FSRN continues to be a valuable source of independent, grassroots news, but to be frank,Soft Floor tiles
is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and
commercial uses. a review of this past year’s newscast needs to be seen
in the context of financial hardship and a near-permanent state of
being underfunded and consequently understaffed, which both have
concrete and measurable effects on the newscast we put out. That said,
FSRN continues to produce a consistently high quality product that
draws on stellar reporting and profiles voices often unheard in other
media. And despite serious challenges, FSRN has even been able to
expand and improve some aspects of our coverage.
FSRN continues
to adhere to high technical standards to ensure that the newscast has a
professional sound and maintains high quality - and that goes for the
community voices we profile, the reporters' narration, ambient sound
and the overall flow of the newscast. This is quite a challenge because
we encourage stories that come from areas of conflict or
hard-to-access places where basic necessities of phone lines, Internet
access and electricity are often wanting. It's a tough balance, but our
technical producers, led by Rose Ketabchi and including Jeannine
Etter, Shaunnah Ray and Zayn Qarissli, work hard each and every day to
maintain this high standard. At times, they also work one-on-one with
new reporters to guide them in capturing and producing the
best-sounding stories they can.
Much of this credit goes to
Catherine Komp, our producer, who continually seeks out underreported,
community stories and fosters the story development, from pitch
proposals, to in-the-field reporting, to script editing and production.
For our headlines package, that role is overseen by Nell Abram and Jes
Burns, who have the daunting task of coming to the morning editorial
meeting already prepared to discuss news from the entire world and
working with reporters to create a fresh, compelling top of the
newscast section that kicks off the program. Our scripts go through
multiple edits and fact-checking, where reporters are required to
provide original sourcing and different points of view to the issue at
hand.
Our international coverage continues to feature
underreported and original stories, often from places that are ignored
by US mainstream media and that feature voices that are virtually
nonexistent in the US national conversation. Some of the highlights
this year include reporting from Sam Olokuya in Nigeria on the
demolition of one of the country's oldest slums, when residents were
forced to live in their canoes and continued to organize for safe and
adequate housing. Sam also brought the voices of farmers and fisherfolk
in the Niger Delta who challenged multinational oil company Royal
Dutch Shell for its ongoing pollution and destruction of their land and
homes.
The conflict in Syria continued as a top humanitarian
and political crisis this year and we brought reporting from inside the
country. Zak Brophy reported from Aleppo on the destruction to the
city from fighting. David Enders featured voices of media activists and
residents hit by shelling; and Marine Olivesi brought listeners the
stories of families who are torn apart by fighting and the lack of
humanitarian aid. We also had stories from the border region, from
Turkey and Lebanon. We've looked critically at all aspects of the
conflict, often focusing on the plight of residents, the internally
displaced and refugees. We’ve also included reports of abuses carried
out by opposition forces or those associated with rebel fighters. We
featured an interview with Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera
after her visit to Syria when she documented abuse by opposition
fighters. We also aired original sound from a photojournalist inside
Syria that revealed a scene of torture at the hands of rebel fighters
in Aleppo and detailed his eyewitness account.
We've continued
our coverage of the developing situation in the Middle East and North
Africa, and we’ve brought attention to government crackdowns in Saudi
Arabia and Bahrain, two strong US allies in the region, and areas that
typically don’t get a lot of attention from US media. We’ve done this
by airing the voices of activists themselves, notably Nabeel Rajab, in
Manama, Bahrain, who we interviewed days before his arrest by Bahraini
authorities and continued to report on during his detention.
Throughout
Africa we had reports on the DRC and the mining industry’s role in the
conflict there; the miners’ strikes in South Africa; process of
independence in South Sudan and issues of famine and rural agriculture;
and the struggle for independent media in Somalia.
Rami
Almeghari continues to bring listeners to Gaza, with a perspective
rarely heard on other news outlets, on the daily consequences of the
Israeli blockade for Gaza residents and the effects of the government
of Hamas. Rami also filed from Cairo and the Egyptian border as
fighting renewed and the post-revolutionary economy hit local merchants
in the tourism industry. From the West Bank, Ghassan Bannoura brought
stories on Palestinian prisoners who waged a hunger strike. It shed
light on the effects of administrative detention and abusive practices
in Israeli jails. And, partly from response to our Middle East coverage
from listeners in the past, we've expanded our coverage to more reports
from Israel. Jillian Kestler D'mours recorded the voices of Israelis
who went to a center that was distributing gas masks and offered US
listeners a glimpse into what ordinary residents think about the war
rhetoric with Iran.
From Latin America, we covered the removal
of President Lugo in Paraguay with a critical look at land reform in
the country. Land issues played prominently in our coverage of killings
in Honduras of peasants, union leaders and activists as Tim Russo kept
listeners up to date on developments there. A new reporter for us,
Eillis O’neil brought reports from Chile and Argentina, covering womens’
reproductive rights and putting together a documentary on the
recycling program spearheaded by local residents in Buenos Aires. We
also covered new trade agreements in Colombia and Panama and US trade
policy in the region.
From Europe, we brought reports on the
challenges and successes of protests movements and democratic change.
From Russia, Ekaterina Danilova has really elevated our coverage,
bringing regular reports on pro-democracy protests in the lead up to
Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. She reported on new laws
that cracked down on freedom of expression, the LGBT movement in St.
Petersburg and challenges to these measures, such as the Pussy Riot
trial. FSRN reporter Jenny Johnson also should be credited with
mentoring Ekaterina and facilitating her reporting for us.
We
also covered prison conditions in Georgia, economic and anti-austerity
movements in Greece, Spain and France. We brought a critical look to
the summer Olympic games in London, drawing attention to temporary tax
shelters set up for corporations during the games and the fight by
local residents against the Olympic village construction.
From
Indian-administered Kashmir, Shanawaz Khan reported on students fighting
government secrecy.Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor
and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring.
We had a lot of reporting from India, on the environment, human
rights, economic issues. Gayatri Parameswaran and Felix Gaedtke reported
on a decade after the deadly riots in Gujarat state.
We
continue our regular coverage of the US drone strikes abroad, in Yemen,
Somalia and in Pakistan, through FSRN reporter Gabe Mathews, who files
from the tribal region. He’s also reported on access to health and
education for residents.We have a wide selection of dry cabinet
to choose from for your storage needs. Recently, he took FSRN
listeners to the school where 15-year-old Malala Yousafzai attended.
She’s the teenager shot by militants on her way home from school
because of her advocacy for youth and girls access to education. Gabe
spoke to her classmates about their fears and their resolve to continue
schooling.How To learn kung fu in china.Find the best iPhone headset
for you at Best Buy. Hearing the voices of these 14 or 15 year old
girls in Swat Valley is a testimony to Gabe’s access in the area and
the risks that he regularly goes through to bring these voices to FSRN
listeners.
One challenge for us has been to get consistent
reporting from inside China and that will prove more important in the
coming years, especially to bring a different view than the one that
dominates US rhetoric on the country. We could also improve our
coverage of southeast Asia, though Madonna Virola has filed stories
from the Philippines on mining and environmental concerns, and human
rights in economic zones. More could be done.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A Life in Writing
John Maxwell Coetzee, the great South African man of letters, is a
paradoxical figure. On the one hand he is known to guard his privacy
intensely. On the other hand, he has published three volumes of
“fictionalised memoirs” already: Boyhood (1997), Youth (2002) and
Summertime (2009). Exactly to what degree these three works adhered to
the historical facts of his life has always been unclear: Coetzee
consistently refuses to elaborate on interpretations of his work once
published. “All writing is autobiography,” he has said more than once.
The question of how accurate the autobiographical trilogy is will
perhaps provide one titillating motivation for readers to pick up this
new biography. The short answer is – Boyhood and Youth are largely true
to the record; Summertime strays far more into the fictional domain.
Coetzee’s choice to cooperate with biographer John Kannemeyer is an interesting one. Many others must surely have come knocking, but the closest Coetzee has come previously to backing such a project was David Atwell’s Doubling the Point (1992), a collection of essays and interviews. Kannemeyer was hailed as one of the foremost authorities on Afrikaans literature – the obvious dissonance being that Coetzee, despite his surname, is not an Afrikaans writer.
Kannemeyer suggests himself that perhaps “the fact that the request was coming from outside the sphere of English literature may have appealed to Coetzee,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. with his contrarian take on things”. Whatever the reason, Kannemeyer got the go-ahead, and was given access to a rich stock of letters and documents and permitted to interview Coetzee in his home in Adelaide, Australia, for two weeks. Kannemeyer stresses that Coetzee’s cooperation was given “unstintingly and even enthusiastically”. Even when quizzed on the most sensitive of family matters, Coetzee gave full and meticulous answers. Typically, the only subject on which he would not be drawn was that of the analysis of his works.
Turning down the offer of a documentary on his life in 2005, Coetzee said: “My life has been completely uneventful.” It becomes clear as the biography unfolds that Coetzee is prone to this kind of dry self-deprecation in order to deflect invitations – he also routinely claims to have no gift for lecturing, when such a request is raised, even though past students tell a different story. On the matter of his life’s narrative, though, Coetzee is partly right – barring the tragedy around his two children, which shouldn’t be diminished, this biography would suggest that Coetzee has indeed led a sedate, cautious life, largely unmarked by rollicking drama. His books didn’t even get banned during Apartheid, though he later said this would have been a kind of “badge of honour”.
But this doesn’t mean that there is no material for Kannemeyer to work with. Ably translated by Michiel Heyns from the Afrikaans original, the biography stretches to an impressive 707 pages and sustains interest throughout. Partly, it must be admitted, this is due to the frisson that accompanies the glimpse into a guarded life: for some years now it has appeared that Coetzee sought to inherit the mantle of literary recluse donned by figures like JD Salinger. The case of Salinger is instructive, however,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. because after his death in 2010, it emerged that Salinger wasn’t really very much of a hermit, contrary to perceptions. In fact, he was a fairly active member of the community of Cornish,Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. New Hampshire, where “Jerry”, as he was known, would attend town meetings at the Cornish Elementary School, lunch daily at the Windsor Diner and allow children to sled down his hill. It appears Salinger just didn’t like having his privacy infringed upon by readers, and he never granted an interview in the last 30 years of his life.
Compared to Salinger, Coetzee comes across as a veritable socialite in the new biography. It is true that as time goes by interviews become increasingly rare and he maintains his privacy.Soft Floor tiles is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and commercial uses. But the biography makes clear that the image of the writer as reclusive and secretive is simply not accurate. Ever since the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003, Coetzee has been deluged with invitations to lecture, teach and read publically from his works. He has declined the majority; at 72 he resents long-distance travel. But even the relatively small amount that he has assented to has resulted in what sounds like a fairly hectic schedule of public appearances over the past decade.
To what, then,The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. do we owe this conception of Coetzee as a hermit? In large part perhaps to Rian Malan’s famous account of his interview with Coetzee in 1990, where Malan writes that Coetzee put him through something approaching psychological torture. In answer to a question Malan put to him regarding an aspect of Foe, his 1986 postmodern re-write of Robinson Crusoe, Coetzee replies simply: “I would not wish to deny you your reading.” In reply to the question of what music he enjoyed, Coetzee gives the cryptic response: “Music I have never heard before”. Malan characterises Coetzee as the “prince of darkness”, claiming: “A colleague who has worked with him for more than a decade claims to have seen him laugh just once. An acquaintance has attended several dinner parties where Coetzee has uttered not a single word.”
This has become the dominant imagining of JM Coetzee, bolstered by his frequent refusals to attend awards ceremonies or other celebratory occasions. Kannemeyer prints a letter Coetzee sent to his agent explaining why he would not travel to Spain in 2000 for the launch of Spanish translations of Boyhood and Youth, his fictionalised memoirs: “There is absolutely nothing in it for me in paying such a visit,” a clearly irascible Coetzee wrote. “Two days are knocked out of my life travelling there and back, and the pound of flesh my hosts will require will be that I sit down with one journalist after another answering questions I have heard scores of times before. Then the Embassy will mount a reception and I will have to shake hands with strangers and answer questions like ‘How long will you be in Madrid?’”
But Kannemeyer trots out an extensive cast of players in the biography to testify to Coetzee’s character as a loyal friend, witty dinner companion and generous mentor to young writers. Kannemeyer attributes his behaviour with Malan partly to his characteristic interview impatience and partly to a spirit of mischief which nobody seems to suspect in him. As a young man, Coetzee was apparently quite the prankster, fond of antics like jumping out at people from behind trees. There is one particularly bizarre account of a Coetzee prank-gone-wrong, carried out when Coetzee was a 20 year-old house-sitting in Gardens, in Cape Town.
Coetzee’s choice to cooperate with biographer John Kannemeyer is an interesting one. Many others must surely have come knocking, but the closest Coetzee has come previously to backing such a project was David Atwell’s Doubling the Point (1992), a collection of essays and interviews. Kannemeyer was hailed as one of the foremost authorities on Afrikaans literature – the obvious dissonance being that Coetzee, despite his surname, is not an Afrikaans writer.
Kannemeyer suggests himself that perhaps “the fact that the request was coming from outside the sphere of English literature may have appealed to Coetzee,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. with his contrarian take on things”. Whatever the reason, Kannemeyer got the go-ahead, and was given access to a rich stock of letters and documents and permitted to interview Coetzee in his home in Adelaide, Australia, for two weeks. Kannemeyer stresses that Coetzee’s cooperation was given “unstintingly and even enthusiastically”. Even when quizzed on the most sensitive of family matters, Coetzee gave full and meticulous answers. Typically, the only subject on which he would not be drawn was that of the analysis of his works.
Turning down the offer of a documentary on his life in 2005, Coetzee said: “My life has been completely uneventful.” It becomes clear as the biography unfolds that Coetzee is prone to this kind of dry self-deprecation in order to deflect invitations – he also routinely claims to have no gift for lecturing, when such a request is raised, even though past students tell a different story. On the matter of his life’s narrative, though, Coetzee is partly right – barring the tragedy around his two children, which shouldn’t be diminished, this biography would suggest that Coetzee has indeed led a sedate, cautious life, largely unmarked by rollicking drama. His books didn’t even get banned during Apartheid, though he later said this would have been a kind of “badge of honour”.
But this doesn’t mean that there is no material for Kannemeyer to work with. Ably translated by Michiel Heyns from the Afrikaans original, the biography stretches to an impressive 707 pages and sustains interest throughout. Partly, it must be admitted, this is due to the frisson that accompanies the glimpse into a guarded life: for some years now it has appeared that Coetzee sought to inherit the mantle of literary recluse donned by figures like JD Salinger. The case of Salinger is instructive, however,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. because after his death in 2010, it emerged that Salinger wasn’t really very much of a hermit, contrary to perceptions. In fact, he was a fairly active member of the community of Cornish,Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. New Hampshire, where “Jerry”, as he was known, would attend town meetings at the Cornish Elementary School, lunch daily at the Windsor Diner and allow children to sled down his hill. It appears Salinger just didn’t like having his privacy infringed upon by readers, and he never granted an interview in the last 30 years of his life.
Compared to Salinger, Coetzee comes across as a veritable socialite in the new biography. It is true that as time goes by interviews become increasingly rare and he maintains his privacy.Soft Floor tiles is easier to install and perfect for all types of residential and commercial uses. But the biography makes clear that the image of the writer as reclusive and secretive is simply not accurate. Ever since the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003, Coetzee has been deluged with invitations to lecture, teach and read publically from his works. He has declined the majority; at 72 he resents long-distance travel. But even the relatively small amount that he has assented to has resulted in what sounds like a fairly hectic schedule of public appearances over the past decade.
To what, then,The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. do we owe this conception of Coetzee as a hermit? In large part perhaps to Rian Malan’s famous account of his interview with Coetzee in 1990, where Malan writes that Coetzee put him through something approaching psychological torture. In answer to a question Malan put to him regarding an aspect of Foe, his 1986 postmodern re-write of Robinson Crusoe, Coetzee replies simply: “I would not wish to deny you your reading.” In reply to the question of what music he enjoyed, Coetzee gives the cryptic response: “Music I have never heard before”. Malan characterises Coetzee as the “prince of darkness”, claiming: “A colleague who has worked with him for more than a decade claims to have seen him laugh just once. An acquaintance has attended several dinner parties where Coetzee has uttered not a single word.”
This has become the dominant imagining of JM Coetzee, bolstered by his frequent refusals to attend awards ceremonies or other celebratory occasions. Kannemeyer prints a letter Coetzee sent to his agent explaining why he would not travel to Spain in 2000 for the launch of Spanish translations of Boyhood and Youth, his fictionalised memoirs: “There is absolutely nothing in it for me in paying such a visit,” a clearly irascible Coetzee wrote. “Two days are knocked out of my life travelling there and back, and the pound of flesh my hosts will require will be that I sit down with one journalist after another answering questions I have heard scores of times before. Then the Embassy will mount a reception and I will have to shake hands with strangers and answer questions like ‘How long will you be in Madrid?’”
But Kannemeyer trots out an extensive cast of players in the biography to testify to Coetzee’s character as a loyal friend, witty dinner companion and generous mentor to young writers. Kannemeyer attributes his behaviour with Malan partly to his characteristic interview impatience and partly to a spirit of mischief which nobody seems to suspect in him. As a young man, Coetzee was apparently quite the prankster, fond of antics like jumping out at people from behind trees. There is one particularly bizarre account of a Coetzee prank-gone-wrong, carried out when Coetzee was a 20 year-old house-sitting in Gardens, in Cape Town.
On board Marco Polo cruise ship with my mother
If there is one thing that sends me hurtling back to childhood it is
travelling with my mother. But she needed a break, and a five-night
cruise sailing from Tilbury (no stressful airports) to Amsterdam, Rouen
and Antwerp, seemed to fit the bill. And I thought I would take the
risk and tag along.
So it was that I found myself sipping an afternoon cocktail in a hot tub on the top deck of the Marco Polo all by myself. The ship was sailing on the river Seine towards Rouen, and from my vantage point I could see pretty towns, a chateau or two, and the sheep looking non-plussed as they grazed on the landscape that inspired Monet. It felt indulgent.
The thing is, this was October and yes, it was a bit nippy, and that’s why my mother didn’t join me. Neither did she see the romance of sea air wafting through her hair while taking a cream tea on deck. She preferred the bingo.
In any case, I wasn’t worried. After all, the Marco Polo is not a big ship — just 22,000 tons (a midget compared to some liners). Yet it packs in two restaurants, five lounges, a library, card room,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. outdoor pool, three hot tubs and a spa.
This was our second day and by now many of the stewards, not to mention many of the other guests, were pretty well-acquainted with my mother. At our first dinner at the formal dining Waldorf restaurant, she had asked for an avocado. A look of disappointment when told there was none to be had prompted Liza, our steward,This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. to offer to nip into town when we arrived in Amsterdam. Sure enough the next night at dinner, there was the avocado. Only for a mother does this sort of thing happen.
Oh, and did I mention mothers are always right? Like when we took boat trip along an Amsterdam canal. The lunch was as lavish as any they serve up on these trips, but none of it was quite good enough for her to actually eat.
And then there was the time we decided to tour Rouen on foot. They forecast rain.This document provides a guide to using the Ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. She wore sandals claiming comfort over dryness.
And at the cheese and beer tasting (yes, you heard) in Antwerp, she decided she really did want to join in and taste what was on offer. A ride home in a tuc-tuc with your elderly mum giggling away like one of the girls? OK, but what the hell — I loved to see her happy.
The fact that the ship is such a home-from-home also helped. Most of the time I spend with my mother is in her front room — eating her cakes and drinking her tea. No change there then, though someone else baked and brewed — and there were more than a few “front rooms” to try on board.
Marco Polo, unlike the larger, plusher, newer liners, has had an intriguing past. It started life in 1965 as a Russian ship called Alexander Pushkin and, though quaintly named after a writer, it was decked out in a grim Soviet style.
By the ’70s it was being used as a budget-priced cruise ship.Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. All that austerity disappeared when she defected to a British company in 1991, when Gerry Herrod, founder of Ocean Cruise Lines, bought her. Two years and millions of dollars later, the ship emerged as the Marco Polo, sailing for Orient Lines. In 2010 Cruise and Maritime took her over, offering a variety of sailings from the UK, including around the Norwegian fjords and a 42-night cruise to the Amazon — and, of course, this short break cruise. The ship’s size means it can sail along rivers and dock in small harbours, such as at Antwerp, where we were able to disembark directly into the town.
The on-board experience was homely and unpretentious and though billed as three-star, it delivered far more than expected.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. There was no casino, no pressure to buy anything on board and it was adults only. There is evening entertainment a mix of cabaret, music and comedy and a versatile cruise director who can present, tell jokes (“this announcement is for the guy who lost his Rolex watch — the time now is 2.30pm”) and sing. There’s also an extremely funny magician.
But my mother missed all that, preferring to repair to the bedroom to enjoy quiet time after busy day trips, playing games, eating fine foods, and I might add, drinking the odd pina colada.
We shared a twin-bed cabin with a small shower-room and a satisfactory amount of cupboard space to cater for the ample contents of the luggage belonging to two Jewish women who carry too much for fear of have nothing to wear — especially on formal night.
You can imagine the scene — the question “how do I look in this?” ping-ponged between us as we tried on several outfits. Incidentally, as was the norm when the ship was built, none of the rooms have a balcony, but what this ship does have is a lovely wrap-around deck that harks back to bygone days.
Unlike mum, I not only enjoyed the shows but then went to the disco in the Marco Polo lounge for a tipple and a wiggle on the dance floor.
I admit I got back to the room way past midnight one night, but was shocked to see my mother waiting up for me. “I just called you,” she said. “I was worried that you were out so late.” As incredulous as it sounds I found myself apologising (I am, after all, a mother myself). But boy, was it worth it.
So it was that I found myself sipping an afternoon cocktail in a hot tub on the top deck of the Marco Polo all by myself. The ship was sailing on the river Seine towards Rouen, and from my vantage point I could see pretty towns, a chateau or two, and the sheep looking non-plussed as they grazed on the landscape that inspired Monet. It felt indulgent.
The thing is, this was October and yes, it was a bit nippy, and that’s why my mother didn’t join me. Neither did she see the romance of sea air wafting through her hair while taking a cream tea on deck. She preferred the bingo.
In any case, I wasn’t worried. After all, the Marco Polo is not a big ship — just 22,000 tons (a midget compared to some liners). Yet it packs in two restaurants, five lounges, a library, card room,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. outdoor pool, three hot tubs and a spa.
This was our second day and by now many of the stewards, not to mention many of the other guests, were pretty well-acquainted with my mother. At our first dinner at the formal dining Waldorf restaurant, she had asked for an avocado. A look of disappointment when told there was none to be had prompted Liza, our steward,This is my favourite sites to purchase those special pieces of buy mosaic materials from. to offer to nip into town when we arrived in Amsterdam. Sure enough the next night at dinner, there was the avocado. Only for a mother does this sort of thing happen.
Oh, and did I mention mothers are always right? Like when we took boat trip along an Amsterdam canal. The lunch was as lavish as any they serve up on these trips, but none of it was quite good enough for her to actually eat.
And then there was the time we decided to tour Rouen on foot. They forecast rain.This document provides a guide to using the Ventilation system in your house to provide adequate fresh air to residents. She wore sandals claiming comfort over dryness.
And at the cheese and beer tasting (yes, you heard) in Antwerp, she decided she really did want to join in and taste what was on offer. A ride home in a tuc-tuc with your elderly mum giggling away like one of the girls? OK, but what the hell — I loved to see her happy.
The fact that the ship is such a home-from-home also helped. Most of the time I spend with my mother is in her front room — eating her cakes and drinking her tea. No change there then, though someone else baked and brewed — and there were more than a few “front rooms” to try on board.
Marco Polo, unlike the larger, plusher, newer liners, has had an intriguing past. It started life in 1965 as a Russian ship called Alexander Pushkin and, though quaintly named after a writer, it was decked out in a grim Soviet style.
By the ’70s it was being used as a budget-priced cruise ship.Carlo Gavazzi offers a broad range of ultrasonic sensor and ultrasonic transducers for level detection and process monitoring. All that austerity disappeared when she defected to a British company in 1991, when Gerry Herrod, founder of Ocean Cruise Lines, bought her. Two years and millions of dollars later, the ship emerged as the Marco Polo, sailing for Orient Lines. In 2010 Cruise and Maritime took her over, offering a variety of sailings from the UK, including around the Norwegian fjords and a 42-night cruise to the Amazon — and, of course, this short break cruise. The ship’s size means it can sail along rivers and dock in small harbours, such as at Antwerp, where we were able to disembark directly into the town.
The on-board experience was homely and unpretentious and though billed as three-star, it delivered far more than expected.The CenTrak rtls platform can address today's healthcare challenges. There was no casino, no pressure to buy anything on board and it was adults only. There is evening entertainment a mix of cabaret, music and comedy and a versatile cruise director who can present, tell jokes (“this announcement is for the guy who lost his Rolex watch — the time now is 2.30pm”) and sing. There’s also an extremely funny magician.
But my mother missed all that, preferring to repair to the bedroom to enjoy quiet time after busy day trips, playing games, eating fine foods, and I might add, drinking the odd pina colada.
We shared a twin-bed cabin with a small shower-room and a satisfactory amount of cupboard space to cater for the ample contents of the luggage belonging to two Jewish women who carry too much for fear of have nothing to wear — especially on formal night.
You can imagine the scene — the question “how do I look in this?” ping-ponged between us as we tried on several outfits. Incidentally, as was the norm when the ship was built, none of the rooms have a balcony, but what this ship does have is a lovely wrap-around deck that harks back to bygone days.
Unlike mum, I not only enjoyed the shows but then went to the disco in the Marco Polo lounge for a tipple and a wiggle on the dance floor.
I admit I got back to the room way past midnight one night, but was shocked to see my mother waiting up for me. “I just called you,” she said. “I was worried that you were out so late.” As incredulous as it sounds I found myself apologising (I am, after all, a mother myself). But boy, was it worth it.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Leonard keeps calm and stands out for re-tooling Spurs
For years Tim Duncan has run up and down the courts of the NBA
wearing a poker face that is as much a part of his uniform as the black
and white Spurs jersey.
Kawhi Leonard makes him look like a Chihuahua that just stuck its tongue into a wall socket.
As a rookie last season, Leonard never talked back to referees and barely carried on in-game conversations with his teammates.
There was a reason for that. He was too busy trying to learn the plays during an on-the-fly, crammed-in, no-training-camp, post-lockout 66-game schedule.
"I played mostly on instinct," Leonard explained.
If that's the case and one day Leonard happens to whisper a few lottery numbers into your ear, pay attention. His instincts are good.
The 21-year-old forward did more than just start 53 games last season on a veteran club that finished tied for the best record in the league, and he did more than average 7.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga,9 points and 5.2 rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Rookie first team.Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics,
He got coach Gregg Popovich to start building a team that would make Leonard as much a permanent fixture of San Antonio as the Alamo.
"If the planets and agents and that sort of thing line up, we'd love for him to be a Spur for life," Popovich said.
It was a statement about where the Spurs are heading, this year and in the coming ones. After making no significant personnel changes during the offseason, they are a team that will expect and require improvement from within if a return trip to the Western Conference finals -- and maybe even a push for a fifth NBA championship -- is to be within reason. With the era of Duncan (who is 36), Ginobili (35) and Tony Parker (30) inevitably reaching an end, there is also a need to hand the baton to the next generation.
Few expected Leonard to be tabbed for a leading role in the next generation after he quietly slipped to the Spurs in a 2011 Draft-night deal that sent point guard George Hill to Indiana. What the Spurs figured to be getting was an in-your-face defender, tough rebounder and live-wire player to give the lineup a jolt.
The first and most egregious mistake by many was calling him the "next Bruce Bowen." Leonard is by no means Bowen. He is better. Much, much better.
He can dribble and pass the ball. He can rebound and bang around on the inside. He also defends like a hawk and can nail the 3-point shot out of the corner, just like Bowen. (His one weakness was supposed to be his outside shot, yet he finished up his rookie season shooting 37.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. He raised that to 45 percent in the playoffs.)
He's also a decade younger and much further ahead of where Bowen was on those championship teams. During a blink-and-you-missed-it season that had many NBA veterans' heads spinning, what Leonard showed most, though, was remarkable consistency and composure.
He does it all while looking like a guy who could take off his mask only to reveal another mask.
"On the court,This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. I know I've got to communicate more," Leonard said. "Last year it was more me not knowing what to say. I didn't know all the defensive rotations or all the offenses we were running."
"I don't think he ever gets excited," Duncan said. "He's absolutely even keel all of the time. I think he's even more mellow than me, if that's possible."
Yet Popovich went so far over the summer to label him the future face of the franchise.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
In Game 3 of the Spurs' second-round playoff series in L.A. last spring, the Clippers opened up a 21-point lead in the second quarter. Popovich was very close to pulling all of his starters to save them for Game 4, which was coming on a rare back-to-back situation in the playoffs.
But just before the game went completely over the edge, Leonard took charge, grabbing rebounds, making stops, draining buckets and pulling his team back. When the Spurs used a 24-0 run in the third quarter for the win,Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. on their way to a 4-0 sweep of the series, much of the attention, as usual, went to the Big Three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.
Kawhi Leonard makes him look like a Chihuahua that just stuck its tongue into a wall socket.
As a rookie last season, Leonard never talked back to referees and barely carried on in-game conversations with his teammates.
There was a reason for that. He was too busy trying to learn the plays during an on-the-fly, crammed-in, no-training-camp, post-lockout 66-game schedule.
"I played mostly on instinct," Leonard explained.
If that's the case and one day Leonard happens to whisper a few lottery numbers into your ear, pay attention. His instincts are good.
The 21-year-old forward did more than just start 53 games last season on a veteran club that finished tied for the best record in the league, and he did more than average 7.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga,9 points and 5.2 rebounds, earning a spot on the All-Rookie first team.Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics,
He got coach Gregg Popovich to start building a team that would make Leonard as much a permanent fixture of San Antonio as the Alamo.
"If the planets and agents and that sort of thing line up, we'd love for him to be a Spur for life," Popovich said.
It was a statement about where the Spurs are heading, this year and in the coming ones. After making no significant personnel changes during the offseason, they are a team that will expect and require improvement from within if a return trip to the Western Conference finals -- and maybe even a push for a fifth NBA championship -- is to be within reason. With the era of Duncan (who is 36), Ginobili (35) and Tony Parker (30) inevitably reaching an end, there is also a need to hand the baton to the next generation.
Few expected Leonard to be tabbed for a leading role in the next generation after he quietly slipped to the Spurs in a 2011 Draft-night deal that sent point guard George Hill to Indiana. What the Spurs figured to be getting was an in-your-face defender, tough rebounder and live-wire player to give the lineup a jolt.
The first and most egregious mistake by many was calling him the "next Bruce Bowen." Leonard is by no means Bowen. He is better. Much, much better.
He can dribble and pass the ball. He can rebound and bang around on the inside. He also defends like a hawk and can nail the 3-point shot out of the corner, just like Bowen. (His one weakness was supposed to be his outside shot, yet he finished up his rookie season shooting 37.6 percent from behind the 3-point line. He raised that to 45 percent in the playoffs.)
He's also a decade younger and much further ahead of where Bowen was on those championship teams. During a blink-and-you-missed-it season that had many NBA veterans' heads spinning, what Leonard showed most, though, was remarkable consistency and composure.
He does it all while looking like a guy who could take off his mask only to reveal another mask.
"On the court,This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. I know I've got to communicate more," Leonard said. "Last year it was more me not knowing what to say. I didn't know all the defensive rotations or all the offenses we were running."
"I don't think he ever gets excited," Duncan said. "He's absolutely even keel all of the time. I think he's even more mellow than me, if that's possible."
Yet Popovich went so far over the summer to label him the future face of the franchise.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.
In Game 3 of the Spurs' second-round playoff series in L.A. last spring, the Clippers opened up a 21-point lead in the second quarter. Popovich was very close to pulling all of his starters to save them for Game 4, which was coming on a rare back-to-back situation in the playoffs.
But just before the game went completely over the edge, Leonard took charge, grabbing rebounds, making stops, draining buckets and pulling his team back. When the Spurs used a 24-0 run in the third quarter for the win,Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. on their way to a 4-0 sweep of the series, much of the attention, as usual, went to the Big Three of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker.
Improvements to hiking trail system in South Mountain
Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced that work
to repair and rehabilitate existing hiking trails in Essex County South
Mountain Reservation and establish a new trail system through the
Mayapple Hill section of the reservation has been completed. The
improvements enhance accessibility throughout South Mountain Reservation
and address erosion problems.
“South Mountain Reservation is an open space treasure that enables the public with places to enjoy nature. The improvements made as part of this project restores hiking trails and park infrastructure and provides visitors with a high quality trail system to experience and explore the reservation,” DiVincenzo said. “We are pleased to have partnered with the South Mountain Conservancy on another phase to revitalize the reservation,” he added.
“This was a remarkable partnership between the County, the Conservancy, the RBA Group and JAC Excavating to produce some significant improvements in the Reservation. Not only are the steps on Overlook Trail repaired, but existing trails were restored and a new, three-mile trail through Mayapple Hill was created,” South Mountain Conservancy President Dennis Percher said. Also representing the Conservancy at the ribbon cutting with the County Executive was Treasurer Marian Raabe.
The project involved repairing sections of existing hiking trails in Essex County South Mountain Reservation that have been impacted by erosion. In addition, about two and a half miles of new, interconnected hiking trails were created through the Mayapple Hill area of the reservation. Essex County,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. West Orange, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey and South Mountain Conservancy worked together to preserve 11 additional acres of undeveloped open space and added that property to South Mountain Reservation in October 2009. The acquisition expanded the total size of South Mountain Reservation to 2,110 acres.
The conservancy also will celebrate the opening of the new Mayapple Hill trails with an inaugural hike on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. Meet in the parking lot of the Mayapple Hill section of Essex County South Mountain Reservation, which is located off of Northfield Avenue in West Orange.
The RBA Group from Parsippany received a $103,000 contract to design the trail improvements. JAC Excavating from Howell, was awarded a publicly bid contract for $985,000 to perform the construction work. The Essex County Department of Public Works worked with the contractor to answer questions and make sure the project remained on schedule. Funding was provided through a NJ Green Acres grant received by the South Mountain Conservancy and a grant from the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund. Construction started in June and took about five months to complete.
Working with the South Mountain Conservancy, a project to accelerate the regrowth of the forest understory in South Mountain Reservation was completed in 2009. A total of 42 enclosures were constructed to protect the more than 10,000 native plant species that were reintroduced to the Reservation. The planting is part of an ongoing initiative to reverse damage at the Reservation caused by years of neglect and overbrowsing by deer.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
In 2006,Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, Essex County and the Conservancy developed a Master Plan that provides a comprehensive overview of South Mountain Reservation and recommends a series of upgrades be made to maintain and revitalize the area. The 2-acre South Mountain Dog Park was opened in July 2006 and has become a popular attraction on Crest Drive. In 2005, a series of improvements were made to repair hiking trails, address erosion problems and improve access to the reservation.
These projects were funded with grants from the NJ Green Acres program and the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. In 2010, New Jersey Monthly magazine recognized the trails in South Mountain Reservation as the best in the state.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic.
The Essex County Park System was created in 1895 and is the first county park system established in the United States. The Park System consists of more than 6,000 acres and has 22 parks, five reservations, an environmental center, a zoo, Treetop Adventure Course, ice skating rink, roller skating rink, three public golf courses, golf driving range, two miniature golf courses, three off-leash dog facilities, a castle and the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens. Essex County South Mountain Reservation covers about 2,110 acres and is located in West Orange, Maplewood and Millburn. It is the largest reservation in Essex County.
“South Mountain Reservation is an open space treasure that enables the public with places to enjoy nature. The improvements made as part of this project restores hiking trails and park infrastructure and provides visitors with a high quality trail system to experience and explore the reservation,” DiVincenzo said. “We are pleased to have partnered with the South Mountain Conservancy on another phase to revitalize the reservation,” he added.
“This was a remarkable partnership between the County, the Conservancy, the RBA Group and JAC Excavating to produce some significant improvements in the Reservation. Not only are the steps on Overlook Trail repaired, but existing trails were restored and a new, three-mile trail through Mayapple Hill was created,” South Mountain Conservancy President Dennis Percher said. Also representing the Conservancy at the ribbon cutting with the County Executive was Treasurer Marian Raabe.
The project involved repairing sections of existing hiking trails in Essex County South Mountain Reservation that have been impacted by erosion. In addition, about two and a half miles of new, interconnected hiking trails were created through the Mayapple Hill area of the reservation. Essex County,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. West Orange, The Land Conservancy of New Jersey and South Mountain Conservancy worked together to preserve 11 additional acres of undeveloped open space and added that property to South Mountain Reservation in October 2009. The acquisition expanded the total size of South Mountain Reservation to 2,110 acres.
The conservancy also will celebrate the opening of the new Mayapple Hill trails with an inaugural hike on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. Meet in the parking lot of the Mayapple Hill section of Essex County South Mountain Reservation, which is located off of Northfield Avenue in West Orange.
The RBA Group from Parsippany received a $103,000 contract to design the trail improvements. JAC Excavating from Howell, was awarded a publicly bid contract for $985,000 to perform the construction work. The Essex County Department of Public Works worked with the contractor to answer questions and make sure the project remained on schedule. Funding was provided through a NJ Green Acres grant received by the South Mountain Conservancy and a grant from the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund. Construction started in June and took about five months to complete.
Working with the South Mountain Conservancy, a project to accelerate the regrowth of the forest understory in South Mountain Reservation was completed in 2009. A total of 42 enclosures were constructed to protect the more than 10,000 native plant species that were reintroduced to the Reservation. The planting is part of an ongoing initiative to reverse damage at the Reservation caused by years of neglect and overbrowsing by deer.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
In 2006,Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, Essex County and the Conservancy developed a Master Plan that provides a comprehensive overview of South Mountain Reservation and recommends a series of upgrades be made to maintain and revitalize the area. The 2-acre South Mountain Dog Park was opened in July 2006 and has become a popular attraction on Crest Drive. In 2005, a series of improvements were made to repair hiking trails, address erosion problems and improve access to the reservation.
These projects were funded with grants from the NJ Green Acres program and the Essex County Recreation and Open Space Trust Fund.Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. In 2010, New Jersey Monthly magazine recognized the trails in South Mountain Reservation as the best in the state.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic.
The Essex County Park System was created in 1895 and is the first county park system established in the United States. The Park System consists of more than 6,000 acres and has 22 parks, five reservations, an environmental center, a zoo, Treetop Adventure Course, ice skating rink, roller skating rink, three public golf courses, golf driving range, two miniature golf courses, three off-leash dog facilities, a castle and the Presby Memorial Iris Gardens. Essex County South Mountain Reservation covers about 2,110 acres and is located in West Orange, Maplewood and Millburn. It is the largest reservation in Essex County.
Candy corn is back, and trendier than ever
The yellow-, orange- and white-striped kernels may be America’s most
controversial confection. For some, October wouldn’t be the same without
a bag of candy corn. Others loath the sweet stuff, and think handing it
out to trick-or-treaters risks waking up to find your house draped in
toilet paper.
Yet candy corn returns each autumn, along with falling leaves and football.
“We sell the most of it at Halloween,” says Bill Kelley, vice chairman of Jelly Belly Candy Co., which makes candy corn in North Chicago year-round — even in different colors and shapes for other holidays — and last year added a candy corn-flavored jelly bean to its official list of flavors.
Today, candy corn is trendier than ever. Not only are local chefs experimenting with candy-corn-imbued desserts, but other manufacturers have capitalized on the concept, producing new sweets on the theme.Welcome to the china kung fu school.
As a seasonal treat at Zest Bistro & Lemon Tree Grocer in Downers Grove, Pastry Chef Laurie McNamara revels in the candy’s sweetness. She melts candy corn into marshmallow cream, and studs it with still more candy corn as a filling for pumpkin-spiced whoopie pies, then further sweetens the dessert with a scoop of candy-corn-flavored ice cream.
Introduced this fall, candy-corn M&Ms, large round candies with a white-chocolate filling, come in the familiar colors but taste less like the classic confection than like artificial butter with a hint of suntan lotion.
JarBee Coffee, a McHenry roasting company known for offbeat blends such as Maple Bacon and Peanut Butter Cup, now offers Witches Brew, candy corn-flavored arabica.
And to great Internet notoriety, Nabisco marketed a short run of candy-corn Oreo cookies in September. They’re vanilla sandwich cookies with a yellow- and orange-colored filling but good luck finding any. They were sold exclusively at Target stores, and none of those we checked last week had any left. Calls to both Target headquarters and the brand’s parent company, Deerfield-based Mondolez International (the new spinoff of Kraft that got its confectionery and baking businesses), found us no cookies, either, so we can’t say what they taste like.
Oreos spokeswoman Caroline Lainio was unable to provide any statistics for how many of the limited-edition cookies were produced or if any are still available. According to Lainio, the century-old brand added candy-corn cookies to its lineup to relate to consumers in “fresh, new relevant ways.”
Yet candy corn is even older than Oreos, dating to the late 1880s, when candymaker George Renninger created it at the Ph. Wunderle Candy Manufacturing Co. of Philadelphia (since absorbed into Nestle). Not long afterward, Goelitz Confectionary Co.,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. the firm that ultimately became Jelly Belly, began producing the candy.
“We think the company was founded making candy corn,” says Kelley, 71, whose family founded Goelitz in 1898 in Cincinnati. Their candies were such a success that they expanded to Chicago in 1903 and 10 years later moved to the factory in North Chicago, where they became America’s premier maker of candy corn.
Kelley says that the formula for the candy, a category called “mellocreme,” remains the same as it was in the 19th century. “When I started with the company,” 46 years ago, he says, “it was all we made.”
Today machines do what was once done by hand, but the method is identical: Sugar, corn syrup and water are cooked together and whipped into a fondant with mazetta.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
“Mazetta is really a form of marshmallow, which gives the candy its creamy structure, and it makes the little white tip opaque,” Kelley says.
Trays filled with cornstarch are pressed with a form to mold the kernel shapes, 1,200 candies to a tray, and the candy deposited into the impressions. “First white, then orange, then yellow on top, in layers,” says Kelley.
In the old days,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. the molds were filled by hand by men called “stringers” who walked backward down the line with kettles of molten candy.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. “They basically poured the candy into the molds,” he says.
Yet candy corn returns each autumn, along with falling leaves and football.
“We sell the most of it at Halloween,” says Bill Kelley, vice chairman of Jelly Belly Candy Co., which makes candy corn in North Chicago year-round — even in different colors and shapes for other holidays — and last year added a candy corn-flavored jelly bean to its official list of flavors.
Today, candy corn is trendier than ever. Not only are local chefs experimenting with candy-corn-imbued desserts, but other manufacturers have capitalized on the concept, producing new sweets on the theme.Welcome to the china kung fu school.
As a seasonal treat at Zest Bistro & Lemon Tree Grocer in Downers Grove, Pastry Chef Laurie McNamara revels in the candy’s sweetness. She melts candy corn into marshmallow cream, and studs it with still more candy corn as a filling for pumpkin-spiced whoopie pies, then further sweetens the dessert with a scoop of candy-corn-flavored ice cream.
Introduced this fall, candy-corn M&Ms, large round candies with a white-chocolate filling, come in the familiar colors but taste less like the classic confection than like artificial butter with a hint of suntan lotion.
JarBee Coffee, a McHenry roasting company known for offbeat blends such as Maple Bacon and Peanut Butter Cup, now offers Witches Brew, candy corn-flavored arabica.
And to great Internet notoriety, Nabisco marketed a short run of candy-corn Oreo cookies in September. They’re vanilla sandwich cookies with a yellow- and orange-colored filling but good luck finding any. They were sold exclusively at Target stores, and none of those we checked last week had any left. Calls to both Target headquarters and the brand’s parent company, Deerfield-based Mondolez International (the new spinoff of Kraft that got its confectionery and baking businesses), found us no cookies, either, so we can’t say what they taste like.
Oreos spokeswoman Caroline Lainio was unable to provide any statistics for how many of the limited-edition cookies were produced or if any are still available. According to Lainio, the century-old brand added candy-corn cookies to its lineup to relate to consumers in “fresh, new relevant ways.”
Yet candy corn is even older than Oreos, dating to the late 1880s, when candymaker George Renninger created it at the Ph. Wunderle Candy Manufacturing Co. of Philadelphia (since absorbed into Nestle). Not long afterward, Goelitz Confectionary Co.,Leading the way with innovative solutions to any parking guidance challenge. the firm that ultimately became Jelly Belly, began producing the candy.
“We think the company was founded making candy corn,” says Kelley, 71, whose family founded Goelitz in 1898 in Cincinnati. Their candies were such a success that they expanded to Chicago in 1903 and 10 years later moved to the factory in North Chicago, where they became America’s premier maker of candy corn.
Kelley says that the formula for the candy, a category called “mellocreme,” remains the same as it was in the 19th century. “When I started with the company,” 46 years ago, he says, “it was all we made.”
Today machines do what was once done by hand, but the method is identical: Sugar, corn syrup and water are cooked together and whipped into a fondant with mazetta.We are porcelain tiles specialists and are passionate about our product，
“Mazetta is really a form of marshmallow, which gives the candy its creamy structure, and it makes the little white tip opaque,” Kelley says.
Trays filled with cornstarch are pressed with a form to mold the kernel shapes, 1,200 candies to a tray, and the candy deposited into the impressions. “First white, then orange, then yellow on top, in layers,” says Kelley.
In the old days,Service and equipment provider in professional Car park management system. the molds were filled by hand by men called “stringers” who walked backward down the line with kettles of molten candy.Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery. “They basically poured the candy into the molds,” he says.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Accel To Take On PayPal And Square
Braintree, an online payments gateway provider for online and mobile
platforms, has raised $35 million in Series funding led by New
Enterprise Associates (NEA) with participation from existing investors
including Accel Partners, RRE Ventures and Greycroft. This brings
Braintree’s total funding up to $70 million.
For background, Chicago-based Braintree powers and automates online payments for merchants and companies online. The company provides a merchant account, payment gateway, recurring billing, credit card storage, support for mobile and international payments, and PCI Compliance solutions.
Braintree’s client list includes Rovio/Angry Birds, Uber, 37signals, OpenTable, Fab, GitHub, Airbnb, Heroku, Engine Yard, Animoto, Shopify and HotelTonight. The company is seeing $1 billion a year in mobile transactions and $5 billion in total payments annually for over 3,000 mobile and online merchants. Currently, Braintree works with merchants in more than 30 countries and is able to accept more than 130 different currencies.
For Braintree, the new funding is going to help the company take on giants in the digital payments industry like PayPal. “We think we can build the next PayPal,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.” says Braintree’s CEO, Bill Ready. “The payments game will be won or lost in next few years, and we need the resources to push the company forward aggressively,” he explained in an interview.
The new funding will be used to build out Braintree’s payments product, for hiring engineering talent in the Bay Area, New York and Chicago, and for additional international expansion.
Ready explains that Braintree differs from PayPal in that it offers a comprehensive, full-featured payments processing platform for both small startups and large companies, like Fab, which is processing hundreds of millions in transactions. He says that traditionally, a small business would start with PayPal, then graduate to Authorize.net (owned by Visa), and would move onto Cybersource processing when the company would have tens or hundreds of millions in payments revenue. But Ready says there is a huge opportunity to service the full range of companies, and that’s what makes Braintree distinct.
“We are taking sophisticated payments capabilities and making them accessible to startups and big companies, and when small businesses grow into larger organizations, we will have everything they need,” says Ready.
Over the past few months, Braintree has been heads down on making its product as useful to merchants as possible. The company expanded to mobile, added support for one-click checkout, cut fees, and eased the sign-up process.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, In fact, Braintree removed a $100 monthly fee for developers, and starting matching fees of rivals with 2.9 percent rate and $.30 per transaction.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. Additionally, the company has made some key hires from Google.
The company also highlights Braintree Instant, which gives merchants instant access to a full suite of payments tools, such as international payments and single click checkout, which used to be available to only the largest of merchants after months-long integrations to legacy payment providers. Braintree Instant also aids cash flow by typically providing funds within two days, versus a week or more for others in the industry.
“We are working to do for payments and e-commerce what Apple did for mobile: providing a developer-friendly platform that sparks a new wave of innovation and company-building, ” Ready adds.
But in order to take on payments companies like PayPal and Square, Braintree has to engage the consumer as well. That’s where the company’s Venmo acquisition comes in. In August, the company acquired the New York-based startup, which is disrupting social payments by allowing people to send money to friends via a mobile app.
Venmo, which remains based in New York as a standalone app, is the basis for Braintree’s consumer business.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. “This will become the slickest way for consumers to make payments to merchants,” says Ready. We’re building a better PayPal on the merchant side, and a better PayPal on the consumer side.”
“Braintree is kicking down both the technology and business road blocks that have made online and mobile payments challenging for developers and a hassle for consumers,” said Ravi Viswanathan, General Partner of NEA, said in a release. “We believe Braintree has the strengths to challenge all the incumbents in the payment space, including PayPal. This investment reflects our confidence in the technology, team and international capabilities Braintree has built.”
As part of the news today, NEA is also opening up a Chicago office to be closer to its investments in the Windy City.
As we’ve recently reported, the payments space is heating up and all the players, including Square and PayPal, are gearing up for the battle. Square just landed a huge deal with Starbucks and closed $200 million in new funding. PayPal is also trying to reinvent itself. New entrant,Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics, Stripe, has also been making waves in the industry. And now with Braintree’s new funding, we can expect there to be one more player who is vying for a piece of the payments pie.
For background, Chicago-based Braintree powers and automates online payments for merchants and companies online. The company provides a merchant account, payment gateway, recurring billing, credit card storage, support for mobile and international payments, and PCI Compliance solutions.
Braintree’s client list includes Rovio/Angry Birds, Uber, 37signals, OpenTable, Fab, GitHub, Airbnb, Heroku, Engine Yard, Animoto, Shopify and HotelTonight. The company is seeing $1 billion a year in mobile transactions and $5 billion in total payments annually for over 3,000 mobile and online merchants. Currently, Braintree works with merchants in more than 30 countries and is able to accept more than 130 different currencies.
For Braintree, the new funding is going to help the company take on giants in the digital payments industry like PayPal. “We think we can build the next PayPal,Shop for high quality wholesale parking sensor system products on DHgate and get worldwide delivery.” says Braintree’s CEO, Bill Ready. “The payments game will be won or lost in next few years, and we need the resources to push the company forward aggressively,” he explained in an interview.
The new funding will be used to build out Braintree’s payments product, for hiring engineering talent in the Bay Area, New York and Chicago, and for additional international expansion.
Ready explains that Braintree differs from PayPal in that it offers a comprehensive, full-featured payments processing platform for both small startups and large companies, like Fab, which is processing hundreds of millions in transactions. He says that traditionally, a small business would start with PayPal, then graduate to Authorize.net (owned by Visa), and would move onto Cybersource processing when the company would have tens or hundreds of millions in payments revenue. But Ready says there is a huge opportunity to service the full range of companies, and that’s what makes Braintree distinct.
“We are taking sophisticated payments capabilities and making them accessible to startups and big companies, and when small businesses grow into larger organizations, we will have everything they need,” says Ready.
Over the past few months, Braintree has been heads down on making its product as useful to merchants as possible. The company expanded to mobile, added support for one-click checkout, cut fees, and eased the sign-up process.Republic parking system is a privately owned professional parking management company based in Chattanooga, In fact, Braintree removed a $100 monthly fee for developers, and starting matching fees of rivals with 2.9 percent rate and $.30 per transaction.Welcome to news from www.glassmosaicchina.com,Our company is committed to produce all kinds of new materials mosaic. Additionally, the company has made some key hires from Google.
The company also highlights Braintree Instant, which gives merchants instant access to a full suite of payments tools, such as international payments and single click checkout, which used to be available to only the largest of merchants after months-long integrations to legacy payment providers. Braintree Instant also aids cash flow by typically providing funds within two days, versus a week or more for others in the industry.
“We are working to do for payments and e-commerce what Apple did for mobile: providing a developer-friendly platform that sparks a new wave of innovation and company-building, ” Ready adds.
But in order to take on payments companies like PayPal and Square, Braintree has to engage the consumer as well. That’s where the company’s Venmo acquisition comes in. In August, the company acquired the New York-based startup, which is disrupting social payments by allowing people to send money to friends via a mobile app.
Venmo, which remains based in New York as a standalone app, is the basis for Braintree’s consumer business.This is a superb introduction to how Injection Mold tools are made. “This will become the slickest way for consumers to make payments to merchants,” says Ready. We’re building a better PayPal on the merchant side, and a better PayPal on the consumer side.”
“Braintree is kicking down both the technology and business road blocks that have made online and mobile payments challenging for developers and a hassle for consumers,” said Ravi Viswanathan, General Partner of NEA, said in a release. “We believe Braintree has the strengths to challenge all the incumbents in the payment space, including PayPal. This investment reflects our confidence in the technology, team and international capabilities Braintree has built.”
As part of the news today, NEA is also opening up a Chicago office to be closer to its investments in the Windy City.
As we’ve recently reported, the payments space is heating up and all the players, including Square and PayPal, are gearing up for the battle. Square just landed a huge deal with Starbucks and closed $200 million in new funding. PayPal is also trying to reinvent itself. New entrant,Totech Americas delivers a wide range of drycabinets for applications spanning electronics, Stripe, has also been making waves in the industry. And now with Braintree’s new funding, we can expect there to be one more player who is vying for a piece of the payments pie.
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