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Dorel posts record profits in third quarter
Head of Dorel Martin Schwartz shows off one the professional bicycles that his company makes. The company has had a heavy heft into recreational products.
Photograph by: Tyrel Featherstone, The Gazette
Consumer products giant Dorel Industries Inc. Thursday posted record third-quarter results despite the global recession, as strong juvenile products and home furnishings business in North America offset weakness in other divisions.
CEO Martin Schwartz said Dorel is not immune to the recession, but the variety of its products, geographic diversification and tight cost control have enabled it to meet its 2009 targets.
Recreation-leisure order levels have increased and juvenile products are benefitting from new lines in North America and Europe, he added. Home furnishings improved markedly, though currency factors may prove challenging.
September quarter earnings (all U.S. dollars) were $30.23 million or 91 cents a share, up 11.1 per cent from $27.2 million or 82 cents a share a year earlier. Revenue dipped 6.1 per cent to $518.5 million.
Nine months' earnings were $83 million or $2.49 a share, down 11.4 per cent from $93.7 million or $2.81 a share a year earlier, on revenue of $1.6 billion, down 6.3 per cent.
A decline in quarterly juvenile products revenue, felt mostly in Europe, was due to market conditions and currency factors, but moderated in the latest quarter. The quarter included initial North American shipments of the Air car seat that helps to protect children in side-impact collisions.More retailers will carry it from January and the technology is being extended to infant seats.
Recreation/leisure had lower revenue due mainly to declining sales to mass merchandisers. Sales at the Cycling Sports group were higher, but consumers are buying fewer high-end products and trading down.
Three acquisitions came in the quarter and in October.
The gains in home furnishings were led by domestically-produced furniture and futons. Lower material costs and a better currency environment helped and operating effic
China revokes visa of gold medalist, Darfur activist Cheek - Fourth-Place Medal - OLY - Yahoo! Sports
Olympic gold medalist and outspoken Darfur activist Joey Cheek has had his visa revoked by the Chinese embassy, hours before the speedskating champion was set to fly to China. And he wasn't even planning on wearing a mask when he got there.
Chinese officials don't need a reason to revoke anyone's visa but, in their eyes, they had plenty of reasons to snatch Cheek's. He is the founder of Team Darfur, a group of 70 athletes whose goal it is to raise global awareness of the human-rights violations taking part in the Darfur region of Sudan. China's military, economic and diplomatic ties to Sudan have been well-publicized in the lead-up to the Games.
Said Cheek of his ban in a prepared statement:
"I am saddened not to be able to attend the Games. The Olympic Games represent something powerful: that people can come together from around the world and do things that no one thought were possible. However, the denial of my visa is a part of a systemic effort by the Chinese government to coerce and threaten athletes who are speaking out on behalf of the innocent people of Darfur.
Cheek was going to China to support the athletes on Team Darfur -- including soccer player Abby Wambach -- and to promote the cause, one that he has championed for years. After winning gold in the Torino Games, Cheek announced he was donating his $25,000 USOC bonus to Darfur and implored his sponsors to do the same. It seems that Joey Cheek is truly one of the good guys.
And now he's out of China before he even got there. With the Games getting closer (just two days away now), the world seemed ready to forget about all the Chinese issues in order to focus on the Games themselves. Unfortunately, China's actions make that impossible. In a time when we should be wondering who will light the Olympic cauldron, whether Michael Phelps can break an all-time record and how Liu Xiang will react to the pressure of 1.3 billion of his countrymen hanging on his every step, we're instead left to discuss the Chinese government's reluctance to allow any di
- we're instead left to discuss the Chinese government's reluctance to allow any dissension in their country, despite repeated promises that they'd clean up their act when the Olympics came to town. - fk_name on 2009-10-14
Front Row Washington » Blog Archive » Another side of Sarah Palin: financial guru | Blogs |
05:13 October 8th, 2009
Another side of Sarah Palin: financial guru
Post a comment (142)
Posted by: Tabassum Zakaria
Tags: Front Row Washington, Barack Obama, dollar, Financial Times, Sarah Palin
The Financial Times, the salmon-colored authoritative newspaper that is closely read by traders and other financial types around the world, had an eye-opener for readers this morning. USA-POLITICS/PALIN
It wasn’t the front-page, four-column wide headline, “Obama’s critics pounce on falling dollar as fears grow over currency.”
It wasn’t the graphic showing a red downward line over a dollar bill.
The jolt comes at the start of the second paragraph in the top story of the day on the dollar, “Sarah Palin….”
The newspaper, whose articles can move markets, quoted the former Republican vice presidential candidate and ex-Alaska governor from her Facebook post on the need for energy independence. Palin links the dependence on foreign oil and large U.S. deficits to declines in the dollar .
“We can see the effect of this in the price of gold, which hit a record high today in response to fears about the weakened dollar,” Palin wrote.
Palin’s power for using her Facebook page to affect public opinion is not to be taken lightly. Remember “death panels” which turned the healthcare debate into rabid townhall meetings this summer — that phrase emerged from Palin’s Facebook page.
Others quoted in the same Financial Times article offered an opinion about Palin’s opinion.
Norm Ornstein, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute, was quoted as saying there may be a legitimate debate over the dollar’s reserve status, “but Sarah Palin is not qualified to participate in it.”
What do you think of Palin’s financial comments? Is she qualified or not? Is her Facebook platform an effective political tool?
Click here for more Reuters political coverage
Photo credit: Reuters/KTUU-TV (Palin announcing her resignation as governor in July, video frame grab)
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CBC News - Toronto - Ontario health minister quits
EHealth expenses
Some of the consulting costs incurred at eHealth:
* A $2,700-a-day consultant charging for a $3.26 muffin and tea.
* A $300-an-hour consultant charging for reading an article on electronic health records given to her by her husband, another consultant.
* Two consultants serving as vice-presidents and flown regularly from homes in Alberta.
* A $1,700-a-day executive assistant.
* Consultants charging to watch an eHealth episode of TVO's The Agenda and "debriefing" on the Toronto subway.
China pet shops offer 'lucky' tattooed fish - Yahoo! Canada News
Fri Aug 14, 3:13 AM
BEIJING (AFP) - Pet shops in a city in southwest China are offering fish tattooed with patterns and lucky characters intended to bring their owners good fortune and happiness.
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The Qingshiqiao pet market in Chengdu sells a variety of ornamental "fortune fish" decorated with flowers, rainbows and characters, the Huaxi Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.
Tropical parrot fish are usually used for tattooing, often with the Chinese characters meaning "May your business boom," the regional newspaper said on its website.
A dealer said lasers were used to tattoo the fish.
An ordinary parrot fish sells for just 10 yuan (1.5 dollars) while a tattooed one goes for at least 25 yuan.
A set of four fish tattooed with the characters for "Good Fortune," "Luck," "Long Life," and "Happiness" can cost 120 yuan, the paper said.
Tattooed fish first appeared on the market in 2005 but only became popular in the past year or two.
While some shoppers interviewed by the paper said the idea of tattooed fish was novel, others thought it was cruel.
Fisheries expert Zhang Zhicheng said no one had studied how the tattoos would affect the fish.
"To use a laser to tattoo will surely affect the fish. It's like tattooing a human being's body, it breaks the physiological balance of the fish and damages the skin's protective surface," Zhang was quoted as saying.
Pets have become more popular in China in recent years with the country's increasing prosperity.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China 'trusts prostitutes more'
China 'trusts prostitutes more'
Prostitutes - file photo
Politicians were deemed less trustworthy than prostitutes
China's prostitutes are better-trusted than its politicians and scientists, according to an online survey published by Insight China magazine.
The survey found that 7.9% of respondents considered sex workers to be trustworthy, placing them third behind farmers and religious workers.
"A list like this is at the same time surprising and embarrassing," said an editorial in the state-run China Daily.
Politicians were far down the list, closer to scientists and teachers.
Insight China polled 3,376 Chinese citizens in June and July this year.
"The sex workers' unexpected prominence on this list of honour... is indeed unusual," said the China Daily editorial.
"At least [the scientists and officials] have not slid into the least credible category which consists of real estate developers, secretaries, agents, entertainers and directors," the editorial said.
Soldiers came in fourth place.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | China concerned about abortions
In many cases women are restricted to just one child, although in rural areas some couples can have two children if the first is a girl.
Single spelling mistake can derail job application - Yahoo! Canada News
Single spelling mistake can derail job application
Module body
Wed Jul 15, 8:21 AM
TORONTO (Reuters) - Typing mistakes in a job application can kill a would-be employee's chance of landing a job as employers bet that a sloppy resume means the applicant will do a sloppy job.
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A telephone survey of 100 senior Canadian executives showed that more than a fifth of executives said a single typo on a resume or cover letter could cost a potential employee a job, while 28 percent said two mistakes would kill their chances.
The survey, published on Tuesday, was carried out by online job search firm Accountemps.
"The resume is an applicant's first chance to impress the hiring manager," said Kathryn Bolt, president of Accountemps' Canadian operations. "Mistakes on one's application materials may prompt employers to assume there also will be mistakes made on the job."
But 19 percent of the executives said they would still consider an applicant with four or more typos on their resume.
Common mistakes include: "Dear Sir or Madman", "I'm attacking my resume for you to review", "Following is a grief overview of my skills" and "Have a keen eye for derail.
(Reporting by Nina Lex; editing by Janet Guttsman)
Chinese Expand Rio Tinto Allegations - NYTimes.com
The two side failed to reach an agreement last month on prices for this year’s contracts. One of the lead negotiators for Rio Tinto was Stern Hu, an Australian national who was detained on July 5 for what Beijing says was stealing state secrets and harming China’s economists interests.
Latest Way to Misuse Google Earth: Stealing Expensive Fish | Maximum PC
And, while they make a riveting point, Google stands up very well under pressure. A spokesperson of theirs replied: “Google Earth is built from information that is available worldwide from a wide range of both commercial and public sources. As such, Google Earth creates no appreciable increase in security risks, given the wide commercial availability of high-resolution satellite and aerial imagery of every country in the world. Criminals could use maps, phones and getaway cars but no one would argue that these technologies are responsible for the crime itself, that responsibility lies with the perpetrator.”
Talk about a verbal smack down.
Brad Pitt's Foundation Unveils 14 Home Designs for New Orleans | Design & Innovation | Fast Company
Brad Pitt's Foundation Unveils 14 Home Designs for New Orleans
BY Cliff KuangThu Jul 2, 2009 at 5:21 PM
Pitt's foundation, Make it Right, eventually hopes to build 150 houses in the Ninth Ward--completely remaking the blighted neighborhood.
Brad Pitt is more than just a voracious consumer of design--he is, perhaps, one of design's greatest philanthropists. The proof is his two-year long effort to build houses--designed by some of the world's best architects--to New Orleans's Katrina-decimated Ninth Ward.
Yesterday, Pitt's organization, Make it Right, released 14 new home designs. Eventually, the foundation aims to build 150 houses in the area. The 14 architects are a formidable lot: Atelier Hitoshi, Bild Design, Billes, buildingstudio, BNIM, Constructs, Elemental, Gehry Partners, GRAFT, Kappe Architects, MVRDV, Pugh + Scarpa, Waggonner & Ball Architects, and William McDonough + Partners.
An elegant design by Elemental, which looks like a dead-ringer for a modern Swiss mountain retreat (and, come to think of it, this moving house we featured):
Elemental
MVRDV produced a raised house that's very reminiscent of another work we've seen of theirs, the astonishing Balancing Barn. This one is lofted on stilts rather than cantelevered:
MVRDV
Pugh+Scarpa produced an A-frame with terrific porches--meant to be a "gathering space" for the block, with an elevated cooking pit, and bleecher-like seating out front. Inside, the house revolves around a lofty, bright living room (more images of the project at Dezeen):
Pugh+Scarpa
Pugh+Scarpa
The first two houses are expected to break ground this August. If the pace of the project really does continue, and even if MIR builds only half of the houses it intends to, it'll help bring an architectural revival to New Orleans that doesn't really have any contemporary equals that we can think of. Amazing stuff, Brad.
You can see pictures of the other projects at Architectural Record. For a longer profile of Pitt's efforts in New Orleans, read "Saint Brad" in Metropolis.
Web Series Tied to ‘Blade Runner’ Is In the Works - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com
Mr. Scott, his brother Tony and his son Luke are developing the project in conjunction with the independent studio Ag8, which is run by one of the creators of “Where are the Joneses?” a British Web sitcom that solicited storyline suggestions from the audience. Similarly, “Purefold” will harvest story input from its viewers, in conjunction with the social media site FriendFeed.
Chinese Hunger for Sons Fuels Boys’ Abductions - NYTimes.com
Rural China’s Hunger for Sons Fuels Traffic in Abducted Boys
Flickr Co-founder Unveils Her New Startup: Hunch - ReadWriteWeb
Using decision trees in expert systems is nothing new, but applying that idea to a crowdsourcing model might possibly be a stroke of genius. Think Aardvark meets Wikipedia and you start to get the idea.
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