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2 posts from January 27, 2014

January 27, 2014

Edwin Pope's Super Bowl streak to end

Former Miami Herald sports editor Edwin Pope, among only a handul of sportswriters in America who have covered every Super Bowl game, will not be attending or covering Super Bowl XLVIII in New York.

Pope, 85, had covered the previous 47 Super Bowls during a career in which he received numerous awards including the Red Smith Award. Pope has also been elected to the national sportswriters and sportscasters Hall of Fame.

No reason was given for Pope breaking his Super Bowl streak. Pope declined comment on not attending this year's Super Bowl. He was among a few hundred journalists who covered the First World Championship game AFL vs. NFL when it was played on January 15, 1967 -- Super Bowl I between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs. And he was part of the weeklong coverage of every game since until this year's game.

This year Super Bowl XLVIII will be covered by approximately 5,000 journalists from all over the world.

Pope, the author of two books, began his journalism career at the age of 11 in his native Georgia and moved to the Miami to work for The Miami Herald in 1956. While currently retired, Pope has contributed occasional columns to the Herald since 2003.

The Miami Dolphins named the main football pressbox at Sun Life Stadium after Pope in 2010.

This Dolphins situation belongs completely to Ross

It's on Stephen Ross. All of it.

He hired this coach. He has hired this general manager. He has hired the Dolphins new President and CEO. All that stuff about inheriting people like Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano is out the window now. For the first time since he's owned the Dolphins, Ross actually owns the team of people that will take the Dolphins to heights or keep them at their current level of mediocrity and NFL irrelevance.

It is all on him.

And Ross is apparently quite comfortable with that because he obviously believes he's got the right people on the job. As I write in my column in The Herald today, Ross had plenty of chances to get rid of Jeff Ireland after 2011 when he jettisoned Sparano.

He didn't.

And at least one candidate for the general manager vacancy asked Ross to remake the team as a condition of being hired over the weekend. And Ross remained oddly loyal to his people, most notably Joe Philbin.

Do I agree with that loyalty?

I think the owner's loyalty must be to the brand and his fans first and foremost and his coach and employees after that. And if someone isn't helping that brand, he or she is hurting that brand. I guess I ascribe to the Genghis Kahn school of NFL ownership.

And having graduated from that school summa cum laude I would now be looking around the room if I were Ross and figuring out who is helping my brand and who is diminishing it. And whoever is diminishing it gets pushed into the shadows.

So let's go through the exercise.

Carl Peterson: He is a longtime Ross advisor and confidant. He led in identifying and pushing of many of these candidates. But I'm looking at him sideways now because while he convinced Ross and others that Ray Farmer and Lake Dawson were quality GM candidates, he didn't seem to have much pull with either man. Farmer, named a finalist, didn't even take a second interview. Dawson, another finalist, took the interview but, as I detail here, didn't take the job. Nice work, Carl! Unless Peterson identified Dennis Hickey and Hickey turns into a stud of a GM, fake owner Salguero isn't feeling all this love for this trusted advisor going forward.

President and CEO Tom Garfinkel: I get the feeling he's going to be wielding a lot more power within the organization going forward, and I'm not thinking it'll be limited to the business side of the organization. Unlike Mike Dee before him who was not included in interviews for coaching candidates and thus couldn't save the process, Garfinkel was intimately involved in the search for the GM. His was apparently a stabilizing voice in the room. Yes, he is a strong Ross advocate. Obviously. But I have a feeling he sees the process was not pristine by any measure. He recognizes need for improvement.

Executive VP of football administration Dawn Aponte: I'm told many of the candidates came into their interviews wary of Aponte. Understandably, I might add. She reportedly had her issues with a GM in Cleveland. She definitely had her issues with GM Jeff Ireland in Miami. But once the candidates got to understanding Aponte's role, she sunk into the background. She was not the reason, at least not the primary reason, either Nick Caserio or Dawson declined the job. Now, fake owner Salguero would not have included her in the interview process at all because, as the Dolphins describe it, she will be answering to the GM on salary cap matters going forward. If that is true, what kind of backward set-up allows a subordinate to interview a potential supervisor? Strange.

Head coach Joe Philbin: He should be feeling pretty good about himself right now. Ross stuck with him. Showed loyalty to him. Is convinced he's the right guy to coach the team. He emerges with the most valuable of endorsements -- one proven by actions. But it should be understood that during interviews when Ross was asked by at least one candidate what he (the candidate) would be able to do after the 2014 season if the Dolphins didn't play well, the answer was not, "Joe Philbin is staying no matter what." The answer was, "We'll handle that situation if and when it arrives." So loyalty from the owner has to continue to be earned.

Assistant GM Brian Gaine: This one has to hurt. Gaine was the only finalist who was not offered the job. I'm told he is considering his options and future, including leaving the organization. Hickey will make a call on trying to keep him or not. Look, would fake owner Salguero have hired Gaine as GM? No. He's been a leader in the personnel regime that was just fired. But does fake owner Salguero try to move heaven and Earth to try to keep Gaine? To make Gaine feel whole? To convince Hickey to keep Gaine? You betcha. Brian Gaine is a quality person. He's a good personnel man. He helps the brand. And that should keep him with the Dolphins if the owner is trying to keep good people.


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« Congratulations to Javi Salas, always smiling -- and tonight, no doubt beaming even more. He's perfect. | Main | Miami Hurricanes safety JoJo Nicolas remembered by many in a moving funeral today in Miami »

Big blog: Canes break camp for spring break -- QB Kevin Olsen excels, DL David Perry leaves team

The Hurricanes had their last practice Thursday morning before spring break, and UM Coach Al Golden sent them home for a week to see their families, catch up on some rest, hopefully stay connected to their football playbooks, do some moderate weight-lifting and conditioning and get ready for more when they return next weekend.

The assistant coaches will be off, too. "I'll move ahead and try to get everything organized and do some catch-up. But we'll try to get the coaches a break here while the players have a break. I think we're in good shape in terms of having the practices ready for the following week.''

Practice, open to the public, resumes at 9 a.m. Tuesday, March 18. Some of the players, by the way, are staying back at UM and continuing to work out -- such as the track athlets.

"It was spirited,'' Golden said. "We got a lot done. A lot of heavy install in the beginning but now they have a chance to digest it over the next nine or 10 days and we'll pick it back up on Monday, March 17 and March 18th will be our next practice.

"It's just the philosophy of it,'' Golden said of why he always starts practice the week before spring break. "Longer duration. If you can get four installs in before spring break, now you've increased the amount of time they're thinking about football."

"I want them to enjoy their time off, relax, make sure we don't get too tight -- stretch, lift a little bit.. really enjoy their time off with their family and friends.''

Some notes from Thursday:

*Defensive end David Perry, a 6-7, 280-pound senior out of University School by way of Portmore, Jamaica, quit the team and is not expected back. David really hadn't been doing anything lately but standing around in practice. "David Perry is excused right now and we'll go from there,'' Golden said.

Perry played in one game (Savannah State) in 2013 and had two tackles. He played in nine games mostly on special teams in 2012, with no stats. He moved from tight end to DL in the spring of '12. He played in five games on special teams in 2011 as a redhsirt freshman.

He was a first-team All-Broward by the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald.

* Redshirt freshman Kevin Olsen had a good day today. He looks more fluid and comfortable out there, and he hit receiver Rashawn Scott on several passes today -- short and long, while rolling out and from the pocket. I'm still thinking Rashawn Scott is going to have a good season, but I say that every year. I just think he's really talented, but seems to eventually make wrong choices (not to mention the unfortunate injury early last season.)

* Golden: "Rashawn is in a good place. We're going to keep pushing him. He's got another step to go in his game. We missed Rashawn last year, we missed him. He's a physical presence. Right now he's really worked hard and he's more mature. We've got to make consistency his friend right now.''

* Golden on Olsen: "Kevin is getting better. Kevin is playing with a lot more confidence right now. I think he's seeing it better. He's playing faster. He's playing football, he's not going by rote memory. I like what we see from him right now.''

* Golden on Ryan Williams: "Ryan is doing good. Ryan is distributing the ball really good for us right now. Like I've said to you guys before, he's really smart. He gets the ball to the guys in a position where they can catch and run, especially on the incuts and shallows. A lot of run after catch with Ryan and his length really allows him to see the incuts really well. So, again, he's doing a good job and he's continuing to lead. I think he understands what he needs to do from a leadership standpoint.''

* Sophomore linebacker Alex Figueroa is a beast out there. He plays hard and he plays intense and sometimes angry. It admittedly drives him nuts not being able to really go full force with hitting his teammates at practice.

"That's one of the things I'm glad you guys can see now,'' Golden said. "It's not just me saying, 'That's what a black shirt looks like.' You can see. There's a difference in his effort and some others'. You hope that you can get two-deep on defense that gives that kind of effort. He, Denzel, Tracy, Jamal Carter, those guys all are playing at a high level like that.''

Golden made an interesting point about how not being able to fully tackle makes the players actually have to exhibit better form. "Really by not going to the ground we're emphasizing the technique -- having a good base, being square, having your eyes up. If we just said 'tackle them to the ground' it almost lets them off the hook a little bit. They can go grab the guy. When you're thudding you really have to be in good position, youve got to get in front, you've got to square him up and hold him up."

*Besides Fig, the other defensive players out there today with the coveted black jerseys: cornerback Tracy Howard, defensive tackle Ufomba Kamalu, safety Jamal Carter, linebacker Raphael Kirby, linebacker Denzel Perryman, safety Deon Bush, tackle Olsen Pierre, defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad.

 * Update on OL Hunter Knighton: "He's doing well and they're just being prudent with him. That's all I can say about that. We're excited how he's doing.''

 * Golden said 6-1, 304-pound Earl Moore and 6-5, 285-pound Jelani Hamilton have jumped out early in spring practice among the defensive tackles. "It's time. It's time for those guys. They're not young anymore even though they're at the end of their sophomore years."

 * Golden on freshman middle linebacker Juwon Young, a hefty 6-2, 240-pounds: "So, he's got to spend more time studying football, which is not uncommon in his situation. Physical, can run, can strike, just gotta keep studying it so he can play faster. Probably not trusting his key enough right now, so he's peeking and then reacting as opposed to just trusting his key and going. That's indicative of a lot of young guys. They play plays instead of reading keys. But big man at 240 as a freshman, with the ability to run.''

 *Golden said he's "excited about offensive guard Danny Isidora and tackle Taylor Gadbois. Danny is a guy that played a lot for us and Taylor is as gifted as any of our offensive lineman. I think the only one that's more gifted is probably Ereck Flowers.Taylor, in terms of an athlete, we will mention him in the same type of athleticism. but he's in the 320s now and he's close to 6-7. He's punching probably better than anybody on the o-line right now. For Taylor, it's time. He's patient. He's worked hard, got strong. Weve got to keep working on his conditioning but I'm really excited about Taylor Gadbois and where he's got to go.''

*Golden said guard Jon Feliciano is more vocal than Ereck Flowers.. he's looking for Flowers to be more of a leader. "Ereck is a little bit more like E.F. Hutton. He doesn't say much, than he does and it's like 'Whoaaa.' OK, we're not doing something right.

"So we've got to just try to get Ereck a little bit more out of his comfort zone and communicate. Jon has always been that way. 'Taylor is working on [being a leader], so I'm excited about that.''

* Receiver Braxton Berrios (ACL surgery), his right knee in a brace, is going to be [back] closer to June than August, according to Golden. "Slot receiver, Z receiver, kick return, punt return, special teams. That's all he was. He did all those things. He played wildcat, too. We expect him to be able to do all those things.''

*Reserve offensive tackle Sunny Odogwu had his best day today, Golden said. "He's starting to play stronger. Obviously he's a big kid -- he's talented, he's gifted. He's got to continue to lead. He's just got to keep going.''

*D-Tackle Olsen Pierre gingerly walked off Greentree Field and into the buildling Thursday, escorted by trainer Vinny Scavo.

* Speaking of Scavo, the head UM trainer, a big congratulations are in order. He was celebrated at the end of practice and tapped into the Iron Arrow Society -- the highest honor frrom UM.

And guess who else was tapped into Iron Arrow on Thursday? Pitcher Javi Salas, who pitched a perfect game on Tuesday.

Both are really nice people.

Here's the UM release on that:

Miami Hurricanes senior pitcher Javi Salasand head athletic trainer Vinny Scavo were among those Thursday tapped into the Iron Arrow Honor Society.

Iron Arrow Honor Society, founded in 1926 in conjunction with the University’s opening, is the highest honor attained at the University of Miami. Based on Seminole Indian tradition, Iron Arrow recognizes those individuals in the University of Miami community who exemplify the five qualities of Iron Arrow: Love of Alma Mater, Character, Leadership, Scholarship, and Humility.

The honor capped off an amazing week for Salas, who tossed a perfect game Tuesday night in Miami’s 17-0 win over Villanova. It was the second perfect game in program history and only the 23rd in modern NCAA Division I history (since 1957).

Salas is 1-1 with a 1.59 earned run average in 17.0 innings this season. A 38th-round draft pick by the Minnesota Twins in the 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, he owns a 12-11 career record on the mound for the Hurricanes.

Scavo is only the Hurricanes’ third head athletic trainer to be tapped into Iron Arrow, following Dave Wike and Walt Pomerko. Scavo was surprised by former Miami Hurricanes player Shayon Green after football practice.

He has been Miami’s head athletic trainer since 2011 and has extensive experience as an athletic trainer at the professional, college and high school levels. He previously served as Miami’s baseball athletic trainer from 1984-87, including Miami’s 1985 national championship season. From 2008-11, he was the Director of Sports Medicine Services at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

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A crab in my dream

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A crab in my dream

Post by slisar on Fri Dec 31, 2010 6:49 am

Not sure this means anything, but I am curious of what it could if it does.

In my dream I was walking down a hallway in a large hotel. I saw something that looked odd, but thought it was trash on the floor. I walked past then went back and bent down to see it. It was a crab. He was sitting up with his head upwards acting as if he didn't see me or I couldn't see him. He had what looked like an umbilical cord coming from his shell onto the floor and my thought was that he was trying to look like a piece of trash or something on the floor so no one would think he was a crab. Not liking crabs, I walked away, but kept looking back in case he wanted to come after me, but he never moved.

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Google Analytics Dashboard Widget Geomap Not Working

Caution Symbol

It appears that the Geomap widgets in Google Analytics Dashboards might have a browser bug. I tried to use the widget on 2 laptops (1 windows, 1 mac) and 4 different browsers.

What happens is when you choose the geomap widget it hangs on “loading…” and this prevents you from choosing a metric.  I did some research on this and found a Google Group discussion here , but there does not seem to be an answer yet.

I hope that Google fixes this soon, or at least informs users what the issue is. All other widgets work, it is only associated to the Geomap widget.

My Take on Social Networking for Business

Social Networking

We all love Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and even LinkedIn, but how does your company interact with these social sites? It’s my opinion that most companies waste time and huge amounts of energy trying to have a social identity. Most of the time people will say things like “we need to be more social” or “we have no social presence” and start creating these company pages that management expects will drive revenue and increase lead generation.

The reality for most companies is that they simply do not realize marketing on a social network is not the same as more traditional marketing channels and the expectations as to what Google+ and the like can really do for a company is really not the same. What I mean by that is if you have a twitter account for your company, what is the primary objective, is it to get a sale, a lead, brand awareness?

This really depends on whom you ask within your own company. From a top down approach an executive is thinking about one thing most of the time, profit and loss, so revenue and the bottom line is what they think it should be most of the time.  Middle management lives in between the weeds and clouds so they are constantly trying to find out how to increase revenue, but also understand that it’s likely going to be an uphill challenge to pull it off.  Non management usually does not have a horse in the game with revenue and goals, as such there is a stronger chance they might see the upside being all about followers and branding which I believe is the actual best approach and expectation for social marketing.

All 3 of these types of people have great intentions, but very different objectives,. This is one reason why most companies struggle with social networking. Misaligned objectives from day one can sabotage a social marketing initiative before it goes live.

There is also the audience factor to consider. These are social network’s and I know when I am on Facebook I am not about business at all. That’s my preference, but I suppose that if I am 1 out of a billion, there are millions that feel the same way. With that said, the behavior of a social interaction is not very conducive for a business unless it’s a staple of a brand or some kind of viral element that gets you known.  There is nothing wrong with being a staple, but most companies are not anywhere near that stage in business and to be blunt, is it really a good business practice to expect a grand slam on a social network when these types of sites are still in their infancy stages? The answer to that one is obvious…  You should be thinking about a steady approach over a longer period of time.  Base hits win games…

These are hard truths that most companies deal with on a daily basis, but there are some that get it right and do not fit the criteria of being a huge staple or having some kind of viral social action.  I am not 100% sure what the category is officially called, but I give it the name of a “grass roots movement”.  I do not have many observed examples of companies having this luxury, in fact only one or two.  I think that just like many other companies this one fell in to the same thought process that executive management initially wanted to increase their bottom line, but what made them different is the expectations shifted to “just letting your guard down” as a company (as much as could be let down anyway) and just integrate social activities with multiple marketing streams. Meaning, forget about any objectives or goals for a while and communicate with people and interact with them for no other reason than that. This develops trust with people and if you have trust, you can eventually reap the benefits later down the road. Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment, when we make a purchase for a car do we want to know the entire story about what we are buying, or do we want someone to only give us the pitch?

In closing, I think that social networks do have a place for business use, but I think that most companies simply think that cranking out a social page somewhere with some coupons will make millions. I think that you can make millions from social networking, but only as an assisted conversion. It is certainly not the driver, but possibly a contributor to the bottom line.

Cvent – Email Communication is Clunky at Best

cvent email review

I have been using marketing automation tools for years now and while cvent is an event management tool more than anything else, I have to say that the actual ease of use for email campaigns about these events are somewhat clunky and not really the best tool for email communications.

Granted, they have a series of built-in emails, but I am working with custom HTML and it’s not the best interface for that.

That’s really not so much the issue with Cvent as list building is. I am working with a 100k plus list size and I actually have to break that in groups of 20k each and clone many emails so I can get the email out to everyone on the list.

Now its also important to understand that Cvent is STILL a good tool for event management, but if you are dealing with mass emails like I am, you will be somewhat let down because of the amount of time it takes to get all of the emails out the door. Compared to Marketo or Eloqua, it is much more cumbersome.

Hey Google it’s 2014 Already!

Google placesGoogle places takes FOREVER to update. Seriously, there should be a simple easy and secure way to validate and verify a company. Sending post cards is dated and old. The internet is known for speed and google is the poster child for ease of use and, wait for it….SPEED. But having simple changes to a verified business listing taking 1 week to get a postcard with a pin and then a “several week review” once the pin is submitted is , well dumb.

Google Algorithm Timeline

I had to share this:

Google Algorythm Timeline

Where do you fit in the timeline? I got involved right around Florida. The Allegra update was named on Webmaster World by some guy that was posting daily and just pushing that name, he also was pushing an update name of “Polenta Bacon”. Good Times.

3 Reasons to get Tableau now

I have been somewhat of a data junkie for years now. In fact, I would say that has helped shape my career in ways that gave me an unfair advantage to others trying do analysis for measuring business statistics.

So when ever I hear about something that makes my job easier and more efficient, I feel the necessity to share this information so others can hopefully get something from it and apply it to their daily routine and become more effective at what they love to do.

Ok, so on to the 3 reasons to start using Tableau now…

1)   Ease of Use

  1. Hands down, this is a simple tool to use for slicing the data a million ways under the sun. You can use a flat file or connect to a data source. No matter what your choice is you can not go wrong, Once the data is imported in Tableau, it is a true drag and drop interface. This means that you can literally import an infinite amount of fields with your data set and simply drag what you want in to the worksheet and voila, it’s done.

2)   Data is Lightning Fast

  1. How many times have you started to connect to a data source, or import files using a business analytics tool only to have to wait forever to be able to start using it? Or when it is imported, how long does it take to create, sort and compile meaningful data? With Tableau the imports are extremely fast and working with that data set no matter what the size is hands down the fastest I have ever worked with. I could import huge data chunks and there is no impact on performance.  To provide an example of what I mean would be similar to other BI Analytics tools being the equivalent of  a dial up modem and Tableau is like a screaming cable internet connection. If time is something you need to worry about (everyone should be worrying about time for reporting) Tableau will not fail.

3)   Visual Representation of Data is Unparalleled

  1. If you are like me, you know that most C-Level and Executives do not have time to sift over data and more often than not your every day pie charts are not really displaying your efforts in a way that is going to “wow” your audience. This is where Tableau shines and stand apart from others. In a very simple, effective way, you can use multiple built-in chart’s that span from line, bar, and pie charts, but there is more to it than that. Provided you have the right data, you can overlay your data on maps, scatter, bubbles, and so much more. For me, I live in a world of national and international reach. So having the ability to measure leads, opportunities, and sales by territory on a geographic map makes my data have that visual representation that most executive want to see. Remember, Executives are very busy and they like data, but the display of that data can almost never be provided to them in a granular way that takes time for them to digest.

    Borrowed from Freakalytics LLC

I have used Tableau in the past, but I am still learning a lot about what it can do for me and I am having fun while doing it.  Yes, I know,  who has fun building reports and crunching huge data sets?

FunnelSource – SFDC Opportunity Pipeline Management Tool

I have recently been working on some SalesForce reporting and was introduced to funnelsource. Funnelsource is a basically a pipeline management tool that has some reporting features. All of the reporting is really dependent on 2 things. Close date and the amount field.

Don’t fret, you can drill down pretty deep on opportunities and funnelsource does allow you to create custom views. These custom views are basically pulling in opportunity fields, so if there was something you really wanted to see, it is there.

Learning funnelsource is pretty straight forward and easy to understand what is going on in your organizations pipeline. It is not nearly as robust as custom reports, but from a pipeline management perspective, it is VERY easy to use.

I am not sure if what I was looking at was 100% OOB or not based on the customization in SFDC that I am dealing with, but there are things that any person involved in sales would want to look at:

  • Won Opportunities – This can be a collective team total, or it can be drilled down on a per sales rep basis.
  • Average Sales Price – Very handy if you are looking for the average deal size
  • Average Sales Cycle – This is pulling in the overall average amount of days it takes from opportunity creation to closed won
  • Created opportunities – Pretty descriptive title, but includes all opportunities created
  • Open opportunities  -This is any opportunity that is not closed won/lost
  • Lost opportunities – Closed lost…
  • Close Date Alert – This is a GREAT feature because it allows you to see all open opportunities that are beyond the close date. If used and applied to sales teams the right way you can really refine the pipeline to be more accurate and also allow for better forecasting data
  • Amount alert – This is another handy feature as you can see how many opportunities have a zero dollar amount.

All of the above can be modified by predefined date ranges, but you also have the option for custom date ranges. Those are just eight features that you have, but there are other features that you can take advantage of too.

  • See opportunities that have been pushed out further than the original close date, or even if they were tightened up to close sooner than expected.
  •  Know when stages have “advanced” or “retreated”. This too can be used to more accurately refine the opportunity pipeline as you can use this for bringing a little more consistency to your team with regards to appropriate stage management
  • Amount changes are also tracked and drilled down on. This feature is incredible because if you have moving targets with regards to opportunities, you will love this. Basically you can see how much any opportunity amount has changed and by how much on a per opportunity basis. I have not found a total amount of changes, but a real world example of how this insight can affect pipeline health would be when someone creates an opportunity for 100.00 and next week adds 1000.00; you can see they made that change, but you will also see the amount of that change was for 900.00. This can easily explain ebb and flow with regards to pipeline amounts fluctuating at any given time.

Another excellent feature of funnelsource is that you can make custom edits to the quota for each person that is a part of the report. Obviously this allows you to know the gap they have with regards to Won opportunity + Remaining Pipeline. The pace feature is not bad either, it’s a simple formula paces out your sales or open opportunities based on any date range you select.

In closing, if you are looking for a good and fairly easy way to know what your sales team is doing, and have the ability to take SFDC opportunity data and apply it to back end pipeline management, funnelsource seems to be a very good option regardless of your reporting skills.

UPDATE: Be sure to read my other article about Salesforce funnels and how they can be problematic if you are not careful.

Understanding Formulas and Validating Data

Data Validation
This is a quick note, but I am a numbers geek and as such nothing can be more dangerous than populating hundreds upon hundreds of cells with the wrong formula. The only thing more dangerous than this is not validating the data before sending it out to decision makers.  It can really create major issues if one does not take the time to validate their own work because if there are errors in the reports and everyone looking at it takes that data for face value, well…. It’s not good.

Anytime I work on a report, I have a rule of thumb, triple check the work and validate the fx in excel. Validation is a simple thing, its as simple as asking a co-worker or doing a Google search.

If there was any advice that I could offer to people that have to work with data and reporting it would be to make sure you know how to look at the numbers, use the correct formulas, and validate your work.

Google Display Ads Tip – Don’t Expect The Big Payoff

This is one of my favorite things to beat up because in my opinion running display ads is a huge waste of money if you are expecting to make money from the investment in an immediate way, and yes its also a waste of money if you think it will generate quality leads that might eventually lead to a sale.

Back in my earlier days of online marketing when I had a new fresh outlook on all of the possibilities that the internet could offer, I too thought that Display ads would be the most awesome thing in the world, especially because Google had a channel for me to spend money…

Well many years later I am haunted by a ghost of the past who used to tell me point blank “Display ads are a waste of money and nobody clicks on them and they don’t increase the bottom line!” This is now a mantra of mine whenever someone tries to convince me to spend money on these ads because the expectation I have is completely different than the one the person (or people) requesting it in the first place.

What They Expect Out of a Display Campaign

  • Instant Sales
  • A bunch of quality leads
  • Convertible traffic
  • A solution we have not thought of

What I Expect Out of a Display Campaign

  • Branding

Now that we know who expects what, think of how difficult it must be to convince people that their very well though out creative is not going to be anything more than a branding tool.  There is nothing wrong with using display ads for branding; in fact, I would say that if that is the primary call to action, go for it. However if you think that you are going to see money rolling in the door or a slew of leads that a sales team can work, you are sadly mistaken.

There is always room in a budget for display ads regardless of what I am saying because there is some value that is underlying and subtle and that is you have found a cheap way to brand your company. The fact is that if you only expect to use display ads as a branding tool you can sort of justify the spend, especially if you are not able to afford print ads in Magazines. Yes, in my opinion they are not any different than a print ad IF you are targeting the right web sites. Not only are they similar to print ads; they are literally thousand’s of dollars cheaper.

Print ads tend to be tens of thousands of dollars in magazines and require a commitment (unless your picking up remnants). Not only is this expensive, but the tracking can be a nightmare because you need to create things like vanity URLS and phone numbers, not to mention that there need to be a cohesive effort by the design team to create the print ad, landing pages and so on. All of that for so little in the way of tracking might make a case or display ads to supplement print ads, but there is never any time that I can think of when a display campaign in Google, Yahoo! Bing, or any other 3rd party content network ever resulted in anything more than a branding tool. As long as you set the expectation to all parties involved, no matter what they think you will be fine. If you do not set the expectation and allow people to think that it is possible to be something more than branding, you are in for a rough ride.

How Important is a Sender Score Certification?

return path

Below is the description of what Sender Score Provides email marketers:

What is Sender Score?

Like a credit score, a Sender Score is an indication of the trustworthiness of an email source. Return Path’s Sender Score is compiled through our trusted cooperative reputation network and provides a simplified view into data that is aggregated from 60 million mailboxes at a variety of ISPs, spam filtering, and security companies to determine your reputation. This is the same type of data that mailbox providers use to determine whether to accept or reject email.”

This sounds like a very important service for email marketers to subscribe too, after all this segment of the revenue stream is dependent on having a good reputation to all of the email providers online. Without a good rep, email IP addresses can often be blacklisted if your not careful.

Sender Score is a good way to gauge the health of your email server, but the fact is, they try and get people to sign up for this certification program that is, well stupid and costs thousands of dollars.

Having to pay thousands for a certification on an email service that allows whitelisting to Yahoo, GMAIL, etc is not the problem I have, it is the lack of understanding how companies sometimes use 3rd party services for things like shopping carts and have no control over the carts TOS. As such this results in to paying $600.00 for a non-refundable application fee in the hopes you get approval. Thankfully, we got the money back on the application.

To me, it is a bad business practice to take a company that has multiple clean email servers on multiple clean IP addresses and has been working fine since the 90’s to tell this company they can’t be approved because they use a 3rd party vendor for cart services and this cart vendor will not change their TOS on their (3rd part vendor cart TOS).

How can Sender Score (aka Return Path) think it is acceptable to ask someone who is willing to pay 3k annually to force another company to add a line of text to their TOS? Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Well it is and THANKFULLY they saved me thousands in a certification I never needed in the first place.  This server that I am using was having initial issues because the IP address went Dormant because we were sending 100% of our emails through another service called Eloqua and they use their own IP address. As such, this IP went through a warm up phase and the score was in the 70 to 80 range and I was concerned that we had deliverability issues. As time went by (a few weeks) the sender score retained its original Sender Score ranges (90 – 99). This means that I never needed to get the Sender Score certification.

That does not mean nobody should ever look at the health of their email servers because there are many tools out there that can help identify issues with IP addresses and email content.

Tools for Email Rep Management

End result, Sender Score is a great tool to look up an IP address, but seriously you DO NOT NEED TO WASTE MONEY on a certification. Just use the tools listed above and you will be all set.

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Feb 1, 2011

Could It Happen Here? By Dr. Payback

February 1, 2011

Could It Happen Here?

By Dr. Payback

Tunis…Cairo…Wall Street?...Washington?

Could it happen here?

Consider:  In North Africa, unresponsive, self-interested, moneyed tyrants falling to popular revolt.  People impoverished by an unaccountable government run and funded by a wealthy and corrupt elite.  Two leaders, both "key allies" of the United States, leaders in the "war against terror," and thus against true democracy and Arab and Muslim self-determination.

Ben Ali—the dictator of Tunisia, became president for life in 1987, held a series of 'elections' in which he never won less than 90% of the vote.  Ben Ali, the man who looted his own country, set up Swiss bank accounts for his family, and lived opulently amid the squalor of his own people.  Ben Ali, the "friend" of the West, key American ally in the 'war on terror' that is in reality a war on Islam.  But the people delivered justice.

Mubarak—the enemy of his own people, a traitor and betrayer, surviving only through the magnanimous "aid," $1.5 billion per year, from the U.S.—in return for serving as the American puppet, for enforcing Israeli-American interests over those of his own people, for helping to crush the innocents in Gaza on his doorstep.  Mubarak—the Judenknecht, as the Germans would say, a slave to the Jews.  But the people delivered justice.

Could it happen here?

Wall Street—the pinnacle of Jewish-American-Zionist financial power.  Hedge fund managers making literally $5 billion per year, while 43 million Americans are on food stamps.  Half of all workers earn less than $500 per week.  One in six Americans are in a federal anti-poverty program.  Nearly 85% of people hate their jobs, and want to change, but can't.  The richest 1% take home 24% of all income.  The 30,000 employees of Goldman-Sachs earned a total of $11.4 billion last year—an average of $770,000 per person.

Washington—where every major action and every major decision centers on the concerns of the Jewish community.  Washington, where the Jewish Lobby reigns supreme, thanks to their omnipresence and ability to give millions of dollars to campaign funds.  Literally 90% of Congress yields without question to AIPAC, the Jewish Council of Presidents, and Zionist money (evidence:  during the Gaza massacre two years ago, 390 of 435 Congressmen [89.7%] voted to support Israel).  Democrats and Republicans, Republicans and Democrats, guilty alike.

President Obama—friend of the Jews, the man who said "my closeness to the Jewish American community was probably what propelled me to the Senate," the man who chose the self-named "Zionist" Joe Biden as his second-in-command.  Obama, who said, "If you are waiting for America to distance itself from Israel, you are delusional"—God forbid that we should "distance" ourselves from a criminal, apartheid, illegitimate state.  Obama, the "true friend of Israel," a nation who's security is "sacrosanct" in his mind.  Obama—the Judenknecht, the Jew-slave.

Congress—535 millionaires, 90% of whom take Jewish money and Jewish orders.  Congress—Democrats and Republicans, Republicans and Democrats alike—who support an eternal 'war on terror' which is nothing less than a war on the enemies of Israel: a war that costs Americans over $1 trillion per year, and a military/security machine that consumes more than 40% of actual income.

Six million Jewish-Americans should not exercise overwhelming and decisive influence on a nation of 310 million; this is an elementary fact of democracy that any 4th-grader could understand.  And have no doubt:  the vast majority of American Jews exercise their privilege in ways small and large.  Directly so in institutions where Jews predominate:  government, media, entertainment, finance, medicine, law, academia.  Indirectly so in many other areas, due to leverage from advertisers, financial backers, and favorable legislation.  Even your 'average Jew' will call in the ADL, file complaints against neighbors and colleagues, and surreptitiously act to defend Jewish interests.  And nearly every American Jew is an explicit or implicit Zionist.

Could it happen here?

Consider:  What if thousands of committed and enraged Americans took to the streets—to Wall Street and Pennsylvania Avenue—just as thousands of Tunisians and Egyptians have done?  What if they smashed the windows of the luxury suites in Manhattan, burned the castles of the rich, demanded payback, demanded justice

What if they came by the thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, bearing the arms guaranteed to them by the Constitution?  Thousands of Tunisians and Egyptians, with no weapons at all, took down their governments—imagine what thousands of armed and enraged Americans could do?

What if, when the National Guard came in to "restore order"—in other words, to restore control by the rich and powerful—what if they refused orders, joined the rebels, and turned their weapons against their criminal bosses?

What if, when the military was called in to do the job that the Guard failed to do, the soldiers, too, refused orders to capture or kill their fellow men?  What if they, too, joined the rebel masses—the people—and turned their weapons against those petty dictators and Judenknecht who run the show?  What if a phalanx of tanks arrived in Washington DC, took charge of their own destiny, drove down to Pennsylvania Avenue, and began firing point-blank at the White House?

What if the people took hold of their own destiny?  What if they refused to have their lives and livelihoods stolen from them, for the sake of the wealthy few, the Zionists, and the Jews—for whom no wealth is sufficient and no power too extreme?

Ten million Tunisians can demand their freedom from the Jew-slaves.  Seventy million Egyptians can demand their freedom from the Jew-slaves.  What's wrong with 300 million Americans?

Arabs and Muslims throughout the world deserve our respect.  For decades they have put up with Jewish-Zionist bullshit.  They have had to tolerate our idiotic labels:  "Muslim extremist" (anyone who refuses to be a Jew-slave) and "Muslim terrorist" (anyone who fights to defend their basic human rights).  American propaganda and American bombs have rained down on their heads for years, and yet they would not surrender.  When the time came, they demanded their freedom—and they won it.

Could it happen here?

Just imagine.

Thank you and remember:

Peace is patriotic!

Michael Santomauro
253 W. 72nd Street
New York, NY 10023

Call anytime: 917-974-6367

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Anonymous said...

It could happen here because the US gov't constantly violates our rights.
They violate the 1st Amendment by placing protesters in cages, banning books like “America Deceived II” and censoring the internet.
They violate the 2nd Amendment by confiscating guns.
They violate the 4th and 5th Amendment by molesting airline passengers.
They violate the entire Constitution by starting undeclared wars for foreign countries.
Impeach Obama and sweep out the Congress, except Ron Paul.
(Last link of Banned Book):

European American said...

"What if a phalanx of tanks arrived in Washington DC, took charge of their own destiny, drove down to Pennsylvania Avenue, and began firing point-blank at the White House?" Feng Shui has always been out of alignment with that building, anyway.

Regarding the slim possibility the American masses are ready for the Z's perfectly planned disaster barreling down on them...

The Normalcy Bias

The normalcy bias refers to a mental state people enter when facing a disaster. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of the government to include the populace in its disaster preparations. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred that it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs.

People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before.

People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.

There's that old Zen adage "Sometimes ones roots must reach the darkest depths of Hell before ones leaves can attain the lofty heights of Heaven."

It's gonna' get real hot in the republic, real soon, cause we're now in the bowels of the abiotic basement!


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Did You Know...

Homegrown jihad in Detroit: “America must fall”

By Michelle Malkin  •  October 29, 2009 07:49 AM

Welcome to the “extremism” that DHS and the White House won’t spell out by name (via the Detroit Free Press):

A federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in Detroit provides unprecedented detail into a world where, authorities say, a group of radical Sunni Muslims were urged to take over the U.S. government and establish Islamic law.

The complaint says that the imam or leader of the group, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, repeatedly used rhetoric that urged Muslims to seize power with violence and establish a society where Muslims would rule over non-Muslims.

“America must fall,” Abdullah said, according to the complaint. At another point, he “told followers that they need to be with the Taliban, Hizballah, and with Sheikh Bin Laden.”

“We should be figuring out how to fight the Kuffar,” Abdullah said at another point, the indictment states. Kuffar “is a highly derogatory term” used to describe non-Mulisms, the document states.

“You see, we need to figure out how to be a bullet,” Abdullah said, according to the government.

In chilling detail, the 43-page indictment portrays a mosque where hateful rhetoric was repeatedly used by Abdullah, including during Friday sermons, traditionally the most popular gathering time in mosques.

Abdullah also used violence to enforce control, the indictment said, often beating children.

“We got to take out the U.S. government,” Abdullah said at another point. “The U.S. government is nothing but Kuffars.”

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Did You Know...

Safety tip: Don’t handle a gun like the guy in Mayor Bloomberg’s ad

By Doug Powers  •  March 25, 2013 07:38 PM

**Written by Doug Powers

Note: This post received Vice President Joe “Tackleberry” Biden’s coveted seal of approval

Michael Bloomberg’s organization, “Mayors Against salt smoking trans fats global warming large sodas Illegal Guns,” placed a $12 million ad buy in ten states. Even though one of the ads doesn’t state it directly, it might be safe to assume that Biden served as a technical adviser.

From Emily Miller at the Washington Times:

The ad does not specify if the man is an actor, but he violates all three gun safety rules taught by the National Rifle Association (NRA).

The first rule is to always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction. In this case, the children are playing in the yard. Although the viewers can’t see what is to the side of the truck, the man should be pointing the muzzle in the air or at the ground.

The second NRA rule is always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
The third NRA safety rule is always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use. This means a situation in which the gun is available for immediate use — such as when hunting and a deer could step out at any time or when the firearm is safely stored but ready for quick self-defense as needed.

In the ad called “Family,” the man says that, “My dad taught me to hunt, and I’ll teach my kids. I’ve owned a gun all my life, and I’ll fight for my right to keep it.”

While saying this, he holds the pump-action shotgun with the action (bolt) closed, so it is impossible to know if it is loaded. To make this a demonstration of safety, the bolt would be wide open to demonstrate that it is unloaded.

Using NRA safety tips to point out gun handling mistakes in Bloomberg’s ad will prompt select MSNBC panelists to denounce the NRA’s anti semitism.

Video by way of Weasel Zippers:

It’s possible the safety no-nos were inserted intentionally to convey the message that “even some of you honest flyover country hunter hayseed types who could pass a background check need to understand that you’re just a couple PBRs away from accidentally shooting somebody,” but I don’t think they’re that crafty. As far as Bloomberg is concerned, no safety rules were broken because the guy never took a drink from a large soda.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

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Ford Motor Company

U.S. auto companies are faced with pent up demand from consumers at a time when their supplies for parts and materials are getting squeezed.

The Associated Press reports the shortages could limit the number of vehicles companies can sell, and squeeze a historic turnaround for the U.S. auto industry.

The most immediate problem — a shortage of a crucial plastic resin, caused by an explosion March 31 at a plant in Germany — could surface in a few weeks. And later this year or beyond, automakers could be confronted with an even bigger crisis, running short of parts simply because there aren't enough factories and people to make them.

The AP points out that the new process for manufacturing makes automakers vulnerable to these kinds of disruptions because auto suppliers don't stockpile parts the way they used to.

Instead, to hold down warehouse and inventory costs, they rely on a "just in time" system in which parts are delivered just days or hours ahead of when they are needed.

Forty square miles.  That’s how much of Detroit lies vacant, nearly a third of the city.  You could fit Miami or San Francisco inside all that emptiness.  At least, that’s what we’ve heard for years.  The thing is, it might not be true.

This is a story about a number – an estimate, really — and how it became a fact illustrating Detroit’s decline. I’ve read about 40 square miles in the Detroit Free Press, the Detroit News, ForbesThe Wall Street JournalThe Guardian and The Washington Times. I’ve heard it on Fox and I’ve said it on the radio.

That’s when Margaret Dewar called me out.

“Wait, this can’t be true.”

Changing Gears is partnering with Michigan Radio to collect stories about how people are planning ahead in light of the recession. You can read more stories about how Midwesterners' expectations are changing at the Changing Gears tumblr blog, http://chgears.tumblr.com.

Here's what some Midwesterners are saying:

"I wanted to be a stay at home mom, but we couldn’t have just one source of income and raise a family. Our fix? I opened a day care in our home. I treat it as my small business – which it is - and raise our child along with 3 others in her age range." -Ella Bensen

Chrystal Foxx / wikimedia commons

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal regulators are proposing cars be required to have throttle override systems to prevent runaway acceleration in instances where the driver steps on the gas pedal and brake at the same time.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that it's proposing changing safety standards to require brake-throttle override systems in all vehicle models regardless of size, including trucks and buses. The systems automatically brake while overriding the accelerator when both are pressed.

Many car models already come equipped with such systems.

The proposal is an outgrowth of investigations two years ago into claims that mechanical defects had caused unintended acceleration in some Toyota models. Government studies rejected those claims, but the probe uncovered several cases of drivers inadvertently pressing the brake and gas pedal at the same time.

courtesy Riveer Environmental

Riveer Environmental in South Haven will nearly triple in size to accommodate a new $10.4 million contract with the U.S. Army, according to the Kalamazoo Gazette:

Riveer Environmental has been contracted to build 50 vehicle-washing systems that soldiers will use to power-wash everything from Jeeps and Humvees to Abrams tanks.

The systems, which are to be delivered to the Army on June 1 and Sept. 1 (18 and 32 units respectively) are expected to be used in Afghanistan. The company landed the Army contract in late February.

The company says the expansion translates into 10 new jobs - six have been filled.

Measuring the costs and benefits of retraining

Apr 4, 2012
Kate Davidson / Changing Gears

Measuring the success of retraining programs used to be straightforward. You just looked at how many people got better paying jobs. Now the emphasis is shifting from how job seekers benefit to how taxpayers benefit too. That’s because some federal funds for workforce development are shrinking, and local agencies have to do more to make their case.

In the Midwest, we hear a lot about retraining. A lot of the money for retraining and other job services comes from the federal government, through the states, to local programs like this one in Jackson, Michigan.

Ford Motor Co.

After laying-off tens of thousands of employees in 2009, automakers and engineering firms are racing to fill new positions.

Paul Eisenstein writes on The Detroit Bureau that at a recent career fair, job openings weren't in short supply - job seekers were.

Or more precisely, qualified job-seekers.

Eisenstein writes "the real rush is to find trained engineers."

two years ago, Altair Engineering...“had plenty of applications and no jobs.”  A few months ago, they put out the word that “they had 700 engineering slots and no one to fill them.”

This explanation is offered as to why there's a dearth of applicants.

Part of the problem is that the industry now needs to attract a largely new workforce at a time when engineering schools are struggling to fill slots and turn out fresh talent.

The bulk of the engineering employees released by the struggling Detroit makers over the last five years were older workers nearing the end of their careers.  They were often given buyouts that helped nudge them into a less painful retirement.  “And now...they just aren’t interested in coming back.”

And even if older engineers did apply for these jobs, one expert says their skill set might be out of date because changes in technology are happening so quickly.

This shortage of engineering talent is driving up costs for employers - bad for employers, but good for potential employees.

One group is working to change this. David Cole of the Center for Automotive Research has started "Building American's Tomorrow," a non-profit group working to attract young people to the engineering field.

Bryce Hoffman of the Detroit News writes the group is working to improve the image of engineering to young people who "have a dim view of manufacturing and the auto industry in particular."

Building America's Tomorrow grew out of the industry's efforts during the recent economic crisis to educate Washington about the economic importance of the auto sector.

"It's really an outgrowth of all the chaos in the auto industry," said David Cole, chairman emeritus of CAR and one of the founders of the organization. "Everyone was worried about whether we would survive. We did, but now we're not sure where we're going find the talent we need to stay in business."

It's a long term problem. And Cole says "if we don't do something about it, we're going to lose a core part of our economy."

Mark Brush / Michigan Radio

Update 3:44 p.m.

O.k., here's the graph (above).

It's an attempt at a more complete employment picture in Michigan.

As you can see, the unemployment rate has been falling in the state since the fall of 2009, but it also shows the drop in the state's overall labor force.

The labor force is the overall number of employed people plus unemployed people.

The labor force has been plummeting since the end of 2006, and it has only nudged upward in the last two months. (See that little tail at the end of the blue line?)

From the Michigan Department of Technology, Management, and Budget:

Michigan’s workforce rose for the second month in a row in February, however it continues to be down over the year. From February 2011 to February 2012, Michigan’s labor force decreased by 28,000 or 0.6 percent. In general, the state’s labor force has been receding since 2006.

2:46 p.m.

Michigan's unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent, and the state's total workforce grew by 14,000, according to the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget:

Michigan’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in February continued its downward trend, declining over the month by two-tenths of a percentage point to 8.8 percent, according to data released today by the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget (DTMB). Total employment rose by 22,000 in February as the number of unemployed declined by 8,000. The state’s workforce grew by 14,000 over the month.

Director of the Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiatives Rick Waclawek said "the professional and business service sector in Michigan has recently displayed significant momentum, adding jobs in February for the seventh consecutive month."

I'll post up the graph that shows the trend lines in unemployment and the state's total labor force since January of 2001 once I double check the numbers.

A123 Systems Inc.'s battery manufacturing facility in Livonia, Michigan. The company filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday.
A123 Systems Inc. / Facebook

A123 Systems Inc. has announced it will replace battery modules and packs that could contain defective parts made at the company's Livonia manufacturing facility.

In a press release, the company said they began making replacement modules and packs and expect to ship them to affected customers this week.

The company said the defective parts are not a safety concern.

From their press release:

"Recently, A123 has discovered that some prismatic cells made in our Livonia facility may contain a defect which can result in premature failure of a battery pack or module that includes a defective cell. We have isolated the root cause of the defective cells and we are confident that we have pinpointed the source of the defect and corrected it..." said David Vieau, CEO of A123 Systems.

MLive.com reports:

A123 most recently made headlines for its nearly $260 million loss in 2011 and a Fisker Karma, which the company supplies the battery for, dying during testing by Consumer Reports.

Company officials say prismatic cells made at another A123 facility are not impacted, and "the cylindrical cells we make at our facilities in China for a number of other transportation programs, as well as the majority of our grid energy storage systems and commercial applications, are also not affected by this defect."

The Ann Arbor based company Tecumseh Products, which makes compressors for refrigerators and air conditioners, experienced a tough 2011.

Yesterday, Crain's Detroit Business reported shares of Tecumseh "were at $3.93 late this morning, the lowest since their all-time low of $3.75 in March 2009."

The price ticked upward, and stands at $4.35 as of this posting.

Nathan Boomey of AnnArbor.com reports that there are concerns the company is too big, and that could mean layoffs for Tecumseh Products employees.

CEO Jim Conner said the company worked to reduce overhead and employee numbers in 2011, but "these actions alone were not sufficient to offset the lower sales, and additional restructuring actions may be necessary."

From AnnArbor.com

Connor...attributed the tough 2011 to "higher raw material costs, lower volumes and unfavorable changes in mix as a result of weak demand in the second half of the year."

The company said sales of compressors for commercial refrigeration and aftermarket devices fell 5.4 percent. That segment accounts for 58 percent of its total sales.

One positive sign for Tecumseh Products is sales increases in Latin America, where air conditioning is becoming more common in the home.

Tecumseh Products had about 7,300 employees as of July.

2005 Ford Taurus / wikimedia commons

Update: March 13, 2:35pm

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has expanded its investigation to include some Murcury Sable models in addition to Tauruses.

The investigation now includes vehicles from the 2001-2006 model years and could affect as many as 1.9 million cars.

DETROIT (AP) - Federal safety regulators are investigating complaints of throttles sticking in some Ford Tauruses.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on its website that 14 people have complained about the cars from the 2005 and 2006 model years, about 360,000 in all. No crashes or injuries have been reported, but the agency says a driver ran a red light and entered an intersection before the car could be stopped.

The agency says the cruise control cable may become detached and hold the throttle open. Drivers have reported that it was hard to stop the car with the brakes, and several said they had to shut off the engine or shift into neutral to stop.

Ford says it is cooperating in the probe. The cars have not been recalled.

Angelique DuLong / wikimedia commons

DETROIT (AP) - A man who claims ownership of one of Detroit's most widely-known industrial ruins says he plans to demolish most or all of what remains of the sprawling facility.

The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News report Friday that Dominic Cristini, who claims ownership of the Packard plant through Bioresource Inc., is awaiting demolition permits. He says he wants to start demolition within a month. He estimates it will cost $6 million to raze the plant.

Cristini says portions might be saved for historical value.

The plant was built in the early 1900s. The last Packard automobile was built in the mid-1950s. Other smaller industrial businesses have used the facility since. As the years passed, the plant increasingly became the target of thieves, metal scrappers, urban explorers and graffiti artists.

Midwest leaders lay out the welcome mat for immigrants

Feb 22, 2012

While many states in the South and West passed restrictive laws against illegal immigrants last year, officials in Dayton, Ohio were putting out the welcome mat.

And they’re not alone in the Midwest.

In the second part of our look at immigrants and the Midwest, we’ve found many local governments are trying to attract immigrants as an economic development strategy.

Dayton got attention from all over the world last fall when its city commission unanimously approved a plan called Welcome Dayton to make it an “immigrant-friendly city.” Since then, the town has been inundated.

Dustin Dwyer

In many ways, the headquarters for Eastern Floral in Grand Rapids, Mich. is like a factory. It’s in an old building with brick walls. The floor is smooth, cold concrete. A noisy printer rattles off new orders.

But of course, it smells amazing in here. Designers stand at long wooden tables, primping and pruning flowers. Red tulips. White daisies. Yellow roses. And just about any other flower you can imagine.

Bing Goei, the owner, says this work is more like artistry.

“I think you have to be born with that.” he says. “I was not. I admit it.”

Goei says this with a laugh.

But he was born with something else that turned out to be its own asset. He was born with a foreign birth certificate. His parents were Chinese. He was born in Indonesia, then moved to the Netherlands. From there, they moved to Grand Rapids, like a lot of Dutch people before them. Except, they have a Chinese name.

And like many of those immigrants before him, Goei worked hard. He started in the flower business in high school. Now, Eastern Floral has seven locations, about 60 year-round employees – twice that around Valentine’s Day – and the company has over $5 million in annual revenue.

Goei says being an immigrant, and being an entrepreneur, there’s a connection there.

“Almost every immigrant that comes to this country has come because they see America as that land of opportunity,” he says. “So immediately, their drive is to fulfill that dream.”

The data on this backs Goei up.

The Kauffman Foundation reports that immigrants are twice as likely as people born in America to start a business.

Richard Herman is an immigration attorney in Cleveland. Herman and Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Robert Smith wrote a book called Immigration, Inc.

Energy Conversion Devices

Energy Conversion Devices, Inc., a technology company based in Auburn Hills, Michigan filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today.

The company makes thin laminates that convert sunlight to energy and "has manufacturing facilities in Auburn Hills and Greenville, Michigan, as well as sites in Mexico and Canada," according to the Wall Street Journal.

screen grab from YouTube video

DETROIT (AP) - Factory workers at Chrysler are getting $1,500 profit-sharing checks next month, a sign the automaker's turnaround is succeeding.

About 26,000 union-represented workers in the U.S. should get the payments, according to Chrysler's contract with the United Auto Workers union. The profit-sharing figure is based on an Associated Press analysis of company earnings, and the labor contract formula for profit-sharing.

Chrysler would not say how much the workers will get. But the formula in its new four-year contract with the UAW shows that the checks will be about $1,500. The checks are based on Chrysler's $2 billion operating profit for 2011, reported on Wednesday.

Chrysler reported full-year net income of $183 million, its first since 1997.

U.S. Congress

Update 11:50 a.m.

Snyder's portion of the hearing has ended. The committee now moves on to Panel 2 of the hearing.

In his final statement to the committee, Governor Snyder urged members of Congress to work with the Obama administration to come up with solutions for the country.

Earlier, Snyder commented on education, Snyder said only 17 percent of students in Michigan are college ready, "that's a travesty," he said.

Snyder said most students only think of traditional career paths while they're in school - doctors, lawyers, etc. - more students, he said, need to aspire to careers that are needed in the workforce, such as computer programming.

"Cyber schooling is a huge opportunity in the state," said Snyder.

6 tips on "Buy Here-Pay Here" car lots

Jan 27, 2012
SeeMidTN.com / Flickr

Yesterday, we brought you the story of Buy Here-Pay Here dealerships in the Midwest. These are places where the dealer finances car loans himself (BHPH is sometimes called in-house financing.).

Basically, he is the bank and he takes on all the risk. That’s especially true because BHPH dealers cater to people with bad credit – deep subprime customers who typically have credit scores less than 550.

It’s not hard to find people who are out of luck, out of work, and grateful for the opportunity to finance a car at all. But that opportunity comes at a steep price, which is either folded in or added on in the form of interest rates up to 25 percent.

So here are six tips to consider if you’re thinking about Buy Here-Pay Here:

John Gallagher of the Detroit Free Press reports the head of Quicken Loans, Dan Gilbert,  is hoping to hire "500 college interns this summer in downtown Detroit."

Gilbert said he wants to move the city from having a "brain drain" to a "brain gain" - from the Freep:

Gilbert told the annual meeting of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau that hiring 250 interns last summer proved so successful that Quicken plans to double the program this year. He urged the hundreds of attendees at the Fillmore Theatre in Detroit to spread the word to college-age young people.

“We want them all,” he said.

Gilbert also told the group that the company is planning to hire 300 "new technology" employees.

Anyone interested in applying can visit Quicken's employment website to find out more.

Kate Davidson / Changing Gears

In the Midwest, it’s hard to get around without a car.

These days, people are holding onto them longer. The average vehicle is almost 11 years old and used cars prices are on the rise.

All this adds to the pressure on the bottom rung of consumers: people with bad credit.

For many, the only way to finance a car is at a Buy Here-Pay Here lot.  Here, dealers loan to deep subprime customers at interest rates up to 25%. Buy Here-Pay Here makes up more than 15% of used vehicle financing in states like Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

That financing goes to people like Willie.  That’s her nickname.

We’re driving around Toledo in her ’99 Chevy Express.  It’s got 130,000 miles on it.

Teaching after a year in the crossfire

Jan 25, 2012

It’s been a tough few years for teachers. Classes are bigger. Pay is down. Benefits cost more.

And, in the last year, teachers across the Midwest have been at the center of collective bargaining fights in Wisconsin and Ohio. With all that, we wanted to know what it’s like to be a teacher today. So, three generations assembled in Lila Howard’s classroom at Saline High School near Ann Arbor.

Howard is about to retire after years teaching AP Psychology. Jason Gumenick teaches government and is in the middle of his career. Then, there’s David Dolsen, a college freshman, who had both of the others as teachers.

user plasticpeople / Flickr

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a must-read story on why Apple products are not made in the U.S.

And, earlier this month, This American Life devoted an hour to a stunning look at work conditions inside Apple’s supplier factories in China.

Not long after TAL’s story ran, Apple released its annual progress report on suppliers in China. For the first time ever, the company issued a list of its suppliers and said it would allow an independent third party to audit its operations.

But there’s one claim in all this reporting that has particular relevance for the Midwest economy.

Mark Brush / Michigan Radio

The Detroit auto show wrapped up yesterday, and officials say attendance was strong.

From the Associated Press:

Organizers of the North American International Auto Show say this year's attendance was the highest since 2005.

The annual event at Detroit's Cobo Center closed on Sunday.

Organizers say attendance during the public portion of the show was 770,932. That's also up from last year, when 735,370 went to the

Amy K. Senese / www.amysenese.com

It seems the entire nation is watching what will happen in the Motor City.

A new documentary opens this weekend looking at Detroit as the epicenter of the fallout of the new global economy.

And now, in their latest episode, the public radio program On Being uses Detroit to look at rebuilding.

The program's producers write the program is:

A Detroit you probably haven't seen in the news. It's a city of vigor — a place where neighbors are reimagining work, food, and the very meaning of humanity. To meet these people is to gain perspective on all of our work, and how we might imagine possibility in our own community.

The program includes conversations with 96 year-old social activist Grace Lee Boggs about reinventing society.

You can listen to the program below, and let us know what you think. Write a review of the On Being episode in the comments section.

screen grab from YouTube video

Yes, yes... there are a lot of abandoned buildings and sad reminders of better times in Detroit.

While some artists come to Detroit to gawk at the "ruin porn," as Michigan Radio's Jennifer Guerra has pointed out, the filmmakers of the new documentary "Detropia" say they hope people take away something other than a sense of awe at the decay.

Co-directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady say they want their audience to understand the people who stayed behind in Detroit:

"Initially when we went there, we were just looking for this Phoenix story. We were hoping that there were people on the ground there that were really just going to fix the place. But after spending a couple years filming there, and spending time with our characters we realized that was really just a very dishonest story," said Grady.

Rick Snyder for Michigan / Facebook

DETROIT (AP) - Gov. Rick Snyder is offering a business-focused version of his State of the State address to a commerce-friendly crowd.

The Republican told business leaders Friday at a Detroit Regional Chamber-hosted event that the state made great progress last year. He says more must be done to fix transportation and more should be invested in fixing roads and bridges.

His remarks come two days after his State of the State speech.

The former businessman has praised business for helping improve Michigan's economy last year by adding 80,000 jobs. That helped push the unemployment rate to about 2 percentage points lower than when he took office last year.

He says the cost of doing business has been lowered, encouraging businesses. Democratic lawmakers say businesses have been helped at the workers' expense.

user paul (dex) / Flickr

For those of you keeping score at home, it's GM 9,030,000 to Toyota's 7,900,000 for 2011.

Those are "around" numbers for the number of vehicles sold in 2011 by the automakers from the Associated Press.

GM has retaken a crown it owned for 77 years before Toyota snatched it away in 2008.

Since that time, Volkswagen has been an up and comer as well. That company is the no. 2 automaker. It sold around 8,160,000 vehicles last year.

But some argue there's some fuzzy math going on to make GM the "top automaker" in the world.

More from the Associated Press:

Some analysts have said that VW is the world's biggest automaker because GM's figures include vehicles made by its Wuling joint venture in China. Many don't count Wuling because GM doesn't have controlling interest in the company, but GM includes it in global sales figures.

Excluding Wuling, GM would have been topped by Volkswagen.

Being the world's top-selling automaker doesn't mean much for the bottom line. But GM retaking the title is an example of how far the company has come since its 2009 bankruptcy.

Bloomberg Business Week's Tim Higgins quotes one analyst saying the top automaker crown means "bragging rights" and might help with stock prices.

Higgins writes GM's stock did go up with the news, but the stock would have to go up significantly before the U.S. government would break even on its investment:

GM rose 0.5 percent to $24.63 at 11:26 a.m. New York time.

The U.S. government still owns almost a third of GM. The government would have to sell its stake at an average of $53 a share to break even. GM earned $6.17 billion in 2010 and $8.47 billion in the first nine months of last year.

Marcus Wong / creative commons

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - Ford is giving pay raises and bonuses to about 20,000 white-collar workers, mainly in the U.S. and Canada.

Letters sent to workers last week say they'll get 2.7 percent raises on April 1. They'll also get bonuses based on performance.

The raises are a sign that Ford is confident in its turnaround and in the U.S. economy. Ford Motor Co. made $6.6 billion in the first three quarters of last year. It reports fourth-quarter earnings this month. The company's U.S. sales rose 11 percent last year.

Spokeswoman Marcey Evans says the raises are needed to keep pay competitive with other Fortune 100 companies.

Salaried workers last got raises in 2010. Only performance bonuses were given in 2011.

Ford has made a huge turnaround since 2006, when it lost $12.6 billion.

Mark Brush / Michigan Radio

The news that Michigan's unemployment rate dropped again for the month of December was good news for Governor Snyder's State of the State address, but this rate drop is accompanied by a continued drop in Michigan's overall labor force.

The labor force is the overall number of employed people plus unemployed people.

People are categorized as "unemployed" if they are out of work AND they have been looking for a job in the last 28 days.

As my chart shows above, the labor force in Michigan has been dropping consistently since 2006.

Comparing January 2006 to December 2011, there are around 432,000 fewer people in Michigan either working or looking for work.

The State of the State... in Laingsburg, Michigan

Jan 18, 2012
Kate Davidson / Changing Gears

Michigan’s Governor Rick Snyder gives his second State of the State address tonight.  He’s already signed more than 300 public acts.  That’s a new law for almost every day in office.

Over the next few weeks, Changing Gears is looking at how changes in state government are impacting lives and wallets across the region. Here in Michigan, people are riveted by some of Snyder’s big ticket changes, like giving emergency managers the power to strip control from elected officials in failing cities and school districts.

But this story is different.  It’s about one Mid-Michigan town and all the small, drowned-out changes that deeply affect people’s lives.  People like Janae Jodway.