By MAGGIE HABERMAN, SONI SANGHA and JONATHAN LEMIRE DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Friday, November 28th 2003, 6:50AM

Mother Nature must love a New York parade.

A record-breaking 3 million people jammed Manhattan streets yesterday to cheer on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade under bright skies and a gloriously warm sun.

"I've been coming to the parade for 20 years, and this is the best one I can remember," said Albert Calderon, 38, a deliveryman from Teaneck, N.J. "The crowds are great, the weather is perfect - we really lucked out."

Huge crowds oohed and aahed at Garfield, Kermit and Clifford the Big Red Dog in the 77th annual extravaganza, ringing in the holiday season.

"This year, my brother-in-law is cooking dinner, and I thought this was a golden opportunity," said Denise Harford, 52, of Staten Island, whose son returned last week from Iraq. "I love being at the parade. Everyone's got the spirit."

Last year's temperatures peaked at a chilly 31 degrees, but no one needed hats and gloves this year. The mercury hovered in the 50s.

Latecomers had to scramble to the tops of parked cars in order to peer over the early birds who snagged spots that put them an arm's length away from Elmo, Barney and "Hairspray" star decked out as Mrs. Claus.

"I was here at a little after 6 a.m. and I still wasn't able to get a spot right on the street," said Manuel Melendez, 32, of the Bronx, who brought his two kids to Columbus Circle in order to see their favorite, Jimmy Neutron. "It's hard to admit, but someone wanted it more than me."

After Tom Turkey took his traditional position at the front of the 2 1/2-mile route that began at W. 77th St. and Central Park West, he was followed by favorites and first-timers, including Super Grover and this year's official parade mascot, Garfield.

More than two dozen floats followed - including one sponsored by the Daily News, which featured city landmarks and Yankee star Bernie Williams - and 10 marching bands that came from as far away as Birmingham, Ala., and Colleyville, Tex.

Part of that buoyant crowd were hundreds of plainclothed cops who joined more 2,000 of their uniformed brethren, beefing up security along the route. Several NYPD helicopters also thundered overhead to protect the parade, which was viewed as a potential terrorist target in light of recent attacks overseas, a police spokesman said.

Their efforts - and those of the armed forces overseas - were saluted by Mayor Bloomberg, who watched some of the parade from a midtown restaurant surrounded by kids from the Ronald McDonald House.

"It's a good time to be a little bit patriotic and realize just how lucky we are to have the freedoms we do," said Bloomberg, who selected Uncle Sam as his favorite balloon this year after picking Charlie Brown in 2002 because he identified with the lovable blockhead. "This is what makes New York, New York."

Total number of balloons in parade.

The last year the Uncle Sam balloon appeared in the parade before yesterday.

2 Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard.

Number of American Idol finalists who rode on the floats.

Amount of Garfield's favorite food that would fill giant mascot (equivalent to 13,900 cubic feet of helium)

Summary: Mother Nature must love a New York parade. A record-breaking 3 million people jammed Manhattan streets yesterday to cheer on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade under bright skies and a gloriously warm sun. "I've been coming to the parade for 20 years, and this is the best one I can remember,"said Albert Calderon, 38, a deliveryman from Teaneck, N.J. "The crowds are great, the weather


's new constitution has been published in the government newspaper Al-Sabah and will designate Islam as the main source of legislation in a major departure from the model laid down by the US during the invasion.

The draft, which was published on Tuesday, states that no law shall be approved which contradicts "the rules of Islam".That could set Iraq on a course different from what was envisioned when US-led forces invaded the country in 2003."Islam is the official religion of the state and is the main source of legislation," the draft reads. "No law that contradicts with its rules can be promulgated."The document grants the Shia religious leadership in Najaf "independence for its guiding role" in recognition of its "high national and religious symbolism".Al-Sabah noted, however, that there were unspecified differences among the committee on the Najaf portion.Those would presumably include Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Shias on the 71-member committee.During the US-led occupation, key Iraqi Shia and some Sunni politicians sought to have Islam formally designated as the main source of legislation in the interim constitution, which went into effect in March 2004.Bremer blocked Iraqi move

However, the former US-appointed governor of Iraq, Paul Bremer, blocked the move, saying Islam would be considered "a source" - but not the only one.

The former US governor PaulBremer blocked previous moves

At the time, prominent Shia politicians agreed to forego a public battle with Bremer and raise the issue again during the drafting of the permanent constitution.It could move Iraq towards a more religiously based society than was envisioned by the US that hoped the country would serve a beacon of Western-style democracy in the region.Members of the constitutional committee, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the draft in Al-Sabah was among several and none would be final until parliament approves the charter by 15 August.

Contentious issuesThe drafting committee met on Tuesday to discuss federalism, one of the most contentious issues, according to Sunni Arab member Mohammed Abed-Rabbou.He described the discussion as heated and said no agreement on the issue was reached.According to Al-Sabah, the draft constitution would declare Iraq a sovereign state with "a republican democratic federal system". However, the word "federal" appears in brackets, indicating some opposition among the committee.

"Islam is the official religion of the state and is the main source of legislation"Iraq's draft constitution

Sunni Arabs are suspicious that federalism, a prime goal of the Kurds, would lead to the disintegration of the country.Parliament speaker Hajim al-Hassani, a Sunni Arab, urged Iraqi media on Tuesday to refrain from publishing supposed texts unless they were released by the constitutional committee.

Resumption of talksThe Sunnis agreed on Monday to resume work on the committee after they walked out in protest and cited security as one of the reasons.

Sunnis had walked out in protestciting security as one of the reasons

Sunni Arab support is crucial because the charter can be scuttled if voters in three of Iraq's 18 provinces reject it by a two-thirds majority - and Sunni Arabs are reportedly a majority in four provinces.US officials are anxious for the Iraqis to meet the 15 August deadline as a major step in building a stable, constitutional Iraqi government.If the deadline is met, voters will decide whether to approve the charter in mid-October and if they go, another general election will take place in December.

Summary: <?xml:namespace prefix = "st1" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">A draft of Iraq</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s new constitution has been published in the government newspaper Al-Sabah and will designate Islam as the main sourc


It used to be that Super Bowl commercials debuted during the Super Bowl. Those days are long gone. Now, many debut before the Super Bowl, and they can also be watched 24/7 online.

The most popular 2012 Super Bowl ads have already clocked millions and millions of views on YouTube, eyeballs the companies don't pay a cent for, unlike the Super Bowl, where rates run a reported $3.5 million for a 30-second spot.

Car companies are generating the most buzz so far, with Matthew Broderick and Jerry Seinfeld starring in two of the biggies.

Watch the five of the most popular car commercials below, and then vote for your favorite.

Volkswagen: The Dog Strikes Back

Summary: Car companies' Super Bowl spots generating big buzz


Some diners at Hurricane Grill & Wings had been limiting themselves to a small order of the chain’s saucy chicken wings and tap water. These days, many are upgrading to a bigger order, as many as 15 wings and a soda.

The larger plates are a sign customers are OK about spending a little more. The evidence may not be a major economic report, but small businesses have their own indicators the economy is improving. For example:

People who held onto their jobs during the recession are familiar with the scenarios. The company doughnuts disappeared from the meetings. Training classes that included lunch were traded in for brown-bag sessions.

“Bring your own bagel into the meeting’’ was the message, said Tom Walter. His company, Tasty Catering in Elk Grove Village, Ill., caters for corporate clients.

When companies did serve food, they cut costs, Walter said. Turkey and brie on artisan breads were replaced by turkey and Swiss on whole wheat.

Last fall, things began to change. Four months ago, many clients had whittled down their catering bills to about $10 person. More recently that’s crept up to as much as $13 per person.

The increased spending isn’t just fueled by an improvement in his clients’ businesses, Walter says. Companies are worried about losing their best staffers, “so they’re giving their employees more rewards.’’

When the financial crisis hit in 2008, many companies stopped worrying about décor like lobby plants and holiday displays. Sales fell 30 percent at Parker Cos., a Scotch Plains, N.J., company that does interior landscaping.

Hotels and office buildings that used to spend $30,000 for a holiday display were spending $8,000, said William Note, Parker’s creative director.

But in the last quarter of 2011, Note noticed many companies sprucing up. The number of proposals that Parker has written for customers this year is up 60 percent. But companies aren’t spending freely. Note says clients are choosier, asking companies like Parker to bid on projects - not the practice five years ago.

Note is trying to make impressive displays for less money. “I’m trying to be as creative with nothing as I possibly can,’’ he says.

At Hurricane Grill & Wings, people are also ordering more appetizers and entrees. President Martin O’Dowd said the average check per person at his company’s 45 restaurants in six states has risen 7 percent from a year ago.

O’Dowd said business began to pick up in the fourth quarter of last year. The improvement has enabled Hurricane Grill & Wings to hire more workers and increase the hours of current staffers. He’s optimistic that customers will keep spending more.

As they do, he expects them to splurging calorie-wise as well - he anticipates more orders of cheesecake and key lime pie.

For many women - and some men - keeping their eyebrows in perfectly arched shape is a weekly affair.

At least that was the way it was until the 2008 financial crash.

Around that time, Reema Khan, who started her Cerritos, Calif.-based s.h.a.p.e.s Brow Bar salons in 2003, noticed that women who had come in weekly started visiting less often.

Some of her female customers said they would take their grooming into their own hands. She estimated about 30 percent of her male customers continued to come in.

But lower traffic made it harder to sell additional services, such as facials and henna tattoos.

Before the recession, the average bill at s.h.a.p.e.s was $15 to $20. It dropped to $10. Khan said that some customers did not want to tip, which made for unhappy employees.

Business has picked up this year at the company, which has more than 65 locations in six states. Customers are again making appointments for facials and bikini waxes.

Valentine’s Day was a particularly good day.

“We didn’t expect it, but we were crazily busy,’’ Khan said.

Summary: Some diners at Hurricane Grill & Wings had been limiting themselves to a small order of the chain’s saucy chicken wings and a glass of tap water. These days, many of those people are upgrading to a bigger order of as many as 15 wings and a soda. For Hurricane Grill, which sells its wings in more than 30 varieties of sauces, the larger plates and the sodas are a sign that customers are OK about spending a little more when they go out to eat. The evidence may not be a big economic report like gross domestic product or factory orders in a region, but small businesses have their own indicators that the economy is improving.


NASHUA — Allan Galdamez decided that, this year, the turkey could wait.

On Thursday evening, the Waltham resident was the first person in line at Sears at the Pheasant Lane Mall here after arriving at 8 a.m. Thanksgiving morning. His plan: grab a 50-inch television for $299 and head home for a belated Thanksgiving dinner.

“We’re just going to get in and get it and get out,” he said.

The doors opened at 7:50 p.m. Ten minutes later Galdamez emerged successful.

Galdamez was among hundreds of people lined up outside Sears and Target in Nashua on Thursday, hoping to score the kinds of deals more typically offered up in the early hours of Friday morning.

Store openings on Black Friday, the traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season, have crept earlier and earlier for the past several years. This year, major retailers across the country pushed up their start times even further, opening their doors to shoppers fresh from finishing off their pumpkin pie.

Massachusetts blue laws, however, prohibit most stores from opening on Thanksgiving, forcing eager shoppers to either wait until after midnight or drive to a neighboring state to score the best deals. And many did; at least half of the cars parked at Pheasant Lane Mall on Thursday evening sported Massachusetts license plates.

Nationally, 17 percent of consumers — some 41 million people — planned to shop on Thursday, according to a survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, and investment bank Goldman Sachs. Walmart, one of the retailers that opened stores on Thanksgiving, estimated that about 22 million shopped at its stores on Thursday.

For Chelmsford resident Carol Mehigan, who was waiting for the doors to open at Sears, hitting the mall is no different than any other form of Thanksgiving night entertainment.

“The guys are at home watching football — we can shop,” said Mehigan, who was hoping to buy a discounted television for her oldest grandson.

Galdamez wished that a store closer to home — somewhere in Massachusetts — had been open and offering the same deals.

The Retailers Association of Massachusetts has called on state policy makers to consider allowing shopping on Thanksgiving to help local retailers compete with online competitors and those in other states. Massachusetts is one of three New England state that prohibit shopping on Thanksgiving, rules based on 17th-century blue laws. The other states are Maine and Rhode Island.

Summary: Massachusetts blue laws prohibit most stores from opening on Thanksgiving, forcing eager shoppers to either wait until after midnight or drive to a neighboring state to score the best deals. Sears and Target stores in the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H. opened Thursday evening and at least half of the cars in the parking lot had Massachusetts license plates.


At the moment, Chandler Travis is a member of the Catbirds, the Chandler Travis Three-O, the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, and the Incredible Casuals.

“I’d be fine with one band,” Travis concedes in an interview from his Eastham home. “But it’d have to be a really restless band.”

Still a prolific songwriter, Travis creates songs that range from roaring garage rock to pretty chamber pop to mutant big-band compositions to Christmas songs. This year he released “Catbirds Say Yeah” with the Catbirds, “This Is What Bears Look Like Underwater” with the Three-O (a quartet, no less), and is gearing up for three stagings of his annual Christmas Cavalcade concerts, which will bring in the Philharmonic and many of Travis’s musical allies.

Travis calls himself a human monkey wrench in the sense that he is happy gumming up the system and defying expectations. He knows that can be counterintuitive from a business standpoint — releasing two very different albums so close together was probably not helpful to either project he says — but artistically, Travis is just following the lead of the people who inspired him.

“It’s like Dylan coming up with a whole new voice for a record,” Travis says. “Or Paul McCartney. You listen to ‘Lady Madonna’ and you go, where’d that guy come from?”

Travis first gained notice in the ’70s playing with Steve Shook in Travis, Shook and the Club Wow before forming the Incredible Casuals in 1980. The Casuals became a Cape Cod institution, performing every Sunday for 32 years at the Beachcomber in Wellfleet, where the band delivered a good-humored blend of primal rock ’n’ roll spiced with R&B. The Casuals no longer hit the Beachcomber every Sunday, but instead show up there about four times a season amid other gigs.

Travis says he piled up songs that didn’t fit well with the Casuals, and those paved the way to the Philharmonic’s configuration with horns, keys, and mandocello. Of course, the sprawl of the Philharmonic posed its own problems, especially in finding venues big enough for the nine-piece band. A few years ago, when offers came for some smaller gigs, the Three-O was born with Travis setting up a band with the Philharmonic’s bassist John Clark, multi-instrumentalist Berke Mc-Kelvey, and singer Fred Boak.

Around the time the Three-O came into shape, Travis also cooked up the Catbirds, a band that makes a glorious racket of jittery rock ’n’ roll of the sort teenagers make after hearing “My Generation” for the first time. Except in this case, these “teens” have a few decades of solid work under their belts, with Steve Wood playing unbridled electric guitar, Philharmonic cohort Dinty Child switching between guitar, mandocello, and accordion, Rikki Bates on drums, and Travis on bass.

“This is a band where I get to play like I did when I started playing,” says Bates, who first started working with Travis 35 years ago in Travis, Shook and the Club Wow and carried on into the Casuals, the Philharmonic, and now the Catbirds. “I like to hit the drums hard.” (No kidding; Bates busted a bass drum during a recent Catbirds show at Johnny D’s.)

Bates also likes the breadth of work Travis presents. With the Catbirds, Bates drums in the moment, maybe tossing in an extra half-beat that triggers a response from the guitar and so on; in the Philharmonic, it’s all about nailing the precision and nuance of the songs.

Boak, who went from diehard Casuals fan, to band’s merch guy (“I was at all of the shows anyway”) to Travis’s “valet” in the Philharmonic, to eventually becoming a full-fledged Three-O singer, echoed a point also made by Bates: Travis makes sure to tend to the details in his songs.

JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE

Chandler Travis leading the Catbirds in a recent set at Johnny D’s in Somerville.

“Chandler can do all of these interesting chord things and have a good hook,” Boak says. “He understands the concept of the hook.”

And Travis takes the hook wherever it needs to go.

“I love Christmas music,” he says, noting his four albums of holiday music and 26 years of annual compilations he’s made for friends. “I’m just fascinated by a holiday not only with its own music, but one that is so aggressive about it.”

And the Christmas Cavalcades are Travis’s showcase for all that is good about the seasonal songs, especially those that capture the opposing forces of joy and despair unleashed in December.

The 8th or 9th Annual Christmas Cavalcade to Benefit the Homeless happens Dec. 13 at Johnny D’s in Somerville and features the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, Livingston Taylor, Jenny Dee and the Deelinquents, Barrence Whitfield, Jennifer Kimball, Vance Gilbert, the Catbirds, Ray Mason, Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers, the Jessica Schroeder Dancer, Miriam, Shaun Wortis, Bird Mancini, Aaron Spade, Kami Lyle, the Darlings, the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, the Philharmonic Trombone Shout Band, and the Athol Thingerth. All proceeds from the show will go to the Somerville Homeless Coalition.

The Cavalcade then stops into the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater on Dec. 15 and presents the Three-O, Sarah Swain and the Swain Sisters, Christine Rathbun, Fred Magee, Robertchez, and the Trees.

The second Cape Cod Christmas Cavalcade happens Dec. 16 at the Jailhouse Tavern in Orleans and features the Chandler Travis Philharmonic, the Ticks, Siobhan Magnus, the Rip-It-Ups, Tripping Lily, Bruce Maclean, Kate & Tad from Sidewalk Driver, the Catbirds, Steve Shook, Christine Rathbun, Fred Fried, Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi, Jay Cournoyer, Sarah Burrill, Sarah Swain & the Swain Sisters, Kami Lyle, Lydia Parkington, Stephen Russell, Toast & Jam, and the Athol Thingerth. Both of the Cape shows benefit the Noah Shelter of Hyannis.

No matter which Cavalcade you hit, count on hearing nothing but Christmas tunes — some originals, some vintage, some out of left field (there’s usually a lot of dibs on Robert Earl Keene’s “Merry Christmas From the Family”).

Then after the holiday, Travis will likely get back to feeding his bands.

“I write whatever pops into my head. I may wake up with something and just write it down, not sure where it’s going to go,” he says. “I love the process. They just float into my head.”

Summary: Prolific songwriter Chandler Travis creates songs that range from roaring garage rock to pretty chamber pop to mutant big-band compositions to Christmas songs. This year he released “Catbirds Say Yeah” with the Catbirds, “This is What Bears Look Like Underwater” with the Three-O (a quartet, no less), and is gearing up for three stagings of his annual Christmas Cavalcade concerts, which will bring in the Philharmonic and many of Travis’s musical allies.


the story of noah and his ark is one of the bible's best-known and best-loved. So, we came here to the netherlands, crisscrossed by canals and sitting below sea level where people live under the...

the story of noah and his ark is one of the bible's best-known and best-loved. So, we came here to the netherlands, crisscrossed by canals and sitting below sea level where people live under the constant t of flooding. We had heard a modern-day noah had done something extraordinary. ♪ thanks for having us to your ark. To be frank, I never thought I'd say that to anybody. He built himself is own biblical So that was a rooster? It was a rooster. So what animals have you got in your ark? Plastic animals. Not quite like noah. Yeah, no. He had real animals. In fact, it was a real flood that inspire d mr. Huibers, a born again christian to build this ark. He nearly drowned in a storm surge in 1992 and the next day a book caught his eye among the wreckage. It was a big book, the ark of noah, I bought it and we are looking at the book and I said, wow, I'm going to build the ark of noah. My children were excited and they run to my wife. What did your wife say? She was not happy with it. Women are sensible. Yeah. It took 13 years to get permission. It took you 13 years to convince her? Exactly. You must have really believed inthis. 100%. It took him just over four years to build his ark and he even used the bible as a blueprint. 50 elbow is the width and -- when you say elbow? From here. Cubit? I took my cubit, nobody knows how big noah was at that time. According to the bible, noah spent 120 years on his ark. And it's every child's favorite story when the flood finally did come he was ready. God sends two of every animal, all of them, two of every single one. Came on to a ship from the giraffe to ants to bears. Rained for 40 days and 40 nights. And finally the whole entire earth was flooded. Adam is 17 years old and as fantastic as the noah story sounds, even tonight, not far from 's home in new york, people are still trying to cope with the aftermath of hurricane sandy. And it seems that whether it was seven weeks ago in the united states or 7,000 years ago when a wave washes away the home that you built that children and the community you love, the first question we all ask is why. Life often seems inexplicable and we need to make sense of it. We need something that will help you to assuage your grief and anguish and rage. These biblical stories are a way of finding meaning. When I was younger, the story was kind of a fairy tale for me. I think that when you get older, you kind of see the sad nas and the sorrow in the story. Because lots of people die in this flood. Destroying the earth, the bible tells us, is the only thing god ever regrets so he sends a rainbow as a promise. This rainbow shows that god will never send a flood again to hurt humanity and all of the animals that live on this earth. What happens next is left out of the colorful pages of storybooks. Noah comes out of the ark and he plants a vineyard and gets drunk. I was remembering a story of a holocaust survivor whot home to his village and found everyone had gone. He said I could understand exactly why noah got drunk. If you imagine what it would have been like after the flood. Devastation, all of the swollen, bloated bodies around. Terrible. And it turns out the flood stories like this are not unique to the bible. They can be found all over the ancient world. These stories didn't drop from heaven one day in a clump of words all sent by god in book form. These stories developed in a certain place and time. Leading some archaeologists to believe they are based on real events. People do not make these things up. So, does this mean we've got a flood back, way back in antiquity? It may well. The story is created to explain something that happened. But in the biblical account the story is layered with new meaning. The flood is sent as a punishment for people's sins. Hurricane katrina was the judgment of god. I don't know how much god has to do we had an earthquake and hurricane, he said are you agoing to start listening to me here? You know even today some christians will say that the tsunamis and the floods are retribution from god for since committed today. Some christians say that. I don't know on what basis they would say it. In the world sometimes god allows things to happen, it doesn't mean he's judging people. But johann isn't so sure. Do you believe he'll do it again? World one not anymore but small ones. Small places might be wiped away. Like new york. Not a small place. Big, big disaster that time. Does that frighten you? Yeah. I'so the promise of god that it is in his hands. I feel like the moral of the story, for me, helping others will make the world a better place. And a better place for myself will be a better place for everyone. And for my children and for xhiemy children's children and that's the kind of world I want to live noah tells us about.

Summary: Part 3: Johann Huibers, a born-again Christian, spent 20 years building the replica.


(MoneyWatch) Most likely, you've seen how stocks have been clobbered over the past few days. The S&P 500 index has dropped almost 8 percent since its May 21 close of 1,669, the highest of the year. Bonds haven't been immune to tough market conditions either, with yields soaring in recent weeks. The 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields ended April at 1.70 percent and 2.88 percent respectively. Yesterday, they closed at 2.57 percent and 3.66 percent, respectively.

However, what you may not have seen are some of the positives we've been experiencing lately. My almost 20 years of providing advice to individual investors have taught me that it's relatively easy to stay the course when things are going well, but we tend to stray from the disciplined and winning strategy of buy, hold and rebalance when things get rough. This is why it's important to see both sides -- the whole picture helps investors to stay the course. Here are some of the positives to keep in mind.

The housing industry is rapidly improving. Home prices jumped a whopping 12.1 percent in the past year, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller composite index. The supply of homes for sale in most markets is now below normal levels. That's creating bidding wars in some markets. And even if interest rates were to rise a further 1 percent, they would still be well below historical averages.

The steep rise in the yield curve is a boon to banks. Along with the strong housing market and an improving economy, this should be very positive for profits. Given that housing and banking were at the epicenter of the financial crisis, investors should welcome the news that these sectors are doing well.

Environmental concerns aside, the new fracking industry has caused a significant revitalization in U.S. energy production. Natural gas production is up about 30 percent since 2005.

The unemployment rate ticked up slightly from April to May, but it was still down 0.6 percent from one year ago. Forty-two states saw decreases in their unemployment rates over the same one-year period.

In most cases, state and local governments have taken strong actions to strengthen their fiscal situations. Another major concern has faded: Meredith Whitney's forecast of hundreds of billions in municipal defaults is now a distant memory.

The U.S. government's deficit is coming in well below forecasts thanks in part to the housing boom, which is driving record profits for the now-government-owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Other bailout programs are also generating profits.

Overall corporate profits continue to be strong. Economist Edward Yardeni reports that the current full year operating earnings forecast for the S&P 500 Index is expected to come in at around $111. With the S&P 500 closing at 1,573 yesterday, that's a forward-looking price-earnings ratio of about 14.1, or a little more than the historical average. Stocks certainly don't look expensive -- even if forward-looking estimates are notoriously optimistic.

Despite all the concerns about the Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy, M2 (a broad measure of the money supply) has grown at a rate of less than 5 percent over the past three and six months and less than 7 percent over the past 12 months. The market certainly doesn't expect to see any sign of an inflation threat on the horizon, as the breakeven inflation rate on 10-year TIPS is only about 2 percent. And the current consensus forecast of professional economists is for a 10-year inflation rate of just 2.3 percent. Since the market's estimate of inflation has not risen, the sharp rise in interest rates has been caused by a rise in the real rate.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's statements about the tapering of the quantitative-easing program was accompanied by the caveat that it would be carried out only if the economy continued to improve and that he fully expected that the Fed would continue its policy of zero interest rates well into next year. In fact, he indicated that the Fed would continue that policy until the unemployment rate fell to perhaps 6 percent, a lower figure than previously indicated.

The bottom line is that we saw the stock market fall sharply because of concerns about rising interest rates. However, the rise in rates was based on a stronger economic outlook, which is good for corporate profits, which in turn are ultimately what drives the stock market. It wasn't based on a rising inflation outlook, which would be negative for stocks.

Of course, I don't want to mislead you by presenting a one-sided picture. As is always the case, there are plenty of negatives to worry about -- if you think that would be a valuable use of your time:

But it's important to understand that if you know about these issues, so does the rest of the market. And that's why the market is selling at only about 13.5 times expected earnings. In other words, it's not that the market has to go down because of the negatives. It's that it would be a lot higher if the negatives weren't there.

So what should you do about all this information? Assuming you have a well-developed investment plan, you should do nothing, as your plan should have anticipated that environments like this would occur. If you don't have a plan, I suggest you go pick up a copy of "The Only Guide You'll Ever Need to the Right Financial Plan," read it and then develop, write and sign your plan. And then have the wisdom and discipline to stay the course.

Summary: Recent volatility in the markets may have sent the anxiety index soaring among investors, but their worries are unfounded


FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank on Thursday kept interest rates unchanged as it weighed the risk of ultra-low inflation to Europe’s tentative recovery.

The bank, which sets monetary policy for the 18-nation eurozone, in November surprised the markets by cutting its benchmark rate to 0.25 percent — a record low — from 0.5 percent.

Economists had not expected the bank to act Thursday, but they said they believe there is a significant chance it will act in coming months to guard against falling prices.

A report Tuesday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, showed the eurozone inflation rate falling to 0.8 percent in December, far below the ECB’s target for keeping price increases to just under 2 percent. It was low enough to raise fears that Europe could be on the verge of an across-the-board decline in the general price level.

Mario Draghi, president of the ECB, has warned about the danger of an inflation rate that gets entrenched below 1 percent, creating the sort of situation that caused Japan’s “lost decade” of poor growth and economic pain. But on Thursday, Draghi dismissed the significance of the inflation data, calling it an expected reflection of lower inflation in the services part of the European economy.

Yet with the region’s unemployment rate stuck at 12.1 percent since April, the pressure will continue on the central bank to act. Draghi acknowledged that a worsening of inflation or a tightening of money-market rates could be triggers for further moves by the central bank.

“The recovery is there, but it’s weak and it’s fragile,” Draghi said, referring to recent signals of growth in the eurozone.

With interest rates, the traditional lever of monetary policy, already effectively at zero, the ECB might have to find other means of stimulating the economy. The region emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2013, and the central bank expects anemic economic growth of 1.1 percent this year.

Despite the cheap money, credit is not getting through to companies and households. The central bank said last week that lending to businesses in the eurozone shrank 3.9 percent in November from a year earlier, the biggest decline it has ever recorded.

The ECB could offer more cheap, long-term loans under the condition that banks lend to businesses. Another option is to penalize financial institutions for depositing funds at the ECB by offering negative deposit rates, spurring them to put more money into the economy.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew urged European leaders — particularly in Germany — to focus on domestic demand. US officials believe it is essential that Europe act to pick up slack in the world economy as the Federal Reserve begins reducing its economic stimulus this month.

Summary: The European Central Bank on Thursday kept interest rates unchanged, as it weighs the risk of ultralow inflation to Europe’s tentative recovery. The central bank, which sets monetary policy for the 18-nation eurozone, in November surprised the market by cutting its benchmark rate to 0.25 percent — a record low — from 0.5 percent. Economists had not expected the bank to act Thursday, but they said they believe that there is a significant chance it will act again in the coming months to guard against falling prices. A report Tuesday by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics agency, showed the eurozone inflation rate falling low enough to raise fears that Europe could be on the verge of an across-the-board decline in the general price level.


Edmund de WaalCan ceramics be art? Edmund de Waal makes the answer seem obvious. His minimalist displays of coolly beautiful ceramic objects seductively straddle the old gap between art and craft. Modernism and ancient influences elegantly combine in art at once beautiful and thought-provoking.• Turner Contemporary, Margate CT9, from 29 March until 8 February 2015.

Phyllida BarlowThe British sculptor has created a sprawling, epic jumble of wood and colour that fills a massive area of Tate Britain's central galleries. It complements their exhibition Ruin Lust by looking like a huge piece of apocalyptic urban debris.• Tate Britain, London SW1, from 31 March until 19 October.

Wu Chi-TsungThis Taiwanese artist presents an installation called Dust that traces the shadows of floating dust particles, as well as Crystal City 003, a shadow-play cityscape.• Site Gallery, Sheffield S1 from 4 April until 31 May.

Master Prints Selected by Michael Craig-MartinSome of the best artists of our time, including Richard Serra, Howard Hodgkin and Ed Ruscha, star in this survey of the modern print.• Alan Cristea Gallery, London W1S from 28 March until 2 May.

Wilhelmina Barns-GrahamThe late works of a notable British abstract painter get a well-deserved airing.• Art First, London W1W until 17 May.

Diego Velázquez – Philip IV of Spain in Brown and Silver (c1631-2)

The king's costume is a shimmering marvel of ethereal silver speckled over brown, yet it is oddly subversive in the way it distracts attention from his pasty face. The clothes are more real than the man. Philip IV himself is a weak and fading figure in this painting, which does the job of court portaiture and yet makes the monarch seem a nonentity under the profound, ironic scrutiny of one of the world's most serious artists.• National Gallery, London WC2N.

More than we perhaps wanted to know about Lady Gaga's vomit artist

What the most shocking images from America's race war are

That the British Museum might not buy an artwork at auction because it's got an ancient Assyrian curse

Why hardcore photographer Nan Goldin wanted to get high from such an early age

What Frida Kahlo's life was really like, courtesy of her personal photo albums

The 11 photos that sum up American cool

About Laser Cat, who shoots artworks from his eyes

That Howard Hodgkin said: 'Once I stop painting, start measuring my coffin'

That artists foretold the first world war

Who art's most controversial duos of all time are

That the reclusive art collector who stashed away Nazi loot is returning them to their original owners

That graphic artist Noma Bar has come up with a fun colourful new way to master Chinese

Why Gagosian is the Starbucks of the art world – and the saviour

It's your last chance to share your art about ruins before the new theme is announced

Summary: Jonathan Jones: The queen of hardcore photography bares all about her druggy past, as the queen of vomit art defends her craft – all in your fave weekly dispatch


05/04/2014 at 01:30 PM EDT

A group of teens who stole a Sacramento, California, comic book store's trademark "Flintmobile" in December were punished by being forced to dress up as The Flintstones and promote the store Saturday.

The teenagers were captured on video stealing World's Best Comics and Toys's display Flintstones car last December. However, owner Dave Downey declined to press charges, instead asking the three to dress up as Flintstones characters and work for him on the busiest day of the year: Free Comic Book Day, the first Saturday in May. From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the trio danced and held signs to draw customers into the store's parking lot.

"I'm glad that, instead of having a normal punishment, we can give back to them instead," 17-year-old Bradley, who spent the day dressed as Wilma,

Summary: The trio had stolen a comic book store's life-size "Flintmobile" in December


THE MAGIC SOUP AND OTHER STORIES Puppeteer Brad Shur plays a young man who hunts for a family recipe only to discover that his suddenly enchanted kitchen is alive with characters from the traditional Jewish folk tales he heard in his childhood. Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Puppet Showplace Theatre, Brookline. 617-731-6400, www.puppetshowplace.org

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET William Gardiner portrays Kris Kringle, a department store Santa Claus who insists he is the actual Santa. Featuring real-life married couple Marianna Bassham and Jesse Hinson as Doris Walker and Fred Gailey, and Sydney Newcomb as 8-year-old Susan Walker, the role played by Natalie Wood in the 1946 film version. Directed by Ilyse Robbins. Nov. 29-Dec. 29. Stoneham Theatre. 781-279-2200, www.stonehamtheatre.org

A TUNA CHRISTMAS A sequel to “Greater Tuna,’’ set in the fictional community of Tuna, Texas, where a vandal known as the “Christmas Phantom’’ is disrupting the annual Christmas Yard Display Contest. Also in jeopardy: a production of “A Christmas Carol.’’ And you just can’t have too many of those. Mitch Kyle and Bob Karish, both of Salem, will portray more than 20 characters. Dec. 5-21. Salem Theatre Company, Salem. 866-811-4111, www.salemtheatre.com

IT’S A HORRIBLE LIFE Something tells us this won’t be angelic or wholesome. Call it a hunch. The Frank Capra-Jimmy Stewart holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life’’ gets the satirical-musical Ryan Landry treatment, with direction by James P. Byrne, costumes by the always-resourceful Scott Martino, and sets by Windsor Newton. Dec. 5-22. Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans. At Machine, Boston. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/508879

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Joe Landry’s adaptation of the Frank Capra film takes a play-within-a-play approach, as the cast and crew of a 1940s New York radio show prepare to tell the story of George Bailey, Clarence the angel, and the people of Bedford Falls. Featuring Dan Bolton as George. Cast also includes the stellar likes of Barlow Adamson (as Clarence), Liz Hayes, and Johnny Lee Davenport. Directed by Wendy Lement. Dec. 13-22. Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston. 617-879-2300, www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org

BLACK NATIVITY More than 50 cast members, including children, enact a song-play that blends music, scripture, dance, and the poetry of Langston Hughes to recount the story of the Nativity. Based on the Gospel of St. Luke. Dec. 13-22. Presented by the National Center of Afro-American Artists. Blackman Auditorium, Northeastern University, Boston. 800-514-3849, www.blacknativity.org

THE CHRISTMAS REVELS Informed by Fate that his days are numbered, a character called “Everyman’’ — played by storyteller Jay O’Callahan — sets out on a trip to Finistere, the end of the earth, to be there for the shortest day of the year. An 80-member ensemble performs Spanish and Galician music and dances along with traditional favorites like “The Sussex Mummer’s Carol” and “Lord of the Dance.” Directed by Patrick Swanson. Dec. 13-27. Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge. 617-496-2222, www.revels.org

THE EIGHT: REINDEER MONOLOGUES Jeff Goode’s very dark comedy about the uproar that ensues and the revelations that emerge after one of Santa Claus’s reindeer accuses him of sexual harassment. Directed by Mikey DiLoreto and Lizette M. Morris, who are also in the cast. Dec. 17-22. Happy Medium Theatre. At Factory Theatre, Boston. 617-549-9854, www.brownpapertickets.com/event/516438

A CHRISTMAS CAROL The always-watchable Fred Sullivan Jr. portrays Scrooge in the 37th annual production of this holiday favorite, adapted by Adrian Hall and Richard Cumming from the novella by Charles Dickens. Directed by Tyler Dobrowsky and peppered with musical numbers, it clocks in at an intermission-less 90 minutes. Through Dec. 28. Trinity Repertory Company, Providence. 401-351-4242, www.trinityrep.com

CHRISTMASTIME A cast of 200 is backed by a full orchestra in the 31st production of this song-and-dance-filled holiday show, which features the Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, the Living Nativity, Victorian Christmas, Santa’s Workshop, and the Teddy Bears’ Nutcracker. Dec. 6-15. Reagle Music Theatre, Waltham. 781-891-5600, www.reaglemusictheatre.com

Summary: IT’S A HORRIBLE LIFE Something tells us this won’t be angelic or wholesome. Call it a hunch. The Frank Capra-Jimmy Stewart holiday classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” gets the satirical-musical Ryan Landry treatment, with direction by James P. Byrne, costumes by the always-resourceful Scott Martino, and sets by Windsor Newton. Dec. 5-22. Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans. At Machine, Boston. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/508879  IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE Joe Landry’s adaptation of the Frank Capra film takes a play-within-a-play approach, as the cast and crew of a 1940s New York radio show prepare to tell the story of George Bailey, Clarence the angel, and the people of Bedford Falls. Featuring Dan Bolton as George Bailey. Cast also includes the stellar likes of Barlow Adamson (as Clarence the angel), Liz Hayes, and Johnny Lee Davenport. Directed by Wendy Lement. Dec. 13-22. Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston. 617-879-2300, www.wheelockfamilytheatre.org


The mayor’s first appointment to the Boston Redevelopment Authority board, Theodore Landsmark, was dismissed as president of Boston Architectural College last week, according to people briefed on the matter.

Landsmark, a lawyer who holds three degrees from Yale University and a doctorate from Boston University, is credited with launching programs and helping to expand the college he led for 17 years. But the college’s board of trustees voted to let him go as the school faces mounting challenges.

“We have been facing greater financial challenges and shrinking enrollment, and we felt it was better for the college to seek new leadership to face these challenges,’’ said Marc W. Pelletier, the college’s board chairman.

City Hall officials said Mayor Martin J. Walsh had not been aware of Landsmark’s termination. “This was news to the Mayor today,” spokeswoman Kate Norton said via e-mail late Tuesday. “We learned of this development through contact from the Globe. The Mayor has reached out to Dr. Landsmark directly but they have not been in contact as of yet.”

Landsmark, 68, said his lawyers were negotiating an ongoing role for him at the college.

“It’s a very amiable conversation,” he said.

Pelletier confirmed the college’s decision was made Thursday. On Friday, the school posted a letter from Pelletier on its website, announcing Landsmark was “ending his tenure as president’’ immediately.

Pelletier said the BRA appointment “came as a total surprise to the entire school here.”

In a news release issued earlier Tuesday, Walsh had highlighted Landsmark’s credentials, including his roles on numerous nonprofit boards, such as at the American Architectural Foundation and the New England Foundation for the Arts. In the 1980s and 1990s, he served in Boston city government, working on employment and antiviolence programs.

“Ted has proven to be an insightful leader who possesses a great sense for what goes into building successful cities,” Walsh said in the press release. “His dedication to public service has inspired countless others, and I’m excited by the fresh perspective and ideas he will bring to the board.”

If confirmed by the City Council, Landsmark would fill the sole vacancy on the five-member BRA board. It meets monthly and is responsible for voting on all final agreements at the authority, including planning studies, rezoning initiatives, and project permitting.

Landsmark holds a place in Boston history, as the man being jabbed with an American flag during the antibusing riots in 1976, when he was a young civil rights activist. A Boston Herald-American photo of the episode won the Pulitzer Prize.

In the mayor’s press release, Landsmark said: “I share Mayor Walsh’s priorities for making the BRA more open and accountable, and I am honored by the opportunity to help guide the agency into a new era. I look forward to applying my knowledge of architecture, design, and sound fiscal management in shaping the future of development in our city.”

The college chairman credits Landsmark with leading “the transformation of BAC from a center into an accredited college that today offers eight baccalaureate and master’s degree programs’’ to 900 students. Landsmark also worked to expand online offerings, the letter said, and is a recognized advocate for diversity. He said the board was talking to Landsmark about “playing a future role at BAC.”

Provost Julia Halevy was named acting president.

Summary: The mayor’s first appointment to the Boston Redevelopment Authority board, Theodore Landsmark, was fired as president of Boston Architectural College last Thursday, according to people briefed on his dismissal.


The paralysis that has gripped regional grocery powerhouse Market Basket should be a tremendous windfall for its supermarket rivals — if only they could take advantage of it.

The thousands of loyal Market Basket customers who are now flooding nearby Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Star Market, and Shaw’s supermarkets bring to those stores not just a huge surge in sales but also thorny business and public relations challenges.

“It sounds easy: One of your competitors is imploding, their customers have to buy groceries, how do you attract them? But it’s harder than it sounds,” said Sean Willems, an associate professor at Boston University who studies operations management. “Beyond all the human drama, there is a fascinating business problem here.”

Three of the region’s main supermarkets each acknowledged that business at many of their stores has picked up substantially since July, when Market Basket employees and customers began boycotting the company’s stores to force the rehiring of popular president Arthur T. DeMoulas.

But representatives of Hannaford, Shaw’s/Star Market, and Stop & Shop declined to comment in detail on the Market Basket boycott. Indeed, the chains have either been cautious in their public statements or said little at all.

Analysts said the rival supermarkets have to be careful not to be seen as capitalizing on the controversy.

Moreover, they are limited in making quick changes, such as offering special discounts or new products, because supermarkets typically lock into their current inventory weeks ahead of time.

Their first and foremost problem is logistical: Many of their stores are now mobbed, and they need extra food and staff to keep both their new and existing customers satisfied.

A few supermarkets have barely kept up with the new business from former Market Basket customers. Customers have posted pictures on social media sites showing empty shelves at some stores after the crush of shoppers defecting from Market Basket.

Kevin Griffin, publisher of the Griffin Report on Food Marketing, said the rivals are in a difficult position.

“They’re not coming apart,” Griffin said. “But they can’t get the help, they can’t get the stores stocked fast enough, and it means they can’t service customers how they’d like to.”

The chains said they deployed contingency plans normally used during blizzards or hurricanes, when shoppers make a mad dash to stores to stock up on essentials, and brought in additional supplies and personnel. But that, too, entails some risk, since it is unclear when — or if — the crisis at Market Basket would abate and shopping life would return to normal.

Governor Deval Patrick took part in negotiations Sunday night to help end the DeMoulas standoff, which has crippled Market Basket stores and put thousands of people out of work, according to two people familiar with the matter.

One reason why Market Basket commands such loyalty among shoppers is that the prices are often much lower than at competitors.

Now, unhappy with the prices at rival chains, some Market Basket shoppers are taking to social media to trash the competition, while pining for their neighborhood Market Basket stores.

Online, customers call Hannaford “Can’tAfford,” or post pictures of barren refrigerators they say are empty because of high prices at Stop & Shop or Shaw’s.

Richard Nicolazzo, who runs the Boston public relations and communications firm Nicolazzo & Associates, said the rival supermarkets are wise to not respond to such criticism.

“There has been an amazing and emotional expression of brand loyalty to Market Basket that goes way beyond common sense and reason,” he said.

“I would let it lie. You cannot make sense out of nonsense, and a lot of this is nonsensical.”

Of the major chains, only Shaw’s would respond to the sniping from the Market Basket faithful.

“We’re all feeling the same balance of folks who are appreciative and folks who are upset they can’t shop where they want to shop,” said Shaw’s spokesman Jeffrey Gulko.

Otherwise, cautious is the prevailing tone among Market Basket competitors.

“We have seen many new shoppers in our stores in recent weeks,” Stop & Shop said in a statement. “We hope that these new shoppers continue to shop with us.”

Chief among their fears, analysts theorized, is that a single statement interpreted by Market Basket loyalists as insensitive could bring a stinging backlash.

“There’s been this kind of general theory that it would be improper for a competing supermarket to take out ads that say, ‘Welcome, Market Basket shoppers!’ ” said Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate who runs ConsumerWorld.org . “There’s a worry that people will ask, ‘Whose side on you are on?’ ”

Cutting prices is also a sensitive issue. While the chains said they endeavor to keep prices competitive, they noted that many products are typically priced and ordered long before they appear on shelves.

And without a drastic rewriting of strategy, it would be difficult for a higher-margin supermarket chain to suddenly emulate the discount Market Basket model, which relies on sales volume.

“Our ads and prices are set out weeks in advance,” said Gulko, the Shaw’s spokesman. “No one really knew what kind of impact [the disruption to Market Basket] would have when it started.”

Others, however, questioned whether the competition is in any rush to lower prices. After all, where else would Market Basket shoppers get their groceries?

“You don’t have to lower your prices when you’re the only game in town,” Dworsky said.

Several weeks into the crisis, analysts said, the competitors appear to be holding their own under the circumstances.

And while the nature of grocery shopping means the stores will have multiple chances to try to win over Market Basket shoppers, the companies will be able to bend only so far to please.

“You’re not going to be changing your business model. You’re trying to make temporary accommodations while converting as many people as you can into regular shoppers,” Griffin said.

“You’ve got to win customers one at a time. I’d say the opportunity outweighs the risk, and hopefully you can seize that and make the most of it.”

Summary: For rival supermarket chains, the sudden, self-imposed exile of thousands of shoppers who were once fanatically loyal to Market Basket is an unprecedented chance to grab a bigger slice of the habit-driven grocery segment. But they are at pains not to sound like they are profiting from the misery of others.    Photos by Kayana Szymczak for the Boston Globe Competitors have kept quiet about the Market Basket boycott, wary of alienating customers loyal to the company, some of whom held a rally Saturday. Competitors have kept quiet about the Market Basket boycott, wary of alienating customers loyal to the company, some of whom held a rally Saturday.  Customer Larry Ballard spoke at the rally in support of the ousted Market Basket president. Customer Larry Ballard spoke at the rally in support of the ousted Market Basket president. Photos by Kayana Szymczak for the Boston Globe Competitors have kept quiet about the Market Basket boycott, wary of alienating customers loyal to the company, some of whom held a rally Saturday. Competitors have kept quiet about the Market Basket boycott, wary of alienating customers loyal to the company, some of whom held a rally Saturday.  Customer Larry Ballard spoke at the rally in support of the ousted Market Basket president. Customer Larry Ballard spoke at the rally in support of the ousted Market Basket president.


Christopher Walken as Captain Hook

09/24/2014 AT 06:10 PM EDT

is almost unrecognizable as a pirate!

One of the producers of NBC's upcoming production of

out the first picture of Walken as Captain Hook. Walken's got a nice left hook, too, to go with his fine hat and red plume.

"Wow!!!" Tweeted Neil Meron, who is executive-producing the live production of the classic story with Craig Zadan.

to play the villainous role in the televised production, which will air Dec. 4 on NBC. The Oscar-winning actor started his career in musicals, so the musical will give him "a chance to put on my tap shoes again," he said at the time.

as the boy who won't grow up: She's donning a short wig for the role and taking flying lessons. See below:

Summary: The NBC special airs Dec. 4


FORTUNE — As revelations about the depth and breadth of the NSA’s digital eavesdropping program continue to come to light, Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute is rolling out a new kind of network encryption designed to be virtually un-hackable — not only now, but in the future. The non-profit research and development contractor has installed the first quantum key distribution (QKD) protected network in the U.S. linking its headquarters in Columbus to those in its manufacturing facilities in Dublin, Ohio, some 20 miles away.

Transmission of secure data typically relies on encryption and decryption “keys” generated by sophisticated algorithms and swapped between sender and receiver so encrypted data can be deciphered. These keys are generally considered secure, but their degree of security is highly dependent on how much computing power a third party has at its disposal. High-powered supercomputers can crack many of today’s standard encryptions, and those encryption schemes that aren’t breakable now will become so in the future as the speed and power of supercomputers continue their ever-accelerating uptick.

In other words, even the best standard encryption that’s considered unbreakable today will be vulnerable at some point in the future — likely the near future. That’s one reason agencies like the NSA are building massive server farms in the Utah desert on which to bank encrypted data that they can’t yet decipher. And it’s why Battelle and its partners at Swiss quantum technology outfit ID Quantique are investing heavily in a new encryption scheme that they see as the future of high-value data security.

MORE: Zeroing in on unbreakable computer security

“We’re a contract R&D organization, so we have a lot information we want to protect,” says Don Hayford, a senior research leader at Battelle. “We started looking about three years ago into network security in general, and we could see that things like RSA-1024 [a commonly used 1,024-bit encryption key] has probably been broken, some of the other public-key infrastructure technologies maybe haven’t been broken yet but will soon be broken by bigger, stronger, faster computers. So we weren’t just looking at our security, but at the country in general. What’s going to happen when these things are all falling apart?”

QKD stood out to Battelle’s researchers as the best technically feasible means of generating secure encryption that wasn’t just a solution that works now and that won’t leave data exposed in the future. But QKD also has some drawbacks, including a limited range and potential difficulties in sharing keys. So Battelle turned to ID Quantique, a Geneva-based quantum technology company with extensive experience in quantum communications, to help smooth out those issues.

QKD works by tapping some of quantum physics’ stranger phenomena to make it virtually impossible for a third party to steal an encryption key without sender and receiver being aware. Using a standard encryption algorithm, the sender encrypts the data and transmits it to the receiver. But instead of sending along the key by conventional means, it is encoded into a single photon — the elementary particle of light — which is then placed into a correlated state with a second photon. Physicists call this “entanglement” (Einstein called it “spooky”) and under the laws that govern the quantum world any attempt to observe or measure one photon affects the other correlated photon regardless of whether they are in the same room or on opposite sides of the planet.

The key-encoded photon is then beamed through a standard fiber cable to the receiver who can use the key to decrypt the data. If any third party should somehow be able to get between send and receiver on the network at just the right moment to trap a single photon moving at the speed of light (an unlikely prospect), any attempt by the third party to observe or measure the encoded photon would alert the sender because it would also affect the correlated photon that is still in the sender’s possession. And because the third party can’t surreptitiously copy the key and hold onto it for later, the user doesn’t have to worry about some future supercomputer breaking the code at a later date.

That all sounds a bit complex — and even sci-fi — but the science is readily understood. Its application has grown increasingly practical in recent years, and the technologies necessary to encode and entangle photons have improved and become somewhat less costly. But drawbacks remain, Hayford says; single photons tend to lose their coherence beyond a range of 60 to 120 miles, depending on the quality of the fiber network. And while it’s easy to send a photon from point A to point B, it can be relatively difficult to share keys over networks that require many senders and receivers (like a regional bank with 300 branches that all need to share data with each other, for instance.)

MORE: Can Silicon Valley boot camps get you a $120K job?

For a country as large as the U.S., those limitations present a problem, but that isn’t stopping Battelle and ID Quantique from pressing on. Battelle plans to extend its Ohio network into a ring around Columbus linking the multiple buildings that make up its headquarters. Along with ID Quantique it is developing so-called quantum repeaters that will mitigate the range limitation by periodically receiving and re-transmitting photons as they make their journey across the network, like signal boosters on a standard optical network.

Those quantum repeaters should be ready by 2015, when Battelle plans to link its Ohio HQ to its facilities in Washington, D.C. across a secure quantum network stretching more than 400 miles. That long-distance quantum network will be the first step in making QKD truly feasible across the larger U.S., Hayford says, and could mark the nascent beginnings of a nationwide rollout of truly secure network technology.

“I don’t know that everyone will [adopt QKD], but I do think that companies and organizations that have very high-value data will,” Hayford says. “If it’s short-term data or low-value data, then who cares? But if it’s data that you want to protect for years, this makes a lot sense. I think you’ll see this distributed across the country to protect that high-value, long-duration data. We think this is the future.

Summary: The first quantum key distribution network in the United States promises un-hackable data security.


Updated OCT 15, 2014 9:17p ET

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona Wildcats players and coach Rich Rodriguez have rallied around kicker Casey Skowron in the wake of social media rants and threats against him.

Skowron missed a 36-yard field goal in the final seconds of a 28-26 loss to USC on Saturday, as Arizona suffered its first loss of the season.

In the immediate aftermath, several fans took to social media to thrash the walk-on kicker. One said: "i hope your entire family dies of cancer you (expletive)." Another added: "I hope you get ebola."

"It's never down to one (play)," Rodriguez said Tuesday night after the Wildcats' first practice since the loss at Arizona Stadium. "It's crazy for somebody to take it overboard."

He added that he's "glad people care. It's better than apathy, I guess."

Skowron was not made available to the media on Tuesday, but did take to Twitter after practice:

Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne tweeted after the game:

Arizona quarterback Anu Solomon, like many teammates, have voiced their support for Skowron, saying one play wasn't the issue. About 50 seconds of game time before the field goal miss, the Wildcats failed on a game-tying two-point conversion on a handoff to Jared Baker. Solomon probably had a better play if he made a different read and kept the ball.

"I partake in the blame, partially my fault for not scoring and not finishing our drives," Solomon said. "Even on that two-point conversion. Would have, could have, should have. You just gotta learn from it."

Skowron, a junior, had made 11 of 13 field goal attempts heading into the USC game, but was just 2 of 5 vs. USC.

Rodriguez said his players deserve better than what Skowron got on social media.

"Don't be ridiculous about it," he said to those who posted negative comments.

Then Rodriguez offered up a challenge, maybe even a free education.

"If you think you can do better," he said, "and you have you college eligibility left and are a good enough student to get into U of A, please come out and we will try you out."

And by the way, yes, he said, Skowron will still be Arizona's kicker when the team plays at Washington State on Oct. 25.

Follow Steve Rivera on Twitter

Summary: Casey Skowron takes to Twitter to make first public comments since missing a late 36-yard field goal against USC on Saturday.


FORTUNE — It’s no surprise that the most retweeted tweet of all time was Ellen DeGeneres’s celebrity-studded photo from this year’s Academy Awards ceremony, with 871,000 retweets in less than an hour. Before that social experiment, U.S. president Barack Obama held the record with his 2012 election victory tweet, which notched more than 780,000 retweets. The pattern, of course, is an extremely shareable image.

Which is why it makes sense for Twitter to roll out new features allowing users to post up to four photos and tag up to 10 people while still allowing a full, 140-character tweet. Twitter isn’t new to photos, but the more robust new functionality, announced Wednesday, underscores the microblogging company’s concession to move beyond its pithy, conversational structure and experiment with images, which have captivated social media companies (from Snapchat to Secret) as of late.

Recent rumors have stirred chatter of Twitter ditching its signature @ symbol and hashtags. The company’s head of news partnerships, Vivian Schiller, added to the speculation when she pointed to the antiquated tagging system and described the possibility of “moving the scaffolding of Twitter into the background.”

The new photo functionality is designed to simplify tweets by losing the “@username” tagging system and instead allowing people to tag friends directly in photos, much like Facebook. The new format not only makes the interface more graphically engaging but also may resolve the long-standing issue of user retention, luring people back into using the service if they’ve been tagged.

MORE: 5 social media skills millennials lack

With heightened competition in the mobile market, making the platform more user-friendly is a key step for Twitter, according to Debra Aho Williamson, a principal analyst at research firm eMarketer.

“Some of the things like @ symbols, hashtags, and the shortened hyperlinks look like nonsense to some people,” Williamson says. “All those things work against Twitter’s efforts to get more people on the service.”

An estimated 35 million Americans used the Facebook-owned, photo-sharing service Instagram last year — 16.1% of total Internet users — compared to the 43.2 million, or 17.6% of, U.S. consumers that used Twitter, eMarketer found. Limit that figure to smartphones and Twitter hit just 30.8 million in 2013.

The eight-year-old company has struggled with growth in the U.S., adding just 9 million monthly active users, or a 4% quarterly increase, in the last quarter of 2013, according to the company’s latest earnings report. Twopcharts, a website that focuses on Twitter account activity, reportedly found that only 11% of users who joined Twitter in 2012 are still active. Following a successful IPO last year, investors remain concerned about Twitter’s ability to grow its user base.

MORE: Is rumr the next big anonymous app?

“Twitter has always had a bit of an issue with getting their engagement up,” Ryan Holmes, CEO of social media dashboard Hootsuite, says. ”It’s well-known that photo tagging on Facebook really enabled content that was created to engage and to pull more people in real time back into usage.”

That’s a concept Facebook has embedded in its brand. After acquiring Instagram in 2012, the social media giant launched Paper, an interactive, image-focused sharing application for mobile devices. Most recently, Facebook updated its News Feed to accommodate bolder and larger images. David Serfaty, head of social advertising for Matomy Media Group, points out that even Facebook News Feed ads containing larger images are given more priority by algorithms in the redesign.

“Engagement levels are higher whether it’s with advertising or user-generated content,” Serfaty says. “Facebook figured this out pretty much when it decided to acquire Instagram, and Twitter is trying to make up some ground.”

Perhaps Twitter is playing catch-up, but the company has had to prioritize. After building an advertising model, growing the API side, and taking the company public, the timing is just right, Holmes says.

MORE: Weibo: China’s Twitter files to go public

“Twitter is headlines, followed with links that often take you deeper into what the bigger story is,” he says. “Couple that with images, and I think that’s amazing not just for individuals with brands but also with advertising specs.”

Indeed, Twitter’s advertising rates on website and mobile apps decreased 18% in the last quarter of 2013, according to the company’s latest annual report. Displaying more ads to more users will be an important component in generating revenue. But the move also indicates Twitter’s increasing shift to the mobile market, which generates 75% of its advertising revenue.

“It’s really symptomatic to the move to mobile across the industry,” Serfaty says. “Where you’ve got mobile, you’ve got image-sharing.”

But can Twitter maintain the distinct conversational form and real-time news consumption that it built itself upon without drowning it in yet another feed of photos? Recounting the 2009 image of the U.S. Airways plane that successfully landed in the Hudson River, Williamson contends the new features will only bolster Twitter’s integral role in real-time sharing.

“A picture can really create an indelible image in your mind that you don’t forget as you might forget words,” she says. “Images speak 1,000 words — and that’s true in all mediums.”

Summary: Twitter's new features allowing users to post multiple photos and tag people in a single tweet go beyond the service's signature 140-character simplicity in an attempt to boost engagement. Is that a good thing?


Updated NOV 03, 2014 12:08a ET

WASHINGTON -- Shane Doan scored twice, and the Arizona Coyotes salvaged at least something from their road trip, snapping a three-game skid with a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the mistake-prone Washington Capitals on Sunday night.

The Coyotes trailed 3-1 after the first period, but power-play goals by Michael Stone and Doan tied it in the second before Sam Gagner and Doan capitalized on sloppy turnovers early in the third. Doan's second goal came after Washington's Alex Ovechkin -- who earlier broke a six-game goal drought -- completely whiffed trying to control the puck near the side boards in the Capitals' end.

Antoine Vermette tallied in the first period, and Tobias Rieder added his first NHL goal late in the third for the Coyotes, who had been outscored 12-4 in the first three games of their trip.

Mikkel Boedker assisted on both third-period goals, ending his streak of seven games without a point, and Devan Dubnyk made 32 saves.

Ovechkin and the mistake-prone Washington Capitals were embarrassed by the travel-weary Coyotes, prompting coach Barry Trotz to keep the locker room doors closed for a few extra minutes after the loss to deliver a grim message to his players.

"Behavior has to change," Trotz said. "Or we have to change people, plain and simple."

The Capitals' collective misbehavior allowed Washington to blow a two-goal, first-period lead by allowing five straight goals to a team that could have been forgiven for having one foot on the plane headed home.

The Coyotes, wrapping up a four-game road trip, had been outscored 12-4 in the first three games.

But there was breakdown after breakdown by the home team, and Ovechkin was often in the middle of it. He broke a six-game goal drought and had three assists, but he committed a crucial penalty that led to the Coyotes' tying goal in the second period and had a sloppy turnover that gave Arizona another score in the third.

He hasn't been the only culprit, for sure. The Capitals have lost four straight and allowed at least four goals each time.

"Sometimes I get the feeling we want to play as hard as we just need to, and that's not how I operate," said Trotz, who is in his first season with Washington. "That's not how you win in this league.

"It's an old story -- already. It's too old for me."

Trotz was particularly upset by a sequence in the final minute of the second period. A needless icing forced him to take a timeout because his skaters were tired. Then came a high-sticking penalty on Ovechkin, although the call appeared to be a bit dubious. Shane Doan scored on the ensuing power play with 5 seconds left in the period to tie it at 3.

"The commitment level has to be a little better than it is now in a lot of different areas," defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "We have guys making mistakes that experienced guys shouldn't make.

"Right now one guy makes a mistake and everybody else kind of watches it happen."

Trailing 3-1 after the first period, the Coyotes rallied with power-play goals by Michael Stone and Doan in the second before Sam Gagner and Doan capitalized on sloppy turnovers early in the third. Doan's second goal came after Ovechkin completely whiffed trying to control the puck near the side boards in the Capitals end.

"We wanted to end the trip on a good note," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "Things hadn't gone our way."

The Capitals managed to put together their own rally late after pulling goalie Justin Peters for an extra skater. Joel Ward scored on a power play with 1:53 remaining, and Troy Brower cut the deficit to one with 27 seconds remaining, but it wasn't enough.

Peters, getting his third start of the season ahead of Braden Holtby, stopped just 24 of 30 shots.

NOTES: Ovechkin ended his drought with a classic Ovechkin goal -- a one-timer from the left circle during a power play late in the first period. His six games without a goal had been his longest such streak since November 2011. His four points moved him into a tie with Peter Bondra (825) atop the franchise's career points list. ... Backstrom passed Dale Hunter (375) for fourth place on Washington's career assists list. ... The Coyotes won for the first time in six road games this season.

Summary: Doan, Coyotes snap 3-game skid, beat Capitals 6-5.


After a year of losses, the exodus of investors from hedge funds hasn’t been as great as many expected. In the case of Eric Mindich’s $12 billion Eton Park Capital Management — which fell about 11% last year — that’s because try as they might, investors still have a hard time taking their money out.

Hedge funds loosened their terms after the carnage of 2008 alerted investors to the fact that funds weren’t required to return the investors’ cash just because they wanted it back. But Eton Park’s terms remain among the most onerous in the hedge fund world. And since its investors have hardly made a dime over the past three years, some are starting to bail. Net redemptions last year reached about 5% of fund assets, or around $700 million.

Mindich’s claim to fame is being the youngest person, at age 27, to make partner at Goldman Sachs GS in 1994. When he left to launch a hedge fund in 2004, the fever to invest with the wunderkind was so great that Mindich raised a record $3.5 billion despite insisting on one of the most stringent lockups on record.

Investors in a certain share class had to agree to keep the money in Eton Park for a minimum of 27 months, and it would take them another two years to get out, as they could only redeem one-third in any given year — what’s called a rolling three-year lockup. If the investor missed the window of opportunity after the initial 27 months, he couldn’t try again for another 27. He also had to let Eton Park know 65 days ahead of time of his desire to exit the fund, and then would only receive his cash 30 days after the redemption date. The only way to get around these terms would be to pay a 6% early-exit penalty to the fund. And that wasn’t all: Eton Park also reserved the right to place up to 30% of the fund in side pockets; that money would be stuck there as long as the firm wanted.

The terms were egregious, but Mindich could demand them, and so he did. Such was the golden era for would-be hedge fund titans.

Cliff Asness: A hedge fund genius goes retail

These days, Eton Park’s lockup provisions look extreme, says Leon Mirochnik, research analyst with Trim Tabs, who thinks last year’s hedge fund redemptions weren’t as high as expected, in part, because lockups still exist at many of the more prestigious funds. One is hard-pressed to find one with terms as tough as Eton Park’s, especially given that the fund is largely invested in easily-marketable securities, not illiquid or private equity investments.

Mindich declined to comment. His spokesperson said fund’s terms are consistent with its long-term investment program.

As a result, Mindich’s Goldman patina is wearing thin, as is the patience of his investors. As of last July, Eton Park was the 20th largest U.S. hedge fund and managed $14 billion, according to the AR Billion Dollar Club. Much of the decline since then is due to poor performance. But Eton Park has also been raising money, which has kept the net outflows to about $700 million as of the end of December, according to an individual familiar with the firm.

“We are redeeming as much as we can and as fast as we can,” says one investor who invested in Eton Park in 2008. To those who signed on that year, Eton Park looked like a winner. In 2007 Mindich had his best year ever, gaining an estimated 35% to 40% based on the subprime shorts that drove returns for folks like John Paulson and Kyle Bass. Then in 2008, the year of the market’s freefall, Mindich impressed investors by losing a lot less than others: between 10% and 11%, depending on the share class.

The best and worst of Wall Street 2011: Hedge Funds

Eton Park raised about $2 billion in 2008, but all those investors have just about broken even, after paying fees. The end of 2011 marks the end of a three-stretch of lousy performance and bad market timing by Eton Park. Not only did it lose 11% last year — far more than the average 5% among hedge funds and way below the S&P 500’s break-even performance — the loss followed two dismal years. Mindich was bearish for much of 2009, so he missed the great rally, ending the year with a gain of an estimated 5%. He chalked up about 9% in 2010, but last year his bullishness led him to load up on financial stocks, which tanked.

Notably, he did worse than many of the funds whose founders also hailed from Goldman’s risk-arbitrage desk. Dan Och’s master fund was down .58%, Richard Perry’s Perry Capital International declined 7.57%, and Frank Brosen’s Taconic Capital event-driven fund fell 2.7%. Since inception in 2004, Eton Park has gained a little more than 7%, net of performance fees.

In 2010, Mindich tried to entertain investors by channeling his inner star with a mock interview between himself and Charlie Rose at the annual investor meeting. More noteworthy to investors, however, was his decision to trim the lockup period to 13 months, with the three-year rolling lock — but only for brand new investors. The firm also introduced what it calls a “look back” period, which allows investors to change their mind and decide to take their money out 60 days after the required notice period. There’s a catch: Instead of taking out a third of the capital at that time, they can only take out a sixth.

Like many of the funds run by ex-Goldman partners, Eton Park is renowned for its solid infrastructure, designed to attract institutional money. That’s the kind of sticky money all hedge funds have been courting since 2008. It seems to be working. Last year, the industry ended November with $60.3 billion more in its coffers, despite the average 5% performance loss for the year, according to Trim Tabs. The net increase came entirely from direct investments, largely from pension funds, which plowed $69.7 billion into hedge funds through November. Such investors are notoriously slow to change investment allocations, and that might just be Eric Mindich’s salvation.

Summary: Eric Mindich had investors clamoring when he launched his hedge fund Eton Park in 2004. Now they want their money back, and they’re finding it hard to get out.


Fewer Americans are expected to scoop up Thanksgiving weekend deals this year compared with 2013, signaling more consumers are pinning their hopes on better deals that could come later in the holiday shopping season.

Americans spend more than $50 billion in sales during the Thanksgiving weekend, and competition has become stiff as consumers have had greater access to match prices offered at brick-and-mortar stores and online rivals. A number of retailers have responded by opening on Thanksgiving itself, when they realized they were losing out on precious sales as consumers took to their computers to shop after their Thanksgiving feasts.

But all of those efforts, as well as the famed “door busters” that generate headlines every year, could be falling on deaf ears.

A preliminary survey conducted on behalf of the National Retail Federation found that 140.1 million shoppers say they will or may shop at some point between Thursday to Sunday over Thanksgiving weekend. Those expectations are similar, albeit somewhat lower, than last year’s preliminary survey result of 140.3 million.

“We could witness a sea change this holiday season as consumers’ reliance on extremely deep discounts over the biggest shopping weekend of the year shifts to more of a ‘wait-and-see’ mentality around what retailers will be offering on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

The slight decline in Black Friday interest is a tad troublesome as retailers are in a pretty prime position this year. The economy has been growing, stocks are performing well and the nation’s employers have been adding more jobs. Gas prices are falling, a trend some retail executives have said could inspire greater spending, though food prices have risen and are eating a great chunk of consumer discretionary spending.

Online purveyors like Amazon.com AMZN appear well poised for the upcoming holiday season. Online sales are expected to rise between 8% to 11% in November and December this year, according to Shop.org forecasts.

NRF has said it is important for retailers to perform well this holiday season, especially after a volatile first half of the year due to some poor winter weather and a lackluster summer.

“The lagging economic recovery, though improving, is still top of mind for many Americans,” Shay said in a recent statement.

Summary: Decline suggests consumers are pinning their hopes on better deals that could come later in the holiday shopping season.


Undoubtedly, as an entrepreneur, you’re going to get a lot of advice from a multitude of sources—friends, partners, mentors, and investors—about what it takes to run a business. Some of it will be useful and some of it won’t. Knowing who and what to listen to can be tricky not to mention overwhelming. I experienced this confusion firsthand while founding OpenTable, and I see how it affects the entrepreneurs I mentor today. So here’s my best advice for navigating the information tug of war that inevitably happens when you start a business.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint

The goal is to increase your chances of success. Being an entrepreneur is hard. It takes sacrifice. There are no overnight successes (well, maybe one or two), but for most successes out there, the real backstory is much more tumultuous. Success is almost never linear. Sometimes there are ups and downs, rights and lefts, forwards and backwards. OpenTable OPEN took 11 years to go public. The goal is to take one or two steps forward every day, with the understanding that there will be setbacks. My favorite analogy is comparing entrepreneurship to mountain climbing in Antarctica. Successful climbers don’t dwell on the peak; they focus on the next 20 feet, and then the next, and then the next. Building a business takes time. You need to be able to weather the storms and take advantage of serendipity.

There’s no such thing as an expert

Listen to what mentors have to say, but remember that you are the only one building this business at this particular point in time. No example before you is an exact replica of your business. And just because something worked in the past, or didn’t work in the past, doesn’t mean that it will or won’t now. I don’t believe in experts. The idea that anyone (including me) is an expert is silly. There are people that know more than others about a particular topic, but often times the mentors you will encounter have a worldview that fits a particular time and business in history. But once things change, their view, which used to be insightful, will likely be obsolete. To me, many “experts” are a product of a time. With that said, there’s obviously things you can learn from mentors, but their word is not gospel.

Don’t be a ping pong ball

Be open to feedback. Learn, but don’t be a ping pong ball. I prefer to work with entrepreneurs that have what I consider humble confidence. I like entrepreneurs that are somewhat self-effacing. They take feedback well and realize that while they are smart, they can’t do it alone. (And that some luck plays into everything.) With that said, entrepreneurs must evoke confidence. Again, they take feedback well but don’t bounce around on ideas. They have a point of view and they own. It’s their unique take on the world, and they are building their business around it.

Get out of the building

Always be action-oriented. Building a business isn’t about sitting around a white board and hypothesizing about what customers might want and how to grow your business. It’s about getting “out of the building” and interacting with customers. What do your customers actually want? How should you sell to them? If the problem or pain is big enough, they will buy an imperfect product. So get to a minimum viable product ASAP and find out who will pay and how much they will pay. Get your product into the wild and learn from your customers.

I say this so often that one of Impact Engine’s portfolio companies made me a shirt with this slogan on it. I like startups that are extremely focused on a single revenue model, a single customer segment, and a single solution, to start. Once you’re bigger, you can divert resources to more than one initiative, but in the beginning, it should be all about figuring out your revenue model and growth model. How do you make money: revenue model. How do you scale that money: growth model. I’ve seen several startups fail because they are trying to scale multiple sales models to multiple customer types.

Get as many “at bats” as possible. Most entrepreneurial efforts fail. And most of your ideas will also fail. The best way to increase your chances of success is to be alive as long as possible. The best way to do that is to be frugal. Benjamin Franklin talked about being frugal and industrious. So be wise with your money, but not in a way that suffocates growth. The longer you can stretch your runway, the more chances you have at bat. And hopefully one of those chances leads to a hit. My friend and entrepreneur Chris Gladwin says it so well, “to be in business you have to be in business.” Once you have the revenue model and growth model figured out and there is arbitrage in the business, then you can invest aggressively. Businesses have a natural rate of growth that capital can help accelerate, but at some point the marginal capital is wasted and inefficient.

Balance lean startup methodologies with being unreasonable. You have to be unbiased about your business. Do you really see it working? In orienteering, they call it “bending the map.” When you come upon a hill during a hike, you mark it with your compass to find it later. But when you try to find it on the map you get disoriented, and you trick yourself into believing that the hill you see on the map is also the hill you see in front of you. But deep down, you know that it’s not. Entrepreneurs can get caught in that trap as well. They know something isn’t right but they fool themselves into believing things are working. While you shouldn’t give up on your dreams, you need to be incredibly honest with the results you are seeing and adjust accordingly.

Think about the Adoption Curve (innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards). Look for the innovators in your space as the first (and possibly) most valuable customers. If their pain is big enough, they will take a suboptimal product, because for them, the problem is so painful that they need a solution immediately. They will be open and happy (for the short-term) with an MVP. They will also give you the benefit of the doubt as you continue to build out the product and bring on more (early adopters and early majority) customers. If you can’t find any innovators or early adopters that will use your MVP, then you are probably not solving a real problem.

Luck is always involved in entrepreneurship. No matter how hard you work, there will be some (good and bad) luck in it. Yes, luck favors the prepared and it is not all about luck. But when it comes along, recognize it and take advantage of it. And when you have bad luck, don’t feel sorry for yourself. Embrace it and get back out there. There will be setbacks. The only question is: how will you respond? Will you sulk and think “why me?” or will you bounce back and find a way to persevere? And remember, luck goes both ways. So if something happens in your favor, be thankful and embrace it. And don’t pat your back too hard or you may bruise yourself.

The buck stops with you

This is your company. Mentors and investors are here to help, but ultimately it is your business. If you want or need something, don’t be afraid to ask your supporters for help. But remember, the buck stops with you.

Chuck Templeton is the founder of OpenTable. Templeton is currently the Chairman of Impact Engine, a startup accelerator helping for-profit businesses address societal and environmental problems.

Summary: Starting a business is like mountain climbing in Antarctica — successful climbers focus on the next 20 feet, not the peak, says Chuck Templeton, founder of OpenTable.


12/29/2014 AT 04:15 PM EST

is almost upon us – to add fuel to your fire burning as bright as Peggy Carter's perfect red lip, check out an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek at the new series.

takes place in 1946, following the events of 2011's

While performing administrative work for the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy's secret missions courtesy of Howard Stark (

) place her in the kind of action-packed danger that sometimes requires blonde wigs, an American accent, and dagger eyes aimed at drunken men who ask her to dance.

Hayley Atwell (as Agent Peggy Carter) in Agent Carter

"She has an intelligence about her and a skill set that's very impressive," says Atwell, "and yet we get to see the emotional and psychological cost of her character, of someone who's having to live a double life."

In the clip, we see a hint of the marginalization Peggy suffers. An officer of the British Armed Forces, Peggy doesn't receive the respect she deserves in America due to her status as a person strange men think they can call "darling" – to which she answers, with steel, that her name is "Agent."

's two-hour series premiere kicks off on Jan. 6 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Summary: Actress Hayley Atwell breaks down the first season of Agent Carter


Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe in Outlander

01/08/2015 AT 12:00 PM EST

, Black Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies) had Claire (Balfe) at his mercy. Jamie (Sam Heughan) stormed Jack's fort to rescue his betrothed, but things looked dire for our heroes. Would they be reunited?

Looks like the answer is a resounding

. Check out exclusive image below, which sees Claire playing little spoon to one hunky redhead.

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe on Outlander

Those two sure seem to be enjoying

The second half of season 1 will see Jamie and Claire's romance evolve, according to a

"Jamie and Claire's relationship really blossoms," Heughan, 34, says in the video.

"You're going to love seeing the fruition of that," adds Balfe, 35.

? You won't have to wait long. The new trailer debuts on Friday and

returns April 4 on Starz.

Summary: Caitriona Balfe is one lucky girl


A key gauge of U.S. consumer spending unexpectedly fell in December as demand fell almost across the board, but that is probably not the start of a weak trend given lower gasoline prices and a firming labor market.

The Commerce Department said on Wednesday retail sales — excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services — fell 0.4% last month month after a 0.6% rise in November.

The so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Economists polled by Reuters had expected core retail sales to rise 0.4% last month.

December’s surprise decline could temper expectations that consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, accelerated sharply in the fourth quarter.

But with the labor market strengthening and gasoline prices continuing to fall, December’s decline in core retail sales will likely be temporary.

Indeed, the latest data show U.S. retail and food service sales leapt 4% in 2014, as an improving economy and job gains led more shoppers to open up their wallets to buy automobiles and furnishings to spruce up their homes.

The jump in retail sales was led by a strong 8.1% jump in sales of motor vehicle and parts sold by auto dealers, according to the Commerce Department report. Some top auto maker executives have already predicted sales will continue to climb in 2015.

Sales tied to the home were also strong: building material and garden equipment sales were up 5%, while furniture and home furnishing store sales leapt 3%. Housing prices have been climbing of late, albeit at a slower pace than in 2013, and home-improvement retail executives have said that when home prices appreciate, consumers are more willing to spend money for that new roof or refrigerator that they’ve been eyeing.

All pockets of the retail sector reported year-over-year gains with one notable exception: Gasoline stations sales were down 2.7% year-on-year.

Summary: December's decline likely not the start of a weak trend, given lower gasoline prices and a firming labor market.


Another day, another “topping-off” ceremony for a new development project in the Fenway.

At an event Thursday morning, Boston-based developers the Abbey Group raised a ceremonial final beam at the traditional “topping-off” event for the Viridian, which the Abbey Group bills as a “gateway to Boston’s Fenway neighborhood.”

(On Wednesday, a similar ceremony was held for the nearby Van Ness, the Samuel and Associates project that will include housing, office space, and a Target discount store.)

Located at 1282 Boylston St., the Viridian will feature 342 rental apartments, including 38 affordable apartments; 295 underground parking spaces; and 10,000 square feet of ground-level retail space, the Abbey Group said.

The Viridian is scheduled to open in April. Thursday’s ceremony marked “a milestone in the continuing transformation of the Fenway neighborhood into a vibrant ‘urban village,’” the Abbey Group said.

In a statement, Abbey Group president David Epstein added, “With its convenient location, access to the Longwood Medical Area, active social scene, and many dining and entertainment options, the Fenway is quickly becoming one of the premier residential destinations in the city of Boston.”

Other recent developments by the Abbey Group include 45 Province, a high-rise luxury condo tower in Boston. Abbey Group chief executive Robert Epstein is also a managing partner of the Boston Celtics.

Summary: The Abbey Group raised a ceremonial final beam at the traditional “topping-off” event for the Viridian, a Fenway apartment building set to open in April.