A band of kids with unexpected abilities (bear wrestling, firefighting, welding) take on a group of bullies in this adorable Hyundai Super Bowl ad.
Fantastical and fun, the ad features the car company's 7-passenger Santa Fe crossover SUV and proves, yet again, that a book should never be judged by its cover.
Twitter users were quick with their praise:
CLICK HERE to see the rest of the 2013 Super Bowl commercials as well as all of the best, worst and most unforgettable from the past.
As the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens battle for the right to lift the Lombardi Trophy, Super Bowl advertisers compete for another prize: your attention. Each time that CBS cuts away from Super Bowl XLVII to pay the bills, another group of blockbuster commercials and movie trailers was unveiled (although many had been teased). Take a look around your Super Bowl party. Are people paying closer attention during the game or the commercial breaks?
CLICK HERE to visit our Super Bowl Live Blog to check out the latest on-field action.
While memorable Super Bowl commercials like Apple's '1984' and Snickers' spot that featured Betty White will be remembered so many more are soon forgotten or, even worse, ridiculed as super fails. Will this ad make this year's best list? Is it controversial? Or, even worse, destined to be forgotten?
Clubine and Rettele, Chartered has added several accountants to its Salina office. The firm, established in 1967, has offices at 218 South Santa Fe, Salina, and at 118 North Lincoln in Ellsworth. The firm specializes in tax preparation and planning, IRS representation, estate planning, small business advisory service, computer consulting, payroll and bookkeeping services, business accounting and auditing. The latest new hires are:
* Craig Dassow graduated with a Bachelor of Science in statistics from Kansas State University in 1995. He also graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in accounting in 2008 and a Master of Business Administration in accounting in 2011 from Friends University. He specializes in auditing and preparation of income tax returns and planning.
* Amy Dauer graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance in 2011. She specializes in municipal and nonprofit auditing and preparation of income tax returns and planning.
* Brady Donley graduated from Bethany College with a Bachelor of Arts in finance management and business administration in 2011. He specializes in payroll and bookkeeping services and preparation of income tax returns and planning.
* Valerie Linenberger graduated from Bethany College with a Bachelor of Arts in economics-business with concentration in accounting and management in 1995 and passed her CPA exam in 1999. She specializes in auditing and preparation of income tax returns and planning. She has worked in private accounting and public accounting.
* Uzair Suhail graduated from Wichita State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Administration in accounting. He specializes in payroll and bookkeeping services and preparation of income tax returns and planning.
* Johnna Vosseller graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration with a degree in accounting and finance and a minor in economics from Kansas State University in 2006 and became a CPA in 2011. She specializes in auditing and tax preparation and planning.
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Ann McConkey, APRN-C at Occupational Health Partners, has received certification as a medical examiner by the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. She is now authorized to provide medical examinations to commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers in accordance with the regulations of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. After May 21, 2014, all CMV drivers who are required to be medically certified must be examined and certified by a medical examiner listed on the National Registry. To complete the requirements to become a certified medical examiner, she took an accredited training course in Chicago and passed the examination.
McConkey practices at Occupational Health Partners at 1101 E. Republic, which is owned and operated by COMCARE. Call 823-8381 to set up an appointment.
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U.S. Cellular has named Brian Messenger sales manager for the store in Salina. Messenger, who is responsible for ensuring that his team delivers good customer experience to customers at the Salina store, has six years of wireless experience.
Prior to joining U.S. Cellular, Messenger was an insurance agent in Nebraska, where he was responsible for providing customer service to clients. He also has previous sales and management experience in the wireless industry. Messenger currently is a student at Grand Canyon University with a business administration major. He lives in Salina with his wife and three daughters and enjoys volunteering and outdoor activities, including camping, hiking and fishing.
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Saline County has announced one new hire and two promotions.
* Dwight Bohnstedt has been hired as a Mechanic B by the road and bridge department. His new duties will include maintaining oil change schedules, servicing vehicles and yard equipment for preventive maintenance, and to remove, repair and remount tires in shop and in the field on all types of equipment.
* Matt Smith has been promoted from Corrections Officer I to Corrections Officer II by the sheriff's office. He has served 18 months in the department. His main duty is maintaining security in the jail and provide transport duties.
* Paula Bergmeier has been promoted from Corrections Officer II to program provider in the Community Corrections department. She served 18 months in the sheriff's office. Her job is to provide an array of recidivism-reducing programs and services, including cognitive, substance abuse and employment, including skills-building classes, after-care and one-on-one support and assistance for offenders under both parole/post-release and Community Corrections supervision.
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Kansas Wesleyan University has promoted Krista Lough from Assistant Registrar to Registrar.???? Lough began her career with Kansas Wesleyan in January 2011. Since that time, she gradually has assumed more responsibilities while also progressing in skill development.????She is an alumna of Wesleyan and also received an MBA from the University.
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Jolene Haas successfully passed all parts of the Uniform CPA examination. Haas is a graduate of Fort Hays State University with a B.B.A. degree in accounting. She joined the Hays office staff at Brungardt Hower Ward Elliott & Pfeifer, L.C., Certified Public Accountants in January 2007.
I don?t know about you, but here in Pittsburgh, the weather has been crazy. Zero temps and subzero wind-chill early last week, with lots of snow. Then later on? Mild, springlike temps and thunderstorms. Now, though, it?s back to the deep freeze, with vicious winds.
Two words come to mind: San. Diego. Investmentwise, two more words come to mind: Precious. Metals?
Through the ups and downs I see basic support for precious metal prices ? gold, silver, platinum and palladium. They?ve found a floor. Prices are holding, with plenty of inflation built into the dollar supply (no matter what you hear in the mainstream), courtesy of the Federal Reserve and its $85 billion per month of bond buying. There?s just a lot of Keynesian thinking at work. Too much, some might say.
Platinum and palladium (PGMs), as I told you about last week, are a solid buy. I see limited downside with this one, because the supply deficit in the PGM metals is here and not going away. The demand side is primed to explode.
For those of you who want to accumulate a stash of something else, I suggest you skip the gun shows, where AR-style weaps are about triple the recent price. Instead, go for physical silver just now. Of course, don?t turn down the chance to buy physical gold, either, if you can get it without too much in the way of markup. If you do NOT hold any physical metal? Get some. Gold. Silver. (Don?t forget brass, if you know what I mean.)
On the merely valuable side ? but not quite as precious ? copper prices are firm too. The recent price for copper has been solid, within a dime or so of $3.70 per pound. There?s no apparent demand weakness, what with globally active construction and industrial activity.
This is not a ?China boom? time for copper, like five or six years back, but things are better than a lot of people think. I believe that a company like Freeport-McMoRan will have solid earnings this year and its share price will benefit.
Switching metals, let?s discuss uranium. The spot price of which ? at $42 per pound ? is ridiculously low and set to rebound. I had a long discussion with a couple of serious uranium scholars earlier this week. They?ve been doing uranium in both government and private industry since the 1970s. They?ve seen all the different rodeo acts.
These gents laid out a strong case for strengthening yellowcake prices this year ? 2013 ? and well into the future. ?Yellowcake,? said one, ?is comparable to where gold was 10 years ago. We?re looking at prices four-six times higher in the out years.?
That?s quite a claim ? $150-250 per pound ? and if it works out, it makes great news for uranium producers. You know, the guys that are already producing the stuff.
Begin with the eye-popping cost of acquiring ?new? uranium supplies. When you add up all the exploration and development costs, a new uranium mine scopes out in the range of $100-120 per pound. This is nearly triple the current spot price. And it?s before you factor in the vagaries of future tax changes and higher interest rates. After all, it pays to build a mine only if there?s a decent return on investment.
Expanding existing mines, on the other hand, is problematic. Everyone who?s trying to expand a mine confronts serious sticker shock. Look, for example, at how BHP Billiton deferred expansion at the gigantic site at Olympic Dam, Australia, as costs topped $20 billion.
A 10-figure level of capex approaches the limit of private enterprise in any respect. That?s big, even for the oil industry, let alone miners ? and I mean even the biggest of the big. We?re talking about a major defense program or space program level of capex, plus comparable difficulties in recruiting personnel, developing technology and scheduling the whole thing to work over a decade or more.
Look at it another way. Who can afford to make those kinds of energy investments? Governments, perhaps. Or more likely, government-industry partnerships. In the future, look for business forms in which the mining consortium becomes sort of a public utility, with all the legalistic bells and whistles something like that entails. But without government help? Big energy projects likely won?t happen. And then there goes the supply curve.
On the demand side, the China story is ?real and getting more real,? according to my sources. The Chinese need electric power, and they?re currently burning coal because they have it, not because they want to. Chinese air pollution is now a national problem ? as I discussed in the article noted above. Inside China, large future power projects all have to show an environmental angle to receive state approval. So says the Communist Party.
Across the sea from China, the stories you hear about Japan eliminating its nuclear power plants are ?fairy tales,? according my sources. After the Fukushima disaster, two years ago, initial sentiment in Japan was to move away from nuclear power. It was all emotion. ?And then came reality,? the man said.
Basically, Japan looked at the bill for importing liquefied natural gas (LNG), now in the $20 per mcf range. Plus, Japan is watching China build up its navy, which threatens Japan?s sea lines of commerce and communication, pertinent to oil and coal imports.
The bottom line is that rebuilding its nuclear power base gives Japan another reason to pour more concrete, which is as much a Japanese national pastime as baseball.
Unlocking Value in the Oil Biz
Let?s look at the oil side of things. There?s a trend within the industry, within shareholder groups, to demand more and better return from management. The movement is getting much stronger, and this may be a year to remember.
There?s a shareholder push at Hess Oil, for example, to move the company to deliver higher returns. Hess has already announced that it?ll close its aging, 70,000 barrel per day refinery at Port Reading, N.J. The facility is another casualty of weak refining profits on the East Coast in recent years.
Beyond closing money losers, however, there?s the possibility of Hess spinning off its entire exploration and production operation in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota as a separate entity. Hess shares have climbed on the news (as Dan Amoss wrote about on Friday.)
Elsewhere in the oil patch, similar shareholder activity is rattling the dishes. There are plenty of opportunities out there, as my paid-up readers know.
MENA Problems
Looking ahead, I see better days ? better years, actually ? for offshore players. Offshore is where there?s lots of oil. Also, offshore, there are far fewer Islamist terrorists.
The recent attack on the BP facility in Algeria marked a milestone. Up to now, the energy industry had an acceptable working presence across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Shiny, energy-producing technology existed side by side with the ancient caravan routes. Westerners did their work and kept a low profile. There wasn?t too much trouble ? occasional, but manageable.
That is, up to recently, people made deals and drilled wells. Oil and gas flowed to the coastlines, to refineries, tankers and transoceanic pipelines. Everybody got paid.
Now? With the BP attack in Algeria? The terrorists have determined that Westerners and energy interests are fair game. It?s part of the militant Islamist awakening across MENA.
It doesn?t really matter that the Algerian government sent in troops almost immediately, guns blazing, and wiped the terrorists out to the last man. The global energy industry ? Western players, but national oil companies, as well ? must deal with the new reality of development amidst a vast battle space of irregular warfare. It?ll make everything more difficult, time-consuming, costly, riskier.
What?s the answer? There?s no real ?answer.? You just have to deal with it. Welcome to the 21st century. You?ll have to invest around it. And on that note, thank you for reading.
Best wishes,
Byron W. King
Original article posted on Daily Resource Hunter?
Byron King
Byron King is the managing editor of Outstanding Investments and Energy & Scarcity Investor. He is a Harvard-trained geologist who has traveled to every U.S. state and territory and six of the seven continents. He has conducted site visits to mineral deposits in 26 countries and deep-water oil fields in five oceans. This provides him with a unique perspective on the myriad of investment opportunities in energy and mineral exploration. He has been interviewed by dozens of major print and broadcast media outlets including The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Washington Post, MSN Money, MarketWatch, Fox Business News, and PBS Newshour.
San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga warms up during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga warms up during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis (52), practice squad member Kenny Wiggins (69), and tackle Anthony Davis (76) warm up during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) stretches with teammates during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, right, talks with offensive coordinator Greg Roman during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss laughs with teammates during practice on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in New Orleans. The 49ers are scheduled to play the Baltimore Ravens in the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game on Feb. 3. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Colin Kaepernick is a mystery man under center, a strong-armed passer one moment and a 25-year-old kid who can run right out of the pocket for a huge gain the next.
Baltimore must brace for the unexpected on every snap in Sunday's Super Bowl.
There's flashy Michael Crabtree on the edges and Vernon Davis down the middle, Frank Gore and LaMichael James clogging things up in the running game.
The creative, switch-it-up San Francisco offense sure keeps opposing defenses guessing. The 49ers hope to do it again at the Superdome, when the Ravens will face an array of looks from Jim Harbaugh's team.
"With Kaepernick, it's like pick your poison," Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice said. "Are you going to try to shut down that pistol and not let him get outside, where you've got Frank Gore and LaMichael James going downhill? Then, Crabtree and Vernon Davis on the outside. I think the secondary of Baltimore, right there in the middle, is where they're going to get exposed. ... If you double team Crabtree, it's going to be Vernon Davis. If you get Crabtree one on one ? for some reason he's playing with a swagger right now that's unbelievable."
Kaepernick has shown two drastically different styles in two postseason games. What he'll show the Ravens is anybody's guess.
In a 45-31 rout of the Packers in the divisional round, Kaepernick ran for a quarterback playoff record 181 yards and two touchdowns and also threw for 263 yards with two TD passes to Michael Crabtree.
A week later at Atlanta, everything looked different in a 28-24 win that sent San Francisco to its first Super Bowl in 18 years.
Kaepernick only ran the ball twice, instead handing off to his go-to guy, Gore, and the Niners rallied from a 17-0 deficit for the biggest comeback in an NFC championship game.
"He's very good, he's very accurate," Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees said of Kaepernick. "They've done a great job with putting him into a system and building a system to make him successful, but to be able to throw the ball deep you have to have guys that can run deep. Crabtree and Vernon Davis and Randy Moss can run deep."
And Gore can grind out yards.
Gore, coming off his franchise-record sixth 1,000-yard rushing season, ran for second-half touchdowns of 5 and 9 yards in the comeback in his first career postseason performance with two TDs against the Falcons. He has three touchdowns and 209 yards rushing during this postseason run.
A balanced offense, indeed.
"There's a lot," Crabtree said. "I could go on talking about the talent that we have around here. On the tight ends, running backs, you have to remember we have three people injured that played a major part in our offense. But I would say that with all of these weapons, I don't think that you can go wrong."
After a quiet year in which he faced double-teams and constant attention by defenses, Davis broke out at Atlanta with five catches for 106 yards with a 4-yard TD grab.
"He does it all. He's a beast," Ravens safety Ed Reed said. "He's one of those guys that you all say has it. He catches touchdowns, he's blocking. I'm surprised they haven't ran him yet, handing him the ball, but he's somebody you really have to know where he is at all times and be mindful of what he's doing, because they give him the ball, for one. You have to give him the ball. Why wouldn't you? But whoever is covering him, whether it's me, (safety) Bernard (Pollard), or anybody on our team covering him, you have to be really mindful of where he's at."
Crabtree had six catches against the Falcons and Randy Moss ? who this week proclaimed himself "the greatest receiver ever to play this game" only to have Hall of Famer Jerry Rice beg to differ ? made three.
San Francisco's offensive line will have to do a better job than in a 16-6 loss at Baltimore on Thanksgiving night 2011, when the unit allowed the Ravens to match a franchise record with nine sacks.
"We've seen enough film to kind of know what to expect, unless they come up with something different," center Jonathan Goodwin said. "But definitely a talented group up front, and that's what makes them a good defense. They try to do some things to confuse you."
If Crabtree and Kaepernick can pull off another outstanding outing in the game of their lives, they'll take the podium together again for an entertaining back and forth of compliments and good-natured ribbing.
After one game, they held a joint postgame news conference.
All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis, a member of San Francisco's stingy, run-stopping defense, regularly offers a pat on the back and hug to Kaepernick.
"In a close game, we would win because our defense doesn't give up," Davis said. "Our offense is always aggressive and eager to win."
Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy is the plan now. In the Niners' rooting section: Rice, Roger Craig, Joe Montana and Steve Young.
The current 49ers are fully aware of the history, most notably a perfect Super Bowl record that they must protect. San Francisco is 5-0 in championship games and trying to match the Pittsburgh Steelers for most ever.
"This is incredible, man,' Davis said. "Just being a part of this franchise is legendary ? Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Steve Young ? and to be able to bring a ring back, that's something that you can cherish for the rest of your life."
There's an old axiom that claims you get what you pay for, meaning value does not come cheaply. This is particularly poignant at a time when traders are on watch for the Dow (^DJI) and S&P 500 (^GSPC) to set new closing highs and investors seem immune to existing signs of caution. Even the worst GDP figure in 3 1/2 years didn't do much to slow the market's ascent.
Even the most optimistic investors are getting a bit antsy these days, wondering how and when it's all going to end. For Tom Kee, president & CEO of Stock Traders Daily, the answer to that question is 'not well.'
"I'm looking for another high in this market, then I am looking for a turn down," Kee says in the attached video, adding that he believes it is "going to come relatively soon."
By downturn, however, what Kee real means is a crash to the tune of ''50 to 60%," which would bring the Dow Jones under 6,000.
A plunge of that size, over a span of weeks and months, is not unheard of. In fact, Kee says, the last time the Dow peaked in 2007 we saw it crash by that amount, just as it did following its previous high in 2000.
Kee says he came to this dire conclusion using a number of technical and fundamental analytical tools, including an earnings per share growth rate for the Dow that he calculates at 1.18%. It's a sluggish pace that he says "just isn't enough to justify the growth in the Dow's actual price."
Similar treachery lies ahead for the S&P 500, he predicts. Although its normalized growth rate, excluding such outliers as Goldman Sachs (GS), is roughly 4%, he argues that is still does not warrant a multiple of 15 to 16 time earnings.
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