text:
|Article Index
|UNRIC Library Newsletter - April 2010
|New information material
|New titles
|All Pages
Human security: Report of the Secretary-General (A/64/701)
English, French & Spanish: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=A/64/701
The Secretary-General has issued a report on Human Security (A/64/701). The report is issued pursuant to paragraph 143 of the 2005 World Summit Outcome (A/RES/60/1). The report summary notes that: It takes stock of discussions on human security, its various definitions and its relationship to State sovereignty and the responsibility to protect. The report also outlines the principles and the approach for advancing human security and its application to the current priorities of the United Nations. Key human security initiatives undertaken by Governments, regional and subregional intergovernmental organizations, as well as the organizations and bodies of the United Nations system, are presented as examples of the reach of this important concept and its growing acceptance. The report concludes by identifying the core elements and the added value of human security and provides a set of recommendations as a follow-up to the above-mentioned commitment contained in the World Summit Outcome.
International Donors' Conference Towards a New Future for Haiti
A ministerial conference was held at the United Nations in New York on March 31, 2010. Co-hosted by the United States and the United Nations, and organized with the collaboration of several Member States, the goal of the conference was to mobilize international support for the development needs of Haiti in an effort to lay the foundation for Haiti's long-term recovery.
The Safety of Journalists and the Danger of Impunity (UNESCO)
English: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29600/12690062213safety_of_journalists_27_session.pdf/
French: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29600/12690062215safety_of_journalists_27_session_FR.pdf/
The International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) monitored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has issued this new report. Submitted as a follow-up to the Decision on the Safety of Journalists adopted at the 26th session of the Intergovernmental Council of the IPDC in March 2008, it provides an overview and background information on the killings of journalists. It also gives information on the status of the judicial inquiries conducted on each of the killings condemned, and on the actions taken to prevent the impunity of the perpetrators.
UNRIC Library Poster Gallery
The United Nations produces posters for conferences, observances, campaigns, etc. Many are available online for download. On this new website you will find a selection of posters available at the UNRIC Library. Some of the poster images serve as links to larger size, or high-resolution versions available for download.
2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) - 3 – 28 May 2010, UN Headquarters
English: http://www.un.org/en/conf/npt/2010/
French: http://www.un.org/fr/conf/npt/2010/
Spanish: http://www.un.org/es/conf/npt/2010/
The 2010 Review Conference is expected to consider a number of key issues, including: universality of the Treaty; nuclear disarmament, including specific practical measures; nuclear non-proliferation, including the promoting and strengthening of safeguards; measures to advance the peaceful use of nuclear energy, safety and security; regional disarmament and non-proliferation; implementation of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East; measures to address withdrawal from the Treaty; measures to further strengthen the review process; and ways to promote engagement with civil society in strengthening NPT norms and in promoting disarmament education.
Concept note on post-conflict peacebuilding: comprehensive peacebuilding strategy to prevent the recurrence of conflict (S/2010/167)
English, French & Spanish: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=S/2010/167
The President of the Security Council for April 2010, Japan, has issued a concept paper for the Security Council debate held on 16 April 2010.
Digest of Terrorist Cases (UNODC)
The Digest of Terrorist Cases is a specialized tool developed by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Terrorism Prevention Branch, with the support of the Governments of Colombia, Germany and Italy, in line with its mandate to strengthen the legal regime against terrorism. It draws upon actual investigations, prosecutions and legal experiences concerning terrorist cases reviewed and commented on by national experts involved. The Digest is organized around seven thematic chapters, each referring to several legal cases. The themes covered are: Offences for terrorist acts already committed; Offences to prevent terrorist acts; Relationship between terrorism and other forms of crime; The statutory framework for terrorism prosecutions; Investigation and adjudication issues; International cooperation; Innovation and proposals.
Opérations de maintien de la paix des Nations Unies : Revue de l'année 2009
En 2009, la réponse des Nations Unies aux conflits et aux crises politiques a évolué pour continuer à protéger les personnes vulnérables et consolider une paix encore fragile à travers le monde. 2009 a vu le plus grand déploiement sur le terrain de forces de maintien de la paix. La Revue de l'année 2009 met en lumière les efforts faits en matière de maintien de la paix à travers le monde et s'intéresse à des questions liées à la paix et à la sécurité internationales.
Report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
News Focus: Bhutto assassination inquiry
United Nations Peacekeeping Operations – Background Note: 28 February 2010 (DPI/1634/Rev.106, March 2010)
English: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/bnote.htm
French: http://www.un.org/fr/peacekeeping/bnote.htm
United Nations Political and Peacebuilding Missions - Background Note: 28 February 2010 (DPI/2166/Rev.82, March 2010)
English: http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/documents//ppbm.pdf
French: http://www.un.org/french/peace/peace/pdf/ppbmf.pdf
The Biotechnology Initiative
English: http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/biotechnology/
French: http://www.un.org/fr/globalissues/biotechnology/
Spanish: http://www.un.org/es/globalissues/biotechnology/
The revolution in the life sciences has been progressing for several decades. But it has now moved into a new phase. New opportunities and challenges are emerging, and these warrant the close attention of the international community. Developments in biology, information technology, and the physical and engineering sciences are now coming together to spawn new inter-disciplinary areas in the life sciences. Almost limitless possibilities for new applications of biotechnology in health, agriculture, energy, industry, and the environment are opening up, but there are also new safety, security and ethical concerns. It is on this basis that a new Biotechnology Initiative has been developed at the UN Secretariat. The programme is coordinated by the Strategic Planning Unit of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. These web pages aim to provide information to a global audience about the work of the Biotechnology Initiative, and also give objective summaries of the various technologies, their applications in key sectors, and the policy and ethical issues that relate to them.
Clearing the Waters: A focus on Water Quality Solutions (UNEP)
The publication addresses the urgency of controlling pollution and preserving water quality around the world. The past few decades have focused on the importance of water quantity in meeting basic human and ecosystem needs for water. Water quality is as important as water quantity for satisfying human and environmental needs, and yet has received far less investment, scientific support, and public attention.
Facts for Live: Fourth edition (UNICEF)
Almost 9 million children died in 2008 from preventable illnesses (pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles and AIDS) before reaching their 5th birthday. This edition has new sections and chapters, such as Newborn Health and Child Protection.
International labour migration: A rights-based approach (ILO)
Summary: http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/migrant/download/rights_based_es_en.pdf
Amid growing challenges due to the global economic crisis, this new study published by the International Labour Organization highlights the need to adopt a "rights-based approach" to provide a "fair deal" for the world's 105 million migrant workers. It examines trends in international labour migration, its impacts on origin and destination countries, and conditions of work experienced by migrant workers. The study also explores how standards can be used in the formulation and implementation of migration policies and practices.
Sochi 2014 - Report of the UNEP 2nd Expert Mission, 28-30 January 2010
At the invitation of the Government of the Russian Federation and in partnership with the Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee, a UNEP expert team undertook a mission to Sochi from 28 to 30 January 2010 to assess preparations in the lead up to the games.
The mission produced a report, which was prepared on the request of the Russian government, presenting key findings and recommendations.
Sick Water? The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development a rapid response assessment (UNEP/UN-HABITAT)
Transforming wastewater from a major health and environmental hazard into a clean, safe and economically-attractive resource is emerging as a key challenge in the 21st century. This new report says some two million tons of waste, estimated to equal two or more billion tons of wastewaters being discharged daily into rivers and seas spreading disease to humans and damaging key ecosystems such as coral reefs and fisheries.
Twelfth United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Salvador, Brazil, 12-19 April 2010)
English: http://www.un.org/en/conf/crimecongress2010/
French: http://www.un.org/fr/conf/crimecongress2010/
Spanish: http://www.un.org/es/conf/crimecongress2010/
United Nations Crime Prevention Congresses have been held every five years since 1955 in different parts of the world, dealing with a vast array of topics. They have made a considerable impact on the field of international crime prevention and criminal justice and influenced national policies and professional practices.
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD 2012)
This new website was launched by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development (DSD/DESA) after the General Assembly adopted a resolution agreeing to hold UNCSD in 2012, also referred to as 'Rio+20. The site currently provides information about the First Preparatory Committee meeting to be held in May and will be updated with more developments on UNCSD 2012 preparations.
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) - new website
English: http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/index.shtml
French: http://www.un.org/fr/development/desa/index.shtml
Spanish: http://www.un.org/es/development/desa/index.shtml
DESA's new website is available in all six official UN languages with a completely revamped design. New features of the site include the news feed feature on the home page and a new "About Us" section.
World Anti-Piracy Observatory – WAPO (UNESCO)
English: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=39055&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
French: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/fr/ev.php-URL_ID=39055&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Spanish: http://portal.unesco.org/culture/es/ev.php-URL_ID=39055&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
The World Book and Copyright Day, on 23 April, highlights the importance of the fight against piracy to preserve creativity. WAPO, launched in January 2010, is a web-based reference tool that provides detailed information on anti-piracy activities worldwide.
Human Rights Dimension of Poverty in Afghanistan (OHCHR)
Patronage, corruption, impunity and over-emphasis on short-term security issues rather than targeted long-term development are exacerbating the already dire poverty affecting more than two-thirds of all Afghans, according to a report published by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report paints an alarming picture of a population in deep economic distress eight years after the 2002 Bonn Agreement promised a new beginning after decades of conflict. Despite an estimated injection of some USD 35 billion during the period 2002-2009, some nine million Afghans (36 percent of the population) are believed to live "in absolute poverty" and a further 37 percent live only slightly above the poverty line.
Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2009: Statistical Overview of Asylum Applications Lodged in Europe and Selected Non-European Countries (UNHCR)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has released its annual report on asylum seekers, Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2009. The report indicates that the number of asylum-seekers remained stable in 2009 and that Afghans passed Iraqis to top the list of asylum applicants.
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485


text:
Facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation in professional software development
Back to login
Parul Bavishi deconstructs the structure behind bestselling non-fiction titles, and looks at how to apply this to writing.
API calls now make up 83% of all web traffic. Competitive advantage is no longer won by simply having APIs; the key to gaining ground is based on the performance and the reliability of those APIs. This article presents a series of four case studies of how real time APIs were implemented.
In this article, author Lena Hall discusses how to use Apache Airflow to define and execute distributed data pipelines with an example of the workflow framework running on Kubernetes on Azure cloud platform.
Ben Linders has written a new book focused on helping teams and individuals identify and address impediments. Titled Problem? What Problem? The book presents ideas and experience around problem-solving approaches using agile mindset and principles to help teams rapidly overcome challenges and use impediments as opportunities to learn and adapt.
Sonya Moisset describes how GitHub Marketplace helped Pride in London automating and improving their workflow with different tools for accessibility, code coverage, code review, code quality, security and other functionalities (alerting with Slack). She talks about what OWASP is and how to improve the workflow for open source projects using GitHub Marketplace applications.
Upcoming Events
InfoQ Homepage
Mango Content on InfoQ
Is your profile up-to-date? Please take a moment to review and update.
Note: If updating/changing your email, a validation request will be sent

subset: commoncrawl


text:
News Archives - 2010
A special day for first tribal special education cohort
It isn't Commencement, but Saturday, May 22 is almost as significant a day for the members of the Tribal Special Education Cohort that is a partnership between Augsburg and the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
On that day, the 15 students in the cohort that combines online and face-to-face learning will attend class in the morning at Black Bear Casino near Carlton. In the afternoon, they will celebrate with their families as they will have completed the eligibility requirements in order to apply for their special education teaching license.
While the students will still have four courses to complete to finish their Master of Arts in Education degree, they will be able to apply for special education positions and seek employment for the 2010-11 academic year.
The hope is that after a program that incorporates Native American culture throughout rather than being simply an add on, the students will be better teachers. Susan O'Connor, associate professor of education, said that 70 percent of Native students are labeled with some sort of learning disability.
"Hopefully they'll be better teachers and they'll understand students better," O'Connor said. "Hopefully it will change the number of kids who get labeled because the teachers will be more sensitive to their needs."
The job market for special education teachers is generally strong, but O'Connor said that these students—nine from Augsburg and six from UMD—should be in demand because of the education that focuses on tribal communities and learning styles.
The program, which is called Naadamaadiwin, or "helping one another," was unique for Augsburg because of the public-private partnership, because of the model, and because of the background of the students.
Much of the program instruction was done in an online format that was supplemented by about two face-to-face meetings each semester. UMD's Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Language Revitalization received a grant for $35,000 to pay for mileage, lodging, and food for students and faculty teaching the program. A number of the in-person sessions took place at Grand Casino in Hinkley.
Because of the online component, students live all across Minnesota. There are students from the Twin Cities, but there are also students from McGregor, Bemidji, and Grand Marais. Some of the students are currently teachers or paraprofessionals in schools, but others are employed elsewhere. One student works at a comedy club and another works with children at Fairview.
As they prepare to apply for positions, all of the students now have experience working with native youth after 10 weeks of student teaching.
"They should have a fairly easy time getting a job," O'Connor said. "The hope is that they will be very valuable."
Pictured at left is Aquila Tapio '10 of St. Paul, one of the Tribal Cohort students. Read more about Aquila in the Spring 2010 issue of the Augsburg Now magazine.
Inside Augsburg showcases the experiences of Augsburg College students, alumni, staff, and faculty. Send your story idea to email@example.com.


text:
Newsletter reader Ernie Thode wrote to say that an announcement of a new online site was made at the German national genealogy conference in Kassel on September 13. The beta test of the German digital church book portal is now available.
Of about 140,000 individual church books in Germany, the records of about 35,000 (25%) have been digitized thus far. Most of the German Protestant regional church bodies are participating, others and Catholic archives and civil registrations may be joining in later. There will be a fee.
I used Google Translate to display much of the introductory text in English. This may be an imperfect translation:
From the parish register portal to Archion: start of the beta test
The beta test of the church book portal is launched on the German Genealogentag in Kassel on 13 September. More information about the Beta test follow.
The Church Literature Portal GmbH will operate their web portal under the name "Archion". In "Archion" will find the words archive and online again. A reduction of the project on two essential concepts. But the word "arché", ancient Greek for beginning and origin is included. We find that fits perfectly with the concept of genealogy, more about the question "Where did I come from?", Ie the origin out.
The vision of the Church Literature Portal GmbH is to open up next to the church records and other sources for genealogical research. The term "church book portal" is clearly designed for church books. If z. B. State Archives or municipal archives participate and want to represent civil registers online, the name is too restrictive. One should also keep open to make other archival materials online. "Archion" as a neologism is simply free in its possibilities, it is limited not only by her name.
The entire web site is in German. You can access the site at http://www.kirchenbuchportal.de and at
Payment information is available (in German) at http://www.kirchenbuchportal.de/bezahlen-im-internet.


text:
Voters to decide on jail, courthouse revision
JOHNSON COUNTY–Certain Johnson County officials hope $3.3 million in reductions to the design for a proposed justice center will be enough to swing public sentiment in their favor.
In the November 2012 general election, a $46.8 million bond issue for the project was defeated, receiving only 56 percent voter approval when 60 percent was required. Proponents went back to the drawing board almost immediately to revise the plan for a combined jail and improved Johnson County courthouse, and get it back in front of the public as soon as they thought feasible.
On Tuesday, May 7, they will try again. A special election will ask voters to approve $43.5 million in general obligation bonds to erect and equip a county justice center to solve current safety, security and space needs of the sheriff's office, overcrowded jail and aging courthouse.
Debate raged before the November vote, and has been steady since. Opponents of the proposal say the current jail's overcrowding is the result of problems in the legal system and not simply a burgeoning county population.
On Jan. 29, the Johnson County Board of Supervisors held a public work session to provide additional education, citing lack of accurate information as a potential reason for the narrow November failure. Last week, the ACLU sponsored another public forum with a panel of speakers who outlined reasons to oppose the project and offered suggestions for improved intake systems and jail alternatives they feel would be more effective in staunching the rise in the jail population long-term.
Both sides are confident that they have presented the issue clearly, and are ready to let the public speak next week.
Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said the committee working on the jail and courthouse project have attempted to address concerns raised before and since the November election, even down to the proposed building's façade. (People didn't like the building's "glass palace" appearance and low-pitched roof, he said, so both were redesigned to include more stone to better blend with the current courthouse, and a steeper pitch). More practically, the revision cuts inmate capacity from 243 jail beds to 195, has four courtrooms instead of six, and utilizes an additional $1.4 million dollars of county money from its Infrastructure Fund and Reserve Fund.
The plan also calls for "shelling" two of the proposed courtrooms and 48 inmate beds– building the basic framework and utilities for them, but leaving them unfinished until additional capacity is needed; all measures to reduce the asking price to county taxpayers.
With the new bond proposal, the tax impact to the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 would be $22.46 per year. On agricultural land, a 75-acre parcel of land with a Corn Suitability Rating (CSR) of 71– a measure of the land's productivity value– would have a tax impact of $34.02 per year, with the state's new rollback accounted for.
But reductions in the cost and design do not address underlying issues of overcrowding in the current jail that forces the county to transport prisoners out-of-county to other holding facilities at an average cost of $48 per day, or about $1.3 million per year.
It's a short-term solution to a long-range problem.
"Tax dollars continue to be shipped out of county," he said, likening renting jail space to renting a home. "Do we continue renting space or do we dive in, take advantage of low interest rates and stop renting?"
The bigger problem of housing inmates elsewhere is the disconnect it creates between detainees and their support systems. It's not uncommon for a prisoner's court hearing to be delayed because attorneys can't travel to the inmate, transports can't be conducted on very short notice and families cannot always manage transportation hurdles to visit outside the county.
"Those are the sorts of things– people's lack of access to the courts, lack of access to their attorneys and lack of access to family members– that are problematic for us," Pulkrabek added.
According to former University of Iowa professor John Neff, who has compiled years of research and cost analyses of Johnson County jail data, the proposed new facility is projected to run at greater efficiency, costing more like $40 per day to house an inmate (compared to the historic average costs of around $78 per day in-county and $48 per day out-of-county). However, Neff argues, the estimated operational expense does not include the unknown capitalization costs of building the new jail. He thinks it could bring the figure closer to $63 per day, "somewhat lower than the $72 per inmate-day average for the past eight years, but significantly larger than the $45 to $48 per inmate-day cost of out-of-county incarceration," Neff stated on his blog website, JCO-JUSTICE.com. The county's website also contains a projected estimate of operational costs, at www.johnson-county.com/dept_blank.aspx?id=12299.
But even using current data, Neff indicated in an email communication last week, cost estimates remain unreliable.
"It is very common in projects of this type for operating expenses to be underestimated," Neff wrote. "It is very common for additional staff to be added after start-up that they claimed were not needed. They did not include the program costs (assuming they are funded) probably because they would be provided by contractors paid from a different budget."
Disputes in cost figures aside, greater dissension lies in the causes of jail overcrowding in the first place.
Inarguably, the present 31-year-old facility, modified to house 92 prisoners, cannot accommodate the 150 to 170 inmates, on average, that require incarceration each day. Pulkrabek points to Johnson County's population increase from 96,119 to over 136,000 in 12 years.
"We are the fourth largest county with the 15th largest jail (in the state)," Pulkrabek said. "We have not kept up with the growth Johnson County has realized."
But opponent Jeff Cox contended in last week's public forum the increase of county residents and the rise in jail population are not commensurate.
"Since the old jail was built, the population of Johnson County has grown by 50 percent, and the number of people incarcerated per night has grown by about 500 percent," said Cox.
Jail challengers say there are causes of jail overcrowding that are largely ignored– over-arresting people for victimless crimes like public intoxication and possession of marijuana, the lack of effective jail alternative and deterrent programs, and socioeconomic disparities of arrestees that result in unnecessarily long jail stays for the county's poor, for example– and the county should be putting money toward those issues instead of building a bigger jail.
"You have a slow upward slope of population, rapid upward slope of people in jail, and a steep upward slope of drug arrests. We have a failed war on drugs, which has done nothing to decrease drug use but has caused soaring incarceration rates, and it's not just a national problem, it's a local problem. It's a matter of policing policy," said Cox.
Pulkrabek disagrees that the county detains people unnecessarily.
"There might be some people arrested for victimless crimes, but they are not the ones that stay in jail." Pulkrabek said. "This past Monday we had 125 people in jail and not a single one of them was there for possession of marijuana. We post our population online, so you can look and see what each individual is charged with. I challenge people to take a look and tell me how you believe (those persons are) not a danger to society or a flight risk," Pulkrabek said.
Documentation of current county initiatives targeted toward treatment, jail alternatives and recidivism reduction can be found on the Johnson County website. However, the lack of space to conduct many of these programs, and the need to transport prisoners to other counties, has severely curtailed the county's ability to offer them, Pulkrabek said.
"Social issues don't resonate with some people in the county; some people think we should lock them up and throw away the key. But I don't believe that, and I don't think the majority of Johnson County believes that," said Pulkrabek. "We want to secure them if they're a danger to society, but while they are here, let us see if we can't make some changes."
Pulkrabek said in the past, volunteers have offered assistance to tutor prisoners in life skills like creating a resumé, filling out job applications, balancing a checkbook or obtaining their GEDs. "But we didn't have meeting space, and if they were here very long, they were shipped out-of-county. If we can house them locally and address the needs properly, we can operate the way a county system should operate," said Pulkrabek.
Opponent Bob Thompson said last week the county's current attempts at keeping the jail population down need to be expanded, at very least. He suggested things like electronic monitoring of released prisoners, subsidized for those who can't afford it; a facility for alcohol and drug diversion from arrests to reduce misdemeanor cases; housing facilities for the alcoholic homeless; and contributing county funds to the Department of Correctional Services for services like an intensive pre-trial supervision program that provides rehabilitation, counseling, and mental health assistance, classes or supervised community service programs as alternatives to incarceration, among other ideas.
In addition to searching for jail alternatives, opponents say county officials are ignoring the obvious racial disparities seen in the jail population. Although only about six percent of Johnson County residents are black, black people make up roughly 40 percent of those incarcerated and can be held up to four times longer. It's an issue that Pulkrabek said has been worked on for quite some time, but the focus has been assisting juvenile offenders because that's where the most impact can be made. That effort isn't necessarily reflected in data on adult offenders, he said.
Further, said No New Jail member Aleksey Gurtovoy, problems with the current jail and the need for improvements to the 111-year old Johnson County Courthouse are two separate issues that should be addressed as such.
Supporters say the courthouse is unsafe since there is no way to separate prisoners making court appearances from the general public, witnesses, students who attend court hearings for college classes, and victims themselves. Also, there is no private space for attorneys to meet with their clients out of the public's earshot. Finally, Pulkrabek noted, current courtrooms are not friendly to the elderly or handicapped-accessible, which keeps jurors in wheelchairs separated from their fellow jurors, for example.
Gurtovoy said while there is a demonstrated need for courthouse updates, many of Pulkrabek's comments are just fear mongering.
"They are overblown," Gurtovoy said. "I think the majority of what has been brought up are false security and safety claims. There are other options there."
Gurtovoy believes that at least the people he has spoken with would likely support public funding of both new and expanded jail alternative programs as well as the less controversial need for improvements to the aging courthouse.
If the referendum fails again May 7, jail opponents have indicated they will look toward addressing the real problems of jail overcrowding.
"I think we can do something about over-incarceration and racial disparities, but we have to have a conversation," said Cox. "If we build a bigger jail, that conversation is not going to happen. The upward slope will just continue."
Pulkrabek said defeating the referendum won't bring anyone closer to their goals. Jail alternatives only slow the need for additional jail space, but the county and its jail population will continue to grow. Those alternatives also have funding and space needs, and cannot be seen as a means of reducing operating expenses, he maintains.
"A protest vote, a no vote, is not going to do anything to change who's in jail," he said. "Not building it because you don't want to fill it is not going to change that."
• Audio from the January 29 Board of Supervisors' public work session: http://www.johnson-county.com/auditor/min/Soniclear/2013_01_29_inf-audio%20(Jan-30-13%202-46-54%20PM)/index.html
• View the ACLU's forum at: votenonewjail.org/forum
• John Neff's website: www.jco-justice.com
• No New Jail website: votenonewjail.org
• Yes for Justice website: jcjusticecenter.com
• Johnson County website: www.johnson-county.com/dept_blank.aspx?id=12299


text:
Answers about MLS
Template:Other languages/Answers about MLS [Clerk Support]
All content on this page is moving to LDS Help Center under the Meetinghouse Technology topic. This page was supposed to be deleted at the end of October 2012.
This page documents frequently asked questions regarding MLS. Questions that have answers of a reasonable length should be asked and answered here; questions with longer answers should probably be addressed in a separate article.
- 1 What do I do if I get an error while trying to transmit?
- 2 Why do I get a "Security Failure" message when I transmit?
- 3 When I try to log in, the user name list is blank
- 4 After installing MLS or an update, I get a "Java Error" when starting the program
- 5 How do I add a non-member spouse?
- 6 How do I record a second marriage?
- 7 How can I change/update multiple fields at the same time (batch edit)?
- 8 How do I get confidential forms?
- 9 Where do I find a signature card?
- 10 Why do I see "Name Unknown" households in home teaching reports?
- 11 When I try to record an ordinance, the list of countries is blank
- 12 I am missing information on a ward/branch at the stake level
- 13 Where can I find...?
- 14 See also
What do I do if I get an error while trying to transmit?
Occasionally MLS has trouble communicating with the server at CHQ. It can occasionally produce errors when attempting to connect, the article on Troubleshooting MLS Transmission Problems has more information.
Why do I get a "Security Failure" message when I transmit?
Most often the Security Failure message occurs after MLS is installed on a new computer, or if MLS is completely uninstalled and then reinstalled. There is a security mechanism in the MLS communication system that verifies that the transmission is coming from an authorized MLS installation. Simply contact your administrative office and they can immediately reset the security to enable MLS transmissions.
Note that because of this security mechanism, one should not expect to be able to install MLS on a new computer and begin doing transmissions on weekends or other hours when telephone support is not available.
When I try to log in, the user name list is blank
- Main article: Lost User Names
A missing list of user names at the login screen can be caused by several things, but the most prominent is improperly exiting MLS. To recover the list restore the most recent backup from the mlsData file.
After installing MLS or an update, I get a "Java Error" when starting the program
This is usually caused by an incomplete download or install of the new update or full MLS program. To resolve this, it is best to visit the MLS download site, download a full copy of the installer and install it over the top of the existing program.
How do I add a non-member spouse?
There are two different ways to add a nonmember spouse.
First, you can edit the Individual record of the member spouse, go to the Current Spouse panel, and click Edit. Then you add the information for the non-member, selecting No for "Is a Member?". You close the spouse's Individual record, then edit it once again. Now there is a link on the Current Spouse panel for "Add Spouse to Household". Click on that link, and then when you go to the Household Members panel, you see that the husband is now the Head of Household, and the wife is the spouse.
Alternatively, you can create a nonmember record for the spouse (Membership > Records > Nonmember Record). Enter The person's name and press Next>. Check whether or not the person is considered Head of Household. If not, then select Head of household from list. Complete the remainder of the sections before saving the record. With the new record created, use the Individual Record screen to create the marriage relationship.
How do I record a second marriage?
If the member has been previously married and the marriage has ended due to death or divorce, the spouse will still show on the Individual Record as deceased. From the record, just editing the spouse information will not record the new marriage. This can only be done by clicking the Record Ordinances link under the Membership section, and under Marriage clicking Record Civil Marriage.
For more information see Recording ordinances and Recording events.
How can I change/update multiple fields at the same time (batch edit)?
Currently, there is no functionality to perform this type of edit in MLS. All edits have to be made manually one at a time.
However, if you need to change the same field in many membership or household records at the same time, you can save time by using the arrow buttons located in the upper right corner of the Household Record or Member Record screens. For example, if you are changing the phone numbers of all the households to add an area code:
- Select the first household record alphabetically
- Go to the Contact Information screen.
- Change the phone number for the household.
- Then instead of closing the Household Record screen, click the blue triangle button at the upper right corner of the screen. This will take you to the next household alphabetically, and you will still be viewing the Contact Information screen.
- Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have edited all the households.
How do I get confidential forms?
Several confidential forms are available in MLS, starting with version 2.8. Formerly, these forms had to be requested from CHQ, but now they are not only available in MLS, but MLS will also fill in information on the individuals involved, which is very helpful. Once the forms are filled in, they may be saved for future access (but the saved versions should be discarded according to the individual instructions at the same time the paper versions are destroyed).
There is a helpful instruction page at the beginning of the Confidential Forms area, and the forms themselves have excellent guidance on what the forms are used for, how to fill them out and submit them, and how the forms should be retained and destroyed. From the opening MLS screen, under Other Resources, there is a link to Confidential Forms. These forms include:
- Report of Disciplinary Action
- Report of Administrative Action
- Baptism Record for Readmission
- Application the First Presidency
Where do I find a signature card?
- Main article: Signature card
The signature card for the unit's bank account can be printed from MLS.
Why do I see "Name Unknown" households in home teaching reports?
This seems to happen when household records are moved out of the ward, although there are reports of other situations as well. For more details, see this Thread on the Tech Discussion Forum
When I try to record an ordinance, the list of countries is blank
This can be caused by a number of issues, usually data damage. To restore damaged tables and refresh the lists, select Request Unit Refresh Data in the file menu, and select all of the options.
I am missing information on a ward/branch at the stake level
This most commonly occurs following a boundary realignment. Whether the stake has created a new unit, brought in a unit from another stake, or moved a unit out of the stake, information can be missing or incorrect. At the both the ward and stake level, the names and unit numbers need to be updated to reflect the new changes, once this is completed the information should populate automatically.
At the ward/stake MLS:
- Click on System Options.
- Click on Unit.
- Click on Edit in the Unit Information section.
- Enter the correct (stake/ward name and unit number) information.
- If necessary, remove any old ward information on the stake computer.
- Click Save.
- Click Close and do a Send/Receive Changes.
Where can I find...?
Open the help file by pressing F1 or going through the help menu and perform a keyword search.


text:
Does every citizen need a lawyer on private retainer? The founder of Landmark Legal Plans Inc. thinks so
As soon as you hear about him you're going to think Christopher P. Nolan works at your company.
That's because someone like him probably does. He's one of your top people, but also your harshest critic. Even as he's pocketing commission checks -- in Nolan's case, $2,465.57 one day, $29.40 the next, and $371.68 the day after that -- he's thinking that your marketing approach is lousy and your financial acumen worse. As founder, you always fear what he's thinking: What do I need this guy for? You just hope it's an impulse he'll never act on.
After all, it took even Nolan himself a few years to make the leap. He first started considering it back in 1985, when he was a salesman at Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc., in Ada, Okla. The company, which by 1987 ranked 92d on the INC. 100 list of the fastest-growing public companies, specialized in selling legal plans, a nascent concept that sounded great: for a relatively small yearly fee, the average person could keep a lawyer on retainer. The problem, Nolan thought, was the way the plans were marketed.
Like most companies in the field, Pre-Paid used multilevel marketing to sell the plans. Via tent shows, it recruited part-time salespeople to buy the policies and then sell their friends on the idea of joining up. The part-timers would receive a cut of every sale their recruits made.
Multilevel marketing got the product on the street -- and sold it -- very fast. But Nolan believed the strategy was better suited for selling a tangible item than a service like legal plans. The problem, as he saw it, was this: the sales force had every interest in selling a plan but none whatsoever in servicing it. Understandably, most customers had questions about the unfamiliar plans. Unable to find answers, they checked the "no" box when it came time to renew.
Many fine prospects, Nolan observed, simply wouldn't buy anything sold through multilevel marketing. "Is this like Amway?" he'd hear as the door was closing. Small-business owners were the worst. "Their fear was that once you sold them a plan, you'd try to recruit them to sell the product," says Nolan.
Nolan didn't think the attorneys were getting a good deal either. Most plans paid them less than $2 per plan per month -- not enough, Nolan felt, to keep them motivated. You really should start a company of your own, some of them urged.
No way, he thought; surely there's another company that sees the same opportunity. In search of it, Nolan jumped to a competitor, where he encountered what in his view were the same problems. Unprofessional salespeople. Underpaid lawyers. Unfocused marketing. "I became even more convinced that it was a great idea," he says, "and that nobody was doing it right.'
Chances are that the Christopher Nolan at your company will criticize and carp but stick around to enjoy those regular commission checks. Not so this Christopher Nolan.
"I am sure I can do better," says the 37-year-old founder of Landmark Legal Plans Inc., based in Denver. "I'm betting everything I have on it.'
Let's suppose your business is bickering with a supplier over whether that company fulfilled the terms of its contract last month, or you're not sure how to comply with a new piece of legislation. And what are your rights if your spouse is a louse or your car a lemon?
If you're well heeled, you probably already have an attentive lawyer to handle such matters. But for most people, contacting an attorney -- and, more to the point, paying one -- is as appealing as spending a night in jail. Those people will even pay up front to make sure they have an affordable lawyer lined up.
At least that's the presumption behind legal plans. For a yearly fee, consumers receive certain legal services. Usually these include half-hour phone consultations, letters and calls to third parties (suppliers, landlords, and so on), the review of such documents as leases and contracts, and the writing of wills. For all of these, consumers call on their "access attorney," whose number is printed on a wallet-size card.
For more specialized legal matters, such as bankruptcy, the access attorney turns to a list of "referral attorneys." Typically, plans offer these lawyers at about 25% less than their usual hourly rates. Some plans include a roster of legal matters, such as deeds and misdemeanors, with maximum-fee caps. For the most sophisticated work, such as a merger, Landmark offers specialist firms at a 10% to 25% discount.
Since 1977, when a Supreme Court ruling paved the way for such plans, marketers -- which now include such heavyweights as Amway and Montgomery Ward -- have been seeking a balance between a plan that consumers are eager to buy and one that lawyers are willing to service. At the rates they've been used to getting, access attorneys aren't very eager to provide many free services. At the same time, plan marketers need to lure consumers. Hence there have been plans that, for instance, boast of covering such potentially expensive transgressions as vehicular homicide. Read the fine print, though, and you'll see that alcohol- or drug-related charges aren't covered -- which excludes, by one lawyer's reckoning, around 90% of all those cases. "Some plans verge on being illusory," notes David Baker, an industry consultant.
Getting lawyers to back legal plans isn't easy. After all, the plans require attorneys to turn their traditionally lucrative approach, based on high margins and low volume, right on its head. When he decided to launch Landmark Legal Plans, Nolan knew that a plan couldn't succeed unless the lawyers had a stake in it. So last spring, he met with 30 attorneys from eight different law firms. What do you like about legal plans? he asked. What would it take to get you to service one? Well, they said, we'd like to see a plan handled by professional marketers so we don't have to spend half our time briefing customers on what they just bought. Furthermore, they said, if you're going to ask us to slash our margins, you'd better deliver us volumes of clients; so far, the marketers are the only ones who seem to be making money.
Not anymore, Nolan vowed, I'm going to make it worth your while.
Landmark now offers two plans -- one for individuals, one for businesses with revenues under $4 million -- that enable attorneys to earn roughly 50% more than competing plans, Nolan claims. True, Nolan is calling on attorneys to provide more free services, but he's carefully chosen areas that will add up to only about 15% more work, he says. Whereas most plans offer free will preparation, for instance, Landmark offers two free wills and any number of children's trusts. And the plan offers fee caps in 15 areas, at least 5 more than most.
Nolan is hoping to lure customers from his competitors, which haven't done badly in opening up the market. Pre-Paid started by selling about 5,000 plans in 1977, and is up to some 300,000 a decade later. Nationwide Legal Services Inc. has grown from sales of $56,000 in 1983 to more than $1 million last year. Landmark's individual plan is about 30% more expensive than Pre-Paid's; Landmark's business plan is priced just a bit higher than Nationwide's, which is similar in content. Nolan insists that customers are "more interested in service than in price. If they call an attorney, they want to talk to an attorney today.'
Most potential customers, he contends, still haven't been exposed to the legal plan concept. Only 42 million people now own one, and Nolan believes that the market for individual plans is as large as 155 million, about 70% of the U.S. population. Less than 1% of small businesses, he claims, have a legal plan. "Around 75% of the market is wide open," he says. Some companies have bitten off pieces of the market through direct mail (Montgomery Ward) and multilevel marketing (Pre-Paid, Nationwide), but "nobody has really figured out how to sell it to the mass market," Nolan says.
Nolan knows firsthand that the demand exists. He claims that at Pre-Paid, he could fill a ballroom with 200 people, tell them about the plan, and expect 10% to leave with one. At Nationwide, with what he judges a slightly better product, he could usually count on 50%.
Shortly after going out on his own in May 1987, Nolan got hold of information about five West German companies that sell legal plans. Aside from examining usage rates, renewal levels, and profit margins, he was heartened to discover that 80% of all West Germans subscribe to plans. "It's just a matter of educating people here," he says. "There's no reason to think it wouldn't happen here like it did there.'
Three of the five companies, he adds with a smile, now post annual revenues of more than $1 billion.
The legal plan concept sounds an awful lot like insurance: pay up front for services you might need later. But Nolan, borrowing from his European counterparts, is operating strictly as a middleman. That should, he says, enable him to grow faster. As an insurer, Landmark would have to wrestle with capitalization and licensing requirements that vary from state to state. But Landmark does not pay out claims, nor does it depend on actuaries to set its fees. The company receives an annual amount up front -- say, $195 for most individual plans and $570 for a business plan -- and wrings its profit margin from that fee. (A company that buys individual plans for its employees can obtain a group discount that sinks as low as $110 apiece.)
A Landmark fee makes more stops than a cable car as it chugs its way toward the bottom line. To keep his start-up costs down and enable Landmark to expand fast, Nolan has signed deals with two national companies, each of which will skim percentages off the top of each fee: Insurance Marketing Services Inc. (IMS) will sell Landmark's plans through its network of some 1,700 insurance agents, and National Insurance Administrators Corp. (NIA) is handling all the paperwork and record keeping, as well as maintaining a toll-free number to answer brokers' or clients' queries. "This way," Nolan says, "we can concentrate on the marketing side.'
Marketing is especially important because renewals are key to improving Landmark's profitability. For its efforts, IMS takes away 42% of each new plan, 2% for itself. As with any insurance product, the rest will be split among various combinations of general agents, distributors, and producing sellers -- depending on exactly who was involved in the sale. When a plan is renewed, though, the IMS percentage drops to 24%.
Likewise, NIA's straight percentage slips from 12% to 10% in the second year. Only the access attorneys, who have a direct effect on whether consumers like the plan enough to renew, receive the incentive of a bigger percentage the second and third years. In the first year, access attorneys receive 18% of each fee; in the second year, 20%; and in the third, 30%. For the third year and thereafter, the attorneys are contractually locked in to receiving $5 per month for every individual legal plan and $14 for each business plan they service.
If he can raise working capital, Nolan plans to open branch offices that will serve both as marketing headquarters and as training centers for lawyers and brokers. Outside of Colorado, his first branch will be in Phoenix. Using that as a model -- ``I know it won't hold for cities like Chicago and L.A.," he notes -- he expects most branches to break even at the end of the first year. Branch managers will be virtually the only salaried employees in each office; the rest, as many as eight district managers, will receive a commission out of revenues. "I'm trying to lock down as many costs as possible," says Nolan.
Landmark's profit on each plan sold should be a slender 3% during the first year, climb to about 15% the second year, and hit 24% by the fifth year, depending on the renewal rate. According to projections, the company will break even in its first year. "As long as we keep selling contracts, we'll keep making money," Nolan says.
To succeed, Nolan must reach three different markets: the lawyers who will service the plan, the insurance brokers who will sell it, and the consumers who will buy it.
Most legal plan marketing strategies have employed multilevel marketers following the same general dictum: where there's no will, there's a way. Lured by the prospect of a cheap will, consumers join up, get the document, then depart.
The lawyers, who have generally worked at bargain-basement rates, haven't had much incentive to convince customers to stay. Their goal is to see as many people as possible in the hopes that one of their customers (or a customer's friend or relative) will be struck by a heavy object and initiate a lucrative personal-injury suit.
Because legal plans are so low cost (read: low commission), direct selling is simply too expensive. Still, no other plan has caught on with insurance brokers before. But, says IMS president Ron Roesener, "this one is much simpler. It's very understandable for the brokers." Nolan is counting on the IMS insurance brokers to bring in at least two-thirds of Landmark's sales.
With beefed-up services and the credibility of the broker behind it, Nolan believes Landmark can attract a different class of consumers than do the multilevel marketers or the direct mailers. The brokers' slick marketing presentations will aim squarely at the middle-class and upper-middle-class clientele Nolan is seeking -- litigious enough to need a plan, wealthy enough to afford one. Some people, he figures, will snap up a Landmark plan because, say, they have just run over a cat; unlike an insurer, Landmark covers those preexisting conditions for which a lawyer hasn't already been hired. Even the higher price, he says, will serve as a competitive advantage. "People figure, 'What kind of lawyer am I going to get for 100 bucks?' " Nolan says. "In lawyers, people want quality.'
Eventually, Nolan also plans to sell through financial planners and business consultants. An experienced speaker, he hopes next spring to start leading seminars on issues that will attract entrepreneurs. He expects more than 60% of Landmark's customers to consist of companies buying group business plans for their employees through the same agent that sells them group health plans. "It's cheaper than a raise," notes Nolan, "and the perceived value is very high.'
To encourage plan holders to renew, Landmark will churn out newsletters and other literature to remind them to use their plans. But what Nolan is really counting on to keep plan holders coming back are the attorneys. His approach to motivating them is about as subtle as a gavel to the cranium. "Let's face it," he says, "money does talk." For each individual plan they service, the access attorneys will receive $3 per month the first year; $4 the second year; and $5 the third year. The scale for business plans runs from $6 to $10 to $14. That doesn't sound like much, Nolan concedes, except when the volume is turned up.
The idea is for the plan to be profitable whether or not that big personal-injury case happens to limp in. Richard Hughes, a senior partner at the law firm that serves as one of Landmark's access firms in Denver, contends that "three dollars per month per plan can be profitable by itself. You just have to be efficient." Hughes estimates, for instance, that it takes his firm only about 30 minutes to execute a will, often by mail. Besides, he adds, the firm saves the marketing costs of bringing in new clients.
Nolan hopes the incentive pay will prompt access attorneys, 50% of whom will also be servicing other plans, to "honor my plan first." By contract, access firms must answer all calls within 24 hours. They are also required to send out welcoming letters to each new plan member.
As for referral attorneys, Nolan contends that $68 an hour enables most to make a profit of $10 or more an hour. He arrived at that figure after discovering that big insurance companies pay attorneys $65 an hour for volume business. To qualify with Landmark, referral attorneys must own at least $300,000 in malpractice insurance, show areas of expertise, be in good standing with the local bar, and have been practicing law for at least five years.
In June 1987, Nolan sold his house in suburban Michigan, raising about $25,000 to put into the business. He knew that wouldn't cover the legal and accounting expenses, so he accepted a lucrative consulting contract -- $10,000 a month for six months -- in Dallas. Nolan put aside what he could to live on, originally thinking he might launch the company in the Lone Star State. Upon further study, he decided to head for Colorado, where the regulations concerning legal plans are as thin as the mountain air.
Between December 1987 and March '88, he ran through most of the money he had saved. He had to draw up contracts with access and referral attorneys and with insurance brokers, at a cost of about $20,000. Accounting fees for the pro forma ran to more than $3,000. Printing brochures and letterhead stationery cost another $12,000. He saved money by working from what he called "the executive dining room' -- his house. Last January, when Nolan began thinking about hiring, he decided he would have to move to improve his credibility. The problem became apparent when he interviewed Randolph Orr, now vice-president of marketing. Orr plopped down on Nolan's couch and said, "I just want to know: exactly what kind of scam are you running here?" In March, Nolan began occupying space in the Colorado Club Building, which offered him a no-rent deal as long as he agreed to rent offices once Landmark was up and running.
By then, Nolan was exhausted, and so were his funds. Looking for more, Nolan has made the rounds of venture capitalists but says "they want too much of the company." What he'd really like is somebody who will put in $250,000 without demanding a controlling interest.
Nolan estimates that Landmark will need about $300,000 to keep both the Arizona and Colorado offices running for the next year. But that also assumes that the offices will bring in no sales all year; in truth, Nolan expects to see about $30,000 a month from each office by the end of the fall.
If that happens, then he can spend the $300,000 just the way he wants: opening as many as four more branch offices this year. The start-up costs of each office will run to only about $25,000, most of that for a computer with a modem and terminal. Nolan plans to lease the furniture and space. Once an office is set up, it will cost about $17,000 a month to operate a branch.
Nolan is also hoping to raise at least $3 million by December through a public offering of less than 30% of Landmark's stock. With that cushion, he would be able to speed his growth, opening more than eight branches a year after this year.
But Nolan isn't counting on that. "This company could finance its own growth," he says. "If I can't raise the money, we'll just grow slower. It's tough.'
Christopher Nolan isn't just introducing a new product in a proven market; he's trying to build a market where, as Hughes puts it, "there has been a lot of crawling, stumbling, and falling.'
Ultimately, it may turn out that consumers are dubious about the guidance they get from attorneys whose profits depend on dispensing wisdom fast. Companies, having watched group health premiums rise an average of 40% last year, may not be in the mood to add legal plans as a benefit for their employees.
But assuming there is the strong market Nolan sees, Landmark is most vulnerable in its distribution system: the insurance brokers. "I'm betting very, very heavily on brokerage community acceptance," Nolan admits. "I am putting all my eggs in one basket." There are several potential holes in that basket.
One is that the brokers might not push the plans because they require too much explanation. New insurance-type products, as opposed to marketing twists on familiar products, take forever to catch on. Brokers might decide they'd rather spend the time selling a higher-commission product like group health insurance.
If the brokers don't push fast enough, the lawyers' interest may wane. "Where are all those clients?" has been the parting shot of many a legal plan lawyer.
Finally, there is the one risk that any small company in a new industry must anticipate. Most big insurance companies have avoided writing legal plans because it is hard to assess the risk. Watching Landmark may give them some ideas. Big ideas.
By that time Nolan hopes that Landmark will be the perfect acquisition target, though it's hard to imagine him returning to work for somebody else. He does not, after all, speak fondly of his former employers.
"I was as big a sucker as anyone else," he says. "But those companies didn't know how to do it. There's big demand for this product, and I've got the formula that works.'
Research assistance was provided by Leslie Brokaw.
The Company: Landmark Legal Plans Inc., Denver
Concept: Legal plans for businesses and individuals offering specified legal services and a discount retainer for an annual fee
Projections: Pretax net of $58,700 in 1989. In 1993, sales of $47.8 million, with more than $11 million in profits (about 24% pretax net)
Hurdles: Questionable demand; getting insurance brokers to sell plans; delivering customer volume to lawyers quickly enough to keep them interested in providing services
Landmark Legal Plans Inc. projected annual operating statements
Fiscal year 1989 Fiscal year 1993Sales (and % of sales) (and % of sales)
Business plans $702,600 (40%) $19,131,400 (40%)
Individual plans 1,053,800 (60%) 28,697,200 (60%)
Total sales 1,756,400 47,828,600
Cost of Sales
IMS commissions 737,600 (42%) 15,010,800 (31.4%)(brokers)
Access attorneys 316,200 (18%) 10,588,800 (22.1%)
NIA commission 210,800 (12%) 4,782,900 (10%) (administration)
Total cost of sales 1,264,600 (72%) 30,382,500 (63.5%)
Gross Profit 491,800 (28%) 17,446,100 (36.5%)
Operating Expenses
Corporate salaries/ 210,800 (12%) 3,947,200 (8.3%)bonuses
Printing and advertising 53,200 (3%) 837,900 (1.8%)
Seminars and training 16,900 (1%) 267,000 (0.6%)
Legal fees 20,300 (1.2%) 75,600 (0.2%)
Miscellaneous 14,500 (0.8%) 23,700 (0.05%)marketing
Telephone 7,500 (0.4%) 114,000 (0.2%)
Postage 10,500 (0.6%) 166,300 (0.3%)
Rent 22,200 (1.3%) 123,200 (0.3%)
Equipment 44,700 (2.5%) 250,200 (0.5%)
Supplies 5,300 (0.3%) 83,200 (0.2%)
Miscellaneous 27,200 (1.5%) 142,900 (0.3%)
Total operating 433,100 (24.7%) 6,031,200 (12.6%)expenses
Net Income 58,700 (3.3%) 11,414,900 (23.9%) before Taxes
Sometime in 1983, as Christopher Nolan was giving a seminar on real estate, a man emerged from the crowd and asked him, "How much are you spending on an attorney?" Too much, replied Nolan -- who, as a real-estate investor, was plunking down as much as $6,000 a month for a lawyer to handle contractor's agreements, mortgages, and so on. That's when the man told him about prepaid legal plans. Nolan bought one. He found it actually cut his legal bills in half. "I became intrigued," he says.
Once Nolan becomes intrigued, he generally follows up. Not long after graduating from Northern Michigan University in 1973, Nolan entered the securities industry, where he helped wealthy clients pad their portfolios with tax shelters. What intrigued him then, he says, was that most of them had made money, and buckets of it, in real estate.
Off he went to a real-estate seminar given by Albert J. Lowry, a then-popular (now bankrupt) lecturer on the subject. Not only did Nolan take the plunge into real estate -- he claims he made about $160,000 gross his first year -- but he eventually accepted Lowry's invitation to tour nearly 160 cities, telling 1.5 million people about how Lowry's system had worked for him.
But Nolan, now 37, claims none of his previous jobs fully prepared him for the challenge of starting Landmark Legal Plans Inc. Well, maybe one. As a kid, he led groups of people on fishing and hunting trips through the wilderness of northern Ontario. "It was great for honing people skills," he says. "You can drop me in the middle of anywhere, and I'll do just fine. So Landmark doesn't scare me all that much.'
President, Time Financial Services, a Reseda, Calif., insurance brokerage firm; managing editor of California Broker magazine
Nolan's certainly right in that he's created a plan less complicated for the broker and buyer, which seems to offer more benefits than other plans. I would recommend the plan to my clients over other plans I've seen, absolutely.
His problem, though, is depending on the broker as a means of marketing. He plans on getting a substantial number of his clients from group sales, but I don't think the market's there. Employers aren't ready to put money into it. They have to provide medical and life insurance because everyone else does, but there's no pressure to offer a group legal plan. And with recent increases of up to 40% for the medical plans, they've been cutting back on benefits, not adding new ones. Brokers are already struggling to put together reasonable packages of basic insurance for their clients. Convincing those clients to do anything else now is tremendously difficult.
Nolan also shouldn't depend on the brokers to sell the individual plans. If I sell one of those plans, I'll only make $40 -- and it's hard to make me do that for $40. Having brokers sell the business plans, however, is reasonable. For the broker it's more profitable -- $120 to $150 -- and it's a good service for the client. I can see marketing that plan.
I would recommend that he sell the individual plans directly, with advertising and direct mail. I know it's expensive, but brokers just won't be eager to market it.
Will he succeed? Not with the current marketing plan. If he can figure out a way to get the company off the ground with a smaller number of customers, and then grow slowly, he might get somewhere. But with the money he's thinking of putting into it, and the number of people he needs to sign up, I think he could go bankrupt.
President, MarketCorp Venture Associates, a Westport, Conn., venture capital firm specializing in consumer products and services
I would not invest in this as it's presently constituted, and as it stands now, I don't think it will succeed. I've just read too many plans from individuals who have observed an industry but not run a company or been accountable for profits and losses. They see a need, but a lot of it is still supposition and hasn't been tested properly. Prepaid legal services is an industry that hasn't succeeded in this country; there's a lot of missionary work to be done. And whenever I hear talk of missionaries and development of a business and proving a need, I remember that missionaries do good work but don't usually get wealthy.
I think Nolan is running into the market too fast. He's got to test his thesis: how he'll market his plan and service it, and what kind of renewals he'll get. He's got to withdraw from three or four of the markets he's talking about, take one particular area, run a fairly decent test, and do some focus-group work with the consumers and with attorneys' groups to see exactly what they are willing to do and how appealing his fees are.
The money he says he needs now is far too little. It's probably more like half a million to a million dollars to take a market and test it. When he says venture capitalists want too much of the company, it's the classic story of the guy who's sold his house and is betting the ranch, is now in search of that next chunk of dollars, but is very unwilling to consider giving up control. And that potentially can lead to failure. He can't let the fear of losing control get in the way of doing it right.
He also talks about raising $3 million with an equity offering -- but if you think having an IPO in your second year of business is a godsend, then you haven't done it before. All of a sudden you're trying to satisfy shareholders instead of really building the fundamental strengths of the business. You could end up getting too much equity too fast during the period you ought to be doing testing. And if you have a good public offering and the stock price goes to inordinately high levels and you do not perform, there will be disappointment -- and those shareholders tend to sell that stock pretty quickly. Then there are all the attendant costs of an IPO and the amount of time it takes to do it. For all those reasons, it's better to forestall that kind of financial arrangement until you've proven the concept, built the team, and have some strength under your belt.
Founder and CEO of Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc., a legal service company he started in 1972. In 1987, the company was #92 on the Inc. 100.
There are a couple of problems here. The biggest fallacy of Nolan's plan is its marketing. I don't think anybody's had more experience trying to work with insurance brokers than I have, and it's been one of the most disappointing things I've ever tried. It did not work.
Despite the fact that we've signed up literally thousands of brokers across the country, that we pay higher commissions than Landmark, and that we advance those commissions, the amount of prepaid legal services sold for us by brokers wouldn't pay our light bill. These people are used to selling life insurance and health insurance, which is a totally different ball game. With legal plans, there has to be some education about the product before the sale -- you have to introduce the consumer to the product and convince him there is a need for it before he'll buy it -- and most insurance brokers for some reason can't do that, or won't.
Second is the middleman strategy. It's a great theory -- I wish I could do it -- to farm everything out. That's what he's doing, saying he's going to get somebody to do his marketing and pay him a percentage. And get somebody to do his administrative work and pay him a percentage. And get people to do the legal work and pay them some percentage. Then he's going to be left with 28% for doing nothing? If I could get that kind of work, I'd be doing it.


text:
Listing courtesy of Real Estate Connections, Inc.
The data relating to real estate for sale on this web site comes in part from Information and Real Estate Services, LLC under IRES Rules © Copyright IRES, and is provided for limited non-commercial use. Information is provided exclusively for consumers' personal use and may not be used for any purpose other than to identify prospective properties consumers may be interested in purchasing. Real estate listings held by other brokerage firms are included in this site and detailed information about them includes the name of the listing brokers. Listing broker has attempted to offer accurate data, but buyers are advised to confirm all items.
Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed by the MLS
Listing data last updated:


text:
Shania Twain to Give Couple Dream Second Wedding in Vegas
Searching for the perfect venue to renew your vows and spice up your marriage? Shania Twain just may have your answer! The country superstar is teaming up with the ladies of the wildly popular daytime talk show 'The Talk' for the 'The Talk and Shania Twain Still the One' contest, which will give one lucky couple the opportunity to renew their vows during an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas.
As of now, viewers can log on here to upload their home videos describing why they should be chosen for the once-in-a-lifetime getaway. The lucky couple will also win a pair of tickets to Twain's Dec. 12 Caesar's Palace residency concert. The contest is open to legal U.S. residents 21 years old and older, and applicants must be a registered user of cbs.com to be eligible. Entry period ends 11:59:59AM ET on Sept. 24, with the winners to be announced on 'The Talk' this fall.
Twain is set to return to the stage after an eight-year hiatus with her 'Still the One' 2-year Caesar's Palace Las Vegas concert series on Dec. 1, with tickets for the first string of dates already on-sale. The gorgeous superstar recently added 14 dates to her schedule due to high demand for tickets.
"Besides getting back onstage in the first place, I'm just looking forward to contact with the fans again," says the Grammy-Award winning singer. "Being able to connect directly with the fans during the show has always been a pleasure, and that's probably what I'm looking forward to the most, above and beyond the live show itself."
Twain's unmarried fans still hoping to catch the singer live in concert can visit her official website for a complete list of concert dates. Click here for more information.


text:
Some people may have greeted state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's report on the city of Rochester's fiscal challenges with a shrug, dismissing it as old news. Indeed, the basic facts outlined by the comptroller's office have been reported before-and the bottom-line message has been delivered on a number of occasions by Mayor Thomas Richards, among others.
This does not mean, however, that Mr. DiNapoli's report has no value. The comptroller's analysis brings useful clarity to the city's fiscal situation.
Rochester's situation is not unique, but even among its financially strapped upstate peers, the city faces particularly difficult challenges. A key one is its poverty rate: At 25.8 percent, Rochester has the highest rate of families living in poverty in New York, where the statewide average is 10.8 percent.
In addition, the real property tax for several reasons supplies much less revenue to city coffers than among all cities statewide, and thus Rochester must rely more on volatile sales tax revenues.
While forces impacting Rochester's property tax base are largely beyond the control of elected officials, one big fiscal factor is determined in Albany: the per capita aid Rochester receives. As Mr. DiNapoli notes, the city receives $419 in Aid and Incentives to Municipalities per capita-but the other three Big Four cities average $566 per capita. If Rochester's share of this aid equaled that average, it would receive $31 million more annually. This would go a long way toward closing the recent budget gaps the city has been projecting, the report states.
In a statement on the report, Mr. Richards said it "tells the story we have been telling for some time-that we are doing as well as we can, but we are struggling to keep up financially." The city has taken a number of steps–from reducing capital expenses and reducing employment to revising its health care agreement with unions–to shrink its structural budget gap. Yet it still faces a budget shortfall of nearly $30 million.
Despite its challenges, Rochester is, as the mayor notes, a vibrant city-one making considerable strides in its revitalization efforts. But clearly, the job is made much more difficult by Albany's failure to distribute funds equitably.
3/8/13 (c) 2013 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
This Giveaway has ENDED! Thank you for Entering!
2. True Blush- a neutral, dusty rose blush, perfect for just about any skin tone! (5 gram jar)
3. Perfect Tan Bronzer/All-Over Color- a brand new shade! Stunning matte rosy beige...gives skin a wash of natural tan color when used all over face...can also be applied to body or just as blush. My personal favorite shade!
4. Glow- perfect finishing powder that creates a soft, subtle glow all over! (5 gram jar)
5. Finishing Silk- final mineral powder that sets your makeup and gives a flawless, natural finish!! (5 gram jar)
6. Light Complete Cover Sample- a heavy concealer that can be used alone (as a foundation) or for spot-concealing. Has a matte finish and balanced undertones. Helps absorb excess oil. (1/4 teaspoon in baggie)
- Tell us why you would like to win this set.
- Visit the Mineral Basics site HERE and tell me what other product you would like to try.
- Blog about this giveaway on you site, then leave us a link.
- Twitter about this giveaway, and leave link.
- Add yourself as a follower of Beautiful2God, or tell me if you already are.
- Subscribe to Beautiful2God, or tell me if you already are.
That's it! Giveaway ends 5/28!!!


text:
Services on Demand
Related links
- Cited by Google
- Similars in Google
SAMJ: South African Medical Journal
On-line version ISSN 2078-5135
Print version ISSN 0256-9574
SAMJ, S. Afr. med. j. vol.99 n.5 Cape Town May. 2009
Associations between body mass index and serum levels of C-reactive protein
Tung-Wei KaoI; I-Shu LuIII; Kuo-Chen LiaoV; Hsiu-Yun LaiVI; Ching-Hui LohII; Hsu-Ko KuoIV, *
IMD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital; School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
IIMD, PhD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital; School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
IIIMD, Departments of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics and Gerontology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
IVMD, MPH, Departments of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics and Gerontology, National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
VMD, Division of General Medicine and Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan
VIMD, Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan
BACKGROUND: Obesity leads to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and glucose intolerance, which are phenomena of chronic inflammation. This study was performed to determine whether a higher body mass index (BMI) and central obesity are associated with low-grade inflammation.
METHODS: An analysis of 8 453 adults aged >20 years was performed. Every subject completed a household interview and a questionnaire regarding personal health, and their BMI and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level were measured. The BMI data were divided into quintiles, using multiple linear regression to estimate the relationship between CRP level and BMI quintiles. An extended-model approach was used for covariate adjustment. The association between central obesity and CRP level was examined by this method as well.
RESULTS: After controlling for demographics, chronic diseases, health behaviours and levels of folate and vitamin B12, the β coefficient (which represents the change of natural-log-transformed levels of CRP for each kg/m2 increase in BMI) was 0.078 (p<0.001). The CRP levels also increased across increasing quintiles of BMI (p for trend <0.001). The β coefficient, representing the change of natural-log-transformed levels of CRP comparing subjects with central obesity to those without, was 0.876 (p<0.001).
CONCLUSION: Higher BMIs as well as central obesity are independently associated with higher levels of CRP.
C-reactive protein (CRP) (an acute phase protein) has been thought to be synthesised in the liver, with a plasma half-life of 18 hours.1 However, the extrahepatic expression of CRP has been detected in macrophages and smooth-muscle cells from atherosclerotic plaques.2 It plays an important role in the inflammatory process and is recognised as a useful biochemical marker of inflammation. Increasing epidemiological evidence supports the notion that low-grade inflammation, as reflected by elevated levels of CRP, is associated with glucose intolerance3 and various vascular diseases4-7 including atherosclerosis, stroke, ischaemic heart disease, and peripheral vascular disease. Evidence-based systemic reviews have suggested that elevated CRP is related to an increased risk of stroke and cognitive impairment.8
There is evidence for the presence of CRP in human adipose tissue9,10 and growing evidence that adipose tissue can induce chronic low-grade inflammation by producing pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6.11 Overweight or obese individuals have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases12 and insulin resistance.13 A certain degree of inflammatory process in subjects with obesity could be suspected, but data examining the direct association between body mass index (BMI) and CRP is sparse. This study aimed to evaluate whether higher BMI and central obesity are associated with low-grade systemic inflammation as measured by serum CRP levels, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999 - 2002.
Materials and methods
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) is a population-based survey to collect information on the health and nutrition of the USA's domestic population. NHANES used a stratified, multistage and cluster sampling design to obtain a representative sample of the non-institutionalised civilian USA population by conducting detailed home interviews and health examinations in a mobile examination centre. Since 1999, NHANES became a continuous annual survey rather than its past form of a periodic survey. Our study population comprised adults aged >20 years who participated in the NHANES 1999 - 2002. Detailed survey operations manuals, consent documents and brochures of NHANES 1999 - 2002 are available on its website.14,15
A total of 10 291 participants aged >20 years were included. Body measurements in some participants could not be obtained because of safety concerns, refusals or physical limitations (such as the participant being confined to a wheelchair); of these, 1 402 were excluded from the analysis because of missing BMI values (N=1 227) and waist measurements (N=175), and 436 were excluded because of unavailable data on CRP. Therefore, the final sample comprised 8 453 adults who completed a household interview and laboratory and clinical examinations.
Body measurements
Generally, height and weight were not obtained for subjects using a wheelchair in the mobile examination centre. Height was measured with a stadiometer to the nearest 0.1 cm. Weight was measured with a Toledo digital scale and recorded to the nearest 0.01 kg. BMI was calculated as mass in kilograms divided by the square of height in metres. Waist circumference was measured on the horizontal plane at the level of the uppermost border of the bilateral iliac crests.
C-reactive protein measurements
Blood specimens were collected at the mobile examination centres and analysed at the Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington. CRP was analysed by a highly sensitive assay technique. Standard phlebotomy techniques were used to obtain specimens, which were held at 20°C until used for laboratory analysis. CRP was quantified by utilising latex-enhanced nephelometry with a Behring nephelometer (Deerfield, USA). Results were reported to the nearest hundredth (0.01) unit. The lowest reportable CRP result is approximately 0.02 mg/dl; this varies slightly with different calibrator lots. The assay does not have a maximum reportable limit since the instrument automatically prepares a higher dilution and retests specimens with results above the linearity of the assay to obtain reactions within the linear range for the assay. Detailed specimen collection and processing instructions are discussed in the NHANES Laboratory Procedures Manual.
Age, sex, race/ethnicity, and smoking status were self-reported. Diabetes was defined by the self-reporting of a physician's diagnosis, or random plasma glucose >200 mg/dl, or the use of diabetic medications (including insulin injection or oral hypoglycaemic agents). Three, and sometimes four, blood pressure (BP) tests were done, using a mercury sphygmomanometer, by a NHANES physician. BP was measured via the right arm unless specific conditions prohibited its use. Average systolic and diastolic BPs were obtained. The presence of hypertension was defined by a self-reported doctor's diagnosis, the use of antihypertensive medications, or average blood pressure >140/90 mmHg. Medical histories of myocardial infarction (>6 weeks), congestive heart failure, angina, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and arthritis were ascertained by self-report. Alcohol intake was determined by the question: 'In any one year, have you had >12 drinks of any type of alcohol beverage?' Serum folate levels were measured using a commercially available radioprotein binding assay kit, the Quantaphase II Folate/vitamin B12 radio-assay kit (Bio Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA). Detailed specimen collection and processing instructions are in the NHANES Laboratory Procedures Manual and on their website.15
Statistical analysis
The distributions of CRP serum levels in the population were right-skewed. Therefore, the values of CRP were natural-log-transformed, providing a best-fitting model for analysis in which the serum CRP levels were treated as a continuous variable. We used multiple linear regression to determine the change of natural-log-transformed levels of CRP for each kg/m2 increase in BMI, and quintile-based analysis by dividing BMI into quintiles with the subjects in the lowest BMI quintile as the reference group. The cut-off levels for BMI quintiles were: Q1 BMI <23.32 kg/m2; Q2 BMI >23.32 - 26.07 kg/m2; Q3 BMI >26.08 - 28.73 kg/m2; Q4 BMI >28.74 - 32.53 kg/m2; Q5 BMI >32.53 kg/m2. The β coefficients were interpreted as the differences in mean natural-log-transformed CRP levels comparing subjects in the upper four BMI quintiles with those in the lowest quintile. Central obesity was defined as waist circumference >102 cm in males, and >88 cm in females. The β coefficients were interpreted as the differences in mean natural-log-transformed CRP levels comparing subjects with central obesity with those without. An extended-model approach was used for covariate adjustment: model 1= age, gender, race; model 2 = model 1 plus levels of vitamin B12 and folate; model 3 = model 2 plus chronic diseases (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, stroke) and health behaviours (smoking status and alcohol consumption). All analyses were conducted using STATA version 8.0 (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA).
The characteristics of the study subjects are summarised in Table I. Concerning chronic diseases, 38.9% of the subjects were hypertensive and 11.4% had diabetes mellitus; 49.1% were non-Hispanic Caucasian; and participants with higher BMIs tended to have a high level of CRP.
In the linear model, CRP levels positively correlated with BMI. After adjusting for age, gender and race (model 1), the β coefficient, representing the change of natural-log-transformed levels of CRP for each kg/m2 increase in BMI, was 0.080 (p<0.001) (Table II). The correlation remained unchanged after additionally adjusting for other covariates in models 2 and 3 (Table II). The results of BMI quintile-based multiple logistic regression analysis are shown in Table III. From model 1 to model 3, we observed positive correlations between BMI and CRP levels. Subjects in the higher quintiles of BMI tended to have higher CRP levels (Fig. 1). The trends of CRP levels across BMI quintiles were all statistically significant.
CRP levels were higher in subjects with central obesity (Fig. 2). After controlling for age, gender and race, the β coefficient, reflecting the change of natural-log-transformed levels of CRP comparing subjects with central obesity with those without, was 0.876 (p<0.001). Additional adjustment of covariates did not change the correlation (Table IV).
This study demonstrates a positive correlation between BMI and serum CRP, supporting and extending previous studies showing that elevated plasma levels of CRP are associated with obesity.16, 17 Unlike this study, previous studies had weaknesses in terms of weight categorisation, with strikingly uneven subject numbers among different weight groups.16,17 Stratifying the BMIs into quintiles, we tried to quantify the correlation between BMI and inflammation, and to investigate whether fat distribution, especially abdominal girth, is independently associated with CRP levels. Our finding that subjects with central obesity seemed to have higher CRP levels is compatible with other reports suggesting that a high waist-to-hip ratio and increased abdominal visceral fat have links with insulin resistance, hypertriglyceridaemia, hypertension, dyslipidaemia18 and chronic low-grade inflammation.16,18 Combining our observations with those in previous reports, it can be concluded that the high prevalence of chronic diseases among overweight and obese subjects including insulin resistance, diabetes and cardiovascular disease may be explained by the finding of higher CRP levels, indicating that a certain degree of inflammation is present in these populations.
Subjects with obesity tend to have more abdominal visceral adipocytes, which are supposed to produce almost 25% of systemic interleukin-6 in vivo;19 and CRP could be stimulated by cytokines such as interleukin-1-beta, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α. Consequently, adipose tissue could play a role in the regulation of circulating CRP levels via interleukin-6 production; this may partially explain our study's findings of why subjects with central obesity have higher serum levels of CRP.
Our study has the following implications: firstly, subjects with a higher BMI tend to have higher CRP levels, indicating that overweight or obese adults are vulnerable to adverse outcomes of chronic inflammation such as myocardial infarction and stroke. Weight reduction has been demonstrated to reduce CRP20 or interleukin-6 levels.21 Aggressive weight control could potentially minimise the threat of cardiovascular diseases. Further prospective studies to investigate the influence of weight reduction, lifestyle modifications and weight control agents on inflammatory markers are necessary. The second implication is that a strong correlation exists between central obesity and CRP levels, after adjusting for possible confounding factors. Abdominal girth is viewed as one of the criteria for metabolic syndrome, and reduction of waist circumference is considered to be crucial in reducing the risk of inflammation.
There are some limitations to our study. Because of the cross-sectional design, causality between obesity and serum CRP level could not be established. Additional data regarding interleukin-6 or tumour necrosis factor-α is absent from NHANES. Since these factors play major roles in the inflammatory process, a concrete association between interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-α and weight status could possibly be obtained from further examination.
Higher BMIs are associated with higher CRP levels in this population-based cross-sectional study. Subjects with central obesity tend to have higher levels of CRP independent of major confounding variables. Aggressive weight reduction could be a worthwhile intervention to reduce inflammation-associated adverse outcomes in overweight and obese subjects.
1. Pepys MB, Hirschfield GM. C-reactive protein: a critical update. J Clin Invest 2003; 111: 1805-1812. [ Links ]
2. Yasojima K, Schwab C, McGeer EG, McGeer PL. Generation of C-reactive protein and complement components in atherosclerotic plaques. Am J Pathol 2001; 158: 1039-1051. [ Links ]
3. McMillan DE. Increased levels of acute-phase serum proteins in diabetes. Metabolism 1989; 38: 1042-1046. [ Links ]
4. Ridker PM, Buring JE, Shih J, Matias M, Hennekens CH. Prospective study of C-reactive protein and the risk of future cardiovascular events among apparently healthy women. Circulation 1998; 98: 731-733. [ Links ]
5. Koenig W, Sund M, Frohlich M, et al. C-Reactive protein, a sensitive marker of inflammation, predicts future risk of coronary heart disease in initially healthy middle-aged men: results from the MONICA (Monitoring Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease) Augsburg Cohort Study, 1984 to 1992. Circulation 1999; 99: 237-242. [ Links ]
6. Ridker PM, Cushman M, Stampfer MJ, Tracy RP, Hennekens CH. Plasma concentration of C-reactive protein and risk of developing peripheral vascular disease. Circulation 1998; 97: 425-428. [ Links ]
7. Ridker PM, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, Rifai N. C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation in the prediction of cardiovascular disease in women. N Engl J Med 2000; 342: 836-843. [ Links ]
8. Kuo HK, Yen CJ, Chang CH, Kuo CK, Chen JH, Sorond F. Relation of C-reactive protein to stroke, cognitive disorders, and depression in the general population: systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Neurol 2005; 4: 371-380. [ Links ]
9. Ouchi N, Kihara S, Funahashi T, et al. Reciprocal association of C-reactive protein with adiponectin in blood stream and adipose tissue. Circulation 2003; 107: 671-674. [ Links ]
10. Calabro P, Chang DW, Willerson JT, Yeh ET. Release of C-reactive protein in response to inflammatory cytokines by human adipocytes: linking obesity to vascular inflammation. J Am Coll Cardiol 2005; 46: 1112-1113. [ Links ]
11. Bastard JP, Jardel C, Delattre J, Hainque B, Bruckert E, Oberlin F. Evidence for a link between adipose tissue interleukin-6 content and serum C-reactive protein concentrations in obese subjects. Circulation 1999; 99: 2221-2222. [ Links ]
12. Kim KS, Owen WL, Williams D, Adams-Campbell LL. A comparison between BMI and Conicity index on predicting coronary heart disease: the Framingham Heart Study. Ann Epidemiol 2000; 10: 424-431. [ Links ]
13. Boden G. Free fatty acids-the link between obesity and insulin resistance. Endocr Pract 2001; 7: 44-51. [ Links ]
14. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2000. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/nhanes99_00.htm (accessed 20 July 2007). [ Links ]
15. National Center for Health Statistics. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2001-2002. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/nhanes/nhanes01_02.htm (accessed 20 July 2007). [ Links ]
16. Visser M, Bouter LM, McQuillan GM, Wener MH, Harris TB. Elevated C-reactive protein levels in overweight and obese adults. JAMA 1999; 282: 2131-2135. [ Links ]
17. Ford ES. Body mass index, diabetes, and C-reactive protein among U.S. adults. Diabetes Care 1999; 22: 1971-1977. [ Links ]
18. Lafontan M, Berlan M. Do regional differences in adipocyte biology provide new pathophysiological insights? Trends Pharmacol Sci 2003; 24: 276-283. [ Links ]
19. Mohamed-Ali V, Goodrick S, Rawesh A, et al. Subcutaneous adipose tissue releases interleukin-6, but not tumor necrosis factor-alpha, in vivo. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1997; 82: 4196-4200. [ Links ]
20. Heilbronn LK, Noakes M, Clifton PM. Energy restriction and weight loss on very-low-fat diets reduce C-reactive protein concentrations in obese, healthy women. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 2001; 21: 968-970. [ Links ]
21. Gallistl S, Sudi KM, Aigner R, Borkenstein M. Changes in serum interleukin-6 concentrations in obese children and adolescents during a weight reduction program. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2001; 25: 1640-1643. [ Links ]
Accepted 19 January 2009.
* Corresponding author: Hsu-Ko Kuo (firstname.lastname@example.com)


text: Hosts: Mary Jo Foley, Paul Thurrott, and Leo Laporte Microsoft and Intel earnings, O365 vs Google Apps, and more. Download or subscribe to this show at twit.tv/ww. We invite you to read, add to, and amend our show notes. Check out Paul's blog at the SuperSite for Windows. Check out Mary Jo's blog at the AllAboutMicrosoft.com. Thanks to Cachefly for the bandwidth for this show. The Windows Weekly theme music is courtesy of Derek K. Miller. Running time: 2:01:55