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UN official calls for justice in wake of human rights violations in Côte d'Ivoire, warns of renewed violence
The remarks of the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Simonovic, followed a visit to Nahibly, a remote camp near the town of Duekoue in the country's west that was the scene of an attack on displaced people on 20 July
"The tragic incident at Nahibly reminds me of the scenes in Duekoue on my last visit in 2011. Bodies were being exhumed from mass graves. The victims of those crimes are still waiting for justice. Such impunity – the failure to hold the perpetrators of horrendous crimes accountable – creates a grave risk of continuous violence," Mr. Simonovic said, while also stressing the urgency of completing investigations into the incident and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
The Government has launched investigations into the Nahibly attack, which left at least eight people dead and many more unaccounted for, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The UN official last visited Côte d'Ivoire in April 2011, at the height of the political crisis that followed its disputed 2010 elections.
Local officials and aid workers told Mr. Simonovic that the fragile security situation and fear of reprisals are hindering investigations – he said that quick, thorough and credible investigations were essential for the sake of not only justice, but also reconciliation and prevention of future attacks.
In Man, Guiglo and Duekoue in the west, civil society representatives and community members expressed concern to the UN official about unresolved land disputes, illicit circulation of arms and activities of Dozos, traditional hunters that have become a paramilitary group.
Mr. Simonovic noted that these concerns have the effect of denting confidence in the authorities and could fuel conflict, and urged the Government to continue efforts to reform the security sector despite the challenges posed by armed attacks on military positions and state facilities in parts of the country.
"It is essential to continue with security sector reform, in particular to strengthen the police and gendarmerie to take back their law and order functions from the army and paramilitary groups," the Assistant Secretary-General said. "It is equally important to take all necessary measures to prevent and to punish cases of arbitrary detention and torture."
While in the city of Abidjan, Mr. Simonovic held meetings with a range of Government officials and political representatives, and others, in addition to President Alassane Ouattara and Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan. "I was encouraged by their commitment to accountability no matter the ethnicity, religious or political affiliation of the perpetrators," he said.


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Ever notice that when you exercise in the morning, you feel more alert and productive all day? It's no coincidence, a morning workout has several advantages for your body and your mind. First, exercise jump-starts your metabolism, and keeps you burning calories at a higher rate all day. Also, you get your exercise out of the way and don't have to worry about not having time for your workout routine, should something unexpected come up during the day.
One recent study found that exercise before breakfast can counter the ill effects of overeating. The researchers compared groups of active young men who ran or biked before breakfast with those who didn't exercise and with those who exercised after eating big meals. Only the group that exercised before eating gained little or no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. Science aside, if you find getting up and exercising in the a.m. is easier said than done, try these 10 tricks.
Move Your Alarm Clock
Instead of sleeping with the alarm next to your bed, move it to the other side of the room. That way, you'll have to get up and get out of bed to shut it off. Once you're up, it's that much easier to stretch, don your workout clothes, and head out the door for a brisk walk around the neighborhood or to the gym for a morning workout routine. If you use an alarm that plays music, set it to a song from your workout playlist to help get you in the mood for exercise.
Make a Date
Having a workout routine buddy is a great motivator. Make plans to meet your exercise partner at the gym at 6 a.m. or on the tennis courts at 7 a.m. You're less likely to poop out if you know someone is waiting for you. You don't want to be the one who overslept or was too lazy to get up and get moving.
Make Friends at the Gym
If you don't have an exercise buddy yet, chances are you will make one after a few weeks of sticking to a morning workout routine at your gym. You'll become familiar with the regulars who also exercise there that time of day. It does inspire you to get up and move because you know they're there and will wonder where you are if you miss a day or two. It's a social factor that can help motivate you in the morning.
Have a Set Goal
Every Sunday night, create your workout schedule for the coming week. Tell yourself, for example, "This week, I'm getting up at 6 a.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, and running three miles before work." Schedule your morning workout just as you would an appointment. You're more likely to follow your morning workout routine if you write it down. If you don't make it, write a note in your calendar to explain why. Later, you can analyze your exercise excuses and look for ways to overcome them.
Load Workout Music Onto Your iPod
Music is a good motivator in the morning. If you have a great playlist, it can be enough to get you out of bed in the morning. Having workout music works for me. Research has shown that listening to music when you exercise can produce positive thoughts and help offset fatigue. Use a faster tempo to pump you up first thing in the morning and switching to a slower tempo toward the end of your workout routine.
Prep the Night Before
To follow through on a morning workout routine, it helps to lay out your exercise clothes and equipment the night before. That way you don't waste any time getting dressed and ready for your workout. One possible disadvantage of exercise in the morning is that your time may be limited, overcome this limitation by having a set routine and not wasting time looking for your sneakers or your weights.
Reward Your Efforts
If you meet your exercise goals and get up early four out of five days to work out for an hour, do something nice for yourself at the end of the week, like getting a manicure, seeing a new movie with a friend, or going to a baseball game. Buy a new workout outfit, take a well-deserved soak, or cozy up to your eReader, find what motivates you and use it to give you that push out of bed each morning for your workout routine.
Tell the World About Your Plans
Thanks to Facebook and Twitter, you can tell everyone you know about your morning workout routine. Post your exercise plans on Facebook. Once you do so, it's harder not to follow through with it. You also can use social media to boast of your accomplishments, tell your friends that you swam 16 laps (about a mile) or ran three miles before work. They surely will be impressed, and it will motivate you to keep up your workout schedule.
Too Sleepy? Give It Time
At first it may be difficult not to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep, rather than jump out of bed to exercise at the gym or go on a 30-minute walk. But after about a week or two, your body will adjust to your early workout schedule and it will be easier to get up and out of the house and head for the gym. Here's why: When you exercise regularly, you sleep better at night. When you sleep better at night, waking up to exercise is easier to do.
Look Forward to a Better Breakfast
You may want to eat something quick, like a banana or a handful of almonds, to give you a boost of energy before your workout routine. Then after you cool down, have your real breakfast, and make it special as a reward for your efforts. But don't sabotage your exercise efforts by eating a high-fat muffin or fried eggs and bacon. If you promise yourself a healthy, satisfying breakfast, such as eggs with veggies or oatmeal with fruit and nuts, when you get back, that will motivate you as well.

subset: commoncrawl


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In battle with an epidemic that has outpaced nearly all efforts to contain it, researchers are turning to strategies centered on the same antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that have been used successfully to treat HIV in hopes they will be as effective a stronghold for preventing the virus. For women, who make up nearly half of the 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, the ARV tenofovir has particular promise because it can be formulated as either an oral tablet or a vaginal gel to be used daily. But ARV-based prevention approaches are not without scientific and practical challenges. The Microbicide Trials Network (MTN) is taking aim at among the most pressing of these challenges in the first clinical trial to directly compare the tablet and vaginal gel formulations of tenofovir.
In part because certain cells in the vagina are easy targets for the virus, women are more than twice as likely as their male partners to acquire HIV through sexual intercourse. As such, the clinical study, known as MTN-001, seeks to understand how each formulation of tenofovir works in these infection-prone cells, information that will help researchers determine the optimal doses needed to achieve drug concentrations most likely to prevent HIV in women.
MTN-001 also looks to understand the factors that influence women's preferences for one daily approach over another, because not even the best approach will be effective if women don't use it.
MTN-001 is a Phase II study designed to evaluate women's adherence to and acceptance of three daily regimens of tenofovir – tenofovir gel, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate tablets and the two together – and the pharmacokinetics, or how the drug is absorbed by and distributed in the body over time, of each regimen. The study will enroll 144 sexually active HIV-negative women who will follow all three regimens, each for six weeks with one week between when no study product is used. In the United States, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the University of Pittsburgh are now beginning to screen potential participants.
Additional sites, including in South Africa and Uganda, will also be participating in the study, which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Researchers expect to complete the study in 2009.
"Being able to capture in one study, and in all women, information about adherence, acceptability, and pharmacokinetics will help us answer critical questions about the three regimens more efficiently and with greater confidence than we could in separate studies. We will be able to more clearly discern the differences between each formulation, including at the cellular level, and get a more accurate reading on women's preferences and adherence patterns," said Craig W. Hendrix, M.D., associate professor of medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, who, as MTN-001 protocol chair, is leading the multi-site study.
In its tablet form, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, known by the brand name Viread, is a mainstay of one of the most widely used regimens for treating HIV. The active ingredient in tenofovir belongs to a class of ARVs called nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), which act against HIV by targeting a key enzyme the virus needs to make a copy of its genetic material – an essential step for the virus to multiply and infect other cells. Tenofovir is being evaluated in clinical trials to determine if this first-line treatment can also prevent HIV when used every day by people who are HIV-negative, an approach known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP. As a vaginal gel, tenofovir is among a newer class of candidate microbicides with specific activity against HIV. Microbicides are substances designed to prevent or reduce the sexual transmission of HIV when applied topically on the inside of the vagina or rectum.
In MTN-001, researchers will assess women's adherence to each of the three tenofovir regimens through structured interviews and questionnaires. Questions will focus on their overall experience using the product regimen, asking how sexual activity may have changed, how well the regimen was adhered to and why the product was not always used— did they forget, dislike using the product or give the tablet or gel to other people? A small number of participants from each site also will take part in in-depth interviews at the end of the 21-week study so researchers can collect more detailed information, including about women's adherence to and preferences between oral and vaginal formulations and between single and dual-use regimens.
Researchers will conduct pharmacokinetic studies of blood plasma (the liquid component of blood), white blood cells, vaginal tissue and cells taken from inside the vagina. For instance, at each mid-study period, participants will provide a small amount of blood that will be used to determine how much tenofovir is circulating in the blood. At sites with laboratory capacity, blood will also be used to determine if tenofovir is present inside blood cells and, if so, whether the drug is in its active or inactive state. Such studies are important because tenofovir is not effective against HIV unless it has been activated by the addition of two molecules called phosphates, much like a lamp can only be turned on if it has both a light bulb and switch.
At the end of each study period, participants will follow their assigned regimen at the clinic, and similar tests will be conducted of both blood and vaginal fluid. The 48 women enrolled at the two U.S. sites will be involved in more intensive assessments of each approach whereby researchers will look at blood and tissue samples at different periods of time after taking the drug.
"Information gathered in these intensive studies, plus information from other trials, will help us build a picture showing the relationship between plasma blood levels of drug and the amount of activated drug inside the HIV target cells of vaginal tissue. It may be possible to determine the concentration of drug inside vaginal cells with a simple blood test, and then extrapolate the required drug dose to reach the target concentration for preventing HIV," explained Dr. Hendrix.
MTN-001 is part of a portfolio of trials evaluating the oral and gel forms of tenofovir. Recently, MTN researchers launched the first trial in pregnant women, seeking to understand the extent that pregnancy affects how the body absorbs the active drug in the gel and whether the drug can be transferred to the fetus. The VOICE Study (Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the Epidemic), a trial involving 4,300 women that is expected to begin early 2009, will be the first effectiveness trial evaluating in the same study both a microbicide (tenofovir gel) and PrEP (oral tenofovir and oral Truvada, a combination of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and another antiretroviral agent called emtricitabine).
Source : Microbicide Trials Network


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A report carried online on 25 March (Fisherman husband of Tory MP drowns after becoming tangled up in his own net) stated that it was believed that Neil Murray, husband of East Cornwall MP Sheryll Murray, had drowned after falling overboard. We now understand that this was incorrect, and that Mr Murray was found on board his vessel. We are sorry for the error.
Once again, the Mail has placed this apology in the US section of its website. This is (at least) the fourth time this has happened during May, although one of these has since been moved to a more appropriate place.
It was only on 2 February 2011 that the PCC issued new guidance on online prominence. It states:
editors should give consideration to appropriate placement on the relevant section where the original article appeared (such as the "news" or "showbusiness" section, for example).
And on 2 December 2010, the Editor's Code of Practice Committee, which oversees the Code policed by the PCC, announced a rule change on corrections that was:
designed to help kill the myth that newspapers and magazines routinely bury corrections.
If that is a 'myth', why has the Mail website been routinely placing corrections to British stories in the US section of its website?
The Chair of the Code of Practice Committee is Paul Dacre.
The editor-in-chief of the Mail is Paul Dacre.
If any publication should be taking the lead in making sure retractions are not buried, shouldn't it be the Mail?


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I've been using Google Calendar for years now to remind me of appointments. I set it to send me an email before an appointment, and I rely on that email to remember the appointment. I like the fact that I can put something in my calendar and then completely forget about it, trusting that the calendar will remind me of it in the time that I've set.
But for the last few months I've noticed that Google Calendar sometimes simply forgets appointments. It happened many times, both for recurring events and non-recurring events, and with different alert options. (Email, SMS and pop-up.) Over the last two days it forgot about 5 reminders, and now I'm really pissed and I want to find another calendar service. Google Calendar's UI is excellent, but the fact that it forgets reminders is simply unforgivable. I have also contacted them about it and was ignored.
Can anyone recommend a good quality calendar service that I can count on? I'd also consider paying for one.


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SRD:Psionic Shot
From D&D Wiki
This material is published under the OGL 1.0a. |
Psionic Shot [Psionic]
You can charge your ranged attacks with additional damage potential.
To use this feat, you must expend your psionic focus. Your ranged attack deals +2d6 points of damage. You must decide whether or not to use this feat prior to making an attack. If your attack misses, you still expend your psionic focus.
Back to Main Page → 3.5e Open Game Content → System Reference Document→ Feats


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As if I couldn't love Target anymore than I already did, they have surprised and delighted me again with the addition of their luxury line of bath and body products. Back in March they announced they would be wowing their customers (I don't think they actually said "wowing." I believe that was my addition) with shelves of beauty lines from Scotland, England, New Zealand, and Greece just to name a few. They wanted to introduce companies, many of whom are already popular in their native countries, to Americans and offer quality department store-worthy products at reasonable prices. Target, you are my hero! Armed with ingredients like olives, eucalyptus, dead sea salts, honey and milk the new products will engage even the most discerning beauty consumer. They have even upped the displays of the new lines, including testers so we don't have to go opening every damn bottle on the shelf to find out if we like the smell of dead sea. While I found some of the lines made me hold back vomit, most of them were perfection in pump bottles.
Ma Provence, a line that celebrates all the French countryside has to offer, is wonderful. Housed in aluminium bottles (apparently just like the perfumers use in the region to preserve the scents and protect the ingredients from the elements), the Almond Blossom scent is delicate and alluring. The body lotion sunk right into my skin – no greasy mess there - and the scent lasted well beyond the checkout line. The line carries a series of face, body and shower products ranging from $6.99 - $9.99.
Kaori, a line from Israel, uses essential minerals and salts found in the dead sea. Hmm… spreading dead sea on my body? Hell yeah I will! Beautifully packaged in simple white containers, this line is delightful. While I wasn't a fan of the Ylang-Ylang scent (probably because I'm not particularly into floral scents) I did love the Eucalyptus (very refreshing) and the Mandarin which made my skin smell like an orange grove – delish! The line also features Chamomile which is said to relieve stress. Because you can get the trial pack - which comes with a body lotion, body butter and body wash for only $9.99 - I felt relaxed and stress-free. With the money I'd saved, I could buy some Choxie candies from the Market section upstairs.
Gardeners Therapies, a line from Scotland said to pamper hard-working gardeners hands and bodies, is just as pampering to a girl who focuses on retail therapy. This line was started in 1922 and is still run by the Ross family. Located in central Scotland between Edinburgh and Stirling, the company has created light vegetable-scented items that soothe the skin and make you smell like you were just planting fresh tomatoes in your garden. My favorite from this line is the much-needed hand scrub. A large pump bottle will cost you $9.99 and will exfoliate your hands with tea tree oil and lemon. What hard-working pair of perfectly manicured hands doesn't need a little pampering scrub, right?
With the good, I feel I also have to present what didn't live up to their hype. The Sanctuary (a line based on the famous Covent Garden women's spa in London) disappointed me. Manufactured by the popular Boot's chemist chain in London, I thought this line would amaze me. The packaging of tranquil blues and oranges made me long to be walking the pebbled streets of Covent Garden, buying handmade goods from the vendors. But as soon as the scent hit my nose, I was transported to my great aunt's apartment where she was soaking her callused feet. Although the line is reasonably priced (the travel pack I purchased is $9.99 and includes bath relaxer, body wash and body lotion) I don't feel it's worth the money when so many other wonderful lines are situated on the shelves beside it.
Now, saving the best for last, I need to cover one of the domestic lines - J.R. Watkins Apothecary. This company was founded in 1868 by a man named Joseph Ray Watkins in his kitchen in Plainview, Minnesota. Known to offer the first-ever money back guarantee, this man started an expansive line of medical products focusing on burns and minor aches and pains. He soon broadened to include pampering bath products. The line is now featured at Target and we are better relaxed and moisturized for it. The packaging is still meant to look like old-fashioned apothecary products like your great great grandmother would've bought. His hand creams are insanely fabulous. The Lemon Cream ($6.99) makes your hands smell like a fresh-baked lemon cake and softens them with shea butter and cocoa butters. It reminds me of the Tutti Dolci Lemon Meringue body butter, but without the steep pricetag. The lavender hand cream relaxes you and the Aloe and Green tea is invigorating. His line also features foot cream, body lotions and the delightful, non-greasy cuticle salve that comes in an adorable old-style tin ($3.99). Don't forget to pick up some of his body oils ($8.99) for that oh-so-sexy massage and his menthol rub (Icy Blue $4.99) as a pain reliever for when your man rubs you down too vigorously. And if you weren't already sold, check out the movie "Door to Door" which is the true story of Bill Porter, a salesman with Cerebral Palsy, that walked door to door for 50 years selling J.R. Watkins products. Your heart will be warmed, and your hands will be moisturized.


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Darcy Parmer ran into trouble soon after she started her job as a fraud analyst at Wells Fargo Bank. Her bosses, she later claimed, were upset that she was, well, finding fraud.
Company officials, she alleged in a lawsuit, berated her for reporting that sales staffers were pushing through mortgage deals based on made-up borrower incomes and other distortions, telling her that she didn't "see the big picture" and that "it is not your job to fix Wells Fargo." Management, she claimed, ordered her to stop contacting the company's ethics hotline.
In the end, she said, Wells Fargo forced her out of her job.
Parmer isn't alone in claiming she was punished for objecting to fraud in the midst of the nation's home-loan boom. iWatch News has identified 63 former employees at 20 financial institutions who say they were fired or demoted for reporting fraud or refusing to commit fraud. Their stories were disclosed in whistleblower claims with the U.S. Department of Labor, court documents or interviews with iWatch News.
"We did our jobs. We had integrity," said Ed Parker, former fraud investigations manager at now-defunct Ameriquest Mortgage Co., a leading subprime lender. "But we were not welcome because we affected the bottom line."
These ex-employees' accounts provide evidence that the muzzling of whistleblowers played an important role in allowing corruption to flourish as mortgage lenders and their patrons on Wall Street pumped up loan volume and profits. Codes of silence at many lenders, former employees claim, helped discourage media, regulators and policymakers from taking a hard look at illegal practices that ultimately harmed borrowers, investors and the economy.
Whistleblower advocates say weak federal and state laws also helped prevent finance industry workers from being heard. Congress passed tougher laws in the wake of the financial crisis, but whistleblowers and their advocates say labor-law enforcers, securities-law cops and banking regulators need to do more to ensure that banking workers can safely report fraud and other abuses.
For their part, banking industry representatives reject the idea that employees were punished for reporting problems.
In court documents, Wells Fargo denied Parmer's charges that management interfered with in-house fraud watchdogs. The bank said Parmer was never prohibited from calling the ethics line and that its internal investigation showed that no one retaliated against her and that "no fraudulent activity occurred."
A Wells Fargo spokeswoman told iWatch News that the bank has extensive protections for internal whistleblowers and that it is the responsibility of all employees to raise concerns about ethics breaches or law violations.
"We have a strict code of ethics and a no-retaliation policy," Wells Fargo spokeswoman Vickee Adams said. "We take responsibility for our actions, and when there's evidence of a mistake and there's something that's needs to be corrected, we take action."
'Zero tolerance'
iWatch News has reported on former employees of Countrywide Financial Corp. who claimed the company retaliated against them for objecting to falsified mortgage documents and other fraud. In September the Labor Department ruled that Bank of America Corp., which bought Countrywide in 2008, had fired Eileen Foster, the mortgage lender's fraud investigations chief, as punishment for finding widespread fraud and for trying to protect other whistleblowers within the company.
Further investigation reveals that concerns about the abuse of whistleblowers weren't limited to Countrywide.
Most of the workers who claimed they were punished for trying to fight fraud worked at giant firms such as Wells Fargo or Washington Mutual (WaMu). Others worked at smaller lenders that joined the rush to sell home loans during the boom years.
Wherever they worked, their accounts are similar. Many claim that commission-hungry workers falsified loan applicants' incomes and bank statements, pushed appraisers to exaggerate property values and, in some instances, forged consumers' signatures on documents.
In many cases, the former employees say, management encouraged the fraud and protected the fraudsters.
Parker, the former Ameriquest fraud investigations chief, claims that he had few problems when he did "ones" and "twos" — investigating cases that involved an employee or two who could cause only limited damage, he said. But things changed, he said, when he tried to fight systemic fraud by focusing on branches or regions where fraud was so prevalent, workers joked that bogus documents were being produced in the "art department."
Management instructed his unit to limit its investigations by reducing the number of loan files it pulled when it went into a branch, Parker said. He was left out of meetings and key decisions and, eventually, squeezed out of his job, he claimed.
Ameriquest later agreed to pay $325 million to settle loan-fraud allegations by authorities in 49 states and the District of Columbia. It stopped making loans in 2007.
The company said previously in a written statement that Parker was a "disgruntled former employee" who lost his wrongful dismissal claim against the company before an arbitrator. In a 2007 opinion, the arbitrator ruled Parker hadn't been able to prove that the company's treatment of him was connected to his reports about fraud, adding that it "stretches the imagination" to think a company would retaliate against a fraud investigator for "doing his job."
More generally, Ameriquest said it "had a policy of zero tolerance for fraud. When problems were discovered, the company addressed them, including immediately terminating the employee or vendor and pursuing civil and criminal action against them."
'Fraud is fraud'
At a White House press conference in October, ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper asked President Obama why his administration hadn't pursued criminal cases more aggressively in the aftermath of disasters at Lehman Brothers and other banks.
"I don't think any Wall Street executives have gone to jail, despite the rampant corruption and malfeasance that did take place," Tapper said.
Obama replied that in many instances the government might have trouble making criminal charges stick, because "a lot of that stuff wasn't necessarily illegal. It was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless."
Obama isn't alone in suggesting that criminal fraud by banks wasn't the main cause of the nation's financial disaster. Bankers have cited unpredictable market conditions, the federal government and borrowers as being among the chief culprits.
In congressional testimony, former Washington Mutual chief executive Kerry Killinger blamed borrowers for misleading WaMu about their incomes and other details in their loan applications.
"I'm certainly very disappointed to think about my customers lying to me, because that's fraud and it shouldn't happen," Killinger said. "But I think an objective look at things is that there must have been situations where people did not tell the truth on their applications."
Many whistleblowers who worked inside major banks counter that it was fraud by lenders — not borrowers — that was the driving force in the growth of toxic loans that caused the mortgage meltdown.
"Fraud is fraud," Parker said. "It's fraud if someone changes information in a loan file without the borrower's knowledge or does anything deceptive to get a loan approved and passed through. How can you say those are not criminal acts?"
Parker and other former mortgage workers say some borrowers did take part in the fraud, but they usually did so with coaching from sales representatives who knew how to work the system to get deals done. And in many cases, Parker and others say, borrowers weren't aware of the deception and were fooled by bait-and-switch salesmanship and other tactics used by the mortgage professionals who controlled the process.
A two-year U.S. Senate investigation found that senior management at Washington Mutual ignored clear evidence that bank employees were engaging in fraud.
In a report released in April, Senate investigators noted that an internal WaMu review of a high-volume loan center in Southern California found that as many as 83 percent of the loans it booked contained fraud. Despite in-house gatekeepers' warnings about fraud at that location and other loan centers, WaMu executives took "no discernable actions" to deal with problem, the Senate report said.
Top sales managers suspected of fraud, the report said, were allowed to continue to produce huge volumes of loans and win trips to Hawaii as members of WaMu's "President's Club."
WaMu collapsed in September 2008, a $300 billion institution buried in bad loans. It was the largest bank failure in American history — and one of the biggest casualties of risky practices and missed warning signs stretching back to the start of the last decade.
Early warnings
In the spring and summer of 2001, Matthew Lee was a busy man.
A fair-lending activist and blogger on innercitypress.org, Lee was fielding a growing number of emails and phone messages from people who worked at Citigroup's subprime lending unit, CitiFinancial. The lender, they told Lee, was using slippery methods to trap borrowers in cycles of overpriced debt.
The more he reported the whistleblowers' information on his website, the more whistleblowers contacted him. "I can't count the number of times people called me and said: 'It's actually worse than you described. Let me tell you about it,'" Lee recalled.
In all, Lee estimates, he talked with three dozen current and former CitiFinancial employees.
One continued helping Lee even after he lost his job at Citi, digging through trash bins outside CitiFinancial branches around Tennessee and rescuing internal memos and other documents that, in Lee's view, provided evidence of the lender's "pervasive lawlessness." The documents would arrive via overnight mail, often damp and smelling of used coffee grounds.
One former CitiFinancial employee, Steve Toomey, agreed to go on the record, signing a statement that said managers pushed workers to mislead borrowers about the costs of their loans and to falsify information in borrowers' files. Lee filed Toomey's affidavit and other documents with banking regulators at the Federal Reserve.
CitiFinancial immediately denied the allegations against the company, asserting, for example, that Toomey had only raised questions after "he concluded that the company would not pay him monies that he demanded to resolve an employment dispute."
With the pressure building, Citigroup went out of its way to warn other current and former employees to keep quiet about what went on at CitiFinancial, according to Reuters news service.
Citigroup, Reuters said, hired a famed litigator "to help fight allegations of illegal lending practices and prevent former employees from bad-mouthing the financial services giant." Mitchell Ettinger, one of Bill Clinton's lawyers in the Paula Jones case, met with at least 15 current or former employees, reminding the ex-employees that Citigroup would enforce the "non-disparagement clauses" in their severance agreements with the company, Reuters said.
Lee charged that this was an attempt to paper over evidence of misconduct inside CitiFinancial. Why, he argued, would Citigroup dispatch a partner from Skadden Arps, described by Forbes magazine as "Wall Street's most powerful law firm," to talk with low-level employees?
Citigroup told Reuters the bank had acted properly. It added that the standard non-disparagement clause in the bank's severance agreements wouldn't prevent ex-employees from reporting illegalities.
Ettinger did not respond to requests for comment from iWatch News. A Citigroup spokesman declined to answer specific questions from iWatch News about former employees' complaints. He said "issues from that time period" were "investigated and responded to appropriately by the company."
The Federal Reserve eventually fined CitiFinancial $70 million for regulatory violations. Lee said that the Fed focused mainly on technical issues, however, and did nothing to protect whistleblowers from intimidation by the bank.
That, Lee said, made it less likely that more employees would come forward in the future with information about misconduct at Citi — or at other financial institutions that wanted to keep misbehavior secret.
"When people do step forward and put themselves at risk, you need to aggressively say to them, 'If you've received any threats from the company, let us know,'" Lee said.
A spokeswoman said the Federal Reserve couldn't comment on issues involving individual banks.
'Their integrity … failed'
As whistleblowers were drawing scrutiny to Citigroup, then the nation's largest commercial bank, others were raising questions about Washington Mutual, the nation's largest savings and loan.
One of them was Theresa Hagman, a vice president in WaMu's custom home-construction lending division. In 2003, Hagman spotted an increase in the number of construction loans going into default. She believed this was happening because loans were being pushed through without proper documentation, in violation of federal lending laws.
But when she pressed the issue with a high-level sales manager, Hagman later testified in a Labor Department hearing, he jumped out of his chair and charged her, screaming at her as his face purpled and veins popped in his neck. (In his testimony, the manager conceded he'd had disagreements with Hagman but denied they'd had heated confrontations.)
As an internal investigation proceeded, a senior vice president wrote: "If this wasn't a good example of a need for a Fraud team, then I can't find one. This poor individual is feeling like she is getting no support from her management."
The senior executive's concerns weren't enough to protect her from more retaliation, Hagman said.
"I was being brutalized, and they knew it," Hagman testified. "I was sharing the emails with everybody, pleading for protection. … We had borrowers that were being damaged and employees that were scared and crying."
In March 2004, WaMu fired her.
Hagman filed a claim for federal whistleblower protection under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the corporate reform law passed in response to accounting frauds at Enron Corp. and other big companies.
Hagman told an administrative law judge that there were "senior-level people in this organization who are still there today who did not tell the truth. Their integrity and their honor … without question failed."
WaMu maintained that there was no retaliation, only miscommunication between Hagman and her bosses. It said she hadn't been fired, she'd simply been let go as part of a restructuring.
The judge sided with Hagman. He ordered that WaMu pay her more than $1 million.
'Silent treatment'
The whistleblower affairs at Citigroup and WaMu came as the mortgage market was beginning to gain steam, recovering from a late 1990s credit crisis that had put dozens of subprime lenders out of business.
By 2004, mortgage industry production and profits were exploding. As the push to book loans grew to a near frenzy, industry insiders recall, the atmosphere at many mortgage-sales operations devolved into a cross between a "boiler room" operation and a frat-house blowout.
At Citizens Financial Mortgage Inc., a small Pennsylvania-headquartered lender, the out-of-control behavior included an ugly mix of sexual harassment and fraud, a lawsuit filed by a former loan processor at the company charged.
Gina La Vitola claimed one manager at her branch in Essex County, N.J., ranted and cursed and gambled on sports during office hours, even getting a visit from a bookie delivering a wad of cash. On several occasions, she said in her lawsuit, the manager picked her up, threw her over his shoulder and then used her "as a weight bar to see how many squats he could do."
Supervisors' behavior degenerated from vulgar to threatening, she claimed, when she started complaining about inflated property appraisals and other misconduct. Managers often forged borrowers' signatures on loan documents and made up fake verification of employment forms, her lawsuit said. One manager, the suit said, had an arrangement with a friendly business owner who was willing to falsely claim that the manager's loan customers were on his payroll.
After she reported the problems to Citizens' president, she claimed, she got "the silent treatment" from coworkers and her bosses drastically changed her work hours and duties.
Finally, she said, a manager telephoned her and explained that, since her complaint, the "vibe is not there" in the office. That was a problem, he said, because he was "big about vibe, energy."
He told her the company was letting her go, she claimed.
The company strongly denied her allegations. The case was settled on undisclosed terms. A former company official confirmed to iWatch News that Citizens was no longer in business, but said he couldn't comment on the lawsuit.
Fraud sleuths
As mortgage salespeople embraced creative methods for pushing mortgages through the system, they were being stalked by a band of internal watchdogs.
Financial institutions keep fraud investigators and other gatekeepers on staff in part because they need to show regulators and investors that they have solid controls in place.
Many of these watchdogs took their jobs seriously.
In the spring of 2005, Darcy Parmer joined a team at Wells Fargo that was working on a plan to create a fraud detection report.
By doing queries within the bank's computerized mortgage-application system, Parmer said, she and other fraud sleuths found a large number of duplicate credit applications submitted to various branch offices and divisions within Wells Fargo. It appeared to Parmer that loan officers were helping borrowers who'd been turned down for loans resubmit their applications elsewhere within the bank, inflating their incomes from one application to the next by as much as 100 percent.
The report, Parmer believed, was a great tool for sniffing out fraud. In 2006, however, management terminated use of the fraud detection report, Parmer said.Nothing was put in place to replace it, she said.
It wasn't the only time that higher ups interfered with internal watchdogs' ability to do their jobs, according to Parmer's lawsuit in federal court in Colorado. Her court filings described many instances in which she claimed sales people and executives circumvented fraud controls or turned a blind eye to "acts of criminal fraud."
One case involved a borrower Parmer referred to in court papers as Ms. A. According to Parmer, a loan officer had claimed in the loan-underwriting system that Ms. A earned roughly $140,000 per year, but federal tax records indicated she earned less than half that much — barely $60,000 a year.
When she tried to stop the loan from going through, Parmer said, a manager chastised her: "This is what you do every time." He ordered her to close her investigation, she said.
After months of harassment, she said in an affidavit, she was "mentally and emotionally unable to continue working" and had to take disability leave to get treatment for distress and depression. After a time, she said, the bank informed her that her job had been filled.
Wells Fargo said in court documents that it had never fired her and that she was simply "on an unapproved leave of absence."
The bank's attorneys also said that Wells Fargo had refused to fund "nearly ever loan" that Parmer had complained about, and those that had funded had been handled "consistent with Wells Fargo protocol."
Parmer and the bank settled the case in 2009. The terms were confidential.
'In the dark'
When Congress passed Sarbanes-Oxley in 2002, it raised hopes that more workers would be emboldened to come forward with information that would help prevent future corporate scandals. One legal scholar hailed the act — which gave federal labor officials the power to order companies to swiftly reinstate whistleblowers with back pay — as "the most important whistleblower protection law in the world."
Things haven't worked out as whistleblower advocates had hoped. Critics claim the Labor Department hasn't done enough to protect financial whistleblowers.
In roughly the first nine years of the law — from 2002 through May 20 of this year — the agency issued merit findings in 21 whistleblower complaints and dismissed 1,211 others.
That record is just one example, whistleblower advocates say, of the trials that corporate whistleblowers go through when they try to do the right thing.
When whistleblowers seek help from government agencies or state and federal courts, they often face long delays and find themselves outgunned by their employers' legal teams.
At the same time, employers are often successful at preventing whistleblowers from getting the word out to the wider world. When companies and employees negotiate severance contracts and legal settlements, confidentiality clauses often permanently silence whistleblowers. Companies also frequently force ex-employees with whistleblower claims into private arbitration, ensuring that many details of their cases will remain secret.
Judges in Los Angeles, for example, have booted three former WaMu employees out of court and ordered them to go before arbitrators to press their claims that the company pushed them out of their jobs in early 2008 because they refused to participate in fraud.
Some former mortgage-industry workers contacted by iWatch News declined to talk in more detail about their legal claims because they're gagged by secrecy agreements. Others said they couldn't talk on the record because they still work in banking and don't want to get in trouble with their current employers, or because they're looking for jobs and don't want to be blacklisted.
"Hell, we want to work," one mortgage fraud investigator said, explaining why he and many of his colleagues haven't gone public with what they know.
Matthew Lee, the fair lending activist who clashed with Citigroup a decade ago, believes getting whistleblowers to come forward is crucial to preventing the next financial meltdown.
Fraud thrives in secret. If regulators are serious about holding banks accountable, Lee said, they should cultivate and protect whistleblowers and serve as a counterweight to the power of big banks and their armies of lawyers.
"They need to think through how they're going to protect people in the industry who come forward with information," Lee said. "If you don't, you're going to be in the dark."


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What MH17 Means for Russia
The focus of the EU and U.S. response should go beyond the passenger jet downing and address broader concerns about Russia's policies toward Ukraine, says CFR's Stephen Sestanovich.
July 23, 2014 12:37 pm (EST)
- Interview
- To help readers better understand the nuances of foreign policy, CFR staff writers and Consulting Editor Bernard Gwertzman conduct in-depth interviews with a wide range of international experts, as well as newsmakers.
The downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 last week, apparently by Ukrainian separatists, has left Russian president Vladimir Putin "in a fix," says CFR's Stephen Sestanovich. He cautions that the focus of the European and U.S. response should go beyond the passenger jet downing and address broader concerns about Russia's policies toward Ukraine. As for Tuesday's decision on the part of European Union foreign ministers to hold off on imposing an arms embargo, Sestanovich says, "over many months, Putin has adroitly managed to keep the EU from imposing severe sanctions. If he can do so again, in the most important phase of the Ukraine crisis, it will be a devastating blow to the organization."
Where does the MH17 plane crash leave Russian president Vladimir Putin?
[President Putin finds himself] in a fix. I don't think Russian leaders, policy makers, and diplomats have had such a bad brief to argue in decades—maybe not in half a century. The Russian response to this event has been stiff-necked resistance to the inevitable followed by back peddling. It's been hard for them to keep up with events, but they have got to acknowledge what is obvious to everyone: their guys were responsible for the downing of the jet and they used Russian equipment to do so.
Why is this so damaging for Putin?
More on:
This is not just a case of of somewhat confused and trigger-happy military people shooting down an airliner that they thought was a military target. The really awkward part of this for Putin is that he was caught red-handed, stoking a civil war in another country.
Why were the pro-Russia rebels given anti-aircraft weapons?
The separatists have been on the defensive against an energized and more confident Ukrainian government and military. The past couple of months have not been good ones for them, beginning with the election of Petro Poroshenko in a strong first ballot mandate to unify the country. The Russians and their allies have seen their support within Donetsk and Luhansk dwindle, they've seen the Ukrainian military gaining ground against them, and they've had to abandon one of their most important strongholds, Sloviansk. The Russians had a choice at that point to slowly disengage and let this insurgency peter out or back them up: they chose to back them up.
At the time Putin seized Crimea, many were forecasting that a new, energized Russia was going to try to recapture some of the grandeur of the Soviet Union. But what's happening now?
Well, that was a moment where Putin seemed to have a free path in asserting Russian power. He'd managed to take Crimea without firing a shot. People were outraged but it was unclear what kind of energy and unity the West would be able to bring in responding, and, sure enough, there was not a particularly strong response. The strategic error that Putin made was assuming that the weak response to Crimea could be sustained if he kept on track in eastern Ukraine. And the catastrophic miscalculation he made was to think that he could keep adding to the military capabilities of these insurgents, even as they were faltering, without having to pay a price.
The West must contend with the nature of Russian policies regarding Ukraine and Putin's apparent commitment to sustaining an insurgency against Kiev. It's kind of amazing that even today in Moscow, people still refer to the government in Kiev as a "junta"—continuing attempts to delegitimize the Ukrainian government. And that's going to be a harder concession for Putin to make [than cooperating with the crash investigation]: to accept that his interference in Ukraine and the stoking of civil war must stop. We don't yet know if he is prepared for that.
Does Tuesday's decision on the part of EU foreign ministers to hold off on imposing an arms embargo against Russia reflect a lack of political will on the part of European leaders to confront Putin decisively?
Over many months, Putin has adroitly managed to keep the EU from imposing severe sanctions. If he can do so again, in the most important phase of the Ukraine crisis, it will be a devastating blow to the organization. It's almost too much to imagine that the EU's foreign ministers will really decide to do nothing at all. So at their next meeting, they will probably announce at least a few minor measures. But if that's it, the damage to Europe's influence and effectiveness will be immense. Putin's contempt, already great, will know no bounds.
More on:
What is the challenge for Russia now?
"The strategic error that Putin made was assuming that the weak response to Crimea could be sustained if he kept on track in eastern Ukraine."
The challenge for Russia is to find a formula in which its influence in Ukraine can be exercised in a way that is considered legitimate by other governments. All in all, people don't regard Russia's energy leverage over Ukraine as flat-out illegitimate. It's understood that Russia is an energy power, so it's going to be able to drive a hard bargain with Ukraine—but there is a difference between driving a hard bargain and trying to dismember the country. And that's a leap that the Russian leadership has probably been thinking about for some time now because their policy in Ukraine has been very successful.
This past weekend, Australia threatened to disinvite Russia from the G20 meeting in November. What would be the potential significance of such a gesture?
It surely tells Putin that the isolation that he has brought on himself can go a lot further than it has so far. Is it sustainable to have a G19 over the long-term, excluding Russia? Probably not. Putin can probably get back [into the G20] just through the passage of time and through cooperation on some of the narrower issues involving the crash. But the G7 is another matter. It's going to be difficult for the G7 to find a way to reinvite Putin—to reconstitute the G8. It may be that some of the costs of Putin's policies will actually be irreversible.


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Top 10 Best Drumming Performances of All Time
10 Creepy Old Mysteries We Will Probably Never Solve
10 Movie Scenes That Really Happened without the Help of CGI
10 Wacky Comics Who Made a Mark as Musicians
10 Women Who Broke Down Barriers to Break the News
10 Tales about Historical Figures and Their Living Descendants
10 Totally Normal Foods That Were Once Considered Aphrodisiacs
10 Films That Influenced Star Wars
10 Haunted Places to Visit in Kansas
10 Ungilded Realities of Life in the Gilded Age
Top 10 Best Drumming Performances of All Time
10 Creepy Old Mysteries We Will Probably Never Solve
Who's Behind Listverse?
Jamie Frater
Head Editor
Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author.
More About Us10 Movie Scenes That Really Happened without the Help of CGI
10 Wacky Comics Who Made a Mark as Musicians
10 Women Who Broke Down Barriers to Break the News
10 Tales about Historical Figures and Their Living Descendants
10 Totally Normal Foods That Were Once Considered Aphrodisiacs
10 Films That Influenced Star Wars
10 Haunted Places to Visit in Kansas
10 Lesser Known Conspiracies You've Probably Never Heard Of
Some of the most popular conspiracy theories include the Roswell UFO Incident, the September 11 attacks, Area 51, and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, to the extent that all of them are considered part of pop culture.
But those are just the most famous. Conspiracy Theories are a common psychic phenomenon that have invaded many parts of society. In this list we will examine in depth some of the lesser known conspiracies and hopefully we will make it to see the light at the end of the tunnel….
10 Popish Plot
The Popish Plot of 1678 was the result of the fertile mind of Titus Oates. In fact, no Popish Plot existed but the circumstances within England at the time resulted in many listening to what Oates had to say. Titus Oates was a renegade who had joined the Church after Cambridge University, but was dismissed from his post for drunken blasphemy. He became the chaplain for a Royal Naval ship, the Adventurer, but he was dismissed from this as well for sodomy.
To get some elevation in society after his fall from grace, it seems that Oates discovered a plot to kill the king—what became known as the "Popish Plot". This was a plot uncovered by Oates after he managed to infiltrate Jesuits based in London. The plan was to kill the king, Charles II, and replace him with his Catholic brother James. Then thousands of Protestants would be killed in a blood bath.
It was all nonsense—the invention of a fertile if warped mind, but events at the time conspired to assist Oates.
9 Red Mercury
In the early 1990's, in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union, several articles were published claiming that a pure fusion device had been invented. It emerged during the trial at the Old Bailey that red mercury was something of an urban myth, a substance which was either radioactive or toxic or neither, depending on who you spoke to.
It reportedly weighed around 10 pounds and was no bigger than a baseball.
If such a device existed, and was capable of triggering a nuclear explosion, the threat to the world—especially the western world—would be catastrophic.
But no such bomb has been discovered and nobody, not even Osama bin Laden from his mountain base in Afghanistan or Pakistan, has even threatened to use one. So is red mercury just a hoax? We definitely hope so.
8 The Two Babylons
The Two Babylons is an anti-Catholic conspiracy theory based religious pamphlet produced initially by the Scottish theologian and Presbyterian Alexander Hislop in 1853. It was later expanded in 1858 and finally published as a book in 1919. Its central theme is its allegation that the Catholic Church is a veiled continuation of the pagan religion of Babylon, the veiled paganism being the product of a millennia old conspiracy. As Hislop's sloppy scholarship and poor methodology of proving his case is much more evident today, it would be safe to say that few would believe it in today's mindset.
It remains as a testimony of just how little we have changed as a society and how men think in any given time in history. The sad fact does remain that there are still some fundamentalist protestants who believe the work is truth. This is due solely to ignorance, which is actually an unacceptable excuse today, given the available information we have.
7 Mother Teresa: The American 007
It's true that Mother Teresa has been virtually untouchable as an almost sacred figure. However, there are a few conspiracy theories regarding Mother Teresa and her life.
One of them suggests that Mother Teresa was actually an American undercover agent working to prevent the Soviets from spreading their influence in India. Her work with the poor provided the perfect cover for slipping messages out to the US, and she succeeded in preventing India from becoming a hotspot during the Cold War. The US, grateful for her work, used their influence with the Vatican to get her beatified. And even though we have a really hard time to believe such theory, at the same time it's stories like this that make you wonder.
6 The Berwyn Mountain Incident
In 1958 author Gavin Gibbons wrote By Space Ship to the Moon, a sci-fi book which featured a UFO landing on the Berwyn Mountains in Wales. Sixteen years later, in 1974, those same mountains would again be the focus for a story involving a downed UFO—but this time, some said, the story was 100% real.
The Berwyn Mountain UFO Incident which is also known as "Welsh Roswell", tells us a story about a UFO crashing on the isolated and sparsely-populated area of moorland in the north-east of Wales, and like at Roswell wreckage and dead alien bodies were secretly recovered by the military soon thereafter.
What separates the Berwyn Mountain incident from other UFO crash stories like Roswell, however, is the immediate reaction of the local residents. To begin with, no one was talking about UFOs and aliens. Locals living in the area thought that a plane had crashed on the mountain and the witnesses reacted by trying to save the lives of any survivors. The police were called in and set up a search team that was later joined by an RAF Mountain Rescue Team. So what really happened up on the Berwyn Mountain? Maybe we will never know.
5 The Dunkelgrafen conspiracy
In 1807 a strange pair appeared in the small town Hildburghausen: A gentleman called Vavel de Versay and which one held for a count, and a lady only to be seen deeply veiled. Both lived in complete seclusion on the public life, in particular as they moved to the Castle Eishausen in 1810. The pair led a rich household and distinguished itself by great charity in the duchy. The lady died after 30 years of lonesome life in 1837, the gentleman in 1845. On account of their strange life they were called later the "Dark Count" and the "Dark Countess".
After their death turned out that the "count" was a Dutch diplomat called Leonardus Cornelius van der Valck in reality. As for the mysterious lady, some people believed, she had been the Bourbon princess Marie Thérèse Charlotte, a daughter of king Louis XVI and queen Marie Antoinette of France, called Madame Royale. She should have been substituted by another person in 1795 after her captivity in the Temple prison in Paris. While the wrong princess came as a Duchess of Angoulême into the history, the real king's daughter should have kept herself hidden in Hildburghausen and Eishausen.
4 Homintern: The gay community takes over
"All the 'Artists' with a capital A, the parlor pinks and the soprano voiced men are banded together," warned President Harry S. Truman in 1946.
"I am afraid they are a sabotage front for Uncle Joe Stalin." In the 1971 Watergate tapes, Richard Nixon railed against "homosexuality, dope … immorality in general: These are the enemies of strong societies. That's why the Communists and the left-wingers are pushing it."
"Homintern", a play on "comintern", was an early term for a supposed conspiracy of gay elites who allegedly controlled the art world and aimed to conquer the world as a whole. They are now more often described (from the successors) as a "Gay Mafia".
To this day however, there's no evidence that there ever was such thing as "the Homintern". The only people who ever took this simple play on words seriously were those who feared the spread of homosexual influence.
3 Sikorski's Death Conspiracy
General Wadyslaw Sikorski died when his plane crashed off Gibraltar in 1943, but some of the details of the crash remain unclear. This has fueled some people's belief that he may have been killed by the Soviet Union or Britain. The results of the medical tests have dealt however a severe blow to the theory that General Sikorski was murdered.
The investigation found that Poland's wartime hero, who led its government-in-exile, died as a result of multiple organ failure of the kind typically sustained in a plane crash. It found no evidence that he was poisoned, shot or strangled.
A British investigation at the time found that the plane crashed for unknown reasons, perhaps because its controls had jammed. However, historians have since speculated that General Sikorski was murdered on the orders of Joseph Stalin or British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to prevent a split between the allies.
Shortly before he died, General Sikorski had demanded an investigation into the discovery of the bodies of thousands of Polish officers in mass graves in forests near Katyn in the former Soviet Union. Did that have something to do with his sudden death?
2 Die Glocke
During World War II, Nazi Germany worked on an astounding array of futuristic weapons including heat-seeking missiles, a gigantic 1,000 ton tank, a stealth fighter, and an acoustic cannon. But perhaps the most spectacular and mysterious Nazi super weapon of all was known as Die Glocke.
Die Glocke in German means "The Bell." The original die Glocke was constructed from metal, and shaped like a bell. The Bell contained two counter-rotating drums and an internal stationary shaft. Prior to operation, a liquid substance code-named "Xerum 525″ was placed into the shaft. Then the entire structure was cryogenically cooled and powered with high-voltage electricity.
When in operation, die Glocke gave off lethal field effects and supposedly killed five scientists during its initial tests. According to Joseph P. Farrell's book The Philosophers' Stone: Alchemy and the Secret Research for Exotic Matter, survivors reported strange recurring symptoms such as "the sensation of 'pins and needles' on their skin, of sleeplessness, and a persisting metallic taste in the mouth."
1 Gavdos: The island of immortality
A gang of Chernobyl survivor scientists escaped to a remote island to resurrect ancient Greek theories and live forever. It sounds good, doesn't it?
The official version of the story is that seven Russian scientists who survived Chernobyl migrated to a small God-forsaken island in the southern most point of Europe. They created an ecological house, helped the local people who loved the scientists from the very first moment. Their home is full of inventions. They built homes with whatever the land provided them. They have an underground shelter for relaxation and scientific research. That's about all they claim.
On the other hand, there are mainly British and American conspiracy theorists that accuse the specific scientists for a series of things, such as that Gavdos is the source of immortality, according to Pythagoras, and this is the main reason the former Soviets went there. There's also a theory that the Lost City of Atlantis lies under Gavdos, while the most ridiculous of all these theories is the one that suggests Gavdos is the main source of life and natural resources of all planet Earth and the Russians are attempting to control it.
The theory that sounds the most believable, and the only one Russian scientists never denied, is that four of them were in the last phase of cancer cause of radiation from Chernobyl and somehow they were all cured once they got to the island.


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i stumbled upon an interesting aspect of sustainability - an aspect about which i have not yet found a sustainability report that offers a comprehensive transparent disclosure (exposure?) of this sector. Yes, you guessed : sustainable love... sustainable sex ..." a green philosophy of relationships which teaches the importance of valuing the renewable resources of love and family" quoted from www.goodcleanlove.com, Wendy Strgar's company site, marketing sex aids and accessories including personal lubricants, massage and pleasure objects, love flower perfumes, body desserts and more ..
Love and family ... renewable resources, eh ? Wonder how much love and family it would take to operate a power plant. Or fuel a train from New York to Las Vegas . Well, if all it takes to save the planet is lots and lots of sex, using parabens-free lubricants and environmentally packaged vibrators, then why isnt everyone doing it ? (or maybe everybody IS and i just caught on a little late...)(as usual) :((
Taking a deeper look, or to put it another way, penetrating harder, into Wendy's love nest, i discovered that "Good Clean Love is an approved Coop America Green Company" (green sex? has a kinda orgasmic ring to it, doesnt it ?), and that "by helping women to create and sustain strong families, we make the world a more loving place. " Great, Wendy is a feminist as well as a "loveologist". Wendy replaces the use of petrochemical and parabens in intimacy products, turning love-making into a truly sustainable experience (and you all thought that Viagra was the only solution).
I thought i had just better check that there wasnt actually a sustainability report in the sex sector, so i did a quick search for sex on www.corporateregister.com and to my dismay all i came up with was Wessex Water plc and West Sussex County Council. Oh well, good to know that there is some element of reporting that comes close to containing sex.
Actually, i came to this sustainability revelation when my daily Google Alert threw up an interesting headling referring me to Andy Krolls piece on fox news dot com. He takes us on a tour of eco-friendly biodegradable condoms, solar powered vibrators and organic lubricants. Though he does recommend safety over sustainability when it comes to natural lambskin condoms. He didnt mention if he was talking from experience.
I wonder why GoodCleanLove has not yet produced a sustainability report. Perhaps just a little more renewable love is needed to fuel that process ? The positive impacts of sex appear to be clear. Wendy writes in Green Girls Global blog: "Hundreds of major medical studies have shown that an active sex life leads to a longer life, better heart health, a healthier immune response, reduction in chronic pain symptoms, lower rates of depression and even protection against some cancers. " Plenty of materiality and positive indirect impacts to report on here. And it is heartening to know that all i have to do to stay healthy is never get out of bed.
Now dont be sceptical. I mean, take Good Clean Love's New Cocoa Mint Body Dessert-smooth and creamy, all natural and organic butters and oils blended with organic Egyptian cocoa. Low calorie, too, apparently. I wonder how many kilos of that you can consume during a quickie before the kids get home ?
I couldnt leave the GLC site without a quick look at the number one selling sex-aid - the v-i-b-r-a-t--o-r. I discovered an amazing array of ergonomically designed shapes, some of which you can even plug into your ipod for the ultimate ergonomusical erotic experience. I wonder if they run on rechargeable bateries? Or are they powered by OTC lubes because "everything works better when it is well oiled".
So come on, GoodCleanLove... put your money where your passion candles are and lets see that first sustainability report. We are looking for a model of transparency. Or to use the professional jargon, bare all!
elaine cohen is the joint CEO of BeyondBusiness, a leading reporting and social-environmental consulting firm based in Israel. Visit our website at: www.b-yond.biz !Technorati Profile
Friday, April 17, 2009
1 comment:
- LuAnn @ BackPorchervations said...
I can definitely do the Cocoa Mint thing, but having trouble wrapping my mind around "ergomusical eroticism". *lol*
- May 2, 2009 at 7:56 AM
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Humboldt Ave S., Minneapolis, Minnesota 55408 | 612-396-5710
Bruce has been providing psychotherapy 45 years. Areas he addresses are addictions, depression, couple counseling, personality problems (including BPD), .... His therapeutic approach is warm, supportive, direct and practical. Currently all services are via telehealth
Kori Hennessy, Angela Kori Hennessy
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
3754 Pleasant Avenue, 221W, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55409 | 763-342-0104
When meeting with couples or individuals, I work to understand the unique ways in which the problems you've come to therapy for affect you. I provide warmth, compassion and a solution focused environment for people to explore the changes they want to make in their lives
JoAnna Smith, MA, LMFT
Therapist/Transformative Coach
Eagan, Minnesota 55122 | (651) 560-6407
You feel like an 'other'. You tend to prioritize other people's needs over your own. You are highly compassionate and get overwhelmed by strong emotions. You likely feel alone and misunderstood. You are seeking someone you feel can help you with this journey.
JoAnna M. Smith, MA LMFT
Licensed Therapist/Coach
Eagan, Minnesota 55122 | 6515606407
You are not crazy. I understand that you have likely been told that YOU are the problem. Perhaps you feel broken, hopeless and scared. I wager you fear reaching out, that someone like me may not get it. I want you to know that I DO believe you and I can help.
MaryJo Melander, MSW, LICSW
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker
Eagan, Minnesota 55122 | 651-505-5349
Hi. My goal is to create a safe space to share your burdens and to find hope and healing along the way. I provide online counseling services to adolescents and adult women in Minnesota.
Rachel Larson, MA, LAMFT
Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
620 Civic Heights Drive Suite 109, Circle Pines, Minnesota 55014 | 763-280-7486
At Renovation Counseling, our specialty is relationships: among couples, families, kids, and individuals. We are a group of three dedicated, warm, and effective therapists who are honored to come alongside you to help you reach your goals. We'd love to meet you.
Jessica VerBout, M.A., LMFT, CST
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Certified Sex Therapist
4124 Quebec Ave N., Suite 306, New Hope, Minnesota 55427 | 6125525800
I provide a safe, casual, non-judgmental, sex-positive, and compassionate place for you to address your concerns where we will work collaboratively together to help you towards your goals.
Timothy McCarthy, PhD, LP, LMFT
Licensed Psychologist and Licensed Marriage-Family Therapist
8400 Normandale Lake Blvd #920, Bloomington, Minnesota 55437 | 952.937.0866
(THERAPIST-COACH, AUTHOR, SPEAKER-PRESENTER, 80% COUPLES IMPROVEMENT RATE) My personal mission as both a PhD Psychologist and Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist is to help people make real change in their life and overcome self-limiting patterns.
Emma Lingenfelter, Psy. D., LP, LMFT, LPCC
9800 Shelard Parkway, Suite 110, Plymouth , Minnesota 55441 | 763-577-2489
She experiences great joy in working with teens and young adults who are struggling with a variety of concerns including adoptee issues, gender exploration, attachment trauma, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and relational distress.
Evolve Therapy
The Twin Cities' experts in relationship therapy
9800 Shelard Parkway #115, Plymouth, Minnesota 55441 | 763-200-8900
The relationship you have with your therapist is important to your healing. Our therapists are warm, engaged & practical. In addition to deep listening, you will feel validated and acknowledged. We don't just "sit there," we are holistic, collaborative and optimistic
Joan Lompart, MA,LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
1500 McAndrews Rd W, Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 | 952-892-8404
I am privileged to work with clients on many issues and help with their journey in life. An objective listener can be enlightening. Building trust in the therapeutic relationship is where we start. Making that first call for help is the beginning of healing.
Brad Bychinski, MA, LMFT
LIFE Counseling LLC
1664 Cliff Road East, Burnsville, Minnesota 55337 | 612-390-5070
Are you ready for a change? A fresh perspective? I offer a strength-based counseling approach that will actively identify and bring about solutions for your current challenges. I look forward to serving you as you pursue greater focus and a fresh outlook on life.
Burkwood Treatment Center, Admissions
Burkwood Treatment Center
615 Old Mill Rd, Hudson, Wisconsin 54016 | (715) 201-2130
Located in beautiful Hudson, Wisconsin, Burkwood Treatment Center is a premier addiction treatment center serving Minneapolis and St.
Mary Hendrickson, Psy.D., LP
Licensed Doctoral Level Clinical Psychologist
Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344 | 952-546-0700
My style is to provide a respectful and empathic therapeutic relationship where you feel listened to, understood and supported to share the areas of your life that present challenges and concerns to assist you in your personal development and growth.
Benjamin Hoogland, MS, LMFT
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
250 Prairie Center Drive, Suite 211, Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344 | 9522091780
I specialize in helping couples in MN. With over 15 years experience as a individual, couples and family therapist, and as a graduate of University of Wisconsin – Stout, I am enthusiastic about helping couples learn how to create their ideal relationship.
Innovative Psychological Consultants, LLC
Innovative Psychological Consultants
7236 Forestview Lane N, Maple Grove, Minnesota 55369 | 763-416-4167
I.P.C. has psychologists that do testing and therapy and we have a team of psychiatrists that do medication management. Our clinicians have numerous specialties and we are able to treat most issues. We work all insurance health plans.
Lisa Marie Raines, MA, LMFT
License Marriage and Family Therapist
ACTS Therapy 8170 Old Carriage Court N Suite 200, Shakopee, Minnesota 55379 | 612-483-4464
I specialize in trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship, family and parenting issues. I work with children, teens, adults and families. I also offer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy. I will listen to your needs and help you on your journey.
55101 is a zip code located in Ramsey County and part of Saint Paul, Minnesota. It has a land area of 0.816 square miles.  The population of 55101 is 5,592 people.


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P.O. Box 3319
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Saudi Arabia
Welcome to a "World of Quality Nonwovens." Delivering World-Class Quality Nonwovens with Agility, Customer Engagement and Supply Chain Excellence. Manufacturers of Spunmelt nonwovens from the latest Reifenhäuser technology. Serving the Hygiene Market - Baby Care, Feminine Care, Adult Care. Serving the Medical Market - Medical, Surgical Apparel, Drape, Sterile Barrier Systems, Wiping. Serving the Agriculture Market - Crop Covers, Weed control. Serving the Industrial Market - Furniture and Bedding, Industrial Packaging


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If you're like me, you don't get around to printing your photos very often. Like almost never. It's really the downside of digital photography. Before the advent of digital photos (not so long ago) we were forced to print all of our pictures if we actually wanted to see them. There are, of course, many upsides to digital photography too - a key benefit being you can print only the photos you really like. Like this photo from our summer trip to New York City four years ago.
My whole family enjoyed this trip so much. We loved the city - the architecture, the people-watching, the shops and Central Park. We also loved the High Line, a 1.45-mile-long elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail. I took this photo of an urban street from the elevated height of the High Line. I like the colour in it and the view down the street to the water, but most of all I like that it reminds me of a great time we had as a family.
Even if you don't get around to printing all of your photos, why not put a few meaningful photos into photo books and on display as canvas prints? That's my new goal. I'm never going to go back and print all of the photos that sit on various computers, phones and hard drives in this house, but I can display a few special photos on our walls where we can enjoy them. I turned to Canvas Factory to get this print ordered quickly and efficiently. It takes only minutes to do this - here's how I ordered my photo canvas print.
On the Canvas Factory site, choose create a canvas, then select your material - canvas, acrylic or metal. Choose your canvas size (mine is 40cm x 50cm). You can also opt for a split image or a collage rather than a single print. Upload your photo or photos. You can pull from your computer or even Facebook or Instagram. Place your photo where you want it, enlarging, reducing or rotating it if desired.
Once your photo is placed, choose a wrap style. You can have the photo wrap around the sides of the canvas or choose a colour to act as a frame of sorts.
I chose a coloured wrap in black, but you can choose from many other colours or create a custom colour by picking it from your photo.
Add a coloured effect and/or text to the photo if you wish. I kept mine as is.
Add to cart, and you're done!
I received my photo canvas print on my doorstep just five days after ordering it. It was such a treat to see our vacation photo printed on canvas as artwork. This would be great for photos of kids and pets too.
I was impressed by the vividness of the colours. They inspired me to add more colourful (mainly yellow and blue) decor items to the table below the canvas. It is spring after all (although you wouldn't know it by looking outside).
The canvas print was super easy to hang as well. There is a hanger already attached to the back and the canvas is so light - you can just bang a nail in the wall and be done.
I hope this will inspire you to print a few of those cherished family photos that haven't yet seen the light of day. Ordering one or two canvas prints is certainly a lot easier than creating highly organized photo albums for the last decade.
What photos do you have languishing in your computer or on your phone that would look great on your wall?
Visit Canvas Factory
www.canvasfactory.com (US)
www.canvasfactory.com/ca (Canada)
Enter to win a photo canvas print!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


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On rare occasions, connecting to your speaker via Bluetooth fails, and you will need to reestablish pairing between the two devices.
Follow this procedure:
1. Delete existing Libratone Bluetooth pairing
In the Bluetooth menu on your smartphone, delete/forget the existing Libratone Bluetooth pairing and switch Bluetooth OFF/ON.
2. Enable Bluetooth pairing mode on your speaker
Press and hold the Nightingale until a side-by-side blinking setup sequence appears.
3. Pair your smartphone and your speaker
In the Bluetooth menu on your smartphone, locate your Libratone speaker and tap to pair.


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If you often buy dairy dessert from supermarket, Barcelona is a good place for you. Besides of many choices like pudding, custard, yogurt, yogurt drink, mousse, flavored milk, etc., a more important thing for me is the ingredient. Whole milk and skip milk are always the first ones you see on the list. If they are chocolate flavored, the cocoa butter is included. Although manufactured desserts aren't entirely addictive-free, at least the very major ingredients are good natural food.
It is not the scene I could find in the States. Sugar if not the 1st then would be the 2nd place on ingredient lists. What come next usually are vegetable fat plus a string of weird names which all refer to various processed sugar anyway. During my trip to NJ, I wanted to pick up a box of chocolate milk mix for my friend in Barcelona whose kids love this drink, but I just couldn't bear to see little children drinking vegetable fat, I had to pass it...
Today a few girl friends are coming to visit me. My fridge has Nestle chocolate milk pudding, but serving it in the original plastic tub looks kind of kiddi-o, so I mix the pudding with gelatin, a hour later cut out the pudding jello and place it on store-bought sponge cake. A few easy step can turn the original look a mile different,
Recipe of chocolate milk pudding-jello (to make 22cm in diameter x 1.5 cm thickness jello sheet, enough to make four of the double-layer mini cakes, each is 5 cm in diameter)- 10 g unflavored gelatin powder
- 100 ml water, room temperature
- 100 ml boiling water
- 240 g store-bought chocolate milk pudding (mine is Nestle Nesquik)
- 1 9-inch/ 22 cm aluminum round pan
- In a big bowl, combine 100 ml (room temperature) water with the gelatin, stir for 2 minutes
- Add hot boiling water into the bowl, keep stirring until the gelatin totally dissolves.
- In another bowl, scoop in a big spoonful (about 50g) of pudding and pour in a bit of gelatin water, keep stirring, and repeat the same steps (don't do it at once in order to avoid the milk pudding curdles) until everything well combine. Pour the mixture into the foil pan and send it to the fridge until the pudding sets. Mine takes about 1 hour.
To assemble the mini cakes
- cut out the side of the foil pan, use a round cookie cutter - mine is 5 cm in diameter -to cut the pudding jello
- use the same cookie cutter to cut the sponge cake.
- Spread little raspberry jam on one side (the rough side) of the cake. Stake up two sponge cakes and two pudding-jellos, but in an alternate order, garnish with chocolate shavings.


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DataIntelo has published a latest report on Global Plastic Surgery Market report. This report has been prepared by primary interviews and secondary research methodology. The market report provides detailed insights on the product pricing & trends, market drivers, and potential lucrative opportunities, during the forecast period, 2020-2027. Additionally, it covers market challenges and threats faced by companies.
Competitive Landscape
The market report provides information about the company's product, sales in terms of volume and revenue, technologies utilized, and innovations carried out in recent years. Additionally, it provides details on the challenges faced by them in the market.
The major players of the Plastic Surgery market are:
- Allergan
- BioForm Medical
- Solta Medical
- Candela
- Lumenis
- Cynosure
Note: Additional or specific companies can be profiled in the list at no extra cost.
Get free sample report @ https://dataintelo.com/request-sample/?reportId=91034
During the preparation of the report, the research team conducted several interviews with key designated executives and experts of the market. This, in turn, has helped them to understand the overall scope and complex matrix of the Plastic Surgery market. The market research report includes crucial data and figures about the report that aids the esteemed reader to make crucial business decisions. These data and figures are added in a concise manner in form of infographics and tables to save time.
Plastic Surgery Market Report Gives Out FREE COVID-19 Chapter
The COVID-19 pandemic had forced government state bodies across the globe to impose lockdown, which in turn, derailed the entire economy. Manufacturing facilities, schools, colleges, and offices witnessed a complete shutdown for few months in 2020. This resulted in the slowdown in the sales of products, which majorly impacted the growth rate of the market. Conversely, new market opportunities were explored and indeed created lucrative opportunities for the industry players.
The COVID-19 chapter covers the impact of pandemic on the market in a detailed manner. This includes product launches and strategies implemented by the industry players in the trying times. It discusses new market avenues, revenue drivers, untapped opportunities, and top-winning strategies in the market.
The research team has monitored the market closely in COVID-19 pandemic and conducted interviews with the market experts to understand the impact of coronavirus pandemic on the Plastic Surgery market. Moreover, the market provides information on the long-term challenges industry players is anticipated to face due to the pandemic.
Buy the complete report @ https://dataintelo.com/checkout/?reportId=91034
In-depth Insights on the Market Segments
The market segmentation are the vital fragments of the market. This report covers the types of the products available in the market, their applications and end-uses. Moreover, it includes the regional landscape of the market.
This part of the report covers the raw materials used for the products, supply & demand scenario, and potential applications of the products in the coming years. The market segmentation also provides in-depth insights on the regional market performance. This means that the regional landscape covers products sales in terms of volume and revenue from 2017 to 2020. Moreover, it provides insights on the expected performance of the product segment during the forecast period.
The global Plastic Surgery report gives in detailed insights on the regional landscape, which involves determining the potential of worth of investment in the particular region/country. Moreover, it gives out information about the market share of the industry players in the particular region.
- Injectables
- Implants
- Equipments
- North America
- Europe
- Asia Pacific
- Middle East & Africa
- Latin America
Note: Country of your choice can be added at no extra cost. However, if one more than country needs to be added in the list, the research quote will vary accordingly.
To avail EXCLUSIVE discount @ https://dataintelo.com/ask-for-discount/?reportId=91034
The complete Plastic Surgery report can be tailored according to the client's requirements.
Below is the TOC of the report:
Executive Summary
Assumptions and Acronyms Used
Research Methodology
Plastic Surgery Market Overview
Global Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast by Type
Global Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast by Application
Global Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast by Sales Channel
Global Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast by Region
North America Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast
Latin America Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast
Europe Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast
Asia Pacific Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast
Asia Pacific Plastic Surgery Market Size and Volume Forecast by Application
Middle East & Africa Plastic Surgery Market Analysis and Forecast
Competition Landscape
If you have any doubts regarding the report @ https://dataintelo.com/enquiry-before-buying/?reportId=91034
About DataIntelo
DataIntelo has extensive experience in the creation of tailored market research reports in several industry verticals. We cover in-depth market analysis which includes producing creative business strategies for the new entrants and the emerging players of the market. We take care that our every report goes through intensive primary, secondary research, interviews, and consumer surveys. Our company provides market threat analysis, market opportunity analysis, and deep insights into the current and market scenario.
To provide the utmost quality of the report, we invest in analysts that hold stellar experience in the business domain and have excellent analytical and communication skills. Our dedicated team goes through quarterly training which helps them to acknowledge the latest industry practices and to serve the clients with the foremost consumer experience.
Contact Info:
Name: Alex Mathews
Address: 500 East E Street, Ontario,
CA 91764, United States.
Phone No: USA: +1 909 545 6473
Email:[email protected]


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Try for free, then unlock the full experience with in-app purchase
Midnight Mysteries: Haunted Houdini
What is it about?
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App Store Description
Try for free, then unlock the full experience with in-app purchase!
Famed illusionist Harry Houdini knew he wouldn't escape death forever. When he promised his wife that he would try to reach her from the afterlife, it was seen as the ultimate stunt. But after years of séances, Bess was never able to reach Harry in this life or the next, and her spirit has come to you in a final plea to reunite her with her partner!
Digging deeper into Houdini's past, you'll find bitter rivalries and interview Harry's closest friends and his staunchest critics. Consult famous friends like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and rival Thurston the magician, while you solve puzzles and track Houdini's ties to a super secret society.
Help Bess and Harry reconnect in Midnight Mysteries: Haunted Houdini!
• Complete all-new adventure missions by solving puzzles, interviewing apparitions from the past, and searching for tools through beautiful locations that crisscross the globe
• Unravel bitter rivalries to find out what really led to Houdini's death
• Detailed hint system to help you at any step along the way.
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Midnight Mysteries: Devil on the Mississippi
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