A Happy Chinese New Year and new Goss press for Sing Tao News Corporation

Although the world’s most successful investor, Warren Buffett, drew piles of controversy by purchasing 64 newspapers last year, Buffet’s prediction that “Newspapers that intensively cover their communities will have a good future” seems to be coming true.  

Case in point: Sing Tao News Corporation has purchased a new six-tower Goss Community press to produce the Canadian eastern edition of Sing Tao Daily newspaper, currently based in Toronto. The newspaper is coordinating the new installation with its relocation to a new printing plant in the city of Markham, some 30 km north of Toronto.

PS:  Happy Chinese New Year on Sunday 10 February 2013.  

http://www.printaction.com/News/20130201-singtao-goss.html

http://news.singtao.ca/toronto/

http://bccommunitynews.com/blog/warren-buffett-and-the-strength-of-community-newspapers

http://jimromenesko.com/2012/05/24/warren-buffetts-letter-his-editors-and-publishers/

http://govancouver.about.com/od/seasonalevents/tp/Where-To-Spend-Chinese-New-Year-In-Vancouver.htm

http://www.cccgt.org/index.php/en/events-by-category/eventdetail/130/-/chinese-new-year-celebration-series-2013-year-of-the-snake

http://toronto-bia.com/index.php?option=com_events&task=view_detail&agid=232&year=2013&month=2&day=8&Itemid=1

Controversy over Vertis plant closures in Ohio and Ontario persists on line

My initial post on 6 February 2013 appeared as follows:
The closure of a Vertis Communications plant in Medina, Ohio has been scheduled for May 1^st  and will lay off 53 workers.  Based on an article in today's Medina Gazette, this matter seems to be attracting less controversy than the same company's January closure of their plant in Fort Erie, Ontario.

http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/2013/02/06/53-jobs-lost-after-sale-of-vertis-communications-in-medina/
http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/01/sudden-closure-of-canadas-only-vertis.html
http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mpp-kim-craitor-champions-ex-employees.html

Update on 13 February 2013:

Although a similar article published in yesterday's Medina Post does not mention any labour disputes, the reader comments that have accumulated since 6 February 2013, when the Medina Gazette article was published, suggest that ex-Vertis employees in Ohio may be encountering similar problems to those faced by ex-Vertis workers in Ontario.

Anonymous, who has worked at the Medina facility for a decade, reports that workers received “No severance, no warn pay, no vacation paid out, no straight answers on what was happening to the company for 6 months.”  S/he also claims that, in order to secure his bonus, their general manager informed workers falsely that if the company stayed profitable, there was a good chance it would remain open.  From social-media sources like this one, it still remains unclear what the legal status of the ex-Medina-workers is, whether they have taken any collective remedial action, or whether a union represents them.

Meanwhile, Mad In Canada and Rooster1966 report that the controversy at the Fort Erie plant has still not been resolved.  They say the picket line continues 24/7 outside the closed plant and aims to prevent owner Quad/Graphics from removing assets until ex-workers receive the entitlements they have legally earned.
http://medinagazette.northcoastnow.com/2013/02/06/53-jobs-lost-after-sale-of-vertis-communications-in-medina/   
http://www.thepostnewspapers.com/medina/local_news/article_8b6f38ce-7071-5878-8aa6-91a6f66c5d5b.html

Update on 8 March 2013:

Like the Medina Post, PIWorld.com has turned in another neutralized report on the Medina plant closure:
http://www.piworld.com/article/commercial-printing-news-briefs-printing-impressions-march-2013# 

The following is an Internet link to a letter dated 3 March 2013 from James A Thibert, General Manager, Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corporation, outlining Mr. Thibert’s version of recent events:  http://www.redbulldiaries.ca/node/3025

Detailed information on the recent escalation of Ontario protests by ex-Vertis employees is available on the Website of CHCH Television (based in Hamilton, Ontario) at: http://www.chch.com/component/k2/itemlist/search?searchword=vertis+communications
http://www.chch.com/home/item/11669-vertis-workers-say-they-were-stiffed-on-severance

But at least someone is still happy with Quad/Graphics:  their shareholders.  The company enjoyed profits of $21 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 and on Monday March 4^th declared a quarterly dividend.  Shareholders of record on Monday, March 18th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share on Friday, March 29th. 
http://sussex.patch.com/articles/quad-graphics-posts-4q-profit-sales-down-7
http://www.jagsreport.com/2013/03/quadgraphics-plans-quarterly-dividend-of-0-30-quad/

Canadian entrepreneur-philanthropist Miles Nadal named Executive of the Year by MEDIA Magazine

Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist Miles Nadal was recognized as 2012’s Executive of the Year at MEDIA Magazine’s 10^th Annual Agency of the Year Awards at The Yale Club in New York last week.  Among his legendary achievements, Mr. Nadal is founder, chairman, and CEO of MDC Partners Inc., one of the world’s largest marketing communications firms with over 35 international holdings in Canada, the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Mr. Nadal was born in Toronto and currently lives in Nassau.  The above photo shows one of his many charitable projects, the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto.

In 2012 MDC Partners Inc. passed the $1-billion revenue mark.

Read more: 

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1108159/miles-nadal-named-executive-of-the-year-by-media-magazine

http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/hall-of-legends-2012-miles-nadal-63838

http://www.mdc-partners.com

http://www.mdc-partners.com/people/miles-s-nadal/bio

http://www.ellecommunications.ca/pdf/Lifestyles_Nadal.pdf

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/194078/mdc-partners-pass-1-bil-revenue-mark-for-2012.html#ixzz2M1bm8Vmf

http://www.sys-con.com/node/2549853

3D-printed garments draw headlines at Paris Fashion Week

Last month, two 3D-printed outfits made headlines at Paris Fashion Week, held January 21-24, 2013 at the Carrousel du Louvre (an architecturally spectacular shopping mall) and other glittery venues in Paris, France. The latest installment of this ritzy, invitation-only, semi-annual fashion trade show included a 3D-printed skirt-and-cape ensemble and an elaborate 3D-printed dress.  Both outfits formed part of the haute couture collection of Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen, whom fashion bloggers generally credit as being the first couturier of digitally constructed fashions.

Actually, 3D-printed fashions were also part of Ms. van Herpen’s 2011 collections, but the ever-more-extreme exploits of 3D printing seem to have attracted much greater attention to her 3D-printed garments this year.

She is also known for her avant garde clothing designs for Iceland-born singer-songwriter Björk.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/22/3905674/paris-fashion-week-runway-has-3d-printed-dresses

http://www.your3dcenter.com/the-future-of-3d-printing-in-the-fashion-world/

http://www.cgw.com/Press-Center/Online-Exclusives/2013/Wearable-3D-Printed-Pieces-Hit-Paris-Fashion-Wee.aspx#.UQ8ysrZatMg

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414574,00.asp

http://www.wired.com/beyond_the_beyond/2013/01/iris-van-herpen-and-neri-oxman-collaborate-on-3dprinted-fashion/

http://www.theloop.ca/news/all/technology/article/-/a/1301160/Will-your-next-dress-be-3D-printed-

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/3d-printed-dress-winds-up-on-paris-fashion-week-runway-20130131/

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1671688/iris-van-herpens-3-d-printed-laser-sintered-couture#1

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130130-backstage-interview-how-3d-printed-dress-were-created.html
http://blowpresents.wordpress.com/2011/06/29/bjork-crystallinecover-dress-by-iris-van-herpen/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1lczS9iam0

http://www.irisvanherpen.com/about?PHPSESSID=19ecc08ef15283d05f9d61bf59a2cdee

http://brand-e.biz/bjork-launches-biophilia-app-project-on-kickstarter_25656.html

Update on 14 March 2013:

Recently at a showcase of 3D-printed products hosted by digital printing marketplace Shapeways, American celebrity Dita Von Teese modeled a 3D-printed little black number designed by Michael Schmidt and generated by architect Francis Bitonti.  Because the fabric of the dress was perforated like netting, Ms. Von Teese wore a flesh-coloured leotard underneath.  She also wore a net veil covering her forehead, the perfect accessory to compliment the gown.  Designer Michael Schmidt expressed enthusiasm about having taken a hard plastic material and “making it flow and sexy and undulate around the body.”

Although the dress was intended as a museum piece, the growing trend in collaboration between 3D printing and haute couture is apt to produce more mainstream applications at some point down the road, along with new opportunities for printers.

I am indebted to my LinkedIn contact Deborah Corn of PrintMediaCentr.com for bringing this news item to my attention.

http://printmediacentr.com/2013/03/dita-von-teese-models-3d-printed-dress/?goback=%2Egde_99551_member_222080654

http://style.news.am/eng/news/3553/dita-von-teese-presents-first-3d-printed-dress.html

http://www.thecreatorsproject.com/blog/meet-the-design-studio-behind-dita-von-teeses-3d-printed-dress
http://www.lostateminor.com/2013/03/11/dita-von-teese-wears-the-first-completely-3d-printed-dress/

Coming soon: World's first liveable 3D-printed house

Further to my post of 31 July/12, 3D-printing technology reaches yet another extreme with the upcoming creation of the world’s first 3D-printed house. 

Let me be clear:  I’m not talking about the prototype models which architects have been creating for a long time using 3-D printers.  I’m talking about an actual, full-scale, 2-storey, habitable residence with around 1,100 square metres (12,000 square feet) of floor space.

Called the “Landscape House”, this creation by 39-year-old Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaais of Universe Architecture, Amsterdam, and mathematician and artist Rinus Roelofs, will be printed in pieces using the giant D-Shape printer developed by Italian mechanical and robotics engineer Enrico Dini.  This printer uses a stereolithography printing process with sand and a binding agent to create stone-like structures that are supposedly as strong as concrete.  The house will take about 18 months to build and is scheduled to be completed some time in 2014 at an estimated cost of €4-5 million ($5.3 billion to $6.6 billion), according to the London Guardian.

Dini’s vision is to make the construction industry more environmentally friendly, provide low-cost buildings for people in need, eliminate the conventional process of manual construction, and give the designer absolute freedom.  "By simply pressing the “enter” key on the keypad we intend to give the architect the possibility to make buildings directly,without intermediaries who can add interpretation and make mistakes in the realization," says the D-Shape Website  “The human limitations of master builders and bricklayers will no longer hamper architects' visions."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/architecture-design-blog/2013/jan/22/first-3d-printed-house-janjaap-ruijssenaars

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-01/24/dutch-architect-3d-printed-house

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414574,00.asp

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/01/27/the-3d-printed-house-a-dutch-architect-and-mathematician-break-the-mold/

http://www.d-shape.com/cose.htm

http://pursuitist.com/architect-janjaap-ruijssenaars-to-use-3d-printer-to-build-a-house/

http://www.themanwhoprintshouses.com/About.html

http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/27/3416298/watch-this-discovery-channel-enrico-dini

For font fanatics and fashionistas: Do-it-yourself newspaper-printed nails

Did you know: 

1. A commercially available kit from a mainstream cosmetics manufacturer costing about $15 lets you transfer the printed text of your choice onto your nails?

2. Beauty bloggers  and videographers have also uncovered a do-it-yourself (DIY) method to achieve the same fashionable effect using standard household manicure materials, printed newspaper scraps, and rubbing alcohol or vodka?

Absolutely true.  A nail tutorial by cutepolish on YouTube (picture above and link below) and numerous other on-line offerings show you how.
  

I’m no expert, but the DIY steps go something like this:

1. Paint your nails with 2 coats of any light-coloured nail polish and allow to dry.
2. One at a time, dip each nail for about 5 seconds in rubbing alcohol, vodka, or other clear, distilled spirits. 
3. Place a scrap of printed newspaper text, comic strips, etc., face down on the nail.  Press down gently on the paper for 15 seconds (but don’t wiggle it around or the text will smudge).
4. Slowly remove the newsprint.
5. Seal the printing thus transferred onto your nails with a clear topcoat.  

Please let me know what results you achieve with this procedure, if you try it, and whether or not the same technology works equally well for both fingers and toes.

PS:  Before applying, did any of you chicsters give any thought to font or content?  What were your selection criteria for choosing the text?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kcdt4_5Ncc

http://www.glamour.com/beauty/blogs/girls-in-the-beauty-department/2012/05/have-you-tried-the-diy-newspri.html

http://aprettypennyblog.com/2010/09/17/how-to-newsprint-manicure/

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/newsprint-manicure

http://www.benttreestudios.com/freebie-newsprint-manicure.html

Addendum on Friday 8 February 2013:

It turns out this post has generated some lively discussion on LinkedIn under the heading "Hey girls, has anyone ever tried a newspaper-print manicure?" at:
http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=1969742&type=member&item=209254014&qid=0e61bd92-6fed-4458-88dd-b4c901394dbc&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_1969742

One reader suggested cutting your own strips of newsprint or magazines and applying them with a base and top coat like papier maché.  So I Googled “nail stickers” and discovered a thriving market--both for miniature decals that you stick in the middle of your nails as ornaments and full-coverage nail-shaped stickers that you apply like wallpaper and then trim away the excess—along exactly the same lines as the reader had suggested!  It seems that some ingenious printer out there had precisely the same idea. http://www.claires.com/store/goods/clearance/cat1260126/beauty/p34133/bling-nail-stickers/

Prompted by other comments, I also discovered that fashion bloggers and videographers are promoting a procedure they call “map nails”. Besides cartographers, perhaps this style of printing-inspired manicures would hold special appeal for travel buffs or people in transportation fields: 

http://treasuredress.blogspot.ca/2012/07/cute-diy-ideas-map-print-nails.htmlhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxyZWF_BNYo

Still another option is "music nails":  Someone has successfully applied snippets of sheet music for a violin intermezzo to her fingernails, but suggests the technique would work just as well with sheet music for your favourite song. http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/music-nails

Then there are cases of applying an individual letter of the alphabet to each fingernail to spell out words, using either hand-painted letters or nail stickers:
http://oneillgirls.com/blog/2013/01/28/manicure-monday-meow-with-bree-kleintop/
http://makeroomforcupcake.blogspot.ca/2013/02/valentinesmanicuresloveletters.htmlhttp://nailartgallery.nailsmag.com/photos/tag/27116/letters
http://www.dhgate.com/nail-stickers-golden-silver-letters-nail/p-ff8080813ada6c98013b167388fa3b23.html

Addendum Wednesday 13 February 2013:

Further new discoveries prompted by our LinkedIn discussion are a couple of on-line cases where graphic designers have used either rubbing alcohol or a product called rub-on transfer paper to apply miniature computer-printed images to their nails. I guess with a logo the tricks would be: (1) reversing the image so it wouldn’t turn out backwards, and (2) making sure it stays legible while shrinking it small enough to fit your pinkie. http://blog.modcloth.com/2012/07/18/nail-klub-get-geek-week-chic-with-diy-nail-transfers/

http://transientexpression.com/diy-cat-nail-decals/

It turned out that another commenter’s idea of putting letters of the alphabet on fingernails to spell out words isn't a terribly common practice for Internet manicurists--but I did find a few cases of either hand-painted or stick-on letters:

http://oneillgirls.com/blog/2013/01/28/manicure-monday-meow-with-bree-kleintop/

http://makeroomforcupcake.blogspot.ca/2013/02/valentines-manicures-love-letters.html

http://nailartgallery.nailsmag.com/photos/tag/27116/letters

http://www.dhgate.com/nail-stickers-golden-silver-letters-nail/p-ff8080813ada6c98013b167388fa3b23.html

Perhaps the coup de grâce is that--believe it or not--YouTube offers several tutorials on putting QR codes on your fingernails!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RjnLsWC_8I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DjJrYVTiBY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq8L5HPDgbs

However, the letters or designs in most of these last two sets of links are applied by nail artists who are patient, steady-handed, ambidextrous, and all-around skillful enough to paint the motifs on by hand.  I therefore get the impression it's not possible to scan the QR-code designs. 

So please let me know as soon as someone upgrades the technology to make them scanable.

Ontario MPP champions ex-employees of closed Fort Erie Vertis plant

On Friday, former employees of Vertis Communications staged a public-information rally and picket line outside the company's now defunct printing plant in Fort Erie, Ontario.  When it closed the plant suddenly last week, its U.S.-based owner refused to pay them termination and severance, which is required under Canadian law.

The Liberal Minister of Provincial Parliament for Niagara Falls, Ontario, Kim Craitor (right), attended the rally and told the Niagara Falls Review:  "[Vertis] basically, in my opinion, premeditated the murder of this Canadian plant."

Craitor added that, although Vertis had a longstanding strategic plan in place to close the Canadian plant, it gave the employees "false expectations that things were going to be okay there."

"People should know what this company has done to them," he asserted. 

http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2013/01/22/ex-employs-to-stage-information-picket-at-vertis-in-fort-erie
http://www.bulletnewsniagara.ca/2013/01/26/video-former-vertis-employees-stage-protest-to-demand-changes-to-labour-laws/
http://video.owensoundsuntimes.com/video/featured/latest/1655137062001/vertis-protest/2119532802001
http://www.niagarathisweek.com/news/article/1571107--fort-erie-plant-closure-illegal-protesters
http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2013/01/24/ex-vertis-employees-picket-outside-stevensville-plant
http://www.cep.ca/en/news/in-the-news/ex-employees-stage-information-picket-vertis-fort-erie
http://myuswlocal.org/sites/CA/LU14241/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=b75f6aaf-6f42-45b5-8321-77c3be7ea157

Update on 11 March 2013:

The ex-workers have asked both the federal and provincial govrnments to step in and help them recover the money they feel is owed to them.

Recently, Welland Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Cindy Forster and Welland  federal Member of Parliament (MP) Malcolm Allen, both members of the New Democratic Party, visited the workers on the picket line as a show of solidarity. Ms. Forster and Mr. Allen have both raised the ex-workers’ issue in the provincial Legislature and federal House of Commons respectively.

Mr. Craitor has also visit their picket line and has been in regular contact with union officials to offer whatever assistance is available from his office.  Along with Jim Thibert, general manager of the Fort Erie Economic Development and Tourism Corporation, Mr. Craitor also attended last Thursday’s court hearing of an injunction motion filed by Quad/Graphics against the union

Source:

http://www.bulletnewsniagara.ca/2013/03/07/labour-company-takes-picketing-vertis-employees-to-court-seeking-to-end-plant-gate-blockade/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG7GyaQ6gzM

http://openparliament.ca/debates/2013/3/5/malcolm-allen-1/only/ 

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2013/03/02/ex-vertis-workers-take-severance-pay-fight-to-nicholson

http://www.bulletnewsniagara.ca/2013/03/07/politics-ontario-minister-of-labour-goes-to-bat-for-former-vertis-workers/ 

More background on this story is available at:
http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/01/sudden-closure-of-canadas-only-vertis.html

http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/02/may-closure-of-vertis-plant-in-medina.html

http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/03/union-representing-closed-vertis-plant.html

Update on 8 May 2013:

Another politician sympathetic to the plight of ex-Vertis workers is Ontario Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi, who wrote to his counterpart in Ottawa asking the federal government to intervene on the workers' behalf.
Source:

http://www.bulletnewsniagara.ca/2013/05/03/labour-former-vertis-workers-denied-severance-end-plant-gate-picketing-but-the-fights-not-over-yet/