LINK with proof, scroll down to grey box
http://blog.chinatimes.com/ymal/archive/2011/07/10/765659.html?page=2
====================
As readers around the world know by now, Asians are in love with Steve
Jobs, the real one and the fake one, as they'lll eat up anything with
"Steve Jobs" in the title or blog post.
Recently, the Taiwanese had the wool pulled over their eyes by some
low-lying "translators" in Communist China" who put out fake advice
book by Jobs -- for teenagers in China!
The Beijing-published book was titled "Steve Paul Jobs's Eleven Pieces
of Advice for Young People Today" and it was written by the long-dead
American composer "John Cage."
This reporter recently purchased a copy of the book in Complex Chinese
characters in a bookstore in Taipei and discovered via the
''publication notes page'' that the counterfeit
book -- which was never written by Steven Paul Jobs or John Cage and
merely took past speeches by Jobs and turned the excerpts into eleven
lessons for
teenagers in China -- that the book was originally published in
Communist China last year first in Simplified Chinese characters used
in Maoland. The book was such a hit
as a fake in China that a publisher-wannabe in free and democratic
Taiwan got itchy fingers and agreed to license the fake China book for
his easy to fool and very gullible Taiwanese
readers. Done deal. Some money exchanged hands, the original book was
re-translated into the kind of Chinese characters that Taiwanese
people can read -- since the Simplified characters
used in Maoland are simply beneath the dignity of real Chinese script
-- and the Taiwan version of the fake Chinese book was published in
April. It has already gone
through 10 printings and more are on the way, given the worldwide
publicity on this deceitful yet perfect story fakery.
How did this reporter find out that the book was published originally
in "copyright means the right to copy" China? Simple, and not complex
at all. On the publication notes
page is the email address of the publisher in Beijing, and feel free
to write to him if you wish: ydmp@yahoo.cn
The ''cn" gives it away.
A bloke named David Wu is also in on this fakery, and his email is
also listed as david.wu@ecorebooks.com
(and he appears to be the
Taiwanese contact).
The alleged author, a chap named "John Cage", who of course is dead,
did not respond to this reporter's emails. Not yet. Maybe there's
email in Heaven?
As previously reportedm the Taipei police is now investigating the
case, and if the ''publisher'' is found guilty of deceiving the
public, he could be in for some jail time. Or a big fat fine.
The publisher in Taipei still maintains that his book was legit and
that all copyright protections were in order.
John Brownlee at the cultofmac website got it right with a cute
headline that read: "Steve Job Releases Taiwanese Self-Help Book For
Teenagers Translated By Dead Avant Garde Composer."
Brownlee added: "[The] entire book was translated by the famous avant
garde composer John Cage, who is apparently alive and well in Taipei!
Whats a wonderful choice for a man to translate Jobs! After all,
they’re both Buddhists!"
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Monsignor Enrique Figaredo is the Apostolic Prefect (Bishop) of Battambang in Cambodia and he has a very unChristian antisemitic nickname......WHY?
Monsignor Enrique (Kike) Figaredo is the Apostolic Prefect (Bishop) of
Battambang in Cambodia. His diocese embraces 14 provinces with a
population of more than four million. Kike is a man of immense
compassion and understanding of the people of Cambodia, and has
developed the services of the Society of Jesus in this country to best
meet the needs of people recovering from 30 years of war.
A friend who is both a humorist and a man of G-d wrote to him today and said:
Dear Monsignor Enrique Figaredo,
KIKE Figaredo , sir, in the name of God, please do not use this
nickname KIKE anymore, it is a slur word against JEWISH PEOPLE, i saw
it in the newspaper today and, as a Jewish man who loves the work you Jesuits do around the world, i am deeply insulted that a
man of God like you would do this...i know you do not know this...but
KIKE meansFUCKING JEW in American English.....
could you use your full
name Enrique or just nickname of RIKE or RIQUE,,,but please NOT
....."kike".....
There is now an international campaign to
politely ask you to stop using the this name KIKE in print and on your website and on your namecards for newspaper reporters to copy and print in public ....it is a slur
against your lord Jesus Christ, too, as he was a Jew.....
sincerely,
Jesus H Christ on Earth
Enrique, dude,
...PLEASE CHANGE THIS NICKNAME.....yes no? can do?
JC
SIR Monsignor,
for your info
KIKE is a derogatory slur used to refer to a Jew.[1]
[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the term is uncertain. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may be an alteration of the endings –ki or –ky common in the personal names of Eastern European Jews who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century.[2]
The first recorded usage of the term is in 1904.[2][3]
According to Our Crowd, by Stephen Birmingham, the term "kike" was coined as a derogatory putdown by the assimilated American German Jews to identify Eastern-European Jews: "Because many Russian [Jewish] names ended in 'ki', they were called 'kikes' — a German Jewish contribution to the American vernacular. The name then proceeded to be co-opted by non-Jews as it gained prominence in its usage in society, and was later used as a generally derogatory antisemitic slur.."
According to Leo Rosten,
The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish immigrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters), when asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary 'X,'* refused, because they associated an X with the cross of Christianity, and instead made a circle. The Yiddish word for 'circle' is kikel (pronounced KY-kul), and for 'little circle,' kikeleh (pronounced ky-kul-uh). Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike.[4]
According to Rosten, Jewish American merchants continued to sign with an 'O' instead of an 'X' for several decades, spreading the nickname kike wherever they went as a result. At that time kike was more of an affectionate term, used by Jews to describe other Jews, and only developed into an ethnic slur later on.[3]
Battambang in Cambodia. His diocese embraces 14 provinces with a
population of more than four million. Kike is a man of immense
compassion and understanding of the people of Cambodia, and has
developed the services of the Society of Jesus in this country to best
meet the needs of people recovering from 30 years of war.
A friend who is both a humorist and a man of G-d wrote to him today and said:
Dear Monsignor Enrique Figaredo,
KIKE Figaredo , sir, in the name of God, please do not use this
nickname KIKE anymore, it is a slur word against JEWISH PEOPLE, i saw
it in the newspaper today and, as a Jewish man who loves the work you Jesuits do around the world, i am deeply insulted that a
man of God like you would do this...i know you do not know this...but
KIKE means
could you use your full
name Enrique or just nickname of RIKE or RIQUE,,,but please NOT
....."kike".....
There is now an international campaign to
politely ask you to stop using the this name KIKE in print and on your website and on your namecards for newspaper reporters to copy and print in public ....it is a slur
against your lord Jesus Christ, too, as he was a Jew.....
sincerely,
Jesus H Christ on Earth
Enrique, dude,
...PLEASE CHANGE THIS NICKNAME.....yes no? can do?
JC
SIR Monsignor,
for your info
KIKE is a derogatory slur used to refer to a Jew.[1]
[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the term is uncertain. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may be an alteration of the endings –ki or –ky common in the personal names of Eastern European Jews who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century.[2]
The first recorded usage of the term is in 1904.[2][3]
According to Our Crowd, by Stephen Birmingham, the term "kike" was coined as a derogatory putdown by the assimilated American German Jews to identify Eastern-European Jews: "Because many Russian [Jewish] names ended in 'ki', they were called 'kikes' — a German Jewish contribution to the American vernacular. The name then proceeded to be co-opted by non-Jews as it gained prominence in its usage in society, and was later used as a generally derogatory antisemitic slur.."
According to Leo Rosten,
The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish immigrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters), when asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary 'X,'* refused, because they associated an X with the cross of Christianity, and instead made a circle. The Yiddish word for 'circle' is kikel (pronounced KY-kul), and for 'little circle,' kikeleh (pronounced ky-kul-uh). Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike.[4]
According to Rosten, Jewish American merchants continued to sign with an 'O' instead of an 'X' for several decades, spreading the nickname kike wherever they went as a result. At that time kike was more of an affectionate term, used by Jews to describe other Jews, and only developed into an ethnic slur later on.[3]
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Kim Jong-il afraid to fly; media afraid to report truth
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il afraid to fly; media afraid to report truth
While all the world's media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il went to Russia -- by train -- his first visit in nearly a decade as his nation seeks economic aid,
not one news outlet in the West explained why Kim spent all that time and all those kilometers worth of train track to get to Russia. Is he afraid to fly? Yes, he is.
And while Kim met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and spent some time in the Far East and Siberia, the fact remains that Kim suffers from a severe fear of flying phobia, called aerophobia, and never ever flies in airplanes. He is apparently is afraid of having a panic attack in mid-air, or of the plane crashing. This is the mindset of a very unstable man, a madman one might say. And yet not one media
outlet will report these "details."
Google the news: not one article mentions Kim's fear of flying or why he always takes trains -- not planes -- to visit nearby China or Russia.
A world leader goes to visit another country for a high-level summit and rather than take an airplane, he prefers to sit on a heavily-guarded private train that carries him 7,000 klilometers
from station platform to station platform? And this is not news? This is not analyzed? This is not disseminated?
When Kim visits China he pulls the same thing. He never flies. What is he afraid of?
Of course, millions of people suffer from various degrees of fear of flying, and it's not something to laugh at. But when a world leader, and a dangerous world leader at that, like Kim, is afraid
to fly in airplanes, some reporter somewhere should sit up and take notice, no? And yet not one news report about Kim's trip to Russia contains these facts. Not the Associated Press reports,
not Reuters reports, not CNN's reports. And what point does the world let itself be hypnotized by a lazy media that is afraid to print the truth about Kim Jonh-Il's mental state?
This is not the first time Kim has travelled to Russia by non-commercial flight, er, train. In 2001, he traveled more than 7,000 kilometers to Moscow by train for talks with then-president Vladimir Putin, who now serves as ''prime minister''.
Kim is a man who needs to be removed from office because of mental instability. The news media should not enable him anymore by mis-reporting -- even deleting -- the facts on the ground.
-----------
Fear of flying forces Kim Jong Il to use fleet of private trains
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent 2009
Kim Jong Il, the enigmatic North Korean despot and pathologically nervous flyer, has created a magnificent fleet of railway trains to convey him safely between his Pyongyang palace and secret mountain lair.
The six trains, made up of 90 heavily armoured carriages with luxury interiors, are believed to serve 19 stations across the Stalinist regime — all for the exclusive personal use of Mr Kim and a handful of his closest retinue.
Satellite imaging suggests that the trains never travel very much faster than 37mph (60km/h) across the country. They are also organised to ensure the survival of Mr Kim should anyone attempt to attack him. A train precedes the convoy to check for mines and other threats while another filled with bodyguards follows behind that of the Dear Leader.
The glimpse into Mr Kim’s elaborate travel arrangements is understood to come from Seoul and Washington intelligence reports, the results of which emerged in the South Korean media yesterday. According to those reports, the trains are fitted out with conference suites, reception halls, opulent living quarters and satellite communications centres; an entire mobile palace from which Mr Kim can continue to command the hermit nation.
Tracks for the trains join lines that lead to the border with China in the north and are the route through which Mr Kim leaves for his sporadic trips abroad.
Mr Kim’s fear of flying is well known, though his nerves over travelling by train may also be justified. A massive explosion erupted in 2004 after overhead cables ignited a goods train carrying chemicals and fuel oil. The incident claimed at least 160 lives but, intriguingly for intelligence sources, also took place in a spot that Mr Kim’s train had travelled through hours earlier.
Previously gathered intelligence reports suggest that Mr Kim maintains about 15 palaces and retreats, several of which appear to be reachable only by underground railway.
The prime residence near Pyongyang, which includes a racetrack and a giant waterslide, has its own underground station invisible to spy satellites. Equally puzzling is the vast Hwangju palace — the family’s mountain retreat, where several railway lines disappear from the surface into tunnels.
The main purpose of the trains is believed to be the execution of the Dear Leader’s punishing domestic schedule inspecting factories and military facilities — official duties that he appears to perform still with vigour despite reports that he suffered from a debilitating stroke last year.
----------------
Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying 'caused by earlier helicopter crash'
June 17, 2003
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying has been caused by a 1976 helicopter crash that seriously injured him, a press report said yesterday.
His unexplained aversion to air travel, which led to his epic 24-day train journey to Russia in 2001, was revealed by Ingolf Kiesow, who served as Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang from 1979 to 1982, in an interview published in the Japanese weekly Shukan Gendai.
"I have met Kim Jong-Il up close several times. A close look exposed a scar from the top of the forehead to the pate," Mr Kiesow was quoted as saying.
"It was the scar of a serious injury, which he suffered when he boarded a helicopter and got involved in its crash inside North Korea toward the end of 1976," he said.
The interview was conducted in Stockholm by Japanese diplomatic writer Masayuki Koike, who claimed to be a long-time friend of Mr Kiesow.
It was published in Japanese and its English version was not immediately available.
Fearful flash-back memories of the helicopter accident had long troubled Mr Kim, who was in his mid-30s when it happened, Mr Kiesow said.
He also said Mr Kim's seclusion from the public eye from 1977 to 1978 was due to "his indulgence in alcohol".
Mr Kim, 61, is the eldest son of North Korea's founding father Kim Il-Sung, a former anti-Japanese guerilla leader, who died in 1994 after moulding a Stalinist state on the northern half of the divided Korean peninsula.
The junior Kim, known as the "Dear Leader", remained a reclusive, mysterious figure until 2000 when he held a historic summit with South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung.
After taking full control of the country's powers after his father's death, Mr Kim toured Russia in 2001 via trans-Siberian railways to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was a sentimental journey of sorts as his father, also known to be scared of flying, took the same route on his trip to Eastern Europe in his heyday.
While all the world's media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il went to Russia -- by train -- his first visit in nearly a decade as his nation seeks economic aid,
not one news outlet in the West explained why Kim spent all that time and all those kilometers worth of train track to get to Russia. Is he afraid to fly? Yes, he is.
And while Kim met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and spent some time in the Far East and Siberia, the fact remains that Kim suffers from a severe fear of flying phobia, called aerophobia, and never ever flies in airplanes. He is apparently is afraid of having a panic attack in mid-air, or of the plane crashing. This is the mindset of a very unstable man, a madman one might say. And yet not one media
outlet will report these "details."
Google the news: not one article mentions Kim's fear of flying or why he always takes trains -- not planes -- to visit nearby China or Russia.
A world leader goes to visit another country for a high-level summit and rather than take an airplane, he prefers to sit on a heavily-guarded private train that carries him 7,000 klilometers
from station platform to station platform? And this is not news? This is not analyzed? This is not disseminated?
When Kim visits China he pulls the same thing. He never flies. What is he afraid of?
Of course, millions of people suffer from various degrees of fear of flying, and it's not something to laugh at. But when a world leader, and a dangerous world leader at that, like Kim, is afraid
to fly in airplanes, some reporter somewhere should sit up and take notice, no? And yet not one news report about Kim's trip to Russia contains these facts. Not the Associated Press reports,
not Reuters reports, not CNN's reports. And what point does the world let itself be hypnotized by a lazy media that is afraid to print the truth about Kim Jonh-Il's mental state?
This is not the first time Kim has travelled to Russia by non-commercial flight, er, train. In 2001, he traveled more than 7,000 kilometers to Moscow by train for talks with then-president Vladimir Putin, who now serves as ''prime minister''.
Kim is a man who needs to be removed from office because of mental instability. The news media should not enable him anymore by mis-reporting -- even deleting -- the facts on the ground.
-----------
Fear of flying forces Kim Jong Il to use fleet of private trains
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent 2009
Kim Jong Il, the enigmatic North Korean despot and pathologically nervous flyer, has created a magnificent fleet of railway trains to convey him safely between his Pyongyang palace and secret mountain lair.
The six trains, made up of 90 heavily armoured carriages with luxury interiors, are believed to serve 19 stations across the Stalinist regime — all for the exclusive personal use of Mr Kim and a handful of his closest retinue.
Satellite imaging suggests that the trains never travel very much faster than 37mph (60km/h) across the country. They are also organised to ensure the survival of Mr Kim should anyone attempt to attack him. A train precedes the convoy to check for mines and other threats while another filled with bodyguards follows behind that of the Dear Leader.
The glimpse into Mr Kim’s elaborate travel arrangements is understood to come from Seoul and Washington intelligence reports, the results of which emerged in the South Korean media yesterday. According to those reports, the trains are fitted out with conference suites, reception halls, opulent living quarters and satellite communications centres; an entire mobile palace from which Mr Kim can continue to command the hermit nation.
Tracks for the trains join lines that lead to the border with China in the north and are the route through which Mr Kim leaves for his sporadic trips abroad.
Mr Kim’s fear of flying is well known, though his nerves over travelling by train may also be justified. A massive explosion erupted in 2004 after overhead cables ignited a goods train carrying chemicals and fuel oil. The incident claimed at least 160 lives but, intriguingly for intelligence sources, also took place in a spot that Mr Kim’s train had travelled through hours earlier.
Previously gathered intelligence reports suggest that Mr Kim maintains about 15 palaces and retreats, several of which appear to be reachable only by underground railway.
The prime residence near Pyongyang, which includes a racetrack and a giant waterslide, has its own underground station invisible to spy satellites. Equally puzzling is the vast Hwangju palace — the family’s mountain retreat, where several railway lines disappear from the surface into tunnels.
The main purpose of the trains is believed to be the execution of the Dear Leader’s punishing domestic schedule inspecting factories and military facilities — official duties that he appears to perform still with vigour despite reports that he suffered from a debilitating stroke last year.
----------------
Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying 'caused by earlier helicopter crash'
June 17, 2003
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying has been caused by a 1976 helicopter crash that seriously injured him, a press report said yesterday.
His unexplained aversion to air travel, which led to his epic 24-day train journey to Russia in 2001, was revealed by Ingolf Kiesow, who served as Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang from 1979 to 1982, in an interview published in the Japanese weekly Shukan Gendai.
"I have met Kim Jong-Il up close several times. A close look exposed a scar from the top of the forehead to the pate," Mr Kiesow was quoted as saying.
"It was the scar of a serious injury, which he suffered when he boarded a helicopter and got involved in its crash inside North Korea toward the end of 1976," he said.
The interview was conducted in Stockholm by Japanese diplomatic writer Masayuki Koike, who claimed to be a long-time friend of Mr Kiesow.
It was published in Japanese and its English version was not immediately available.
Fearful flash-back memories of the helicopter accident had long troubled Mr Kim, who was in his mid-30s when it happened, Mr Kiesow said.
He also said Mr Kim's seclusion from the public eye from 1977 to 1978 was due to "his indulgence in alcohol".
Mr Kim, 61, is the eldest son of North Korea's founding father Kim Il-Sung, a former anti-Japanese guerilla leader, who died in 1994 after moulding a Stalinist state on the northern half of the divided Korean peninsula.
The junior Kim, known as the "Dear Leader", remained a reclusive, mysterious figure until 2000 when he held a historic summit with South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung.
After taking full control of the country's powers after his father's death, Mr Kim toured Russia in 2001 via trans-Siberian railways to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was a sentimental journey of sorts as his father, also known to be scared of flying, took the same route on his trip to Eastern Europe in his heyday.
Monday, August 8, 2011
New pizza joint called Toppers Pizza hopes to top the competition and build the brand into 70 stores nationwide. Can they do it?
Toppers Pizza fired up its ovens for customers at its new Stadium Village location in Minnesota and things are topnotch there.
The new restaurant on Washington Avenue will be the chain’s third in the state — part of a plan to open more than 70 restaurants across the nation in the next several years.
The expanding Midwest chain will become the fifth pizza place in a two-block radius, raising the question of whether the college-aged market can be oversaturated with pizza. Yes and no. What's your POV? Can they succeeed?
Probably not, say a Carlson School of Management marketing professor, neighboring pizza parlors and Toppers’ store manager Pat Klasen.
Campus Pizza, less than a five-minute walk from the new Toppers location, has called Stadium Village home for more than 50 years and isn’t too worried about the new competition. Owner Jim Rosvold compared the campus pizza market to automobiles — filled with a variety of makes and models.
“You have your BMWs, your Pintos, your Cadillacs,” he said. “Every place is a little bit different.”
But having so many competitors in the area is a positive thing, he said.
“If you’re a pizza lover, Stadium Village is a great place to go,” he said. “We have a little bit of everything here.”
Mark Bergen, a Carlson School marketing professor, said similar restaurants often cluster in one area to make it “the place to be.”
Early promotions and buzz are likely to get people in Toppers’ doors, but many fast-food establishments struggle to keep them coming back, Bergen said.
He said in the crowded campus market, Toppers will be able to stick around if it can do one of three things — provide the same or better quality pizza at lower prices, create a better all-around experience than competitors or meet the needs of a certain customer type previously ignored by the market.
Klasen promised to do all three. Toppers will “push the pizza envelope” and cater to the needs of a college-aged pizza consumer in order to set it apart, he said.
“We’re really trying to reinvent the pizza market,” he said, “especially with all of the bigger chains being kind of boring.”
With marketing that promises its pizza will “spank your taste buds” and with a focus on “the fun side of things,” Klasen said Toppers offers the experience students have been seeking — but not getting — from the competition.
Klasen said he was attracted to the location, whose neighbors include residence halls, bars and sports venues, because of its potential for walk-up business.
Rosvold has seen a number of pizza places come and go over the years, but those able to stick around follow traditions rather than trends, he said.
He said he wouldn’t be too fast to count out Papa John’s or Domino’s, which have both been in the Stadium Village for decades, and added that while business may dip a little when a new restaurant opens, customers tend to return to their old staples after a while.
Rosvold also said it will be difficult to draw attention to the business with heavy Central Corridor light-rail construction outside of the new store’s front door.
Klasen says he’s is aware of the challenge.
“It’s going to be a little different for us,” he said. “We’re going to have a tougher time getting people to notice us.”
In an effort to hit the ground running, the first 50 people in line when the restaurant opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday will receive a free menu item each week for a calendar year.
Klasen said though the experience and fun are part of the business, fresh, made-from-scratch food is at the heart of what they do.
“We look at what competitors do and do the complete opposite,” he said. “That’s Toppers.”
Todd Stevens said in a comment in the after-article: "Me, I like Toppers' chances. They opened a place down near UW-Madison a few years back and they've easily become the most popular delivery pizza place on campus (probably because they're whole schtick is tailored to a college audience). If they catch on quick enough they're going to steal a lot of business from chains like Domino's, probably not so much from local specialty pizzerias like Campus Pizza."
Dave had his own take: "Rosvold isn't scared, Campus Pizza offers a higher quality product than the Domino's/Papa John's/Toppers of the world. Campus Pizza also has the advantage of being a restaurant and bar. The place that needs to worry about Toppers is Papa John's. Toppers is generally cheaper and the quality is better than Papa John's (which, admittedly, isn't saying much). For the college kids who are stumbling around late at night though, quality is hardly their first concern. Quantity and cost rule the early morning hours."
And last but not yeast, this comment says it all: "This writer failed to mention that Toppers is open until 3 a.m. with lots of (possibly intoxicated) college kids around, so this Toppers is sure to be a hit. Sounds like Rosvold is a little scared......"
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated how many Toppers Pizza restaurants were in Minnesota. The Stadium Village location will be the chain's third restaurant in the state. The story also incorrectly stated the year by which Toppers will open 70 more restaurants and when the new location will open. The chain will open the new locations by 2013 AD, if the USA still exists by then, and will open Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
The new restaurant on Washington Avenue will be the chain’s third in the state — part of a plan to open more than 70 restaurants across the nation in the next several years.
The expanding Midwest chain will become the fifth pizza place in a two-block radius, raising the question of whether the college-aged market can be oversaturated with pizza. Yes and no. What's your POV? Can they succeeed?
Probably not, say a Carlson School of Management marketing professor, neighboring pizza parlors and Toppers’ store manager Pat Klasen.
Campus Pizza, less than a five-minute walk from the new Toppers location, has called Stadium Village home for more than 50 years and isn’t too worried about the new competition. Owner Jim Rosvold compared the campus pizza market to automobiles — filled with a variety of makes and models.
“You have your BMWs, your Pintos, your Cadillacs,” he said. “Every place is a little bit different.”
But having so many competitors in the area is a positive thing, he said.
“If you’re a pizza lover, Stadium Village is a great place to go,” he said. “We have a little bit of everything here.”
Mark Bergen, a Carlson School marketing professor, said similar restaurants often cluster in one area to make it “the place to be.”
Early promotions and buzz are likely to get people in Toppers’ doors, but many fast-food establishments struggle to keep them coming back, Bergen said.
He said in the crowded campus market, Toppers will be able to stick around if it can do one of three things — provide the same or better quality pizza at lower prices, create a better all-around experience than competitors or meet the needs of a certain customer type previously ignored by the market.
Klasen promised to do all three. Toppers will “push the pizza envelope” and cater to the needs of a college-aged pizza consumer in order to set it apart, he said.
“We’re really trying to reinvent the pizza market,” he said, “especially with all of the bigger chains being kind of boring.”
With marketing that promises its pizza will “spank your taste buds” and with a focus on “the fun side of things,” Klasen said Toppers offers the experience students have been seeking — but not getting — from the competition.
Klasen said he was attracted to the location, whose neighbors include residence halls, bars and sports venues, because of its potential for walk-up business.
Rosvold has seen a number of pizza places come and go over the years, but those able to stick around follow traditions rather than trends, he said.
He said he wouldn’t be too fast to count out Papa John’s or Domino’s, which have both been in the Stadium Village for decades, and added that while business may dip a little when a new restaurant opens, customers tend to return to their old staples after a while.
Rosvold also said it will be difficult to draw attention to the business with heavy Central Corridor light-rail construction outside of the new store’s front door.
Klasen says he’s is aware of the challenge.
“It’s going to be a little different for us,” he said. “We’re going to have a tougher time getting people to notice us.”
In an effort to hit the ground running, the first 50 people in line when the restaurant opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday will receive a free menu item each week for a calendar year.
Klasen said though the experience and fun are part of the business, fresh, made-from-scratch food is at the heart of what they do.
“We look at what competitors do and do the complete opposite,” he said. “That’s Toppers.”
Todd Stevens said in a comment in the after-article: "Me, I like Toppers' chances. They opened a place down near UW-Madison a few years back and they've easily become the most popular delivery pizza place on campus (probably because they're whole schtick is tailored to a college audience). If they catch on quick enough they're going to steal a lot of business from chains like Domino's, probably not so much from local specialty pizzerias like Campus Pizza."
Dave had his own take: "Rosvold isn't scared, Campus Pizza offers a higher quality product than the Domino's/Papa John's/Toppers of the world. Campus Pizza also has the advantage of being a restaurant and bar. The place that needs to worry about Toppers is Papa John's. Toppers is generally cheaper and the quality is better than Papa John's (which, admittedly, isn't saying much). For the college kids who are stumbling around late at night though, quality is hardly their first concern. Quantity and cost rule the early morning hours."
And last but not yeast, this comment says it all: "This writer failed to mention that Toppers is open until 3 a.m. with lots of (possibly intoxicated) college kids around, so this Toppers is sure to be a hit. Sounds like Rosvold is a little scared......"
Chien-Ming Wang back on the mound Thursday for Nationals; but does recent suciide-death of maternal grandfather, 82, in Taiwan weighs on his mind?
Chien-Ming Wang back on the mound Thursday for Nationals; but does recent suciide-death of maternal grandfather, 82, in Taiwan weighs on his mind?
by Ben Goessling
Chien-Ming Wang's third start, which comes Thursday against the Cubs, comes at a point where the Nationals should start to get some idea of whether the right-hander can still be an effective starter in the majors. One wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind. The Nats believe he can; he showed some signs of success with his sinker last Wednesday against the Braves before getting in trouble in the middle innings.
But he needs to throw the sinker - the pitch that made him a two-time 19-game winner for the Yankees - more often, instead of relying as much as he has on off-speed pitches. When he's been effective, he's used his sinker to keep his pitch counts down, and since his breaking ball is likely going to be the last thing to come back after shoulder surgery, he needs to trust his sinker to get him through for the time being. Still, nne has to wonder if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
The Nationals also get another look at Matt Garza, for whom they contemplated trading last winter. They beat Garza up last month at Nationals Park, scoring seven runs on eight hits against him in two innings before Livan Hernandez helped them blow a big lead and they lost 10-9. Garza has been stellar since then, pitching seven innings in four of his five starts and leaving the game with a shutout intact in two of them. But he was coming off a complete game the last time he faced the Nationals, too.
It's an interesting pitching matchup for multiple reasons, but for the Nationals, seeing progress from Wang is the most important one. It seems likely he'll be in the rotation the rest of this season, but whether or not he comes back next year will depend on what he shows this season. He doesn't need to be dominant tonight, but facing a last-place team after getting a couple outings under his belt, he's got a good chance to take a step forward. But still, nne wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
by Ben Goessling
Chien-Ming Wang's third start, which comes Thursday against the Cubs, comes at a point where the Nationals should start to get some idea of whether the right-hander can still be an effective starter in the majors. One wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind. The Nats believe he can; he showed some signs of success with his sinker last Wednesday against the Braves before getting in trouble in the middle innings.
But he needs to throw the sinker - the pitch that made him a two-time 19-game winner for the Yankees - more often, instead of relying as much as he has on off-speed pitches. When he's been effective, he's used his sinker to keep his pitch counts down, and since his breaking ball is likely going to be the last thing to come back after shoulder surgery, he needs to trust his sinker to get him through for the time being. Still, nne has to wonder if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
The Nationals also get another look at Matt Garza, for whom they contemplated trading last winter. They beat Garza up last month at Nationals Park, scoring seven runs on eight hits against him in two innings before Livan Hernandez helped them blow a big lead and they lost 10-9. Garza has been stellar since then, pitching seven innings in four of his five starts and leaving the game with a shutout intact in two of them. But he was coming off a complete game the last time he faced the Nationals, too.
It's an interesting pitching matchup for multiple reasons, but for the Nationals, seeing progress from Wang is the most important one. It seems likely he'll be in the rotation the rest of this season, but whether or not he comes back next year will depend on what he shows this season. He doesn't need to be dominant tonight, but facing a last-place team after getting a couple outings under his belt, he's got a good chance to take a step forward. But still, nne wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
Xinhua sign in Times Square is affront to all freedom-loving people !
The 'Ministry of Truth' whispers in our ear:
Propaganda comes in all sizes now, and China wants a piece of Times Square now.
Xinhua, the state-run and state-controlled propaganda agency of the
Chinese Communist Party, has leased
a longterm advertising space in New York's iconic Times Square, where
an LED sign, 60 feet high by 40 feet wide, taking over an outdoor sign
that had been occupied for the last ten years by the HSBC bank.
According to the New York Times, the Xinhua
sign is now underneath a sign for Prudential and above signs for
Samsung, Coca-Cola and Hyundai brands.
The problem is that Xinhua is not a brand, but the mark of branded
disinformation and propaganda. Like the former USSR,
today's China thinks it can fool the Western world with glass
skyscrapers, space flights and glowing Times Square signs.
But the West knows better, and Xinhua is merely flexing its public
relations muscles as it attempts to pull the wool over
more and more gullible eyes in America and Europe.
Xinhua is a news agency? Say that again? The propaganda arm of a
one-party state in an undemocratic land ruled
by fear and paranoia -- and using trumped-up jail terms to keep
dissidents in line -- Xinhua is akin to the old Soviet
propaganda machines of yesteryear that served Russia so well in the
1970s and 80s.
It's one thing for Times Square to open its advertising space to
private brands from across the globe, and surely
Chinese brands like Haier and Levono are welcome to showcase their
logos there. But a news agency that prints
blatant falsehoods and untruths about news inside China and in the
West, and has the unmitigated gall to call its workers "journalists"?
Whoever let Xinhua in to Times Square ought to have their heads
examined.
Jeffrey Katz, the chief executive and principal owner of Sherwood
Equities, a commercial real estate firm with properties that include
Times Square in New York, seems to think there's nothing wrong with
pocketing the hefty monthly rental fees from Xinhua.
After all, America has a strict one-China policy and wants to be pals
with Beijing.
Why the public relations push in Times Square? Well, for one thing,
Xinhua has introduced a CNN-like 24-hour English-language broadcast
service, China Network Corporation (CNC World), that seeks to reach
millions of gullible viewers around the world, with
state-sanctioned propaganda of the most nefarious and sophisticated kind.
Xinhua is also flexing its propaganda muscles with an English-language
news wire service, hoping to compete with Western news agencies like
The Associated Press and Reuters.
Does anybody not remember Tass, the official disseminator of
government news releases in the former Soviet Union? Xinhua
is just Tass in sheep's clothing. Wake up, America!
Behind the Times Square sign is China's desire to counter what it
calls ''widespread bias against China'' in the Western media,
from CNN to the New York Times. But as the New York Times itself said
in a recent article about the new Xinhua sign in Times Square,
"reports by Xinhua on topics like Taiwan [or] Tibet, which are of
considerable political concern to its government bosses, are not
necessarily known for being objective."
Say that again? Xinhua's bosses are about as ''objective'' as the old Tass
operatives in the former USSR. Xinhua's so bad, it makes Tass look good.
Welcome to Times Square, Xinhua wolves in sheep's clothing. Maybe
you'll learn something about
freedom and democracy while you're there.
Propaganda comes in all sizes now, and China wants a piece of Times Square now.
Xinhua, the state-run and state-controlled propaganda agency of the
Chinese Communist Party, has leased
a longterm advertising space in New York's iconic Times Square, where
an LED sign, 60 feet high by 40 feet wide, taking over an outdoor sign
that had been occupied for the last ten years by the HSBC bank.
According to the New York Times, the Xinhua
sign is now underneath a sign for Prudential and above signs for
Samsung, Coca-Cola and Hyundai brands.
The problem is that Xinhua is not a brand, but the mark of branded
disinformation and propaganda. Like the former USSR,
today's China thinks it can fool the Western world with glass
skyscrapers, space flights and glowing Times Square signs.
But the West knows better, and Xinhua is merely flexing its public
relations muscles as it attempts to pull the wool over
more and more gullible eyes in America and Europe.
Xinhua is a news agency? Say that again? The propaganda arm of a
one-party state in an undemocratic land ruled
by fear and paranoia -- and using trumped-up jail terms to keep
dissidents in line -- Xinhua is akin to the old Soviet
propaganda machines of yesteryear that served Russia so well in the
1970s and 80s.
It's one thing for Times Square to open its advertising space to
private brands from across the globe, and surely
Chinese brands like Haier and Levono are welcome to showcase their
logos there. But a news agency that prints
blatant falsehoods and untruths about news inside China and in the
West, and has the unmitigated gall to call its workers "journalists"?
Whoever let Xinhua in to Times Square ought to have their heads
examined.
Jeffrey Katz, the chief executive and principal owner of Sherwood
Equities, a commercial real estate firm with properties that include
Times Square in New York, seems to think there's nothing wrong with
pocketing the hefty monthly rental fees from Xinhua.
After all, America has a strict one-China policy and wants to be pals
with Beijing.
Why the public relations push in Times Square? Well, for one thing,
Xinhua has introduced a CNN-like 24-hour English-language broadcast
service, China Network Corporation (CNC World), that seeks to reach
millions of gullible viewers around the world, with
state-sanctioned propaganda of the most nefarious and sophisticated kind.
Xinhua is also flexing its propaganda muscles with an English-language
news wire service, hoping to compete with Western news agencies like
The Associated Press and Reuters.
Does anybody not remember Tass, the official disseminator of
government news releases in the former Soviet Union? Xinhua
is just Tass in sheep's clothing. Wake up, America!
Behind the Times Square sign is China's desire to counter what it
calls ''widespread bias against China'' in the Western media,
from CNN to the New York Times. But as the New York Times itself said
in a recent article about the new Xinhua sign in Times Square,
"reports by Xinhua on topics like Taiwan [or] Tibet, which are of
considerable political concern to its government bosses, are not
necessarily known for being objective."
Say that again? Xinhua's bosses are about as ''objective'' as the old Tass
operatives in the former USSR. Xinhua's so bad, it makes Tass look good.
Welcome to Times Square, Xinhua wolves in sheep's clothing. Maybe
you'll learn something about
freedom and democracy while you're there.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
''Chien-Ming Wang’s grandfather found dead?'' asks Nick Lilja, sports reporter in DC
Washington DC sports reporter Nick Lilja asks if the news items on this story might b a ''HOAX''?
He writes: "Since coming to Washington, D.C. I’ve had a chance to cover the Washington Nationals. It’s been interesting. I know more about Chien-Ming Wang then I ever thought I would.
But I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this…
I received a comment on the website late Friday night / early Saturday morning from a [Taiwan-based freelance reporter and world blogger] that caught my attention – for multiple reasons.
It read as follows:
''Fast forward to August 2011. The grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang was found dead in a Taiwan park. Police suspect suicide.''
......Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his grandfather’s death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been ZERO media coverage of this family matter in USA newspapers or sports channels."
If you google: “Chien Ming Wang, grandfather” there is a single entry from a Taiwan news outlet that is nearly (if not completely) identical.
Yet, as stated above, no word in any American sports outlets. Interesting. Usually the Associated Press or Reuters usually has a pretty good finger to pulse of things like this. Then again, if this happened when Wang played for the Yankees, I’m sure it would have been all over the news. But since he plays for the Nationals… [nobody seems] to care.
So few that it hasn’t been reported. Unless it’s a hoax."
[EDITORS NOTE: IT IS *NOT A HOAX....!!!]
[So this blogger, whoever he is] ......might have the inside track on this.
.....maybe “he” knows what “he” is talking about?
I put his name in quotes because [I am not sure who he is...]
Interesting, to say the least. Puzzling is more the word I’d use, though.
========================================---------***
NOTE: Top DC sports reporter asks this blog:
''Sir , I intend to ask Chien-Ming about his grandfather before I write a story, if I do at all. Can I ask what makes you so passionate about the topic?''
He writes: "Since coming to Washington, D.C. I’ve had a chance to cover the Washington Nationals. It’s been interesting. I know more about Chien-Ming Wang then I ever thought I would.
But I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this…
I received a comment on the website late Friday night / early Saturday morning from a [Taiwan-based freelance reporter and world blogger] that caught my attention – for multiple reasons.
It read as follows:
''Fast forward to August 2011. The grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang was found dead in a Taiwan park. Police suspect suicide.''
......Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his grandfather’s death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been ZERO media coverage of this family matter in USA newspapers or sports channels."
If you google: “Chien Ming Wang, grandfather” there is a single entry from a Taiwan news outlet that is nearly (if not completely) identical.
Yet, as stated above, no word in any American sports outlets. Interesting. Usually the Associated Press or Reuters usually has a pretty good finger to pulse of things like this. Then again, if this happened when Wang played for the Yankees, I’m sure it would have been all over the news. But since he plays for the Nationals… [nobody seems] to care.
So few that it hasn’t been reported. Unless it’s a hoax."
[EDITORS NOTE: IT IS *NOT A HOAX....!!!]
[So this blogger, whoever he is] ......might have the inside track on this.
.....maybe “he” knows what “he” is talking about?
I put his name in quotes because [I am not sure who he is...]
Interesting, to say the least. Puzzling is more the word I’d use, though.
========================================---------***
NOTE: Top DC sports reporter asks this blog:
''Sir , I intend to ask Chien-Ming about his grandfather before I write a story, if I do at all. Can I ask what makes you so passionate about the topic?''
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)