Hawaii

Muhammed Yunus is a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner and the founder of Grameen Bank, and he sparked a movement with the simple question: “If you are a socially conscious person, why don’t you run your business in a way that will help achieve social objectives?” Today, entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley — and increasingly in tech hubs around the world — have taken this mission to heart. The trend is often referred to as “social entrepreneurship” or “impact investing,” and the goal is to use business process to drive positive change. READ OUR IDIOT’S GUIDES On the venture capital game On angel investing On corporate development and getting acquired But social entrepreneurship has its critics. Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank quipped in a recent interview that it’s a “a bit of a fad” and startups that “confuse social good with being in business usually end up as 501(c)(3)s.” Likewise, Clay Johnson, author of the Information Diet, accused Change.org (the poster child for social entrepreneurship that just pulled in $15 million) in a story for the Wall Street Journal for being a “lead-generation business disguised as a social-change organization for whoever is willing to pay them for the email addresses.” Related: Read more about the young entrepreneurs who are changing the way we do business. Pierre and Pam Omidyar with Virgin’s Richard Branson. To take a closer look at social entrepreneurship, I headed to Omidyar‘s annual conference in San Jose, Calif. Omidyar is not your average venture firm — it refers to itself as a “philanthropic investment” practice. Its founders are eBay’s Pierre Omidyar [pictured above and left] and his wife, Pam. Its private event ONEF has grown each year with more interest from entrepreneurs and mainstream venture firms. I caught up with Omidyar’s Todor Tashev and Paula Goldman, Lenddo cofounder Richard Eldridge, and d.light president Ned Tozun to speak to the trend for our “idiot’s guide” series. VentureBeat: Let’s dive in with a basic question. What is social entrepreneurship?  Todor Tashev: Right now, it’s a huge tent, meaning there is a very loose definition. Lots of people are pursuing it, and interpreting it in different ways. Generally speaking, social entrepreneurs are delivering a product or service, but it’s intended to address a fundamental social issue. Social entrepreneurs don’t just make widgets. They make widgets to advance a real benefit for the world. VentureBeat: Can it be tricky to align the social mission and the profit motive? Tashev: We look for companies where there is no conflict between the two. We call it a “single engine.” Some people would put companies like Facebook or Google in this category, but they view social good as a side benefit. Paula Goldman: There is some question of intentionality. Are you doing this with the explicit goal of making a difference? Omidyar investment partner Todor Tashev. VentureBeat: Can these social enterprises be for-profits? Or are they typically nonprofits?  Tashev: More recently, the trend was associated with companies that are for-profit — or have a blended model. Benefit corporations are a popular option [As of January, 13 states -- including California, Maryland and Hawaii -- have passed legislation allowing for the creation of B corps. --Ed.] B corp’s like Couchsurfing and Change.org are not just driven by maximizing shareholder value.  It’s important for companies who need a better way to explicitly convey to their users, backers, and to the general public that they have a broader mission. Couchsurfing may well be the first in history to have attracted mainstream venture capitalists – General Catalyst led a series B round. Goldman: We are not trying to replace traditional philanthropy. But we believe we can use the market; we will have

Though it’s impossible to say having his hands wrapped properly has assisted UFC middleweight Brad Tavares on his three-fight run in the Octagon, it definitely hasn’t hurt. Or, more to the point, it definitely hasn’t LET him get hurt as having your mitts taken care of the right way can help avoid all sorts of hand injuries. In the following video, Tavares breaks down how to wrap your hands the right way and then shows off his handywork with help from kickboxing legend Ray Sefo… The post Brad Tavares: How to Wrap Your Hands appeared first on MMATraining.com.

After weeks of talk about implementation "train wreck" for the Affordable Care Act, supporters of the law finally got some good news Thursday. Insurance premiums in California's health care exchange will provide plans that range from a 2 percent increase and 29 percent decrease in premiums, compared to current insurance rates. Covered California, the state agency in charge of the state's health insurance exchange, announced on Thursday that the state will provide 13 insurance plans next year. Medium-level "bronze" and "silver" health insurance plans came in nearly $200 lower a month than predicted, according to the Washington Post's Sarah Kliff. For those who have been closely following the law and its implementation, these are good signs for overall implementation. Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, said the news was positive for a number of key reasons. First, it's a good sign that the 13 plans have created legitimate competition, which has always been the central goal of the law. And that competition comes in the nation's largest state actively working to implement Obamacare, which supporters hope will create a model for other states. "It's the most important state," Blumberg told Business Insider. "It's huge. And it has a large number of uninsured." The most important part to Blumberg, however, is that premiums will cost much lower than was expected. In 2009, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that a "silver plan" would cost an average of $5,200 per year. In reality, at least in California, it will cost approximately $3,312, or $276 per month. For Blumberg, it's a sign that insurers are not trying to "game the system." "It's a signal to other states and carriers in other states that, listen, you know, there are plenty of insurers out here who want this business, and not everybody is trying to game the system by pricing high out of the blocks. "Because that's one thing you worry about. Without implicitly colluding, they all get in there and say, 'Let's all bid high and see what happens.' This is a sign that, listen, there are plenty of carriers out there who are going to try to price this smartly and carefully." Obviously, California's smooth start does not mean implementation will be easy for the rest of the country. In some states — including Alabama, Hawaii, Michigan, Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Rhode Island, Wyoming, and Nebraska — there is the problem of a lack of competition and monopolies. Some states, including Florida and Texas, are not working as hard as California is to implement the law. But for Blumberg, California is the blueprint. "It's going to continue to be a mix that's going to continue to play out across the states," Blumberg said. "We're going to see some that are pricing too well, and some that are pricing too high. But I think the dynamics in the market will then lead to changes after that, as you see in California." Please follow Politics on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

TESTING THE METAL OF LATE-TYPE KEPLER PLANET HOSTS WITH IRON-CLAD METHODS Authors:1. Andrew W. Mann (a) 2. Eric Gaidos (b) 3. Adam Kraus (c,d) 4. Eric J. Hilton (a)Affiliations:a. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai'i, 2680 Woodlawn Dr, Honolulu, HI 96822, USAb. Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Hawai'i, 1680 East-West Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USAc. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USAd. Clay Fellow Abstract:It has been shown that F, G, and early K dwarf hosts of Neptune-sized planets are not preferentially metal-rich. However, it is less clear whether the same holds for late K and M dwarf planet hosts. We report metallicities of Kepler targets and candidate transiting planet hosts with effective temperatures below 4500 K. We use new metallicity calibrations to determine [Fe/H] from visible and near-infrared spectra. We find that the metallicity distribution of late K and M dwarfs monitored by Kepler is consistent with that of the solar neighborhood. Further, we show that hosts of Earth- to Neptune-sized planets have metallicities consistent with those lacking detected planets and rule out a previously claimed 0.2 dex offset between the two distributions at 6? confidence. We also demonstrate that the metallicities of late K and M dwarfs hosting multiple detected planets are consistent with those lacking detected planets. Our results indicate that multiple terrestrial and Neptune-sized planets can form around late K and M dwarfs with metallicities as low as 0.25 solar. The presence of Neptune-sized planets orbiting such low-metallicity M dwarfs suggests that accreting planets collect most or all of the solids from the disk and that the potential cores of giant planets can readily form around M dwarfs. The paucity of giant planets around M dwarfs compared to solar-type stars must be due to relatively rapid disk evaporation or a slower rate of planet accretion, rather than insufficient solids to form a core.

The thing I’m wondering most, after looking over the final 2012-2013 18-49 Nielsen Ratings (with DVR viewership factored in) is this: Who the hell did Community have to blow to get renewed? NBC’s show, in fact, was the lowest rated scripted program on a “real” network television to get a renewal last year, and it was low. As in, 88th. As in, 11 spots lower than Happy Endings, as in TELEVISION GODS, YOU SAVED THE WRONG SHOW. There were a few other surprises to me, like the fact that The Following was in the top 10. That Family Guy was 16th, but Bob’s Burgers was down around number 60. That New Girl was 27th, but that The Mindy Project is 71st. That Hannibal is higher rated than Celebrity Apprentice but that it hasn’t been renewed yet, while Donald Trump’s show has been. That Parenthood was all the way up to number 36 with DVR factored in, but that The Good Wife was all the way down at 65 once the old people were factored out. And that Grey’s Anatomy is still a top 10 show. Here’s the full top 100. (For the record, CW’s highest rated show was Vampire Diaries at #111, followed by Arrow at #118). If you’re curious, Vulture also has a fascinating chart on how returning shows compared to their ratings last year (spoiler alert: Worse, for the most part). 1. Sunday Night Football (NBC) — 7.9 2. Big Bang Theory (CBS) — 6.2 3. The Voice (NBC) — 5.1 4. Modern Family (ABC) — 4.9 5. The Voice NBC — 4.6 6. American Idol (Fox) — 4.6 7. American Idol (Fox) — 4.3 8. The Following (Fox) — 4.3 9. Two and a Half Men (CBS) — 4.3 10. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) — 4.1 11. NCIS (CBS) — 4.0 12. Football in America (NBC) — 4.0 13. Revolution (NBC) — 3.9 14. 2 Broke Girls (CBS) — 3.7 15. How I Met Your Mother (CBS) — 3.7 16. Family Guy (Fox) — 3.6 17. Once Upon a Time (ABC) — 3.6 18. Survivor: Philippines (CBS) — 3.5 19. X-Factor (Fox) — 3.5 20. NCIS: LA (CBS) — 3.4 21. Person of Interest (CBS) — 3.4 22. Criminal Minds (CBS) — 3.3 23. The Bachelor (ABC) — 3.3 24. X-Factor (Fox) — 3.3 25. Mike & Molly (CBS) — 3.2 26. Glee (Fox) — 3.2 27. New Girl (Fox) — 3.2 28. Amazing Race (CBS) — 3.1 29. Survivor: Caramoan (CBS) — 3.1 30. Elementary (CBS) — 3.0 31. The Simpsons (Fox) — 2.9 32. Revenge (ABC) — 2.9 33. Scandal (ABC) — 2.9 34. CSI (CBS) — 2.8 35. Bones (Fox) — 2.8 36. Parenthood (NBC) — 2.8 37. Biggest Loser (NBC) — 2.8 38. Amazing Race (CBS) — 2.8 39. Hell’s Kitchen (Fox) — 2.7 40. Castle (ABC) — 2.7 41. The Office (NBC) — 2.6 42. Rules of Engagement (CBS) — 2.6 43. American Dad (Fox) — 26. 44. The Middle (ABC) — 2.5 45. Dancing the Stars (ABC) — 2.5 46. Hawaii Five-O (CBS) — 2.5 47. How to Live with Your Parents (ABC) — 2.4 48. Suburgatory (ABC) — 2.5 49. Mentalist (CBS) — 2.4 50. Grimm (ABC) — 2.4 51. Private Practice (ABC) — 2.4 52. Dancing with the Stars (ABC) — 2.4 53. 666 Park Avenue (ABC) — 24. 54. Saturday Night Football (ABC) — 2.3 55. Chicago Fire (NBC) — 2.3 56. Nashville (ABC) — 2.3 57. Partners (CBS) — 2.3 58. 60 Minutes (CBS) — 2.2 59. Go One (NBC) — 2.2 60. Bob’s Burgers (Fox) — 2.2 61. Law & Order: SVU (NBC) — 2.1 62. Celebrity Wife Swap (ABC) — 2.1 63. Parks and Recreation (NBC) — 2.1 64. Shark Tank (ABC) — 2.1 65. The Good Wife (CBS) — 2.0 66. The Last Resort (ABC) — 2.0 67. The Neighbors (ABC) — 2.0 68. The New Normal (NBC) — 2.0 69. Hannibal (NBC) — 2.0 70. UFC Saturday (Fox) — 2.0 71. The Mindy Project (Fox) — 2.0 72. Raising Hope (Fox) — 2.0 73. Blue Bloods (CBS) — 1.9 74. CSI: NY (CBS) — 1.9 75. Body of P

I tuned in to KNBR on my way to work this morning expecting to hear Murph and Mac doing their show from Hawaii but instead I had to listen to someone named “Monty” who apparently has a *show*. At first I thought it was some syndicated thing acting as a plug- in for Murph and Mac who are probably on their way home. But then he interviewed Krukow so it’s obviously a local guy. Has anyone ever heard him? He can’t stop name dropping his show and he shouted out his twitter handle twice in a 15 minute span. He was very deliberately talking to the listeners about the 5th starter hole and he was doing it in a way that felt like he was educating us, like we haven’t ever thought about the possibilities of Voggy’s replacement. It was hilarious. I am a big Jim Kozimor fan and don’t understand why he doesn’t get a regular show on KNBR.  He’s witty, funny, seems to understand sports across the board….Maybe he’s in Hawaii with everyone else? The Monty Show needs to be hit high and deep to left…..outtttaaa hereeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday, Jeff McLane put out the inaugural Damaris Johnson hype piece of 2013. If you'll remember, Johnson was something of a revelation last offseason after the Eagles signed him as undrafted free agent (and paid a premium, unprecedented price to secure his services). Despite a slight, DeSean Jackson-esque frame, he impressed in camps and preseason with his soft hands and electrifying jitterbugness (not a word -- yet) in the open field. Andy Reid even made the DeSean Jackson comparison. People wondered if the little guy opening eyes, who held the NCAA record for total all-purpose yards after his junior season and missed his senior year because of an unfortunate embezzlement episode, might burrow his way into the regular offense. There were some instances of that, there should have been more. Johnson had flashes of brilliance, sprinkled in with dangerous punt return moments that gave us heart attacks. But hey, without such antics we wouldn't have been privy to the 98-yard beauty against the Cowboys (not for the win, but to cover the spread at least!). Given Damaris's visibility and displays of scintillating ability, I was surprised when McLane wrote: [Maclin] singled out Damaris Johnson, the small and speedy receiver who made the roster last season as an undrafted rookie but hardly did enough to suggest a quantum leap in Year 2. Ok, the word "quantum" is pretty significant, but didn't Damaris Johnson in fact do enough in his rookie season to suggest he could make some kind of sizable leap? There were definitely fans and writers alike out there who surmised that Johnson's skill set would fit in a Chip Kelly-designed offense. Even Damaris himself felt that way: "When I heard that Coach Kelly got hired, the one thing that just lit up in my mind was thinking, 'Oh, man, it's going to be a spread offense. He's going to give guys the chance to have the ball in space, and I know that that works to my advantage,' " Johnson said Wednesday. Yesterday, Tommy Lawlor followed with an article on Iggles Blitz entitled "Wide Receiver Position is Wide Open," expressing his excitement and lauding Johnson's potential in the Eagles' new offense. He opined that Damaris might steal Jason Avant's position in the slot, citing the former's superior YAC stats: The WR I'm most excited about is Damaris Johnson. He could steal the primary slot role from Avant. Check out this Yards after catch stat, per ESPN: Jason Avant - 53 catches - 167 yards after catch - 8 receptions of 20 or more yards Damaris Johnson - 19 catches - 104 yards after catch - 4 receptions of 20 or more yards Avant is averaging 3.15 YAC per reception. Johnson is at 5.47. Which guy do you want with the ball in his hands? It's a legitimate argument. Kelly preaches getting the ball out quickly, a different kind of quick strike offense than what we saw under Andy Reid. For that reason, it would be natural that Chip has a proclivity for players who can take advantage of open space and pick up chunks of yards once they receive the ball. It's the role Damaris was born to play, and he can line up anywhere -- in the slot, split wide, in the backfield. If anything, it is Johnson, not Jackson, who's equipped to be used like DeAnthony Thomas because of his experience as a ball carrier at Tulsa. Fun stat: Damaris's official bio page on the Eagles website says he had 150 touches at Tulsa that went for at least 20 yards. A staggering amount, for sure. Not including kick/punt returns, he had 304 total touches receiving and rushing in college. *Brain goes into super complicated math mode.* So, wait, if that number doesn't include kick/punt returns, that would mean half of his offensive touches in college went for 20 yards or more. Is that possible? That's not possible, right? Please be possible, I want to believe it. If that number includes kick (122) punt (53) returns, then the total touches for the sample size is 479, and means 31% -- 1 out of every 3-4 -- of them went for at

Charlie Weis hasn’t been the head coach at Notre Dame since 2009, but his buyout clause could reach upwards of $19 million over the next few years. So far, Notre Dame has already paid Weis millions ever since his firing in 2009, and the numbers look to be rising as he currently holds the clipboard for the Kansas Jayhawks. According to federal tax documents that were provided to the Chicago Tribune, Weis has already received $10.8 million from Notre Dame and the full buyout could reach $18.9 million by December of 2015, when the final installment is paid by the school. During his five-year span at Notre Dame, Weis led the Irish to back-to-back BCS bowl games, which they lost, in his first two seasons before missing out in 2007. They finished 7-6 the following year and went on to win the Hawaii Bowl, but he once again failed to lead the team past the regular season in 2009. Weis was fired shortly after, though his time at Notre Dame helped rebuild a team that had fallen off in years past. Charlie Weis’ possible $19 million in buyout payments don’t reflect the Irish’s struggles on the field, though he did manage a 10-3 record in 2006 before being demolished in the Sugar Bowl by LSU. His stay at Notre Dame was cut short considering he was expected to lead the team by to it’s former glory and remain the head coach for some time. After being fired, Weis was named the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL but he left after one season. Weis left the Chiefs to take the same position at the University of Florida under head coach Will Muschamp, but once again he made the decision to leave after one year. The move to Kansas was highly criticized as the Florida Gators’ offense was no where near it’s potential under Weis. Nevertheless, Weis took the head coaching postion at Kansas and he only won one game in 2012. He is now preparing for his second season with the Jayhawks after going 0-9 in the Big 12 Conference last year. Does Charlie Weis’ $19 million buyout from Notre Dame look even worse now that he’s struggled to produce a winning formula at every stop since leaving the Fighting Irish? [Image via Creative Commons | larrysphatpage] Charlie Weis Buyout From Notre Dame Could Reach $19 Million By 2015 is a post from: The Inquisitr

It should be noted that Sean Nicholas Savage’s previous album Flamingo, something like his ninth release in 3 years for Arbutus Records – though it’s unlikely even he’s counting – was a cult curio so highly regarded in certain circles its standing could rival that of any Montreal export of the last decade. Why the fuss? Some would highlight the ruffled élan later polished on his friend Mac DeMarco’s Captured Tracks debut. Others would point to a sense of youthful wonder rarely captured this side of dusty Beach Boys LPs, its form somewhere bet ween home video and secret diary. Either way the praise is warranted; both observations are accurate. If Other Life isn’t so squarely on the money as Flamingo, it’s not immediately obvious why. Here the melodic riches found on that record are neatly.. 320 kbps | 100 MB | UL | CL | MC …converted to a cute, low-budget soul currency. Structures remain minimal, and Savage’s mewling rasp still gives the impression of a man who’d collapse in a heap should you blow a kazoo near his ear. But there’s something that niggles, something about the naked, foregrounded vocals and ventilated production on Other Life that precludes us from getting on board until we’ve decided whether to actually like the guy, a matter for which Flamingo allowed little pause. Close listeners won’t consider it a tough decision. Though certain lyrics on Other Life might translate as hubris (“You could go to bed with your freedom, but he’ll make you a lonely woman,” ‘Lonely Woman’), its opening missives are a self-deprecating statement of intent. Over a groove of Blue Nile-inspired soul, ‘She Looks Like You’ sees Savage characterise himself in the flimsiest terms – an everyman, any man, nobody; in the mirror, he sees either “somebody else who looks just like me” or “a circumstance wearing a mask,” as he rues his departure from the old neighbourhood to new friends, girlfriends, somebody who “looks just like you, but she’s not you”. The rest of the album builds a structure of programmed beats, tropical synths and flushed-out keys and guitars, sort of like how you imagine the Bontempi demoes of I’m Your Man sounding but frailer still, Cohen’s shaded croon replaced by a distinctly tender whine, a sweetly hollow vocal that momentarily grates but charms in context, like peripheral birdsong on a Sunday morning. The credit for said context rests with the lyrics. Where the more cynical of stripe will find contrivance, there’s a certain poetry between the masturbation metaphors and inverse masculinity. “She said, ‘Here’s what I remember about you: You had a shitty yard,’” Savage deadpans on ‘Change Your Mind’, before ‘It’s Real’ – the perfectly executed sound of Cocteau Twins covering a sinister ABBA number – hits its climax: “Sometimes I see her sunbathe in the window / And those childhood feelings pour down on my bed…” ‘Look at Me’ leaves more to the imagination, but the spiritually-muddled sentiment persists: “I bet you think a man like me could swim all by myself / Got so used to being on your shore, I forgot how the water felt / Got so used to being your man, I forgot how to be myself.” Highlights among the twelve tracks include two stowaways from Flamingo, ‘Chin Chin’ and ‘You Changed Me’, but in truth there’s nothing troubling about the density of quality throughout Other Life. Perhaps the only sticking point is that, as notable post-Grimes releases from Mac DeMarco, Doldrums, Blue Hawaii and Matador-signees Majical Cloudz signal a sort of critical breaking point for the precarious Montreal scene, there was a lingering desire for some kind of towering magnum opus to secure Savage’s status as a rising cult figure. But it’d be reductive to treat Other Life in these terms, as Another Montreal Album, and besides, since outside attentions are already threatening to collapse the city’s tightly-woven community some time off the heat probably won’t hurt. In any case, without remotely discreditin

Hawaii and Florida of course snagged spots, but No. 1 went to East Hampton in New York.