An Appointment With Kim Dotcom

Paul Spain is the host of the weekly NZ Tech Podcast, one of New Zealand’s leading locally produced podcasts and often appears on TV and video as a commentator on consumer and business technology topics.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — It’s been said that Kim Dotcom is a villain. Many, particularly those in the film industry and law enforcement, believe it. To others, he is a hero standing up for the rights of Internet users everywhere.

[More from Mashable: Kim Dotcom’s Mega Begins Early Rollout]

I wanted to find out for myself where he stood.

I arrived at the Dotcom Mansion early Sunday afternoon New Zealand time. It was just a few hours after the launch of Kim Dotcom’s new website Mega.co.nz and one year since his mansion was raided and he was arrested by New Zealand police in conjunction with a U.S. request to extradite him.

[More from Mashable: Kim Dotcom’s Mega Loses Web Domain Before Debut]

A friendly Kim Dotcom greeted each of us in a small media gathering, before sitting at the head of the table flanked by Ira Rothken, his California-based attorney.

I expected a prepared statement. That wasn’t the case. Dotcom shared his excitement about the 250,000 Mega signups in the first two hours and soon led into Q&A session for the remaining 45-minutes. He proved to be extremely adept in the way he responded to questions, working effortlessly to position Mega as an innovator. He indicated a desire to help the film industry succeed in the world of digital downloads and streaming — rather than being just a company out to line its own pockets.

Dotcom’s opinions and arguments for his cause were strong and generally well thought out, though on occasion seemed less robust. For instance he suggested he’d found a great way films could be funded in the future. His concept involves studios signing up digital streaming distributors around the world to fund a movie ahead of its production.

He felt distributors might pay for streaming rights before production, thereby funding the production. Unfortunately, I feel revenues from streaming (now and for the foreseeable future) are typically so low this would only provide a small fraction of the funds needed to produce a movie. And who wants to risk paying up front for a movie that might be a flop?

When asked about whether he would stay in New Zealand if he succeeds in stopping his extradition to the U.S. later this year, he was non-committal. On one hand he said he loved the country but on another he was worried he’d be persecuted by authorities, and in that case he’d leave. He spoke of journalists, music and movie producers on their way to visit him being harassed by customs officials upon arrival in the country –- including strip searches and even a request to view the content of one visitor’s laptop. I’ve not been able to verify these rather extreme occurrences.

Dotcom has positioned Mega as a service that sits between Dropbox and his previous site Megaupload -– with the added benefits of end-to-end encryption. He and Rothken went to great lengths to highlight that Mega would operate entirely within the law.

Dotcom made little effort to suggest Mega would be less prone to being a haven to copyright materials than Megaupload was. It seems there will continue to be a game of cat and mouse afoot as Dotcom and authorities try to outwit each other.

(A full audio recording of the discussion will be available later today at NZ Tech Podcast.)

In a one-on-one setting with Dotcom, I tried to gain more understanding about the open source elements of the Mega service and his commitment to New Zealand. Interestingly he was reticent to provide solid answers to either question and provided what I felt were just pat answers aimed at fobbing me off.

As we left the compound mid-afternoon, we saw Kim on stage rehearsing for the evening performance he would lead, with the support of musicians, his co-accused and investors in the new Mega. That performance included a dramatization of the raid on his home one year before. It was a gathering filled with media from around the country and a few from abroad. In the public context he continued to sell Mega extremely well –- to the point where someone commented to me that the event at times felt like a religious or marketing conference.

Dotcom currently remains on bail until his extradition hearing due in September. Amongst those in attendance, it appeared widely accepted that the bid to extradite him from New Zealand to the U.S. is likely to fail because of mistakes made by law enforcement and New Zealand spy agency GCSB.

After my visit, I’m left with a number of fairly clear impressions about Kim Dotcom and Mega. How you take these will depend on which side of the fence you stand:

1. Mega’s management team is making every effort to operate in a manner that does not fall afoul of the law (though it could be argued they did the same with Megaupload).


2. Mega will be used to distribute copyrighted materials such as movies, TV shows and music -– though likely to a lesser extent than Megaupload did.


3. Kim Dotcom will continue to draw controversy and be outspoken about the rights of Internet users everywhere. He is not backing down.

Love him or hate him, Kim Dotcom is back in business and, if he’s to be believed, no fair court will be able to stop him.

Dotcom raid being re-enacted at the mansion.

Click here to view this gallery.

Photos by Paul Spain

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.

A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home the next day, then loaded up on medicine and returned to work.

"It's a balancing act" between physical health and financial well-being, she said.

An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to a cause that has scored victories but also hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave for a third of civilian workers — more than 40 million people — who don't have it.

Supporters and opponents are particularly watching New York City, where lawmakers are weighing a sick leave proposal amid a competitive mayoral race.

Pointing to a flu outbreak that the governor has called a public health emergency, dozens of doctors, nurses, lawmakers and activists — some in surgical masks — rallied Friday on the City Hall steps to call for passage of the measure, which has awaited a City Council vote for nearly three years. Two likely mayoral contenders have also pressed the point.

The flu spike is making people more aware of the argument for sick pay, said Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values at Work, which promotes paid sick time initiatives around the country. "There's people who say, 'OK, I get it — you don't want your server coughing on your food,'" she said.

Advocates have cast paid sick time as both a workforce issue akin to parental leave and "living wage" laws, and a public health priority.

But to some business owners, paid sick leave is an impractical and unfair burden for small operations. Critics also say the timing is bad, given the choppy economy and the hardships inflicted by Superstorm Sandy.

Michael Sinensky, an owner of seven bars and restaurants around the city, was against the sick time proposal before Sandy. And after the storm shut down four of his restaurants for days or weeks, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars that his insurers have yet to pay, "we're in survival mode."

"We're at the point, right now, where we cannot afford additional social initiatives," said Sinensky, whose roughly 500 employees switch shifts if they can't work, an arrangement that some restaurateurs say benefits workers because paid sick time wouldn't include tips.

Employees without sick days are more likely to go to work with a contagious illness, send an ill child to school or day care and use hospital emergency rooms for care, according to a 2010 survey by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. A 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that a lack of sick time helped spread 5 million cases of flu-like illness during the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

To be sure, many employees entitled to sick time go to work ill anyway, out of dedication or at least a desire to project it. But the work-through-it ethic is shifting somewhat amid growing awareness about spreading sickness.

"Right now, where companies' incentives lie is butting right up against this concern over people coming into the workplace, infecting others and bringing productivity of a whole company down," said John A. Challenger, CEO of employer consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Paid sick day requirements are often popular in polls, but only four places have them: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and the state of Connecticut. The specific provisions vary.

Milwaukee voters approved a sick time requirement in 2008, but the state Legislature passed a law blocking it. Philadelphia's mayor vetoed a sick leave measure in 2011; lawmakers have since instituted a sick time requirement for businesses with city contracts. Voters rejected a paid sick day measure in Denver in 2011.

In New York, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer's proposal would require up to five paid sick days a year at businesses with at least five employees. It wouldn't include independent contractors, such as Zavala, who supports the idea nonetheless.

The idea boasts such supporters as feminist Gloria Steinem and "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon, as well as a majority of City Council members and a coalition of unions, women's groups and public health advocates. But it also faces influential opponents, including business groups, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has virtually complete control over what matters come to a vote.

Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor, said she considers paid sick leave a worthy goal but doesn't think it would be wise to implement it in a sluggish economy. Two of her likely opponents, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, have reiterated calls for paid sick leave in light of the flu season.

While the debate plays out, Emilio Palaguachi is recovering from the flu and looking for a job. The father of four was abruptly fired without explanation earlier this month from his job at a deli after taking a day off to go to a doctor, he said. His former employer couldn't be reached by telephone.

"I needed work," Palaguachi said after Friday's City Hall rally, but "I needed to see the doctor because I'm sick."

___

Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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IHT Rendezvous: China's 'Lamborghini' Coefficient: Who's Getting Richer and Who Poorer?

BEIJING — Search the word Gini, or “jini,” for Gini coefficient, the well-known measure of income inequality, on China’s biggest microblogging site and the first result today was for Lamborghini, the Italian luxury sports car (in Chinese, the two words share a similar sound in the last part of the car’s name.)

That is very ironic because the Gini coefficient measures income inequality and the Lamborghini, which can set a buyer back $300,000, is not an uncommon sight on the streets of big Chinese cities, an object of resentment among ordinary people who view it as a symbol of how a few people are amassing tremendous wealth as many struggle with low incomes, low bank deposit rates, high property prices and persistent inflation.

In other words, income inequality in China is politically sensitive.

(The Gini index is a measure of household income inequality; zero represents perfect income equality and one, perfect inequality, a situation where one person would own all the wealth, as the World Bank explains.)

So last Friday, when the government announced China’s Gini coefficient figures for the first time in over a decade, there was excitement – and quite a bit of scorn – expressed online and in media reports as well as private conversations. Why?

According to the figures, China today is actually more equal than in 2003, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

From 2003, the Gini coefficient did indeed rise, the bureau said, from 0.479 to a high in 2008 of 0.491. But by 2012 the figure had dropped to 0.474, meaning China is a more equal society today than a decade ago – despite all those Lamborghinis on the street.

At a news conference, Ma Jiantang, the bureau director, called the rate nevertheless “relatively high,” Xinhua reported. “China must accelerate its income distribution reform to narrow the rich-poor gap,” Xinhua said.

Yet the government’s “effective measures” to “bring benefits for its people” after the gobal financial crisis began in 2008 had brought down the measure, it quoted Mr. Ma as saying.

To compare with the United States: In 2011, the Gini coefficient there was also high, at 0.477, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Xinhua quoted the United Nations as putting the “warning level” on the rich-poor gap at 0.4.

Yet in China this weekend, few believed the new figures.

Here are two lively reactions from microblogs, from a journalist and an economist who together have over six million followers:

“Please choose one: 1. Really, thank you Fatherland; 2. That’s a myth; 3. Not sure, but hurry up and increase my salary,” Shi Shusi, a journalist and social commentator, the director of the state-run Worker’s Daily Weekly, said on his Sina Weibo account to nearly 875,000 followers.

Xu Xiaonian, a professor of finance and economics at the China Europe International Business School, wrote on his Weibo account (5.5 million followers): “A journalist rang to ask me to comment on today’s macroeconomic figures. I’d have to be crazy to truthfully comment on false figures. That Gini coefficient, to use the words of Zheng Yuanjie,” a popular children’s story writer, “‘no-one would even dare to write a fairytale like that.’”

A different report, in December, by researchers at the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in the city of Chengdu, put China’s Gini at 0.61 for 2010.

While people are by and large glad to see the government once again measuring the figure after a decade-long hiatus (which Mr. Ma explained last year was due to the fact that the government did not actually know what people in the cities were earning, as I explored in a Letter from China,) a major problem facing the government is the scale of people’s “hidden income,” estimated by the Beijing-based economist Wang Xiaolu several years ago to be about 9.3 trillion renminbi (nearly $1.5 trillion).

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Google says Wall Street estimates need adjusting

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc issued a rare advisory to Wall Street on Friday that analyst estimates for its fourth quarter financial results are flawed.

The world’s No.1 search engine, which reports its quarterly results on Tuesday, said most analysts have not adjusted their estimates to reflect the pending $ 2.35 billion sale of the Motorola Home business.

The business must be presented separately from the results of Google’s continuing operations under U.S. accounting rules, Google Treasurer Brent Callinicos wrote in a post on Google’s investor relations Web page on Friday.

“As of this writing, a majority of Wall Street analysts who cover Google have not reflected the Home business as discontinued operations in their estimates,” Callinicos wrote.

The discrepancy means the fourth-quarter net revenue that Google reports on Tuesday could appear to be less than the $ 12.34 billion average that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S are expecting.

Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler says his fourth-quarter net revenue estimate includes nearly $ 900 million from the Motorola Home business.

“They’re saying that the headline number is going to be less than what most analysts have for Q4,” said Kessler.

The advisory is a rare move for Google, which does not provide financial forecasts and typically has limited interactions with analysts. The company has in the past provided accounting advisories to analysts about the Motorola Mobility business, which Google acquired for $ 12.5 billion in May.

Google bought Motorola Mobility primarily for its large portfolio of communications patents and its mobile phone business.

In December, Google agreed to sell the Motorola Home television set-top box business to Arris Group Inc for $ 2.35 billion in cash and stock.

Analysts expect Google to report adjusted earnings of $ 10.56 per share for the fourth quarter.

“It’s a little surprising that they’re doing this the Friday before the report,” said Kessler. “They should have put it out a week ago if they wanted analysts to change their numbers.”

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic. Editing by Andre Grenon)

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Jenna von Oy Blogs: The Magic of the Holidays

In front of the Christmas Tree – Courtesy Jenna von Oy

Celebrity blogger Jenna von Oy is a new mama!

Best known for her roles as Six on Blossom and Stevie on The Parkers, von Oy is also a musician who has released two albums and is set to publish a book, The Betweeners.

von Oy, 35, wed Brad Bratcher on Oct. 10, 2010, and resides in Nashville with her husband and five dogs.

They welcomed their first child, daughter Gray Audrey, on May 21. She is now almost 8 months old.

In her latest blog, von Oy reflects on the spirit of Christmas — and celebrating the holiday with Gray.

You can find her on Facebook and Twitter @JennavonOy, as well as posting on her weekly blog, The Cradle Chronicles.

I realize it’s January now, and you’ve probably taken down your holiday lights. You’ve stowed the stockings, eaten all of the cookies and put away the gifts. But in my house, the Christmas spirit is still alive and well. Christmas has not left the building. Our tree is still whiling away the hours in our living room, and it isn’t because I’m lazy or haven’t found time to return everything to the attic. I just wanted to wake up to it for one more week, to enjoy the season a bit longer, to absorb the hope and happiness it brings.

Christmastime has always been truly magical for me. I believe it isn’t just a time of year; it’s a state of being. Regardless of your spiritual upbringing, it’s a season for togetherness, joy, peace, and goodwill. It’s a time to treasure those you love, in a profoundly meaningful way … especially your children. There’s no other season that incites wonder quite like Christmas, and seeing it through the eyes of my daughter for the first time was nothing short of miraculous. We have begun the holiday memories she will think back on fondly one day.

It inspires me to reminisce about my own special Christmas moments, especially those shared with my siblings: penning wish lists for Santa, trudging through snow to choose the “jolliest” tree we could find, hanging stockings on our mantle, putting our boots out in celebration of the German holiday of Saint Nicholas (the boots would get filled with nuts, fruit and other goodies), baking cookies and over-decorating them, festooning our tree in the ornaments we’ve collected each year since we were born, and dancing maniacally to “The Nutcracker Suite.”

I miss the winter wonderland of our East Coast upbringing: ice skating on the pond behind the home in which we were raised, watching snowflakes blanket the ground like frosting (it just begged for snowmen and snow angels to be made), sledding down our driveway in makeshift toboggans, and warming up in front of the fire with mugs of mulled cider. Those were the days!

But it isn’t all of the “deck the halls” and “fa-la-la” that made my spirit bright. Most importantly, the holiday season meant time spent with my family. It meant hunkering down out of the bitter cold and playing board games, while Burl Ives sang “A Holly Jolly Christmas” in the background. It meant attending midnight mass on Christmas Eve, and listening to my dad’s beautiful voice resonate from the choir. It was the joy of finding the perfect gift for my sister or brothers, and the glee of watching them unwrap it.

Even in adulthood, I find the Christmas magic hasn’t gone anywhere. It’s still in my heart, though its style has morphed a bit. Now I get to celebrate with my own little family, embracing long-held traditions while creating new ones with my husband and daughter.

I thought it might be fun to share some of them with you. I warn you, if you are feeling a bit of “bah humbug” and want Christmas to just go away already, this may not be the blog for you … I’ll begin with our “infamous Christmas tape.”

Me back in 1980 – Courtesy Jenna von Oy

Many years ago, my siblings and I acquired a cassette tape of a schizophrenic compilation of Christmas music. It contains everything from Mahalia Jackson’s “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” to Johnny Mathis singing “Sleigh Ride,” to the Philadelphia Orchestra playing the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Like I said, it’s a wacky mix of tunes. Regardless, it’s our auditory mascot during Christmas. A year without hearing this crazy collection of songs would be a sad year, indeed.

The four of us used to jam to it while trimming the tree, and it was almost always accompanied by our crooning at the top of our lungs and dancing wildly around the living room. This was typically followed by a period of breathlessness and tearful laughter. My poor parents either hid or videotaped it. Want to know how to shed the pounds from over-indulging in Christmas cookies? The routine I just mentioned will definitely do it. I’ll spare you any sort of visual, but take my word for it … it’s a special breed of insanity aerobics.

The calamity often occurred into the wee hours of the morning, since we were generally high on sugar when it all went down. We found that the addition of hot cocoa or eggnog greatly improved our stamina. I’ve long suspected this display of madness would frighten away potential suitors or spouses, but I’m happy to report Brad has stuck around despite this tradition. He has witnessed it on several occasions and, while he has declined any participation in it, he hasn’t disowned me yet.

I must admit it wasn’t quite the same this year without my siblings around to share in my decorating dance-a-thon. Sadly, leaping across the kitchen via Skype just doesn’t have the same effect. This didn’t stop me, however, from showing my daughter what the hype is all about. I transferred that wonderfully awful cassette tape to my iPod, and Gray and I danced like no one was watching. She was all smiles and laughter. I can only hope the Christmas enthusiasm runs through her veins, as it does mine!

Another family tradition involves our ongoing ornament collection. My mom began the custom of gifting each of us kids with a yearly ornament, beginning at our births. The keepsakes have always served as a reminder of the wonderful memories we shared that year, often depicting something meaningful we experienced. For example, the first year I visited France, I received a mini Eiffel Tower to suspend from the pine branches. When I played “Molly” in a regional production of Annie at the age of six, I got a Little Orphan Annie ornament. It’s neat to go back through the years to see what stories our tree adornments conjure up!

Brad and I are continuing this collection with Gray, and she ended up with several ornaments this year. I hope they will always be a reminder of her first Christmas, and I look forward to passing them along to her once she is married and has a family of her own.

This tradition actually gave way to a new one as well … A few weeks before Christmas, once our main tree was already dressed and lit with the normal accoutrements, Gray got to pick out a smaller tree to host all of her special ornaments. She also had the honor of placing the first decoration on the larger one. Now that Christmas is over, we are going to find a spot in our yard to plant the sapling. I think it’s a great way to show her the importance of giving back to the earth, and it will be a neat project for us as a family.

Bratcher Family Photo 2012 – Lila McCann Photography

The side benefit of this new tradition is that it helps to satisfy my need for a real evergreen in the house. Though I grew up in a family where we never dreamed of putting up a plastic tree, I’ve had to switch gears a bit in the past few years. Two words for you: Basset Hound. Evidently Christmas trees are the equivalent of a five-star gourmet meal to our sweet Mia, and the ornaments are her canine caviar. She will take any opportunity to snack on the branches if they are real pine, which we found out the hard way.

Needless to say, we’ve had a huge plastic deal ever since. At least the smaller tree that Gray chose fits on a tabletop, where it is out of reach! Mia’s Scrooge-like master plan has officially been thwarted. Now if I could just keep our pug, Bruiser, from unwrapping presents before Christmas morning…

So now that you know some of our special yearly customs, here’s an idea of how Gray’s first Christmas went down: I suppose it began the first week of December, with our official Christmas photo shoot. Though attempting to get all three of us to smile simultaneously was documentary-worthy, I’m thrilled to say it actually happened.

I give full credit to the patience of our photographer, Lila, who also happens to be one of my best friends. Since she has two children of her own, she’s well aware of the trials and tribulations of photographing a child in the throes of the naptime hour. Fun was had by all, especially when a tantrum began rearing its ugly head as we approached the agreed upon location. Granted, Gray immediately perked up when she saw the camera turn its focus onto her. Go figure.

My mom spent the first two weeks of December with us, and we got to bake cookies and peanut brittle together … Okay, I’m lying. I spent the time trying to keep my daughter’s hands out of the flour and butter, while my mom wound up doing the bulk of the work. I think I got more exercise during the whole affair, but my mom put in the baking time. She has been generous enough to tell everyone we made the tasty treats together, but I thought I should set the record straight; I was on baby duty. The cookies were mostly her doing. (Thank you, Mommy!)

The neat part was that she got to be here for a plethora of Gray’s first holiday experiences, such as picking out the baby tree, decorating the house in its holiday attire, and the aforementioned family photo extravaganza. It was a very special time for us, and made it feel a lot more like Christmas. (I should also point out that the number of gifts Gray wound up getting virtually doubled in size, thanks to my mother and mother-in-law. Grandmas sure do love to spoil their grandbabies!)

One other adventure my mom got to be present for was Gray’s first picture with Santa. We waited until a weekday morning, to avoid crowds, and headed over to experience all that is jolly old St. Nick at the mall. I’ll be honest — my cynical side anticipated a fraud. I envisioned a scary, spiked eggnog-breathing, smoker’s cough-hacking, faux-bearded, senile, skinny guy in a fat suit, smiling at all of the children in a way that makes every mother’s stomach turn.

First Picture with Santa – Worldwide Photography

I couldn’t have been farther off. This guy was the real deal. And when he said to Gray, “I’d take you to the North Pole if I could,” I actually believed he meant it in the sweetest way possible. Santa was the kindest man I could have asked for. And you know what? Gray knew it too. My little girl, who has been battling some serious bouts of separation anxiety, reached out for Santa like she’d known him all her life. The photographers said she was the first kid all day to smile for a photo … which made my day almost as much as it made theirs!

On Christmas morning, Bruiser demonstrated how presents should be opened (in his world: frenzied and with no regard for content…). Gray sort of got the hang of it, though next year will be more of a sight to see, I imagine. We took it easy with gifts this year … quality not quantity. Instead, our gifts were mostly in the form of time together, since my husband got a week off from work.

It was such a joy to cuddle up together on the sofa, even if it is nowhere near large enough to comfortably fit all of our human and canine family members. We watched time-treasured classics such as Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer and the original version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In a very merry post-gift unwrapping fatigue, Gray fell asleep on her Daddy’s chest and took a little nap. Brad said it was the best Christmas present he could have received. Sometimes the most cherished gifts don’t come in a package tied with ribbon.

Moving on to a slightly less magical subject, many friends said they sneezed and vomited their way through the remainder of 2012. Thankfully, we made it through without getting sick. We were desperately trying to spread Christmas cheer instead of germs this year, which is often hard with young kids. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t lose my voice during the holidays, so I was thrilled to get through unscathed.

Then again, you ain’t heard nothin’ until you’ve heard my Darth Vader-esque rendition of “Joy To The World,” which I usually grace everyone with at the mass on Christmas Eve. It brings anything but joy to the world, I can promise you that. Instead, I was able to sing loud and proud this year. Gray even tried to join in! The irony? As I publish this blog, I’m plagued with a cold … at least it allowed me to ring in the New Year first.

Much to our dismay, no snow fell in advance of our holiday here in Nashville. We did not wake up to a white Christmas morning. However, we had just enough of a flurry in the days following, to don boots and gloves and let Gray experience her first snowfall. It was really only a minor dusting, but she was mesmerized and commenced “tap dancing” in the snow.

For those who are currently picturing some fantastic routine involving staccato wings and ball changes, being executed by world-class artists such as Savion Glover and Gregory Hines, you may want to rethink your visual. Our version consisted of my holding Gray’s body upright, while she shuffled her feet around. Snow and dirt were flying everywhere, but my kid was as happy as … well, a kid in snow.

Gray’s first snow! – Courtesy Jenna von Oy

If you kept reading until the end of this post, I’m impressed. Santa’s list isn’t as lengthy as this month’s blog, so I hope you’ll forgive the verbosity. I guess I was swept up in the holiday magic and excitement. Perhaps my New Year’s resolution should include minimalizing my words?

I hope you and yours had a fantastic holiday, filled with love, laughter and endless blessings. We wish you many more in 2013, and pray you are surrounded by the Christmas spirit all year long!

Until next time,

– Jenna von Oy

More from Jenna’s PEOPLE.com blog series:

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More than 140 nations adopt treaty to cut mercury

GENEVA (AP) — A new and legally binding international treaty to reduce harmful emissions of mercury was adopted Saturday by more than 140 nations, capping four years of difficult negotiations but stopping short of some of the tougher measures that proponents had envisioned.

The new accord aims to cut mercury pollution from mining, utility plants and a host of products and industrial processes, by setting enforceable limits and encouraging shifts to alternatives in which mercury is not used, released or emitted.

Mercury, known to be a poison for centuries, is natural element that cannot be created or destroyed. It is released into the air, water and land from small-scale artisanal gold mining, coal-powered plants, and from discarded electronic or consumer products such as electrical switches, thermostats and dental amalgam fillings. Mercury compound goes into batteries, paints and skin-lightening creams.

Because it concentrates and accumulates in fish and goes up the food chain, mercury poses the greatest risk of nerve damage to pregnant women, women of child-bearing age and young children. The World Health Organization has said there are no safe limits for the consumption of mercury and its compounds, which can also cause brain and kidney damage, memory loss and language impairment.

A decade ago, Switzerland and Norway began pushing for an international treaty to limit mercury emissions, a process that culminated in the adoption of an accord Saturday after an all-night session that capped a weeklong conference in Geneva and previous such sessions over the past four years.

"It will help us to protect human health and the environment all over the world," Swiss environment ambassador Franz Perrez told a news conference.

But the treaty only requires that nations with artisanal and small-scale gold mining operations, one of the biggest sources of mercury releases, draw up national plans within three years of the treaty entering force to reduce and — if possible — eliminate the use of mercury in such operations. Governments also approved exceptions for some uses such as large measuring devices for which there are no mercury-free alternatives; vaccines where mercury is used as a preservative; and products used in religious or traditional activities.

Switzerland, Norway and Japan each contributed $1 million to get the treaty started, but U.N. officials say tens of millions more will be needed each year to help developing countries comply. The money would be distributed through the Global Environment Facility, an international funding mechanism.

The U.N. Environment Program said the treaty will be signed later this year in the southern Japanese city of Minamata, for which it is to be named. After that, 50 nations must ratify it before it comes into force, which officials predicted would happen in three to four years.

So-called Minimata disease, a severe neurological disorder caused by mercury poisoning, was discovered in the late 1950s because of methylmercury escaping from the city's industrial wastewater. The illness, which sickened people who ate contaminated fish, killed hundreds and left many more badly crippled. Some 12,000 people have demanded compensation from Japan's government.

"To agree on global targets is not easy to do," Achim Steiner, the executive director of the U.N. Environment Program, told reporters. "There was no delegation here that wished to leave Geneva without drafting a treaty."

Over the past 100 years, mercury found in the top 100 meters (yards) of the world's oceans has doubled, and concentrations in waters deeper than that have gone up by 25 percent, the U.N. environment agency says, while rivers and lakes contain an estimated 260 metric tons of mercury that was previously held in soils.

The treaty was originally blocked by powers such as the United States, but President Barack Obama's reversal of the U.S. position in early 2009 helped propel momentum for its adoption. China and India also played key roles in ensuring its passage; Asia accounts for just under half of all global releases of mercury.

"We have closed a chapter on a journey that has taken four years of often intense, but ultimately successful, negotiations and opened a new chapter toward a sustainable future," said Fernando Lugris, the Uruguayan diplomat who chaired the negotiations.

Some supporters of a new mercury treaty said they were not satisfied with the agreement.

Joe DiGangi, a science adviser with advocacy group IPEN, said that while the treaty is "a first step," it is not tough enough to achieve its aim of reducing overall emissions. For example, he said, there is no requirement that each country create a national plan for how it will reduce mercury emissions.

His group and some of the residents of Minamata have opposed naming the treaty for their city because they feel it does not do enough to fix the problem.

"This treaty should be called the 'Mercury Convention,' not the 'Minamata Convention," said Takeshi Yasuma, a Japanese activist. "Water pollution resulting in contaminated sediment and fish caused the Minamata tragedy, but the treaty contains no obligations to reduce mercury releases to water and no obligations to clean up contaminated sites."

Treaty proponents called it a good first step, however, and Steiner said the document would evolve over time and hopefully become a stronger instrument.

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Wall Street Week Ahead: Earnings, money flows to push stocks higher

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With earnings momentum on the rise, the S&P 500 seems to have few hurdles ahead as it continues to power higher, its all-time high a not-so-distant goal.

The U.S. equity benchmark closed the week at a fresh five-year high on strong housing and labor market data and a string of earnings that beat lowered expectations.

Sector indexes in transportation <.djt>, banks <.bkx> and housing <.hgx> this week hit historic or multiyear highs as well.

Michael Yoshikami, chief executive at Destination Wealth Management in Walnut Creek, California, said the key earnings to watch for next week will come from cyclical companies. United Technologies reports on Wednesday while Honeywell is due to report Friday.

"Those kind of numbers will tell you the trajectory the economy is taking," Yoshikami said.

Major technology companies also report next week, but the bar for the sector has been lowered even further.

Chipmakers like Advanced Micro Devices , which is due Tuesday, are expected to underperform as PC sales shrink. AMD shares fell more than 10 percent Friday after disappointing results from its larger competitor, Intel . Still, a chipmaker sector index <.sox> posted its highest weekly close since last April.

Following a recent underperformance, an upside surprise from Apple on Wednesday could trigger a return to the stock from many investors who had abandoned ship.

Other major companies reporting next week include Google , IBM , Johnson & Johnson and DuPont on Tuesday, Microsoft and 3M on Thursday and Procter & Gamble on Friday.

CASH POURING IN, HOUSING DATA COULD HELP

Perhaps the strongest support for equities will come from the flow of cash from fixed income funds to stocks.

The recent piling into stock funds -- $11.3 billion in the past two weeks, the most since 2000 -- indicates a riskier approach to investing from retail investors looking for yield.

"From a yield perspective, a lot of stocks still yield a great deal of money and so it is very easy to see why money is pouring into the stock market," said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

"You are just not going to see people put a lot of money to work in a 10-year Treasury that yields 1.8 percent."

Housing stocks <.hgx>, already at a 5-1/2 year high, could get a further bump next week as investors eye data expected to support the market's perception that housing is the sluggish U.S. economy's bright spot.

Home resales are expected to have risen 0.6 percent in December, data is expected to show on Tuesday. Pending home sales contracts, which lead actual sales by a month or two, hit a 2-1/2 year high in November.

The new home sales report on Friday is expected to show a 2.1 percent increase.

The federal debt ceiling negotiations, a nagging worry for investors, seemed to be stuck on the back burner after House Republicans signaled they might support a short-term extension.

Equity markets, which tumbled in 2011 after the last round of talks pushed the United States close to a default, seem not to care much this time around.

The CBOE volatility index <.vix>, a gauge of market anxiety, closed Friday at its lowest since April 2007.

"I think the market is getting somewhat desensitized from political drama given, this seems to be happening over and over," said Destination Wealth Management's Yoshikami.

"It's something to keep in mind, but I don't think it's what you want to base your investing decisions on."

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak and Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Boeing Closer to Answer on 787s, but Not to Getting Them Back in Air

Issei Kato/Reuters

Safety inspectors looked over a 787 on Friday in Japan. The plane made an emergency landing after receiving a smoke alarm.

With 787 Dreamliners grounded around the world, Boeing is scrambling to devise a technical fix that would allow the planes to fly again soon, even as investigators in the United States and Japan are trying to figure out what caused the plane’s lithium-ion batteries to overheat.

Ray LaHood, the transportation secretary, made it clear on Friday that a rapid outcome was unlikely, saying that 787s would not be allowed to fly until the authorities were “1,000 percent sure” they were safe.

“Those planes aren’t flying now until we have a chance to examine the batteries,” Mr. LaHood told reporters. “That seems to be where the problem is.”

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday took the rare step of grounding Boeing’s technologically advanced 787s after a plane in Japan made an emergency landing when one of its two lithium-ion batteries set off a smoke alarm in the cockpit. Last week at Boston’s Logan Airport, a battery ignited in a parked 787.

The last time the government grounded an entire fleet of airplanes was in 1979, after the crash of a McDonnell Douglas DC-10.

The grounding comes as the United States is going through a record stretch of safe commercial jet flying: It has been nearly four years since a fatal airline crash, with nearly three billion passengers flying in that period. The last airliner crash, near Buffalo, N.Y., came after a quiet period of two and a half years, which suggests a declining crash rate.

Investigators in Japan said Friday that a possible explanation for the problems with the 787’s batteries was that they were overcharged — a hazard that has long been a concern for lithium-ion batteries. But how that could have happened to a plane that Boeing says has multiple systems to prevent such an event is still unclear.

Given the uncertainty, it will be hard for federal regulators to approve any corrective measures proposed by Boeing. To lift the grounding order, Boeing must demonstrate that any fix it puts in place would prevent similar episodes from happening.

The government’s approach, while prudent, worries industry officials who fear it does not provide a rapid exit for Boeing.

The F.A.A. typically sets a course of corrective action for airlines when it issues a safety directive. But in the case of the 787, the government’s order, called an emergency airworthiness directive, required that Boeing demonstrate that the batteries were safe but did not specify how.

While the government and the plane maker are cooperating, there are few precedents for the situation.

“Everyone wants the airplane back in the air quickly and safely,” said Mark V. Rosenker, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. “But I don’t believe there will be a corner cut to accomplish that. It will happen when all are confident they have a good solution that will contain a fire or a leak.”

Boeing engineers, Mr. Rosenker said, are working around the clock. “I bet they have cots and food for the engineers who are working on this,” he said. “They have produced a reliable and safe aircraft and as advanced as it is, they don’t want to put airplanes in the air with the problems we have seen.”

The government approved Boeing’s use of lithium-ion batteries to power some of the plane’s systems in 2007, but special conditions were imposed on the plane maker to ensure the batteries would not overheat or ignite. Government inspectors also approved Boeing’s testing plans for the batteries and were present when they were performed.

Even so, after the episode in Boston, the federal agency said it would review the 787’s design and manufacturing with a focus on the electrical systems and batteries. The agency also said it would review the certification process.

The 787 has more electrical systems than previous generations of airplanes. These systems operate hydraulic pumps, de-ice the wings, pressurize the cabin and handle other tasks. The plane also has electric brakes instead of hydraulic ones. To run these systems, the 787 has six generators with a capacity equivalent to the power needed by 400 homes.

Nicola Clark and Christopher Drew contributed reporting.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 19, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated how regulators responded to small cracks found in the wings of the Airbus A380, and when those cracks were found. Regulators required inspections, followed by fixes, last year, not two years ago; the plane was not grounded.

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Social media dispute resolution stumps some companies

(Reuters) – If HBO cuts out on you in the middle of the latest “Girls” episode, and you have Charter Communications Inc as your cable provider, don’t try tweeting your dismay to their customer service department. Nobody will hear your lament.

Charter, the fourth largest cable provider in the U.S. with 5.2 million customers across 25 states, closed up its social-media based customer service team in December. “Umatter2Charter,” as it was known, had been taking customer complaints over Twitter and Facebook and trying to resolve them, but the company says it is now done with working out customer service issues in social media forums.

The move, which might seem to conflict with the growth of social media, highlights the difficulty some businesses are having with free-flowing, round-the-clock social media, its public nature and the expectation of immediate responses.

With Facebook users numbering about a billion and Twitter drawing 200 million, it might be hard to believe that any retail enterprise would drop out of the fray, but Charter isn’t the only major company to announce such a move. Also in December, the largest single grocery store in New England – the Wegmans in Northborough, Massachusetts – shuttered its Facebook page despite having some 8,000 fans.

“It’s a tough sport,” says J.D. Peterson, vice president of product marketing for San Francisco-based Zendesk, which helps companies manage customer service. “The real-time nature of it – at times the volume that can come from it – it’s very new and different for businesses.”

While Peterson’s company recommends going where the customers are – and a big chunk are clearly on social media – Peterson says not all businesses share the same philosophy or have the ability to engage those consumers in these open forums. But any company that has a significant online presence doesn’t really have a choice, he says, working with consumers through social media is expected of them.

Advocates for the use social media say the challenge actually presents an opportunity for businesses – showing they are responsive to complaints and care about their customers can bring in revenue.

“I have seen this time and time again, and the end result is that the interaction often turns an irate customer into an advocate for the brand. And that is worth it’s weight in gold,” says Mike Rowan, chief marketing office for Atlanta-based Swarm, which manages social media for companies.

That’s certainly the way retailer Lands’ End, a division of Sears Holdings Corp, sees it.

“When we started using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in early 2009, it gave us a new opportunity to do what we’ve done for 50 years, which is connect with our customers,” says Michele Casper, Lands’ End’s senior director of public relations. “Whether it is through social media, our call centers or online, we offer the same level of customer service through each channel.”

DIVERTING COURSE

Charter says it is not walking away completely from social media – just the idea of providing customer service via Twitter. The company says it has ample other avenues for consumers to get help – including telephone, customer service counters and live chat on its web page.

“We communicate with thousands of customers each day on the phone and in person, and that’s where we’ll focus our efforts,” says Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont. “While social media is a method some consumers choose to seek help, Charter offers phone and web-based contact solutions where all customers can access resources to provide assistance.”

The abandonment of the Facebook page at the Massachusetts Wegmans store, which caused a great fuss among the store’s “fans,” was, in large part, due to the inability to respond quickly enough to consumers. Store personnel couldn’t break off enough time from their other roles to constantly monitor the page, Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale says, allowing comments to sit unanswered – a no-no in the world of social media.

“Our top priority has always been, and will continue to be, providing incredible service to customers who shop in our stores,” she says. “And it isn’t as though there aren’t other avenues for folks to connect with us if they have a question or concern.”

As much as customers expressed surprise and dissatisfaction at the decision, Natale says, it came down to a decision that if the store couldn’t serve the Facebook page at a level it felt was expected that it shouldn’t do it at all.

“They quickly discovered, once the store opened and got very, very busy, that it wasn’t so easy to stay on top of comments or to find the time to post,” Natale says. “In a retail operation like ours, there isn’t anyone sitting at a PC or checking a mobile device throughout the day. It’s a fast-paced business that requires our people to be on the floor serving customers.”

(The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own)

(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance; Editing by Beth Pinsker and Tim Dobbyn)

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Biggest Loser's Cate Laughlan: I Have Trouble Eating Enough

TV Watch

By Patrick Gomez

01/19/2013 at 10:15 AM EST

Cate Laughlan may have lost the title of The Biggest Loser, but she found something important during her three weeks on the Ranch: herself.

"[My trainer Dolvett Quince] brought out in me that I was worth it," Laughlan told reporters after the elimination. "I never realized how little I felt about myself until I got [to the Ranch] and got to working with him."

Laughlan, 28, was the first member of the Red Team eliminated because her teammates believed she had the support system to succeed at home.

The team "had two really great weeks in a row but you can't pull big numbers all the time," said Laughlan, who left her elimination vote up to chance and selected a teammate's photo at random with her eyes closed. "I knew that all of us in our own way [were] strong enough to do it at home."

And now the newly confident student from Ransomville, N.Y., who says she has struggled with her weight as long as she can remember, has crossed a major milestone: dropping below 200 lbs., and reaching "one-derland."

"That moment was unbelievable," Laughlan said of reaching a weight she had not seen since her early teens. "When I saw the scale, it was a wonderful dream come true. I took a picture."

Most recently weighing in at 187 lbs., Laughlan has found herself in an unusual diet predicament. She is having trouble eating enough calories!

"I never dreamed I'd have a problem eating enough," said Laughlan, who started her Biggest Loser journey at 237 lbs. "It's easy to fill 2,000 calories with garbage. It's not as easy to fill 1,100 calories with good food."

Laughlan is eating a lot of bright, colorful vegetables and lean proteins like chicken, fish and the occasional pork tenderloin. But there are still healthy dishes she can't handle.

"I still don't like spinach and egg whites. I didn't like it on the Ranch and I don't like it now," she said.

To burn the calories, Laughlan is continuing to train for a marathon – a goal she has always wanted to accomplish – and marvels at the woman she has found along the way.

"When I look in the mirror I see the Cate that I was always supposed to be," she said. "I went from having no confidence to all the confidence in the world."

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