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On a recent afternoon Thebe Kgositsile, 19, wandered around his sparse central Hollywood apartment lugging a gallon of orange juice and thinking about the logo to his fledgling music imprint Tan Cressida.
A piano melody looped from a computer plugged into the keyboard next to it. The early stages of a beat, its evolution would soundtrack the rest of the afternoon as he built it while meeting with his attorney and his manager and worrying aloud that he was getting sick. He'd been coughing all morning, and Bonnaroo was less than a week away.
Thebe is best known as Earl Sweatshirt, rapper, YouTube breakout, member of the Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future. He is the son of a South African poet laureate father and a civil rights attorney mother. His manager helped discover Tupac Shakur. Despite Thebe's age, and whether he likes it or not (he doesn't), his story over the last three years has become the stuff of legend in the rap world.
Bonnaroo was to be the second of two major North American festival performances this summer and one of a handful since his 2012 return from a Samoan juvenile facility that spawned both a mythology and a misguided Internet campaign to "free" him.
The high-profile Bonnaroo appearance meant he had only a few days at home to finalize the mix, sequencing and presentation of his debut studio album as Earl Sweatshirt — "Doris," which comes out Aug. 20 on Tan Cressida through Sony Music Entertainment. A wildly ambitious, verbally dense, linguistically and musically explosive album, it captures the great distance he's traveled since returning from the South Seas.
And today (to paraphrase him), he felt like crap. "I'm dying," he complained, filling the words with overwrought drama. "I'm withering away." A skinny young man with a calm disposition and already wary of press, Thebe is not one for forced conversation, especially when jet-lagged. (In fact, later that week he'd land in the hospital with pneumonia and have to cancel his Bonnaroo gig.)
He still had to sketch out a Tan Cressida logo to submit to Sony, which attorney Julian Petty was waiting for in an easy chair. A sample needed to be addressed on the Samiyam-produced track "20 Wave Caps." Liner notes needed to be approved. Did he want to perform at a music festival in Maine?
Long in the making and the culmination of an introduction that began when he was 16 and he and some wannabe rappers started uploading videos and mixtapes to the Internet, "Doris" is one of the most anticipated hip-hop debuts in a long time. Its creator has been called rap's prodigal son (a description he loathes), and despite his youth, his and Odd Future's innovative if at times harsh work has been discussed in lecture halls, among relentless bloggers and during encounters on both American and South African streets.
"Doris" is also one of the best albums of the year and marks the arrival of a stubborn, forceful young Los Angeles voice with talent that, surprisingly, outruns the hype. A rapper with memorable ways around a phrase and ability to craft brilliantly imagined, internally rhymed lines and stanzas that blossom with each examination, he's self-aware and increasingly fearless in conveying his emotions. He is a leader in a veritable second L.A. hip-hop Golden Age.
The pressure is on, and he rhymes about it throughout "Doris." In "Burgundy," he makes the drama clear: "I'm afraid I'm gonna blow it/ When them expectations rising because daddy was a poet." A few lines later he further stresses his life as being "in the midst of a tornado/ Misfitted, I'm Clark Gable/ I'm not stable."
It's been quite a year, and asked to offer an overview of his life upon returning, he laughed.
"What is the easiest way to run through the past year?" he asked manager Leila Steinberg, who's been counseling him for the last two years.
"Start with when you got off the plane from Samoa and the police in the airport were screaming ' Earl!'," she suggested. He paused. "That happened. Then I graduated high school. Then I started working on the album."
Much-watched youth
To understand the LAX cops' reaction, jump back to before "that happened." In 2010, Earl Sweatshirt and his fellow rappers Odd Future — the most famous of whom are the Grammy-winning singer Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator — uploaded a video to YouTube called "Earl," one of among a half-dozen they'd offered in the previous months. It featured the namesake rapper, then 16, and kindred spirits in a kitchen pouring what appeared to be beer, cough syrup, pills and marijuana into a blender, drinking it and videotaping the effects.
It was raw and shocking, made on the cheap and reeling with menace — compounded because, while rapping about cannibalism and pulling bloody (fake) teeth out of his mouth, Thebe seemed even younger than he was. The video has since been viewed nearly 12.5 million times.
Just as "Earl" and the mixtape from which it was taken were exploding and labels started courting at the end of his sophomore year, though, Thebe was kicked out of the exclusive New Roads prep school. In "Chum," he cites his descent "from honor roll to cracking locks up off them bicycle racks" as one reason.
The result was the trip to Samoa, to a location chosen by Thebe's mom, Steinberg said, because she "wanted him to have a habilitation experience that was unlike any other, which I think was amazing."
His absence, though, prompted members of Odd Future and fans to launch a "Free Earl" campaign, incorrectly implicating an uptight mom standing in the way of destiny. Online diggers found a photo that confirmed that he was in a Samoan juvenile rehabilitation facility, where he could legally be held until age 21.
While there, Odd Future's music gathered media attention, positive and negative. Amid the punk-suggestive shock, playfulness, a love of button-pushing language and sinister, minimal beats, members joked about rape and tossed around immature homophobic insults while showcasing a keen understanding of social media and self-promotion.
Despite the criticism, Thebe's renown expanded into the literary establishment when he was profiled in 2011 by the New Yorker, a peak for artists of any age. The 8,000-word story reported not only on his situation but identified his mother as a teacher (later reported to be respected civil rights attorney and UCLA professor Cheryl Harris) and his father, Keorapetse Kgositsile, as the lauded South African poet and activist for the African National Congress as it pushed toward reform in the apartheid-era country.
The son had scored hip-hop, literary and genetic cred before he'd even issued a proper debut album. To add to the mystique, noted the New Yorker's Kelefa Sanneh, one of the father's most important poems had prompted an influential New York proto-rap group to name themselves the Last Poets.
That was long before Earl Sweatshirt was born, and the genre the Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron inspired is now more than three decades old.
Asked about the state of hip-hop, though, the young artist was blunt: "I think rap is either on the cusp of dying or having a renaissance. It's one of the two. You can hit your head against the same wall a bunch of times, especially now." He referred to the genre as "a dusty-ass bucket."
He became a lightning rod a few weeks ago when he dismissed Jay Z's new album, "Magna Carta Holy Grail," in a simple (cussed) tweet: "If you really [messed] with Magna Carta then unfollow me." The tweet prompted much backlash and a few more tweets from Earl, including: "I hope that opinions on my material throughout my career are based on the quality of it and not how big my name is."
To say Thebe was overwhelmed by the attention upon returning is an understatement, he said, easing into conversational mode while trying to sketch out the Tan Cressida logo, the piano loop echoing behind him. The pressure to dive into the chaos of an Odd Future tour was heavy. "It was like, get on the stage and everybody has these huge expectations. 'Oh, my God, the prodigal son!'"
He paused, then added: "And I have my own self-esteem issues, so [stuff] like that doesn't get to me. It actually just makes me question people's agendas and tastes."
While he was away, Harris was searching for a business advisor with integrity, one whose agenda would help guide her son through the tangles of the music business.
"Thebe and I had been talking quite a bit about his music and his desire to build a career when he got back," said Harris. She and administrators and board members at New Roads brainstormed, and Steinberg's name came up as someone "who would understand that it's Thebe's well-being and not just his career. It's about Thebe as a human being and not just Earl as a commodity."
So Harris reached out to Steinberg, who, after Shakur's death, had quit what she described as a "toxic and painful" music business. "I lost so many people that I love."
Steinberg founded an L.A.-based nonprofit called Alternative Intervention Models, which helps needy kids find artistic outlets and offers regular workshops at San Quentin penitentiary. Still, she continued to contemplate a return to management. "I felt like I'd learned so much, but I felt like I needed the right time to come back in and do something."
That moment occurred just after Thebe was sent to Samoa. Coincidentally, the week before she was contacted, Steinberg had focused a lecture to USC law students on the ways in which music drives culture and art — and the focus was the "Earl" song and video.
For his part, half a world away Thebe had just finished the only hip-hop book in the library: "Holler If You Hear Me," the Michael Eric Dyson biography of Shakur that detailed Steinberg's role in his ascent.
They began phone and Skype conversations, and it seemed a natural fit. "I fell in love with him just as this young, brilliant kid who has an artist and activist and an attorney sitting on his head," said Steinberg.
Thebe found someone he could trust in a business he was wary of. "In the music industry, it's hard to find somebody with actually good intentions. Leila has this Mother Teresa complex," he said. "Whatever it was, I didn't have to worry about her trying to snake me out of anything. That was my number one concern, and that's why Leila stuck."
Trust earned, he submitted to her stipulations as part of his juvenile rehabilitation program. "I was writing all the time because I had to. Everything that came up, I had to write about it." Such obsessive self-reflection is all over "Doris." He writes about love and distance on "Sunday," frustration and loneliness on "Chum," about the tension between following your own dreams at the expense of others' agendas.
Too, Thebe was required to perform community service, where he learned the reality of a word, "rape," that he and Odd Future had so flippantly tossed around. He worked daily at a victim center that housed children who had been sexually abused. Thebe gave Steinberg a tour of the facility when she arrived to accompany him back to Los Angeles after 18 months on the island.
Calling herself "blown away" by his work, Steinberg offered specific assignments: "Give me your ideal life. Write it out." He did, and she understood one of the seeds of his troubles: "He was in pain. He was a teenager missing his dad."
Keorapetse Kgositsile was born in South Africa, became active as a poet in the ANC in the late 1950s, was exiled in the early 1960s and landed in New York a half-decade later, where he published work including "Spirits Unchained," "For Melba" and "My Name Is Afrika." He met Harris in Chicago. After their son was born, the family moved to Los Angeles.
Harris said that, growing up, Thebe was obsessed with comedy, including Monty Python, but "was not the kind of kid you'd find in the corner with a book. But there was another side to him, and that was that he really loved a good story. I think he studied comedians as a way of sort of understanding the craft of storytelling." At various times, she said, he got obsessed with the vampire-centered "Cirque du Freak" series of young adult novels and the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. "He liked the macabre."
Her son started writing raps at 11, then tried them out on her. "But let me be clear. He probably didn't share all of them," she added, laughing.
Too, there was "lots of music around the house," said Harris. "Jazz, blues, classic R&B, stuff from all over the world. And we took him to see a lot of music as well."
On the phone from Johannesburg, South Africa, Kgositsile said that Thebe from an early age would get obsessed with what he read. "He used to read and walk," he recalled. "And he was always — always — extremely articulate. He could play around with language quite a bit.
"By the time he was around 7, our rules had changed," he added. "He would read me to sleep instead of me reading him to sleep." After Kgositsile and Harris split, the poet returned to South Africa. Thebe spent many summers there with his father, but tensions neither would detail led to frustration.
In the spring, he and his father, along with Thebe's girlfriend, met for dinner in New York.
Kgositsile said that, among other things, he was reassured by an observation that his son made about how he's adapted to his life in the spotlight. "He said that in terms of the pain and fear and frustration and whatever else, that before he didn't even know how to say 'no' if he didn't like whatever it was. But now he can."
The visit with his father, said Thebe, was illuminating for a few reasons. Yes, he's thoughtful and fascinating, but "he's short too," he said, laughing. "Tiny. I'm way taller. And this may seem like a questionable way to describe my dad, but my dad is actually adorable. He's so small that it's cute."
But, he added, he's also realized that his dad is "an awesome dude. He's a sick-ass guy — but a really bad dad. But I'm not tripping off him being a bad dad anymore, because I don't need a father."
There's a bonus too: The struggles with his father fueled the creative energy of Odd Future. "It made for good music when we were angsty teens. Daddy problems are tight when you're trying to make angsty music."
"Doris" is much less aggressively angsty, but a percolating anxiety drives it. It's a simmering, searing, 15-song collection that showcases a writer and rapper able to weave words and meaning through the sonic patterns of spoken poetry. He tosses out lines and phrasings as shifting and expansive as the PCH.
"I'm a bubble in the belly of the monster/ With a duffel full of troubles," he rhymes on "Molasses," a standout track produced by Wu-Tang Clan co-founder and actor RZA. "Trunk rattle in the Mazda/ Ragged with the contra/ Phantom of the opera and I'm standing on a cops truck/ Stacking for the long run," he continues as a dubbed-out, weed-heavy groove offers support.
On "Hive," he captures a singular version of Los Angeles: "From a city that's recession hit/ With stress niggas could flex metal with/ Peddle to rake pennies in/ Desolate testaments/ Trying to stay Jekyllish/ But most niggas Hyde."
But most impressive is its breadth. In addition to the beats and verses, "Doris" is connected through musical interludes, expanded rhythms and sharp sequencing that make it feel of a whole. The curious instrumental "523," written and produced by Thebe, sounds like a twisted Captain Beefheart outtake. "Centurian" features a drum sample from 1970s German rock group Can. It's an album of exploration, quite ambivalent to the pop charts.
"His voice has gotten deeper, and the content has gotten stronger," said producer and rapper Steve Ellison, a.k.a. Flying Lotus, who during his set at Coachella in 2012 introduced Earl Sweatshirt onstage in his first public appearance since returning from Samoa. Under the guise of his Captain Murphy moniker, Ellison has recorded tracks with Thebe, and during Earl's 2013 Coachella performance Ellison served as his DJ.
For "Doris," Thebe said he pulled many all-nighters vibing with rapper Vince Staples, worked with Frank Ocean and Tyler on beats, and built his own productions under the pseudonym randomblackdude.
"I have a small circle of people I'm comfortable making music with," he said, adding that he's "a weirdo with the way I write. Me and Vince would go to the studio at 5 p.m. and we'd stay in there all night till the song was done, till 8 a.m. the next morning. Sleep till 4, and go to the studio at 5." Other guests and producers include the sibling team called Christian Rich, Mac Miller and the Canadian band Bad Bad Not Good.
Such a schedule will no doubt continue. At his apartment while he added a beat to accompany the loop that kept running, he said his interest extends beyond the craft of writing. "I never thought I would make a beat, ever, when I was 16. But things change instantly without you having any idea they're going to change at all."
The options are wide open. "I don't know what they are, but I know this isn't it. I mean, I might go into real estate, I don't know. Maybe acting. It seems like that would be fun. I don't want to close any doors on myself — but I want to get really good at music."
Such focus has already paid off, said Steinberg. "He made his own record. He wouldn't listen to anybody. And there were songs — I'm just going to say this, and he's probably going to get mad at me — that could have been top hits on the charts that he recorded but he chose not to put them on the record. He wants to grow into his voice.
"He was like, 'I don't want to have a number one my first time around with this. Can I take my time with this?' I mean, we've had some crazy conversations."
[For the Record, 4:39 p.m. Aug. 2: An earlier version of the headline on this article said the album "Doris" was Earl Sweatshirt's debut. It is his major label debut.]


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Beat the Streak Report: Thursday, May 12
At 3-0 in the BTS vs. Colbert challenge, we believe our point has been made. It's possible that we haven't seen the last of the once — and future? — presidential candidate around these parts, so check back in a few weeks for an update on that front.
We now return to your regularly scheduled Streak Report:
Last night left patrons at the Streakland Diner wanting just a little more.
Mark Teixeira (1-for-4) and Ichiro Suzuki (2-for-5) brought home the bacon for 26 percent of all pickers, and fellow top-5 selections Andre Ethier (1-for-4) and Joey Votto (2-for-4) buttered toast for an additional 8.8 percent, so the meal was off to a good start.
But Troy Tulowitzki and Adam Lind failed to show up with eggs and pancakes — as we had previously agreed upon — due to 0-for-0 passes.
Not that we couldn't survive on bacon and buttered toast, but that pair should know breakfast — no matter when you eat it — is always the most important meal of the day.
Without that satisfying sustenance of scrambled goodness piled high atop an even higher stack of fluffy flapjacks, it might be tough to make …
Thursday's picks:
(Make a BTS pick)
Oh, hello there …
Todd Helton: .462 (6-for-13) since '06 vs. Mets starter Jon Niese
Troy Tulowitzki: .500 (5-for-10) since '06 vs. Mets starter Jon Niese
Stephen Drew: .345 (10-for-29) since '06 vs. Giants starter Matt Cain
Alex Rodriguez: .444 (4-for-9) since '06 vs. Royals starter Sean O'Sullivan
Vladimir Guerrero: .400 (4-for-10) since '06 vs. Mariners starter Jason Vargas
Feeling kinda spicy?
B.J. Upton: .455 (5-for-11) since '06 vs. Indians starter Justin Masterson
You'll thank me later …
Grady Sizemore: .067 (1-for-15) since '06 vs. Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch
Nick Markakis: .100 (1-for-10) since '06 vs. Mariners starter Jason Vargas
Mark Teixeira: .125 (1-for-8) since '06 vs. Royals starter Sean O'Sullivan
Leaderboard time!
Thesantos2006 sits alone atop the leaderboard at 27 games after ringing the bell with Ichiro last night. Hey buddy, you're almost there! That is, if there is a random 28 game streak.
Top MLB streakers
Hunter Pence: 15 games
Shane Victorino: 14 games
Marlon Byrd: 12 games
Carl Crawford: 11 games
Victor Martinez: 11 games
Brian McCann: 11 games
(Make a BTS pick)
28 Comments
Upton isn't playing today or Friday since he is taking his suspension those two nights.
Cano doubtful after beaning last nite. Posey doubtful after catching some foul balls with his mask, while wearing it. Check TB lineup before lock, Longoria took a solid drilling last nite. For others riding the bench today, may want to check rotoworld before games lock.
Ran the top2500. Will post when I take lunch. Highest NO SELECTION is page 6 with a streak of 16.
I've taken Vladimir Guerrero to get me back to 1. I still can't believe I took Jeter who was 2 for 7 (now 2 for 10) against Vin Mazzaro ahead of Mark Teixeira who was 4 for 8. I also play Baseball Hot Streak on foxsports.com. I usually take the same player for both (both streaks were 15) but after 1:05 I started to lose confidence in Jeter and thankfully switched my pick to Teixeira. Mark was walked on his first 2 plate appearances and lined out on his 3rd then he came within 1/4 of a step of getting an infield single on his 4th trip. However he rescued my hotstreak in the 9th with a leadoff single and that streak is now 16. I'm taking Guerrero in hotstreak too.
wow, the prizes for that contest suck.
the GRAND prize is $1,500?
the only bigger scam was the Yankees' Beat the Streak MLB used to have about 5 years ago.
I wonder how many people play that contest though?
I browsed through the 1st 3 pages of the leaderboars and it went from 29 all the way down to only 15 games.
I've been struggling so much lately that I decided to go outside the box with Matt Joyce of TB today. And I've already been rewarded!
Grinding my teeth I went with the hated Evil Empire and Holliday homered in 1st AB. Now I hope the Cubbies can come back and win the series; but the Cards appear to repay the Cubs back for yesterday's spanking. Oh well.
Even if Cubbies can't achieve a comeback, hopefully they hold Sir Albert down — leader has him for today.
Hey hey hey. I have Prince Albert too. Oh would you look at that. He just infield singled for me to move on to tomorrow. Good luck to therest of ya waiting.
Hmmm. More disappointed Cubbies are getting beat than Pujols getting a hit. But you know me, I always hope the leaders fall; regardless who else may have picked along with them.
I Know. Just giving u a hard time. Here's hoping the other big-guns aren't as successful tonight.
Sorry for the delay today guys, this whole working thing sometimes interferes with things. LOL
LaV's List
Thursday's Top Picks of the current Top2500,
93 Batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Matt Holliday 334 13.49 GOOD
Alex Rodriguez 269 10.87
Andre Ethier 210 8.48 (2nd)
Albert Pujols 181 7.31 (1rst)GOOD
Vlad Guerrero 128 5.17
Ichiro Suzuki 109 4.4
Curtis Grndrson 109 4.4
Martin Prado 102 4.12 (3rd)
Lance Berkman 89 3.6 DNP
Matt Kemp 85 3.43
Robinson Cano 69 2.79
No Selection 69 2.79
Highest "No Selection" 😛 pg# 6 with streak of 16 back to zero.
Yesterday's Top2500 Reset rate was 14.25% with Jacoby Ellsbury reseting the most.
There was also 17.66% PPD due to players not playing, These streakers do not reset, but did not increase either.
Got Pinched OR 1 AB Wonders
TOP2500 saved or reset by PHA (going to include any pinch hitters and/or double switch, 1 AB or More)
J Loney LAD, RESET 3,
A Gordon KC, RESET 3,
J Baker CHC, RESET 3,
P Burrell SF, RESET 1,
A Everett CLE, 1,(no AB)
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
gurpsing, 15, pg 9, 160, Prado (PICKED 102X)
forcook, 14, pg 13, 249, Ethier (PICKED 210X)
BLACKHAWKS, 10, pg 36, 846, Helton (PICKED 47X)
Bloggers Reset Yesterday
yanksgiantsdevils33 15, RESET by Derek Jeter
tolvar, 13, RESET by Derek Jeter
GL to all
Did all the pinched guys have really minor streaks?
I notice you omitted the "longest streak reset" by those pinched hitters for yesterday.
Sorry missed that. But they were all minor streaks.
Loney reset 312,9,8 gamers.
Gordon reset 3, 10,8,7 gamers
Baker reset 3, 9,7,7 gamers
Burrell reset 1, was 8 gamer
How long was the player with the walk by Burrell?
Also, does your program have any way of figuring out how many people play Beat the Streak overall?
@Champ88. I can answer that last question since I wrote the program. No. The program is only aware of the Top2500 (100 pages of 25 streakers per page). There is no way we are going to know how many actually play the game unless Dave tells us. They do know because the post their top 15 picks each day; just don't tell us what that percentage is based off.
Prado blooped a single in between 2 outfielders in the 1st inning to move me onto 5!
I think I may be lucky that that was ruled a hit though.
Now I have to worry about it being changed to an error later in the game/after the game.
And to those who say it cannot happen, I saw Carlos Gonzalez get an infield single in the top of the 11th inning a week or so ago and by the bottom of the inning, it had been changed to a fielding error.
That ended up being his last AB and he ended up going 0 for 5.
Something similar happened to me too, but it took 2 innings for the official scorer to change it. BTW: If Prado's ball wasn't touched before it hit the ground, it will never be called an error; regardless how "easy" the play looked.
Well the Braves game was not televised today, but Gameday said it was hit to the right fielder, but deflected by the center fielder, so I think that very easily could have been called an error.
Think you can relax now. Grand slam by Prado
a 10-pitch AB and I have no clue how he fouled off that 1st 2-2 pitch though.
I wonder if Burnett just figured he would groove the 3-2 pitch and see what happens?
Prado normally does not hit very many home runs.
@champ. I'm just heading home from work but I'll check when I get there, after I have dinner I'll post it for u.
@Yanks: Jeter finally got a hit. A weak grounder threw the middle.
And Ichiro just got an infield single.
Both "soft" hits by Gameday.
Guerrero just got hit by a pitch and has been removed from the game, now both streaks are at 0. 😦 😦
Jeter's hit is like an insult to my streak but I would have lost it along with the Hotstreak on Guerrero.
Guerrero just removed for a pinch-runner.
0 for 4 with a hit by pitch.
A-Rod's last AB is coming up next. Granderson may not see another AB & will reset quite a few too. Assumption is Yanks don't send a bunch of extra hitters to the plate
Figures. As soon as I posted that .. A-Rod homers
And it's official. Ethier & Kemp pickers remain idle. LAD headed back out west for tomorrow's game, this game is PPD

subset: commoncrawl


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Page One
East Bay Residents Warned Against Phony Water District Employees After Utility Truck Is Stolen
East Bay residents should be on the lookout for suspects posing as water department workers after an official truck was stolen from the East Bay Municipal Utility District last week, the district announced today.
The maintenance truck -- identified as EBMUD vehicle No. 896 -- was a white 2008 F-350 with a California license plate No. 1285077, according to EBMUD.
The vehicle - which contained an official EBMUD work badge, hard hat, safety vest and tools -- was stolen on Thursday and was later spotted near Redwood Christian Church in Castro Valley on Saturday, according to EBMUD.
Utility district officials warned East Bay residents to be on the lookout for the stolen truck, and to be aware of suspects possibly posing as utility workers in residential neighborhoods.
EBMUD said that utility workers making repairs to water lines do not normally ask to enter homes, but might knock on doors to notify residents of temporary water outages.
Residents should ask to see workers' identification and ask the purpose of their visit.
Anyone who spots the missing truck should call EBMUD's 24-hour hotline at (866) 403-2683. Anyone who sees suspicious activity should call 911.


text:
Radford University Appoints Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Assessment
Radford University has appointed Ebenezer Kolajo to the position of assistant vice provost for academic assessment. He will begin work on Jan. 7, 2013.
"I'm extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Kolajo to the Office of the Provost," RU Provost Sam Minner said. "He brings with him a depth of experience, knowledge and understanding that will well serve our office and all of Radford University. Dr. Kolajo will lead our efforts to effectively and efficiently assess our academic programs. He will join Ms. Bethany Bodo on our academic assessment team."
Kolajo has more than 20 years of experience in higher education as an administrator and educator. Before joining Radford, he had served since 2008 as director of institutional research and planning at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton.
At West Georgia, Kolajo worked with university administrators toward maintaining a data-driven environment for planning and decision making while also providing support for institutional assessment to ensure effective performance and public accountability.
Kolajo served previously as director of institutional research at Cecil College in North East, Md. He also served as rector of Madzivhandila College of Agriculture in South Africa, where he assisted in revamping academic curricula and in developing a strategic plan for the institution.
Kolajo's additional experience in South Africa included teaching economics, research methods and statistics courses at the University of Maiduguri in Nigeria, the University of Zimbabwe and Limpopo University (formerly University of the North).
Kolajo earned a Ph.D. in applied economics and a Master of Science in agricultural economics from Auburn University; a Master of Business Administration in management from Georgia State University; and a Bachelor of Science in agriculture from Tuskegee University.


text:
Your difficulty with comprehension may lie in the fact that you have missed the "on" from the quoted passage. I would interpret the passage as meaning that the young lady in question had achieved somewhat more at high school than simply having sexual intercourse on the [presumably secluded] fire escape stairs.
You said some time ago that you were seeking to gain insights into certain aspects of Society through this book. From the passages quoted so far, I would guess that the only insights to be gained might be to the fevered imagination of the Author.
Interested in Language


text:
Brookfield police locate missing woman
Officials locate Amber Hammond, 26, had last been seen Monday morning
Brookfield police have found Amber Hammond. The 26-year-old had been last seen around 10:30 a.m. on Monday.
Police said her family was extremely worried about her in the cold weather.
"There was some sort of small argument at home due to some rules," said Lt. Jeff Schramm of the Brookfield Police Department. "She basically left a small note that she was running away so that's probably why she took a suitcase with her."
A neighbor saw her walking near Calhoun Road and Capitol Drive, and offered her a ride.
Police said Hammond asked the Good Samaritan to drive her to the bus stop at 124th Street and Capitol Drive. In the car, she explained where she was going.
"There was a conversation, and Amber told the witness that she was en route to 21st and National, where there is a church, Victory Outreach, that she has past contact with," Schramm said.
Hammond was safe and had no cold-related injuries. She has since been reunited with her aunt and uncle, who are her primary caretakers.
Hammond has a mild form of autism and functions with the mentality of a 6-year-old, police said.


text:
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It is irresponsible to increase our national debt without also enacting serious spending reforms that put us on a credible path to a balanced budget. Even with last year's massive tax hikes and tiny sequester cuts currently shrinking the deficit, the federal government is still projected to add another half trillion dollars to our $17 trillion national debt just this year alone, and within a few years we'll be right back to running trillion dollar deficits all over again. On our current course, the national debt will swell to an unfathomable $27 trillion in ten years. We are playing with fiscal fire, courting a debt-induced economic collapse. Just as a well-run bank must eventually refuse to increase the credit limit on a spending addict's credit card, Congress must deny the federal government more credit until it agrees to a plan to balance its books.
One simple way to solve the current spending crisis is simply to stop increasing spending. This isn't rocket science, but Washington insiders seem to take for granted that our spending simply must increase each and every year. Simply spending exactly what we've budgeted for this year – and not one dollar more – over the next few years would result in a balanced budget by 2017.
Stopping spending increases would take some real reforms – including changes to the "big three" entitlement programs (Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid). No one ever said getting federal spending under control would be easy. But the alternative is a deficit that we may find impossible to control without massive economic and financial disruptions for millions of Americans. We can no longer afford to kick the can down the road. The time to begin reigning in out-of-control spending is right now.
For these reasons, I urge you to call your representative and senators, and ask them to vote NO on a clean debt ceiling increase. We will count their vote as a KEY VOTE when calculating FreedomWorks' Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2014. The Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom.
Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
The vast majority of US called our members of congress and they seem to get it except the leadership which seems HELL bent on giving in at every turn to Obama and the Democrats. More calls came out today from Reid and Pelosi to ask Republican Senators to turn their collective backs on US and the Tea Party. A new PROGRESSIVE era has invaded our lands and there is no one there to stand and say "NO". Where are our George Washington's?? Where are our Paul Revere's??


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They say truth is the first casualty of war, and that's certainly true of the War on Drugs. News reports and public statements about the recent raids of cannabis flower-forcing operations on Island Mountain point out just how far from reality both sides have gotten lately.
I heard Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputy Lt. Wayne Hanson explain that they "went to Island Mountain to eradicate marijuana just like we've done for the last 30 years." They still haven't gotten the memo that cannabis is legal in California, or that millions of Californians have the right to possess it, and businesses all over the state have licenses to distribute it. It's only been 18 years since prop 215 passed. You can't expect them to change overnight, especially considering how dependent they've become on asset forfeiture for their budget.
At some point, though, someone needs to point out that these kinds of raids no longer constitute law-enforcement, but instead cross over into armed robbery, home invasion, vandalism and terrorism. Like Lt. Hanson said, they've been doing this for 30 years. They'll do it for another 30 years, regardless of what the law says, unless we stop them. No arrests were made. The DA will probably not bring charges, because a jury would not convict, and the jury would not convict because no one complained, no one was injured, and no crime was committed. That is, unless you count what the cops did, as a crime.
Still 100 cops spent all week, including a generous amount of overtime I'm sure, out at Island Mountain making criminal mischief with their newly allocated Measure Z funds. They're like, "Hey, we're cops, it's summertime, what else are we going to do?" This is how cops justify the continuation of the War on Drugs these days. Heavy-handed assaults on unarmed vegetation have always been pointless, but now they have become a cherished tradition that they intend to preserve for future generations.
Hanson made sure to talk up the environmental crimes they uncovered at Island Mountain, like water diversions, illegal grading and water theft, and they dragged folks from the Water Quality and Wildlife Departments along for show, but this raid had all the hallmarks of an old fashioned Drug War style marijuana raid: unnecessary, excessive, and expensive. Obviously our Sheriff's Department has entirely too much money at its disposal.
I have no doubt that those industrial grow operations on Island Mountain have an enormous impact on the environment, but I'm also sure that Hanson exaggerated the impact, at least as he perceived it, by claiming that each of the plants they eradicated used six gallons of water each day. I saw pictures of those plants. They were all small plants with big flowers, probably potted in 5 gallon containers. You cannot put six gallons of water into a five gallon pot on any day, let alone everyday. Despite the large scale of the operations they raided, Hanson still felt the need to exaggerate, just like in the good ol' days of Drug War hysteria.
On the other side of this counterfeit coin,
we see the pervasive dishonesty of drug-dealers on display as well. LOCO reports that three people in the upper management of California Cannabis Voice Humboldt, or CCVH owned properties involved in last week's raids. CCVH is one of those new groups lobbying to protect the incomes of local dope yuppies from the scourge of legalization. For months now, these groups have all recited the same mantras: "Preserve family farms," "Protect Mom and Pop growers," and "Support sustainable agriculture." They've all reacted with indignation about the raids on Island mountain.
Hezekiah Allen wrote at length about how these raids breached the trust that they had worked so hard to build.
He mentioned the Mendocino County system of institutionalized bribery as an example.
He criticized law-enforcement for targeting people who were "working to come into compliance," as though those Island Mountain monstrosities were shining examples of the "best practices" he talks so much about.
Those were not little "Mom and Pop" operations. Those were not homesteaders growing a little herb to put new tires on their old truck. Nor were they "small family farms" To me, they look like industrial mono-crop operations, newly hacked out of prime forest habitat. Even if they got all of the water for these grows from rainwater catchment ponds, the sheer size of these operations, the number of them, and the density of them, constitutes a real threat to wildlife because of how they fragment forest habitat
We hear a lot about the need to conserve water in these drought times, but widespread cannabis farming in the forest impacts wildlife in many different ways. Every clearing, every road, and every truck on the road has an impact.
Large operations like the ones on Island Mountain punch big holes in the forest canopy, and turn the animals that live there, like deer, bear, mountain lions, coyotes, gophers and woodrats, into pests, to be exterminated, or at least excluded.
Fertilizer runoff, erosion, light pollution, noise, traffic, pesticide contamination, all of these things accompany industrial agriculture wherever it happens, and I daresay, all of it was, and is still, happening on Island Mountain.
Those Island Mountain operations offer a glimpse into the future of the cannabis industry, and that future looks a lot different from its past, for which Humboldt County is so well known. Back in 1995, for instance, if you could manage to harvest five pounds of weed, which wasn't easy, you could probably make your land payment, pay your taxes and feed yourself all year from the money you made. Back then, if you grew a hundred pounds, you were a big shot. If you did it outdoors, you were Houdini. This year, 2015, if you don't harvest at least a hundred pounds, people around here will consider you a hobbyist.
The scale of grow operations in the area has exploded by orders of magnitude in recent years, and in this year in particular, as exemplified by the totals tallied in the raids on Island Mountain. The cops seized over 4,300 pounds of processed, packaged bud. That's over TWO FUCKING TONS of high-grade marijuana, ready to smoke.
They eradicated more than 86, 000 plants, most of them in full bloom. That's got to be another couple tons of bud. All tolled, this one raid might have taken 10,000 pounds, or five tons, of weed off the market. How do you like that for a price support system?
I'm not saying that large scale cannabis farming is inappropriate. Quite the contrary. I hope I see operations ten or twenty times the size of the ones raided on Island Mountain, but on established farmland, all over America. I like cannabis. I think everyone should have plenty of it, and we should grow it everywhere.
However, I am saying that these large scale cannabis operations are a totally inappropriate use of forest habitat, and their economic viability is likely to be short-lived, at best. It took the insanity of prohibition to drive industrial agriculture into the forest to begin with. It would be colossally stupid to encourage it to remain there, after we change the law.
Yes, these Island Mountain raids should remind us that there are no "good guys" in the War on Drugs. You can't trust cops, and you can't trust drug-dealers either. The War on drugs is being waged by heartless, lying, mercenaries on both sides, and their short-term agendas threaten our long-term survival. The sooner we take this industry out of the hands of the cops and the drug dealers, and put it into the hands of honest farmers with real farms, the sooner we can heal our country, our communities, and our watersheds from the ravages of the War on Drugs.


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Piers Morgan will be facing the man he replaced on CNN's 9 p.m. time slot, and things are already getting catty.
The British talk show host revealed over the weekend he will sit down with Larry King for an interview on "Piers Morgan Tonight" on Wednesday, only days after King said Morgan's show was over-hyped.
"He's certainly not bad," King said on BBC Radio 4 last Thursday. "He's certainly an acceptable host. He asks good questions, maybe he interrupts a little too much at times. I think he may babe been oversold," adding that the show promised its host was going to be more "dangerous."
"He's good, but not that dangerous," the veteran talk show host said. "I think they might have been better off starting quietly and that's not Piers' fault, or maybe it is, I'm not inside anymore...I'd not give up on it."
King hung up his suspenders and said good-bye to his decades-long reign on the news channel last December. "Piers Morgan Tonight" replaced "Larry King Live" and debuted with an Oprah interview that attracted more than 2 million viewers. However, ratings dropped by almost 50% by his fourth episode, according to The Huffington Post.
Morgan, a former tabloid editor and "America's Got Talent" judge who had a successful talk show in the U.K., brought out his snarky side on Twitter.
"Got a feeling we may need to discuss Larry's claim that I'm 'oversold' and 'not dangerous,'" Morgan wrote, adding "May have to twang those suspenders to prove how dangerous I really am."
But the Morgan took the catfight a notch down in a formal statement, hinting at his quibble with King but praising his 9 pm predecessor.
"I can't think of many people I'd rather interview than Larry King, and I'm sure people will be fascinated by the dynamic between us, for obvious reasons," Morgan said in the statement, published on CNN.com.
But don't be surprised if the upcoming face-off between the two talk show giants turns into a war of the egos.
"Hope Larry remembers he has to sit on the right now," Morgan tweeted.
Selected Reading: BBC Radio 4, Access Hollywood, CNN


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Capitals 2 - Predators 1
Game Summary
In the second preseason test for the Capitals, it would be their penalty kill that would come up big. The Caps would take 6 straight penalties but would survive them all included a penalty in the waning moments in the game to win their second straight preseason game.
Mike Green scored an early power play tally just 3:21 into the game. Nick Backstrom fed him a sweet pass to set up Green's slap shot. Green would finish with a goal and an assist. Jay Beagle would score the game winner off of a Keith Aucoin pass and the Caps would down the Predators.
The Caps would be plagued with penalties all game long after taking the early 1-0 lead. But the penalty kill would come up big killing every Predator's power play chance. The Caps are a perfect 10 for 10 in the preseason killing off penalties (Columbus Blue Jackets were 0-4 on the PP).
The preseason tilt included a pair of fights with Steve Pinizzotto taking on Kelsey Wilson after Pinizzotto hit Wilson cleanly and Wilson took exception with the clean check. The second bout was between two heavy weights in Grant McNeill and Wade Belak. Belak got in a few punches but McNeill stood strong, lasting until the linesmen broke it up.
Cody Eakin continues to impress even though he did not score tonight. His speed led to a couple negated icings and a spectacular collision with Preds' goaltender Anders Lindback. Beagle made a strong case for making the team with his game winning goal. Marcus Johansson also stood out in this game.
Matt Hendricks didn't quite make the splash he did in the first preseason game, but he played a more physical after the coaching staff evaluated his first game. Brian Fahey also seemed pretty invisible through out the game.
Both goaltenders looked pretty good. Michal Neuvirth had a great series of saves late in the first period as the Predators picked up their play. Dany Sabourin even came up big in the waning seconds of the game coming up with some pretty nice saves to preserve the Caps' lead.
Caps Notes:
- Caps cut goaltender Braden Holtby and defenseman Patrick Wellar and sent them down to Hershey.
- Bruce Boudreau indicated that Alex Ovechkin most likely will start in only three preseason games. Ovi is expected to only play in the Caps' home games.
- Next Preseason tilt is against Boston Tuesday night (9/28) at Verizon Center.


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Rose Gold "I am Protected" CZ Wing Bolo Bracelet
Let your dreams be your wings while wearing this as a daily reminder that you are protected. This Bracelet features neutral rose gold with delicate Cubic Zirconia and the empowering words, "I am Protected" on the wing.
Steps to empower yourself and others:
1. Choose what reminder/Empowerment Bracelet you need for the day.
2. Share it by wearing it!
3. Believe it! {Remember, you aren't alone on this journey!}
4. Gift it! {Pass on the love to someone who needs it.}
- Material: Brass
- Metal Finish: Rose Gold
- 41 Cubic Zirconia
- Pre-inscribed "I am Protected"
- The bolo slider allows the Bracelet to expand to 8 1/2" to slide it over the hand/wrist


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Landscape Software Makes Designing Easy
Forget about the pens, the paper, and having to go to a blueprint shop. Now, all you need to make a stunning design, plans, and an estimate, is a laptop—or a tablet—a software program, and your imagination.
Going from digital photo to design photo
The computer age has brought about many changes, as far as what people can do with photographs. Probably the best-known program that has made it possible to add or remove things from a picture is Photoshop. It can make a photo appear like it is forty years old, or add a person into the picture, or it can change backgrounds; it can do a myriad of things. Then, you can print or send that image, and no one knows that it isn't an original image.
Landscape design software has capitalized on this ability with photo imaging. If you were called in to see a potential client, or a client that you had worked for in the past, and they want to renovate their landscape, now you can take a digital image of the client's house—front, back and sides—go back to your office or truck, and start the work right there.
To begin a design, download a photo of the property. Your client would probably like to keep the grown trees surrounding the property, but would like to remove the overgrown shrubs and turf that make it look like it was landscaped 30 years ago. You want to bring it up to date.
Most programs offer collections of images, accessories and plant material that allow you to put together a visual design of the new landscape in no time at all. All you have to do is simply drop and drag flowers, grass, mulch, hardscapes, and various other elements into your design, and you can create a digital image of what the house might look like.
This also means that there's no need to spend time explaining what each of the plants will look like. The client can just take a look at the image, and have a clear sense of the finished product. And when your clients get a sense of what their new landscape is going to look like, that's when they'll get excited.
Editing and adding on
Beforehand, discuss with your clients what they would like to see and what they don't. based on that meeting, you begin to design. but what happens when you show them the landscaped picture and they don't like it?
Don't sweat the details; it's easy to change. In fact, psychologically it would make sense to have some pieces in the design that would need changing. When you start talking about additions you would like to bring in, or when your clients see something they are not crazy about, it's easy to make it right.
In the past, that would usually mean going back and redrawing from scratch. but when you are using design software, changing elements of a design becomes much less of a chore.
You can change elements of a design very easily when working with a computer image. If there is anything in the design that the client doesn't like, or if there's another option you'd like to consider, all it takes is a few clicks (or a few swipes of the finger, if you're on a tablet) and you can display what the landscape will look like with the modifications.
This gives you, as a contractor, a big advantage. You can create exactly what a client wants. This will save you from costly problems due to miscommunication down the road.
"If you put in purple flowers, and they don't like purple flowers, well, then you can address that up front," says David Sloan, sales and marketing director for Drafix Software, Inc., based in Kansas City, Missouri. "You not only find out what they like—but more importantly, what they don't like—before you start digging holes in the ground. You want them hands-on enough to know just what they want."
"A client can say, 'I like this, but let's change this over here. I'd like to put the fireplace over here and I'd like to add a spa over there.' In the old days, with a pen and ink drawing, you'd have to erase everything, or you'd have to redraw," says Steve Secondo, owner of Steve Secondo designs in Santa Ana, California. "With the computer, you can easily make lines and features disappear. It makes changes and revisions easier, and makes it simple to put an image together that can be shared with the clients."
Not only is it easy to factor in the clients' input, but because they are right there with you, they feel involved in the design itself. Here is where the psychology of this comes into play. They can see a finished image of a design, and think to themselves, "I helped design that. This is just what I want, and I'm looking forward to seeing this when it's done."
Working with lights
If your company also does landscape lighting, guess what? You can design the landscape and put in the lights where they belong as well. It's quick and easy to create a lighting design for your clients' needs that can be clearly shown to them.
Even better is the fact that the software can show your clients what the landscape will look like at night. There's no need for them to imagine what it might look like at night; you can show them what it will look like, right in front of their eyes! Remember that old saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words?"
Simple to work with
But what about the contractor who doesn't have the desire to design? What can he do with this? Well, contractors who don't have the vision or the desire to design usually outsource this work to professional designers.
Fortunately for us all, technology keeps getting easier to use, even for technophobes. Today, you can do a design with your laptop or your tablet, right on the site, while meeting with the client. With a little imagination, using design software could not only be enjoyable, it can save money, too.
It also saves you the time wasted on repetition. One big annoyance with drawing a design by hand is the need to continuously pencil in the same plants over and over again to fill in a bed. Or having to sketch flowers in a front yard and try to make each one appear unique. but with a collection of images to work from, putting together a row of plants or adding a pool in the backyard is a piece of cake.
"I was doing it by hand previously, and I went to software to increase productivity," says Patrick Duchene, owner of Duchene Design Solutions, based in Branchburg, New Jersey. "Your accuracy greatly improves, and now, thanks to the software, I'm probably doing about three to four times the work. Also, your presentation is superior to anything you do by hand, in my opinion."
"If you can turn a project around quicker, people are a lot more inclined to buy and to sign on the dotted line, because you've delivered something in a timely and professional manner. It sets a precedent for later on, for when you do a project and you say you're going to finish it on time," explained Duchene.
There's also a far greater clarity as to what's actually in the design. unless your client happens to also be a contractor or designer, odds are he isn't going to know how to interpret a blueprint. but with a colorful image of his home, there's nothing to interpret. When you insert a tree from the image library, it will look like a real tree when someone other than a designer looks at it.
"This software is a very big benefit to the client," said Joe Salemi, marketing manager for dynaSCAPE Software, Burlington, Ontario, Canada. "They instantly have much better clarity as to what they are getting."
design software allows the contractor to work with his clients better, so that they can find out precisely what they want. The clients have a better grasp of what the finished product is going to look like. This leads to less hassle for you, happier clients and fewer problems down the road.
"When I add water, it looks like real water. When I add in trees, they look like real trees," says Secondo. "The clients understand that what they're looking at are trees. This is all about communicating an idea, visually, in two dimensions."
Features of the system:
Computers are valued for a lot of reasons. for one thing, they make transferring ideas and projects much easier. A design created on a computer can be sent from person to person with ease. A design developed online can be put into a Pdf, and can then be sent out anywhere you want. Or, you could print out that Pdf and hand it over to a client, so they can have a picture of what their future project will be like; a nice reminder of what their yard will look like.
It also means that you can send your thoughts and ideas to clients even when they're not in town. They can be away but you can still keep them informed of what is happening. The software has completely revolutionized how you can communicate with your customers.
More perspectives, more possibilities
But your ways of wowing the customer don't end there. Remember, people don't look at a landscape from just one perspective the whole time. They're going to walk out into the middle of it, or look at it from the sides. So wouldn't it be smart to have your design display what it will look like from these angles as well?
If you really want to wow them, turn that photo imaging design into a full 3d image. That way, you can allow the client to see their potential landscape from a variety of angles and directions. Let them see it from the corner of the property, or let them stroll through it from one end to the other, or even let them see what it looks like as they are walking out from the house onto the landscape. These multi-angled views give buyers a better sense of what the finished product will look like.
Creating a detailed map
But there are times where you need that detailed, 2d site plan. When you need a detailed model of what a design may look like, fear not, because landscape software designers have your back here, too.
Most of the big names offer easy-to-use computer-aided design (CAd) software. CAd allows you to easily create a 2d site plan that accurately represents the installation of plantings, sprinkler systems, and hardscapes. The result is an image of the landscape that has color, but also contains details on what's going in the design.
Better measurements and better estimates
There is something else that computers can do that make a contractor's life easier: they can make calculations far faster than any human can. When operating with design software, there can be no doubt that a measurement of a backyard can be spot on, saving you the hassle of measuring by hand. And as a result, the amount of material that you are going to need is also going to be right for the job.
"I don't do anything without the software," says Cassie James, chief designer for James Landscaping in Grapevine, Texas. "It makes it possible for me to create a bid without guessing at the square footage. The hedge lines are always accurate; the placement of plants is always correct. It just decreases all the time and effort. So I never go to a project without it."
When the time comes, you can also generate blueprints, and then you can create a take-off sheet.
The software comes in just as handy for that. Many programs offer built-in bidding capabilities that can help you create an estimate that is ready to print out.
What this means for a contractor is that he can bring everything he has worked on together into a professional-looking sales presentation, with a cover sheet, an estimate, and a list of materials that will be used. You can even give information about the plants you'll be using. All that makes you look like the landscape professional that you are.
Now, it is easier than ever for landscape contractors to create their own landscape designs. businesses that are already making use of designing with software have found that it saves them time, it saves hassles and provides an even more professional approach to the client.


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I don't claim to be an expert on any topic, but since I finally read the Brazen Careerist book (which I recommend reading) and I have a few friends looking for new jobs asking for advice, I decided to gather up a bit of my words of wisdom and share them here.
As many of you may know, I got laid off back at the end of April. There was plenty to figure out about my situation, even without thinking about finding a new job. I had to figure out what I was going to do for health insurance, apply for unemployment, roll over my 401(k), and figure out what happened to my FSA (you're allowed to use up to the amount that you originally enrolled for, but only for expenses on or before your last day of employment…according to the person I spoke with at my old company's payroll service). Looking at the trends of search terms leading people to my blog, as well as the financial news, I know that a lot of people out there are in that situation right now. So, if you have any questions about all the steps you should take post-layoff, let me know, either with a comment or an email at email@example.com.
Anyway, most of this advice will sound pretty similar to many other guides. But I'll let you know what helped and what didn't in my search for a new job.
I started out by casting a pretty wide net. I posted my resume and did some searches on sites like monster.com. But I also made sure my profiles were updated and informative on monster as well as on LinkedIn, and even made sure my Facebook profile looked good (I don't have any weird things posted, I just went ahead and updated my work and interests…but those of you with scandal on their profiles pages, I recommend removing it!)
I wouldn't stop with job posting sites, though. I mostly got emails from insurance companies trying to hire me through monster.com. Though a few messages did come through about jobs in my field. And I did apply to a bunch of jobs on there. But I think most of the time the science job postings were for biotech jobs. Lifehacker actual had a post about the top job search engines. But I have to say that it's pretty tricky to actually get a job through those sites.
I think it's key to spread the word that you're looking for a job. Of course, if you're still employed but looking for a new job, you'll want to be a bit more discreet about who you tell. But making it known via Facebook status (Stephanie is…looking for a new job!) or LinkedIn's "what are you working on" (Stephanie is looking for new and exciting opportunities) is a simple way to start. I believe that there is no need to be ashamed of your unemployment status. I'll admit, I was a bit embarrassed that I had lost my job at first. But I think that the more people that know of your plight, the better your chances are that someone might be able to help you with advice, referrals, or even job offers! Of course, you also don't want to seem too desperate, or look like you're complaining. Just be clever with your online messages, and equally clever with your person to person interactions!
I also encourage you to get back in touch with people. Contact old bosses or supervisors from past jobs or internships, or perhaps others that have given you job offers or contacted you regarding a job in the past. That's actually how I came across my job. Right after I started my last job after college, I got an email from someone who had seen my resume (presumably since I applied to the company in general, and they must have been looking to fill some positions). I respectfully responded that I had already started a job, and that I would contact him if my job situation changed. Well, you can bet I looked up that email and sent him a message to catch up!
I also took advantage of my alumni network. Granted, MIT does a pretty good job of keeping track of their alums (possibly so they can beg you for donations when you hit it big), so I might have had an easier time looking up alums compared to people at other schools (as I have no idea how well your Alma Maters keep track of alumni). Some schools have a list of alumni who are interested in helping other alums with their careers. Or they at least encourage others to get in touch with them. I looked on there for people interested in talking about careers that interested me as well. I usually emailed them, introducing myself and asking if they'd like to meet with me or chat over email.
Recent graduates should also consider contacting past professors, TAs, or colleagues. I wrote to a few of my old professors asking for advice, or if they had any ideas for good companies to work for in my field. One professor responded by asking for my resume and sending it to a few people he knew at other companies. So that definitely helps as well.
Overall, don't expect a job to fall in your lap. That being said, don't be discouraged if you don't initially get invited for an interview or offered a job. This will take time. As many career books and articles say, "looking for a job is a full-time job". And, either fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your view of things), it's really about networking. Even if you're shy and you don't really know people, just talk to the people you already do know. Go to a local social event. Meet new people. Even if they never help you with your job search, you've practiced talking to people! Think of interviews for jobs you don't get to be practice as well.
I still encourage you to apply directly to companies or organizations you're interested in working for, even if you don't know anyone at the company. Just make sure you construct a very clear cover letter!
A few other thoughts:
Update and review your resume. Send it to friends so they can read it from a different perspective (they're more likely to see the typos or notice if something doesn't make sense). Also, if you haven't read over your own resume, you might forget what is on there. That actually happened at one of the first interviews I went to this time around. They asked me about one of my past internships, and I completely blanked on the name of a piece of equipment I had experience using. So know your resume!
I know this isn't a full set of everything you need to know about getting a job. There's plenty more to think about: resume and cover letter writing, efficient job searching, interview techniques, etc. But this is just to get your started. I encourage you all to comment with your favorite job hunting/searching/getting tip. And perhaps I might follow up some other time with more advice/thoughts/insight.
Happy searching!


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Local gun store owner receives death threat
A Harris County gun shop owner received a letter Saturday threatening him, his family and his employees.
"Live by the gun. Die by the gun. You will not live to see Easter," reads the typed letter that was mailed Thursday in Houston and arrived Saturday at Jim Pruett's Guns & Ammo.
Jim Pruett was photographed and quoted in the Houston Chronicle last week saying that restricting sales of military-style arms wouldn't prevent tragedies like the Connecticut massacre. "All it's going to do is make it difficult for law-abiding citizens to get the best protection they can for their home against, especially in Texas, gangs motivated by the drug cartel," Pruett said in the Wednesday article.
He said Saturday they were taking the threat from the threat signed by a "Newtown-inspired marksman" seriously.
"Are we afraid? No, but we're cautious," he said.
A sheriff's deputy picked up the letter Saturday afternoon and told Pruett it would probably be turned over to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The deputy also urged him to take the threat seriously, Pruett said.
"All of our staff makes an extra effort now to look at everyone who comes in," Pruett said. "We do that anyway, but now even more so."
If someone looks unusual or behaves oddly, the store doesn't sell that person a gun, even if they pass the background check.
"We are the final authority," he said. "We can deny people."
Pruett, who has owned his store nearly 12 years, acknowledged he had never received a letter like the one he got Saturday. It's well written and specific, he said.
A Vietnam War veteran, Pruett said he knows how to protect himself. "I'm always armed and I will always have a say in the outcome of anything aggressive that comes my way," he said
Pruett, who worked in radio more than 25 years with the late Mark Stevens, said he's hopeful that news coverage of the letter will help shed light on where its source.
If other gun store owners have received similar letters, Pruett invited them to contact him. He warned that it might be hard to get through.
"There's no way we can answer all the phone calls during this insane buying period generated by the threat of an assault weapons ban," he said.


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LCHS FFA and FFA Alumni enjoy a very successful
Album 1
on photos below to enlarge.]
[February 18, 2013]
Send a link to a friend
Lincoln Community High School FFA had a pancake and sausage
breakfast in the LCHS cafeteria Sunday morning. By the time the live
auction started at 10 a.m., the cafeteria was completely full of
people supporting the chapter.
The reason for the event was to raise money
for projects of the local FFA chapter and to provide a scholarship
for one member each year to attend college.
Seth Unger, FFA president, commented: "There are 60 FFA members at
LCHS and over 200 students enrolled in the agriculture classes."
First-year faculty adviser Dr. Penny Wittler is excited about the
prospect of being a part of the organization. "I just love the kids
and the FFA program. This is a really terrific organization and the
students are wonderful," she said.
Betsy Pech, faculty adviser of the Hartsburg High School FFA, was in attendance to show her support for the Lincoln fundraiser.
She mentioned that "this week is National FFA Week."
The LCHS FFA wanted to send special thanks to Dave Conrady
for donating the pork for the event.
Pictures and text by Curt Fox
Group photo of LCHS FFA members and Dr. Penny
Wittler, FFA faculty adviser and LCHS ag sciences teacher
Left to right: Megan Opperman, Katie Kelly, Dr. Penny Wittler,
Seaton Landstrom (behind Dr. Wittler),
Morgan Marthers, Ryan Hedrick, Sam Opperman
Megan Opperman works the serving line, filling
plates for hungry customers.
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It's vBeers time again, mark your calendar for vBeers in Amsterdam on the 28th of June. This is an informal event to network with other virtualization experts, share knowledge and just have some fun!
Location: Cafe de Omval
Address: Weesperzijde 250 (hoek Omval) – 1097 EB Amsterdam (Near Amstel Station)
Date: 28th of June 2012
Time: Starting from 05:30 PM


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The weeding out process began Monday night on NBC's "The Voice," as coaches paired vocalists for on-stage battles and then cut the weaker halves.
Six singers were voted off—one following a roaring audience reception and more positive reviews over her competitor.
Blake Shelton paired powerhouse Adley Stump, the sorority girl-turned-country singer, with the soft-voiced, singer/song-writer RaeLynn in a contest that seemed stacked in Stump's favor from the very first note. RaeLynn was instantly intimidated.
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"I have no idea what I can do to compete against that," the 17-year-old admitted.
But Shelton, who had a sweet spot for the girl he said reminded him of a young Miranda Lambert—Shelton's wife—took pains to emphasize RaeLynn's advantage as a "stylist" who excels in the story-telling singing country music is all about.
The pair sang Tom Petty's "Free Falling," with RaeLynn's voice sounding tiny next to Stump's gut-busting vocals. Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Ms. Powerhouse Christina Aguilera congratulated RaeLynn on being so "brave" to come on stage and perform. They encouraged her to keep working on it, that she had so much time to grow. But then, Shelton picked her over Stump, who would be fine "with her confidence and ability," he said.
He later paired rockers Jordis Unga with Brian Fuente. They performed Alanis Morissette's "Ironic," which tested the limits of their vocal ranges. Their performance was shaky (though not shaky enough to keep Cee Lo from rocking out in his swivel chair). Blake noted his disappointment with both of their performances.
"I wanted a rocker for my team," Shelton said. "I don't know what happened." He decided to go with Jordis who admitted that she had a lot to prove "after that train wreck."
Christina Aguilera paired Chris Mann, a classically trained vocalist with Monique Benabou, a soulful singer with no prior experience. The two faced off singing "Power of Love," and left the judges conflicted. Mann had the skill, but lacked the emotion. Benabou had passion (she started crying and nearly made Aguilera cry during a rehearsal) but had a long way to go technically. Mann won the final vote and Benabou went home, expressing gratitude at the opportunity to compete.
She next placed Jesse Campbell—a man who had to live in a car with his daughter after his wife left him—with Anthony Evans, the son of a super-achieving preacher and author. Both men had velvety gospel voices, though Campbell stood out as the superior vocalist. He easily demonstrated his versatility, perhaps arrogantly telling Aguilera that it didn't matter what key she wanted him to sing in.
"Jesse's trying to do some intimidation stuff," Evans said.
The two sang Alicia Keys' "if I Ain't Got You," which at some points had Aguilera looking like she was losing oxygen.
"There's not a person in the country who wants to make the decision you're going to have to make," host Carson Daley said after their duet.
"Just when you thought one blew you away, the other comes in with an 'ahhhh,'" Aguilera said, belting out a note. She placed her bet on Campbell.
Adam Levine's vote for Tony Lucca, an ex-Mickey Mouse Club star, over jock Chris Cauley, was in-line with the other judges' commentary. They noted that Lucca's experience and skill-level was undeniable.
Cee Lo's pairing was the most even of the night. Hawaiian-born Cheesa was matched with former Air Force member, Angie Johnson. Both women had powerful lungs and a similar style. They took turns straining to out-sing each other during their "Total Eclipse of the Heart" performance. In the end, Johnson went packing and Cheesa remained on the now-11-person team.
Next week the battle round continues on NBC at 8/7 Central.


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The Feast of the Holy Cross
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"
(1 Corinthians 1:18)
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The opening of the Pope Shenouda III Museum at St. Mark's, which features articles of the late pope and patriarch of the Church of Alexandria and See of St. Mark.
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June 23, 2013 marks the revealing of the street sign on McCreary Road that feature the name of His Holiness the late Pope Shenouda III.
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Focus on the Coptic Family


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As the big data movement explodes, law enforcement in the Denver region reaps the benefits.
Clever crooks don't tend to stay in one place -- it's one of the things that makes them difficult to track down. Law enforcement agencies are notoriously siloed, making it easy for a thief or violent criminal to move from town to town, sometimes going uncaught for years. Recently there have been a slew of technological advancements aimed at improving communications between public safety agencies, and among them is a piece of software called Trusted Information Exchange Services (TIES), developed by Swan Island Networks for organizations using Microsoft CityNext.
CityNext is a kind of dashboard that allows municipal leaders to see an overview of their city's metrics, and make use of that data. TIES brings together agencies, allowing them to share that information in real time, and in the case of law enforcement, solve more crimes and gain increased situational awareness.
In the city and county of Denver, Colo., TIES has monitored alerts for Denver 911 for the past five years, and for the past 12 months, the agency has used TIES to distribute its data to trusted partners. Denver 911 receives a million calls annually, and now the data collected is shared with the Colorado Information Analysis Center (CIAC), which distributes critical information to law enforcement in neighboring communities.
There was a huge unmet need for information sharing in and around Denver, said Carl Simpson, executive director for Denver 911. "It starts with 911," he said. "911 is really the headwaters for everything crazy going on around the city. There's so much relevant and time sensitive information stored in our dispatching system."
The 911 agency did a great job of distributing critical information to the police, fire and EMS workers in Denver, he said, but sharing that data with other neighboring communities was never really top of mind – after all they have literally a million other calls coming in.
CIAC was interested in finding a way to use the data Denver was collecting and sharing it with other law enforcement agencies in the region, Simpson said, and that effort tied in nicely with local "See Something, Say Something" programs that urge citizens to report suspicious activities. In addition to real-time updates, CIAC receives a daily report of "suspicious activity," which can help other agencies connect the dots on events that may have been considered isolated incidents in the past.
In Denver 911, workers have a map and panes of associated data providing them a real-time picture of what's happening in the city. TIES allows them to also share that data with other agencies in real time.
When the idea of sharing data was first pitched to him, Simpson was skeptical. But the lightbulb clicked on during a "principal for a day" program at a local elementary school. As Simpson shadowed the principal, the school official had to decide if recess would be inside or outdoors -- and he made the call simply by looking up at the sky.
Simpson said the incident made him realize that many decisions are made on an extremely limited amount of information. Information on the map at Denver 911 could lead to better decisions by local law enforcement agencies, but only if they had access to it. After that, Simpson said, he was sold on sharing data through TIES.
"It's not necessarily changing how first responders in Denver work. What it does, I think, is it heightens our understanding and importance of our job," he said. "TIES gives us that sense of community because we're really telephone call center. When we can look up and see the calls on TIES and on the graphical representation of it, it makes it more real for us."
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The right pixie haircut pic
Properly chosen a haircut, pixie haircut pic, is very important for your image. It should be in harmony with all your appearance, fit to the type of person, easy to fit and not interfere in everyday affairs. Choosing a haircut, pixie haircut pic, the hairdresser takes into account not only these indicators but also the condition of the hair and the characteristics of their growth. In addition, there is a fashion for haircuts, as well as for clothes or shoes.
Features pixie haircut pic
Properly chosen a haircut, pixie haircut pic, should emphasize your strengths and hide flaws. The first thing you need to pay attention to is the shape of the face. But it is also worth considering the length and thickness of the neck, shoulder line, hair type.
If you do not plan to drastically change the style of clothing, your new haircut, pixie haircut pic, should fit your everyday wardrobe. Some of the hairstyles require mandatory styling. Think about whether you will be able to do this every day.
The program for modeling pixie haircut pic
If you always want to have a program for modeling haircuts and hairstyles, pixie haircut pic, install the program Hair Pro on your computer. It contains a large number of finished hairstyles, but you can also model your own. How it works: Upload a photo; Go to the control panel with templates haircuts; Choose a haircut, pixie haircut pic, changing the thickness and color of hair.


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The 2014 edition of the annual industry report that I have produced since 2002 has been published by American Libraries. The online version is available now and the feature will appear in the May 2014 print issue. The 2002 through 2013 editions of this report were published by Library Journal.
The library technology industry saw sharp competition in 2013, with a wide range of products vying to fulfill ever-rising expectations. To better position themselves for this critical period during which many libraries are considering options for their next phase of technology, a significant number of major vendors worked to extend their global reach, streamline internal organizations, and complete ambitious product developments. Competition has intensified for the applications used by library personnel to manage the collections and automate their operations, including the new generation of library services platforms as well as enhanced integrated library systems. Discovery services continue as a major area of activity, seen by libraries as especially critical given their intimate connections with customers, serving as one of the main delivery vehicles for access to collections and services.
This phase of the industry offers many choices, including both proprietary and open source license options, some based on cloud technologies and others that continue to rely on local hardware. Though a new generation of library services platforms has entered a phase of early adoption, the integrated library system remains viable, especially when extended to manage ebooks.
New products have entered the adoption cycle. These early implementations have the potential to reshape the future landscape depending on whether they achieve the efficiencies and transformations promised. For libraries considering their next systems, each of the players have options, with some more proven and others yet to be tested. Latecomers in the development and implementation phase will miss opportunities, mitigated only by the slow pace of library selection processes.
This report describes the current status and trends related to the strategic technology products and services and the organizations that create and support them. It covers the major resource management products, discovery services, and other technologies on which libraries rely internally and make available to their customers for access to their collections and services.
Note: The statistical tables that accompany the report will be posted by Friday April 18.
Marshall Breeding Apr 16, 2014 16:13:31
Link to Posting: Library Systems Report 2014: Competition and strategic cooperation


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The 2013 Mavic Trans Provence got going with the Prologue race.
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All About Baby
At week 15, your baby-to-be stretches her limbs and bends at her elbows. She's getting big enough that you can feel many of these movements.
This week your baby is roughly the size of a small apple or orange. Her bones are continuing to grow and lengthen. While she looks more like a baby, her skin is still thin and translucent with her veins visible.
Your baby is also beginning to grow lanugo, a very fine hair. It will keep growing until around the 26th gestational week of pregnancy (that's week 28 of your pregnancy).
All About You
While your pregnancy clumsiness may be frustrating, at least you have something to show for it! Your belly grows day by day as your unborn baby gets bigger. If you haven't bought maternity pants yet, you're probably thinking about it as you can barely button your jeans.
In your 15th week of pregnancy, your uterus is halfway between your pubic bone and belly button. You may feel Braxton Hicks contractions. These painless and random contractions can be thought of as your body warming up for the big event of birth. If you have more than five per hour, if they come at a steady pace, or if they're accompanied by intense cramps or backaches, call the doctor.
You finally look pregnant! As your bump grows, your internal organs are shifting positions to make room for your baby-to-be. Less room means you may not be able to eat large meals, but instead you'll need to eat more frequently to stay satisfied. Because of cramped tummy space, you may have heartburn, indigestion, and flatulence. Your blood flow has increased to provide extra nutrients — meaning more trips to the bathroom for you. You may also notice that you're retaining water.
Pregnancy Brain
Dropped anything lately? Tripped over nothing? Forget something you always remember — like the date? You may be experiencing a common complaint in pregnancy — scatterbrain. "Some of my patients call it 'placenta brain,'" says Dr. Joanne Motino Bailey, PhD, a certified nurse-midwife and a professor of women's studies at the University of Michigan. While there are no studies to support the existence of pregnancy scatterbrain, notes Dr. Bailey, there are some changes in your body which may account for your sudden clumsiness.
Changing center of gravity
The first reason you may be stumbling is obvious — you're getting bigger. As your belly grows outward, your whole center of gravity is thrown. After walking perfectly for years, your body now has to constantly realign itself to keep you upright — no wonder you're tripping.
While your baby-to-be is well cushioned in your belly, falling wouldn't be good for either of you. Opt for sneakers or flats instead of high heels. Take stairs slowly. And be mindful of your movements to avoid any serious spills.
Retaining water
Another reason you may think you're losing your mind — your gripping sensation may be different because you're retaining water. Your swollen fingers may make it more difficult to pick something up. (Think about how much harder it is to grab something up with fuzzy gloves on.)
Loosened joints
For your belly to house your growing baby, your skin, muscles, and joints stretch and loosen. A pregnancy hormone, appropriately called relaxin, triggers this change. Just like you need to keep in mind your changing center of gravity, remember that your muscles aren't as tight as in pre-pregnancy days — take it easy!
"We all know that we're not at our best when we're tired," says Dr. Bailey. "During pregnancy your body is under a great deal of stress, but it's hard to take the time out for an extra hour of sleep, which is really what you need." So it's not surprising that your constant state of tiredness may leave you not as sharp as in pre-pregnancy days.
If however, you find yourself overly clumsy, let your healthcare provider know about it. There may be something more going on than loose joints and lack of sleep.
You may be now experiencing the happiest pregnancy symptom of all — your baby is most likely a regular wiggler now! You may begin to feel a fluttering in your uterus.
Got questions about Week 15? Other women have asked…
Q: I'm pregnant with twins — is it normal to have already gained 10 pounds by now?
With twins, the usual 25-30 pound pregnancy weight gain is bumped up to about 30-40 pounds, especially with the extra fluid and baby on board. So, you should expect to gain more weight with two babies instead of just one. But gaining too much weight during your pregnancy is a legitimate concern. Read more about weight gain with twins.
Q: How can I manage pregnancy back pain?
Lower back pain or discomfort is a common pregnancy symptom for many women. As you gain weight and hormones loosen joints to accommodate the size of your baby, many women will complain of aches, fatigue, or even moderate to severe pain in the lower back. There are some things you can do to lessen the severity and improve the symptoms. Read more about pregnancy back pain.
Your Partner
Your Partner, She Is a Changin'
Many women feel their best during the next few weeks of pregnancy. Morning sickness is subsiding, your partner's brain may no longer operate at its optimal level! Expecting women refer to this as pregnancy scatterbrain, and many experience it. Your partner could be in the middle of a sentence and completely forget what she was going to say, or become awfully forgetful about her keys, purse, or other things. Even though most women understand this muddled thinking comes from the hormone chaos they are experiencing in their bodies, it can be a strange adjustment for those who normally feel on the ball but are now struggling to recall the simplest of things.
You may find that you need to pick up some new responsibilities so she has less to worry about. If she usually handled the bills or other scheduled activities, offer to help out if she is having trouble remembering. If you can help her to avoid situations that make her feel "less-than-intelligent" you are really helping to make a difference for her. She needs you to help her feel better — not to remind her that she is "falling apart," of course.
One warning: This may be only the beginning, however. Once your baby is born, you both will likely be sleep-deprived for some time, though at least you can share in the experience of being scatterbrained together.


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Ravens' Super Bowl win sets likely ratings record
Between a partial power outage, overly excited quarterback and a game that suddenly turned from snoozer to sizzler, CBS had its hands full with the Super Bowl. The audience offered a final reward, though.
The Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers set a Super Bowl record for highest ratings in the Nielsen Co.'s overnight measurement of large cities. Nielsen planned to estimate the game's viewership later Monday, and CBS hoped to make it the fourth year in a row that football's ultimate game broke the record for most-watched event in American television history.
The game's 48.1 overnight rating and 71 share was 1 percent above the same measurement for the 2012 game, Nielsen said.
Pro football ratings in general declined this season. And when the Ravens' Jacoby Jones returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown and gave his team a 28-6 lead, CBS' dream of a ratings record surely became more distant. And then half the lights went out. CBS' ratings immediately dipped by two full ratings points.
When the lights returned, so did the 49ers. They quickly jumped back in the game and CBS' audience, no doubt fueled by social media chatter, came back, too.
CBS had a moment of dead air when the field darkened, since power was lost in the control booth where Jim Nantz and Phil Simms worked. After a commercial break, sideline anchor Steve Tasker appeared to say there had been a power outage. CBS then filled time with its football pregame team, showing highlights and speculating on how the delay would affect the teams.
At the precise moment the lights went out, CBS' Armen Keteyian was in the NFL's control booth, conducting an interview with Frank Supovitz, senior vice president of the NFL in charge of events.
"In the NFL control room, there was no panic, but there was an undeniable amount of uncertainty about the cause," Keteyian said Monday on "CBS This Morning." Keteyian was filming for a "60 Minutes Sports" report scheduled to be aired on Wednesday.
Despite the presence of Keteyian and Jeff Glor, CBS News did not participate in live coverage of the power outage. The sports personnel were better situated close to the action, said Sonya McNair, CBS News spokeswoman.
"If they needed us we could have been there but there was no need, because it didn't rise to the occasion," she said.
The power outage was an immediate hot topic for quips and questions online. There were an estimated 47.7 million social media posts during the game, according to the company Trendrr TV, which tracks activity on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. That compares with 17 million during last year's game and 3 million in 2010, Trendrr said.
Television ratings grew throughout the evening, reaching 52.9 with a 75 share at the game's end. CBS was blessed with the dream of every network televising a Super Bowl: a game that isn't decided until the final play.
One ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share means the percentage of TV sets in use that were tuned to the game.
Baltimore had the highest rating of any individual city, Nielsen said. San Francisco was not among the top 10 cities in ratings.
CBS drew criticism from the Parents Television Council for not editing out a profanity said by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco shortly after the game. Flacco was caught by microphones describing his team's victory as "f------ awesome."
"No one should be surprised that a jubilant quarterback might use profane language while celebrating a career-defining win, but that is precisely the reason why CBS should have taken some precautions," said Tim Winter, president of the lobbying group, asking for the Federal Communications Commission to rebuke CBS.
The network had no immediate comment Monday on the complaint.
CBS has said that it was airing the pregame, postgame and halftime portions of the show on tape delay to guard against the use of bad language or wardrobe malfunctions. The postgame delay does not begin until the first block of commercials after the game, which hadn't happened before Flacco's expletive.


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NameUBS Affair Repeats itself, this time with an Israeli BankDate2015-01-02 00:00:00 +0000Text
Last week a historic settlement was signed, between the American Authorities and Bank Leumi Le-Israel, the second largest bank in Israel. The settlement (a deferred prosecution agreement) relates to events that took place in 2000-2010, in which Bank Leumi and its subsidiaries (particularly in Switzerland) assisted their American customers to evade payment of taxes.
Under the settlement, the bank will pay a fine of $400,000, an enormous sum when compared to fines that have been imposed on Israeli banks by the Israeli Regulator. In addition, the bank disclosed the names of 1500 customers, as well as information regarding their accounts; names of involved employees; and a huge amount of internal e-mails and documents.
Very soon after the bank was informed about the launch of the investigation against it, the bank decided to adopt a strategy of cooperation with the American authorities. In fact, the decision to cooperate was a precursory condition for the willingness of the American authorities to negotiate the issue vis-à-vis the bank.
According to the Israeli media, before the bank decided on cooperation, its higher echelon checked previous similar affairs and met with senior managers of UBS, who very strongly recommended cooperation, including the disclosure of names of customers. They also advised Bank Leumi to reach an agreement as soon as possible, because as time would pass, the possibility existed that the authorities might increase the sum of the settlement.
Another occurrence that was checked was that of the Swiss Wegelin Bank, which decided not to cooperate. After it was convicted, other banks refrained from working with it, and it actually went out of existence
Another body that recommended cooperation was the Israeli Supervisor of Banks.
The strategy of cooperation resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of the fine. In addition, the bank received additional latitudes: The original demand of the authorities was that the bank would admit to committing fraud and conspiracy against the IRS; but under the settlement it only admitted to assisting customers to evade tax.
In conclusion, the Swiss affair caused Bank Leumi serious damage. However, had the bank not cooperated, its financial damage would possibly have been far larger. The parties, who may pay the price for this cooperation, are customers and employees, who are now exposed to criminal proceedings based on the information given by the bank.
Prof. Ruth Plato-Shinar, Founder and Director, the Center for Banking Law, Israel
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