Modus Is Trying to Shake Up the Fat eDiscovery Industry
It’s no secret that most lawyers are not on the cutting edge of technology.
And while the internet has been great for many businesses, it’s buried lawyers in an avalanche of digital data they are ill equipped to manage. This has driven the growth of an entire “eDiscovery” industry, with software and services vendors of all sizes, from mom-and-pop shops to publicly traded behemoths.
First, some background for the uninitiated: In any litigation, there is a “discovery” phase where the plaintiff and defendant exchange information in the form of documents, admissions, and depositions. In a major case, it’s a slog that can last years, with millions of documents exchanged and dozens of day-long depositions taken.
Abtin Buergari experienced some of that avalanche first-hand as a legal assistant at the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Preston Gates Ellis (now KL Gates). Buergari helped lawyers interface with the firm’s young ediscovery unit (which, incidentally, spun out Attenex Software, sold to eDiscovery juggernaut FTI Consulting for $88M in 2008), and became familiar with industry standard eDiscovery software and practices. Buergari worked with the tools at hand, and watched as the firm and its vendors racked up immense bills without delivering immense value. Buergari later worked at two eDiscovery vendors, and saw the same inefficient churning process repeated again and again. According to Buergari, “eDiscovery is not a happy, healthy industry. It’s a corrupt industry.”
In 2008, Buergari dropped out of law school and founded Modus eDiscovery to attack that inefficiency head-on. Modus’s main innovation is its business model. The company is a professional services provider and does not produce its own software, although, like other similar sophisticated eDiscovery providers, it does have technical staff on hand for integration and data work. However, unlike most vendors who bill law firms and their clients on a variable-cost model (hourly labor, per-gigabyte, etc.), Modus instead signs its clients up for fixed-fee managed service deals. According to Buergari, when the economy went south in 2007–08, companies started scrutinizing their legal spending more closely and realized something was wrong, and have responded very positively to Modus’s fixed-cost model. Where other vendors variable cost model incentivizes maximizing the size of discovery productions, Buergari says Modus’s goal is to reduce the amount of data. Less data means more efficiency and better alignment of client, law firm, and vendor goals.
I asked Buergari whether law firms were afraid of companies like Modus disrupting their profitable eDiscovery practices. He said he had not yet heard those complaints directly from law firms, and that “that’s life”—if law firms or their vendors don’t like efficiency, they will, ultimately, not be able to compete in the marketplace.
Even with its more modest bills, Modus is growing quickly: according to Buergari, the company is doubling its revenue every year. About a year ago, Buergari decided that Modus was ready to expand. Modus acquired Ivize, another litigation support vendor based in Georgia, which gave it a substantially larger footprint. Now Modus is set to enter the lucrative—and competitive—New York and California markets, where it is starting to hire.
Buergari is aiming high: his personal goal is to completely displace one of Modus’s major competitors. He seems confident he’ll succeed.
Article source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/03/modus-is-trying-to-shake-up-the-fat-ediscovery-industry/
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Abtin Buergari, Attenex Software, Georgia, Preston Gates Ellis
We’d All Be Fat If Every McDonald’s Looked This Inviting
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When you’re on a long road trip, you generally eat what you can, where you can. That can mean many meals at a combination Exxon/KFC/Taco Bell/Tiger Mart. But have you ever seen a rest stop as amazing as this hybrid gas station/McDonald’s in Batumi, Georgia? (The country, not the state.)
The landmark was conceived by Khmaladze Architects. You’d never guess it was a fast food restaurant if it weren’t for the sign, because it doesn’t scream GREASY CHEAP FOOD like its American cousins do. But you don’t need golden arches beckoning you, because this McD’s is so much more enticing. [Best of Imgur]
Article source: http://gizmodo.com/5993347/wed-all-be-fat-if-every-mcdonalds-looked-this-inviting
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Georgia, Khmaladze Architects
The Fat Cat Beer Company Expands Distribution Into Virginia
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – The Fat Cat Beer Company, makers of “sessionable,” handcrafted beer in a can, announced it entered into a distribution agreement with Virginia Imports to bring its craft beer into parts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Founded in 1978, family-owned Virginia Imports possesses a portfolio of select, high-quality craft beers and will be responsible for the distribution of Fat Cat’s products in Northern and portions of Western Virginia.
“Fat Cat not only makes great session beers, but they’re also outstanding craft beers at an affordable price. It’s not very often you can find a 12-pack can that encompasses those two qualities,” said Jay Colston, President of Virginia Imports. “We know customers in the region will really appreciate these beers and we’re excited to play a key role in the growth of their brand.”
The Fat Cat Beer Company currently offers four distinctly different craft beers, including its Fat Cat™ Lager, Sultans of Wheat™, ShawShank’s Injunction™ Pale Ale and Beale St™ Brown Ale. Its IPA is expected in late March.
“We’ve been very selective with the markets we enter. Not only must the area be extremely supportive of craft beer, our brands need to become a priority for the distributor ,and part of a mutually acceptable marketing plan ,” said Bruce Taub, President of The Fat Cat Beer Company. “ The folks at Virginia Imports have embraced our brands. We’re looking forward to working with them and the arrival of Fat Cat into parts of Virginia!”
About The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC
The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC is known for providing iconically packaged, handcrafted session beers that are complex in nature, but smooth in taste. Fat Cat beers are brewed under its proprietary statements of process and tested for quality assurance. Its Vienna Lager was the first craft beer in a can when it debuted in 1994. The beers are currently available in four states, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Virginia, with expansion plans to California and other markets later this year. To learn more, visit http://www.fatcatbeers.com or follow them on Twitter @TheFatCatBeerCo or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheFatCatBeerCompany.
Article source: http://www.brewbound.com/news/2013/the-fat-cat-beer-company-expands-distribution-into-virginia
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Fat Cat, Georgia, LLC, VA
The Fat Cat Beer Company Expands Distribution Into Virginia
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – The Fat Cat Beer Company, makers of “sessionable,” handcrafted beer in a can, announced it entered into a distribution agreement with Virginia Imports to bring its craft beer into parts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Founded in 1978, family-owned Virginia Imports possesses a portfolio of select, high-quality craft beers and will be responsible for the distribution of Fat Cat’s products in Northern and portions of Western Virginia.
“Fat Cat not only makes great session beers, but they’re also outstanding craft beers at an affordable price. It’s not very often you can find a 12-pack can that encompasses those two qualities,” said Jay Colston, President of Virginia Imports. “We know customers in the region will really appreciate these beers and we’re excited to play a key role in the growth of their brand.”
The Fat Cat Beer Company currently offers four distinctly different craft beers, including its Fat Cat™ Lager, Sultans of Wheat™, ShawShank’s Injunction™ Pale Ale and Beale St™ Brown Ale. Its IPA is expected in late March.
“We’ve been very selective with the markets we enter. Not only must the area be extremely supportive of craft beer, our brands need to become a priority for the distributor ,and part of a mutually acceptable marketing plan ,” said Bruce Taub, President of The Fat Cat Beer Company. “ The folks at Virginia Imports have embraced our brands. We’re looking forward to working with them and the arrival of Fat Cat into parts of Virginia!”
About The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC
The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC is known for providing iconically packaged, handcrafted session beers that are complex in nature, but smooth in taste. Fat Cat beers are brewed under its proprietary statements of process and tested for quality assurance. Its Vienna Lager was the first craft beer in a can when it debuted in 1994. The beers are currently available in four states, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Virginia, with expansion plans to California and other markets later this year. To learn more, visit http://www.fatcatbeers.com or follow them on Twitter @TheFatCatBeerCo or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheFatCatBeerCompany.
Article source: http://www.brewbound.com/news/2013/the-fat-cat-beer-company-expands-distribution-into-virginia
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Fat Cat, Georgia, LLC, VA
The Fat Cat Beer Company Expands Distribution Into Virginia
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – The Fat Cat Beer Company, makers of “sessionable,” handcrafted beer in a can, announced it entered into a distribution agreement with Virginia Imports to bring its craft beer into parts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Founded in 1978, family-owned Virginia Imports possesses a portfolio of select, high-quality craft beers and will be responsible for the distribution of Fat Cat’s products in Northern and portions of Western Virginia.
“Fat Cat not only makes great session beers, but they’re also outstanding craft beers at an affordable price. It’s not very often you can find a 12-pack can that encompasses those two qualities,” said Jay Colston, President of Virginia Imports. “We know customers in the region will really appreciate these beers and we’re excited to play a key role in the growth of their brand.”
The Fat Cat Beer Company currently offers four distinctly different craft beers, including its Fat Cat™ Lager, Sultans of Wheat™, ShawShank’s Injunction™ Pale Ale and Beale St™ Brown Ale. Its IPA is expected in late March.
“We’ve been very selective with the markets we enter. Not only must the area be extremely supportive of craft beer, our brands need to become a priority for the distributor ,and part of a mutually acceptable marketing plan ,” said Bruce Taub, President of The Fat Cat Beer Company. “ The folks at Virginia Imports have embraced our brands. We’re looking forward to working with them and the arrival of Fat Cat into parts of Virginia!”
About The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC
The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC is known for providing iconically packaged, handcrafted session beers that are complex in nature, but smooth in taste. Fat Cat beers are brewed under its proprietary statements of process and tested for quality assurance. Its Vienna Lager was the first craft beer in a can when it debuted in 1994. The beers are currently available in four states, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Virginia, with expansion plans to California and other markets later this year. To learn more, visit http://www.fatcatbeers.com or follow them on Twitter @TheFatCatBeerCo or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheFatCatBeerCompany.
Article source: http://www.brewbound.com/news/2013/the-fat-cat-beer-company-expands-distribution-into-virginia
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Fat Cat, Georgia, LLC, VA
The Fat Cat Beer Company Expands Distribution Into Virginia
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – The Fat Cat Beer Company, makers of “sessionable,” handcrafted beer in a can, announced it entered into a distribution agreement with Virginia Imports to bring its craft beer into parts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Founded in 1978, family-owned Virginia Imports possesses a portfolio of select, high-quality craft beers and will be responsible for the distribution of Fat Cat’s products in Northern and portions of Western Virginia.
“Fat Cat not only makes great session beers, but they’re also outstanding craft beers at an affordable price. It’s not very often you can find a 12-pack can that encompasses those two qualities,” said Jay Colston, President of Virginia Imports. “We know customers in the region will really appreciate these beers and we’re excited to play a key role in the growth of their brand.”
The Fat Cat Beer Company currently offers four distinctly different craft beers, including its Fat Cat™ Lager, Sultans of Wheat™, ShawShank’s Injunction™ Pale Ale and Beale St™ Brown Ale. Its IPA is expected in late March.
“We’ve been very selective with the markets we enter. Not only must the area be extremely supportive of craft beer, our brands need to become a priority for the distributor ,and part of a mutually acceptable marketing plan ,” said Bruce Taub, President of The Fat Cat Beer Company. “ The folks at Virginia Imports have embraced our brands. We’re looking forward to working with them and the arrival of Fat Cat into parts of Virginia!”
About The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC
The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC is known for providing iconically packaged, handcrafted session beers that are complex in nature, but smooth in taste. Fat Cat beers are brewed under its proprietary statements of process and tested for quality assurance. Its Vienna Lager was the first craft beer in a can when it debuted in 1994. The beers are currently available in four states, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Virginia, with expansion plans to California and other markets later this year. To learn more, visit http://www.fatcatbeers.com or follow them on Twitter @TheFatCatBeerCo or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheFatCatBeerCompany.
Article source: http://www.brewbound.com/news/2013/the-fat-cat-beer-company-expands-distribution-into-virginia
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Fat Cat, Georgia, LLC, VA
The Fat Cat Beer Company Expands Distribution Into Virginia
ALEXANDRIA, VA. – The Fat Cat Beer Company, makers of “sessionable,” handcrafted beer in a can, announced it entered into a distribution agreement with Virginia Imports to bring its craft beer into parts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Founded in 1978, family-owned Virginia Imports possesses a portfolio of select, high-quality craft beers and will be responsible for the distribution of Fat Cat’s products in Northern and portions of Western Virginia.
“Fat Cat not only makes great session beers, but they’re also outstanding craft beers at an affordable price. It’s not very often you can find a 12-pack can that encompasses those two qualities,” said Jay Colston, President of Virginia Imports. “We know customers in the region will really appreciate these beers and we’re excited to play a key role in the growth of their brand.”
The Fat Cat Beer Company currently offers four distinctly different craft beers, including its Fat Cat™ Lager, Sultans of Wheat™, ShawShank’s Injunction™ Pale Ale and Beale St™ Brown Ale. Its IPA is expected in late March.
“We’ve been very selective with the markets we enter. Not only must the area be extremely supportive of craft beer, our brands need to become a priority for the distributor ,and part of a mutually acceptable marketing plan ,” said Bruce Taub, President of The Fat Cat Beer Company. “ The folks at Virginia Imports have embraced our brands. We’re looking forward to working with them and the arrival of Fat Cat into parts of Virginia!”
About The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC
The Fat Cat Beer Company, LLC is known for providing iconically packaged, handcrafted session beers that are complex in nature, but smooth in taste. Fat Cat beers are brewed under its proprietary statements of process and tested for quality assurance. Its Vienna Lager was the first craft beer in a can when it debuted in 1994. The beers are currently available in four states, including Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Virginia, with expansion plans to California and other markets later this year. To learn more, visit http://www.fatcatbeers.com or follow them on Twitter @TheFatCatBeerCo or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheFatCatBeerCompany.
Article source: http://www.brewbound.com/news/2013/the-fat-cat-beer-company-expands-distribution-into-virginia
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Fat Cat, Georgia, LLC, VA
Did You Save Some Turkey Fat? Other Oils?
What could be more heartwarming than the sight of a table groaning with glistening Thanksgiving turkey, candied yams and buttery brussel sprouts or green beans? Still, all of that succulence is balanced by chaos and mess in the kitchen, where towers of plates, pans, and pots also glisten with the day’s accumulation of oil and grease. After an afternoon sweating over turkey and plying argumentative relatives with food and drink, you find your sink strainer or your garbage disposal doing double duty.
Most of us tend to pour the oil directly down the drain. A quick wash with dish liquid convinces us that we’re breaking down the fat sufficiently.
Unfortunately, that’s when the work might begin for the plumber. Fat, oil and grease (FOG) poured down a drain will eventually cool, clinging to the sides of pipes and making it harder for water to flow through the vast arterial networks underground. Soap doesn’t help to fully break down the sludge either, because fat, oil, and grease like to regroup further down the pipe.
Ultimately, this can burden the city’s sewer system, leading to overflows that have environmental impacts on streets and rivers further down the line.
But some people are aware that our Thanksgiving effluent has potential as biofuel. And as it turns out, several cities across the United States are running public or privately run FOG recycling drives.
Many are aimed at restaurants, which continually churn out grease and oil. Others are intended to help residents deal with FOG-saturated events like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Most require participants to pour cooled oil or scrape congealed fat and grease into plastic food storage containers for delivery or collection.
In San Francisco, a number of drop-off sites at grocery stores and other businesses will accept residents’ tubs of grease. In Tucson, Ariz., Pima County is offering day-after grease drop-off facilities for an eighth year running. Over the length of the program, it has collected over 18 000 pounds of FOG for reuse as biodiesel.
A recycling team named Green Grease offers home pickups in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi and Michigan. And that’s just a sampling.
New York City offers a list of grease recyclers, although it is mainly intended for local businesses, which face state penalties of up to $10,000 if they dump grease down drains. For individual consumers, the possibilities are less clear: the New York City Department of Environmental Protection suggests that oil, grease and fat be placed in nonrecyclable containers and then dumped in the trash for regular collection.
The ultimate goal is to reduce instances of sewer clogging so that toxic overflows are less of a threat. But when city programs are lacking, some people have turned to their own devices to make fuel from their cooking waste. (No tutorial here: it’s a little complicated.)
Bird to biodiesel: maybe you’ll want to save the thought for tomorrow, when you’ve finished digesting the feast.
Article source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/22/did-you-save-some-turkey-fat-other-oils/
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: FOG, Georgia, Green Grease, Pima County
Fat, boring, hot states
Indiana: boring. Maine: boring. Georgia: hot, racist and boring. Oregon: liberal, weird, rainy and boring. Ohio: boring, but important in the primaries.
Such, at least, are the verdicts rendered by Google’s autocomplete function, according to some informal research by venture capitalist and occasional blogger Renee DiResta.
Suffering from mild culture shock upon her recent move from New York to San Francisco — where subways are sparse, people are obsessed with “local food,” and homeless people sprawl comfortably about the streets — she got interested in how people from different U.S. regions stereotype one another.
State by state, she started typing “Why is (state) so” into her Google search bar, and let its algorithm guess the remainder of her question. Type in “Why is Illinois so,” for instance, and it wonders if you’re going to ask, “Why is Illinois so corrupt?” For West Virginia, the top result is “poor.” Not all of the suggested descriptions are negative. Colorado is “healthy” and Delaware “business friendly.”
“It seemed like an ideal question to get at popular assumptions, since ‘Why is (state) so X?’ presupposes that X is true,” DiResta wrote. Once she had her results, she turned them into an interactive map of state stereotypes. You can mouse over any state to see the top four results.
Stereotypes don’t always correspond to reality, but it turns out that there is some wisdom in the crowd’s assumptions. DiResta found that states Google users think of as “expensive” in fact have some of the highest costs of living. And states whose top results include “fat” or “overweight” are indeed near the top in obesity rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Google’s guesses change over time, so her results aren’t necessarily the same ones you’d get if you tried the searches today. For instance, DiResta’s top autocomplete for Texas was “awesome,” but mine was “hot.” Perhaps she tried the search on an unusually mild day in the Lone Star State.
For DiResta’s full post, including a map of states that actually return positive results, go to tinyurl.com/ tbtimes-whyso.
© 2012 Slate
Article source: http://www.tampabay.com/news/perspective/fat-boring-hot-states/1246214
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Georgia, Lone Star State, New York, San Francisco
Fat and Stupid in vogue: New ‘Here comes Honey Boo Boo’ Clips! UPDATED
By April MacIntyre
Aug 6, 2012, 17:38 GMT
Yes, it’s the shameful TLC all-American trainwreck that brings a Georgia turdblossom and her annoying parental unit back for more knee slapping guffaws for the easily amused.
Farting, triple chins, guzzling Mountain Dew and exposed muffin top midriffs on toddlers await those who seek the finer content on Telly.
Yes, it’s the shameful TLC all-American trainwreck that brings a Georgia turdblossom and her annoying parental unit back for more knee slapping guffaws for the easily amused.
But wait, there’s more! A whole family of miscreants await in the Honey Boo Boo Chile universe.
From TLC:
Does a dollar make you holler? HERE COMES HONEY BOO BOO premieres Wednesday, August 8 at 10 PM ET/PT on TLC with two back-to-back episodes. Below, please find a newly-released clip:
Article source: http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1701865.php/Fat-and-Stupid-in-vogue-New-Here-comes-Honey-Boo-Boo-Clips-UPDATED
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Categories: Fat Loss Diary Tags: Georgia, Mountain Dew, TLC