Link Between ADHD and Crime?

May 17th, 2012

By Rick Nauert PhD Senior News EditorReviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on November 8, 2010

A UK psychologist believes untreated ADHD is a significant underlying cause of crime.

Dr. Susan Young, at Broadmoor Hospital, shares her beliefs in a paper in which she explores the connection between ADHD and criminal activity.

Young believes early intervention can reduce crime and actually divert youths from a criminal path.

The paper, co-written by Emily Goodwin, King’s College London and Institute of Psychiatry, was published in the Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, an international journal on drugs and medicines in clinical neurology and neuropsychiatry.

Young said, “Failure to recognize and treat ADHD offenders is likely to have serious consequences for mental health and social outcomes.

“The high rates of ADHD among this group, the consumption and costs of the resources they incur, mean that it is not a condition we can afford to ignore. Given that ADHD is a treatable condition with interventions available that are used to effectively treat ADHD symptoms and related behavioral problems in the general population, the enormity of this problem and its associated costs are too great to bear.”

Source: West London Mental Health NHS Trust

<a href="http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/05/16/looks-matter-most-when-trusting-people-with-money/38730.htmltag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/05/16/looks-matter-most-when-trusting-people-with-money/38730.htmlThu, 17 May 2012 01:25:55 GMT”>Link Between ADHD and Crime?

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Lenddo Locks Up $8M To Loan Money To Emerging Middle Class

May 16th, 2012

By Deborah Gage

Driver licenses, credit cards and other forms of permanent identity are taken for granted in the developed world, and they are essential to getting a loan.

Reuters

Yet there are billions of people who don’t have official identities, even though they may live in countries with rapidly growing economies and a growing middle class.

Enter Lenddo, which has raised $8 million in Series A funding to provide loans to these people, enabling them to use their online identities on social networks to show how credible they are.

Investors include Facebook-backer Accel Partners, Blumberg Capital, Omidyar Network, iNovia Capital and Metamorphic Ventures. Not all the money came in at once–co-founder and Chief Executive Jeff Stewart said the company is financed through an open instrument and uses rolling closes to avoid the distractions of having to raise money at certain times.

The company targets what Stewart called the global emerging middle class, which he estimates at 1.2 billion people, allowing applicants to use their online communities and their online reputations–their social graphs on Facebook and other social networks–to qualify for loans to improve their lives.

“to a typical financial institution, these people are completely unknown, but to their communities they’re very known,” Stewart said. “…You tend to be friends online with people who are actually your friends.”

Stewart said he and his co-founder, Richard Eldridge, got the idea for Lenddo two years ago after they noticed that people in the Philippines at a previous project they were working on had trouble getting loans, even though they were hard workers and had gone to the best schools.

They also noticed that people who borrowed small amounts of money to lift themselves out of poverty, in a technique known as microfinance, nearly always paid the loans back–the payback rate was 98%.

Figuring that borrowers would pay back loans if they had something at stake because they were known in their communities, the two created a software platform that uses algorithms to predict applicants’ trustworthiness even when they don’t have access to credit scores and other modern financial instruments.

People who say they are architects, for instance, are likely to have friends who are architects, Stewart said, and people who say they are trustworthy are likely to have trustworthy friends.

Community members can vouch for each other, and loans must be taken for the purposes of life improvement–borrowers have sought to move closer to a job, sent relatives to school and helped their families with medical treatments. Loans taken just to build up savings are discouraged.

Lenddo is now operating in the Philippines and in Colombia and has identified 35 countries where people are heavy users of Facebook and are joining the middle class.

Stewart declined to give statistics on how much lending the company has done or other details about the company’s service other than to say that it sets up or partners with local lending companies, which pay fees for originating and administering the loans, and aims to be cheaper than the local options—one option in the Philippines, for instance, is to borrow $5 on Monday and pay back $6 on Friday.

He also said that the social graph being developed because of LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter is going to change a lot of industries, “and financial services is a big one.”

Other investors in Lenddo include Geoff Judge, David Kidder, Scott Heiferman and Barry Silbert. As part of the new funding, iNovia Partner John Elton and Blumberg Managing Director Bruce Taragin will join Lenddo’s board.

-By Deborah Gage, 415-439-6653, deborah.gage@dowjones.com, Twitter @deborahgage

<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2012/05/15/lenddo-locks-up-8m-to-loan-money-to-emerging-middle-class/?mod=google_news_blogtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2012/05/15/lenddo-locks-up-8m-to-loan-money-to-emerging-middle-class/?mod=google_news_blogTue, 15 May 2012 21:19:38 GMT”>Lenddo Locks Up $8M To Loan Money To Emerging Middle Class

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LAWA board criticizes plan to better market LA/Ontario International Airport

May 16th, 2012

A marketing plan that was supposed to address the steep decline in passenger traffic at LA/Ontario International Airport was criticized by Los Angeles World Airports’ governing body Monday.

Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, a seven-member civilian board that governs LAWA airports – such as ONT – and staff, including a longtime airline industry expert, discussed marketing strategies that could turn things around at the struggling airport.

But a proposal, which looked at rebranding ONT as a high-end facility, was met with criticism from the commission.

After more than an hour discussing the plan, the board directed staff to continue to research marketing strategies for ONT and come back with a report.

“If we want Ontario airport to thrive or grow at a faster rate than the economy would allow it then we have to do something unusual,” explained Edward Shelswell White, who has been tasked with addressing the marketing situation at ONT.

White, who is a senior director of market strategy and performance with The Aloft Group, has been in the airline industry for more than two decades with expertise in rebranding and commercial service.

Among White’s suggestion was that ONT offer valet parking and VIP amenities to attract more customers and airlines.

“Ontario has a weak brand in the minds of customers and airlines,” White told the board.

But commissioners quickly questioned the direction, citing the fact that Inland Empire has been hit hard by the recession. In addition, LAWA staff has long cited the economy as one of the reasons for the downturn in air travel out of ONT.

Monday’s discussion was in response to a request made by the commission in late December after the departure of a LAWA employee who handled the marketing for medium-hub facility.

During the discussions, Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of LAWA, told the board that they were seeking its endorsement as well as guidance on further direction on the marketing proposal.

“We can’t guarantee success but at least we can better position Ontario to capitalize on its strengths when the market does bounce back,” she said at the start of the meeting.

Ontario officials – who are fighting to regain control of ONT – say the airport has been hemorrhaging passengers at the expense of its operator, which has neglected to market the medium-hub facility to airlines.

The marketing of the airport has been a sticking point for city of Ontario officials who have been involved in a multi-year dispute with LAWA over the control of the facility.

LAWA officials have said ONT’s situation is not unique, with 30 other medium-hub airports in the United States experiencing similar declines.

Echoing statements made in the past from LAWA staff, White acknowledged that passenger traffic at ONT would not improve any time soon.

He offered the board three objectives that could improve the situation at ONT: broaden the customer base to increase the demand, improve airline financial performance and improve airlines revenues.

But the board of commissioners criticized White’s plan calling it vague.

Commissioner Valerie Velasco, suggested that staff to look at the frequency of flights offered as well as the costs between ONT and LAX

Velasco, who has relatives who live in Claremont and Redlands, said they often pass up flying out of ONT because it is not convenient or affordable.

The board also asked White and LAWA to do more research on the driving factors affecting ONT.

Reach Liset via email, call her at 909-483-8556, or find her on Twitter @DBOntarioNow.

<a href="http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_20569129/aviation-expert-says-ont-needs-stronger-brand?source=most_viewedtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_20569129/aviation-expert-says-ont-needs-stronger-brand?source=most_viewedTue, 08 May 2012 06:58:20 GMT”>LAWA board criticizes plan to better market LA/Ontario International Airport

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Groupon Earnings Call Insights: Marketing Leverage and New Subscribers

May 15th, 2012

On Monday, Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) reported its first quarter earnings and discussed the following topics in its earnings conference call. Here’s what the C-suite revealed.

Marketing Leverage

Ralph Schackart – William Blair: I was wondering if you could provide some more color on the marketing leverage that you had in the quarter in terms of efficiencies, I think you added about 1 million plus more customers than we (indiscernible) model was a 25 decrease in the spend. Was there primarily a shift from customer marketing away from subscriber acquisitions, just hoping for some more color on that?

Andrew Mason – CEO: We’ve continued to gain marketing leverage as a result of investments in technology and deeper analytics to better understand how to efficiently deploy our marketing spend. some of the results have come from a shift towards transactional marketing, but it’s still the early days there and we think there is a lot of headroom remaining.

A Closer Look: Groupon Earnings Cheat Sheet>>

Ralph Schackart – William Blair: One more Andrew if I could. What was driving the strong revenue acceleration North America in the quarter, it was up I think 33% sequentially. I think you talked about the tech innovation such as personalization was up a sole factor, maybe you could give a little more color on that as well?

Andrew Mason – CEO: So, the performance we saw on North America was partly due to technology, but it was also due to increases in deal density that we saw through operational efforts. Proximity of deals is the number one driver of purchase behavior by customers. So, by getting more dense deals, we were able to use our technology in order to provide better targeting to customers, give them deals that were more relevant to them and thus deliver performance improvements. these are all, I should mention, improvements that are at this point limited to North America where our technology platform has this technology. We are now in the process of rolling it out globally and expect to see some results from personalization in the quarters to come globally.

New Subscribers

Ross Sandler – RBC Capital Markets: just got two questions. Andrew, first, you are experimenting with the onboarding task for new subscribers in certain markets. Can you talk about how that might be helping your ability to target user preferences and is this having a positive impact on Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) per customer? And then second question for Jason, you mentioned new hires for the finance team how do you feel overall about the financial controls today. Can you tell what’s going on in the business in real time and what else needs to happen from here to remove that material weakness clause in the 10-K by year end?

Andrew Mason – CEO: So, we are constantly experimenting with our onboarding process for new subscribers. the effect of that is not only do we drive down our cost of acquiring a new subscriber but we also more effectively collect information about the subscriber doing the onboarding process whether it is gender or location or preferences. We can then use that information to better target deals and increase the percentage of subscribers that are likely to convert into customers and these are all the driver – the types of experiments that we are doing that have resulted in several subsequent quarters of steady paid customer growth while reducing our overall marketing spend.

Jason Child – CFO: So, on the question of controls, I guess, the material weakness kind of go back to what we disclosed on March 30th. So, the material weakness was in particular related to the financial statement close processes. So there’s some kind of very specific tasks that we’ve implemented and some that we’re still going to implement. So in particular, as you mentioned, there is a number of people. We’ve certainly added some, we have still some more work to do there. We do – I think as you know, we’re in 48 countries, and so we do have accounting personnel and controllers in every single country and they certainly work. We’re continuing to take on in terms of just kind of ramping up resource there. also in terms of process, there’s a number of procedures that we’ve actually already implemented. the most specific would be on refunds. last quarter we did change our refund methodology to get much more granular into using actually a statistical model that is actually now mapping on really a weekly basis to exactly what’s going on in the business. So, from a process standpoint, we’re in very good shape. There is some technology that we’re implementing that is especially helpful with a large company like ours where you have to really try to get a good eye into reconciliations and try to be able to look at the status and where all 48 countries are when you’re going through a relatively tight close process. So, the answer would be, I would say, in terms of when we’ll be remediated, we made a lot of progress this quarter, we’ll probably make a lot of progress next quarter, and hopefully within the next quarter or two, we would have done all the steps necessary. however, as you stated, this is a – material weakness is something that is not reviewed by the auditors until the year-end. So, the actual removal of that label, the material weakness will not disappear until we get to the year-end audit. But we feel very, very good about the progress that we’ve made thus far.

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To contact the reporter on this story: staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: editors@wallstcheatsheet.com

<a href="http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/groupon-earnings-call-insights-marketing-leverage-and-new-subscribers.html/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/groupon-earnings-call-insights-marketing-leverage-and-new-subscribers.html/Tue, 15 May 2012 13:19:53 GMT”>Groupon Earnings Call Insights: Marketing Leverage and New Subscribers

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The self-importance of names and titles – The Express Tribune

May 15th, 2012

The writer is a political economist and his degrees acquired many years ago and where he studied and teaches now, are inconsequential to the substance of the arguments made in this article

Reading op-ed columns these days, including in The Express Tribune, is like examining the contributor’s curriculum vitae. some contributors go to a lot of trouble to give, either themselves or with the help of eager and creative copywriters or editors, a twist to a simple university graduation degree, sexing it up into something well beyond what the university may have taught them.

This trend, which has now become almost a rule for all the English newspapers in Pakistan, including those which were considered more staid and ‘serious’ and didn’t subscribe to this policy earlier, reveals a great deal of the pomposity of the writer more than anything else. Why should one be impressed by a bad article which says little, or is a rehash of many other pieces, whether the contributor got a Master’s degree at Harvard or Karachi University? Of course it shouldn’t matter, but for our elite and its culture, the social location of an individual or the group they belong to, matters far more than what one says or does. or, equivalently, always dress smart, and have nothing of any consequence to say.

Numerous contributors write about their academic achievements at the end of their column, and for the reader this is supposed to certify their qualifications or expertise to write on a subject. When lawyers write articles, perhaps it makes sense for them to state that they are advocates of the Supreme Court of Pakistan — although this might not always help their case — but it makes no sense to state that they studied at Harvard or that they were called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn. The reference to the Supreme Court only endorses their credentials to be able to speak on a subject on which they may have some authority, competence or comparative advantage, but university degrees are quite unimportant. Many of the readers of these columns themselves have children or may have themselves studied at many prestigious universities — or even less-prestigious ones — so may not be impressed by such credentials which may have been acquired some decades ago. for a fresh 21-year-old graduate it matters where she got her degree from, something that she might be proud of, but not for someone in his mid-40s who has been practising law for two decades or more.

Another serious ailment which some writers have, is to be obsessed with the title ‘Doctor’, or ‘Dr’. This is most pronounced amongst some economists who suffer from this problem and always introduce themselves as follows: “My name is Dr so-and-so” (first name only). This is also repeated in their columns and others also refer to them as “Dr so-and-so”, but first name only. Numerous economic publications produced by their own departments or institutes, especially in government, also carry their names as such. One can cite a number of examples, but the references should be fairly obvious to all. One is supposed to be impressed by the fact that they are PhDs, not by the arguments they make.

There are also at least two such individuals who are referred to, probably not by themselves, for sure, but by some overzealous copy editor trying to please, as “former finance ministers”. some who are called “former finance ministers” have been advisers to the Ministry of Finance or advisers on finance to the Prime Minister or some other high office. while they probably themselves do not write that they are “former finance ministers” when they have not been that, the fact that this issue is repeated each time their name is mentioned, even at the end of the columns which they write regularly, suggests either complicity or incompetence on someone’s part. Once or twice, it could be a mistake, but every week? moreover, these former non-finance ministers are not alone at fault in having their former positions incorrectly stated. There are a few others, usually based abroad, who clearly overstate their professional position and titles. an easy website check at the university where they supposedly ‘teach’ reveals that they are research assistants, or something less glamorous. Of course, this does not affect the arguments they are making, but this is precisely the point.

Clearly, we try to impress by who we are and where all we have studied or been, and by all that we think we have achieved, but not by the substance of what we are arguing. often delusions of a past grandeur seep in to such self-characterisation. Perhaps, those who do this feel that their titles — real or false — make a difference to how the reader perceives their piece, and they are probably correct in assuming so. Ours is a society where such false credentials matter more than substance. it matters more who you know rather than what you do. Perhaps, it is time to look at substantive issues rather than at mere gloss.

Published in The Express Tribune, may 9th, 2012.

<a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/375856/the-self-importance-of-names-and-titles/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://tribune.com.pk/story/375856/the-self-importance-of-names-and-titles/Tue, 08 May 2012 18:09:28 GMT”>The self-importance of names and titles – The Express Tribune

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City divided by disgraced Communist leader’s legacy

May 15th, 2012

The murder of an English business man and corruption scandal, involving one of the China’s most powerful men, has gripped the country. NBC’s Ian Williams reports.

By Ed Flanagan, NBC News

CHONGQING, China – Everywhere you go in Chongqing, you can see traces of the complicated legacy of Bo Xilai, the former Communist party chief who ran this municipality of 30 million people until scandal derailed him. 

At one time destined for a top post in China’s highest echelon of power, the standing committee of the politburo of the Communist Party, Bo aggressively poured money into this municipality in pursuit of his populist agenda.

To drive through the windy roads that snake around this hilly metropolis is to see a city in constant transformation. Towers of low-income housing complexes dot the skyline. These social housing projects were meant to address a major national issue: the lack of affordable housing, and provided homes that cost just a few hundred dollars a year to rent. And Bo had gingko trees, said to be one of his favorites, planted across the city.

But these city improvements came at a cost: His heavy investment in capital construction projects forced the city to borrow so much money to pay for it that Chongqing owes $20 billion to the China Development Bank, according to a news report on Wednesday. the tree planting saddled the city with a $1.5 billion bill just for 2010 alone.  

The improvements weren’t the only controversial aspect of Bo’s reign over this important gateway city to the western half of China, and since his demise his critics have stepped out of the shadows to talk about the darker side of life in what had become the former leader’s personal fiefdom.

Told a Bo joke, got a year in a labor camp

In Chongqing, NBC News spoke with Fang Hong, a 51-year-old former forestry officer who made news earlier this week when he filed an appeal with a local court seeking compensation for what he alleged was an unfair sentence he served at a labor camp.

According to Fang, he was imprisoned for posting a two-line joke about Bo on his microblog that quickly went viral. soon after, Fang said he was dragged in by police for questioning and later brought before a police tribunal where he was sentenced for “fabricating facts and disturbing public order.” 

Fang served his sentence at a labor camp where he said he was forced to assemble thousands of Christmas ornaments for export for one year.

Released earlier this year, Fang was emboldened by the criticism that has shrouded Bo following his high-profile falling out with his vice-mayor and former police chief, Wang Lijun, who famously sought refuge at the American embassy in Chengdu. That move by Wang sparked an international political scandal that now includes a murder mystery. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, is a murder suspect in the death of British businessman Neil Heywood; Bo has been officially disowned by the ruling Communist Party and has disappeared from public view.

Ed Flanagan / NBC News

A crowd gathers around Fang Hong in Chongqing to hear his story on Tuesday.

Boisterous debate on BoFang agreed to do an interview with NBC News on an outside promenade with commanding views of Chongqing’s skyline and the mighty Yangtze River below. Fang spoke confidently, eager to tell his story about the deprivations he faced while interned at the labor camp.

Between the presence of a foreign camera crew and his loud denouncements of Bo Xilai, Fang quickly drew a crowd of onlookers.

The first indication that things were going to get contentious with the crowd was when one short, middle-aged man standing next to the camera started muttering under his breath as he listened to Fang. 

Taking jagged drags from his cigarette and nervously flicking ash between puffs, the man’s voice rose incrementally to voice his protestations of Fang’s opinion about Bo. those near to the man shushed him as they strained to hear what Fang was saying, but after one particular statement, the man clearly had enough.

“That’s bull—! Bo Xilai has done so much for Chongqing!” bellowed the man as he waved his cigarette at Fang.

The crowd erupted into a loud, boisterous debate on Bo, prompting NBC News correspondent Ian Williams to wrap up the interview so that Fang could quickly leave with his lawyers.

But before he left, Fang feistily told the man what he thought of his opinion, triggering a shouting match. One of Fang’s lawyers and some of the crowd had to separate the pair.

Angry pro-Bo Xilai supporter voices his opinion to the crowd in Chongqing.

‘since Bo Xilai took power I feel more secure’Not everyone had negative feelings about the disgraced former party chief.

 One older woman in the crowd said:, “before, I was worried to wear earrings because I was worried I’d get robbed, but since Bo Xilai I feel more secure seeing more police on the streets.”

Finally, a line of security guards rolled up and broke up the crowd. the guards were not forceful and they exchanged a few knowing nods with the throng of people who were loudly voicing their support for Bo.

Bo’s fall has clearly given his critics the opportunity they’ve long desired to voice their criticisms of him.

However, despite the accusations that paint Bo’s Chongqing was something akin to a modern-day Tammany Hall, the populism and perhaps most importantly, the pride he instilled in this mega-city suggest his popular legacy may last far longer than Communist Party officials would like.

As one driver told us, “Yeah, Bo might have been corrupt, but at least he did something for us – which is more than those corrupt officials who do nothing at all.”   

NBC News’ Bo Gu contributed to this report.

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‘Sold’ is his favorite word

May 14th, 2012

Michael Baxter, veteran Realtor, gives his state of the Poconos address

Michael Baxter likes to lose business.

The broker/owner of Michael Baxter and Associates Commercial Real Estate and Property Management is an established presence in the Poconos with his signage at many commercial sites. Baxter smiles when asked how reassuring it is when he sees the “sold” decal on his signs as he drives through the region.

“It absolutely is,” said Baxter. “I get the comment from a lot of people, ‘You must be doing great. you have a lot of signs out there.’ My answer is the sign guy is doing great. we like when the sign goes down.”

For Baxter, a 28-year veteran of the business, it’s more than the success of the deal to him and his company but that there is a churn of new businesses replacing the closed ones. An advocate of initiatives to encourage businesses to come to the Poconos, particularly those from out of state, Baxter says reducing empty buildings also gives residents a better feeling of quality of life.

He chairs four organizations, including co-chair of Citizens against Regulatory Excess, a proactive consortium of local business leaders that he co-founded with Chuck Leonard of the Pocono Mountain Economic Development Corp. as well as being a member of Monroe 2020. he said a recent survey conducted by C.a.R.E. confirmed dubious results, essentially that the Poconos and Pennsylvania at large is not business friendly as it was in the past.

“It’s to hard to get permits. I started my career bringing people from new Jersey because it’s easier (to run a business) here and now, it’s harder?” Baxter said. “We’ve gone from one extreme to the other. we need to be business friendly and attract businesses to the area. Those employees are going to buy the houses; so many are sitting empty. we need that economic development to absorb some of the residential market.”

Baxter, whose company’s reach extends to Pike, Northampton, Wayne, Carbon and Luzerne counties as well as the primary Monroe market, talks about the commercial development climate in the Poconos.

We’ve seen somewhat of a recovery in the commercial market. we saw quite a rebound in 2011 over 2010. Our numbers were up 31 percent from 2010 to 2011. to be fair, some of that was because 2010 was so bad. but it’s still a pretty significant increase and points toward a recovery. It’s certainly an increase in activity.

Is it the start of an upward trend in the commercial market?

“I see this as a trend but it is an inconsistent trend, which is sort of a contradiction but there are certain aspects of the market where we see a lot of activity and other aspects of the market where there is very little activity. It is an upward trend overall but there are still segments of the market that are suffering.

What business prospects have been viable?

Anything that has cash flow is a premium, a good return on investment like apartment buildings and strip malls. we sold a self-storage business last year. also, restaurants and delicatessens. There are a lot of investors looking for properties that don’t want to keep their money in the bank at two percent interest. Even CDs don’t pay much. so to get into an active real estate investment, there is a tremendous amount of activity for that. when we get properties like that, we don’t keep them very long.

How much commercial property for sale has no signage?

With a restaurant, we don’t put a sign on it. That could affect their business. we have a lot of confidential sales, about 20 percent, which is significant. That includes some bigger commercial ventures where we sign confidentiality agreements until they are completed, which we have in the works.

What caused that 31 percent growth?

A lot of our activity last year was leasing. last year, I would say 40 percent of our business was leasing and 60 percent was sales. usually it’s more like 75 to 80 percent sales and 20 to 25 percent leasing. That’s a good thing. Vacancies put stress on landlords, which put stress on the whole investment model of the landlord who owns the strip mall or office building and we don’t want to see that happen.

Our market is still out town. we do get a lot from the Lehigh Valley and Philadelphia and a lot from new York and new Jersey. There still are local players here. It’s still about 50/50.

Is vacancy rate still a concern?

Vacancy rate is recovering. I did a seminar at ESU about four years ago and the absorption rate in Monroe County was at a crisis level and since then we’ve seen a steady increase in absorption, which means renting space, leasing space. There was a time where we had a couple million square feet of empty space in the Poconos and that was only about four years ago.

So there is a lot of churn of business properties turning over to new ownership?

The difficulty is getting financing for properties like that. Banks are a little squeamish about restaurants because of the high failure rate. There are a lot of people who want to be in the restaurant business, don’t ask me why. It’ a tough business. We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t work with a buyer if they don’t have restaurant business experience. Even if they have a down payment, the banks don’t want to finance anybody without experience. The failure rate for a restaurateur without restaurant experience is even higher than a regular restaurant. (Note: overall, it’s reported nationally restaurants have a 90 percent failure within the first year of opening).

There are some in the real estate industry who feel the residential market has stabilized. what about commercial?

I think it has and it is related somewhat to residential, which is another reason why I’ve been so proactive on tying to bring jobs in the area, and which is why I work as the chairman of the PMEDC and the organization that we started — C.a.R.E. we need that economic development more than anything.

Do we have our quota of banks?

I think we’re maxed out. I think we have enough banks, enough restaurants,. we want to keep them full. I don’t think we have any new niches in the market for any new drugstores for a while. Especially national drug store chains have a very specific demographic that they’re looking at. if the numbers aren’t there, they’re not coming and I don’t see any of those on the horizon.

What is a good niche?

We’ve been getting a lot of activity on convenience stores, gas station convenience stores. we always have people looking at hotel sites, depending on the location. The only thing left in retail is specialty retail. we have enough retail for our population. My fear with developing more retail is that they’ll start hurting each other and we’ve already seen that with companies like Linens ‘n’ Things go out of business in a brand new center (Shoppes at Stroud on Rote 611 in Stroudsburg). That’s not good for anybody.”

I think the small and medium stores is where we see the most activity right now.

We do get a lot of medical inquiries. we need more industry in the area. if we bring in more industry, the offices will follow. There will be office business that needs to feed off those industries.

What is your marketing strategy?

It’s target real estate marketing. For example, if we’re marketing a restaurant, instead of putting in an ad in the Wall Street Journal or new York Times and hoping a restaurant buyer would see it on that particular day, we’re on restaurant websites, website trade magazines. It’s more expensive but we know we have more of a target audience, a captive audience. Everyone who subscribes to a trade magazine is in the restaurant business or wants to be in the restaurant business or works in a restaurant. Otherwise, why would he read it? Our website is category driven and not price driven.

What about the effect of tourism? Is that still a stronger market to work into the deal as an incentive with the economy reportedly picking up?

It does have an effect. we have a tremendous population within 100 miles of the Poconos, which is one of the reasons why the Poconos has thrived and continues to thrive, even though we’ve had our ups and downs. Our location couldn’t be much better. so tourism has a big part to play in our economy. I would like to see more of a balance between tourism and manufacturing and other types of industry.”

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<a href="http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120513/NEWS02/205130325/-1/NEWSMAPtag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120513/NEWS02/205130325/-1/NEWSMAPSun, 13 May 2012 17:15:31 GMT”>’Sold’ is his favorite word

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Trayvon Martin gun range targets were sold online “to make money off the controversy,” report says

May 14th, 2012

An anonymous seller has reportedly admitted selling these Trayvon Martin-inspired gun range targets online

(Credit:WKMG) (CBS/WKMG) ORLANDO, Fla. – An unidentified supporter of George Zimmerman sold gun range targets online featuring a figure meant to resemble slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin carrying Skittles, CBS affiliate WKMG reports.

Pictures: George Zimmerman charged with murder

The station reports that in an advertisement for the targets, which has since been removed, the sellers say they “support Zimmerman and believe he is innocent and that he shot a thug.”

Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of 17-year-old Martin.

“This is the highest level of disgust and the lowest level of civility,” said Zimmerman’s attorney mark O’Mara, according to WKMG. O’Mara said he is worried about how Martin’s parents will react to the image of their son on a target intended to be used for shooting practice.

O’Mara also reportedly called the sale of the targets “hate-mongering,” saying it would only make it more difficult to try the case.

The targets reportedly do not show Martin’s face, but feature a hoodie with crosshairs aimed at the chest. a bag of Skittles is tucked in the pocket and a hand is holding a can resembling iced tea. Martin reportedly was carrying both items the night of his death.

According to WKMG, the seller of the targets told them in an email exchange that the “main motivation was to make money off the controversy.” 

The seller reportedly said in an email that he sold out of the targets in two days.

Complete coverage of the Trayvon Martin case on CBS News

<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57432704-504083/trayvon-martin-gun-range-targets-were-sold-online-to-make-money-off-the-controversy-report-says/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57432704-504083/trayvon-martin-gun-range-targets-were-sold-online-to-make-money-off-the-controversy-report-says/Fri, 11 May 2012 17:31:20 GMT”>Trayvon Martin gun range targets were sold online “to make money off the controversy,” report says

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Link between sudden Blood Pressure drop and increased risk of Heart Failure

May 14th, 2012

According to researchers , people whose blood pressure drop rapidly when they move from laying down to standing is known as Orthostatic Hypertension and may cause the risk of developing heart failure.

The link between Orthostatic Hypertension and heart failure is stronger in people ages  45-55 years old compared to those 56-64.

High blood pressure is present in over half of people who developed heart failure.

Coronary heart disease and hypertension contribute to the risk of heart failure while Orthostatic blood pressure measurement may supplement what is already known about the risk for heart failure and requires no additional equipment, just a standard blood pressure cuff.”

Heart failure is a disease that occurs when the heart stops pumping sufficient blood to the body and the organs.

<a href="http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/04/20/barcelona-board-looking-for-gareth-bale/tag:news.google.com,2005:cluster=http://www.channelstv.com/home/2012/04/20/barcelona-board-looking-for-gareth-bale/Fri, 20 Apr 2012 16:39:00 GMT”>Link between sudden Blood Pressure drop and increased risk of Heart Failure

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Tech stock market getting a bit fizzy, if not downright bubbly

May 13th, 2012

Flagging a bubble? a flag announcing the imminent IPO of Facebook flies next to the American flag outside the offices of J.P. Morgan in new York City on may 4, 2012.

By bill Briggs

The imminent initial public offering of Facebook, which could value the social networking company at $96 billion, renews a question that has been on the minds of some analysts for a year or more: Are we in the midst of a new technology stock bubble?

“definitely not,” contends Jeff Dachis, a pioneer of the original Internet boom as co-founder of Razorfish in 1995.

“yes, many elements point to a second bubble,” counters Mike Seiman, CEO of CPX Interactive, a digital advertising company, who sees similarities to the dot-com bubble that popped in 2000.

Some entrepreneurs see something in between — call it tiny bubbles.

“I’d describe the landscape as carbonated water,” said Eric Christopher, CEO of Local Business Rockstar, a digital marketing agency in Phoenix, Ariz.

Billions of venture-capital bucks still are “just sitting there,” Christopher said. he cited a lack of quality companies in the market and added that to many investors, “technology is exciting, but very temporary and risky.”

Facebook’s stunning $1 billion purchase of Instagram last month was seen as evidence of the bubble mentality by some, but not by Christopher. 

“With Instagram, people think Facebook bought a product or a 13-employee company. Wrong. Facebook bought access to a network of 35 million users. Control the network, and you create cash flow by selling access to it,” Christopher said.

Story: Would you (or mark Zuckerberg) wear a pinstriped wool hoodie?He also said the market is getting fizzy with the hype around daily deal companies like Groupon and Living Social. some of the fizz is gone from Groupon, which sold shares at $20 in an IPO last year and now is trading at under $10.

“There’s going to be some fizz, but it won’t overflow the bottle,” Christopher said.

Facebook’s IPO, which could come in days, will be far larger than Groupon’s, which was already big at $700 million.

Investors could pony up as much as $13.6 billion for Facebook shares, according to regulatory filings, far outstripping the tech record of $1.67 billion raised by Google raised in its 2004 IPO. 

Ken Sena, analyst at Evercore Partners and Paul Sloan, executive editor at CNET, discusses whether the actual Facebook IPO will live up to the hype of its roadshow.

During the dot-com bubble of 1995 through early 2000, tech stocks soared on the apparent belief that any business starting with “e-“ or ending in “.com” would almost assuredly turn fat profits someday. Old-school metrics such as price-to-earnings ratios suddenly seemed out of step as venture capitalists pumped  money into a blur of unproven Internet startups. they fueled an environment of unbridled gambles on infamous outfits like Webvan, an online grocer that reached a peak value of $1.2 billion on paper in November 1999 but was bankrupt by 2001.

Facebook’s $1 billion cash-and-stock deal for Instagram – which develops photo-sharing applications – doesn’t remind Dachis of the wild-West-type web boom of the ’90s, when he co-founded Razorfish, a digital ad agency, out of a one-bedroom apartment in new York.

“This is one private company sale to another private company,” he said, referring to Instagram.

“Other publicly traded comps are not over-inflated by any reasonable measure,” said Dachis, now CEO of the Dachis Group, a social software and solutions firm in Austin, Texas.

“no, we aren’t seeing a second dot-com bubble,” agreed Shama Kabini, CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, a Dallas-based social media marketing and digital PR firm .

He said Facebook’s big purchase, just weeks ahead of the IPO, reflects the emergence of mobile and social, and the aging of Web survivors like Yahoo and AOL.

“There is definitely a changing of the guard,” said Seiman, of CPX Interactive. “The idea of a ‘one-stop solution’ (for information) has been replaced by many ‘no-stop solutions.’”

And with that, a second dot-com surge may be percolating, Seiman said.

“The industry laid low for a while. But in the last five years, the sleeping giant has arisen,” Seiman said via e-mail. “And rather than exercising caution garnered from lessons learned, it has become buoyed by the rejuvenating effects of downing untold gallons of its own Kool-Aid. I’m looking at you, Facebook.”

But he said analysts and entrepreneurs are finally learning that reach, or potential reach, doesn’t necessarily equal revenue.

“just because everyone ‘likes’ it doesn’t mean it’s worth a lot of money,” he said.

That same theory – along with Facebook’s ability to “place inflated market caps on other firms, such as Instagram” – leads marketing consultant Steven Mason to similarly project the dawn of a second dot-com heyday.

“yes, this is bubble part two – or social media bubble no. 1. This is really all about the brand of social media,” said Mason, editor of the “Official Internet Dictionary: a Comprehensive Reference for Professionals.”

Mason is struck, he said, not so much by Facebook’s nearly 1 billion confirmed users but by the far smaller percentage “who barely participate at all.”

“Facebook isn’t buying Instagram the brand; they’re buying proof that Facebook can do whatever it wants to – a message that everyone else should get out of Facebook’s way,” Mason said. “Whenever that kind of insouciant chest-pounding occurs, a bubble must be somewhere in the vicinity.”

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