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In the long-running television series, NCIS, Mark Harmon plays Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a former Marine who is the leader of a team of Navy investigators who solve crimes. Though Gibbs' affection for his team is obvious, his head slaps warn Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo that he's about to do something stupid or has already committed a blunder.
Chief Compliance Officers (CCOs) should be the Special Agent Gibbs at investment advisory firms. Just as Gibbs has dozens of rules that should always be obeyed, CCOs should establish the firm's compliance rules in its policies and procedures and make certain they are followed. CCOs should be in a position of sufficient authority and seniority, compelling others to comply with the RIA's policies and procedures.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, Rule 206(4)-7 under the Investment Advisers Act requires each SEC-registered advisory firm to designate a CCO to administer its compliance policies and procedures. It is also a good idea for state-registered investment advisers to appoint a CCO. In fact, states like New York and Ohio require firms to name a CCO.
CCOs make significant contributions to the success of an RIA. Since they design and implement compliance programs, that prevent, detect, and correct securities law violations. CCOs are also responsible for instilling a culture of compliance at RIAs. If the people running an advisory firm ignore their compliance obligations, the RIA will soon find itself in a very uncomfortable situation with securities regulators.
Sanctions Imposed Against CCOs
When major compliance problems occur at advisory firms, CCOs are likely to be the recipient of regulatory consequences, and those guilty of dereliction of duty are likely to get more than a slap on the wrist. They may be subject to fines, and their careers will be adversely affected.
On May 27, 2011, the SEC issued an order instituting administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings against Wunderlich Securities Inc. (WSI), an RIA/broker-dealer in Memphis, Tennessee. The SEC reached settlements with the dually-registered firm, as well as its CCO and CEO for violating the Investment Advisers Act and several rules.
WSI's CCO was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $50,000. The SEC also ordered the dually-registered firm's CEO to pay $45,000. In addition, the firm was required to pay a civil money penalty of $125,000 on top of repaying investors nearly $370,000. All parties were admonished and additional penalties were imposed.
The SEC found that WSI willfully violated Section 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act, which prohibits an RIA from engaging in any transaction, practice, or course of business that operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client or prospective client. WSI overcharged numerous advisory clients for transactional fees and commissions in thousands of separate occurances.
According to the SEC's order, WSI also failed to comply with the disclosure and consent requirements established by Section 206(3) of the Investment Advisers Act. WSI knowingly effected thousands of securities transactions for advisory clients while acting as a principal for its own account. The firm did not disclose to these clients in writing before the completion of each transaction that the firm was acting as a principal.
WSI also violated Section 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-7 by failing to implement thorough and effective policies and procedures. In addition, they did not conduct an annual review of those policies and procedures. WSI was ordered to hire an independent compliance consultant to conduct periodic comprehensive reviews of those policies and procedures. Effective policies and procedures might have prevented WSI's fee overcharges and principal trade violations.
The SEC also discovered that WSI failed to maintain a code of ethics—a violation of Section 204A and Rule 204A-1. The firm's CCO and CEO willfully aided and abetted violations relating to its policies and procedures, as well as WSI's code of ethics. Additionally, the firm's CCO was found to be a cause of its principal trade violations.
On May 9, 2011, the SEC took action against Aletheia Research and Management, Inc. (Aletheia), as well as the firm's CCO. Among other sanctions imposed, the Santa Monica RIA was ordered to pay a civil money penalty of $200,000, the CCO was to pay $100,000, and a second principal was ordered to pay $100,000. All of the parties agreed to the sanctions and were ordered to refrain from future violations.
Many of Aletheia's problems stemmed from the firm's incorrect responses to requests for proposals (RFPs). In these RFPs, clients and prospective clients asked whether Aletheia had any findings, deficiencies, or corrective actions required in connection with the SEC's prior examination of the firm. Aletheia responded by stating there were no significant findings or provided incorrect answers. In fact, there were six deficiencies found during a prior exam. In making a decision whether to hire an RIA, it is important for a company or any prospective client to know whether the firm is compliant.
Aletheia's compliance manual required the firm's CCO to review the responses to RFPs for misleading statements about prior examinations. The CCO willfully violated those procedures and Section 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act. As noted earlier, Section 206(2) makes it unlawful for an RIA to engage in any transaction, practice, or course of business that operates as a fraud or deceit upon any client.
The SEC found that the firm and its CCO committed willful violations of Section 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7. The RIA and its principals were cited with failing to make and/or keep copies of employees' acknowledgments that they received Aletheia's code of ethics. Aletheia's obligation under the Books and Records Rule was to retain signed acknowledgments for five years.
The SEC's order revealed that the RIA did not make and/or retain any of the required acknowledgments from 2005 through 2007. During 2008 and 2009, Aletheia only created and/or retained signed acknowledgments for two employees, even though the RIA employed fourteen to twenty-eight people from 2005 to 2009.
This conduct was a willful violation of the Books and Records Rule. Aletheia had received deficiency letters in 2005 and 2008 notifying the firm of its obligation to create and retain code of ethics acknowledgments.
Expectations of CCOs
CCOs should be extremely competent and knowledgeable regarding the Investment Advisers Act and the rules implemented in the statute. Several deficiency letters sent by the SEC have criticized an RIA's CCO for lacking knowledge regarding their compliance responsibilities. One letter criticized the CCO for not being sufficiently familiar with the Investment Advisers Act to ensure compliance with the law.
Ignorance of the rules is not a defense to criticism and sanctions by securities regulators. CCOs owe a duty to know the rules governing RIAs, and examiners will not let an RIA and its CCO off the hook because they are unfamiliar with certain rules that were violated. Knowing the rules and enforcing them is part of a CCO's job description.
In another deficiency letter, the SEC's examination team observed that this firm's CCO did not appear to be fully engaged with compliance matters. While some of a CCO's duties may be delegated to a designated person, too much delegation can cause problems. In this case, the CCO was chastised for allowing a designee to do all of the work on the firm's policies and procedures. In fact, the CCO was unable to respond to any of the examiners' questions about the firm's compliance program. The deficiency letter recommended that the CCO be replaced.
A complaint brought by the SEC on November 28, 2011, alleged that the CCO for OMNI Investment Advisors Inc. was not fulfilling his compliance obligations. For an extended period, he served as the firm's CCO, even though he was on a religious mission in Brazil and performed virtually no compliance duties. Aside from paying a $50,000 fine, the CCO was permanently barred from acting within the securities industry in any compliance or supervisory capacity.
In a different deficiency letter, an RIA was criticized for not dedicating enough resources to the compliance function. The CCO split his time between his compliance duties and supervising the marketing staff. It did not help that the SEC found numerous deficiencies during the examination.
According to an article in Compliance Insights/2011, published by the institutional arm of TD Ameritrade, a CCO has a number of responsibilities including:
- designing a compliance program that will prevent, detect, and correct securities law violations;
- training employees in regard to their compliance responsibilities;
- evaluating the business risks facing the firm;
- performing due diligence of the firm's vendors and partners;
- monitoring activities for errors, violations or risks, and taking corrective action if necessary; and
- reviewing the existing compliance program annually and making modifications.
As advisory firms grow, they may need a full-time CCO to deal with complicated compliance issues.
Although the SEC does not expect RIAs to hire an executive to serve as CCO, the Commission does have high expectations for the person appointed to that position. The person serving as CCO should be competent and knowledgeable regarding the Investment Advisers Act. The CCO should be recognized as having the power, seniority, and authority to demand adherence to the firm's compliance policies and procedures.
RIAs owe a duty to supervise individuals associated with the firm with respect to activities performed on behalf of the advisor. In most cases, that supervision rests on the shoulders of the firm's CCO. If the CCO does have supervisory responsibilities, he or she may rely on Section 203(e)(6) of the Investment Advisers Act as a defense. There is no failure to reasonably supervise another person under 203(e)(6) if the:
- RIA adopted reasonably-designed procedures to prevent and detect violations of federal securities laws;
- RIA implemented a system for applying the procedures; and the
- supervising person complied with those procedures and had no reason to believe that the person supervised was not complying with them.
As the person responsible for administering the firm's compliance policies and procedures, a CCO will oversee that RIA's annual review. In the course of that review, the CCO should determine if changes in compliance policies and procedures are warranted. Although Rule 206(4)-7 only requires an annual review, the CCO should conduct interim reviews in response to regulatory changes, new business arrangements, and other significant events that affect the interests of investors.
During reviews, the CCO should be looking at whether compliance policies and procedures have been effective in protecting investors. The CCO should also analyze any previous compliance problems to determine whether the firm's policies and procedures should be revised. The results of annual reviews must be reported to the RIA's senior management.
The Big Picture
Compliance training should be provided to every member of an advisory firm. Some RIAs also send compliance alerts on a regular basis to members of their staff.
CCOs should document their efforts to increase their knowledge of their compliance obligations. In late July 2007, the SEC began sending newly-registered advisors a letter of welcome, as well as a summary of the key provisions of the Investment Advisers Act. Having provided this information directly to newly-registered RIAs, the SEC may be less sympathetic when inexperienced CCOs violate the rules.
Creating an educational document for the firm will also benefit seasoned CCOs. Materials for creation of such a document can be found on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/iainfo.htm, and a copy is also included in the appendix.
Securities regulators in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania frequently conduct compliance educational seminars. At these educational sessions, advisors can interact with securities regulators and ask questions. Certainly, it would behoove CCOs in those states to attend these seminars regularly demonstrating their concern with compliance.
Aside from educating themselves and their staff about their compliance obligations, CCOs should recognize that thorough and effective policies and procedures can help reduce their liability exposure. Implementing and enforcing meaningful policies and procedures makes it far less likely that clients will get hurt. The end result is that the advisor and its CCO may avoid complaints and litigation. The firm might also avoid incidents that must be disclosed on the RIA's Form ADV disclosure brochure, which will be discussed in The New and Improved Form ADV.
Willful violations will be treated much more harshly than innocent or careless mistakes made by CCOs and their firms. Stiff fines and other sanctions are likely when a CCO has committed recidivist violations. Once an RIA is made aware that it has committed a violation and does not rectify the situation, the odds are good that securities regulators will bring an enforcement action against the firm.
When examiners uncover compliance problems during an examination, they expect them to be corrected promptly. Furthermore, once an RIA has committed serious compliance violations, securities regulators are likely to schedule more frequent examinations of the firm, and its compliance program may be under the microscope for a long time.
CCOs should use the results of prior examinations to identify areas where the firm may be at risk of violating securities regulations. Policies and procedures should be tailored to address those risk factors in order to detect and prevent compliance problems from occurring in the future.


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By Michael Maresh
Journal Staff Writer
City sales tax revenues continue to do well in 2012, according to the latest figures released by the city of Cortez
And sales tax for the last few months have been much better than what was returned in 2011.
In October, the city sales tax numbers were $876,000, a 14.23 percent increase from October 2011.
The October increase bumps the figure for the first 10 months of 2012 to almost $6.9 million, a 7.23 percent increase from the first 10 months of 2011.
City of Cortez Finance Director Kathi Moss said one reason for the increase is the $45,000 sales tax return from an out-of-town vendor for some type of a construction project. She said this could have been the remodel of City Market or some other type of project.
Thats an abnormality because it will only happen once, Moss said.
Another reason for the increase is the result of one big-box store paying city sales tax every six months in one lump sum rather than monthly, which is fine with the city.
However, this is not an abnormality because the city will receive two of these larger payments every year.
If the two figures were subtracted from the year-to-date figures in city sales tax the percentage would have been 6.3 percent, though Moss stressed the tax from the big-box store should not be subtracted since city officials knew the return was coming.
October city sales tax for automobiles increased by almost $41,000 or 40 percent from the same month in 2011.
Restaurants sales tax figures also increased by 7.2 percent with big-box stores generating another $12,000 more than October 2011 for a 2.05 percent increase.
Sales tax for lumber/home repairs decreased by 3.85 percent while other retail also went down by 3.23 percent from what was received in October 2011.
Moss said while the city budgeted a 5 percent increase, the current percentage could change over the next two months.
Lodgers sales tax figures also did a little better in October in the first 10 months of 2012 when compared to 2011 figures.
In October the city received $20,306 compared to the $18,774 received in October 2011.
Year-to-date lodgers sales tax figures increased by 3 percent from the first 10 months of 2011.
Moss, who said Walmart is the citys biggest tax generator, said any increase over the projected 5 percent would be placed into the citys reserves.
Dena Guttridge, executive director of the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce, had another explanation on why city sales tax may have increased in the city.
Every adult member of the Ute Mountain Ute tribe recently received $12,500 from the distribution of the $42.5 million in federal settlement money, and in turn a lot of that money was spent locally.
Guttridge said the sales tax figures for lodging shows the city is ending up on a high note, and has been told reservations are still being made for the future.
Guttridge said the mild weather could be another reason why tourists are coming to the city, which makes it a perfect location for mountain climbing, archaeological digs and other outdoor activities.
She added hunters are also returning to the area in droves, and they often buy supplies from local businesses.

subset: commoncrawl


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Stars rally round comedy queen Joan
Joan Rivers remains in a serious condition in a New York City hospital, one day after going into cardiac arrest at a doctor's office.
Melissa Rivers said that her mother was "receiving the best treatment and care possible". She also thanked Rivers' fans and friends for their support.
"My mother would be so touched by the tributes and prayers that we have received from around the world," Melissa said. "Her condition remains serious ... We ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts as we pray for her recovery."
The comedian with a half-century of showbusiness under her belt has spawned a reputation for often-snarky red carpet fashion commentary. A show she had scheduled for today at the Count Basie Theatre in New Jersey has been postponed.
An early and outspoken proponent of cosmetic surgery, Rivers drastically altered her appearance over the years - and found plenty of material for jokes. "I've had so much plastic surgery, when I die they will donate my body to Tupperware," she said.
The host of Fashion Police on E! network, Rivers also presides over an online talk show, In Bed With Joan, and co-stars with her daughter on the WEtv reality show, Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?"
Stars have been sending their best wishes to the Fashion Police star on Twitter.
Heroes star Zachary Quinto tweeted: "sending so much love and healing energy to @Joan_Rivers !!! no one is ready to go on without you lady!!!"
Modern Family actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson wrote: "Sending all my love and prayers to my friend @Joan_Rivers right now."
Actress Marlee Matlin tweeted: "Get well @Joan_Rivers! And moon the doctors for us while you're recuperating!"
American TV host Billy Bush wrote on his Facebook page that Melissa Rivers had told him to "please pray".
He wrote: "Praying for Joan Rivers who is in critical condition at Mt Sinai hospital in NY. Texted with Melissa Rivers who said "please pray". Already doing that. Joan is beloved around here.
"A regular guest on Access Hollywood Live she never fails to deliver. She taped her post Emmy special Tuesday in LA and was strong. This is out of nowhere. Come on Joan you have to make it. Just think of all the material. Sending love and prayers."
Actress Kelly Ripa tweeted: "Praying for the great @Joan_Rivers one of the true loves of my life."
And Courtney Love Cobain told her 344,000 followers: "Hang in there @Joan_Rivers So many awful gowns are going to be worn this year as bait for you pull through. Love and prayers Court."
Press Association


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In an interview with USA Weekend, the bestselling author compared Meyer with J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series.To be fair, Stephen also criticizes other authors for sucky writing. Maybe he was just being bitchy. You can read the original USA Weekend article here.
According to Stephen, "Both Rowling and Meyer, they're speaking directly to young people… The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good."
In any case, maybe these Twilight Band-aids can help with the sting, Stephenie! Twilight is the series that launched a thousand products & a cultural phenomena. Take that, Stephen King!


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"Through our continued investment in IMFT, we're delivering
leadership technology and manufacturing that enables the most
cost-effective and reliable NAND memory," said Tom Rampone, Vice
President and General Manager of Intel's NAND Solutions Group.
DailyTech saw some 22nm
shuttle test wafers at last year's Intel Developer Forum. The
world's largest semiconductor company expects to introduce the new
process at the end of next year for its Ivy Bridge CPUs, but needs to
do a lot of development work first. One of the best ways to do that
is to develop a less advanced intermediary step, and the partnership
with IMFT allows them to do just that.
IMFT has developed a new 64Gb (8GB) NAND flash memory chip in a
compact 167mm2, doubling the density of its 32Gb chips built on the
34nm process. The company will thus be able to produce twice as much
capacity for roughly the same cost at its fab in Lehi, Utah, which is
currently producing 34nm flash. Development of the 25nm process
(codenamed L74) using 300mm wafers was spearheaded by Micron's Fab 4
in Boise, Idaho.
Frequent readers may recall that IMFT announced its 34nm process
in November of 2008, but had problems ramping into mass production
until the summer of last year. This was primarily due to difficulties
in skipping the 43nm node and going directly to 34nm from 50nm.
However, we spoke with Dave Baglee and Rod Morgan, IMFT's
Co-executive Officers, who assured us that the ramp has been
progressing very smoothly.
Yields are much better than the 34nm during the same timeframe,
and write speeds will be similar or greater to today's NAND using the
ONFI 2.2 standard. The number of maximum
write-cycles will also be coming in closer to today's standard
than the 3-bit MLC NAND that other companies are pinning their hopes
on. Page and block sizes will double on the new chips, to 8KB and 256
pages respectively.
Production of the new multi-level cell chips will start in the
second quarter, with mass production ramping up into the third
quarter. The first batches will go into embedded products first,
while new SSD models getting the new chips are undergoing
verification and testing. Intel isn't promising any significant price
reductions, but will instead tailor its pricing to meet market
Intel, Micron, and its
customers are expected to introduce new SSDs in the latter half
of this year using the new technology. Although the company won't
officially confirm any details, Intel is expected to release larger
capacities using a newer, faster NAND flash controller.
"To lead the entire semiconductor industry with the most
advanced process technology is a phenomenal feat for Intel and
Micron, and we look forward to further pushing the scaling limits,"
said Brian Shirley, Vice President of Micron's memory group. "This
production technology will enable significant benefits to our
customers through higher density media solutions."
will help speed the adoption of solid-state drive solutions for
computing," added Rampone.
IMFT also sees a clear path to
NAND flash development below 20nm, despite forecasts of scaling
hitting a wall. IMFT is making extensive use of techniques like
double mask patterning and immersion lithography, and may end up
using EUV lithography in the future.


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Sympathomimetics (Direct, Mixed-Acting)/Methyldopa Interactions
This information is generalized and not intended as specific medical advice. Consult your healthcare professional before taking or discontinuing any drug or commencing any course of treatment.
Medical warning:
Moderate. These medicines may cause some risk when taken together. Contact your healthcare professional (e.g. doctor or pharmacist) for more information.
How the interaction occurs:
The cause of the interaction is not known. When these two medicines are taken together, your body may be more sensitive to the blood pressure effects of appetite suppressants, or to medicines used to treat a stuffy nose, cold, or heart condition.
What might happen:
You may experience an increase in blood pressure.
What you should do about this interaction:
Your healthcare professionals (e.g. doctor or pharmacist) may already be aware of this drug interaction and may be monitoring you for it. If your doctor prescribes these two medicines together, you may need to check your blood pressure more often. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any medicine before checking with them first.
- 1.Pettinger W, Horwitz D, Spector S, Sjoerdsma A. Enhancement by methyldopa of tyramine sensitivity in man. Nature 1963 Dec 14;200(4911):1107-8.
- 2.Dollery CT, Harington M, Hodge JV. Haemodynamic studies with methyldopa: effect on cardiac output and response to pressor amines. Br Heart J 1963; 25(5):670-6.
- 3.Dollery CT. Physiological and pharmacological interactions of antihypertensive drugs. Proc R Soc Med 1965 Nov;58(11 Part 2):983-7.
- 4.McLaren EH. Severe hypertension produced by interaction of phenylpropanolamine with methyldopa and oxprenolol. Br Med J 1976 Jul 31; 2(6030):283-4.


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|Pope Francis walks through flags of the Italian folklore group "Sestiere di Porta Tufilla" from Ascoli Piceno as he arrives to lead his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 30. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Trials and doubts are part of everyone's faith journey, "even mine," Pope Francis said, but Christians know they can get through the hard times with help from God, other Christians and those in heaven.
"Who hasn't experienced insecurities, losses, and even doubts in the journey of faith?" the pope asked. "It's part of life. It should not shock us because we are human beings, marked by fragility and limits."
"Don't be frightened," but ask for help, Pope Francis said Oct. 30 at his weekly general audience, talking about the "communion of saints" as the church prepared to celebrate the Nov. 1-2 feasts of All Saints and All Souls.
In times of difficulty, the pope said, "it is necessary to trust in God through prayer and, at the same time, it's important to find the courage and humility to open yourself to others in order to ask for help."
"We are a great big family" through baptism, the pope told the estimated 50,000 pilgrims and visitors gathered for the audience in St. Peter's Square. The communion of saints, he explained, refers not only to those who have been canonized by the Catholic Church but to all the baptized.
"The communion of saints goes beyond earthly life," the pope said. "It extends beyond death and lasts forever," to find its fullest expression when all believers are "reunited in heaven."
"All the baptized here on earth, the souls in purgatory and the blessed souls in heaven form one big family," he added in remarks to Polish pilgrims. "This communion between heaven and earth is expressed particularly in prayers of intercession, which are the greatest form of solidarity, and is also the basis of the liturgical celebrations of the feasts of All Saints and All Souls."
Every Christian, the pope said, has an obligation to be a responsible part of the communion of saints, supporting other Christians in their faith.
A believer's communion with God and with Jesus must find expression in communion with all those who also believe, he said. Those who truly enter "the glowing furnace of the love" of God, love others because God's love "burns away our selfishness, our prejudices, our internal and external divisions," he said. "The love of God also burns away our sins."
Immediately after the audience, Pope Francis met leaders of Iraq's Christian, Kurdish Yazidi, Sunni and Shiite Muslim communities. He had asked pilgrims at the audience to pray for Iraq, which "unfortunately is struck daily by tragic episodes of violence," and needs "to find the path to reconciliation, peace, unity and stability."
- - -
The text of the pope's audience remarks in English is available online at www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/audiences/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20131030_udienza-generale_en.html.
The text of the pope's audience remarks in Spanish is available online at www.vatican.va/holy_father/francesco/audiences/2013/documents/papa-francesco_20131030_udienza-generale_sp.html.
Copyright (c) 2013 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Trials and doubts are part of everyone's faith journey, "even mine," Pope Francis said, but Christians know they can get through the hard times with help from God, other Christians and those in heaven.


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Gas explosion in Prague injured at least 35.
The New York Jets have released Tim Tebow.
The St. Jude Thaddeus Parish choir was attacked on Sunday during closing hymns.
Weather postpones the new World Trade Center building's ascent to be the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere.
The state has issued an Amber Alert for 6-year-old Elijah Reczek.
Leo Dicaprio's life is nothing like The Great Gatsby.
New York City bartender breaks world record for most cocktails made in one hour. (Hint: The previous record was 973.)
Zoos around the world are welcoming new baby animals that will make your heart melt.
A moment of silence will be observed today for the victims of the Boston Bombings.
Over the weekend, 3 Doors Down bassist charged with vehicular homicide and Reese Witherspoon was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Formerly homeless UNM student is graduating in May.
Tijeras couple warns of possible dognapper.
Zooey Deschanel mistakenly named as one of the Boston Bombing suspects.
A car accident at Central and Louisiana on Sunday left 1 dead and 3 injured.
The "Cinnamon Challenge" is no joke.
Need words to live by? These 22 movies have you covered.
Abortion Doctor's murder trial becomes a political firestorm.
Happy Tax Day! Here are some tips to help you meet the midnight deadline.
A Missouri school gets parent approval as teachers receive training to carry concealed firearms.
La Santa Muerte becomes the new face of drug dens throughout New Mexico.
Congrats Adam Scott! You won The Masters!
Justin Bieber hopes that Anne Frank would have been a belieber.
6-year-old killed in car accident on I-40.
Remembering Margaret Thatcher.
The Chernin Group makes $500 million bid for Hulu.
Local pediatrician is dedicated to helping children who are victims of abuse.
In an effort to thwart scalpers, Kid Rock is scalping his own concert tickets.
The New Mexico Chile Advertising Act requires full disclosure on whether the chiles are "New Mexican" or not.
New Mexico treasure hunters beware! You have now been warned that finders may not be keepers.
Facebook to charge for messages sent outside of your network.
"Calvin and Hobbes" get gritty remake in new fan film.
Websites that love April Fools Day.
Lobo fans are caught off guard by Steve Alford's departure.
California highway patrol officer pulled over the Easter Bunny for not wearing a helmet while riding his motorcycle.
Prosecuters will seek death penalty against James Holmes.
Cory Monteith checks himself into rehab.
4th Street has reopened after suspicious package scare.
CBS shows restraint in their coverage of Kevin ware's gruesome injury.
An Amber Alert was issued after a car, with an 11 month old inside, was stolen
Investigation of the fire in the foothills continues.
The man who plotted to kill Justin Bieber is now behind bars.
Punxsutawney Phil predicted and early spring. Now he is being charged with fraud.
A live bomb was found inside of a squid.
Due to overcrowding issues, Albuquerque's Animal Humane has taken in 46 dogs and puppies from the shelter in Roswell.
It could be fun to bring back these obsolete words.
Is Jay Leno getting the boot?
The number 3 seed Lobos will face Harvard in Salt Lake City.
The release date of Jobs has been pushed back indefinitely.
A body and a bags of bombs were found in a dorm room at the University of Central Florida.
An APD officer was shot yesterday during and investigation near San Mateo and Gibson.
A violin that was played as the Titanic sank has resurfaced.
New Mexico baby receives life saving organ donation days before his first birthday.
Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist, the last survivor of the plot to assassinate Hitler has died at age 90.
Record breaking thumbs up!
Instagram helped reunite a little boy with his toy bunny.
Defendent in wrongful death case to take the stand as the case starts its third day of trial.
Catholic Cardinals meet once more before electing a new pope.
A six year old boy took the keys away from his drunk grandma so she couldn't drive.
Unhappy people are responsible for the zombie craze!
New Mexico teen with terminal cancer gets her diploma early.
If you're more into geography than basketball, this March Madness bracket is for you.
Elections in Kenya have already left 15 people dead.
The names of the Angel Fire plane crash victims have been released.
Evidence that it is time to stop making Harlem Shake videos.
An Albuquerque Subway was hit with a red sticker after a routine inspection.
Police are searching the driver in a hit-and-run that resulted in the death of expectant parents and their baby.
The house where a man was swallowed by a sinkhole is being demolished.
Here's a roundup of all the big 2013 Oscar winners.
New Mexico deputy was investigating a car accident when he was hit by a car.
Dozens of spectators injured at Daytona.
Oscar isn't the only Pistorius facing murder charges.
An Albuquerque man was shot and killed last night.
Meet Kevin Michael Connolly, a surfer that was born with no legs.
Families search for loved ones that went missing during war.


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Amplify CEO Paul Trylko Shares Cornerstone Vision
Paul Trylko hasn't given any thought to the historic credit union fact that he is the first chairman to oversee the newly formed Cornerstone Credit Union League. The country's largest league, which launched July 1 following the consolidation of leagues in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, represents nearly one-tenth of the nation's credit unions.
Perhaps Trylko hasn't had much time to contemplate the enormity of his new role because he knows there is so much work to be accomplished in order to meet the expectations of 570 member credit unions that the new entity will be stronger and better moving forward.
"It's a real honor to be chosen from among my peers to serve in this role," said Trylko, president/CEO of the $626 million Amplify Credit Union in Austin, Texas. "The rest of the board and I now understand that there is a lot of work to be done."
In an interview with Credit Union Times, Trylko shared what he, the board and the administration plan to achieve in the first year of CCUL's operation, as well as what the member credit unions across the three states can expect in the years to come.
"During the first year of the league we're focusing on making sure that we get the word out in every state to ensure that everybody understands our structure and everybody understands what products and services are available to them," he said.
During the last four weeks, CCUL staff members have been meeting with credit unions in road show presentations in each state. CCUL has two remaining road shows on Sept. 17 and Sept. 20, in Amarillo, Texas and Houston, respectively.
Credit unions in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas understood consolidation was inevitable because of mergers that have occurred in their states and across the industry. And more mergers are likely to occur over the next several years. With fewer dues-paying members, it is becoming increasingly difficult for leagues to keep up with rising costs and deliver the products and services credit unions expect.
When the CCUL board met for the first time in early July, it selected Trylko to lead the organization into the future, and for very good reasons. He's one of the most successful credit union executives in the nation, having been recognized as CEO of the Year by NAFCU for 2013. Last year, he also was named one of Austin's Best CEOs by the Austin Business Journal.
In addition to its strong advocacy arm, CCUL will be focusing on helping credit unions grow. And if there is anyone who knows how to make credit unions grow, it's Trylko.
A few years after he landed the CEO job at the IBM Texas Employees FCU in 1998, he recognized the credit union's future prospects would be limited by simply maintaining its SEG-based field of membership, according to a profile article published in the Austin Business Journal.
So in 2004, the credit union opened its membership to five counties. Two years later, the credit union changed its name to Amplify and opened six branches from 2006 through 2010. Since the cooperative launched its expansion campaign nearly 10 years ago, membership has grown from 29,475 members in March 2004 to 45,706 by June 2013.
Not bad for a guy who launched his credit union career as a teller in 1979.
Next Page: The Big Focus
Beyond this year and based on feedback he's gotten from credit unions, Trylko said he expects the league to develop an aggressive campaign to raise public awareness about credit unions that will help increase their business and membership opportunities.
"That will be a big focus," he said. "We've had some successes in each of the three states. Our job will be to put all of that together and make it into a robust program that will really help get the word out about credit unions and how we serve our members."
Another big focus will address the growth challenges of small credit unions, and there are many of them in all three states.
The league has a small credit union department with a dedicated staff. In addition to a committee that will make recommendations to the CCUL board on how to help small cooperatives, small credit unions will have a strong voice on the board as well.
Of the 18 board seats, six are occupied by credit union executives who represent institutions with fewer than $50 million in assets. Three more board members come from credit unions with assets from $59 million to $90 million. Eight board seats are occupied by midsize cooperative executives with shops between $103 million to $626 million in assets. Just one board seat is held by a billion dollar cooperative executive, President/CEO Michael Kloiber from the $3 billion Tinker FCU of Oklahoma City.
CCUL also expects to enhance its products and services, particularly those in compliance and ALM where credit unions need a lot of support, Trylko said.
The new league will maintain advocacy offices in each state capital: Austin, Oklahoma City and Little Rock. Because there were no layoffs after the consolidation, staffing levels have remained the same in each office.
Reta Kathley, former president/CEO of the Arkansas Credit Union League, and Gary Jones, former president/CEO of the Credit Union Association of Oklahoma, are managing the advocacy offices in Little Rock and Oklahoma City, respectively.
"Now we have the strength, the depth and the resources provided by a larger organization…for credit unions in Oklahoma," Jones said. "I am very proud to be a part of that."
Kathley declined to comment for this article.
Despite the fact that CCUL is the largest league organization in the U.S., employing approximately 120 people, membership dues won't increase.
With the consolidation, credit unions in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas "overwhelming approved a dues formula that results in no increase for the vast majority of credit unions," according to a prepared CCUL statement.
Trylko said he expects the CCUL board to meet quarterly. The board is scheduled to meet in September during the league's first leadership conference Sept. 5-7 in San Antonio, Texas, and will meet again in December.
In the fall, CCUL will send a survey to member credit unions to gauge their awareness of league products and services, and to what extent they are using them.
"We also want to use the survey to get a sense from member credit unions about how we are doing so far and what may be the things that we don't provide that credit unions may want us to provide," Trylko said.


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Brokaw, Chatzky, Speeches and Awards: Photo Coverage of GAC Day 1
CUNA President/CEO Bill Cheney presents the trade's new awareness campaign, "Unite for Good", during the opening session Monday.
Also from 2013 GAC:
- Feb. 26, 2013 Day 2 Slide Show: Speechifying and Gavel Passing
- Feb. 26, 2013 NCUF Gets $135,000 Gift From CUNA Mutual
- Feb. 26, 2013 Bachus Says Congress May Revisit Durbin, Dodd-Frank
- Feb. 26, 2013 Hensarling Stands by Tax Exemption
- Feb. 26, 2013 Kids Add Zing to Wegner Award Winners
- Feb. 25, 2013 Tom Brokaw Promotes Public Service Academies
- Feb. 25, 2013 Chip Filson Announces NCUA Board Bid, Petition Drive
- Feb. 25, 2013 Matz Praises Agency's Ability to Change With Times
- Feb. 25, 2013 CUNA Mutual Debuts AskAuto App at GAC
- Feb. 25, 2013 CUNA Survey Shows Room for Exam Improvement
- On Video: Shell Geismar CEO Has Tech Tools on His GAC Agenda
- On Video: Arizona State SVP Has Washington on His Mind
- On Video: Flying Freeborn to DC for GAC
- On Video: Halleck and Hiking the Hill
- On Video: Muniz's Message to Washington
- Not for CEOs: Successful Succession Topic of GAC Talk
Emcee Paul Berry welcomes NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz to the stage for her general session address on Monday. Matz praised her agency's ability to change with the times and industry challenges.
Best-selling author and Today Show personal finance editor Jean Chatzky explains the difference between "upselling" and "upserving" members.
CUNA Chief Economist Bill Hampel introduces credit unions that provided the highest direct financial benefits to member households, a new award category for CUNA.
Winners in the less the $75 million asset category, the $50 million United Health Credit Union of Burlingame, Calif., accept their financial benefit award.
Winners in the less the $75 million asset category, the $50 million United Health Credit Union of Burlingame, Calif., accept their financial benefit award.
The $183 million Boston Firefighters Credit Union won the $75 million to $250 million asset category, providing the most direct financial benefits to members.
Ryan Donovan (left), CUNA senior vice president of legislative affairs, tells his Monday afternoon audience about the current environment on Capitol Hill. Other panelists for the Legislative Political Update general session include Senior Vice President of Political Affairs Richard Gose (center) and Senior Vice President of League Relations Pat Sowick (right).
Retired NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw closed out Monday's GAC general session with entertaining stories about former President Ronald Reagan, legendary newscaster Walter Cronkite and recently deceased Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).


text:
European Union's European Commission, under the guidance of
commissioner Neelie Kroes, has had no qualms with slamming
U.S firms with massive
antitrust fines. Now it's preparing a massive new
initiative which just may have a major effect on some U.S.
firms.The new measure, called the Digital Agenda, raises many
points, but one of the most significant is to redefine what companies
can be subject to scrutiny over abuse of their market position.
The Agenda looks to change the necessary language from "dominant"
to "significant". Its text, found here,
includes the passage:
not all pervasive technologies are based on standards the benefits of
interoperability risk being lost in such areas. The Commission will
examine the feasibility of measures that could lead
significant market players to license interoperability
information while at the same time promoting innovation and
proclamation may affect a number of key players in the tech industry
by forcing them to open their gates or face massive fines. Perhaps
the biggest example is Apple, Inc. Apple is being probed
by U.S. government antitrust investigators over its decision
to ban
Flash from its iPad and iPhone. The problem is that
Apple can easily argue that it does not have a "dominant"
position to abuse when it comes to the iPhone. And even the
iPad, the new clear leader in the tablet industry could stake make
similar claims -- after all the term "dominance" is loosely
defined.However, there's little doubt that it plays a
"significant" role in the tablet and smartphone
industries.Under the new measure, if the language is
approved, the EU may gain the power to force Apple to allow Flash
onboard. It may also be able to finally force Apple to allow
third-party devices -- like Android smartphones, the Palm
Pre, or rival MP3 players – to sync with iTunes. The EU
has long
complained about Apple's efforts to block such syncing.If
the measure forces the hands of companies like Apple, they may feel
compelled to eventually embrace similar measures in the U.S.
The U.S. is slowly trending towards a policy of stricter
antitrust enforcement, following in the EU's line.Ultimately
the issue boils down to whether the market's largest players have a
responsibility to "leave the door open" when it comes to
interoperability. This may come at a small expense to firms to
publish documentation, which they could likely cover with licensing
fees. However, what they ultimately truly stand to lose is a
tool against their competitors. By tightly
controlling their platforms and various products' ties, companies
like Apple can build their brand in the eyes of the consume -- a key
part of the so-called "halo
effect" which has driven purchasers of one Apple
product to pick up more Apple gadgets. It's remarkably similar
to the inside track that Microsoft Word and Microsoft Internet
Explorer were given with Windows -- which landed Microsoft in hot
water with U.S. antitrust investigators around the turn of the
millennia. Ultimately, such maneuvers don't even need a
monopoly -- as Apple's extensive use of them has proven. They
merely require a significant market share to start; hence the EU's
claim.So is interoperability something that should be
mandatory? Or should companies be allowed to close their
platforms tightly? Advocates of a more laissez faire government
would certainly argue the latter, but the EU and Kroes seem convinced
of the former, a platform that may have a big impact on some of the
tech industry's top firms in the U.S. and abroad.


text:
Fred Perry News
Click here to shop all Fred Perry clothing and footwear from Footasylum
Three Essential Pieces of Footwear from Fred Perry
If you want to update your footwear collection in 2012, here are three essential footwear styles courtesy of Fred Perry.
Fred Perry Sub Sonic – A World of Genre Free Music
There is no genre with Fred Perry Sub Sonic; it's a movement dedicated to the latest bands, DJs and artists, no matter what their creative genus may be.
Fred Perry Clothing – The Best of British Street Wear
Fred Perry clothing could bring out the patriot within when you sport the best of British street wear that has a rich cultural heritage of athletic achievement, rebellious youth and edgy bands.
A Brief History of All Things Fred Perry
Fred Perry must be one of the defining brands in British fashion history. That famous logo is emblazoned on much more than the classic polo shirt these days and we all love their fab footwear range, but how did it all begin for Fred Perry?
Fred Perry is highlighting its history by sharing stories
Fred Perry footwear carries the label's instantly-recognisable logo.
Fred Perry clothing may be a massive British success as one of the most sought after designer brands but when it comes to tennis, the Brits are a flop.
Fred Perry – Street Labels Need Music
Street wear is tightly bound with the latest music sub-cultures, as Fred Perry knows only too well.
Fred Perry - Designer Office Space
The Fred Perry HQ in London's Covent Garden is sporting a modern twist on the brands famous laurel wreath.
Fred Perry has a long association with the subculture of music and has long been the brand of choice for artists and musicians.
Fred Perry – The Table Tennis Champion
Fred Perry may have made his name as a tennis star but it was table tennis the sporting legend first became a success in.
Fred Perry - Heritage Bites Back
Fred Perry has always been big, but the return of 'poshness' means heritage brands are making a big comeback.
Fred Perry Celebrates 100 with Vespa
As part of its centenary celebrations, Fred Perry has produced a customised Vespa scooter.
Fred Perry – Competitive Fashion
When it comes to fashion, sport may be an unlikely partner, but Fred Perry was on the scene way before David Beckham.
The latest Fred Perry collection makes use of sheer fabric and classic design.
When it comes to sport, it seems we're all desperately nostalgic for those halcyon days when Fred Perry was the world's number one player.
Fred Perry Leaves Pete Doherty Pocketless
Fred Perry is a brand loved by the likes of Blur and Pete Doherty, ensuring its brand credentials stay seriously cool.
Fred Perry Sportswear hopes that new fans will come from Murray success.
Fred Perry is looking for a return to its original sportswear business.
Andy Murray – The New Fred Perry?
After his historic victory at Queens, it's not just the Fred Perry t-shirts that Andy Murray wears which link him to the great man.
Fred Perry – The Man Behind The Brand
To modern day kids, Fred Perry means polo shirts and super-cool minimalist plims. But for older generations, Fred Perry was a true sporting hero.
Fred Perry and Andy Murray – A Double Celebration?
British tennis star Andy Murray began his association with designer clothes brand Fred Perry when he first emerged as Britain's most promising talent.
Fred Perry – the 100th Anniversary
As 2009 marks the 100th year since Fred Perry's birth, a new book, The Last Champion: Life of Fred Perry is released to mark the occasion.
Exploring the 90s Influences on Fred Perry Clothing
So far as decades go, the 90s has had one of the biggest influences on the clothes we wear today and this is something which certainly rings true with Fred Perry clothing. The Fred Perry range obviously found its feet in the 60s but the 90s has had its part to play.
Fred Perry team up with Raf Simons for Spring Summer Collection
Fred Perry are a legendary fashion label so it makes sense that they have turned to a leading menswear designer with roots in youth fashion, Raf Simons, for their spring summer collection in 2009. Fred Perry are one of the UKs most popular fashion labels.
The Fred Perry label shows that when it comes to the world of fashion, sport and music get match point.
So far as timeless fashion looks go in the UK, few can boast the longevity of the Mod look and it is fair to say that Fred Perry t-shirts and clothing are one of the linchpins of the Mod look. Fred Perry is set for a big year in 2009 with a fresh new approach to their line-up.
Fred Perry – Amy Winehouse Rumoured to be Designing Fred Perry Clothing
The Fred Perry clothing line is well known for being visionaries within the field of consumer fashion and they are always looking for means by which to shake up their range. Fred Perry are rumoured to be in talks with Amy Winehouse about designing Fred Perry clothing.


text:
Jonathan Zdziarski, an iPhone developer and a hacker who teaches forensics courses on recovering data from iPhones, hasn't been very impressed with the iPhone's security -- or lack thereof. Mr. Zdziarski has indicated that iPhone OS v3.0 is a bit better when it comes to security, but he says with only a few pieces of readily available freeware you can easily crack it in under two minutes. That news must be concerning for the corporations and government agencies that support the hundreds of thousands of business iPhones Apple says it has sold.
Mr. Zdziarski says the iPhone's security woes are entirely unnecessary and are the result of incompetence. He states, "It is kind of like storing all your secret messages right next to the secret decoder ring. I don't think any of us [developers] have ever seen encryption implemented so poorly before, which is why it's hard to describe why it's such a big threat to security."
His statements stand in stark contrast with Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook's cheerful news that 20 percent of Fortune 100 companies have purchased 10,000 or more iPhones apiece and that multiple government organizations had purchased 25,000 iPhones apiece. Mr. Cook had bragged, "We're seeing growing interest with the release of iPhone 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS due in part to the new hardware encryption and improved security policies. The phone is particularly doing well with small businesses and large organizations."
Mr. Zdziarski says these entities might be in trouble as the encryption on the phone is so poorly implemented a simple software tool makes it as easy to view encrypted files as unencrypted ones. Thieves could extract live encrypted data from the phone in a mere 2 minutes, and have an entire raw disk image in about 45 minutes. Interestingly, the iPhone itself helps with these tasks – it begins to decrypt data on its own automatically after the extraction process has started.
Corporate users often edit finance spreadsheets and other corporate documents on their phone, as well as using the phone to make transactions with corporate credit cards. All of this information is easy pickings for hackers thanks to the phone's woeful security. Mr. Zdziarski surmises, "If (companies are) relying on Apple's security, then their application is going to be terribly insecure. Apple may be technically correct that [the iPhone 3GS] has an encryption piece in it, but it's entirely useless toward security. We're going to have to go with the old imperative of 'Trust no one'. And unfortunately part of that is, don't trust Apple."
Still, some companies say that the risks of deployments are worth it. States Lance Kidd, chief information officer of Halton Company, an industrial equipment provider, which lets its employees use iPhones, "Your organization has to be culturally ready to accept a certain degree of risk. I can say we've secured everything as tight as a button, but that won't be true…. Our culture is such that our general manager is saying, 'I'm willing to take the risk for the value of the applications.' It's like business continuity. You prepare for disasters. You prepare for if there's an earthquake and the building breaks down, and you prepare for if there's a crack in [information] security."


text:
Bugzilla is the leading open-source/free software bug tracking system, with high-profile installations at mozilla.org, GNOME, Red Hat, and NASA, among others. It features a comprehensive set of fields, attachment management, inter-bug dependencies, email notification of changes, a powerful query interface, reporting, and Web, XML, email, and console interfaces. It can be managed entirely using a Web-based UI. The user UI is customizable using templates.
RT is an industrial-grade trouble ticketing system. It lets a group of people intelligently and efficiently manage requests submitted by a community of users. RT is used by systems administrators, customer support staffs, NOCs, developers, and even marketing departments to track issues, outages, bugs, requests, and all kinds of other things at thousands of sites around the world.
TWiki is a flexible, powerful, and simple Web based collaboration platform. It is suitable for dynamic intranets and knowledge bases, and for sharing and managing documents and collaborative projects. It resembles a normal Web site, but every page can be changed from a browser. It features automatic link generation, full text search, group authorization, Web forms, reporting, change notification, file attachments, revision control of pages and attachments, a modular templating system with skins, hierarchical navigation based on the topic parenting feature, and more. Plugins can be used to enhance the program and build groupware applications.
The Apache Open For Business Project is an enterprise automation software project that includes ERP, CRM, E-Business/E-Commerce, SCM, MRP, and CMMS/EAM functions. It is a foundation and starting point for enterprise solutions and can certainly be used out of the box, but is also great for creating specialized applications.
PHP Trouble Ticket provides a centralized means of problem reporting and tracking in multi-user environments (medium to large companies, development groups, etc.). It helps direct problem reports to the responsible administrator(s), keeps track of the status of a problem being worked on, and offers an up-to-date list of recent changes applied. It aims to be widely configurable, easy-to-use even for those not technically inclined, and multi-language capable.
Ozibug is a platform-independent, Web-based bug tracking system that can be installed and run straight out of the box on any Java servlet capable platform. It can be used to manage the reporting of bugs and tracking of their progress from discovery through to resolution. It provides standard features such as file attachments, multiple module support, email notifications, custom reports, and RSS feeds. For those who require more flexibility, it also offers fine grained access control, database storage, pluggable authentication, an incoming mail gateway, and customizable appearance, email notifications, and reference data.
BATTS (Barnhard Associates Trouble Ticketing System) is a lean, elegant trouble ticket system with both command line and Web interfaces, written in Perl. It uses MySQL for its backend, and has a ticket-via-email interface for submission and informational logging. Features include support for tickets pending on or resolved when other tickets are disposed of, an ability to assign tickets to a person, an ability to categorize and prioritize tickets, and associating billing codes with various logging events.
Bugzero is a Web-based change management and issue tracking system used in a distributed team environment to track software bugs, hardware defects, test cases, or any other issues. It can also be used equally well as a helpdesk customer support, trouble ticketing, or email management system to collect and manage customer feedbacks, incidents, requests, and issues. It is easy to use, but still flexible and adaptive, and can be configured to fit to your organization's unique business process and workflow.
Cerb is a fast and flexible Web-based platform for business collaboration and automation. It helps you remember anything about anyone, collaborate from anywhere, deftly reply to a flood of email, automate, stay informed, capture feedback, track time, flag opportunities, manage tasks, share expert knowledge, and otherwise execute efficiently.


text:
The first
clinical trial for stem cell therapy began last Friday as a
patient with spinal cord injuries received an injection of human
embryonic stem cells.
trial is being ran and managed by Geron
Corp., a developer of biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of
cancer and chronic degenerative diseases. The treatment on their
first patient took place in Atlanta, Georgia at the Shepherd
Center, which is a spinal cord and brain injury center.
cells have come a long way since Hans Keirstead, a neurobiologist at
the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine, first turned human
embryonic stem cells into oligodendrocytes, which insulate nerve
fibers with fatty myelin. This coating protects the
damaged nerve cells enough to restore the ability for
signals to "travel up and down the spine again." From this
point, the stem cells were tested on animals, where rats with spinal
cord damage regained partial ability to walk and run in their hind
legs again. Now, researchers have moved on to the first human trial.
of that work, all of that money sent to the ivory towers is
manifesting something," said Keirstead. "It's a real shot
in the arm for the field."
human trial, which is a so-called Phase I trial, is in its beginning
stages and the plan is to strictly test the treatment for safety
rather than effectiveness for right now. If the treatment proves to
be safe, researchers will then test it for effectiveness. Its proven
effectiveness could lead to the treatment of diabetes, spinal cord
injuries and other neurodegenerative diseases.
test for safety, researchers are enrolling up to 10 patients with
spinal cord injuries located between the third and 10th thoracic
vertebrae. The
stem cells are injected within 14 days after injury.
Shepherd Center in Atlanta will not be the only test site for the
trial, though. Northwestern University near Chicago, as well as seven
other centers, will be involved in this phase of the trial. The
expected duration time of the human trial is two years after the last
patient is registered.
got a couple of years of waking up and looking at the news every
day, hoping
and praying we're doing good for people and not bad,"
said Keirstead.
have high hopes that the stem cells will prove to be safe, and
ultimately effective, but Keirstead noted that even if the treatment
doesn't give human patients the ability to walk or run once again, it
will allow them to be more in control of their bladder, bowel and
sexual functions. The key is to "greatly improve their quality
of life."


text:
Read reviews about restaurants and cafes across the UK and Ireland. Whether you're on holiday, a business trip or it's the town where you live, don't miss the best restaurants and cafes. Search our Restaurants and Cafes National category by country, country region and city or town. Compare consumer reviews, services, prices and more. Use dooyoo - be informed about the UK and Ireland! You can also add your own opinion about a British or Irish restaurant or café you've been to.
* Prices may differ from that shown


text:
(and keep more general posts related to the causes for wisdom on that thread)
.I don't find Robert's posts unpleasant, and I did have a nice afternoon tea with Robert and some of his friends in Bangkok. And I have no problem with them presenting their opinions. However, my impression of their criticisms of other teachers is like Tilt's: that they inaccurate and often evasive. Rather than pointing out something specific that someone is teaching or doing wrong, the discussion (as in this thread) tends to focus on assumptions about what "meditators" do.
I have given examples of what other teachers say, which I find to be consistent with the statements from the Buddha that anything that arises does so from causes and conditions. I was hoping that by giving such references we we might be able to discuss in detail where exactly particular teachers and Dhamma practitioners are, or are not, making serious errors. This is clearly an important question, but to answer it requires engagement with the specifics
Note: I would prefer that this stays in the Classical Theravada forum. If anyone would like to present arguments that don't fit here they are very welcome to start a different thread with a simila heading in another forum.


text:
Was $99.95 NOW $49.95
This is the golden cordless prelit holiday trim that can be hung anywhere indoors or outdoors without requiring unsightly extension cords or proximity to an outlet. Reminiscent of the opulent holiday decor gracing the residences of London's St. John's Wood, the wreath, garland, basket, and sconce are decorated with golden-painted ornaments with shiny and matte finishes. Frosted in gold paint, woody pinecones, clusters of berries, willow branches, and filigree leaves nestle among dense greenery that replicate the growth patterns of actual conifer branches. Each piece of trim is festooned with glistening white LEDs that provide cheerful illumination. Boughs are made of weather-resistant PVC that will last for years. An automatic timer turns the LEDs on for six hours and off for 18 hours. Each piece of trim requires two D batteries that will power the lights for an entire holiday season. With 50 LEDs, 112 branch tips, 17 ornaments, and four pine cones. 36" H x 14" W x 8" D. (1 1/2 lbs.)
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Should you have any questions, we are available seven days a week (8:00 am – midnight EST). Please call 1-800-321-1484 to speak with a specialist or email us at email@example.com to receive a response within three business hours or less.
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text:
An 84-year-old woman and her daughter, her primary caregiver, were in my office.
"I feel a lot better since that visit to the emergency room in the summer when they changed my medications. I haven't had any more dizzy spells or falls," the mother said.
The daughter concurred, and I confirmed from the discharge summary of the finding following a fall that she had blood-pressure levels that fell when she stood up and her heartbeat also slowed down. The symptoms were thought to be the result of a combination of medications she was taking for high-blood pressure, which were producing an excessive effect, leading to "postural hypotension."
I was told that since the fall the mother was living in her daughter's home. The mother's apartment had suffered some water damage during a rainstorm and required repairs, but it was not yet certain if she would feel secure enough to return and live on her own, even though that was what she appeared to prefer.
Historical and testing evidence indicated that the mother suffered from mild cognitive impairment, but for most of her function and normal basic activities, she was able to care for herself. The mother repeated herself a bit, but this alone did not appear to interfere greatly with her function. She expressed herself quite clearly and understood what was happening to her.
After I asked about the mother's current living situation and plans for the future, part of my normal assessment of patients and their living situations and support systems, the daughter asked, "Do you think my mother should move into a retirement home rather than living with me, because during the day she is alone in the house, but we have checked it all for safety and she has an emergency call system that she knows how to use?"
I looked at the patient and asked her how she felt about living in her daughter's house, and other than musing that returning to her own home would be her preference, she said she felt comfortable living with her daughter, who had arranged the house so that she could do everything she wanted to do and be comfortable on the modified ground floor.
The daughter continued, "My sister who lives in Toronto and my brother who lives in New York feel she should be in a retirement home for safety reasons and are urging admission. She tried one that seemed very nice and suitable, but after three days she called and begged to be taken back to my house. They are now looking at others, but Mom says she really does not want to go into one."
The patient looked at me and said, "I do not want to live in one of those places. It is either back at my own home or with my daughter."
I explained to both the principles by which such living decisions should be made and what seemed to be the ability of the mother to participate in such decisions. "I think you all need a good discussion with someone who understands the process of personal decisions and how alternative housing arrangements should be made."
Arrangements were made for a family meeting with a social worker. The mother seemed very pleased that her wishes were being listened to and respected – that step and process is key to any such discussions. Being the "it" in the middle of family discord is not always easy.
Dr. Michael Gordon is medical program director of palliative care at Baycrest. His latest book is Late-Stage Dementia, Promoting Comfort, Compassion and Care. His previous book, Moments that Matter: Cases in Ethical Eldercare, follows his memoir, Brooklyn Beginnings: A Geriatrician's Odyssey. All can be researched at his website: http://www.drmichaelgordon.com.


text:
Hey all,
The NFL football keeper league is pretty popular. We're two seasons strong now and I'm sure season three will be the best yet.
However, with the NFL draft on the horizon it got me thinking about how cool it might be to have a second league around here, a Dynasty league. Dynasty leagues are pretty simple. You can keep everyone on your club if you wish and new players are added either via the draft or through free agency while the season is underway. It doesn't take much more time to manage two clubs, I typically have a minimum of three fantasy teams in any NFL season. Let me know what you think.


text:
On the processor front, Intel will
launch a slew of dual
core processors covering a wide range of market segments.
The processors above are lumped into
"Performance Small Form Factor" segment and feature a TDP of 25W at
the high end for the SP9400 and continually fall until we reach rock
with the single-core U3300 which touts a TDP of 5.5W.
An Intel engineer hinted to DailyTech
that the U3300 will be reserved for the "slimmest of slim"
notebooks and tablets. By comparison, the 1.6 and 1.8 GHz processor found in the
MacBook Air has a rating of 20W TDP. The same Intel engineer,
speaking on conditions of anonymity, detailed that all of these small
form factor processors will find their way into Apple and PC mobile
products -- as
indicated by other Intel representatives in previous interviews.
On the chipset front, Intel will
launch three SKUs during
the second quarter: the GM45, GM47 and PM45. The GM45/47 will feature
new X4500 HD integrated graphics processor which promises DX10 support,
increased battery life, integrated HDMI and DisplayPort.
The GM45/47 support 667MHz and
1066MHz FSBs, DDR2/DDR3
memory, and the ICH9M/ICH9M-Enhanced south bridges. The two parts only
in the clock speed for the graphics core -- the GM45 features a 533 MHz
clock while the GM47 has a faster 640 MHz core clock.
Intel marketing materials claim GM47
performs twice as high on 3DMark as GM965 found in the current Santa
Rosa chipsets.
The PM45 supports all the features of
the two aforementioned
chipsets minus the integrated graphics core. The PM45 thus will be used
integrated mobile graphics solutions from ATI and NVIDIA.
While the processors and new chipsets
are important, we must
also take a look at Intel's supporting cast of characters with the
Centrino 2
platform. Centrino 2 notebooks will be available with 2GB of Turbo
Memory -- Windows
Vista ReadyDrive and ReadyBoost compliant.
Networking upgrades are plentiful for
the Centrino 2 launch.
Intel will launch the 82567LM and 82567LF Gigabit Ethernet controllers
for LAN
connectivity. Customers will also have a choice of two Shirley
Peak-based WLAN controllers with the Intel WiFi Link
5100/5300. Finally, Intel will offer two WiMAX/WiFi controllers in the
form of
the Intel WiMAX/WiFi Link 5150/5350.
Apple yesterday launched revised
MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks that incorporate
Intel's first run of Penryn
processors. Apple insiders confirmed the company will
refresh its notebook lineups in June, which comes as no surprise since
all Centrino partners indicated they will announce notebooks based on
the new Montevina Centrino 2.
Don't expect just the same old
notebooks from January this June. The upcoming
second-generation Penryn mobile processors
require the new Socket B motherboards. However, since the
thermal envelopes will not change between Penryn revisions
vendors will be able to keep the existing form factors, like that found
on the
ultra-compact Lenovo X300, with minimal changes to the
motherboard design.


text:
is close to defying nature and extending human beings' life spans
tens of years by using replacement organs. The key to this
progress is stem
cells, the same kind of cells that differentiated to form your
original tissues.In England, a 10-year-old boy received
a groundbreaking
tracheal transplant at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in
London. The windpipe -- a flexible tube that connects the nose,
mouth and lungs -- was replaced with an organ that will grow inside
the boy's own body using the boy's own stem cells.The story
began when the boy was born with long segment tracheal stenosis, a
debilitating condition that leaves the victim with a 1 mm wide
airway, which can lead to suffocation and death. Doctors tried
to treat the condition with stents, but the stents collapsed, cutting
off the boy's airflow and damaging his aorta. After the boy
almost stopped breathing, his doctors contacted Paolo Macchiarini,
from Careggi University Hospital, Florence.Macchiarini
decided to try an ambitious and risky approach that had never before
been successfully performed -- regrowing the organ in the boy's own
body using stem cells. Leading a Italian, British and Spanish
team, the researchers first took a donor windpipe and stripped
it of all cells to prevent immune response.The
procedure has begun with a successful implant. Seeded with the
boy's stem cells and a cocktail of growth-promoting chemicals, the
tissue was implanted into the boy last Week. The boy responded
well, breathing normally and speaking soon after the
operation.Professor Martin Birchall, head of translational
regenerative medicine at University College London called the
procedure a "milestone moment" and pointed out that by
allowing the boy's own cells to regrow the tissue, the cost was
dramatically lowered to "tens of thousands pounds rather than
hundreds of thousands." He states, "We
believe it's a real milestone. It is the first time a child
has received stem-cell organ treatment, and it's the longest airway
that has ever been replaced. I think the technique will allow not
just highly specialized hospitals to carry out stem-cell organ
transplants. We don't think it's going to replace conventional
transplants just yet, but already there are certain aspects of
conventional transplant surgery it can be applied to. We need to
think about how to make regenerative medicine a key part of our
healthcare."The work follows other significant work two
years ago in Spain where Claudia Castillo, 30, became the first
person to receive a portion of trachea regrown with stem cells.
That transplant, however, was a much shorter tract of trachea and was
much more expensive as it was grown outside the body in a special
bioreactor.The researchers are looking forward to advancing
the treatment aggressively, perhaps next performing larynx or
oesophagus stem cell transplants.Despite this optimism, it
still remains to be seen whether the boy's recovery is as successful
as anticipated. Given Castillo's success, though, the boy is
expected to make a full recovery. And with that recovery
mankind will move one
step closer to immortality.


text:
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The ANO 2123-2053 from ANOISON is a RF Connector with Frequency DC to 18 GHz, Operating Temperature -65 to 165 Degree C, VSWR 1.23:1. More details for ANO 2123-2053 can be seen below.
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text: "Red" is looking for a job ... he is four years old, and your typical red heeler, meaning he is happiest when he has something to do. This beautiful and sturdy cinnamon-colored boy isn't big, but he'll need room to run. He is a patient and resilient dog - though he has been at the shelter awhile, he has been able to maintain his good spirits. Red is intelligent and territorial, and gets along better with women. The shelter hopes to find him a new owner who is a perfect fit for this high-energy, inquisitive fellow. The shelter also has a an older reddish-brown neutered male Dachshund who just became available for adoption. He was found stray last week, but no one has come looking for him - despite the fast that this sweet little man and lap dog has no apparent health issues, is not overweight, and had obviously been well-cared for. They also have kittens and cats very eager for a chance, including a very loving tawny-colored tabby male who has become very sad and appears to be giving up. Show him that humans are OK. The shelter is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on alternate Fridays; they will be open this Friday. The fee for adoption includes spaying or neutering, and vaccination. The shelter needs small size rawhides for the shelter dogs and cleaning supplies such as paper towels, liquid dish soap and unscented bleach. For more information, call the shelter at 565-4910. To view more animals, visit www.petfinder.com or www.petango. com (enter 81321 zip code for each) or www.cityofcortez. com/government/animal_shelter.


text:
Emily Sloane: Working on Food Security in Southern Sudan
August 4, 2010
Emily Sloane (MAIEP '09) is training to be a Food Security and Livelihoods Program Manager. Her main task in this role is conducting an evaluation of a pilot project that supports vulnerable residents of Warrap state in developing small-scale income generating activities.
During my third semester at MIIS, I became very interested in Food Security. Trouble was, I had no idea how to land a relevant job, let alone one in Africa, my geographic region of focus.
While volunteering as note taker at a Monterey conference on climate change in the Arctic, the speaker told us to take a minute to introduce ourselves to the other people seated at our tables. I met Drew, a documentary filmmaker planning to sail through the Northwest Passage. He asked me what I wanted to do with my life. Well, I said, I'd like to do food security work in Africa.
As fate had it, Drew's good friend was currently working as a food security program manager for Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Uganda. He and I chatted via Skype, and he told me about ACF's unadvertised mentorship program, which offers promising newcomers management positions after a three-month field-based internship.
Then Middlebury offered me a scholarship to study Russian for the summer, and I put the mentorship option aside for a moment. I worked for peanuts at an outdoor school in Oregon in the fall, then returned to Monterey, determined to land a career-type job at last. Opportunities in Papua New Guinea and Kyrgyzstan fell through and I began to look closer to home, at jobs and internships in D.C. and Montana. Meanwhile, my funds were scarce; I slept on a couch to economize and collected odd gigs - catering, editing, Census-taking - to pay the bills.
Then I remembered the mentorship program and reapplied. Things moved slowly at first, and then very fast. Three weeks after I was offered a position, I flew to Nairobi for training, and I've now been in Southern Sudan for seven weeks, learning to manage food security and livelihoods projects. It looks like the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be next.
Follow Emily's career adventures on her blog digestingafrica.blogspot.com


text:
Marbles and gears, oh my!
Kids can build exciting marble runs with this terrific Techno Gears marble run and construction set, complete with power lifter that automatically takes marbles and moves them through the run—a fun construction challenge with a very satisfying result—kids and families love this set! Be sure to allow for set-up
time--our reviewer says it takes a while to set up the marble run, but
it is a ton of fun and her boys love it!
This toy requires 1-AA battery (not included).
For ages 6 years and up.
Marble Mania Extreme 3.0 Includes: 3-D connectors, channels, funnel, marbles, mills, motorized gear unit, pendulum, Power Lifter, shafts, spinners, and moreAward: Dr. Toy Smart Play Smart Toy, Creative Child Magazine "Top Toy of the Year"WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD--Small parts, contains marbles; not for children under 3 years.


text:
DailyTech has been able to "acquire" an ATI Radeon HD 4890 video card from one of our sources. Although we don't disclose names in order to protect our sources, we are able to say that the card arrived from Taiwan.
The Radeon HD 4890 features the RV790 core, which we are able to confirm runs at a core clock of 850MHz. We have heard that it is capable of more, but that will be up to individual board partners. The chip is not just an overclocked RV770, as there are a few tweaks and modifications that we are still investigating.
The card also features 1GB of memory via eight GDDR5 chips from Qimonda, which declared insolvency in January. The reference card we have is set to 3900 MHz effective, and we expect most of ATI's board partners to do the same. This provides 124.8 GB/s of bandwidth.
Samsung could emerge as a source for GDDR5 chips if Qimonda is forced to halt production. It recently announced 50nm production of GDDR5 chips, which it claimed was capable of 7 Gb/s.
Pricing and launch dates are still being adjusted at this time. AMD recently tried to lower prices on its Radeon 4870 and 4850 cards, but its board partners believe that the performance of the Radeon 4870 is too good to lower prices further.
The Radeon 4890 will probably be priced moderately above the 4870, but still far below NVIDIA's GTX 280. The GTX 280 should not be confused with the mobile GTX 280M part, which is actually a rebadged GTS 250/9800 GTX+.
There are new drivers coming out next week that will have increased performance for the Radeon 4890 cards, which will invalidate all current benchmarks that have leaked out
More details will be unveiled next week at the Game Developers Conference. DailyTech will be testing the card this weekend.


text:
Azraq: A new home for Syrian refugees
World Vision has been a key player in developing the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, which later this week will begin housing up to 100,000 Syrian refugees. Clean water, sanitation facilities, schools, playgrounds, a supermarket and a hospital – a new, temporary home until, God willing, they can return to their real home.
From a distance, it looks like a white smudge on the horizon.
Azraq Refugee Camp first came into my view four or five kilometers from its main entrance. Off in the distance, against the harsh brown scrub of the Jordanian desert, I saw hundreds upon hundreds of small, white shelters lined up in straight rows, waiting to provide protection from the hot sun and the elements for thousands of refugees who have fled the conflict in Syria.
More than three years after the fighting that has torn Syria apart began, aid agencies and representatives of the Government of Jordan are putting the finishing touches on the Azraq Refugee Camp, located about 100 km east of the capital, Amman. The camp will begin accepting its first refugees at the end of April and, when it is fully completed, it will have the capacity to house up to 100,000 people.
World Vision has been one of the key players in the development of the new camp, and the agency is justifiably proud of its work. To provide clean drinking water to up to 30,000 people, World Vision and its partners have laid 12.6 km of pipelines and installed 39 tap stands where residents can come to collect water for cooking, washing and sanitation needs.
More than 2,000 latrines and shower spaces have also been built, which means fewer families will have to share the same facilities. Privacy means a lot to the refugees, many of whom have undergone incredible hardships which forced them to leave Syria and welcome any semblance of a normal life.
Azraq is being seen by many as a model for what a refugee camp should look like in the future. There are schools, a supermarket and a hospital as well as community centers and recreational facilities, like playgrounds for children and soccer fields for adolescents.
But, walking the silent, dusty streets between the now-empty metal shelters, two thoughts dominated my mind:
First, the recognition that while refugee camps can be made as pleasant as possible, they cannot and must never be considered "home." And, make no mistake, as difficult as the situation is in Syria right now and will likely be for years to come, most of the Syrian refugees that World Vision has worked with over the past three years say their first desire is to go home as soon as conditions permit.
And, second, my mind also filled with images of the Syrian refugee children I met on my last visit to Jordan and Lebanon in June of 2013. Soon, thousands of other children just like them would fill this camp: playing on the soccer fields and basketball courts, learning in the classrooms and helping their parents cope with the stresses of life far from their Syrian homes. I kept wondering what kind of dreams a child could have in place like Azraq, where there was nothing around them but desert, a few stunted bushes and the oppressive sun.
A word that I have heard so often since arriving in Jordan last week is "Insha'Allah" – the Arabic phrase that translates as "god willing." People throughout the Middle East use this phrase to describe their plans or ambitions for the future and how these are all subject to the will of god. My earnest hope for the future is that the conflict in Syria will come to end, the children and their parents can go home and that Azraq can close its gates as the last refugee leaves.
Join World Vision in sustaining the hope of the Syrian refugees:
Donate to our Syrian refugee crisis fund.
Add your voice to our petition, and call for an end to the crisis.
Join us in prayer for the people of Syria, especially the children. See our prayer points here.