THAT'S THE POINT....???

This amused me today as I read through my first 30 minutes of news etc online -

Then it got me a bit angry really.

If you read the first headline it is all about the benefits to Royal Bank of Scotland in reviving an old family name for a part of their bank, opening new branches on the High St (things going round in circles?!) as their business surveys and advice have been that people like family based names and images for business - good, solid, reliable and not too risky. Just the sort of thing you'd want from somewhere you are taking your hard earned money each week. You get the point.

The second headline is all about market research that suggests people apparently don't like family-based businesses (reader: err.... we've already just covered how people like their reliability haven't we? Polko: yes, stick with me on this...).

Ah, hang on though, it gets better. The article then goes on to suggest that one reason people are not so in favour of family business is because they don't have as much of a voice in business organisations (like the CBI etc) as they do elsewhere. This might be true.

The more powerful argument however, is that family based businesses appear to be boring and slower moving when people want to see 'The Apprentice' style flashy bastards, doing deals, making loads of cash and sitting round in gloss white boardrooms in perfect suits being 'entrepreneurs' (sic - or more like "be sick").

In actual fact, the rest of healthy Europe know the value of family based businesses, low in borrowing, slower moving but growing through time to strong, solid organisations and often producing major products for overseas customers. These firms gain maximum respect in their local areas for being cautious and not throwing away their workforce's pension schemes on some half thought out diversification into property development or online retailing. Google 'Mittelstadt' see what comes up - or better still just click here if you want a quick intro to these types of business.

Sometimes you can come across a similar firm in the UK. Though, it must be said, they are getting thinner on the ground these days. Everybody wants to be a property developer or wannabe Alan Sugar it seems.

Family firms are not boring or conservative. They are dynamic but they take decisions for the long-term, in the best interests of their family members and family members to come. This means they can make much, much longer term decisions and maker braver ones than those looking for a short-term kill.

Long live family businesses. Shame Williams and Glyn's will just be another big corporate bank dressed up in the family's heirlooms.

USEFUL OUTLOOK TIP..

Now here's a strange thing. And a problem. And a solution to the problem.

All in one blog post.

Can't be bad?

I use Outlook to collect my work emails like a lot of people. Today I created a message and saved it to the draft folder as I wasn't sure I wanted to send it (it was a rant!).

Then I carried on working. Something went wrong and I had to restart my PC.

When I loaded up Outlook all was ok and I was happily receiving and sending out mail. However, when I clicked on the 'Drafts' folder where the saved message was it froze Outlook.

The only way out was to hit Ctrl+Alt+Del and force the Outlook process to end. It did the next time. And the next time.

Stuck in a loop (even after another reboot) I didn't want to not have access to the drafts folder. I often save messages down to calm off and then decide whether to send them or not!

A solution was found. If you are ever in the same pickle you need to know it (if not stop reading now obviously, but remember where you saw this issue last!).

The solution is to start Outlook in safe mode. By that I mean
go to the start menu (bottom left)
select Run...
type "outlook.exe /safe" (without the quote marks!)

Then you should be able to navigate to the offending folder and delete the offending message. Don't forget to then go to the 'Deleted Items' folder and delete it a second time - if you don't it is likely that next time you go to the deleted items folder to clean out your system Outlook will crash once again.

Solution disseminated. Good deed done for the day. I'm off to the pub.
 

STROKE THE ROOSTER..

Joe Thornton.

Name mean anything to you?

Probably not to most of my European readers. But the twitter-sphere and lots of US TV channels have been set alive by a comment he made recently. Here's the story.

Joe Thornton is the 34 year old Captain of the San Jose Sharks ice hockey team in .. well San Jose strangely enough.

His team mate and new player in the NHL Tomas Hertl scored his first NHL hat trick when playing against the New York Rangers last week. Only it wasn't a hat trick, he went on to put the puck in the net a fourth time - a rarity in hockey at the best of times but for a rookie player, quite the talking point.

Fast forward to a press conference in Vancouver on the following Thursday night.


Thornton butted into the chat at this point by saying that if he had scored four goals, “I’d have my cock out if I scored four goals. I’d have my cock out, stroking it.”
There was no way a room full of reporters was not going to make sure that comment went as far and wide as it could. And it did.
The sports news, twitter and every other social media platform ignited with re-reporting re-tweeting and embellishing the original story. Page after page of dedicated stories popped up on the comments made rather than the amazing performance of Hertl (like this one - lol).

There are even plenty of image meme's popping up and being sent around with a young Joe Thornton holding a rooster, etc. Here's another to keep it going! 

You know I couldn't resist it with the recent chicken themes I've had on my blog.

It's still doing the rounds - if you're on twitter check #joethornton

Youtube is now filling up with parody songs too...



More hockey news in a few days...
  

HYBRID ICING. ?

Well, it's that time of the year again.

The time when I sit at my desk each morning with a 'big cup of Joe' and dial up last night's hockey games to catch up on events. At the end of the week I then bore my bemused friends (best type to have) with stories of strange central european names who have been heroes or pussies this week. Who scored what and where, etc.

As I'm in England my friends have no clue about hockey - except those I keep up with on facebook who I used to play with and against in my earlier years - and never seem to tire of my incessant stories. Well, not much anyhow.

So, this short post is as much a thank you to them for putting up with me as it is an attempt to start writing more often again - let it slip a bit didn't I - work commitments and all.

Best game this inaugural (very US word) week (if you're interested) was:

Buffalo Sabres v Detroit Redwings
Detroit won in a low scoring 2-1 game with goals from Samuelsson and Datsyuk (see central europeans abound!)

source: nhl.com

Mrs P will be happy as she's a fan - not of the hockey you understand, just one player in particular. ;-)

One more thing to bore people with - and if you are really not into learning about hockey then you can skip this bit!

This year the NHL have decided to amend the rule book and changed the icing rule - this is one conversation that seems to enthrall my football-oriented friends as they like to go on about the complexity of offside rules (which appears simple in comparison).

The icing rule is a bit of a mystery to most when they first start watching hockey - especially people here in the UK.

Basically, the attacking team cannot simply shoot the puck from their half of the ice (behind the centre ice red line) way into the attacking zone as this would have the effect that each time it happens the other team has to skate all the way back, go and get it and start their attack again. Wastes time if the team doing it are in the lead.

So if the puck is fired in this way but an attacking player can skate like crazy and beat a defending player to it before it passes the goal line, then the icing is waved off. If a defending player can get to it first, the ref blows the whistle, icing is called and the play is resumed with a face off back in the attacking teams defensive zone.

This is called the Touch Icing rule

The new rule change effective in NHL season 2013/14 is termed Hybrid Icing. Now, the linesman or referee does not have to wait for a defending player to touch the puck when the icing happens. Instead, they can make an icing call (stop play) if they feel the defending team will definitely get there first. This stops the race for the puck and danger to the players of both crashing into the end boards with serious force in their attempt to touch it - i.e. the new rule is deemed a safer rule.
One of the most quoted events where a player was injured due to the race for the puck going wrong happened last season (2012/13) when Carolina Hurricane's Joni Pitkanen was seriously injured.. 



In summary, an official can now make an icing call based on where the players are on the ice, but the overall basis of icing still remains intact.

Check out rule 81.1 in the NHL's official rulebook for a full explanation.
Want more? There's a really good blog here that goes into a lot more depth..