According to Forbes Magazine, for the first time in over a decade, digital downloads from the iTunes Store decreased in 2013. And, while the 6% drop may not be staggering, it may be evident of a growing trend in music listening.It seems that revenue from digital streaming websites increased by 32% over the past year, indicating that music fans are more interested in streaming their favorite tunes than they are in downloading them. Perhaps this speaks to web services, like Spotify, which gives paid users access to millions of songs through their interactive software program and online database.While streaming seems to be the way of the future, we shouldn’t get too ahead of ourselves. 2013 also saw an 8% decrease in overall album sales. Maybe the drop in download revenue is because, well, music was better in 2012? It’s hard to say, really.We do know that Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience was the #1 selling album in 2013, and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” was the #1 selling single. Eminem, Luke Bryan, Imagine Dragons, and Bruno Mars round out the top 5 selling albums. In 2012, Adele’s “21″ was the top selling album, with 4.4 million copies. JT’s top selling album only moved 2.4 million copies. Maybe iTunes shouldn’t freak out just yet. What do you think?-David Melamed (@DMelamz)
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookFacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterTwitterShare to EmailEmailEmailShare to RedditRedditRedditShare to MoreAddThisMoreYouth around the world have managed to turn a dangerous and deadly viral drinking game into random acts of kindness that have most recently turned infectious on university campuses in Canada.It started when a man in South African decided to give away a sandwich to a homeless guy, rather than continue the drinking-dare game for which his friends had nominated him publicly, called NekNominations.This one alternative act inspired European youth to begin nominating each other to do good deeds while recording videos of themselves being kind. Random Act of Kindness RAK Nominations were born.The Canadian version currently captivating students on campuses like McGill University is called Feed the Deed.University of Ottawa medical student Josh Stern saw someone abroad use their nomination for a good deed and he decided to do the same. Feed the Deed has spread exponentially and into other countries, like the US and Mexico, with Stern estimating that more than 1,000 good deeds were recorded in only a couple of weeks.#FeedTheDeed videos are being tagged and posted on a Facebook Page run by Kindness Counts, a foundation run by Russell Citron and other university students along with high school leaders since 2012.(WATCH a Feed the Deed moment by a random Canadian)AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookFacebookFacebookShare to TwitterTwitterTwitterShare to EmailEmailEmailShare to RedditRedditRedditShare to MoreAddThisMore
The much debated anti-discrimination ordinance passed by Roeland Park this summer isn’t scheduled to take effect until Jan. 1, but the city is working on preparations to implement it. Those discussions are taking place against a backdrop of a petition initiative to call for a city-wide vote on the repeal of the ordinance.Earlier this week, the city council, meeting as a committee, agreed to move forward to the final approval stage requests for applications for the three jobs needed to handle a potential claim under the ordinance: mediation services, a hearing officer and an investigator.The ordinance requires mediation as a first step in any discrimination claim that is filed in Roeland Park. If mediation fails, then the claim will be investigated and potentially presented to a hearing officer for resolution. Each of the three services will be contracted out on a per hour basis and the city would pay only for actual work on a case.The issue of the city’s financial liability arising from a discrimination case did generate considerable discussion among the council, though. In the ordinance, the cost of mediation services is to be split between the parties. If mediation fails, triggering an investigation and a hearing, the hearing officer can assign costs.However, the possibility that a hearing might not be recommended after an investigation, led to discussion about the costs of the investigator accruing to the city. Several council members said it was not the intent to have the city incur any costs under the ordinance. An amendment to the ordinance could close that gap in payment coverage.A question about how the ordinance might affect senior discounts was dispatched with quickly when the city attorney said the new law does not address age, so it would have no effect.
Rep. Barbara Bollier (right) presented Vanessa Hannan with a tee shirt at the ceremony Monday at Indian Woods.When Indian Woods science teacher Vanessa Hannan returns to the classroom next year, she’ll have some high-flying tales to tell her students.At a ceremony Monday morning, Rep. Barbara Bollier presented Hannan with a Space Academy for Educators enrollment package she won as a door prize at a recent Women in Government Conference. Hannan submitted an application to be considered for the award, and was selected based in part on her essay, which described her desire to share her love of space with her students.“It was a challenge I felt a little nervous about — which told me this was something I should go for to learn new things,” Hannan said Monday. “Of course, as a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut, like many kids. I decided I’d be a science teacher instead.”Hannan will have her travel to and from the famous camp in Huntsville, Ala., paid for thanks to a grant from Ray and Suzy Makalous, who have two grown children who went through the district, through the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation.Hannan has been at Indian Woods for four years and in the Shawnee Mission District for 15.
All sides sign off on e-portal agreement All sides sign off on e-portal agreement Senior EditorFlorida’s courts are about to get a common “electronic” door for those seeking access as the court system and the state’s court clerks have reached agreement over an electronic portal as part of an electronic filing system.“A statewide electronic access point will significantly enhance our ability to serve the legal community and the people of Florida,” said Chief Justice Charles Canady, adding while there are sure to be more challenges moving forward, “I am confident we will continue to make progress.”“After long and arduous, but constructive, negotiations, we’ve come to a final agreement,” said State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner. “We are moving ahead.”“This is one of those milestones that is going to change the court system profoundly,” said Supreme Court Clerk Tom Hall, who is on the board that will oversee the portal’s operation. Retired 11th Circuit Judge Judith Kreeger, chair of the Florida Courts Technology Commission, which oversees court technology-related issues, said the portal agreement is an important step but much more work remains to be done.“The portal is simply the entry point for electronic filing. It’s like the door to the courthouse, but the process of what happens to that data and what happens to that case as the judicial branch transitions into conducting its business electronically, there is a lot of detail that has to be worked out,” she said.The agreement creates the Florida E-Filing Authority Board, composed of eight county clerks of court and Hall, which will oversee the portal’s operation by the Florida Association of Court Clerks. The board was scheduled to hold its first meeting on September 22, after this News went to press.The portal — an Internet site that will be connected to all of the state’s courts — is expected to begin widespread operation in counties where e-filing has been authorized, around January 1 if other issues are worked out.“The portal is a website that will facilitate one-stop shopping for e-filing,” said Melvin Cox, director of information technology for the FACC and who is overseeing the portal’s setup. “A lawyer will have to go to only one place to file anywhere in the state. It’s a single doorway into all of these court systems.”“There are some implementation issues that we will need to work through with the appellate courts,” Goodner said. “The portal was originally designed for use by the trial courts, so there is a whole appellate piece. . . that has to be put in place.”“We’re actually going through a series of meetings right now where they are adding on a section that will accommodate all of the appellate court filings,” Hall said. “There’s a series of meetings between court personnel and FACC, and attorneys are getting input. We’re pretty far along in that process.”Hall will serve as vice chair of the Florida E-Filing Advisory Board. Other members are Columbia County Clerk P. Dewitt Cason, who will be chair, Bay County Clerk Bill Kinsaul, Leon County Clerk Bob Inzer, Clay County Clerk James B. Jett, Hernando County Clerk Karen Nicolai, Orange County Clerk Lydia Gardner, Sarasota County Clerk Karen Rushing, and Palm Beach County Clerk Sharon Bock.“As we move farther into the acceptance of the electronic way of doing business, coupled with our state’s tough economy, it is more important than ever to look toward electronic solutions to our ways of doing business,” said Cason, the board chair. “The Florida E-Filing Portal will allow those who use and work in the court system to become more efficient and accurate in their filing and processing of the many, many filings that are delivered and received every day.”The portal board will operate under an interlocal agreement signed by the court system and the clerks which details the governance of the portal. The FACC will provide staffing support for the portal board.The agreement culminates a long process over creating the portal. The court system had originally moved toward creating its own portal for the electronic filing system when clerks said their system for electronic filing of records could — and was planned to — be used for e-filing. After negotiations, it was agreed the clerks and the court system would work together to use the clerks’ system, but the details still took months to hammer out in the interlocal agreement.The portal will be the center of the court system’s move not only to electronic filing but to electronic access to court records. The Legislature in 2009 mandated that the clerks and courts begin moving to electronic filing as a way to increase efficiency and save money in court operations. Earlier this year, lawmakers specified that in the current 2010-11 budget year, electronic filing must be implemented in five of the trial courts’ 10 divisions. Plans are to implement electronic filing in circuit civil, county civil, probate, family law, and juvenile dependency divisions this year.Kreeger noted that electronic filing is only the start of the process for the courts. The filing needs to capture critical “data elements” for each kind of case so that court staff and judges can efficiently move and track cases. The FCTC’s Trial Court Performance and Accountability Committee is tackling that job.“It’s basically the task recommending what the courts and judges really need from technology,” Kreeger said. “Then the task of the FCTC will be to take that report and, from the technology side, recommend this is how it should be done. What do judges need and how should it be done and delivered to them by technology?”Bar Board of Governors member Murray Silverstein, who serves on the FCTC and spearheads technology matters for the board, praised the progress and noted it comes as procedural rules committees are also acting to bring the rules into the electronic era.“The coalescing of all aspects of the electronic court system seems to be taking shape from the procedural rule committees to the new working relationship between the court and the clerks’ association to the eventual functioning of a statewide portal,” Silverstein said. “We are all greatly encouraged by this progress.”As designed by the FACC, the portal will help lawyers manage as well as file papers with the courts.First, lawyers will be required to register, a process that takes a couple of minutes and requires them to provide both their Bar number and an e-mail address. Once the registration is accepted by the e-filing system, lawyers can proceed with filing.The FACC’s Cox said that is basically a two-step process. The lawyer goes online and makes the filing, which is automatically verified as submitted when correctly done, and then the clerk reviews the submission and accepts it into the court system.The portal has a variety of pull-down menus to assist the lawyer in filing and easily allows attachment of documents. It also allows online payment of filing fees and other charges, either via credit card or bank accounts.Once the filing lawyer is finished and hits the button, the screen shows a verification — assuming everything has been filled out correctly — that the filing has been submitted, and a verifying e-mail also is automatically sent. When the filing is accepted by the clerk (the most common expected error is that documents are filed in the wrong county), the online page shows the acceptance and another verifying e-mail is sent.Any lawyer registered in the system will be able to pull up a page on the portal that shows all of his or her active filings and the status, a quick way to check on various cases.Law firms will also be able to create a special section where all firm lawyers with access to the system will be listed, and where a firm administrator can add or remove names as lawyers join or leave the firm.There are some nods to tradition in small things with the portal. For example, the main page shows a picture of the Florida Supreme Court. But when a user indicates he or she wants to make a filing in a particular county, the picture is replaced with one of that county courthouse.Maybe that’s a good reminder that the new “electronic” door does indeed go everywhere. October 1, 2010 Gary Blankenship Senior Editor Regular News
September 1, 2016 Regular News Bar board considers time standards for email service Bar board considers time standards for email service Saying they are concerned about manipulations by unscrupulous lawyers, the Bar Board of Governors has tabled consideration of rule amendments that remove an extra five days to respond to documents served by email. The board, at its July 29 meeting, considered a variety of amendments to Civil Procedure Rules, as well as the Rules of Judicial Administration, and Appellate Court Rules relating to the service of documents. The civil rules merely corrected references to the Rules of Judicial Administration dealing with service times, and the board recommended those be approved by the Supreme Court by a 41-1 vote. But board members objected to two amendments to the Rules of Judicial Administration, 2.514 and 2.516, and one appellate rule, 9.420. The Rule 2.514 amendment removes email service from a subdivision that allowed five additional days for responding to service by regular U.S. mail. The Rule 2.516 amendment removed email from a section that said email service would be treated as service via U.S. mail for time computation purposes — which adds five days to those allowable times. Rule 9.420 specified that service by email in appellate matters be treated as service by U.S. mail for time computations and exempted appellate service from the time reductions in the RJA amendments. Judson Cohen, vice chair of the RJA Committee, said the extra five days allowed for email service, which was passed a few years ago, was always intended to be temporary and to be eliminated as lawyers got used to switching from paper to electronic court documents. It was done, he said, because the shift from paper to electronic service was “mind-bending” and the committee wanted to give lawyers time to adjust. Giving them in essence an extra five days to respond to served documents was seen as a way to ease that transition. Under the amendments, email service would be treated the same as electronic service through the court’s statewide e-filing portal, fax, or hand delivery, Cohen said. Appellate Court Rules Committee Chair Kristen Norse said the appellate rule amendment exempted appellate rules from the RJA amendments because appellate practice is different from other practices, and the committee felt the extra time was needed. Board members expressed two main concerns. One was that the time periods would be different in different rules. The second was the loss of the extra five days with email service might hurt practitioners if their opponents timed delivery for an inconvenient time, say 11:59 p.m. on a Friday night. “I don’t care whether we add five or take away five days. Whichever way you go, you should be consistent,” President-elect Mike Higer said. “Here, we’re making it more difficult for our practitioners.” Cohen said the RJAC discussed attorneys trying to game the rules by timing their service to inconvenience their opponents, but said in those cases lawyers always had the option of seeking relief from the court. But board members said that might not always be practical. “It’s great to say you can seek relief from the court, but frequently I can’t get a hearing in the time I need one,” said board member Bruce Robinson. “I don’t want to have two sets of standards. I want life simpler for our lawyers, not more complex.” Other board members agreed, and the board eventually voted to table the three amendments to get more input, including from the Trial Lawyers Section.
Steinhaus leads team past Oklahoma StateKevin Steinhaus earned a major in his first action of the season. Ichigo Takikawa, Daily File PhotoMinnesota’s Kevin Steinhaus tries to take down Michigan State’s John Rizqallah on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, at the Sports Pavilion. Nate GotliebDecember 9, 2013Jump to CommentsShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via EmailPrintGophers redshirt senior Kevin Steinhaus won a major decision in his return to the lineup as No. 2 Minnesota beat No. 5 Oklahoma State 16-15 on Sunday in Stillwater, Okla.The Gophers and Cowboys both won five matches, but Steinhaus recorded the bonus point that ultimately decided the dual.“That was a big win for us,” head assistant coach Brandon Eggum said of Steinhaus’ match, “especially going out there and getting the major decision.”The Gophers trailed 15-6 with three matches remaining when Steinhaus (184 pounds) earned four team points with a 14-5 major decision. He recorded six takedowns in the match and physically dominated Oklahoma State redshirt freshman Jordan Rodgers.“It was exciting to get back with the team,” he said.Steinhaus tore his left ACL playing soccer in June and had surgery in July. He said he initially expected rehab to take six months but said it went better than expected.The coaches decided last week that Steinhaus would travel to Stillwater, Eggum said, and his teammates appeared excited to have him back.“Just having him around gets everyone else up and excited to wrestle,” redshirt senior heavyweight Tony Nelson said. Minnesota still trailed 15-10 after Steinhaus’ win, but redshirt junior Scott Schiller (197) and Nelson followed with wins by decision.Schiller’s opponent scored an early takedown, but Schiller tied the match in the second period and ensured the victory with a near fall in the third.Nelson won a 2-0 bout to close the dual.The win was Minnesota’s second straight against the Cowboys. The Gophers beat Oklahoma State 28-9 last season in the National Dual finals at Williams Arena.“We’ve got a great rivalry with Oklahoma State,” Steinhaus said.The Cowboys won the first two matches Sunday, but Minnesota tied the score with wins by redshirt juniors Chris and Nick Dardanes at 141 and 149, respectively.Oklahoma State then won three straight matches and took a 15-6 lead before Minnesota scored the final 10 points of the match.“Nobody was really ecstatic that we won,” Steinhaus said. “We know we can do a lot better.”
Cassidy Turley announced that DM Sorrento, a private investor, has acquired Scottsdale Airpark II, a 47,933 SF, two-building, industrial project located at 16000 N. 80th Street and 16001 N. Greenway-Hayden Loop, for $6.3 million ($131.43 per square foot). The seller was California-based Turner Real Estate Investments.Senior Managing Directors Bob Buckley, Tracy Cartledge and Steve Lindley with Cassidy Turley’s Capital Markets Group and Senior Vice President Michael Kitlica with Cassidy Turley’s Office Group brokered the transaction on behalf of the buyer and the seller.Built in 2000, Scottsdale Airpark II is a two building, multi-tenant showroom/general industrial project located in the Scottsdale Airpark. The frontage building, located on Greenway-Hayden, is a ±18,330 square feet manufacturing/showroom building that is divided into two spaces. The 80th Street building is ±29,603 square feet and is divided into five spaces of ±6,000 square feet each. The property was 100% leased at the time of sale to high quality companies including Glidden Company, American Spirit Arms, Fortis Financial and Insight Surgical Equipment.
The Wall Street Journal: Feeling a sense of awe causes people to feel less rushed and impatient—and, at least briefly, happier about their lives.Researchers induced awe in participants through various means, including watching televised scenes of waterfalls, astronauts in space, and whales, and reading about gazing out over Paris from the Eiffel Tower. (Control groups watched people getting showered with confetti and other scenes.)People primed to feel awe reported less of a sense that “time is slipping away” and a stronger belief that there was enough time to get things done. They also reported a greater willingness to volunteer for charity and expressed a preference for “experiential” goods, such as movie tickets, over material objects of identical value (say, a $10 voucher for gasoline).Read the whole story: The Wall Street Journal More of our Members in the Media >
Le Monde:Mentir, c’est mal. Combien de fois a-t-on entendu ce refrain dans notre enfance ? Illustré, souvent, par un conte aux personnages hauts en couleur avec, à la fin, l’inéluctable morale, qui récompense les “gentils” et punit les “méchants”. L’objectif : montrer de manière ludique ce qui est bien et ce qui ne l’est pas.Mais, est-ce vraiment efficace ? Pas vraiment, si l’on en croit l’étude publiée dansla revue Psychological Science, relève le Huffington Post. Des chercheurs canadiens des universités de Toronto, de McGill et de Brock se sont demandé quel impact avaient les morales des contes sur le comportement des enfants. Pour cela, ils ont choisi de tester leur honnêteté, après leur avoir lu l’une de ces quatre histoires.Read the whole story: Le Monde