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World Bank: Behind the I.T. Transformation
Amidst the World Bank's recent management brouhaha, a more significant event has gone overlooked—the bank's dramatic transformation from a hierarchical source of low-interest loans to a decentralized organization that uses knowledge-sharing technologies to fight poverty and disease in developing nations. The enabler of this transformation: the bank's overhaul of its antiquated I.T. infrastructure and construction of a truly global network.
Story Guide:
Also in This Feature:
- At a Glance: The World Bank
- By the Numbers: The World Bank's Key Resources
Next Page: Using I.T. to Fight Poverty
Using I.T. to Fight Poverty
Last month, Robert B. Zoellick became the 11th president of the World Bank. A few days before he walked into the bank's Washington, D.C., headquarters, he issued a short statement: "The Bank's Board, staff, and many stakeholders know we face large challenges," he said. "The world has changed enormously since the creation of the Bank some 60 years ago. This accomplished institution of development, reconstruction, and finance not only needs to adapt: It must lead the way to achieving sustainable globalization, founded upon inclusive growth, opportunity, and respect for personal dignity."
It's clear Zoellick knows what he's getting into.
The World Bank has had more than its share of turmoil, particularly in its senior management ranks. In addition to the June 30 resignation of Zoellick's predecessor, the controversial Paul D. Wolfowitz, the bank's former vice president and CIO Mohamed Muhsin, who retired in November 2005, has come under a cloud of suspicion.
But amidst all the recent management brouhaha, a more significant event at the World Bank has been largely overlooked. This is the dramatic transformation from what was a top-down, hierarchical Washington, D.C.-based source of low-interest developmental loans and grants to emerging countries, to a decentralized, front-line, matrix organization that's using information and communications technologies to fight poverty, AIDS/HIV and other diseases, and environmental degradation. At the core of the bank's strategy has been its hugely ambitious effort to empower its clients—many of then technically disenfranchised—with the tools and knowledge-sharing capabilities they need to improve their lives and bring them into the mainstream of the world economy.
It hasn't been easy. In order to create a working knowledge management system, the bank's information infrastructure and communications network had to be completely overhauled.
Muhsin, the World Bank's first CIO, led the revamping of the bank's antiquated I.T. infrastructure into what is now the foundation of the bank's knowledge-sharing network, which has been highly praised by noted I.T. management luminaries such as Tom Davenport and F. Warren McFarlan.
After 17 years, Muhsin retired from the bank in November 2005. But then two months later, Wolfowitz, who had just become World Bank president, told The Washington Post that while most bank staffers were honest, "I'm aware of a particularly serious set of allegations involving a senior bank official."
At the time Wolfowitz, the former deputy defense secretary and one of the principal proponents of the war in Iraq, charged that "staffers had become too comfortable" with the anti-corruption unit, which he claimed had been run with "very puzzling negligence" in the past. That was when he dropped a bombshell, noting that one of the bank's senior officials was in the Department of Institutional Integrity's crosshairs.
Wolfowitz wouldn't name the individual, as the investigation was ongoing. Soon after, however, the Post said it obtained internal bank documents that indicated the official in question was none other than Muhsin, the head of the bank's Information Solutions Group (ISG) and CIO.
According to The Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report, Muhsin was being investigated for having been given stock in one of the bank's key I.T. contractors, which U.S. News named as outsourcer Satyam Computers. Satyam didn't respond to e-mails and calls regarding the matter.
While Muhsin wouldn't comment on the matter, his lawyer, Joshua Hochberg, told Baseline that the retirement had been planned. "I think it's unfair and highly distasteful that unfounded rumors have circulated at the end of [Muhsin's] 17 years of dedicated service during which his integrity was never questioned," Hochberg said. He added that Muhsin expects "full exoneration."
Ironically, Wolfowitz resigned his post, effective June 30, after an internal panel tasked with investigating the lucrative pay and promotion package Wolfowitz arranged in 2005 for his partner, Shaha Riza, found him guilty of breaking bank rules. Wolfowitz was replaced by Zoellick, former deputy U.S. secretary of state, while Muhsin was succeeded as CIO by Guy-Pierre De Poerck, previously CIO of corporate business informatics at the International Finance Corp. (IFC), a bank affiliate.
Sharing Knowledge
The World Bank is a major source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. It isn't a bank in the conventional sense, but is made up of two unique development institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries by promoting sustainable development through loans; and the International Development Association (IDA), the part of the bank that helps the world's poorest countries.
Owned by 185 member countries, the World Bank has about 10,000 employees—7,000 of them in the organization's headquarters, the remainder in field offices in 80 member countries. It also retains thousands of consultants, many of them retired bank officials. The Bank Group, which includes the IBRD and IDA as well as other affiliated entities such as the IFC, loans out about $20 billion annually, making it one of the world's largest sources of development assistance.
Founded shortly after World War II, the bank was established initially to focus on European reconstruction projects. Beginning in the 1950s, it began financing mega-projects like dams and roads. Its focus changed dramatically, however, in 1996 when James Wolfensohn (not to be confused with his predecessor, Paul Wolfowitz) was named president of the bank.
An Australian-born investment banker, Wolfensohn, who didn't respond to requests for an interview, is characterized as "brilliant and a highly persuasive speaker" by several former bank officials. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen, made a fortune on Wall Street and agreed to head up the World Bank in July 1995 after being nominated by President Clinton.
Almost immediately he set about changing the behemoth of global developmental economics from a centralized, "headquarters-driven" organization to a decentralized, matrix-networked operation that relied on member countries to carry out and supervise their own project development and make their own decisions. To facilitate this, Wolfensohn told the World Bank Board of Governors in an October 1996 speech: "The revolution in information technology increases the potential value of [the bank's development] efforts by vastly extending their reach. We need to invest in systems that will enhance our ability to gather information, and experience and share it with our clients."
One of the pillars of Wolfensohn's vision was knowledge management, or knowledge sharing. " … [W]e will build a world-class knowledge management system throughout the bank to capture and organize our knowledge, make it more readily accessible to the staff, clients and partners, and strengthen the knowledge dissemination and capacity building efforts," he said in an internal bank document. " … It will connect with universities, foundations and other world class sources of knowledge so that the bank becomes a clearinghouse in knowledge about development."
In order to support a global decentralized organization that was close to the bank's constituency, and deliver, as a Harvard case study (Enabling Business Strategy With I.T. at the World Bank, Dec. 22, 2003) noted, "more comprehensive and integrated (and therefore more effective) development solutions by increasing collaboration, consultation and knowledge sharing both within the organization and with partners and shareholders at all points in the process," the bank had to completely rebuild an out-of-date I.T. structure and construct a far-flung global network from the ground up.
To carry out this mission, Wolfensohn, in 1997, appointed the bank's first-ever chief information officer, Sri Lankan native Mohamed Muhsin, who had worked as the director of the bank's information-technology services but came from a largely business background. Before joining the bank, he had worked in Zambia, where he served as finance director for the state-owned mining and industrial corporation and eventually became an adviser to president Kenneth Kaunda. In 1988, he joined the World Bank as a country officer for the Eastern Africa region. Wolfensohn made Muhsin vice president of the Information Solutions Group and told him to revamp the bank's I.T. infrastructure.
Though Muhsin, through his attorney, declined to be interviewed for this story, in a September 1997 bank newsletter, he described ISG as "the newly consolidated information management organization headed by the CIO [himself]." The information systems units of six different bank groups, Muhsin said, "have been brought together to support the [bank's] business strategies… We are integrating our work around four Strategic Partnership Programs." These were:
• Support for decentralization and field office operations
• Support for knowledge sharing and knowledgemanagement
• Comprehensive renewal of bank information systems
• Implementation of cost effectiveness review recommendations
In a subsequent interview with Asia Pacific Development Technology, he described his mission as follows: "We position ourselves at a major intersection of the network economy where we help to connect global learning opportunities with investment assistance to governments. Put another way, it's about having two currencies: the currency of money and the currency of knowledge. We believe our work in bringing knowledge and information to developing countries is as important as the capital and investments that we provide as an engine for development."
The bank appointed a program director for knowledge management, Stephen Denning, who reported to Muhsin; created a $55 million budget for knowledge management for fiscal 1998, 3% of the bank's entire administrative budget; brought in Arthur Andersen to prepare a report as to how this initiative should be managed; and by March 1997 had a sign-off on the project from Wolfensohn and the bank's board of directors. All systems were "go," on paper at least.
"My goal is to make the World Bank the first port of call when people need knowledge about development," Wolfensohn said at the 1997 annual meeting. "By the year 2000, we will have in place a global communications link, videoconferencing and interactive classrooms, affording our clients all around the world full access to our information bases—the end of geography as we at the bank have known it."
Next Page: Disconnected Systems
Disconnected Systems
When Muhsin took over as the bank's CIO, he discovered a bewildering patchwork of disparate and disconnected I.T. systems throughout the organization. An inventory showed 65 different legacy systems, 100 databases and almost 90 business processes. Each field office seemed to have its own individual approach to I.T.
Scattered all over the world, these offices had no way of communicating or collaborating with each other, or for that matter with headquarters in Washington electronically. Mission reports from the field offices had to be couriered to Washington, approved at the home office and mailed back—a process that often took weeks.
In a report dated April 10, 2001, on the bank's information technology and knowledge management, Yale M. Braunstein, a professor at the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that the bank had a multitude of different databases and disconnected repositories, and multiple I.T. systems; had poor documentation and control; and produced inconsistent information that created delays in preparing reports, auditing activities and managing at all levels.
Costs were out of control and were in the hands of chief administrative officers. Moreover, as Muhsin told researchers from the Harvard Business School (Information at the World Bank: In Search of a Technology Solution, Sept. 17, 1997), there was a lack of a "common goal, lack of a common strategy, lack of a common vision as to how all this can come together to make the Bank in its totality work together."
Just how serious the disconnect Muhsin was inheriting between I.T. and the bank's business became evident in 1995, when according to the Harvard Business School case history, the staff in the president's office extracted data from the financial database (FDB) in preparing the bank's annual report. Problem was, the FDB wasn't the master data source. The staff was unaware that the FDB was refreshed from the cost accounting system, which drew its numbers from various sectors within the organization. At the time the annual report was produced, the final numbers from the cost accounting system had not been transferred to the FDB. As a result, the numbers in the report were incorrect.
The knowledge-sharing initiative wasn't exactly taking off with a bang, either. "They had 10 action items for establishing a knowledge-management program," Braunstein told Baseline. "They didn't prioritize and determine what were the most important drivers of change."
The major focus of knowledge management, or knowledge sharing, of course, is to identify and gather content from documents, reports and other sources, and to be able to access that knowledge to establish best practices, address a specific problem and grasp how others have dealt with particular issues. In the late 1990s, it was a buzzword technology that was still seeking traction. Users often weren't quite sure what it meant or how to make use of it, especially since some of the key content search and relationship tools such as data mining and business intelligence software were still in their formative stages.
As the knowledge-management program director, Denning's job was to educate bank officials as to the value of knowledge management. His message, he says, was an extension of Wolfensohn's vision. "Why don't we share our knowledge?" he would ask. "We need to at least make that as important as lending."
To support this argument, Denning says he drew on proposals that had come in from Zambia, where in June 1995 a health worker in a remote area logged on to the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control, which works with the bank, and got an answer on how to treat malaria. "If a remote worker can do that, think of what we can do if we made all our resources available," Denning says he told his colleagues.
Denning and his group often got favorable responses when they talked to country directors. In one instance, a country director in Africa wanted information on the feasibility of using solar power in low-income countries. The bank had an abundance of information on this topic but lacked the means of sharing it electronically. Many in the organization, though, weren't interested in what Denning had to say. "They didn't know what I was talking about," he says. "There were a lot of obstacles because this was a very conservative, change-resistant organization."
Next Page: An Extreme Makeover
An Extreme Makeover
Before Muhsin and the ISG group, which numbered more than 400 by 1998, could provide the necessary support for the four Strategic Partnership Programs (decentralization, knowledge sharing, renewal of bank I.T. and implementation of cost effectiveness) that he had spelled out in the September 1997 bank newsletter, he and his team had to rebuild the bank's infrastructure from the ground up. "Obviously, we had to clean this mess up," Denning says. "If we cleaned it up, we'd be more efficient as a lending organization. But we really needed to get our knowledge in the hands of our partners [government, non-government and private-sector organizations, etc.]. Only then could we solve the world's problems with poverty."
In 1997, the bank selected SAP R/3 4.0B (it later migrated to the 4.6C version) as its primary engine for I.T. improvement. With the SAP ERP system, the bank replaced disparate administrative systems and created a unified I.T. environment so that the same business processes could be used in Washington and in the 100 or so field offices. Eight SAP components—SAP Financials, SAP Fund Management, SAP Controlling, SAP Materials Management, SAP Project Management, SAP Project System, SAP Human Resources-Travel Management and SAP Enterprise Buyer—were brought in to streamline procurement, materials management, project systems and financial reporting.
The bank originally budgeted $43 million for the SAP ERP suite, according to internal bank documents, but the project soon was $10 million over budget. In a story that appeared in a number of publications, including the Harvard Business Review and CIO magazine, Wolfensohn was upset by the overrun and summoned Muhsin to his office to explain. Muhsin, in turn, brought in Ken Thornton, then general manager of IBM's global public sector practice, to address Wolfensohn's concerns. The bank president had a long-standing friendship with IBM's then-CEO, Lou Gerstner, and IBM had been brought in as a strategic partner on the ERP implementation.
After Thornton explained to Wolfensohn that 80% of all ERP implementations ran over budget, Wolfensohn made it clear he wanted the bank to be part of that 20% minority. Thornton pleaded with Wolfensohn not to lose faith and urged him "not to blink." Later, when Muhsin ran into the bank president in the elevator, Wolfensohn assured him he wasn't going to blink. He was as good as his word. According to internal bank documents, he got the bank's board to approve the additional $10 million, and ultimately project costs came to $54.3 million.
In the end, Wolfensohn clearly made the right decision. With the SAP ERP system, which was completed in 18 months, the bank consolidated its legacy systems and databases, while reducing cycle time with electronic approval of projects. "For us at the World Bank, the SAP implementation was a very big deal," Muhsin said in a SAP news release.
The SAP ERP project only represented part of the bank's I.T., process and communications overhaul. "We used SAP for all business transactions and brought in Oracle for databases," says Ronald Kim, information officer for the World Bank Institute (WBI). The WBI serves as the bank's capacity development arm, helping countries share and apply global and local knowledge to meet development challenges.
Specifically, Oracle is being used as the foundation for the bank's Record Integrated Information System. This is the repository for all of the bank's official records, reports, e-mails, and audio and video. With Oracle, the bank was seeking database scalability—a key factor in dealing with a large population of users around the world—as well as availability, performance and security. With Oracle's InterMedia database feature, it can also store and manage multimedia data.
In 2002, the bank began soliciting RFPs for a solution that would enable it to better organize and retrieve the millions of documents, many of them going back almost 60 years and written in dozens of languages, stored within its global repository. In effect, this would serve as the business intelligence solution for the bank's global knowledge sharing system. The vendor chosen—Teragram, a multi-lingual, natural-language technology company based in Cambridge, Mass.—makes categorization software that is used in high-demand environments such as large Internet search engines (Yahoo), major news companies (The New York Times), and numerous Fortune 500 companies and financial organizations. The bank chose Teragram's TK240 Version 5, the company's flagship taxonomy management software (software that automatically analyzes document contents and classifies and categorizes them). Typically, bank employees transmit documents to a document management system that uses the Oracle database. Each of these documents is read by the TK240 software, which applies linguistic-based identification to each document and then assigns meta-data tags based on predetermined indicators.
"Teragram was able to create a system that worked across multiple languages for better categorization, storage and quick retrieval," says Yves Schabes, who co-founded Teragram. "The biggest challenge in a large organization is to be able to find information stored in many environments and many offices and many languages. The larger the organization, the more of an issue this is."
The bank also built its own management dashboard, which enables management to access SAP and Oracle data on the Web and update key business metrics. It brought in Lotus Notes as its e-mail and collaboration tool, and a repository of documents in Lotus Notes databases, according to the WBI's Kim. IBM's Domino.doc, a commercial IBM Lotus product, was acquired primarily for content storage.
Web technology, which the bank characterizes as "the interface of choice for knowledge sharing," was also critical. Beginning in 2003, the bank began what it called the Internet Services Program (ISP), a multi-year project to upgrade its Internet capacities. To support this, it acquired IBM WebSphere Servers and WebSphere Portal Servers; Netegrity Web security software; iPlanet Directory Server; and Vignette content management software.
For online collaboration, it uses Lotus Sametime, a commercial product that provides collaborative tools and workspaces. Google is used to retrieve information from the bank's internal and external Web sites, while Epublish, a home-built Web publishing tool based on the Vignette content management software, is used for content caching.
Next Page: The Ouagadougou Factor
The Ouagadougou Factor
Of course, the essential component necessary to align I.T. with Wolfensohn's decentralized business strategy was a global network. In 1997, the bank began evaluating vendors with an eye to possibly outsourcing its global network needs. One of the questions bank officials asked competing vendors was: Could they supply network connectivity to Ouagadougou? This usually drew a blank stare as the vendors typically had never heard of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, a small, landlocked country in West Africa. The population ranks among the poorest and most illiterate in the world. The bank has had a presence there for years.
With its need to provide service to Bukina Faso and other remote regions of the globe, the bank decided in 1997 to build its own global network infrastructure, a high-speed, reliable network of regional satellites and fiber optics. According to a presentation made by Vidoje P. Brajovic, manager of the Information Solutions Group's Global Connectivity Solutions division, the network consists of three satellites that serve the bank's offices in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East. The bank's headquarters connects by a fiber-optic line to a German teleport, which in turn relays information to two Intelsat satellites. One of the satellites serves Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Middle East; the other serves Asia. Bank headquarters also has connectivity with a third Orion 3 satellite that serves Europe.
With the satellite network going up, the bank in June 2000 began the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), a partnership of what is now more than 120 learning centers. The GDLN offers the use of advanced information and communications technologies, such as interactive videoconferencing, to enable individual bank employees, teams, clients and affiliated organizations working in development around the world to communicate, share knowledge and learn from each others' experiences in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Despite having built a robust satellite network, the bank was constrained by infrastructure limits, especially in developing countries without high-speed networking infrastructures on the ground. As a result, there was a need to provide automated bandwidth among the multiple services (voice, video and data) being offered. Initially, the bank relied on frame relay—a high-speed packet-switching protocol—for this, but that quickly proved unsatisfactory.
"Frame relay is a very expensive solution to implement, which also brings a significant overhead," Brajovic said in a 2003 Cisco case study about the network. Indeed, in running upward of 20,000 videoconferences a year in five to 10 locations concurrently, the overhead was prohibitive, he said. The bank required more than 50 simultaneous connections in place for data, telephony and video applications.
Meanwhile, any attempt to run integrated services over the satellite wide-area networks (WANs) using quality of service (QoS) features would have to overcome satellite connectivity limitations such as an efficient solution for multimedia service. These were not common in local-area networks (the bank had its own LAN in Washington). As a result, existing QoS solutions had to be modified to support the different classes of traffic.
After attending a Cisco executive briefing, bank officials began weighing the potential benefits of moving to converged network services over Internet Protocol (IP). Among them: far lower cost of ownership and administration, improved and more consistent service, and decreased management complexity. After running various pilot tests, the multi-service IP network infrastructure for field offices and distance-learning centers went live in 2003. According to Brajovic, the results have been largely positive. The bank began training its entire staff in IP.
"It's a much simpler approach," Brajovic says. Network management costs have been reduced, while network administrators are utilizing Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), which enables the bank to monitor and control network devices and to manage everything from configurations to security. "In the past, we did not have the capacity to monitor many voice and satellite devices. Now using SNMP-enabled devices, we can control the whole network automatically," he adds.
As of 2003, the annual operating costs for the bank's global communications network came to $12.3 million, according to the Harvard Business School case history. Unit costs per gigabyte of data transmission were lower than those of comparable organizations, one assessment of similar networks by industry analysts found, while cost efficiency normalized per workload was about twice as high as the peer average. "I continue to consider the work done on the World Bank's global network to be of very high quality," I.T. expert McFarlan, who's a professor at the Harvard Business School, told Baseline.
More recently, in May 2005 during the spring meetings of the Internet2 community, GDLN connected with the second-generation Internet, which was developed by a consortium of universities, private companies and the U.S. government to be primarily a research network. Soon after, CIO Muhsin announced that the bank had joined Internet2 as an affiliate member. "The World Bank remains focused on providing countries with the training and resources they need to facilitate economic growth," Muhsin told newsletter Grid Today. "Through our partnership with Internet2, the World Bank can now effectively work with remote countries and provide a richer, more comprehensive learning experience for its global community."
On the Front Lines
Since Muhsin's departure, three fundamental changes have occurred regarding how the bank deals with knowledge sharing. Today, notes Kim of the WBI, knowledge sharing "has been mainstreamed into the organization, into regions and networks. There are today still more than 400 staff with the words 'knowledge management' in their titles. Also, certain key aspects of knowledge sharing such as Web, video databases and portals have been accepted by nearly everyone."
Second, knowledge sharing today is driven not so much by I.T., but by what the bank calls Thematic Groups (almost 100 communities of practice that individually focus on specific areas such as poverty, agriculture and HIV/AIDS). "It has become decentralized within the various regions and networks," Kim says. "What central coordination remains is with the Knowledge and Learning Board, located in our human-resources unit."
Finally, the focus today has shifted from capturing and organizing knowledge to adopting, adapting and applying knowledge in a way that helps bank staff, clients and partners work more effectively to reduce global poverty. Put another way, the bank—through the WBI, which is responsible for the organization's distance-learning and knowledge-sharing initiatives—has been able to help countries share and apply global and local knowledge to meet development challenges, and have a more immediate impact on the regions in which it deals, Kim says.
For instance, in Brazil, where the WBI has its largest program in Latin America, the bank is working with the government on a number of social and environmental issues with a focus on the Amazon region. The bank has stationed a member of the WBI's environmental and natural resources management team there, while creating a lending program as an incentive to curb environmental abuses in the Amazon. Key to this effort is a 180-hour distance-learning course in environmental law that is being provided in partnership with the GDLN Center in the bank's offices in Brazil, the Ministry of the Environment, Banco de Amazon and the bank's Rainforest Unit. The course is being delivered over a three-month period via network connections to learning sites in all nine states encompassing the Amazon. The more than 500 participants are officials from state and municipal environmental agencies.
One of several bank activities in Brazil focused on dealing with enforcement of environmental policies, this kind of program would likely never have been carried out or even attempted as part of traditional World Bank business strategy, according to Kim.
To facilitate its efforts on the front lines, WBI has its own ICT group, Global ICT (GICT), says Philippe Dongier, manager of GICT's Public Sector Policy and Operations Division. According to Dongier, the group differs entirely from the ISG group now headed by Guy-Pierre De Poerck, Muhsin's successor. "That group functions like the I.T. and communications entities in a large, multinational corporation," Dongier says. GICT functions outside the ISG unit and is concerned with providing technological solutions to client countries. "Our biggest challenge [at GICT] is to bring affordable Internet access and communications infrastructure to the regions of the world that are without them," Dongier explains.
Specifically, GICT's mission is "to unleash the power of human capital and give opportunities to the poor through easy access to information," says GICT external affairs officer Henny Rahardja. GICT was founded officially on Jan. 1, 2000, but was one of the first entities to invest in mobile technology in Zaire in 1989. "That was when no one believed in the potential of mobile phones, least of all in Africa," Rahardja recalls.
According to Dongier, the GICT group is relatively small—about 100 people—about one-fourth the size of the ISG staff. It capitalizes on the bank's networking and I.T. capabilities to Webcast training events and workshops, maintain several internal data repositories and its own Intranet site, and share knowledge in regard to things like best practices.
Despite its relatively small size, GICT takes on ambitious private and public sector projects, working in more than 80 countries. Before his retirement, Muhsin viewed the then-fledgling unit and its parent group, WBI, as likely facilitators of major e-government initiatives around the globe.
Currently, GICT is focusing on Africa's "Missing Link"—25 East and Southern African (E&SA) countries where making an international phone call or connecting to high-speed Internet is cost prohibitive.
This is true because the region is not connected to the global fiber-optic broadband infrastructure, and the population is forced to rely on expensive satellite connectivity to link up with each other and the rest of the world. As the only part of Africa that is not connected to the global broadband infrastructure, E&SA accounts for only 0.07% of the world's international bandwidth capacity.
In late March, the World Bank approved $164 million of what will ultimately be a $424 million financial package to the so-called Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP) for high-speed connectivity in E&SA. The initial funding will go to building a regional and national backbone terrestrial network, and an undersea fiber-optic network to provide high-speed bandwidth to Kenya, Burundi and Madagascar. The undersea network will be financed by private financing, the terrestrial network by the World Bank. "This is clearly going to make Africa more open to business and help create jobs, and be good for development for a large number of people in Africa," Dongier says.
Typically, GICT will come into a project like RCIP after the bank has established the groundwork with the country's minister of finance. "We'll subsequently begin working with the country's minister of ICT," Dongier says. On these projects, GICT will offer technical expertise and support, help the country issue licensing to Internet service providers and help establish an independent regulatory body. "It doesn't have to be the equivalent of the FCC," Dongier notes. "There are different models. Countries select which one is best suited to them."
GICT provides any number of statistics showing the benefits of bringing information and communications technologies to developing countries As an example, sales growth is 3.24% higher and value-added per employee $3,400 more among developing-country firms that use e-mail to communicate with customers and suppliers. Internet access in schools in countries such as Chile and Thailand has increased tenfold since 1999.
"The World Bank stands ready to work with countries and the international community to determine how best to use ICT for poverty reduction and economic growth," Mohsin Khalil, GICT's director, said in the bank's 2006 Global Trends and Policies report.
Key to this effort is a number of networks and communities of practice that rely on knowledge sharing. Among them are the Development Gateway, a portal Web site that can be used to share information, ideas, knowledge, resources and tools on poverty reduction and development topics; the World Bank Knowledge Sharing Portal, which provides information about the bank's knowledge-sharing strategy and links to many of the initiatives in the bank that generate and share knowledge; and the Global Development Network, which encourages the exchange of developmental know-how through workshops, networking, research grants and training.
Of course, pure altruism isn't in play here. The geo-political stakes are high in developing emerging countries through loans and technology, but the real benefits of Wolfensohn's vision and Muhsin's realization of same, Dongier says, can be seen in a remote region where a village nurse can use a cell phone to get a diagnosis from a doctor 500 miles away, or at a school in the hinterlands of an impoverished country like Burkina Faso where kids can access the Internet for the first time.
Meanwhile, the architect of the knowledge bank and the CIO who facilitated it have long since moved on. Wolfensohn is running his own investment firm in New York and divides his time between residences in Washington, D.C., New York and Jackson, Wyo.
Muhsin has returned to Sri Lanka, where he sits on several corporate boards and is working as a management consultant. There has been no further word from the bank or Muhsin's lawyer on the allegations that followed his retirement.
Next Page: At a Glance: World Bank
: World Bank">
At a Glance: World Bank
1818 H St. N.W., Washington, DC 20043
Phone Number:
(202) 473-1000
Chief Executive:
Robert B. Zoellick, President
Chief Technology Officer:
Guy-Pierre De Poerck, CIO and Vice President
Total administrative budget, net of reimbursement, for fiscal 2007 is $2.12 billion. Challenge:
Reduce global poverty and improve living standards.
Baseline Goals:
- Deliver the most sophisticated voice, video and data services over the Global Developmental Learning Network (GDLN) to 120 learning centers in 80 countries.
- Create a global archive for more than 60 years of documents and reports that is readily accessible and dramatically increases bank employees' ability to process electronic documents, from fewer than five per hour to more than 50,000 an hour today.
- Create an I.T. infrastructure to support a global network and a decentralized business strategy.
Movers and Shakers
Robert B. Zoellick
World Bank President
In June, Zoellick was chosen to succeed Paul Wolfowitz as the 11th president of the World Bank for a five-year term. Like Wolfowitz, he served in the Bush administration; from 2001 to 2005, Zoellick was deputy secretary of state. At the time of his appointment to the bank, Zoellick was vice chairman, international of Goldman Sachs Group, and a managing director and chairman of Goldman Sachs' Board of International Advisors.
Guy-Pierre De Poerck
CIO and Vice President
Formerly the bank's senior manager, development and informatics, De Poerck replaced Mohamed Muhsin as CIO and vice president. Since taking over as CIO, De Poerck has maintained a lower profile than his highly visible predecessor.
Philippe Dongier
Manager, Global ICT Department, Public Sector Policy and Operations Division
A McKinsey & Co. alumnus, Dongier joined the bank in 1998. He has played a range of leadership roles in the infrastructure and sustainable development sectors, and worked on operations and analytical work in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Dongier managed the bank's support of Afghanistan's reconstruction, and led an initiative on strengthening the bank's organizational effectiveness. He recently authored a World Bank report, "Infrastructure: Lessons from the Last Two Decades of World Bank Engagement." At present, he is leading the bank's $424 million Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program on East and Southern Africa.
Paul Wolfowitz
World Bank President (2005-2007)
A major architect of the Bush administration's Iraq policy and former deputy secretary of defense, Wolfowitz was named the World Bank's president in June 2005. He identified sub-Saharan Africa as the region most challenged to improve living standards, while making clear his intention to fight corruption within the bank. Ironically, he resigned his post, effective June 30, after an internal panel tasked with investigating the lucrative pay and promotion package Wolfowitz arranged in 2005 for his partner, Shaha Riza, found him guilty of breaking bank rules.
James Wolfensohn
World Bank President (1995-2005)
Wolfensohn orchestrated the decentralization of the bank; he realized the value of using I.T. and a global network to extend the bank's reach and transform it into a "knowledge bank." He is generally viewed as one of the bank's most effective presidents. He now runs his own investment company in New York.
Mohamed Muhsin
Former World Bank CIO and Vice President
Muhsin was the bank's first-ever CIO; his mandate was to revamp the bank's outdated and disorganized I.T. structure, and build its global network. After Muhsin retired in November 2005, The Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report ran stories claiming that he had taken stock from one of the bank's vendors—charges Muhsin's lawyer vehemently denies. Currently, he is a management consultant and serves on several corporate boards.
Stephen Denning
Former Program Director, Knowledge Management
Denning was the original head of the bank's knowledge management program and worked under Muhsin. "We needed to make knowledge at least as important as lending," he says. Denning, however, encountered stiff resistance from the bank's old guard and left a year after the knowledge management group was moved from I.T.'s oversight to operations. Denning now works as a Washington, D.C.-based knowledge management consultant.
: the World Bank's Key Resources">
By the Numbers: the World Bank's Key Resources
Number of World Bank employees.


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First look: VMware vSphere 4.1 keeps the virtualization crown
With scalability improvements, network and storage I/O control, and countless other enhancements, VMware continues to redefine the possibilities for server virtualization
VMware has never been a company to rest on its laurels, and the release of VMware vSphere 4.1 demonstrates its continued effort on extending the capabilities of virtualization. There are still a few bumps here and there, such as quirky HA configuration issues, but from my preliminary testing, it seems clear that the best virtualization solution available today just got better.
While significant features have been added to the new version, there is no sea change in terms of core functionality or administrative interfaces as we saw with the initial move to VMware vSphere 4.0. VMware has built on that base and added several enterprise-level features that will likely prove extremely handy to midrange and large-scale VMware-based infrastructures.
[ Also on InfoWorld: The six-core Intel Westmere CPU and server blade systems from Dell, HP, and IBM are primed for virtualization. See "InfoWorld review: Intel's Westmere struts its stuff" and "Blade server review: Dell, HP, and IBM battle for the virtual data center." ]
Scaling vSphere hosts, clusters, and data centers
First off, some numbers: VMware vSphere 4.1 can support up to 3,000 virtual machines per cluster and 1,000 hosts per vCenter server, both roughly three times the limits in vSphere 4.0. The number of virtual machines per data center now maxes out at 5,000, which is twice the previous limit. Those are some big numbers that affect only the big deployments, but they will greatly simplify administration at that level.
On top of the augmented scalability, VMware has added a pile of new features aimed at simplifying VM management. Some enhancements to the vCLI command-line interface allow for extra virtual machine controls, while some enhancements to the host profile capability permit finer-grained control over ESX servers. Host lockdown mode and host power management have also been improved. Virtual machine serial ports can now be accessed over the network, and you can leverage Active Directory to control authentication to the ESX hosts themselves, rather than relying on local authentication or other methods.
Plenty of other new features in 4.1 should have an immediate impact on VMware deployments. There's a new method of memory management that relies on compression over swap during low memory situations. Someone figured out it's faster to compress memory pages than swap those pages to disk. This carries some processing overhead, naturally, but with today's 6-, 8-, and 12-core CPUs, overhead is much less of an issue. By using memory compression, you can squeeze even more VMs on a single host.
Also, vSphere 4.1 boasts vMotion speed improvements, enhancements to Distributed Resource Scheduler's VM affinity rules, and updates to the Enhanced VMotion Compatibility processor support that now encompasses more CPUs. I can attest to the VMotion speedup, as I was able to conduct a wide variety of VMotion tasks that were faster on vSphere 4.1 than on vSphere 4.0.
Yet, it's unclear whether the agency will reclassify broadband as a regulated utility
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subset: commoncrawl


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Download this free, 128-page Primary Packaging Line Equipment Playbook jam-packed with strategies for success, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid. Learn more >>
Video | February 28, 2001
RxPak: Special lift automatically fills overhead hopperOn this prescription drug repackaging line, the Swiftlift, supplied by Swiftpack Automation, another DT Industries division, is a bucket mounted on a vertical shaft.
The bucket receives tablets from a floor-level hopper whenever a photocell signals that tablets are needed. The bucket then rises quickly to replenish the overhead hoppers above two electronic tablet counters.
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Friday 18 January 2013, 16:01
It's been a great week for BBC Introducing on BBC 1Xtra. Each week night, MistaJam has linked up with BBC Introducing presenters from all across the UK, serving as a great opportunity to showcase the best up-and-coming artists from their regions.Clockwise from top left: Zaheer, Ady Suleiman, AZ&TOR, The Du' Montts
The teams from BBC Introducing in the West, BBC Introducing in Beds, Herts and Bucks, BBC Introducing in the East Midlands and BBC Introducing in Manchester talked to MistaJam about their local scene and highlighted three artists to look out for. There were exclusive tracks from producer and artist Zaheer, Bristol duo A.z.&T.o.r and acoustic performances by Nottingham singer-songwriter Ady Suleiman and Manchester sister duo The Du'Montts.
You can listen back to all the shows by following the links below. They are available for seven days.
Monday: BBC Introducing in Beds, Herts and Bucks with Zaheer
Tuesday: BBC Introducing in the East Midlands with Ady Suleiman
Wednesday: BBC Introducing in the West with A.z.&T.o.r
Thursday: BBC Introducing in Manchester with The Du'Montts
If you are interested in getting your music heard, sign up and submit your best tracks through the BBC Introducing Uploader. Find your local show and listen to the teams who will be checking out your tracks here.
All posts are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules.
Join the discussion...
Thursday 17 January 2013, 15:04
Monday 21 January 2013, 10:12


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Saucony PowerGrid Hurricane 15 Running Shoe - Men'sView Larger Image
- Detail Images
- Videos
More miles but less impact―what a deal.
Successor to the acclaimed Hurricane 14, the Saucony Men's Hurricane 15 Running shoe blends the features of a traditional stability shoe with the flexible feel of your favorite lightweight trainer. High-mileage runners will feel less road impact thanks to cushioning in the heel and midfoot, while mild over-pronators will find their stride easily thanks to the medial post in the midfoot. Not a brand to mess with a good thing, Saucony changed little in the way of the midsole or outsole used in the Hurricane 14, choosing only to add a Support Frame to the upper improve the overall fit. Although generously cushioned, the Hurricane features a moderate 8mm heel-forefoot drop that allows you to transition between foot strike styles, from heel to forefoot.
Saucony's family of guidance shoes also includes the Guide 6, an everyday running shoe that's lighter and less expensive than the Hurricane, but also less cushioned at the midsole and lacking the Support Frame upper that gives the Hurricane its close feel. For runners in need of serious pronation correction, the Omni 11 offers many of the same features touted by the Hurricane with additional motion control.
- Upper combines the molded support of a Support Frame structer and the Sauc-Fit System locks the midfoot to the midsole platform to eliminate slopiness or sliding of the foot
- HydraMax Collar Lining is a plush lining material that keeps your ankle and achilles comfortable
- ComfortLite Sockliner is exclusive to Saucony and uses breathable, open-cell foam to provides light cushioning and it features an antimicrobial treatment to repel odor-causing bacteria
- HRC+ Strobel Board offers plush, smooth cushioning thanks to 1.5mm of EVA foam underneath the foot
- PowerGrid uses foam cushioning and a grid midsole support for the most balanced combination of responsiveness and comfort
- Medial post includes Saucony's Impact Interface that cushions and isolates heel impact and the SRC Impact Zone compound that soaks up shock and impact from the road
- Injection blown rubber outsole is finished with XT-900 carbon rubber for exceptional traction and durability
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Saucony PowerGrid Hurricane 15 Running
comfortable and supportive
very comfortable and supportive shoes. They have held up to some rough abuse in the past 2 months that ive had them. the inner material above the toes is slightly starting to wear, but the outer layer is holding up great.


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AgileLayer software, methods and professional services enable high-impact, sustainable business transformations through Capabilities-driven business modeling, ideation & planning techniques.
Combines visual Business Modeling, Analysis and Roadmapping facilities to optimally align and deliver Strategies, Goals, Capabilities and Plans.
Methods, Software, Templates and Best Practices for optimizing the strategy-to-execution process.
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Dynamic, extensible, software-based solution for the ACORD Insurance Capability Model.
Rapid immersion in the use of Business Capabilities Engineering techniques.
Drive adoption of high-impact, value-based Business Architecture programs.
Identify, prioritize and communicate Business Architecture adoption risks and requirements.
Guide and optimize your Capabilities-driven Business Planning and Portfolio Management program.


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Beach Rental Packages
|Ceremony Options
|Ceremony Packages
|Beach Packages
|A la carte Options
|Menu Options
|AMIR Pergola
Once you have spoken to one of our wedding planning team members, complete this Contact Sheet for your options.
Tradewinds & Tortuga
Package 1.
Beach Ceremony $800.00
Cordoned off section of the beach
Package 2.
Event Fee $600.00
(Units 268, Tortuga & Tradewinds bay front apartments only)
All bay front apartments must be rented in order to hold an event at those locations
Package 3.
Pergola Rental $3000.00
Rental of pergola for your event.
8 60" tables
75 white chairs
8 white floor length table cloths
75 white linen napkins
4 hrs Security to assist with crossing the street
Includes cordoned off section of beach
Seaside & Tropic Isle Inn
Rental of beach for ceremony and reception location. $3000.00
20 x 30 pole tent
8 60" tables
75 white chairs
8 white floor length table cloths
75 white linen napkins
*all are subject to an additional 6.5% sales tax.
*Entire property must be rented.


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Department of Professional Education
A three-year online program
Earn your teacher licensure for K-8 certification while completing nearly all of your coursework online. The Distributed Learning in Teacher Education program (DLiTE) combines online learning and periodic classroom instruction for convenience and professional collaboration. Online courses are enriched by three face-to-face group sessions with colleagues each year in the Minneapolis area.
Earn certification. The online program meets all the Minnesota Board of Teaching requirements.
Eligibility: Students must have an associate of arts degree, bachelor of science or bachelor of arts degree and a 2.5 GPA to be eligible for admission.
Credits required for a bachelor's degree: 120 credits, which includes completion of liberal education requirements
Credits required for major: 63 semester credits.
Delivery options: online courses, plus three face-to-face sessions each year
>Learn more about the DLiTE program at Bemidji State University.


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Simply Chateau Discount Coupons
If you want coupons for simplychateau.com, then GetDiscountCoupon.com is the place for you. Just click on the code to copy simplychateau.com discount code. Then paste it in the coupon box during checkout and click apply. This amount will be automatically deducted from total price. We're always updating new Simply Chateau discount coupons.
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Rent a chateau in France! Chateau rentals are an excellent choice for families & friends to enjoy a holiday together. Book directly with the owner and save. Simply Chateau was set up in 2003 after two old school chums enjoyed a fantastic holiday with friends in a French chateau in the Dordogne. Oliver & Ravi, the two directors, were amazed at what terrific value these stunning chateaux rentals represented and decided to spread the word. Today we deliver the widest range of holiday chateaux in every region of France with properties to suit everybody's needs. From charming manor houses representing great value for money to fully catered & serviced luxury chateaux. We have a fantastic range of wedding chateaux rentals, ideal for that dream destination wedding in France - So why not have your wedding ceremony and reception in a luxury French chateau? Weddings in France are becoming increasingly popular as they offer an unusual wedding venue and a far better value alternative to hosting your wedding in the UK. Simply Chateau processes the bookings and credit card payments on the chateau owner's behalf. As soon as your booking is confirmed you will be emailed the full contact details of the chateau owner which you have booked with. This allows you to contact the owner direct should you need any further info about the chateau itself or what the surrounding area has to offer.
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You should check any restrictions and policies before applying coupon, such as expiration date, because some coupons are valid for very short period, So if you need a Latest Simplychateau.com Promo Coupon / promotion code please BOOKMARK US (Ctrl + D) and check this site frequently. And one important thing some coupon codes are case-sensitive.
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Your Pop Alternative Source
Happy New Year, we're pleased to be announced as support for Bastille on their May/June N.American tour for the dates below. Tickets go on sale this Friday. Big news from the studio coming very soon.
13 Raleigh, NC - The Ritz - http://goo.gl/iDfA9M
15 Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore -…Continue
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OK, gang. Here's your chance to have your Natalia Kills fan art turned into an official single cover for a future single. …Continue
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Senior Member
The ult does not work that way in WTF mode......Have you actually ever play that hero with other people instead of bot?
anyway, Earthshaker, Zeus, Warlock, and spectre is the most imba at WTF
Skeleton King?
It works in that every time you die, you come back to life, regardless of what they do to you.
I only play WTF mode with other people.
Best WTF hero is Silencer. Once you hit 6 it's basically game over for the enemy team. Especially if that same team has a Zeus.
Fox P McCloud
LoL @ all the people complaining about sluggishness. I'm truly sorry Dota 2 actually has proper turn rates, attack animations and casting animations too. Also the shop is fine in fact the shop in Dota 2 is a lot more efficient than LoL's I find. It has a search bar, quick buy system, customisable recommended items list and a 2-page item icon grid view.
© 2014 Riot Games, Inc. All rights reserved. Riot Games, League of Legends and PvP.net are trademarks, services marks, or registered trademarks of Riot Games, Inc.


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Reviewed by 1 customer
- Stylish
Best Uses
Comments about K Swiss Lozan Varsity (Kids Youth):
Bought it for my daughter as a school uniform. It is stylish compared to other school sneakers. And my daughter loves them
- Sizing:
- Feels true to size
- Width:
- Feels true to width
- View On Shoes:
- Shoes are for Wearing
{ entityCount: 0 }


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WASHINGTON, December 19, 2012 — It's time to look at some of the notable soccer events from 2012. Here's my Top Ten.
10. Andriy Shevchenko - One of the best moment of at Euro 2012, hosted by Poland and Ukraine, was Andriy Shevchenko's brace of goals in Ukraine's comeback 2-1 win over Sweden on June 11. The 35-year-old, clearly in his twilight days as a player after an illustrious career at AC Milan, Chelsea and Dynamo Kyiv, pulled of a stunning performance to propel the co-hosts into the knockout round where they lost to England.
9. David Beckham - Mr. Beckham wrapped up his Major League Soccer career as a two-time champion on Dec. 2nd, helping the Los Angeles Galaxy down the Houston Dynamo 3-1 in the MLS Cup. It was the Galaxy consecutive MLS title. Beckham, 37, joined the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2007. During the during the Beckham era MLS started play in San Jose (2008), Seattle (2009), Philadelphia (2010), Vancouver and Portland (2011), and Montreal (2012). That raised the total to 19 teams in the league.
8. U.S. women win Olympic medal - The United States women won its third straight Olympic gold medal beating Japan 2-1 before 80,203 fans at Wembley Stadium in London on Aug. 9th, in a rematch of the 2011 World Cup final. Carli Lloyd scored in both halves to avenge the U.S. team's most painful loss in its history. Yuki Ogimi answered for Japan in the 63rd minute.
7. Mexico upset Brazil to win gold medal - Mexico won its first Olympic gold medal in men's soccer at Wembley in England downing Brazil 2-1 on Aug. 11. Oribe Peralta opened the scoring on the 29 second mark. Peralta added another goal in the second half, while Hulk earned a late consolation goal for Brazil. Brazil has yet to win an Olympic Gold Medal.
6. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - The Swedish striker scored one of the greatest goals in the history of the game in Sweden's 4-2 win over England on Nov. 14 in an exhibition game. England goalie Joe Hart, way outside his 18-yard box, failed to clear the ball with a header. Instead, the keeper headed the the ball aimlessly high into the air. It was ideal bait for the predatory skills of the gangly Ibrahimovic. With his back to goal, Ibrahimovic went airborne with the ease of an acrobat. He struck the ball with his right foot over his head with a stylish bicycle kick, sending it looping into the England net.
5. Spain wins Euro 2012 - Spain crushed Italy 4-0 in Kiev, Ukraine on July 2 to claim the Euro 2012 title and its third consecutive major tournament. Pundits praised the Spanish team as the best ever in the history of soccer. After winning Euro 2008 in Vienna and the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg, Spain completed an unprecedented hat trick for a European nation.
4. Lionel Messi - Mr. Messi breaks Gerd Mueller's 40-year-old record for most goals in a year on Dec. 9. In Barcelona's game against Real Betis in the Spanish league, Messi scored his 85th and 86th goals in 2012 to break the German's stars record. Mueller scored 85 for Bayern Munich and West Germany in 1972.
3. Chelsea win Champions League - Everything appeared set for Bayern Munich to win its first Champion League title since 2001. On May 20, the German's were playing on their home turf at the Allianz Arena in Munich and took the lead on Thomas Muller's header in the 83rd minute. But Didier Drogba soared from a corner to head home the equalizer in the 88th minute and force 30 minutes of extra time, which ended 1-1. Chelsea went on to win the penalty shootout 4-3 and leave the German fans in disbelief.
2. Chelsea stuns Barcelona to advance to Champions League - Chelsea defied
expectations by humbling Barcelona and sending the Spanish giants out of the Champions League in the semifinal round on April 24. Chelsea, playing with 10 men from the 37th minute after John Terry was sent off, fought back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw before 90,000 fans at the Camp Nou and advance to final 3-2 on aggregate. It was a stunning result. Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta put Barcelona up 2-0 by the 44th minute but Ramires' lob just before the break and Fernando Torres late goal destroyed Barcelona's hopes. Messi missed a penalty in the 49th minute.
1. Manchester City wins the Premier League - It will go down as one of the greatest games in English soccer. Manchester City's hopes of winning its first league title in 44 years seemed dashed as the club went into injury time against lowly Queens Park Rangers 2-1 down. At that moment 139 miles away, Manchester United had beaten Sunderland 1-0 and looked to have claimed the Premier League title again. But in a memorable comeback, Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero scored injury-time goals to give City a dramatic 3-2 win. Aguero's winner came on the 3:20 mark into injury time.
Other notable events: Rangers FC were demoted to the fourth tier of Scottish soccer because of financial irregularities; Celtic beats Barcelona 2-1 in a shocker at Parkhead; Tijuana won its first Mexican league title, defeating Toluca, 4-1 on aggregate and in August the U.S. team wins in Mexico for the first time. In February, the U.S. team defeated Italy for the first time, 1-0.
John Haydon wrote a weekly soccer column for The Washington Times. He has covered two World Cups and written about Major League Soccer from the league's inception in 1996.
Follow John on Twitter at @Johnahaydon
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.


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Cuisinart CBT-500 SmartPower Premier Blender - 600 Watts, 50oz Glass Jar, Stainless Steel Cutting Assembly, Ice Crush Button, (Refurbished)Item#: C174-1017 | Model#: CBT-500FR |
Currently Out Of Stock!
You May Consider This Alternative
Additional Resources
Cuisinart CBT-500 SmartPower Premier Blender Product Details
Cuisinart CBT-500 SmartPower Premier Blender
The Cuisinart CBT-500 SmartPower Premier Blender is a 600 watt blender that can handle the toughest blending tasks with ease, even ice crushing! The Count-Up Timer helps to keep track of recipe time for perfect results. You can double and triple your recipes in the large capacity 50-ounce (1.5-liter) glass blender jar. The Cuisinart CBT-500 SmartPower Premier Blender even has top-of-the-line heavy cast metal and stainless construction that adds sophistication to any kitchen.
What It Is And Why You Need It
- Count-Up timer with continuous beep after 5 minutes blending time
- Easy push-on cover with removable measured pour lid for easy access
A Closer Look
- Cast metal and stainless housing with embossed Cuisinart logo
- Count-Up timer with continuous beep
- Easy-to-use push-button controls
- Powerful 600-watt motor
- 50-ounce glass jar
- Easy push-on cover with removable measured pour lid
- Instruction/Recipe book
What's Included
The terms refurbished and recertified are used interchangeable to describe products that manufacturers refurbished, inspected, brought back to original manufacturers specification then tested and repackaged for sale. Some manufacturers refurbish products themselves and others use a qualified third party refurbisher. Refurbished products represent a great value and we offer them with confidence knowing that every refurbished product was tested at least twice, once when it was first manufactured and again during the refurbishing process. Refurbished products are warranted by either the original manufacturer or the manufacturers third party refurbisher. Warranty terms applicable to refurbished products may vary; see below for specific warranty information and consider purchasing an extended service plan if you desire even more coverage.
Additional Resources: Product Manuals
Manufactured by: Cuisinart
Warranty provided by: Cuisinart
Limited Warranty: 3 months parts; 3 months labor
Mfg Part No: CBT-500FR
UPC No: 086279006479
Box Size: ( Length:10, Width:8, Depth:14)
Shipping Weight: 12.5000 pound(s)
Click here for full warranty and support information
- Limited Warranty: A full text version of the limited warranty
may be obtained by mailing a self addressed, stamped envelope to the
address below and requesting the warranty for item number: C174-1017
Warranty Information
7795 W. Flagler St. Suite 35
Miami, FL. 33144
- Cuisinart logos are registered trademarks of Cuisinart. All others trademarks and copyrights mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.


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The slipcover was surprisingly easy to put on, with stickers on the cover indicating front or back of couch. I was surprised it went on so easily! Once it was on it took a bit of adjusting to get all the right bits tucked in so that it fit snugly because it was a bit on the big side for my couch. I have to say both covers that I ordered from this manufacturer were a bit too big, not that this was such a problem, all I needed to do was tuck in the excess material in to the folds of the couch. The only negative thing i can think of is that in order for it to stay looking neat, you constantly have to retuck it in after sitting on the couch because it gets creased. Otherwise I would definately recommend it to a friend. I haven't washed it yet so I don't know how it looks after it's been washed. But the material looks like it's good quality and can stand a wash.
I've been using this slipcover for apx. 2 months now. It is very durable, and they do make the living room appear more reto. But there is alot of pulling and retucking going on all the time. I like everything about the silp cover, even the color gives a great appearance. I do want to add that I would only recommend this style for furniture in a formal living area, where there isn't alot of activity. Mine is in a high activity room, and eventually I placed my seat cushions on top of the slipcovers. This method is working out better for me, and I don't have to tuck as often. My orginal couch color blends nicely and it works for me.
Seemed like a good deal for a good name slip cover, but it was difficult to fit and did not stay in place.
It fit my couch very well. I have a queen size sleeper with T-cushions. The color was a nice shade of light green and it goes well with my living room decor. I plan to purchase another in a different color for my bedroom couch. Also it was much cheaper than buying it straight from the manufacturer.
The material is a good quality but it wrinkles quite easily. I could never get it to look or fit quite right. I've used slipcovers before. This one doesn't muster up.
I was a little nervous of how the color would look (linen) but it looks just like the picture. The sofa covers fit with a little elbow grease and some manipulation really nicely. My couches are about 15 years old and in great physical condition, just the color wasn't to my liking so these covers have a nice stretch and cover them very well. I'm pleased.
The slip covers arrived in a very timely manner. The fabric is durable and the color true to the example. It wasn't difficult to fit both the love seat and sofa with the covers. The directions were great and the illustrations very helpful. I did both sofa and love seat in about 45 minutes.
I have an average sized loveseat and the cover didn't fit. The couch one fit, but the loveseat didn't, so now I have to decide if I want them to not match, return both of them, or just cut the loveseat one to make it fit. I'm pretty disappointed.
Usually leaves our warehouse in 1-2 business days. *
Items must be returned in new or unused condition and contain all original materials included with the shipment. More details
FINAL SALE EXCLUSION: Items marked as FINAL SALE are not returnable unless the problem you experience is the result of our error.
Our standard shipping method is ground shipping. We also offer expedited shipping for most items. Your final shipping cost and estimated delivery timeframe will be available at checkout.
Standard shipping details
Expedited shipping details
* For your protection, all orders are screened for security purposes. If your order is selected for review, our Loss Prevention Team may contact you by phone or email. There may be a two business day delay to process your order.
** Most Oversize orders are delivered within 1-4 weeks. Some orders may take 6 weeks to be delivered.


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Summer Music Academy
Presented by Music Department, Gordon College at Phillips Music Center, Gordon College
June 28, 2010
This day camp runs Monday, June 28 - July 2 at Gordon College for kids in 4th-12th grades. Registration available online. Students interested in vocal and instrumental music are encouraged to attend. Cost includes access to rock wall and pool on campus.
Phillips Music Center, Gordon College
255 Grapevine Road
Wenham, MA 01984
Admission Info:
$275/child, scholarships available
General Day and Time Info:
June 28, 9:00AM-4:00PM; (Please arrive by 8:30 on 6/28 for registration)
Accessibility Information: Currently, no accessibility information is available for this event.
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Johanna "Mickey" Cisewski, 75, 2024 Minnesota Ave., died Sunday, Aug. 27, 2000, at her home.
A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at St. Joseph Catholic Church, with the Rev. Allan Burkhardt officiating. Burial will be in Guardian Angel Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 9:30 a.m. Thursday at the church until the services.
Pisarski/Dzikoski Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.
Mrs. Cisewski was born Aug. 18, 1925, in Bamberg, Germany, a daughter of the late Franz and Anna Rumer.
She was married to Norman Cisewski on July 5, 1951, in Bamberg, Germany. He died March 16, 1976.
After the marriage, they came to the United States in 1952. Before settling in Stevens Point, they lived in Missouri, upper Michigan and Oklahoma. She lived in her Stevens Point residence for nearly 40 years.
Survivors include one son, Dr. Klaus (Hortensia) Rumer, Bamberg, Germany; one sister, Lily, Germany; three grandchildren; and her adopted U.S. family George and Sandi Lepak.
She was also preceded in death by one brother, Ineal.


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People arrive on a school bus at Newtown High School for a memorial vigil attended by President Barack Obama for the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. A gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing 26 people, including 20 children. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) - A school principal at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school says it has been locked down due to unspecified threats.
Most schools in Newtown opened on Tuesday, four days after a gunman fatally shot 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
But in a letter to parents published by WFSB-TV, the principal says students at Head O'Meadow Elementary School should stay home because police were prepared to have the school in lockdown. School officials said the lockdown was normal procedure because some threats were predicted by police.
All other schools in town, except Sandy Hook, opened on Tuesday.
A police dispatcher would not confirm the lockdown.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Skip to comments.Sheen on Obama: "A Coward In A Cheap Suit.."
Posted on 03/04/2011 12:54:15 PM PST by DeathBeforeDishonor1
Quit hiding, its embarrassing, actor rages at President..
(Excerpt) Read more at beforeitsnews.com ...
Once in awhile a nutjob like Sheen gets it right , even if its for the wrong reasons....
obama's in trouble if he loses the Hollywood Crackhead vote...
"Duh winning"~Charlie Sheen
He keeps saying things like this, and I'll end up liking him.
RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.
I think Charlie also called on Obama to quote "get on the right side of history" unquote in regards to 9/11.
IOW, an "inside job".
Surely not muslim terrorists, eh?
But it's rather amusing, this tidbit.
I might have reconsider the question of Sheen's sanity.
>>>I might have reconsider the question of Sheens sanity.
Nothing to question. He's nuttier than squirrel poop.
Go Charlie!
So we're supposed to like Sheen because he's a drug-overwhelmed Truther?
Well, those are his best qualities...
I think this is what most drug addicts and alcoholics refer to as a "moment of clarity."
Sheen reached the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.
The circular firing squad is forming & it will be fun to watch as they self destruct.
Now that was funny.
If I recall correctly, Charlie pretty quickly recanted his support for the possibility of 9/11 being an inside job once someone gave him some real facts.
Charley Sheen does have some lucid moments.
Then why is he making a big deal of Obama not answering his 20 Truther questions?
I would certainly hope so. Had one guy who still thought a missile hit the Pentagon. Even though another guy we chatted with had a friend who was actually outside and saw the plane.
Just when I thought I could never like Sheen again...
No wonder they took his two boys away from him. An out-of-work actor just insulted president Barack Hussein Obama. He really hurt Obama's feelings and Obama now needs to take a powder. he is unconsolable, so in his anger he submits, his 2012 Budget proposal 58 billion for a train.
today he flys to Florida, seeing if he convince the judge not to grant another stay to Gov Rick Scott regarding tampa bay to Orlando. but he was unsuccessful.
Always known Sheen was a nutcase, but I have always liked him, still do. If I was going out on a bender, I'd invite him
Ruh roh. Obama's toast for sure now. After all, Charlie Sheen unleashed a tirade again him.
Just because Sheen's own life is a train wreck in progress, doesn't mean he can't get it right about Obama. Perhaps on one level the drugs and sex are improving his clarity.
Obama's response will be to get more expensive suits.
Thanks DeathBeforeDishonor1.
Charlie! MY Brother!
LOL - Go Charlie!
Me too. Duh, winning!
Fixed it for ya, dearie. ;-)
Thanks! :')
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Chelsea in January Transfer Window – Ashley Cole
Chelsea defender Ashley Cole's future in the club seems in limbo following the player's mother mentioned the 31-year-old is going to be departing the Blues shortly which his destination wouldn't be a much trip around the Eurostar.
Ashley Cole seems to be his way to Paris St Germain following the Chelsea defender's mother suggested on Facebook he could be 'Not too much around the Eurostar'.
The England international has run out of contract in the finish of year and it has been ready for an extended deal compared to one-year contract extension on offer at Stamford Bridge.
The 31-year-old continues to be associated with a proceed to Premier League rivals Manchester United and La Liga champions Real Madrid however it appears he'll proceed to Ligue 1 to connect together with his former Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti, based on his mother a minimum of.


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"Back to Life and as Good as Ever"
Having downloaded the book a few minutes after two in the morning, the day of its release, and taking only a few hours to catch a little sleep, and do that annoying thing called work in between, I just came up for air having spent the best eighteen hours and fifty minutes that I have spent in a long time. Then, taking time only to reacquaint myself with the family again, I couldn't wait to write this review; Kudos to those reviewers who could transcend time.
Harry's back and he's alive again. For those keeping up on the series he had been dead in the last book and only by the help of Mab was he able to come back to the mortal world; but now he belongs to the Queen of Winter as her white knight. Of course, this is Harry and he has every intention of defying her whenever he can.
The story begins in Artic Tor where Harry meets some new "friends," and begins his rehab; coming back to life is not easy.
After some interesting rehab exercises, orchestrated by Mab, Harry almost feels like his old self again and then receives a surprise birthday party, thrown by some of his new winter court friends.
Having survived his birthday party Harry receives his first assignment as the new white knight.
In order to complete his assignment, and keep his island Demonreach from exploding and taking half of Chicago with it, Harry seeks out his old companions; Bob, the skull, His half-brother Thomas, Molly his apprentice, and the pizza loving faeire general Toot-Toot, to name a few.
This was a great listening experience; Jim Butcher writes a superb story and the narrator, James Marsters, is Harry Dresden and gives a fantastic performance.
"Dying isn't enough this time"
Now that earth has become enforcers for the Galactic Empire in this part of the universe Specialist James McGill and Legion Varus have been assigned guard duty on a High Tech Planet called Tau Ceti, better known appropriately as Tech World; but even before they can embark on their mission some political infighting and McGill's uncontrollable need to express his opinion lands him in trouble again.
Once matters are somewhat settled McGill and Legion Varus ship out for Tau Ceti where dying isn't enough this time as the mercenaries must cope with greed and corruption on a planetary scale. As usual McGill will take it upon himself to make choices and decisions that could affect all of humanity as possible big changes concerning the entire Galactic Empire are coming to light.
B.V Larson's main concept of re-growing bodies and retrieving memory leads to some interesting sub-plots in this latest installment in his series. From previous books we have learned that there are rules set in place regarding "Re-growths." A person must be verified to be deceased before a new grow can occur to prevent multiples of the same person for instance, and if one does not die over the years it is recommended that the data banks be updated so a person doesn't come back looking ten or fifteen years younger; both of these scenarios are explored in this book.
The narrator, Mark Boyett, gives another good performance and I look forward to the next book.
Scott Brick's narration sets an eerie tone in this mystery thriller about a man, Jacob Underwood, who lives in a near-future dystopian world in which he makes a living as an assassin. After experiencing a near life ending motorcycle accident Underwood believes he is one of the living dead making him a cold, emotionless, systematic killer with only a "spark," of humanity left in him. This detached life style, however, soon becomes tested when he is given the most challenging assignments of his career.
The mysterious writer, who goes by the pseudonym, John Twelve Hawks and is the author of "The Fourth Realm," seems to intertwine his own personal mistrust of governments and corporations into his writing but the end result is a rich and engaging story.
"The beginning- or a plot filler"
Earth unaware is a prequel to the Ender series and I guess the listener/ reader could begin with this series and then move on to Ender Games; but having already listened to the entire Orson Scott Card's series, listening to Earth Unaware gave me such an Ominous sense of foreboding; and, even though I know what was coming, it kept my ears glued to the story.
I believe it fills a void that was missing from "Ender Games." It gives us a more detailed background story about earth and the characters that will play a major part in the war, before the Formic, or "Buggers" attack.
This is not a standalone book, of course, and there are many sub-plots left hanging for the next book in the series, but O.S.C. is such a polished and professional writer that it was a satisfying start. His character development is superior; and, as he eludes to in his authors notes, he writes each segment of the book as if it were a scene in a play making the dialogue come to life.
A word about the narration; I'm not usually a fan of an assembled cast, preferring one talented narrator, but I thought they all did a superb job.
"The third druid"
In the last book of the Iron Druid Series, "Hunted," Atticus O'Sullivan's apprentice, Granuaile, finally became a full-fledged druid in her own right; she even adopted her own Irish wolfhound. After two thousand years of walking the earth alone the Iron Druid was no longer the only living druid. Then at the end of "Hunted," Atticus discovers another druid frozen on one of the Time Islands; his old arch druid, who goes by the modern name, Owen Kennedy. Once Atticus's "thaws" him out Owen becomes druid number three.
Now in "Shattered," Atticus must indoctrinate his old arch druid into the modern world; but with the old man's surly disposition it's not an easy job.
Meanwhile Granuaile gets some distressing news about her father and must go off on her own to deal with the situation. Her journey takes her to India, where she meets an old friend, must visit some snow folk in the Himalayans, and then go back to India and due battle against a supernatural creature with the help of one of the Hindu gods.
We still get several doses of Oberon's canine philosophy. Loki, the unstable Norse god is still around ready to start Ragnarok; and Atticus still needs to find out which one of Tuatha Dé Danann is out to get him.
Relationships seem to be the predominate theme in this latest installment; besides Granuaile, Atticus now has a sort of father figure in his arch druid Owen. Granuaile must deal with her father and later on confront her feelings about her mother; even the Tuatha Dé Danann have relationship issues.
Luke Daniels gives another great performance as usual.
"They're back ready to die; again"
James McGill and Legion Varus are off on another mission ready to piss off the Galactics and the rest of the universe while still trying to keep earth safe in B.V. Larson futuristic military world.
In the first book of this series, "Steel World," humans found out that they were not the dominate species in the universe; in fact, as far as the Galactics are concerned, humans are about as significant as ants. Earth is considered a fringe planet with no real significance and would have simply been destroyed unless they could come up with a unique or superior trade good. With the help of some negotiated alien technology earth found its trade; undying mercenaries. In "Steel World," the superiority of their trade good was tested but thanks to James McGill and Legion Varus earth's viability survived.
In "Dust World," the resolve of the human spirit is once again tested. Earth finds out there is another planet that has been colonized by humans, Separatist's that wanted to get away from earths rules and govern themselves; but since it is against Galactic law for a planet to colonize Earth sends Legion Varus to handle the situation. Not sure exactly how his legion is supposed to "handle," this situation Specialist James McGill has some concerns about this mission. It is a dilemma that could put him at odds with his Legion and possibly place all of earth in jeopardy if the Galactics find out about the colony, but he always seems to follow his own moral compass no matter what the possible consequences. The situation becomes more complicated when another alien species, not connected to the Galactic Empire, is discovered with plans of its own. What these aliens, the Galactics, and even some of Legion Varus's own people for that matter, don't seem to understand is human unwavering determination and will to survive.
So far through two books this has been a good series, if you like this genre, with lots of action and futuristic technology. I liked Mark Boyett's narration, especially the southern accent of James McGill.
"Hold onto your staff; Harry's back."
When the Dresden files began with "Storm Front," Harry was a private detective and the only openly working professional wizard in Chicago. Then he became a warden for the white council, fought all kinds of supernatural monsters, including the Red Court, and recently he was dead. Now in book 15, "Skin Game," he is the warden of the island Demonreach, and oh yeah, also the reluctant knight of winter court. What great story progression.
From the previous book, "Cold Days," we know Harry has a parasite in his head and its threatening to end his life. Now Mab, the queen of the winter court, and Harry's boss, is using his infirmity as leverage to get him to do a job. She's loaned him out to one of his most hated foes, Nicodemus Archleone and the Denarians. Having done battle with Nicodemus before Harry knows he has his hands full; but locked and loaded with his usual nonstop smartmouth commentary and banter Harry is ready to fulfill his obligation and at the same time thwart his old enemy's plans. Harry will need the help of his friends, although Thomas and Molly do not make an appearance we get a lot of Murphy, Michael and Butters, and he must use all of his cunning to get him and his friends out of this story intact.
I did like the development of the characters, notably "Butters," and, as usual, there are plot twists. Some loose ends from the previous books are tied up with others left hanging; but this is "The Dresden Files," and, if you're like me, am glad that Jim Butcher always leaves us wanting more.
A note about the narrator; if you're wondering whether to read the book or listen to this audio, James Marsters is Harry Dresden; his voice inflections captures the clever wit and subtle nuances of the character perfectly.
"Book !!; no let down- "Words of Radieance" shines"
In the first book, "The Way of Kings," we were introduced to the world of Roshar. It is a world of magic and aliens where hurricane-like storms lay savage to the world every few days and all of its inhabitants must adapt their lives accordingly. It is a world at war between the human armies led by High prince Dalinar Kholin and the Parshendi, a humanoid species. We were introduced to Jasnah, who is a renowned scholar and the niece of the High Prince Dalinar Kholin, her student Shallan, and Kaladin, a slave that by the end of Way of Kings is beginning to become the world's first Knight's Radiance in centuries.
If you haven't read/listened to "The Way of Kings," I would strongly recommend that you do before going on to this second book, "Words of Radiance." If you have read/listened to the first book I would recommend a review of TWOK before going on since it has been over four years and the second book starts off right where "The Way of Kings," left off.
At 48 hours and 15 minutes this is a long book, in fact Brandon Sanderson posted on his blog that he wrote the manuscript under the working title "the Book of Endless Pages." He was referring to the endless learning set forth in his first book but it seemed appropriate given its length; but don't let the length of this book deter you as I listened the hours seemed to fly past. This is an amazing book.
"Word of Radiance" focuses on four characters: Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, and Adolin. In TWOK Kaladin was the main character and is still very prevalent but this book reveals more about Shallan. Like "The Way of Kings," Sanderson interlaces the present with the past, developing the background on the main characters' while moving the plot forward.
This is only book two in a ten part series and even though I can't wait for the next book I found the ending satisfactory.
I word about the narrators, I've always been a big fan of Michael Kramer and Kate Reading and I thought they gave another great performance.
"Incandescence – Science / fiction"
This is hard core science fiction with the science part underlined. There were times during the story when I felt I was in an advanced Physics class listening to a lecture on Orbital Mechanics; but the overall experience was entertaining and should excite the hardcore science fiction fan.
Set in the far distant future where DNA based life forms (humans) have advanced and can now freely travel across the known universe with the exception of its galactic core which is inhabited by a species that prefer isolation and are appropriately called the "Aloof," the story is separated into two separate plot lines which are told alternately throughout the book. In our first plot line DNA is discovered in part of the Universe controlled by the Aloof and it sends a couple to seek out its source. We learn about an inspect-like species that are trying to come to grips with their relativity in the second. These two plot lines seem destined to come together in the end, but they never really do.
Overall I found Greg Egan's descriptions of a galaxy-spanning, post human civilization fascinating and the narrator, Paul Boehmer, gives a good performance.
"Virtual Future"
From one of the leaders in the cyberspace community, Matthew Mather takes us into the world of the future; a world of nanotechnology and virtual reality.
The earth is overcrowded and those with the resources flock to a corporate owned floating island called Atopia. Anything is possible in Atopia taking multi-tasking to an extreme. Thanks to nanotechnology and virtual reality people can literally be in more than two places at once.
Using his expert knowledge of cyberspace the writer gives us a very possible glimpse into the not so distant future where people seamlessly link with computers and expand their cognitive abilities; but at what cost?
The story may be a little hard to follow at first; the writer uses different characters to give their perspective of the same scene and it seems that there are separate story lines, but everything comes together in the last chapter.
The narrators do a good job and help the listener know that another character is speaking although I usually prefer one gifted narrator to an assembled cast.
I can't wait for the second book "Dystopian. "
"Classic Space Opera"
Cast from the mold of Star Ship Troopers and B.V. Larson's other great space adventure, his Space Force series, Steel World; Undying Mercenaries is a high speed, high adventure, military Sci-Fi, page turner.
Having already submitted to the vast empire of the Galactics, Earth is in a struggle for survival and humanities legions of mercenaries must battle on planet Cancri-9, better known as Steel World to endure; but death is not the usual final obstacle as these mercenaries have the ability to regenerate.
It's an interesting concept, the book has several plot twists and the characters are well developed and believable.
This is a story begging to be a series; and the narrator, Mark Boyett, gives a great performance.
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When Liz Dunn got her first job, suddenly she found myself making "real adult money." She began to ponder the question: "What can I do with this money to be happier?" As a psychology professor, she first went to the research literature for an answer, but didn't find much on this topic. So, she began a series of studies with Lara Aknin and Michael Norton.
They found that most people imagined they could make themselves happy by spending their money on themselves. But in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth. In several different studies, conducted with businesspeople who had just gotten a bonus, and with college students who were handed several dollars on a campus college, they found that people were happier when they gave their money away! Those findings were published in a now highly cited paper in Science in 2008. Since, then, Liz and her colleagues have joined with other researchers to study "the warm glow of giving" in children and in people from other cultures.
When I visited UBC recently, I interviewed Liz about this program of research. Besides discussing the Science findings, Liz and her colleague Kiley Hamlin were kind enough to provide some cute films of little toddlers sharing their Goldfish crackers with an adorable little monkey hand-puppet. We edited it down into an informative 3 ½ min. YouTube video about the happiness-from-giving research, which you can view in How To Buy Happiness.


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As part of its commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial and coinciding with events marking the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, the National Park Service has launched a Civil War-themed website at www.nps.gov/civilwar. The website provides an overview of the war, with special emphasis on the Civil War sites administered and preserved by the National Park Service. It features a wide range of richly illustrated content, including: • Stories of the Civil War, ranging from causes of the …
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Wait, the Economy Is Growing How Fast?
What four percent really means.
Skip to content, or skip to search.
Skip to content, or skip to search.
What four percent really means.
Buckle your seatbelts.
Recently released transcripts from 2006 are "embarrassing," to say the least.
Without the bailout, McDonald's wouldn't have opened and your phone service might have stopped.
Goddamn if they're going to let this administration save the economy.
He'll start January 1.
The Fed might be getting bigger.