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Reinhard Siekaczek was half asleep in bed when his doorbell rang here early one morning two years ago. Still in his pajamas, he peeked out his bedroom window, hurried downstairs and flung open the front door. Standing before him in the cool, crisp dark were six German police officers and a prosecutor. They held a warrant for his arrest.
At that moment, Mr. Siekaczek, a stout, graying former accountant for Siemens A.G., the German engineering giant, knew that his secret life had ended. ?I know what this is about,? Mr. Siekaczek told the officers crowded around his door. ?I have been expecting you. "To understand how Siemens, one of the world?s biggest companies, last week ended up paying $1.6 billion in the largest fine for bribery in modern corporate history, it?s worth delving into Mr. Siekaczek?s unusual journey.
A former midlevel executive at Siemens, he was one of several people who arranged a torrent of payments that eventually streamed to well-placed officials around the globe, from Vietnam to Venezuela and from Italy to Israel, according to interviews with Mr. Siekaczek and court records in Germany and the United States. What is striking about Mr. Siekaczek?s and prosecutors? accounts of those dealings, which flowed through a web of secret bank accounts and shadowy consultants, is how entrenched corruption had become at a sprawling, sophisticated corporation that externally embraced the nostrums of a transparent global marketplace built on legitimate transactions.
Mr. Siekaczek (pronounced SEE-kah-chek) says that from 2002 to 2006 he oversaw an annual bribery budget of about $40 million to $50 million at Siemens. Company managers and sales staff used the slush fund to cozy up to corrupt government officials worldwide. The payments, he says, were vital to maintaining the competitiveness of Siemens overseas, particularly in his subsidiary, which sold telecommunications equipment. ?It was about keeping the business unit alive and not jeopardizing thousands of jobs overnight,? he said in an interview. Siemens is hardly the only corporate giant caught in prosecutors? cross hairs.
Three decades after Congress passed a law barring American companies from paying bribes to secure foreign business, law enforcement authorities around the world are bearing down on major enterprises like Daimler and Johnson & Johnson, with scores of cases now under investigation. Both companies declined comment, citing continuing investigations. Albert J. Stanley, a legendary figure in the oil patch and the former chief executive of the KBR subsidiary of Halliburton, recently pleaded guilty to charges of paying bribes and skimming millions for himself. More charges are coming in that case, officials say. But the Siemens case is notable for its breadth, the sums of money involved, and the raw organizational zeal with which the company deployed bribes to secure contracts. It is also a model of something that was once extremely rare: cross-border cooperation among law enforcement officials.
German prosecutors initially opened the Siemens case in 2005. American authorities became involved in 2006 because the company?s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. In its settlement last week with the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Siemens pleaded guilty to violating accounting provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which outlaws bribery abroad.
Although court documents are salted throughout with the word ?bribes,? the Justice Department allowed Siemens to plead to accounting violations because it cooperated with the investigation and because pleading to bribery violations would have barred Siemens from bidding on government contracts in the United States. Siemens doesn?t dispute the government?s account of its actions.
Matthew W. Friedrich, the acting chief of the Justice Department?s criminal division, called corruption at Siemens ?systematic and widespread.? Linda C. Thomsen, the S.E.C.?s enforcement director, said it was ?egregious and brazen.? Joseph Persichini Jr., the director of the F.B.I.?s Washington field office, which led the investigation, called it ?massive, willful and carefully orchestrated.?
MR. SIEKACZEK?S telecommunications unit was awash in easy money. It paid $5 million in bribes to win a mobile phone contract in Bangladesh, to the son of the prime minister at the time and other senior officials, according to court documents. Mr. Siekaczek?s group also made $12.7 million in payments to senior officials in Nigeria for government contracts. In Argentina, a different Siemens subsidiary paid at least $40 million in bribes to win a $1 billion contract to produce national identity cards. In Israel, the company provided $20 million to senior government officials to build power plants. In Venezuela, it was $16 million for urban rail lines. In China, $14 million for medical equipment. And in Iraq, $1.7 million to Saddam Hussein and his cronies.
The bribes left behind angry competitors who were shut out of contracts and local residents in poor countries who, because of rigged deals, paid too much for necessities like roads, power plants and hospitals, prosecutors said. Because government contracting is an opaque process and losers don?t typically file formal protests, it?s difficult to know the identity of competitors who lost out to Siemens. Companies in the United States have long complained, however, that they face an uneven playing field competing overseas.
Ben W. Heineman Jr., a former general counsel at General Electric and a member of the American chapter of Transparency International, a nonprofit group that tracks corruption, says the enforcement of some antibribery conventions still remains scattershot. ?Until you have energetic enforcement by the developed-world nations, you won?t get strong antibribery programs or high-integrity corporate culture,? he said.
Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia are the five countries where corporate bribery is most common, according to Transparency International. The S.E.C. complaint said Siemens paid its heftiest bribes in China, Russia, Argentina, Israel and Venezuela. ?Crimes of official corruption threaten the integrity of the global marketplace and undermine the rule of law in the host countries,? said Lori Weinstein, the Justice Department prosecutor who oversaw the Siemens case.
All told, Siemens will pay more than $2.6 billion to clear its name: $1.6 billion in fines and fees in Germany and the United States and more than $1 billion for internal investigations and reforms.
Siemens?s general counsel, Peter Y. Solmssen, in an interview outside a marble-lined courtroom in Washington, said the company acknowledged that bribes were at the heart of the case. ?This is the end of a difficult chapter in the company?s history,? he said. ?We?re glad to get it behind us.? Mr. Siekaczek, who cooperated with German authorities after his arrest in 2006, has already been sentenced in Germany to two years? probation and a $150,000 fine. During a lengthy interview in Munich, a few blocks from the Siemens world headquarters, he provided an insider?s account of corruption at the company. The interview was his first with English-language news outlets.
?I would never have thought I?d go to jail for my company,? Mr. Siekaczek said. ?Sure, we joked about it, but we thought if our actions ever came to light, we?d all go together and there would be enough people to play a game of cards.?
Mr. Siekaczek isn?t a stereotype of a white-collar villain. There are no Ferraris in his driveway, or villas in Monaco. He dresses in jeans, loafers and leather jackets. With white hair and gold-rimmed glasses, he passes for a kindly grandfather ? albeit one who can discuss the advantages of offshore bank accounts as easily as last night?s soccer match. SIEMENS began bribing long before Mr. Siekaczek applied his accounting skills to the task of organizing the payments.
World War II left the company shattered, its factories bombed and its trademark patents confiscated, according to American prosecutors. The company turned to markets in less developed countries to compete, and bribery became a reliable and ubiquitous sales technique. ?Bribery was Siemens?s business model,? said Uwe Dolata, the spokesman for the association of federal criminal investigators in Germany. ?Siemens had institutionalized corruption.? Before 1999, bribes were deductible as business expenses under the German tax code, and paying off a foreign official was not a criminal offense. In such an environment, Siemens officials subscribed to a straightforward rule in pursuing business abroad, according to one former executive. They played by local rules.
Inside Siemens, bribes were referred to as ?NA? ? a German abbreviation for the phrase ?n?tzliche Aufwendungen? which means ?useful money.? Siemens bribed wherever executives felt the money was needed, paying off officials not only in countries known for government corruption, like Nigeria, but also in countries with reputations for transparency, like Norway, according to court records. In February 1999, Germany joined the international convention banning foreign bribery, a pact signed by most of the world?s industrial nations. By 2000, authorities in Austria and Switzerland were suspicious of millions of dollars of Siemens payments flowing to offshore bank accounts, according to court records.
Rather than comply with the law, Siemens managers created a ?paper program,? a toothless internal system that did little to punish wrongdoers, according to court documents. Mr. Siekaczek?s business unit was one of the most egregious offenders. Court documents show that the telecommunications unit paid more than $800 million of the $1.4 billion in illegal payments that Siemens made from 2001 to 2007. Managers in the telecommunications group decided to deal with the possibility of a crackdown by making its bribery procedures more difficult to detect.
So, on one winter evening in late 2002, five executives from the telecommunications group met for dinner at a traditional Bavarian restaurant in a Munich suburb. Surrounded by dark wood panels and posters celebrating German engineering, the group discussed how to better disguise its payments, while making sure that employees didn?t pocket the money, Mr. Siekaczek said.
To handle the business side of bribery, the executives turned to Mr. Siekaczek, a man renowned within the company for his personal honesty, his deep company loyalty ? and his experiences in the shadowy world of illegal bribery. ?It had nothing to do with being law-abiding, because we all knew what we did was unlawful.? Mr. Siekaczek said. ?What mattered here was that the person put in charge was stable and wouldn?t go astray.? Although Mr. Siekaczek was reluctant to take the job offered that night, he justified it as economic necessity. If Siemens didn?t pay bribes, it would lose contracts and its employees might lose their jobs. ?We thought we had to do it,? Mr. Siekaczek said. ?Otherwise, we?d ruin the company.?
Indeed, he considers his personal probity a point of honor. He describes himself as ?the man in the middle,? ?the banker? or, with tongue in cheek, ?the master of disaster.? But, he said, he never set up a bribe. Nor did he directly hand over money to a corrupt official. German prosecutors say they have no evidence that he personally enriched himself, though German documents show that Mr. Siekaczek oversaw the transfer of some $65 million through hard-to-trace offshore bank accounts. ?I was not the man responsible for bribery,? he said. ?I organized the cash.?
Mr. Siekaczek set things in motion by moving money out of accounts in Austria to Liechtenstein and Switzerland, where bank secrecy laws provided greater cover and anonymity. He said he also reached out to a trustee in Switzerland who set up front companies to conceal money trails from Siemens to offshore bank accounts in Dubai and the British Virgin Islands. Each year, Mr. Siekaczek said, managers in his unit set aside a budget of about $40 million to $50 million for the payment of bribes. For Greece alone, Siemens budgeted $10 million to $15 million a year. Bribes were as high as 40 percent of the contract cost in especially corrupt countries. Typically, amounts ranged from 5 percent to 6 percent of a contract?s value.
The most common method of bribery involved hiring an outside consultant to help ?win? a contract. This was typically a local resident with ties to ruling leaders. Siemens paid a fee to the consultant, who in turn delivered the cash to the ultimate recipient. Siemens has acknowledged having more than 2,700 business consultant agreements, so-called B.C.A.?s, worldwide. Those consultants were at the heart of the bribery scheme, sending millions to government officials.
MR. SIEKACZEK was painfully aware that he was acting illegally. To protect evidence that he didn?t act alone, he and a colleague began copying documents stored in a basement at Siemens?s headquarters in Munich that detailed the payments. He eventually stashed about three dozen folders in a secret hiding spot. In 2004, Siemens executives told him that he had to sign a document stating he had followed the company?s compliance rules. Reluctantly, he signed, but he quit soon after. He continued to work for Siemens as a consultant before finally resigning in 2006. As legal pressure mounted, he heard rumors that Siemens was setting him up for a fall. ?On the inside, I was deeply disappointed. But I told myself that people were going to be surprised when their plan failed,? Mr. Siekaczek recalled. ?It wasn?t going to be possible to make me the only one guilty because dozens of people in the business unit were involved. Nobody was going to believe that one person did this on his own.?
The Siemens scheme began to collapse when investigators in several countries began examining suspicious transactions. Prosecutors in Italy, Liechtenstein and Switzerland sent requests for help to counterparts in Germany, providing lists of suspect Siemens employees. German officials then decided to act in one simultaneous raid. The police knocked on Mr. Siekaczek?s door on the morning of Nov. 15, 2006. Some 200 other officers were also sweeping across Germany, into Siemens?s headquarters in Munich and the homes of several executives. In addition to Mr. Siekaczek?s detailed payment records, investigators secured five terabytes of data from Siemens?s offices ? a mother lode of information equivalent to five million books. Mr. Siekaczek turned out to be one of the biggest prizes. After calling his lawyer, he immediately announced that he would cooperate. Officials in the United States began investigating the case shortly after the raids became public. Knowing that it faced steep fines unless it cooperated, Siemens hired an American law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton, to conduct an internal investigation and to work with federal investigators.
As German and American investigators worked together to develop leads, Debevoise and its partners dedicated more than 300 lawyers, forensic analysts and staff members to untangle thousands of payments across the globe, according to the court records. American investigators and the Debevoise lawyers conducted more than 1,700 interviews in 34 countries. They collected more than 100 million documents, creating special facilities in China and Germany to house records from that single investigation. Debevoise and an outside auditor racked up 1.5 million billable hours, according to court documents. Siemens has said that the internal inquiry and related restructurings have cost it more than $1 billion.
Siemens officials ?made it crystal clear that they wanted us to get to the bottom of this and follow it wherever the evidence led,? said Bruce E. Yannett, a Debevoise partner. At the same time, Siemens worked hard to purge the company of some senior managers and to reform company policies. Several senior managers have been arrested. Klaus Kleinfeld, the company?s C.E.O., resigned in April 2007. He has denied wrongdoing and is now head of Alcoa, the aluminum giant. Alcoa said that the company fully supports Mr. Kleinfeld and declined to comment further.
Last year, Siemens said in S.E.C. filings that it had discovered evidence that former officials had misappropriated funds and abused their authority. In August, Siemens said it seeks to recover monetary damages from 11 former board members for activities related to the bribery scheme. Negotiations on that matter are continuing. Earlier this year, Siemens?s current chief executive, Peter L?scher, vowed to make Siemens ?state of the art? in anticorruption measures. ?Operational excellence and ethical behavior are not a contradiction of terms,? the company said in a statement. ?We must get the best business ? and the clean business.? Siemens still faces legal uncertainties. The Justice Department and German officials said that investigations were continuing and that current and former company officials might face prosecution. Legal experts say Siemens is the latest in a string of high-profile cases that are changing attitudes about corruption. Still, they said, much work remains.
?I am not saying the fight against bribing foreign public officials is a fight full of roses and victories,? said Nicola Bonucci, the director of legal affairs for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which is based in Paris and monitors the global economy. ?But I am convinced that it is something more and more people are taking seriously.? For his part, Mr. Siekaczek is uncertain about the impact of the Siemens case. After all, he said, bribery and corruption are still widespread.
?People will only say about Siemens that they were unlucky and that they broke the 11th Commandment,? he said. ?The 11th Commandment is: ?Don?t get caught.? ?————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Source: Robin Khundkar and Pedro Meyer
Original in The New York Times
December 21, 2008
At Siemens, Bribery Was Just a Line Item
By SIRI SCHUBERT and T. CHRISTIAN MILLER
This article is a joint report by ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization, PBS?s "Frontline" and The New York Times. A related documentary will be broadcast on ?Frontline? on April 7.
The 11th Commandment
Reinhard Siekaczek was half asleep in bed when his doorbell rang here early one morning two years ago. Still in his pajamas, he peeked out his bedroom window, hurried downstairs and flung open the front door. Standing before him in the cool, crisp dark were six German police officers and a prosecutor. They held a warrant for his arrest.


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Are you thinking about buying a Manufactured House in Port Angeles? Before you do, consider this! You can afford a Custom Built Home…For as low as $59,900!
Listed below are some of the major differences between modular/manufactured houses and a stick-built Reality Home.
Manufactured Houses
Reality Homes (stick-built)
|Home Financing
|Lenders hesitate to finance
|Multiple easy financing solutions
|Very limited if at all
|Over 70 floor plans and fully customizable to meet you personal needs and desires.
|House Construction
|Quality varies by manufacturer
|Hand crafted board-by-board to stringent standards and codes.
|Long Term Value
|Decrease over time
|Typically see instant equity and increased value over time.
|Energy Efficiency
|They vary by manufacturer
|Every Home is built to our Energy-Smart standards.
|Limited by manufacturer
|For your peace of mind Every Home comes backed by the nations leading warranty program 2-10 HBW
Remember it's not just a house; it's your home. So be sure to explore all the differences between a manufactured home vs. a custom stick-built home. Stick-built homes offer superior construction techniques and material quality, unlimited customization options, and financial benefits that far out way the small amount of timesaving's you may realize with a manufactured home.
If you have more questions regarding manufactured vs. stick built homes in Port Angeles, we'd love to hear from you.

subset: commoncrawl


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Pro-Life Advocates Release More Undercover Video Alleging Gendercide in US
The pro-life Live Action group continued its campaign against sex-selective abortions performed in U.S. abortion clinics by releasing a third undercover video Wednesday showing staffers in Arizona suggesting that a woman should avoid revealing her reason for the abortion.
The video shows two National Abortion Federation (NAF) clinics in Arizona pointing out that there is a state law against performing sex-selective abortion, but offered to proceed by suggesting the undercover woman should never mention again that she wants to abort because she does not want a girl.
The video is part of Live Action's "Gendercide" project, documenting Planned Parenthood and NAF's support for sex-selective abortion in America.
"Sex-selective abortion is a global search-and-destroy mission against little girls that is spreading at an alarming rate. While we wait for Congress to pass the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act to ban sex-selective abortion in the U.S., state authorities should vigorously enforce Arizona's law," said Live Action
President Lila Rose, who urges Arizona authorities to enforce the state's sex-selection ban.
"The clinics supporting sex-selective abortion should be investigated, prosecuted, defunded, and delicensed immediately," Rose added.
The two NAF members, who are working at Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix and the Tucson Women's Center in Tucson, appear to be promising to ignore the law and perform a sex-selective abortion. They also appear to be coaching the woman to lie on official paperwork to conceal the illegal abortion.
When the woman purportedly seeking to abort her girl and try again for a boy explains this at the Camelback clinic, a counselor named Barb advises, "Don't tell us that, because we don't want to know." Referring to the clinic's abortion doctor, Gabrielle Goodrick, Barb says, "You can tell her, she's gonna tell you the same thing, just: Don't let it be down! She's really good about that. You'll like that about her."
At the Tucson clinic, the surgical assistant Francisco tells the woman, "We could lose our license," but agrees to cover-up her sex-selective abortion. "I'll just forget about it," he says, "But just be sure not to mention it" to the abortion doctor–"Don't even mention it to him."
Live Action points out that NAF is the professional trade group for abortion doctors and clinics in the U.S. and Canada. Many NAF board members are current or former Planned Parenthood officials, and Planned Parenthood representatives frequently play a prominent role at NAF annual meetings, the pro-life group states.
In the previous two undercover videos released by Live Action it appears staffers are towing the Planned Parenthood line that their job is to not determine whether a potential client's decision to have an abortion is justified.
Sex-selective abortion is a felony in Arizona. No one may knowingly perform a sex-selective abortion in Arizona, or solicit or accept money to do so. Live Action has sent the full footage from the Arizona clinics to the state Attorney General, Tom Horne, and to local law enforcement, according to the group's officials.
As a result of the first two videos released by Live Action, Planned Parenthood previously denied any wrongdoing and said the claims by Live Action were false and that in the videos there were "highly unusual and scripted scenarios" and "hoax patients sought services related to sex selection."
According to Live Action, six studies in the past four years indicate that there are thousands of "missing girls" in the U.S., many from sex-selective abortion. The United Kingdom, India, Australia, and other countries ban sex-selective abortion, but the U.S., save for four states, does not.
"Planned Parenthood and their ruthless abortion-first mentality is the real 'war on women,'" said Rose. "Sex-selective abortion is gender discrimination with lethal consequences for little girls."
For more information about the Live Action project, go to ProtectOurGirls.com.


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Sage/Scipy Days 8 at Enthought
Connecting Pure Mathematics With Scientific Computation
February 29 until March 4, 2008 at the Enthought headquarters in Austin, Texas
- Josh Kantor (University of Washington)
- Travis Oliphant (Enthought)
- Fernando Perez (Berkeley)
- Fernando Rodriguez-Villegas (UT Austin)
- William Stein (University of Washington)
The Sage and Scipy teams and Enthought Inc. are pleased to announce the first collaborative meeting for Sage/Scipy joint development, to be held from February 29 until March 4, 2008 at the Enthought headquarters in Austin, Texas.
The purpose of this meeting is to gather developers for these projects in a friendly atmosphere for a few days of technical talks and active development work. It should be clear to those interested in attending that this is not an academic conference, but instead an opportunity for the two teams to find common points for collaboration, joint work, better integration between the projects and future directions. The focus of the workshop will be to actually implement such ideas, not just to plan for them.
- is a Python-based system which aims at providing an open source, free alternative to existing propietary mathematical software and does so by integrating multiple open source projects, as well as providing its own
native functionality in many areas. It includes by default the NumPy and SciPy packages.
NumPy and SciPy
- are Python libraries whose focus is high-performance numerical computing, and they are widely accepted as the foundation of most Python-based scientific computing projects.
- is a scientific computing company that produces Python-based tools for many application-specific domains. Enthought has a strong commitment to open source development: it provides support and hosting for Numpy, Scipy, and many other Python scientific projects and many of its tools are freely available.
The theme of the workshop is finding ways to best combine our strengths to create something that is significantly better than anything ever done so far.
Sage: http://sagemath.org
Scipy: http://scipy.org
Enthought Inc.: http://enthought.com
tools: http://code.enthought.com
The workshop will be held at the headquarters of Enthought Inc._::
Suite 2100 515 Congress Ave. Austin, TX 78701 (512) 536-1057, voice (512) 536-1059, fax
Costs and Funding
We can accomodate a total of 30 attendees at Enthought's headquarters for the meeting. There is a $100 registration fee, which will be used to cover coffee, snacks and lunches for all the days of the meeting, plus one group dinner outing. Attendees can use the wiki to coordinate room/car rental sharing if they so desire.
Thanks to Enthought's generous offer of support, we'll be able to cover the above costs for 15 attendees, in addition to offering them housing and transportation. Please note that housing will be provided at Enthought's personal residences, so remember to bring your clean pajamas.
We are currently looking into the possibility of additional funding to cover the registration fee for all attendees, and will update the wiki accordingly if that becomes possible.
If you plan on coming please email [email protected] to let us know of your intent so we can have a better idea of the total numbers. Please indicate if you could only come under the condition that you can be hosted. We will try to offer hosting to as many of the Sage and Scipy developers as possible, but if you can fund your own expenses, this may open a slot for someone with limited funds. If the total attendance is below 15, we will offer hosting to everyone.
We will close registration for those requesting hosting by Sunday, February 3, 2008. If we actually fill up all 30 available slots we will announce it, otherwise you are free to attend by letting us know anytime before the meeting, though past Feb. 1 you will be required to pay the registration fee of $100.
Contacts and further information
For further information, you can either contact one of the following people (in parenthesis we note the topic most likely to be relevant to them):
- William Stein (Sage): [email protected]
- Fernando Perez (Scipy): [email protected]
- Travis Oliphant (Enthought): [email protected]
or you can go to our wiki for up to date details.
Preliminary agenda
Friday 29: Talks
This is a rough cut of suggested topics, along with a few notes on possible details that might be of interest. The actual material in the talks will be up to the presenters, of course. Some of these topics might just become projects to work on rather than actual talks, if we don't have a speaker available but have interested parties who wish to focus on the problem.
Speakers are asked to include a slide of where they see any chances for better collaboration between the various projects (to the best of their knowledge). There will be a note-taker during the day who will try to keep tabs on this information and will summarize it as starting material for the joint work panel discussion to be held on Saturday (FPerez volunteers for this task if needed).
- Numpy internal architecture and type system.
- Sage internal type system, with emphasis on its number type system.
- A clarification of where the 'sage language' goes beyond python. Things like
A\b are valid in the CLI but not the notebook. Scipy is pure python, so it would help the scipy team better understand the boundaries between the two.
- Special methods used by Sage (foo._magical_sage_method_)? If some of these
- make sense, we might want to agree on common protocols for numpy/scipy/sage objects to honor.
- Sage usage of numpy, sage.matrix vs numpy.arrays. Smoother integration of
- numpy arrays/sage matrices and vectors.
- Extended precision LAPACK. Integration in numpy/sage. The extended precision
- work LAPACK work was done by Y. Hida and J. Demmel at UC Berkeley.
- Distributed/Parallel computing: DSage, ipython, Brian Granger's work on
- Global arrays for NASA...
- Scikits: these are 'toolkits' that use numpy/scipy and can contain GPL code
- (details of how these will work are being firmed up in the scipy lists, and will be settled by the workshop). Perhaps some of SAGE's library wrappers (like GMP, MPFR or GSL) could become scikits?
- Cython: status (inclusion in py2.6?), overview, opportunities for better
- numpy integration and usage.
- Enthought technologies: Traits, TVTK, Mayavi, Chaco, Envisage.
- User interface collaboration: 'sage-lite'/pylab/ipython code sharing
- possibilities?
- Discussion topics: http://wiki.sagemath.org/days8/discussion_topics
Saturday 1: More talks/code planning/coding
9-11 am: Any remaining talks that didn't fit on Friday. Only if needed.
11-12: panel for specific coding projects and ideas, spill over into lunch time.
12-1: lunch.
Rest of day: start coding! Organize in teams according to the plans made earlier and code away...
Sunday 2: Coding
Work on projects decided above.
5-6pm: brief (5-10 minutes) status updates from coding teams. Problems encountered, progress, suggestions for adjustment.
Monday 3: Coding
Same as Sunday.
Tuesday 4: Wrapup
9-11 am: Wrapup sessions with summary from coding projects.
11-12 am: Panel discussion on future joint work options.
Afternoon: anyone left around can continue to code!


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Breads of the World PowerPoint Quiz
Ideal for a Harvest / Family Service / School Assembly / Youth Group or just a bit of fun.
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text: Financial AidHow to Apply for Financial Aid To complete the FAFSA log on to www.fafsa.gov. Before beginning go to the 'Thinking About College' section and click on 'view videos on Youtube' to view the following tutorials: How to Create an FSA ID, FAFSA overview, How to Fill Out the FAFSA, and others. The FAFSA is available in both English and Spanish. Complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as possible to receive priority packaging. The student and parent must have the following information before completing the FAFSA: Parent and student income information, including W-2s and Tax Return Transcripts. FSA ID for both student and parent. You can create an FSA ID here. Shaw University's Federal School Code: 002962 Once you have completed your FAFSA a Student Aid Report (SAR) will be generated and emailed to you by the federal processor. Review your Student Aid Report, and determine if it is necessary to make corrections. Your FAFSA will be transmitted electronically to Shaw University. During the process of applying for aid, the Department of Education randomly selects students for a process called verification. Verification is a process in which certain students receiving financial aid are requested to provide additional proof of their identification and certify that the information on their financial aid materials is correct. This is a federally mandated quality control process. Students selected must send the requested documents to the financial aid office before an award will be made. If your file is selected for verification, the school is required to compare certain data elements reported on your FAFSA. Your SAR will tell you if you have been selected for verification. Financial aid awards will not be made unless all required documents are received. Once your financial aid file is complete, you will be awarded financial aid based on your eligibility established by completing the FAFSA. The receipt of financial aid is not automatic. Students must apply each year for financial aid, and supply all information as required by the federal government and the institution before eligibility is determined. Financial aid awards may change from year to year. An award letter notification will be mailed to your permanent address and emailed to university email address. The mailing address the financial office aid will use to forward your financial aid award notification letter and other correspondence will be the address provided on your FAFSA when you applied for federal financial assistance. At Shaw University, students are typically offered a loan in their aid package. If you accept this loan you will need to complete loan counseling and a promissory note for the Federal Direct Loan Program. These items can be completed online at studentloans.gov. If you decline the loan offered in your financial aid award package, you will be responsible for any cost that would have been covered by the loan.Helpful Hints: Keep copies of all financial aid documents. Attend all classes and have a great semester. Related Resources Watch video on IRS Data Retrieval Tool courtesy of UC Santa Barbara Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.


text: This first era of rock and roll dates (more or less) from Eisenhower's first election in 1952 to The British Invasion in 1964. Doo wop was a signature sound with its beautiful vocal harmonies, beat, and nonsense syllables, but there was a lot of pioneering going on with rhythm and blues, rock and roll, rockabilly, and crossovers from country music. That's why we go beyond the doo wop genre per se and explore those years. Each blog post is just a mosaic. When put together, the posts start to provide a picture of the time. Please visit the Rec Room for a featured record on the record player, a TV with four channels, and a jukebox with 60+ songs. We have an all request Juke Box Saturday night in the rec room each weekend so you can hear your favorites from the 50s and 60s. There is also a Daily Doo Wop for videos of those golden oldies.


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Congressional Republicans, through their mean-spirited political agenda, are increasingly abandoning many of their loyal supporters at the time of their greatest need.
In the prolonged economic crisis that has devastated so many lives in its path, victims of policies to cut food stamps and unemployment benefits, nullify Obamacare, and shut down the federal government go beyond those who have been traditionally relegated and abandoned on the margins of society, namely folks of color.
Increasingly rank-and-file whites are being crushed by Republican miserliness. These are individuals who have long identified with the Republican party — people who have always seen themselves as the salt of the earth, people who made America what it is, people who played by the rules.
The white poor and near-poor represent collateral damage in Republican efforts to satisfy its voracious appetite to sink the Obama presidency.
Whites represent the majority of U.S. adults who stand to lose through Republican-led policies designed to gash the safety net in opposition to Obamacare in these trying times. For example, according to the 2011 American Community Survey, whites represented 53 percent of households receiving food stamps, 57 percent of adults without health insurance, 59 percent of the unemployed, and 57 percent of the adult poor. Whites also accounted for nearly two-thirds of federal workers, a group comprising a large chunk of the 800,000 workers laid off and the more than a million who will be asked to work without compensation as the federal government is now shut down.
To make matters worse, whites in red states are more likely than those in blue states to draw food stamps, to lack health insurance, to hold a federal job, and to be poor. Put simply, the white poor in red states are being hurt by the folks that they helped put in office.
It is obvious many Republicans, especially those in the House, are more interested in sabotaging the Obama presidency, making sure that Obamacare is halted, and in supporting the interests of the rich and powerful than they are in assisting needy whites — not to mention poor people in general — during a period that has put many in deep financial straits.
Just as Democrats have long ignored the interests and needs of their African-American, Latino and poor constituents, it is clear that Republicans are taking their strapped white supporters for granted.
This commentary was originally published in the San Antonio Express-News.


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dbx® Introduces Its PMC Personal Monitor Controller at InfoComm 2012
June 13, 2012
LAS VEGAS, Nevada – At InfoComm 2012, HARMAN's dbx is introducing its PMC Personal Monitor Controller, a remote control located near the performer that lets them easily set up and control their own personal mix of up to 16 channels of audio. The dbx PMC Personal Monitor Controller is the ultimate answer for musicians everywhere who ask their soundman for, "more me! less them!"
"Our Personal Monitor Controller gives performers real-time control over their individual mixes, right from their position on stage," noted Noel Larson, Market Manager for Portable PA, Tour and Recording. "As anyone who's performed live knows, your on-stage needs are always changing. With the PMC, each musician can now dial in their mix exactly the way they want it – and when you hear yourself better, you play better."
The attractively priced dbx PMC lets users precisely dial in the levels of up to 16 channels of audio and tweak each channel with EQ, panning, Stereo Width control and effects including a choice of built-in Lexicon® reverbs. Performers can control their mix on the fly in real time and save up to 16 user-preset mixes. The PMC works with traditional on-stage monitor systems, powered personal monitors, in-ear monitors, and headphones.
Multiple PMCs can be used in an audio system, and each user can have a unique mix. The PMC is ideal for everything from house of worship systems with a single compact mixing console to large-scale orchestra installations with up to 60 PMCs.
The dbx Personal Monitor Controller uses a BLU link audio bus from either the dbx TR1616 or any BSS® London system to control 16 channels of digital audio (expandable up to 256). Its clean, uncluttered control layout, bright LCD screen and Wizard set-up and configuration utility make the PMC's set-up time incredibly fast. All inputs and outputs are provided, and its integrated mic stand mount facilitates placement on stage. The PMC has a large channel ID strip that can be written on with a dry-erase marker, making it easy to label channel inputs. A live mode option provides the user the with capability to see real-time view of channels.
The PMC can be configured to operate with either 48kHz or 96kHz D/A conversion. Its built-in dbx PeakStop™ limiting prevents the possibility of signal overload. The PMC is future-ready, thanks to its USB port, DSC and Ethernet port for future updates.
The dbx PMC Personal Monitor Controller will be available in September 2012.
HARMAN (www.harman.com) designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment solutions for the automotive, consumer and professional markets — supported by 15 leading brands, including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon® and Mark Levinson®. The Company is admired by audiophiles across multiple generations and supports leading professional entertainers and the venues where they perform. More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and infotainment systems. HARMAN has a workforce of about 13,000 people across the Americas, Europe and Asia, and reported net sales of $4.3 billion for the twelve months ended March 31, 2012.


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Today I was in a meeting with a number of consultants to a very large technology company. Their job: market research, essentially. They called to ask me my thoughts on the media and technology world, in particular as it might play out in the next five or so years. They were responsible for helping the Fortune 50 company navigate an increasingly complicated world.
I love these kind of free association tasks, because while it's not easy to be right, it's also pretty easy to not be wrong if the questions are smart. I've been a student of technology cycles for a couple of decades, and often times what's directly in front of you is, in fact, the next big thing.
So when I got this question: "What's the next big thing after social?" I didn't lose a beat in answering: "Location."
Now, many, many folks before me have been saying this for years. I'm in no way first. But I'm an early convert, in particular, as it relates to what I call the conversation economy. And the reason is simple: Once someone can declare where they are, they add extraordinary context to both search and social, and to their expectations of what a search or a social connection might yield. For an example, see The Gap Scenario.
In short, location is a key factor in the future of search, social, commerce, and media, among a lot of other things. And that's why the news today that Google's Marissa Mayer, long the VP of Search Products at Google, is taking over responsibilities for the location business, strikes me as a Big Deal.
Some have argued this is a demotion for Mayer, a Google stalwart and press favorite. But if in fact Google is "parking" Mayer in a "non job" due to her status as an early and long standing employee, I can't imagine a more strategic area for her to park. And given Mayer's success and wealth, I can't imagine she'd stay at Google if she weren't committed to a new role that she believes will be game changing. She has way too many other options, including, well, not working for as long as she'd like.
I for one don't think that's what is going on. Local is the most important signal to emerge in the database of intentions since the link. Once a consumer demands that businesses respond to their intent in the context of where they are, right now, well…the first to get that response right, wins.


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Is Hollywood setting a good example…
Los Angeles (CNN) — Actor Lee Thompson Young committed suicide in his Los Angeles apartment Monday morning, his manager said.
"It is with great sadness that I announce that Lee Thompson Young tragically took his own life this morning," Jonathan Baruch said.
Young, 29, is best known for the leading role on Disney's "The Famous Jett Jackson" television series starting in 1998.
More recently he has been acting in TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles" as Detective Barry Frost.
Actor Lee Thompson Young, best known for his roles on Disney's "The Famous Jett Jackson" and TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles," has died at the age of 29. Actor Lee Thompson Young, best known for his roles on Disney's "The Famous Jett Jackson" and TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles," has died at the age of 29.
"Lee was more than just a brilliant young actor, he was a wonderful and gentle soul who will be truly missed," Baruch said. "We ask that you please respect the privacy of his family and friends as this very difficult time."
Young's body was found in his home at 8 a.m. Monday, a Los Angeles police spokesman said.
"Rizzoli & Isles" Executive Producer Janet Tamaro said the cast and crew were "devastated by the news."
"We are beyond heartbroken at the loss of this sweet, gentle, good-hearted, intelligent man," Tamaro said. "He was truly a member of our family. Lee will be cherished and remembered by all who knew and loved him, both on- and offscreen, for his positive energy, infectious smile and soulful grace. We send our deepest condolences and thoughts to his family, to his friends and, most especially, to his beloved mother."
Young, who was born in Canada, also co-starred on UPN's "South Beach" and had recurring roles on "FlashForward," "Scrubs" and "Smallville," Baruch said. His feature credits include "Friday Night Lights," "Akeelah and the Bee" and "The Hills Have Eyes II."


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Author: G. Jefferies
Adrian "Ade" Johnston was a bright kid that mixed with the wrong ones after his parents took their eye off the ball. Easy to do moving from toddler through to adolescence. Those days are cute. Maybes not at the time but looking back Pamela and Carl figured those were the times before "Get out of my bubble" and "What do you know" appeared. The omnipresent realisation that every new teen cracks open. Older folk were always old and don't know the minds of teenagers. How could they? They're old.
Ade knew this to be true though. After all his generation were obviously the first to actually be sixteen…ever. Thirty seemed past it, unreachable, never going to happen. But folk older than that were just wrong. They were the ones running the world and screwing it up. They should all be put in homes until they get too old to have a say. Might be folk would just get along fine then. Only grandparents knew stuff.
Well they had when he was a kid. Tales of the war, real stuff from history that even the Internet knew about. Gramps had been in it. Really in your face, up to the eyeballs, proper in it. He had medals too and that way of avoiding details which, to an empathic minded child, says hey, you really were weren't you. As opposed to the hyperbolic crap most of his current mates said. Teens for you though. They all did it and they all knew they did it and that was just fine.
What was not fine, in his parents view, was how they had managed to watch good grades slump in the key years leading to examinations that counted. Ade knew why though. Love was money. It bought him stuff as a surrogate. Bespoke room that, in fairness, was the envy of his mates but when he needed help a new video game or bag of sweets didn't cut the mustard. Then again they were in the age bracket that should be in homes to safeguard the planet. When you looked at it like that then what could you expect? The age of got to have the latest gadget, car, just so house was running. Any fool looking at 24/7 news could figure it out. Spend more get less. Earn more do less. Wasn't rocket science.
Not to him and his mates at any rate. Politicians sucked, world leaders sucked and idiots that voted were sheep indoctrinated like religious folk. Dare to say something was wrong and boom. Off they went in the rhetoric of what the heck would Ade know at his age. They did though. Ade and his pals. They knew plenty. After all they were the first kids ever to be teenagers.
It started going off the rails when gramps passed away. Nothing sinister or untoward. He was just old. That didn't make it hurt less because of all the people in his family who ever gave him any time to talk about stuff gramps was the only that chewed the fat. Ade thought that was a war thing. When you saw that up front it was bound to change you. A mate blown to pieces in front of you. One you had the crack with over breakfast, gone in seconds. There one minute, gone the next.
Get your head round that people. The smell of fresh rain on mud, the chill of the air blowing a gale in wet clothes, boots full of water rotting your feet, the actual smell of flesh lacerated with bullets and screams of soldiers lying in the dirt waiting for medics that were just to damn busy. If movies came with smell-o-vision punters would be chucking up all over the place.
Ade saw it all in gramps eyes and the way a rustic index finger tapped the side of his nose when a question got too close. Gramps remembered the carefree days before and then the bloodshed after. They were there. Ade felt it sitting in the living room when he visited. Living room. That always threw him too. So quiet, a bit like he imaged a morgue with just a clock ticking the time away until the moment to drop the coffin came. He often wondered if you could ever really come back after an experience like that. Yes, Ade sure missed gramps a whole heap of ways.
That was when Rowena the Goth found him. One afternoon after lunch at school when he was leaning on the railings at the furthest edge of the playing fields. Having some time out away from everything, lessons, mates, people. Space to just say cheers gramps and thank you for being the real parent. The one that cared.
"Go on then," came a soft voice behind him.
Ade took no notice. He was there to be alone. Besides girls didn't speak to him outside class very often. The owner he couldn't place anyway.
"Are you gonna jump the fence or not?"
"What?" Ade hoped that had some proper fuck off irritation in it.
"I've seen you here everyday for the last two weeks at least. Figured you were working up to blowing this joint." She was still behind him.
"Yeah, well I might just do that. Life's a bitch then you die."
Gramps cut him up there. Young un, t'aint her fault. It rolled round his head for a few before he replied. "I didn't mean bitches as in girls. It's just stuffs fucked up a bit."
He turned round and things changed. Rowena the Goth as he'd never seen her before. Well, he had, just not paid any attention to her in school uniform. Her reputation was after hours. The black gear with silver bangles and purple highlights. Not forgetting the nose stud. Here she was kinda normal, uniform in the uniform and, well, fucking gorgeous.
"I know that one Adrian." She smiled.
Fuck, she knows my name. A freaking girl knows my name. Gramps tailed away. "What do you know about it?" Imbecile, why did I say that?
"This and that. Being the weirdo that everyone laughs at for a start."
"Do they?" He was looking into her eyes. He liked the way they stared back. More than that though, they reminded him of the light in Gramps. The one that said I know more than I let on young 'un.
She laughed and he was hooked. "Yes they do."
It may have been the glisten of tears in his eye that moved things on. Nobody cared before and Rowena the Goth was hope.
"I lost my grandad not long ago. Best friend I ever had."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." Except she moved closer. He saw her arms move in the way his mums once had when he was upset.
"No, don't apologise. I'm glad you did. It's just hard with parents that don't give a toss." There, he'd never told anyone that before. It felt good.
Next he knew she was hugging him. Rowena the Goth, weirdo extraordinaire was embracing him, Ade, by the railings at the furthest point from school you could get without going truant. He clutched her back. Get your head round this people. Me and a girl. A real live girl.
"If you ever need to talk Adrian," she left it unfinished. Not that a sentiment like that needs terminating. It is what it is. An offer of friendship, maybe more. The school bell ended lunch. They separated and walked back holding hands until they neared the main buildings where they separated. Not cool to be seen with a girl during school. That's a tease job waiting to happen. Sixth form acceptable, but year too early. Fuck the world he thought that's crap too, like the lock up ages. He reached back, took her wrist and slid his fingers back into place. Rowena smiled and schoolwork went out the window.
© G Jefferies and Fictionisfood, 2016. All rights reserved.


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BOSTON & COPENHAGEN, Denmark--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALXN) and Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ZEAL) today announced a collaboration to discover and develop novel peptide therapies for complement-mediated diseases. Peptides offer a number of advantages, including being highly selective and potent, allowing low dosage volumes for ease of administration, and having the potential to treat a broad range of complement-mediated diseases. The agreement provides Alexion with exclusive worldwide licenses, as well as development and commercial rights, for up to four targets within the complement pathway.
"We know that uncontrolled activation of the complement pathway is responsible for many devastating diseases, and through the development of the first two complement inhibitors – SOLIRIS and ULTOMIRIS – we have shown the transformative impact of C5 inhibition on several of these diseases," said John Orloff, M.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Research & Development at Alexion. "We are excited by the potential to explore different targets in the complement pathway and look forward to building on Alexion's more than 20 years of complement expertise with the development of next-generation peptide therapies in collaboration with Zealand Pharma, which may provide the opportunity to treat many additional diseases."
"Collaborating with Alexion is further evidence of the strength of our peptide discovery platform, which has delivered both approved novel peptide-based therapeutics and a deep late-stage pipeline," said Adam Steensberg, Interim CEO and Chief Medical and Development Officer at Zealand. "We believe that peptide-based therapies hold great promise in inhibiting complement activation. Alexion's demonstrated expertise in treating rare and complement-mediated diseases makes this the ideal collaboration to advance Zealand's complement-focused peptide programs."
Under the terms of the agreement, Alexion and Zealand will enter into an exclusive collaboration for the discovery and development of subcutaneously delivered peptide therapies directed to up to four complement pathway targets. Zealand will lead the joint discovery and research efforts through the preclinical stage, and Alexion will lead development efforts beginning with IND filing and Phase 1 studies. The agreement provides Alexion with exclusive worldwide licenses and commercial rights to the peptide therapies developed in the collaboration. Zealand will receive an immediate upfront payment of $25 million for the first target, with Alexion making a concurrent $15 million equity investment in Zealand Pharma at a premium to the market price as of the collaboration effective date. For the lead target, the agreement provides the potential for development-related milestones of up to $115 million, as well as up to $495 million in sales-related milestones and the potential for high single- to low double-digit royalty payments. Each of the three subsequent targets can be selected for an option fee of $15 million and has the potential for additional development milestones and sales milestones and royalty payments at a reduced price to the lead target.
Alexion will discuss the collaboration further during today's Investor Day event and webcast. Zealand will host a conference call on Thursday, March 21, at 4 p.m. CET.
About Alexion
Alexion is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on serving patients and families affected by rare diseases through the discovery, development and commercialization of life-changing therapies. As the global leader in complement biology and inhibition for more than 20 years, Alexion has developed and commercializes two approved complement inhibitors to treat patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) as well as the first and only approved complement inhibitor to treat atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) and anti-acetylcholine receptor (AchR) antibody-positive generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG), and is also developing it for patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Alexion also has two highly innovative enzyme replacement therapies for patients with life-threatening and ultra-rare metabolic disorders, hypophosphatasia (HPP) and lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL-D). In addition, the company is developing several mid-to-late-stage therapies, including a second complement inhibitor, a copper-binding agent for Wilson disease and an anti-neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) antibody for rare Immunoglobulin G (IgG)-mediated diseases as well as several early-stage therapies, including one for light chain (AL) amyloidosis and a second anti-FcRn therapy. Alexion focuses its research efforts on novel molecules and targets in the complement cascade and its development efforts on the core therapeutic areas of hematology, nephrology, neurology, and metabolic disorders. Alexion has been named to the Forbes list of the World's Most Innovative Companies seven years in a row and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts' Innovation District. The company also has offices around the globe and serves patients in more than 50 countries. This press release and further information about Alexion can be found at: www.alexion.com.
About Zealand Pharma
Zealand Pharma is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based medicines. The company's peptide discovery platform is built on 20 years of experience and has been extensively validated by their clinical pipeline, partnerships and marketed products; these include more than 10 drug candidates invented by Zealand that have advanced into clinical development, of which two have reached the market. Zealand's current pipeline of internal product candidates focus on specialty gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. Zealand's portfolio also includes two clinical license collaborations with Boehringer Ingelheim. Zealand is based in Copenhagen (Glostrup), Denmark. For further information about the company's business and activities, please visit www.zealandpharma.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding: (i) the therapeutic and commercial potential of peptide-based therapies; (ii) research and development plans related to peptide-based therapies; (iii) the potential of peptide-based therapies for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases; (iv) the potential for the collaboration between Alexion and Zealand; and (v) the closing of the equity investment by Alexion into Zealand, which is subject to standard closing conditions. The process by which early stage products such as Zealand's peptide-based therapies could potentially lead to an approved product is long and subject to highly significant risks, particularly with respect to a preclinical research collaboration. Applicable risks and uncertainties include those relating to preclinical research and other risks identified under the heading "Risk Factors" included in Alexion's and Zealand's most recent Form 10-K and 20-F filings and in other future filings with the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release reflect Alexion's and Zealand's current views with respect to future events, and neither Alexion nor Zealand undertakes and specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.


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Fans of Atlanta rapper 2 Chainz are continuing to get a glimpse into the rapper's persona thanks to his new, video mini-series, which he also serves as executive producer of.
In the first part in the mini-series, titled "24 Hours To Live," 2 Chainz contemplates what he would do if he only had one day to live as he touches on matters of time and even the Illuminati. And in "Sacrificing My Life," the newly-released second part in 2 Chainz' new series, the Based On A T.R.U. Story rapper shares the details of his encounter with professional basketball player Kobe Bryant.
"I remember meeting Kobe for the first time," said 2 Chainz. "I got to admit that I'm fans of people myself. Like Denzel Washington, Kobe Bryant, of course LeBron. You know, I took the time just to explain to him how I use a strong correlation between me rapping like Kobe plays ball. And then I told, him I said 'I honor and I respect you sacrificing your life to entertain us.' And it was more or less me just basically explaining to him how I admire his work ethic."
The rapper formerly known as Tity Boi even went on to compare his current success to that of Kobe's. According to 2 Chainz, both himself and Kobe put in work behind the scenes and it wasn't until recently that his hard work went noticed.
"Although I couldn't' see him being in the gym every day working on his left, shooting free throws, shooting jump shots, I can see the results when it was game time," said the rapper. "I could see the conditioning. And so, for me, I feel like people didn't see what I was doing off the air when nobody was looking. [I want to know] how hard I was working on my left hand or my jump shot or my ability to become the next rap superstar. But when offered the chance to show my talent, I think I took my opportunity and ran with it."
Video of 2 Chainz' "Sacrificing My Life" mini-series can be found below.
RELATED:2 Chainz Says Kanye West Told Him Not To Put Jay-Z On "B.O.A.T.S. II: Me Time"


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Hydrologist Bernhard Lehner is from Bavaria—the birthplace, he quips, of beer. College dreams of starting a brewery with friends prompted his choice to study water. While his friends wound up in the brewing business, Lehner stuck with science. After graduation, he went to work as a hydrologist with the conservation group World Wildlife Fund. There, he encountered a paradoxical problem: often, the places he most wanted to study had the poorest maps.
In remote parts of the world, detailed maps are rare at best. Yet, precisely because they haven't been extensively populated and paved, remote regions contain some of the most intact biodiversity on Earth. With development looming in even Earth's most remote regions, conservation biologists want to recommend the best places to protect, but without thoroughly knowing an area, they struggle to give governments and policymakers good advice. Lehner's efforts to solve this problem for a remote corner of the Amazon eventually became a stepping stone for a much more ambitious project: a detailed, digital map of water channels for the entire globe.
Amazon Stepping Stone
In 2004, Lehner, Robin Abell (his manager at World Wildlife Fund), and their colleagues faced a predicament as they examined the Madre de Dios River in Peru and Bolivia, in the southwest Amazon Basin. Abell, a freshwater conservation biologist, was trying to characterize the habitats in the region to figure out what sort of networks of protected and managed areas would best represent the area's wide variety of freshwater ecosystems.
The area was far too big for personal inspection, and existing maps weren't much help. Detailed maps of the Amazon Basin varied by country, with differing scales and map projections. But wildlife doesn't care about national borders, and Abell and her collaborators needed a consistent map format. "The best product we had was a USGS [United States Geological Survey] product of 1-kilometer spatial resolution," Lehner explains. "There was nothing wrong with it, but to derive high-quality river maps, it was just not good enough."
Lehner and Abell needed a more detailed data source, and for that Lehner turned to topographic maps based on radar data from an 11-day mission flown by NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour in February 2000. Called the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, or SRTM, for short, the mission produced the most complete high-resolution, digital topographic map of the Earth. The map was a hundred times more detailed than the satellite data Lehner had considered using before.
Lehner used SRTM data as the foundation for a digital map of the headwaters of the Madre de Dios, letting the topographic data reveal where rivers would be if he traced the path of water flowing downhill. After combining the digital river map with information on land surface characteristics like geology and vegetation, Lehner, Abell, and their collaborators were able to recommend protecting two continuous corridors from the mouth of the Madre de Dios to its headwaters in the Andes.
Perhaps more significantly, the project showed how valuable space-based topography data could be for understanding remote, poorly mapped regions.
The case study of the Madre de Dios quickly drew admiration from other conservation scientists. "After people saw it," Lehner recalls, "they kind of pushed me to map rivers and watersheds for the entire Amazon, and even all of South America."
Pressed to expand his work, however, Lehner gave a surprising answer. He said no.


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G.I. Joe #7
The Cobra Civil War races toward its climax! Trapped in Springfield seconds away from extermination by a rogue B.A.T., Team Alpha, lead by Flint, resorts to desperate measures that may not see them out of Springfield alive! Meanwhile, Mainframe scrambles to save the Tuna, a captured submarine now manned by a Joe crew, as Cobra's cyber attack sinks it to the bottom of the sea!
Cover Illustrators


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{Robert Burns Lives!
Edited by Frank Shaw
Dr. Clark McGinn is nearing the end of his series on the few men who gathered in the auld Burns cottage to celebrate Robert Burns a few years after his untimely death. This small meeting became the first Burns Supper, and I doubt any of the men ever dreamed what they had birthed. Now thousands of Burns Suppers are held around the world each year on or around January 25th.}
Why don't we Toast the Bard at 17 59 0n the 25th of January?


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Joan Curtis, historian and author of "Town on the Sound" the history of Steilacoom, traveled to Snohomish on Sunday, October 11th, to participate in a discussion about the founding of Snohomish.
The event was held in conjunction with an exhibition titled, "E. C. Ferguson in Steilacoom, 1858-59," which is on view during Museum hours, weekends from 1 to 4pm.
Joining Joan was David Dilgard, well known to Society members as the History Specialist in the Northwest Room of the Everett Public Library who has adopted the history of Snohomish to the benefit of us all.
Moderating the discussion was Warner Blake who first introduced David as one who introduced him to the history of Snohomish. "And David's accounts always began with Steilacoom," Warner said, "so finally, early this year I visited the Steilacoom Historical Society and was lucky enough to show up on a day when Joan was at work in the archives."
Immediately, she found a reference in the history of Pierce County referring to E. C. Ferguson and some 95 other bachelors calling for a meeting to " devise ways to secure the emigration of the fair sex from the Atlantic States to our shores." At the discussion on Sunday, Joan reported that no other account of the meeting has been found, and David felt it was most likely a fraternal activity without serious intentions of taking further steps. In fact, the meeting was called for a day in February 1860, three months before Ferguson took up residence on the Snohomish River.
Four years later, Asa Mercer acted on the idea when he brought 11 women to Seattle from the east coast who became known as the Mercer Girls.
The account that Ferguson had a child with a native woman in Snohomish before his marriage in 1868 to Lucetta Morgan was brought up. David reminded us that it was common for the white settlers of Snohomish to take an Indian wife and that in fact, the first school in 1865 was attended by the children of these mixed marriages. Joan reported that this was not common in the early years of Steilacoom, perhaps due to the transit nature of Steilacoom's population — most were on their way to somewhere else — as was the case with our Mr. Ferguson.
Following the discussion, guests visited the exhibition in the Gallery of the Blackman House that features images and text of life in Steilacoom when Ferguson lived there, along with portraits of his business partners in the plan to establish a ferry across the Snohomish River for the military road proposed to connect Steilacoom with Bellingham.
Only Ferguson took up residence here when financing for the road fell through. David reminded us that it's very unusual for a founding settler to actually settle-in as Ferguson did in the town that he named after the river and where he lived until his death in 1911.
Follow this link to view a slide show of the event.
Follow this link to read more about E. C. Ferguson.


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Castrol synthetic cutting fluids deliver extremely high cutting and grinding efficiencies for high speed processes. They reduce biocide use, extend tool life and ensure a quality surface finish.
Castrol's versatile range of synthetic coolants satisfies machining requirements while reducing coolant use.
High performance, fully synthetic lubricants designed for use in central lubricating systems and gearboxes operating under harsh conditions, particularly at elevated temperatures.


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Back to List
ePlus Announces First Quarter Fiscal Year 2020 Earnings Release Date and Conference Call
HERNDON, VA – July 31, 2019 – ePlus inc. (NASDAQ NGS: PLUS – news) today announced that on August 7, 2019, it will release earnings and host a conference call regarding its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2019. Earnings will be released after the market closes, and management will hold a conference call and webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Date: August 7, 2019
Time: 4:30 p.m. EDT
Live Call: (877) 870-9226, domestic, (973) 890-8320, international
Replay: (855) 859-2056, domestic, (404) 537-3406, international
Passcode: 2975458 (live and replay)
Webcast: http://www.eplus.com/investors (live and replay)
The replay of this webcast will be available approximately two hours after the call and be available through August 14, 2019.
About ePlus inc.
ePlus is a leading consultative technology solutions provider that helps customers imagine, implement, and achieve more from their technology. With the highest certifications from top technology partners and expertise in key technologies from cloud to security and digital infrastructure, ePlus transforms IT from a cost center to a business enabler. Founded in 1990, ePlus has more than 1,500 associates serving a diverse set of customers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pac. The Company is headquartered at 13595 Dulles Technology Drive, Herndon, VA, 20171. For more information, visit www.eplus.com, call 888-482-1122, or email firstname.lastname@example.com.
Connect with ePlus on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ePlusinc and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ePlus. ePlus. Where Technology Means More®.
ePlus®, Where Technology Means More®, and ePlus products referenced herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of ePlus inc. in the United States and/or other countries.


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Who's That Guy? - "Hollywood Steps Out"
The series of posts that I start today will help you identify all the caricatured people from various cartoons.
The first cartoon will be Tex Avery's "Hollywood Steps Out", so let's begin!
Edward G. Robinson and Ann Sheridan
Henry Binder and Leon Schlesinger
Johnny Weissmuller
James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and George Raft
Greta Garbo and Harpo Marx
Bing Crosby
Leopold Stokowski
James Stewart and Dorothy Lamour
Tyrone Power and Sonja Henie
The Three Stooges (Curly Howard, Larry Fine and Moe Howard)
Oliver Hardy
The man is Cesar Romero. I don't know who the girl is.
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney
Sally Rand
Kay Kyser
Standing: William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn.
Sitting: Wallace Beery and C. Aubrey Smith
Peter Lorre
Henry Fonda
John Edgar Hoover
Boris Karloff, Arthur Treacher and Buster Keaton
Mischa Auer and Ned Sparks
Jerry Colonna
Groucho Marx and Clark Gable
Yours truly,
mmm...donuts (the other guy...)


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Petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Justice MARSHALL, with whom Justice BRENNAN joins, dissenting.
In 1973, Claude Killian was murdered. Police questioned petitioner Ray Charles Degraffenreid shortly after the murder, but he was not then charged. In 1977, Degraffenreid was arrested for Killian's murder while incarcerated in state prison on an unrelated conviction. Five days later, he confessed to law enforcement officials. At Degraffenreid's first trial, the state court granted his motion to suppress his confession as involuntary, and the jury was unable to reach a verdict. At Degraffenreid's retrial, a different judge admitted the confession. Degraffenreid was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. His conviction was affirmed on appeal by the South Carolina Supreme Court. Degraffenreid then sought state postconviction relief, which was likewise denied.
In this federal habeas petition, petitioner renews his challenge to the admission of his confession. The District Court referred the petition to a Magistrate for findings of fact and recommendations. After conducting an evidentiary hearing, the Magistrate found that the State had failed to prove that the confession was voluntary. The District Court refused to adopt the Magistrate's recommendation on the ground that the Magistrate incorrectly allocated to the State the burden of proof regarding voluntariness. A divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed, 883 F.2d 68 (1989), and the full court denied rehearing en banc by a vote of 6 to 5. [494 U.S. 1071 , 1072] The record in this case is replete with factual findings by various state and federal judges. The Magistrate's findings, which set forth the essential and undisputed facts, are as follows:
"The only safeguard taken to protect the petitioner's rights was the giving of Miranda warnings. Despite the presence of judicial officers on the grounds of the facility and procedures for transporting prisoners to other court officials, the petitioner was not taken before a judicial officer, was not appointed an attorney and was not given any conditions of release until after he confessed ." App. to Pet. for Cert. A-45.
It is also uncontested that prison officials placed a notice on the wall of the prison facility indicating that petitioner was to have no visitors or phone calls. From these facts the Magistrate concluded that " despite the advice of rights, the only way the petitioner was going to be released from solitary confinement and allowed contact with third parties was to give a confession." Id., at A-47.
The Court of Appeals did not reject this account of the facts and indeed noted that "[t]he delay in taking Degraffenreid before a judicial officer should not be sanctioned as ideal procedure." Id., at A-9. The court nonetheless ruled that Degraffenreid failed to establish "that the circumstances surrounding the confession were sufficiently egregious to cause Degraffenreid's will to be overborne." Ibid.
In Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104 ( 1985), we held that "the ultimate question of the admissibility of a confession merits treatment as a legal inquiry requiring plenary federal review." Id., at 115. We identified two distinct questions that courts must ask in determining "voluntariness": "whether the techniques for extracting the statements, as applied to this suspect, are compatible with a system that presumes innocence and assures that a conviction will not be secured by inquisitorial means [and] whether the- [494 U.S. 1071 , 1073] defend ant's will was in fact overborne." Id., at 116- 453 (citing Gallegos v. Colorado, 370 U.S. 49, 51 , 1211 (1962)). These two inquiries safeguard two fundamental societal interests. The first inquiry ensures that inquisitorial means do not infect the criminal process. See Gallegos, supra, at 51. It is premised on our abiding belief "that the forfeiture of the lives, liberties or property of people accused of crime can only follow if procedural safeguards of due process have been obeyed." Chambers v. Florida, 309 U.S. 227, 237 , 477 (1940); see also Miller, supra, 474 U.S., at 109 ("This Court has long held that certain interrogation techniques, either in isolation or as applied to the unique characteristics of a particular suspect, are so offensive to a civilized system of justice that they must be condemned under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment"). The second inquiry, by focusing on whether a defendant's will was in fact overborne, safeguards the Fifth Amendment right to be free from compelled self- incrimination. See Gallegos, supra, 370 U.S., at 51 .
In this case, the Court of Appeals focused solely on the second inquiry and failed to decide whether, as a matter of due process, the police efforts in this case were impermissibly inquisitorial. This analysis is essential because some police techniques, whether or not they actually overbear a defendant's will, are repugnant to our adversarial system and cannot lay the foundation for a criminal conviction. Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278, 286 , 465 (1936) (" The due process clause requires 'that state action . . . shall be consistent with the fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all our civil and political institutions' ") (quoting Hebert v. Louisiana, 272 U.S. 312, 316 , 104 ( 1926)); Rogers, 365 U.S., at 540 -541 (the Due Process Clause requires suppression of confessions improperly obtained "not because such confessions are unlikely to be true but because the methods used to extract them offend an underlying principle in the enforcement of our criminal law"). Here, law enforcement officials isolated petitioner from the outside world and made unmistakably clear that his incommunicado detention would end only with his confession. Cf. Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 514 , 1343-1344 (1963) ("We cannot blind ourselves to what experience unmistakably teaches: that even apart from the express threat, the basic techniques present here-the secret and incommunicado detention and interrogation-are devices adapted and used to extort confessions from suspects"). Such techniques arguably do not conform "to the fundamental [494 U.S. 1071 , 1074] standards" of our criminal justice system. Chambers, supra, 309 U.S., at 238 . Because the Court of Appeals did not consider that possibility, I would grant certiorari in this case to clarify the dual nature of our voluntariness inquiry.
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Citation: 494 U.S. 1071
Docket No: No. 89-6126
Decided: April 02, 1990
Court: United States Supreme Court
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Manchester United saw off a late Liverpool rally to beat their old rivals 2-1 at Old Trafford and tighten their grip on top spot in the Premier League.
Robin van Persie had given United a first-half lead and Nemanja Vidic extended their dominance in fortuitous fashion early in the second half.
But substitute Daniel Sturridge's first league goal for Liverpool brought the visitors back into the game and there were one or two nervy moments before the Red Devils confirmed the three points.
United took the lead with the opening chance of the game on 19 minutes when van Persie swept home first time from Patrice Evra's low cross following a patient build-up by the leaders.
Van Persie was almost in again on 27 minutes after Ashley Young's pass found him in space just inside the box, but the Dutchman's first-time finish on this occasion flew over the bar.
Joe Allen was enduring a difficult afternoon and the midfielder's loose pass was seized upon by Danny Welbeck before Daniel Agger produced a great block to deny the striker.
Luis Suarez blazed over Liverpool's only shot of the first half before Tom Cleverley flashed a volley wide after Allen's poor headed clearance from Young's cross.
The Red Devils should have extended their lead just before the break, but van Persie's flick from Rafael's cross was cleared off the line by Martin Skrtel and Pepe Reina was hurt in a collision with Shinji Kagawa in the scramble for the loose ball.
United struck again on 53 minutes when Skrtel was booked for hauling back Welbeck and van Persie's delivery was met by Evra, whose header was inadvertently deflected in by Vidic.
Liverpool were quick to respond and pulled a goal back within four minutes when Sturridge, a half-time replacement for Lucas, was sharpest to the loose ball after David de Gea could only parry Steven Gerrard's low drive from outside the box.
Kagawa forced a flying save out of Reina with a deft curler before Glen Johnson, Sturridge and another substitute Fabio Borini all failed to find the target in a five-minute spell of Liverpool pressure.
Sturridge had Liverpool's best chance in the closing stages, but scooped his shot over the bar and United spent the last couple of minutes of stoppage-time deep in opposition territory before Howard Webb blew for full-time.


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Texas, Israel pursue joint ventures
By ABIGAIL KLEINH LEICHMAN (ISRAEL21c)
A business and academic delegation from the seventh largest city in the United States went home from Israel with two major collaborative agreements in hand — one in diabetes research and the other in water technology.
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro led the five-day summer mission from Texas, during which municipal water system CEO Robert Puente signed a memorandum of understanding with Ein Netafim Eilat water utility, and BioMed SA president Ann Stevens signed a memorandum of intent with BioJerusalem, an initiative of the Jerusalem Development Authority.
Castro and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai also committed to jointly promote economic cooperation and bilateral trade, with a particular emphasis on renewable energy, biotechnology, education and social and cultural affairs.
Puente tells ISRAEL21c that the agreement with Ein Netafim "represents an opportunity to exchange technology, best management practices and innovative ways to deal with wastewater."
He followed up with Eilat representatives at the September 18th Texas-Israel Cleanovation Conference in Houston.
One likely area of cooperation is dealing with persistent drought, which has affected both Israel and South Texas for the past few years. Another is seawater desalination, a process already begun in Israel and under development in San Antonio for 2016. The delegation took a tour of Israel's large desalination plant in Hadera.
For Puente, one of the highlights was learning about Israel's incubator method of developing business ideas for water and clean technology.
"By providing the seed money necessary for growth in the critical first two or three years, they assure the sustainability of startup companies so once they turn the corner they can be advantageous to investors and the community," he says. "We're excited about this model. Our delegation has already had a follow-up meeting here to keep momentum going."
Puente and Stevens will appear in a documentary on the mission to Israel, to be aired next month by San Antonio's public television station, KLRN-TV. Roee Madai, Israel's Consul for Economic Affairs for the US Southern Region, based in Houston, was also interviewed for the show.
'A nation known for innovation'
San Antonio's $24.5 billion healthcare and bioscience sectors employ one of every six members of the city's workforce. BioMed SA was established six years ago to capitalize on that strength, and has gone on economic missions to Canada, Mexico, Japan and China.
However, the memorandum of intent with BioJerusalem executive director Chen Levin is the first such agreement the BioMed SA president has signed.
"Our dynamic young mayor is actively trying to foster the growth of new-economy industries such as clean technology, bioscience and information security," Stevens tells ISRAEL21c.
"With its reputation as one of the world's most technologically advanced nations, Israel attracted his attention and sparked the collective imagination of the mayor's office, which put together this trip to observe best practices for business leaders in these three areas. The purpose was to open our eyes to a nation known for innovation despite being a small country in a conflict region."
Through the Israeli government's economic mission in Houston, Stevens made contact with Levin last spring. At a June international biomedical convention in Washington, DC, they worded the memorandum of intent to be signed in Jerusalem. Stevens also attended a high-level Israeli-US presentation on biotechnology the day before the conference, "so I really got steeped in the knowledge of what makes Israel tick."
One area of cooperation materialized on the first day of the July trip, when the Texans learned from Prof. Itamar Raz, head of the diabetes unit at Hadassah Medical Center, that Israel has a similar rate of Type 1 ("juvenile") diabetes as the United States and a similar increase in Type 2 diabetes. His team is focused on both research and early education to reverse that trend.
In September, Raz's young associate, Dr. Roy Eldor, began a post-doctoral fellowship in San Antonio with Dr. Ralph DeFronzo of the Texas Diabetes Institute and University of Texas Health Science Center.
"Since his arrival, I have met a couple of times with Dr. Eldor and his wife, Noga, a former aide to Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur, to help them plug into the community," says Stevens. "They received a very warm and public introduction to SA's biomedical community couple at BioMed SA's biggest event of the year, the Julio Palmaz Award Dinner, on September 20."
Stevens has begun working with Raz and Eldor to explore specific ways of collaborating on diabetes education and research as an initial platform for cooperation with BioJerusalem and the region.
In August, BioMed SA helped organize and host a two-day visit to San Antonio by Todd Dollinger, CEO of the Trendlines Group and head of its Misgav life sciences incubator. Dollinger was introduced to key players in the city's entrepreneurial community, including incubator executives, startup company CEOs, academic leaders, tech transfer representatives, investors and economic development officials.
"We are in continuing dialogue with Mr. Dollinger about possibilities for collaboration going forward," says Stevens. Meanwhile, she is working with BioJerusalem's Levin to identify companies, researchers and academic programs on both sides of the ocean that could form partnerships in areas such as military and regenerative medicine, neuroscience, cancer and infectious diseases.
"By sharing the intellectual capital each city possesses in the biomedical sector, we are each positioning ourselves for further innovation and economic growth," said Mayor Castro.
While in Israel, the visitors toured high-tech business centers and met with President Shimon Peres, Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau, and Deputy Chief Scientist Dr. Shaul Freirich.