts of the H.264 video codec standard and the IEEE?802.11 WLAN (WiFi) standard, and Microsoft's related defenses and counterclaims. I think there's some interesting stuff in the court order that's also reasonably relevant to FRAND issues in other jurisdictions.

The order adjudicates a couple of the issues Microsoft's motion raised, and a footnote suggests that Motorola didn't oppose those parts of the motion (apparently because it realized it couldn't succeed). With respect to a couple of other questions, the court did not find that Microsoft met the threshold for summary judgment (i.e., the combination of a winning legal argument and the absence of a relevant, genuine factual dispute) at this stage, but its reasoning nevertheless makes several points that clearly show that FRAND is not an empty word.

The court now plans to reach conclusions on the remaining FRAND-related questions ahead of a patent infringement liability trial. For that purpose, the court declares its intent to schedule a "mini-trial" on FRAND and allows both Microsoft and Motorola to bring additional summary judgment motions on limited issues. The scope of those motions would actually enable Microsoft to win the most important part of this case even ahead of the mini-trial.

This course of action demonstrates that FRAND-related considerations are absolutely key to that litigation. It reminds me of the way a Dutch court handled a Samsung v. Apple case last year (putting FRAND first).

The court order stops short of setting a date for the FRAND mini-trial. For the next round of FRAND summary judgment motions, the briefing schedule has a deadline for final reply briefs on April 20, 2012, and after the court decides on those motions (no particular target date given for that), it will set a schedule for the mini-trial. My guess is that the mini-trial will take place in the summer.

In the following, I'll highlight the court's decisions and some of Judge James Robart's remarks that appear particularly interesting to me.

FRAND licensing obligations as a means of preventing extortionate or exclusionary conduct

Quite at the beginning, the court order summarizes, at a high level, what FRAND licensing commitments in connection with standards are all about. The court order uses the term RAND, which is synonymous with FRAND (the absence of the "F" doesn't suggest unfairness) and still very common in the United States.

Here's the court's summary of the concept of FRAND-based standards:

"Standards setting organizations ('SSOs') play a significant role in the technology market by allowing companies to agree on common technological standards so that all compliant products will work together. Standards lower costs by increasing product manufacturing volume, and they increase price competition by eliminating 'switching costs' for consumers who desire to switch from products manufactured by one firm to those manufactured by another.

One complication with standards is that it may be necessary to use patented technology in order to practice them. If a patent claims technology selected by a SSO, the patent is called an 'essential patent.' Here, Motorola is the owner of several declared-essential patents to certain standards established by the IEEE and the ITU. [...] In order to reduce the likelihood that owners of essential patents will abuse their market power, many SSOs, including the IEEE and the ITU, have adopted rules related to the disclosure and licensing of essential patents. The policies often require or encourage members of the SSO to identify patents that are essential to a proposed standard and to agree to license their essential patents on reasonable and non-discriminatory ('RAND') terms to anyone who requests a license. Such rules help to insure that standards do not allow essential patent owners to extort their competitors or prevent them from entering the marketplace."

The royalty base issue

The court document also quotes from two offer letters (one related to 802.11, the other to H.264) that Motorola sent Microsoft and which resulted in Microsoft instigating this lawsuit. Motorola's 2.25% demand is publicly-known by now. What increasingly gets attention is the fact that Motorola wants to apply that percentage to the price of end products even if a patent covers only a subset of the functionality of a single component. Here's what Motorola wrote to Microsoft:

"As per Motorola?s standard terms, the royalty is calculated based on the price of the end product (e.g., each Xbox 360 product, each PC/laptop, each smartphone, etc.) and not on component software (e.g., Xbox 360 system software, Windows 7 software, Windows Phone 7 software, etc.)."

In the "Common Royalty Base" part of this recent blog post, I gave examples that this could also mean the price of an entire car that comes with built-in functionality of certain kinds. Or how about airplanes that offer WLAN/WiFi services? While computers are the most expensive one of Motorola's own examples, Motorola's offer just says "end product", and the list of examples is open-ended (it ends with "etc."), so any concern about how they would handle cars and airplanes with such functionality is reasonable, and well-founded. It's bad enough if they want a $45 royalty on a $2,000 computer, but where does it stop? Apple's proposal of a Common Royalty Base would be the solution -- but Motorola doesn't appear to like that.

Even if someone was convinced that Motorola could not extend its royalty base to an entire car or airplane, those examples nevertheless serve to show that there must be some reasonable apportionment of the value of patents to the subset of a larger product that their claimed inventions actually form part of.

I saw in a recent filing with the ITC that Motorola says it might have been willing to negotiate with Microsoft and that Microsoft could, in the course of such negotiations, have explained its business model to Motorola. In my opinion, Microsoft's business model of selling operating system software for PCs and smartphones (and complete devices only in the case of the Xbox 360) is well-known and didn't have to be explained to Motorola.

I'll leave the royalty base discussion at that for the time being, though I guess I'll address it again in the not too distant future because it is a major problem.

Court agrees that Motorola has contractual commitments

Especially in Europe, courts don't always hold that commitments to make licenses available on FRAND terms are binding contracts. Quite often, FRAND licensing obligations are viewed as a matter of antitrust law rather than contract law. The Dutch case I mentioned before would be an example of a court disagreeing that a FRAND pledge has the status of a contract.

But Microsoft has convinced the Seattle-based district court that "through Motorola's letters to both the IEEE and ITU, Motorola has entered into binding contractual commitments to license its essential patents on RAND terms."

Taking this concept even further, the court furthermore "finds that Microsoft, as a member of both the IEEE and the ITU, is a third-party beneficiary of Motorola's commitments to the IEEE and ITU."

The judge explains in a footnote that "[o]n February 13, 2012, the court held a status conference in which Motorola stated on the record that it did not dispute that it entered into the aforementioned binding contractual commitments with the IEEE and the ITU and that Microsoft is a third-party beneficiary of these commitments." In other words, Motorola only recently realized that these two items were slam dunks for Microsoft, making further opposition appear futile.

Does each offer have to be in line with FRAND?

The court notes that "Microsoft argues that because Motorola committed to make its essential patents relating to the 802.11 and H.264 Standards available to an unrestricted number of applicants on RAND terms, any offer by Motorola must likewise be on RAND terms." Let me compare this once again to the Dutch Samsung v. Apple case. In that one, the judge looked at Samsung's 2.4% royalty demand (also on the full market value of the end product) as being "out of step with Samsung's FRAND licensing obligation", and therefore denied Samsung injunctive relief.

Motorola told the Seattle-based court that only the completed licenses need to be on FRAND terms, not each and every offer on the way to a final agreement.

This district court tried to resolve the question through contract interpretation (not through the application of antitrust law) and wasn't satisfied with Microsoft's related arguments. But the court notes that "Microsoft may ultimately prevail on this point" (the position that Motorola's "exorbitant" royalty demands are the opposite of its obligation to make its relevant patents available on FRAND terms).

The court didn't find Motorola's counterargument compelling either, but since Microsoft wanted summary judgment, it had the burden of proof and didn't prevail at this stage. Rather than merely denying this part of Microsoft's motion, the court elected to provide "guidance for the path forward". In this context, the judge says that he's presently unconvinced by Motorola's claim that a give-and-take negotiation process would ultimately lead to FRAND terms. At least in the ITU policy (which governs H.264), the court sees a potential indication that the negotations themselves (and, therefore, any offers that form part of them) must meet FRAND criteria. Furthermore, "[i]t seems unlikely to the court that either the IEEE or the ITU would deem a patent essential for a certain standard only to permit that patent holder to turn around and abuse that power by seeking outrageously high royalty rates. To wit, during the February 13, 2012 status conference, counsel for Motorola agreed that blatantly unreasonable offers would violate its RAND obligations under the policies."

I think it's a major deficiency of the German Orange-Book-Standard approach that it doesn't deny patent holders injunctive relief based on abusive demands -- only on abusive refusals to accept offers from implementers of the standard. In that regard, the guidance provided in this ruling from Seattle is clearly more holistic, and in my view, pro-competitive.

It appears that Microsoft still has every opportunity to prevail on this count. It just didn't address the contract interpretation issues that the court would have liked to see discussed in greater depth at this stage.

Taking disputes over FRAND royalty rates to court is perfectly acceptable and doesn't change anything about a patent holder's FRAND licensing obligations

Motorola argued (in that district court as well as in other venues) that Microsoft basically lost its entitlement to a FRAND license because it went to court right after Motorola's first set of licensing offers. On this one, the Seattle court sets the record straight in no uncertain terms:

"Indeed, it would appear that at any point in the negotiation process, the parties may have a genuine disagreement as to what terms and conditions of a license constitute RAND under the parties' unique circumstances. Because the policies leave it to the parties to determine what constitutes a RAND license, when such a genuine disagreement arises, it appears to the court that the only recourse for the parties is to file a lawsuit in the appropriate court of law."

That is a clear pro-rule-of-law stance. With respect to Motorola's "repudiation" (loss of entitlement) argument, the judge even says that "[t]he court is perplexed by Motorola's argument". This looks to me like a diplomatic way of saying that the argument is nonsensical, and possibly also disingenuous.

Even though Microsoft formally didn't prevail on the third count of its motion, the passages I just quoted from the court order show that Microsoft's argument was persuasive from a policy point of view.

Breach of obligations through unFRANDly offers: depends on facts, therefore not suitable for summary judgment

Microsoft's fourth request was for the court to determine that Motorola's offers to Microsoft breached Motorola's FRAND licensing obligations. This presupposes a ruling in Microsoft's favor on the previously-discussed third count, on which the court appears to be quite sympathetic to Microsoft's views but, for the time being, unconvinced at the legal level. Furthermore, the judge wouldn't be comfortable deciding summarily that "it is always facially unreasonable for a proposed royalty rate to result in a larger royalty payment for products that have higher end prices". He denied this part of the motion, not because Microsoft was necessarily wrong but because this depends on the specific facts, and the envisioned mini-trial will be an opportunity to reach conclusions on any such factual issues.

But Microsoft has the chance to make a lot of headway even before that mini-trial. The order allows Microsoft to "file another summary judgment motion on its breach of contract and promissory estoppel claims specifically addressing whether the IEEE Policy and ITU Policy require offers to be on RAND terms". Promissory estoppel would mean that Microsoft has a defense that serves all (or at least the most important ones) of its purposes, and it now has the chance to get to that point even before the mini-trial.

The court formally also allows Motorola to "file a summary judgment motion with respect to its claim that Microsoft repudiated its right to a license for Motorola's declared-essential patents on RAND terms", but based on what I quoted above from yesterday's order, Motorola would need to come up with entirely new and surprisingly strong arguments to succeed on this count.

So the really interesting question at the summary judgment stage is going to be whether Microsoft wins on the promissory estoppel count, or alternatively makes progress toward that goal. Otherwise, it gets another bite at the apple at the mini-trial. The coming months should be very interesting for this litigation and the wider Microsoft-Motorola dispute (though it would be even more interesting if it also touched directly on the antitrust issues that standard-essential patents raise).

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Source: http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2012/02/us-district-court-to-hold-special-frand.html

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Self-Awareness, Self-Improvement and Self-Empowerment

It says regarding Noah that he brought the animals to the ark in couples. But there are things which come in triples, like Self-Awareness, Self-Improvement and Self-Empowerment. The three go hand in hand (sort of a couple). The longer you tread the correct path, these 3 can unite and become ONE.

No wonder all these three concepts begin with SELF. No-one will tread the trail for you. You are accountable to doing ?the work?, to tread the triple path.

These are ?smart news?. There will be no Self-Empowerment while not Self-Improvement, and not one of the two while not Self-Awareness. One ends up in the other and feed each other at the same time. Thus, the minute you embark on the trail to any of the 3, you are actually embarking on the trail to any or all 3 together.

What?s Self-Awareness?

This is a journey to your inner-self; getting to understand and understand yourself higher; being honest and true relating to who you?re, how you handle your life, how you sabotage yourself and your relationships, how you limit and imprison yourself.

It?s realizing that factors have an effect on your emotions, attitudes, reactions and behaviours throughout your life.

What?s Self-Improvement?

It?s taking the mandatory steps to de-activate the role different factors have exerted over you and prevented you from being ?who you really are?. It is a process of ?changing into a higher person? in the means you understand yourself and in the ways in which you motivate yourself to ?do better? in your life (?doing higher? in line with your definition of its meaning).

What?s Self-Empowerment?

It?s your ability to support yourself to try and do stuff you haven?t had the courage to do before; it?s becoming additional assertive; it?s having a clearer vision of where you would like to travel (professionally and personally); how you want to urge there; that ways in which you intend to apply so as to succeed and to change whatever you feel desires change.

As you walk this triple path you get nearer and closer to changing into whole. In bit with yourself, your needs, fears and wishes, strengths with weaknesses. You expand your authenticity, your ability to talk out your mind, do what feels right for you and not do what doesn?t feel right (which others want you to try and do).

The triple SELF is really one whole

What?s extremely nice about this method of getting nearer to ?yourSELF?, is that the minute you embark on the journey to Self-Awareness, Self-Improvement or Self-Empowerment ? you have got begun a process of improving who you?re and therefore the life you have. This will no doubt empower you to possess higher personal and skilled interactions.

Jennifer Stephane has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Self Improvement ,you can also check out her latest website about: 100 Gallon Aquarium Which reviews and lists the best Used Large Aquariums

Source: http://www.a1article.net/self-improvement/self-awareness-self-improvement-and-self-empowerment-5583.html

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Pelican Storm Snowboard Review - Extreme Sports X

Reviews, Snowboarding, Winter Sports ? By Greg on February 28, 2012 9:00 am

Since 1968, Pelican International has been a market leader for outdoor recreation products, specializing in boating products, and making them more affordable and accessible to both beginners and experienced outdoor enthusiasts alike.? What many people don?t realize is that Pelican International also makes a wide variety of recreational products designed for winter use as well, such as a wide variety of utility sleds meant to be pulled behind ATVs and snow machines.

They also make a wide variety of winter toys for children who are just beginning to learn the winter sport of their choice, everything from a variety of different sleds such as ride-ons, inflatables, carpets, and baby sleighs to snowboards.? In fact Pelican snowboards are specially made for children who are just starting to get into this exciting sport.? The Pelican Storm Snowboard is one of these beginner snowboards, designed for children ages 5 and up.

Specifications

• Freestyle board
• In-mold graphic design
• The toe bindings are adjustable ? perfect for growing kids
• Length = 45.25?
• Width = 8.5?
• Weight = 4.5 pounds

Click here for more specifications

Pros and Cons of the Pelican Storm Snowboard

The Pelican Storm Snowboard from Pelican Snowboards is designed to be your child?s first snowboard.? Made for kids aged 5 and up, the Pelican Storm snowboard can support up to 110 lbs.? It is lightweight, weighing only 4lbs and the bootstraps are adjustable so you don?t have to worry about your child outgrowing it too fast.? That means you won?t have to buy a new snowboard every winter like you will boots.

The Pelican Storm Snowboard is also environmentally friendly since it is made of 99.5% recycled material.? This shows the commitment Pelican Snowboards has to environmental concerns. The graphics are also eye popping, and they are in-mold graphics as well, so you don?t have to worry about them fading or washing out ensuring that your child will love this offering from Pelican Snowboards.

The Pelican Storm Snowboard is also affordable, selling anywhere between $45 and $50.? For a beginner?s snowboard, especially one meant for children this is a good value, since all they need is one or two growth spurts and they will be too big for their snowboard.? But even if this is being purchased for an older child that can get one or two seasons of use out of it, it is good value.? This way you can help them get used to the basic techniques before you get them their first ?big? snowboard.

Obviously, your child will not be able to tear things up with this snowboard, but since it is meant for 5 and 6 year olds, they will be able to learn all the basics and start to work their way up.? Plus, it will make your kid look really cool on the slopes.

Extreme Sports Final Thoughts

Pelican Snowboards have been around for quite some time, and they make many winter toys that you might not have even been aware were made by Pelican Snowboards.? The Pelican Storm Snowboard is a great introduction board for young children who want to get into snowboarding and at the price, you can?t go wrong.

Tags: Kids, Pelican, Snowboard

Source: http://extremesportsx.com/2012/02/28/pelican-storm-snowboard-review/

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Internet business and SEO

It?s totally common information in IM that plenty of online entrepreneurs are ready to make many money on their own efforts at Website positioning. There are lots of strategies to get website traffic and generate profits, which is one thing that just isn?t going to appeal to a specified segment which is great. Whether you technique this method, it truly is a make any difference of making up your thoughts and after that acquiring to work. This is certainly just one approach to make an enterprise that will very last for many years. You need to consider the initiative therefore you have; so let us move forward with a discussion about intro level Seo.

After you have Seo in head, you wish to usually reduce specific aspects of web page style just to stay away from problems.

There?s only one matter that your customers will at any time want, and that is superb information and facts that offers worth ? not fancy issues that do not subject. The various search engines are getting to be a whole lot far more smarter as of late, which evidently suggests that they know if the website is negative. So aim for making a great impact not just the visitors, but in addition the search engines.

Really don?t get upset for those who completely screw-up anything, most of us have completed that in certain form. The power to recover and learn from just about any error in judgment is vital to relocating ahead.

Just one way or an additional, you have to still improve and get smarter in regards to promotion and marketing your small business. So whenever you are able to do that, then you definately will ultimately strike a critical mass where the goof ups are rare.

When it comes to Search engine marketing, the major search engines like it once you have got a site map, and also you really should make a single if you have a non-blog internet site. What this tiny code does is allows out the search engine spiders when they crawl your web site, and it essentially assists your pages to obtain thoroughly indexed. No should stress if that is tough or not with sites as you will find excellent plugins that can crank out it for you personally. Possibilities are that with out a sitemap, your web site will not even get indexed! Contemplating how easy it can be to do this, no excuses about it.

Steer clear of trying to do items the inexpensive way with gimmicks along with the like with Search engine marketing simply because they in no way very last for extended. It is actually a lure to fall in the routine of only in search of speedy ways to rank from the engines. It can take for a longer period to rank pretty very well and be able to stay there, but it will be worthwhile later on. Receive the preliminary aspect right, and concentration on straightening your essentials first, and this will permit you to gradually and steadily transfer while in the appropriate path. Search engine marketing may get boring, but it surely is a thing which has to be accomplished if you want individuals search rankings.

Looking to find the best deal on seo for dentists, then visit www.crunchseo.com to find the best advice on budget SEO for you.

Source: http://internetbasedbusinessarticles.com/123951/internet-business-and-seo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=internet-business-and-seo

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Same-Sex Marriage: 85600000 and Growing

More than one-fourth of Americans now live in jurisdictions that recognize same-sex marriage. ?Within five years more than half of Americans may live in such jurisdictions. ?But there are legal barriers.

Today's Kansas City Star has an article by Curtis Tate,?Gay Marriage Question Evolves One State at a Time, in which he reviews the recent progress of the marriage equality movement and observes that this social issue is being decided one state at a time:

Increasingly, courts and state legislatures have decided that same-sex couples shouldn't be treated differently from opposite-sex couples. It's an incremental process, playing out state by state, reflecting the feelings of a changing but still divided public.

Tate concludes his article with observations that public opinion is slowly shifting in favor of same-sex marriage:

According to a Pew Research Center poll in November, 46 percent of Americans supported same-sex marriage, while 44 percent opposed it. That's a dramatic shift from 2006, when the same poll showed that 33 percent supported it, while 56 percent opposed it. Among people from ages 18 to 30, 59 percent supported it last year. ?"Public opinion is moving pretty quickly," said Jane Schacter, a law professor at Stanford University and an expert on sexual-orientation law. "The long-term outcome is pretty clear. The question is how long does it take."

Currently, over 85 million Americans live in states where gay and lesbian couples are allowed to marry. ?How long will it take before the rest of the country follows suit?

Nate Silver, the noted predictive analyst for the New York Times, tracks the level of acceptance in the United States. ?In April, 2011,?he found?that support for same-sex marriage had increased 8% in two years, or 4% per year, more than double the historical average. ?In 2010?Hank Pellissier, writing for the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, created?a model of state-by-state changes?that assumed a slower rate of acceptance ? 1% per year. ?Using this model Pellissier predicted that New Jersey would adopt same-sex marriage in 2011, Washington in 2012, and Maryland in 2013. ?I have based the following figures on Pellissier's predictions.

Counting California, at the moment more than 85 million Americans live in nine states and the District of Columbia that recognize same-sex marriage. ?According to Pellissier, between 2012 and 2014 another ten states with a population of more than 45 million people will join this group. ?In the next two years, according to Pellissier, five more states with a population of 44 million people will embrace marriage equality. ?At that point, 175 million Americans ? 56% of the country ? will live in places where gay and lesbian couples can marry.

However, there is a legal roadblock that may slow this development. ?Eight of the states (indicated by an asterisk* below) slated to enact same-sex marriage by 2016 have provisions in their state constitutions prohibiting this. ?In order for same-sex marriage laws to be adopted in these states one of three ?things would have to happen. ?(1) The people of the state would have to amend their constitution; (2) A court would have to rule that under?Romer v. Evans?it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution for a state constitution to prevent a state legislature from adopting a law opening up marriage to gays and lesbians; or (3) A court would have to rule that the United States Constitution guarantees gay and lesbian couples the right to marry regardless of any state law.

As more jurisdictions recognize these marriages as valid, political and economic factors will increasingly come into play. ?When a married same-sex couple moves to a state that does not recognize their marriage as valid, the state that performed the marriage is going to be irritated at the state of their new residence. ?There could be negotiation or retaliation between the states. ?More seriously, if DOMA is found to be unconstitutional (as two district courts have now ruled), federal employees who are moved from state-to-state will be have their marriages recognized, not recognized, and perhaps recognized again depending on where they live. ?People aren't going to like that. ?Most significant of all, members of the military have the right to declare their domocile to be anywhere in the United States; they will be living as married couples in states that otherwise do not recognize their marriages. ?These and other factors may well lead to a "tipping point" that will accelerate the process of change in the remaining states.

Here are the statistics regarding the population of the states that currently recognize same-sex marriage, and of those that may be next in line.

States That Currently Recognize Same-Sex Marriage

California????? ???????????? 37,700,000

Connecticut?????????????????3,600,000

Iowa??????????????????????????? ? 3,100,000

Maryland??????????????????? ? 5,800,000

Massachusetts?????????????6,600,000

New York???????????????????? 19,500,000

New Hampshire??????????? 1,300,000

Vermont????????????????????? ???? 600,000

Washington??????????????? ? 6,800,000

Washington, D.C.?????? ?????600,000

Total now??????????????????? 85,600,000 (27%)

States Predicted to Recognize Same-Sex Marriage 2012-2014

Colorado*?????????????????? ? 4,800,000

Delaware???????????????????? ?? ??900,000

Maine????????????????????????? ? ?1,100,000

Michigan*????????????????? ? ??9,900,000

New Jersey???????????????? ? ?8,800,000

Oregon? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ?3,900,000

Rhode Island?????????????? ? ?1,100,000

South Dakota*? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?????800,000

Virginia*??????????????????? ? ? ??8,100,000

Wisconsin*???????????????? ? ? ?5,700,000

Total 2012-2014 ??????? ? ?45,100,000

Total by 2014 ? ? ? ? ? ? ??130,700,000 (42%)

States Predicted to Recognize Same-Sex Marriage 2015-2016

Arizona*???????????????????? ? ? ??6,500,000

Alaska *????????? ??????????? ???? ??? ?700,000

Illinois??????????? ??????????? ? ? ??12,900,000

Ohio*? ??????????????????????? ? ?? ?11,500,000

Pennsylvania??????????????????? 12,700,000

Total 2015-2016???????? ?? ?44,300,000

Total by 2016? ? ? ? ? ???? ??175,000,000 (56%)

Total U.S. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??? ?311,600,000

Tagged as: constitutional law, equal protection, First Amendment, fourteenth amendment, Romer v Evans, same-sex marriage, same-sex marriage in the states, states

Source: http://www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/akron_law_cafe/2012/02/same-sex-marriage-85600000-and-growing/

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State Health Insurance Exchanges Moving In Fits And Starts - Kaiser ...

Vermont, Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Texas and California are grappling with various aspects of implementing the health law.

The Associated Press/Boston Globe: Vt. House Advances Health Insurance Overhaul Bill
The Vermont House on Thursday gave preliminary approval to a bill under which the state would take the next big step on a path to sweeping health insurance reform passed in broad outline last?year. ... Vermont's version of the [health insurance] exchange called for under the federal health overhaul passed two years ago would go further than most, and it would be used as a springboard for moving the state toward a government-run single-payer health insurance system by decade's?end (Gram, 2/23).

Kaiser Health News: Minnesota Exchange Grant Arrives In Politically Divided State
The federal government has awarded Minnesota a $26 million grant to help fund the creation of the state insurance exchange ? a key part of the federal health care law. The grant comes to a state government bitterly divided over carrying out federal health reform (Stawicki, 2/23).

Kansas City Star: Kansas, Missouri Unlikely To Meet Deadline On Health Care
Kansas and Missouri are almost certain to miss an end-of-the-year deadline for establishing a key component of the nation?s health care law ? health insurance "exchanges" where individuals and businesses can compare and purchase coverage. ... For months, experts in both states have been working quietly to figure out how to meet that Dec. 31 deadline. But conservative Republican lawmakers ? concerned that the exchanges are an implicit endorsement of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act ? have blocked further implementation of the exchanges (Helling, 2/23).

Kansas Health Institute News: Kansas Senate Narrowly Rejects Health Reform Protest
The Kansas Senate today narrowly rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution protesting the federal health reform law. ... The supporters of House Concurrent Resolution 5007 said it would exempt Kansans from parts of the federal health reform law, specifically the mandate that those who can afford health insurance must have it or pay a tax penalty (Cauthon, 2/23).?

The Associated Press/Kansas City Star: Kansas Senate Rejects Health 'Freedom' Proposal
The chamber's eight Democrats were joined by six of the 32 Republicans to block it. One of them, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tim Owens of Overland Park, said lawmakers shouldn't tell voters that a state policy can protect them from a federal law (Hanna, 2/23).

The Texas Tribune/New York Times: State To Close Program On Federal Health Law
A program created to help insurance-seekers in Texas cut through the complexities of federal health care reforms is shutting down in April, just 15 months after it opened its call center and years before the law goes into full effect. ...? federal financing was not renewed, and unlike some other states, Texas is not seeking alternative means to maintain its program?(Tan, 2/23).

California Healthline: Pre-Reform Pressures Mount for California Hospitals
The California Hospital Association released a dire forecast for this year, predicting that most hospitals in the Golden State will face significant financial obstacles in 2012 and that some may be forced to close. According to the forecast, "California hospitals are facing pressures from every direction." The report cites the stalled economy, increasing dependence on government health insurance programs and implementation of the federal health reform law as the root of some of the most significant financial pressures (2/23).?

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2012/February/24/states-health-reform-implementation.aspx

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Beware Apple Fanboy: That's Not an iStove! Chinese Cops Seize 681 iPhone Branded Stoves

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Source: technorati.com --- Friday, February 24, 2012
iPhone branded gas stoves ...

Source: http://feeds09.technorati.com/~r/trarticles/~3/eHxmhgDYY4M/

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Small, Phase I combo trial suggests 3-year overall survival in men ...

A media release issued earlier today by Barvarian Nordic (the developer of Prostvac^?) gives us an inkling of where we may be headed in the development of combination therapies for the management of late stage (and maybe even earlier stage) forms of prostate cancer.

The media release comments briefly on research published on line by Madan et al. in The Lancet Oncology.

Madan et al. report data from a small, Phase I, dose-escalation trial designed to test the safety and the tolerability of a fixed dose of Barvarian Nordic?s poxvirus-based Prostvac immunotherapeutic vaccine in combination with gradually escalating doses of? ipilimumab, another immunotherapeutic agent. Both agents are currently in pivotal Phase III trials as single agents for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), and ipilimumab (Yervoy^?) has already been approved in the US as a treatment for metastatic melanoma.

In the current trial, men with mCRPC were given a subcutaneous injection with? 2 ? 108 plaque-forming units of Prostvac on day 1 of cycle 1 and then with monthly injections of 1 ? 109 plaque-forming units of Prostvac, starting on day 15. They were also treated with escalating doses of ipilimumab, given intravenously, once monthly, starting at day 15, using doses of 1, 3, 5, and 10 mg/kg. Additional details about the trial are available on the ClinicalTrials.gov web site.

Here are the core findings from this study to date:

• The trial enrolled 30 men with mCRPC
• 24/30 patients (80 percent) were chemotherapy-naive.
• No dose-limiting toxic effects were evident.
• Vaccination-site reactions were the most common toxic effects.
  • 3/30 patients (10 percent) had grade 1 vaccination reactions.
  • 26/30 patients (87 percent) had grade 2 vaccination reactions.
• 21 patients had grade 2 or greater immune-related adverse events.
• Grade 3 or 4 immune-related adverse events included
  • Diarrhea or colitis (in 4 patients)
  • Grade 3 rash (in 2 patients)
  • Grade 3 raised aminotransferase levels (2 patients)
  • Grade 3 endocrine immune-related adverse events (2 patients)
  • Grade 4 neutropenia (1 patient).
• Among the patients previously treated with chemotherapy, 1/6 (17 percent) had a PSA decline from baseline.
• Among the patients who were chemotherapy-naive, 14/24 (58 percent) had PSA declines from baseline
  • 6/24 chemotherapy-naive patients (25 percent) had PSA declines from baseline that were > 50 percent.

However, even though this trial was not intended to assess effectiveness of therapy, the median overall survival of the patients in this study was 34.4 months (nearly 3 years). We have no way yet of knowing the implications of this overall survival period of these patients in this small study. What we do know, however, is that median overall survival of men with mCRPC in other Phase III studies of late-stage disease have been more like 15 to 25 months (depending on the study and the precise patient enrollment criteria).

It is much too early to know whether Prostvac alone, ipilimumab alone, or the combination of these two agents can really demonstrate a median overall survival of about 3 years in men with chemotherapy-naive mCRPC, but these data are certainly enough to stimulate the imagination.

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Filed under: Drugs in development, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Treatment Tagged: | castrate-resistant, combination, immunotherapeutic, ipilimumab, mCRPC, outcome, Prostvac, survival

Source: http://prostatecancerinfolink.net/2012/02/23/small-phase-i-combo-trial-suggests-3-year-overall-survival-in-men-with-mcrpc/

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iPhone 5 concept design: Crescent-shaped, glowing logo

What would an iPhone 5 look like if Apple's design department turned to the Magic Mouse for inspiration? That's the question ciccaresedesign attempts to answer with this sleek, curved iPhone 5 concept rendering.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/pRr6jv4gpZQ/story01.htm

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Competing along with Traditional Dressage Race horses

on?February 22nd, 2012 at?3:45 pm

Dressage is a France phrase that means instruction. Dressage provides historical root base. It absolutely was accepted as a possible equestrian self-control throughout the Renaissance.

There are two varieties of dressage traditional dressage and also cut-throat dressage.

Aggressive Dressage

Aggressive dressage can be an hugely well-liked equestrian search. It is a globally sports activity that runs from beginner criteria on the Olympics. While fighting in the dressage opposition, moose and also participant start a number of movements in a dressage world this is the ?test?. Your performance is evaluated and also signifies are shown for every movements accomplished and for the horse?s strategy for planning.dog fence The rating emerged to determine the rider?s placement inside the opposition.

A number of dog breeds and kinds of farm pets and also horses contend within cut-throat dressage Probably the most well-liked breed of dog will be the mark vii Warmblood moose. Warmblood farm pets do well at cut-throat dressage Warmblood farm pets get visual appearance, beauty and so are incredibly running, smart farm pets, there is a cooperative inclined character plus they feature exceptional movements. Warmblood farm pets are generally selectively bred for performance. Warmblood registries comply with careful propagation applications to build up the supreme dressage moose.

Established Dressage

Established dressage was developed from cavalry movements any time instruction their own farm pets for fight. Mounts were taught movements which are across the soil these are generally known as ?airs? or even ?schools?. These were to assist their own riders run away from in the event that caught by the adversary also to aid their own fight tactics.

Established dressage or even ?High school? can be an equestrian art form, in which moose and also participant operate in harmony. Baroque farm pets can be used traditional dressage Their own historical root base may be followed time for the Iberian Peninsula; present day The country, Portugal, Andorra and also Gibraltar. Your Baroque moose party includes the Andalusian, Lusitano as well as the well known Lippizan. The group named ?Baroque? is obtained from the expensive baroque type of artwork and also buildings. Your baroque gang of farm pets provide an amazing floaty improved action; these are smart farm pets with majestic looks with an exceedingly trainable character.

Source: http://www.panetteriadicapri.com/?p=1314

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Chris Brown and Karrueche Tran Enjoying "Open Relationship," Source Claims

"Girl I wanna f*** you right now. Been a long time, I've been missing your body." - the first line of Chris Brown and Rihanna's remix of "Birthday Cake"

Despite suggestive lyrics like that, and plenty of other rumors surrounding Chris Brown and Rihanna, Karrueche Tran isn't bothered by all the noise.

That's because the two have an open relationship, according to reports.

"Karrueche isn't stupid, and she has told friends that they have an open relationship. She never asks about Rihanna, ever," says a source of Brown's girlfriend.

"Chris will take several days to call her back at times, and that is OK with Karreuche. She doesn't pressure or hound Chris, it's just not what she is about."

"She recognizes that they are both young, and she isn't going to let the fact Chris is spending time with his ex-girlfriend come between what they have."

What they have? It doesn't sound like much ... but good for them!

Karreuche and Brown were recently seen in Miami, and she "is clearly enjoying the attention and notoriety she is getting being his girlfriend," a source says.

As for rumors that Rihanna may become his girlfriend instead?

In 2009, Chris Brown was arrested for felony battery on Rihanna, the night before the Grammy Awards. Now they're making beautiful music together again.

Only in the literal sense ... or maybe not. While sources say they are not planning a reconciliation, Rihanna would not fear the public backlash if they did.

"They have probably hooked up half a dozen times in the past year, but it's unlikely that Rihanna and Chris would ever get back together though,” an insider said.

The reason being?

“Rihanna doesn't give a s--t if she were to get public backlash if they were to reconcile, but she is the one calling the shots now, which she likes."

"She knows that if they were to get back together, she wouldn't be able to maintain that strong role, and Chris would likely lose interest."

"They are both very young still, and Rihanna knows she would never be able to trust Chris because he has problems staying faithful."

Given that he's supposedly hooking up with her while dating Karreuche Tran right now, she would have a decent argument to make there.

[Photos: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/02/chris-brown-and-karrueche-tran-have-open-relationship-source-cla/

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Busia's Perspective on African Society and Culture | Ghanamma.com

Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012 |

Following his deliberate political stampeding out of Ghana by the Nkrumah-led Convention People?s Party (CPP), in the run-up to the 1960 Presidential Election, aimed primarily at rubberstamping Nkrumah?s dictatorship under the guise of an Executive Presidency, the future Prime Minister K. A. Busia, then leader of the main opposition United Party (UP) in parliament, secured an appointment to an endowed chair at the African Studies Center at the world-famous University of Leiden, in the Netherlands. In his inaugural address as ?Professor of the Sociology and Culture of Africa,? twentieth-century Africa?s foremost social scientist reiterated Dag Hammerskjold?s perspicuous observation that Africa?s centrality to the crossroads world of the 1960s could not be ignored by the United Nations Organization of which Mr. Hammerskjold was the secretary-general: ?We are at a turn of the road where our attitude will be of decisive significance, I believe, not only for the future of this organization, but also for the future of Africa. And Africa may well in present circumstances mean the world? (See K. A. Busia, The Sociology and Culture of Africa: Its Nature and Scope, University Press of Leiden, 1960. Print. 3).

Contrary to cynical attempts by his most ardent detractors to demonize the late and former Ghanaian leader, as one who was neocolonialist and parochially divisive in the pursuit of his ideological agenda, Busia demonstrates an acute and pragmatic appreciation vis-?-vis the organic unity of the primeval continent, even while also significantly admitting of its unique ethnic, cultural and racial diversity. To the foregoing effect, the inaugural address presenter observes: ?There are some experts who deny the possibility of dealing with Africa as a whole in any context whatsoever, because of its size, and of the variety of tribes and peoples, governments and cultures found in Africa. ? It is indeed a large Continent, covering 11,700,000 square miles, 40% larger than the [erstwhile] Soviet Union, and more than three times the size of the United States, including Alaska. For its size, its estimated 280 million [people, in 1960] is sparse, in comparison with the population densities of other Continents; but Africa claims more distinct peoples and cultures than any other Continent. ? Since the end of the Paleolithic period, Africa has been inhabited by five races: Bushmanoid, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid and Pygmoid. These races are classified on the basis of a combination of inheritable physical traits; they all belong to the one species, Homo Sapiens, which includes all the peoples of the world. There is no scientific basis for the belief that some races are inferior, and some superior. Man represents only one animal species? (3-4).

And unlike the so-called Afrocentrists and their programmatically allied Nkrumaist ideologues, Busia envisaged the universally discredited policy of Apartheid in South Africa as an axiological norm that was prevalent all over the world, in practice, particularly in Europe, rather than an anomaly, or one that was rigidly and dually bifurcated into black and white. To this end, the author observes: ?This needs emphasizing in relation to African Studies. The doctrine of racial inequality is by no means confined to the policy of apartheid in South Africa, but is implied in policies and practices in other countries too. It rests on the assumption that there is an inherent difference in the capacity of racial groups for the creation, learning or adaptation to culture. This would make Kipling?s: ?East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet? applicable to Culture? (4).

Rather, the Oxbridge-educated scholar debunks the myth of racial and ethnic supremacy by discursively expatiating on the subject as follows: ?Sociological studies have shown that there is no scientific support for this. In fact, the processes of acculturation in Africa show that moral, political and technical potentialities are not biologically determined. There are differences in culture between racial and even ethnic groups in Africa, but they can be accounted for by differences in experience, for biological capacity is moulded by the opportunities provided by the cultural and social environment. But there are political policies which aim at ensuring and perpetuating cultural differences by denying Africans opportunities for participating fully in the total cultural environment, and so learning and adapting themselves to it. Yet an important contribution of cultural anthropology and sociology to race relations is the general agreement on the finding that culture is learnt, and that given adequate opportunity, an individual or racial group can learn and master new cultural patterns. This gives ground for optimism. Even for the most acute racial tensions in Africa, it offers the hope that the Western cultural heritage can be mastered by Africans, and that the different racial groups living in multiracial societies, such as in the Rhodesias [present-day Zambia and Zimbabwe] or in the Union of South Africa, can all participate in their common cultural environment. Sociological studies of acculturation, of the processes of contact and intermixture of the traits and patterns of different cultures, thus assume importance in tackling the practical problems of race relations in Africa? (4-5).

In other words, Busia was definitely far ahead of his Nkrumaist detractors in perspicuously recognizing the imperative need for Africans to systematically and progressively cultivate what Americans have come to recognize as the ?melting pot? of socio-cultural and multiethnic and multiracial synergy as a means of healthily expediting the modernization and technological development of postcolonial Africa. Outside of southern Africa, where European settler presence was much more limited, Busia, implicitly, recognized synergistic cultural organicity in terms of globalization or ?global villagization,? in the prophetic observation of the immortalized Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan.

Furthermore, for Busia, the kind of geopolitically expedient nationalism advocated by President Nkrumah, for example, had no factual basis in historical reality; for Africa?s centrality as a primeval cauldron of global human civilization necessitated the synergistic propulsion of human development in the contemporary era. This organic and expansive trend in thinking may very much have informed the Ghanaian leader-scholar?s more pragmatic and conciliatory attitude towards the odious and erstwhile apartheid regimes in southern Africa: ?The cultures of Africa are not easy to classify in as distinct categories as the languages. Africa is probably the cradle of mankind. Every year, fresh archeological evidence shows it to have been the first home of man, from the very dawn of cultural history. It is claimed that Dr. Leakey?s Zinjanthropus, or East Africa Man, found in the Olduvai Gorge, was the world?s earliest man, and lived more than 600,000 years ago. The first achievement of a Neolithic agricultural civilization in Africa goes back 7,000 years. Different races have thus lived and interacted in Africa for thousands of years, and survivals of extremely old cultural inventions and ways of life appear alongside much more recent cultural developments? (5).

Even so, Busia is empirically realistic enough to also observe that such seminal technological and cultural achievements, as pioneered on the African continent, were by no means hermetic or devoid of valuable and even significant foreign contributions: ?Through Egypt, Ethiopia and North Africa came influences of the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean; through Madagascar, the ancient cultures of Asia; and in modern times, the violent impact of European cultures has been felt everywhere in Africa? (5).

In the field of religion, the great social thinker and theorist is of the firm belief that the African is as articulate and philosophical in outlook as any other species of humanity: ?In his earlier studies of the Negroes of Dutch Guiana and the United States, Herskovitz pioneered a field of great interest for studies of the diffusion of African culture.? Subsequent studies of religion and social organization in Brazil, in Dutch and British Guiana, in Cuba, the West Indies, and Surinam have confirmed that African religions, music and dance can survive under the most severe conditions of uprooting and transplanting; and syncretisms of African religion and rites of the Christian Church in these regions as well as in Africa itself give evidence of the vitality of some aspects of African culture. There is an impressive documentation of Africa?s contribution to world civilization. It is a widely shared aspiration of African peoples to make even greater contributions to the ever increasing common heritage of Man?(8).

The author also, in quite typical anthropological vein, envisages the contemporary African experience, especially vis-?-vis Africa?s violent encounter with the culturally cannibalistic and imperialist West, as a template for understanding evolutionary trends in ideological and cultural paradigm shifts: ?Studies of the traditional are exciting, and of historical interest; but we must not stop there, if we are to deal with the complex problems of cultural adjustments that African peoples have to make in the contemporary situation, or that the rest of the world must make to contemporary Africa. The traditional cultures of Africa are of value in providing a historical base for understanding the more recent events and ongoing trends of the present day?(8).

Even so, Busia is also quick to point to the urgent need for the ?study of Africa ? or African Studies ? to be elevated from the relatively primitive status of anthropology into a sociology, or a relatively more relevant and modernized sub-discipline. To this end, the first Ghanaian to be named to the august status of ?professor? at Ghana?s flagship academy, the University of Ghana, observes: ?In ?Civilization on Trial? Toynbee predicted that future historians would say that ?the great event of the 20th Century was the impact of Western civilization upon all other living societies of the world of that day. They will say [that] this impact was so powerful and so pervasive that it turned the lives of all its victims upside down and inside out affecting the behavior, outlook, feelings and beliefs of individual men, women and children in an intimate way, touching chords in human souls that are not touched by more external forces, however ponderous and terrifying.? The impact of Western civilization on the peoples of Africa affords the most striking illustration of the effects described by Toynbee ? ?it has turned lives upside down and inside out,? and made Africa an urgent and challenging field for sociological studies. I think the Chair established in the University for the Afrika Studiecentrum is justifiably designated as the Chair for the Sociology and Culture of Africa, because it draws attention thereby to the urgent need to extend our study to Africa as it is today; Africa as it has been made by the shattering impact of European science and technology, European rule, commerce, and education, and the propagation of Christianity by European missionaries?(8-9).

Busia also highlights two socioeconomic trends that have dominated twentieth-century Africa, namely, the rapid movement towards political independence from colonial imperialism and a dramatic paradigm shift in the economic mode of development: ?The two most striking features of the recent history of Africa are the progress toward political independence from colonial status, and the process of transforming traditional and mainly subsistence economies to modern ones. Problems of economic development loom large in all discussions on Africa. Both [of] these features give education a key role, for the need for trained personnel for administrative and technical posts becomes obvious and urgent?(9).

And the great thinker and social scientist ought to have known this as well as any African scholar and/or social scientist, being that the future Prime Minister Busia was the first of two Gold Coasters in colonial Ghana to be appointed as district administrators by the British colonial overlords, the other being the future distinguished career diplomat, Mr. A. L. Adu.

Likewise, on the political front, Busia recognized two major ideological trends, namely, the trend towards democratic federalism or a decentralized system of democratic governance, on the one hand, and the one-party dictatorship, pioneered by Ghana?s President Nkrumah, that came to dominate the continental African political landscape throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, broken in the various countries by adventurist military dictatorships. On the latter score, this is what the man who led Ghana?s first authentic democratic government had to say: ?Especially since World War II, the rapid acceleration of political and economic development in Africa has had the dimensions of a social revolution. Measures of economic development have affected the densities, distribution, mobility and stratification of populations. Political changes have altered patterns of authority, allegiance, and social groupings. New nations and political forms have emerged. Some of the new states are developing one-party authoritarian forms, in which traditional rulers are being swept away or swamped in the stream of change; others, paying more attention to local history and tradition, seek both progress and stability in federal forms; and in others, traditional monarchies seek to guide and preside over the inevitable change. Thus states like Ghana and Guinea, or Nigeria, or Ethiopia, or Uganda provide students of political systems with new typological models. ? New ideologies and aspirations, too, are among the forces of change, bringing Africa into contemporary ideological conflicts. All these pose problems for the social sciences; for fact-finding, analysis, interpretation, understanding and comparison?(9-10).

In the highly informed opinion of Busia, even in the face of epic modernistic transformation, there is to be recognized a remarkable centripetal and countervailing force pulling the African towards ancient African civilization and cultural practices. In other words, postcolonial Western-oriented development is by no means a passive and lineal progression but a veritably curvilineal dialogue between time-tested traditional values and beliefs, and the largely material and behavior-altering forces sweeping the entire continent from abroad: ?I refer to these theories in particular because, along with the plans and activities designed for change, there are also examples of a conscious return to a past golden age, in search of Africa?s own social heritage, and for norms rooted in a great past, whose revival, it is hoped, will again ensure grandeur and stability. ? The choice of the names of Ghana and Mali for the two new states in Africa, and the philosophical concept of ?negritude? of African intellectuals may be given as examples of traditionalism. Ghana goes back to an African empire which flourished in Western Sudan between 1000 and 1500 AD. It was displaced as the dominant state of West Africa by Mali which reached the height of its power and grandeur in the 14th Century, under King Kankan Musa whose authority spread from the coast of Senegal to the region of Niamey. Mali reached a degree of civilization which astounded Arab travelers, and won the esteem of the Mediterranean countries of the Middle Ages, because of its fabulous wealth. The choice of these names tells us that even where the wind of change is a hurricane, brakes may be provided by the pull of the past. ? Hence the conscious search for thickets of the past, hitherto ignored? (10-11).

For Busia, development is organically composed of material, psychical and spiritual components and ought to be envisaged as such, at least in the context of African sociology and culture: ?The philosophy of negritude of African intellectuals, whether we agree with it or dispute its validity, should bring it home to us that the peoples of Africa are seeking not only material culture, but also non-material values rooted in their own past, which will contribute to stability and sound progress, and national pride. ? The study of the Culture and Sociology of Africa must inescapably concern itself with values, not only because the right ordering of the moral and social life is the ultimate goal of human endeavor, but also because Africa is concerned with the behavior of different groups towards one another. The relationships and tensions between ethnic and racial groups is a matter of particular importance in East, Central and South Africa. ? Because of the considerable degree of cultural variability among the peoples of Africa, the student of African society cannot avoid asking to what extent the values of these various cultures are similar, and to what extent they are dissimilar. This, it is clear, poses a fundamental question for international relations? (11-12).

On the meaning and objective parameters of what constitutes ?African Sociology,? this is what Busia has to say: ?It is my hope, therefore, that in the study of the Sociology and Culture of Africa, we shall be sharing in the quest of the peoples of Africa to conquer poverty, disease and ignorance; in their struggle for stability and harmony in ever-widening groups, increasing in their range, complexity and heterogeneity; in their striving towards creativeness in art and science; in their yearning for acceptance as equals in the worldwide Brotherhood of Man?(12-13).

In this 16-page address on the Sociology of African History and Culture, the great African thinker and theorist calls for the practice of a social science that is humanistic and pragmatic in thrust: ?I have spoken of methodology and theories and systems in the Social Sciences. These are abstractions. They are conceptual tools, and not the reality. Sometimes, in the preoccupation with theories and systems, the reality is abstracted out of recognition; even out of existence. But the social sciences are human sciences. In the search for laws and systems, for concepts and objectivity, we do well to remember constantly that our studies concern human beings; that they deal primarily with men and women, with their happiness and suffering; with harmony and discord in social relations; with peace and war. Should the Social Sciences become only a matter of the head, obsessed only with the search for abstract theories and intellectually satisfying systems, without the human heart that shares human love and suffering, they will fail to serve mankind?(12).

Busia also pays glowing tribute to the first Ghanaian (and African) to be academically associated with the University of Leiden, Jacobus Eliza Johannes Capitein, 223 years before the former?s professorial appointment in 1960. Busia is also, as was to be circumstantially expected, full of effusive and even fulsome praises for his European hosts: ?The University of Leiden is one of the most illustrious seats of learning in Europe. On the 22nd [of] June 1737, Jacobus Eliza Johannes Capitein, an African from my country, came to study here at Leiden. I feel it a great honour, not only to myself, but to my country also, that I should be appointed a professor here over two hundred years after the first of my countrymen to study here was enrolled as a student at Leiden. It is humbling to think of the challenge and opportunity for research and scholarship which [this] office presents. ? We in Africa owe a great debt to this University and other seats of learning in Europe. I regard my appointment here as an opportunity to show in a small way something of the deep gratitude we feel to[wards] this and other great universities of Europe that have made it possible for us to become heirs with you of the wisdom of the ages?(13).

*Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English, Journalism and Creative Writing at Nassau Community College of the State University of New York, Garden City. He is Director of The Sintim-Aboagye Center for Politics and Culture and author of ?Dr. J. B. Danquah: Architect of Modern Ghana? (iUniverse.com, 2005). E-mail: okoampaahoofe@optimum.net.

Source: http://www.ghanamma.com/2012/02/busias-perspective-on-african-society-and-culture/

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New Green Business Model for Sustainable Finance

By Peter C. Fusaro

Emerging markets for environmental financial investment and trading continue to attract significant global investment interest from untraditional investment sources. ?$8.99 billion was deployed for cleantech investment in global markets up 13?percent for 2011 according to the Cleantech Venture Network (www.cleantech.com). This sector?s underinvestment has been held up by regulatory uncertainty on the continuation of subsidies for renewable energy under the Production Tax Credit which expires at the end of this year.

With all the focus on Washington D.C. programs on the end of the federal loan guarantee program (over $38 billion) and the end of federal grants at the end of 2011, the gloom and doomers don?t see the renaissance in renewable energy. Due to state level incentives, particularly the Renewable Portfolio Standards in 29 states, and a new push for solar thermal in California, financial capital is flowing in this sector from untraditional sources.

Typically, large scale energy projects are financed by large investment banks and large utilities that won?t even touch deals?worth less than $100 million. They would?rather make big bonus-driven deals, but what is actually occurring is a new generation of small scale projects throughout the U.S. These projects have scaled due to the reduction in the cost curve in PV solar projects and the returns of 14 to 16?percent unlevered for 20 years. This is starting to move into solar thermal, small scale wind and biomass projects throughout the country depending the resource base. The funding is coming from pension funds, insurance funds and the no name private equity funds that don?t make financial headlines. But by banging away at multiple projects, a portfolio is born, and it has traction despite all the negative recent headlines on renewables from media such as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fox News.

Green investing is not dead, but rather is gaining traction. Last year more money was deployed in clean energy than conventional energy (oil, gas and coal) for electric power generation, and this has not been lost on foreign countries such as Germany and China that see a new market emerging in the U.S. The U.S. is a huge market that dwarfs the rest of the world when it comes to using electricity.

The new funders see what I call ?environmental alpha.? That is consistent sustainable returns for many years. The rub is that the sector is not followed by most analysts and certainly not by big investment houses who want multiple billion dollar?deal flows to fill their coffers.

As markets change, so do investment models. The new business model that has emerged for investment in alternative energy and clean technology is a hybrid business model of venture capital, hedge funds and private equity. Coupled with the project orientation of the investment, there is also a dimension of environmental credit trading for emissions, carbon and renewable energy included in this investment strategy. The blurring of the lines between hedge funds and venture capital is also being exacerbated by significant private equity participation in environmental finance.

The New Market Drivers

The three global market drivers ? sustained higher energy prices, accelerated technology shift and increased environmental concerns ? form the perfect storm for clean energy investment. Falling renewable energy costs are also increasing investment opportunities in this sector as are government mandates for renewable energy deployment in 29 states. To put this clean energy market in some perspective, we must look at its origin, what is driving it and where it is headed in the foreseeable future.

2010?????????????????? ??

Biofuels??????????????????????????? US$56.4 billion

Wind???????????????????????????????? US$60.5 billion

Solar PV?????????????????????????? US$71.2 billion

Source: Clean Edge Trends 2011

The New Green Revenue Stream

The ability to trade both emissions and renewable energy credits creates another revenue stream. We define the triple convergence of emissions reductions, renewable energy deployment and more energy efficient technology with this graphic. This triple convergence offers multiple risk arbitrage opportunities as well as many revenue streams. They are obviously interrelated as in using more efficient technology reduces the emissions footprint. Similarly using renewable energy can reduce the carbon footprint of power stations, for example. The low hanging fruit of climate change carbon reductions may be energy efficiency but there are many opportunities to invest across a wide spectrum of technologies.

The energy value chain is now overlaid with an environmental value chain which is sustained by finance. The clean energy market is large, growing and global with higher rates of market acceptance than anyone anticipated. This trend is growing. Green continues to be the new gold and watch as it accelerates as an investment story!

??????????-

Peter C. Fusaro is a recognized thought leader in clean energy, a New York Times best selling author of ?What Went Wrong at Enron? and runs the 11^th annual Wall Street Green Summit in New York on March 19 and 20, 2012 (www.wsgts.com).

image: Ole Houen via Flickr cc (some rights reserved)

Source: http://www.triplepundit.com/2012/02/new-green-business-model-sustainable-finance-2/

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Video: Obama to meet Netanyahu

>>> white house says president obama will meet with benjamin netanyahu in washington. the visit is expected on march 5th . this comes after an intense war of words. stephanie, obviously this is big news hearing of this trip and knowing the united states and britain trying to pressure israel not to attack iran .

>> reporter: that's right. there have been some word oefrs the last couple of days putting the pressure on israeli leaders. you had the chief of staff saying an attack would destabilize the area. sanctions and diplomatic pressure need be given an opportunity to work. he also said that a nuclear iran could spark an arms race in this part of the world, a very dangerous arms race . that goes a bit towards what's happening in tehran. they are there. they are hoping to meet with nuclear scientists. they are hoping to go to some nuclear facilities and set up future meetings and future schedule for themselves. how much of that is going to be done? there's a lot of skeptics on the progress. it is some diplomatic movement in iran .

>> thank you. stephanie gosk. joining me now is jim. you're your reaction.

>> i think it's a huge development. i think iran will be topic number one where they will discuss the likelihood of an attack or the possibility of an attack. i think the thing that gets loss is that discussion of an attack is a diplomatic chip right now. there's huge doubt that israel is able to carry out an attack. a lot of the words is diplomatic bargaining chips even to this day.

>> you make a great point that within israel there's a debate over sanctions versus an attack. beyond the strategic effort, the conversation is not settled in that nation.

>> there's huge doubt whether a military strike can be successful. just how destabilizing an attempt that the strike would be whether or not israeli jet ks make it to the dozens of sites that need to be taking out or how long those sites would be taken out, the two to three years necessary to consider a strike successful and whether or not the united states would be drawn in to finish the job, which something the united states doesn't want to have anything to do.

>> the other thing is what i call the oil chip. people talking about oil prices .

>> you have to look also the degree to which iran is acting out and is using some of their threats of ending oil sales to certain countries. if you'll notice, it only counts for 1 or 3% of the sales to those countries. iran has not said they are cutting off oil sales to the countries they supply.

>> what should we be watching for as the clock ticks for this big meeting on march 5?

>> the thing to watch for is when we start preparing for a nuclear iran . that's the big question. whether or not anything in the united states , israel or diplomatically can be done to stop.

>> thank you.

>>> mitt romney spent saturday in salt lake city celebrating the 10th anniversary of the winter games . why are some republicans giving him the cold shoulder ? rick santorum challenges romney got bailout for the games and doesn't deserve credit.

>>> it pays to have a

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46455905/

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Online Learning Programs | Reference and Education

The process of learning can have many different routes or by-lanes etc. However, online learning programs provide us a way to learn which is very different in delivery and the tools used. Let us look at the methods of learning which is in use and evaluate how online learning programs compare to them.

So, let us take up the traditional or regular courses that are available through numerous universities and colleges etc. We can also refer to them as face to face training programs. Face to face training programs are available in venues around the world. Teachers are highly experienced and required to conduct structured classroom sessions, of high quality, designed to meet the needs of the individuals in the group. Thus, it provides for a structured way to learning with exams and regular feedback et al.

Even though there seems to be nothing wrong with this method of learning the fact remains that it promotes learning through rote and cramming a lot of facts without really giving the students any incentive to learn. In addition, if the courses are not reviewed periodically the courses may become outdated. Moreover, as most people know, different children may learn differently. The pace of learning and media through which they learn best may also be different. The system is ill equipped to handle any 'different' cases.

Online learning programs present the opportunity to advance your career in a flexible, convenient and affordable manner. Nationally recognized online qualifications are designed to ensure that you learn at your own pace, in your own time. What this means is that online learning takes place when you want and allows you to study what you want at a reduced cost.

Even though there may be a lot of difference between theory and practice, online programs do call for lots of discipline from all parties involved and have clear advantages. In fact, the corporate world is aware of the advantages that this type of training provides and been implementing it through intranets and other resources to some extent in their organizations.

Source: http://phrenesia.com/online-learning-programs/

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Are you familiar with Home finance loan Policy cover Rrnsurance ...

by Betty on February 19, 2012

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Source: http://www.augiefootball.com/are-you-familiar-with-home-finance-loan-policy-cover-rrnsurance-policies/

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