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Prepare for Mass
October 25, 2009 – (10/25/2009)
Jesus heals the blind beggar
The Healing Power of God
Sunday October 25 2009 is the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
The power of God's great healing love can be a source of joy.
Jer 31:7-9
Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6
Heb 5:1-6
Mk 10:46-52 The LORD has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.
Behold, I will bring them back
from the land of the north;
I will gather them from the ends of the world,
with the blind and the lame in their midst,
the mothers and those with child;
they shall return as an immense throng.
They departed in tears,
but I will console them and guide them;
I will lead them to brooks of water,
on a level road, so that none shall stumble.
For I am a father to Israel,
Ephraim is my first-born.
The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.
Every high priest
is taken from among men
and made their representative before God,
to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
He is able to deal patiently with the ignorant and erring,
for he himself is beset by weakness
and so, for this reason, must make sin offerings for himself
as well as for the people.
No one takes this honor upon himself
but only when called by God,
just as Aaron was.
In the same way,
it was not Christ who glorified himself in becoming high priest,
but rather the one who said to him:
You are my son:
this day I have begotten you;
just as he says in another place:
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus,sat by the roadside begging. On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent.
But he kept calling out all the more,
"Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him."
So they called the blind man, saying to him,
"Take courage; get up, Jesus is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.
watch CatholicTV
Mass Preparation for this Sunday
Father Jim Chern
Fr Tommy Lane
St Charles Borromeo Catholic Church – www.scborromeo.org
Catholic Doors Homilies
Loyola Press Sunday Connection
Weekly Wellsprings – wellsprings.org


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This combo of photographs shows how Charles Manson has looked over the years from 1969 up to the most recently released photo in 2011.
The man in the image has long gray hair and beard crowding in on his face, but the eyes and the swastika-tattooed forehead are unmistakable: Charles Manson, mastermind of a notorious killing spree that gripped America in the summer of 1969.
The California Department of Corrections released two new photos of the convicted murderer on Thursday in advance of his latest parole hearing.
"He looks a lot different," department of corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton told CNN, which had requested the images. The last images of Manson showed him with a buzz cut.
Manson is trying for parole for the 12th time, the Orange County Register reported. An appearance at the hearing on Wednesday isn't expected, the newspaper said – Manson last showed up for one 15 years ago.
On two nights in 1969, Manson and members of his notorious "family" murdered seven people at random. He and four followers are serving prison sentences in the case.
On August 9, 1969, Charles "Tex" Watson and three female accomplices, acting at Manson's direction, murdered actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski, and four guests at Tate's house. Polanski was not home. The following night, Manson, Watson and their accomplices killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at their Los Angeles home. Watson remains in prison , as do accomplices Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten. Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009.
Read more about the Charles Manson case

subset: commoncrawl


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Arctic Monkeys Forum Fan Site - Arctic-Monkeys.com - The Number 1 Fan Site
Moderator: Moderators
Lizzi wrote:So far, I've listened twice to the new album. Fave song would .be 505.
I voted for the first, cos when I first heard it, i dunno it "hit" me much more harder than this one. I loved the fact that they sometimes broke the beat of the tune to change to another, arrangments like that - i love that.
aDri wrote:i´ll stick with the 1st...
could i be the great expectations we had towards the second? i don´t know..
fact is i could listen the 1st album non stop, round and round and roooound but with this one....maybe i havent got into some of the songs, maybe itll take me a bit to get used to, but some songs just dont get through.
but we´re talking in comparison...
of COURSE the 2 albums are GREAT!
but let´s face it.....trying to make an even better record than the first one is a theme for Mission Impossible!
irishscummyman wrote:FWN is more dangerous but no tracks on it are better than A Certain Romance.
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Urban Trend Kitchen Products
Urban Trend's gadgets solve problems and provide clever solutions for kitchen gadgets so that you can cook great food. Quirky designers and clever engineers create gadgets that make you think "wow". All Urban Trend gadgets bring together value, looks and function.
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Sam L. -
Smart Cut Salad


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Welcome to the Weird Picture Archive
CONTAINED HEREIN are some of the strangest images found in the world. From 8-legged lambs to 2-headed people and more, we collect and display the oddest of the odd. We are always looking for contributions, too (see below).
THESE PICTURES, while gruesome, odd, and sometimes grotesque, are guaranteed not to be obscene. They are divided up into categories, shown to the right. A click on a category will display the pictures available. Below each picture you can find links to other, similar pictures you might also be interested in.
ALTHOUGH WE OFFER humorous photos or captions, before anything else we strive to document oddities and abnormalities the average person might not see in everyday life. No disrespect is intended toward the subjects of these photos.
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WE RECENTLY PERFORMED a major overhaul of this site, getting rid of some old content that nobody cared about, cleaning things up so the site looks better, and updating so that we look good on mobile devices. If you have any problems with the new site, please let us know.
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YOU CAN NOW add your comments to any of the pictures! We always try to provide context for photos, but sometimes we have incomplete or inaccurate information, particularly on older images. If you have insight or information about an image, please feel free to share.
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Hybrids and Other Alternatives to the Traditional Pension
This PPI research report by Sandy Mackenzie finds that the diminished role of traditional pensions and the dominance of 401(k) plans threaten the retirement security of older Americans. The 401(k) plan encourages improvident behavior by leaving the choice of contribution rate to members, and it provides neither protection from investment risk nor longevity insurance. Alternative pension arrangements can mitigate the 401(k) plan's shortcomings.
Hybrids like the cash balance plan fix the contribution rate and assign investment risk to plan sponsors, although they provide no longevity insurance. Two relatively new financial products, add-ons to 401(k) plans—one with a minimum guarantee and one that annuitizes contributions as they occur—give 401(k) plans some of the features of traditional pensions and do provide some longevity insurance. Measures to reduce unnecessary obstacles to annuitization of retirement plans would also help compensate for the decline in the availability of longevity insurance.


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AUGUSTA, Ga. — The day Steve Stricker gave Tiger Woods a putting lesson at the World Golf Championship event at Doral a month ago was the day Woods became the going-away favourite to win the 2013 Masters.
So presumably, when the two frequent Ryder and Presidents Cup partners played a practice round Sunday at Augusta National, Woods returned the favour?
"Ah, no," Stricker said Monday.
But then he admitted that Woods, the four-time Masters champion, had shared a few tips about how to play the golf course that has mostly confounded Stricker throughout his career.
"I played 14 holes with him yesterday and we were talking about pitching and chip shots and little wedge play. I was asking him what he tries to do, and his action on the way back and on the way through.
"Yeah, it's mutual. We try to help out one another every once in awhile. It's not like we do it every time we play or talk to one another. It's just when things pop up, you know, I'm not afraid to ask him. He's the best player in the world. He's ranked No. 1 now again, and it's fun to bounce some ideas off him here and there."
Stricker, who has had shoulder problems the last couple of years, has been following a strict regimen of not preparing properly for tournaments this season, and it's worked well for him. He's ranked No. 8 in the world.
He spent last week at home in Madison, Wis., hitting balls out of a trailer, since the grass isn't really up yet.
"And I hit it great today and I feel great with what I'm doing. I just hit some putts and chips and just continue to work on that short stuff, the short game areas that I can't really do at home yet (other than) maybe hit some putts in my basement, and that's my practice, about three hours a day."
It's practically like being a Canadian.
AUGUSTA LOVE: Almost everyone has a story about why they love the Masters experience.
Matt Kuchar, who will figure in the list of favourites somewhere after finishing tied for third a year ago, remembers playing Augusta National as a freshman at George Tech.
"As a college kid, you never iron clothes or prepare the night before, but when you come to Augusta National, you iron clothes and you lay everything out the night before. You just can't wait for that morning to come and make that drive down I‑20 over to Augusta and sit outside across the street from the entrance and wait for the members to arrive so you can get in," he said.
"It's just one of those magical memories. I remember every hole seeming to go by so fast and all of a sudden being in the clubhouse having a cheeseburger and couldn't believe that the round was already over. It still kind of goes by that way to me. You have such anticipation for each upcoming hole, and then before you know it, you're finished. It feels like you never want it to end."
KIDS THESE DAYS: Having played the Masters as a teenage amateur, Kuchar is in awe of 14-year-old Tianlang Guan, who qualified by winning the Asian-Pacific Amateur.
"I did it at 19, and I can remember teeing it up with Tiger Woods, and on the first tee being glad I got the ball to balance on the tee. I was so nervous it was like a big moment that it just stayed on, and me trembling so bad that I didn't knock the ball off.
"(But) at 14, you may be too young to know what you're in for."
Tianlang played a practice round Monday with Ben Crenshaw, has one scheduled with Tom Watson Tuesday and is scheduled to play the Par-3 with Nick Faldo. The kid's getting around a bit.
HE'S GOT ISSUES: Stricker says his problems at Augusta have only been partly physical.
"Guys keep telling you, before you even come here, how nerve‑wracking, how intimidating some of this course can be," he said. "So this reputation that it has, and it's rightly so, I guess, it gets in your head, I think, at times.
"It's a challenging course, and you've got to suck it up on a lot of shots and hit quality shots, and I haven't done that at times."
His modest length off the tee is not the problem, he said.
"You need to spin the ball here, and I'm not a spinner of the ball. I bring it in with some height, but I don't put a lot of spin on it, and I think that's a negative for me here. And I'm coming in with usually a club or two more than some of these big hitters.
"But you know, shorter hitters have proven that you don't need to bomb it to win here. Weirsy (Mike Weir) winning and Zach Johnson winning ... I blow it by those guys," he said, laughing.
WEIR UNDECIDED: Weir hit several full shots, and chipped and putted Monday but said he hasn't decided whether his rib cartilage injury will allow him to play in the tournament. He may not declare himself in or out until Thursday.
He is, however, scheduled to tee off in Wednesday's Par-3 Contest with Stricker and Kuchar at 3:44 p.m.
BELGIAN BREWING: Long-hitting European Ryder Cupper Nicolas Colsaerts was suitably awed by his first exposure to Augusta National.
"Course‑wise, it's so much more subtle than I thought. You know, you think that after watching it for so many years, you have an idea of what it's going to be like, but everything is accentuated by a thousand times," he said.
"The first time you walk through the clubhouse and you get to see this piece of land in front of you, just how green it is, how clean it is everywhere ... I don't think there's any place like this."
Asked if he was still putting lights-out, as he did at last fall's Ryder Cup, Colsaerts chuckled.
"Well, it's funny, because since Ryder Cup, everybody thinks I average 27 putts a round. I don't; I just want to make that clear," he said. "These greens are very different than anywhere else. You hit it on the wrong side of the hole and you're praying to have a 10‑footer back."
He had an hour-long conversation, purely by chance, with six-time Masters champ Jack Nicklaus last week in Palm Beach, Fla., about how to approach each hole at Augusta.
"We were in the clubhouse and I'm chatting away with two members and Jack Jr. comes in, who caddied for Jack in '86, and we were talking about the '86 Masters, of course — and one of the members we were with asked Jack, Jr. what would be your advice for your first Masters," Colsaerts said.
"And he stood still for maybe 10 seconds, and he came out with a very clever quote of: 'I would just talk to Dad.' "
One phone call later, the Golden Bear appeared "and we sat at the table for an hour. I felt pretty lucky."


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An explorer's discussion forum for Donkey Kong Country
The Banana Bird wrote:Call me weird but bad dreams and nightmares never disturb me.
Phyreburnz wrote:Trust me... if you had dreams like mine... you'd not be saying that. I used to think like that. I never had what I'd consider nightmares. I had what "normal" people would consider nightmares, like being chased and stuff like that.... then it just went to straight-up horror movie status.
Phyreburnz wrote:My mum and dad went to visit him in jail... he's been doing crack. He asked my mum to take him to rehab. All I want is for him to be telling the truth about wanting to go to rehab.
Phyreburnz wrote:He broke into somebody's house with a friend (the friend is underage, my brother is not). They stole an Xbox 360 controller and 15 games. The value of the stuff they took was estimated around $900. He has like 4 felony charges against him. I'm guessing he'll plead guilty; it says in the paper (yeah, it was on the front page of the local paper) that he admitted to it. Here in PA, he will get one chance to get his record exponged. That means if he does what the judge says, it will be taken off of his record.
Also, a few weeks ago he was expelled from school for possession of drugs. They were a lookalike substance, though (they weren't really drugs). He made fake pills and tried to sell them. So, even though they were fake, he will still get charged with intent to deliver... that means he would get labeled as a drug dealer.
*EDIT* My mum and dad went to visit him in jail... he's been doing crack. He asked my mum to take him to rehab. All I want is for him to be telling the truth about wanting to go to rehab.
SexyRayman wrote:Random thought... Guy talk annoys me alot lately.. all they talk about is cars , tools , weather , jobs and all those boring stuff. Don't understand them at all..
Super Luigi! wrote:So does everyone on the Atlas have their own job.? Like, Simion32 is recreating the world of DKC as we know it, Phyreburnz is bringing life to us by animating 5 different types of Klobbers and other such things, leo_core is making a 4th DKC game, Markster is teaming up with Cream the Rabbit to make more games, and I just make people laugh. I think I'm the Joker in this kingdom.
HavocReaper48 wrote:[spoiler]GIANTS WON GIANT WON WOOO GIANTS PARADE GIANTS PARADE YEEEEAAAAHHH
Super Luigi! wrote:The Banana Bird, you fly around to the different parts of the Atlas and create life out of new topics, such as those polls.
Tiptup Jr. wrote:Not to make anyone else's problems on here seem less significant, but since nobody on this forum seems to want to talk about Donkey Kong, I guess I will.
You guys have almost no idea what true pain or misery is like. Holy crap. And I've been through it all, moving 800 miles away, parents divorcing, abusive family, alcohol, drugs, corrupt law enforcement officials, etc. The other week I was spending the night at my mom's with my four little brothers and one of their friends, and my mom and her boyfriend started beating the crap out of each other so I had to call my father (who I also hate more than anyone in the world) to take us home. This was at 2 o' clock in the morning. I'm just dead inside. Have been for awhile. All life is pointless. Just move on.
Now, that doesn't mean I don't laugh and have a good time. I'm generally considered one of the nicest people in my entire school/community. I don't really have a specific group of friends, everyone is generally cool with me but I don't really talk to people. I've lost most internal concepts of moral rights and wrongs, but of course this doesn't show when I'm at school or at home, which are the only two places I ever am. I live 800 miles away from the rest of my family, so I don't have anyone else to stay with. And my siblings (ages 15, 14, 8 and 6) are all just terrible little * who should never have been born- especially the 14-year-old, who completely ransacked my room yesterday and pissed all over the place, leaving it looking worse than the places on Hoarders (a TV show). I take good care of my possessions, yet thanks to this * they're all probably ruined. I don't know, you can't even F---ING walk in there.
And I'm graduating May 24th, and I have no F---ING plans or a job or a car or anything. I'm just going to wander around aimlessly downtown until I inevitably end up dead, either by my own hand or someone else's. It's ironic because the public education system has been my enemy for my entire life and now that I'm leaving I have no idea what I'm going to do. I guess school wins.
Also, I alluded to my father earlier, yeah, he is the WORST F---ING person in the entire world. I really want to kill him, and I would, but with all the anal rape and whatnot I'm not too fond of going to prison. Anyway he's always yelling at me and crap and all this terrible F---ING stuff and I just hate the f--- out of him.
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Perfectly Strange
I saw a perfect game on Thursday night.
At least I think I did.
There was no drama, no celebration, and I'm guessing that many of the 4.510 fans in attendance have no idea that they witnessed International League history.
But they did.
Charlotte's Carlos Torres retired the first 15 Pawtucket batters through 5 innings when a light rain that had been falling for a few innings turned heavy. The ground crew rolled out the tarp, and after a 45 minute delay, the umps gave the signal that the game was over with Charlotte winning 5-0.
I had to be the most anticlimactic perfect game in baseball history.
I wonder if they popped champagne in the Knights' clubhouse?
It was the 15th perfect game in International League history, and the first 5-inning perfect game (Mariano Rivera threw a 5-inning no-hitter in 1995).
It was also the first perfect game ever thrown against the Pawtucket Red Sox. The PawSox have been no-hit on three previous occasions – most recently by Toledo's Jose Lima in 1994.
The only good thing was that the pain was brief – the game only lasted 1:10. The PawSox will be back in the clubhouse at 6:45 am to catch a bus to the airport for a morning flight to Durham, NC.
I hope you'll tune in on Friday for the start of the 4-game series against the Durham Bulls. Michael Bowden will be on the mound and our pre-game coverage will start at 6:50 on the PawSox radio network and PawSox.com.
I'd love to hear from you. The address is email@example.com.


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hi im making a small program for some calculations and ive ran into a wall...ill show a picture of the program so i can explain easier
so i have 5 jtextfields and i cant figure out how i can just put info in 1 instead of putting info in all 5...when i fill in only 1 textfield i get a null pointer(because the other boxes have nothing in them) when i click the calc button but if i have all text fields filled it works fine
so is it possible to have only 1 textfield filled in at a time? if so can you point me in the right direction? thanks a lot for any help you can give


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Asbestos: Think Again: Millions were exposed — were you?
Millions Were Exposed — Were You?
"Take home" exposure
Not all of the victims of asbestos are workers, particularly for mesothelioma, the signature and 100 percent fatal asbestos cancer. People hurt or killed by asbestos include the families of the men and women who work with asbestos, the communities that surround current and former asbestos mines, products factories and shipyards, and consumers who innocently exposed themselves and family members to asbestos through products like hair dryers, electric blankets, attic insulation, home siding and ceiling and floor tiles and many more.
Fatal mesothelioma in the families of asbestos workers is the most well-described and prevalent form of non-occupational asbestos mortality. Mesothelioma is unique among asbestos cancers in that it can be caused by very short-term exposures. In approximately three percent of cases, mesothelioma is diagnosed in workers with less than three months exposure; the shortest on record is 16 hours (Leigh 2003). A laboratory animal study published in 1974 also reported that a single high level exposure to at least one type of asbestos, amosite, may be enough to cause mesothelioma in rats (Wagner 1974). One review describes mesothelioma in a person who reported his total lifetime asbestos exposure as one day of sawing up asbestos cement sheets to build two sheds (Greenberg, 1974).
For profiles of mesothelioma victims see The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.
A 1967 summary of 42 mesothelioma cases reported by 152 hospitals in southeastern Pennsylvania showed that 21 percent of cases occurred in people who either lived or worked near a plant that used asbestos, and 26 percent occurred where family members were asbestos workers (Lieben, 1967). An estimated 6.7 percent of mesothelioma cases reviewed in a 1966 survey in the United Kingdom (London, Belfast and Liverpool) were linked to take home and neighborhood exposures.
An EWG Action Fund analysis of government asbestos mortality data for mesothelioma found that from 1985 through 1999, "non-paid worker at own home" was the top ranked business classification on death certificates for mesothelioma. Presumably most of these cases were housewives and family members who died from mesothelioma after they were exposed to asbestos brought home by a parent, spouse, or family member who worked with it.
Hundreds of housewives and family members were killed by "take home" asbestos exposures
Source: EWG Action Fund. Compiled from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), multiple cause of death file 1985-1999.
A business classification was assigned to just 3,603 of the 14,500 people who were estimated or reported to have died of mesothelioma between 1985 and 2001. If these 3,603 deaths represent the distribution of mesothelioma deaths across businesses represented by all 14,500 cases, then it would appear that about one quarter of all mesothelioma mortality occurs in people who did not work directly with asbestos, but instead worked in environments where asbestos was present, or lived with people who brought asbestos home with them.
A small number of family members of asbestos workers have successfully pursued compensation through the courts. Of the 107,000 client records received by EWG Action Fund from plaintiffs' attorneys, 882 individuals were exposed at home. Of this number, which accounts for less than one percent of total victims represented, 56 developed lung cancer, 77 developed mesothelioma, 672 developed asbestosis, and 77 had other diagnoses.
Passive workplace exposure — schools and hospitals
The same EWG Action Fund analysis of federal mortality data found that five of the ten most commonly recorded industries on death certificates do not have any well-established connection to occupational asbestos exposure. These cases are either due to passive asbestos exposure in the work environment, as with the teachers described above, or because of relatively brief occupational exposures decades ago. Death certificates do not reflect a person's work history. It is not uncommon for an office worker to contract mesothelioma, and only upon detailed questioning recall that decades earlier he or she worked around asbestos in some short-term employment.
Older public buildings where asbestos may be decaying and slowly drifting into indoor air is another major concern. The EPA estimated in 1982 that more than 720,000 public buildings had significant amounts of asbestos in them. Leaving aging asbestos in place is no guarantee of safety, and removing it can be highly dangerous if not done carefully. There is substantial evidence that much asbestos removal does not meet federal standards.
County: Homeless Removed Asbestos
Tampa Bay Online, Feb 8, 2004
Laborers Face A Lifetime Of Health Worries
Long Island Newsday, February 7, 2004
Father and Son Faked Removal of Asbestos, Workers Say
The New York Times, February 3, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/03/nyregion/03asbestos.html (registration required)
One key at-risk group is schoolteachers, who may have received significant exposure to asbestos from soundproofing and fireproofing of ceilings and walls. 'Elementary school teacher' was the eighth most frequently listed occupation on mesothelioma death certificates (NCHS, 2003). Elementary and secondary schools ranked third among all businesses reporting mesothelioma cases. Hospitals ranked fourth. In the late 1970s, it was estimated that two to six million school children and 100,000 to 300,000 teachers had been exposed to asbestos in schools (Nicholson, 1979). A 1991 review describes four teachers with fatal mesothelioma, "...who worked in schools that were insulated with asbestos and who had no other known exposure to this mineral" (Lilienfeld 1991).
A mesothelioma case report published in the journal Respiratory Medicine in 1989 describes a 54-year old woman whose only identifiable asbestos exposure occurred in the office. As explained by the study authors, the ceilings in the building where she worked for 14 years "were sprayed with an inch thick layer of soft asbestos covered by a layer of paint. This evidently deteriorated rapidly, since as a result of complaints about dust in the offices, the ceilings were sealed, repaired and repainted about eight years after the building was constructed" (Stein 1989).
In 1980, the Consumer Products Safety Commission removed similar asbestos ceiling material from its headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. The agency described the associated risk this way:
"CPSC believes that any exposure to asbestos may involve some increase of risk; no safe level of exposure or so-called "threshold level" has been established. It is impossible to estimate with any precision the exact degree of risk associated with any low-level exposures."
Neighborhood exposure
Living near asbestos products factories can be as dangerous as having family members who work at the plant. A 1967 summary of 42 mesothelioma cases in southeastern Pennsylvania showed that 21 percent of cases occurred in people who either lived or worked near a plant that used asbestos, and 26 percent occurred where family members were asbestos workers (Lieben, 1967). An estimated 6.7% of mesothelioma cases reviewed in a 1966 survey in the United Kingdom (London, Belfast and Liverpool) were linked to take home and neighborhood exposures.
In Libby, Montana, the site of the notorious W.R. Grace vermiculite mine, entire families have been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases, when just one family member, usually the father, worked at the mine and brought home asbestos dust on his clothes. Children in Libby have developed mesothelioma and asbestosis as adults from playing in vermiculite slag heaps scattered through the town.
The federal government has identified 28 former asbestos manufacturing sites as priority locations for community-wide evaluations of asbestos disease because these sites received approximately 80 percent of the asbestos in Libby from 1964 through 1990 [View maps]. EPA estimates that 30 million homes have asbestos (vermiculite) attic insulation made at processing plants all across the country.
Federal officials have expressed serious concern about the risks for community residents living near these facilities. "It's like a ticking time bomb inside your chest," said an official with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry describing a priority vermiculite processing site in Beltsville, Maryland (Washington Post 10/3/03). Madelene Audia, who lives about 150 yards from a former vermiculite plant in Dearborn, Michigan, recalled dust wafting through the neighborhood in the 1960s and 1970s. It settled in homes and on the local ball field where her two children played almost every day. "It would get so bad you couldn't go outdoors," she said (Detroit Free Press 1/22/04).
In 1997, Dr. Michael Berry, a scientist at the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, published a study that investigated mesothelioma incidence in people who lived in the same town (Manville, NJ) or county (Somerset) as the largest asbestos manufacturing plant in North America (Berry, 1997). When plant employees were removed from the analysis, male and female residents of Manville were 10.1 and 22.4 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than residents of New Jersey not living in Somerset county. In all, 24 cases of mesothelioma occurred between 1979-1990 when only 2 would have been expected. Men and women living in Somerset county as a whole were 1.9 and 2 times as likely to develop the disease, a statistically significant increase (58 cases were observed and approximately 30 were expected).
Consumer product exposure
Tens of millions of people were exposed to asbestos through hundreds of common consumer products including hair dryers, electric blankets, heat guns, molding clay, dry wall patch, attic insulation, pipe wrap insulation, fake fireplace logs and many more. Some of these products were banned by the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC). Many were not. The most notorious asbestos product that was never banned by the CPSC is vermiculite (asbestos) attic insulation, from the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana. Vermiculite, which is contaminated with one of the most potent forms of asbestos, tremolite, was shipped around the country and processed into attic insulation and other products through 1992. EPA estimates that 30 million homes have asbestos (vermiculite) attic insulation made at processing plants all across the country [View maps]. When disturbed through home renovation or other causes, this insulation will produce significant and hazardous asbestos exposures.
Consumer products containing asbestos present grave and lingering risks to the millions of people who used them, but in general had no idea they were being exposed to cancer causing asbestos in the process. In 1979, the Consumer Products Safety Commission characterized the risk this way:
Although worker exposure to asbestos fibers on the job is regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), CPSC believes that asbestos fibers released from consumer products may pose unique problems in households. The household environment may harbor these fibers for long periods, and they may be repeatedly stirred up into the air after having settled to a surface. Infants and children in the home are likely to be exposed, and this environment, unlike the workplace, is not equipped with protective clothing or control systems for asbestos fibers.
(CPSC 8/31/79 Commission To Study Asbestos In Consumer Products)
Asbestos in blow dryers
Perhaps no consumer product better symbolizes the 1970s than the hand-held blow dryer. As it turns out, these hair dryers were not only puffing coifs, but also hurling asbestos fibers into the indoor environment. This extraordinary hazard was discovered entirely by accident, when a photographer using a blow dryer to dry negatives noticed tiny flecks of dust on his negatives. The revelation that this "dust" was actually asbestos led the CPSC to pressure manufacturers to voluntarily stop using asbestos in all hair dryers, though it was never officially banned. CPSC described the risk at the time as less than "many" occupational asbestos exposures, but by implication, presumably greater than others:
"While the risk to an individual from the intermittent use of an asbestos-emitting hair dryer is less than that from many current occupational asbestos exposures, the large number of individuals that may be exposed clearly calls for the elimination of the exposure."
An incredible array of products brought asbestos into the home in the not so distant past. Links to CPSC announcements of bans on selected asbestos-containing consumer products are listed below, followed by a partial list of asbestos-containing consumer products as of about 1980.
Hair Dryers
Heat Guns (used by model airplane hobbyists)
Paper Mache
Artificial Fireplace Ash
Consumer Patching Compounds
(used to cover up holes and cracks on interior walls of houses)
Asbestos paper (used primarily to insulate ducts and pipes)
Other products:
- Broilers
- Barbecue fire starters (electric)
- Deep Fryers
- Frying pans and grills (electric)
- Mixers (electric)
- Popcorn poppers
- Ranges and ovens
- Slow cookers
- Toaster
- Clothes washers and dryers
- Dishwashers
- Refrigerators
- Curling irons (electric)
- Electric blankets
- Heaters, portable electric
- Texture paint
- Asbestos paper (including asbestos paper tape) and millboard (i.e., in rolls or sheets) for consumer use, including but not limited to such uses as (This category does not include paper and millboard sold as a component of another product).
- Wall protection behind heat-generating products
- Floor protection under wood and coal stoves
- Soldering and welding blocks or sheets
- Pipe insulation
- Airduct insulation
- High-temperature wallboard
- Iron rests and burner mats; barbecue mitts, pot holders and similar items
- High-temperature gaskets for wood and coal stoves (including fireplace inserts)
- Stovepipe rings
- Safes, Kilns, safety boxes, filing cabinets, and incinerators
(All from www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/prhtml80/80021.html)
Asbestos is still not banned
Although the CPSC took action against the use of asbestos in many consumer products, asbestos is still not banned and is still used widely for certain applications. The 2001 Mineral Commodity Summary for Asbestos from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported 61% of the asbestos used in the United States (in 2000) was in roofing products, 19% in friction products, 13% in gaskets, and 7% was classified as 'other'.
(EPA's main asbestos page is: www.epa.gov/asbestos/)
Even today, almost none of the products containing asbestos are labeled as such. This clearly makes it difficult for consumers to choose products that are asbestos-free. According to the CPSC, as of May 2003:
"The extent of current asbestos product labeling is limited. Except for products which are sold unwrapped, such as millboard; and asbestos-cement sheet, all products are labeled with the name of the manufacturer or distributor. Only asbestos paper and furnace cement are labeled as containing asbestos. Non-asbestos substitutes for all asbestos products are widely available to the public for household uses."
(CPSC May 28, 2003, CANCER HAZARD! CPSC Warns About Asbestos in Consumer Products: Safety Alert)www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5080.html
A partial list of products that still contain asbestos can be found at:www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/asbestos/asbmatl.htm
It is presented below as well.
"Asbestos Containing Materials: Sample List of Suspect Asbestos-Containing Materials"
- Cement Pipes
- Elevator Brake Shoes
- Cement Wallboard
- HVAC Duct Insulation
- Cement Siding
- Boiler Insulation
- Asphalt Floor Tile
- Breaching Insulation
- Vinyl Floor Tile
- Ductwork Flexible Fabric Connections
- Vinyl Sheet Flooring
- Cooling Towers
- Flooring Backing
- Pipe Insulation (corrugated air-cell, block, etc.)
- Construction Mastics (floor tile, carpet, ceiling tile, etc.)
- Heating and Electrical Ducts
- Acoustical Plaster
- Electrical Panel Partitions
- Decorative Plaster
- Electrical Cloth
- Textured Paints/Coatings
- Electric Wiring Insulation
- Ceiling Tiles and Lay-in Panels
- Chalkboards
- Spray-Applied Insulation
- Roofing Shingles
- Blown-in Insulation
- Roofing Felt
- Fireproofing Materials
- Base Flashing
- Taping Compounds (thermal)
- Thermal Paper Products
- Packing Materials (for wall/floor penetrations)
- Fire Doors
- High Temperature Gaskets
- Caulking/Putties
- Laboratory Hoods/Table Tops
- Adhesives
- Laboratory Gloves
- Wallboard
- Fire Blankets
- Joint Compounds
- Fire Curtains
- Vinyl Wall Coverings
- Elevator Equipment Panels
- Spackling Compounds
(Source: www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6pd/asbestos/asbmatl.htm)
- Berry, M. (1997). "Mesothelioma incidence and community asbestos exposure." Environ Res 75(1): 34-40.
- Detroit Free Press. (1/22/04). "Dearborn factory spewed asbestos; U.S. is probing how widely the danger spread." by Hugh McDiarmid Jr.
- Greenberg, M. and T. A. Davies (1974). "Mesothelioma register 1967-68." Br J Ind Med 31(2): 91-104.
- Lieben, J. and H. Pistawka (1967). "Mesothelioma and asbestos exposure." Arch Environ Health 14(4): 559-63.
- National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) (2003). "Multiple Cause of Death files, 1985-1999."
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2002). "Work-related lung disease surveillance report." Division of Respiratory Disease Studies.
- Nicholson, W. J., E. J. Swoszowski, Jr., et al. (1979). "Asbestos contamination in United States schools from use of asbestos surfacing materials." Ann N Y Acad Sci 330: 587-96.
- Occupational Safety and Health Administration (2004). "Safety and Health Topics: Asbestos." Viewable on the web at:www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/index.html
- Stein, R.C., J.Y. Kitajewska, et al. (1989). "Pleural mesothelioma resulting from exposure to amosite asbestos in a building." Journal of Respiratory Medicine 83: 237-39.
- The Washington Post. (10/3/03). "Md. Workers Are Warned About Asbestos; Former Beltsville Plant's Employees and Others Were Exposed to Toxic Material." by Avram Goldstein.


text:
Strong's # 1258
διάλεκτος (diálektos)
+ Etymology:from 1256;
- Definition: a (mode of) discourse, i.e. "dialect"
+ KJV usage::--language, tongue.
This site has been superseded by
Strong's Greek Dictionary provided by Ulrik Sandborg-Petersen from Michael Grier's base e-text.
The XML source is available for free download
You may also like my greeklexicon.org website.
Please visit my free online Greek & Hebrew Quiz.
You can also buy the pro version (Paradigms Master Pro). Thanks.
Visitors since April 20, 2008.


text:
Socialite Jill Kelley, whose allegations of cyberstalking sparked the downfall of love-rat CIA director David Petraeus, was pressured by the spy boss and a top US general to prevent a radio DJ deep-frying a Koran.
Petraeus, who quit over an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell, and Gen. John R. Allen, who heads American forces in Afghanistan, wanted to stop Florida shock jock Bubba the Love Sponge from cooking the Islamic sacred text.
The proposed stunt came nearly a year after Florida pastor Terry Jones's threat to torch a Koran provoked protests and several killings around the world, although the book burning never took place.
Kelley reportedly emailed Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn for help in stopping the radio DJ. Her missives were revealed this week by the city's leader.
"I have Petraeus and Allen both emailing me about getting this dealt with," Kelley told Buckhorn in in an email on 7 March, Reuters reports.
In reply, Buckhorn said Tampa's police chief would speak to a manager at Bubba's radio station about the matter.
"OK. Can you keep me in the loop?" Kelley responded. "Gen. Allen will be calling me from Afghanistan at 1pm on this - and our next step."
It's a bizarre twist to the events that led to Petraeus's resignation: Kelley, a volunteer at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, had complained to an FBI acquaintance after receiving unwelcome emails from a cyberstalker. A subsequent investigation revealed Kelley had been emailed by Broadwell, Petraeus's biographer and secret lover.
The Feds followed the trail to a Gmail account shared by the the CIA boss and his mistress, who were swapping messages to each other in a draft email folder, and confronted Petraeus over his extramarital fling.
The same investigation also discovered the exchange of "inappropriate" correspondence between Kelley and General Allen, leading to an indefinite delay of his planned appointment as Nato's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe.
Kelley was a family friend of Petraeus and his wife, and also met Gen Allen when organising entertainment for senior officers at MacDill, which is close to her Tampa house and also home to the US Central Command, which oversees American operations in the Middle East.
Both generals were also friends with Natalie Khawam Wolfe, Kelley's identical twin. The two military men wrote letters of support to Wolfe in a custody battle over her son with ex-husband Grayson Wolfe, a former Bush administration official who worked on Iraqi reconstruction.
Reuters adds that it was unable to confirm whether Allen called back about Bubba's planned stunt. In her emails to the Tampa mayor, Kelley referred to herself as "ambassador to US Central Command's Coalition". Military sources said the title conferred no special privileges, was not exclusive to Kelley, and was purely honorary. ®
Bubba has vowed revenge after Buckhorn described him as a "complete moron" in the email exchange with Kelley, according to local reports. The shock jock said he abandoned frying the Koran after his lawyer and the heads of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the Tampa Police Department had a word with him.
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text:
ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani government said Wednesday that three percent of the people killed in U.S. drone strikes since 2008 were civilians, a surprisingly low figure that could alter the highly negative public perception of the attacks.
The number, which was provided by the Ministry of Defense to the Senate, is much lower than past government calculations and estimates by independent organizations. The ministry said 317 drone strikes have killed 2,160 Islamic militants and 67 civilians since 2008.
The attacks are widely disliked in Pakistan, where many people believe they violate the country's sovereignty and kill too many innocent civilians. The Pakistani government regularly criticizes the drone program in public, even though it is known to have secretly supported at least some of the strikes in the past.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif pressed President Barack Obama to end the attacks in a visit to the White House last week, but the U.S. gave no indication it was willing to abandon the attacks, which it views as vital to its battle against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
It's unclear how the Pakistani public will respond to the new government data, and there was also no indication why it seems to differ so much from past government calculations and outside estimates.
A U.N. expert investigating drone strikes, Ben Emmerson, said earlier this month that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry told him that at least 400 civilians have been killed by the attacks in the country since they started in 2004.
Emmerson called on the government to explain the seeming discrepancy, saying the figures provided by the Foreign Ministry since 2004 indicated a much higher percentage of civilian casualties.
"If the true figures for civilian deaths are significantly lower, then it is important that this should now be made clear, and the apparent discrepancy explained," Emmerson said in an email sent to The Associated Press.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, based in London, has estimated that at least 300 civilians have been killed by drones in Pakistan since 2008, while the Washington-based New America Foundation put the figure at 185 civilians. These estimates are often compiled based on media reports about the attacks.
Pakistan's figure for total deaths, 2,227, is lower than some other totals, although not to the same degree as its figure for civilians. The Washington-based New America Foundation has a total of 2,651 people killed in drone strikes in Pakistan since 2008, while the Long War Journal website has 2,493.
Compiling the accurate number of civilian casualties from drone strikes is hampered by the danger of traveling to the remote tribal region where they take place.
The U.S. rarely speaks publicly about the CIA-run drone program in Pakistan because it is classified. But officials have insisted in private that the strikes have killed very few civilians and that estimates from the Pakistani government and independent organizations are exaggerated.
Amnesty International called on the U.S. to investigate reports of civilians killed and wounded by drone strikes in Pakistan in a report released earlier this month that provided new details about the alleged victims of the attacks, including a 68-year-old grandmother killed while farming with her grandchildren.
Mamana Bibi's grandchildren told the London-based rights group that she was killed by missile fire on Oct. 24, 2012, as she was collecting vegetables in a family field in the North Waziristan tribal area, a major militant sanctuary near the Afghan border. Three of Bibi's grandchildren were wounded in the strike, as were several others who were nearby, the victims said. Bibi's relatives testified before members of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.
An even deadlier incident noted by the report occurred in North Waziristan on July 6, 2012. Witnesses said a volley of missiles hit a tent where a group of men had gathered for an evening meal after work, and then a second struck those who came to help the wounded, one of a number of attacks that have hit rescuers, the rights group said.
Witnesses and relatives said that total of 18 male laborers with no links to militant groups died, according to Amnesty. Pakistani intelligence officials at the time identified the dead as suspected militants.
Contrary to the information outlined in the report, the Pakistani government said Wednesday that there were no civilian casualties in 2012. The government said 21 civilians were killed in 2008, nine in 2009, two in 2010 and 35 in 2011. No civilians have been killed so far in 2013, the defense ministry said.
Amnesty did not immediately respond to request for comment on the government data.
The government also said "terrorist" attacks have killed 12,404 people and wounded 26,881 others since 2002, although these figures were disputed by some of the members of the Senate. The government has been battling an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban, which seeks to topple the country's democratic system and impose Islamic law. It was not clear if the figure involved only attacks on civilians, or also included attacks on security forces.
A roadside bomb killed five soldiers and wounded three others Wednesday in the South Waziristan tribal area, the Pakistani Taliban's main sanctuary before the army conducted a large ground offensive in 2009, said military officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military policy.
Also Wednesday, a bomb exploded in a market in southwestern Pakistan, killing two people and wounding at least 20 others, said police official Ahmad Raza. The attack occurred in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province. The province is home to both Islamic militants and separatists who have waged a low-level insurgency against the government for decades.
Associated Press writer Abdul Sattar contributed to this report from Quetta.


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Kristen Stewart daringly chopped off her locks last year to play rocker Joan Jett in the upcoming movie, "The Runaways," and she's equally fearless when it comes to her wardrobe. Whether wearing flirty dresses with retro sneakers, or donning couture gowns on the runway, Kristen isn't afraid to show her personality (and her legs!). From punk to Prada, her rebellious style won her the title of Access Hollywood's latest Style Star.
This down-to-earth young actress, who became a household name from playing the lead role of Bella in "The Twilight Saga," is not obsessed with Hollywood glamour. Her daily look consists of fitted skinny jeans, high top sneakers and knotted t-shirts.
"I go outside, and I'm wearing a funky T-shirt and my hair is dirty, and people say, 'What's wrong with her? She needs to invest in a hairbrush,'" the 19-year-old actress told Allure Magazine in its November issue. "I'm like, 'Don't you get it? I'm not that girl! I never was that girl. It's not like I was really clean-cut last year.'"
Kristen often incorporates her red carpet style with her casual everyday look. She'll often be seen wearing youthful short dresses with colorful sneakers, like she did for last year's MTV Movie Awards.
"I'm kind of obsessed with sneakers. I go on eBay all the time to find them. Old sneakers from the, like, 90's that I saw my brothers wearing," she told Nylon Magazine.
Yet despite her love for sneakers, Kristen also pairs her young and flirty dresses with fierce heels. On this past Sunday's BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Awards red carpet, Kristen stepped out in a white Chanel strapless dress with dramatic Roger Vivier high-heeled sandals.
Kristen's career choices are as varied as her style. Just last week, she turned heads in a short black Azzaro "Graffiti" dress and Bally "Stann" black satin platform pumps for the premiere of her latest film, "The Yellow Handkerchief," in which she portrays a troubled teen.
We look forward to seeing what she wears to the Academy Awards on March 7, when she will be a presenter alongside fellow "Twilight Saga" star Taylor Lautner.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: New Faces In Twilight's 'Eclipse' Cast
PLAY IT NOW: Kristen Stewart At 'The Yellow Handkerchief' Premiere, Los Angeles
PLAY IT NOW: 2010 Sundance Film Festival: Joan Jett - Kristen & Dakota's 'Runaways' Portrayal Was 'Great'!
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Style Star - Kristen Stewart - The Twilight Saga - Style - Red Carpet


text:
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1. FINAL SALES: All sales of gift cards, e-gift certificates, cosmetics, jewelry and items marked as "Sale" are final. FINAL SALE items cannot be returned for exchange, credit, or refunds.
2. Shipping charges are none refundable.
3. We ship worldwide. However, we only use regular shipping, NO overnight shipment.
4. To prevent fraud, your billing address must match the address to which your monthly credit card statement is sent.
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RS Components


text:
RBC.com | Français | | Contact Us
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About RBC > Media Newsroom > Speeches > Financial Reporting: A Delicate Balance
Barbara Stymiest
Chief Operating Officer
RBC Financial Group
CICA's Eighth Annual Financial Reporting and Accounting Conference
Toronto, Ontario
September 12, 2005
Thank you very much Steve [Steve Johnston, CICA Principal for Continuing Education] for your introduction and good morning everyone .
The headlines this morning and throughout the weekend continued to be focused on the efforts to recover from the tragedy wrought by Hurricane Katrina a couple of weeks ago. In thinking about what's going on in the Southeastern U.S., I am also mindful that yesterday was the fourth anniversary of the horrific and tragic terrorist attacks on the United States. All of this gives me pause to stand back to admire and celebrate the resilience of the entire world's response to the enormous destruction and devastation of 9/11.
Four years ago, human tragedy was matched by heroism; ruin was countered by restoration; and our horror turned to resolve. I was CEO of the TSX at the time, and in addition to being mindful of many friends and colleagues who were affected by the collapse of the Twin Towers, I recall being gripped by enormous determination and purpose to ensure The Exchange was available to carry out its important role in our economic system.
I was keenly aware that the integrity of infrastructure and the availability of information were key drivers of confidence in our economic system.
And then, only weeks after the Twin Towers fell, we were again reminded that integrity can also be attacked from within, when Enron imploded under the pressure of a crushing debt load obscured by what can charitably be characterized as the poor quality of publicly available information about the corporation.
As swiftly as Manhattan and Washington began rebuilding from the terrorist attacks, regulators, policymakers and business leaders also began work to repair the damage to the integrity of our markets. There was a new order of the day for all market participants: to rebuild confidence in financial markets. We saw widesweeping legislation and changes to the management, board of directors, regulation and scrutiny of public companies. These measures have spawned countless studies, cottage industries for commentators, and, of course, turned SOX from an item of clothing that covers your toes to a blanket of new regulations.
I do not intend to provide a wide-ranging discourse this morning about the events of the past four years, but rather to talk to you about a cornerstone of market confidence: the quality of financial reporting and disclosure. This morning, I want to discuss how the marketplace views and interprets financial information. And I want to address how these shifts have made dramatic changes to the accounting profession - in my view, for the better.
Several years ago, Dr. Robert Howell, the distinguished visiting business professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, offered the following observation on this subject. He said: "Financial statements, including the income statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flows are almost as useful as an 80-year old map of Los Angeles."
I'm sure there are many of us in this room who have agreed with Dr. Howell at some point in our careers. My intent is not to explore the historical reasons for how financial reporting got to this point, but rather to look at how we might reverse this perception. From my perspective, financial reporting simply cannot be seen as an out-dated map: it must describe for investors the steps taken by a company in the past and its direction for the future.
[TO AUDIENCE] I'm just going to ask for a show of hands here:
The reason I'm asking these questions is to show that there are at least three different categories of CAs who work with financial information: preparers, users, and those in oversight. Each of you has a different and critical role in the life-cycle of financial reporting. As such, you each have different needs and different objectives for financial reporting. Each of you has a different agenda with regard to financial reporting. And each of you is entitled to the right information to ensure the proper functioning of our market.
The public company, or reporting issuer must consider the needs of all stakeholders and provide excellent and understandable disclosure that satisfies all of them.
In 1996, a study by Mark Lang and Russell Lundholm found that, and I quote, "firms with more informative disclosure policies have a larger analyst following, more accurate analyst earnings forecasts, less dispersion among individual analyst forecasts and less volatility in forecast revisions." What management team can't see these as critical benefits?
Lang and Lundholm's study further suggested that the potential benefits of sound disclosure can also reduce a firm's cost of capital.
A recent article in The Economist is even more eloquent on the need for good disclosure: "Reliable numbers mean that investors can make sound decisions. Bad ones lead not just to insufficient allocation of capital, but also to a loss of confidence in the markets, and when fraud is involved, to huge shareholder losses. A study by Glass Lewis, a research outfit, found that investors lost well over 900 billion dollars in over 30 big scams between 1997 and 2004."
So if the prospects of poor investor interest, expensive cost of capital, and large shareholder losses are not daunting enough to convince a management group of the merits of good disclosure, then let me appeal to simple self-interest.
It's the law. Pure and simple. Legislation and regulations now exact harsh penalties for incompetent or dishonest disclosure. Ask Bernie Ebbers. Ask Andrew Fastow.
To add to Dr. Howell's assessment of the usefulness of financial statements, issuers must provide better directions in their financial statements to investors. Without them, investors will be lost. So how can we improve the quality of our directions and provide better context and better discussion of trends and other variables? And what constitutes proper directions or sound disclosure?
In the cartography of financial reporting, the balance sheet, the income statement, and statement of cash flow are indicators that help users orient themselves in navigating the company's financial disclosure. Like a mapmaker needs to mark True North, companies must ensure their financial statements are technically accurate in accordance with GAAP, so investors can head toward the proper conclusion or destination.
GAAP is not perfect. It can't always provide a clear or complete picture of corporate performance. Simple technical compliance with GAAP without sufficient context can often provide only a partial description of a company's performance. Unfortunately, rules-based accounting standards have now become so precise and complex that many professionals have tended to focus on the lines drawn as opposed to the principles that created them. The argument has been made repeatedly that GAAP stresses sticking to the letter rather than the spirit of the law. As the British commentator Michael Wilson puts it, "GAAP virtually challenges the accounting community to think up ever more ingenious ways to force its inconvenient figures to fit it."
Clearly technical accuracy and compliance are not enough to provide the complete picture of a company's performance.
The complexities of business have proven that innovations, such as derivatives and off-balance sheet transactions have critically important roles in our system. But using these tools to conceal the true financial condition of a company is not one of them. Rules-based accounting arguably demands that companies fit performance into a framework, and this sometimes leaves significant opportunity to conceal or omit information because the standards cannot possibly keep up with all financial developments.
I tend to agree with one SEC commissioner who said the more specific the rules, the more temptation there is for companies to create transactions to circumvent them, and avoid disclosure. To paraphrase Commissioner Cynthia Glassman, the substance of a transaction should dictate the accounting, not vice versa.
In late July, the Accounting Standards Board released its draft strategic plan, saying "it is now widely accepted that rules do not necessarily result in better financial reporting." That said, principles-based accounting is not perfect either - for example, it can make for difficult comparisons of companies.
The debate about rules-based versus principles-based standards is significant and a topic for another time. I applaud the standards setters for considering all the issues as they revise and revisit existing standards and create new ones. But their work is only one component of good reporting: GAAP is the foundation for disclosure. It is the means, not the end of good reporting.
In a speech entitled, "Restoring Investor Confidence: The Key is Disclosure," the Undersecretary of the U.S. Treasury Secretary at the time [Peter R. Fisher] said that companies must observe "the longstanding principle that GAAP compliance does not satisfy disclosure obligations."
Obviously there is another venue of financial reporting that complements the technical accounting work. If technical accounting provides a small and often incomplete snapshot of a company's performance, the Management Discussion & Analysis paints a broader picture, showing that good management is, at least to some degree, an exercise in long-term planning.
Financial reporting, therefore, must also include some sense of a company's strategic objectives as well. If we accept that the balance sheet, the income statement, and statement of cash flow comprise our map, then the SEC has made it clear that the legend of the map of financial reporting is the MD&A.
Thinking of our financial statements as maps helps us understand how much financial disclosure has changed over the past several decades, let alone the last five years.
Looking back, Dr. Howell is arguably right; financial statements of the past were actually not very useful maps of corporate performance. By definition, they reflected corporate performance at a point in time with little contextual information. The MD&A provided a simple narrative of the financial tables. I'm exaggerating slightly to make my point, but looking at financial statements from 20 years ago would be like looking at the map of a trip from Vancouver to Toronto, consisting of one straight line with nothing other than the origin and destination marked at either end.
As I said earlier, I see the MD&A as giving valuable context and information to help readers understand where the company has been and where it's going. A good map provides more than just the names of the origin and destination; it has information about landmarks, services and facilities along a route. A good map would tell travelers that the trip from Vancouver to Toronto crosses mountain ranges and rivers - all on a paved highway that goes from two to eight lanes, depending on where you are.
Similarly, the MD&A should explain the financials, not parrot them. The MD&A should enable investors to fully appreciate the risks, the potential and the reasons behind past performance. The MD&A is also forward-looking and therefore is an opportunity for management to describe its motivation and rationale for future decisions.
More detailed MD&A disclosure - like the legend of our map -- would even let the traveler know they can expect to encounter strong prairie winds and the treacherous terrain of the Canadian Shield. There may be discussion of the beauty of the Great Lakes or the harshness of crossing Manitoba and Saskatchewan in January. There might also be a description of road construction in the interior of B.C., a new bridge set to open in Alberta and increased traffic as you come close to Toronto.
You get the point. A good map provides you with not just a snapshot of the route, but the conditions encountered and expected during the journey as well. Good financial disclosure should do the same: highlight the history, trends, strengths weaknesses and the plans that management intends to pursue.
Let me return to GAAP for a second. As I said earlier, GAAP is a very limited tool and can only partially explain a company's story. Arguably, the MD&A is intended to provide investors, shareholders - these are the owners of a company - with management's knowledge of the company's operations. The deliberate phrase "through the eyes of management" is regularly used to describe the purpose of the section.
And while regulators have tended to scrutinize use of non-GAAP measures and other business metrics, these can be important to understanding material changes or items. These are the elements of disclosure that would best help investors see the company from management's perspective. If management relies on certain non-GAAP measures and other business metrics to manage the business properly, disclosing the most important ones is vital to providing what analysts like to call 'colour' to the financial statements.
As you know, the SEC requires reconciliation and explanation of non-GAAP measures with their GAAP equivalent. While potentially burdensome, this requirement for reconciliation does impose a discipline to ensure non-GAAP indicators are used only when necessary to enhance the quality of discussion.
Clearly, I am opposed to any attempt to make the MD&A the place for boilerplate disclosure. Chris Hicks, the CICA's principal for Knowledge Development, wrote in this month's issue of CA Magazine about building a better MD&A. In his piece, he is quite succinct on the value of MD&A. Simply complying with regulatory requirements is, I quote, "shortsighted."
The MD&A should be an honest and coherent discussion of a company and its prospects. It should help answer the question: "Why should I invest in this company?" The best MD&As should be gripping and page-turning stories.
I have to again tip my cap to the CICA Canadian Performance Reporting Board for their efforts to raise MD&A standards by developing a set of principles and a framework to help issuers create their MD&A. I'm sure most, if not all of you, are familiar with National Instrument 51-102 [or soon will be].
At RBC, we take compliance seriously and we want to be sure we provide additional disclosure to users that may help their understanding of our company. As an interlisted company, we are subject to the numerous Canadian regulators and their rules as well as SEC rules. In addition, we are under the scrutiny of at least 15 sell side analysts and many more buy side analysts and investment professionals covering our company.
As you can guess, we spend considerable time discussing and devising ways to improve our MD&A disclosure. Our overall objective is nothing less than to ensure our external reporting effectively and convincingly communicates our key messages while meeting all key stakeholder requirements and expectations.
The MD&A is our story and we want to make it clear so that the reader can see what's most important to our operations and performance. Our principles for reporting include making the MD&A easy to read and understandable, focusing on key trends, drivers, events or other noteworthy changes. As the CICA and other guidelines prescribe, we strive to use plain language in our commentary, being thoughtful and focused to explain why a change has occurred, rather than the structure or composition of the change.
We use a top-down approach to explain our results and highlight the areas of strategic focus. We are taking the time to focus on material items or changes while also discussing economic and competitive influences on our results. This includes giving investors our outlook on business trends and their potential impact, though it should be noted we do not give guidance on key financial indicators, such as earnings per share, or net income.
Those who have read our MD&A will also note that, in the interest of providing a balanced story, we have not avoided discussing our weaknesses or initiatives to resolve issues.
For us, improving our MD&A is a continuous process as we digest changes to accounting standards, regulatory demands and best practices in light of any organizational changes we undergo. That said, our framework is clearly predicated on offering investors a strategic discussion of our operations to complement our technical disclosures.
Many other companies are thankfully using a similar approach of balancing strategic and technical objectives in their disclosure.
CAs have an exciting opportunity to respond to the transforming needs of the business world. Scandal and resulting regulatory changes have heightened demand for integrity and accountability of financial data: the traditional and most essential role of accountants and auditors. But CAs must now stretch their skills and widen their focus so they can better advise business leaders on how they can achieve their goals.
Traditionally, in companies around the world, CAs now have responsibilities that are either Supplier or Governance oriented.
In Supplier roles, CAs tend to fill roles of being internal suppliers of services to revenue producing operations. Governance or Compliance-oriented roles are designed to ensure enterprise wide standards are met to ensure, among other things, that laws and regulations are followed and opportunities for efficiencies can be gained.
CAs are professionals who have indispensable technical expertise - you are vital to the success and efficiency of your companies. Every day, you demonstrate professionalism, responsiveness and trust in everything you do.
It's a great foundation to build upon.
Today as increasingly complex businesses seek to expand their reach and scope, we, too, as professionals must expand and broaden our roles beyond being technical experts. In the words of Jim Carroll, the FCA who is also a business commentator, we would do well to remember that we have a critical role - I'm quoting here - "to provide organizations with the insight and agility needed to survive and thrive."
That's the essence of why we're here - financial management. As a business leader and a CA in a complex multinational financial services firm, I understand the increased demand for financial management expertise and I am heartened to know that the CAs with these skills are evolving in my organization and many others.
We are taking on the roles of strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, risk, branding, communications, and law. As Chief Operating Officer of RBC, I am responsible for all of these areas.
Over the past several years, finance departments have shifted their roles to enhance the value they provide to their organizations. CAs cannot fulfill their financial management duties by simply "counting the beans." CAs must become multilingual. CAs need to be conversant in matters beyond technical accounting issues so they can provide sound advice to their organization in everything from financial management to structuring transactions. As financial professionals in the 21st century, we must be intelligent and insightful advisors to our clients and/or our partners.
At RBC, our financial professionals are encouraged to take on roles outside of our head office environment. Today, there are many financial professionals working in all of our businesses so they can expand their knowledge base while giving the business the benefit of their acumen.
The specialized recruitment and consulting firm Robert Half International [the sponsor of today's lunch] says there is a growing demand for accountants capable of financial analysis, internal audit, forensic accounting and enterprise risk management. Dennis Beresford, the former FASB chairman, sums it up by saying, "The non-specialist specialist - that is someone who is enough of a generalist and smart enough to work in a lot of different areas - is going to be a very valuable person."
Today, compared with a few years ago, you are more often involved, consulted and sought out for key business decisions. Why? Because your skill sets can provide valuable insight to business leaders looking to assess the viability of their initiatives.
CAs must continue to demonstrate sound financial stewardship to stakeholders, be active business leaders, providing value through planning, analysis and performance measurement.
Circumstances have provided CAs with an opportunity to challenge the status quo - we can prove we are capable of going beyond what has been traditionally expected of our roles.
In addition to creating a more efficient organization, you can be even more satisfied in your choice of career.
I hope for many of you, you will find this direction to be refreshing, exciting and challenging. For some of you, I recognize this new direction may also be intimidating and different.
But that's good. Thinking differently is a challenge with a great deal of promise.
So wherever you are - whether in a public company, a public accounting firm or a regulator - lead your teams and your departments to become agile, responsive and proactive centres of expertise that, as true partners, help your organizations accomplish their objectives.
As I began in my remarks, stakeholders demand financial disclosure to be technically compliant while explaining strategic objectives and direction. Shouldn't they expect their accounting professionals to be the same?
Thank you for inviting me this morning. I'll be happy to take any questions.


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GLOBAL 3000, DW-TV's new globalization magazine looks at the issues that are moving us today, and shows how people are living with the opportunities and risks of globalization. GLOBAL 3000 gives globalization a face. Episodes in the series deal with topics as diverse as altruistic computer games, biodiversity in India, profiting from world food shortages and the EU's effect on distant countries like Cameroon.
There are no upcoming episodes of this series scheduled on Alabama Public Television.
Funding for Global 3000 is provided in part by:


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Bodyguard for Patti LaBelle innocent in Houston airport fight
Efrem Holmes, Patti LaBelle's bodyguard, was found not guilty on Monday of assaulting Richard King at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on March 11, 2011
King, who is from Houston, had flown in to see his family for spring break and had been drinking before, during and after his flight from Newark, which attorneys for Holmes seized on during the trial.
Prosecutors conceded that King, then 23, was intoxicated but said it was an unjustified attack that happened because King was milling around LaBelle's limousine while talking on his cellphone.
LaBelle and her entourage had flown in to perform a show at a casino in Louisiana and were loading the singer's limousine and an SUV for the trip.
Jurors watched surveillance video of the incident, which involved King, LaBelle's 37-year-old son Zuri Edwards and Holmes.
The incident made headlines after King was suspended from the U.S. Military Academy as a result of what happened. He was later reinstated at the school. Authorities originally considered King, who was belligerent after the incident and could not remember what happened, was the aggressor but no one in LaBelle's camp wanted to press charges.
After King's family saw the video months later, Holmes was charged with assault.
King has sued LaBelle and Holmes for more than $1 million in a civil court for assault.


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Kueh Sarlat - AFF Singapore #4
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
My final AFF entry.....
Kuih Sarlat is known as Seri Muka here in Malaysia, generally comes with white rice and green custardy layers. Seri Muka is the favourite of my man.. and also my little man now, haha!
This time, I shall try it with some blue pea extract, like how it's common in Singapore. I heard this colour combo is also found in Malacca... but it's for Singapore this round. No arguments please. Acknowledge the similarities, and embrace the differences.


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Live updates
- ITV Report
Campaigners say FA less credible after Mackay decision
Anti-racism campaigners have accused the FA of undermining its stance on discrimination by not charging ex-Cardiff boss Malky Mackay.Read the full story ›
- ITV Report
Malky Mackay apologises 'without reservation' to Tan
The former Cardiff City manager has also dropped his legal claim against the club after reaching a settlement on his dismissal.Read the full story ›
LMA describes criticism of Mackay as 'inappropriate'
The League Manager's Association has described Cardiff Chief Executive Simon Lim's criticism of former Manager Malky Mackay as 'inappropriate'.
Richard Bevan, the Chief Executive of the LMA, said: "It is most unfortunate that Mr Lim has chosen to speak out in this way.
"Mr Lim is aware that there is a legal process under way between Malky Mackay and Cardiff City and it is both inappropriate and unprofessional for either party to be making public statements of this nature at this time.
"All football clubs at the elite level have systems in place for corporate governance. Cardiff City is no exception. A manager, even in the Premier League, does not go out and "sign" players.
"All recommendations go to his CEO and board, essentially the Chief Executive on the board's behalf - deals with all financial arrangements to finalise any signings."
Malky Mackay 'relieved of his duties' at Cardiff City
The Board of Directors at #CardiffCity have relieved Malky Mackay of his duties. A new first team manager will be appointed in due course.
Cardiff City fans protest against club owner Tan
A large group of fans gathered ahead of Cardiff City's Boxing Day match against Southampton this afternoon to protest against the club's Malaysian owner Vincent Tan.
It follows his decision to reportedly ask Cardiff's manager Malky Mackay to 'resign or be sacked' last week.
Mackay has since showed his dedication to the club by saying he has no intention of resigning but is yet to meet with the billionaire owner.
Current score at the Cardiff City stadium this afternoon is Cardiff 0 - 2 Southampton.
'The support I've had has been humbling', says Malky
Malky Mackay has admitted he expected to be sacked at the weekend after receiving an ultimatum from Bluebirds' owner Vincent Tan to resign, or face the axe.
Mackay said in a press conference today that he had been left "deeply upset" by the email sent to him last week.
The Cardiff manager said he will not be meeting with Tan face-to-face before Cardiff's Boxing day match at home against Southampton.
He added that the support he received by both Cardiff and Liverpool fans at the weekend during their 3-1 defeat at Anfield is something that will live with him forever.
Cardiff City manager speaks out on Vincent Tan deal
Cardiff City manager Malky Mackay has addressed the media this afternoon and told them he has no intention of resigning.
The press conference follows an announcement yesterday of peace talks between the Scot and the club's owner Vincent Tan.
But Mackay added he is disappointed he won't be able to meet with club's Malaysian owner before Cardiff's Boxing Day match at home against Southampton.
Chairman: Mackay in charge 'for the foreseeable future'
Malky Mackay's future as Cardiff City manager looks secure for the time being after the club's Chairman Mehmet Dalmo - declared "Malky is in charge for the foreseeable future and will be until something else happens."
In a statement on the club's website, Dalman said: "I have spoken to Vincent Tan and he has agreed I can go into bat to try to bring a solution to this situation.
It comes after it emerged on Thursday that the club's Malaysian owner, Vincent Tan, had told Mackay to resign or be sacked.
Yesterday, at a press conference following Cardiff City's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool, Mackay insisted he would not be resigning "if it's got anything to do with me."
Dalman has called for the need of structured and open dialogue to commence between Mackay and Tan, with a view to find the best possible outcome for all concerned.
"My definition of diplomacy is to create space for dialogue," he said.
"I have spoken to Vincent Tan and he has agreed I can go into bat to try to bring a solution to this situation.
"The important thing is that we try to find a way through this predicament. There's goodwill on Vincent's side.
"I've not had a chance to talk to Malky just yet, but I will obviously do that as well.
"We need to have further dialogue to see if we can get through this together for the good of the club, which is the most important thing.
"We managed to create space for everyone to work together back in October and we have to see if we can do that again in order to move forward. At least we have a platform for dialogue, which gives us an opportunity to try to work our way through this.
"If we wish to work towards a reconciliation, Vincent Tan has offered us that opportunity to move towards that. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But at least I as a responsible person and Chairman of this football club have tried my best.
"I'm not taking sides in this, I'm just trying to do my best for the good of the club. Let's see if we can fix it. We can't keep having the club under a cloud, so this is it.
"We managed to get two or three months leeway last time and we need to create something similar again. I'm not putting a time scale upon this, but we have to try.
"If we want to find a way forward, we now have a platform, a base, from which to work," he continued. "This is a crucial time in the Premier League. Every point counts and we are better off going for stability.
"So if we want to give the club the best chance of being in the Premier League next season, the best way is to fix the problem and seek stability.
"In order to do that, it's best we have an attempt at dialogue. Vincent Tan is in London for a while, so at least he is physically here which makes it easier to have that face to face dialogue."
"I can tell you categorically that I, as chairman, have not initiated any dialogue with anybody else (about taking over from Mackay). Can we go out and get another manager? Of course we can.
"But I've read and heard so much nonsense about us speaking to four different candidates and that sort of thing. It's simply not true.
"What I do have is Vincent's word that if we don't succeed with our dialogue with Malky, I and the board will be handed the responsibility of going out and getting the manager we think is best to take the club forward.
"As things stand Malky is in charge for the foreseeable future and will be until something else happens. I don't want to go game by game on this, with people asking if he will be in charge.
"If I had one wish for Boxing Day, it's that they don't hold up 'Tan Out' or 'Malky In' banners, but rather one that says 'Talk to each other'.
"The crisis for the time being is over. The emphasis as of today is for us to create space and dialogue."
Mackay: I'm staying 'if it's got anything to do with me'
Malky Mackay says he will remain as Cardiff City manager "if it's got anything to do with me."
The Scot was speaking at a press conference following his side's 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, which came after intense speculation surrounding his future.
It emerged on Thursday that he had received an email from the club's Malaysian owner, Vincent Tan, telling him to resign or be sacked.
When asked whether he expected to remain in charge tomorrow and through the Christmas period, he said: "I will be if it's got anything to do with me.
"I won't be resigning as the manager of the football club. I'm proud of the job I've got here.
"I'm proud of the association I have and I couldn't look myself in the mirror to resign and walk away from the people that work for me - our training ground staff, our coaching staff, the staff at the stadium, that group of players there that I've got so much respect for."
And after losing to the Premier League leaders, the Scot also reiterated how proud he was of his players.
"I am proud of the way the players came out and showed great courage and belief in their ability in the second half and pushed Liverpool back - scored one (goal), had three or four other chances inside the six yard box and really were on the front foot," he said.
"I'm very proud of them for that and also the way that we then allowed our fans to really enjoy the second half in terms of making a game of it."
Cardiff City's next game is at home to Southampton on Boxing Day.
Mackay: I won't be walking away as Cardiff manager
Malky Mackay has refuted suggestions he is about to resign as manager of Cardiff City. It follows a dramatic few days in which it emerged Mackay had been told in an email by the club's Malaysian owner Vincent Tan to resign or be sacked.
In an interview with BT Sport following Cardiff City's 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield, he said: "I absolutely won't be resigning from the football club.
"I am a proud, passionate man to lead this football club and lead this team - I have done for two and a half years and my staff, my players...I certainly couldn't look at myself if I was to resign on those people.
"I won't be walking away... I'm proud to be the manager of Cardiff City," he said.


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The Consumerist reported that 35 pets died on U.S. carriers last year, with 19 of those on Delta flights.
The Atlanta-based airline transports 500,000 pet passengers a year and has banned smushed-face breeds like bulldogs since they often suffer from overheating. (Of the 16 pets that died on Delta flights the year before, six were bulldogs.)
A majority of the 2011 deaths occurred when pre-existing health conditions were aggravated by the stress of travel, the blog wrote.
"The loss of any pet is unacceptable to us," Delta spokesman Anthony Black told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We are working to improve the processes and procedures to ensure that every pet arrives safely at its destination."
Delta says it has a particularly high volume of pets compared with other airlines, and carriers like Southwest and AirTran do not take pets in their checked cargo at all, the newspaper said.


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Clinton Climate Initiative
C40 is a network of large and engaged cities from around the world committed to implementing meaningful and sustainable climate-related policies and programmes locally that will help address climate change globally. C40 works in an aligned partnership with the Clinton Foundation's Clinton Climate Initiative Cities programme. To learn more, please visit http://www.c40.org/ or www.clintonfoundation.org.
Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology and industrial leader serving customers in more than 150 countries. Our 170,000 employees create quality products, services and solutions to optimize energy and operational efficiencies of buildings; lead-acid automotive batteries and advanced batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles; and interior systems for automobiles. Our commitment to sustainability dates back to our roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. Through our growth strategies and by increasing market share we are committed to delivering value to shareholders and making our customers successful. In 2013, Corporate Responsibility Magazine recognized Johnson Controls as the #14 company in its annual "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com.
Jones Lang LaSalle
JLL (NYSE: JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual fee revenue of $4 billion, JLL has more than 200 corporate offices and operates in 75 countries worldwide. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services for a property portfolio of 3 billion square feet and completed $99 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2013. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $48.0 billion of real estate assets under management. For further information, visit www.jll.com.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
NYSERDA offers objective information and analysis, innovative programs, technical expertise, and funding to help New York businesses and residents increase energy efficiency, save money, use renewable energy, and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. NYSERDA professionals work to protect our environment and create clean-energy jobs. A public benefit corporation, NYSERDA has been developing partnerships to advance innovative energy solutions in New York since 1975.
To learn more about NYSERDA programs and funding opportunities visit www.nyserda.org.
Rocky Mountain Institute
Since 1982, Rocky Mountain Institute has advanced market-based solutions that transform global energy use to create a clean, prosperous and secure future. An independent, nonprofit think-and-do tank, RMI engages with businesses, communities and institutions to accelerate and scale replicable solutions that drive the cost-effective shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. Please visit http://www.rmi.org for more information.
ESRT, Empire State Building, L.L.C.
Soaring 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan (from base to antenna), the Empire State Building, owned by Empire State Realty Trust, Inc., is the "World's Most Famous Office Building." With new investments in energy efficiency, infrastructure, public areas and amenities, the Empire State Building has attracted first-rate tenants in a diverse array of industries from around the world. The skyscraper's robust broadcasting technology supports all major television and FM radio stations in the New York metropolitan market. The Empire State Building was named America's favorite building in a poll conducted by the American Institute of Architects, and the Empire State Building Observatory is one of the world's most beloved attractions as the region's #1 tourist destination. For more information on the Empire State Building, please visit www.esbnyc.com, www.facebook.com/empirestatebuilding, @EmpireStateBldg, www.instagram.com/empirestatebldg, www.youtube.com/esbnyc or www.pinterest.com/empirestatebldg/.


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CIU Student to hold Book Signing over Thanksgiving Break
November 18, 2010
Things for a college student to do over Thanksgiving break: Eat turkey, hug grandma, catch up on sleep, and oh yes - hold a book signing.
Jessie Mae Hodsdon, an 18-year-old CIU freshman, is studying Bible and business. But she is also an author and a publisher. As a matter of fact, she's unveiling her second novel in her hometown of Bangor, Maine over Thanksgiving break with a book signing. It's news back in Bangor, and you can read all about it in the Bangor Daily News at: