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CFTC's Gensler Admits Failure in PFGBest Oversight
The U.S. futures regulator acknowledged on Tuesday the regulatory system had failed to protect the customers of Peregrine Financial Group, which collapsed last week as its founder admitted to a $100 million fraud spanning two decades.
In testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler was also expected to outline his agency's plans to contain the fallout from the Peregrine case, including a look at the role of self-regulatory organizations (SRO) that police much of the market.
"Although we do not know the full facts of what happened in this matter, the system failed to protect the customers of Peregrine," Gensler said in prepared testimony. "Just like the local police cannot prevent all bank robberies, however, market regulators cannot prevent all financial fraud.
"Nevertheless, we all must do better."
The stunning downfall of Peregrine, or PFGBest, and its founder, Russell Wasendorf Sr., dealt a new blow to confidence in the futures industry, just months after MF Global Holdings Ltd's bankruptcy, which left customers with a $1.6 billion shortfall and which is still being investigated.
Some of the fiercest criticism has been leveled at the National Futures Association (NFA), the first-line regulator that oversees dozens of smaller brokers, including PFGBest.
"The recent events at Peregrine highlight the necessity of looking at the decades-old system of SROs as first-line regulators and the commission's role in overseeing SROs," Gensler said.
The MF Global and PFGBest scandals have raised questions about the strength of federal commodities regulations designed to segregate and protect customer funds.
Wasendorf was arrested on July 13 and charged with lying to government regulators. The CFTC charged him with misappropriating customer money in a civil case. His firm filed for bankruptcy.
The NFA eventually uncovered the fraud after it sought to confirm PFGBest's bank balance electronically. Prior to that, the NFA had conducted such checks through the mail. Wasendorf used a post office box to intercept the bank confirmation requests and forge the documents to conceal the missing customer money, according to an FBI's complaint.
"I find that mind-boggling that no one at NFA could discern this," said Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat.
Gensler said on Tuesday that the NFA had just completed an audit of the brokerage in May 2011 and was in the process of conducting another one over the past few weeks when the fraud was uncovered.
Senator Pat Roberts, the committee's ranking Republican member, slammed Gensler for failing to provide market players a clear plan for a raft of derivatives reforms mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank law.
"And as if this weren't bad enough, the CFTC isn't doing a good job of what it was created to do -- police the financial streets," Roberts added. He said Gensler was "too busy working on his inter-galactic plan" -- a nod to the heavy slate of Dodd-Frank reforms -- rather than implement reforms after MF Global.
On the same day as Wasendorf's arrest, the CFTC moved to approve new customer protection rules requested by the NFA.
One such rule, named for MF Global's former CEO, Jon Corzine, would require top executives at futures brokers to sign off on major withdrawals from customer accounts.
But Gensler said on Tuesday that more steps need to be taken.
"I believe it is critical that we bring the regulators' view of customer accounts into the 21st century," he said. "We must give the SROs and the CFTC direct electronic access to the FCM's (futures commission merchants) bank and custodial accounts for customer funds, without asking the FCM's permission."
He also noted that letters confirming bank balances "must come directly to regulators from banks and custodians."
Gensler hopes to incorporate the new NFA regulations approved last week into the commission's own rules, so it can "directly enforce" the reforms.
Moreover, he called for giving customers more transparency into their holdings, as well as greater oversight for how SROs such as the NFA conduct examinations.
He said he has asked for a public roundtable to discuss what other customer protections are needed.


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05 Winter Bonfire - Snowflakes
Please accept these images of the wonderful dancers of Cypress Elite Dance's 'En Pointe' Company as a gift from Kim and her team at CEDS to you!Read More
These images are a combination of the dress rehearsal and the live performance in the order in which they have been taken. As such, there may be images of your dancer in other galleries. So check them all out to find your favorite dancer!
You will see a download arrow at the bottom right corner of each image. Click on that arrow and download the high resolution image. For a web posting image (smaller size) you can right-click each image and download.

subset: commoncrawl


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About Us - Press Room - Pet Loo Provides Convenience for Pets and Owners Alike
In response to the increasing demand for convenience in the homes of pet owners, Radio Systems Corporation is introducing the Pet Loo – an innovative artificial lawn 'toilet' designed to contain pet waste in one designated area. Ensuring peace of mind when forced to leave pets home alone, the Pet Loo is perfect for those who live in apartments or work long hours.
Using synthetic grass and a patented drainage system, the Pet Loo allows animals the freedom to relieve themselves whenever necessary, without the requirement of your presence.
By simple yet effective design, the Pet Loo grass hygienically absorbs urine without spillage via a corrugated tray. Through an absorbant powder, liquid is solidified into the form of gel, trapping any odours and making for easy disposal. This way, the Pet Loo is able to contain 100 times its weight in liquid and has a life span of two to three days, without the need for fresh powder.
Easy to clean and replaceable, the artificial grass on the top of the Pet Loo is nonporous, so does not absorb any waste.
Available in a variety of sizes, this easy-to-use waste management solution is not limited to use by dogs and cats; the small Pet Loo is equally suited to rabbits or guinea pigs, for example. With the Pet Loo having undergone over three years of development and testing, owners can be assured that pets will be comfortable using it.
The Pet Loo is one of the products recently introduced to the Radio Systems Corporation Waste Management category. Other similar innovations include selfcleaning litter trays, ScoopFree®.
About PetSafe®
PetSafe® is a global pet product expert in Containment Systems, Training Systems and Bark Control with its headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. Today the PetSafe brand also encompasses a comprehensive line of Pet Doors including an advanced Microchip Identification cat flap. In addition, a range of specialist products focusing on pet wellbeing fall under the Health & Wellness category which includes the popular Drinkwell® Pet Fountains. The Play & Challenge category further diversifies the PetSafe product portfolio by offering a unique range of treat-dispensing Busy Buddy® toys.
Other products include the Easy Walk™ Harnesses and Headcollars. The latest acquisitions by PetSafe see Lucky Litter LLC products, ScoopFree® innovative litter boxes and award-winning FroliCat™ toys, and Pet Loo by Pup-Pee Solutions© brought to the market.Download
For info about Radio Systems® Corporation, PetSafe® brand, interview requests or marketing materials, contact:
International Media Enquiry
Angela Critchley
International Marketing Director
+44(0) 1257 208948
PetSafe® brand has built its success on the knowledge that pets are a member of the family. As a company of pet lovers, our 500+ worldwide employees produce the industry's most popular and innovative products in pet training, containment, safety and lifestyle for an audience dear to our hearts: our own pets. This dedication to quality has helped our company expand on an international scale from our headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee to offices in the Canada, Great Britain and China.
© 2023 Radio Systems Corporation All Rights Reserved. * Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Privacy Statement Cookies Policy


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Many wine drinkers have the luxury of buying wine at supermarkets, wine retailers, big-box stores and wine bars, and online and directly from wine producers. Sure, you can walk into your local Ralphs or Trader Joe's and grab an inexpensive bottle for dinner. It may be drinkable, may even be good. Or maybe not.
Unless you're the type that spends hours in online wine forums and subscribes to the major wine publications, buying wine can be a crapshoot. Only the truly obsessed or those with a professional interest have the time for the necessary due diligence — and often not even then.
There is one sure way to increase your positive wine buying experience and come home with a bottle you truly love.
Befriend your local wine shop.
Here's how to do it.
Pick a real wine shop. Not a liquor store with a few shelves of wine. Poke around on its website to get a feel for the kinds of wines favored by the shop. Some are more into California wines, others lean more to Italian or French. Some go in for eclectic — orange wines, Georgian and Slovenian wines, obscure grapes. Some are Champagne specialists; some deal in rare or older bottles. Plan on visiting two or three. One close to your house, one near your place of work and one that may demand an expedition but a pleasurable one.
Pick one shop, go in, suss out the selection, check out the wine sales staff and wait for a quiet moment and introduce yourself. Ideally, you want to be able to spend a few minutes to chat so you can get a sense of the person. Enough so you can decide on this visit or an upcoming one: This is my guy (or woman).
Come with a mission in mind. You're going to a dinner party and want to buy a wine. To that end, you've already found out something about the menu beforehand. The host may already have clued you in on the type of wine.
Ask for suggestions. Don't be shy: Come right out and say how much you want to spend. Less than $30, say. A good wine clerk will be able to give you some idea of what each wine he or she is suggesting is like and also give you a sense of the winemaker or personage behind the wine and how the estate works.
Name the last couple of wines you really enjoyed. Or that one wine you savored with fish soup in Cassis and can't get out of your mind. Don't have that kind of memory? Snap a photo on your smartphone and indulge in some show-and-tell.
What else does the shop have in a similar vein? A smart clerk will suggest another wine from the same appellation and also might come up with another bottle with some of the same characteristics but from another part of the world entirely.
Buy several bottles. Go home, have the wine and — this is important — go back to the store soon afterward to give your designated wine person some feedback. Don't be afraid to say you didn't like a particular bottle, but try to articulate why. The same goes for the wines you did like. See if you can identify why.
Get some more suggestions. Try the wines and repeat. Each time you'll be learning something about how and why your palate seems to gravitate toward certain wines. As your wine guru begins to understand your tastes — and you do too — buying wine becomes less of an unknown and more of a fun adventure.
Once you identify one flavor profile that syncs with your taste — Syrah, say — then you may want to occasionally splurge on a best-of-class bottle — a Guigal Côte Rôtie or a Chave Hermitage.
Eat. Watch. Do.
Go to tastings. Most serious shops have either a tasting bar or offer weekly wine tastings, usually focused on one region or grape. Comparative tasting are crucial in developing your palate. And by that I mean tasting one Pinot Noir or Sangiovese against another and beginning to decipher the differences between a Pinot from Oregon or the Santa Rita Hills and one from Burgundy's Côte de Nuits. It's a wonderfully absorbing homework exercise in service of finding the wines that you truly love.
Becoming an obnoxious wine snob is not obligatory. It's possible to appreciate wine without indulging in wine geek speak.
At the best wine shops, OK, you may pay a dollar or two more for that bottle, but how good is it when you take home a bottle that truly delights?
And if you're going to drink wine, why not drink the best within your budget?
I do know people who drink the same wine every night whether it's Domaine Tempier rosé, Ojai Vineyard Syrah or Antinori Santa Cristina. I understand that about as well as I do people who eat just three or four things — period.
Tweak your curiosity about wine. It's a wonderful moment to be a wine drinker.


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when you are asked to be present at the social gathering, you may be anxious about how you can decide out your Celebrity Dresses separately from the exciting mood when hear the news. Nevertheless, you need to find out to prefer the suitable clothing for scrupulous occasion. The following are the recommendations and suggestions for the situation. Most likely the most official social gathering in modern time has to be the black tie, which mainly consists of a conformist wedding held in the evening or possibly a political dinner. In this case, boys have to dress in the tuxedos for the guys at the same time as evening gowns are the ideal choicefor the girls.
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Imaginative black tie will almost certainly be much additional charming as girls obtain the prospect to be dressed inCelebrity Dressesas an alternative of evening gowns. When in contrast with an evening gown, reasonably priced Celebrity dresses will most likely be small in length. Nevertheless, such get-together idea will however need her decide a tea length dress, as its even so regarded as to turn out to be a formal occasion. Cocktail and banquet parties with close allies have tobe informal get together. In this juncture, visitors are probable to dress up modest. You are talented to evaluate from the place to decide which sort of party dress have to go with you. If it is a simple holiday office gathering, youre suggested to wear a little extra conventionally. Celebrity dresses or possibly small black dresses with attractive trimmings will be the ideal choice. However, if it shows a banquet with close associates, you are able to go directly towards the short dresses. Though, dealings which are held at gathering or with business clientele normally need corporation official dress and also the guests are likely to show their admiration to their clientele and fellows. The suggested apparel consists of modified business suits and long dresses.
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Fine-tuning college degrees to the job market
US institutions of higher learning are adapting aspects of "Tuning," a European program to give college degrees more job market relevance.
| New York
Over the next few months, there will be anger, frustration, and the occasional fist-pumping, "Yes!" as this year's graduates send out résumés and students changing schools attempt to transfer credits. Their diplomas and transcripts, they will discover, often don't tell employers and deans what they need to know. As a result, professors often find students unprepared, while companies subject applicants to tests or hire only graduates of institutions they know well.
Experts are encouraging reform that would improve transparency about what institutions of higher education are delivering. One promising effort is a European import called Tuning, a bottom-up process that has implications for the way professors teach and how students explain what they've learned.
Tuning grew out of the Bologna Process, a pan-European strategy to standardize the meaning of degrees across some 4,000 institutions.
The United States traditionally addresses the problem by requiring a defined number of credit hours per degree. And European policymakers "first thought the way to fix their problem was to set up an American-style credit system," says Dewayne Matthews of the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation for Education, which funds Tuning programs in the US. But Europeans encountered the same frustration many in the US institutions experience: Credits measure hours spent in class and not what's learned.
European policymakers soon realized, Mr. Matthews adds, that "the only way to make sense out of it was to figure out what a student actually needs to be able to know, understand, and do with any given credential." This gave rise to Tuning, which, unlike standardized tests, begins with faculty members sitting with employers and administrators to determine what students in a given discipline need to learn. The process has sparked sporadic reform centered on students' need for lifelong learning, says Tim Birtwistle, a Bologna expert for Britain and professor emeritus at Leeds Metropolitan University, in England. In the classroom, this means "making the implicit explicit," and at the policy level, he says, it translates into a desire for "a common vocabulary and transparency" about what a degree means.
A pilot Tuning project funded by the Lumina Foundation led Prof. Frances Titchener of the State University of Utah (USU) to completely revamp her Greek history course last year to emphasize marketable skills and base only 25 percent of the course grade on historical knowledge. Some students, Professor Titchener was finding, had never learned how to research and write – a competency employers and graduate schools value.
Instead of her usual introductory lecture, she surveyed students about which history department goals they most valued: ability to find and process information from a variety of sources? Knowing a foreign language? Teamwork? Communicating effectively? The survey sparked discussion about student versus faculty priorities, and why such things as critical thinking are of paramount importance. It allowed her to articulate what she expected students to learn. She would grade mostly on their ability to frame research questions and evaluate sources and their awareness of different scholarly interpretations of the same material.
"Students reacted well to being brought in as collaborators instead of victims," says Titchener, who devised a lab approach to Greek history. After lectures and classroom discussions on a given topic – money, politics, ritual, plastic arts – she had students choose a topic and come up with keywords. Then she took the students – some of whom had never checked out a library book – to the library, where they plundered the stacks, brainstormed in teams, tapped keywords into databases.
Titchener and two graduate assistants helped students focus on viable research questions. The journey took one student from "weaponry" through "ancient ballistic weaponry" to "did they have catapults in the Bronze Age?" Another found himself wondering why Persians used wicker shields, while a third asked whether Britain should return the Elgin marbles to Greece. Then it was back to the stacks and databases, comparing information, formulating answers.
"Some of them still had basic enough problems with writing that it was just beyond my scope," Titchener says. But the class was a success for others: They learned that Persians were such good archers that the enemy rarely got in more than a glancing blow and that the lack of catapults in Bronze Age Greece gave the Egyptian flotilla an edge. And they understood what they learned.
"They can explain it in terms of their ability to collect and manage information, to acknowledge different points of view, assess the validity of sources, and develop their own contribution to a debate," says Dan McInerney, associate head of USU's history department. "That's where Tuning fits in with larger public goals – it helps universities account for their use of public money," and lets students present accomplishments in terms that resonate with employers and admissions officers.


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ReviewMaxer ("ReviewMaxer") operates app.reviewmaxer.com and may operate other websites. It is ReviewMaxer's policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect while operating our websites.
Like most website operators, ReviewMaxer collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preference, referring site, and the date and time of each visitor request. ReviewMaxer's purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how ReviewMaxer's visitors use its website. From time to time, ReviewMaxer may release non-personally-identifying information in the aggregate, e.g., by publishing a report on trends in the usage of its website.
ReviewMaxer also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for logged in users and for users leaving comments on app.getReviewMaxer.com sites. ReviewMaxer only discloses logged in user and commenter IP addresses under the same circumstances that it uses and discloses personally-identifying information as described below, except that commenter IP addresses and email addresses are visible and disclosed to the administrators of the site where the comment was left.
Certain visitors to ReviewMaxer's websites choose to interact with ReviewMaxer in ways that require ReviewMaxer to gather personally-identifying information. The amount and type of information that ReviewMaxer gathers depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, we ask visitors who sign up at app.getReviewMaxer.com to provide a username and email address. Those who engage in transactions with ReviewMaxer are asked to provide additional information, including as necessary the personal and financial information required to process those transactions. In each case, ReviewMaxer collects such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the visitor's interaction with ReviewMaxer. ReviewMaxer does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below. And visitors can always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain website-related activities.
ReviewMaxer may collect statistics about the behavior of visitors to its websites. ReviewMaxer may display this information publicly or provide it to others. However, ReviewMaxer does not disclose personally-identifying information other than as described below.
ReviewMaxer discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process it on ReviewMaxer's behalf or to provide services available at ReviewMaxer's websites, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and affiliated organizations may be located outside of your home country; by using ReviewMaxer's websites, you consent to the transfer of such information to them. ReviewMaxer will not rent or sell potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors and affiliated organizations, as described above, ReviewMaxer discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only in response to a subpoena, court order or other governmental request, or when ReviewMaxer believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of ReviewMaxer, third parties or the public at large. If you are a registered user of an ReviewMaxer website and have supplied your email address, ReviewMaxer may occasionally send you an email to tell you about new features, solicit your feedback, or just keep you up to date with what's going on with ReviewMaxer and our products. If you send us a request (for example via email or via one of our feedback mechanisms), we reserve the right to publish it in order to help us clarify or respond to your request or to help us support other users. ReviewMaxer takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.
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Although most changes are likely to be minor, ReviewMaxer may change its Privacy Policy from time to time, and in ReviewMaxer's sole discretion. ReviewMaxer encourages visitors to frequently check this page for any changes to its Privacy Policy. If you have a app.getReviewMaxer.com account, you might also receive an alert informing you of these changes. Your continued use of this site after any change in this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such change.


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NEW YORK – Andrew Wiggins of Kansas has been taken by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
The Cavs went for a freshman from Canada to open the draft for the second straight year Thursday and will hope Wiggins works out better than Anthony Bennett.
Bennett was injured last summer, came into the season out of shape and made no impact, one of the reasons the Cavs were back in this spot again.
But Wiggins seems a much more ready product after averaging a Kansas freshman-record 17.1 points. He may have ended up as the top pick anyway, but became the best option for the Cavs once Jayhawks teammate Joel Embiid suffered a stress fracture in his right foot shortly before the draft.


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I'm sure many parents wish their child would eat healthier foods, but are unsure about what to do, or the battle seems too hard to fight. Here are some tips from www.mayoclinic.com that may be helpful!
Children's Nutrition: 10 Tips for Picky Eaters
Children's nutrition doesn't have to be frustrating. Consider these strategies to avoid power struggles and help the picky eater in your family eat a balanced diet.
Has your preschooler refused to eat anything other than chicken nuggets for the past two days? Or would your toddler rather play than eat anything at all?
If children's nutrition is a sore topic in your household, you're not alone. Many parents worry about what their children eat — and don't eat. However, most kids get plenty of variety and nutrition in their diets over the course of a week. Until your child's food preferences mature, consider these tips for preventing mealtime battles.
No. 1: Respect your child's appetite — or lack of one
If your child isn't hungry, don't force a meal or snack. Likewise, don't bribe or force your child to eat certain foods or clean his or her plate. This might only ignite — or reinforce — a power struggle over food. In addition, your child might come to associate mealtime with anxiety and frustration. Serve small portions to avoid overwhelming your child and give him or her the opportunity to independently ask for more.
No. 2: Stick to the routine
Serve meals and snacks at about the same times every day. Provide juice or milk with the food, and offer water between meals and snacks. Allowing your child to fill up on juice or milk throughout the day might decrease his or her appetite for meals.
No. 3: Be patient with new foods
Young children often touch or smell new foods, and may even put tiny bits in their mouths and then take them back out again. Your child might need repeated exposure to a new food before he or she takes the first bite. Encourage your child by talking about a food's color, shape, aroma and texture — not whether it tastes good. Serve new foods along with your child's favorite foods.
No. 4: Make it fun
Serve broccoli and other veggies with a favorite dip or sauce. Cut foods into various shapes with cookie cutters. Offer breakfast foods for dinner. Serve a variety of brightly colored foods.
No. 5: Recruit your child's help
At the grocery store, ask your child to help you select fruits, vegetables and other healthy foods. Don't buy anything that you don't want your child to eat. At home, encourage your child to help you rinse veggies, stir batter or set the table.
No. 6: Set a good example
If you eat a variety of healthy foods, your child is more likely to follow suit.
No. 7: Be creative
Add chopped broccoli or green peppers to spaghetti sauce, top cereal with fruit slices, or mix grated zucchini and carrots into casseroles and soups.
No. 8: Minimize distractions
Turn off the television and other electronic gadgets during meals. This will help your child focus on eating. Keep in mind that television advertising might also encourage your child to desire sugary foods.
No. 9: Don't offer dessert as a reward
Withholding dessert sends the message that dessert is the best food, which might only increase your child's desire for sweets. You might select one or two nights a week as dessert nights, and skip dessert the rest of the week — or redefine dessert as fruit, yogurt or other healthy choices.
No. 10: Don't be a short-order cook
Preparing a separate meal for your child after he or she rejects the original meal might promote picky eating. Encourage your child to stay at the table for the designated mealtime — even if he or she doesn't eat. Keep serving your child healthy choices until they become familiar and preferred.
If you're concerned that picky eating is compromising your child's growth and development, consult your child's doctor. In addition, consider recording the types and amounts of food your child eats for three days. The big picture might help ease your worries. A food log can also help your child's doctor determine any problems. In the meantime, remember that your child's eating habits won't likely change overnight — but the small steps you take each day can help promote a lifetime of healthy eating.


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Information Awareness Office
|Part of a series on
|Global surveillance
|Proposed changes
|Related topics
The Information Awareness Office (IAO) was established by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in January 2002 to bring together several DARPA projects focused on applying surveillance and information technology to track and monitor terrorists and other asymmetric threats to U.S. national security by achieving "Total Information Awareness" (TIA).[4][5][6]
It was achieved by creating enormous computer databases to gather and store the personal information of everyone in the United States, including personal e-mails, social networks, credit card records, phone calls, medical records, and numerous other sources, without any requirement for a search warrant.[7] The information was then analyzed for suspicious activities, connections between individuals, and "threats".[8] The program also included funding for biometric surveillance technologies that could identify and track individuals using surveillance cameras and other methods.[8]
Following public criticism that the technology's development and deployment could lead to a mass surveillance system, the IAO was defunded by Congress in 2003. However, several IAO projects continued to be funded under different names, as revealed by Edward Snowden during the course of the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures.[5][6][9][10][11][12]
The IAO was established after Admiral John Poindexter, former United States National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, and SAIC executive Brian Hicks approached the US Department of Defense with the idea for an information awareness program after the attacks of September 11, 2001.[11]
Poindexter and Hicks had previously worked together on intelligence-technology programs for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA agreed to host the program and appointed Poindexter to run it in 2002.
The IAO began funding research and development of the Total Information Awareness (TIA) Program in February 2003 but renamed the program the Terrorism Information Awareness Program in May that year after an adverse media reaction to the program's implications for public surveillance. Although TIA was only one of several IAO projects, many critics and news reports conflated TIA with other related research projects of the IAO, with the result that TIA came in popular usage to stand for an entire subset of IAO programs.
The TIA program itself was the "systems-level" program of the IAO that intended to integrate information technologies into a prototype system to provide tools to better detect, classify, and identify potential terrorists with the goal to increase the probability that authorized agencies of the United States could preempt adverse actions.[13]
As a systems-level program of programs, TIA's goal was the creation of a "counter-terrorism information architecture" that integrated technologies from other IAO programs (and elsewhere, as appropriate). The TIA program was researching, developing, and integrating technologies to virtually aggregate data, to follow subject-oriented link analysis, to develop descriptive and predictive models through data mining or human hypothesis, and to apply such models to additional datasets to identify terrorists and terrorist groups.[13]
Among the other IAO programs that were intended to provide TIA with component data aggregation and automated analysis technologies were the Genisys, Genisys Privacy Protection, Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery, and Scalable Social Network Analysis programs.
On August 2, 2002, Dr. Poindexter gave a speech at DARPAtech 2002 entitled "Overview of the Information Awareness Office"[14] in which he described the TIA program.
In addition to the program itself, the involvement of Poindexter as director of the IAO also raised concerns among some, since he had been earlier convicted of lying to Congress and altering and destroying documents pertaining to the Iran-Contra Affair, although those convictions were later overturned on the grounds that the testimony used against him was protected.
On January 16, 2003, Senator Russ Feingold introduced legislation to suspend the activity of the IAO and the Total Information Awareness program pending a Congressional review of privacy issues involved.[15] A similar measure introduced by Senator Ron Wyden would have prohibited the IAO from operating within the United States unless specifically authorized to do so by Congress, and would have shut the IAO down entirely 60 days after passage unless either the Pentagon prepared a report to Congress assessing the impact of IAO activities on individual privacy and civil liberties or the President certified the program's research as vital to national security interests. In February 2003, Congress passed legislation suspending activities of the IAO pending a Congressional report of the office's activities (Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, No.108–7, Division M, §111(b) [signed Feb. 20, 2003]).
In response to this legislation, DARPA provided Congress on May 20, 2003 with a report on its activities.[16] In this report, IAO changed the name of the program to the Terrorism Information Awareness Program and emphasized that the program was not designed to compile dossiers on US citizens, but rather to research and develop the tools that would allow authorized agencies to gather information on terrorist networks. Despite the name change and these assurances, the critics continued to see the system as prone to potential misuse or abuse.[13]
As a result, House and Senate negotiators moved to prohibit further funding for the TIA program by adding provisions to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004[17] (signed into law by President Bush on October 1, 2003). Further, the Joint Explanatory Statement included in the conference committee report specifically directed that the IAO as program manager for TIA be terminated immediately.[18]
IAO research was conducted along five major investigative paths: secure collaboration problem solving; structured discovery; link and group understanding; context aware visualization; and decision making with corporate memory.
Among the IAO projects were:
Human Identification at a Distance (HumanID)[edit]
The Human Identification at a Distance (HumanID) project developed automated biometric identification technologies to detect, recognize and identify humans at great distances for "force protection", crime prevention, and "homeland security/defense" purposes.[19]
Its goals included programs to:[19]
- Develop algorithms for locating and acquiring subjects out to 150 meters (500 ft) in range.
- Fuse face and gait recognition into a 24/7 human identification system.
- Develop and demonstrate a human identification system that operates out to 150 meters (500 ft) using visible imagery.
- Develop a low power millimeter wave radar system for wide field of view detection and narrow field of view gait classification.
- Characterize gait performance from video for human identification at a distance.
- Develop a multi-spectral infrared and visible facial recognition system.
Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery[edit]
Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery (EELD) developed technologies and tools for automated discovery, extraction and linking of sparse evidence contained in large amounts of classified and unclassified data sources (such as phone call records from the NSA call database, internet histories, or bank records).[20]
EELD was designed to design systems with the ability to extract data from multiple sources (e.g., text messages, social networking sites, financial records, and web pages). It was to develop the ability to detect patterns comprising multiple types of links between data items or people communicating (e.g., financial transactions, communications, travel, etc.).[20]
It is designed to link items relating potential "terrorist" groups and scenarios, and to learn patterns of different groups or scenarios to identify new organizations and emerging threats.[20]
Genisys aimed at developing technologies which would enable "ultra-large, all-source information repositories".[21]
Vast amounts of information were going to be collected and analyzed, and the available database technology at the time was insufficient for storing and organizing such enormous quantities of data. So they developed techniques for virtual data aggregation in order to support effective analysis across heterogeneous databases, as well as unstructured public data sources, such as the World Wide Web. "Effective analysis across heterogenous databases" means the ability to take things from databases which are designed to store different types of data—such as a database containing criminal records, a phone call database and a foreign intelligence database. The World Wide Web is considered an "unstructured public data source" because it is publicly accessible and contains many different types of data—such as blogs, emails, records of visits to web sites, etc.—all of which need to be analyzed and stored efficiently.[21]
Another goal was to develop "a large, distributed system architecture for managing the huge volume of raw data input, analysis results, and feedback, that will result in a simpler, more flexible data store that performs well and allows us to retain important data indefinitely."[21]
Genisys had an internal "Privacy Protection Program." It was intended to restrict analysts' access to irrelevant information on private U.S. citizens, enforce privacy laws and policies via software mechanisms, and report misuse of data.[22]
Scalable Social Network Analysis[edit]
Scalable Social Network Analysis (SSNA) aimed at developing techniques based on social network analysis for modeling the key characteristics of terrorist groups and discriminating these groups from other types of societal groups.[23]
Sean McGahan, of Northeastern University said the following in his study of SSNA:
The purpose of the SSNA algorithms program is to extend techniques of social network analysis to assist with distinguishing potential terrorist cells from legitimate groups of people ... In order to be successful SSNA will require information on the social interactions of the majority of people around the globe. Since the Defense Department cannot easily distinguish between peaceful citizens and terrorists, it will be necessary for them to gather data on innocent civilians as well as on potential terrorists.— Sean McGahan[23]
Futures Markets Applied to Prediction (FutureMAP)[edit]
Futures Markets Applied to Prediction (FutureMAP) was intended to harness collective intelligence by researching prediction market techniques for avoiding surprise and predicting future events. The intent was to explore the feasibility of market-based trading mechanisms to predict political instability, threats to national security, and other major events in the near future.[24] In laymans terms, FutureMap would be a website that allowed people to bet on when a terrorist attack would occur.[25] The bookmaker would have been the federal government.[25] Several Senators were outraged at the very notion of such a program.[25] Then Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle said on the floor of the Senate "I couldn't believe that we would actually commit $8 million to create a Web site that would encourage investors to bet on futures involving terrorist attacks and public assassinations. ... I can't believe that anybody would seriously propose that we trade in death. ... How long would it be before you saw traders investing in a way that would bring about the desired result?"[25] Democratic Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden said, "The idea of a federal betting parlor on atrocities and terrorism is ridiculous and it's grotesque."[25] The ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, thought the program was so ridiculous that he thought initial reports of it were the result of a hoax.[25] The program was then dropped.
Translingual Information Detection, Extraction and Summarization (TIDES) developed advanced language processing technology to enable English speakers to find and interpret critical information in multiple languages without requiring knowledge of those languages.[26]
Outside groups (such as universities, corporations, etc.) were invited to participate in the annual information retrieval, topic detection and tracking, automatic content extraction, and machine translation evaluations run by NIST.[26]
Genoa / Genoa II[edit]
Genoa and Genoa II focused on providing advanced decision-support and collaboration tools to rapidly deal with and adjust to dynamic crisis management and allow for inter-agency collaboration in real-time.[27][28] Another function was to be able to make estimates of possible future scenarios to assist intelligence officials in deciding what to do,[29] in a manner similar to the DARPA's Deep Green program which is designed to assist Army commanders in making battlefield decisions.
Wargaming the Asymmetric Environment (WAE)[edit]
Wargaming the Asymmetric Environment (WAE) focused on developing automated technology capable of identifying predictive indicators of terrorist activity or impending attacks by examining individual and group behavior in broad environmental context and examining the motivation of specific terrorists.[30]
Effective Affordable Reusable Speech-to-text (EARS)[edit]
Effective Affordable Reusable Speech-to-text (EARS) developed automatic speech-to-text transcription technology whose output is substantially richer and much more accurate than previously possible. The aim of EARS was to focus on everyday human-to-human speech from broadcasts and telephone conversations in multiple languages.[31] It is expected to increase the speed with which speech can be processed by computers by 100 times or more.[29]
The intent is to create a core enabling technology (technology that is used as a component for future technologies) suitable for a wide range of future surveillance applications.[31]
Babylon aimed to develop rapid, two-way, natural language speech translation interfaces and platforms. Its goal was to help the warfighter in field environments to complete tasks such as force protection, refugee processing, and medical triage.[32]
Bio-Surveillance aimed to develop the necessary information technologies and resulting prototype capable of detecting the covert release of a biological pathogen automatically, and significantly earlier than traditional approaches.[33]
Communicator was to develop "dialogue interaction" technology that enables warfighters to talk with computers, such that information will be accessible on the battlefield or in command centers without ever having to touch a keyboard. The Communicator Platform was to be both wireless and mobile, and to be designed to function in a networked environment.[34]
The dialogue interaction software was to interpret the context of the dialogue in order to improve performance, and to be capable of automatically adapting to new topics (because situations quickly change in war) so conversation is natural and efficient. The Communicator program emphasized task knowledge to compensate for natural language effects and noisy environments. Unlike automated translation of natural language speech, which is much more complex due to an essentially unlimited vocabulary and grammar, the Communicator program is directed task specific issues so that there are constrained vocabularies (the system only needs to be able to understand language related to war). Research was also started to focus on foreign language computer interaction for use in supporting coalition operations.[34]
Live exercises were conducted involving small unit logistics operations involving the United States Marines to test the technology in extreme environments.[34]
Components of TIA projects that continue to be developed[edit]
Despite the withdrawal of funding for the TIA and the closing of the IAO, the core of the project survived.[11][12][35] Legislators included a classified annex to the Defense Appropriations Act that preserved funding for TIA's component technologies, if they were transferred to other government agencies. TIA projects continued to be funded under classified annexes to Defense and Intelligence appropriation bills. However, the act also stipulated that the technologies be used only for military or foreign intelligence purposes involving foreigners.[36]
TIA's two core projects are now operated by Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) located among the 60-odd buildings of "Crypto City" at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, MD. ARDA itself has been shifted from the NSA to the Disruptive Technology Office (run by the Director of National Intelligence). They are funded by National Foreign Intelligence Program for foreign counterterrorism intelligence purposes.
One technology, codenamed "Basketball", is the Information Awareness Prototype System, the core architecture to integrate all the TIA's information extraction, analysis, and dissemination tools. Work on this project is conducted by SAIC through its former Hicks & Associates consulting arm, and run by former Defense and military officials and which had originally been awarded US$19 million IAO contract to build the prototype system in late 2002.[37]
The other project has been re-designated "Topsail" (formerly Genoa II) and would provide IT tools to help anticipate and preempt terrorist attacks. SAIC has also been contracted to work on Topsail, including a US$3.7 million contract in 2005.
Media coverage and criticism[edit]
The first mention of the IAO in the mainstream media came from The New York Times reporter John Markoff on February 13, 2002.[38] Initial reports contained few details about the program. In the following months, as more information emerged about the scope of the TIA project, civil libertarians became concerned over what they saw as the potential for the development of an Orwellian mass surveillance system.
On November 14, 2002, The New York Times published a column by William Safire in which he claimed "[TIA] has been given a $200 million budget to create computer dossiers on 300 million Americans."[39] Safire has been credited with triggering the anti-TIA movement.[40]
See also[edit]
- ADVISE, full population data mining & analysis to "monitor social threats"
- Carnivore, FBI US digital interception program
- Combat Zones That See, or CTS, a project to link up all security cameras citywide and "track everything that moves".
- Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act
- ECHELON, NSA worldwide digital interception program
- Fusion center
- Government Information Awareness
- Information Processing Technology Office
- Intellipedia, a collection of wikis used by the U.S. intelligence community to "connect the dots" between pieces of intelligence
- MALINTENT—similar program to HumanID
- Mass surveillance
- Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange
- Pre-crime concept in criminology
- PRISM (surveillance program)
- Synthetic Environment for Analysis and Simulations
- TALON (database)
- Utah Data Center
- ^ "Information Awareness Office". DARPA. Archived from the original on 2 August 2002.
- ^ Tim Dowling. "What does the Prism logo mean?". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
The Prism logo is slightly more opaque than the one used by the US government's Information Awareness Office, which boasted an all-seeing eye atop a pyramid, casting a golden light across an adjacent planet Earth.
- ^ Hendrik Hertzberg (December 9, 2002). "Too Much Information". The New Yorker. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
The Information Awareness Office's official seal features an occult pyramid topped with mystic all-seeing eye, like the one on the dollar bill. Its official motto is "Scientia Est Potentia," which doesn't mean "science has a lot of potential." It means "knowledge is power."
- ^ Jonathan Turley (November 17, 2002). "George Bush's Big Brother". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ a b James Poulos. "Obama Administration Anti-Leak Scheme Shows Precrime and Total Information Awareness Go Hand In Hand". Forbes. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ a b John Horgan. "U.S. Never Really Ended Creepy "Total Information Awareness" Program". Scientific American. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ John Markoff (November 22, 2002). "Pentagon Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Total Information Awareness (TIA), Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
- ^ Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope By Chalmers Johnson ISBN 0-8050-9303-6 "Congress's action did not end the Total Information Awareness program. The National Security Agency secretly decided to continue it through its private contractors."
- ^ "Total/Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA): Is It Truly Dead?". Electronic Frontier Foundation (official website). 2003. Archived from the original on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ a b c Harris, Shane (Feb 23, 2006). "TIA Lives On". National Journal. Archived from the original on May 28, 2011. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
- ^ a b "U.S. Still Mining Terror Data". Wired News. February 23, 2004.
- ^ a b c Lundin, Leigh (7 July 2013). "Pam, Prism, and Poindexter". Spying. Washington: SleuthSayers. Retrieved 4 January 2014.
- ^ Overview of the Information Awareness Office
- ^ "Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)". Archived from the original on 2006-04-24. Retrieved 2006-03-03.
- ^ The Global Information Society Project
- ^ Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2004, Pub. L. No. 108–87, § 8131, 117 Stat. 1054, 1102 (2003)
- ^ 149 Cong. Rec. H8755—H8771 (24 September 2003)
- ^ a b c "Human Identification at a distance". Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror). Archived from the original on February 15, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ a b c "Evidence Extraction and Link Discovery". Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror). Archived from the original on 2009-02-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ a b c "Genisys". Information Awareness Office (official website). Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ Lee, Newton (7 April 2015). Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness (2, illustrated, revised ed.). Springer. p. 141. ISBN 9783319172446.
- ^ a b Ethier, Jason. "Current Research in Social Network Theory". Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Science. Archived from the original on February 26, 2015. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ FutureMap Archived 2006-02-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d e f CNN
- ^ a b "TIDES". Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror). Archived from the original on 2009-02-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ "Genoa". Information Awareness Office (official website). Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ "Genoa II". Information Awareness Office (official website). Archived from the original on 2009-02-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ a b Belasco, Amy (January 21, 2003). "EFF: Memorandum Regarding TIA Funding". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ "Wargaming the Asymmetric Environment (WAE)". www.darpa.mil/iao. Information Awareness Office. Archived from the original on 28 May 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
- ^ a b "EARS". Information Awareness Office (official website -- mirror). Archived from the original on 2009-05-07. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ Babylon Archived 2006-07-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ BSS Archived 2006-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c "Communicator". Information Awareness Office (official website). Archived from the original on 2009-02-15. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
- ^ Wanted: Competent Big Brothers Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine, Newsweek, 8 February 2006, retrieved 27 July 2007
- ^ The Total Information Awareness Project Lives On, Technology Review, 26 April 2006, retrieved 27 July 2007
- ^ TIA Lives On, National Journal, 23 February 2006, retrieved 27 July 2007
- ^ Markoff, John (February 13, 2002). "Chief Takes Over at Agency To Thwart Attacks on U.S". The New York Times. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
- ^ Safire, William (2002-11-14). "You Are a Suspect". The New York Times. p. 2. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
- ^ Big Brother ...
Further reading[edit]
- Copies of the original IAO web pages formerly available at https://web.archive.org/web/20021123234437/http://www.darpa.mil/iao/ (June 12, 2002 – June 3, 2003) can be found at Archive index at the Wayback Machine
- John Poindexter, Overview of the Information Awareness Office (Remarks as prepared for delivery by Dr. John Poindexter, Director, Information Awareness Office, at the DARPATech 2002 Conference) (August 2, 2002).
External links[edit]
Media coverage[edit]
- Harris, Shane (February 26, 2006). "TIA Lives On". The National Journal. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008.
- "Pentagon Defends Surveillance Program". The Washington Post. May 20, 2003.
- Webb, Cynthia L. (May 21, 2003). "The Pentagon's PR Play". The Washington Post.
- Bray, Hiawatha (April 4, 2003). "Mining Data to Fight Terror Stirs Privacy Fears". The Boston Globe. pp. C2.
- McCullagh, Declan (January 15, 2003). "Pentagon database plan hits snag on Hill". CNET News.com.
- Markoff, John (February 13, 2002). "Chief Takes Over at Agency To Thwart Attacks on U.S." The New York Times. pp. (first mainstream media mention of IAO).
Academic articles[edit]
- K. A. Taipale (2003). "Data Mining and Domestic Security: Connecting the Dots to Make Sense of Data". Columbia Sci. & Tech. Law Review. 5 (2): 1–83 (TIA discussed 39–50). SSRN 546782.
- Robert Popp and John Poindexter (November–December 2006). "Countering Terrorism through Information and Privacy Protection Technologies" (PDF). IEEE Security & Privacy: 18–26.
Critical views[edit]
- "TIA: Total Information Awareness". American Civil Liberties Union. January 16, 2004.
- Charles V. Peña (November 22, 2002). "TIA: Information Awareness Office Makes Us a Nation of Suspects". Cato Institute. Archived from the original on December 1, 2002.
- "Total/Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA): Is It Truly Dead? EFF: It's Too Early to Tell". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Archived from the original on 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2016-12-04.
- "Total "Terrorism" Information Awareness (TIA): Latest News". Electronic Privacy Information Center.
- "A Times Editorial: Unfocused data-mining". St. Petersburg Times. January 24, 2003.
- Russ Kick. "Information Awareness Office Website Deletes Its Logo". The Memory Hole. Archived from the original on 2002-12-28. Retrieved 2002-12-19.
Proponent views[edit]
- Mac Donald, Heather (January 27, 2003). "Total Misrepresentation". The Weekly Standard.
- Levin, Jonathan (February 13, 2003). "Total Preparedness: The case for the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness project". National Review.
- Taylor, Stuart Jr. (December 10, 2002). "Big Brother and Another Overblown Privacy Scare". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 26, 2002.
- Shane Ham & Robert D. Atkinson (2002). "Using Technology to Detect and Prevent Terrorism" (PDF). Progressive Policy Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-26.
- "Safeguarding Privacy in the Fight Against Terrorism" (PDF). DOD Technology and Privacy Advisory Committee (TAPAC). March 2004.
- Ignatius, David (August 1, 2003). "Back in the Safe Zone". The Washington Post. pp. A19 (discussing opposition to the IAO FutureMap project).


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Reese Witherspoon said she panicked, said some "crazy things" and even claimed to be pregnant the night she was arrested in Atlanta on a disorderly conduct charge.
During an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America," Witherspoon repeatedly apologized for her behavior during the April 19 traffic stop. A police report states that Witherspoon asked a Georgia state trooper, "Do you know my name?" and added, "You're about to find out who I am."
In her first sit-down interview about the arrest, the Oscar-winning actress told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that she had "one too many" glasses of wine, and panicked after she and her husband were pulled over.
"I have no idea what I was saying that night," she said. "I literally panicked. I said all kinds of crazy things. I told them I was pregnant. I'm not pregnant."
Witherspoon, 37, was arrested after the trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband, Hollywood agent Jim Toth, was given a field sobriety test.
Toth was charged with drunken driving and is due in court May 23. Witherspoon faces a May 22 court hearing on the disorderly conduct charge.
"There are so many lessons learned," she said.
"When a police officer tells you to stay in the car, you stay in the car," she said. "I learned that for sure. I learned a lot."
Another thing she learned, she's not a lawyer.
"I think I played a lawyer in a movie so many times, I think I am a lawyer," she said.


text:
NIU Academic Center Locations
Whether you're looking to earn your four-year degree, pursue additional or advanced degrees, change careers or earn credentials, NIU has a convenient location to make it possible for you to build your future while balancing your current lifestyle.
With centers throughout northern Illinois, the Chicago area and online, Huskies can call many places their home.
Getting Around
The home of NIU's main campus, DeKalb offers students a complete traditional university experience. Our 765 acre campus is an eclectic mix of architecture and beautiful natural spaces.
If you're looking to advance your skills without the commute, NIU offers online undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs.
If you'd like to pursue your MBA within footsteps of our network of thousands of NIU alumni working in Chicago, our center - located in the heart of the Loop - is the place for you.
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Our Rockford center offers a full suite of services including free parking, technical assistance and state-of-the-art academic classrooms.
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text:
Highly Accurate Li-ion Battery SimulationMikael Cugnet
French Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission
Battery management systems (BMSs) are designed to protect the batteries and predict their charge level. They use circuit models often derived from electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements to construct an equivalent circuit model (ECM) that consists of resistors and capacitors connected both in series and in parallel. Yet, ECMs do not provide any information about important cell properties like the electrode active material resistance, the reaction rate, the specific capacitance, or the diffusion coefficient.
A multiphysics model of a LiFePO4/Li half-cell can provide more information than a typical circuit model. The French Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission (CAE), France's largest technology research organization, worked to develop a method for simulating Li-ion batteries in COMSOL Multiphysics. The first of these models includes all components of the half-cell battery, while the second specifically models the iron phosphate electrode. This allowed CAE to analyze the behavior of the material before re-designing and making the actual battery.
LiveLink™ for MATLAB® was used to process the results and receive the full impedance spectrum of the half-cell. Implementing an electric double layer in COMSOL Multiphysics helped them simulate the nonlinear behavior that is typically observed for a battery at higher operating frequencies. By using COMSOL Multiphysics to simulate a half-cell battery, they can optimize their design with an electrode material that is more conductive, and they confirmed that a model incorporating an electric double layer better reflects device behavior.


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VIENNA – Sales of wine and schnapps with Adolf Hitler on the label are increasing all over Austria.
An Austrian website was selling bottles with portraits of Hitler and the swastika. The site offered sales of spirits in "nostalgic bottles of former historical greats."
The man selling the wine and schnapps was identified only as Roland M. Legal officials say he was motivated by profit, not ideology.
The prosecutor's office said Thursday the man stopped sales when legal action against him started.
When German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries recently called a line of Italian wines "tasteless," she wasn't referring to the grapes.
Since 1995, a winery in northern Italy called Azienda Vinicola Alessandro Lunardelli has produced a line of "historical" wines featuring images of important men of history on the label — among them, Napoleon, Che Guevara and Adolf Hitler.
The Hitler line — called "Fuehrerwein" and featuring pictures of Hitler and slogans from Nazi Germany on the label — made headlines worldwide this month after a family of Polish tourists found the wine in an Italian supermarket. The family brought a bottle back to Poland and handed it over to the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza, which ran a photo of the bottle on its front page. Since then, vintner Alessandro Lunardelli has been under attack. Zypries wrote a letter to her Italian counterpart, Roberto Castelli, calling Fuehrerwein "contemptible and tasteless," and asked Castelli to try to take the wines off the market. Castelli told Radio Padania, a northern Italian radio station, that there was nothing his office could do.
Fuehrerwein is only the latest effort to market images of Nazi Germany that has met with public outcry. In August, the Hong Kong-based clothing company Izzue took its Nazi-themed line out of stores after staunch protest from the Israeli and German embassies.
But Hitler continues to be a popular commercial draw for other businesses. Reuters reported earlier this week that Hitler's Alpine retreat — the "Berghof" — has become a tourist hot spot, with over 100,000 visitors every year and a thriving gift shop filled with books and videos about Hitler and Eva Braun.
"There's always been a perverse interest in World War II," said Abraham Foxman, the director of the Anti-Defamation League. "You find a lot of Nazi memorabilia in gun shows, in auctions, on eBay… There's something about evil that attracts people's interests."
Ron Guth, a California-based coin dealer who specializes in German coins and has sold Nazi-era coins to the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, agreed that the current wave of "Nazi kitsch" has always been around to a certain extent. "I'd say 90% of [buyers of Nazi-era coins] are legitimate coin collectors," Guth said. "And then you have 7% or 8 % who are interested in the historical aspects of World War II. Then you have 2% or 3% who are kooks who really believe in the stuff."
Foxman said that Nazi imagery is a good way to attract attention. "The commercial people know that there's this thing out there; it attracts people. They know it gets people's attention… Where do you find a lot of it happening? In Asia and Southeast Asia, mostly. They don't really have a concept of Hitler. I've seen a lot of really bizarre things [in Asia] — like [advertisements for] 'German pianos at Jewish prices.' It's bizarre. There's a bar named after Hitler."
In a 2001 interview with the Associated Press, Lunardelli said that the historic labels were "a great marketing success."
The Hitler wine, Lunardelli told the newspaper, is his bestseller, moving more than 30,000 bottles a year.


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Tablets running on Intel's upcoming Atom chip code-named Clover Trail could come with the Android OS, adding another OS option for the processor platform in addition to Microsoft's soon-to-be-released Windows 8 OS, Intel said on Monday.
Intel for months has stressed that the Clover Trail chip was optimized for Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8, which is due for release late October. Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Lenovo have already announced Windows 8 tablets based on Clover Trail, and Intel has said 20 tablet designs are in the works.
But with Intel now porting Android to Clover Trail chips, tablet makers will be able to offer Clover Trail tablets running on the Android OS, or even offer dual-boot systems with Windows 8 and Android.
"Intel has plans for another version of this platform directed at Linux/Android; however we are not commenting on the platform specifics or market segments that at this time. Stay tuned," said an Intel spokeswoman in email.
Intel and Microsoft have worked closely to tune Clover Trail chips for Windows 8, which has a touch user interface. The OS has features to keep receiving email and social network feeds even when a device is in idle mode, much like smartphones. The power-management features on Windows 8 help extend battery life. A handful of Clover Trail tablets have been shown running Windows 8, but none have been shown running Android.
Intel will likely have to build in driver and software support for those features so Android can work on tablets with Clover Trail chips.
Intel earlier said it wasn't actively porting Android to work on Clover Trail tablets. Intel had plans to keep Windows 8 dedicated to Clover Trail, and to split the development of Android off to its Atom smartphone chip code-named Medfield, which will also go into some tablets. A smartphone based on the Medfield chip is expected to be announced by Motorola next week.
Intel hopes Clover Trail and Windows 8 will help the company expand in the tablet market, which is dominated by ARM. Microsoft has announced Windows RT for devices with ARM processors. Intel last week said it had already ported Android 4.1, code-named Jelly Bean, to smartphones. Many smartphones with ARM processors also run the Android OS.
Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductors for IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh. Agam's e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com


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Update, Sept. 12, 2013: This story updates information about Civic Development Group.
Errol Copilevitz started his legal career representing strip clubs and porn shops on the seedy side of Kansas City.
Then he took free-speech arguments honed defending topless bars to a more lucrative field.
Today, Copilevitz is the undisputed king of the charity world.
From his offices in a renovated turn-of-the-century warehouse in Kansas City, Mo., Copilevitz and his four partners represent more nonprofits and professional solicitors than any other law firm in the nation.
Last year, the NonProfit Times, an industry journal, named Copilevitz as one of the sector's 25 "Best and Brightest," thanks to his First Amendment work.
That expertise has been especially beneficial to a particular kind of charity – those that spend a tiny fraction of the cash they raise helping people in need.
The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting spent a year identifying the 50 worst charities in America based on the money they paid to professional solicitation companies over the past decade.
Copilevitz & Canter has represented nearly three-quarters of them, as well as most of their for-profit telemarketers and direct mail companies.
If there's a dollar being donated over the phone in America, there's a good chance the firm had a role in creating, registering or advising at least one of the parties involved.
More importantly, Copilevitz has won landmark First Amendment cases that have undercut government efforts to regulate sham charities and helped unleash an avalanche of junk mail and telemarketing calls on the American public.
Thanks in part to Copilevitz, the government can't limit how much charities spend on fundraising.
And their for-profit solicitors don't have to disclose how much they keep unless donors ask.
It's impossible to calculate how much Copilevitz's courtroom victories have meant to his clients' bottom line. But the 37 charities he represents that were ranked among the 50 worst raised a total of $1.2 billion in cash over the past decade. Of that, nearly $880 million went to pay their outside solicitors, most of which also were the lawyer's clients.
In a two-hour interview with the Times and CIR, Copilevitz calmly deflected criticism aimed at his clients.
He sat at a conference room table in a tweed jacket and patterned blue tie, rarely raising his voice, occasionally tapping the table to emphasize a point.
He knows that there are bad guys in the charity business.
"There's no doubt there are some people who start charities whose intentions aren't the greatest," he said. "They're looking to create a job for themselves, I suspect."
But to Copilevitz, the choice is simple.
Put up with groups that don't do enough to help people in need, or stifle everyone, including the charity "that actually may come up with the cure to cancer."
As for those donors who give without realizing that only pennies will reach the cause, Copilevitz has little sympathy.
"I think people understand that there's a cost (to raising money)," he said. "How long do you have to be telling them that?"
From vulgar to virtuous
Trim and tanned at 70, Copilevitz is reveling in the rewards of a long career.
He rubs shoulders with Julie Andrews at benefits for the National Children's Cancer Society, a client in St. Louis.
On his wrist he wears a black rubber bracelet in support of Wounded Warrior Project, another high-profile account.
He owns a condo overlooking Kansas City, a winter getaway in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a couple of commercial real estate investments in Florida and Georgia.
He has about 40 employees and a multimillion-dollar practice that was recently named by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best law firms in the country.
He built it all himself.
The son of a grocer raised in rough-and-tumble East St. Louis, Copilevitz saw a career in law as the ticket to a better life.
After earning a law degree from University of Oklahoma in 1968, Copilevitz moved to Kansas City and landed a job at the radio station where his brother worked.
Within a decade, he had his own practice defending topless bars, adult bookstores and traveling circuses.
He represented strip club owners with alleged mob ties against a crusading district attorney intent on shutting them down. He defended a promoter facing criminal charges after a hippo went on a rampage at a fundraising event. And his firm represented clients like Pleasure Chest and Erotic City in battles with the city over their coin-operated video booths.
Copilevitz's fight against regulators – people he derided for years as censors – culminated in a showdown in St. Louis in 1987. The U.S. Justice Department, under Attorney General Edwin Meese, had declared a war on pornography. More than 200 video store owners fought back with Copilevitz as their lawyer.
Calling the government's crackdown an attack on the First Amendment, Copilevitz told a newspaper that banning the rental of porn movies would have "a chilling effect on the community."
Less than a year later, he was making a similar argument in a much loftier venue: the U.S. Supreme Court.
This time, Copilevitz was arguing on behalf of charities and their paid solicitors.
The high court
It was a big leap for a tiny law practice. But Tom Gray, a former colleague, said the same legal principals held true, whether Copilevitz was defending strip clubs or charities.
"The fundamental issues of the First Amendment were the connecting piece," he said.
In the case before the Supreme Court, Copilevitz's clients were charities and professional solicitors challenging a new state law that required fundraisers to tell donors how much of their money actually got passed on to a charity. The attorney general said telemarketers, typically working with transient circus promoters, were keeping 80 percent or more of the money raised.
When the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988, Copilevitz argued that the law presented "a real and present danger of censorship" and could be especially harmful to small charities advocating unpopular causes.
If telemarketers were forced to start conversations by disclosing where donations wound up, he warned, they would "end up with a dial tone."
The court sided with Copilevitz, building on a series of previous decisions that limited state regulators' ability to crack down on fundraising costs.
The ruling slammed the door on officials who had been trying for years to find a way to stop charities from funneling almost everything they raised to for-profit solicitors.
"There's not much left to protect the donor," David Ormstedt, Connecticut's assistant attorney general, told reporters at the time.
Telemarketers and charities of all stripes celebrated the verdict.
A major trade journal described Copilevitz's success in the case as "the year's biggest gift to philanthropy."
The rise of telemarketing
If donors lost as a result of the 1988 decision, Copilevitz clearly won.
He also had the good fortune of being on the ground floor of an industry that was about to boom.
Computerized phone dialers introduced in the late 1980s made calling faster and more efficient.
Phone rates plummeted with the breakup of AT&T's monopoly on long-distance service.
Dozens of entrepreneurs spied the opportunity, opened call centers and started signing up charity clients.
Robert Preston was one of them. He'd been running a part-time phone room for the Police Benevolent Association in South Florida for years when he decided to open a telemarketing company in 1991.
Preston said the computerized dialer made calling more efficient.
"It increased human productivity," he said.
To help him launch a telemarketing business, Preston turned to Copilevitz, who had built a reputation as a guy who could get your business started and get you out of a jam with regulators.
"I realized he was the 800-pound gorilla in terms of understanding this area of the law," Preston said.
Over the years, Preston's company, Organizational Development, has relied on Copilevitz & Canter to file annual reports with regulators. Copilevitz helped negotiate a settlement in Maine in 2010 when Preston's firm was charged with misrepresenting itself to donors. Copilevitz has also reviewed contracts between the telemarketer and its charity clients.
At its peak a few years ago, Preston's company had $10 million in revenues; it keeps about 85 percent of donations.
Preston also turned to Copilevitz for help when he started a charity, WorldCause Foundation, in late 2010 to create a job for his son. The law firm handled the new charity's IRS application and state filings.
Apart from their lawyer-client relationship, Copilevitz has joined Preston in several commercial real estate investments over the years.
"He's not a baby if a deal goes sour," Preston said of Copilevitz. "And when I would get angry with tenants, he would talk me off the ledge. He's like a rabbi."
Shutting regulators down
As telemarketing calls multiplied exponentially over the next decade, Copilevitz's firm worked to make sure the calling continued unfettered.
In 1994, he knocked down a Georgia law designed to stop charities from using a law enforcement agency's name, without permission, to drum up donations.
Three years later, Copilevitz stopped Louisiana from limiting how many police organizations could solicit in the state.
Copilevitz won both cases on behalf of the American Association of State Troopers, which went on to raise tens of millions of dollars.
In the past eight years alone, the association has raised nearly $45 million through professional solicitation companies, IRS records show. About $36 million of that went straight to the solicitors, placing the charity at No. 9 on the Times/CIR list of America's worst.
Copilevitz was on hand again in 2001, when Florida lawmakers made their own attempt to crack down in high-cost fundraising.
They passed a law forcing charities to declare on mailers and fliers how much they spend on solicitors.
Copilevitz filed suit on behalf of two charities, including the Committee for Missing Children, No. 13 on the Times/CIR list.
He won yet again. Copilevitz convinced a federal judge that spending 86 percent of donations on professional solicitors – as the Committee for Missing Children had done that year – does not make a charity unworthy of support.
By 2003, Copilevitz's reputation made him a natural candidate for another case before the Supreme Court. Illinois' attorney general had sued Telemarketing Associates, claiming it misled donors and that it was keeping 85 cents of every dollar raised on behalf of one of its clients.
Copilevitz took the case, with no pay, and stepped before the nation's highest court for the second time in his career.
This time nearly 200 charities, many of them Copilevitz clients, had signed briefs in support of his case.
Again he argued that limiting what charities pay solicitors is a violation of the First Amendment.
Again the justices agreed.
A large painting that dominates Copilevitz's conference room shows him speaking before the court that day in March 2003.
"It was very gratifying," Copilevitz said. "We had gone from representing this distasteful, small-time telemarketer in the circus days to these major trade associations that understood the issues went far beyond the case at bar. It affected the industry."
The regulatory shuffle
Regulatory filings, disciplinary records and court documents collected by the Times and CIR show that Copilevitz & Canter has done work for more than 400 charities over the past decade.
Often that work involved nothing more than filing a charity's annual registration papers with state regulators. Some of the firm's most prominent clients – the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen Foundation – told reporters they fall into that category.
But the firm also has helped dozens of clients navigate more serious legal issues, including fighting allegations that they misled donors.
Copilevitz said that shouldn't be a surprise.
"There are only a small handful of law firms in the country that focus on the myriad state charitable solicitation laws," he said. "We happen to be one of them."
When the United States Deputy Sheriffs' Association was accused by Kentucky's attorney general in 2009 of deceiving donors by telling them their money would buy bulletproof vests for local law enforcement, the nonprofit called Copilevitz & Canter.
Within a month, Copilevitz negotiated a settlement. His client would pay $30,000 to the state, donate $71,000 in equipment to Kentucky sheriffs' departments and briefly stop soliciting in the state.
At the same time, he negotiated a separate case brought by Oregon against the charity.
In both cases, the charity admitted no wrongdoing and showed no lasting impact.
In its 2011 tax filing, the group reported spending nearly $1.7 million on fundraising out of total expenditures of $2.4 million – or about 70 cents of every dollar.
When charities and solicitors run into regulatory problems in one jurisdiction, they're supposed to report it if asked by other states where they solicit. But in more than a dozen cases identified by the Times and CIR, Copilevitz's firm filed annual registration forms in which charities and solicitors did not disclose prior actions in other states, despite being asked on the application.
United States Deputy Sheriffs' Association did not disclose either the Kentucky or Oregon actions in its subsequent registrations in Florida, filings that were handled by Copilevitz's firm. After being asked about the omissions, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said the matter is under investigation.
In another case, JAK Productions' $300,000 settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which was signed by Copilevitz in June 2010, was not mentioned in the solicitor's filing the following year in North Carolina. Copilevitz & Canter submitted the paperwork to North Carolina on the solicitor's behalf.
According to a spokeswoman for North Carolina's charitable division, "The solicitor should have responded 'Yes,' " to the question that asked if there had been actions taken by other state regulators in the previous five years.
And in Florida and Ohio, Copilevitz's firm handled registration paperwork that failed to disclose a $100,000 fine by California in 2010 against the Association for Firefighters and Paramedics.
Asked about these filings, Copilevitz said his law firm never advises clients to omit such information. He said clients, not his firm, are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of their registrations.
But Michael Gamboa, president of the Association for Firefighters and Paramedics, which is No. 14 on the Times/CIR list, blamed Copilevitz's office.
"They know all about those fines," he told the Times and CIR. "They're supposed to make sure it's in the registration."
Traci Gundersen, Utah's former top charity regulator, said law firms like Copilevitz & Canter that specialize in state charity filings should have systems to track disciplinary cases to ensure they are disclosed as required.
"It's almost like you're burying your head in the sand if you fail to have a safeguard like that," she said.
The fixer
To understand how deeply involved Copilevitz gets with some of his clients, consider the case of Civic Development Group.
In 1998, the FTC sued the telemarketer for falsely claiming that donations would be used locally to buy bulletproof vests and provide benefits for dead officers' families.
With Copilevitz's assistance, the company negotiated a settlement that did little to affect its practices or hinder its success.
Within a decade, the New Jersey-based company became one of the largest telemarketers in the country.
It ran boiler rooms in at least 18 states and collected tens of millions of dollars each year on behalf of its charity clients, according to documents filed with state and federal regulators.
But in 2001, a law passed by the Indiana legislature threatened to cut into collections.
In most states, telemarketers calling for charities can solicit people on the Do Not Call list.
But Indiana's new law said only people directly employed by a charity could; calling people on the list was off limits to hired-gun solicitors.
That put a damper on returns to the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police, which had hired Civic Development Group for telemarketing.
Civic Development turned to Copilevitz for advice.
According to court documents, Copilevitz walked Civic Development through a new fundraising arrangement that got around Indiana's restrictions.
Civic Development's phone room workers became employees of the Indiana Fraternal Order of Police, giving them access to people on the Do Not Call list.
Callers also began telling donors that 100 percent of their donation went to the charity.
Civic Development morphed from being a telemarketer to acting as a "consultant" to the call center operation. But its managers retained the right to hire and discipline workers. And through its consulting fees, Civic Development continued to take most of what was collected from donors.
In 2007, the FTC again sued Civic Development, calling the new setup a sham.
In court filings, the company said Copilevitz had reviewed the new contract with the Indiana police charity and reviewed solicitation material.
Though Civic Development admitted no wrongdoing, it agreed in 2010 to a pay a record $18.8 million settlement. The former owners of the company, Scott Pasch and David Keezer, were banned from the industry.
Pasch and Keezer sued Copilevitz and his firm earlier this year, alleging they were given bad legal advice. When they asked attorneys at the firm whether they should seek FTC approval for their new fundraising model, they were told to "let sleeping dogs lie," according to the complaint, which is pending.
Copilevitz denied the claims made by his ex-clients and told reporters he never advised Civic Development to do anything improper. He said he outlined a legal way to deal with Indiana's new law.
Mark Josephs, the former U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case against Civic Development, said he believes Copilevitz should have at least been aware of his client's deceptive scripts.
Copilevitz told the Times and CIR that the company's in-house lawyers prepared the scripts and when he learned they were claiming 100 percent went to charity, he advised them to stop.
"They did not follow my advice," he said.
Respect and suspicion
Copilevitz said that as an expert in a small and specialized field, it is inevitable that he has represented some "unpopular clients."
"If you made a list of the 50 best charities, I suspect you would find that we do registrations for many of them and legal work on occasion for others and steady legal work for still others," he said.
But Copilevitz has used the First Amendment to defend some questionable characters.
That bothers people who hear him arguing that free speech protections are needed for unpopular causes and fledgling groups, then see him repeatedly defending charities that are neither.
Among Copilevitz's clients on the Times/CIR list are charities soliciting for cancer patients, dying children and injured police, firefighters and veterans.
And far from being startups that need outside help to build a donor base, many of Copilevitz's clients on the list have been around for decades.
Roger Craver is a 50-year veteran of the fundraising business, who has run both telemarketing and direct mail companies and believes it's an honorable profession when done ethically.
Craver said Copilevitz is widely respected in the industry for his expertise. And he agrees with him on the sanctity of the First Amendment.
"But given some of the charities he's represented," Craver said, "I often wonder whether his clients are using the First Amendment to shield questionable behavior rather than advancing the free speech rights for which it was intended."
Copilevitz said he warns clients that over time, they have to find sources of revenue other than high-cost fundraising or they will be "low fruit for the media to pick on."
If they ignore his advice, however, he's not about to pass judgment.
"It's not my position, and I don't think it should be your position, to say you have to close your charity," he said.
Despite his passionate defense of the industry, even Copilevitz has his limits.
When a telemarketer's number pops up on the caller ID in his condo at night, he's just like a lot of people.
He doesn't answer.
Times researchers Caryn Baird and Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.