THAT entrepreneurial spark got lit at age 12 for Scott Diament.
Today, he is the CEO of the Palm Beach Show Group, where he oversees a string of prestigious antique fairs across the US, as well as the owner of six jewellery stores.
Viewers are introduced to his world of high-stakes buying and selling in Discovery Channel’s Dealers.
Talking about the show, where deep pockets are a prerequisite for the bidding wars among Diament and four others in the same league, he says: “I’d say the appeal is manifold. One, it’s pretty exciting to watch people compete against one another.
“So let’s just go with the entertainment, excitement value of five dealers in a room with a seller and them competing to buy the item. I’d also say it’s very educational because viewers will be able to see a myriad items and objects. They’ll learn a little or a lot about each one of them, maybe more than they ever wanted to know, and they’ll see money changing hands; they’ll see commerce in action.
“It’s cultural, it’s educational, it’s fun to watch.”
Of course, he had a good training base to hone his skills. On the entrepreneur in him surfacing when he was still a little boy, he recalls: “When I was about eight, my father took me and my sisters to garage sales and I would negotiate and buy things for a dollar, and then we would every so often have a garage sale at our house and we’d see if we could sell it back to people for more than what we paid for it.
“So that could be the start of the real businessman… but I think my first real business started when I was 12. I created my directory from the White Pages and went door to door and telemarketed and built up a route to deliver bagels to people’s homes on Sunday morning.”
Diament says his grandfather and father were great influences.
“My grandfather was a self-made entrepreneur. He would buy from government options – for pennies on the dollar – and then resell to people around the world. So I would say he was definitely an early role model.
“I don’t think he went to college but he was very educated. And then my father was always a role model because he is just a good, smart person. He was an attorney and was very into education and treating people correctly – so he was influential in that way.”
While he has experienced his fair share of easy and hard sells, Diament says he would never deal in anything related to tobacco products because he is against smoking.
Recalling one of the most valuable objects he has had, he says: “I’ve just had something that is like a $100 million item – a 2 500-year-old gold belt that was discovered, I believe, in northern China.”
Diament laughs at the recollection of the most unusual thing he has come across.
“Okay. Well, one of the more unusual items in the show was a… it was a dildo,” he chuckles.
“It was made 150 years ago, so it was an antique and it was made by somebody on a ship to give to his girlfriend. It was made out of ivory and wood. It was pretty funny to ask questions about it and to bid.”
So what does he look for in an item before opening that cheque book?
“I look for something beautiful. Something that is rare and that has a demand because you need all those three factors to have value.”
And if you want to know more about the world of buying and selling, best you tune in to Dealers tonight.
• Dealers airs on Discovery Channel (DStv Channel 121) at 7.35pm.
Source: www.iol.co.za
California smog threatens world's oldest trees - Newsday
Photo credit: AP | In this May 11, 2012 photo, Sequoia National Park air resource specialist Annie Esperanza explains how ozone diminishes the view from Beetle Rock in Sequoia National Park, Calif. A big city problem has settled in a big way in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, home of the giant Sequoias. Smog from the neighboring Central Valley is making it tougher for seedlings from the giants to take hold, and the needles of surrounding Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines are yellowing. (AP Photo/Tracie Cone)
SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK, California - (AP) -- The California forest that is home to the biggest and oldest living things on earth, the giant Sequoia redwoods, also suffers a dubious distinction. It has the worst air pollution of any national park in the U.S.
"Ozone levels here are comparable to urban settings such as LA," said Emily Schrepf of the nonprofit advocacy group the National Park Conservation Association. "It's just not right."
Signs in visitor centers warn guests when it's not safe to hike. The government employment website warns job applicants that the workplace is unhealthy. And park workers are briefed every year on the lung and heart damage the pollution can cause.
Although weakened trees are more susceptible to drought and pests, the long-term impact on the pines and on the giant redwoods that have been around for 3,000 years and more is unclear.
"If this is happening in a national park that isn't even close to an urban area, what do you think is happening in your backyard?" said Annie Esperanza, a park scientist who has studied air quality there for 30 years.
It's a problem in a handful of the nation's 52 parks that are monitored constantly for ozone, including Joshua Tree National Park in California's Mojave Desert and North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains National Park. But none is as severe as Sequoia and its neighbor, Kings Canyon.
While forest fires create some pollution, most comes from the San Joaquin Valley, the expanse of farmland that is home to California's two busiest north-south trucking highways, diesel freight train corridors, food processing plants and tens of thousands of diesel tractors.
Smog is created when the sun's rays hit pollutants such as oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds that are in motor vehicle exhaust, solvents, pesticides, gasoline vapors and decaying dairy manure.
"There is no simple answer to ozone pollution," said Thomas Cahill, a researcher at the University of California, Davis who studies air problem in Sequoia and across California.
Breathing ozone at high levels for even a short time can blister the lungs like UV rays blisters skin, scientists agree. The problem in quantifying exposure levels, however, is that some people suffer pulmonary damage at lower doses than others.
The only way to improve air in the park is to improve the San Joaquin air basin, something that so far has proved elusive given the myriad sources of pollution. Even with hundreds of millions of dollars spent to retrofit diesel engines and replace gasoline lawnmowers with electric ones, residents pay a federal fine for the region's failure to meet even minimal EPA ozone limits.
"We don't create a disproportionate amount of pollution; it's just that we have these natural challenges so that the pollution we do create can take literally weeks or months to clean out. It just builds up over time," said Jaime Holt, spokeswoman for the valley air district.
Already this year, the level of ozone in Sequoia park has exceeded federal health standards, even though it's early in the summer ozone season. During the June-to-September summer season last year, the park violated the National Ambient Air Quality standard at least 87 times, compared with 56 at Joshua Tree and 12 at Great Smoky Mountains.
"It's tragic that the National Park Service is known for clean air, and then you see a sign saying it's unhealthy to breathe," Esperanza said. "It's so contrary to the national parks idea."
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Follow Tracie Cone on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/TConeAP
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: www.newsday.com
California Water Service Group's President & CEO Peter C. Nelson to Succeed Retiring Chair Robert W. Foy - Yahoo Finance
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwire -05/22/12)- California Water Service Group (CWT) today announced its Board of Directors' plan to combine the roles of Chairman and President & Chief Executive Officer and have President & Chief Executive Officer Peter C. Nelson succeed retiring Chairman Robert W. Foy, effective May 22, 2012. Douglas M. Brown will continue to serve as lead director.
Foy, a 35-year Board veteran who has reached retirement age for directors, expressed confidence in the decision: "Pete has demonstrated his leadership ability and we are confident that he will do a fine job as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board. It makes good business sense to streamline decision-making and capitalize on Pete's extensive experience and expertise."
Nelson was elected President & Chief Executive Officer of California Water Service Group in 1996. Prior to joining the company, he had increasingly responsible positions in engineering, construction management, marketing, corporate and diversification planning, finance, operations, and general management at Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
Nelson holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis, and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He serves as director of the California Chamber of Commerce and chairs the organization's Water Resources Committee. He is also a director of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy, a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum, and an advisory council member at the Center for Public Utilities, New Mexico State University. Past affiliations include president of the National Association of Water Companies, director of the Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency, and founding director of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Leadership Group.
Douglas M. Brown, who joined the California Water Service Group Board of Directors in 2001 and is currently the Dean of the Anderson School of Management at the University of New Mexico, will continue to serve as lead director.
California Water Service Group is the parent company of California Water Service Company, Washington Water Service Company, New Mexico Water Service Company, Hawaii Water Service Company, Inc., CWS Utility Services, and HWS Utility Services, LLC. Together these companies provide regulated and non-regulated water service to approximately 2 million people in more than 100 California, Washington, New Mexico and Hawaii communities. Group's common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CWT."
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("Act"). The forward-looking statements are intended to qualify under provisions of the federal securities laws for "safe harbor" treatment established by the Act. Forward-looking statements are based on currently available information, expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections, and management's judgment about the Company, the water utility industry and general economic conditions. Such words as expects, intends, plans, believes, estimates, assumes, anticipates, projects, predicts, forecasts or variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may vary materially from what is contained in a forward-looking statement. Factors that may cause a result different than expected or anticipated include but are not limited to: governmental and regulatory commissions' decisions, including decisions on proper disposition of property; changes in regulatory commissions' policies and procedures; the timeliness of regulatory commissions' actions concerning rate relief; new legislation; changes in accounting valuations and estimates; the ability to satisfy requirements related to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations on internal controls; electric power interruptions; increases in suppliers' prices and the availability of supplies including water and power; fluctuations in interest rates; changes in environmental compliance and water quality requirements; acquisitions and our ability to successfully integrate acquired companies; the ability to successfully implement business plans; changes in customer water use patterns; the impact of weather on water sales and operating results; access to sufficient capital on satisfactory terms; civil disturbances or terrorist threats or acts, or apprehension about the possible future occurrences of acts of this type; the involvement of the United States in war or other hostilities; restrictive covenants in or changes to the credit ratings on our current or future debt that could increase our financing costs or affect our ability to borrow, make payments on debt or pay dividends; and, other risks and unforeseen events. When considering forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the cautionary statements included in this paragraph. The Company assumes no obligation to provide public updates of forward-looking statements.
1720 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95112-4598
Shannon Dean
(310) 257-1435
Source: finance.yahoo.com
TV Antique expert to guest at Seend fete - This is Wiltshire
TV Antique expert to guest at Seend fete
2:00pm Monday 28th May 2012 in Latest News
TV presenter Paul Martin, a resident of Seend, will be guest of honour at this year’s village fete.
Mr Martin, who presents BBC’s Flog It antiques programme, has been the special guest at the fete on previous occasions.
The fete is on Saturday, August 11, in the Lye Field and organisers are encouraging people to enter the grand parade either as walkers in fancy dress, on floats or in vintage cars.
Fete chairman Fiona Johnson said: "We’re hoping to make this the best parade ever.
"The parade is open to anyone who would like to take part. There will be an opportunity to collect money for your charity in the arena after the parade."
There will be numerous stalls at the fete plus model aircraft displays, train rides, a beer tent, tea tent and barbecue.
In the main arena the entertainment will comprise the Wiltshire School of Gymnastics, The Curious Company, a local theatre group, an Aikido demonstration, dancing dogs, a magic show by Mr Snuffy the Bear, Punch and Judy and music from Shrewton Brass Band Quintet.
For more information, visit seendfete.co.uk or call Fiona Johnson on 01380 828401.
Source: www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk
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