NEW ORLEANS ? A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Halliburton can avoid paying most of the pollution claims that resulted from the catastrophic 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill because it was shielded in a contract with well-owner BP.
Still, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said that Halliburton is not exempt from paying punitive damages and civil penalties that arise from the April 20, 2010, blowout off the Louisiana coast. Those penalties could amount to billions of dollars.
The judge also said Halliburton's indemnity could be voided if the company is found to have defrauded BP. He did not rule on BP's allegations that Halliburton committed fraud by declaring the cement safe to use.
Houston-based Halliburton supplied cement for the ill-fated Macondo well that blew out in the Gulf of Mexico, and federal investigators have found that the cement failed to seal to the well properly. The cement job was one of several factors that investigators said contributed to the blowout that killed 11 workers and led to the release of more than 200 million gallons of oil.
In court filings, BP has accused Halliburton of hiding information about cement tests and defrauding BP by telling the company that the cement was safe to use. Halliburton has said it did not conceal information or commit fraud.
Both sides claimed victory on Tuesday.
BP touted Barbier's ruling as a "strong signal" that Transocean and Halliburton "would be held accountable."
"These two decisions should put an end to the attempts by Transocean and Halliburton to avoid their obligations," BP said. The company added that Halliburton "at a minimum" faced paying punitive damages and civil penalties for its role in the disaster.
BP also said it "never assumed" to get Transocean and Halliburton to pay for pollution-related damages.
Beverly Blohm Stafford, a Halliburton spokeswoman, said the company agreed with the ruling "to the extent that it requires BP to honor its contractual indemnity obligations."
Barbier's ruling came in advance of a Feb. 27 non-jury maritime-law trial in New Orleans to determine who was at fault for the blowout that led to the nation's largest offshore oil spill. Transocean, BP and Halliburton have been sparring over what caused the blowout.
Last week, BP asked U.S. Magistrate Sally Shushan to exclude trial testimony by a Halliburton employee who was working on the rig before the explosion and has been identified as a possible subject of a Justice Department criminal investigation of the disaster.
Jesse Gagliano, who worked on the well's cementing job, has been interviewed by a congressional committee and testified before a government panel probing the disaster. He initially invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to be questioned under oath for the litigation, but he recently waived that right and agreed to be questioned by civil attorneys next week.
BP suggests Gagliano's change of heart so close to the trial is designed to give Halliburton a strategic advantage. Halliburton counters that "unfounded speculation" about Gagliano's motives shouldn't preclude his testimony.
NEW YORK ? Oil prices are down on concerns that the U.S. economy could slow and investors' worries eased about supply disruptions in the Persian Gulf.
Benchmark crude fell by 34 cents to $99.22 per barrel in New York on Monday. Brent crude, which is used to price foreign oils that are imported by U.S. refineries, lost 28 cents at $111.18 per barrel in London.
The Commerce Department said Americans kept a tighter grip on their wallets in December. Consumer spending was flat, even though incomes rose by the most in nine months. The economy relies heavily on consumer spending, and analysts say the economic recovery could stall and energy demand may stay weak if spending doesn't pick up.
Meanwhile, Iran welcomed international weapons experts into the country in hopes of refuting claims that it is building a nuclear weapon. That eased concerns about possible military action in the region. Still, Europe plans to embargo Iranian oil this summer to pressure Iran about its nuclear program. If that happens, Iran says it could retaliate by blocking passage through the Persian Gulf, where tankers carry one-sixth of the world's oil exports.
The U.S. is ready to implement sanctions on Iran's central bank that will make it harder for Iran to sell oil.
Gasoline pump prices rose by a penny on Monday to $3.43 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular is 15.3 cents higher than it was a month ago and 33 cents higher than it was last year.
In other energy trading, heating oil was flat at $3.07 per gallon and gasoline futures fell 5 cents to $2.88 per gallon. Natural gas futures fell by 1 cent to $2.75 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Reducing ion exchange particles to nano-size shows big potentialPublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Angeline French angeline.french@srnl.doe.gov 803-725-2854 DOE/Savannah River National Laboratory
AIKEN, S.C. (January 30, 2012) Sometimes bigger isn't better.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory have successfully shown that they can replace useful little particles of monosodium titanate (MST) with even tinier nano-sized particles, making them even more useful for a variety of applications.
MST is an ion exchange material used to decontaminate radioactive and industrial wastewater solutions, and has been shown to be an effective way to deliver metals into living cells for some types of medical treatment. Typically, MST, and a modified form known as mMST developed by SRNL and Sandia National Laboratories, are in the form of fine powders, spherically-shaped particles about 1 to 10 microns in diameter (a micron is one-millionth of a meter).
"By making each particle smaller," says Dr. David Hobbs of SRNL, lead of the research project, "you increase the amount of surface area, compared to the overall volume of the particle. Since the particle surface is where reactions take place, you've increased the MST's working area." For example, a 10-nanometer particle has a surface area-to-volume ratio that is 1000 times that of a 10-micron particle. Thus, this project sought to synthesize titanate materials that feature nano-scale particle sizes (1 200 nm). After successfully synthesizing nanosize titanates, the team investigated and found that the smaller particles do indeed exhibit good ion exchange characteristics. They also serve as photocatalysts for the decomposition of organic contaminants and are effective platforms for the delivery of therapeutic metals.
Dr. Hobbs and his partners in the project examined three methods of producing nano-sized particles, resulting in three different shapes. One is a sol-gel method, similar to the process used to produce "normal" micron-sized MST particles, but using surfactants and dilute concentrations of reactive chemicals to control particle size. This method resulted in spherical particles about 100 150 nm in diameter.
A second method started with typical micron-sized particles, then delaminated and "unzipped" them to produce fibrous particles about 10 nm in diameter and 100 150 nm long. The third method, which had been previously reported in the scientific literature, was a hydrothermal technique that produced nanotubes with a diameter of about 10 nm and lengths of about 100 -500 nm.
The team had considerable expertise in working with MST, having previously modified it with peroxide to form mMST, which exhibits enhanced performance in removing certain contaminants from radioactive waste and delivering metals for medical treatment. Nanosize MST produced by all three methods was successfully converted to the peroxide-modified form. As with micron-sized titanates, the peroxide-modified nanosize titanates exhibit a yellow color. The intensity of the yellow color appeared less intense with the hydrothermally produced nanotubes, suggesting the chemically resistant surface of the nanotubes may limit conversion to mMST.
Testing confirmed that the materials function as effective ion exchangers. For example, the spherical nanoMST and nanotube samples and their respective peroxide-modified forms remove strontium and actinides from alkaline high-level waste radioactive waste. Under weakly acidic conditions, the nanosize titanates and peroxotitanates removed more than 90% of 17 different metal ions.
The "unzipped" titanates and their peroxide-modified forms proved to be particularly good photocatalysts for the decomposition of organic contaminants.
Screening in-vitro tests showed that both nano-size and micron-size metal-exchanged titanates inhibit the growth of a number of oral cancer and bacterial cell lines. The mechanism of inhibition is not known, but preliminary scanning electron microscopy results suggest that the titanates may be interacting directly with the wall of the nucleus to deliver sufficient metal ion concentration to the cell nucleus to inhibit cell replication.
###
In addition to Dr. Hobbs, the team included M. C. Elvington, M. H. Tosten, K. M. L. Taylor-Pashow of SRNL; J. Wataha of the University of Washington; and M. D. Nyman of Sandia National Laboratories.
This work was funded under SRNL's Laboratory Directed Research & Development program, which supports highly innovative and exploratory research aligned with the Laboratory's priorities.
SRNL is DOE's applied research and development national laboratory at the Savannah River Site. SRNL puts science to work to support DOE and the nation in the areas of environmental stewardship, national security, and clean energy. The management and operating contractor for SRS and SRNL is Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC.
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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.
Reducing ion exchange particles to nano-size shows big potentialPublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Angeline French angeline.french@srnl.doe.gov 803-725-2854 DOE/Savannah River National Laboratory
AIKEN, S.C. (January 30, 2012) Sometimes bigger isn't better.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory have successfully shown that they can replace useful little particles of monosodium titanate (MST) with even tinier nano-sized particles, making them even more useful for a variety of applications.
MST is an ion exchange material used to decontaminate radioactive and industrial wastewater solutions, and has been shown to be an effective way to deliver metals into living cells for some types of medical treatment. Typically, MST, and a modified form known as mMST developed by SRNL and Sandia National Laboratories, are in the form of fine powders, spherically-shaped particles about 1 to 10 microns in diameter (a micron is one-millionth of a meter).
"By making each particle smaller," says Dr. David Hobbs of SRNL, lead of the research project, "you increase the amount of surface area, compared to the overall volume of the particle. Since the particle surface is where reactions take place, you've increased the MST's working area." For example, a 10-nanometer particle has a surface area-to-volume ratio that is 1000 times that of a 10-micron particle. Thus, this project sought to synthesize titanate materials that feature nano-scale particle sizes (1 200 nm). After successfully synthesizing nanosize titanates, the team investigated and found that the smaller particles do indeed exhibit good ion exchange characteristics. They also serve as photocatalysts for the decomposition of organic contaminants and are effective platforms for the delivery of therapeutic metals.
Dr. Hobbs and his partners in the project examined three methods of producing nano-sized particles, resulting in three different shapes. One is a sol-gel method, similar to the process used to produce "normal" micron-sized MST particles, but using surfactants and dilute concentrations of reactive chemicals to control particle size. This method resulted in spherical particles about 100 150 nm in diameter.
A second method started with typical micron-sized particles, then delaminated and "unzipped" them to produce fibrous particles about 10 nm in diameter and 100 150 nm long. The third method, which had been previously reported in the scientific literature, was a hydrothermal technique that produced nanotubes with a diameter of about 10 nm and lengths of about 100 -500 nm.
The team had considerable expertise in working with MST, having previously modified it with peroxide to form mMST, which exhibits enhanced performance in removing certain contaminants from radioactive waste and delivering metals for medical treatment. Nanosize MST produced by all three methods was successfully converted to the peroxide-modified form. As with micron-sized titanates, the peroxide-modified nanosize titanates exhibit a yellow color. The intensity of the yellow color appeared less intense with the hydrothermally produced nanotubes, suggesting the chemically resistant surface of the nanotubes may limit conversion to mMST.
Testing confirmed that the materials function as effective ion exchangers. For example, the spherical nanoMST and nanotube samples and their respective peroxide-modified forms remove strontium and actinides from alkaline high-level waste radioactive waste. Under weakly acidic conditions, the nanosize titanates and peroxotitanates removed more than 90% of 17 different metal ions.
The "unzipped" titanates and their peroxide-modified forms proved to be particularly good photocatalysts for the decomposition of organic contaminants.
Screening in-vitro tests showed that both nano-size and micron-size metal-exchanged titanates inhibit the growth of a number of oral cancer and bacterial cell lines. The mechanism of inhibition is not known, but preliminary scanning electron microscopy results suggest that the titanates may be interacting directly with the wall of the nucleus to deliver sufficient metal ion concentration to the cell nucleus to inhibit cell replication.
###
In addition to Dr. Hobbs, the team included M. C. Elvington, M. H. Tosten, K. M. L. Taylor-Pashow of SRNL; J. Wataha of the University of Washington; and M. D. Nyman of Sandia National Laboratories.
This work was funded under SRNL's Laboratory Directed Research & Development program, which supports highly innovative and exploratory research aligned with the Laboratory's priorities.
SRNL is DOE's applied research and development national laboratory at the Savannah River Site. SRNL puts science to work to support DOE and the nation in the areas of environmental stewardship, national security, and clean energy. The management and operating contractor for SRS and SRNL is Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC.
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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.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia ? Oil fell to nearly $99 a barrel Monday in Asia as tensions in Iran offset fresh concerns that the eurozone may refuse to grant Greece a fresh bailout.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 49 cents at $99.07 a barrel at midday Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to finish at $99.56 on Friday.
Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore, said crude prices were volatile after Germany's finance minister warned that the euro zone might not give Greece a fresh bailout unless it can overhaul its state and economy. Analysts fear this could reignite the region's debt crisis.
European leaders were to meet later Monday in Brussels to discuss austerity measures and a tentative deal reached Saturday between Greece and its private investors to avert a disastrous Greek default on its debt.
Shum said supply concerns also weighed on the market although Iran has postponed plans to immediately cut the flow of crude oil to Europe in retaliation for EU sanctions over its nuclear program.
Iran also threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil passage, and the head of its national oil company warned Sunday that EU sanctions could push oil prices up to between $120 and $150 a barrel. The market is also awaiting report from an International Atomic Energy Agency team that is currently touring Tehran, Shum said.
"Trade has been flat. The geopolitical tension in Iran and concerns over Greece's debt default are driving oil in different directions. This has helped oil to hold steady," Shum added.
In other energy trading, heating oil rose 0.5 cents to $3.063 per gallon but gasoline futures fell 2.3 cents to $2.90 per gallon. Natural gas added 6.9 cents to $2.83 per 1,000 cubic feet.
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) ? Nine years later, Cillian Murphy is back at the Sundance Film Festival, where he got such great exposure that people finally learned to pronounce his name.
The Irish actor ? whose first name begins with a hard K sound ? was a breakout star at Sundance in 2003 with the horror hit "28 Days Later." He has returned to this year's festival with the thriller "Red Lights."
The film about a London man who wakes from a coma to find the land overrun by a plague that has turned people into raging zombies already was a hit in Great Britain when it played at the festival.
The rousing reception at Sundance built U.S. buzz for the film and for Murphy, who went on to appear in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," ''The Dark Knight" and "Inception."
"When it was well-received here, that had a big impact on its release in the States," said Murphy, who had a handful of credits behind him when director Danny Boyle ("Trainspotting," ''Slumdog Millionaire") cast him in the lead of "28 Days Later."
"I think that was my first time in a film with a real, proper director, a name director. And it was a nice part, so I guess people attempted to pronounce my name after that. That was definitely the watershed."
Along with roles in Nolan's blockbusters, Murphy went on to star in Boyle's science-fiction tale "Sunshine," Neil Jordan's transgender story "Breakfast on Pluto," Wes Craven's airline thriller "Red Eye" and Ken Loach's Irish historical drama "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," which earned the top prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
In writer-director Rodrigo Cortes' "Red Lights," Murphy and Sigourney Weaver play researchers who debunk phony claims of the paranormal, while Robert De Niro co-stars as a superstar psychic.
Millennium Entertainment announced Wednesday that it has picked up the U.S. theatrical rights for "Red Lights."
KHASAB, Oman?? By dawn, the unmarked speedboats from Iran pull into port. By dusk, they are racing back across the Strait of Hormuz loaded with smuggled consumer goods ranging from Chinese-made shoes to cut flowers from Holland.
Even as sanctions squeeze Iran ever tighter, there's one clandestine route that remains open for business: A short sea corridor across the Persian Gulf connecting a rocky nub of Oman and the Iranian coast about 35 miles away.
Yet even this established smugglers' path is now feeling the bite from the pressures on Iran over its nuclear program.
Business is sharply down, the middlemen and boat crews say, as the slumping Iranian currency leaves fewer customers for the smuggled wares. At the same time, the risks of interception are higher as Iranian authorities step up patrols near the strategic oil tanker lanes at the mouth of the Gulf.
The strait, which is the only access in and out of the Gulf, has been the scene of Cold War-style brinksmanship between Iran and the West after Tehran last month threatened to block the passageway for about one-sixth of the world's oil in retaliation for new U.S. sanctions.
"We used to make two or three trips across every day. Now, it's maybe one," said an Iranian middleman, who gave only his first name Agheel to protect his identity from authorities in his homeland.
He watched crews load up a pickup truck with bolts of fabric from Pakistan and table-size boxes of cut flowers from the Netherlands, before the trucks headed off through the treeless mountains to Khasab port.
The operation smuggles in merchandise to avoid Iranian tariffs and to bring in American and European products that have disappeared from Iranian markets because of international sanctions. Experts note that the consumer items post no real challenge to efforts to block material with military or nuclear uses.
"Still, it shows you can't close off all channels into Iran no matter how hard you try," said Paul Rogers, who follows security affairs at Bradford University in Britain. "People will find a way."
On this side of the Gulf, the smugglers operate under a tacit tolerance from authorities, even though Oman and the United Arab Emirates are close U.S. allies and have pledged to enforce sanctions. The port lies in a sparsely populated peninsula enclave belonging to Oman but encircled on land by the UAE, a legacy of how the area was carved up in the final days of British rule here in the last century that resulted in Oman holding joint control with Iran over the strait.
The goods are legally imported into the UAE and truck drivers take them across the border, paying the customary 50 dirham ($13.50) entry fee, according to the smugglers interviewed by The Associated Press. In Khasab, the merchandise is taken to warehouses and then piled on the docks less than 100 yards (100 meters) from the port police headquarters.
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Omani authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the traffic.
The Khasab speedboats are far from the only back channel into Iran. Drug traffickers easily cross the hinterland borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and black market networks stretch across the frontiers with Iraq and Turkey. Authorities in Iraq's Kurdish region have been under pressure for years to crack down on fuel trucks heading into Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
But Khasab stands out for its openness and for lying on the highly sensitive Strait.
A shipment arranged by the Iranian smuggler Agheel this week was done with practiced efficiency.
A pickup truck backed into a wood-floored warehouse with hundreds of cases of cigarettes bundled three together and wrapped tightly in gray plastic weave ? in total 3,000 cigarettes under south Asian brands such as Ruby Menthol. The truck was soon sagging under the weight of boxes piled five high.
Agheel did some quick calculations: Each three-case load cost him about $1,200 and he could sell them to merchants in Iran for the equivalent of about $1,350 under current exchange rates. The truck pulling out of the warehouse represented a potential return of about $4,500.
"If we don't get caught," he added.
The smugglers have their ways of avoiding Iranian authorities.
Spotters off the coast ? on the island of Qeshm and near the port of Bandar Abbas ? call in coast guard movements to Khasab. The speedboat drivers keep close attention to the water conditions on the Strait and try to approach the Iranian coast just after sunset. The trip can take as little as 90 minutes in calm seas and up to four hours in rough water in the stripped down stripped-down 16-foot (five-meter) fiberglass boats.
Agheel's truck passed through the Khasab customs station at midday and then down a strip of hardscrabble road.
At the port ? almost in the shadow of a Costa cruise ship making a day stop ? dozens of boats were being packed and secured for the trip. There were no names or markings on the speedboats. But the items loaded on carried familiar logos: LG 42-inch flatscreen TVs, Discovery Channel DVDs, Panasonic microwaves, Yamaha motorcycle parts. Also in the stacks were textiles, satellite dishes and Chinese-made clothes and shoes.
One boat driver, who gave his name only as Aziz, had a breakfast of eggs, beans and Mountain Dew as he waited for the day's shipment to be loaded for the return run to Qeshm, a long arrow-shaped island near the Iranian coast and a main waystation for the smugglers.
Months ago, he could make as many trips as possible because the merchants in Iran were demanding goods.
But now the struggling Iranian rial ? dragged down partly by U.S.-led sanctions that could target Iran's Central Bank ? has put many things out of reach for Iranians, he said.
"No one wants to buy because the (rial) rate is not stable," he said.
He also said the Iranian coastal patrols have been boosted amid the escalating tensions over the Strait.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the American military is "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the waterway. Next month, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard plans naval exercises in the area.
If spotted by patrols, Aziz said the two-man boat crews try to heave the goods overboard. They then must pay back the smuggling network, which can amount to thousands of dollars.
But it's worth the risk, he said.
"The situation is getting worse now," he said. "All the prices are up and Qeshm has nothing else" except smuggling.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Remember after watching Piranha 3D when you walked off with a set of 3-D glasses, and then wore them in public? You felt silly. These glasses are different. More »
One of the world's biggest video game franchises is getting a new title: Capcom today announcedResident Evil 6 [JP] for the Xbox 360, Sony PS3, and the PC. What's interesting is that the company also said when exactly the game will come out, namely on November 20 in North America and Europe, and two days later in Japan. Note that the release dates are for the console versions, the PC version hasn't been dated yet. By way of comparison: Resident Evil 5 was announced in 2005 and went on sale four years later.
The primary question of the 2012 campaign appears to be: What is fair? Is the government, through design or stupidity, tilted against some and rewarding others? Is the private enterprise system broken because of corporate greed and stupidity, or is it instead hindered by government? And no matter how you answer those questions, both parties agree that you are getting screwed, and that fairness, which was at the heart of the American Dream, is disappearing.
The MTV Movie Brawl 2012 is officially on! After the initial play-in, wild card, Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds, we're finally down to only four movies competing to be crowned the can't-miss movie of the year. As always, the choice remains entirely up to YOU. Which movie will win the brawl for it all? [...]
Joe Flacco joked last week that he?d get no credit from the media if the Ravens beat the Texans.
He definitely is getting no credit from one of the team?s leaders on defense.
Safety Ed Reed visited with Adam Schein and Rich Gannon of SiriusXM NFL Radio on Monday, and Reed pointed a finger at Flacco for the struggles of the offense.
?I think Joe was kind of rattled a little bit by that defense,? Reed said.? ?They had a lot of guys in the box on him.? And, I mean, they were getting to him.? I think a couple times he needed to get rid of the ball.? I don?t know how much of the play calling, he could have made audibles or anything like that, checks or whatnot, man, but it just didn?t look like he had a hold on the offense, you know, of times past.? You know, it was just kind of like they was telling him to do, throw the ball or get it here, you know, get it to certain guys.? And he can?t play like that.
?You know, one particular play that sticks out to me is when Ray Rice came out of the backfield, he got pushed down and [Flacco] still threw him the ball and you got one-on-one with Torrey Smith on the outside.? But it?s hearsay for me.? I can say that sitting on the sidelines, you know, or sitting in the stands.? You just never know what somebody else is seeing.?
Reed also called out the line, a little.
?[T]he offensive line gotta block better,? Reed said.? ?You know, they gotta communicate better, gotta pick up blocks, Joe?s gotta get the ball out of his hand.? We gotta do a good job of using our weapons.? I think Ricky Williams should have had the ball a little bit more yesterday.? You know, I mean, Ray Rice was running it, too, but you gotta be able to mix those guys in back and forth.? It?s a lot of things that we all need to correct going into New England because they do such a great job of making adjustments, you know, in-game adjustments.? It?s not just coming up with a scheme and playing the game.? You gotta be able to make adjustments while the game is in the flow.?
That?s not what the Ravens need as they get ready to face the Patriots.? Unless, of course, a little tough love coaxes the offense to perform up to the standard that the defense has set.
Either way, coach John Harbaugh may need to spend a little extra time this week getting his guys on the same page.
We have all done it? dug into an appetizing plate of pasta with a plan to get just enough noodles onto our fork. However, as we get started we see that there are more noodles than we ever thought. Plus they are longer. They keep winding and winding. Before we know it we have a fork full of noodles much bigger than can ever fit in our mouth. So instead we eat half of the mound and hope nobody is looking. We then start over or pick it back up to finish it off in the next bite.
I have been working on a post to define social business for a few weeks now. It?s why you haven?t seen as many posts from me lately as each evening I sit down to finish this one and I keep going round and round in my head. Each night I do a bit more research, give it some more thought and by the time an hour or so passes my mind is once again beat from the day and the deep thought that I call it a night on the blog post and move on to more easy to conquer initiatives.
However, this one is bugging me like being stuck with a spoon and a plate of pasta. I honestly didn?t think it would be so hard to put my arms around the term social business.
What is a social business, really? As we spend time with businesses large and small, there is one common theme. They all know they want the the social spaghetti. The advanced businesses know they need to use a fork versus the spoon. ?However, when it comes to the art of what to do when and how much they struggle.
What is a social business really? ?Can we point to even one business, any business and state ?yes, that organization is the perfect example of a social business!??
How can we define something that we don?t have a template for? How can we truly define something that keeps moving. Just as we get our finger on a part of it, the game changes.
Yes, there are common foundation considerations for becoming a social business. ?However, the truth is the transformation to a social business is different for every business. The frameworks for how to become a social business are being worked real time in an ecosystem that is moving faster than we can keep up with.
It really is about the people. With social media we are dealing with people. People that have opinions, moods, likes and dislikes. They have voices, sometimes loud voices that will say things we love and say things we hate. When we do right we hope they will tell a few people about it. When we do wrong we know they will tell many people about it. One tweet can reach millions.
Your audience, partners, clients, and communities of people are different than my people. My people are different than my neighbors people, and your people are different than your competitors people. People are attracted to our brands and businessess for different reasons. They are going to engage with each of us differently. Our internal teams are going to engage with them, service them and communicate with them different. ?It?s the reason why you can?t use my exact template for social business success and I can?t use yours. It?s also the reason why I can?t give you the same template my other customers are using as there is no cookie cutter for becoming a social business.
Becoming a social business is about your people engaging, communicating, sharing with and helping the people in a way brings value to the people and supports your brand promise.?
Do you have the right mindset? So what is the business leader, business owner, social strategist, CEO, CFO, community manager to do? How do you define what type of social business you want to be when you grow up? What templates are you going to use? How do you know how much pasta to put on your fork and when?
Are you hoping that I will provide you the answers to these questions somewhere in this blog post? If you do, well then you are using the wrong utensil. The blog posts, tweets, Facebook posts, webinars, training seminars are the fork and the spoon. They are a utensil, nothing more. What you need is your own plan. You need to know how big your budget is, how ready your staff is to embrace social. Do you have the right mindset? Do you have the stakeholder and executive buy-in that you need to succeed? Do you have business and marketing goals? Do you know enough about social media to know how to align social to the business objectives where social can have the greatest impact? ?
Is your business ready? The first step is assessing the readiness of your business. How much pasta should you put on your fork? How big of a bite are you prepared to take and swallow?
If you don?t have business goals or objectives and can?t tell me your top three market segments without having to think really hard about it, then chances are you are not ready to embrace social in a big way.
Social media is not a band-aid for a broken business. Even one million Facebook likes are not going to magically energize your lazy sales team. A boat load of Twitter followers is not going to stop your customer service team from being rude on the phone to your clients. Even a rockin? and integrated blog, custom Facebook page and a growing community is not going to change the mindset of the executive stakeholder who is out to stomp your social media efforts in 2012 because you are moving his cheese.
Social business doesn?t start on Facebook. The truth is social business starts in the inside. It doesn?t start on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, Pinterest, or even your blog. It starts on the inside of your walls. It starts in the hearts and minds of the people within your organization. Of course the social networks, tools and ecosystem as a whole must be understood. My point is that you can learn the tools and technology. The most important thing is that you understand the integrated art and science of becoming a social business. ?It takes both as you must bring together the people with the technologies and social networks.
Think integration, not silos. Stop looking at social as a separate effort.?Social business must start deep within your process, teams and communication. Chances are your business is not easily divided up into nice little squares that look like ravioli. You can?t separate your products and services from the billing systems, marketing, sales team, and customer service. ?Often times when you make one change to any one of these teams, processes or systems it has an impact on the others. This is why an inside out approach is the only option, period.
If you don?t think integration, when you move from inside to outside, the lack of integration will become very apparent to the people we discussed above.
Inside out social business success. There are far more businesses who are not ready to embrace and leverage social than that are. If you are one that is not ready, don?t give up. You are not alone, I promise. The things that you need to do to integrate and leverage social are many of the same things you should be doing as priorities in your business anyway. It is business and marketing 101 to know your audience, set goals and objectives, build processes and infrastructure to support objectives and deliver what you promise. It?s not rocket science.
However, at some point you must get outside the walls of your business. Becoming a social business enables you to leverage the power of social media, open communication, easier access to the people in a way that brings value to your clients, partners and communities. If done right the benefits will help you build better relationships with those that matter most to your business both inside and out. ?Within the organization the benefits will include improved communication, more efficient processes, quicker and deeper insights into the mind of the customer that can be leveraged for product development and increased customer satisfaction.
The first step of becoming a social business is defining what it means to your business.
Social business definition can?t be put in a box.?There are many who are currently trying to define what a social business is. We aren?t there yet. However, we are making progress. ?We are starting to know the traits, the benefits, the tools, the art and science of what it takes to become a social business. ?However, I don?t think we are ready to put it in a box yet. I don?t think it will ever be put in a box as by the time we got it there it will be different.
Social business defined?
I am not going to officially place a stamp of approval on a definition of social business at this point. I am still ?noodling? on it. ?However, below is the best succinct summary I can offer of what becoming a social business is.
?Becoming a social business transforms the organization from the inside out, connecting the internal with the external in a way that enhances relationships and creates shared value for the people, the business and ecosystem as a whole.?
Your Turn
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. ?How do you define social business? I will include some of the answers and proposed definitions in the next blog post on this topic. Our minds are greater together on this topic than we are as silos.
BERLIN ? German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Standard and Poor's downgrades of nine countries underline the fact that the eurozone faces a "long road" to win back investors' confidence, pushing Saturday for it to move quickly on a new budget discipline pact and a permanent rescue fund.
Germany kept its AAA rating but S&P stripped France, with which it has co-piloted the eurozone rescue drive, of its top-notch rating ? fueling concerns that that in turn could complicate Europe's efforts to keep its weaker economies afloat.
Merkel said that she had "taken note" of the decision by S&P, which she stressed repeatedly is only one of three major rating agencies.
"The decision confirms my conviction that we in Europe still have a long road ahead of us before the confidence of investors is restored," she said at a televised news conference in the north German city of Kiel, where her conservative party's leadership was meeting.
"But I think it can be seen that we have set off with determination along this road (to) a stable currency, solid finances and sustainable growth," she added.
Merkel stressed the importance of a new treaty enshrining tougher fiscal rules, for which Germany has pushed hard.
Most European Union leaders agreed in early December to draw up the pact, and Merkel has said the pact could be signed as early as the end of this month, and at the beginning of March at the latest.
"We are now called upon ... to implement quickly the fiscal pact and implement it decisively ? without trying to water it down everywhere," Merkel said.
The chancellor sought to allay concerns that the downgrade of France, the 17-nation eurozone's No. 2 economy after Germany, would complicate the work of the bloc's temporary rescue fund, the euro440 billion ($560 billion) European Financial Stability Facility.
However, she did underline the urgency of putting its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism, in place quickly. European leaders already have decided to get it up up and running in July, a year ahead of the original schedule; Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday that they would consider speeding up payments into the ESM.
The downgrades "won't torpedo the work of the EFSF now ? I see no need to change anything about the EFSF now," she said. "I am firmly convinced that the EFSF can fulfill the needs it still has to fulfill in the coming months with the existing methods."
She added that "we will work to implement as quickly as possible the ESM ? that is also important for investors' confidence."
The ESM will be able to lend euro500 billion; euro80 billion of its funding will be in the form of paid-in capital from euro nations.
Merkel said Europe needs the new fund, "which is underlaid by capital and will be independent from such (ratings) evaluations."
NEW YORK ? The fallout from the New York Jets failing to make the NFL playoffs is in full swing, with members of coach Rex Ryan's staff leaving, players taking shots at quarterback Mark Sanchez and other players defending him.
In less than 24 hours, the coaching staff was shaken up with offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer walking away, former Dolphins coach Tony Sparano replacing him, and a few assistants saying they won't be back.
Now the latest controversy involves the shaky status of Sanchez.
Some of his teammates say he lacks the work ethic and leadership skills to lead the Jets to the Super Bowl. And with a new offensive coordinator in charge, the window for Sanchez to do so might have gotten a lot smaller.
"Mark is heading in the right direction," left guard Matt Slauson said during a telephone interview Wednesday. "He is going to be a great quarterback and I really believe he can lead us to a championship. His rookie year, we went to the AFC championship and again last year. The guy can do it. He can get it done. The rest of the team has to do their part, too."
The Daily News quoted one player, who was not identified, as saying Sanchez was "lazy and content." Another player suggested the Jets should do all they can to try to bring in Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, if he's healthy, because Sanchez isn't improving.
"Whoever said all that, they're out of their minds and just trippin'," defensive lineman Marcus Dixon said. "You can't blame a season on one guy. I mean, come on. It's all unfair. We have Mark Sanchez. He's our quarterback. He's our guy. And that's how just about everyone in that locker room feels."
Sanchez's older brother Nick, who is also one of his agents, told The Associated Press in an email that the quarterback was out of town and unavailable for comment.
Center Nick Mangold defended Sanchez on Twitter and then during a radio interview, saying he "very much so, 100 percent" believes in Sanchez.
"I would say definitely the majority of the team feels the same way about Mark," Slauson added. "I don't know who said those things, but I would definitely say it's a small, small portion of the team that doesn't have confidence in Mark."
Dixon pointed out that Sanchez has gathered the team's running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and other quarterbacks in Southern California at his old high school the past few offseasons to work on team chemistry and camaraderie ? much of it on his own dime.
"If that's someone who doesn't know how to be a leader or have a good work ethic, then I don't know, man," Dixon said.
There were whispers in the locker room that Sanchez lost the ability to lead late in the season because of his struggles reading defenses and being accurate. Not so, says Slauson.
"I thought he took tremendous strides this year as a leader," Slauson said. "The problem was the situation we were in made it tough for everyone. I mean, it was such a strange and bizarre year for us, but he was one of the only ones who was there stepping up and taking charge, telling us, `Look guys, we can do this. Follow me.'"
Retired Jets right tackle Damien Woody, now an analyst for ESPN, said he thinks the team "does baby" Sanchez to an extent and 41-year-old backup Mark Brunell never provided a true threat to Sanchez.
"They definitely need to bring in a viable backup, a viable backup to really provide that competition, because with competition, you are going to rise or you are just going to crumble," Woody said while at the Giants' training facility. "So I think you bring in a viable backup and let it play out. We'll see which Mark Sanchez shows up after that."
As for Manning coming to the Jets, it's certainly intriguing, but highly unlikely. For one, he's coming off a neck injury that sidelined him the entire season.
The Jets could gamble on bringing him in and hoping he stays healthy, of course. But there's also little chance New York could keep both Manning and Sanchez because of the financial ramifications. Another consideration: what it would do to Sanchez's confidence.
It's also unlikely the team would give up so soon on a player it had such high hopes for when he was drafted fifth overall in 2009.
While his numbers ? passing accuracy, quarterback rating, yards per pass ? have been mediocre, the argument could be made that Ryan needs to share some of the blame for it. And it didn't help that he guaranteed a Super Bowl win this season.
Ryan raved about the amount of talent on the team, and was excited about having the potential to have Sanchez throw the ball more often with Plaxico Burress and Derrick Mason joining Holmes during training camp. After two years of a run-first mentality, Ryan envisioned Sanchez airing it out.
But it didn't work.
The offensive line was shaky, Sanchez was sacked 39 times for the season, and the wide receivers never truly were in sync with the quarterback as Ryan insisted the Jets go back to the "Ground-and-Pound." The offense finished the season 25th overall.
Next came finger-pointing and whispers that the team would be better off without Sanchez.
"It is definitely really disheartening that some players are coming out and want their names protected and all that, and they're talking bad about our team and organization," Slauson said. "That isn't how it's supposed to be done. All I hope for them is that they stay anonymous because things won't end well for them if that ever comes out. Bad mouthing the team and the organization, that could be grounds for losing their jobs. I'm not saying anything will be done, but it would be bad to know exactly who it was because I wouldn't be able to look that guy in the eye the same way again.
"Mark is the hardest-working quarterback I've ever worked with," Slauson said. "I mean, he is there all day long. He doesn't have an outside life, I'm telling you. His whole life is about winning and improving the team. He cares so much and you can see it every day. I really do think he is a great player."
He should get a boost from working with Sparano, who loves to run the ball. That type of system could suit Sanchez perfectly, as it did his first two years.
"We all believe in him," Slauson said. "We really do. We just need to do a better job of executing on earlier downs so we can help make Mark look like the stud he really is."
___
AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this story.
___
Follow Dennis Waszak on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DWAZ73
HOLGUIN, Cuba (Reuters) ? For the first time since they were nationalized in the 1960s, Cuba has opened the door to private management of some state-run cafes and food service outlets, often scorned for bad service and poor food.
The extension of President Raul Castro's plans to put more retail businesses in private hands is under way as an experiment in eastern Holguin province, where the government will lease to employees more than 200 small cafeterias this year.
In the bustling provincial capital, Holguin, private restaurants, cafeterias and snack shops with attractive names and menus provide stiff competition on almost every block to state-run outlets identified only by number and with state-dictated portions.
Osvaldo Santos Diaz, head of the state's food services in the province, recently told local media that sales would be down in 2012, "because 211 outlets will move to other forms of management."
National media have not mentioned the Holguin program, apparently because it is an experiment that will become generalized sometime in the future.
President Raul Castro, who took over for ailing brother Fidel in 2008, has been moving retail services into private hands as part of a myriad of reforms aimed at boosting the country's stagnant, Soviet-style economy.
Thousands of state barbershops, beauty parlors and service outlets such as watch and domestic appliance repair, shoe shining and carpentry shops have been handed over to their employees on a leasing basis after similar experiments that were not publicized by the island's state-run media.
Julio Cesar Zayas, director of food services in the Barajagua district of Cueto municipality, said the food outlets would be leased to employees to operate as private businesses, pay taxes and compete with thousands of private, mainly home-based cafeterias which have opened around the country over the last year.
"There are seven outlets in Cueto that will move to the new system in April," Zayas said.
FROM SUBSIDIES TO TAX REVENUE
Communist Cuba's state-run food services are notorious for providing poor service, dismal food, diverting supplies and filching customers by skimping on the size of state-assigned portions for everything from a ham sandwich or pizza to a cup of coffee or shot of rum.
The Paraiso, a rundown cafeteria that sells rum, soft drinks, cigarettes and snacks in the small mountain town of Barajagua, is on the list.
"I think this policy will lead to more earnings for employees and a better offer and service for consumers," said the Paraiso's manager Eusmar Gomez Rodriguez.
"Under the new system we will be able to directly purchase and sell what we want and offer more than we do now," he said.
A Cuban economist, who asked not to be identified, said such outlets historically operated at a loss for the state.
Under the new system, inventory theft should be eliminated because the employees will have an economic stake in the business and, instead of a loss, they should provide the state with tax revenues.
At the "Real St. No. 1" cafeteria in the Pueblo Nuevo district, manager Lourdes Mulet said final word on which state-run outlets would move to the new system had not yet come down, but she hoped hers would be among them.
"I think if you work hard your earnings will improve, though I'm not certain because this is new," said Mulet.
She currently makes 250 pesos per month, the equivalent of $10.00.
How did B and Jay go unnoticed at the hospital? Why are there so many incorrect reports? Celeb experts explain. By Jocelyn Vena
Jay-z and Beyonce Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
<P>In the days leading up to little <a href="/news/articles/1676906/beyonce-jay-z-baby-born-ivy-blue.jhtml">Blue Ivy's birth, Beyoncé and Jay-Z</a> watchers were wondering when and where the couple would welcome their first child into the world. With sightings of a <a href="/news/articles/1676647/beyonce-pregnant-new-years.jhtml">still-pregnant Queen B</a> out and about in New York City, it seemed that it could happen at any given moment. <CENTER><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:723926/cp~name%3Dnews%26id%3D1676907%26vid%3D723926%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideo%3Amtv.com%3A723926" width="460" height="260" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="."></embed></CENTER> The rumor mill was in overdrive just as Blue Ivy was born over the weekend — not that it hadn't been spinning wildly since <a href="/news/articles/1669849/beyonce-pregnant-vmas.jhtml">Beyoncé and Jay-Z announced the pregnancy at the VMAs</a> in August. "There were so many rumors leading up, in general, surrounding her pregnancy from the moment that there was a rumor that she was pregnant. Then, once she was pregnant, we saw over the last week multiple reports, and obviously the early ones are erroneous, that she had given birth," said David Caplan, who has worked at celeb magazines like <i>Star</i> and <i>People.</i> "So there was a lot of buildup to her finally giving birth. There was also a degree of suspicion, because there were so many erroneous reports out there. You had to wait a little bit to see what the conversation would be." Jay and B have yet to talk about their daughter's birth, leaving the <a href="/news/articles/1676909/beyonce-jayz-baby-blue-ivy-carter-reactions-twitter.jhtml">confirmations to their friends and family</a> on Twitter. That level of privacy has been key to not only this past weekend's birth, but <a href="/news/articles/1676914/jay-z-beyonce-timeline-blue-ivy-baby.jhtml">Beyonceé and Jay-Z's relationship in general</a>. "All those rumors that swirled around, that's because she won't play that game," HuffPost celebrity columnist Rob Shuter said. "I think that's because she kept it so private, because she has not spoken about this. She won't address the rumors, and I think that when you're that private and the public is that passionate, that's when rumors often start." The couple reportedly paid more than $1 million to have privacy at NYC's Lenox Hill Hospital. According to some reports, the couple requested so much privacy that some parents were prevented from seeing their own newborns. But the experts said that level of isolation is nothing new for celebrities. "It's very common for celebrities to sneak in and out of hospitals," Caplan said. "It's actually very easy for celebrities to sneak in and out. There's multiple doors in and out. They use decoys. There'll be someone who looks like a celebrity. You go at different times of the night. Hospitals are also, at the same time, hotbeds of activity, so it's not like you're going somewhere really quiet." "This was a very carefully arranged, organized hospital visit. Nothing was left to chance," Shuter added. "I suspect the conversations between her security team and officials with the hospital [went on] for several weeks. Working with big celebrities myself, these moments are very, very carefully choreographed. Not only because they want to protect their privacy, they also don't want to have a dangerous scene on their hands. Hospitals in New York and L.A. especially, where a lot of celebrities live, has people on staff that are there to make sure these things work very carefully and in a very private matter." <i>Share your congratulations for Beyoncé and Jay-Z on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mtvnews/posts/317777301596227" target="_blank">Facebook</a> page!</i> <CENTER><embed src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:uma:video:mtv.com:723695/cp~name%3Dnews%26id%3D1676907%26vid%3D723695%26uri%3Dmgid%3Auma%3Avideo%3Amtv.com%3A723695" width="460" height="260" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" base="."></embed></CENTER></p>
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) -- New homes and businesses are sprouting throughout Joplin, replacing the thousands destroyed in the deadly May 22 tornado.
But one thing that is missing will take decades to restore: the trees. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/w8ufwH ) reported that the tornado killed an estimated 98 percent of the trees in the storm's main path, stretching about a half mile wide and four miles long.
Just three years ago, the city proudly won its first Tree City USA designation from the Arbor Day Foundation.
Now, neighborhood once shaded by a dense canopy of foliage look like new subdivisions.
Steps are being taken to restore the trees. A group called A Tree Grows in Joplin has given away dogwoods. The state also has pledged funding and tax credits for new trees. .
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Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com
U.S. military officials believe the video showing four Marines urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan is legitimate. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
By NBC, msnbc.com staff and news services
An Internet video showing what appear to be U.S. forces in Afghanistan urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters will not affect efforts to broker peace talks, a spokesman for the Afghan Taliban said Thursday.
The video, posted on YouTube and other websites, shows four men in camouflage Marine combat uniforms urinating on three corpses. One of them jokes: "Have a nice day, buddy." Another makes a lewd joke.
"This is not a political process, so the video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.
?
The footage, which the U.S. military said appeared to be authentic but had not been officially verified, could complicate efforts to promote reconciliation as foreign troops gradually withdraw.
The Obama administration, seeing a glimmer of hope in its effort to broker talks, is launching a fresh round of shuttle diplomacy with an immediate goal of sealing agreement for Taliban insurgents to open a political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.
Marc Grossman, Obama's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, begins a diplomatic blitz this weekend that includes talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul and top officials in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
'Very, very bad impact' The video will not help his efforts to build confidence among the warring parties.
"Such action will leave a very, very bad impact on peace efforts," said Arsala Rahmani, the top negotiator from Karzai's High Peace Council.
"Looking at such action, the Taliban can easily recruit young people and tell them that their country has been attacked by Christians and Jews and they must defend it," he said in the first comments from a high-ranking Afghan.
The New York Times reported that Grossman's efforts have been going on for the past year and involved a small team of American officials who secretly met multiple times with a shadowy representative of Afghanistan?s Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar, in the hope of starting peace talks.
It reported the administration?s best chance for ending the war in Afghanistan had reached "a critical juncture."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the newspaper on Wednesday there appeared to be support, for the first time, for a political resolution that included Taliban leaders who ruthlessly ruled the country from 1996 until the American invasion after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
?The reality is we never have the luxury of negotiating for peace with our friends,? it quoted Mrs. Clinton as saying. ?If you?re sitting across the table discussing a peaceful resolution to a conflict, you are sitting across from people who you by definition don?t agree with and who you may previously have been across a battlefield from.?
The U.S. Marine Corps has said it would investigate the Internet video of abuse.
Marines to be 'held accountable' The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts depicted in the video as "highly reprehensible" and "disgusting".
"The behavior depicted in this video is reprehensible and is not in keeping with the values of U.S. Armed Forces," ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said.
A U.S. official said "it should be pretty easy" to identify the Marines in the video and those involved "will be held accountable for their actions."?
?The Marines, though not?identified by name, were confirmed to be a sniper team out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., ??U.S. military officials told NBC News. They were?deployed to southern Afghanistan from early 2011 until August of 2011.
In a formal statment, a Marine Corps official said: "The actions portrayed are not consistent with our core values and are not indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps."
At first, the Marines could not determine whether the incident took place in Iraq or Afghanistan, but it was later determned to be Afghanistan.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group in the United States, condemned the alleged desecration of corpses in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and obtained by Reuters.
"Any guilty parties must be punished to the full extent allowed by the Uniform Code of Military Justice and by relevant American laws," the letter said.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Reuters, NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube, and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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One of the world's biggest video game franchises is getting a new title: Capcom today 
KRMGtulsa 
We have all done it? dug into an appetizing plate of pasta with a plan to get just enough noodles onto our fork. However, as we get started we see that there are more noodles than we ever thought. Plus they are longer. They keep winding and winding. Before we know it we have a fork full of noodles much bigger than can ever fit in our mouth. So instead we eat half of the mound and hope nobody is looking. We then start over or pick it back up to finish it off in the next bite.
Do you have the right mindset?
Think integration, not silos.