Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[DesD]

When I came to the UK in 1992 (geez, when), the first job I had was in the marketing department of Woolworths.  

The Marketing Director at that time was a yuppieish guy called Don Sloan - who marvelled in continually 'inspiring' us with the statement "we ARE the best marketing department in the city".  We couldn't have been that great, because Don left shortly afterwards...to be replaced by a young woman with little senior experience in high street retail.  

Her name was Dianne Thompson.  



Now, Dianne Thompson is the most impressive person that I've ever worked for.  She was no frills and very straight, but she knew how to warm a room and get the best out of people.  You messed with her at your peril, but she was always available to talk to when clear direction was needed.  And she knew what she was doing and excelled in a very male dominated and sometimes tough environment.  

During her reign the business led many markets and was very profitable.  

While I slid the route of evil into gambling, Dianne went from strength to strength...from picking up the pieces of Gerald Ratner's crap (literally) to building the most successful lottery in the world as CEO of Camelot.  Over the years, she earned a business woman of the year title, millions in pay and became a dame in the 2015 New Year's Honours List.

Now I've always really enjoyed watching YouTube business interviews with internet whizzes like Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and co, and I wondered how a Dianne interview might compare when I found the two nuggets linked below.  They have a whopping 200 or so views between them so I felt obligated to share.  Plus I think you'll enjoy them tikay.  You'd have loved working with Dianne.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNoNGDzq5zU
Dianne Thompson CBE interview with Dennis Dunn at the Cheshire Lecture series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQTGkobW6s
Dianne Thompson CBE gives a keynote speech at the Cheshire Lecture Series

Don sells digital signage these days btw.  It's the digitalist signage in the country.  

[DesD]

This beaut docked in Felixstowe yesterday, one of a new generation of super-sized Container Ships.

It had a cargo of 19,100 containers.

Lay them end to end, & they would stretch well over 100 miles, further than, say, from Felixstowe to London by road.

It has 3 "sister ships" & one of them will arrive at Felixstowe, fully loaded, every week.

Most of the freight comes from China.

It's just mind-boggling, how much stuff China exports these days.     

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Talking of Woolworths, we bought a lot of these back in the day.  20 foot and 40 foot containers, delivered FOB.  A bad day if the ship went down mind.

[TightEnd]

some of the pictures in this are great



http://www.boredpanda.com/extraordinary-libraries/

[tikay]

When I came to the UK in 1992 (geez, when), the first job I had was in the marketing department of Woolworths.  

The Marketing Director at that time was a yuppieish guy called Don Sloan - who marvelled in continually 'inspiring' us with the statement "we ARE the best marketing department in the city".  We couldn't have been that great, because Don left shortly afterwards...to be replaced by a young woman with little senior experience in high street retail.  

Her name was Dianne Thompson.  



Now, Dianne Thompson is the most impressive person that I've ever worked for.  She was no frills and very straight, but she knew how to warm a room and get the best out of people.  You messed with her at your peril, but she was always available to talk to when clear direction was needed.  And she knew what she was doing and excelled in a very male dominated and sometimes tough environment.  

During her reign the business led many markets and was very profitable.  

While I slid the route of evil into gambling, Dianne went from strength to strength...from picking up the pieces of Gerald Ratner's crap (literally) to building the most successful lottery in the world as CEO of Camelot.  Over the years, she earned a business woman of the year title, millions in pay and became a dame in the 2015 New Year's Honours List.

Now I've always really enjoyed watching YouTube business interviews with internet whizzes like Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and co, and I wondered how a Dianne interview might compare when I found the two nuggets linked below.  They have a whopping 200 or so views between them so I felt obligated to share.  Plus I think you'll enjoy them tikay.  You'd have loved working with Dianne.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNoNGDzq5zU
Dianne Thompson CBE interview with Dennis Dunn at the Cheshire Lecture series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQTGkobW6s
Dianne Thompson CBE gives a keynote speech at the Cheshire Lecture Series

Don sells digital signage these days btw.  It's the digitalist signage in the country.  

Morning Desmond.

That's a great story. Wish I knew what "digital signage" was, or what shop to buy it from.

I never knew you were not originally from the UK - let me guess, New Zealand?

The Dianne Thompson story is a cracker. Seems like she was pipped at the post for the role of BBC Governor recently, if Wiki is to be believed.

It does show, to a degree at least, that much of this "glass ceiling" stuff is nonsense. If a lady is good enough, she'll rise to the top, & she does not need that ridiculous quota system that some Political parties use, where they decree that x% of all prospective candidates MUST be women. That's not gonna aid the cause, not at all.

Look at this "Top 10 UK Businesswomen" list, its quite something....

 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/9865029/Womans-Hour-Power-List-top-10-women-in-business.html#?frame=2478548

In Politics, numerous names spring to mind, Lady Thatcher, Barbara Castle, Shirley Williams & so on. Globally, we've seen Hillary Clinton, Indira Ghandi, Angela Merkel, Golda Meir & Sarah Palin.

They don't need help - if they are good enough, they get the job done.

I see Dianne Thompson has purchased this nice little hotel on the Isle of Wight now. Quite a contrast to running Camelot.

 

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Des,

While you are here......

Are you still with the mountainous crew in Hammersmith?

Have to say, as Online Gaming Company offices go, that's a beaut.




Really interesting times in Online Gaming right now, what with consolidation & regulation sweeping the industry, doubt it has ever changed so much, so quickly. It was inevitable, of course, & long overdue. It is a VERY big market. Poker is a very small part indeed, relatively miniscule, but it's still an integral part of the whole. Was fascinated to see that when Amaya/Stars trialled Casino Games in Spain, they grabbed 15% of the Merket in next to no time. Think of that globally......

Did you ever foresee the takeover Next Door? Must be said, in a Corporation like BSKYB, "Gaming", with it's swings & swongs, always seermed a very odd fit to me. Worked well, mind, but deffo an oddity.

Even SB&G often strikes me as an odd beast. As you know, & as in most big Companies, they control exs very tightly indeed. If I exceed the "Official" allowed amount for, say, Breakfast, or a hotel room, or taxi fare, they won't pay it, end of. Good, tight, accounting controls.

Even for something like UKPC, it has to be vetted by layers of Management, & then get Board sign off. Which is fine, & perfectly right.

But it sits inside a Company that exposes itself, daily, to (literally) millions of pounds of liability in it's Sportsbook, which can, & does, easily win or lose many millions every single day. 

So an expenses chit for brekkie at £9 might get rejected, while on the same day, they make or lose x milly on the Sportsbook or Vegas. An odd juxtaposition.

Very interesting times there right now. As you know, they use Central Reporting from the BSKYB Data Warehouse, so all that is having to be internally re-constructed, on what amounts to a clean sheet of paper.

Meanwhile, in poker, I have one "idea" left in me, which could be bigger than APAT, it really could. I keep dithering as to whether to try & get it off the ground. Don't think SB&G would be interested, but I have a Partner in mind. If I were 10 years younger, I'd start it in a heartbeat. It is such an obvious & simple thing, too, with a huge untapped Market. I'd need an Online Partner, but I'm sure there'd be no shortage of offers. Key to it is that it would embrace non-poker Corporations, who would want to be associated with it. Almost no poker format or site has ever reached outside poker for commercial partners. That will change. Could be quite a saga. I can't really do it whilst I am still Next Door though.

We shall see. 
 

[tikay]

Whilst it is in my mind, I was sent this utterly fascinating article a few days ago.

It's the story of a man named David Baazov.

Who?

He's the geezer behind Amaya, & it's the background to how he wrong-footed the entire gaming world by buying PokerStars.

It's entitled, perhaps correctly, as....

The King Of Online Gambling (Is 34)

GREAT read this, utterly fascinating.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/12/01/the-king-of-online-gambling-is-34/

I'm slightly less bullish about the whole thing now, having read about him, but the logic is so compelling, it'd take a complete idiot to fail.

He sort of reminds me of Jeff Bezos @ Amazon. They used to joke trhat Amazon was the highest capitalised Company on earth that had never turned a single penny of profit, for 6 or 8 years. He looked like a nut job. But he got there, & now Amazon is an absolute giant, & Mr Bezos is one of the richest men in the world.

Hard to say if David Baazof is the next Jeff Bezos, or he will fall flat on his face. Many will hope it's the latter, but count me out, I think he has realised something long before anyone else - it made no sense for 'Stars to restrict itself solely to Poker, especially with such a precious & huge database, that alone must be worth billions.

   

[tikay]

And here he is, the man who, at just 34 years of age, controls 80% (?) of the poker worldwide.

I wonder how many poker players would recognize him, if he sat down at a poker table in Vegas?

Would so love the Table to be full of 2+2-ites, dissing him to death.

Click to see full-size image.

Does he look like a bitch?

[tikay]

This beaut docked in Felixstowe yesterday, one of a new generation of super-sized Container Ships.

It had a cargo of 19,100 containers.

Lay them end to end, & they would stretch well over 100 miles, further than, say, from Felixstowe to London by road.

It has 3 "sister ships" & one of them will arrive at Felixstowe, fully loaded, every week.

Most of the freight comes from China.

It's just mind-boggling, how much stuff China exports these days.     

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Talking of Woolworths, we bought a lot of these back in the day.  20 foot and 40 foot containers, delivered FOB.  A bad day if the ship went down mind.

I was thinking of that scenario just the other day, just imagine the insurance claim. 

The ship itself cost around $200 million.

The 19,000 containers (without content) must be close to £40 million.

Now add the contents of the containers, & "loss of business" insurance cost.

What would be the average value of goods per container? £20,000? (Sheer guess, I have no idea). That's another £400 million.

Quite a lump of money.

That one which went aground in The Solent wil be a few bob in itself - it was carrying a consignment of high end cars, at an average value of £40k each. 

Scary stuff.

[tikay]

some of the pictures in this are great



http://www.boredpanda.com/extraordinary-libraries/

Some of those libraries are exquisite, Rich, almost cathedral-like.

Did you used to work in a Library for the Archbishop of Canterbury, or somesuch? Sure I read that somewhere.

Those photos all seem to be of overseas libraries, which is a tad unfair, as England has some beauties too.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

I was musing the other day on an old friend that the internet killed, Mr Yellow Pages.



They got thicker & thicker as time went on. Bit like old people, I suppose.


Eventually, each area ended up with 2, 3 or 4 seperate ones, for alphabetical segments.





At one time, they included phone numbers, fax numbers, Telex numbers, even telegraphic addresses. Only phone numbers survive, & no one can remember phone numbers any more since mobile phones gave us the "saved numbers" facility and in doing so destroyed our ability to remember 'phone numbers. As a young man, working, I could recall from memory hundreds of 'phone numbers. I can't recall from memory a single phone number of anyone now, not one. I've been in the same job for over 8 years, with the same phone number, & I don't even know that number. 


Here's a a Telex Machine - wonder if they are still used anywhere in the world? Look at that 'phone dial, incred.

Click to see full-size image.

The key to using Yellow Pages was to try & find the "Category", which was an art form in itself.

[TightEnd]

some of the pictures in this are great



http://www.boredpanda.com/extraordinary-libraries/

Some of those libraries are exquisite, Rich, almost cathedral-like.

Did you used to work in a Library for the Archbishop of Canterbury, or somesuch? Sure I read that somewhere.

Those photos all seem to be of overseas libraries, which is a tad unfair, as England has some beauties too.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

i did yes, as a job to earn some money to travel before university, and worked on the papers of various Archbishops that were being archived and indexed before release under the 30 year rule for publication

fascinating place. i worked in a room upon the walls of which was every Archbishop of Canterbury's portrait since the 1100s.

I learnt the order of them off by heart. Quite the party piece at parties for 19 year olds. Not.

[tikay]

some of the pictures in this are great



http://www.boredpanda.com/extraordinary-libraries/

Some of those libraries are exquisite, Rich, almost cathedral-like.

Did you used to work in a Library for the Archbishop of Canterbury, or somesuch? Sure I read that somewhere.

Those photos all seem to be of overseas libraries, which is a tad unfair, as England has some beauties too.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

i did yes, as a job to earn some money to travel before university, and worked on the papers of various Archbishops that were being archived and indexed before release under the 30 year rule for publication

fascinating place. i worked in a room upon the walls of which was every Archbishop of Canterbury's portrait since the 1100s.

I learnt the order of them off by heart. Quite the party piece at parties for 19 year olds. Not.

Most impressive Mr P. It could only be you.

[tikay]

There is a sheer rock face in Yosemite National Park, said to be one of the 5 toughest climbs in the world.

It's that sheer face, left of photo, on that sort of lump of rock stuff.

Click to see full-size image.

2 chaps decided to climb it. They have ropes, but only to prevent them falling to certain death, not to assist them with climbing. All the climbing is "by hand", (freestyle?) basically hands, fingers & feet.

Their names are Tommy Caldwell & Kevin Jorgeson.

They have been doing this climb for about 2 weeks now.

Tommy got stuck on "Pitch 15", making 11 unsuccessful attempts before eventually conquering it over the weekend.  Pitch 15 is around halfway up. Or down.

Click to see full-size image.

Their fingers are red raw, & bleeding.





Would you dare to try this? Err, count me out.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tonytats]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Boardman
This guy did similar stuff with joe tasker only at higher altitude with less help sadly died on Everest as many climbers do
Also wrote a few books about it all which is pretty good reading too
I think you would find their writing interesting Tony

[horseplayer]

Click to see full-size image.