| Labor Party wins Australian election
My favourite part of the whole evening was Therese Rein's shimmy on stage as our new PM prepared to speak. She copped as big a hiding as anyone did from John Howard's dirt unit over the past year. But with a huge smile she busted a move in a small personal celebration of victory. She shimmied for all of us. Therese repudiated the 'Bomont years'. We can all dance again. It's official ... Therese Rein is the Kevin Bacon of Australian public life. .
'Peg wants Monopoly board space
Last Friday, the Sun challenged readers to make Winnipeg one of those wild-card cities. In a span of only 24 hours, our fine city catapulted its way onto the nomination leaderboard. Yesterday, we were No. 4. And that's no small feat. When we issued the call-to-arms, Taipei, Taiwan, had the most write-in nominations, followed by Volendam, Netherlands, and Cork, Ireland. Like Winnipeg, Quebec City has also been climbing the leaderboard and was No. 2 yesterday. Calgary, the only other Canadian city in the top-20, is barely on the radar at No. 20. Hasbro Canada marketing specialist Marisa Pedatella said yesterday the city's ambition is nothing short of extraordinary. She was amazed, she said, when she saw Winnipeg leap into the top-20 just a day after our initial conversation about the quasi-contest.
Are Senior Associates Making More Than New Partners?
The silver lining is that firms put more into a partner's retirement plan than they do for associates. Hogan & Hartson responded to the compression issue last year by raising salaries. "We went ahead and adjusted the base compensation of our more junior partners to be sure they would be paid more highly than associates," says Chairman J. Warren Gorrell Jr. Hogan & Hartson pays senior associates a base salary of roughly $280,000. Junior partners in the firm's Washington office make roughly $400,000 annually. Gorrell adds that in recent years, Hogan & Hartson has also moved more of the base pay for junior partners into annual salary rather than holding money back for end-of-year bonuses, so lawyers know what to expect in compensation. Ward Bower, a consultant at Altman Weil's Newtown Square, Pa., office, says firms that matched associate pay in the salary wars are struggling to keep partners happy.
Bad appraisals contribute to housing mess
Home buyers, sellers, real-estate agents and lenders all rely on comparable prices as the benchmark for an area's home values. But in many Valley neighborhoods, those comps can't always be trusted. Bad appraisals are often to blame. As the housing market corrects and prices return to normal levels, it's becoming apparent that inflated appraisals are behind many problems plaguing the Valley, say regulators, market watchers and many appraisers. .
Artist Askevold remembered as pioneer
David Askevold, an experimental artist, died Wednesday in Halifax at the age of 67. Askevold was known primarily for his conceptual photography and video work, but he was also a painter, performance artist and sculptor. The Pit, a cibachrome print by David Askevold, who died Wednesday.(Page and Strange Gallery) He was also known for his unorthodox art classes at NSCAD University. Askevold's work has been exhibited at galleries all over the world. It is also in collections at the National Gallery of Canada and the Canada Council Art Bank. Ray Cronin, acting director and chief curator of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, said Askevold will be remembered as one of Canada's most important artistic innovators. "He was one of the first real conceptual artists in Canada who got a lot of attention.
Agenda Setters 2007
James Murdoch may have slipped one place since last year, when a couple of smart moves turned Sky from a pay-TV provider into a telecoms provider, but he is still highly rated by the panel for what BSkyB is doing to converge entertainment formats in the home. The judges were impressed with the introduction of the Sky+ Box home hub, which could compete with the PC server's position in the consumer market as a single device for music, video and internet access. One judge said: "One of the points about James Murdoch is that he gets that the whole idea - that Sky has to be more than just a media broadcaster, distributor and content creator. It also has to offer all the technology elements that plug it all together." A Harvard dropout, Murdoch started his career in the music industry, until he finally entered the family business at News Corp.
Rochdale 5 - 27 Stockport
The hosts had their hands full from the opening stages as the visitors quickly opened up a 12-point lead with two well-taken tries. Both scores came from Rochdale errors, the first when they lost the ball in the tackle, the second when they missed a tackle. Stockport are far too alert to miss opportunities like those, and with the home defence failing to get its alignment right the visitors had little problem breaching the defensive line. The well drilled Stockport side quickly snuffed out a series of Rochdale attacks by reorganising their defensive line. Even when Rochdale camped on the Stockport line they couldn't break down a resolute defence. The hosts offered some aggressive defence and put in some powerful tackles.
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