The White House 2011 Year in Photos

For more see The White House 2011 Year in Photos flickr collection.

Behind the Line – Staff Sergeant Robert F. Blundell and Sexual Harassment allegations at the RCMP

Behind the Line (video viewable worldwide) is an insightful The Fifth Estate story,

“An investigation into sexual harassment allegations at the RCMP. The inside story of women who signed up to serve and protect and now claim Canada’s pre-eminent police force failed to protect them.“

Chilling stories. After watching the show, I am sickened to hear officier Robert F. Blundell (constable then) eventually admitted to sexual assaults of fellow female officiers in multiple cases was promoted over the years. And promoted to Staff Sergeant in 2002 while the lives and careers of the traumatized female officiers were wrecked.

Have a read of Blundell’s recent statement. According to Fifth Estate, Blundell was transferred in 2002 to “E” Division Protective Operations.

Have a watch of the full 17 minutes interview with RCMP Commissioner Robert Paulson.

And “B.C. Mountie alleges years of sexual harassment” – WARNING: this story contains graphic details

“CBC News has learned that one of B.C.’s highest profile Mounties says she’s suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after years of sexual harassment.

Cpl. Catherine Galliford was the face of the B.C. RCMP for years. [...] But in an internal RCMP complaint, Galliford makes serious allegations about misconduct inside the RCMP. [...]

“Everything that came out of his [a supervisor's] mouth was sexual,” Galliford said. “If I had a dime for every time one of my bosses asked me to sit on his knee, I’d be on a yacht in the Bahamas right now.”"

Unless and until the earlier cases involving Staff Sergeant Robert F. Blundell were reopened and properly addressed and penalties handed out and accepted by the victims, AND unless & until Galliford’s allegations were properly handled and punishments handed out, why would any female Canadians want to join the RCMP? Any police force, especially RCMP, that is unwilling and unable to see its own mistakes re sexual harassment deserve no respect from ALL Canadians (female or male)!

CBC News, “RCMP lawsuit may be joined by dozens of women – ‘Broken families’ and ‘broken careers’ tied to harassment on job, lawyer says“

At the end of the day, the bugs stop at the desks of RCMP Commissioner Robert Paulson and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. We Canadians own it to our female police officiers to sort out these mess!

NanoTech Security – Plasmonics as an anti-counterfeiting measure for banknotes and pharmaceuticals

I came across NanoTech Security‘s (a Surrey, B.C. based company) interesting anti-counterfeiting measure for banknotes or pharmaceuticals in this Fast Company article “A Never Before Seen Optical Trick Creates Ultra-Secure Cash“. [HT Bruce Schneier]

“Imagine a bill covered with microscopic holes that make it glow slightly in the light. It’s tech borrowed from a butterfly, and it may soon be foiling counterfeiters around the world.

If all goes as planned, the world’s supply of cash will soon be secured with a nano-scale optical defense that is as secure as it is visually impressive. [...]

The technology was inspired by the Blue Morpho butterfly, whose brilliant blue coloration comes not from pigment but the way that tiny holes in its scales reflect light. But the tech, called Nano-Optic Technology for Enhanced Security (NOtES), is different from the Morpho butterfly’s wings, and pretty much all other bio-inspired reflective optical technologies, in that it is both extraordinarily thin and functions even in dim light.

NOtES exploits an obscure area of physics to accomplish its bright and sharp display, known as plasmonic (or via Wikipedia). Light waves interact with the array of nano-scale holes on a NOtES display–which are typically 100-200 nanometers in diameter–in a way that creates what are called “surface plasmons.” In the words of the company, this means light “[collects] on the films surface and creates higher than expected optical outputs by creating an electromagnetic field, called surface plasmonic resonance.”“

If you are interested in digging deeper into the technical details, have a read of “US patent 2010/0271174 – Security document with electroactive polymer power source and nano-optical display” by I|D|ME‘s Chief Scientific Officier Bozena Kaminska (a list of Bozena’s US Patent) and Chief Technology Officier Clinton K. Landrock (a list of Clint’s US Patent) (by the way, here is Clint’s Twitter).

Here are two informative videos from NanoTech Security so you can see how cool it is.

NOtES – An Introduction

NTS NOtES Master Shim and Embossed Banknote Grade Polypropolyene

I am a tech geek so I love cool technologies but I am also realistic as I understand there are many real world requirements and challenges before this or any other advanced technologies are accepted and adopted.

By the way, Bank of Canada is in the process of launching the 2011 series of polymer banknotes with technologies by Securency International and BoC and printed in Canada by Note Printing Australia (NPA is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia). So far, BoC has launched the new polymer $100 banknotes in Nov 2011, and will launch the $50 in March 2012, the widely circulated $20 in Fall 2012. And $10 and $5 before the end of 2013. To deter counterfeiting of banknotes, BoC plans to update its banknotes design faster than before (in 8 years time).

Further links/readings:

* Gizmodo article “The Money of the Future Will Shine Like Crazy”

* NanoTech Security (NTS) is a TSX-Venture listed company and you can download its financial & regulatory filings from the Canadian Securities Administrators SEDAR database by searching for “NanoTech Security Corp“. For some reason, I could only find annual reports from 2003 – 2008. I am surprised I couldn’t find annual reports for 2009 and 2010 in the SEDAR database. What happened to these two reports?

P.S. For the record, here is some not so positive news about Securency International (July 1st, 2011 press release) and Reserve Bank of Australia & NPA (July 1st, 2011 press release).

Kevin Roberts @ nextMEDIA Toronto

Earlier this month, Kevin was asked to speak about Lovemarks in Toronto, he shared his insight in his blog article “Stand Up The Storytellers“.

From BNN (video), “What works in advertising: with Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi“

“What makes some brands inspirational, while others struggle? BNN’s Kim Parlee and Andrew Bell find out from Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi.”

Kevin talks Apple (iPhone, iPad) vs Blackberry. “[RIM] is out of touch with the consumers. They rely very much on matrix, research, and facts. [...] The miss how the consumers feel.” I had a lot of fun seeing Kevin chat with the two hosts.

Globalive targets Mobilicity: Bloomberg & Reuters say – Mobilicity IPO? G&M

Bloomberg,

“Globalive Communications Corp., a two-year-old Canadian wireless carrier, is in talks to buy Mobilicity, adding a competitor to take on larger rivals BCE Inc. (BCE) and Rogers Communications Inc., according to a person familiar with the discussions.”

Reuters,

“Canadian telecom upstart Globalive wants to buy rival Mobilicity but no deal is imminent or indeed likely until the government clarifies rules on foreign ownership and airwave allocation, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.”

[HT MobileSyrup]

More news media reprinting, quoting, excerpting the above reports Financial Post and G&M .

G&M, “Wireless carrier Mobilicity weighs going public“

“Wireless newcomer Mobilicity is planning to launch an initial public offering early in the new year with the goal of raising up to $100-million.

Sources say the company plans to go public as early as the first quarter of 2012, provided that equity markets are less volatile. A number of IPOs have been ready to launch since late summer, but they were put on hold because markets were too choppy as the European debt crisis unfolded. [...]

Kim Jong Il is dead – Tiger Spirit

In the wake of Kim Jong Il‘s death, have a watch of the award winning doc Tiger Spirit (free online) about the border separating South and North Korea.

“This full-length documentary tells the story of modern Korea, a nation divided in half. The psychic scar shared by families divided during the Korean War in the 1950s is symbolized by the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing communist North from capitalist South. Along this infamous border, filmmaker Min Sook Lee begins an emotion-charged journey into Korea’s broken heart, exploring the rhetoric and realism of reunification through the extraordinary stories of ordinary people. An eloquent tale of longing and hope, Tiger Spirit is an unforgettable portrait of Korea at a crossroads.”

[HT NFB and filmmaker Min Sook Lee]

Enjoy a 53-Year-Old Internal Memo Penned Leo Burnett

Have fun, enjoy. Read a 53-Year-Old Internal Memo Penned Leo Burnett – Legendary Adman’s Musings on Client Loyalty [HT AdAge for the article & the memo]

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Ai Weiwei: Artist & Dissident – Time Person of the Year Runner-Up

TIME, Ai Weiwei: The Dissident – Time Person of the Year Runner-Up

“For 81 days last spring and summer, Ai Weiwei was China’s most famous missing person. Detained in Beijing while attempting to catch a flight to Hong Kong on April 3, Ai, an artistic consultant for the iconic Bird’s Nest stadium, was held almost entirely incommunicado and interrogated some 50 times while friends and supporters around the world petitioned for his release. On Nov. 1, Ai, who says the case against him is politically motivated, was hit with a $2.4 million bill for back taxes and penalties. Two weeks later, he paid a $1.3 million bond with loans from Chinese supporters who contributed online and in person and even tossed cash over the walls of his studio in northeast Beijing.

The son of a revolutionary poet, Ai, 54, has grown more outspoken in recent years, expressing his anger at abuses of power and organizing online campaigns, including a volunteer investigation into the deaths of children in schools that collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. His detention came amid a broad crackdown on activists by the Chinese government meant to stamp out a call for Arab Spring–inspired pro-democracy protests as well as continuing unrest in the Tibetan regions, where 12 people have set themselves on fire since March to protest Chinese policies.

Ai, who speaks excellent if not quite flawless English, sat down on Dec. 12 with TIME’s Hannah Beech and Austin Ramzy — and a calico cat, one of nearly two dozen cats and dogs at his studio — to discuss his detention, the poetry of Twitter and whether China is immune to the global forces of protest and revolution. [...]

If you had a chance to go overseas, would you?

I have to evaluate, Is it better to stay in a jail here or go abroad? If you go, you really have to say goodbye.

You feel you wouldn’t be allowed back?

Not only that. I’m afraid I would lose the sensitivity to this reality. There are so many things you can do in life, and of course, activist isn’t my top choice. I think I would lose touch with here, and I certainly feel I owe a lot of people. If I can make a good effort, I would continue to do that.”

2011 Top 10 Ads

It is that time of the year to pick Top 10s. Here is my list of 10 favourite ads in 2011. Please share your favourite ad or ads in the comment section.

The T-Mobile Royal Wedding - who would forget this timely and well-produced ad? :)

Maria Aragon – Born This Way (Cover) by Lady Gaga – A self-promotional video by the 7-year-old Maria. A video that connected her with Lady Gaga and the rest is history and legend. I say a win-win for Maria and Gaga.

BORN THIS WAY – Lady Gaga performs with Maria Aragon live in Toronto (March 3rd) – One small promise kept by Lady Gaga has helped Maria fulfill some of her dreams for sure.

Motorola – Empower the People – Good ad, too bad the product was priced too high and the product never sell too well. [blogged in Feb 2011]

NextBigThing 60 Final – Samsung

Lenovo “Boot Or Bust” Air Drop – Turning something as boring/technical as a 10 seconds boot time into a dramatic ad with its “behind the scene” making of video is definitely a great idea executed well.

Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review – A great way to advertise a whole bunch of Google products in a way that you want to watch the video! Nicely done.

Time Is Love 2011電視廣告「這三年間」- 2分鐘電視劇場版 - (Chinese ad, love this short version)

Google Chrome: Lady Gaga - Google: “The Web Is What You Make of It” Agency: Google Creative Lab Launch date: May 2 Views: 21.2 million [HT AdAge]

Google Chrome: Justin Bieber - Google: “The Web Is What You Make of It” Agency: Google Creative Lab Launch date: May 2 Views: 21.2 million [HT AdAge]

Jennifer Lopez – Papi - Fiat: “Life Is Best When Driven” Agency: Doner Launch date: Sept. 12 Views: 27.4 million. I didn’t like it at first but have grown to enjoy it by the end of the 5+ minutes music video/ad. [HT AdAge]

2011 Year In Review

Great video of 2011 Year in Review

More photos here in this Flickr collection.

Leo Herzel (1923-2011) – 1951 Color Television student article that laid the foundational analysis for frequency spectrum auctions around the world

I’ve heard of Leo Herzel (via Prof. Ronald Coase and others) for some years, it was only yesterday that I finally got around to read his “My 1951 Color Television Article” (The Journal of Law & Economics, 1998) that talks about his original 1951 thought provoking and influential idea and analysis.

Quoting the Leo’s obituary in the Chicago Sun-Times,

“His legacy extends to at least three Nobel Prize-winning economists, including Ronald Coase, who credits Mr. Herzel with creation of the initial theory that later became the foundation for his Nobel Prize-winning article, “The Problem of Social Cost.”

Mr. Herzel’s analysis of market solutions to resource allocation problems, written while he was a student at the University of Chicago in 1950, guides FCC policy [in particular, frequency spectrum auctions in US and around the world] to this day.”

Leo passed away on July 21st, 2011. See obituaries from Illinois State Bar Association and Chicago Tribute.

New Quote I Love and early 101th birthday wish to professor Ronald Coase

Here is a new addition to Quotes I Love,

“New ideas are most likely to come from the young who are also the group who are most likely to recognize the significance of those ideas.” - Ronald Coase in his 2003 Coase Lecture

Photo credit: by Zhaofeng Xue (薛兆丰) 2009

And I like to send an early Happy Birthday and All the Best wish to Professor Coase, for his up coming 101th birthday on 29th December, 2011! And I am looking forward to the upcoming (Feb 2012) book “How China Became Capitalist” co-authored by Prof. Coase and Ning Wang. Yes, Prof. Coase is going to be 101 years old and he is still working and writing!

The following is an insightful 2003 talk by Prof. Coase when he was _only_ 93 years old! :) (See this entry for all six video clips and time codes plus descriptions.)

2003 Coase Lecture by Ronald Coase – Part 1/6

Tehching Hsieh – One Year Performance 1980-1981 (Time Clock Piece) 24×365=8760

Tehching Hsieh’s ‘One Year Performance’ 1980 (VIDEO). [HT @aliklay]

Time Clock Piece

Michael Bublé, 15-year-old Sam and his mom Paula Holyman

Michael Bublé is one super cool Canadian singer recently featured on 60 Minutes (the behind the scene stuff is a ton of fun to watch). Have a watch of the following GREAT video of Michael and the 15-year-old Sam singing on stage after his brave mom Paula Holyman created the opportunity.

Check out this BBC Radio interview with Sam singing, ”Teenager Sam Holyman sings at Michael Buble concert – A Stafford teenager got the surprise of his life when jazz singer Michael Buble invited him to perform live on stage.“

Also see this Toronto Star piece with quote from Sam’s mom Paula “Video: 15-year-old’s impromptu performance wows Bublé“

Former HP Chairman Patricia Dunn dies at 58

Market Watch, “Pattie Dunn gave ETF investors a better mousetrap – Financial services veteran was on the front lines of index-fund revolution“

“Patricia Dunn will be remembered mostly for the infamous boardroom espionage scandal that ultimately cost her the chairmanship of Hewlett-Packard Co.

Yet Dunn, who died Sunday at 58 after a long battle with cancer, deserves credit from any investor who has ever owned an exchange-traded fund.

As the head of Barclays Global Investors in the late 1990s, Dunn supported efforts to put the global money manager’s considerable muscle behind a relatively unproven investment that tracked an index but traded like a stock. “

New Quote I Love – All that is necessary for evil to triumph …

A new addition to Quotes I Love,

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke via Judge John Reilly‘s Bad Medicine: A Judge’s Struggle for Justice in a Frist Nations Community

There is a TEDxCalgary talk by Judge Reilly.

TEDxCalgary – Judge John Reilly – My Aboriginal Education

Kevin Roberts, CEO worldwide Saatchi and Saatchi keynotes nextMEDIA Toronto Dec 6th, 2011

You see, I am a big fan of Kevin Roberts‘s ideas (KR Connect). How big a fan? Well, five years ago in 2006, I read and reviewed his two books Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands and The Lovemarks Effect: Winning in the Consumer Revolution. I even spent the time to research and create the initial Wikipedia pages for Kevin and Lovemarks! I was so proud and excited when a friend asked my help on his marketing assignment which involved class lectures in, you guessed it, Lovemarks!

So it is very cool to see Kevin coming to Canada to share his insights even, sadly, I can’t be in Toronto to attend in person. So if you are in Toronto next week, register for Dec 6th one day pass to hear Kevin (or better, attend both 5th & 6th for the full conference experience)!

The following is from the nextMEDIA Toronto 2011 (Dec 5 – 6) press release.

“CEO worldwide for creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi, Kevin Roberts is a marketing pioneer with a heart for nostalgia and has been bringing popular brands to market and straight into consumers’hearts since the early 1970s. Roberts has worked with large-scale international clients such as Carlsberg, TMobile, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Sony Ericsson, JCPenney, Toyota and VISA Europe among others.

Roberts is the author of a number of best-selling books, including Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands, in which he describes the emotional connections we create with the brands we’ve grown to love.

So, here’s the real question: How does your brand achieve Lovemark status? Well, fear not, Roberts is heading to nextMEDIA Toronto this year to help you solve that very problem.

Named one of the top ten ideas of the decade in 2010 by advertising and marketing news website AdAge, Lovemarks transcend brands, leaving their iconic symbols emblazoned in the hearts and memories of consumers worldwide.

Join Kevin Roberts at nextMEDIA Toronto 2011 for an informative keynote session about hisLovemarks theory, offering crucial insight into the future of marketing and an analysis of the way we identify with our favourite brands.”

New Quote I Love – creating islands of meaning in the sea of information

A new addition to Quotes I Love,

“As human beings who are finite creatures that can think and feel, our function from this time onward is to create islands of meaning in the flood of information.” - Freeman Dyson quoting James Gleick‘s “The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood” at the end of the speech video “Big Ideas: Freeman Dyson on Living Through Four Revolutions“.

P.S. Here is a fuller text version.

“The enormous success of information theory came from Shannon’s decision to separate information from meaning. His central dogma, “Meaning is irrelevant,” declared that information could be handled with greater freedom if it was treated as a mathematical abstraction independent of meaning. The consequence of this freedom is the flood of information in which we are drowning. The immense size of modern databases gives us a feeling of meaninglessness. Information in such quantities reminds us of Borges’s library extending infinitely in all directions. It is our task as humans to bring meaning back into this wasteland. As finite creatures who think and feel, we can create islands of meaning in the sea of information.” – From a Freeman Dyson‘s NYT book review of James Gleick‘s “The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood“

Big Ideas: Freeman Dyson on Living Through Four Revolutions

What a great pleasure (funny and very insightful) to watch the video presentation of the 87 years old Freeman Dyson on TVO Big Ideas: Freeman Dyson on Living Through Four Revolutions. Highly recommended.

P.S. I read about Dyson initially through the stories and scientific works of Richard Feynman.