01 Sep 2010
by in Delivering Happiness Tags: absolute level, amp, cash balances, share valuations
September 01, 2010, 2:18 AM EDT
by Anna Kitanaka and Satoshi Kawano
(Adds Shinkin Asset Management comment in 12th paragraph.)
Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) — Japan “is ripe” for more mergers and acquisitions as companies have ample cash and the level of takeover activity is lower than it should be, according to Goldman Sachs Group inc.
Japanese companies should consolidate in industries where there is excessive competition, and be more aggressive in making acquisitions in Asia, where the long-term growth potential is high, Kathy Matsui, chief strategist for Goldman in Japan said today. Corporate cash balances are at record highs, the yen is near its strongest level in 15 years, share valuations are low and companies are selling cross-held shares, making mergers and acquisitions more attractive, Goldman said in a report on Aug. 28.
“Increased M&a is likely to be positive for Japan as a whole since it can lead to higher growth potential and result in economies of scale to enable Japanese firms to compete more effectively in global markets,” said Matsui in e-mailed comments today. “Despite being flush with cash, the absolute level of Japanese M&a is nowhere where it should be.”
while Japanese M&a activity has been sluggish since 2005, deals this quarter have increased 28 percent to $22 billion on a quarter-on-quarter basis, Matsui and five other analysts and strategists wrote in the report. the yen is near a 15-year high against the dollar, giving Japanese companies more buying power abroad.
Conducive to M&As
Japan is “growing ripe for increased M&a,” as about 70 percent of companies on the Topix stock index’s first section trade below book value, the report said. the Topix’s price-to- book ratio is at 0.97, its lowest level since April last year, according to Bloomberg data.
Chinese companies spent $120 million in the first half of this year to acquire Japanese enterprises, according to the report. that was a six-fold increase as Chinese firms sought to gain brands, technology and distribution networks, Matsui said.
Also, a sell-off of crossholdings is increasing the percentage of free-float shares on the market, which will make acquisitions easier, Matsui wrote. the ratio of crossheld shares to free-float shares fell to 32.6 percent in March from 34.8 percent a year earlier, the report said.
Meanwhile, the amount of cash held by nonfinancial companies on the Topix’s first section reached a record high of $580 billion in March, increasing the “firepower for acquisitions,” the report said.
Asian Takeovers Increasing
“We believe the environment has become even more conducive to increased Japanese M&a activity,” Matsui wrote in the report. “in terms of cross-border Japanese M&a, Asia-linked transactions are on the rise.”
Asian transactions are increasing and account for 20 percent of M&as involving Japanese companies, compared with 4 percent in 2000, the report said.
Shinkin Asset Management Co., which manages the equivalent of $3.8 billion in Tokyo, said an increase in M&a activity will boost Japan’s stock market as benefits can be derived from owning company shares on both the acquiring side and the companies that are bought.
“Japanese companies that buy firms abroad may see their stock prices jump on expectations that their business will grow. We can hope for a premium for the companies that are being bought,” said Hiroshi Fujimoto, a fund manager at Shinkin Asset. “while it’s hard to know which companies will be involved in M&as beforehand, we are always watching stocks with low price- to-book valuations as they are easier targets for takeovers.”
Companies likely to be involved in M&a activity include those with high internal rates of return, companies that have at least $2 billion cash and subsidiaries that may be acquired by their parent, the report said.
Companies that have high internal rates of return include Elpida Memory inc., Renesas Electronics Corp. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., according to the report. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., and Denso Corp. have cash for acquisitions, while Oriental Yeast Co., NS Solutions Corp. and Nissin Electric Co. are subsidiaries that may be absorbed by their parents, the report said.
–Editors: Sam Waite, John McCluskey
To contact the reporters on this story: Anna Kitanaka in Tokyo at akitanaka@bloomberg.net; Satoshi Kawano in Tokyo skawano1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Darren Boey at dboey@bloomberg.net.
Japan ‘Ripe for Increased M&A,’ Goldman Sachs Says
21 Aug 2010
by in Architecture Tags: amp, celebrities, demi lavato, Fashion, selena gomez
This episode titled "Harper knows", where Selena wore a purple pajama w/ the boots.
there's a close up picture of them;
http://selenagfansgallery.go4reward.com/…
they look to me like uggs ; you could buy them form nay shop really
http://uggaustralia.com/
or h&m , abercrombie anywhere
Get it in "sand".
okay well i went to google and i typed in "dress like Selena Gomez" and i found this website 4 you to check out… here it is…
go to: www.http://dresslikeselenagomez.net
afterwards: click on the tab at the top of the page that says style.
then: click on a picture of selena and it will show you a picture of her and all that she is wearing and then it will show you how much and were she found her cute and adorable fashion:] haha.
plus also you should no… some of the celebrities get a lot of there clothing from target or wal-mart… like:
Taylor Swift: loves wal-mart
Miley Cyrus: Target
Demi Lavato: Khols
Selena Gomez: Target
haha. i hope you find what you are looking for! GOOD LUCK~ 
Where can I buy the same boots Selena Gomez wore in Wizards of Waverly?
19 Aug 2010
by in Kathryn Stockett Tags: 15 minutes, adrian curry and christopher knight, amp, christopher knight
they are has -beens
They were supposed to get married but I quit watching the show before I found out if they actually went through with it.
They are married now.
I'm pretty sure they are still married…no offense to them or anything, but I'm sure they will get divorced soon. it seems like every couple that has a reality show is, besides the Hogans (i.e. Nick & Jessica, Britney & Kevin, Bobby & Whitney, among others…)
Why do you care?
Their 15 minutes of fame are over…….thank God.
Whatever happened to Adrian Curry and Christopher Knight?
19 Aug 2010
by in Jonathan Franzen Tags: amp, personal domain name, personal profile, real estate agency
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4 Critical Steps to Building your Personal Profile Online
I was looking in the window of a real estate agency the other day & noticed that they had no listings available to sell. This got me thinking about ways that a real estate agent could market themselves & build their profile without even having any properties to market.
These online marketing foundations could be adopted as a good start up strategy for any new agent or simply a way that agents can build their profile & generate more business. Either way, to begin building your online profile these first 4 steps are probably the best place for an agent to start.
1. Personal Domain Name
Secure your personal domain name. eg.YourName.com or .net.To order your domain name, there are lots of domain name providers to choose from & the cost for domain names seem to be getting cheaper all the time. There are sites like GoDaddy.com, PlanetDomain.com, Intaserve.com & CrazyDomains.com just to name a few.
If your domain name has already been taken you can try putting a hyphen into the domain name. eg. Your-Name.com. There are lots of hyphenated domain names that are still available.
At present, there doesn’t appear to be any real benefit in securing the .com.au or .net.au unless you really want to. your TLD, (Top Level Domain) YourName.com is better to secure if it’s still available.
Simply register the domain name & don’t sign up for the hosting packages because in a future post, I’ll show you ways that you can get your hosting for FREE.
2. Twitter
Secure your personal name on Twitter.Once a Twitter username is registered then no one else in the world can create the same username. That’s why, even if you don’t want to use your Twitter account for a while, it’s still better to secure your username.
If Twitter.com/YourName isn’t available then you can use ‘underscore’ to create Twitter.com/Your_Name or you can even have the underscore at the beginning or the end of the username, like _YourName or _Your_Name.
The reason why it’s important to have your name within the username is that it forms part of the URL and this can help somebody find you easier on Google, Bing & other search engines if they type in your name.
3. Google Profile
Register your Profile on Google.Having a Google profile enables you to provide a biography/profile of yourself on Google’s site. you can also include links back to your company website & links to any of your other profiles/websites.
Simply go to www.google.com/profiles and register today.
The same applies with Google Profiles, once the username is gone it’s gone, so it’s worthwhile going & securing your Google profile before someone else in the world with your name does.
4. Facebook
Register your profile on FacebookFacebook has recently announced that as of this Saturday, June 13th at 12.01am New York time (2.01pm Sydney time) Facebook users will be be able to choose a username URL for their Facebook account.
It’s designed to make it easier to direct friends, family, and coworkers to a Facebook user’s profile.This move by Facebook will also mean that people’s Facebook profiles will start to appear a lot more on personal name searches within the search engines.
For example, the new Facebook URL will become Facebook.com/YourName which can make it a lot easier for people to connect with you on Facebook.
Usernames will be issued on a first-come, first-serve basis for your profile and any other Facebook Pages that you administer by visiting http://www.facebook.com/username/.
Facebook Pages are designed for your business. There appears to be are a lot of agents & businesses that have started registering Facebook fan pages for their businesses & it may be a good idea to secure the Facebook username for your business at the same time. eg. Facebook.com/YourBusinessName
Whilst there are lots of others sites like YouTube, LinkedIn, etc that you may want to register with, these are the Top 4 things you should do first.
Share and enjoy:
4 Critical Steps to Building Your Personal Profile Online
17 Aug 2010
by in Romances Tags: amp, mpaa
Kevin Smith has never been one to make a discreet film. Even a romantic comedy like Chasing Amy had Jason Lee introducing a child to bestiality magazines. (Kind of makes you wonder what Kevin Smith does late at night.) It seems that Smith may have gone too far in his new film Zach and Miri make a Porno, and the MPAA is ready to give the film an “NC-17 rating for some graphic sexuality.” A film about porn containing graphic sexuality? no way! Don’t worry, Kevin Smith fans, all hope is not lost. The boys over at View Askew have a bit more detail of how the producers of Zach and Miri are fighting the rating. at the MPAA website it appears the film is “pending appeal.”
According to View Askew, “Pending appeal tells us that the film’s producers have taken the “Clerks” route and have the MPAA taking a closer look, likely without any cuts, in the hopes they’ll be re-assigned an “R”. this isn’t new territory for View Askew, though the first scuffle in some time, as “Clerks II” surprisingly went through the ratings system with an “R” and no objections last time around, with Kevin very vocally expecting otherwise. A verbally graphic “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back” scene with hookers was excised but eventually made it to DVD.”
The film will probably end up with an R rating, we hope, but this ratings scuffle highlights a serious issue that needs to be addressed. The MPAA really needs to look in the mirror and realize the hypocrisy their ratings system represents. We can’t see sexual intercourse but we can watch a woman bathe in blood in Hostel: part II. We can’t see any full frontal nudity but a clerk at Mooby’s can talk about how his girlfriend has a pussy troll named Pillowpants in between her legs. How does it make any sense that any movie showing a maniac eating a woman’s entrails gets a free pass, yet the same thing we see when we take a shower goes on-screen and the MPAA starts a modern day Salem witch hunt?
America fashions themselves to be a trendsetter, yet we have the sexual maturity of an 8 year old who snickers when he hears the word dick. You can just imagine the MPAA making “That’s what she said” jokes in their meetings.
You can check out the rest of News Askew’s opinion on Zach and Miri’s fight to get an R rating here.
MPAA Spanks Kevin Smith’s ‘Porno’ with an NC-17 Rating
12 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: amp, audience reaction, whe
http://mashable.com/2009/05/24/susan-boy… when is the last show. Watch her sing in the link I have posted. look at the audience reaction. Are there any links I can watch to see who she is competing with. I just wonder if their competition is as close as American Idol was & I know it is very different this season for sure.
Susan is competing with 12 year old Shaheen Jafargholi, on the show Britain has talent Thefirst competiion will be this Sunday and then at the end of June.
What is going on with Britians talent show? I live in the USA & wonder who Susan Boyle is competing with & whe?
12 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: amp, dean cain, teri hatcher
I missed the final season of Lois & Clark with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher. Does anyone know if I can download it for free on the net and watch the final season? Could you give me the website.
Lois & Clark – with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher?
07 Aug 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: amp, diva, hairspray, match, michelle mccool
does anyone think that maryse is afriad of mickie james &ducking her for the wwe diva's championship?
In the storyline yes.
yes! but i know that Mickie will probably take her on soon! maybe Mickie will get the Divas Title and make history BEFORE Michelle McCool does, again!
yes maryse knows she cant beat mickie james because mickie james is miles more expierenced so she doesnt wanna lose her divas championship so she runs away everytime mickie james is around but mickie james is gonna get her.
Ya in the storyline,mickie james beat maryse twice or 3x,and she's afraid Mickie will get the diva's championship from her,that's why in the battle royale,she sparayed hairspray in her eye because she knew mickie will win and will prolly win her title.I hope they have a title match on the bash!!!
yeah i think so. i hope at the bash they have a bra and pantie match
i can see them in a match at night of champions. but maryse will probably DQ her self to keep the title.
Yes because she is told to act like that.
in reality no. in storyline yes
Who thinks that maryse is chickening out of a showdown with mickie james?
31 Jul 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: amp, fingers, goodluck, long time, quot
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I watched the episode and at the end it said "nick.com/iwin", but it doesn't work. =( please help!!!!!
it lets 7 winners get any icarly item u saw in ha rooom.&& if u cant find it go on google 2 search it up
its not working 4 any1 right now and im so sad cuz of that 
its the same one they put on tv u just have to wait a long time its working 4 me now
i cant either im lost. i went to nick.com/iwin and it will not work. maybe if i look later it will work. because it jus went off. The same episode cmes on at 10 so maybe ill find it. Lets pray! -croses fingers-
OMG!!!!i been trying for half an hour now and its not working,,,,Whats WRONG??
wow i got lucky and i entered and it went off just keep refreshing the page it should work
i got in 
it only works in google put the website in the google search engine then it will work
wel it did to me atleast
GOODLUCK TO EVERYONE
HOPE I WIN
i just entered it nd all i did wuz keep refreshing
omg! use this! it worked for me! http://ads.nick.com/sponsors/2010/icarly/iwin/index.php
this worked for me try this
go to nick.com.
type in on the bar 2 search nick.com, put igot a got a hot room sweepstakes
Theres just an insane volume of people trying to enter its screwing up the site .Contest goes till AUG 6TH so you'll all get in . I can get on the site but it tells me that all 3 of my email addys are invalid lol just gotta try later when all the hype dies down. I'm a good Waiter lol.
carly and spencer hugged
Instead of whining why don't you type in "ICarly sweepstakes/ I Got a Hot Room" directly as i typed and scroll through all the pages that there are. Trust me you will find the answer. They have launched it.- Anonymous
just go to nick.com and type in sweepstakes and then click on icarly something..i forgot what it says…but my mom did research and she found the website where you can buy the EXACT items that were used for her room
Hint:the ice cream sandwich chair is realllyyyy expensive
The iCarly iWin a Hot Room sweepstakes will last couple of hours but the website is currently out of service due to heavy traffic (it seems that everyone who saw that episode wants a piece of the crazy room)////Several might have been trying to get into the nick.com/iwin to enter the iCarly iWin a Hot Room sweepstakes, but the site was really struggling to get loaded after millions of people tried to enter the contest at the same time soon after the " igot a got room"
just wait till tomorrow morning mayhbe it will clear up
What is the website for the iCarly sweepstakes, iGot a hot room?
27 Jul 2010
by in Uncategorized Tags: amp, documentary, large format cameras, magnification, signature style
was it his signature style or something?
i dont think he only did b&w i watched a documentary about him and im fairly certain he used color
Yes, because in the days when he was working B&W was an almost universal standard. There was little or no color available, it was slow, and it was expensive.
There is also the issue of CONTROL of the result. in this, Adams was unexcelled. To learn how, find his books on the camera, the negative, and the print in the library and start reading, but in general he used large format cameras to minimize the amount of magnification needed to make the print (magnification degrades the image), he used the slowest/sharpest film available, because the slower the film the sharper the image because the grain is smallest, and he had done all the scientific test processing and printing to determine how to obtain the best results from his equipment and processing.
All gone now, alas. no one uses film any more. Digital has wiped it all away.
Oh yeah, and one other thing: Uncle Ansel LIVED at Yosimite. Talk about shooting fish in a barrel!
Towards the end of his life he started to experiment more with medium format cameras and color film.
http://www.anseladams.org/lateevening1.h…
He is most well known for his B&W imagery though.
His best known pictures are in black and white but he did do some color work. Adams was primarily a landscape photographer and he preferred scenes that were bold a dramatic with light that created deep shadows and bright highlights.
Because for most of his career there was no color film.
Why did ansel adams (photographer) only do black and white photos?
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