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Team Cc

CC Cleaning Service

Housekeeper in Vancouver

We offer A Licensed Service to you, Guaranteed satisfaction. All In the Portland OR or Vancouver WA area :-) -We can clean anything from Households(Rooms, Bathrooms, Garages, studios ect) to Offices (Businesses, Personal or Move-Out cleaning for Apartment Complexes) We have a professional and Bi-Lingual cleaning staff with over a decade of experience. Here are some of the duties we cover when assigned a section of a household. Living Room, Family Rooms and Bedrooms. - Dust, Cobwebs, And Vacuuming. -Vacuuming Furniture and Cleaning Leather on couches. -Lemon Oil Furniture -Wooden Floors -Make Beds (Change Liners, Change sheets ect..) Kitchen -Cleaning Counter tops, Cabinets,Any trash removal necessary & Clean Stove/Refrigerator thoroughly . Bathroom -Cleaning of Vanity, Mirrors,Lights, Wash Floors and bathroom itself (Toilet,Tub & Shower) Laundry Room - Surfaces,Wash Floors, Sweep and Mop, Optional Items -Cleaning Light Fixtures/Chandeliers, Window Cleaning, Blinds, Grout, Washing Walls ect.. We have FREE estimates. First Time Customers Save 25$!! Contact Info: Denise Coral Office 360-721-... Thank you very much and enjoy this beautiful Summer of 2014!!! :-)

Housekeeper Details

Email Address
Phone Number 360-721-...
Provider Type Individuals
Services Bathroom Cleaning
Kitchen Cleaning
General Room Cleaning
Change Bed Linens
Oven Cleaning
Refrigerator Cleaning
Cabinet Cleaning
Window Washing
Surface Polishing
Carpet Shampooing
Wall Washing
Pet Clean-Up
Attic Clean-Up
Basement Clean-Up
House Sitting
Take Out Trash/Recycling
Household Laundry

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Hasina Akter

I'm very clean and responsible

Housekeeper in Brooklyn

I'm a mother and a wife so keeping space clean is my regular job and I do my best at it. I'm available Monday through Friday from 9am to 2pm or 4pm to 9pm. I try to keep people space clean and neat.

Housekeeper Details

Email Address ...@gmail.com
Phone Number 347-945-... Confirmed
Provider Type Individuals
Services Bathroom Cleaning
Kitchen Cleaning
General Room Cleaning
Change Bed Linens
Oven Cleaning
Refrigerator Cleaning
Cabinet Cleaning
Surface Polishing
Attic Clean-Up
House Sitting
Take Out Trash/Recycling
Household Own Transportation

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Word Drawing – Minotaur Story #1

Last night I heard an explosion in the sky. It shook the windows of this room, I watched, fascinated as the ice on the outside of the glass fractured and fell into the darkness below.

I don’t remember how I got here. All I know is what I see in front of me; a ten foot square room, white walls, a bed, a table, a chair, a light switch that operates the bare bulb in the centre of the ceiling. There’s only one door and that leads to the small bathroom.

Sometimes I wonder how the food that appears on the table each morning gets there, but I’ve been here so long that it’s easier to just say “Thank you” and not to ponder that mystery too deeply.

I say that all I know is what I see, but maybe that’s not true. If I was to trust my eyes and ears I’d say I’m alone in this room, but sometimes at night – that is, when I turn out the light, outside the window it’s always dark, just blackness and stretching out into the distance a snow covered plain –  at night I can feel him in here with me.

The Minotaur.

I can feel the warmth of his body when he gets close, the soft huff of his breath on my neck when he exhales.

Sometimes I talk to him, telling him stories I’ve made up during the day, like the story of the boy who kept the ghosts of books as pets, or the man who collected paper birds in a coffin. He never answers but I like to think he enjoys them.

I wonder if he can see me, or perhaps, as seems more likely, he’s in similarposition to me, locked in a room, alone and just feeling me there. Perhaps he’s telling me stories. Whatever the truth of our situation is, I like to think we’re friends.

Tonight I ask him if he heard the explosion in the sky. I can sense him stop, his breath held and I know that, wherever he is, the Minotaur heard it as well.

I walk to the window and stare out at the sky. The Minotaur moves next to me, if we could, I know we’d hold hands, because at last we’ve found something to share.

December’s Drawing In.

For the last year or so my art practice has been focused on an investigation on the legend of the minotaur. Although I know I really should get round to writing something about the motivations and scope of the project, a large element has been an open approach, using any material that comes to hand, experimenting, trying new things and not allowing myself to be bound by a particular set of criteria and so to put down exactly what I’m trying to achieve seems at the moment impossible, as I’m still not sure what that goal actually is.

Having just given a lengthy excuse for not writing, writing is the latest medium that I’m experimenting with – I’ve always seen language as much of a material for art production as  acrylic, clay, bronze whatever you choose to work in, and I’ve blogged before about artists who work exclusively in words.

Througout December I’m going to be turning my attention to drawing – partially to get better at it and partly because there’s some immediate about sitting down with a pen and a sheet of blank paper and whether you end up with a completed piece, a germ of an idea or just a nonsensical doodle, it’s still a great way of giving physical form to whatever is sloshing around your brain.

Tonight my ‘drawing’ took the form of a odd little fragment of a story, it just came once I’d written the first few words, and then before I knew it, it was finished. I think I can regard it as a ‘sketch’ in as much as it does the same thing that a sketched image does, it gives you the sense of something incomplete but with the potential to go somewhere, of a situation that needs to be resolved.  I don’t know if the story will grow, or if it will remain as it is, an odd little narrative scene that might make the reader wonder what’s really going on, but I think there’ll be other stories to come.

Anyway these strange little vignettes will be appearing on here – I hope you enjoy them.


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Archive for the ‘mid-market HRO’ category

NGA’s Broadening Offerings

July 24, 2013
Liz Rennie, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Liz Rennie, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Last week we attended the Advisor & Analyst Summit with NGA where CEO Adel Al-Saleh presented the highlights for FY2013 (up to 30 April 2013) and described the company as an “IP-led HR services company.” Focus was given to the company’s ability to support global payrolls, whatever the HRIS platform, as NGA supports multiple platforms such as Workday, SuccessFactors, PeopleSoft, Oracle and SAP. Further, NGA announced that BPO agreements are in place with all the above-mentioned technology companies.

NGA serves all size companies and is particularly focused on global enterprise clients. Multi-country BPO HR/payroll is where NGA sees growth. Over the last year NGA experienced flat revenues, the downturn in the consulting was cited as the main reason; however, EBITDA was up by 8.6% to $157m. Workforce administration and global payroll were cited as areas which were experiencing growth. A “sweet-spot” client would be a client who wants its IT to be managed and requires service components for HR administration and/or payroll.

New wins and renewals for FY 2013 were cited as Aer Lingus (Irish HRO client based on ResourceLink), Textron (PeopleSoft renewal), Pirelli (40 countries in scope), State of Texas, McGraw-Hill and Orica.

FY 2014 priorities

  • Evolve the client-centric coverage. This means to increase the reporting and visibility of customer satisfaction to drive this higher
  • Drive the maturity of global delivery capabilities
  • Evolve the transformation consulting services
  • Invest and launch key IP platforms, including:
    – Global payroll
    – Service center tools & utilities
    – euHReka – Preceda – ResourceLink – Moorepay
  • Increase traction of key partnerships:
    – Workday
    – SuccessFactors-SAP
    – Oracle.

NGA already has more than 8 clients utilizing the Workday platform.

NGA presented its Global Delivery Model, which demonstrates the maturity and scale of NGA’s global delivery, including approximately 1.2k employees in Manila, 1k in Kochi, 100 in Dalian, China, 150 in Katowice, Poland, 500 in Granada, Spain and 200 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. These centers have been undergoing a center standardization based on Six Sigma to improve alignment.

NGA’s depth of knowledge is evident in the 8 IP components presented, including its NGA Service Catalogue, Global Statutory Center, ePIM Implementation Methodology, SunEXo (to track payroll status), ScopeHR (to configure scope), Online Reference Guide (for processes and instructions), Global Standard Training and Global Process Framework.

Being an IP-led HR services company, NGA has to clearly articulate the value of the IP to the client and then ensure that the IP roadmap is closely following its client’s needs. Furthermore, increasing technology capability with a broader partner ecosystem could bring further challenges, such as:

  • Finding the right technical solution for a client without confusing them; especially where they are simply asking for a service
  • When the IP becomes less technology centric, NGA could lose some of the depth of knowledge that is already built into the IP.

NGA continues to be a company that is flexible to the needs of its clients. In this current climate companies need agility in HR solutions, services, prices and (now more than ever) technology. NGA offers a global delivery network that is experienced and always hungry for more business.

Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here

HRO and Innovation – a Changing Dynamic

May 14, 2013
Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Linda Merritt, HRO Research Analyst, NelsonHall

Last week the Human Resources Outsourcing Association’s (HROA) Publications & Practices Committee held a webinar on collaborative innovation in HRO with industry experts Lisa Johnson, director of recruiting, North America at Gate Gourmet, Rolf Kleiner, senior vice president and chief innovation officer at Kelly Services, Inc. and Dr. Greg McLaughlin, senior vice president of research & development for Global Targeting, Inc.

Understanding Innovation

Innovation has been a conundrum for years for HRO buyers and suppliers. There are many ways to define the word ‘innovation’ and that makes it hard to be sure each party is speaking the same language. All three experts agreed that open discussions between clients and service providers are needed to develop a mutual understanding of what innovation means in the context of the relationship and contract.

Greg walked us through aspects of innovation range from the conceptual “innovation is an experience”, to the practical “innovation begins with a need and ends with an outcome that creates a competitive advantage.”

Lisa looks for HRO suppliers with the spirit of innovation – backed by experience. Rolf looks for employees who “rise above the white noise” to work on special innovation projects that also support talent management.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement

The HROA Buyers Group’s survey on innovation and continuous improvement showed there is a commonality in basic definition and understanding developing across the community of buyers, service providers, and advisors. From the words of HRO community members:

  • Continuous improvement is an enhancement of a product, service or process that already exists:
    • Increased operational efficiency, improved user experience, ongoing, incremental, and step changes
    • Efficiency and effectiveness gains that “keep pace with the market”
  • Innovation is something new and different:
    • Cutting edge, transformational, precedent setting, competitive advantage, disruptive, and dramatic
    • A significant and often transformational change that, once introduced, “you wonder how you ever lived without it.”

The HRO community is in agreement that continuous improvement and innovation should be a collaborative effort between the HRO service provider and the client:

  • 92% of respondents agree that this collaborative effort is what should be happening between service provider and client, but only 59% see that as true now, with 40% of buyers and only 22% of providers agreeing that collaboration is actually happening in the marketplace right now
  • 77% agreed that innovation should be a collaborative effort among the parties, with agreement from 100% of advisors, 60% of HR practitioners, and 83% of providers.

 The Innovation Gaps

Significant gaps – and therefore opportunities – remain:

  • 75% of respondents said that continuous improvement is in the HRO contract
  • Only 42% agreed that innovation is included in the HRO contract.

In the next blog I will be getting practical about innovation in HRO.

Interested in reading the latest HRO news from NelsonHall? Subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.

Upside Surprise of MPHRO Contract Activity

August 23, 2011

Since the beginning of the second quarter, multi-process HR outsourcing (MPHRO) activity has heated up.  Over the last year, announced MPHRO deals have been far and few in between.  That’s not to say that MPHRO contracts haven’t been happening behind the scenes, but providers weren’t publicly disclosing this activity like they have been in the past several months.  Let’s take a closer look at some of these recent deals.

ADP has made three MPHRO announcements, the most by any single provider.  All three deals were for mid-market organizations with 2,000 or less employees. Two of the contracts were for organizations in the healthcare sector: Leon Medical Center and University of Miami Hospital. Its other deal was with a local government in Colorado (Laimer County).  Another provider capturing a mid-market win was Netherlands-based Raet with Alliade, another company in the healthcare industry.

Turning now to large market MPHRO deals, Logica was awarded a nine year MPHRO contract by Ahold for 100,000 employees in the Netherlands, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.  This is a significant win for Logica whose MPHRO client portfolio consisted of U.K. and Netherlands-based organizations. Through this contract, Logica will have a history of serving MNCs.

Another large market MPHRO announcement came from Genpact who recently expanded its relationship with Nissan.  Genpact began providing HRO services to Nissan in 2003 for administrative activities.  Now, Genpact will provide Nissan and its affiliates the full spectrum of HRO services within payroll, benefits, recruitment, and learning.  In addition, Genpact has acquired Nissan’s HR shared service center in Yokohama, Japan and has renamed it Genpact Japan Service Co., Ltd.  The center will serve Nissan, its affiliates, and other Genpact clients, including one that has already transitioned over.

NorthgateArinso (NGA) was also in on some of the action.  It renewed its contract with Fifth Third Bank, a legacy Convergys client, for another seven years and will be implementing its euHReka platform.  This renewal is important in demonstrating that NGA can provide a high level of satisfaction that Convergys clients were accustomed to prior to the acquisition.

Other MPHRO activity came from Aon Hewitt with a financial services company and Capgemini with Brazilian conglomerate, Algar, which is part of a larger multi-tower BPO deal.

NelsonHall’s 2011 MPHRO report specified the following verticals as those that will emerge strongly: manufacturing, healthcare, government, and retail.  All of the recently announced activity fell into one of these verticals.  In terms of geography, the above contracts spanned all regions of the world including North America, South America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.  But, to learn NelsonHall’s estimated CAAGR for these regions, you will have to review the full MPHRO report available for purchase at www.nelson-hall.com.

Amy Gurchensky, Research Analyst, HRO, NelsonHall

HRO – How the Garden Grows

April 29, 2011

Everything seems pretty moderate and modest in the garden of HRO so far this year. After the abundance in 2010, perhaps that is not so bad. Reasonably steady business gives service providers a breather and a chance to attend to growth opportunities by leveraging current capacities while cultivating new capabilities selectively.

In benefits outsourcing, the contract levels were good with some key wins and renewals. Fidelity continues its blossoming growth with major 5 year renewals for total retirement outsourcing contracts with HP and BP, and a new defined contributions contract with the University of Oklahoma. In the U.K., Mercer was awarded a 7 year defined benefits renewal by Saint-Gobain and it won a new pensions administration client, Loomis UK.

RPO saw a smaller crop of new awards, but is still growing, especially in North America and the U.K.  My colleague, Gary Bragar, will be heading off soon to the RPO Summit as a presenter and I look forward to hearing the latest views.

Smaller M&A and partnership activity remains perennial, continuing the pattern of growing footprints in terms of geography and specialized services. GP was the most active with the acquisitions of Ultra Training in the U.K.; RWD Technologies with offices in the U.S., U.K., and Colombia; and Communications Consulting in China. Manpower Group acquired Web Development Company in India to add to its IT recruiting in Asia Pacific. Finally, Raytheon Professional Services partnered with Baptist Health to increase training in healthcare systems.

With the blooming of HRO platform managed services, we have two trends. First is the belief that the time for HRO mid-market is finally here. Vendors are confident enough to invest in and launch new platform service offerings specifically for the mid-market. The second is growth into new fields beyond the base of payroll and HR administration systems. Examples of both trends:

  • Payroll – NorthgateArinso launched agoHRa for companies with up to 500 ee’s per country
  • Learning – IBM launched the mid-market Smart Business Learning Services and has launched Smart Business Learning Content Services
  • RPO – Mid-market grew from c. 20% of total revenue in 2008 to c. 33% in 2010
  • RPO – SourceRight Solutions launched RPO One for organizations with 100 – 5,000 employees, providing a dedicated service team, pre-configured ATS, and reporting and analytics.

Contract activity adds evidence that customers agree these services are desirable options. NorthgateArinso was awarded a 5 year managed payroll services and HR software contract by Historic Scotland utilizing ResourceLink Aurora. Historic Scotland is responsible for data entry, while NorthgateArinso will handle processing, pay runs, and produce electronic payslips. Edvantage Group won a 3 year managed learning services contract with Rieber & Son in Norway, which included Learning Gateway, Edvantage Group’s SaaS LMS, and e-learning courses. Edvantage Group also recently announced two contacts for its SaaS LMS.

Learning has been slower to recover. Hopefully, 2011 will be the year for its bountiful harvest.

Linda Merritt, Research Director, HRO, NelsonHall

Where the Action is At in HRO

March 8, 2011

As a follow-up to my colleague Linda Merritt’s blog last week titled “HRO is Settling in for a Good 2011,” I thought I’d write about where the most action is at thus far. If you were thinking recruitment, good guess, but it is actually benefits administration leading the way in the number of announced contracts in 2011.

In addition to Mercer being awarded a pensions administration contract by Loomis UK Ltd., which Linda also wrote about Mercer in her February 23rd blog, a number of providers have announced important contract awards, including:

Fidelity Investments, after two big five-year contract awards in Q4 2010 by AT&T and Office Depot, in January Fidelity was awarded a five-year contract renewal for total retirement outsourcing (TRO) services by BP America, Inc., a subsidiary of BP. Fidelity will continue to provide administration and recordkeeping for BP America’s 95,000 DB and 48,000 DC and nonqualified deferred compensation plans for U.S. employees. Later in the same month, Fidelity was awarded another five-year contract renewal for TRO services by HP in North America. Under this deal, Fidelity will service all of HP’s retirement plan participants, adding 162,500 participants from EDS who were previously serviced by other providers. In total, Fidelity will serve more than 135,000 DC participants and more than 192,000 DB participants for HP.

Aon Hewitt, in February announced it had gone live with eight new benefits administration clients since the beginning of the year. Across these clients, Aon Hewitt has implemented 12 services including DB, DC, and H&W and has added more than 325,000 participants and retirees to its base of 22 million participants.

Capita, in February was appointed as a preferred supplier for the administration of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) by the U.K. Department of Education. This is a seven-year, £80m contract renewal that starts in October 2011 and includes an additional three-year option. A week later, on a smaller scale, Capita won a three-year occupational health services contract by Technip. Capita will provide its Wellness Assessment Surveillance Portal, which gives centralized visibility of health surveillance records to Technip’s 3,000 personnel in Aberdeen and offshore locations.

So will benefits administration continue to be hot this year? I believe it will, though it might be hard-pressed to exceed RPO for the full year in terms of number of contract awards.  As evidenced in the examples above, there are huge volumes of benefit plan participants that are serviced and in today’s economy, clients cannot afford internal resources to manage these programs, nor do they have the expertise and most up-to-date technology. Handling benefits administration is vitally important to employees and retirees, whether it’s the ease of an annual online enrollment or the knowledge of a service center professional in answering DB and DC questions. And it’s not just large companies that need this expertise.  As I wrote in my February 25th blog, mid-market HRO is rapidly growing as well.

A final thought about what will continue to drive contract awards in benefits administration is that buyers are increasingly looking to consolidate their outsourcing services under one provider, as evidenced by Fidelity’s contract with Office Depot. This is a trend I believe will continue and from an employee and retiree perspective is a good thing. I was fortunate enough to leave my long-term employer four years ago with H&W benefits, DB & DC plans, and voluntary benefits, of which all four were provided by four different vendors. Sounds like I should play the number four!

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall

Benefits Administration Outsourcing — Mercer has an Ace in the Hole

February 23, 2011

Mercer held its cards during the 2010 benefits administration merger poker marathon while others drew cards to fill in service lines, add scale, and expand geographically. Satisfied with its service mix and global coverage, Mercer decided to play its own hand with a benefits portfolio of consulting, outsourcing, and investment management to leverage growth.

Revenues for Q4 2010 were $910m, up 5% in constant currency and outsourcing was up 5% to $180m. Full year revenues came in at $3,478m, up 2% and outsourcing was up 3% to $671m. The U.S. led with the largest share of growth and Canada, U.K., Latin America and Asia Pacific also showed gains.

Mercer’s hand is stronger than it may appear from the 2010 results. While the first half of the year was slow, Q3 and Q4 showed accelerated recovery from the recession. Health and benefits consulting revenues increased 8% for the second quarter in a row. Rewards, talent, and communications consulting was up 15% for Q4, compared to only 2% for the year. The recent positive trends indicate that employers are ready to address employee benefits issues.

Mercer was awarded 25 new outsourcing contracts in 2010, which crossed the full service line-up of DC, DB, and health and welfare. One deal was for TRO (DB + DC) and four were for TBO (DB/DC and H&W). FOX Entertainment and Halliburton will be new global services clients. In 2009, Mercer also signed 25 new contracts. The key difference between the past two years is the number of participants added. In 2009, it was ~400k and in 2010 it doubled to ~800k. In addition, renewals are exceeding expectations, which together with the new clients should up the ante on outsourcing revenue growth for 2011. This is all good, but the real magic in having a balanced portfolio of services is if you can cross leverage each component to strengthen the whole.

The added advantage for Mercer, its ace in the hole, may be its capability to coordinate and collaborate across service lines on behalf of its clients. For example, it is seeing an uptick with bundling consulting and outsourcing services because of the close relationship. Escalating health care costs and compliance complexity (even with the U.S. health care reform wild card) continue to attract joint consulting and service opportunities, especially for the mid-market where the new business pipeline is filling nicely. Areas under cost pressure that can bring hard dollar savings, like total absence management and wellness initiatives, should also be places to double down for growth.

Mercer’s clients have a single relationship manager, no matter how many services and locations supported, who is measured on client satisfaction, not revenues. The same set of consistent performance elements and satisfaction with all areas touching the client are rolled up at the account level.

Mercer’s client focus is more than business strategy, it is cultural and structural. What’s your HRO ace in the hole?

Linda Merritt, Research Director, HRO, NelsonHall

HRO Themes at the HR Tech Conference: Portals, Platforms and Self-Service

October 7, 2010

If you’ve never attended the HR Tech conference – which was in Chicago last week – I highly recommend finding a way to do so next year (and not just because the venue is changing to Las Vegas.) It’s always a top-notch conference with a superior speaker line-up, and a great forum for meeting with HRO buyers, providers and pundits.

With my eyes and ears focused, of course, on all things HRO, the key themes I witnessed – during both public sessions and private meetings with providers – were portals, platforms and self-service, all geared toward improving the customer experience and getting work done as quickly and easily as possible. By-the-drink-pricing and quick solution implementation were also key focuses. Some examples:

  • Caliber Point’s recently launched multi-tenant HRO service, called Republic. For mid-market organizations with between 2,000 and 15,000 employees, it’s a SaaS solution based on Oracle and includes software hosted and maintained by Caliber Point covering payroll, recruiting, performance management, compensation, employee benefits, time and attendance and reporting. Pricing is per employee per month by country, which covers both software licensing and BPO services, and implemetation can be completed in as quick as six – eight weeks.
  • ADP’s new portal and mobile developments, to be launched by early 2011. I must admit that increased mobile access to HR information, anytime, any place, didn’t wow me until ADP used the example of getting a listing of your in-network benefits and providers on your mobile phone. Think about it…you’re out of town on holiday – without your laptop – and you cut your foot on a piece of glass on the beach or sprain your ankle while skiing. You could pull your insurance card from your wallet or purse and call the 800# to find a local in-network provider. But, with instant access to the information on your mobile phone, why wouldn’t you take the quick route?
  •  Mercer’s integrated rewards and talent management offering, called Human Capital Connect. The technology platform includes performance management, succession planning, compensation and incentives. While a third-party provider can’t replace an in-house manager’s performance management responsibilities, Mercer provides not only the technology but also consulting for implementation, training, change management and execution, and a dedicated client team to ensure success.
  • IBM’s transformation of its HRO client Kraft’s employee portal, with enhanced self-service, phone-based call center support and live chats with call center specialists. During its session at the HR Tech conference, Kraft stated IBM’s recently established Manila HR Services Center is getting high marks for customer satisfaction and intuitive and user-friendly employee self-service. And we can anticipate this contract, which will further roll out into 2011, will continue to support Kraft’s approximately 140,000 employees, per its acquisition of Cadbury, with the same improved employee experience, including further enhancements to live chats.

Yes folks, today and into the future, we’ll see rapid developments in portals, platforms and self-service. But these technological developments won’t remove the “human” element from HRO. Rather, they’ll increasingly support the way humans need, want and expect to accomplish their tasks and jobs, at an increasingly attractive price point.

Gary Bragar, Lead HRO Analyst, NelsonHall


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Thank a Teacher If...

Updated on November 27, 2013

Thank You

all rights reserved
all rights reserved

Thank a teacher if you can write and spell cat,

and actually know when you see one,

read a story about Sally and Dick, throwing a red ball,

and then watch a pup named Spot, run.

If you can spell your name, know your home address,

and then know how to get there,

add up all your bills, after reading mail,

then get through a month, with room to spare.

Thank a teacher if you passed your twelve years,

while in public education, and did survive,

you passed a driving test, got your license,

now to drive on interstates and remain alive.

You learned about the constitution's rights,

our freedoms of speech and of the press,

you make positive choices, knowing right or wrong,

never having to make any guess.

Thank a teacher, because you know the law,

you're secure to walk the narrow road,

having learned the skills needed to live by,

and then to help lighten your heaviest load.

Thanks to all teachers who devote their lives,

giving gifts to children, of life's happy song,

showing their devotion and love so strong,

and in letting them know that they all belong.

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    • skybase21 profile image

      skybase21 5 years ago from Athens, GA

      I really liked this poem. Teachers rarely get the recognition they deserve.

    Click to Rate This Article


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The Ten Worst Songs of the Past Four Decades

Updated on March 5, 2012

My Personal Bottom Ten

I have had nightmares over these songs - if you want to call them that - over the years, as these "tunes" were recorded by people that I'm definitely not a fan of as far as musicianship.

These are the "songs" that I have such contempt for that if I were in charge of pledges in a college fraternity, I'd lock the poor newbies in a room and force them to listen to this dreck for hours upon hours as a hazing tactic.

Why do I hate these songs so, one may ask?

The reasons vary; in some of these songs it's the artist whose ability I find severely lacking and an embarrassment to the recording arts. In other instances it's the song itself that is bad, rather than the singer - I think that one of the ladies on this list is an absolute babe.

I won't waste any more time - this is my list of the ten worst tracks of the past forty years, in no particular order.

I hope the cringing and screaming in agony won't be too spectacular from the memories of this swill...

Just in case you were wondering, this is the one that I think is a hot babe and have a crush on, as she has a most slamming body with the shapeliest legs since Tina Turner - and her face is really cute, too.

Most unfortunately, however, it's a complete and total shame that this hottie's musical prowess has never matched her looks or her dancing skills. As it has the same beat, key and overall sound as her first single, "Baby One More Time", this follow-up personifies that lack of ability.

It's good that she has recovered from her recent mental breakdown, but sorry to say she's no Carly Simon or Alicia Keys or even her old Mousekateer BFF Christina Aguilera when it comes to music - although she did look extremely smoking in that red cat suit in this song's video.

In beginning this entry, permit me to make something crystal clear from the bottom of my heart:

When one thinks about it, these "boy bands" are actually not bands at all. They are producer's compilations, oftentimes formed by placing ads in the local papers, where all that the members need is a handsome face and a passable sense of rhythm; real musical skills are secondary.

In this so-called band's (who incidentally was put together by an Orlando, FL newspaper ad) case, any of their singles could have been chosen for this dishonor roll as I thought that they all stunk to high hell. I especially hated the video to this ditty; watching them being puppets while doing those dorky dance moves almost made me lose my lunch.

I will admit that Justin Timberlake, who became a star with this swill of a group, has done okay with his career, particularly with his Justified CD, but that still doesn't change the fact that this poor excuse of a song was a waste of hearing, as was this next piece of noise sung by another bunch of pretty little boys...

Incredibly enough, as much as I couldn't stand N'Suck, I mean N'Sync, I hated these Bad Stink Dweebs even more - I actually thought they were worse, if you can believe that.

That's not saying anything, though - please remember that. Choosing between N'Stink and Bad Smelling Dorks is like choosing between having to date Medusa and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Just like with Justin, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and their other little playmates, any of the "songs" that this compilation recorded and released could have been put on this list, but I chose this song because Nick Carter, A.J. McClean, Howie Dorough and the rest of these sorry piece of saps sounded a bit arrogant in this cut, as if they were the second coming of the Rolling Stones.

Lou Pearlman, who was responsible for putting together these two "groups" mentioned here, gets the ultimate blame for these insults to pop music.

I'm sure that those of you who may be reading this are saying, "Tell me how you really feel," right now.

I completely recognize and accept that this lady's voice is a good one, and the problems that she's had with drugs and Bobby Brown (her ex-husband) of New Edition and solo fame have been both tragic and sad to see, but...

That does not change my opinion that Whitney's songs have never really struck a chord in me, as their quality has always seemed to be a little sappy. This was particularly the case during her watershed years in the mid-1980s.

This remake was the sappiest of her hits; I more or less groaned whenever it came on the radio or on MTV, which was all the time.

Compared to Sade, a contemporary who broke out at the same time, the songs that Whitney put out just didn't seem real enough to me - especially this one.

However, having said all of that, it was sad - very sad - when I heard of her recent passing. I mean it sincerely when I say that I hope she rests in peace.

While this was an extremely huge smash in the mid-80s, a song that I heard and saw constantly during my high school days, this was the ultimate sappy dirge of that period.

Although this former lead singer of the Commodores - and Nicole Richie's father - was the big star back then with his classic "All Night Long", I felt that Lionel's sense of funk which he cultivated with his Commodore buddies was completely lost when he embarked on a solo path and released all of those ballads.

This track illustrated the loss of that funky edge and was a master example of the fluff that he sang, the type that you would like at first but get sick and tired of real fast.

And that sculpted head of Lionel's that was featured in the video looked like it was made with an ugly stick.

Compared to their mid-1970s contemporaries like the Osmonds and the Jackson Five, this group of singing siblings were completely forgotten before long.

Which was an ecstatically good thing, as these Osmond copycats from Canada almost induced a gagging in me when I saw footage of them on a "Whatever Happened To..." show on VH1; suffice it to say I turned the channel real quick.

With wannabe Donny Osmond Tony DeFranco, who warbled this crappy mess of a tune, leading the way, these no-talents were among the quintessential one-hit blunders of that period. I particularly wondered what Tony's older brothers and sisters were doing there, as they provided mere window dressing while wearing the tackiest polyester outfits - even for that time - and were doing the lamest dance moves.

It was painfully obvious that this little ditty was produced for the sole purpose of satisfying the needs of the clueless screaming teenyboppers and the people who ran those Tiger Beat and 16 rags that were probably used on the bottom of bird cages.

As I don't have anything more to say about those poor excuses for entertainers, I'll move on...

Before N'Sync and Backstreet Boys, there were these little piss-ants.

And I mean that literally due to the fact that this act from Puerto Rico, which enjoyed huge popularity among Latin American teenage girls, forces their members to leave the group upon their 16th birthday.

When this Latino boy band tried to enter the U.S. market in 1984 with this dreck - and a then-12 year old Ricky Martin in tow - it was all I could do to keep from rolling on the floor at their ineptness; I remember pretending to throw things at the TV screen whenever they polluted my picture tube.

Simply put, this tune was a puerile piece of dog excrement, and the video stunk, too; their dance moves were wretched.

It's safe to say that I happy when this so-called band failed to make it in America.

Let me state right from the start that I personally have nothing against this singer from Montreal, Quebec; I'm sure she's a perfectly pleasant lady. However...

This sludgy pile of sap from the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning classic "Titanic" was clearly the worst song of the 1990s in my view. It seemed to me as if this was on the radio, MTV, and all the video channels at least 15 times a day; I'm sure I was far from the only one who grew sick and tired of this song and Celine's opera-musak style.

I've always told people that if I heard "You're here..." one more time, I would scream in utter frustration. This dirge is much too sappy for my taste, and nothing personal, but so is the style of the woman who sang it.

Even if Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan had done the vocals on this cut, I still would have considered this a nasty piece of swill.

Indeed, I and many others felt that this ultimate compilation of producer Frank Farian's was a lame waste of sound even before it was discovered that the voices on their songs were not Rob's and Fab's, and this little ditty was their worst in my book.

How in the world could you take anything that this Silly Vanilli pair did seriously, much less this load of crapola, when all they did was do some stupid dances in dreadlocks and tight spandex to synthesizers and drum machines?

It's a good thing that the Grammys realized their mistake when they forced them to return their Best New Artist award.

"Positive Energy" - Yeah, right!

I know I was among the countless folks who did some celebrating when all of that came down, because it meant I wouldn't even have to hear that noise again.

It was a shame that Rob committed suicide, though; I hope he rests in peace.

OK good people, here's what I have picked as the single worst song of the past forty years, and perhaps ever:

The following statement to going to be in very succinct terms...

"Macarena" was the dorkiest, dweebiest, most putrid song ever recorded, which supported the dorkiest, dweebiest, most putrid dance ever invented.

I remember when I was a camp counselor around the time this horrible excuse for music was, incredibly, an actual hit. Like fingernails scratching a blackboard, I was emotionally brutalized by this terrible noise every morning when it was played for the campers and felt like God was torturing me because of something that I did in a past life.

I am positive that people who enjoyed this doo-doo and danced that extremely lamest of dances are looking back and saying with embarrassment, "What the bloody hell was I thinking?!"

Those two middle-aged guys who dared to bring this pollution to these United States should have given long prison sentences for this heinous crime; this song blew, and that's all I'm going to say about that, lest I get further traumatized by the memory.

If these so-called tunes brought back bad memories, let me offer my sincere apologies.

I also apologize if anybody who liked any of these songs were offended here. Just keep in mind that these bashings are strictly my views and opinions; disagreements and defenses of these sound travesties are more than welcome.

It's most unfortunate that musical noise like these tunes, which were all hits to some degree and went gold and platinum, existed - it just goes to show that there is no figuring out some people's tastes.

Where's Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell when you need them?

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    • DJ Funktual profile image

      DJ Funktual 6 years ago from One Nation Under a Groove

      Comparing Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell to these obvious catastrophes, no wonder you got no comments. You are shooting fish in a barrel here pal.

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World Tour 3

Updated on May 31, 2011

Pravin Vaghani (Photo by Unusha Vaghani)

Don't Sit Around, Go See The World
Don't Sit Around, Go See The World

Experiences of A World Tour

14 June 2006 to 30 September 2006

USA, Uk, Germany, India, Singapore

Pravin & Manjula Vaghani

(This is a 32 part travel-diary, originally written in Gujarati)

Manju’s brother is in the USA and her two sisters live in the UK. We hadn’t seen them for a long time, so we wanted to spend a fair bit of time with them. I have made many literary friends in these countries through my activities for the periodical ‘Matrubhasha’, a bimonthly Gujarati magazine, and I wanted to meet them. (‘Matrubhasha’ can be viewed on

Selecting The Stops

We also wanted to spend a long time in India. Thus, in addition to touring, sightseeing and fun, we had to devote many days to these visits. We had to plan our trip taking into account our limited physical stamina and also the convenience of the people we wanted to meet. We therefore chose Los Angeles, New York, London, Frankfurt and Mumbai.

Fill The Gaps

Then we proceeded to fill the gaps. Where to go, how long to stay, what to see, hotels, local transport were all considered. We picked the date of departure and the date for return to Melbourne. On a previous all-inclusive tour of Europe, we had noted its advantages and disadvantages, conveniences and inconveniences. It was advantageous to decide on things in advance as much as possible; in particular, it was beneficial to book transport and where required, accommodation in advance. In addition, it was necessary to allow for a day of rest in each city.

First Stop LA

We had thought of staying in Los Angeles for eight days. Disneyland and Universal Studios in the city were a must see. From there we thought of visiting Mexico, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon etc. We asked the travel agent, Kit, for information. Travel agents usually have a great deal of knowledge based on experience. They know about things which are not necessarily available on the internet or in the brochures. He advised us to take a hotel in Anaheim near Disneyland rather than one in downtown Los Angeles. To see Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon he advised us to stay in Las Vegas. For the addition of a few dollars, Las Vegas can be added to the round-the-world ticket. We liked his good advice. We decided to stay the first four days in LA and next four days in Las Vegas.

No Rooms Available

The next thing was to find a hotel. No rooms at 3 or 4 stars rates were available in LA or Las Vegas during our stay according to the internet search. Moreover, we wanted to spend the weekend in Las Vegas. For some reason, the weekend rates were double the weekday rates. We asked the travel agent again. Further inquiry revealed that there was a world conference attended by 10,000 people in Las Vegas that weekend. The hotels were charging what they liked. Generally, all casinos in Las Vegas have their own hotels with a minimum of 2,000 to 3000 rooms each. So there are over 100,000 hotels rooms available. But Las Vegas is the second most popular destination for American tourists after New York and all seasons are same here.

Just Lucky

The travel agent advised us that United Airlines which was offering us seats had no hotel accommodation but Qantas had a package tour on offer. Inquiries revealed that they also had no rooms available. After waiting for a couple of days, a cancellation allowed us to get a room in Anaheim at Fairfield Inn by Marriott and in Las Vegas at Monte Carlo and that too at fairly economic rates compared to the normal American rates.

We had made it! Both hotels were at very convenient locations. One could walk to Disneyland from Fairfield Inn and Monte Carlo in Las Vegas was in the middle of Strip which is the backbone of the city with casinos on both sides. Monte Carlo hotel had a famous casino and 3200 rooms plus a food court and over a dozen restaurants.

The tale of the hotel in New York was even more fascinating.

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From an exchange today in the comments in the Daily Telegraph

English: Richard Dawkins giving a lecture base...

Image via Wikipedia

One Daily Telegraph reader wrote under the article about Richard Dawkins actually being only 6/7 sure in his mind about atheism, despite his mockery of the religious and outrageous atheistic dogmatism in most of his lectures and books:

No just God would ever judge a man by his beliefs rather than his actions.

So a believer believes and does bad things and evil things and can still be admitted to heaven whereas an unbeliever can spend a lifetime of doing good things and deeds and is still consigned to eternal torment because of his unbelief. A paedophile catholic priest who has committed the most henious of all crimes can still enter the kingdom of heaven if he believes

My answer:

You say “no just God would ever judge a man by his beliefs rather than his actions”.

You could actually not be more wrong. There is no more just way of judging those whose actions could never make the grade. The only difference between the worst sinner and the greatest saint is often only opportunity. Or fear. Or pride.

Therefore God in his justice made faith the yardstick by which he would measure a soul’s readiness to be with Christ in eternity, and that is whether that person believes that Christ died for his sins, and that he was so sinful that no other way would have saved him.

Please dwell on this with an open and prayerful mind.

About David J. James

52 year old accountant who loves languages, literature, history, religion, politics, internet, vlogging and blogging and lively written discussion. Conservative Christian, married to an angel, we have three kids, and live in Warsaw, Poland. I can help you with company set-up, bookkeeping, payroll, tax, audit and due diligence all over Poland and the region.

Posted on 26/02/2012, in Religion and Philosophy and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.

  1. The eternal problem with the faith versus no faith argument is that it can never be free from human prejudice in all its forms. As a species we can only ever know (and the word “know” could take up volumes of paper in its definition) a fraction of what can be known. Both theists and atheists can put forward endless argument for their respective viewpoints but there is not much progress beyond these initial differing beliefs.
    Many extremely erudite and articulate proponents can be cited as we take one side or the other in the endless debate. It might be more helpful to ask WHY we take one position or the other or none.
    I understand the thrust of what David James is saying about the tendency that we all have to judge others when we all have the potential to fail in the same way as the person we judge. However, I do not agree that because we all have the *potential* to act in the same way as a Hitler or Stalin, we would necessarily act that way given the opportunity. Nor do I believe that we need a theistic belief system in order to resist any temptations that come our way.
    Just to take a small instance. I do not steal software from the internet by visiting “warez” sites for “free” software or to obtain hacked registration keys. I don’t act in this way because I fear being found out by man or God but simply because it is logical and reasonable to expect to pay a writer of software for their time and skill. Similarly, I don’t engage in killing humans or animals or any living creature because, like me they want to continue living and I have no right to deprive them of life. Like many of us I get very angry from time to time, but I do not let my anger lead to harmful actions because to do so will always lead to negative repercussions.
    I cannot see how any of these negative human characteristics can be attributed to original sin. Equally, many ardent theists have committed heinous crimes in the same way as the atheist and agnostic perpetrators of crime have. Human action is all to often at variance with human beliefs.
    We need to remind ourselves also of the fact that a belief in a creator God does not automatically equate to a belief in Christian gospels, though it often does. The problem with Christianity for me is that it sets up impossibly high standards for humans to live by condemning them as guilty from birth in effect. The only salvation from the Christian standpoint is belief in Christ. Would an omniscient, omnipresent and all- compassionate God offer such a restricted way to “know” Him ? I would have thought that if the premiss that an all-knowing God exists is accepted, then He would want his creation to become aware of it through as many channels as possible.
    Question for David. How do you define holiness ? Much hinges on our understanding of that term I think. Do you see it as separate and distinct from ethical and moral behaviour or does it encompass this and much more besides ?
    Thanks for an interesting post.

    • Holiness refers to being set aside. In the root in the original term and also in many other languages, such as “svyaty” you can see that “set aside” is the term. It is a term referring to being dedicated to God, being in a sense separated from the world, although we live in the world. That’s why the opposite of “holy” in many New Testament passages is “worldly”.

      There are many people who are very worldly but who follow a code which is right in their own eyes and also which in many respects is in line with much of what God expects from them also, but it does not mean that these people are holy in a Christian sense. Whereas every Christian is a “saint” or a holy one, by virtue not of saintliness as described for some exemplary men and women but by virtue of Jesus’ blood, having washed them from their sins and made them kings and priests unto God, as the Word puts it.

      The interesting thing about being a Christian believer, I mean that in terms of having a living faith in Jesus rather than be an adherent of some church and following its outward observances in a robotic way, (which is the way some behave in all religions and which is deeply valueless), is that many things are said of such people in the New Testament. We are called Children of God, Friends of Jesus Christ, Brethren, kinsmen, witnesses, prophets, priests, kings, joint-partakers of glory, adopted, reconciled, and many things besides. Many Christians do not even realise one fraction of the power that is vested in them by grace.

  2. I am an atheist. I have nothing to be ashamed of and there is nothing for me to be saved from that your so-called perfect god didn’t supposedly invent for me.

    One question: why would an all knowing, all powerful, omnipresent perfect being need to create anything, let alone ‘test’ it and require worship from it’s creation? Doesn’t strike me as perfection, it strikes me as a self-serving and self justifying excuse.

  3. Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. We would never measure up and become “worthy” no matter how much we tried.

  4. So what you are saying then is that in God’s/god’s eyes, the priest who committed heinous acts against defenseless individuals, acts that destroy lives, is seen as worthy of a blissful afterlife simply because he believed, whereas an atheist or agnostic who has done nothing but good works and even improved or saved lives through his charitable selflessness, maybe the life of a committed Christian, is considered unworthy?

    That doesn’t seem right somehow.

    • I have to agree with Andrew on this. Not only does it not seem right it isn’t right.
      My understanding of the the term “worship” is that an entity worthy of being worshipped is perfect in every detail. A creator God whose creation is not just and acts in ways likely to harm or offend other members of the created group has surely created something that is flawed. If the creation is flawed then the creator is not perfect and hence not worthy of worship. If not worthy of worship then (by human definition at least) the entity is not God.

      Is not Jesus supposed to have advocated treating others as they would wish to be treated. Then surely He would not see child abuse,murder,rape,torture,theft and hatred as being treatment that victims actually want from their agressors ?
      And to think that all reprehensible action will be forgiven and all is nulified by belief is surely a cop out. If this is the sort of God we are faced with then I’m afraid I shall have to suffer eternal damnation for my unbelief whilst trying my best to act justly and kindly to all sentient beings in this earthly life. Believing something does not make it true.
      p.s. I am not a proponent of all that Prof. Dawkins has to offer. His need to promote atheism can, at times, border on the type of hard sell often associated with the less tolerent wing of the evangelical movement within Christianity.

      • It’s not that sin is OK. It never is. However, we have all sinned, and justice demands punishment for sin. God Himself came in flesh and took the punishment upon Himself, so that all those who confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead will be saved.

        If God measured us by our actions, nobody would measure up, no matter the amount of good deeds.

    • Dear Andrew, and also Pekadewa who says the same thing.

      It is very true that the Gospel doesn’t seem right and doesn’t seem fair and all sorts of other objections. The Gospel, when it is properly explained and not a rewriting of it to say the same thing with different characters as you get in all the other religions, is counterintuitive at best and downright offensive to people at worst.

      You see we as humans always have the limited view. We judge by appearances, and we judge by a partial understanding of the facts.

      For example, you may say that Hitler was the worst criminal who ever lived. Or Stalin, or put in whichever person you think is the worst person ever, worthy of hell. For the purposes of this let’s allow that it’s Adolf Hitler. How many more people would have been the same or worse given the same opportunities? Nobody would admit to it – same as you can barely find a German these days who will admit that his family were avid supporters of the Third Reich at the time. Every single person you’ll meet, with a small handful of honest exceptions, will claim that their family voted against the Nazis, that if they only could have they would have joined the resistance, etc etc. Given Hitler’s particular upbringing, given Germany’s grievances after Versailles, given a whole load of other things, maybe the emergence of this monster is not so surprising and maybe he’s not quite so much different to the average man in the street as we first thought?

      There is atruism that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely. This saying would fail to have achieved its near universal acceptance if we could easily point to exceptions, where absolute power has been vested in any man or woman and they have not turned into monsters of one sort or another. That means I suppose that we all would. You would, and I would. So why do we judge another?

      There are people enough out there who frown at the promiscuous, but they themselves would be actually at it all night if opportunity ever actually presented itself. Maybe they don’t even know themselves, but God knows, you see. That’s right, God is well able to extrapolate from your and my reactions to small temptations how we would react to big ones and doesn’t really need to send the big ones along to some people as they are already moral write-offs over failed tests they may not even realise they’ve flunked!

      A priest is tempted by being given absolute power over some young people and also told by a Church infiltrated with Satan’s errors that he cannot marry. And he fails the test. Let those say that he is unworthy of God’s forgiveness if he repents who took that test and passed it, or who passed all their particular tests. Let those who did not receive that test be humble and thankful that they were spared it, and let us look to God and not to ourselves for strength to pass the tests that are daily put in front of us, just as surely as some blessings are each day put in front of us.

      We all have sinned, and if we don’t know ourselves as corrupt yet, let us pray that God shows us our corruption gently. Sometimes the only way that God can finally break a man’s pride is to allow him to be a monster. And when the monster repents, at least he knows how much he is forgiven, and loves much accordingly.

      The people who think that they are righteous and thing that they achieved this all by themselves are actually a spiritual danger to themselves, and need to have their eyes opened. When their eyes are finally opened, not only will they see the full extent of their hopelessness, but also more than hope – the certainty of forgiveness and acceptance by God in the form of Jesus Christ, with arms outstretched, having died for them, risen anew, and able to wash away their sins in his own blood and save them to the uttermost when they knew tht they could not help themselves.

      And therein lies the Glory of God and His salvation, and the closeness of a saved person to his Sviour, a closeness that Adam knew not before the Fall nor ever angel has experienced. We became partakers of Christ and sharers of His glory in eternity.

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3 Wishes

You know how everyone wishes for world peace, once upon a time I would have said world peace too. These days I am feeling rather tired, burnt and angry.

If someone granted me 3 wishes I would ask for everyone to be granted with:

1. True happiness – the type of happiness you see in the eyes of an innocent child.

2. Honesty – I’d wish for the truth. There is so much pain in life. So many lies. I would love to wake up in the morning knowing that my loved ones won’t be lied to. That the promises made in friendship and by businesses were kept.

3. Recognition – I would love to know that hard work, dedication and loyalty were respected, recognised and rewarded. There is only so far someone can be pushed. If hard work is not recognised, respected and rewarded then what incentive is there to keep going?

I am so lucky that what I do every day is recognised. I am deeply saddened to know that so many people aren’t recognised. They work hard in the work place and/or at home to get no thanks. If my wishes were granted I’m pretty certain the world would be a happier place.

What would you wish for?

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Market structure, viewer welfare, and advertising rates in local broadcast television markets

Listed author(s):
  • Brown, Keith
  • Alexander, Peter J.

No abstract is available for this item.

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Article provided by Elsevier in its journal Economics Letters.

Volume (Year): 86 (2005)
Issue (Month): 3 (March)
Pages: 331-337

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  1. Jean Gabszewicz & Didier Laussel & Nathalie Sonnac, 1999. "TV-Broadcasting Competition and Advertising," Working Papers 99-72, Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique.
  2. Esther Gal-Or & Anthony Dukes, 2003. "Minimum Differentiation in Commercial Media Markets," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 291-325, 09.
  3. Jack H. Beebe, 1977. "Institutional Structure and Program Choices in Television Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 91(1), pages 15-37.
  4. Douglas Staiger & James H. Stock, 1997. "Instrumental Variables Regression with Weak Instruments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(3), pages 557-586, May.
  5. Brendan M. Cunningham & Peter J. Alexander, 2004. "A Theory of Broadcast Media Concentration and Commercial Advertising," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 6(4), pages 557-575, October.
  6. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1993. "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195060119, April.
  7. Michael Spence & Bruce Owen, 1977. "Television Programming, Monopolistic Competition, and Welfare," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 91(1), pages 103-126.
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Collective Versus Individual Sale of Television Rights in League Sports

Listed author(s):
  • Sonia Falconieri

    (Tilburg University,)

  • Frédéric Palomino

    (HEC and CEPR,)

  • József Sákovics

    (Edinburgh School of Economics,)

In many countries, the collective sale of television rights by sports leagues has been challenged by the antitrust authorities. In several cases, however, the leagues won in court, on the ground that sport is not a standard good. In this paper, we investigate the conditions under which the sale of television rights collectively by sports leagues, rather than individually by teams, is preferred from a social welfare point of view. We find that collective sale is socially preferable when (a) leagues are small and relatively homogeneous in terms of clout and (b) teams get little performance-related revenues. (JEL: L10, L83) Copyright (c) 2004 by the European Economic Association.

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Article provided by MIT Press in its journal Journal of the European Economic Association.

Volume (Year): 2 (2004)
Issue (Month): 5 (09)
Pages: 833-862

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A sceptic comment on "A sceptic´s comment on the study of economics"

Listed author(s):
  • Jeanette Brosig

    (Department of Economics, University of Cologne)

  • Timo Heinrich

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg)

  • Thomas Riechmann

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg)

  • Ronnie Schöb

    (Department of Business and Economics, Freie Universität Berlin)

  • Joachim Weimann

    (Faculty of Economics and Management, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg)

This paper provides a critical re-examination of Rubinstein’s survey in which he questions the way of teaching economics. The observations obtained in our new survey cast some doubts on the original findings, and in particular, question Rubinstein’s conjecture that our students’ views on economic issues are influenced by the way we teach economics.

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Paper provided by Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management in its series FEMM Working Papers with number 07015.

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Length: 8 pages
Date of creation: Jun 2007
Handle: RePEc:mag:wpaper:07015
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Around Tim Gower from Kable in 10 questions

Tim GowerThis week, we’re pleased to introduce you with Tim Gower (LinkedIn) from Kable. Some might remember him from his Ovum and Datamonitor days. Don’t forget to join the IIAR Webinar next week with his management to hear more about Kable.

  1. What are your coverage areas?
    My role at Kable is to run our Global ICT Intelligence offering, which provides a broad mix of data-driven tools and analysis, looking at ICT investment trends across numerous geographies and vertical markets. We forecast enterprise ICT spending at both a market and individual customer level, and track the performance of ICT providers to highlight relevant opportunities for our clients.

  2. What are your opinions of the IT Analysis Marketplace and where do you see it going?
    I have been working in the IT analysis sector since 1999 and have seen a bit of flux in that time, although the ‘big three’ market leaders remain firmly in place. It has been interesting to witness the emergence of smaller analyst houses, as well-respected analysts leave big firms to go it alone, as well as some of the consolidation that has happened with tier 2 firms e.g. DM Tech, Butler Group & Ovum, 451 & Yankee. As long as the technology sector remains relatively healthy, the IT analysis industry will follow suit, so I suspect the broad structure of the industry will remain in place over the next decade or so – where there are moving parts, they will come at the tier 2 analyst house level.

  3. What’s your typical day like?
    We are based in London, Blackfriars and I tend to come into the office most days. Typically my day involves supporting our sales team with their pitches, designing and rolling out new analytical products, proofing new content authored by our analyst team, and working on our latest database developments, whether that be writing specifications, articulating changes with the developers, or testing for bugs.

  4. How do you position your firm? What is your business model?
    Kable’s traditional strength has been in the UK public sector IT market so it has been an interesting exercise re-positioning the company, following its acquisition by Progressive. Through a major investment in primary and secondary research, we’re now able to offer a comprehensive view of business ICT spending activity across numerous geographies and sectors. Our engagement with CIOs and IT decision makers is ongoing, meaning that we are well placed to help vendors with their customer engagement and sales enablement. Our business model is primarily a subscription-based service, although we are making investments in our consulting capabilities and will also see growth here in the coming months.

  5. What is your research methodology?
    We use primary research as the basis for much of our offering. In the second half of 2012, we initiated a sizeable global research programme covering 24 geographies and 12 markets, which we have used to launch our ICT Customer Insight service and formulate our ICT budget forecasts. It’s going to be really interesting to compare the market picture when we repeat the research in the autumn. We also invest a lot of time tracking market activity, whether that be ICT vendors’ contract announcements, vendor revenue performance or pre-procurements in the public sector.

  6. Any favourite AR professional you’d like to mention? Any why?
    I am less involved in day to day conversations with vendors than I was five years ago. However, I always most impressed by those AR professionals who could handle analyst enquiries independently, so I would single out Roger Sabourin (in his role at Entrust) (LinkedIn) for particular praise.

  7. What are your offerings and key deliverables?
    We have been in a product build out phase and have rolled out a wide range of products in the last few months including ICT investment trend reports (by country and sector), market forecast models and spend prediction databooks. We also offer a daily news service, as well as an M&A activity tracker and company profiles to help our clients with their sales enablement. The next phase of our offering will be to launch our premium database products (see upcoming challenges)!

  8. Any favourite food that you’d like to share?
    As well as analysts in the UK, we operate with an analyst team based in Hyderabad, India so I have made a number of visits out to the sub-continent. I am starting to develop a taste for biryani, which is the local Hyderabad delicacy, although it’s definitely a lot hotter than back home!

  9. What are your biggest challenges for the upcoming 6 months? And for the next 30 mn?
    The next phase of our offering is to develop our premium information tools and my role is to project manage their development. We have already launched our ICT Customer Insight database, containing the latest ICT decision maker sentiment regarding investments, operations and procurement. Next to follow will be our software and IT services contracts databases, followed by our flagship product which will help vendors understand their prospects’ likely technology expenditure. My challenge is to work with our development, analyst and sales teams to ensure we bring the best products to market. In 30 minutes, I plan to move on to proof our latest report covering ICT Budget & staffing trends in China.

  10. Is there another analyst whose work you rate highly?
    Analysts that can talk across multiple technology areas are a rare breed, so I would single out Tim Jennings at Ovum (LinkedIn, @tjennings). He was always able to pass judgement on market trends across a breath of technologies, which was invaluable when I was running the Market Intelligence function at Ovum.

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[This post are my views only, not that of the IIAR board or my employer]

PAC (Pierre Audoin Consultants) and TBR (Technology Business Research) announced last week a ‘global strategic partnership’. The press release is scant on details about the exact terms of the collaboration but they point out that they complement themselves geographically, with TBR based mostly (if only?) in the USA and PAC being a Franco-German (or actually Germano-French) firm.

To my knowledge, they’re both vendor-facing firms (some say ‘supply-side’) with few, if any end-user clients. TBR sells more research to financial sector firms, typically to assist them in ICT firms deals -a market also coveted by IDC and Gartner. PAC is more focused on consulting but also sells market data (their SITSI programme).

24/9/13 Update

 The plan is indeed to have a better geo coverage, through a sales alliance. The combined “network” will have 60 analysts/consultants (see above point about the mixed business model) in the US and 80 in Europe. TBR also closes some PAC coverage blackspots -such has hardware, and I suppose vice versa.

My thoughts on this

When we spoke to PAC CEO in February, Frederic Munch did hint at a US partnership indeed. This makes perfect sense but doesn’t enable them to address the end-user market, probably a weak spot for both as vendor spending is more subject to economic cycles.

What are your thoughts?

Previous posts on PAC

2 Responses

  1. […] PAC and TBR announce a ‘strategic global partnership.’ Yep. […]

  2. […] PAC and TBR announce a ‘strategic global partnership.’ Yep. […]

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About Me

Hi.  Thank you for visiting my website.

A lot of changes have taken place.

I am no longer available.  I wish you all well and be safe! 🙂

Nothing has happened to cause any real alarm, other than it’s time for me to close this chapter in life and start a new one.  Take care and all the best to you and yours! 🙂


text:
I sold a book!

Oh, my lovelies, you have no idea how long I have waited to write that title on a post!

Well, actually, since some of you have been following me since I started writing this blog, maybe you do.  Although since, to some degree, I’ve always wanted to write a book, maybe the lifetime of the blog doesn’t really cut it. 😉

But enough waffling, down to details!

First, it isn’t the one I got the competition placing for, although that placing did indirectly lead to the sale.  Second, for the old-school among you, I should warn you that, at least to begin with, it will be in e-book form only.  Third, it isn’t out yet, nor do I have cover art, although both those things should happen soon, I hope.

But I still think it’s pretty cool!

The title of my first release is Rules are for Breaking and it is a contemporary romance starring two pig-headed people who both need to learn that you can’t run a relationship the way you run a business, before they can have their happy ending.

(Can I just say that I have never described the story that way before but it tickles me no end and is pretty accurate, so I’m letting it stand!)

It is coming out under the brand spanking new digital romance imprint of Penguin Australia, Destiny Romance. Destiny was launched at the recent RWA conference and can I say, they know how to throw a ‘do’ those girls!

It’s very exciting (to me, anyway!) for a number of reasons.

One is that it is a mainstream house taking romance seriously.  Romance fiction is the single most popular genre in the world by sales and yet it is frequently ignored.  I love and read crime, fantasy and science fiction as well, but it is frustrating that those genres get respect denied to romance authors.  (With the possible exception of scifi.  I think those guys have it almost as tough as the romance writers!)  The four debut titles in the imprint are funny, charming, suspenseful, glamorous, cool and just plain fun; sometimes all at once!  I’m hoping that the fact that they have the Penguin name behind them will introduce some new readers to the great writers, fun stories and wide variety of styles and subjects available in this genre.

Another thing that I love about Destiny is that it is an Australian initiative.  This is the brain (and love, if you’ll excuse the pun) child of Australian editors and all of the launch authors are Australian.   As an Australian, I love this for itself and also for romance.  There are many famous Australian romance authors but few of them are known well here, as they are all published by overseas houses.  Maybe Destiny can help remedy that!  If you are an Australian author with a romance to sell, click on the logo above to go to the website for submission guidelines.  They’re looking for stories!

Another is that, as a digital imprint, and a brand-new one at that, they are able and willing to take a chance on stories that are a bit different.  One of the greatest things about the e-revolution in books, is that things which previously were too short, or too risky, or too different, can now get a run, even with the older houses.  This is a great thing for writers who don’t neatly fit into boxes (she says, whistling and looking at nothing in particular) but also for readers, who are now getting a wider variety of things to read than possibly ever before.

Finally (okay, it’s not really final, there will be more talking later, but I have to finish this post somewhere) I love the Destiny covers.  It may sound shallow, but I write contemporary, woman-centred stories and I can’t tell you how happy I am to have sold a romance to an imprint that reflects that in the covers.  I love a heaving bosom as much as the next woman with a secret yen for regency romances, but it’s nice to see some clean, modern design on covers!

There will be more on this later.  Trust me, when I have cover art and a release date you will be the FIRST to know!  And I am hoping to track down some launch-party photos too.  I didn’t take a camera!

But for now: thanks for sharing this with me.  The web is a wondrous place for those of us who work alone!

43 thoughts on “I sold a book!

    • Thank you! I was so excited that I got to keep my title. Of course, I haven’t seen the cover yet… 😉 Thanks for commenting Jenny. Can’t wait to get to Freo and meet you properly!

    • Thank you Sabhina! It’s lovely to be able to tell all you dear people. It was secret squirrels for a little while, because they hadn’t launched the imprint. But the nice part is that, with a little luck, now it won’t be too long until the book is out.

    • Thanks, Gabrielle. I noticed just today that in the picture I posted of the certificate last week, my first sale ribbon is lying under the corner of the certificate. It wasn’t intentional, but it makes a cute clue! Lovely to see you in person at the conference. Hope to have a chance to catch up properly next time!

  1. “Cone”gratulations, madame! I think e-publishing is clearly the future. Printed novels will fall by the wayside, which has positives and negatives and indifferences. So this is the start – mega wicked if you ask me. I’ll give you £5 if you change the title to “I Love Justin Bieber’s Hairdo”.

    • Sadly, I have a publisher, now and I don’t think they’ll come at that title. I will save your generous offer for my first self-published tome… Thanks for the congrats, Monsieur! So kind!

    • Ah Louisa, you’re such a love. I hope you enjoy it! I did enjoy telling the story, so I hope it strikes a chord with at least some readers. Can’t hope to please all the people, but some would do me!

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