What are 'Gold Panda' in China, 'Maple Leaf' in Canada, 'Philharmoniker' in Austria, 'Tower of David' in Israel, 'George the Victorious' in Russia and 'Sovereign' in UK?

Gold Bullion Coins | Gold Buying Genie Gold Bullion Coins Gold Bullion Coins Home » Gold Bullion Coins Gold bullion coins are coins struck with a high degree of gold purity. They are attractive coins that come in many different sizes and are produced in many different countries to give you a wide selection of designs. Gold bullion coins can be collected and if you like, worn as jewelry when you place the coin in a bezel on a chain. The available selection of gold bullion coins include: Australian Gold Nugget and Lunar Series I and Lunar Series II, Austria has the Philharmoniker, China produces the Chinese Gold Panda , France offers the Napoleon, Israel has its Tower of David , Malaysia has the Kijan Emas, Mexico offers several including the Libertad, Onza, Centenario and the Mexican Gold Peso , Poland the Orzel bielik, Switzerland produces the Swiss Vreneli , The U.K. has both the Sovereign and Britannia and the The U.S. produces a American Gold Eagle , the American Buffalo and Double Eagle. You can purchase the gold bullion coins in a variety of purity ranging from .900 to .9999. You will need to check the purity of each coin so you know what you are buying. The price of gold bullion coins will be a bit higher than the spot price of gold, which reflects the cost of production. You can also purchase gold bullion coins in a variety of sizes which are measure by weight in troy ounces (ozt). The sizes range from 1/20 ozt to 1kg and a number of weights in between. The available weights vary by coin and country so a little bit of research is necessary to find out what you can buy at what weight for what price. In addition to an interesting collection your gold bullion can be a valuable investment and with a bezel and chain enjoyed as jewelry as well.


As of January 2010, Amazon.com is America's largest online retailer. Which company that deals with office supplies is the runner-up?

Amazon.com Amazon.com Thursday, April 7, 2011  Amazon.com, Inc. ( NASDAQ :  AMZN ) is a  US -based  multinational   electronic commerce company . Headquartered in  Seattle ,  Washington , it is the largest  online retailer  in the United States, with nearly three times the Internet sales revenue of the runner up,  Staples, Inc. , as of January 2010. Jeff Bezos  founded Amazon.com, Inc. in 1994 and the site went online in 1995. The company was originally named Cadabra, Inc., but the name was changed when it was discovered that people sometimes heard the name as " Cadaver ". The name Amazon.com was chosen because the Amazon River  is one of the largest rivers in the world and so the name suggests large size, and also in part because it starts with "A" and therefore would show up near the beginning of alphabetical lists. Amazon.com started as an online bookstore, but soon diversified, selling  DVDs ,  CDs ,  MP3 downloads,  computer software ,  video games ,  electronics , apparel, furniture, food, and toys. Amazon has established separate websites in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and China. It also provides international shipping to certain countries for some of its products. History Jeff Bezos , the founder of Amazon.com Amazon was founded in 1995, [3]  spurred by what Bezos called "regret minimization framework", his effort to fend off regret for not staking a claim in the Internet gold rush. [4]  Company lore says Bezos wrote the business plan while he and his wife drove from New York to Seattle, [5]  although that account is disputed. Bezos flew from New York to Texas, where he picked up a car from a family member, and then drove from Texas to Seattle. The company began as an online  bookstore ; [6]  while the largest  brick-and-mortar  bookstores and  mail-order catalogs for books might offer 200,000 titles, an online bookstore could offer more. Bezos named the company "Amazon" after the world's  largest river . Since 2000, Amazon's logotype is an arrow leading from A to Z, representing customer satisfaction (as it forms a smile); a goal was to have every product in the alphabet. [7] Amazon was incorporated in 1994, in the state of  Washington . In July 1995, the company began service and sold its first book on amazon.com -  Douglas Hofstadter 's  Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought . [8]  In 1996, it was reincorporated in  Delaware . Amazon issued its  initial public offering  of  stock  on May 15, 1997, trading under the  NASDAQ  stock exchange symbol AMZN, at an IPO price of US$ 18.00 per share ($1.50 after three  stock splits  in the late 1990s). Barnes and Noble  filed a lawsuit on 12 May 1997, alleging that Amazon's claim to be "The world's largest bookstore" was false. They asserted "[It] isn't a bookstore at all. It's a book broker." The suit was later settled out of court. Amazon continued to call itself "The world's largest bookstore." [9]  This was followed by  Walmart  filing suit on 16 October 1998, alleging that Amazon had stolen trade secrets by hiring former Walmart executives. Although this suit was settled out of court, it led to work restrictions and reassignment of the former Walmart executives. [9] Amazon's initial  business plan  was unusual: the company did not expect a profit for four to five years. Its "slow" growth provoked stockholder complaints that the company was not reaching profitability fast enough. When the  dot-com bubble  burst, and many e-companies went out of business, Amazon persevered, and finally turned its first profit in the fourth quarter of 2001: $5 million or 1¢ per share, on revenues of more than $1 billion, but the modest profit was important in demonstrating the business model could be profitable. In 1999,  Time  magazine named Bezos  Person of the Year , recognizing the company's success in popularizing  online shopping . Acquisitions 1998: Bookpages.co.uk, [10]  a UK online book retailer, which became Amazon UK on October 15, 1998. [11] 2003: online music retailer  CD Now .[ citat


What is the name of the oil rig that sank and caused the largest offshore oil spill in US history and gave BP a bad rep in 2010?

Gulf or BP Oil Spill Physical Methods GRAND ISLE, La. -- Brown pelicans congregate on containment boom that surrounds Queen Bess Island, a few miles north of Grand Isle, La. August 25, 2010. The island is a sensitive nesting area for brown pelicans. More about the Gulf oil spill can be found in our Gulf oil spill featured story. Credit:  Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory J. Mendenhall, U.S. Coast Guard When oil spills into the ocean, it is difficult to clean up. When you have 3.19 million barrels to clean up, it is even harder. Part of the difficulty is that no two spills are alike. The amount and type of oil (whether crude or refined) affects how it spreads, and a spill in seawater spreads differently than freshwater. Local environmental conditions also play a huge role: currents, tides, weather, wind speed and direction, air temperature, water temperature and presence of ice all affect how the oil spreads and how well cleanup workers can access the spill area. This variability makes it difficult to plan for spills ahead of time. The most basic method of clean up is to control the spread of the oil using physical barriers. When oil spills in water, it tends to float to the surface and spread out, forming a thin slick just a few millimeters thick. (A very thin slick is called a sheen, which often looks like a rainbow and can be seen in parking lots after a rainstorm.) Cleanup workers first surround the slick with floating booms to keep it from spreading to harbors, beaches or biologically important areas like marshes. Then they can use different tools to remove the collected oil. Often they will drive skimmers, boats that skim spilled water from the water's surface, through the slick.  After most of the oil is removed by skimmers, workers use sorbents to mop up the trace amounts left behind. Sorbents either absorb oil like a sponge or adsorb oil, which means that oil sticks to its surface. They come in three main types: natural organic materials like peat moss, straw, hay and sawdust; natural inorganic materials like clay, volcanic ash, sand, or vermiculite; and synthetic sorbents made of materials similar to plastic like polyurethane, polypropylene, and polyethylene. Which type is used will depend on the particular spill, as some types of sorbents work best on different types of oil and under different weather conditions. Another option is to speed up the oil's natural biodegradation using dispersants. (See next section.) Striped dolphins swim among emulsified oil patches on April 29, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, a few days after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Credit:  NOAA There were some immediate impacts to the animals of the Gulf of Mexico that could be seen with the naked eye: pelicans black with oil, fish belly-up in brown sludge, smothered turtles washed up on beaches. But not much time has passed since the spill, and it will take many more years of monitoring and research to understand what happened.  Strandings of both dolphins and sea turtles increased significantly in the years following the spill. "From 2002 to 2009, the Gulf averaged 63 dolphin deaths a year. That rose to 125 in the seven months after the spill in 2010 and 335 in all of 2011, averaging more than 200 a year since April 2010," reported Reuters in 2015 . Since then, dolphin deaths have declined, and long-term impacts on the population are not yet known. Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests have gone down in the years since the spill, and long-term effects are not yet known. Seabirds were initially harmed by crude surface oil—even a small bit of oil on their feathers impeded their ability to fly, swim and find food by diving. Seabird losses may have numbered in the hundreds of thousands , but reliable estimates are hard to come by. Looking beyond the sea, researchers are currently studying how oil may have affected land birds that live in the marshes along the Gulf coast . Invertebrates in the Gulf were hard hit by the Deepwater Horizon spill—both in coastal areas and in the deep. Shrimp fisheries were closed for much of the year following the spill, but


Which 20th century industrialist known as the father of modern American shipbuilding is also known for organizing a 'permanente' health care system for his workers and their families?

Untitled Flashcards at Yale University - StudyBlue StudyBlue Size: 65 Views: 7 the 101 ranch a ranch complex developed by the miller brothers and produced a wild west show that included geronmio, buffalo bill, will rogers, and others American Indian Movement  Russell Means, leader fight against having the highest infant mortality rate in the nation 1968, average life expectancy for a white american is 74 and 44 for a native american indian families made 1/3 as much as white families 50% of indians are unemployed - more on reservations in 1969, the american indian movement occupied Alcatrez - a prison that they wanted changed to an indian culture center they took over wounded knee in SD for 71 days the seminole indians in FL demanded claim of the land used for the orange bowl - this was televised Advertisement ) Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) Driven by discovery of oil in North Alaska, and the demand in the lower 48 states. Largest land claims settlement in US history. Extinguished Native Alaskans claims to the land by transferring titles to 13 Alaska "Native Regional Corporations" and over 200 local village corporations. Many native villages not included. Allotment 1880s- idea that indian collective ownership of land was wrong and to be replaced with individual ownership- reservations would be divided up and allotted to individual families- when families demonstrated their responsibility by improving property they would become citizens Gene Autry "Oklahoma's Singing Cowboy"/ "America's Number One Singing Cowboy" imitator of Jimmie Rodgers starred in 90+ movies California Bungalow Style Suburban houses Style that evolved from the love of wood and other natural materials, as well as appreciation of Japanese design. Ned Buntline 1821-1886, known as E. Z. C. Judson and by his pseudonym Ned Buntline, was an American publisher, journalist, writer and publicist. He is best known for his dime novels started the Cowboy myth with his novels -wrote 1st novels about the american cowboy his play, Scouts of the Prairie was the basis for the Bill Cody's Wild West show Carlisle Indian School an Indian boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1879 by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the school was the first off-reservation boarding school, and it became a model for schools in other locations. It was an attempt to forcibly assimilate Native American children from 140 tribes into the majority culture of the United States. Caesar Chavez 1927-1993, American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers, Latino civil rights activist- grapes workers boycott, strikes 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act  Suspends immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 yrs (later indefinitely) Formally prohibits naturalization for Chinese This is the FIRST immigration law that restricts based on issues of race and class Lasts until WWII (1943) US border patrol was initially created to prevent Chinese immigrants from entering US from Mexico--Mexicans were allowed to cross the border w/o restrictions Crockett Almanac 1834- after Davy Crocket published "A Narrative Life of Davy Crockett of the State of Tennessee" as his autobiography, many imitations, like the crockett almanac series purported to recount his ongoing feats in his own words, they continued to be printed in first person following his death- as a dime novel hero he subverted the victorian conventions William Cody 1846-1917 Rugged frontiersman and sharpshooter who created "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" traveling show, one of the touring extravaganzas that enjoyed incredible popularity during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. John Collier 1884-1968, Known for the Indian New Deal; focused his attention to immigrant communities, he was a reformer, he was also asking why the government was forcing Indians to be Amercanized. He was appointed to commissioner of Indian affairs and his goal was to end  allotment. Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 William Cody 1846-1917


The town of Bretton Woods in the US was the site of the UN Monetary and Financial Conference in 1944 that led to the establishment of which two seminal world institutions in the subsequent year?

CADTM - Civil society and Wolfowitz's World Bank : Reform or rejection revisited The other 183 member countries are divided into groups led by one country. The most important one (6,57% of the votes) is led by Belgium. The least important group of countries (1,55% of the votes) is led by Gabon and brings together African countries. http://imf.org (Rodrigo Rato). Attempts at internal democratisation and governance restructuring failed during the late 1990s and early 2000s, although greater attention to corruption on Bank projects emerged in 2005. Debt relief was scanty, and little or no success was recorded in moving the World Bank away from environmentally destructive and economically painful projects and policies. While civil society cooption was one of Wolfensohn’s specialties, this approach was both exhausted and fruitless by 2005, and protests against the new Bank president took on greater weight. The basis thus exists for a full-fledged decommissioning strategy, one adopted by leading Third World social movements and thinktanks. Introduction Can the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) be reformed? Or should they be rejected outright - and closed? What kinds of analysis, strategies, tactics and alliances allow us to even pose the question in the stark terms of ‘fixing’ or ‘nixing’ (i.e., defunding and decommissioning) the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs)? Does the advent of neoconservative control of the World Bank, along with ‘anti-corruption’ posturing in 2006, make any difference? James Wolfensohn’s 1995-2005 presidential reign muddied these debates, dividing advocacy movements over matters of legitimacy, accountability and militancy. At his retirement, some NGOs even gave him an endearing farewell party. With Paul Wolfowitz running the Bank at least through 2009 these questions are being raised in a new and different way. At last there is the possibility of uniting global justice movements to the broader anti-imperialism struggle via a focused campaign against an institutional enemy. But matters are not so simple. First, consider the terrain upon which campaigners have been working over the past decade. When Bill Clinton anointed Wolfensohn Bank president, several opportunities arose for organisational change, based upon internal processes and external pressures. | 1 | Some followed directly on the sudden legitimacy crisis of the Bretton Woods twins in 1997-99, combining the institutions’ global-governance ‘democratic deficit’, their continued reliance upon the ‘Washington Consensus’ approach to public policy, the Bank’s ongoing orientation to controversial mega-projects, both agencies’ failure to relieve Third World debt and international financial speculation born of liberalised capital markets, and the tenure of Joseph Stiglitz as chief economist during a period of middle-income meltdowns. Other catalysts included international, intersectoral commissions - emerging from public campaigning - on structural adjustment Structural Adjustment Economic policies imposed by the IMF in exchange of new loans or the rescheduling of old loans. IMF : http://www.worldbank.org/ , dams and extractive industry. We begin by considering these factors, then take stock of the first year of the Wolfowitz regime, and end with critical arguments about global justice movement capacities and priorities. Wolfensohn’s ‘reform’ era The internal procedural changes, rhetorical shifts, individual initiatives and multi-stakeholder forum exercises introduced from 1995-2005 under Wolfensohn occurred at a time of legitimacy crisis for neoliberal ideology. Free-market economic principles were applied widely to macroeconomic and micro-development policy in the Third World (including South Africa, Brazil, Korea and India by mass-popular governments), and also in many northern ‘Third Way’ regimes. In spite of declarations at the March 2002 United Nations Financing for Development (FFD) summit in Monterrey, Mexico, that ‘a shift from the Washington Consensus to a new Monterrey Consensus’ | 2 | had emerged, the ‘Post-Washington Consensus’


Red Barn, now a historic site in the US, was the original manufacturing site of which company?

Boeing's Red Barn an official historic site - seattlepi.com Boeing's Red Barn an official historic site Building is the oldest plane-manufacturing facility in the nation SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, May 1, 2003 The Red Barn , the birthplace of The Boeing Co. in 1916, was officially designated yesterday as a historic aerospace site. The Red Barn is now part of the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. Built in 1909, it is the oldest airplane-manufacturing facility in the nation. "For everyone in Seattle, the Red Barn is a significant part of the community's history," said Ralph Bufano , president and chief executive of the Museum of Flight. The designation as a historic aerospace site was made by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics . Boeing's original manufacturing plant was honored for its contribution to aviation history. So far, the institute has chosen 20 sites for recognition, including NASA Langley Research Center , in Hampton, Va.; the Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; Annonay, France, the site of the first balloon launch in 1783; and Tranquility Base, where man first landed on the moon in 1969. The institute has said its aim is to raise the public's awareness of the importance of disappearing landmarks in aerospace history. During an award ceremony last night, Alan Mulally , president and chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, explained the significance of the Red Barn to Boeing and the aerospace community. "What I really appreciate about the Red Barn is that it represents the birthplace of aviation in the Pacific Northwest," Mulally said. "In fact, in this 100th year of aviation, we also celebrate the 100th anniversary of William Boeing coming to Washington state, where he began what is now the world's premier aerospace company." Although it is now a symbol of Boeing aviation, the Red Barn actually has its roots in the shipping industry. In 1910, William Boeing bought the Heath Shipyards, including the building that would become the Red Barn, for $10. In 1916, Boeing moved operations of what was then known as the Pacific Aero Products Co. into the Red Barn, which officially became the birthplace of The Boeing Co. Located along the Duwamish River, the Red Barn served as the company's "world headquarters" from 1917 to 1929. The aging structure was moved two miles down the river from that original site to its current location on Boeing Field in 1975. The museum was later built around it. Two years ago, Boeing moved its headquarters to Chicago. The Red Barn stayed. Tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the Museum of Flight, William Boeing Jr. will accept the award from the AIAA during another ceremony.


"The name of which company was initially proposed as 'Pequod' but the idea was retracted when someone said ""No one's going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!""?"

SBC Jeopardy SpeedMatch Review Game I'm minoring in management and music. Michelle Lee I was a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search Srinidhi Viswanathan I founded my high school's Zero Robotics team. Flora Tan I provide the sweet bass in this favorite Christmas song. Frank Zhu I researched cancer development technologies in high school. Santhosh Narayan In the world of business, what is the significance of this ordered list?: Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Venezuela, Kuwait, Colombia Largest suppliers of oil to the United States The three companies that have reached the No. 1 spot on the FORTUNE 500 since 1954. General Motors, ExxonMobil, and WalMart The idea for what company originated when Reed Hastings paid $40 in fine for returning Apollo 13 well past its due date? Netflix By repute, where is the largest gold repository in the world? (hint: not Fort Knox!) Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Manhattan The name of which company was initially proposed as 'Pequod' but the idea was retracted when someone said "No one's going to drink a cup of Pee-quod!"? Starbucks Zac Dearing (former SBC president) Dallas and TFA Emily Zhao (former SBC president) San Francisco and Dropbox Pranav Ramkrishnan (former consulting MD) Cambridge and M.Eng at MIT Abhishek Rampuria (former consulting MD) NYC and Altman Vilandrie Rishi Dixit (former finance MD) San Francisco and Valiant Capital Moriel Levy


Which 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen is known for the industrial production of steel and armaments and has been known as the 'Arsenal of the Reich'?

Krupp | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia This article is about the German industrial conglomerate Krupp. For other uses, see Krupp (disambiguation) . Not to be confused with Krups . The three rings were the symbol for Krupp, based on the Radreifen – the seamless railway wheels patented by Alfred Krupp. The rings are currently part of the ThyssenKrupp logotype. The Krupp family (see pronunciation ), a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments . The family business , known as Friedrich Krupp AG, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1999 it merged with Thyssen AG to form ThyssenKrupp AG , a large industrial conglomerate. Contents Edit Friedrich Krupp (1787–1826) launched the family's metal-based activities, building a pioneering steel foundry in Essen in 1810. His son Alfred (1812–87), known as "the Cannon King" or as "Alfred the Great", invested heavily in new technology to become a significant manufacturer of steel rollers (used to make eating utensils) and railway tyres. He also invested in fluidized hotbed technologies (notably the Bessemer process ) and acquired many mines in Germany and France. Unusual for the era, he provided social services for his workers, including subsidized housing and health and retirement benefits. An assortment of naval guns and field artillery pieces from the Krupp works in Essen, Germany. (Circa 1905) The company began to make steel cannons in the 1840s—especially for the Russian, Turkish, and Prussian armies. Low non-military demand and government subsidies meant that the company specialized more and more in weapons: by the late 1880s the manufacture of armaments represented around 50% of Krupp's total output. When Alfred started with the firm, it had five employees. At his death twenty thousand people worked for Krupp—making it the world's largest industrial company and the largest private company in the German empire . In the 20th century the company was headed by Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (1870–1950), who assumed the surname of Krupp when he married the Krupp heiress, Bertha Krupp . After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, the Krupp works became the center for German rearmament. In 1943, by a special order from Hitler, the company reverted to a sole-proprietorship, with Gustav and Bertha's eldest son Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (1907–67) as proprietor. After Germany's defeat, Gustav was senile and incapable of standing trial, and the Nuremberg Military Tribunal convicted Alfried as a war criminal in the Krupp Trial for "plunder" and for his company's use of slave labor . It sentenced him to 12 years in prison and ordered him to sell 75% of his holdings. In 1951, as the Cold War developed and no buyer came forward, the U.S. occupation authorities released him, and in 1953 he resumed control of the firm. In 1968, the company became a corporation. In 1999, the Krupp Group merged with its largest competitor, Thyssen AG ; the combined company— ThyssenKrupp AG , became Germany's fifth-largest firm and one of the largest steel producers in the world. History of the family Edit The Krupp family first appeared in the historical record in 1587, when Arndt Krupp joined the merchants' guild in Essen. Arndt, a trader, arrived in town just before an epidemic of the and became one of the city's wealthiest men by purchasing the property of families who fled the epidemic. After he died in 1624, his son Anton took over the family business; Anton oversaw a gunsmithing operation during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), which was the first instance of the family's long association with arms manufacturing. For the next century the Krupps continued to acquire property and became involved in municipal politics in Essen. By the mid-18th-century, Friedrich Jodocus Krupp, Arndt's great-great-grandson, headed the Krupp family. In 1751, he married Helene Amalie Ascherfeld (another of Arndt's great-great-grandchildren); Jodocus died si


Which influential author of Economics: An Introductory Analysis, the largest-selling economics textbook of all time is also the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Economics?

Paul Samuelson dies at 94; 1st American to win Nobel in economics - latimes OBITUARY Paul Samuelson dies at 94; 1st American to win Nobel in economics He was an advisor to JFK. His book 'Economics: An Introductory Analysis' explained Keynesian theory to beginning economics students. It has sold more than 4 million copies in more than 40 languages. December 14, 2009 |Times Staff And Wire Reports Bob Child / Associated Press (kulpknc20091213175126 ) Paul Samuelson, the first American to win a Nobel Prize in economics, the author of a landmark college textbook on the subject and a presidential advisor who helped shape tax policy in the Kennedy administration, has died. He was 94. FOR THE RECORD: Paul Samuelson obituary: The obituary of economist Paul Samuelson in Monday's Section A said that in 1970, he became the second person to be awarded a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He was the third. Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen were co-winners in 1969, the first year the prize was awarded. — Samuelson died Sunday at his home in Belmont, Mass., announced MIT, where he had taught for several decades. No cause of death was given. "Paul Samuelson transformed everything he touched: the theoretical foundations of his field, the way economics was taught around the world, the ethos and stature of his department, the investment practices of MIT and the lives of his colleagues and students," MIT President Susan Hockfield said in a statement. In 1970, he became only the second person to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences . The citation said Samuelson "has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory." "It is nice to have hard work recognized," he said at the time. Like many of his generation, Samuelson was a follower of British economist John Maynard Keynes , who proposed that a nation needs an activist government that could foster low unemployment by steering tax and monetary policies, even if it meant deficit spending at times. Samuelson's nephew is Lawrence Summers, President Obama's chief economic advisor. "In the old-fashioned laissez-faire economy, prosperity was indeed a fragile blossom," Samuelson wrote in a 1970 New York Times article. "But for a modern 'mixed economy' in the post-Keynesian era, fiscal and monetary policies can definitely prevent chronic slumps, can offset automation or under-consumption" and can ensure "that resources find paying work opportunities." He was among advisors who led Kennedy to recommend a historic income tax cut that Congress eventually passed in early 1964, after the president was assassinated. "A temporary reduction in tax rates on individual incomes can be a powerful weapon against recession," Samuelson had written in a report to Kennedy in early 1961. The cut was widely credited with helping to foster the 1960s economic boom. "People had JFK all wrong," Samuelson, who was Kennedy's chief economic advisor during the 1960 campaign, told the New York Times in 1993. "They thought of him as a dashing, deciding type. He was an extremely hesitant person who checked the ice in front of him all the time. He said it was vanity to use your political capital on lost causes." Samuelson's work as an educator might have been his most influential role. "Economics: An Introductory Analysis," published in 1948, sought to explain Keynesian economics to beginning economics students. The late economist Robert Heilbroner wrote in The Nation in 1997 that Samuelson's book "changed our vision of economics from the dismal science to a study of social possibilities." "Economics" has sold more than 4 million copies in more than 40 languages. "I knew it was a good book, but what I didn't realize would be its lasting power," Samuelson told the Associated Press in 1998. "I think economics -- and this is what I've tried to impart -- has a tremendous amount of human interest in it." Paul Anthony Samuelson was born in Gary, Ind., on May 15, 1915. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1935 and received master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard. He


From the Arabic for 'to make known', what is the correct term for a duty imposed on foreign goods?

Management CH 4 - Management 301 with Mccallister at University of Nevada-Las Vegas - StudyBlue One advantage of small companies over large ones is the former's ability to change direction faster True The international Red Cross is an example of a multinational organization. True Ethnocentrism is a form of parochialism. True Global outsourcing is defined as using suppliers outside the home country to provide labor, goods, or services. True If you can describe a job precisely, or write rules for doing it, it is protected against offshoring. False An import quota is a trade barrier in the form of a customs duty, or tax, levied mainly on imports. False The organization that assists in smoothing the flow of money between nations is the World Bank. False; The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is designed to assist in  smoothing the flow of money between nations. Canada is part of NAFTA True Knowing the cultural tendencies of foreign business partners and competitors can give you a strategic competitive advantage. True The trend of the world economy toward becoming a more interdependent system is called Globaization Which of the following is a negative effect for the U.S. of global economic interdependency? Loss of well-paying jobs. Ethnocentrism among international managers has been linked to recruitment difficulties for foreign subsidiaries A company that is producing good domestically and sells them outside the county is involved in exporting Pizza Hut provides the use of its name plus operating know-how to companies in Costa Rica in return for a fee plus a percentage of profits. Pizza Hut is franchising The movement of good and services among nations without political or economic obstruction is called free trade The EU has recently agreed to cut the taxes it charges on bananas imported from Central and South America. This tax is a type of tariff Kendall was feeling very uncomfortable and disoriented since she arrived for her new job in Bangkok. It seemed like just about everything was different than what she was used to. Kendall was experiencing culture shock In a(n) ______, shared meanings are primarily derived from written and spoken words rather than situational cues. low-context culture; A person from North America, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, or Switzerland, for example, comes from a low-context culture in which shared meanings are primarily derived from written and spoken words. ______ means that people accept inequality in power among people, institutions, and organizations. high power distance; High power distance, such as occurs in Mexico, India, Thailand, Panama, and the Philippines, means that people accept inequality in power among people, institutions, and organizations. When conducting business in English in Asia, if the answer to a question is "yes", one should assume that means "the question is understood" Megan, a native of New York, was living in London and working for a news magazine. Megan is what is known as a(n) Expatriate If your Chinese coworker in Hong Kong tells you that you have gained weight, you should interpret this comment as Friendliness Which of the following countries is a member of Mercosur? Argentina; The Mercosur is the largest trade bloc in Latin America and has 10 members—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Leah runs a small handmade custom card business, and has recently put up a website. What advantage does her business have over larger competitors? It can change direction quicker. Holly is a seasoned American manager, currently working in South Korea. She has noticed that some of her management techniques work well in her overseas position, but sometimes she finds it more effective to defer to the practices of her Korean counterparts. Holly can be described as a(n) ______ manager. Geocentric; Geocentric managers accept that there are differences and similarities between home and foreign personnel and practices and that they should use whatever techniques are most effective. When a government uses measures like tarif


In the US, Keogh Plans are full-fledged pension plans for small businesses and what other type of people?

Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People Share - Click this link to Share this page through email or social media Print - Click this link to Print this page Retirement Plans for Self-Employed People Are you self-employed? Did you know you have many of the same options to save for retirement on a tax-deferred basis as employees participating in company plans? Here some highlights of your retirement plan options. Simplified Employee Pension ( SEP ) Contribute as much as 25% of your net earnings from self-employment (not including contributions for yourself), up to $54,000 (for 2017; $53,000 for 2015 and 2016). Establish the plan with a simple one-page form: complete Form 5305-SEP , Simplified Employee Pension - Individual Retirement Accounts Contribution Agreement, or an IRS-approved “prototype SEP plan” offered by many mutual funds, banks and other financial institutions, and by plan administration companies; and open a SEP-IRA through a bank or other financial institution. Set up the SEP plan for a year as late as the due date (including extensions) of your income tax return for that year. 401(k) plan Make annual salary deferrals up to $18,000 (in 2015 - 2017),  plus an additional $6,000 if you're 50 or older (in 2015 - 2017) either on a pre-tax basis or as designated Roth contributions . Contribute up to an additional 25% of your net earnings from self-employment for total contributions of $54,000 (for 2017; $53,000 for 2015 and 2016), including salary deferrals. Tailor your plan to allow access to your account balance through loans and hardship distributions . A one-participant 401(k) plan is sometimes referred to as a “solo-401(k),” “individual 401(k)” or “uni-401(k).” It is generally the same as other 401(k) plans, but because there are no employees other than your spouse who work for the business, it is exempt from discrimination testing. Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees ( SIMPLE IRA Plan ) You can put all your net earnings from self-employment in the plan: up to $12,500 (in 2015 - 2017), plus an additional $3,000 if you're 50 or older (in 2015 - 2017), plus either a 2% fixed contribution or a 3% matching contribution. Establish the plan: complete Form 5305-SIMPLE , Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE) – for Use With a Designated Financial Institution, Form 5304-SIMPLE , Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers (SIMPLE) - Not for Use With a Designated Financial Institution, or an IRS-approved “prototype SIMPLE IRA plan” offered by many mutual funds, banks and other financial institutions, and by plan administration companies; and open a SIMPLE IRA through a bank or another financial institution. Set up a SIMPLE IRA plan at any time January 1 through October 1. If you became self-employed after October 1, you can set up a SIMPLE IRA plan for the year as soon as administratively feasible after your business starts. Learn more: SIMPLE IRA Tips for the Sole Proprietor Other defined contribution plans Profit-sharing plan : allows you to decide how much to contribute on an annual basis, up to 25% of compensation (not including contributions for yourself) or $54,000 (for 2017; $53,000 for 2015 and 2016). Money purchase plan : requires you to contribute a fixed percentage of your income every year, up to 25% of compensation (not including contributions for yourself), according to a formula stated in the plan. Defined benefit plans Traditional pension plan with a stated annual benefit you will receive at retirement, usually based on salary and years of service. Benefit may also be defined based on a cash balance formula in a hypothetical individual account (a cash balance plan). Maximum annual benefit can be up to $215,000 (for 2017; $210,000 for 2015 and 2016). Contributions are calculated by an actuary based on the benefit you set and other factors (your age, expected returns on plan investments, etc.); no other annual contribution limit applies. What's a Keogh plan? Retirement plans for self-employed people were formerly referred to as “Keogh plans” after t


In 1984, while filming a commercial for which company did Michael Jackson suffer second degree burns after pyrotechnics set his hair on fire?

BBC ON THIS DAY | 27 | 1984: Michael Jackson burned in Pepsi ad About This Site | Text Only 1984: Michael Jackson burned in Pepsi ad Michael Jackson has received hospital treatment for serious burns to his head after his hair caught light during a freak filming accident. The 25-year-old entertainer was singing his hit "Billie Jean" for a Pepsi Cola commercial in Los Angeles when the special effects went wrong. Three thousand fans saw a firework display erupt behind the superstar, showering him in sparks and setting light to his hair. Some studio audience members said he was so calm, they thought the incident was part of the act. He was wonderful. He reassured people even as he was being taken away on a stretcher Fan Virgina Watson The singer is reported to have covered his burning hair with his jacket as his brothers and stage hands rushed to help. One member of the audience, Virginia Watson, witnessed the accident. "He was wonderful. He reassured people even as he was being taken away on a stretcher", she said. Michael Jackson was taken to hospital where he was treated for second degree burns. Plastic surgeon Steven Hoeffin said Jackson, who was voted America's entertainer of the year, could need surgery to his head. "He is in discomfort", said the doctor. "It will take a few weeks to determine the hair loss." The superstar is earning a reputed �7m for the series of Pepsi Cola adverts which also feature his four famous brothers. It is part of a huge sponsorship deal the singer agreed last year. The multimillionaire's album "Thriller" has just entered the Guinness book of records as the best selling LP of all time.


After a Korean Air Lines flight was shot down after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace in 1983, President Reagan issued a directive making what technology available for civilian use?

Reliable Use of GPS Timing in the Power Industry Reliable Use of GPS Timing in the Power Industry Bruce H. Roeder International Marketing Manager, Arbiter Systems®, Inc. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) developed by the United States Department of Defense and managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. It is the only fully functional GNSS in the world. It can be used freely by anyone, unless the system is technically restricted. These restrictions can be applied to specific regions by the U.S. Department of Defense. GPS can be used almost anywhere near the earth, and is often used by civilians for navigation purposes. An unobstructed line of sight to four satellites is required for non-degraded performance. GPS horizontal position fixes are typically accurate to about 15 meters (50 ft). GPS uses a constellation of between 24 and 32 medium Earth orbit satellites that transmit precise radiowave signals, which allow GPS receivers to determine their current location, the time, and their velocity. Its official name is NAVSTAR GPS. GPS (Global Positioning System) is the most widely used method of providing time synchronization in the world wide power industry. It is used as a reference for IEDs in substations and instrumentation measuring synchrophasors. It is also frequently used for network timing. The reliability of this critical reference is affected by many things: Proper Implementation of the Technology by Clock Manufacturers Potential Addition of Selective Availability to the GPS Signal Number of Satellites Received Number of Satellites Required for Timing Sources of Interference Proper Distribution of the Timing Signal In addition to the above issues there is the upcoming (2010) loss of some of the GPS satellites due to the late deployment of the new group III GPS satellites. This paper addresses each of these issues with recommendations to maintain reliable timing regardless of where your timing is required. History of GPS The first satellite navigation system, Transit, used by the United States Navy, was first successfully tested in 1960. It used a constellation of five satellites and could provide a navigational fix approximately once per hour. In 1967, the U.S. Navy developed the Timation satellite which proved the ability to place accurate clocks in space, a technology that GPS relies upon. In the 1970s, the ground-based Omega Navigation System, based on phase comparison of signal transmission from pairs of stations, became the first worldwide radio navigation system. Friedwardt Winterberg proposed a test of General Relativity using accurate atomic clocks placed in orbit in artificial satellites. To achieve accuracy requirements, GPS uses principles of general relativity to correct the satellites’ atomic clocks. The design of GPS is based partly on similar ground-based radio navigation systems, such as LORAN and the Decca Navigator developed in the early 1940s, and used during World War II. Additional inspiration for the GPS came when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik in 1957. A team of U.S. scientists led by Dr. Richard B. Kershner were monitoring Sputnik's radio transmissions. They discovered that, because of the Doppler Effect, the frequency of the signal being transmitted by Sputnik was higher as the satellite approached, and lower as it continued away from them. They realized that since they knew their exact location on the globe, they could pinpoint where the satellite was along its orbit by measuring the Doppler distortion (see Transit (satellite)). After Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making GPS freely available for civilian use, once it was sufficiently developed, as a common good. The first satellite was launched in 1989 and the 24th and last satellite was launched in 1994. Initially the highest quality signal was reserved for military use, and the signal available for civilian use intentionally degrad


What is the name given to the fraudulent operation that involves paying abnormally high returns to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors rather than from revenues generated by any business?

Charles Ponzi (1882 - 1949) - Find A Grave Memorial Death:  Jan. 18, 1949 Criminal. He is the originator of the type of financial fraud that carries his name. The term "Ponzi scheme" now generally describes a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business. He was born Carlo Ponzi in Lugo, Italy, immigrating to Boston at the age of 21 in 1903. The scheme began when he realized that international postal reply coupons ("IRC's") were fixed to values set before the decline in European currencies following World War I. IRC's could be bought in Europe, included in a mailing to the United States, and the American recipient could redeem them to purchase stamps at an American post office for reply postage. He discovered that when an IRC was purchased in Europe and changed into U.S. dollars, there was a profit difference of a few cents. Around 1920, he started a company to promote the scheme and the high returns available from IRC's. He offered investors a 50% return on their money in 45 days, or a doubling of their money in 90 days. The company grew rapidly. He realized that as long as investors received their promised 50% return, they were not concerned about how this was achieved. Thus, instead of speculation in IRC's, he paid the 50% return out of the additional funds received from other investors, who were likewise anticipating a 50% return on their investments, within a short period of time. Thousands, primarily in New England, invested nearly $15 million dollars. By July 1920 he had made millions, matching old money with ever-larger amounts of new money. As long as money kept flowing in, existing investors could be paid with the new money, but colossal liabilities were accumulating. Eventually, there was public scrutiny as to how Ponzi actually managed to achieve these returns. The city editor at "The Boston Post", who suspected Ponzi's scheme was fraudulent, sought an analysis from one of Boston's leading citizens, Clarence Barron, the owner of Dow Jones & Co. and "The Wall Street Journal". In a series of articles, Barron questioned the scheme's economics and profit potential. The Massachusetts District Attorney ordered Ponzi to cease and desist. Ponzi's customers demanded their money back, but the scheme collapsed instead. On November 1, 1920, Ponzi pleaded guilty to Federal mail fraud, and later was found guilty of Massachusetts state charges. After serving out both prison terms, Ponzi was released in 1934 and was immediately deported to Italy because he had never become an American citizen. He eventually ended up in Brazil. He had a stroke in 1948, and died destitute in a charity hospital in Rio de Janeiro, at the age of sixty-six. Once a millionaire, his funeral reportedly took his last $75. (bio by: William Seitz)


Appropriately, which company's NYSE symbol is 'BID'?

BID : Summary for Sotheby's Common Stock - Yahoo Finance BID : Summary for Sotheby's Common Stock - Yahoo Finance NYSE - NYSE Real Time Price. Currency in USD Add to watchlist As of 10:40AM EST. Market open. People also watch At SIHH, Richemont's watch showcase in Geneva which opens on Monday, Van Cleef & Arpels will unveil a remarkable automaton clock that has been eight years in the making. The Fée Ondine (above) is a collaboration ... PR Newswire•5 days ago Marc Porter Appointed Chairman Of Sotheby's Fine Art Division NEW YORK, Jan. 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotheby's (BID) is delighted to announce the appointment of Marc Porter as Chairman of the Fine Art Division.  The respected executive will join his fellow Fine Art Division chairs, Allan Schwartzman and Amy Cappellazzo, in growing Sotheby's global specialist departments and advisory businesses.  In addition, he will lead the Company's business development strategy on a global basis.  Based in New York, Marc begins at Sotheby's on 17 January. You can learn more about Marc here. Motley Fool•8 days ago


Which legal term describes a brand name that has become synonymous with a particular class of products and whose examples include Scotch Tape, Frisbee, Xerox and Band-Aid?

The Straight Dope: Is there a term for "trade names that become generic"? A Staff Report from the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board Is there a term for "trade names that become generic"? January 13, 2000 Dear Straight Dope: What is the word that describes the use of trade names to mean much more than that particular trade name? Examples: Let's go get a Coke. I'll make you a Xerox copy. Put a Gem Clip on it. I need to Hoover my rug. — Spike Parker SDStaff Ian replies: First off, Spike, the companies that own the trademarks to those particular brand names will be very displeased to know that you consider these names to mean anything other than the products they sell. Except maybe for Gem clip; I've never heard that one. Maybe Gem will take satisfaction in knowing at least one guy considers their name first when selecting a paper clip. Sure, we might think the highest achievement of a successful product is, in fact, for consumers to think of their name before all others, but while companies spend billions to ensure that their products become "household names," they then spend millions more to prevent these household names from being applied to any products beside their own. Two products you mention, Coca-Cola and Xerox, are probably the best-known examples of contemporary products going to great lengths to fight this fight. Coke has won lawsuits against restaurants who serve another brand of cola when their customers ask for a Coke, although they did lose the proprietary right to the name "cola," because it's descriptive of the product. Some products which are still registered trademarks despite the assault on their names include AstroTurf, Baggies, Band-Aid, Beer Nuts, Breathalyzer, Brillo Pads, Dacron, Dumpster, Frisbee, Hi-Liter, Hula-Hoop, Jacuzzi, Jeep, Jell-O, Jockey Shorts, Kitty Litter, Kleenex, Laundromat, Liquid Paper, Magic Marker,  Muzak, Novocain, Ping-Pong, Play-Doh, Popsicle, Post-it Note, Q-Tip, Realtor, Rollerblade, Scotch Tape, Scrabble, Seeing Eye (dog), Sheetrock, Slim Jim, Styrofoam, Super glue, Technicolor, Teflon, TelePrompTer, Vaseline, Velcro, and Walkman. Words which have gone the way of "cola," that is, former trademarks that have been ruled (legally) descriptive words, and therefore, no longer owned by the companies or individuals who invented them, include aspirin, brassiere, cellophane, corn flakes, escalator, granola, gunk, heroin, jungle gym, kerosene, linoleum, raisin bran, shredded wheat, tabloid, thermos, touch-tone, trampoline, yo-yo, and zipper. You can see, then, why companies would get stressed about this. There actually used to be a Zipper brand zipper, and any other metal, sliding fasteners had to come up with a name which simply wouldn't be as, well, zippy, and therefore memorable and above all marketable. Now, to the question you asked: what are such words called? Unfortunately, there's simply no clear answer. When this question came up on the Straight Dope Message Board on AOL, resident grammarian Bermuda999 mentioned that one commonly used term is the awkward "generic descriptor," undoubtedly the way these things should be referred to legally. A term you might see for what befalls a word, and a trademark holder, when it loses its brand name, is the waggish "genericide," and you might term the words "victims of genericide," but if "generic descriptor" is awkward, "victim of genericide" is hopeless. Richard Lederer, in Crazy English, suggests that these words are similar to words like sandwich, cardigan, tantalize, braille, and leotard, that is to say, words coined for people with whom they were associated. These words are called "eponyms." At least two of the brand names above (jacuzzi and frisbee) derived their names from the names of people, so there may be something to Lederer's contention. I asked him (yes, asked him — E-mail is a wonderful invention for pedantic researchers like me) about this, but pointed out that, although the etymology of the word (Greek, meaning "after or upon a name") wouldn't exclude brand names from the definition, no independ


MIS 2901 Study Guide (2013-14 O'donnell) - Instructor O'donnell at Temple University - StudyBlue Good to have you back! If you've signed in to StudyBlue with Facebook in the past, please do that again. MIS 2901 Study Guide (2013-14 O'donnell) MIS 2901 Study Guide (2013-14 O'donnell) StudyBlue Size: 54 Views: 4 cloud computing Web-based applications that are stored on remote servers and accessed via the 'cloud' of the Internet using a standard Web browser. What is Grid Computing?  Advertisement ) Grid Computing The process by which not files, but processing power is shared within a network between the belonging computers Moore's Law Predicts that the power of microprocessor technology doubles and the cost of production falls in half every 18 months. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) the Cloud Computing delivery model that provides access to software and its functions remotely as a Web-based service. SaaS removes the need for organizations to handle the installation, set-up, and maintenance Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) a service that delivers hardware networking capabilities include the use of servers, networking and storage over the cloud using a pay per use revenue model Virtualization Platform as a Service (PaaS) Where cloud providers offer services that include the hardware, operating system, tools, and hosting (i.e., the platform) that its customers use to build their own applications on the provider’s infrastructure. In this scenario the cloud firm usually manages the platform (hosting, hardware, and supporting software), while the client has control over the creation and deployment of their appliation. extranet password protected form of internet intended for external users extranet semiprivate network that uses internet technology and allows more than one company to access the same info or allows people on different servers to collaborate intranet a private computer network like the internet that allows a business to securely share their organization information with its emplyees Virtual Private Network (VPN) A group of connected computers within a confined geographic area. Wide area networks (WAN) A communications network covering a large geographic area peer to peer network a network where all computers can equally and easily share data without a central server Advertisement Which trade route connects the Atlantic and Pacific ocean? The Panama Canal What are the three most frequently traded currencies in the world? U.S. dollar, the Euro and the Japanese Yen What product that makes unpacking fun was invented by sealing two shower curtains together by two engineers who intended it as wallpaper? Bubble Wrap Coffee came originally from Ethiopia What city has the largest population in the world? Tokyo, Japan Before 1994, Brazilians spent Cruzeiros. Now they do deals with a currency by this name Real What is the largest single-site employer in the US with more than 66,000 employees, a manifold increase from the 5,500 it employed when it opened in 1971? Walt Disney World Resort Who was the world's largest employer in 2012 United States Department of Defense What are the two countries in the world that Coca-Cola does not conduct business? North Korea and Cuba The discovery of Metallica's song "I Disappear" on a file sharing network in 2000 started a chain of events that led to the demise of the original incarnation of what company? Napster Superior value creation When a firm provides products at a lower cost or with superior benefits to the customer Value chain analysis Process of analyzing a firm's activities to see where value is added to products or services and what the costs of the added value is Business process Activities an organization performs in order to reach it's goals Operational level of a firm Bottom level of an organization where day-to-day business processes occur Managerial level of a firm Middle level of an organization, where managers monitor operational level activities and provide information to the organization's higher level managers Executive level Top level of an organization, where executives


The American inventor Douglas Engelbart is best known for inventing which ubiquitous 'clicking' device?

Computer Mouse - General Knowledge Today Computer Mouse November 15, 2011 No comments A mouse is a handheld device for moving the pointer around the screen. It is a primary component of the windows GUI (Graphical User Interface) environment. The use of the mouse in windows allows the user to point at and clicks on various icons for programs and data files rather than having to type in commands to copy files, open programs, etc. as in the older DOS. Mouse is invention of Douglas Carl Engelbart. Douglas Carl Engelbart is an American inventor and early computer pioneer and internet pioneer, best known for inventing the Computer Mouse. Apart from the mouse, his team also developed the hypertext, networked computers, and precursors to GUIs. A typical Mouse consists of two buttons, each of which functions differently in windows. A single click of the left button on an icon selects the item, a double click (clicking twice in rapid succession) button will open a pop-up menu offering choices relative to the item clicked. The primitive mouse did not contain the roller. Now the intelliMouse includes a roller between the two buttons for easy scrolling up and down, specially while visiting websites. The early mouse contained the touchpad’s, large and small trackballs, and graphics tablets. Here we should note that almost all functions that we do with a mouse can be replaced with keyboard commands. The keyboard equivalents are visible in the menus in most programmes.


What is the title of the landmark television commercial that launched the Apple Macintosh in the US in January 1984?

Apple Alumni Page — Mac 30th Celebration Hide Info Page Dividers - disables the horizontal lines between info page content.   DOCUMENT 1 of 3: Full Press Release: December 18, 2013 Cupertino, CA For Immediate Release In honor of the original Macintosh Development Team, All Planet Studios, the Computer History Museum and Macworld/iWorld announce a celebration of the 30 year anniversary of the Macintosh. On January 24, 1984, Apple launched the Macintosh personal computer. The event, immortalized by Steve Jobs’ presentation and Ridley Scott’s legendary “1984” television commercial, propelled this insanely great little machine into the limelight and forever changed the world. On January 25, 2014 event organizers Gabreal Franklin and Daniel Kottke invite the public to join them in acknowledging the extended team whose efforts popularized the graphical user interface and WYSIWYG software and defined computing for the rest of us. The event will be held at the beautifully appointed Flint Center in Cupertino, CA, a few miles from the Apple campus, in the since renovated 2,300 seat auditorium where Steve Jobs introduced the Mac. In a series of panel discussions, members of the original team will share memories about the conception, birth and coming of age of the Apple Macintosh. Previously unreleased video will recreate those early days, and Ridley Scott will discuss production of the “1984” commercial. Stage events, testimonials and surprise guests will offer a treasure trove of recollections about the era. In one of the evening’s highlights, Mike Markkula will present People’s Choice Lifetime Technical Awards to the unsung heroes of the computer revolution—the original Mac team. The event will be capped by a musical performance by Cirque d’Mac, featuring Chris Breen, Bryan Chaffin, Dave Hamilton, Paul Kent and Bob LeVitus. Profits from the event will be donated to charities dedicated to promoting computer and Internet literacy.   For further information, including interviews, contact Daniel at mac30th@gmail.com .


Which company was responsible for the Bhopal disaster in 1984 that is frequently cited as the world's worst industrial disaster?

Bhopal disaster - 必应 Sign in Bhopal disaster The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident in India, considered the world's worst industrial disaster. It occurred on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals. The toxic substance made its way into and around the shanty towns located near the plant. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The governm ... (展开) ent of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks , and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases. The cause of the disaster remains under debate. The Indian government and local activists argue that slack management and deferred maintenance created a situation where routine pipe maintenance caused a backflow of water into a MIC tank triggering the disaster. Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) contends water entered the tank through an act of sabotage. The owner of the factory, UCIL, was majority owned by UCC, with Indian Government-controlled banks and the Indian public holding a 49.1 percent stake. In 1989, UCC paid $470m ($907m in 2014 dollars) to settle litigation stemming from the disaster. In 1994, UCC sold its stake in UCIL to Eveready Industries India Limited (EIIL), which subsequently merged with McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. Eveready ended clean-up on the site in 1998, when it terminated its 99-year lease and turned over control of the site to the state government of Madhya Pradesh. Dow Chemical Company purchased UCC in 2001, seventeen years after the disaster. Civil and criminal cases were filed in the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster. In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by Indian law. An eighth former employee was also convicted, but died before the judgement was passed. Anderson also died at a nursing home in Vero Beach, Florida on September 29, 2014. Bhopal disaster The pre-event phase The UCIL factory was built in 1969 to produce the pesticide Sevin (UCC's brand name for carbaryl) using methyl isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate. A MIC production plant was added in 1979. After the Bhopal plant was built, other manufacturers, including Bayer, produced carbaryl without MIC, though at a greater manufacturing cost. Bayer also used the UCC process at the chemical plant once owned by UCC at Institute, West Virginia, in the United States. The chemical process employed in the Bhopal plant had methylamine reacting with phosgene to form MIC, which was then reacted with 1-naphthol to form the final product, carbaryl. This "route" differed from the MIC-free routes used elsewhere, in which the same raw materials were combined in a different manufacturing order, with phosgene first reacting with naphthol to form a chloroformate ester, which was then reacted with methylamine. In the early 1980s, the demand for pesticides had fallen, but production continued, leading to build-up of stores of unused MIC. Earlier leaks In 1976, two trade unions complained of pollution within the plant. In 1981, a worker was splashed with phosgene. In a panic, he removed his mask, inhaling a large amount of phosgene gas which resulted in his death 72 hours later. Local Indian authorities had warned the company of the problem as early as 1979, but constructive actions were not undertaken by UCIC at that time. In January 1982, a phosgene leak exposed 24 workers, all of whom were admitted to a hospital. None


The name of which company is supposedly derived from the transcandental god of Zoraastrianism?

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism Print this page Zoroastrianism, a unique religion which stresses the eternal battle of good versus evil, has had a larger impact than its small number of followers (100,000) would suggest. It is the religion of one man who lived some 600 years before the birth of Christ. His name was Zoroaster. The religiously fertile area of Babylonia (modern Iraq and Iran) was his home. History Zoroaster The founder of Zoroastrianism was the man Zoroaster (a Greek corruption of the old Iranian word Zarathushtra). His time and place of birth are unknown, but it is generally believed that he was born around 650 B.C. in Persia (present-day Iran). However, as Richard Cavendish observed, there is much doubt as to when and where Zoroaster was born: The early history of Zoroastrianism is much in dispute. The religion was founded by Zoroaster (the Greek form of his name, which is Zarathushtra in Persian), but it is not certain when he lived, where he lived or how much of later Zoroastrianism came from him. Tradition puts him in western Iran in the sixth century B.C., a little earlier than the Buddha in India, but it is now thought that he lived in northeastern Iran, in the area on the borders of modern Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. An alternative theory dates him much earlier, somewhere in the period from 1700 to 1500 B.C., and places him in the plains of Central Asia, perhaps before the first groups of Aryans moved south from the plains into Iran and India (Richard Cavendish, The Great Religions, New York: Arco Publishing Company, 1980, p. 125). Tradition says that Zoroaster was the son of a camel merchant and grew up at a time when his fellow Persians worshipped many gods. While growing up he had a keen interest in religion, pondering the mysteries of life. At an early age he became known for his compassionate nature, especially toward the elderly. Zoroaster had an excellent education, studying with some of the best teachers in Persia. Yet he became restless, and at age 20 he left his father and mother in a search for answers to life's deepest questions. He would seek, from all those whom he met, answers to his religious questions. During this time of Zoroaster's religious quest, it is said he used his medical ability to help heal those ravaged by the ongoing wars. It was at age 30 that Zoroaster received enlightenment. As the account goes, Zoroaster received a vision on the banks of the Daitya River when a large figure appeared to him. This personage identified himself as Vbhu Manah, or "good thought. " This figure took Zoroaster into the presence of the wise lord Ahura-Mazda, who instructed Zoroaster in the true religion. Zoroaster spent the next ten years proclaiming his newly discovered truth but had little success. The movement began to grow after Zoroaster converted a prince named Vishtaspa, who helped propagate his new-found faith. During the ensuing years the faith spread rapidly. Zoroastrian tradi-tion records two holy wars which were fought over the faith, the second of which took the life of Zoroaster at age 77. However, though the prophet died, the faith remained alive. Zoroastrianism quickly destroyed the magic and idol worship prevalent then and established its own belief in one god, a heaven, and a hell (see Maurice Rawlings, Life-Wish: Reincarnation: Reality or Hoax, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 1981, p. 63). The Deification of Zoroaster As is true with many religious leaders, the later disciples of Zoroaster, far removed in time from their master, made him an object of veneration. Thus, Zoroaster became an object of worship along with the deity Ahura-Mazda. He is lauded in the following terms: Head of the two-footed race; the wisest of all beings in the perfection of his holiness; the only one who can daunt evil (Max Mueller, ed., Secret Books of the East, Oxford: Krishna Press, 1897-1910, 23:190, 229, 275). The chieftainship of all things was from Zoroaster; the completely good, the righteous Zoroaster (Ibid., 5:88; 18:90). Incomparable among mankind through his desire for righteousness, and


Harald ___ Gromson was the king of Denmark in the 10th century and is regarded as having united Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. How is his name popular in the technological world?

Viking V Viking A Viking (pron. /ˈvəɪkɪŋ/) is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian )  explorers, warriors , merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century. These Norsemen used their famed longships to travel as far east as Constantinople and the Volga River in Russia , and as far west as Iceland , Greenland , and Newfoundland. This period of Viking expansion is known as the Viking Age, and forms a major part of the medieval history of Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland and the rest of Europe in general. A romanticized picture of Vikings as Germanic noble savages emerged in the 18th century, and expanded during the Victorian era Viking revival. In Britain it took the form of Septentrionalism, in Germany that of "Wagnerian" pathos or even Germanic mysticism, and in the Scandinavian countries that of Romantic nationalism or Scandinavism. In contemporary popular culture these clichéd depictions are often exaggerated with the effect of presenting Vikings as caricatures. Etymology In Old Norse , the word is spelled víkingr. The word appears on several rune stones found in Scandinavia. In the Icelanders' sagas, víking refers to an overseas expedition (Old Norse fara í víking "to go on an expedition"), and víkingr, to a seaman or warrior taking part in such an expedition. In Old English , the word wicing appears first in the Anglo-Saxon poem, "Widsith", which probably dates from the 9th century. In Old English, and in the writings of Adam von Bremen, the term refers to a pirate, and is not a name for a people or a culture in general. Regardless of its possible origins, the word was used more as a verb than as a noun, and connoted an activity and not a distinct group of individuals. To "go Viking" was distinctly different from Norse seaborne missions of trade and commerce. The word disappeared in Middle English , and was reintroduced as Viking during 18th century Romanticism (the "Viking revival"), with heroic overtones of " barbarian warrior" or noble savage. During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to the raiders, but also to the entire period; it is now, somewhat confusingly, used as a noun both in the original meaning of raiders, warriors or navigators, and to refer to the Scandinavian population in general. As an adjective, the word is used in expressions like "Viking age", "Viking culture", "Viking colony", etc., generally referring to medieval Scandinavia. The pre-Christian Scandinavian population is also referred to as Norse, although that term is properly applied to the whole civilization of Old-Norse-speaking people. In current Scandinavian languages, the term Viking is applied to the people who went away on Viking expeditions, be it for raiding or trading. The term Varangians made its first appearance in Byzantium where it was introduced to designate a function. In Russia it was extended to apply to Scandinavian warriors journeying to and from Constantinople. In the Byzantine sources Varangians are first mentioned in 1034 as in garrison in the Thracian theme. The Persian geographer Al Biruni has mentioned the Baltic Sea as the Varangian Sea and specifies the Varangians as a people dwelling on its coasts. The first datable use of the word in Norse literature appears by Einarr Skúlason in 1153. According to Icelandic Njalssaga from the 13th century, the institution of Varangian Guard was established by 1000. In the Russian Primary Chronicle the Varangian is used as a generic term for the Germanic nations on the coasts of the Baltic sea that likewise lived in the west as far as the land of the English and the French. The word Væringjar itself is regarded in Scandinavia as of Old Norse origin, cognate with the Old English Færgenga (literally, an expedition-goer). The Viking Age The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history. The Normans, however, were descended from Danish Vikings who were given feudal ov


What is the all time bestselling car in the world?

5 Best-Selling Cars Ever | Investopedia 5 Best-Selling Cars Ever View As Article Ransom E. Olds introduced the Curved Dash Olds, a single cylinder engine with tilted steering a chain drive, in 1901. Six-hundred were sold. Three years later, Olds' company sold 5,000 models and the mass production auto industry was on its way. According to a report from Ward's Auto released last week, the global number of cars exceeded 1.015 billion in 2010. Some models have been trendy throughout the years while others have been duds. Then there are a select few models that have remained popular with consumers year after year. Ransom E. Olds introduced the Curved Dash Olds, a single cylinder engine with tilted steering a chain drive, in 1901. Six-hundred were sold. Three years later, Olds' company sold 5,000 models and the mass production auto industry was on its way. According to a report from Ward's Auto released last week, the global number of cars exceeded 1.015 billion in 2010. Some models have been trendy throughout the years while others have been duds. Then there are a select few models that have remained popular with consumers year after year. Toyota Corolla Since 1966, the Corolla has been a mainstay in the industry. The design has never been flashy, but its fuel efficiency (currently 35 mpg) and affordability have made it the top seller of all time with 37.5 million sold so far. The base model currently sells for $16,130. The Corolla is also one of the most reliable and long-lasting vehicles, with some consumers reporting nearly 200,000 miles on their odometers. Ford F-Series This pick-up truck, which made its debut in 1948, was the best-selling vehicle in 2011 and has claimed the No. 2 spot on the all-time list with 35 million models sold. The average price for the base model is $22,990. The F-Series has been a main stay in the Truck industry and has lasted the test of time. Since its inception, The Ford F-Series has evolved to not only produce huge horsepower and torque, but Ford has also taken into account the growing concern of fuel economy by producing a more fuel-effecient truck. Volkswagen Golf Originally branded as the Rabbit when introduced in 1974, this is Volkswagen's most inexpensive model starting at $17,995. To date, 27.5 million of these four-cylinder sedans have been sold. U.S. News and World Report ranked it No. 6 on the list of affordable compact cars. It is also available with a diesel engine. The Golf is also known as a car which is quick and fun. Its small wheel base, and great handling have made it a wonderful car to drive. Volkswagen Beetle The "Bug" hit the scene in 1933 with very little change to its design, and has been a well-loved car for decades, selling more than 23 million. Walt Disnsey further idolized the car by producing the movie "The Love Bug" in 1968. The Volkwagen Beetle has had global success selling all over the world. Volkswagen re-introduced a newer, sleeker model in the 1990s, and it quickly became a favorite for a new generation. Base price is just under $20,000, with a turbo model running about $10,000 more. It continues to remain one of the most recognizable cars in the world. Ford Escort More than 20 million Escorts have been sold since 1968, despite it being taken off the production line in 2000. To compete with Japanese cars which were dominating the compact-car scene, Ford introduced the Escort in a two-door hatchback or four-door wagon models. After several design tweaks to the engine and body, the Escort was considered by the mid-1990s to be a solid compact car for the price (base under $12,000). Its successor is the Ford Focus. The Focus is now one of Ford's global names. It is sold the all over the world as car buyers look for more fuel economy, as gas prices continue the rise. Conclusion The auto industry has produced millions of cars and hundreds of different models in its more than 100-year history. Year after year, consumers wants and needs in a car has changed along with the economy. With the increasing price of gas, consumers continue to buy economical, reliable vehic


By repute, where is the largest gold repository in the world? (hint: not Fort Knox!)

Beatty/Hoffman box office flop crossword clue Archives - LAXCrossword.com LAXCrossword.com Answers to the LA Times Crossword Menu and widgets Search for clue, date, etc. January 2017 Constructed by: Gail Grabowski & Bruce Venzke Edited by: Rich Norris Theme: Is Angry at Last Today’s themed answers each end with a synonym of “is angry”. 20A…Tailpipe emission..EXHAUST FUMES Bill’s time: 6m 22s Bill’s errors: 0 Today’s Wiki-est, Amazonian Googlies Across 1…Hershey’s toffee bar..SKOR Skor is a candy bar produced by Hershey’s. “Skor” is Swedish for “shoes”, and the candy bar’s wrapping features a crown that is identical to that found in the Swedish national emblem. Skor is sold in Canada as Rutnam. What “shoes” have to do with candy, I don’t know … 5…Res __ loquitur: the thing itself speaks..IPSA The literal translation of “res ipsa loquitur” is “the thing speaks for itself”. The phrase is used in law and refers to situations when there is an injury, and the nature of the injury is such that one can assume that negligence had to have taken place. 15…Seasonal song..NOEL “Noël” is the French word for the Christmas season, ultimately coming from the Latin word for “birth” (natalis). Noel has come to be used as an alternative name for a Christmas carol. 16…Hunky-dory..A-OKAY Our term “A-OK” is supposedly an abbreviation for “A(ll systems are) OK”, and arose in the sixties during the Space Program. Surprisingly (to me), the term “hunky-dory” has been around a long time, and is documented back in the mid-1800s. Nobody’s really sure of its origin, but some say it is an Anglicization of Honcho dori, that back in the day was a street of ill repute in Yokohama, Japan. 19…Dry Italian wine..SOAVE Soave is a dry white wine produced in the area around the city of Verona in northeast Italy. 24…Beatty/Hoffman box office flop..ISHTAR I guess “Ishtar” did bomb and was a indeed a disaster, because I’ve never come across it outside of crosswords. The film stars Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as lounge singers working in Morocco! There’s a Cold War plot and, thank goodness, it’s a comedy. It’s so bad apparently, that it never even made it to DVD. 28…Tug-of-war injuries..FRICTION BURNS Tug of war is a strength competition between two teams who pull on opposite ends of a rope, vying to pull the opponents over a marked line. The sport was an event in the Summer Olympic Games from 1900 until 1920. The USA teams won all three medals for the tug of war at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis. 32…Former fillies..MARES There are lots of terms to describe horses of different ages and sexes, it seems: Foal: horse of either sex that is less that one year old Yearling: horse of either sex that is one to two years old Filly: female horse under the age of four Colt: male horse under the age of four Gelding: castrated male horse of any age Stallion: non-castrated male horse four years or older Mare: female horse four years or older 35…Freelancer’s email attachment: Abbr…INV Invoice (inv.) An invoice is an itemized bill. The term comes from the Middle French “envois” meaning “dispatch (of goods)”. The root verb is “envoyer”, which translates as “to send”. The term “free lance” was coined by Sir Walter Scott in his 1820 novel “Ivanhoe”, using it to describe a medieval mercenary warrior. Forty years later, a freelancer was a journalist who did work for more than one publication without a long-term commitment. 38…Sonar signal..BLIP The British developed the first underwater detection system that used sound waves. Research was driven by defence demands during WWI, leading to production of working units in 1922. This new sound detection system was described as using “supersonics”, but for the purpose of secrecy the term was dropped in favor of an acronym. The work was done under the auspices of the Royal Navy’s Anti-Submarine Division, so ASD was combined with the IC from “superson-ic-s” to create the name ASDIC. The navy even went as far as renaming the quartz material at the heart of the technology “ASDivite”. By the time WWII came along, the Americans were produc


In the 1970s, 'The Chicago Boys' were a group of 25 economists working under which South American dictator's administration to create a free market economy?

An Anarchist FAQ - C.11 Doesn't Chile prove that the free market benefits everyone? | Infoshop Home ›› Anarchist FAQ ›› An Anarchist FAQ - C.11 Doesn't Chile prove that the free market benefits everyone? An Anarchist FAQ - C.11 Doesn't Chile prove that the free market benefits everyone? PDF version of Section C. C.11 Doesn't neo-liberalism in Chile prove that the free market benefits everyone? Chile is considered by some to be one of the economic success stories of the modern world. It can be considered as the first laboratory for neo-liberal economic dogma, first under Pinochet's dictatorship and later when his regime had been replaced by a more democratic one. It can be considered as the template for the economic vision later applied by Reagan and Thatcher in the West. What happened in Chile was repeated (to some degree) wherever neo-liberal policies were implemented. As such, it makes a good case study to evaluate the benefits of free(r) market capitalism and the claims of capitalist economics. For the right, Chile was pointed to as a casebook in sound economics and is held up as an example of the benefits of capitalism. Milton Friedman, for example, stated in 1982 that Military Junta "has supported a fully free-market economy as a matter of principle. Chile is an economic miracle." [quoted by Elton Rayack, Not so Free to Choose, p. 37] Then US President George Bush praised the Chilean economic record in December 1990 when he visited that country, stating Chile deserved its "reputation as an economic model" for others to follow. However, the reality of the situation is radically different. As Chilean expert Peter Winn argues, "[w]e question whether Chile's neoliberal boom . . . should be regarded as a miracle. When confronted by such a claim, scholars and students should always ask: a miracle for whom -- and at what cost?" ["Introduction", Peter Winn (ed.), Victims of the Chilean Miracle, p. 12] As we will prove, Chile's "economic miracle" is very class dependent. For its working class, the neo-liberal reforms of the Pinochet regime have resulted in a worsening of their lives; if you are a capitalist then it has been a miracle. That the likes of Friedman claim the experiment as a "miracle" shows where their sympathies lie -- and how firm a grasp they have of reality. The reason why the Chilean people become the first test case for neo-liberalism is significant. They did not have a choice. General Pinochet was the figure-head of a military coup in 1973 against the democratically elected left-wing government led by President Allende. This coup was the culmination of years of US interference by the US in Chilean politics and was desired by the US before Allende took office in November 1970 ("It is the firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup," as one CIA memo put it in October of that year [quoted by Gregory Palast, "A Marxist threat to cola sales? Pepsi demands a US coup. Goodbye Allende. Hello Pinochet", The Observer, 8/11/1998]). Then American president Richard Nixon imposed an embargo on Chile and began a covert plan to overturn the Allende government. In the words of the US ambassador to Chile, the Americas "will do all in our power to condemn Chileans to utmost poverty." [quoted by Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, p. 395] According to notes taken by CIA director Richard Helms at a 1970 meeting in the Oval Office, his orders were to "make the economy scream." This was called Project FUBELT and its aims were clear: "The Director [of the CIA] told the group that President Nixon had decided that an Allende regime in Chile was not acceptable to the United States. The President asked the Agency to prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him." ["Genesis of Project FUBELT" document dated September 16, 1970] Not all aid was cut. During 1972 and 1973 the US increased aid to the military and increased training Chilean military personnel in the United States and Panama. In other words, the coup was helped by US state and various US corporations both directly and indirectly, by undermining the


What principle states that 'in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence'?

The Peter Principle The Peter Principle Library Binding (October 1996) Buccaneer Books; ISBN: 1568491611 Along with Parkinson's Law by C. Northcote Parkinson this is a "satirical sociology" masterpiece. And despite being written before programmers became a mass profession it is perfectly applicable to programming. It's a rather short and easy-to-read  book that consists of fictional stories about results of promotions in a typical administrative and business hierarchies. Must read for any programmer or system administrator with more than two year experience :-). Originally published in 1969 it coined the famous "The Peter Principle" In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence. The concept is pretty universal and is related to the regression to the mean. As authors aptly states "Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder. " In reality the performance always has a transitional (random) component. The end result is that stable companies are more likely to have incompetent managers at many levels of the organizational structure whereas younger and fast growing companies may avert some implication of this principle at least temporary.  "Employees", as the author points out, "do not want to be incompetent", but when management offers promotions that put the employees closer to their level of incompetence, the employees have no way of knowing that ahead of time. After all, if the offer is made. it is because management "knows" the employee can do the job competently on his/her present level. But an interesting side effect observable in large and old organizations is that such decision might be made by  managers who are already at their level of incompetence (Dilbert's PHBs). This effect can be called large organization Catch 22. Another related phenomenon is called Negative selection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In politics , negative selection is a process that occurs in rigid hierarchies ,  most notably dictatorships . The person on the top of the hierarchy, wishing to remain in power  forever, chooses his associates with the prime criterion of incompetence  - they must not be competent enough to remove him from power. The associates  do the same with those below them in the hierarchy, and the hierarchy  is progressively filled with more and more incompetent people. If the dictator sees that he is threathened nonetheless, he will  remove those that threaten him from their positions - "purge" the hierarchy.  Emptied positions in the hierarchy are normally filled with people from  below - those who were less competent than their previous masters. So,  over the course of time, the hierarchy becomes less and less effective.  As this happens relatively often, once the dictator dies, or is removed  by some external influence, what remains is a grossly ineffective hierarchy. The Politburo of CPSU of the USSR was the impressive example of negative selection.  If Khrushchev was just marginally incompetent, inaptness of Gorbachyov was legendary and his inability to master Russian language rivaled Bush II.  Like Bushisms, "Gorbachvisms" make him a laughing stock for most of the population.  Some of the short stories in the book are not only funny, they might well be based on true events. Actually the message of some stories is dead serious: pyramid climbing is a dangerous sport and that's is exactly true in computer programming. Incompetent managers is too serious problem to ignore. This book also served as a cornerstone for Dilbert series which became a cartoon classic (but generally overstayed its welcome: you can't milk the same cow for decades and expect a stellar result). The book  might helps students, who just joined the large enterprise environment to withstand the pressure and the absurd of the software development and large corporate IT in general. Finally understand the roots of incompetence in higher ranks,  February 10, 2000 Reviewer: A reader from USA The author hit the nail on the head when he discovered this


Marshall McLuhan was named as the 'patron saint' of which magazine that had his quote on its masthead for the first ten years of its publication?

Marshall McLuhan M Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan, CC (July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian educator , philosopher, and scholar — a professor of English literature, a literary critic , a rhetorician , and a communication theorist .  McLuhan's work is viewed as one of the cornerstones of the study of media theory. McLuhan is known for the expressions "the medium is the message" and "global village". McLuhan was a fixture in media discourse from the late 1960s to his death and he continues to be an influential and controversial figure. More than ten years after his death he was named the " patron saint " of Wired magazine. Life and career McLuhan was born in Edmonton , Alberta , to Methodist parents Elsie Naomi (née Hall) and Herbert Ernest McLuhan. His brother, Maurice, was born two years later. "Marshall" was a family name: his maternal grandmother's surname. Both of his parents were born in Canada. His mother was a Baptist schoolteacher who later became an actress. His father had a real estate business in Edmonton. When war broke out, the business failed, and McLuhan's father enlisted in the Canadian army. After a year of service he contracted influenza and remained in Canada, away from the front. After Herbert's discharge from the army in 1915, the McLuhan family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where Marshall grew up and went to school, attending Kelvin Technical High School before enrolling in the University of Manitoba in 1928. McLuhan earned a BA (1933) — winning a University Gold Medal in Arts and Sciences — and MA (1934) in English from the University of Manitoba, after a one year stint as an engineering major. He had long desired to pursue graduate studies in England and, having failed to secure a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford , McLuhan was accepted for enrollment at the University of Cambridge. Although he already had earned BA and MA degrees at Manitoba, Cambridge required him to enroll as an undergraduate "affiliated" student, with one year's credit toward a three-year Cambridge Bachelor's degree, before any doctoral studies. He entered Trinity Hall, Cambridge in the Fall of 1934, where he studied under I. A. Richards and F. R. Leavis, and was influenced by New Criticism . Upon reflection years after, he credited the faculty there with influencing the direction of his later work because of their emphasis on the training of perception and such concepts as Richards's notion of feedforward. These studies formed an important precursor to his later ideas on technological forms. He received his bachelor's degree from Cambridge in 1936 and began graduate work. Later, he returned from England to take a job as a teaching assistant at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, which he held for the 1936-37 academic year, unable to find a suitable job in Canada. While studying the trivium at Cambridge he took the first steps toward his eventual conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1937, founded on his reading of G. K. Chesterton . At the end of March 1937, McLuhan completed what was a slow but total conversion process when he was formally received into the Roman Catholic Church. After consulting with a minister, his father accepted the decision to convert; his mother, however, felt that his conversion would hurt his career and was inconsolable. McLuhan was devout throughout his life, but his religion remained a private matter. He had a lifelong interest in the number three - the trivium, the Trinity - and sometimes said that the Virgin Mary provided intellectual guidance for him. For the rest of his career he taught in Roman Catholic institutions of higher education. From 1937 to 1944 he taught English at Saint Louis University (with an interruption from 1939 to 1940 when he returned to Cambridge). At Saint Louis he tutored and befriended Walter J. Ong, S.J. (1912-2003), who would go on to write his Ph.D. dissertation on a topic McLuhan had called to his attention, and who would himself also later become a well-known authority on communication and technology. While in St. Louis, he also met his futur


What 'nuclear' nickname was given to Jack Welch in the 1980s for eliminating employees while leaving the office buildings intact?

Jack Welch Definition | Investopedia Jack Welch DEFINITION of 'Jack Welch' The former chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) from 1981 - 2001. Welch expanded the company and dramatically increased its market value from $14 billion to $410 billion during his tenure. Welch has a reputation as one of the top CEOs of all time, as evidenced by Fortune magazine's recognition of him in 1999 as Manager of the Century. His management strategies included embracing change and reinvention, leading rather than controlling, giving employees at all levels responsibility and freedom, being focused, being consistent and following up. BREAKING DOWN 'Jack Welch' Prior to leading GE, Welch had worked there for 21 years. He was hired as a junior engineer in 1960. During the 1980s Welch was given the nickname "Neutron Jack" for eliminating employees while leaving the office buildings intact. Welch adopted the Six Sigma quality program in 1995. The program led to greatly increased profits during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Trading Center