text: WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Swift satellite recently detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO) "Bright X-ray novae are so rare that they're essentially once-a-mission events and this is the first one Swift has seen," said Neil Gehrels, the mission's principal investigator, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This is really something we've been waiting for." An X-ray nova is a short-lived X-ray source that appears suddenly, reaches its emission peak in a few days and then fades out over a period of months. The outburst arises when a torrent of stored gas suddenly rushes toward one of the most compact objects known, either a neutron star or a black hole. The rapidly brightening source triggered Swift's Burst Alert Telescope twice on the morning of Sept. 16, and once again the next day. Named Swift J1745-26 after the coordinates of its sky position, the nova is located a few degrees from the center of our galaxy toward the constellation Sagittarius. While astronomers do not know its precise distance, they think the object resides about 20,000 to 30,000 light-years away in the galaxy's inner region. Ground-based observatories detected infrared and radio emissions, but thick clouds of obscuring dust have prevented astronomers from catching Swift J1745-26 in visible light. The nova peaked in hard X-rays -- energies above 10,000 electron volts, or several thousand times that of visible light -- on Sept. 18, when it reached an intensity equivalent to that of the famous Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant that serves as a calibration target for high-energy observatories and is considered one of the brightest sources beyond the solar system at these energies. Even as it dimmed at higher energies, the nova brightened in the lower-energy, or softer, emissions detected by Swift's X-ray Telescope, a behavior typical of X-ray novae. By Wednesday, Swift J1745-26 was 30 times brighter in soft X-rays than when it was discovered and it continued to brighten.


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"Had these made with my daughters name on them to send to people when she receives gifts. They came out lovely! Great card stock quality too! Very happy with them."
"These thank yous are just adorable. I actually bought a different design than I had for the shower invites (same "jungle" theme) because these were just a cuter card than what matched my invites. I love them, they're cheerful and neutral (great for those of us who aren't figuring out boy or girl!). Cards are a good weight and the process was nice and easy."
"This card is very nice quality and printed/shipped to me very quickly. The only thing that would have made this better would be if I were able to pick the hair and/or eye color of the girl so it can be a bit more customized. I understand that would add to the production time however."
"I have ordered this card twice after enjoying it so much the first time. I found it versatile and the perfect size for a short note...sometimes a thank you note or a sympathy note...it worked well for both. I deleted the "thank you" heading and inserted my name at the top. That left a little more room to write."
"This are absolutely adorable!!! Smaller than I thought, make sure to read carefully the size description, but overall an adorable choice."
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subset: commoncrawl


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Indianapolis had a 15-10 lead when the starters were pulled and the Colts' first-team offense had taken the opening kickoff of the second half and drove the field for a touchdown.
As it was, New York went on to post a 29-15 win and then routed Cincinnati in the final game of the regular season a week later. So it's a hot Jets team that will visit Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday for the second time in less than a month.
"If it's not them, it's someone else," Colts coach Jim Caldwell said after watching the Rex Ryan's team advance with a 17-14 AFC divisional playoff win over San Diego. "Somebody's going to be there and whoever it is, is going to be a good football team.
"It's a real challenge for us. They are a team that's hot right now. They've taken advantage of their opportunities and whomever they've played, they've found a way to win."
Caldwell says that he didn't have a preference on who the Colts would face in the conference title game. He's just happy being one of the two remaining teams.
"I don't think there's a better position to be in," he said. "Somebody can tell me if there is. That's what you strive for."
— QB Peyton Manning needs 57 yards to pass Dan Marino for fourth on the NFL's postseason passing list. Manning now has 4,454 passing yards.
— RB Joseph Addai has heard all the talk about how the Colts' offense hasn't put up huge statistics as compared to past seasons. But Addai isn't concerned.
"I think everybody has been watching what happened in the past. You've got to understand, we've been watching the same thing too. We've been doing the same thing," he said.
"But each year is a different year. Understanding what we have as a unit and just go out there and play each game as it's our last and not worried about what happened in the past."
— WR Reggie Wayne has nine postseason receiving touchdowns, and one more will lift him into a tie for third with Fred Biletnikoff, Antonio Freeman and Randy Moss. No. 1 is Jerry Rice with 22.
WR Pierre Garcon has gotten noticed for the play he made against Ravens when he ran down FS Ed Reed from behind and punched the ball away to force a fumble. The Colts recovered the ball. Reed had intercepted a pass from Manning that had been intended for Garcon.
"(Reed) took a touchdown away from me so I had to go and get it back. I was kind of upset and it helped me run faster and get the ball back," he said.
— TE Dallas Clark now has 53 postseason receptions. Among tight ends, Clark trails only Brent Jones (60) and Jay Novacek and Shannon Sharpe (62 each). Clark has 726 playoff receiving yards and needs 15 to pass Jones for third.
— LB Gary Brackett continues to be impressed with weak-sided linebacker Clint Session. Session has begun to blossom this season after playing on the strong side the previous two seasons.
"Clint's been playing well all year. I think in the run game, he's a very physical player," Brackett said.
— DE Raheem Brock has seen playing time this season at both defensive end and defensive tackle. Brock has gotten work at both defensive end spots as well as both defensive tackle positions.
"We've been consistent and playing great (as a defensive unit). It starts with the two defensive tackles and works its way out. We have nice rotation and everybody is fresh," he said.
— DE Dwight Freeney has been a leader on the Colts' defensive unit all season. But as well as Indianapolis played in the AFC divisional playoff win over Baltimore, he says that the Colts can continue to improve.
"I think we can. As far as defense is really concerned, you can really find something on every play. So, I think defensively, you can look at something and say, 'Okay, we need to correct it.' But, I think overall, we played pretty good (against the Ravens)," Freeney said.
— PK Matt Stover has taken over for veteran PK Adam Vinatieri for the time being as Vinatieri continues to nurse a sore hip and a sore right knee.
"When the Colts called because of Adam unfortunately having the (knee) injury, I was just blessed to be able to accept the call and come out and work out for them and be with this team," Stover said.
"You can't say enough about this organization and them taking ownership of me and committing to me as they did and now they've trusted me into the playoffs. I just can't say enough about that."
— DT Daniel Muir says that the Colts defense can't rest on its laurels from the win over Baltimore.
"We have to keep going out and preparing even harder. We can be happy about (the Ravens) game for a couple of hours and then forget about it. We still have two games to win and that's the way we're going with it," Muir said.
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In futurist literature there is a rather silly concept called the "singularity", and people who write about such things for a living are terribly excited by it. The idea is that the pace of technological innovation is accelerating at such a rate that we will soon arrive at a point where advances as great as the invention of powered flight, the atom bomb or semiconductor electronics are happening every few seconds, at which point presumably we all disappear in a puff of glowing blue smoke and ascend to some sort of technological Nirvana, where we can sit and play with our mobile phones and digital watches for the rest of eternity.
While I can't think of many things I'd enjoy less, it looks like Nikon has wholeheartedly embraced the notion, because just four months after reviewing the CoolPix S550, I have before me its successor, the unsurprisingly named S560. Like the S550, this brand new model is a 10-megapixel ultra-compact with a 5x zoom lens, but it adds a number of interesting new features to the formula, including a 2.7-inch wide-view monitor, and more importantly a sensor-shift image stabilisation system, replacing the less effective electronic stabilisation of the previous model. The S560 is, so Nikon claims, the smallest camera in its class to sport all of these features.
Nikon's S-series of premium ultra-compacts now stands at an impressive 19 models, including 12 of the front-lens triple digit models such as the S560. I'm sure it's just a coincidence, but there are also 12 models in Canon's popular IXUS range, with which the S-series is in direct competition. The closest match for the S560 is the IXUS 970 IS, which also has a 5x zoom lens, 10MP sensor and image stabilisation, although it only has a 2.5-inch monitor. The 970 IS is also around £210, while the S560 is a bit of a bargain at only £160.
Nikon Coolpix S560 10MP Digital Camera with 5x Optical Vibration Reduction$32.00 View Item
Nikon COOLPIX Coolpix S560 10.0MP Digital Camera - Graphite black$24.00 View Item
Nikon COOLPIX Coolpix S560 10.0MP Digital Camera - Graphite black$45.00 View Item
Nikon COOLPIX Coolpix S560 10.0MP Digital Camera - Graphite black$40.00 View Item
Nikon COOLPIX S560 10.0 MP Digital Camera - Black$35.00 View Item
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RJR.John Rocha Designer black stitch trousers
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Howie Dorough
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Howard Dwaine "Howie" Dorough (born August 22, 1973) is an American musician and the oldest member of the Backstreet Boys since Kevin Richardson left in 2006.Read More...
Dorough was born in Orlando, Florida, where he met future friend and bandmate A.J. McLean.[1] He has a Puerto Rican mother,[2] Paula Flores, and an Irish American father, Hoke Dorough, the youngest of 5. He is half Hispanic and speaks fluent Spanish. Dorough has had a passion for the entertainment business since he was three years old, when he would jump on his grandparents bed, singing "Baby Face" while strumming his tiny guitar. At the age of six, Dorough participated in an Orlando production of The Wizard of Oz. During his teen years, he auditioned for Latin boy band Menudo, but failed to make the cut. He became an international star in the late 1990s as a member of the Backstreet Boys. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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- She's Like The Sun - 1,449 plays
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SANDOWN- The board of selectmen has been making quick work of numerous small budget proposals this budget season, and their meeting on Sept. 9 was no different.
Most of the budgets that came up Monday were quickly approved, though the conservation commission's numbers did see some scrutiny, largely by selectman Brenda Copp.
While most of the numbers in the commission's proposal stayed level, there were increases to the lines for recording secretary and environmental consultant.
Conservation commission chair Paul Carey explained that the recording secretary line sees increases because the individual handling meeting minutes has also taken on the responsibility for administrative duties. Those were duties that were once handled by volunteers, but volunteers no longer have the time, explained Carey.
The environmental consultant line was more closely looked at.
That line as requested showed a $750 increase, and both Copp and selectman Hans Nicolaisen raised flags on the number.
Carey explained that the figure –presented at $3750- used to be over $6,000 in previous years but the commission had been doing its due diligence to bring that cost down.
The current year's figure for that line totals $3,000.
Carey explained that much of the reason for the number is that the town is providing a service to taxpayers. Instead of forcing homeowners to hire an engineer when they're undertaking a small project, the commission sends its consultant out to direct the homeowners on how to stay on the right side of the many rules and regulations that govern land use.
Carey added that the extra $750 in the requested sum was to cover an upward trend in the frequency of the commission's use of that service over the last couple of years.
Though Carey pointed to the last two year's numbers and explained that there was an upward trend, Copp did not see the same trend.
Copp motioned to reduce the sum to the current year's $3,000. Carey suggested that it made more sense to raise the figure slightly given actual expenses over the last couple of years.
Copp stated repeatedly that Carey was anticipating additional costs which the numbers didn't back up.
Carey pointed to how the costs went from under $3000 last year, to $3,000 this year and this suspected that they would climb a little further next year.
Nicolaisen remarked that he understood Carey's impulse, especially as building is starting to pick up in town.
Eventually Copp's motion failed and Nicolaisen made a motion to split the difference between level funding and the commission's request.
Eventually the board agreed to $3,375. All but selectman Jim Devine voted for the compromise.
The commission's budget was approved at a gross expense of $8,740 and revenue of $240.
Budget proposals also reviewed Monday included the planning board, cemetery trustees, septic, health officer, electrical inspector, treasurer and plumbing accounts.
All sums were sent to the budget committee for further review.
Budget Season in Full Swing for Sandown Selectmen
SANDOWN- The board of selectmen has been making quick work of numerous small budget proposals this budget season, and their meeting on Sept. 9 was no different.


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Dang is a real veteran of Muay Thai and is a highly respected trainer who has taught many big Thai champions. He now heads the beginners trainers program at Tiger Muay Thai, giving beginners a great chance to learn from his many years of experience.
Having started training at age 7, Dang soon became a famous fighter in north-eastern Thailand. He later moved to Dhor Thanasukarn gym where he trained alongside legends of the sport such as Dieselnoi and Chamukpet. After suffering a leg injury that kept him away from fighting for 2 years, Dang successfully returned to fighting before going on to become a trainer.
Dang became the head trainer at Sor Sumalee gym, where he trained many great Lumpinee and Rajadamnern stadium champions such as Lamnamoon, Superlek, Jompoplek and Deachkalon.
Also known as "Mr Miyagi", Dang is known for his strict but fun training style. He pushes his students to do their best and not give up.


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Trapped in TbilisiPaul M. Barrett
Last October an oil trader and would-be pipeline mogul named Rony Fuchs received an unusual invitation from Nika Gilauri, the Prime Minister of Georgia. Gilauri asked Fuchs to visit Batumi, a resort on the Black Sea, "to finalize the settlement" of a $100 million commercial dispute—money that Fuchs had been demanding from the Georgian government for almost 15 years. "Such a meeting will avail us of the opportunity to discuss all the details and will undoubtedly positively affect amicable solution of the matter," the Prime Minister wrote in English. The stationery bore the official seal and letterhead of the former Soviet republic, and Gilauri had signed it with a looping flourish. Fuchs decided to make the trip. The Israeli businessman has investments in Turkey and serves as a Turkish honorary consul, a position combining economic development with off-the-record diplomacy. He worked as an energy trader in New York for 15 years and counts Israeli President Shimon Peres as a friend. Based on decades of experience at the murky crossroads of trade and politics, Fuchs interpreted Gilauri's letter as a signal that Georgia was finally prepared to resolve a controversy that traces that country's chaotic history since its separation from Moscow in 1991.
Going into the meeting in Batumi, the Israeli thought he had a strong hand. In March 2010 an arbitration panel in London had ruled that the Tbilisi government owed Fuchs and a Greek investing partner $98 million, plus interest, for an oil project Georgia had expropriated in the mid-1990s. Georgia, unsurprisingly, wasn't eager to pay up and sought to appeal the binding judgment. In September 2010, Fuchs met with Georgian representatives in a luxury hotel room in Istanbul to discuss a settlement. After nearly four hours of bluster and copious consumption of cognac, they reached a verbal deal: Rather than continue the legal fight, Georgia would pay a reduced sum of $72 million—on one critical condition. Fuchs agreed to return $7 million out of the $72 million to Georgian officials in an under-the-table side payment. Call it a sweetener or a kickback or baksheesh—whatever the terminology, this is not the ethics taught at Harvard Business School. That did not stop Fuchs. And now he had the Prime Minister's personal invitation to close the deal. All he had to do was travel to Batumi, shake hands in front of Georgian TV cameras, and sign a few pieces of paper to make it all official.
It would not be that simple. When Fuchs and an Israeli colleague, Ze'ev Frenkiel, arrived in Batumi on Oct. 14, they were toasted at an elaborate supra, or feast, organized by the Georgian Finance Ministry. Just as the signing ceremony was to begin, a deputy minister asked Fuchs to speak privately upstairs in the restaurant, purportedly to clarify details of the press announcement. While his attorneys were distracted by other government officials in the downstairs dining room, Fuchs and Frenkiel were told they were under arrest. The letter from Gilauri had been bait—part of a three-month Georgian sting operation. The liquor-fueled meeting in Istanbul had been recorded on a video camera hidden in an innocent-looking hanging plant.
Fuchs and Frenkiel were escorted to separate rooms, searched, relieved of their passports, and interrogated on videotape. The tape shows Fuchs, a bulky man in a dapper gray suit, glaring at a Georgian prosecutor going through his wallet, counting out bills in various currencies. The prosecutor methodically transfers Fuchs's belongings to a clear plastic evidence pouch. Two grim- looking security agents crowd the defendant. Mopping his brow with a folded white linen napkin, Fuchs turns to his right to stare bleakly out a window.
Since its brief, disastrous war against Russia in 2008—a conflict sparked by rivalry over two breakaway Georgian regions—the Tbilisi government has redoubled efforts to woo outside business. It is not an easy sell. The country, slightly smaller in area than South Carolina, has a population of 4.6 million, including about 200,000 people displaced by the Russian conflict. Its per-capita gross domestic product of $4,400 ranks 149th in the world, having contracted 7 percent in 2009. In the last two years, Georgia has staved off economic devastation as a result of postwar international aid that will ultimately total $4.6 billion, including $1 billion from the U.S.
Given its size, the country commands what might seem like a disproportionate amount of attention in Washington and other Western capitals. That is explained, in large part, by its location. Georgia controls strategically important ports on the Black Sea and much of the Caucasus Mountains, which form part of Russia's southern border. Tbilisi's government is as democratic as any in its region and is more pro-American than its neighbors'. The main road to the Tbilisi airport is named President George W. Bush Street.
Although much of the Georgian country- side is poor, hilly Tbilisi boasts thriving residential enclaves, broad commercial boulevards, charming restaurants and galleries, and stolid Orthodox Christian churches that never entirely knuckled under to the Communists. Tbilisi also has a florid tradition of cronyism and graft. In the past year it has spent heavily on advertising on CNN (TWX) and the BBC to promote its reform attempts. An ad campaign running in The Wall Street Journal describes Georgia as "the world's number 1 in fighting corruption."
Others are not so sanguine about the Georgian business climate. A May 2010 report from the nonprofit Transparency International accused the Tbilisi government of practicing "tax terrorism": using its Financial Police to intimidate businesses and even throw employees in jail as a way of collecting additional revenue and fines. "The government is too quick to resort to incarceration for what would be seen in the West as minor civil and tax matters," says David Lee during a conversation in the ornate lobby of the Tbilisi Marriott (MAR). The president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Georgia, Lee is also the general director of Magticom, a privately held, American-owned company that is the largest telecommunications operator in Georgia. He describes "several cases" in just the past year in which employees of foreign-owned companies have been jailed without trial for periods of up to several months. Locally owned businesses are even more vulnerable, he says.
Worried about irritating Georgian officials, Lee hastens to accentuate the positive: "Compared to many of its neighbors in the region," he says, "this country has been remarkably successful in cleaning up corruption." Asked what message the Fuchs episode sends, Lee sighs. "That case," he responds, "isn't doing anyone any good."
After their arrest on Oct. 14, Fuchs and Frenkiel were driven to jail cells in downtown Tbilisi. Denied bail, they have remained behind bars for more than five months. Each is allowed three 15-minute phone calls to family a month. The two spend Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in a chilly, dimly lit Tbilisi courtroom on trial for bribery. If convicted, they face up to eight years in prison.
Fuchs has impressive legal talent on retainer: In addition to a prominent Georgian law firm, his team includes President Barack Obama's former White House counsel Gregory B. Craig, now a partner in Washington, D.C., with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and Geoffrey Robertson, a Queen's Counsel in London simultaneously representing Julian Assange in the WikiLeaks founder's effort to resist extradition to Sweden. Still, the odds are not with Fuchs and Frenkiel. In 2010, 99.96 percent of defendants prosecuted in the Tbilisi courts were convicted, according to statistics analyzed by Civil.ge, a Georgian news website.
There is one way Fuchs could get out of jail immediately: renounce the arbitration judgment. According to his lawyers, a Georgian Justice Ministry official privately told the Israeli ambassador to Georgia in October that all Fuchs had to do to win his freedom was relinquish the $100 million claim.
Fuchs refused. "We are being held hostage here, and the Georgian government wants a $100 million ransom. We will not pay it," he told a reporter attending court in Tbilisi last month. Barred from talking to journalists, Fuchs conveyed the message via his lead local lawyer, Archil Kbilashvili. A knowledgeable diplomat in Tbilisi confirmed the Georgian offer to free Fuchs in exchange for nullification of the award; this person requested anonymity to avoid angering the government.
Whatever the result of Fuchs's trial and a potential appeal, his story illustrates the unpredictable danger of commerce in Georgia and the rest of the former Soviet empire. Fuchs claims he was entrapped by a government determined to evade an expensive legal judgment. "Anyone thinking about doing business in Georgia should be forewarned," his attorney Craig says. "You do so at your peril."
Georgian prosecutors, in stark contrast, describe the case in terms of routine law enforcement. "It is not true that a government representative has asked for the waiver of the award," says Davit Sakvarelidze, Georgia's first deputy chief prosecutor. Instead, he says, the Office of the Chief Prosecutor has identified "the preconditions for any settlement: guilty plea, cooperation with the investigation, and rectification of the damage incurred to the state"—a reference to a financial penalty that presumably would be covered by dropping the arbitration claim. "These are regular preconditions provided by the criminal legislation of Georgia," Sakvarelidze adds. He portrays the Fuchs prosecution as part of a larger initiative to clean up the hard-knock country and make it more appealing to honest foreign investors. "We have very strong evidence supporting the charges," he says. "We believe this case, the true facts of the case, not the speculations of Mr. Fuchs, shows once again that Georgian government takes fight against corruption very seriously."
Sitting in courtroom No. 2 of the Tbilisi City Courthouse, a yellow pillared building refurbished with American aid dollars, Fuchs seems remarkably composed. Bearing a resemblance to a younger William Shatner, he wears a dark blazer over a white dress shirt with an open collar. His wavy salt-and-pepper hair is far longer than before his arrest. He suffers from heart problems, and Georgian authorities have denied him access to medications from Israel, substituting other medicines, his lawyers say. While he has lost weight, he appears vigorous. He whispers avidly during the proceedings to his attorney, Kbilashvili.
Fuchs was born and raised in Haifa. He served three years in the Israeli army and graduated from the University of Haifa with an economics degree, according to Orna Asia, his younger sister and only sibling. After working for several years for his father's marine-survey company, he spent his late 20s and 30s in oil-trading jobs in New York. Fuchs has three grown children in Israel; his ex-wife lives in Miami. "Rony talks to everyone—politicians and the doorman of his apartment building" in Tel Aviv, his sister says. "He has so many projects, so much energy."
Most of those projects have to do with buying and selling sources of energy. In 1991, Fuchs was introduced by a Georgian-born member of the Israeli Parliament to representatives of the newly independent Tbilisi government. A prosperous trader then in his early 40s, he aspired to the top tier of Israel's business elite. And he correctly identified a tremendous opportunity created by the demise of the Soviet Union. Georgia was seeking foreign investors to repair and expand decrepit Soviet-era facilities to transport Caspian oil and gas from underexploited fields in Azerbaijan westward to outlets on the Black Sea. Although he had not attempted something on this scale before, Fuchs said he could raise the capital and provide the leadership to get the trans-Georgian pipeline and port facilities working. Desperate for cash and impressed by Fuchs's drive, officials of the Georgian state oil company, Sak- Navtobi, formed a joint venture with Tramex International, a corporation Fuchs co-owned with Ioannis Kardassopoulos, a Greek businessman.
It would not be a smooth collaboration. The abrupt ouster of Georgia's first post-independence President interrupted the venture's launch. But Fuchs didn't give up, according to the three-person arbitration panel convened by the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an affiliate of the World Bank. While other investors abandoned Georgia, Fuchs told the panel: "We don't leave the country. We come back, and they see that we were serious."
In 1993 the Georgian government ratified a 30-year exclusive concession under which the joint venture would oversee and operate the country's energy transportation network: pipelines, storage facilities, and rail stations. Redesign and repair work commenced. Fuchs hired local contractors and spent considerable time himself in Georgia. By 1995, Tramex had invested capital of more than $12 million in the project, according to Fuchs's lawyers.
Then, gradually, uncertainty and unrest brought work to a halt, according to the ICSID panel. The venture "was clearly encumbered at different points due to security concerns, including theft of project materials and insurgent fighting in certain regions proximate to project sites." The main reasons Tramex's commitment waned, however, were "rumors and steps taken within the Georgian government" calling into question the joint venture's exclusive pipeline rights, the tribunal concluded.
By this time, Eduard Shevardnadze, a former Soviet Foreign Minister under Mikhail Gorbachev and, before that, leader of the Georgian Communist Party, had taken over as head of state. In 1995, Shevardnadze was elected President and soon began negotiations with a consortium of large Western energy companies eager to do business in the Caspian region. The potential value of a modernized pipeline across Georgia was growing rapidly. Fuchs had been prescient—but the sums that stood to be made were now so large, and the international politics so complex, that it was unlikely that a small operation like his would retain a leadership role. To clear the way for doing business with the multinational consortium, the Shevardnadze government issued a decree in February 1996 terminating all energy rights granted earlier to any parties. "This," the arbitration panel said, "brought to an abrupt end" Fuchs's adventure in the Caucasus.
Having one's investment nationalized or expropriated is a fundamental risk of trying to profit in a volatile emerging market. Fuchs knew that, but once it happened to him, he and his Greek partner demanded to be made whole: paid cash for the opportunity that had been summarily taken away from them. The Shevardnadze government repeatedly signaled that "proper compensation would be paid," the panel found.
It was not paid. For years, while he pursued other trading in Turkey and Israel, Fuchs met with Georgian officials to try to negotiate a settlement. The talks proved fruitless. Fuchs retained the New York consulting firm Kissinger Associates, and in January 2003 the firm's chairman, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, wrote to Shevardnadze on Fuchs's behalf. Kissinger also dispatched a colleague from his firm to meet with Georgian officials in Tbilisi. "Shevardnadze accepted what Dr. Kissinger wrote to him," Fuchs told the panel, "and everything was on the verge of solution."
Reached by telephone at his home in Tbilisi, Shevardnadze, 83, says he doesn't want to revisit old controversies. In a separate interview, his former chief of staff, Peter Mamradze, says that when Shevardnadze first decided to do business with the multinational consortium, the ex-President didn't know about the exclusive rights that had been granted to Fuchs and his partner. "This reflects how chaotic and disorganized Georgia was at that time," Mamradze says.
In any event, political events intervened again. "There was the Rose Revolution, whatever they call it," Fuchs told the arbitration panel, "and everything [was] upside-down."
Named for flowers that protesters carried in Tbilisi's Freedom Square, the Rose Revolution ousted Shevardnadze in November 2003 after he was accused of election-rigging. The revolt empowered Mikheil Saakashvili, an English-speaking opposition leader who had studied law at Columbia University and worked as an intern for the New York firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. After winning the Presidency in 2004, Saakashvili led an effort to promote the rule of law—by, for example, ending payoffs to judges. He showed no public sympathy, however, for the Fuchs-Kardassopoulos claim.
Invoking treaties between their home countries and Georgia, the investors took their complaint to the ICSID, beginning in 2005. Fuchs secured financing for the litigation from Allianz, the German insurance and banking company. The ICSID panel's 218-page decision last March offered the claimants' powerful vindication: the $98 million award—now exceeding $102 million with interest, according to Fuchs's attorneys—reflects foregone profits and considerable legal costs. "The Georgian government's repudiation of any liability towards the claimants," the panel concluded, "was a clear breach of their rights under international law."
Such a ruling is enforceable in the same way a U.S. federal court decision can be made to stick: If the losing party fails to pay, the winners seek to "attach" their assets. Unless, of course, things get hung up on appeal.
After losing the arbitration, Georgia hired a new law firm, New York-based Dewey & LeBoeuf, and sought to get the ICSID to set aside the award. Dewey also commenced negotiations with Fuchs's attorneys in the London office of Skadden Arps. Avenues for appeal of an international arbitration award are narrow, but Georgia's lawyers indicated the country would fight to the end—unless Fuchs and his partner would accept a sharply reduced settlement. Armed with the generous ruling, Fuchs was not receptive to settling for mere pennies on the dollar.
Georgia wasn't content to let the high-priced lawyers hash it out, however. While the outside attorneys skirmished, the Tbilisi government opened a direct line of communication with Fuchs. In August the Finance Ministry assigned a 30-year-old official named Avtandil Kharaidze to make the contact. In an affidavit dated Sept. 2, 2010, Kharaidze reported that he identified a "Jew businessman acting in Georgia [who] had tight relations with Rony Fuchs." That intermediary was Ze'ev Frenkiel, an Israeli formerly employed by Fuchs in Georgia. Kharaidze met Frenkiel, who agreed to serve as a middleman. According to the Georgian's affidavit, Frenkiel told him that "Rony was ready to pay me 5,000,000 USA Dollars as a bribe providing this deal would be finished with the result beneficial to him, and this statement was showed by him [Frenkiel] with his palm open in five fingers." Kharaidze added: "I for show agreed with Ze'ev Frenkiel and told him that if he helped me to receive this bribe I would give him [the] sum 500,000 USD as a mediator."
Kharaidze concluded the affidavit, which was addressed to Georgia's Chief Prosecutor, by volunteering to go undercover. "I am ready for collaboration with the investigation," he said, "and to render a helping hand in revelation of the people committing the crime." English translations of Georgian-language court documents were provided to Bloomberg Businessweek by Kbilashvili, the attorney who is representing both Fuchs and Frenkiel. A partner with the Tbilisi corporate law firm Mgaloblishvili, Kipiani & Dzidziguri, Kbilashvili says that Fuchs never authorized Frenkiel to offer a bribe. "This is a lie," the defense lawyer says. Frenkiel insists it was Kharaidze who raised the idea of a kickback—and then a 10 percent commission on the kickback, Kbilashvili says.
The sting accelerated quickly. "According to the investigation plan, on 14 September, 2010, I traveled to Istanbul to meet Rony Fuchs and Ze'ev Frankiel," Kharaidze reported in a statement dated three days later. In other words, the Georgian official went to Istanbul primarily to investigate, not negotiate—thus the secret camera concealed in the hotel room plant. On that morning the three men, along with a Georgian government translator, gathered in a sunny suite at the InterContinental near the famous Blue Mosque. The Georgian government's undercover video, obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek from defense lawyers, shows the quartet sitting on a red couch and adjacent easy chairs, surrounding a table crowded with liquor bottles and Middle Eastern snacks. Kharaidze, dressed in denim jeans and a blue button-down shirt, positions himself with his back to the camera; Fuchs, wearing a sweater draped casually over his shoulders, sits squarely in the middle of the camera's frame.
What follows is a rambling four-way conversation conducted in Russian, English, Georgian, and Hebrew. No one seems terribly shy about the idea of Fuchs paying Kharaidze, and possibly others, millions of dollars as a way to smooth a settlement. About 50 minutes into the InterContinental session, Kharaidze makes the first explicit reference to the side payment, apparently demanding that the amount be increased. "With regards to this whole scheme," he says, "the $5 million that has been said should be increased to $7 million."
The Georgian's comment suggests that "the $5 million" had been discussed before—and no one contradicts him. Instead, Fuchs inquires with equanimity whether the kickback, whatever its size, is to come out of the larger settlement amount. He is told yes.
That point established, Kharaidze announces, "Let's have another drink now." Fuchs, who has resisted earlier toasts, noting that it's only mid-morning, reacts with irritation. "In which round do we get to the truth?" he demands.
"It obviously depends on you," the Georgian responds.
"Too early in the morning," Fuchs says. "I took my children out until 1 o'clock." He then steers the exchange in a friendly direction, recommending the restaurant and disco his family patronized the night before. And, as the Georgian representative has requested, glasses are raised again.
A little while later, Fuchs asks the Georgian whether paperwork can be generated to make the side payment look legitimate. "Do we get an invoice?" Fuchs asks. "I don't have to explain what happens with this," he continues, "but I have to show it to the Germans, to the lawyers, because they are calculating our costs." He is apparently referring to Allianz and Skadden Arps.
Trying to be helpful, Fuchs further suggests an approach he says he employed in a separate deal. "I had another country—we had a case—where there was an account of the party, governmental party or something, and then we gave it as a donation to the party." The Israeli elaborates: "We got a receipt: 'Thank you for the donation.' But we know the money went to the people."
(Asked about Fuchs's apparent willingness to launder the earlier kickback as a political donation, his attorney Kbilashvili responds: "Rony thinks it possible the returnable money is to be returned to a governmental organization or governmental party. Under the Georgian law, neither of the two acts constitutes bribe offering." Kbilashvili says he doesn't know anything about the deal his client described with "another government.")
The notion of fabricating a fake political contribution fades as Kharaidze presses Fuchs to make clear what settlement and side-payment amounts he has in mind.
Running out of patience, Fuchs at one point snaps, "100," indicating sarcastically that he will settle for the full $100 million. At another point he indicates he feels as if he is being shaken down. "Do you want more?" he demands. "What, is this your money? That's not your money. That's my money."
Eventually, a compromise is forged: Fuchs and his partner will receive $72 million, and out of that they will return $7 million to Kharaidze and his unnamed associates. The Georgian official makes a show of calling his superiors in Tbilisi on his cell phone and receiving approval for the deal. "The main thing in this case has happened," he says to the others in the hotel room.
Five months later, in the Tbilisi City Courthouse, the maroon-robed Judge Vazha Pukhashvili is hearing a motion by defense attorney Kbilashvili. The lawyer argues in Georgian that the government's main evidence—the covert video from Istanbul—ought to be excluded because prosecutors misrepresented its provenance. The government, he says, described the video as an amateur production arranged by Kharaidze, a Deputy Finance Minister. The defense seeks to introduce testimony by an expert witness from London who will say that the highly proficient videotaping had to have been done by surveillance professionals. Fuchs's lawyers contend that Kharaidze is actually an Interior Ministry operative who was reassigned to the Finance Ministry specifically to ensnare Fuchs and get the arbitration award cancelled.
The judge is having none of it. As the three-member prosecution team looks on impassively, he rules that the proposed expert was hired by Skadden Arps in violation of Georgian legal procedures. The motion is denied.
Kbilashvili says later outside of the courtroom that he was not surprised by the judge's ruling. Practically every decision from the bench has gone against the defense, he says, including one denying a motion seeking to subpoena Prime Minister Gilauri. The defense lawyer wanted to ask Gilauri about his role in inviting Fuchs to the Oct. 14 signing ceremony-turned-arrest in Batumi. That's not going to happen, the judge ruled. (Kardas- sopoulos was also invited to Batumi but wisely stayed away.)
"We will fight and fight for Rony, but this is tough," says Kbilashvili, a hyperactive 39-year-old attorney who often carries on two conversations simultaneously, one in person and one via cell phone. He has strong connections in Georgian government and business circles—and few illusions. "It seems we know where this goes," the lawyer adds.
In recent months, Israeli President Peres has telephoned Georgia's Saakashvili to ask that he review the case. Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has written to his Georgian counterpart in a similar vein. The Georgians have responded politely but noncommittally, according to Kbilashvili and a diplomat familiar with the exchanges. The trial is expected to continue in March, with a verdict from Judge Pukhashvili later in the month or in April.
Mamradze, the former Georgian Presidential chief of staff, says he doubts Fuchs and his co-investor deserve anything close to $100 million. "They did absolutely nothing" during their time in Georgia in the early 1990s, he says, despite the findings to the contrary by the arbitration panel. On the other hand, Mamradze acknowledges that the unfolding trial is an embarrassment for his country and will hurt Georgia's reputation. According to Israeli media reports, business leaders there are warning investors to steer clear of Georgia. The Fuchs case has "made a lot of people furious around the world," he says. "The damage is huge." Now that the Georgian government has allowed its sting to blossom into a full-fledged trial, it would be difficult to compromise without admitting that the country's criminal justice system has been used as a tool in what amounts to a commercial disagreement.
Any consternation suffered at the higher altitudes of Georgian officialdom can provide only slight consolation, at best, to Fuchs in his cell. Neither can he find comfort in a thought that occurs to his worried sister, Orna, back in Tel Aviv. If he had never gone to that Istanbul hotel room at all, she notes, but had left this mess in the hands of his attorneys, Fuchs would not be eating dinners prepared by the Tbilisi jailhouse kitchen. "I wish Rony did not go to Turkey," Orna says. "It was a trap, and they sure got him."


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Bob Moon: For years now, rich and famous Massachusetts residents have been opposing plans to erect 130 wind turbines offshore. They complain it would spoil the view off Cape Cod.
This week, the state's congressional delegation urged the federal government to approve a test project that would use floating wind turbines. They'd be positioned nearly 50 miles off the coast and effectively out of sight.
At the opposite end of the country, there are hopes for turning the ocean itself into a power source, but even those plans have encountered some choppy seas.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson has our story.
Elizabeth Wynne Johnson: If there's a symbol of the ocean's raw power, it's the crashing wave. Oregon State University electrical engineering professor Annette von Jouanne is working on ways to capture the water's potential.
Annette von Jouanne: As soon as the waves start to crest, we start to lose that energy.
von Jouanne runs the nation's top wave energy research lab.
von Jouanne: Our goal is to harness the energy in the heaving ocean swells.
How it works: Giant offshore buoys capture the ocean's unrelenting force to generate electricity. The churning water has what von Jouanne calls "energy density," meaning that a little bit of ocean can produce a lot of electricity. Enough to impress Oregon Congresswoman Darlene Hooley.
Darlene Hooley: The potential is there to produce about 10 percent of the energy needs of this country.
The Democratic Representative sponsored a bill to put $250 million into wave energy.
Hooley: It means jobs, it's research and development. It means new investments into the coastal communities.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission already has a dozen permit applications for projects, including wave energy parks with arrays of buoys that connect to the grid by cables on the ocean floor. Suddenly, the open ocean starts to look a bit more restricted.
Kevin Dunn: I'm all for new and innovative ways of getting energy, but I'm almost certain that anywhere that they do this will be another closed area for us.
Kevin Dunn of Astoria, Oregon is a commercial fisherman. He's worried that fishermen won't be able to drag their nets through these new wave energy parks.
Dunn: There's places that it might be absolutely wonderful and there are places that we may really, really, really not want them and given the history, chances are they're going to be right where we don't want 'em.
The pursuit of alternative and renewable energy is a kind of modern-day gold rush: Everyone's staking claims.
Depending on how you look at it, the ocean's half-full or half-empty.
I'm Elizabeth Wynne Johnson for Marketplace.


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Ask Computer Networking Questions and Get Answers ASAP
Hello, Thank you for contacting JA, I am Cris and will assist you with your question.
Hi, are you currently connected to the router?
OK, we will need to log into the router to retrieve the correct security key. I will give you instructions.
Use the link I have provided, the router's setup page will open in a 2nd window. Use the following to log in:username: adminpassword: passwordClick here>>>http://www.routerlogin.net
Let me know when you log in.
ok i'm logged in
Great, click on "Wireless Settings" on the left pane. You will see your security mode and passphrase. That is the password XXXXX need to connect a device to the router.
ok i see that
I'm trying to find out why I loose my internet connection after I let the computer sit for a while. There is an exclamation mark going through the wifi symbol at the top right of the screen
The PC is a Mac?
macbook pro
when i go to system preferences and click on network it shows the WPA..i think it might be set on the wrong one?
The mac book picks up a signal from the router you are then prompted for password. The settings are then applied automatically.
What is the security mode set to on the router?
Check the page you have logged into.
When you get the X in the corner do you re-connect?
I'm not sure which x you are talking about. I usually have to restart the modem and router to get it to work again
OK, gotcha. Let's try changing the security mode as well as the channel on the router.
Do you have WPA2 as a option?
I have WPA2-PSK [AES] as an option
OK, please change it to WPA2 and also change the channel on the router.
Are you using a wireless connection to the router?
OK when you go to make the change you will probably lose connection and have to re-connect to the router.
In case we are disconnected. Save this page to your favorites/bookmarks, so you can easily get back to the site. When you reach the site click on login (top right) and use the email you created the JustAnswer account with. Once you are logged in click on "my questions" to get back to our conversation.
what do i need to change the channel to?
its on auto now
Change to the highest channel available.
11 is the highest
Make sure to save changes when you do you will probably be disconnected and have to re-connect
ok i'll try it now
ok i changed the channel and the wpa
Great, do you want to test out your issue?
quick question...when i go to system preference then click on network i see the folowing settings:
network name: NETGEAR and below that i see 802.1x: WPA netgear 3000 (this was the name of my old router). could this be causing any problems?
Do you have the option to delete the network?
it won't allow me to change the netgear 3000 part
is says "connect" to the right of netgear 3000
Follow the instructions I am going to give you.
Open "System Preferences" on your Mac computer. Select the "Network" tab.
Select "Airport" from the list in the left margin of the Network tab. Click the "Advanced" button in the lower left corner of the screen.
Highlight the name of the wireless connection you wish to delete from the list under "Preferred Networks." Click the "-" button to remove it from the list.
Click "OK" to exit the Network tab. Click "Apply" in the System Preferences dialog box to apply changes and exit System Preferences.
Double-click the "Applications" icon to open the Applications folder.
Double-click the "Utilities" icon in the Applications folder to open the Utilities folder.
Double-click the "Keychain Access" icon in the Utilities folder to bring up the Keychain Access dialog box. Provide the proper login password XXXXX this has been previously set.
Highlight your wireless network in the "Keychain" list and click the "Remove" button. Select "OK" to exit the Keychain Access dialog box.
ok I've done everything. Will i need to restart the computer for the netgear3000 to be removed from the network page under system preferences?
Yes, correct.
Ok great. I will restart the computer and be right back
well it's still showing on my network, but i don't see it on the advanced page or the keychain access page. should i leave it or try something else?
That's fine the key has been removed and that's most important.
ok great. thanks for your help. I'll hit accept now if your finished?
Yup were all done. If I helped or fixed your issue, PLEASE click "Accept" leaving Positive Feedback to reward my time/effort. A bonus is appreciated. Please "Reply" with additional questions/info rather then give Negative Feedback.Thank you!


text:
2011 X5 NA Brochures are up on BMW.com
FYI. I just checked the website and they have the 2011 Brochures up on the website for viewing. I needed to sign into my account to see it.
Can you post them here? I can't find them anywhere, not in my BMWUSA account (I see the X5 driver's manual, but no brochures).
plug in your e-mail and they send it.
So anybody else doesn't have to enter their email to get a silly brochure...
It's a Flash-based brochure, so no saving off a PDF. Doesn't appear to have any suggestion of LED coronas, or any talk about cargo cover (although ski bag is definitely included with cold weather). Also no talk about the new iPod features. Funny they use the Euro-spec X5 for the pictures, I notice the headlights are never turned on :\ .
new ipod features are on page 34
Early 2011 X5 buyers ARE getting hosed on the LED Coronas...
The BMWUSA brochure on page 5 lists LED daytime running lights as a feature on the 2011 X5. Since this is a BMWUSA brochure, i guess those of us that bought in early are getting hosed on not getting that feature as well as not having side cameras being available for order. I wonder if they just had extra units of the old lights or a calculated decision on BMW mgmt, either way it sucks...I am mad everytime i see a 2011 early 3 Series with the LED coronas knowing my truck costs 50% more and got inferior parts to the 3 and to its european counterparts..End of Rant...other than that the truck has been great
Someone make me feel better and tell me i have misread the brochure
All it is...is a damn bulb.
You can buy one and change it out if you choose.
The last page of the brochure is a safe harbor statement stating BMW can introduce changes at any time. But I agree it sucks for us early adopters.
Thanks for the confirm, i figured it was more than a bulb else why would BMW mgmt not just give it to the early adopters. My frustration with BMW is that they charge for a premium product but then nickel and dime for other items. I really would prefer that they added a few dollars per car and just gave us a feature like LED Coronas when the car comes out instead of holding it off as a another mid year feature which they love to do. I will never buy an Acura (Honda in a tux) but i really respect the way they package their car options, its clear and concise. Its not a matter of technology or supply as they were doing it right from the start for the euro 2011 X5 and even for the early model 2011 3 Series, so it must come down to cost. I guess even though we all spend on average $60k for our trucks its still not enough money for them to package it properly.
All i can say is if you have a car on order, cancel it and wait until Sept, unless of course there is a planned price increase to go with the new feature
Tell you what, when we picked up our X in June, we were quite surprised it was not LED as was the CA. My wife said, where are the LEDs? you have more on your 2008 535i than on this 2011 X5. I said sarcastically it will appear in the fall as a feature change jokingly...didn't know i would be correct
Sorry to appear as a ranter, I've been an BMW owner since forever and currently have 2 in the garage and tried to move away once and came back immediately after what i saw competitors considered a 'sports sedan'...i love BMWs, i don't like their mgmt so much
Those Germans!
Hold up I thought sept. Production was just an update to the software... Did not know hey would do another facelift and add LED lights..
If so I would be quite upset! Basically my 2011 obsolete in a week surely this is not true!
I spoke to a CA today and he said that the software updates will go into the August Build and Side View Cameras would be avail in September builds. I don't know how reliable this information is.
Also any word on LED/corona ring?
Wow if it's August then I'll be the luckiest guy on the block as my car is scheduled to be built on week 31 :rofl:
and what the actual update is?
I can take it.
We don't know for certain whether the LED lights will be included with the Sept. updates, we only have one page in the brochure to go off right now (with other parts of the brochure not confirming the LED lights).
I was thinking this was a big deal, but I saw the new 535i today with the new lights, and while it's nice - not worth 1k to me (I would lose Ultimate Drive credit of 1k if I waited to get Sept build).
I am more excited about my v8 twin turbo!
You would figure they would have the changover after the shutdown during the July 4th week.
I just placed the order for a 2011 X5 35d and had a choice between week 34 (Aug Build):( and week 37 :p(Mid Sept Build) I wanted the Sept. updates ans went for the Sept. build.
I am using the $1,000 Ultimate Drive Credit. It is good until Sept. 30th. I am planning to pick up from the PCD and should have no issues getting a Sept. build and using the $1k credit.:angel:
But good tip for anybody who can do PCD - and we'll all be anxious to hear a report if the LED coronas are included! Forgive me, but I'll hope they aren't... I'd prefer to not be obsolete for at least 2 months.
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Rachel's Story
Back to the ISellTack.com Story | Forward to CJ Millar's Story | Meet the ISellTack.com Team
The Story of Rachel Schaeffer, her love of horses and French used saddles!
Rachel Schaeffer got bit with the horse bug as far back as she can remember! At 6 years old, she saved up enough money to have a birthday pony delivered to her backyard for 4 hours (despite it not being her birthday). From then it grew to horseback riding lessons as often as her parents would take her, working at various barns in the Philadelphia and South Jersey and mucking stalls to pay for it all.
Rachel rode primarily English but did have a horse that she leased with her own money at the age of 11 called Peaches who was a huge Palomino that enjoyed going Western too. Rachel has many fond memories of riding Peaches (and bailing a few times too) through Tyler State Park in Newtown, PA.
When Rachel was 12, she bought her first horse - a small Appaloosa mare named Party Miss. Rachel put down 50% of her own money and made small payments for Party Miss, who was fondly referred to as "Parts Missing" if she behaved like a moody mare. For her 8th grade graduation Rachel's dad rewarded her hard work and 'gifted' her the other half of the horse. It was around this time that Rachel first started noticing tack and saddles and bought her first saddle - a flat, no knee roll having Blue Ribbon saddle. She paid $650 for it with a price tag showing a retail price of $1,200 so Rachel knew she got a great deal. (Was this the start of I Sell Tack.com in some way??!)
Madison, Rachel's daughter, also helps out with the business. Madison started riding before she could walk but at around age 4, she started really started riding and her first pony was named Peanut. Madison rode for almost a full year with no stirrups because Rachel didn't run out and buy a saddle right away (making sure she really wanted to ride) so she rode in Peanut's Western saddle with stirrups that were way too long. It has did wonders for Madison's seat, needless to say, and today she is a beautiful, natural rider!
Throughout the years Rachel and Madison showed in the hunter, jumper and equitation rings and they still show today. Rachel is proud to say that in addition to importing several horses from Europe (still winning everywhere) she has enjoyed several OTTBs that were show winners and reliable mounts! Rachel, Madison thoroughly enjoy every waking moment of spending time around horses and beautiful saddles, of course!
Some imports (click to enlarge):
An OTTB stallion that we raced then turned into a jumper!
Why did Rachel start I Sell Tack.com?
Rachel started I Sell Tack.com because many years ago she was on the hunt for a French used saddle with a budget of $2,000 and had trouble finding anything to buy. She then made it her mission to scout out the nicest saddles and offer them to her clients for the best prices possible. Additionally, Rachel had several friends who did not have time to sell their own items, so Rachel began the consignment program at I Sell Tack.com which has taken off like a rocket ship! I Sell Tack.com has overall just exploded in growth over the past few years but really over the past 12 months. (We are SO grateful for our thousands of friends, customers and fans!) Rachel and her team (daughter, plus 2 other VALUABLE team members) can be seen at regional horse shows taking pictures of people in the show ring and posting the pictures for them to use for free. Additionally, she will travel to barns to pick up and drop off saddles, and/or just to say hi.
Check out the March 2013 issue of Practical Horseman where Rachel wrote an article on how to sell a used saddle. As always, if you have any questions about anything that I Sell Tack.com does, please don't hesitate to drop us a line. Honest opions are given (whether it is good news or bad news) and I Sell Tack.com appreciates all of the customers who have made us successful!
P.S. Did we mention that we are OBSESSED with French saddles??!
Rachel and her family. Click pictures to enlarge.
Rachel showing in Culpeper.
Madison riding Oliver at PGEC in 2012.
Madison and her love!
Madison and Ubi.
Madison and Houston.
Additional pictures.
Back to the ISellTack.com Story | Forward to CJ Millar's Story | Meet the ISellTack.com Team


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March 2014
HR News
Learning and Development Opportunities
Performance management update
(March 25, 2014) The 2013-2014 performance management process will remain unchanged for this performance year. As you may know, the University is exploring changes to our performance management system, just not for the current performance year. At this time, you can enter your 2013-2014 performance management form in SuccessFactors and update your job duties, goals and competencies as needed. If you have questions about performance expectations, please contact Josh Navarro at firstname.lastname@example.com or 303-871-7726, or visit the HR website for additional resources.
January-February comings and goings report
(March 11, 2014) See who joined the DU team, who transferred and who moved on in January and February.
Learning and Development opportunities
The DU Learning and Development program offers opportunities to support individuals and teams at all levels of the University. Resources and workshops focus on offering topics that have an impact on the workplace environment including but not limited to compliance, retention, engagement and individual growth. Browse the full calendar of events via the PioneerWeb Training channel, and see the select events below.
Understanding the tuition waiver process and use
Wednesday, March 26, 11 a.m. – University Hall room 306
HR and Financial Aid will cover the tuition waiver process and rules around using the waiver, job-relatedness and taxation for DU employees. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions. Please register via PioneerWeb, Employee tab, Training, Professional and Career Development.