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recentanimenews · 6 years

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DARLING in the FRANXX Creators Talk TRIGGER and Zero Two at Crunchyroll Expo 2018!

Of the many attractions at Crunchyroll Expo 2018, few drew crowds quite like Atsushi Nishigori, Masayoshi Tanaka, and Yuichi Fukushima. The director, character designer, and producer trio were visiting the convention in the wake of the mega-popular mecha anime, DARLING in the FRANXX, holding a press pool and two packed panels breaking down their hit anime along with host Evan Minto. In each, the crew broke down the making of FRANXX, first with a treasure trove of original concept art, while the second featured a live drawing by Tanaka of Zero Two, Ichigo, and Zero One. Here are some highlights of their discussions of the series concept and aftermath.

First, Nishigori described how the series got its start, claiming he wanted to bring his favorite creators from his time in GAINAX together and finally work with Tanaka. The concept came naturally from the two teams he’d drawn together, with TRIGGER’s ex-GAINAX staff specializing in action and mecha along with A-1 Pictures’ emphasis on drama and character animation. With the idea for a more drama-focused mecha anime, the plot started coming together as Nishigori looked to incorporate his favorite things into a consolidated series.

Despite Nishigori bringing in TRIGGER because of their past relationship, the crew admitted that reining the rowdy studio in was a difficult trial. Nishigori complained of having to constantly prune Imaishi’s wild tendencies, taking what he could from the creator’s outlandish (and often unasked-for) ideas, although he later admitted that he eventually found uses for many rejected concepts.

While the groundwork for the series was an involved process, Fukushima described the actual production as a fairly smooth affair, with the studios trading off production responsibilities each episode with Nishigori’s core team ensuring quality. Tanaka had a slightly different experience, discussing some of the scenes he personally redrew, such as Hiro and Zero Two’s dramatic kiss in episode 15. Nishigori joked about Tanaka’s constant aggressive calls to TRIGGER, saying each time that he was probably making a girl cry again. Tanaka didn’t disagree.

They brought out some of the original Franxx concepts they had shown off at the TRIGGER panel in Anime Expo, featuring, in Nishigori’s words, “much more ‘robot’ designs” by Shigeto Koyama illustrated in a surprisingly stylized Yoji Shinkawa/Metal Gear Solid-esque style. The concepts had much more diverse silhouettes than the Franxx in the anime, with the Genista appearing as a hulking tank-like machine, and what was probably the Chlorophytum appearing more bird-like with a design somewhat reminiscent of the Anubis from Zone of the Enders.

The trio discussed a trimming process of the mechs’ designs, deciding they didn’t quite fit with the more dramatic and character-focused direction of the series. Nishigori in particular mentioned a desire to maximize their ability to show characterization even during mech segments, which eventually led to having faces on the Franxx and a paring down to have them more closely match the appearance of their pistils.

Unsurprisingly, a significant amount of time was spent discussing Zero Two’s concept and character design. The crew discussed her developmental process from its vague foundations mostly regarding “what” she was into her current iconic appearance. From the beginning, the plan was for her to be a badass exchange student to seduce Hiro, but Nishigori described her original character concept as a small, quiet, and diligent girl while Tanaka showed off some slides of a black-haired Zero Two. Deciding this didn’t really work with their intentions for her to be aggressive with Hiro or their equal relationship, they eventually added a few inches to Zero Two to level out their heights while Tanaka adapted the original design for the queen of the Klaxosaurs.

Given Nishigori’s description of DARLING in the FRANXX itself, Zero Two could be thought of as a microcosm of the entire series, featuring a collection of Nishigori’s favorite features. While happy with the straight-haired look, they decided pink hair and eyeshadow would make her stand out. Evan inquired if her horns and penchant for calling Hiro “darling” were inspired by Urusei Yatsura’s Lum, to which Nishigori replied that he was a huge fan of its author Rumiko Takahashi. They all agreed they were looking to make an iconic character as a sort of flagship for the series which, given the amount of cosplay and fanart they had found, they deemed a success.

While Zero Two may have been the most labor-intensive design, a great deal of work went into the other character concepts, especially their uniforms. They showed off two full slides with rows of different designs and spoke of wanting something with a naval look but putting but a futuristic feel, eventually settling on the X and Y lapels as thematic for the series. Where Zero Two had been an additive process, Tanaka spoke of the rest of the characters as attempting to reduce their designs as much as possible, while still keeping them recognizable. The only one they mentioned at length, however, was Ichigo, who was the subject of an intense debate over the merits of bangs vs foreheads, with Nishgori pulling rank to ensure we’d get the one covered eye.

DARLING in the FRANXX was a unique production and, in retrospect, it’s a credit to the creators that the series lasted for two cours with such consistent quality. The crew responded to questions about future collaborations with uncertainty, joking it might be fun to do the whole thing over again but let TRIGGER handle the drama and A-1 work on the action. Learning more about the ins and outs of the anime was enlightening and seeing Tanaka at work during his live-drawing as well as the groundwork images was a rare treat--sorry, photographs were prohibited. With each studio soon to put out their next big project, we can look forward to future works from these three and the rest of the FRANXX staff.

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Peter Fobian is an Associate Features Editor for Crunchyroll, author of Monthly Mangaka Spotlight, writer for Anime Academy, and contributor at Anime Feminist. You can follow him on Twitter @PeterFobian.

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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mreugenehalsey · 5 years

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Exploring Saudi Arabia’s Growing Specialty Coffee Scene

The Middle East is experiencing huge growth in its coffee industry. Specialty coffee shop chains are thriving here, particularly in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. There is also a growing number of professional events, including the upcoming International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition in Riyadh, which the organizers describe as the largest coffee and chocolate exhibition in the Middle East.

With over 9,000 branded coffee outlets in 12 countries, the region has ample opportunity for investors and is providing a new market for global producers.

But what do those coffee shops look like and what are the opportunities for growth? Let’s take a look at specialty coffee in Saudi Arabia.

You may also like Coffee Farms & Guest Rites: Saudi Arabia’s Unique Coffee Culture

A barista pours latte art. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

The Success of Western-Style Coffee Shops

Saudi Arabia has a fascinating history with coffee. The traditional coffee ritual here includes roasting beans in front of guests and the use of a dallah, a beautiful Arabic coffee pot. Today, the beans are more commonly roasted in the kitchen, but the hospitality custom is still a part of Arabic life.

In recent years, Western-style coffee shops have opened across the Middle East. And with them, a different form of coffee consumption is developing. There is growing appreciation for lighter roasts and increasing use of third wave brewing methods.

Khalid Bajere is a purchasing manager at Al Halees Group. He tells me that he has seen the coffee industry expand in Saudi Arabia in recent years. He tells me that “the young generation are typically the new coffee consumers for blended coffee and coffee with additives like milk and flavored syrups. The old generation is loyal to the old style of coffee like Turkish coffee or espresso.”

Attendees sample pour over coffee at the International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

Wayel al-Wohaibi is a co-owner of Varietal Cafe Specialty Coffee Roasters in Riyadh. He says that Saudi Arabia has a relationship with coffee like nowhere else.

“Some of the larger supermarkets in Saudi Arabia have a dedicated aisle green coffee of various sources and quality. I have not seen this anywhere else in the world,” he says.

”2017 was a breakout period where it seemed everyone wanted to cash in on the specialty coffee movement and several streets [in Riyadh] became bustling with specialty coffee shops side by side.”

On October 8th, 2018, Allegra World Coffee Portal published a press release on its Project Café Middle East 2019. The project is a report into market share, opportunities, and challenges in the branded coffee industry in the Middle East. It forecasts significant growth in the branded coffee industry and this popularity is attributed to the success of the aspirational Western café concept.

Within the countries analyzed, Saudi Arabia was found to have the strongest rate of growth over the last 12 months, at 9.6%. So it makes sense that Riyadh is hosting the International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition in December.

Visitors to the International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition sample chocolates. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

Dr Mohammad Almarhoon is the co-owner of Artist Hub Coffee Roasters. He is also an owner of one of the first specialty coffee shops in Saudi Arabia, Green Seeds Coffee, which opened in 2014. He tells me how coffee culture has quickly changed here.

“Specialty coffee started just recently in Saudi Arabia but it is catching up surprisingly fast. More coffee shops are opening, it’s at a high this year and predicted to [grow even more] next year,” he says.

“In the beginning, people were intrigued by the pour over, syphon, AeroPress, and other brewing methods. Now, they are more focused on the bean itself, where it comes from, what processing method is used, and even sometimes who the farmer is. There is more appreciation for the value of the bean and its story from farm to cup.”

Saudi Arabia has a growing place in the international coffee scene. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

A Land of Opportunities

Tony Pramana is the Head Roaster at Bunista Coffee in Khobar. He tells me that he moved to Saudi Arabia from Indonesia earlier this year to work as a roaster.

“The main reason I’m working here is to open my perspective to a coffee consuming country, because most of my experience is in Indonesia. I came to Saudi Arabia because the growth of coffee consumption here is high,” he says. “The market now is growing really, really fast. In Khobar itself, I think around one coffee shop opens every week.”

He agrees that the Western-style café concept is driving success. “Lots of the younger generation go to specialty cafés. There’s a change in market behavior. The reason for it, in my opinion, is because millennials can chat or hang out with other genders [in these coffee shops]. This happened because of a new perspective here. The Saudis are more open now,” he says.

Coffee culture is quickly changing in Saudi Arabia. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

Saudi Arabia Is a Producing Country

Tony also tells me that the future of Saudi Arabian specialty coffee is not just in cafés. “Coffee production has started to flourish in Saudi Arabia,” he says. “In Gizan, on the border with Yemen, the coffee plantations are being taken more seriously.

“With capital from Saudi Aramco, they want to change from farming qat [a shrub that is traditionally chewed or used to make tea] to coffee farming. From my visit in April 2018 to Addayer, [I think that] there’s potential in their coffee. The problem is the post-harvesting process and high cost of labor. But, with high pride in local products among the [Saudi] citizens, I can see potential in Saudi coffee.”

Allegra identifies Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as having significant potential for growth across the food and beverage industry. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

The area that Tony describes is a small, humid region with mild temperatures and long summers. Away from the desert climate that most of Saudi Arabia experiences, Addayer holds great potential for coffee production.

Saudi Arabia’s first specialty coffee farm is here. This year, it produced natural and washed coffee. Some of the lots were then independently cupped at 80, 81, and 84 points.

It’s very early days, but if coffee farming does take off in the Middle East, it can only add to the success of the third wave industry here. With access to both production and consumption, Saudi Arabia has the potential to rapidly develop.

Coffee roasters display their products. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

A Strong Market For Producers

The Middle East could be an important opportunity for global coffee producers too, particularly in a time of low coffee prices.

Daniela Maya Fernández is the Director of Specialty Coffee and External Trade at Grupo Accresco, in Colombia. She says, “We see the increased demand for high quality coffee around the world and Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region is primed for the establishment of great working relationships in our supply chain through innovating vertical trade models. This is why we are investing our efforts there in the upcoming years.”

“We believe as coffee growers that our vast expertise at origin can now be conveyed in a very personal and fashionable manner for product placement in growing markets such as the Middle East.”

Karl Wienhold handles logistics and marketing at Direct Origin Trading and is the author of an upcoming book on the economics of the coffee supply chain. He tells me that the Middle East has developed a taste for high-end coffee. “Here in Colombia, most of the shipments I have seen going over there have been extremely expensive exotic process nanolots,” he says.

Third wave methods of brewing are gaining popularity in the Middle East. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

An Opportunity For International Investment

One way to develop business in Saudi Arabia is through trade shows. The International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition is one such event. It takes place in Riyadh from December 3rd to 7th and is accredited by the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.

Radyah Al Hawsawi is the Marketing Manager at Le Concheur, a chocolate company and café based in Jeddah. He tells me that he will be at the expo and that his experience as an exhibitor at a March 2018 event from the same organizers in Jeddah was “really a wonderful experience.”

“Recently, there has been an increase in new chocolate and coffee shops that sell chocolate and dessert in Saudi Arabia. This makes me expect growth in the chocolate and coffee markets in Saudi in the upcoming years,” he says.

A view of the International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

Allegra identifies Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as having significant potential across the food and beverage industry. Its findings include the statement: “The liberalisation of Saudi Arabia’s economy under the government’s ‘2030 Vision’ is expected to significantly boost the country’s F&B sector.”

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and UAE are predicted to be the fastest growing coffee consumer markets in the Middle East over the next half decade.

Aicha Abu Ajamieh is the Marketing and Content Manager of the International Chocolate and Coffee Exhibition. She tells me that the 2017 event had over 250 exhibitors from over 30 countries and that they collectively offered over 25,000 products. This year’s exhibition is expected to have more than 300 national and international exhibitors including brands such as La Marzocco, Bodum, and Trismoka, she says.

Exhibitions and trade shows can be opportunities to learn and network. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

Gabriele Cortopassi is a project manager with Mokaflor and Caffelab and is the CEO of Espresso Academy. He tells me that he will be at the exhibition this year.

“If coffee is exploding as culture, it is also exploding as business. Many people who attend the exhibition are investors looking for ideas, input, and skills for their project,” he says.

Workshops like those held by Gabriele can provide insight into unfamiliar elements of the coffee and chocolate industries and such events can allow access to international brands.

The strengthening of the Middle Eastern coffee community in recent years has paid off. In 2016, Saudi Arabia saw its first ever AeroPress Champion and earlier this year, Sara Al-Ali was a finalist in the World Cezve/Ibrik Championship.

Learn more in Why Trade Shows Are Great Opportunities for Coffee Education

The traditional dallah makes way for espresso machines. Credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

The Middle East is flourishing with opportunities in specialty coffee and chocolate. With a rapidly expanding number of coffee shops, increased interest in third wave brewing methods, and even a burgeoning farming industry, there is great promise for investors.

The taste for high-end beans also holds potential for global producers. With the right contacts, Saudi Arabia could be part of your next venture.

Enjoyed this? Check out How Can We Help Consumers Understand Coffee Flavour Notes?

Feature image credit: International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition

Please note: This article has been sponsored by International Coffee and Chocolate Exhibition.

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The post Exploring Saudi Arabia’s Growing Specialty Coffee Scene appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.

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mikemortgage · 6 years

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Terence Corcoran: Next in line for Doug Ford’s powerful disruption? Ontario’s market regulators

In the world of business and the media, they are grandly called The Disruptors. From the invention of the wheel to the latest AI concept, from Facebook to blockchain to legalized cannabis, the status quo is never safe from their destabilizing ideas. In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford’s new government is emerging as the biggest disruptor of the moment.

First came the Ford attack on cap-and-trade and carbon pricing, followed by a Constitution-rattling move to reshape the governance of the city of Toronto. Next up for disruption: The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and cohort members in the quasi-national Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA). The first warning shot was fired last week when the province’s finance minister, Vic Fedeli, released a statement saying that “our government does not agree” with a move by the securities commission and its CSA counterparts to propose a ban on certain kinds of mutual fund sales commissions and charges.

Fedeli’s news release came at 10 a.m. Thursday after the CSA “published for comment” its proposals to improve “investor protection and market efficiency” by, among other things, prohibiting upfront fees and deferred sales commissions.

The government’s intervention apparently stunned the investment industry and its legal teams. The move, said lawyers at Osler, raises “interesting issues relating to the functioning of the OSC and Canada’s established process for national securities rulemaking.”

Osler did not explain what the “interesting issues” are, but let’s start with the possibility that Fedeli’s move may be the beginning of a much larger conflict between the Ford government and the OSC. And here’s another possibility: a little disruption within the investment industry’s regulatory hen houses is overdue.

Sales commissions and other aspects of the mutual fund business have been the source of much agitation and theoretical puzzlement for decades. Most of the research uses economic calculations and models to attempt to prove that mutual funds are dubious investment vehicles that depend on costly marketing schemes, reward sales people more than investors and fail to provide solid returns over time. The latest paper, published this month by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research, suggests somewhat unhelpfully that “eliminating (mutual fund) marketing substantially improves welfare” as capital shifts toward cheaper funds and competition decreases fees.

In the ideal regulatory world envisioned by activists and theorists, mutual funds would be prohibited from marketing their products, charging sales commissions and becoming too big to manage. That’s the general context for the OSC/CSA regulatory push that Ontario’s finance minister claims to oppose.

But the mutual-fund constraints published last week are just a small part of a largely ignored regulatory bubble that is now floating to the surface of Canada’s securities markets. For the better part of a decade, under generally benign political oversight, Canada’s securities regulators have been busy constructing a massive overhaul of investor-industry relations under the general heading of Client Focused Reforms.

The central document was released last June, described by the CSA as “Proposed Amendments to National Instrument 31-103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations, and to Companion Policy 31-103CP.” In all, the amendments to existing policy documents contain 260 pages of directives, proposals, reforms, regulations, consultations, provisions, harmonizations, streamlining and enhancing of the national investment regime.

These OSC/CSA proposals are in addition to the mutual fund reforms released last week. The coming few months will determine whether the regulators will be able to proceed with their grand plans. The mutual fund proposals are open for comment until Dec. 13. The comment period for the 260-page reform package released last June, which has an impact on a much larger range of institutions and issues, is Oct. 19.

As comments arrive, the full scale of the disagreements among industry players and theorists will emerge for the review of the new Ontario government. On the big national reform, fewer than half a dozen comments have been lodged so far and they hint at the major ideological and practical divisions. There’s the activist group that welcomes more intervention and there’s the retired investment adviser who’s glad he sold his firm: “I am happy to no longer be struggling to find a profit amongst the ever-increasing demands of regulators.”

There will be a lot more of this before the comment deadlines as investor advocates and Canada’s major institutions and associations weigh in with their own comments on proposals that are aggressively interventionist and mind-bogglingly nit-picky in their scope.

Still another regulatory plan developed under Ontario’s previous Liberal government is already well advanced. Executives are currently being recruited for a new Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, which will eventually assume new powers over insurance companies, credit unions, loan and trust companies, mortgage brokers and pension administrators.

Exactly how much interest the Ford government will have in financial and securities regulation remains to be seen. Provincial governments have tended to let regulators have their way in an industry that lacks the policy appeal of taxation, carbon pricing, municipal governance, crime and health care.

The ideological umbrella for the overall OSC/CSA Client Focused Reforms is the belief that regulation is needed to overcome basic market failures. Individual investors are too dumb and/or incompetent to make their own decisions. Market forces do not work to produce the consumer benefits. The market needs to be made “efficient” through regulation.

Even though the CSA regulatory initiatives have been in the works for a decade, not enough attention has been paid to verifying the dubious theory that markets have failed — or to testing its companion theory: that more and more regulation will increase the financial health of savers and investors.

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goldeagleprice · 6 years

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Letters to the Editor (June 5, 2018)

Phase out low-value coins and introduce higher values

David Harper’s May 15, 2018, “End of Coins?” editorial was spot on.

Inflation and electronic payments have chipped away on the public’s acceptance of coins. Absent an overhaul of circulating coinage, it’s hard to feel confident that U.S. coins will be in much use 20 years from now.

Will collectors and hobby leaders push, with vigor, for higher-denomination circulating coins? Will we advocate phasing out negligible-value coins – the cent and nickel?

Appealing themes and attractive coin designs certainly are important. However, fewer and fewer people will carry a pocket full of low-value coins. Game over, or revitalization?

J.W. Houghton Florida

Time for a 21st century makeover of our coins

The May 15th edition of Numismatic News came today, and I started with the “Letters” column as usual.

A local (Cleveland, Ohio, suburb) collector urges us to create coin designs that win COTY awards.

There is a huge problem with that. Our country is not other countries when it comes to “listening” to its coin collectors. Except on rare occasions, the introduction of a new coin design is closed to the public and left to the “thinkers” of the government. New coin designs, or coins, then have to go through governmental red tape before becoming part of a Mint product.

Several years ago, when the POTUS boasted changing America, I thought I could write him about my idea of “changing the change” (U.S. coins following the form of the euro). I received a nice “thank you” form letter. THAT’S ALL.

I agree with you, Ralph. America’s circulating coins do need design change. Lincoln’s face has been on the cent for 109 years. Both Jefferson and his house, with a few minor changes, have been on the nickel for 80 years. FDR on the dime is a year younger than me. Washington, with slight changes to the obverse of the quarter, has resided there six years longer than Tom on the nickel. Kennedy appeared a year after I graduated high school and joined the Navy. Even Sacagawea-faced golden dollars are getting old at 18.

The only other country whose coin designs haven’t changed in over 100 years is Switzerland.

This is the 21st century. It’s time for total makeover of our coins. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is one of the sitting members on the U.S. Banking and Housing Committee; perhaps it would be some help to contact him about design changes. Who knows? You might get some action. Or receive a nice “thank you” form letter.

Bill Tuttle, Cleveland, Ohio

Why give banks a cut of every single transaction?

If we are in a cashless society, the government will have access to all of our transactions. But that isn’t even the peak of stupidity.

These cashless payments will have to go through banks. Everyone trusts the banks, right? Well, maybe not Wells Fargo …

But the banks aren’t going to do this at no charge. They will be charging a fee for every transaction.

With the transaction fee, percent of sale fee, and additional fees for those bonus cards, we are paying around 3.5 percent for each credit card transaction in our shop.

Maybe the banks don’t get that full amount. Let’s be conservative and assume the bank “only” gets 1 percent.

One percent of every transaction. Where do I sign up! To receive, not pay.

Giving the banks a percentage of every transaction is the peak of stupidity, at least until someone else points out another more stupid “benefit” of a cashless society.

Dick Hanscom Fairbanks, Alaska

ANA should reach out to bring public to coins

If the American Numismatic Association, and specifically the whole coin community, desires to add new collectors to the hobby or business, they must reach out past the publications that cater to the people in the know. How about a syndicated column that appears weekly or so in printed or digital newspapers?

Perhaps in the hobby (there could be), puzzle, entertainment sections. The contents of the articles should not solicit folks to join as collectors but to offer an overview and then go into specifics like coin design changes, varieties, etc. Show an image. Very few non-collectors have ever seen a beautiful Buffalo nickel, for example, which may spark an interest. I’m sure the ANA has the means and desire to initiate such a venture.

Horst Seeley Manchester, N.H.

Millennials show no interest in taking up collecting

I enjoyed reading your satire “Enjoy long numismatic ride to the future”. The problem is, Baby Boomers are selling coins and Millennials could care less about coins. If you look at the PCGS price guide for collector coins, it has a downward trend for many years.

David Hall, the great promoter, first promoted coins to sell like stocks; then, when that didn’t work, he invented the concept of “registry sets.”

The bottom line is that Millennials have no interest in coins. By the way, I put together a state quarter set for fun; my son couldn’t care less.

Ron Rescigno Address withheld

List more grade prices for proof-only Trade dollars

I have long been curious regarding the Trade Dollar section in NN’s “Complete Monthly Coin Market Price Guide.” Specifically, the 1879-1883 proof-only issues.

While a value is listed in grades G-4, VG-8, F-12, VF-20, XF-40, and AU-50, as well as PF-65, no value is listed under grades MS-60 or MS-63. Not only would, I think, most surviving examples of these pieces be in the -60 or -63 grading range, there is also quite a gulf between the value of a “50” ($1,100) and a “65” ($5,900).

If values can be determined for, say, the 1794 dollar in all grades (as you have done), certainly there must be sufficient data available to estimate the value of these proof-only pieces in the condition in which they are usually found.

Addressing this hole in our price guide knowledge would surely benefit the hobby.

Tom Felhofer Luxemburg, Wis.

Half dollars good coins to ask for at various banks

There is silver in them there dresser drawers and catch-all places that make their way into banks. Young tellers are unaware of the difference in the bullion content or “complexion” of Kennedy clads vs. 40/90 percent coinage.

Yesterday, I randomly walked into a branch of East West Bank and asked for any half dollars they may have. Sure enough, they offered me a plastic Zip-Lock bag containing 24-40 percent Kennedy halves, slightly tarnished, in MS-60 or better (two 1965, two 1966, five 1967, seven 1968-D and eight 1969-D). There were also six Kennedy clads and five “golden dollars” for a total of $20. Similar finds of “mini-hoards” occur on an infrequent basis and are generally just one or two silver coins in the mix. Seek and ye shall find, but rarely in ordered rolls from banks.

Jack Rosenfeld, San Francisco, Calif.

James Laird’s passing leaves big hobby gap

My Smartphone would ring, and on the other end a jovial, kind and loving voice would chime, “How are you doing?” Always the same opening, and with those words, James H. Laird of Alamo, Calif., would commence another telephone conversation.

Sadly, that jovial, kind, and loving voice has been stilled. James H. Laird, at age 64, in his prime, was called to “the big coin club in the sky,” as Michael M. “Steamer” Stanley and I remark at the passing of another coin celebrant.

James was blessed. His affluence allowed him to assist and to aid a wide variety of causes and challenges. When the Alamo Women’s Club needed a new kitchen, he wrote the check. When biannually the devoted East Bay Hospice held its major fundraiser, he sponsored a table and welcomed his friends, freely, to join him. With Las Trampas, which helps the developmentally needy, he paid for his friends to attend and underwrote the cost.

When Will C. Wood High (Vacaville) School brought the AP Junior United States History students to the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum, as “Classroom Curators,” he funded the costs, and earlier, he did the same for the Solano County Annual Drafting-Fest. In 1999, he underwrote the Treasure Hunt at the ANA National Money Show in Sacramento.

For our hobby, he served 10 years as Diablo (Concord/Walnut Creek) Numismatic Society president, as well as serving other numismatic organizations.

James taught me that money is a tool. Do good with it. For me, James instilled that you give long before you receive, that your generosity does make a difference, making a dent in our world’s needs.

In closing, my heart wants to say that he is still here, anticipating another telephone call; but, the cruelty of my mind confirms his passing.

Michael S. Turrini Vallejo, Calif

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News. >> Subscribe today.

More Collecting Resources

�� Are you a U.S. coin collector? Check out the 2019 U.S. Coin Digest for the most recent coin prices.

• Keep up to date on prices for Canada, United States and Mexico coinage with the 2018 North American Coins & Prices guide.

The post Letters to the Editor (June 5, 2018) appeared first on Numismatic News.

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tendance-news · 6 years

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REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. — Tech companies ship all kinds of products to public schools: laptops, online writing programs, learn-to-code lessons and more.

Now Oracle, the business software services giant, is trying the opposite tack: bringing a public charter school to the company.

At its lush campus with a man-made lake here, Oracle is putting the finishing touches on a $43 million building that will house Design Tech High School, an existing charter school with 550 students. The sleek new school building has a two-story workshop space, called the Design Realization Garage, where students can create product prototypes. It has nooks in the hallways to foster student collaboration.

And when the school moves here in early January, Oracle employees will be available to mentor students in skills like business plan development and user-experience design.

“It’s really cool that Oracle is doing this,” said Matthew Silverman, 16, a junior at the school. “We can have more opportunities to learn from experience.”

Putting a charter school — that is, a publicly funded school that has its own school board and operates independently — on the campus of a tech giant is a new twist on the evolving relationship between big tech companies and schools.

Big Silicon Valley companies have been in a race to shape students’ education and use schools to train their next generation of workers. And companies like Ford Motor Company, in 1916, and more recently, SpaceX, have had trade or private schools on their premises. But until now, none has put public school students a short walk from the chief executive.

Ken Montgomery, a co-founder and the executive director of Design Tech High School, said that early on some parents and school board members asked him: “Is Oracle going to run the school?”

Mindful of such concerns, Oracle and school executives said they had carefully worked out policies governing their relationship in advance. The school will continue to operate independently, they said, with Oracle playing no role in decisions like curriculum or faculty hiring.

The tech giant has made adjustments to make way for the students — like building a separate entrance and bathroom at Club Oracle, its employee fitness center, to accommodate the school’s basketball team.

Photo

Oracle spent more than $43 million to build and outfit the school. Design Tech High School is scheduled to move into the building in early January.

Credit

Laura Morton for The New York Times

“Nobody has done anything like this before,” said Colleen Cassity, the executive director of the Oracle Education Foundation, a nonprofit funded by the company. The foundation oversees the company’s partnership with the school.

Design Tech High School, known as d.tech, was founded in 2014 with the aim of steeping students in design thinking, a creative problem-solving strategy popularized by Stanford University’s design school. It teaches students to empathize with people before trying to devise solutions to their problems.

“It gives students a sense of optimism — that the world can be a better place and they can play an active role in shaping it,” Mr. Montgomery said.

The high school opened with 139 ninth graders in a hallway of an existing high school in nearby Millbrae, Calif. The students’ first assignment was to design the classroom layouts. Then they painted the walls and built some of the furniture.

In that first year, Oracle’s education foundation invited the school, along with other high schools, to an event to generate new ideas for the nonprofit. The foundation soon teamed up with d.tech, developing two-week coding, wearable technology and digital design courses that Oracle employees could volunteer to teach.

The next year, Safra A. Catz, Oracle’s chief executive, announced that the company would build a home for the school on 2½ unused acres at its headquarters. Construction started in 2016.

Some parents and school board members initially worried that moving to Oracle’s campus could give the tech behemoth outsize influence over the school. After all, Oracle is best known for its aggressive sales tactics and hypercompetitive founder, Larry Ellison — not for charitable endeavors.

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“How do we make sure that we still have autonomy as a school?” Mr. Montgomery said. “We are not just training kids to be Oracle employees or just using Oracle products.”

Oracle reassured the community by embracing the school’s culture, rather than insisting on the reverse.

Using a design-thinking approach, Oracle challenged architectural firms to meet with some ninth graders and faculty from d.tech to get their input before proposing concepts for the building. DES Architects & Engineers, a local firm that won the contract, later held small group sessions to solicit ideas from students and parents.

“It was surprising on a number of levels as to how thoughtful, articulate and how vocal the ninth graders were,” said Dawn Jedkins, an associate principal at DES. “They said: ‘We don’t want it to look like a high school. We want that high-tech corporate look.’”

Photo

Lauren Diehl, an Oracle employee, volunteered to work with Design Tech High School students like Katie Brewster, middle, and Adelyn Chen in a course offered during a school intersession last month.

Credit

Laura Morton for The New York Times

The curved, two-story school that resulted has a glass and metal facade that looks at home among Oracle’s cylindrical glass office towers.

Along the way, Oracle and the school held numerous discussions to establish each side’s role and responsibilities.

Oracle, which owns the land and the new building, plans to cover maintenance costs like landscaping. It also obtained special licenses to enable its employee commuter buses to ferry students. D.tech is paying Oracle $1 a year in rent and plans to cover operating expenses like electricity and janitorial services.

Oracle has committed more than real estate to the school, prompting the company to develop policies intended to protect students’ interests, Ms. Cassity said.

Oracle’s education foundation offers two-week courses and unpaid internships for d.tech students several times a school year. Should students develop marketable ideas in class, they will have the rights to the intellectual property.

“That would be wrong — to engage unpaid students in something that Oracle later profited from,” Ms. Cassity said. “We are finding our way very carefully and very thoughtfully around how do we provide educational experiences for students where the focus is on really serving them.”

Two ninth graders in a wearable-technology class came up with an idea for a “pickpocket-proof purse” that would set off an alarm if someone other than its owner tried to open it. Oracle employees subsequently contacted a lawyer who agreed to work pro bono to help the students patent their invention, Ms. Cassity said.

Even with boundaries in place, education researchers cautioned that attending high school on a tech company campus could alter students’ education — affecting their ability to think critically about industry products and practices. Jack Schneider, an assistant professor of education at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., warned that Oracle could use the school to groom future employees at taxpayer expense.

“I worry about the ethos of Silicon Valley being absorbed by young people at an important developmental stage in their lives,” Professor Schneider said.

Ms. Cassity described Oracle’s education efforts as “pure philanthropy.” She also acknowledged that the company could benefit eventually by hiring d.tech graduates.

“Would we like to have the students be Oracle employees?” she said. “We would love that. But there’s no strings attached.”

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goldeagleprice · 6 years

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Letters to the Editor (June 5, 2018)

Phase out low-value coins and introduce higher values

David Harper’s May 15, 2018, “End of Coins?” editorial was spot on.

Will collectors and hobby leaders push, with vigor, for higher-denomination circulating coins? Will we advocate phasing out negligible-value coins – the cent and nickel?

Appealing themes and attractive coin designs certainly are important. However, fewer and fewer people will carry a pocket full of low-value coins. Game over, or revitalization?

J.W. Houghton Florida

Time for a 21st century makeover of our coins

The May 15th edition of Numismatic News came today, and I started with the “Letters” column as usual.

A local (Cleveland, Ohio, suburb) collector urges us to create coin designs that win COTY awards.

The only other country whose coin designs haven’t changed in over 100 years is Switzerland.

Bill Tuttle, Cleveland, Ohio

Why give banks a cut of every single transaction?

If we are in a cashless society, the government will have access to all of our transactions. But that isn’t even the peak of stupidity.

These cashless payments will have to go through banks. Everyone trusts the banks, right? Well, maybe not Wells Fargo …

But the banks aren’t going to do this at no charge. They will be charging a fee for every transaction.

With the transaction fee, percent of sale fee, and additional fees for those bonus cards, we are paying around 3.5 percent for each credit card transaction in our shop.

Maybe the banks don’t get that full amount. Let’s be conservative and assume the bank “only” gets 1 percent.

One percent of every transaction. Where do I sign up! To receive, not pay.

Giving the banks a percentage of every transaction is the peak of stupidity, at least until someone else points out another more stupid “benefit” of a cashless society.

Dick Hanscom Fairbanks, Alaska

ANA should reach out to bring public to coins

Horst Seeley Manchester, N.H.

Millennials show no interest in taking up collecting

David Hall, the great promoter, first promoted coins to sell like stocks; then, when that didn’t work, he invented the concept of “registry sets.”

The bottom line is that Millennials have no interest in coins. By the way, I put together a state quarter set for fun; my son couldn’t care less.

Ron Rescigno Address withheld

List more grade prices for proof-only Trade dollars

I have long been curious regarding the Trade Dollar section in NN’s “Complete Monthly Coin Market Price Guide.” Specifically, the 1879-1883 proof-only issues.

Addressing this hole in our price guide knowledge would surely benefit the hobby.

Tom Felhofer Luxemburg, Wis.

Half dollars good coins to ask for at various banks

Jack Rosenfeld, San Francisco, Calif.

James Laird’s passing leaves big hobby gap

For our hobby, he served 10 years as Diablo (Concord/Walnut Creek) Numismatic Society president, as well as serving other numismatic organizations.

In closing, my heart wants to say that he is still here, anticipating another telephone call; but, the cruelty of my mind confirms his passing.

Michael S. Turrini Vallejo, Calif

This article was originally printed in Numismatic News. >> Subscribe today.

More Collecting Resources

• Are you a U.S. coin collector? Check out the 2019 U.S. Coin Digest for the most recent coin prices.

• Keep up to date on prices for Canada, United States and Mexico coinage with the 2018 North American Coins & Prices guide.

The post Letters to the Editor (June 5, 2018) appeared first on Numismatic News.

#Precious Metals

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