WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The nations that make decisions about Antarctic fishing failed Friday for a third time to agree on a plan that would create the world's largest marine sanctuary.
The U.S. and New Zealand had proposed creating a reserve in the pristine Ross Sea. At 1.34 million square kilometers (517,000 square miles), the sanctuary would have been twice the size of Texas.
The proposal, a decade in the making, had been scaled back from earlier plans. Many countries hoped that would be enough to entice previous objectors Russia and Ukraine to agree. Those countries are among several that have fishing interests in the region.
But the 24 nations and the European Union failed to reach a required consensus as time ran out Friday on a 10-day gathering of national delegations in Hobart, Australia.
The countries also failed to agree on a second proposal to create smaller reserves in East Antarctica.
The Pew Charitable Trusts said Russia and Ukraine essentially ran down the clock filibuster-style after earlier expressing positive sentiments about the proposal.
"This is a bad day for Antarctica and for the world's oceans that desperately need protection," said Andrea Kavanagh, director of Pew's Southern Ocean sanctuaries project.
The Ross Sea is home to the Antarctic toothfish, a lucrative species that is often marketed in North America as Chilean sea bass.
The nations that make up the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources are scheduled to meet again next October.
Kavanagh said she doesn't believe the sanctuary plan is dead, although she's not sure what it will take now to get it passed.
Enter the phrase "Chinese fire drill" into YouTube and you'll find page upon page of videos of a classic car prank that's been popular since the 1960s.
For the uninitiated, a "Chinese fire drill" can be described as a form of vehicular musical chairs. Here's how it works: A car full of people, usually teenagers, stops at a red light. Everyone then gets out and runs around the car until just before the light changes back to green, with all participants jumping inside the closest door. Anyone who fails to get back into the car is left behind as the rest zoom off. One of the most famous pop culture references to the game appears in the opening of the early seasons of the classic 1970s sitcom Happy Days, in which Richie Cunningham and friends can be seen racing around his car, holding up traffic in the process.
As car culture reached its height in the 1950s and 1960s, the expression "Chinese fire drill" developed two meanings. The first was the aforementioned prank. The second was a reference to a traffic accident that a December 1962 issue of American Speech described as "an accident scene of great confusion, such as a school-bus or cattle-truck upset."
But the question remains: What exactly is "Chinese" about either of these definitions? While a 1996 post on the Random House Word of the Day blog states that "Chinese here is not necessarily a racial sentiment," its hard to see how that's true. Starting around World War I, the descriptor "Chinese" began to be frequently added to phrases to describe situations that were confusing, incomprehensible and messy.
These included a "Chinese ace," which referred to an incompetent pilot; "Chinese national anthem," to describe an explosion; and "Chinese landing," which was used by pilots to refer to bumpy, dangerous touchdowns because the aircraft had "one wing low" (a cringeworthy joke about what Asian languages sound like that should sound a bit familiar). Interestingly, Chinese landing and the one wing low pun were both so entrenched in military lingo that they were included in the 1944 edition of The Official Guide To The Army Air Forces.
Note how all of the above phrases refer to things that are negative and inferior in some way. It's also important to remember that anti-Asian sentiments had existed in the United States for decades before World War I and that the United States government did everything it could to keep Chinese and other Asian immigrants off American shores. In fact, the Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional Usage traces the first pejorative use of "Chinese" to around 1880.
The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited Chinese laborers like the ones who built the Transcontinental Railroad from immigrating to the United States for 10 years, and several other laws that followed were aimed at preventing Chinese people from entering the country. By 1924, these laws had extended to all Asians (a rule that was upheld until the passage of the 1965 Immigration Act).
After the two world wars, "Chinese" continued to be used as a descriptor to indicate things that were hasty, cheap or amateur. The late New York Times columnist William Safire noted in his book I Stand Corrected that in the 1940s and '50s "Chinese home runs" referred to home runs that were either high pop-ups or ones that exited the park just along the foul line. And schoolchildren used to play "Chinese whispers" instead of the game Telephone because the messages would quickly become garbled and lost along the way.
The phrase "Chinese fire drill" became popular once again with the military during the Vietnam War. In fact, several books written by former soldiers after the war used the phrase in their titles or descriptions of combat. In his 1967 book The New Legions, which was sharply critical of the war, Donald Duncan quotes a fellow soldier as saying, "It must have looked like a Chinese Fire Drill back on the river as the shooting started." A veteran quoted in Craig Howes' Voices of the VietnamPOWs also used the phrase while describing a particularly chaotic battle in August 1964. And the mystery writer Michael Wolfe titled his 1986 thriller about Vietnam-era POWs The Chinese Fire Drill.
Aside from the occasional reference to the car prank, the phrase "Chinese fire drill" has mostly faded from everyday use today. Perhaps it is time to rename the 1960s-era prank? Suggestions are welcome in the comments.
Google's Reto Meier — a great dude to do walkthroughs if we've ever seen one — dives through some of the more techy changes in Android 4.4 KitKat. Still a great watch for the rest of us. Set aside a dozen minutes and check it out.
Butterflies show origin of species as an evolutionary process, not a single event
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary moleary@cell.com 617-397-2802 Cell Press
The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.
"The butterflies have performed a beautiful natural experiment for us that lets us address important questions about evolution," said Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "Even as biologists, we often think of the origin of new species as a moment in time when a new species splits from an old one, and this type of thinking is reflected in the evolutionary 'trees,' or phylogenies, that we draw. In reality, evolution is a long-term process that plays out in stages, and speciation is no different."
Kronforst and his colleagues found that the initial divergence between butterfly populations is restricted to a small fraction of the genome. In the case of the butterflies, the key genes are those involved in wing patterning. The butterfly species under study all have very different wing patterns, which are important in the butterflies' mating behavior and predator avoidance.
Comparison of those closely related, interbreeding species to a slightly more distant third species showed that hundreds of genomic changes had arisen rather quickly in evolutionary time sometime after those early differences took hold.
"We find that only a small fraction of the genome is markedly different between closely related species, but then much more of the genomemore than you'd expectshows similar differences between more distantly related species," Kronforst explained. "That indicates that the genetic changes that are important for causing speciation are tightly clustered early in speciation, but not so later on in the process; the overall pattern of genome divergence starts slow and then skyrockets."
The researchers view the process as a kind of tug-of-war between natural selection and gene flow. The result in the case of the butterflies has been a rapid divergence of species, driven by a combination of new mutations and borrowed genes. The butterfly genomes also show that the same spots in the genome have been important in multiple speciation events.
"Beyond butterflies, it is possible that this type of speciation, in which natural selection for ecology causes the origin of new species, has been important in the evolution of other organisms," Kronforst said.
###
Cell Reports, Kronforst et al.: "Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation."
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Butterflies show origin of species as an evolutionary process, not a single event
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary moleary@cell.com 617-397-2802 Cell Press
The evolution of new species might not be as hard as it seems, even when diverging populations remain in contact and continue to produce offspring. That's the conclusion of studies, reported in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports on October 31st, that examine the full genome sequences of 32 Heliconius butterflies from the Central American rain forest, representing five different species.
"The butterflies have performed a beautiful natural experiment for us that lets us address important questions about evolution," said Marcus Kronforst of the University of Chicago. "Even as biologists, we often think of the origin of new species as a moment in time when a new species splits from an old one, and this type of thinking is reflected in the evolutionary 'trees,' or phylogenies, that we draw. In reality, evolution is a long-term process that plays out in stages, and speciation is no different."
Kronforst and his colleagues found that the initial divergence between butterfly populations is restricted to a small fraction of the genome. In the case of the butterflies, the key genes are those involved in wing patterning. The butterfly species under study all have very different wing patterns, which are important in the butterflies' mating behavior and predator avoidance.
Comparison of those closely related, interbreeding species to a slightly more distant third species showed that hundreds of genomic changes had arisen rather quickly in evolutionary time sometime after those early differences took hold.
"We find that only a small fraction of the genome is markedly different between closely related species, but then much more of the genomemore than you'd expectshows similar differences between more distantly related species," Kronforst explained. "That indicates that the genetic changes that are important for causing speciation are tightly clustered early in speciation, but not so later on in the process; the overall pattern of genome divergence starts slow and then skyrockets."
The researchers view the process as a kind of tug-of-war between natural selection and gene flow. The result in the case of the butterflies has been a rapid divergence of species, driven by a combination of new mutations and borrowed genes. The butterfly genomes also show that the same spots in the genome have been important in multiple speciation events.
"Beyond butterflies, it is possible that this type of speciation, in which natural selection for ecology causes the origin of new species, has been important in the evolution of other organisms," Kronforst said.
###
Cell Reports, Kronforst et al.: "Hybridization reveals the evolving genomic architecture of speciation."
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Actor Naveen Andrews, left, actress Naomi Watts, director Oliver Hirschbiegel and producer Robert Bernstein, right, attend the premiere of "Diana" hosted by The Cinema Society, Linda Wells and Allure Magazine at the SVA Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Actor Naveen Andrews, left, actress Naomi Watts, director Oliver Hirschbiegel and producer Robert Bernstein, right, attend the premiere of "Diana" hosted by The Cinema Society, Linda Wells and Allure Magazine at the SVA Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Actress Naomi Watts attends the premiere of "Diana" hosted by The Cinema Society, Linda Wells and Allure Magazine at the SVA Theater on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
NEW YORK (AP) — When Naomi Watts was a struggling actress, she never would have imagined that one day she would play Princess Diana, one of the most famous women in the world, even after her death.
In fact, the thought makes her laugh.
"Yeah, that would sound a bit silly wouldn't it," said the actress at the New York premiere of the biopic "Diana" on Wednesday night.
Watts plays the Princess of Wales during roughly the last two years of her life. The story is based on the 2001 book "Diana: Her Last Love," chronicling her relationships with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and Dodi Fayed.
Cas Anvar, who plays Fayed, would often marvel on set about the way Watts embodied the essence of Princess Diana. In fact, he says she even stayed in character between takes.
"It was quite surreal sometimes, but it was thrilling to be around, working with someone like that," Anvar said. "She kept in character all the time, so I never actually got to experience the Naomi side of things," he recalled. "I was more or less always interacting with Lady Di."
Watts says she tried to stay in character not because she's "as disciplined as Daniel Day-Lewis," but because the accent was so difficult to master.
Despite all her effort, few have been impressed with the film, which opens Friday. Reviews have been mostly negative thus far.
Naveen Andrews, who plays Dr. Khan, believes a big part of that is because Diana really was, as her nickname implies, the people's princess.
"Obviously in England, I think people feel a sense of ownership over her," he said. "They did when she was alive. Now they do that she's passed. It's a testament to her power that she can generate so much emotion and feeling."
Watts agrees: "Everyone feels they know her and they thought they had an opinion about who she was and their version of the story must be true and the comparisons that will be made inevitably."
Anvar says he thinks the strong opinions over the film are a good thing.
"Personally I would rather be part of a project that inspires massive debate and controversy than a project that just fades away with a whimper, he said. "Any kind of uproar or upheaval usually is a good thing and indicative of a good story."
Internet companies in the U.S. are demanding that the surveillance practices of the U.S. should be reformed to enhance privacy protections and provide "appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms."
In a letter on Thursday to the chairman and members of the Committee on the Judiciary, a copy of which was provided by an industry source, Facebook, AOL, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo said they welcomed a debate about how to protect both national security and privacy interests and applauded the sponsors of the USA Freedom Act, a legislation aimed to end bulk data collection by the National Security Agency, for their contribution to the discussion.
The companies had until now focused on asking the government for permission to reveal information on users' data requests by the NSA, which are covered under "gag orders" that prohibit recipients of orders from discussing them in public.
Google and Microsoft, for example, filed motions before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to be allowed to provide aggregate statistics on orders and directives that were received under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and related regulations, which the government has so far refused.
Yahoo asked the court to allow it to make public documents from a 2008 dispute over a data request that would show that the company had resisted the order. The Internet companies are attempting to counter disclosures by former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden, that the government had real-time access to content on the servers of the Internet companies under a surveillance program called Prism, which these companies deny.
The stakes for the companies were raised this week after The Washington Post reported that NSA has secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world, giving it the ability to collect metadata and actual content from hundreds of millions of user accounts, many of them belonging to Americans.
In the letter, the Internet companies wrote that transparency will help to counter "erroneous reports that we permit intelligence agencies 'direct access' to our companies' servers or that we are participants in a bulk Internet records collection program." The companies said that they have consistently stated that they only respond to legal demands for customer and user information that are targeted and specific.
"Allowing companies to be transparent about the number and nature of requests will help the public better understand the facts about the government's authority to compel technology companies to disclose user data and how technology companies respond to the targeted legal demands we receive," according to the letter.
But transparency is only a first step for the Internet companies, who are now also asking for reform of government surveillance practices. "We urge the Administration to work with Congress in addressing these critical reforms that would provide much needed transparency and help rebuild the trust of Internet users around the world," according to the letter, which was addressed, among others to Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, who is one of the sponsors of the USA Freedom Act.
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com
John Ribeiro, IDG News Service , IDG News Service
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. More by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service
WASHINGTON (AP) — Government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate.
The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music — but not make cellphone calls.
The Federal Aviation Administration says airlines can allow passengers to use the devices during takeoffs and landings on planes that meet certain criteria for protecting aircraft systems from electronic interference.
Most new airliners are expected to meet the criteria, but changes won't happen immediately. Timing will depend upon the airline.
Connections to the Internet to surf, exchange emails, text or download data will still be prohibited below 10,000 feet. Heavier devices like laptops will have to be stowed. Passengers will be told to switch their smartphones, tablets and other devices to airplane mode.
Cellphone calls will still be prohibited.
A travel industry group welcomed the changes, calling them common-sense accommodations for a traveling public now bristling with technology. "We're pleased the FAA recognizes that an enjoyable passenger experience is not incompatible with safety and security," said Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.
Sci-fi epic Ender's Game is poised to win the North American box-office race this weekend with a solid $25 million or more opening, hoping to reverse a disturbing downturn in movie adaptations of young-adult books. Overseas, the film has already opened in the U.K., where it is doing softer-than-expected business.
The big headline internationally this weekend will be Disney and Marvel Studios' sequel Thor: The Dark World, which began rolling out Wednesday in the U.K., France and a handful of other markets, grossing north of $8 million and pacing ahead of the first Thor. On Thursday and Friday, Thor 2, with Chris Hemsworth returning in the title role, opens in a number of other major markets before hitting theaters in North America on Nov. 8.
Ender's Game, a co-production between Summit Entertainment, OddLot Entertainment and Digital Domain, will need to do substantial business worldwide in order to make up its $110 million budget. The action-adventure is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card, whose anti-gay comments have riled many (though he has said Ender's Game isn't a YA property, it has been made widely available in schools).
Directed by Gavin Hood, Ender's Game stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, HaileeSteinfeld and AbigailBreslin. The film should be boosted by a run in Imax theaters.
Outside of the Hunger Games and Twilight film franchises, YA properties have struggled at the box office. This year, The Host, BeautifulCreatures and Mortal Instruments: City of Bones all flopped.
Set in the near future, Ender's Game revolves around a young boy (Butterfield) who is recruited by the military to stop an alien race from destroying the world.
Ender's Game is a sizeable gamble for GigiPritzker's OddLot, which financed much of the movie and dispatched sister company Sierra/Affinity to sell the movie internationally. Last weekend, Ender's Game debuted at No. 5 in the U.K. with just under $2 million, but the film could make up ground as it continues to roll out in additional foreign markets.
Relativity Media and Reel FX's animated 3D pic Free Birds is getting an early jump on Thanksgiving by rolling out now. The movie -- about a pair of turkeys who travel back in time to prevent their kind from becoming the traditional holiday meal -- should benefit from being the only new family entry in the market and hit $20 million in its debut (Entertainment One is distributing in Canada), although Relativity insiders are expecting a figure more in the $16 million to $19 million range. The voice cast is led by Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler.
Free Birds, costing $55 million to make, marks Relativity's first foray into the animation business. The company could use a box-office win after suffering a string of disappointments.
CBS Films' sexagenarian comedy Last Vegas, the weekend's third new nationwide entry, is looking at a more modest opening in the $14 million range. Directed by Jon Turteltaub, the film's high-profile cast -- Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline -- should result in strong legs, however. A geezer version of The Hangover, Last Vegas stars four friends in their 60s who travel to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. Mary Steenburgen also stars.
Older moviegoers rarely rush to see a film on its opening weekend. CBS Films believes Last Vegas will serve as strong counterprogramming throughout the month. In August 2012, Hope Springs, starring Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, opened to a modest $14.7 million on its way to earning $63.5 million domestically and a hearty $114.3 million globally.
The specialty box office sees a number of high-profile debuts, including awards contender Dallas Buyers Club, which Focus Features opens in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles, and Diana, the biopic of Princess Diana starring Naomi Watts. Entertainment One is opening Diana in 38 markets.
Dallas Buyers Club has drawn raves for its performances by Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
Universal also releases Richard Curtis' romantic fantasy-comedy About Time, starring Rachel McAdams opposite Tom Hollander, in the U.S. From Working Title Films, About Time is only opening in 175 theaters domestically. Overseas, the film has grossed $32 million from 40 markets, with 17 countries still left to go.
On the documentary side, Tom Donahue's acclaimed documentary Casting By -- which laments the fact that casting directors are snubbed by the Academy Awards -- opens in one theater to New York. In a rare letter to Hollywood that appeared in the The Hollywood Reporter timed to the film's opening, Woody Allen extolled the work of the casting director he has worked with over the years.
What was supposed to be a nice, heartwarming picture of four Chinese government officials visiting an elderly woman in a sign of respect and caring for the people and giving back and all that ended up being another Photoshop nightmare for China where three giant men plus a floating disappearing half man creepily hover over a miniature-sized old woman. Man, someone needs to teach China how to use Photoshop.
Tonight millions of kid kids and grownup kids will dress up as all kinds of things. I for, one, am going with a group of friends as Muppets with a disco twist. What are you dressing up as?
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Michael Huerta announces that government safety rules are changing to let airline passengers use most electronic devices from gate-to-gate during a news conference, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013, at Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport. The change will let passengers read, work, play games, watch movies and listen to music _ but not make cellphone calls. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013 photo, volunteers and officials dig graves to inter the bodies of migrants who died of thirst after their the truck they were traveling in, seen rear, broke down while attempting to cross the Sahara Desert north of Arlit, Niger. Nearly 100 African migrants hoping to escape crushing poverty met a grisly end in the desert, officials said Thursday, dying of thirst under the baking sun after their truck broke down in Niger not far from the Algerian border. It took weeks for authorities to learn of the tragedy and for recovery teams to reach the distant site, where they found a gruesome scene including the remains of 52 children and 33 women.(AP Photo/Almoustapha Alhacen)
Mayor Rob Ford walks past Halloween decorations on his way to talk to media at City Hall in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 31, 2013. Ford says he has no reason to step down despite police confirmation that they have seized a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday:
1. GOOD NEWS FOR TRAVELERS WHO DISLIKE BEING DISCONNECTED
The FAA is easing restrictions on the use of electronic gadgets on airplanes — though chatting on cellphones will still be prohibited.
2. ISRAELIS TARGET WEAPONS SHIPMENT IN SYRIA
Warplanes attack a store of Russian missiles in the port city of Latakia, an official says. It's an apparent continuation of Israel's campaign to keep arms from proliferating in the Mideast.
3. STOP-AND-FRISK GETS A REPRIEVE
A federal appeals court blocks a judge's ruling that the NYPD's controversial tactic discriminates against minorities.
4. DEATH IN THE DESERT
Nearly 100 African migrants hoping to travel to Algeria die of thirst after their two trucks break down in the middle of the Sahara.
5. FOUR DAYS, FOUR MASS KILLINGS
Experts say violence that left 14 adults and seven children dead is nothing more than random chance, not a sign of growing violence in America.
6. HOW WALL STREET AVOIDED OCTOBER JINX
Rather than being rattled by the U.S. government shutdown, investors kept their focus on what probably matters more: the Federal Reserve.
7. DRIVER TICKETED WHILE WEARING GOOGLE GLASS
The California woman plans to challenge what may be a first-of-its-kind citation, saying the Internet-connected eyewear makes navigation easier.
8. WHAT MAY PROVE DAMAGING TO TORONTO MAYOR
Police say they have a video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking a crack pipe.
9. IN GEOPOLITICS, IT'S SPY VS. SPY
Even close allies keep things from one another — and work every angle to find out what's being held back.
10. WHO'S CONDUCTING A WORLDWIDE POLL
The Vatican wants to know how Catholic parishes around the globe handle sensitive issues like contraception, divorce and gay couples.
Someone should probably go make a Wikipedia page for the “Warby Parker model,” since it has rapidly become the go-to business strategy for online retail startups.
The latest addition to the genus Ecommerce Lowoverheadus is Greats, a men’s footwear brand that launched in August. The name derives from the ambition to put a fresh spin on the enduring designs in sneaker history. Although that might sound like copycat design, pretty much every shoe brand iterates on others’ designs; as with most menswear categories, the classics persist in one form or another.
Although their wares are manufactured in the same facilities as upscale lines like Lanvin and Balenciaga, the goal is to create high quality goods while keeping the price point low by cutting out retail overhead. The shoes are priced in the range of $39 to $190, and while early adopters will undoubtedly skew toward sneaker aficionados, the target audience is broad.
“We’re going to make shoes for men with feet,” co-founder Ryan Babenzien said.
Babenzien and his co-founder, Jon Buscemi, are career shoe guys. The former did branding and marketing at K-Swiss and Puma, while Buscemi already has founding another footwear brand, Gourmet Footwear, under his belt.
The company raised an angel round of $500,000 last April, at which point they hadn’t even opened a bank account, Babenzien said. They were pre-selling in beta until their launch on August 6 and only began shipping three weeks ago.
Like Warby, Greats got a lot of early attention from press, including the seal of cool-approval on GQ’s blog. Now the team is looking to raise its seed round.
More than anything, Greats is aiming to be a label, not a startup with a clever business model. When we spoke, Babenzien came back again and again to the idea of building a brand, and, more importantly, to making sure that the DNA of the product is readily recognizable to consumers from the get-go. (Lest we forget that, the site’s URL is greatsbrand.com.)
Greats launched with two styles in three colors each and will be rolling out six additional shoes over the course of the next year. Sneakers are a focus in the first batch, but they’ll also be adding styles like boots and boat shoes into the mix by the end of 2014.
At the moment, Greats’s profit margins are 60%, but the team thinks they can get them higher than that.
“I could have sold this for $120,” Babenzien said, gesturing at the $99 black leather sneakers he was wearing. “And nobody would have blinked. We wanted to make a real statement.”
Part of the team’s long-term roadmap is globalizing Greats. Babenzien said they have been seeing web traffic coming from France, England, Asia, Australia, and Canada.
“The culture of men’s sneakers and footwear is global… we’d like to get to $100 million in revenue in five years,” he said. “I think based on what we’ve seen, it’s well within reach.”
They’ll also be taking on auxiliary categories. Socks, for instance, are something they could get into in the near term. (“That’s more of a strategic category than anything else,” Babenzien said.) Bags and sweatshirts would naturally follow. Because sneakers are part of a youth culture, college age guys form a large portion of Greats’s potential market, and the brand has the opportunity to outfit them from the shoes up.
The company has been moving quickly since April, and they’re wasting no time in getting their products into the offline retail world, as well. On November 9, Greats is opening a hundred square foot shop in a small glass walled shopping complex on Williamsburg’s waterfront, which they’re calling the “Field House” in reference to the brand’s vintage athletic vibe. Customers can buy shoes in the shop, although Babenzien noted that it’s the only physical store in which people will be able to make purchases.
The store will only be open from noon to 7 pm on weekends, the point being to get consumers touching and test driving Greats shoes, rather than serving as a major retail location.
Although having an offline location was always in the team’s playbook, they didn’t expect to make the move so soon. But the Williamsburg space was cheap and didn’t have a lease, so they snatched it up.
Greats is also getting product into the real world with two displays at the upscale LA men’s store Union and at High Point, a sneaker Mecca in Phoenix. The shoes won’t be available for sale at either joint; it’s more about building the brand in the context of other sought-after designers.
The sneaker market for guys is big, and these shoes, with their buttery leather uppers, are sweet. (Unfortunately for the ladies, they’re not running unisex sizes just yet.) The tricky part about online native fashion startups is that the fashion part of the equation — finding the line’s voice and aesthetic point of view — so often loses out to a focus on being online native. Young, creative designers fail all the time out of a lack of business acumen, but a fashion label needs direction, achievable through tight branding and great product. The Greats guys get that.
Public health policies and practices may negatively affect marginalized populations
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31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Leslie Shepherd shepherdl@smh.ca 416-864-6094 St. Michael's Hospital
Author says it's important for public health officials to speak to populations that will be affected by a public health policy or program
TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2013--Despite the best intentions of those working in public health, some policies and practices inadvertently further disadvantage marginalized populations, according to a commentary by a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital.
Dr. Diego S. Silva, a scientist in the hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health, said there's an emphasis toward social justice in public health, particularly when it comes to people who are marginalized, disadvantaged or vulnerable.
"For example, despite evidence suggesting that people who are homeless are at greater risk of being infected with influenza and suffer greater morbidity than the general population, many pandemic influenza plans provide impracticable advice or otherwise fail to address their specific needs," said Dr. Silva.
The commentary appears online today in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
In the commentary, Dr. Silva and his colleagues refer to two public health policies case studies that "are intentionally problematic and don't have an easy solution."
In one example, a public health advisory issued by the State Department of Health in Indiana suggests that people who are homeless should be dissuaded from using shelters during flu outbreaks and should instead be treated on the street.
However, "given the cold winters of Indiana, it seems untenable that persons who use shelters will be able to, or ought to, stay away from them without placing themselves in danger of other perils, such as freezing to death," Dr. Silva said.
Dr. Silva said that while it is good advice to urge people to stay home when they are sick, the policy can take on different meanings for various populations.
"What does it mean to 'stay home' if you're homeless?" said Dr. Silva, who has a PhD in public health.
In the second case study, some mental health centres maintain indoor smoking bans on the grounds they reduce the harm associated with second-hand smoke. However, some studies suggest that smoking may have neurological and social benefits for people with schizophrenia.
"Thus even seemingly uncontroversial and commonplace public health programs, like those of tobacco cessation, may have the effect of disproportionately disadvantaging those who are already disadvantaged," he said.
According to Dr. Silva, a greater emphasis on teaching ethics and the philosophy of science is also needed in graduate schools or departments of public health.
Dr. Silva said there needs to be a greater emphasis on teaching ethics and the philosophy of science in graduate schools or departments of public health. He said those in public health schools need to ask more question about ethics and look at what they use as evidence when they make public health policies.
"This is particularly important when thinking about and questioning what constitutes the good and the right in public health, and may help guard against simplistic applications of ethics theories or principles (whether utilitarian or others)," he said.
Dr. Silva said it is important for public health officials to speak to the actual populations that will be affected by a public health policy or program.
"In the public health community, we are intimately aware of people who are marginalized," said Dr. Silva. "The more that we are explicit about the values of public health and its intentions, the more that we will create policies and programs that will better serve marginalized populations."
###
About St. Michael's Hospital
St Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
Media contact:
For more information or to interview Dr. Silva, contact:
Leslie Shepherd
Manager, Media Strategy,
Phone: 416-864-6094
shepherdl@smh.ca
St. Michael's Hospital
Inspired Care. Inspiring Science.
http://www.stmichaelshospital.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stmikeshospital
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Public health policies and practices may negatively affect marginalized populations
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Leslie Shepherd shepherdl@smh.ca 416-864-6094 St. Michael's Hospital
Author says it's important for public health officials to speak to populations that will be affected by a public health policy or program
TORONTO, Oct. 29, 2013--Despite the best intentions of those working in public health, some policies and practices inadvertently further disadvantage marginalized populations, according to a commentary by a researcher at St. Michael's Hospital.
Dr. Diego S. Silva, a scientist in the hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health, said there's an emphasis toward social justice in public health, particularly when it comes to people who are marginalized, disadvantaged or vulnerable.
"For example, despite evidence suggesting that people who are homeless are at greater risk of being infected with influenza and suffer greater morbidity than the general population, many pandemic influenza plans provide impracticable advice or otherwise fail to address their specific needs," said Dr. Silva.
The commentary appears online today in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
In the commentary, Dr. Silva and his colleagues refer to two public health policies case studies that "are intentionally problematic and don't have an easy solution."
In one example, a public health advisory issued by the State Department of Health in Indiana suggests that people who are homeless should be dissuaded from using shelters during flu outbreaks and should instead be treated on the street.
However, "given the cold winters of Indiana, it seems untenable that persons who use shelters will be able to, or ought to, stay away from them without placing themselves in danger of other perils, such as freezing to death," Dr. Silva said.
Dr. Silva said that while it is good advice to urge people to stay home when they are sick, the policy can take on different meanings for various populations.
"What does it mean to 'stay home' if you're homeless?" said Dr. Silva, who has a PhD in public health.
In the second case study, some mental health centres maintain indoor smoking bans on the grounds they reduce the harm associated with second-hand smoke. However, some studies suggest that smoking may have neurological and social benefits for people with schizophrenia.
"Thus even seemingly uncontroversial and commonplace public health programs, like those of tobacco cessation, may have the effect of disproportionately disadvantaging those who are already disadvantaged," he said.
According to Dr. Silva, a greater emphasis on teaching ethics and the philosophy of science is also needed in graduate schools or departments of public health.
Dr. Silva said there needs to be a greater emphasis on teaching ethics and the philosophy of science in graduate schools or departments of public health. He said those in public health schools need to ask more question about ethics and look at what they use as evidence when they make public health policies.
"This is particularly important when thinking about and questioning what constitutes the good and the right in public health, and may help guard against simplistic applications of ethics theories or principles (whether utilitarian or others)," he said.
Dr. Silva said it is important for public health officials to speak to the actual populations that will be affected by a public health policy or program.
"In the public health community, we are intimately aware of people who are marginalized," said Dr. Silva. "The more that we are explicit about the values of public health and its intentions, the more that we will create policies and programs that will better serve marginalized populations."
###
About St. Michael's Hospital
St Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
Media contact:
For more information or to interview Dr. Silva, contact:
Leslie Shepherd
Manager, Media Strategy,
Phone: 416-864-6094
shepherdl@smh.ca
St. Michael's Hospital
Inspired Care. Inspiring Science.
http://www.stmichaelshospital.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stmikeshospital
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| E-mail
Share
]
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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