Holly Throsby on RocKwiz Sydney,Australia

Holly Throsby - A Heart Divided Sydney,Australia

Growth Trajectory:NFL Sets London Schedule

In a possible buildup to London securing its own National Football League franchise,the NFL has announced there will be three regular season games there next year.In Week 4,the Oakland Raiders will play the Miami Dolphins.In Week 8,the Atlanta Falcons will face the Detroit Lions.Finally,on Week 10 the Dallas Cowboys will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.All games will be at Wembley Stadium.*
The London fans have been most supportive of all the NFL games there to this point.The city and stadium want more games there as well.And a weak franchise such as the Jacksonville Jaguars,who have played several London games,would be a logical candidate to move there.*
As a business,the NFL has largely reached saturation point in the United States.The growth trajectory is pretty much to London and Canada. This Sunday,the Atlanta Falcons will play the Buffalo Bills at Rogers Centre in Toronto.Since 2008,the Bills have played an annual regular season game in Toronto,becoming in effect a regional franchise.Hundreds of thousands of Canadian fans venture south regularly to attend games in border cities such as Buffalo and Seattle,or watch the teams on television.NFL Canada handles the league's business north of the border,and works closely with the Canadian Football League to promote the sport in Canada.*
In Thanksgiving holiday action,the Baltimore Ravens snuck past the Pittsburgh Steelers 22-20;the Dallas Cowboys edged the Oakland Raiders 31-24;and the Detroit Lions smashed the Green Bay Packers 40-10.

Tupperware Brands;Cramer Comments

Thr US middle class is challenged,not dead,according to Rick Goings,CEO of Tupperware Brands.We're seeing individuals more interested in entrepreneurial activity.Our recruiting for sales force is up.There is hope for the future in the US and Europe,which are about 5% each of our business.
The emerging middle class is gonna grow by a billion people in the next 5-6 years,and women are looking for an opportunity.There are limited earning opportunities for women in retail.
We send a managing director from that country in.She plugs our model in.It works.The sales consultant moved from lower to middle class.She had better relations with her family.
India has been growing double digit.We've been growing 30% in Brazil the last five years.It's the power of women.Men generally can't multitask;women can,said Tupperware CEO Rick Goings.
Tupperware stock closed at 91.73 in Monday trading,up 0.31%.*
I heard a lot of buzz in San Francisco about Meg Whitman and Hewlett-Packard,said CNBC author and analyst Jim Cramer.Meg Whitman is trying very hard to reinvent that company,and I have to say,I think she's succeeding.
Amazon is revered out there.They are fabulous.*
The Emirates is spending 300 million for GE engines.GE's becoming a manufacturer again with a tail of finance,rather than having a dog of finance.*
Elon Musk does seem very confident about Tesla Motors.Hey look,I want one.I wouldn't be dissuaded by the fire risk.*
Whirlpool basically did nothing for a decade.I like Whirlpool now.I don't want to sell Whirlpool.*
No one's talking about giving Twitter money yet.Just in terms of getting in touch with your customers,people seem to favour Facebook.They like to monitor what people are saying about their company on Twitter,Jim Cramer pointed out on CNBC's Squawk On The Street program.*
Hewlett-Packard(HPQ),Whirlpool(WHR),Tupperware Brands(TUP),Facebook(FB),Tesla Motors(TSLA),Twitter(TWTR)

Singapore Group Buys Rio Airport;Webber Closes Out F1 Career

Changi Airport Group Singapore Pte Ltd and Odebrecht SA have bid 8.3 billion reals for Rio's Galeao Airport.The airport will host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics.About 600,000 visitors are expected for the World Cup alone,and auctioning the airport was a part of President Dilma Rouseff's plan for infrastructure improvement for Rio de Janeiro prior to the huge upcoming events.
If they can follow this up with three successful highway auctions,it could be really helpful in turning the boat of sentiment away from negative to more positive,said analyst Jefferson Finch of the Eurasia Group.
The Brazilian state management company Infraero will retain a 49% satke in the airport.The Latin American aviation market presents many growth opportunities,said the Singaporean acquirer Changi.We must focus immediatley on the expansion of the Galeao Airport.*
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's Liberal/National Party coalition has fallen out of favour already,a new poll suggests.Only 11 weeks old,the coalition trails the Labour opposition 48%-52%.People are critical of the government's immigration and environmental policies,as well as Australian intelligence's alleged phone tapping of Indonesian leaders.*
In motor sport,Germany's Sebastian Vettel won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Sao Paolo Sunday,with his Red Bull Racing teammate Australian Mark Webber finishing his career with a second place showing,and Spaniard Fernando Alonso taking third for Ferrari.Webber,37,has retired from Formula One after compiling a record of 9 wins out of 215 races.Vettel,26,won his fourth straight World Driving Championship,while Alonso was second,and Webber third in the overall standings.
It was a very good finish,Webber said,a good fight with those I've fought with the last few years.It's been a great journey,one that I'm proud of.On to Porsche-I'm looking forward to it.*
Webber will race Le Mans sports cars for Porsche next season.He has already been fitted for his new seat and been released from his contract with Red Bull Racing.

Paramore: Daydreaming [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

After Open Heart Surgery:Lingering Questions

To recap and update previous posts in this series,I am a patient with heart valve disease.Having had my mitral valve surgically repaired during open heart surgery in May,2011,perhaps that would be it,I thought.They did a good sewing job.I might be cured.Now,two and a half years later,that is clearly not the case.The disease process is still at work.There is residual mild to moderate blood leakage backward across the valve,a condition called mitral valve regurgitation.What is more,something new has gone wrong.The valve leaflets have stiffened,narrowing the valve opening and impeding blood flow.This is called mitral valve stenosis,and went from being mild to moderate over the course of a year.My upper left heart chamber,the left atrium,is moderately dilated,or enlarged,from the resulting pressure build-up.So I present with moderately abnormal heart function.
Complications of severe stenosis can be life threatening,including blood clots;atrial fibrillation;congestive heart failure;pulmonary edema;and pulmonary hypertension.That's the scary part.
So far,the situation is manageable with my current medication of an ACE inhibitor;a beta blocker;and an anticoagulant-baby aspirin.We are following a course of medication and monitoring.Should things worsen further from moderate to severe,other options are available.Sometimes a balloon valvuloplasty is performed,in which a balloon is attached to a catheter and threaded up to the valve through a blood vessel in an arm or leg.There,it is inflated to widen the valve.This may not be appropriate in my case,however,since I have regurgitation as well as stenosis.
A second option for relieving stenosis is a surgical repair such as scraping any calcification from the valve leaflets,thus restoring flexibility.In the end,most stenosis patients requiring surgery undergo a valve replacement,either with a natural or mechanical valve.
Even as I'm writing this,I'm having an optical migraine-a slight visual disturbance I have experienced since my surgery.It's like a shooting star across the visual field,but it doesn't hurt,thank God.My chest scar is barely visible any more-just a little red streak at the base.There is also a strand of wire embedded in my chest,and I swear it stings a bit to this day.
When I first read about the stenosis progression in my test reports,I got depressed for about an hour.Then my resilience kicked in and I am accepting things as they are.At least there are concrete steps we can take if things get really bad.It's not getting off scot-free,but it's better than having no options.
What causes heart valve disease?It's not caused by lifestyle,but rheumatic fever,a complication of strep throat,is a major cause of heart valve damage that may take years to manifest.Another possible cause is a congenital defect that,again,could take years to become apparent.Calcium deposits accumulating on the valve with age may also be at work.There are other rare causes such as side effects of radiation therapy or certain medications.
Your basline health does have a great impact on how you weather any treatment required,so clean living is highly recommended for these patients.










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Dubai Air Show:Gulf States Flash the Cash

More than aircraft was on display at the Dubai Air Show,which ended on Sunday.The show took place at the new Al Maktoum International Airport,midway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.It was evident that the airlines of the Gulf States have become the dominant force in the commercial aviation sector as they made their sweeping purchases at the DAS.
The Persian Gulf airlines have limited local business.They largely cater to international travelers,who use their desert hubs for single stop globetrotting.Boeing got 86% of its backlog for the new 777X wide-body jet from Gulf States carriers;while Airbus gets more than half its orders from Emirates Air,the world's biggest international airline.Emirates made 75.6 billion dollars of purchases at the airshow;even the cut rate carrier FlyDubai bought 111 Boeing 737s for 8.77 billion.Etihad Airways bought 25 777Xs and 30 787-10 Dreamliners from Boeing,plus 50 Airbus A350s and 36 A320neos for 45 billion,and Qatar Air plunked down 21.7 billion for 50 777X and 13 Airbus A330-200 cargo planes.
And there is no end in sight for this insatiable buying.Air transport has become a big part of the Gulf States' plan to diversify thier economies away from oil and gas.
Overall,Boeing sold 101.5 billion of aircraft at the airshow,edging EADS subsidiary Airbus for the most business acquired.What's incredible here is,the fulcrum used to be the Paris Air Show,said CNBC analyst Jim Cramer.Boeing's been the best-performing stock in the Dow.It went up 86.7% this year.The 777 is a money plane.They're gonna make a fortune on each plane.We're in year 2 of a 7-year aircraft cycle.
Boeing is America's greatest manufacturer.CEO Jim McNerney has got a fantastic team.All we could think about for a period of months was,the Dreamliner ain't working.You can't get a Dreamliner until 2020.I'll bet they come back from Dubai with a 10-year wait for a Dreamliner,the voluble Jim Cramer speculated.
Boeing(BA),European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company(Euronext:EAD)

Asia This Day:Chinese Reforms Spur Stocks;Indian Gold Sales Strong;Inbee Park

The Beijing leaders are promising sweeping reforms in China in the wake of the Communist Party plenum.They will allow more private investment in state-owned enterprises;relax the one-chuild policy;expand the land rights of farmers;allow local governments to issue debt;rate officials on borrowing levels and other metrics.In response,most Asian markets rose in early Monday trading.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.9% by early afternoon,with all 10 industry groups up.*
Indian families continue to bedeck their daughters with gold jewelry for their weddings,in spite of government efforts to reduce the purchase of imported gold.Gold bangles,necklaces,rings,tiaras and earrings are all in great demand this year.
Gold represents the status of the Indian family,the pride they take in themselves.Indian brides wear as much gold as their families can afford.A few hundred grams of gold would be a moderate purchase in one father's opinion.That's about thirty-two ounces.
The government raised import taxes three times this year in an attempt to reduce the current accounts deficit.According to the World Gold Council,however,Indian families continue to buy gold at a brisk pace.Demand will be up from 864.2 tonnes last year to 900-1,000 tonnes in 2013.*
South Korean Inbee Park won the LPGA Tour Rolex Player of the Year award Sunday-the overall season championship-after placing fourth at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex in Guadalajara,Mexico.Park is the first Korean ever to win the award.She's scored 6 victories this season-including 3 majors,giving her the most overall points.
American teenager Lexi Thompson won the tournament.

Paramore: Still Into You [OFFICIAL VIDEO] (+playlist)

Cisco Craters on Poor Revenue,Guidance

Shares of tech titan Cisco Systems lost more than a tenth of their value in Thursday trading after an appalling earnings report and conference call.Revenue missed expectations and the guidance for the new quarter was devastating.
Cisco delivered earnings per share of 0.53 per share and revenue growth of 2% year over year,CEO John Chambers said on the company's conference call.While not inconsistent with some of our large peers,this was below our expectations for the quarter.The last month of our quarter was during the U.S.Government shutdown.The impact on our federal business was approximately 50 million.Our team there did an exceptionally good job managing through this challenging period.However,the shutdown,debt ceiling negotiations and delayed key decisions exasperated the lack of confidence among business leaders we had highlighted over the past few quarters.
From a macroeconomic perspective,in the last two quarters our order growth rate in emerging countries,which is 20% of our product business,has gone from a positive 13% in total in Q3 to a negative 12% in Q1 of this year.You can do the math,but that's a drag of between 4 to 5 percentage points on our growth for this quarter.
The set-top box orders which are approximately 20% of our total service provider business was also down 20%,Mr.Chambers noted.
CFO Frank Calderoni added that,as a point of reference,approximately 70% of our product revenue is dependent on new orders each quarter.With that in mind,we expect total revenue to decline in the range of 8-10% on a year over year basis.
CNBC analyst Jim Cramer was not amused.Open rebellion has begun,Cramer said.My charitable trust owned this,blew it out,made a huge mistake believing.They should have pre-announced the guidance.This was not the ride othe Valkyries call.This was Tristan and Isolde,which ends badly.
There's a kind of a moment here where I think social media has overrun all bounds.You need seventeen year olds in the board rooms.I'm not being facetious.If you don't know what these people are doing-they understand that social media rules,taht the cell phone rules.The older people don't get it.You get a seventeen year old in PR.You've got to do something.It's a gold rush.You never have to show strong earnings,and you're dominant.They all want to be Amazon;they don't want to be Cisco.
Look,Mr.Chambers has been around a long time.They've got a lot of good employees.I know some of them.But the orders was just staggering.It was staggering.My charitable trust was just slack-jawed,CNBC's popular Jim Cramer complained.
Cisco Systems,Inc.(CSCO)

Is Twitter a Ripoff-and what could be a better deal

Twitter closed at 42.90 on Monday,down from its opening price of 45.10 when it debuted on November 7.If you bought it then,you're decidedly in the red.
A leading analyst has slammed the stock.At a certain point,to have that conversation completely devoid of rational business metrics,there's really nothing left to the imagination,said Daniel Ernst,principal at Hudson Square Research.It's so out of the loop.I certainly understand the market:they don't get Twitter.It is so overvalued,it's beyond imagination.
I don't possibly imagine a scenario where growth is gonna accelerate more than it is today.Mobile is already 65-70% of their revenue.When Facebook was at this size,they had a 35% positive operating margin;Twitter is at 11%,Mr.Ernst pointed out.He has a 20.00 price target on the stock.If that pans out,those first day investors will be seeing red,as well as being in red ink.*
People who invest in Twitter have to realise it's a cult,warned CNBC analyst Jim Cramer.
On the other hand,Cramer is confident in health care titan Johnson and Johnson.I think JNJ is worth 120.00,Cramer said.I think CEO Alex Gorsky will add 30.00 of value,so to sell JNJ now means nothing to me.
JNJ closed at 94.29 on Monday,up 0.26%.
Twitter(TWTR),Johnson and Johnson(JNJ)

Asia This Day:Typhoon Haiyan;Hong Kong Home Prices;Portuguese Visa Program

The Philippines Red Cross has 30 workers out with chain saws to clear debris from Typhoon Haiyan,said Chairman and CEO Richard Gordon,who is also a Filipino senator.Still,there is a feeling of desperation.They've lost family members.They're hungry.Their children are hungry.
The worst typhoon in history,Haiyan devastated homes,schools and entire communities.Meteorologists are discussing extending the current five level scale of tropical storms to six categories,on account of the oceans heating up and producing such record storms.*
The Chinese government has increased minimum down payments for high end Hong Kong property to 50%.This has had their intended effect of slowing price appreciation,while hindering even buyers with excellent credit from purchasing dream homes in the territory.
Prices of homes worth more than 10 million dollars Hong Kong are expected to drop 3% in Q4,said broker Cushman&Wakefield.Speculators have been driven off by the decline,but lower end buyers have been aided by steadying prices in their range.From 2003-12,Honk Kong luxury property went up 250%,the highest prices in the world.While the upper end growth will by around 5% in the second half of 2013,the mass market will hold steady.
The Hang Seng Property Index of Hong Kong's biggest developers has dropped 6.4% so far this year.Developers will probably respond by recalibrating their strategies by looking more to lower end projects.*
Chinese nationals are at the top of a Portuguese program to grant residency visas to foreign buyers of property worth a minimum of 500,000 euros,or around 670,000 dollars.Of the 318 of the visas granted in the past year,248 went to Chinese citizens,while Russians got 15,and Angolans and Brazilians 9 each.This has meant a decisive stimulus to the real estate market's recovery,said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Francisca Seabra.*
In golf,Taiwan's Teresa Lu,25,won the Mizuno Classic at the Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club in Shima,Japan on Sunday.It was her first career victory,after having been in two playoffs earlier in the year.She said she will probably return to the LPGA Tour next season now,after having left it in 2010 and concentrated on the Japan LPGA Tour.*
Adam Scott won the Australian PGA Championship with a 14 under par 67 at Royal Pines in Gold Coast,Australia.He joins five others as the only Australians to have won all three Australian majors.American Ricky Fowler was second.*
Update:This catastrophe humbles us-all of us,said Father Butch Rivera,a Philippines priest in whose home typhoon victims took refuge.I'm thinking what I can do for these people,what I can give them,the man of faith wondered.He's been consoling them.

Paramore Singer Hayley Williams

Paramore singer-songwriter Hayley Williams is featured in a track I tweeted Friday,"I could really us a wish right now." To hear this promising artist and experience other tweets,please visit me on Twitter @Businessblogger.Have a great weekend.

What Twitter's All About

We're all very proud of the company,said Twitter CEO Dick Costolo following the firm's public listing on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning.It's been our users who have gotten us to where we are today.We have a lot of work to do,and I'm anxious to get back to the office tonight and get started on that.All the capital raised today is going into the company.
It's all about making it very simple for new users to come to the platform.It's all about the very,very long-term business we're trying to build,growing the business for all the 2.4 billion connected people to all become users of the platform.
We made it clear that we had every intention to remain an independent company.We'll be making sure that we have people on the ground around the world driving unique regional content onto the platform.We have 94 of the Ad Age Top 100 already working with us this year.We are public;real time;coversational;and distributed.It's all about amplifying the characteristics that we already have,being the indispensible companion to the live experience.
These startups always evolve from those who were originally there.I don't have any time to think about what happened three years ago,Mr.Costolo declared.*
Twitter is very agressively priced at 40 times earnings;there will be better entry points later on,said Mark Mahaney,managing director at RBC Capital Markets.Amazon,Priceline,Netflix and Facebook are better buys right now.The Internet ecosystem generates a lot of wealth.If you pick the right 5-6 companies,that's how the individual trader can make money.
The stock closed at 44.90,down slightly from the 45.10 opening price.
Twitter(TWTR),Priceline(PCLN),Netflix(NTFX),Amazon(AMZN),Facebook(FB)

N.J. Offering ‘Fugitive Safe Surrender’ Program To Those With Outstanding Warrants « CBS New York

N.J. Offering ‘Fugitive Safe Surrender’ Program To Those With Outstanding Warrants « CBS New York

Good Vibrations:Exxon Mobil and Tesla Motors

Even though Exxon Mobil's Q3 earnings were down 18% on the year,hurt by refining margins,the latest report was still greeted positively by Wall Street.Earnings of 7.87 billion dollars,or 1.79 a share,did beat the consensus estimate of 1.77 a share.As well,oil production rose 1.5% on the year,with liquids volumes up 5.3%.
It's better than I thought,said CNBC analyst Jim Cramer.Exxon looks good,with the production growth.It's nice to see a big dog get a good run here.*
In Monday trading,Exxon Mobil shares closed at 92.10,up 2.28,or 2.54%.The stock pays about a 2.9% dividend,and a 3 billion dollar buyback to support the share price is expected.*
Tesla Motors stock popped 8.03% in Monday trading,closing at 175.20,ahead of Tuesday's earnings report at the close of trading.Bloomberg described the stock's October results as having hit a pothole,however.It experienced a loss of 4.7 billion dollars-it's worst monthly performance since October 2010.R.W. Baird&Co. cut the stock from outperform to neutral,saying it was priced to perfection.Investors are wagering on the carmaker having tremendous future success,driving it to heights seldom seen,with the stock trading at 13.9 times sales,versus GM's 0.4 times sales.
This speculation causes the stock to be highly volatile,moving sharply at the slightest news.For example,fires that resluted from Tesla crashes on October 1 in Washington state,and in Mexico on October 18,caused the stock to crater.Tesla CEO Elon Musk himself said in an October 25 interview that the stock price we have is more than we have any right to deserve.*
Exxon Mobil(XOM),Tesla Motors(TSLA)

Asia This Day:Fed's Fisher in Sydney;China Services;Shanghai Golf

A top central banker,Richard W. Fisher,who is President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas,has bitterly criticised the U.S. Government for the inept handling of the federal budget,thus hindering the Federal Reserve's efforts to help the economy recover.Mr.Fisher thus echoed the frustration of the American people with the recent government shutdown and sequestration.
I am not a proponent of increasing government spending without restraint,Fisher,whose father was born in the Australian state of Queensland,said in a Sydney speech to business economists.The excessively over-indebted US Government has been hog-tied,prevented from providing stimulus.It has thus provided a counter-cyclical,suppressive role.The inablity of our government to get its act together has countered the pro-cyclical role of the Federal Reserve.We have a government that hasn't been able to agree on a budget in 5 years;that has historically,under both Republican and Democrat presidents and Congresses,spent money and committed itself to fund long-term programs without devising revenue streams to cover current costs or fund future liabilities.
One could say that GDP would have risen at 3.2 percent had government expediture increased at the same rate as private expenditure.Or,more modestly,if government had just been held constant,instead of contracting,GDP would have grown at an annual rate of 2.6 percent.
Under these circumstances,it is no small wonder American businesses are not expanding and growing jobs at the pace we at the Fed would like to see.It is no small wonder that our economy is growing at a substandard pace compared to previous recoveries.It is no small wonder that the most expansive monetary policy the Fed Open Market Committee has ever engineered has been hampered from accomplishing what it set out to do,Mr Fisher complained.*
China's services sector grew the most in thirteen months in October,a report from the National Bureau of Statistics shows.The services PMI rose to 56.3 in October from 55.4 in September.*
Most Asian markets fell in early Monday trading,with Japan's Nikkei index down 0.88%,perhaps disconcerted by Mr.Fisher's remarks.*
In golf,American Dustin Johnson won the PGA Tour's World Golf Chmapionships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai in a memorable tussle with England's Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell of Scotland.Johnson said it was the most important win of his career,given the field and the tournament.It was his eigth PGA Tour victory.He praised HSBC for their excellent work on the tournament.
Johnson,Poulter and McDowell spurred each other on with an exhibition of accurate ball-striking.China's WC Liang also played well,tying for fifteenth with his eleven under par 66.Poulter and McDowell will go on to the Turkish Open this week in the European Tour's Race to Dubai.

Where You Can Find the Music

This week's music is available on my Twitter page @Businessblogger.It was not technically possible to post it directly to Blogger,so that's a good alternative.This week there are two selections:
How To Save A Life-The Fray
Heart Full Of Soul-The Yardbirds.
I apologise for the inconvenience,but you can find many other items of interest on my Twitter page anyway,so I hope to see you there as well.

YouTube Problems

YouTube said they were having technical difficulties.I am unable to post the music I had selected.

In Depth:US-Pakistan Relations,part 2

On Wednesday,October 23,President Barack Obama and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif held detailed discussions on the situation in Pakistan and where the two sides will go from here.President Obama commended the resolve of the government and people of Pakistan,armed forces and law enforcement agencies to defeat terrorists and praised Pakistan for its military campaign,the White House said.The two Leaders emphasized that no country's territory should be used to destabilize its neighbors.President Obama reiterated his confidence in Pakistan's commitment and dedication to nuclear security and recognized that Pakistan is fully engaged with the international community on nuclear safety and security issues.
Prime Minister Sharif expressed appreciation for the development and rehabilitation by the U.S. government of roads in Pakistan's border areas.Both sides emphasized the need to maintain and enhance the GLOC's infrastructure.
They welcomed the ongoing security transition in Afghanistan and Afghan-led preparations for next April's presidential elections.Prime Minister Sharif also underlined that the support of the international community in the repatriation of Afghan refugees and their reintegration in Afghanistan was of critical importance to Pakistan.Both Leaders called on the Taliban to join in the political process and enter into dialogue with the Afghan government.
The two Leaders stressed that the improvement in Pakistan-India bilateral relations would greatly enhance prospects for regional peace,stability and prosperity,as it would significantly benefit the lives of citizens on both sides of the border,the White House added.