Arturo "Thunder" Gatti, RIP

Commenter Stan B broke the news to me that Arturo "Thunder" Gatti had passed away. From the AP via the Los Angeles Times website ("Arturo Gatti, former boxing champion, found dead in hotel"):

Associated Press
4:10 PM PDT, July 11, 2009

SAO PAULO -- Former boxing champion Arturo Gatti, whose epic trilogy with Micky Ward branded him one of the most exciting fighters of his generation, was found dead in a hotel room in the posh seaside resort of Porto de Galihnas early Saturday.

Police investigator Edilson Alves told the Associated Press that the body of the former junior welterweight champ was discovered in his room at the tourist resort, where Gatti had arrived on Friday with his Brazilian wife Amanda and 1-year-old son.

Alves said police were investigating and it was unclear how the 37-year-old Canadian died.

"It is still too early to say anything concrete, although it is all very strange," Alves said. He declined to provide any additional details.

A spokeswoman for the state public safety department said Gatti's wife and son were unhurt. The woman declined to give a name in keeping with department policy.

"There were no bullet or stab wounds on his body, but police did find blood stains on the floor," she said.

Brazilian boxer and four-time world champion Acelino "Popo" Freitas told the G1 website of Brazil's largest TV network Globo that he was a close friend of Gatti and his wife, and that he "knew they were having some sort of problem and were about to separate."

[...]

"I never saw a crowd show so much love for someone like the way that the crowds flocked to Arturo's fights in Atlantic City," said referee Randy Neumann, who officiated Gatti's last fight against Alfonso Gomez two years ago. "I mean, they were so into him and the crowds were electric. He just fought his heart out every fight."

A quick aside: I've had the pleasure of meeting Randy Neumann on a few occasions. He was a heavyweight contender in the 1970s, and now, in addition to being a professional referee, runs his own financial planning practice in Paramus, NJ. According to a recent article in our local paper, the Record, Neumann's son, a former college football prospect, is now starting his own pro career, managed by his father. I had planned on blogging on that, but hadn't gotten around to it. The AP article quotes Neumann again,

Gatti attempted a comeback in July 2007, getting knocked out in seven rounds by Gomez. Afterward, with his legion of fans cheering for him in the arena, Gatti announced his retirement in the dressing room at Boardwalk Hall.

Neumann said it was tough for him to end that fight, simply because of Gatti's incredible ability to come back in fights.

"I couldn't stop that fight, simply because he was Arturo Gatti," Neumann said. "He was much more dignified to go out that way. He had to be counted out. When he fought, you never knew if he could come back. He looked beaten and still came back."

Neumann is a great referee. Sometimes you've got to let a fighter get counted out, and sometimes you have stop it before it gets to that, and it takes a great referee to make that call¹.

I was never a fan of Gatti -- I was pulling for the other guy in most of his fights -- but I always respected his courage. You had to -- how could you not respect the courage of a man who would keep fighting with a broken hand? May he rest in peace.

Below is a video of the 9th round of the first of three fights between Gatti and "Irish" Mickey Ward. This was probably the best round in the best fight of the trilogy, and this fight was one of the best I've ever seen. Ward, incidentally, if memory serves, was still driving a steam roller for a living in Massachusetts at the time of this fight. He got some nice paydays in the next two fights though, I think.

Mickey Ward vs Arturo Gatti I Round 9


¹I once complimented Neumann on stopping the Klitschko v. Mercer fight when he did. Mercer, the old U.S. Army champion, was "like a Sherman tank" according to Neumann. Letting him eat more of Klitschko's straight rights would have been pointless at that stage of the fight.

Bright Lights, Peak Oil

Hat tip to Aaron Edelheit (with a second assist to Paul Kedrosky) for this article by Chris Turner in the Walrus magazine (which looks like a Canadian version of the Atlantic magazine before the Atlantic's recent, garish redesign): "An Inconvenient Talk: Dave Hughes's guide to the end of the fossil fuel age".

From this article, Dave Hughes, a geologist/doomsayer, appears to be Canada's answer to Matt Simmons. For some reason (perhaps in tribute to the upcoming 25^th anniversary of Jay McInerney's novel Bright Lights, Big City) Chris Turner refers to himself in this article in the second person. Here's a taste:

Dave had to start out fifteen minutes earlier than the requisite ungodly hour so he could pick you up at your house. So you wouldn’t drive yourself. Save a few hydrocarbons, he’d joked. He’s a coal man, a geologist, and he always refers to the holy trinity of fossil fuels whose flames have stoked the past 200 years of industrial growth — coal, natural gas, and especially oil — in that same semi-technical way: hydrocarbons. Dave Hughes has a lot to say about hydrocarbons, mainly how there’s no possible way to keep running the engine of a modern global economy for much longer at the pace we’re burning them. Which is why you felt compelled to join him in the black chill of this late-autumn morning. Because that seems like a pretty big deal.

The uninspired photo above of Dave Hughes (that's the best backdrop they could come up with in Calgary and its environs?) accompanies the article and is credited to "Wilkosz + Way".

PhotoChannel and Facebook

Reader N.L. shared with me the following correspondence he had with PhotoChannel (OTC BB: PNWIF.OB) today.

N.L.'s e-mail to PhotoChannel:

Is it fair to say that Photochannel is no longer in the running for facebook as a company called imagekind seems to be working with them? Any other social networking sites or flickr on the radar screen?

PhotoChannel's response to N.L.:

Thank you for your interest.

While I can’t speak definitively about Imagekind and their relationship with Facebook, it is of no mounting concern for us at PNI.

It seems that they have created a fan-page on Facebook. Artists who sell their art via Imagekind, and are also users of Facebook, can become fans of the fan page, and thereby attract new fans, with the hopes of selling more art via Imagekind. This type of marketing is a common strategy of both big and small companies, including some of PNI’s key customers. Wal-Mart Canada, for example, has a photo gift presence on Facebook already which can be used as an on ramp to further sales.

As a company, we are pursuing corporate level partnerships with leading retailers and sites, including Facebook and Flickr, the two you mentioned. In terms of marketing, we also guide and support our existing partners in devising and implementing messaging and strategies that will drive sales through the PNI platform.

I hope that answers your question.

Simon Cairns

PNI Digital Media

Two Press Releases from Destiny Media

Destiny Media Technologies (OTC BB: DSNY.OB) issued two press releases within the last several hours.

The first relates to the company's dispute with Yangaroo (TSX Venture: YOO.V), "Destiny Media Responds to Press Release From Canadian Competitor". Excerpt:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Destiny Media Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DSNY - News), the industry's leading secure digital media distribution company, is pleased to respond to a press release issued this afternoon by Yangaroo Inc. (TSX: YOO, Pink Sheets: YOOIF). Yangaroo offers a web based product that competes with Destiny's Play MPE® system in Canada.

According to their release, Yangaroo states that a claim for patent infringement against Destiny was filed in Wisconsin today for a patent issued yesterday. Destiny has not yet been served with this claim but is familiar with this patent and Destiny's management is confident that the claims are without merit. Destiny previously filed a $25 million slander and defamation suit against Yangaroo, for misleading Destiny's customers regarding the limits of Yangaroo intellectual property rights.

Destiny first began offering the MPE® system in 1999 and has its own patent for a Digital Media Distribution Method and System (USPTO 7466823) with foreign priority dating to March 2000. Yangaroo applied for their US patent May 8th 2003, four years after MPE® launched. Yangaroo listed Destiny's MPE® patent as prior art in their own application, clearly admitting that the MPE® system predated their application.

Yangaroo's original patent application was unsuccessful and they received a final rejection on December 15, 2008, forcing them to abandon all 109 of their original claims. They wrote and submitted a new single claim in January 2009 and this single claim patent was granted yesterday. Their new claim describes a method of distributing music that takes a different approach than that used by MPE®.

According to Destiny CEO, Steve Vestergaard, the suit is frivolous and only intended to create confusion in the marketplace. "They say imitation is the best form of flattery, but intellectual property law protects the invention that comes first, so their claims that we might infringe on a claim they only wrote a few months ago are ridiculous. Play MPE® is well on the way to becoming the global standard as over one thousand labels, including all the majors have chosen our system to send their new music to radio and we will protect our customer's ability to use the system they prefer."

The second press release announces a new deal in Australia, "Destiny Media Announces Partnership Between Play MPE(R) and Australian Independent Record Labels Association". Excerpt:

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Destiny Media Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: DSNY - News), the industry's leading secure digital media distribution company, is pleased to announce that Australian partner, The Shooting Star Picture Company has established a partnership with the Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR) to provide media distribution services for Australia's 300+ indie record companies through the Play MPE® music delivery software.

A Canadian's Comment on Health Care

Interesting comment from Tom West on a health care post on Megan McCardle's Atlantic blog:

Boy, the more I read, the guiltier I feel about living in Canada. We sort of have the ideal position.

We're large enough that most of us don't see the direct comparison with the American system, (which is nice, but three times the price). America operates as our second tier which is close enough that the rich aren't upset about going there for expensive health-care, but far enough away that the even the moderately well-to-do don't look at it as a serious alternative.

We're insulated enough so that when the doctors say "there's nothing we can do", you can believe it without feeling guilty about not destroying your family's finances to pay for some sliver of hope. We benefit from the American innovations when they're finally brought down to a cost that our bureaucrats consider acceptable¹. The doctors don't have to cater to ridiculous demands for unnecessary tests, and have no incentive to give them.

We have a Corolla health-care system as opposed to the American Lexus, but it does a decent job for most of us, and ends up being an element of society that binds most Canadians together rather than becomes a source of resentment and distrust. (Tommy Douglas who introduced our health-care system was recently selected as Greatest Canadian ever by viewing audiences.)

That said, sadly for those few Americans that look at our health-care system as a model, I'm afraid it wouldn't work for you. You'd be missing the one ingredient that helps it work as well as it does... You.

¹Tom uses the passive voice here, but Canadian bureaucrats often actively lower drug costs by imposing price controls.

"Sea Change" in the Arctic

In an article in the November Atlantic ("Sea Change") that includes the above graphic, Scott Borgerson describes some of the economic and political implications of the Arctic Ocean becoming navigable due to the melting of the ice cap.

Presumably, a beneficiary of a more navigable Arctic would be Baffinland Iron Mines (TSX: BIM.TO), the speculative Canadian junior iron mining company that had been a pick of Aaron Edelheit (at least until Mitsubishi declined to participate in Baffinland's round of financing last year).