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Samstag, 11. Oktober 2014
Hanging Harry Light Pull (by Suck UK)
Hanging Harry Light Pull (by Suck UK)
Freitag, 10. Oktober 2014
Man Critically Injured in Motorcycle Crash Urges Caution on Roads
A 33-year-old Maryland man has extensive physical wounds to show from a motorcycle crash, but he says the more painful part of the accident was losing his beloved girlfriend. News4’s Darcy Spencer reports.
A 33-year-old Maryland man has extensive physical wounds to show from a motorcycle crash, but he says the more painful part of the accident was losing his beloved girlfriend.
Carlos Vinicius De Oliveria, 33, was driving a motorcycle along Sandy Spring Road near Birmingham Drive in Burtonsville on a July night when he crashed into an SUV. He suffered life-threatening injuries, inclyding a broken hip and leg. His passenger, and girlfriend, 33-year-old Ebonie Cray, passed away from injuries in the crash.
What haunts De Oliveria to this day is what Cray had said prior to getting on his bike for the last time.
“Somebody went up to her and said, ‘Aren’t you afraid of getting on the bike?’ She grabbed my arm and said, ‘I trust him with my life.’ Because of the accident, she’s no longer here,” De Oliveria said. “I ask God, why not take me instead of Ebonie?”
De Oliveria, a single dad of three girls, suffered a brain injury, kidney damage and collapsed lungs. He spent weeks in a coma and nearly died three times.
He had driven motorcycles for 15 years, but has now decided to hang up his helmet. He just got released from a rehabilitation center last week.
“I think I’ll stick with my Chevelle as my toy vehicle,” he said.
So far this year, 51 people have died in motorcycle crashed in Maryland.
“A lot of people ride. It’s in their blood… if you tap a bike, it could end a life,” De Oliveria said.
“The one thing I learned, people come through when you need them most.”
De Oliveria’s friends set up an online donation site to help him pay for his medical bills.
Man Critically Injured in Motorcycle Crash Urges Caution on Roads
Sonoma County vineyards no longer a man's world
Under a clear blue sky, Cecilia Méndez is the model of efficiency as she picks grapes and supervises her crew at the Oat Valley Vineyard at Cooley Ranch just north of Cloverdale.
In her hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, she swiftly cuts away clusters of carignane grapes that will ultimately go into a red blend made by Windsor Vineyards. And as a forewoman, Méndez keeps her eyes on her 10-person crew, made up mostly of women, while they work through the 10-acre plot.
The 44-year-old Santa Rosa mother of three is part air-traffic controller as she rises at 4 a.m. to make sure her crew will be at the vineyard and coordinate their rides; part maternal figure as she helps recruit other women for the work and shows them the ropes, and part no-nonsense referee as she recently had to break up chest-puffing between two men over a dispute if one crew should be paid more for helping out another.
Most of all, she is an indispensable link who ensures that her employer, Redwood Empire Vineyard Management Inc., provides quality service in the competitive North Coast wine industry.
“We love her,” gushes Linda Barr, the Geyserville company’s owner and vice president, who has 10 forewomen working for her this harvest along with approximately 60 other women as crew members. “The growers, our clients, saw them and saw what a great job they did and they have complimented them quite frequently over the years.”
Méndez also represents a trend in the local grape industry as wineries and grape growers hire more women for their harvest crews. It comes amid a tight farmworker market that shows no sign of abating and an increasing realization that women are just as capable as men in the job, which requires them to handle trays that can weigh as much as 40 pounds and work in temperatures that can shoot past 90 degrees.
“I have seen a definite increase (in female vineyard workers) in the last couple of years,” said Amelia Morán Ceja, president of Ceja Vineyards, who herself worked in Napa Valley vineyards at the age of 12 in 1967. “It was pretty well even, maybe 50-50 this year.”
The gender breakdown in the local industry is difficult to obtain, but the National Agricultural Workers Survey continues to show that farm work is still a male-dominated profession. In the 2000 survey, 80 percent of the workers were male and 20 percent were women. A decade later, 76 percent of the workers were men and 24 percent were women.
But local vineyard managers say the path is tilting toward more women in the vineyards. Many are recruited by family members who are already working in the fields. Barr said her company began hiring female pickers about 10 years ago and it has grown since, especially as the women build up camaraderie together.
“You repeat year over year over year. It’s the same crew. It’s the same leaders. It makes it so easy,” Barr said. “We know we can pick the grapes; provide the service we say we can.”
(page 2 of 4)
Enzenauer Vineyard Management out of Healdsburg hired its first full female crew this year, at the behest of foreman Roberto Vega, who went to management this spring and asked to bring in women as an option for the labor shortage, said Katie Sereni, who oversees crews for the company.
Of the original 10 women who started with Enzenauer this year, six have stayed through harvest.
“They have been great. … We hope they stay with us,” said Sereni, who said she can see making at least one woman a forewoman in the future.
Méndez said she enjoys her work for Redwood Empire, especially having another woman, Barr, as her supervisor. Barr is attuned to the needs of her female workers, for example, always ensuring that there is a separate portable toilet for them on the job, which a male supervisor would likely not contemplate.
“I’ve always liked to work my way up. I’m happy,” Méndez said in Spanish via an interpreter. “I would like to take on more responsibility. Above all, I’m really responsible and like what I do.”
Unlike other women who come to work in the vineyards primarily through friends and family connections, Méndez said she found her job on her own when she came to Redwood Empire two years ago. She has worked in the industry for a total of 10 years. “I’ve always found my own jobs,” she said. “I’ve always liked the field.”
She also helps to recruit additional women, even those without previous farmworker experience. “I like to teach and share the craft,” Méndez said.
Fellow forewoman Martina Alvarez of Windsor also recruits more female workers, noting she has brought 10 women into her crew this year.
“It’s not hard work (by itself). What’s hard is managing the elements, the heat and the cold,” said Alvarez, a mother of four whose husband works for a winery.
She also has to help out new workers, making sure they have their shears — and small stone for sharpening them — along with gloves and safety glasses. She also assists them with picking techniques.
(page 3 of 4)
“There’s a learning curve. It’s hard when you are just learning,” Alvarez said in Spanish.
Juggling family life makes it more difficult for Alvarez during harvest as opposed to the offseason, when hours are more manageable, running from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. She has one child at the University of San Francisco, another at Santa Rosa Junior College and two in grade school.
“Everyone is up at 4 a.m.,” Alvarez said. “They go to after-school program until 6 p.m., and then we pick them up.”
Barr said that, physically, the women can do most of the same work as the men, although some may have difficulty lifting the trays into the bins, which are later stacked onto tractor-trailers. But her crews work as a team, she said, noting that one male the other day took responsibility for shoveling all the grapes from the trays into the bins. Barr said she will often help out as well, even cleaning the toilets if need be.
Méndez has no leeway for skeptics who think that such work is a man’s job. “The people who say that, with no offense, are probably not capable of doing the job themselves,” she said.
While women might not be as physically strong as men, they are just as fast, said Lise Asimont, director of grower relations for the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. They are very conscientious ensuring the fruit isn’t damaged as it goes into the bin, a prime concern for winemakers.
“They are not going to go in and try muscle them (the grapes) out,” Asimont said. “They’re more careful about doing it.”
Asimont said she first learned about the quality work performed by female pickers in her first job out of college in 2000 as an assistant vineyard manager at Cambria Estate Winery in Santa Barbara County. She thought she would be the only woman out in the field, but was pleasantly surprised to see that 14 out of the 25 crew leaders were women.
Enzenauer crews are paid per ton. On a six-day week, a worker could net as much as $1,000 a week, Sereni said, though most average around $600 to $700. The average annual salary for an employee in the Sonoma County vineyard industry was $31,269 in 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ten years ago, it was $21,888.
The agricultural workforce has become less migrant and older in recent years, said Philip Martin, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis, as the industry goes toward more mechanization.
(page 4 of 4)
“People are doing what they can do to keep their current workers,” Martin said. “The whole vineyard (industry) has gone from seasonal to pretty much year-round.”
The competition for labor is fierce, Sereni said, and companies are under pressure to provide year-round work in the offseason through such chores as replanting, pruning, tying vines and removing leaves. That will allow crew members to stay and work the next harvest.
“When you got good ones, you got to hold onto them,” she said.
News researcher Janet Balicki contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@ pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.
Under a clear blue sky, Cecilia Méndez is the model of efficiency as she picks grapes and supervises her crew at the Oat Valley Vineyard at Cooley Ranch just north of Cloverdale.
In her hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans, she swiftly cuts away clusters of carignane grapes that will ultimately go into a red blend made by Windsor Vineyards. And as a forewoman, Méndez keeps her eyes on her 10-person crew, made up mostly of women, while they work through the 10-acre plot.
The 44-year-old Santa Rosa mother of three is part air-traffic controller as she rises at 4 a.m. to make sure her crew will be at the vineyard and coordinate their rides; part maternal figure as she helps recruit other women for the work and shows them the ropes, and part no-nonsense referee as she recently had to break up chest-puffing between two men over a dispute if one crew should be paid more for helping out another.
Most of all, she is an indispensable link who ensures that her employer, Redwood Empire Vineyard Management Inc., provides quality service in the competitive North Coast wine industry.
“We love her,” gushes Linda Barr, the Geyserville company’s owner and vice president, who has 10 forewomen working for her this harvest along with approximately 60 other women as crew members. “The growers, our clients, saw them and saw what a great job they did and they have complimented them quite frequently over the years.”
Méndez also represents a trend in the local grape industry as wineries and grape growers hire more women for their harvest crews. It comes amid a tight farmworker market that shows no sign of abating and an increasing realization that women are just as capable as men in the job, which requires them to handle trays that can weigh as much as 40 pounds and work in temperatures that can shoot past 90 degrees.
“I have seen a definite increase (in female vineyard workers) in the last couple of years,” said Amelia Morán Ceja, president of Ceja Vineyards, who herself worked in Napa Valley vineyards at the age of 12 in 1967. “It was pretty well even, maybe 50-50 this year.”
The gender breakdown in the local industry is difficult to obtain, but the National Agricultural Workers Survey continues to show that farm work is still a male-dominated profession. In the 2000 survey, 80 percent of the workers were male and 20 percent were women. A decade later, 76 percent of the workers were men and 24 percent were women.
But local vineyard managers say the path is tilting toward more women in the vineyards. Many are recruited by family members who are already working in the fields. Barr said her company began hiring female pickers about 10 years ago and it has grown since, especially as the women build up camaraderie together.
“You repeat year over year over year. It’s the same crew. It’s the same leaders. It makes it so easy,” Barr said. “We know we can pick the grapes; provide the service we say we can.”
Enzenauer Vineyard Management out of Healdsburg hired its first full female crew this year, at the behest of foreman Roberto Vega, who went to management this spring and asked to bring in women as an option for the labor shortage, said Katie Sereni, who oversees crews for the company.
Of the original 10 women who started with Enzenauer this year, six have stayed through harvest.
“They have been great. … We hope they stay with us,” said Sereni, who said she can see making at least one woman a forewoman in the future.
Méndez said she enjoys her work for Redwood Empire, especially having another woman, Barr, as her supervisor. Barr is attuned to the needs of her female workers, for example, always ensuring that there is a separate portable toilet for them on the job, which a male supervisor would likely not contemplate.
“I’ve always liked to work my way up. I’m happy,” Méndez said in Spanish via an interpreter. “I would like to take on more responsibility. Above all, I’m really responsible and like what I do.”
Unlike other women who come to work in the vineyards primarily through friends and family connections, Méndez said she found her job on her own when she came to Redwood Empire two years ago. She has worked in the industry for a total of 10 years. “I’ve always found my own jobs,” she said. “I’ve always liked the field.”
She also helps to recruit additional women, even those without previous farmworker experience. “I like to teach and share the craft,” Méndez said.
Fellow forewoman Martina Alvarez of Windsor also recruits more female workers, noting she has brought 10 women into her crew this year.
“It’s not hard work (by itself). What’s hard is managing the elements, the heat and the cold,” said Alvarez, a mother of four whose husband works for a winery.
She also has to help out new workers, making sure they have their shears — and small stone for sharpening them — along with gloves and safety glasses. She also assists them with picking techniques.
“There’s a learning curve. It’s hard when you are just learning,” Alvarez said in Spanish.
Juggling family life makes it more difficult for Alvarez during harvest as opposed to the offseason, when hours are more manageable, running from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. She has one child at the University of San Francisco, another at Santa Rosa Junior College and two in grade school.
“Everyone is up at 4 a.m.,” Alvarez said. “They go to after-school program until 6 p.m., and then we pick them up.”
Barr said that, physically, the women can do most of the same work as the men, although some may have difficulty lifting the trays into the bins, which are later stacked onto tractor-trailers. But her crews work as a team, she said, noting that one male the other day took responsibility for shoveling all the grapes from the trays into the bins. Barr said she will often help out as well, even cleaning the toilets if need be.
Méndez has no leeway for skeptics who think that such work is a man’s job. “The people who say that, with no offense, are probably not capable of doing the job themselves,” she said.
While women might not be as physically strong as men, they are just as fast, said Lise Asimont, director of grower relations for the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. They are very conscientious ensuring the fruit isn’t damaged as it goes into the bin, a prime concern for winemakers.
“They are not going to go in and try muscle them (the grapes) out,” Asimont said. “They’re more careful about doing it.”
Asimont said she first learned about the quality work performed by female pickers in her first job out of college in 2000 as an assistant vineyard manager at Cambria Estate Winery in Santa Barbara County. She thought she would be the only woman out in the field, but was pleasantly surprised to see that 14 out of the 25 crew leaders were women.
Enzenauer crews are paid per ton. On a six-day week, a worker could net as much as $1,000 a week, Sereni said, though most average around $600 to $700. The average annual salary for an employee in the Sonoma County vineyard industry was $31,269 in 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Ten years ago, it was $21,888.
The agricultural workforce has become less migrant and older in recent years, said Philip Martin, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Davis, as the industry goes toward more mechanization.
“People are doing what they can do to keep their current workers,” Martin said. “The whole vineyard (industry) has gone from seasonal to pretty much year-round.”
The competition for labor is fierce, Sereni said, and companies are under pressure to provide year-round work in the offseason through such chores as replanting, pruning, tying vines and removing leaves. That will allow crew members to stay and work the next harvest.
“When you got good ones, you got to hold onto them,” she said.
News researcher Janet Balicki contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@ pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.
Sonoma County vineyards no longer a man"s world
Super Cup Instant Noodle Hero Man Cupman Super Fun Ramen Gadget Color and Style
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Donnerstag, 9. Oktober 2014
Polaris formally launches Slingshot motorcycle line
PHOTO BY RUSS MITCHELL / Slingshot Vice President Mike Jonikas (left), Polaris President and COO Bennett Morgan and Spirit Lake Plant Director Brian Hines (standing) were on hand to celebrate the launch of the Slingshot motorcycle line in Spirit Lake.
Polaris Industries and local public officials gathered today (Thursday, Oct. 9) at the company’s Spirit Lake manufacturing facility to celebrate the launch of its Slingshot motorcycle into full production.
Slingshot has received significant attention since its introduction to the marketplace two months ago, offering an entirely new on-road driving and riding experience.
“We continue to introduce new, innovative products and technologies that create opportunities for growth here and around the world, Bennett Morgan, President and Chief Operating Officer of Polaris said. “Today, we are excited to celebrate the revolutionary three-wheel, Polaris Slingshot into full production here in Spirit Lake.”
PHOTO BY WAYNE DAVIS / The Slingshot production team gathered around Slingshot Vice President Mike Jonikas, Polaris President and COO Bennett Morgan and Spirit Lake Plant Director Brian Hines as Polaris launched its Slingshot line of motorcycles Thursday in Spirit Lake.
The company expects initial Slingshot shipments to go out by the end of the month.
“Polaris is committed to both understanding the desired riding experience of our customers and then working to exceed those expectations,” said Brian Hines, Director of Operations at the Spirit Lake plant. “We could not be happier to produce such a high-quality vehicle at our Spirit Lake manufacturing facility.”
With the production of Slingshot and increased production of other vehicles, Polaris announced in August it will add 300 jobs to its Iowa Great Lakes manufacturing facilities.
This story will be updated.
Polaris formally launches Slingshot motorcycle line
Musical Tie - Piano
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Fiat's Sergio Marchionne Is a Savvy Dealmaker—but Can He Sell Cars?
On a gray Tuesday morning, Sergio Marchionne takes one of his half-dozen Ferraris—a black Enzo—for a spin around Fiat’s high-speed test track near the village of Balocco, 40 miles east of Turin, Italy. “When you’re pissed off, there’s nothing better than this,” Marchionne, the chief executive officer of Fiat (F:IM) and Chrysler Group, says as he pushes the car from a comfortable 120 mph to something over 200.
Marchionne will be all smiles when he and Fiat Chairman John Elkann visit the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 13 to mark the debut of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), the company he’s cobbled together from Italy’s venerable Fiat and American icon Chrysler. But he’s still got plenty to be angry about. Fiat’s Italian shares have fallen more than 20 percent since April. A nascent recovery in Europe’s car market—which still accounts for a quarter of the combined company’s deliveries—is flagging after sales contracted to a two-decade low in 2013. And the much ballyhooed return of Fiat’s Alfa Romeo brand to the U.S. will be delayed until at least 2016, other than a few hundred of a two-seater introduced this year.
The trans-Atlantic marriage of the two struggling regional players will likely be the capstone of Marchionne’s career; he says he’s only committed to staying at Fiat through 2018. So how quickly he gets the new company on its feet during these last laps may well determine his legacy. “The idea of revitalizing an American company was particularly appealing to him, and you can see it in how he’s built up Chrysler,” says Ron Bloom, a vice chairman at asset manager Lazard (LAZ) who helped run the team that oversaw President Obama’s bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler.
Fueled by a dozen espressos a day and packs of Muratti cigarettes, Marchionne is moving fast to develop cars he expects will lure buyers into showrooms from Boston to Bologna to Beijing. By 2018 the combined company plans to spend about $60 billion adding more than 30 models, including subcompacts and a Maserati sport-utility vehicle. That, he predicts, will help FCA boost annual sales 60 percent, to 7 million cars, and churn out a profit of €5 billion ($6.33 billion) in 2018.
“If you dream of peanuts, you get monkeys.”—Marchionne on why he perennially sets aggressive targets for Fiat
“We’re moving as fast as we possibly can,” Marchionne says, though he acknowledges that “in the car business, sometimes you crash.” The 62-year-old executive knows. In 2007 he smashed up his own $350,000 Ferrari on a highway in Switzerland. Yet he argues that moving any slower would be even riskier. FCA will be the world’s No. 7 auto group by deliveries, and Marchionne has long said there’s room for just a half-dozen or fewer major actors in the industry.
His plan has legions of doubters. More than half of the securities analysts who cover Fiat recommend investors sell its shares, arguing that Marchionne’s sales goals are unrealistic and its €10 billion in debt is too high. Researcher IHS (IHS) expects the company to fall short of its 2018 target by about 1.8 million cars. “To develop new models is one thing,” says IHS analyst Ian Fletcher. “To attract customers is another.”
Sipping espresso on the veranda of the 19th century farmhouse at the center of the Fiat test track, an unperturbed Marchionne says, “I’m used to incredulity.” He sets ambitious targets, he says, because aiming lower would be “to establish mediocrity as a benchmark of the house. If you dream of peanuts, you get monkeys.”
After taking over Fiat in 2004, Marchionne pulled the company back from the edge of bankruptcy by cutting costs and eliminating bureaucracy. In 2005 he played a game of chicken with General Motors (GM), threatening to enforce a contract that would have made the struggling American company buy an even-more-troubled Fiat. He walked away with a $2 billion cash settlement. Four years later he took over Chrysler, ultimately spending only about 10 percent of the $36 billion Germany’s Daimler (DAI:GR) paid for the company in 1998. “I’m a car freak,” says the longest-serving CEO of any major European automaker, looking over the lineup of Maseratis and Ferraris under the portico of a converted stable at the Balocco track. “But my survival instinct is stronger than my addiction to cars.”
That instinct has led him to largely abandon the mass market in Europe, which he says is too crowded to offer a significant profit. Instead, he wants to transform Fiat’s underutilized Italian plants into export machines for more expensive cars. In 2000, Fiat made 1.4 million vehicles in Italy. By 2013 its Italian output had dropped to fewer than 400,000. “We did a lot of soul-searching, to try to see how best to utilize what we had in Italy,” says Elkann, the great-great-grandson of the company’s founder, Giovanni Agnelli.
A decade ago, the 38-year-old Elkann hired Marchionne from Swiss testing company SGS (SGSN:VX), which the Fiat heirs controlled. Now he’s counting on the CEO to protect his family’s legacy. When Marchionne says he’s a “fixer” of troubled companies, Elkann quickly adds, “And he’s a builder, too.” The plan is to build up Jeep in the U.S. and Europe as well as to develop markets such as Brazil, India, and China, where it plans to start making the Cherokee SUV by 2016. The pair want to double Jeep sales, to more than 1.9 million vehicles, largely by quintupling deliveries in China, where Marchionne says the brand “is credible and is understood by everybody.” He expects Alfa Romeo and Maserati to steal high-end buyers from BMW (BMW:GR), Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen’s (VOW:GR) Audi (NSU:GR) line.
Marchionne’s team is working to ensure that each brand stands for something. That’s easy with Ferrari: Its really fast cars can cost more than the average worker earns in a decade. And it seems doable for performance cars such as Alfa, Maserati, and Jeep. More troubled, Marchionne says, are the company’s namesake brands. “Fiat is the toughest nut in Europe, and Chrysler is the toughest in the U.S.,” he says.
Chrysler, which previous management had sought to position as a near-luxury nameplate, is being shifted down-market. A new sedan called the 200—best known as the car driven by rapper Eminem in a 2011 Super Bowl ad with the tag line “Imported From Detroit”—has been well received. But the brand currently has only three models, and its U.S. sales have dropped 6 percent this year. In the U.S., Fiat is making its name as the producer of the retro-hip 500, intended as an answer to BMW’s Mini lineup, but outside the U.S. and Italy its identity is muddled.
Marchionne and Elkann are eager to show the cross-pollination of their brands. In the farmhouse courtyard, a new Jeep, the Renegade, sits next to its Italian cousin, the 500X, both to be built at a Fiat factory 100 miles east of Naples. “This is a real SUV,” Marchionne says, slapping the tailgate of the diminutive blue Jeep. “It’ll take you anywhere.” In industry jargon, the vehicles share a platform, which means most of the stuff you can’t see in a car—the engines, axles, air-conditioning ducts, window-winders, and the like. It costs about $1 billion to take a car from designer’s sketch to dealer’s showroom. Adapting a platform for a new model can be done for less than $300 million, Marchionne says.
Fiat says the cars share about 40 percent of their components, though they look nothing alike. The Renegade is boxy and muscular, with a wide stance and the six-pillared Jeep grille, which make it look like it just forded an Idaho stream even when it’s tooling up the Via Veneto in Rome. The 500X, while also featuring four-wheel drive and the high carriage of an SUV, has the seductive curves of the original Fiat 500; it’s intended to ooze La Dolce Vita insouciance even at a mall in Chicago or Shanghai. “This is urban, civilized,” Marchionne says, running his hands across the cream-colored five-seater. “It’s Italy at its best.”
Italy’s biggest union, Confederazione Generale Italiana del Lavoro (CGIL), has criticized Marchionne’s focus on operations overseas as an abandonment of Fiat’s Italian roots and the workers who made the company strong. Diego Della Valle, chairman of shoemaker Tod’s (TOD:IM), has long said Marchionne seeks only to enrich himself at the expense of workers. He reiterated those criticisms on Sept. 26 on Otto e Mezzo, a popular evening talk show, just as Marchionne was holding a news conference with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi six time zones away near Detroit. Della Valle called the Fiat chief a sola (a Roman curse that in polite company might be translated as “liar”) who “doesn’t respect any commitment.” Marchionne’s response: “I found it offensive. The problem with this country is that everybody is an expert.”
Marchionne has support at the highest levels in Italy. Former Prime Minister Mario Monti helped Fiat inaugurate the production lines that will make the Renegade and the 500X. And Renzi on Sept. 26 spent the afternoon with Marchionne at Chrysler headquarters in the U.S. After a tour of the facility, Renzi said Marchionne’s Fiat turnaround could serve as a model for all of Italian industry. “For me the most important thing is not the headquarters and where they hold their annual meeting,” Renzi says, “it’s the strategy of making investments in the country.”
While Marchionne says Fiat can manage his huge investment plan on its own, he would consider another alliance if the right opportunity arises. Without identifying potential partners, he says he sees the possibility of a merger that would create a company larger than Toyota Motor (TM), the world’s biggest carmaker. “The industry needs it,” Marchionne says. “This is still a very fragmented industry for the level of capital you have to invest.”
If such a deal happens, Marchionne doesn’t expect to stick around beyond 2018 to make it a success. He says he’s grooming several members of his team for the top job—Elkann says he’s not interested in combining the chairman and CEO titles. “You’re asking me if there are other things I like to do apart from this? Phenomenally, yes,” Marchionne says, lighting another Muratti. “I like to be able to think, and that’s not always possible in this job.”
Fiat"s Sergio Marchionne Is a Savvy Dealmaker—but Can He Sell Cars?
Mittwoch, 8. Oktober 2014
How a Double-Amputee War Vet Landed On The Cover of Men's Health
“You can choose to be bitter, or you can choose to be better,” said Noah Galloway of going from hopeless former soldier to super-fit cover star.
Photo by Peter Yang
Nearly 10 years ago, Iraq war veteran Noah Galloway was lying in a hospital bed at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., grappling with losing an arm and a leg in a roadside explosion. His extensive injuries plunged him into depression. And as recently as five years ago, Galloway says was spending the majority of his days smoking, drinking, and sleeping. Today, the inspiring, super-fit 33-year-old is on the cover of Men’s Health—the first reader in the magazine’s 26-year history to score that honor.
Men’s Health received nearly 3,000 entries in their search for the “Ultimate Men’s Health Guy” to be featured on the cover of the magazine’s November 2014 issue. “There were so many amazing men, narrowing the pool down from 3,000 to our three finalists was torture,” said Men’s Health Editor-In-Chief Bill Phillips.
Ultimately, one line in Galloway’s entry video set him apart. “He said it was his choice whether to be bitter about what happened to him in Iraq, or to be better—and he chose to be better,” Phillips told Yahoo Health. “That’s a lesson we all can learn from. Every day, whether it’s your job or your relationship or somebody Tweets something nasty at you, it’s very easy to become a negative person. Noah reminds us that when we choose to be better, we can quite literally change our mindsets—and our lives.”
A Vet Spirals Downward—And Pulls Himself Back Up
Galloway was born into a military family, but never had much interest in joining the service; The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 changed that desire. As a fit 20-year-old, Galloway felt that enlisting was just something he needed to do, he said in a Men’s Health video.
During Galloway’s second tour in Iraq, he was driving the lead Humvee in a convoy on a night mission through an area known as the “Triangle of Death” when the vehicle hit a trip wire, causing an explosion.
Photo courtesy of Noah Galloway
Galloway survived, but woke up to discover he was a double amputee. Once home with family and friends, the father-of-three tried to put up brave front but was struggling to cope with his new body and life, he told Men’s Health.
One day almost five years later, Galloway looked in the mirror and decided he didn’t like what he had become—out of shape and indifferent. Too embarrassed to go to the gym and face the stares of curious onlookers, he joined a 24-hour facility and began working out at 2 a.m.
Within months, Galloway was seeing and feeling results. He gained confidence and started hitting the gym at normal hours; He began running 5Ks, then marathons and obstacle-course races. “Noah has said that he wouldn’t change anything because he’s a better man because of what happened to him, which is really amazing to say because he’s been through so much,” Phillips said, adding, “and it wasn’t an easy transition—it took five years, and those years were really dark for him.”
Becoming the Ultimate Men’s Health Guy
The cover search was an exhaustive eight-month process. “It wasn’t like you just had to send us an email—it was like applying for the college boards,” Phillips said.
Editors narrowed the 3,000 entrants down to a group of 10, who then had to submit videos and answer questions. The November issue includes profiles of the three finalists—Galloway, Finny Akers, and Kavan Lake—and tips from the top 10 finalists. (The digital edition of the magazine features two additional covers with Akers and Lake).
“From where he was in 2010 with his drinking and depression, he’s made an incredible journey,” said Phillips, “and he has a lot of that journey left. He’s eager to get better at everything, and that’s what this is really about.”
Galloway’s cover hits newsstands next week.
How a Double-Amputee War Vet Landed On The Cover of Men"s Health
Motorcycles are the Fleet Vehicles of the Future
Relates Stories
Businesses looking to save time and money in fleet transportation costs can now easily incorporate motorcycles, thanks to a new service launched by a major manufacturer.
Honda UK has become the first manufacturer in the country to introduce a specialist motorcycle fleet dealer network. This is aimed at growing the corporate market and will provide support and advice to business customers.
The service will emphasise the many benefits of doing business on two-wheels. These include high fuel economy, low running costs, low CO2 emissions and increased productivity, as motorcycles take less time to move through traffic.
A CBI survey predicting journey times estimates these will increase by 50% within a generation. Unless fleet operators take action, the impact of congestion on businesses will therefore be significant.
A Belgian study modelling traffic for one of the busiest roads in Europe shows that when just 10% of car drivers swap to a motorcycle or scooter, congestion is cut by 40% for all road users. When 25% of drivers swap congestion is eliminated altogether.
“Congestion will be an increasingly compelling reason for businesses to look at alternatives to four wheels for their fleet vehicles”, says Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) CEO Steve Kenward.
“The MCIA has been involved in pulling a number of strands together to make this a viable proposition, including developments in training and safety. We are delighted to see such a responsible manufacturer entering the fleet arena, which I think will result in exciting times ahead”.
Other manufacturers are expected to follow.
There are a number of successful examples of motorcycle fleet operators, including the police, ambulance service, AA breakdown services and Blood Runners, who courier life saving products between NHS hospitals out of normal working hours, plus the many Wheels to Work schemes which operate across the UK.
Fleet operators will also be able to find quality trainers more easily, thanks to the launch of two new courses, introduced earlier this year by the Motorcycle Industry Accreditation Centre (MCIAC).
· To see the full Honda press release, which includes details of the new fleet dealers – click here.
· To see an example of how ‘Blood Runners’ help the NHS – click here.
Here’s a video explaining how the Belgian study worked:
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Motorcycles are the Fleet Vehicles of the Future
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Dienstag, 7. Oktober 2014
THE LITTLE BIG STORY LIST: Nobody had a clue female officer wasn't a man
HONOR AND GLORY: This chapter, “The Girl in the General’s Uniform,” is based on the Chinese poem “The Battle of Mulan.”
Scandal has rocked the Chinese army after it was discovered that one of its top male officers is actually a woman.
Hua Mulan, 32, decided to disguise herself as a man when she was drafted into the military 12 years ago.
Until a few weeks ago, none of her colleagues had a clue that she wasn’t a man.
The Chinese government had introduced national service so it could fight a war against the Hun nomads living on China’s northern border.
All families had to give up their men, and the Hua’s were no exception.
“But when I saw my father’s name on the draft posters, and imagined an old man having to fight, or being killed, it was just too much,” Ms. Hua recalled yesterday in an interview at the family home.
Her only brother was too young to take their father’s place, so Ms. Hua decided she would go instead. She bought a saddle and a horse, put on men’s clothes and, disguised as her brother, joined the army.
“It was very sad leaving the family, but I had no choice,” she said.
Ms. Hua was already an accomplished martial artist, because many military families at the time trained their daughters in the arts of war.
Once in the army, she rose through the ranks quickly, making a name for herself as a brilliant military strategist.
Twelve years later, the war ended, and all high-ranking officers were brought before the emperor to be honored and promoted.
The emperor asked Ms. Hua, who had risen to the rank of general, what reward “he” would like.
Court records have it that General Hua replied: “Mulan has no use for a minister’s post. All I want is a swift horse to take me back to my home.”
The emperor granted the request, and she returned to the family home.
Once there, she took off her battle clothes, put on some make-up and let her hair down.
When she emerged, her former comrades were stunned, and realized that their fearless military colleague had been a woman all along.
Word soon got back to the emperor, who has ordered a government inquiry into the matter.
Some legal experts say Ms. Hua may have broken some laws by misrepresenting herself and pretending to be a man.
Defense Ministry sources say the scandal may lead to some senior officers being sacked.
Ms. Hua, however, has already been approached by a movie studio, which wants to turn her amazing story into an animated feature.
BACKGROUND
The Ballad of Mulan is a famous Chinese poem about a girl who disguises herself as a man to join the army, so her elderly father does not have to.
Some scholars believe it was composed during the fifth century by a woman named Tzu·Yeh, although it is not known whether the story was based on a real person.
Centuries later during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644), the poem, which was originally written in the form of a song, was expanded and spun into a novel and a play.
Another few hundred years later, it became an animated Disney movie which, however, changed one detail: Mulan’s secret is discovered while she is still in the army, and she is banished.
But one common thread binds all the adaptations of this popular tale: The idea of a woman beating the odds in a man’s world.
- THE TIMES 2014-2015 BREAKFAST SERIAL series — a Newspapers In Education project — begins with The Little Big Story List. This collection of stories was donated by The Strait Times newspaper of Singapore for use by teachers and students in the classroom. The stories chosen are classic legends, myths, fables and folklore from around the world rewritten as modern news or feature stories. Excerpts will run every Tuesday through Dec. 9.
THE LITTLE BIG STORY LIST: Nobody had a clue female officer wasn"t a man
Mahindras to buy 51% in Peugeot Motocycles
MUMBAI: Mahindra Two-Wheelers, a fringe player in the domestic market, today signed a pact to acquire 51 per cent stake for euro 28 million (about 217 crore) in Peugeot Motocycles, part of the euro 54 billion French auto major PSA Group.
“Under the binding offer, Mahindra Two-Wheelers would infuse 15 million euros into Peugeot Motocycles to finance projects implemented through strategic partnership, and further sale of shares by PSA, which would allow us to take 51 per cent stake in Peugeot Motocycles,” M&M executive director Pawan Goenka told reporters here.
Mahindras will also invest another euro 13 million at a later stage. The transaction is subject to the Works Council consultations as part of the employee dialogue process and anti-trust law, he said, but added that “we hope to close the deal in three months”.
Peugeot is well known for its four and two-wheelers in Europe and is the world’s oldest two-wheeler maker. However, its two-wheeler business has been undergoing a trunaround.
In a statement, Peugeot Scooters Managing Director Frederic Fabre said: “The strategic partnership with the Mahindra & Mahindra Group will give us the opportunity to accelerate our geographic expansion. These are all opportunities to secure the future of Peugeot Scooters and give a future industrial site Mandeure.”
Mahindras will continue with the current management. Replying to a query on full control, Goenka said: “Our focus is continuity on majority stake and we are not thinking going beyond 51 per cent now.”
The loss-making Peugeot Motocycles employs 500 people and produces about 25 per cent of the firm’s scooters, mainly high-end models in French unit. Its Chinese plant employs 300 people and produces 65 per cent of Peugeot Scooters’ volume. The remainder is produced in Taiwan.
Mahindra will not do any restructuring in PMTC for two years post the deal, Mahindra Two-Wheelers chief executive Rajesh Jejurikar said.
Mahindra would offer access to the India market, mass market product technology and competence in marketing while Peugeot brings premium range, a strong European footprint, and a globally recognised brand.
Mahindras would support the French company’s global growth plan and the brand building effort that enriches the “Frenchness” of the Peugeot brand. PSA would support the Brand and growth strategy by holding a minority share for a long term, Jejurikar said.
Mahindras to buy 51% in Peugeot Motocycles
Montag, 6. Oktober 2014
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2 motorcyclists injured in accident on highway in Middlebury
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
MIDDLEBURY — Two motorcycle drivers were injured Sunday afternoon when they could not stop in time on Interstate 84 and swerved off the highway.
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2 motorcyclists injured in accident on highway in Middlebury
Sonntag, 5. Oktober 2014
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The Easiest Success Tip No One Knows About
If you’ve been keeping your trap shut in fear of looking stupid at the office, you might have good reason to open your mouth. Asking for advice can actually make you seem more competent, research from Harvard Business School found.
In the study, participants first completed a brainteaser and then received a message from their anonymous partner, who was set to start on the same exercise. The people who read a message that asked for advice on the task rated their partner as more competent than those who just received a greeting.
Credit the undeniable effect of flattery, the researchers believe. Being asked for guidance made the people feel more self-confident, which helped them view the advice-seeker more favorably.
“Asking for advice strokes the advisor’s ego,” says study author Alison Wood Brooks, Ph.D. “Seeking advice is an ingratiation tactic as well as a way to learn useful information and exchange ideas.”
Just make sure you’re choosing the person wisely: You don’t want to ask the office’s self-professed technophobe how to set up your new gadget. Asking for advice on a topic the person considers himself clueless about can make you seem less proficient.
So go ahead and ask some questions, but don’t blather on just for the hell of it. Seeking advice on easy tasks didn’t harm competence ratings in the experiment, but the researchers believe that some queries may be so super-simple that they are a turnoff for the advisor. Plus, asking the same thing over and over is likely to make him think you’re incapable of learning, Brooks says.
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