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Eric P. Bloom: 7 tips for managing college interns
College interns are a unique category of employee. Rather than simply being hired to perform a task at an appropriate rate of pay, managers are asked to teach these temporary employees about the world of business — the "real" skills that will be needed when they graduate from college, and if possible, a little fatherly/motherly advice on how to prepare for the world ahead.
The interns in return, come starry eyed to the doors of corporate America wanting to learn, get a head start on their professional careers, get paid at least a little, and get a glimpse at life of "the real world", beyond the hallowed halls of academia.
I know these roles to be true, because I have played them both.
As an intern, (in what seems as a long time ago in a land far away) I worked for Honeywell Information Systems. It was great place to be an intern for a number of reasons. One of these reasons was my boss. He did those things suggested in the first paragraph of this column. I was just another summer intern passing through the doors, but he lived up to his part of the bargain. He got cheap summer labor for his department (me), and I got my first glimpse of corporate America, some resume-worthy work experience and a good share of business advice. I have had many managers over the years, some more memorable than others, but I'll always remember Larry. In fact, to this day, I still quote some of his professional wisdom to others.
The reason I'm telling you this story is, as a manager, if you agree to take a college intern within your organization, treat him/her as thoughtfully as I was treated almost 35 years ago.
You should treat your interns right and not just use them as cheap labor for a number of reasons. First, because it's your job to help those on your team who want to be helped, grow professionally. Second, this is part of the manager/intern deal and you should live up to your part of the bargain. Third, if you are currently or will be the parent of a college-age child, how would you want your kid treated? Lastly, how do you want to be remembered as a manager? Do you want to be remembered as a Larry, or as the jerk that made me get his/her coffee all summer, or to just not be memorable at all?
Should you not be rolling your eyes at my pontification of how interns should be treated, the following is a list of things you can do, as their manager, to make their summer a true learning experience and a great launching point for their future career:
1. Treat them like they are full time employees, rather than temporary contractors.
2. Make sure that they have proper expectations related to their job, the tasks they will be performing, and their role in the company.
3. Try to give them assignments that will help them grow professionally.
4. Team them up with an experienced employee hoping to eventually move into management. This has three advantages. First, it will provide your employee with some rudimentary supervisory experience. Second, it will show the employee you are moving him/her in the direction of management. Lastly, for the intern, it provides him/her an internal mentor to help teach them the trade.
5. Let them know that if they do a good job that you would be willing to give them a professional reference when they graduate. If the intern is career oriented, it will help motivate him/her to do a good job, which is good for you both.
6. Have weekly 30 minute one-on-one meetings with them to answer their questions, provide feedback and suggestions on their performance, and if time allows, provide insights and advice related to the career they are entering.
7. When their internship ends, have an exit interview/debriefing. Provide them with insights, both good and bad, that will help them with their future career. Also, ask them what you did well or should do differently when managing future interns. There are two advantages of asking this question. For you, it may provide you valuable insights regarding your management style. For the intern, it will illustrate to him/her the importance of lifelong learning and the importance of always trying to improve yourself professionally.
The primary advice and takeaways from today's column is to know that:
* You should treat your interns right and not just use them as cheap labor for a number of reasons.
* The seven tips listed in this column will help make the internship experience for those within your responsibility a true career enhancing experience, not just another summer job.
Until next time, work hard, work smart, manage well and continue to build your professional brand.
Eric P. Bloom is the president and founder of Manager Mechanics LLC, a management training company specializing in information technology leadership and is the governing organization of the ITMLP and ITMLE certifications. He is also a keynote speaker, nationally syndicated columnist and author of the books "The CIO's Guide to Staff Needs, Growth, and Productivity," "Your IT Career: Get Noticed, Get Promoted, and Build Your Professional Brand" and "52 Great Management Tips." Contact him at email@example.com, follow him on Twitter at @EricPBloom and @MgrMechanics or visit www.ManagerMechanics.com.


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Has the US SEC Closed the Global Window on New Tokens?
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission's vigor in pursuing initial coin offerings, or ICOs, has become a major boogeyman within the crypto community.
Most recently, the case against Telegram ended with that company abandoning its planned open network and Gram tokens, which raised $1.7 billion. The question before the crypto community is now: Have we witnessed the death of the ICO?
The answer is yes, in that, with all due fear of predictions, we will never see the likes of 2017's ICO boom again. That vision of an ICO is indeed dead.
This is not the end for new tokens. But, until laws change comprehensively, the massive capital raise that leads to a token that trades freely seems like a thing of the past.
Bird's-eye view of SEC registration
The SEC came out of two landmark laws passed at the height of the Great Depression. The commission has substantial power over the sale of securities — a broad category of investments that generally entail either stake in an entity or debt to it. They are distinct from commodities, which will be described later. One of the SEC's most significant powers is seemingly simple: Anyone offering securities to the U.S. public must register that offering with the SEC.
SEC registration requires a company disclose a great deal of its financial information, as well as decision-making power to the public. Not surprisingly, many companies don't want to. Not that long ago, the assumption was that SEC registration had nothing to do with crypto. That has changed in the past three years.
Since cryptocurrencies don't fall more obviously into the rest of the potential definitions of securities, their classification depends on the much-contested term "investment contracts." What exactly constitutes an investment contract is determined by the Howey Test, a critical result of the ruling in SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. (1946) that remains the basis of the definition of a security today:
"For purposes of the Securities Act, an investment contract (undefined by the Act) means a contract, transaction, or scheme whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits solely from the efforts of the promoter or a third party."
The point is that investment contracts entail an investor handing over their money to another entity and, depending on that entity's work, to see profits. Commodities, on the other hand, derive their value from the market. Different laws govern their trade.
The assumption is that there is no entity that has an overwhelming control over a commodity like oil, so there is no way to register a responsible entity. Royal Dutch Shell, however, has to register with the SEC to sell stock in the U.S., meaning that critical information about their operations is publicly available to anyone, even non-investors.
The guiding principle is that if a firm is going to raise money from public trading, they have to be more transparent than you can reasonably expect of smaller enterprises. In exchange for that transparency, publicly traded companies get access to a lot more capital. Understandably, the SEC's interest in crypto expanded along with the bottom lines that ICOs were generating.
Brief history of the SEC's role in crypto: Early years
In the early years of the Bitcoin network, the SEC was slow to involve itself. It was an arcane region of the internet that remained a novelty. The SEC largely either considered it no threat to investors or didn't know what to do with it.
The SEC's first Bitcoin-linked prosecution was in 2013. The commission charged Trendon Shavers with running a ponzi scheme promising huge returns based on a unique BTC investment strategy that didn't exist. At the same time, the regulator issued a general warning to investors against such schemes using virtual currencies.
Fraud that they are, Ponzi schemes fall to the SEC to prosecute because they entail false promises of work from a third party. Shavers' scheme was not that new. The point of contention in the Shavers case was whether an investment received in Bitcoin could even be considered "money" per the Howey Test. The court found it could, setting a critical precedent.
A new era of SEC scrutiny after the DAO report
The issue of ICOs remained unsettled for years, however. The DAO's 2016 meltdown during its ICO, in which users invested ETH in exchange for DAO tokens, changed things. The event, which also gave birth to the Ethereum Classic hard fork, also compelled the SEC to issue the DAO Report of July 25, 2017. This report confirmed that The report confirmed that the SEC would not prosecute Slock.it, the firm largely responsible for the DAO. But, crucially, it also determined that the DAO was indeed an unregistered securities offering and, next time, the SEC would not be so merciful.
"Anybody who had been touting [a new token] before the DAO report was ok," said attorney John Berry, who left the SEC's enforcement division in 2019.
Those ICOs that came before the DAO report benefited from some grandfathering in, remaining unscathed if they are demonstrably decentralized. Most regulators accept Bitcoin as a commodity, and if the current CFTC chairman gets his way, Ether seems set to get the same treatment, despite its ICO.
"No, Ethereum can't happen again today, because the first part of the Ethereum story, the capital raise, was a security," Philip Moustakis, a founding member of the Cyber Unit within the SEC's enforcement division, explained to Cointelegraph.
Since the DAO report, the question has been how a new token can come into being that operates like Bitcoin or even Ether. Despite the anonymity of Satoshi Nakamoto, both of those networks owe their early years to core groups of developers who, were they to operate in the same fashion in 2020, might well face the wrath of the SEC.
On the flip side, Peter Van Valkenburgh of Coin Center told Cointelegraph that:
"I think you could still do Bitcoin. From the beginning of our advocacy in this space, we usually have at least one sentence saying, if you really want to build good decentralized networks, Satoshi was able to build one without a pre-sale."
He did, however, agree that a project like Ethereum, which held an ICO, would be more problematic were that ICO to happen today.
As an example of a pre-DAO token that is still having trouble with the SEC, Ripple Labs remains busy denying that they were responsible for XRP, a token they retain an overwhelming stake in. One Ripple executive compared the relationship with Chevron's to oil — a clear attempt to paint XRP as a commodity rather than an investment in Ripple Labs.
But what about the aftermath? Let's examine some high-profile encounters between new tokens and the SEC.
Block.one and EOS — $4 billion netted relatively peacefully
An interesting case study is that of block.one and EOS. Block.one, a firm that produces open-source software, was the driving force behind the EOS ICO. Netting $4 billion in total, it remains the largest ever. In addition, it is an interesting case study both because the year-long ICO began just a month before the SEC issued the DAO report, and the firm included an advisory on the site for its ICO against U.S.-based investors participating.
The SEC went on to investigate the EOS ICO, but would end up settling with block.one for $24 million. Whether it was just timing with the DAO report, or that the EOS Tokens were non-transferrable after the purchase period, or the fact that the purchase agreement's explicit prohibitions on investors from the U.S. or China, the SEC didn't seem to think it had a strong case.
"The fact that the SEC settled for $24 million — I think that indicates that the SEC saw some risk in their position," said John Berry. Relative to the capital raised during the ICO, $24 million is peanuts, the kind of expense that a company would gladly chalk up as an opportunity cost. However, it doesn't provide any security to current projects. Block.one came away from the encounter relatively unscathed, but the SEC did not commit to a public reason.
"I would caution those in the industry against modeling their ICOs after Block.one's," said Philip Moustakis. "To me there's no clear message to take away from Block.one. At best, we're reading tea leaves."
Moreover, the settlement with the SEC is not the end of block.one's potential liability for securities law violations. Starting in April, multiple class action lawsuits alleging that block.one violated both federal and state securities law in their ICO. These are still in their early stages, but show that the firm is not entirely out of the woods.
In the same vein as EOS, the ICO for Tezos (XTZ) predated the DAO Report. At $200 million, it was, at the time, the largest in history. Though the SEC never filed any formal action against the firm, a class action representing U.S.-based investors in the project accused the Tezos Foundation and affiliate Dynamic Ledger Solutions of violations of securities laws. The class is currently finalizing a settlement for some $25 million. The same case brought to light that the SEC is investigating the project on the same charges, and the class-action settlement would not necessarily protect the foundation from further SEC pursuit.
The SAFT Framework to appease the SEC
Over the course of 2017, lawyers in the space worked to conceptualize a new framework, a "Simple Agreement for Future Tokens," or SAFT. Several heavy hitters in the industry released a white paper in October. As the EOS project had done, the SAFT Framework conceptualized a distinction between the initial sale of rights to tokens and the distributions of the tokens themselves.
The first leg would be securities, sold only to "Accredited Investors" using the SEC's Regulation D to exempt the firm from full registration as a publicly traded company — a step EOS had not taken. That money would go to a registered centralized entity, who could use it to build out the network on which the tokens would operate in a manner free of that central entity. The early accredited buyers would be able to sell their tokens to the general public, even in America, as freely as they can Bitcoin. In theory.
The SEC never formally endorsed the SAFT Framework. However, statements from Chairman Jay Clayton near the end of 2018 indicated support for the concept that virtual currencies can go from being securities to not being securities. In June of the same year, William Hinman, head of the SEC's fintech office FinHub, made similar comments.
However, the SAFT framework has seen mixed results, and recent events suggest that the SEC is capricious when it comes to firms making the switch from initial funding round to token issuance.
Canadian messaging app Kik got in trouble for using a SAFT in an ICO in September 2017 and remains locked in a deathmatch with the SEC. However, part of their issue was that the app itself was failing, so its Kin token struck many as a lifeboat on a sinking ship rather than an earnest project. Kik had also already had issues with the SEC's Canadian equivalent.
Often held up as the great success story of the SAFT era, Protocol Labs managed to raise $257 million in an ICO for Filecoin shortly after the DAO report. The firm touted its eagerness to comply with the SEC and decentralize so that Filecoin's network can operate independently, as a mechanism to provide peer-to-peer file storage. Though by all accounts the SEC is content with Protocol Labs, the firm has yet to launch its network, the most recent estimate being for Q3.
The launch of a mainnet will be the critical test, as Telegram found out. Telegram, the most high-profile project to use the SAFT Framework, is also the most spectacular failure and will very possibly be the last.
Telegram and the failure of the SAFT framework
Last week, Telegram announced that it was backing out of its planned Telegram Open Network. As mentioned earlier, the ICO for TON's native Gram tokens raised $1.7 billion before the SEC filed an emergency action stopping their distribution in October.
The Telegram case has been brief and heated. The firm tried to follow the SAFT Framework by registering its purchase agreements — NOT the Gram tokens — under a Reg. D exemption. This was effectively a promise to sell those contracts exclusively to accredited investors. The disagreement really starts here.
Per the SAFT Framework, Telegram was hoping that the SEC would accept that the Gram itself was not a security. For its part, Telegram agrees that they had made every effort to keep the SEC involved so as to avoid exactly this sort of action. The SEC's counterargument was that the Grams were still securities, largely because Telegram had no luck convincing either the commission or the judge that the network, TON, was actually complete.
The state of TON is critical for the "third party" prong of the Howey Test. If the network is still dependent on Telegram's development, the argument goes, the Gram tokens still constituted an investment in the company's work.
The issue is that Telegram was verifiably working with regulators throughout the process. It's spooky for potential future companies looking to raise capital to fund projects that a project with the technical and financial backing of TON wasn't able to appease regulators and will have to give back a sum of money that puts Telegram itself in jeopardy.
"The Judge basically presumes there would be a crime before there was a crime and is therefore intervening in a way that sends a bad signal to other projects," said Kristin Smith of the Blockchain Association, which wrote multiple amicus curiae briefs defending Telegram in the case. "From our perspective at the Blockchain Association, this is why we need to have an additional regulator and/or legislative solution that provides a legal pathway."
What Telegram represents is the collapse of a project backed by the Pavel and Nikolai Durov, two brothers who had already launched two massive online platforms (in addition to Telegram, the Russian social media platform, VKontakte). Moreover, TON seemed well-intentioned and it was clearly well-funded, though Telegram has only offered to return some of the funds invested. The fact that the SEC stopped it in its tracks will be ominous to all future prospective issuers. It's a new era, and the case is still in court.
In his letter announcing the end of Telegram's involvement in TON, Pavel Durov concluded by wishing future projects luck:
"You are fighting the right battle. This battle may well be the most important battle of our generation. We hope that you succeed where we have failed."
Right now, nobody is sure how to take up that mantle. In a fascinating development, TON's open-source version launched shortly before Telegram withdrew its involvement. While Telegram may be hard-pressed to reimburse investors, the functioning of the independent network without Telegram could very well play to their advantage in the court case. The SEC's argument presumes that the network is dependent on Telegram's work as a third party. The commission might still maintain that the network was not functional enough to be considered independent as of its original launch date. But if TON works now without Telegram's active involvement, that certainly strengthens their argument that they were building a project that would leave the confines of the Howey Test.
On the other hand, if the open-source network falls apart, it could prove the SEC's argument that Grams were indeed investments into Telegram and needed to be treated as securities independent of the initial purchase agreements all along.
Is everything a security by default?
A critical question that still stands is what new projects would be immune to classification as securities.
Speaking with Cointelegraph back in October, U.S. Representative Warren Davidson (R-OH) commented wryly on the position that the SEC has put new projects in:
"They're literally told if you want to launch a token, whatever you think you want to do with it, come check with the SEC first. […] And you can grovel. If you grovel well enough, then we'll give you a no-action letter. You have hundreds of companies waiting on no-action letters. They've approved two. You can't raise capital while you're waiting for that."
Philip Moustakis explained that the SAFT framework had underestimated the scrutiny that the SEC would apply to tokens the firms hoped to issue as non-securities:
"Just because there's some distance in time between the sale of SAFT and the sale of a token doesn't mean that the SEC isn't going to consider that token separately as a security. […] All of what I just said is based on the model of ICOs from 2017, 2018, in which each token represents a share in the issuer's principal asset, the network on which the token would operate, and that is the original sin that needs to be addressed."
For their part, the SEC's fintech wing, FinHub, declined to comment on whether it's possible to hold an ICO within the US without assuming it classifies as a security and also declined to direct Cointelegraph to anyone internally willing to go on the record about recent actions, instead deferring to the same two no-action letters that Davidson referenced back in October — TurnKey Jet and Pocketful of Quarters.
Two utility tokens in closed circuits have passed the Howie Test as non-securities
Respectively from April and July of 2019, TurnKey Jet and Pocketful of Quarters are the only two to have made the cut of no-action recommendations to the commission.
In TurnKey Jet's case, the commission noted that it is selling tokens so that buyers can buy plane tickets for the same price outside of bank hours — no expectation of profits, and no wallets outside of TurnKey's system, so the tokens are fairly locked into their value of $1 and occupy a specific role of convenience for a single airline.
Similarly, Pocketful of Quarters operates a gaming platform that offered users unlimited access to tokens at fixed prices. Those tokens, however, had no usage outside of the dedicated platform Pocketful of Quarters had the platform built out without funds from the sale of tokens.
Neither of these ICOs presents any sort of functional cryptocurrency. Instead, they are relatively pedestrian tokens, solving issues of convenience within closed and fairly limited systems.
Utility tokens like these fit more cleanly into Jay Clayton's analogy of the Broadway ticket that people can trade but which gives you access to just a single show. A classic cryptocurrency that people use as payment for services that do not derive directly from the issuer is a more threatening endeavor. Moreover, the SEC didn't issue any formal feedback on the matter, so they can retract or reverse any tentative guidance to be derived from these no-action letters.
What about staying out of the U.S.?
One tricky element of digital assets is their ability to cross borders freely. The U.S. SEC plays a major role in global financial regulations due to the size of the country's economy and investment market.
When it comes to cryptocurrencies, the SEC has claimed potential jurisdiction over any token that could make its way to U.S. investors — given the technological savvy of many in the crypto world, difficult to avoid. EOS, in fact, tried. Many of the people most interested in these investment opportunities are those most capable of operating via VPNs and other technology that fudges geographical origins.
Telegram, in its response to the court's preliminary injunction barring distribution of Grams, argued that only $424.5 million of the $1.7 billion they had raised was from U.S. investors. They wanted to distribute the remaining Grams, even offering the safeguard of "configuring the TON digital wallet to preclude U.S.-based addresses."
The court may have reasoned that this was too little, too late. They may also have been sceptical of Telegram's claims, given that they never believed TON to be complete anyway.
Arguably the most famous example of regulators shutting down a nascent cryptocurrency was Libra, which Congress attacked directly, without the SEC needing to file anything. Much to the annoyance of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, Libra set up shop in Switzerland rather than the U.S. And despite the elaborate schema of the Libra Association — which sought to distribute responsibility for the authority through an international union of companies and away from U.S.-registered company Facebook — Congress seemed pretty well-equipped to put the clamp on the project by treating it as a Facebook project and bringing CEO Mark Zuckerberg in to testify. Despite recent updates to the white paper, many still want to label Libra a security.
Why not just register as security tokens?
Not surprisingly, Security Token Offerings, or STOs, have taken on a more visible role. Functioning as professed securities, they use technologies learned from crypto including blockchain to provide quicker, reliable global trading of assets that fall cleanly within the SEC's basket of what constitutes a security.
Blockstack, for example, sold $23 million worth of its STX tokens after filing a Reg. A+ exemption, a process that reportedly cost the firm millions. No SAFT. STX are functional tokens and remain securities.
To all appearances, Blockstack's approach seems to be working, in the sense that the SEC has not taken any action against the firm. However, registration as a security limits a token's trading options.
Muneeb Ali, CEO of Blockstack, weighed in on the challenge STX faces.:
"Internationally in several jurisdictions, it is clearly treated as a utility token — it already trades on Binance, for example. And we got legal opinions from those jurisdictions because the regulations are different and currently there's no U.S. exchange for us. But the fact that U.S. exchanges — either a regulated exchange needs to exist, no license has been given out from the SEC yet for such regulated ATSs [Alternative Trading Systems] or an exchange — or you achieve sufficient decentralization to the point that even in the U.S., it is clearly a utility and not a security."
Blockstack's clear aim is to continue decentralizing its token so that it metamorphizes out of the cocoon of security status. Unfortunately, there's no clear template for doing so within the SEC's current framework. This presents curious hypotheticals.
"Imagine if the company, say Blockstack, decided to dissolve, but the network continued to run, because it's open-source," Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh theorized on the current state of security tokens. "At that point it's sort of ridiculous. Who is there to file disclosures?"
Many at the SEC are interested in such transitions. In 2018, William Hinman of the SEC's FinHub commented:
"If the network on which the token or coin is to function is sufficiently decentralized — where purchasers would no longer reasonably expect a person or group to carry out essential managerial or entrepreneurial efforts — the assets may not represent an investment contract."
Earlier this year, after the Telegram case had begun, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce began championing a safe harbor for projects looking to decentralize, but the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have completely wiped that proposal off the commission's radar for now.
Given, however, that the conversation surrounding COVID-19 response has shifted from emergency action to longer-term financial action, we may be about to witness new motions to encourage companies to build and seek capital. For example, the SEC recently loosened its crowdfunding requirements.
"After the last financial crisis, there was the JOBS Act," said Kristin Smith, regarding Peirce's safe harbor. "A couple of months from now, I think that's going to be a very live and active conversation."
The Death of the ICO?
Projects will continue to form, and if they don't ask for money they don't have to worry about this question. As Coin Center's Peter Van Valkenburgh told Cointelegraph recently:
"Since the beginning of our advocacy in this space, we usually have at least one sentence saying, 'if you really want to build good decentralized networks, Satoshi was able to build one without a pre-sale.'"
Projects looking for funding, however, are looking at a rough path ahead. Institutional financial players have been examining blockchain technology more intently for private usages, but we're looking at a new era.
We'll have to watch out for whether Blockstack can turn its STX into non-securities, or Filecoin can launch its network without an SEC run-in, or even what happens to Telegram and Libra. Without a major change in laws, it's hard to envision a new major project coming about and transfiguring an ICO into an accepted public currency like Bitcoin, given regulatory hawkishness.
Though this isn't the end of new crypto projects, the window of time when you could ask for funds to start a new coin and watch it leave your stable seems to be closed. But that's not to say it won't open again.

subset: commoncrawl


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Generic Drugs flying in from the East
Summary2013 is tipped to be a milestone year for the global pharmaceutical industry. As a number of key blockbuster drugs face the expiry of their US patents over the next year, a strong opportunity opens up for manufacturers to launch their own generic versions in the US.
2013 is tipped to be a milestone year for the global pharmaceutical industry. As a number of key blockbuster drugs face the expiry of their US patents over the next year, a strong opportunity opens up for manufacturers to launch their own generic versions in the US. Since the US generics industry is currently worth approximately USD 73 billion and expected to increase to nearly USD 107 billion by 2016, 1 we're likely to see a number of new entrants capitalizing on these growth prospects, especially from emerging countries like India, Turkey and Israel where production costs are lower. Additionally, as these valuable drugs come off patent, an increasing number of generics manufacturers will be targeted by multinationals for joint ventures and acquisitions. Overall, this significant change in market dynamics is set to shake up the pharmaceutical industry and create a considerable shift in manufacturing and export requirements.
In India, leading generics players Sun, Lupin, Aurobindo, Dr.Reddys, Cipla and Ranbaxy are already leveraging this opportunity having been highly proactive in US applications for Drug Master Filings (DMF) and Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA) over the last few years. 2As India's pharmaceutical industry is monopolized by generics, it currently represents approximately 20 percent of the world's pharmaceutical production and accounts for almost 30 percent of the US generics market. Spurred by the success of its generics manufacturers, analysts predict that India's USD 11 billion domestic drug industry is likely to grow to USD 30 billion by 2020. Pharmaceutical exports are also set to increase from just over USD 8 billion to USD 20 billion by 2020.3
Over recent years, Indian firms have also been increasingly targeted by multinationals for acquisition. Since 2008, global pharmaceutical giants have acquired six Indian drug companies, for example, the Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo took over India's largest drug producer, Ranbaxy and Abbott acquired the domestic business of Indian firm Piramal Health Care. So with Indian manufacturers entering into more strategic alliances with foreign multinationals, even more doors are opening for the India pharmaceutical market.
As the 'pharmerging' market, as it's commonly known, grows from strength to strength, attention is also turning to countries like Turkey. With generics comprising 80 percent of the country's drug sales, Turkey is fast emerging as a leading generics hub.4 Local manufacturers such as Sandoz, a division of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, have already received approvals on ANDA filings to take advantage of the US patent cliff.5 Furthermore, there have been a number of significant takeovers and partnerships, the latest being the acquisition of local generics manufacturer Mustafa Nevzat by US biotech giant Amgen for USD 700 million. This purchase will strengthen Amgen's move into off-patent medicines and help expand its product range as it loses the patency of various top-selling drugs.
Israel is another hot spot for generics manufacturers, looking to leverage the patent cliff. It's highly developed pharmaceutical industry is one of the leading industries in the country with the manufacture of generic drugs representing one of the biggest success stories. Teva, currently the world's leading generics manufacturer with several locations across Israel, has already received approvals on a number of ANDA filings.6
So while the patent cliff creates a strong opportunity for generics manufacturers and multinationals alike especially in emerging markets, the initial market launch of generic drugs is subject to serious regulatory constraints. For the first 180 days after the expiry of a patent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US allows only a handful of generics manufacturers to launch products. To do this, they are required to first submit an ANDA for approval by the FDA. While the ANDA application is being processed, the Pre-Launch Activities Importation Request (PLAIR) FDA program allows import and storage of finished drugs for the initial launch phase on a case-by-case basis. Some companies decide to send their generics to a foreign trade zone located in the US in multiple shipments and risk having to recall their products if their FDA application is rejected. Others wait until a few days before the launch and send all their products in one large shipment of containers to a single port of entry in the US.
As the FDA only allows a handful of generics manufacturers to launch products for the first 180 days within the expiration of a patent, implementing a 'rapid distribution' model that can effectively handle a first-time direct-to-end customer launch is critical. In order to abide by the FDA guidelines, generic drugs can be stored in advance but the seal cannot be broken until 12.01am of 'launch day'. Only then can companies quickly ship the generic products to customers e.g. wholesalers, retail pharmacies and distribution depots throughout the US. However to ensure this process is as seamless as possible, it is vitally important to have an efficient transportation provider in place that can safely store and ship a large volume of temperature sensitive drugs. Manufacturers rely on express transportation companies to ensure their drugs reach the destination on time and in the right condition. Cold chain boxes, temperature controlled airfreight containers, thermal blankets and other packaging solutions help maintain the strict temperature regimes of the pharmaceuticals safe-guarding their safety and efficacy during transit.
So with many blockbuster drugs on the brink of losing their US patencies, combined with fierce competition across the generics industry, large multinationals and generics manufacturers need to ensure they have the right shipping infrastructure in place to be able to capitalize on this small yet highly lucrative window of opportunity.
1.PR Newswire article, 2011
2.Frost and Sullivan report, July 2012
3.PWC Report : Global Pharma looks to India
4.Invest in Turkey Report 2012
5.FDA approvals March 2012
6.FDA approvals May 2012


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"The Sacred Amulet"
Originally released as:
Walkthrough by WITCHEN =O)
version 1.1
The first person you see is Quilaztli, the village doctor. He tells you that the soldiers came and took your parents away and they are holding them hostage in lieu of your arrest.
After your conversation, go right and forward to the house with red pillars (trim around the doorway). Take the bag of cocoa beans from the cage on the floor. Go out into the courtyard behind the house and check out the steam bath and the tools leaning against the wall. Go back outside, via the front door. Go left to the house with the blue pillars. Go inside. This is Quilaztli's house. Look at the ailing man to your right. Look at the workshop on the floor to your left, in the opposite corner.
Go into the adjacent room with the small temples and statues. Check out the jade statuette of Zolotl, the Goddess Ixuma, and the nameless gray statuette on the far left end. Open the door in the chest of this statuette and take the incense cup. Turn left and go into the garden. Talk to Quilaztli, who is standing in the left corner of the garden. He will tell all if you give him the incense from the statuette. You learn of a "strange evil" afflicting the village people. You need some sort of proof to save yourself from the soldiers who think you murdered the nobleman in the forest. You tell Quilaztli about the carved necklace and the name Tlatli, the poet in Tlatelolco. You are told you must prove your own innocence. If you like, turn around and check out the small temple of offerings, then leave Quilaztli's house.
As soon as you leave the house, you are confronted by the real murderer, a truly dangerous thug named "Mountain Head." Talk to him. And, when he threatens to kill you, turn around and run to the river behind you. Get into the canoe and avoid the pursuing guards until you are able to go ashore near a grass hut. Get out of the canoe, cross over to the next stream, get in the next canoe and go left forward until you see the map sign cursor. Click on it to go to the Merchants Quarter.
From where you are standing, go to the right of the house with red pillars to the front of the market place. Turn left and talk to the man standing in front of the house with brown pillars. Ask him for information. He will tell you that the poet, Tlatli is in the house behind him with the yellow pillars.
Go into the back room of the house with the yellow pillars. Talk to the priest. Tlatli has died and the priest doesn't know what his last words were. Tlatli's servant heard these last words, but he is gone. The priest asks you for money; 5 beans. Pay him. He tells you that Tlatli was murdered and gives you a jeweled necklace identical to the one you got from the murdered nobleman in the forest. Hmmm, interesting.
Turn around and move the grass mat on the floor. Pick up the little jewel and put it in your inventory. Turn around and walk past the priest to a mat on the ground about the center of the back wall. Pick up the bloodstained parchment. Examine it and put it in your inventory.
Turn right and right again to see the poet's servant, Bird, hiding in a small alcove of the garden. Talk to him. He tells you about Tlatli's death and that, before he died, Tlatli asked him to go after Turquoise, a woman poet/teacher and courtesan.
Go out into the garden and look out the back doorway. Note that canoes are passing by in the nearby canal at very regular intervals. You can't exit that way, so go back to the front door. Oh, oh! There are two guards standing right in front of the entry. Now what? You can't leave that way either. Go back to the rear alcove where the servant Bird is hiding. He tells you nothing additionally helpful, except that the man who killed his master, Tlatli, was an Otomi warrior. Sounds like Mountain Head is guilty of this crime, also. Keep talking to tell Bird that the warrior won't kill him if Bird tells him nothing.
Turn around and rush out the canal entry door just as a canoe comes by. Timing is of the essence here. If you get it right, you will be able to step onto the canoe and immediately off onto the opposite shore.
Turn left to see a jeweler woman beside a wall. Turn back and go forward to see an old man kneeling beside a grass mat. Try to talk with him. He's asleep. Click on the mat to find out about the Patolli board game. You will be coming back to this later.
Turn around and go forward. There is a guard off to your right, so go forward again between the two buildings. Go back across the bridge and forward left again until you are beside the market place. Turn right and enter the market place. Look at the display of the merchant woman in front of you. Buy light blue and yellow dye from her. Ask her if she knows where you can find some turquoise. Go right to the kneeling merchant. Don't buy anything from him. He doesn't know where you can find turquoise either.
Turn right and talk to the second merchant woman with the strange "mickey mouse" hairdo. Ask her about turquoise. She wants to sell you jade pearls. Buy one bottle of Octli alcohol.
Turn left and go through the archway to the left of the boxes of fruit. Look down and talk to the merchant at the back wall. Ask him about turquoise. He doesn't know either. Buy red and dark blue dye from this merchant.
Leave the market and go left. Stay left and go across the left bridge to access the map. Click forward to go to the Craftsmen's Quarter.
Go forward left and talk to the weaving woman. She knows of no available turquoise. Go forward again and talk to the young man, Chimalli, beside the temple. He tells you he will help you and also tells you of a woman named Turquoise who lives at the end of the craftsmen's district.
Turn and go left to the young man near the fence. He wants to sell you some wood. Tell him you will see him later, perhaps. Turn and continue around the house until you meet a woman with brilliant red hair. This is Turquoise, the poet/teacher and courtesan. When she asks, give her the jewel (earrings) you found under the mat at Tlatli's house. Talk to her further and ask for her help. She will give you a piece of a parchment poem. She tells you of a feather dresser, Chacoatl. You will see him tomorrow.
The next day dawns and you find yourself back down by the weaving woman. Go talk to her. She will tell you where Chacoatl's house is. Turn around and go straight across the plaza toward the right side of the temple. Turn right and enter Chacoatl's house. Talk to his servant. He wants two cocoa beans before he will let you see his master. If you have purchased jade pearls, too much Octli (you need one bottle), or some corn or wood, you will have to go back to the Merchant's Quarter market place and sell something to regain the two cocoa beans you need to get information from the servant.
If you have the two cocoa beans, give them to the servant. Then, walk past him to the back garden to find Chacoatl. Talk to him. Show him the blood-stained parchment from inventory. Continue talking with him and give him one of the necklaces you got from Tlatli or the murdered nobleman in the forest. He tells you you must finish the Feather Shield behind you and then take it to the Woman Serpent. Chacoatl tells you he will help you finish the shield, but you need the right dyes from the market place. Turn and go to the floor area in the far left corner of the room. If you followed the instructions for what to buy in the Merchant's Quarter, you should have light blue, yellow, dark blue and red dyes. If you do not, you will have to go back and buy the right colors to complete the Feather Shield.
To complete the puzzle, fill the dye container on the right and dye the feathers the appropriate colors to complete the feather array at the bottom of the shield. This is easy. If you dye a feather the wrong color and change your mind, the feather may be redyed. If you get stuck, go back and talk to Chacoatl again. When it comes to filling in the center of the shield, just think about completing the partially outlined dark blue border, and the correct background color.
The Feather Shield is your pass to see Woman Serpent. When you have successfully completed the puzzle and stored it safely in your inventory, go back and talk to Chacoatl again. He tells you to go to the Temple at Tenochtitlan. And, he tells you that you must find the correct way to enter. He is going to ask around about the necklace you gave him. He also tells you not to hesitate to come back and talk to him again.
Leave Chacoatle's house and you will immediately encounter Chimalli again. He tells you to come and see him if you have found out anything new.
Turn around, go forward, and cross the bridge. Use the map to travel to Tenochtitlan Square.
Go forward and note that the emperor Montezuma's huge palace is on your right. Go forward again and talk to the poor man who confronts you and asks you for alms. Tell him you have other things on your mind. Swing left and look at the young woman with a basket of corn. She will never talk to you. So don't bother coming back to her time after time during the game. Turn and go across the plaza to the palace steps. Talk to the surly guard with the purple and gold shield. You need the right authorization paper to enter the palace. No luck with this dude! Turn around and head back toward the river. You will get an oral clue about talking to a fisherman. Just before you cross the bridge, turn left and go forward along the river bank. Turn right to see a young fisherman standing in his canoe. Ask him if he will take you into the palace. He will do it for two cocoa beans. He will take you to the site where they collect taxes. Here again, if you are broke, you will have to go back to the market place and sell something to get more cocoa beans.
When you give the fisherman the cocoa beans, he will take you inside to the palace landing. Turn right and go forward to talk to Qualpixqul, the tax administrator. Tell him that you are at his disposal. Listen very carefully to what he tells you about the division of goods.
The puzzle is easy to solve. Just keep in mind that there is one bag of shells too many and remove it at the appropriate time.
After you have solved the puzzle, and you have your reward, remember that each shell is worth five cocoa beans.
Turn left and go forward under the palace into the passageway. Keep going forward until you come to the inner plaza. Turn right and see the nobleman Three Rabbit and the guard Jaguar Knight talking together. Use the listen (ear) icon over them to hear their conversation about the emperor Montezuma and Papitzan, the priestess. Turn left and go forward to ask the guard with the purple and gold shield, where you can find the Lord Tlilpatonqui, aka Woman Serpent.
He will tell you he is in the courtyard. Turn left again. Go forward to the man in the white tunic. Ask him about Woman Serpent. He recites you am original poem. Go back out into the Plaza area and find a guard standing in a lighted doorway just to the right of where you originally entered the plaza, after talking to the tax administrator. Talk to him. Show him the Feather Shield. He will allow you to enter. Inside, turn left and talk to Woman Serpent. He gives you a bag of amarand for bringing the Feather Shield. Then, you say the wrong thing (it can't be helped) and you will be promptly arrested.
Momentarily, you find yourself inside a small cage. Look down and scan around until you find a knife laying on the floor covering. Use the knife to cut through the upper and lower thongs on the cage door. Get out of the cage, turn right and go forward toward the back of the room. Speak to the man who addresses you. It's your father! He tells you there is a treasure your family home, at the feet of the Goddess of Flowers. He tells you to go to the goddess' position and dig at her feet. He says that one of the guards has moved away from the entry of the prison, and you must create a diversion in order to escape.
Go to the front entrance and look at the pacing jaguar in the cage. Use your blow gun on the jaguar. He will divert the guard's attention. Run out the door, across the plaza and up the stairs to talk with the tax administrator again. Oh well! Woman Serpent had you put in prison to protect you. Interesting. The tax administrator gives you an object that you must present to the right person in order to get a chance to speak to Woman Serpent again. Put this object, a Magic Rattle, in your inventory. Go past the tax administrator, turn right and reenter the palace's inner plaza, as you did the first time. Go to the guard at Woman Serpent's lighted doorway. Don't talk to him this time. Instead, turn to your right, go forward and turn left at the corner of the building. You are on the upper level of the passageway. Go forward, turn right and go through the red curtain to encounter Jaguar Knight. He will allow you to enter if you show him the Magic Rattle. Go inside, through the red curtain, turn left and walk to Woman Serpent. he will tell you what he knows. You must find the cause of the "strange evil". If you do, you and your parents will be spared. Go through all conversation choices. When he tells you to go, you will exit the palace to the map. Go to the Craftsmen's Quarter.
You will meet Chimalli again. He will give you useful information about the murdered poet Tlatli and the nobleman in the forest. Chimalli tells you to see Chacoatl. But then you figured that out, probably didn't you?
Turn right and go into Chacoatl's house. Go to the back garden and talk to his servant. Chacoatl has left you a message: "Green serpent. Seven Flint". Go back outside and talk to Chimalli again. He tells you that "Green Serpent" might have something to do with the necklaces from the two dead men; the nobleman and Tlatli. And, that "Seven Flint" might be someone's name.
Go to the woodsman standing near the fence at your left. Buy a bundle of wood from him for two cocoa beans. Turn and walk around the building to speak with Turquoise again. She tells you Seven Flint is the name of a local craftsman and she tells you where to find him. She also confirms for you that the term Green Serpent, refers to the necklaces.
Go straight across the bridge and talk to the jeweler, the kneeling man beside the kiln. He is Seven Flint. Give him your bundle of wood. The necklace means nothing to Seven Flint. He tells you it comes from the Olmec country. There is another man named Seven Flint. And, he lives in Tlatelolco. Go back to the main square and talk to Chimalli again for a status check. Go talk to the woodman by the fence and ask him about Seven Flint. Go to the Merchant's Quarter.
Go left across the bridge. Go forward until you see the guard in front of the big house with the red tile roof line. Turn left and go talk to the young man standing near the wall. He tells you where Seven Flint's house is. Turn around and go right and forward to Seven Flint's house, with white pillars. Go inside. Look for a secret hiding place. Man, this dude has a lot of stuff! Go through the house and look at everything. Find the small dark room at the back of the house. Go to the far right corner of the room and scan the broken areas of the wall to your right, where the brick is exposed. Search the middle area of the wall with your cursor until you get a fist. Use your knife to dig a hole in the wall and extract another necklace.
Talk to Seven Flint, who immediately arrives to surprise you. You can only find out who bought this particular type of necklace by paying Seven Flint to repair the wall where you have been digging. You don't have enough money to pay the exorbitant price he asks. Leave him and go back to the Merchant's Quarter.
Go back to the right past the market place and then left past the woodman by the house with the brown pillars. Enter Tlatli's house with the yellow pillars. There you will find Bird again, cowering in a corner. Talk to him. Ask him for more information. He is going home, free, to the land of Toluca. Go back out of the Merchant's Quarter and across the bridge. Go back to your village.
Go straight ahead to find your parent's
home; the one with the red pillars. Pick up the digging stick on
the right side of the front entry, against the wall.
Go into the house and into the back garden to the door of the steam bath, which has the statue of the Goddess of Flowers in a niche on the left side. Look down at the ground and use the digging stick to uncover the "treasure" your father told you of. Place it in your inventory.
Go straight back through the deserted village and access your map to go back to Tenochtitlan Square.
Go talk to the old man beggar and offer him six cocoa beans. He will give you a gold bracelet. Turn and go along the river side of the palace toward where you met the tax administrator earlier. You will be guided to an upper walkway and a raised gray wooden drawbridge. When you get to the bridge, turn left and look at the pulley device on the wall. Use your knife to cut the rope and lower the drawbridge.
Go across the bridge and talk to Eagle Knight. He won't let you pass. Show him your Magic Rattle. He will then let you go inside. Go past him and straight back into the palace garden plaza. Go back around behind Woman Serpent's quarters as you did earlier by accessing the upper passageway and showing the Magic Rattle to Jaguar Knight. He will let you pass. Talk to Woman Serpent again, using all available conversation options. Woman Serpent will tell you to continue your investigation. You don't have enough information yet. Go back out to the upper plaza, by way of Woman Serpent's front door. When you are in the plaza, turn left, go forward and into the lower garden plaza area. Turn left at the doorway and return outside the palace via Eagle Knight's entry and across the wooden bridge. Go into the long main square and go right all the way down to the end, where the guards stand in front of the "Center of Ceremonies." Turn right and go forward to talk to the construction site foreman in front of the stockade that is being erected. He tells you the evil sickness is killing his stonemasons. Since you don't have a stonemason's skill, you can't help him out.
Go back out to the main plaza, turn left and go all the way back across the bridge. Access the map and go to the Merchant's Quarter.
Go left across the bridge. Go straight past the guard at the big house and past the man standing beside the wall. Swing left and go back to the merchant Seven Flint's house, with the white pillars. Give him the treasure you dug up under the Goddess of Flowers statue at your family home. He will be thrilled to pieces. Now, you want to know who bought those necklaces from him. Oh, that's interesting....Three Rabbit lives nearby. Off you go again. As you turn and start out the door, you will hear a threatening voice. Turn and talk to the merchant again. Did he squeal on you? Oh no! He swears that he did not.
Go out the door to meet old Mountain Head. He's got you now. Or has he? You might do something with that jar full of snakes sitting on the floor just in front of him.
When you have stopped running, you will automatically be taken to the map. Choose the Merchant's Quarters.
When you arrive you will learn that with Three Rabbit, you will have to find two more of these plotters' necklaces. But where is Three Rabbit? Go forward once and left across the bridge. Go past the guard at the big house and talk to the man standing in front of the wall again. Ask him about Three Rabbit. He tells you Three Rabbit lives in the palace (the big house with guard) in the square. Go find the old man who reeks of alcohol in the dead end....turn 360, go past the big house (Three Rabbit's) and turn left down the little alley to find the old servant man. Obviously, he needs little "hair of the dog". Go to the market and buy the old guy a bottle of Octli. (If you don't already have some in your inventory, turn 360 and go straight back across the bridge and left to the market. Go to the merchant woman with the "mickey mouse" hairdo and buy some Octli. Return back across the bridge and down the alley to the old servant man.) Give him the Octli.
He wants you to play Patolli. Guess you can't escape it. It is either play Patolli or no information concerning Three Rabbit's whereabouts. Use the trainer option if you think you need a little practice on this simple, but somewhat challenging form of checkers. Only two things are important to remember here: 1. Don't leave your beans at the two crossroads positions. 2.Get as many beans on the board, and moving forward, as is possible.
You need to win two consecutive games. But the old servant just make take pity on you if you come close to winning the second game.
When you can, ask him about Three Rabbit. He says something like "my eyes, my nose, my mouth". Remember these three lines. Tell him you want to know where you can find Three Rabbit. He tells you of Tezcatlipoca, and the annex at the Center of Ceremonies near the big pyramid temple.
Turn 360 and go straight back across the bridge. Turn right and exit the Merchant's Quarter. Access the map and go to Tenochtitlan Square.
Go to see Woman Serpent again, by presenting the Magic Rattle to Eagle Serpent at the side door with the wooden drawbridge. And, to Jaguar Knight at the red curtain behind Woman Serpent's quarters. Talk to Woman Serpent. Oh, oh! Sounds like he trusts Three Rabbit. You will have to find more proof. If you prefer, you can go out Woman Serpent's front door again into the plaza. In any case, go back out past Eagle Knight and go down the full length of the main plaza again and try to talk to the guard in front of the Center of Ceremonies. Nope! No dice. He is not letting you enter. Turn 360 and go back across the bridge to access the map. Go to the Craftsmen's Quarter.
Find Chimalli in the center square near the temple and altar. Talk to him. Tell him you know where Three Rabbit is, but that you cannot get into the Center of Ceremonies. He will you that Turquoise is at the calmecac, the school. She might know how to get into the Center of Ceremonies. He also tells you that the Lord Black Flower is in the area. Black Flower is the son of Texcoco. He should have succeeded the emperor, but Montezuma threw him out. Black Flower just might be involved in the plot also. Leave the Craftsmen's Quarter and go to the Merchant's Quarter.
Turquoise will be standing to your right just outside the calmecac. Talk to her. Turquoise tells you that you need to see Cuicani, or Flower of Stone. She can be found in the House of Song to the left near the outer wall inside the Center of Ceremonies. Turquoise gives you a drum that you must take to Cuicani. Turn and go back across the bridge to access the village.
Find Quilaztli in the house with the
blue pillars. Talk to him. He tells you that Black Flower is
in exile and is leading a rebellion against Montezuma. Tell Quilaztli
that you have to find Three Rabbit at the Center of Ceremonies.
Then go back out of the village and use the map to travel back to Tenochtitlan Square.
Go all the way forward down to the end. Show Turquoise's drum to the guard in front of the Center of Ceremonies. He will now allow you to pass and he will tell you where to find Cuicani, poetess and Flower of Stone. Use your forward cursor to go past the guard and into the Center of Ceremonies. There are guards all over this huge maze. Turn right and go forward once. Turn left, go forward twice. Turn left. Go forward once. Turn right. Go forward twice and you will encounter Papatzin, the Priestess. Tell her you are delivering a drum to the poetess Flower of Stone. She tells you to go left past Eecatl, then in front of the Temple of Tzompantli, the wall of skulls. When she asks you if you want anything else, tell her "No, thank you".
Turn and go left. Go forward twice. the Temple of Quezalcoatl is on the right. Turn left and go forward once. Turn right and look at the ladder leaning against the wall. (Remember where this ladder is.) Turn back around and go forward twice. Turn right and go forward once. Turn right and go forward once. Turn left and go forward three times. Turn left and encounter a young man. Ask him where the House of Song is. he tell you its right in front of you. Ask him where the Tzompantli, the wall of skulls, is. Ask him all the questions you like any time. He will be right there if ever you get lost.
Go forward past the young man. Turn right to see the House of Song. Go forward and show the drum to the guard. He will let you pass. Go up the stairway behind the guard and into the Temple of Song. You will see the poetess, Cuicani in the right corner. Go to her and give her the drum. Tell her about Tlatli's death. Ask her to help you decipher the poem parchment. Give her the parchment. She needs time to study it. Ask her where the Temple of Tezcatlipoca is. She tells you to go back toward the great pyramid. The Temple of Tezcatlipoca is just to its right. Leave Cuicani and go back outside. Go forward once and then left forward to see the young man who gave you directions to the House of Song earlier. Talk to him again if you need more directions on how to find the Temple of Tezcatlipoca. When you find the temple, you will discover it is very near where you talked with Papatzin, the priestess. It is a long, low building with red and blue trim. There is a guard standing in front of a short flight of stairs. (If you are not in auto-save mode, save your game here.) Talk to him. Ask about seeing Three Rabbit. He won't let you in unless you show him the right item. Show him the necklace from the murdered nobleman. He will let you go inside. When you enter, go forward right, then turn to talk to the guard. He asks you for the answers to three riddles before you can enter.
Correct responses: 1. an eye 2. a nose 3. a mouth
Go past the guard. Don't go right or you will be immediately captured. Go forward again and turn right. Use the ear cursor to overhear the discussion between the priestess Papatzin and Three Rabbit. They are poisoning the water supply! And, Montezuma is getting the blame for the evil sickness.
After Three Rabbit and Papatzin leave, enter the room and pick up the small stele (box) on the floor to the right of the statue. Place it on the hotspot on the floor in front of the statue. Move the statue and take the small gourd of poison from the hole behind the statue. Take the obsidian mirror to the left of the statue. Do NOT take the statue. (Or, if you decide to do it, save your game first.)
Go out of the room. As you leave
the stairs going out into the corridor, you will get a fist cursor.
Click it and you will find out that Papatzin and Three Rabbit are still
there and are a definite threat to your being able to exit the building
safely. Use the obsidian mirror to determine when they are gone.
Go back to the House of Song. Again, there is plenty of help (two different guides) if you get lost on your way back. Talk to Cuicani about the parchment. She has found that she is unable to decipher it. But, she has a friend, Azocuan, who can.
Ask Cuicani how to find him. You will find him in the palace, she tells you. But, you need a code to talk to him. The code is a white flower; a Yucca Elefantis. There are some of these flowers in the interior garden plaza of the emperor's palace.
Leave the Center of Ceremonies maze, by way of the front gate where you gave the drum to the guard, and start back toward the palace. You will meet Chimalli along the way. Talk to him. Trade stories. You are on the right track. Papatzin has her water imported! Hmmm. What pool or aqueduct are they poisoning? Woman Serpent has gone off to war. You can't see him and all the best soldiers are out of the city right now. You have to find the poisoning pool.
Continue on your way to the palace. Go in the entry behind Eagle Knight, by showing him the Magic Rattle. Go forward into the palace's interior garden. Talk to the little poet and tell him you are looking for Lord Ayocuan. He tells you to come back later. This guy has to be Ayocuan. You definitely need that Yucca Elefantis blossom. As you turn and begin to look around near the doorway back to Eagle Knight, you will hear a message, "I should be able to find the flower here, but I don't have time to play at being a gardener".
Go pick up the little cage/box that is sitting on the ground directly opposite Ayocuan on his right. Put the box in your inventory. Walk around to the area just to the right the doorway where you would walk out to Eagle Knight's position. Turn to your right and look UP. You will see a Yucca tree with a huge, white blossom. Put the cage down on the garden wall. You will see a scene where you climb up and get the flower blossom. Afterward, go around the corner and present the blossom to Ayocuan. He tells you that Tlatli sent him a parchment some time ago, but it was not one of his poems. It has the wall of skulls on it. You must see Cuicani, Flower of Stone again, and/or go to the wall of skulls. Examine the poem/parchment in inventory. Looks like you're going to need a ladder at some point, doesn't it? For now, return to the Craftsmen's Quarter.
As soon as you arrive, you will receive a warning about Auyocan and not having much time. Find Turquoise near the second bridge and talk to her. Tell her what you know about Three Rabbit, Papatzin and the poisoned water. She can't help you figure out which water is being poisoned, but she will pray for you. Leave and go to your village.
Go find old Quilaztli in the house with blue pillars. Ask for his help. Ask him about Black Flower. Black Flower is a rebel. And he may be dangerous. Quilaztli will also pray for you. Leave the village and go back the Tenochtitlan Square.
Go all the way down to the end by the entrance to the Center of Ceremonies. Turn right and walk to the area where you talked with the construction foreman earlier. Look down at the urn with the glowing embers. Pick up the small torch to the right of the urn on the ground. Place the torch in the urn to ignite it. Come up and go forward toward the water in the canal, to the left of the urn. You will find yourself in the underground canal.
Go forward twice. Then turn extreme left and go into the lighted passageway. Go to the end and turn around. Walk to the small niche in the wall to your left. Climb into the niche. Whoops! You find yourself inside the Center of Ceremonies. Well, good. You couldn't have gotten past that guard at the entrance again anyway. This is a great alternative route.
Go back through the Center of Ceremonies maze to the House of Song. Find Cuicani. On your way, you will encouter a priest who demands that you prove you are a servant of the ceremony. Show him the Magic Rattle. He will let you pass. But he is going to relieve you of that rattle! When you find Cuicani at the House of Song, talk to her about Ayocuan, the poet at the palace. Show Cuicani the parchment. She tells you Tlatli may have left you something at the Tzompantli, the wall of skulls.
Go to the wall of skulls. If you get lost, stop by the round gray building outside the House of Song and ask the young priest/guide for directions again. This time, to the Tzompantli. when you get near the Eecatl (round) temple, go down the east side (forward once). Turn right and go forward once. Turn right and pick up that ladder I've been harping about, that is leaning against the wall.
That Mountain Head thug is everywhere, isn't he? Turn back to where you were before you went off to get the ladder. The Eecatl will be behind you. The Tzompantli, the wall of skulls, is to your left, with the thin spikes all along the upper walls.
Go to the left side of the Tzompantli and up the stairs. You will see a man playing a game called Tlachti pitch. Just check it out and leave the area. You will be back later. Go back down the steps and go right once. Turn completely around and go forward twice to the base (red and blue paint) of the Tzompantli wall. Swing around to your left until you get a fist cursor in the middle of the wall. SAVE YOUR GAME here if you are in manual mode. Use you ladder to climb over the wall.
There are five vertical poles of skulls (left to right) that must be correctly placed. They must all exactly match the order of the skulls placed on the first three poles to the far left of the screen. That is the solution to work for. When you are able to remove the upside down skull on the the last (sixth) post to the right, and appropriately place it, you have solved the puzzle.
When you have been able to remove that bottom skull on the sixth pole, you will see the parchment/poem at the bottom of the sixth pole. Remove it and put it in your inventory.
Go back to the House of Song.
Talk to Cuicani again. She tells you the second piece of parchment
looks like the earlier one you gave her, but she still doesn't understand.
Examine the two pieces of parchment in your inventory together. The one
from the skull puzzle and the one that Turquoise gave you earlier.
Place them together so that the side with "Five Serpent" joins the row
with "Three House." Use the eye icon for a close up to adjust the two pieces,
making sure that the colored dots in the center match up. Use/click
the hand icon on the black background to move the assembled pieces into
your regular inventory bar. Align the two parchment pieces in the close
up window
so the right side is higher than the left. The colored dots in the center of the parchment pieces must match. The hand icon must appear on the black background. When you have the hand icon properly positioned, click your left mouse button. Show the parchment to Cuicani. She tells you to go to Tlachtli pitch and look for the name of a god by the left hand hoop. She will continue to study the parchments while you are away.
Go to Tlachtli pitch and talk to the player in the center of the court. He has stopped playing. He wants to put you to a test. Oh, oh! This looks like an ancient Aztec form of basketball. When the player is finished delivering the rules of the game, swing right and go forward once. Turn completely around 360, and you will see the ball laying on the court. Pick it up. Turn and put it through the hoop above you. You should be able to do this with ease, on the first try.
Go back to Cuicani in the House of Song. Tell her you saw Queztalcoatl and the Great Star at the Tlachtli pitch. You learn from her that Three House and Five Serpent references from the parchment, are actually calendar dates.
Go to the House of Calendars upstairs and look at the dates for Three House and Five Serpent. Come back to Cuicani and tell her what you have seen. Three House is Tepeyolloltli, the Heart of the Mountain. Five Serpent is Chalchiuhtlicue, the Goddess of Water. Tlatli's message is "the water that comes from the heart of the mountain", which is to the west of the spring of Chapultapec.
After this, there is a movie. You spend the night and arrive the next morning in Chapultapec.
You must go forward until you encounter a guard standing in the road. When he demands to know who you are, tell him "My name won't mean anything to you. You don't mean the Lord Three Rabbit?" He tells you you must prove yourself as a blow gun hunter and bring him back two singing birds.
Turn around and scan the trees until you see a fist. Take out your blow gun. Aim it carefully and kill the bird. Go pick it up. Repeat this until you have killed and retrieved both singing birds. Its easy. Take the birds back and offer them to the guard from your inventory. Now you may pass into Three Rabbit's compound.
Go forward and you will see servants carrying supplies into a guarded storage building. After the movie, go forward and talk to the guard. You need to find some jars of poison to store before he will let you enter. Go to the right of the entry where there is a green parrot, with a bad personality, hanging in a cage. Don't try to talk to him or feed him. Look down and pick up the rightmost pottery jar leaning against the rock. Put it in your inventory. Show the jar to the guard. He says that you need a pass word.
Go back over to the parrot and give him the bag of Amaranth you got from Woman Serpent. The parrot says "topco petacolopto". That's the pass word. Go back to the guard and give him the correct password. He will let you pass into the storage building.
Once inside, turn right and go forward twice. Click on the jars of poison. You must break them. Look around until you find a stick lying amidst some timbers. Break the pottery with the stick...only two or three will break. After you break the pottery, try to leave the building. You will encounter that nasty "Mountain Head" again at the entrance. He tries to kill you immediately, but Chimalli beans him and tells you to run. Unfortunately, you aren't quite fast enough and are confronted by Black Flower. He tells you that you can either choose to pour poison in the aqueduct and kill all the people, or you can drink it yourself and save them. Of course, you must choose to drink it. You are the "good guy", after all.
When you are recovered enough from the poisoning scene, run to the aqueduct and jump in. There will be a dream sequence. You wake up in the home of Quilaztli, the old doctor. Talk to him. Chimalli brought you to Quilaztli. The guards are looking for you. Quilaztli tells you about Three Rabbit, Black Flower and the treacherous priestess, Papatzin. He wants to prepare enough antidote for all the poison. He needs the right herbs first. You must go to the Chinampas and find these special herbs.
Go out the door. Go right twice, then left. Go forward to the Chinampas (river channels) and get in the canoe. Go forward twice, left twice and turn left to go ashore near the grass hut. Turn left and go up the path. Turn right and use your knife to dig up the roots of the orange flowers. You only need to do this once. Turn around and go back to Quilaztli's house with the herbs. You must take a gourd of the antidote medicine to Woman Serpent. Three Rabbit has poisoned him and he is dying. Go into the next room and find the gourd of antidote sitting on the floor.
Go out the door and go left and then forward to access the map to Tenochtitlan Square.
Eagle Knight is not going to let you into the palace because you had to give up the Magic Rattle. So, go down by the canal where you found the young fisherman in the first part of the game. Talk to him about getting into the palace. Give him 2 cocoa beans. Go aboard and into the palace in the canoe. Go forward and talk to the tax administrator. Three Rabbit won't let anyone see Woman Serpent, but his doctor.
When you are finished talking, go into the passageway to the inner plaza. Before you reach the stairs turn left. Use your knife on the darker brown framed panel on the wall. Go through the opening into the other entry way to the interior garden. Go talk to the poet in the left back corner again. Speak to him about Black Flower. Then, he will help you. He will occupy the guard at Woman Serpent's door while you try to sneak in. Go to Woman Serpent's front door. You will see the poet talking to the guard. Go in and give the antidote to Woman Serpent, who is lying on a mat at the back of the room.
Whoops! Black Flower shows up and you are captured again!
Watch the beautiful, terrifically well-rendered end game sequence. A great story......and an interesting and educational sojourn into the ancient Aztec culture.
This document may only be distributed with permission of the author Witchen =O) email firstname.lastname@example.com, or email@example.com
Usage of the document on any website must include a link to GameBoomers The content of the document may not be altered without the permission of the author.
Any proposed changes or additions to the walkthrough may be submitted to Witchen =O) at firstname.lastname@example.com
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The Dictionary provides the following definition for minimalism; something achieved by using a few very simple elements to maximum effect. It seems to me that the recent rise of Tenkara fishing is a response to the increasing complexity of Western fly fishing techniques. I'm not quite ready to sell my conventional fly fishing equipment and fully embrace the Tenkara fly fishing method; but I can understand the desire to simplify.
I have been moving toward minimization in my personal fly fishing paraphernalia for the last few years. For many years I wore a vest that allowed me to carry the inventory of a small fly shop around on my back. Along with all the gadgets, tippet spools, leaders, floatant, rain jacket, landing net, assorted split shot, etc., etc., etc., I had become a beast of burden. One year, when I was cleaning out my vest at the end of the season, I realized that many of the things I carried in my vest I rarely used. That was the beginning of my path toward minimalism.
Gradually I began to pare down the things that I carried in my vest. I sorted out my flies so that I had a collection of boxes that contained flies that I mostly use on stillwaters which I do not need to carry in my vest. I stored them in a white plastic bucket that I can pick up whenever I'm going to be fishing a stillwater. I organized all my other flies in a similar fashion.
Once I had uncluttered my vest in the fly box department I took a look at all the other stuff that I would normally be carrying about each time I went fishing. Did I really need several new leaders or could I get by with only a couple? Did I need to carry tippet spools from Ox down to 7x? If I was fishing within walking distance of my vehicle or floating did I need to stuff a rain jacket in my vest? Do I need a complete assortment of split shot since I rarely use anything larger than a couple micro shots? Suddenly my vest was much lighter.
During the recent fishing season I found myself fishing without a vest on several occasions. I have pared my must have items down to a few items that I can carry in a waist pack or even in the pockets of a fishing shirt. I carry floatant, a spool of tippet material, a small piece of Amadou, and a couple boxes of flies. I have a pair of nippers and a set of hemostats which are the only tools that I carry. I tuck my landing net under my wader belt in the middle of my back.
My next step in the quest for minimalism is the number and types of flies that I tie and carry. Actually, I have been working on this aspect of fly fishing for several years. Since I spend most of my fly fishing time fishing specific types of water it's possible to pare down the patterns that I need to carry. While I continue to experiment with new and different patterns I have a limited compliment of flies that have earned a place in the boxes that I carry on the water. If I find a pattern that performs better than one of my old favorites I remove the old pattern and replace it with the new one. This cuts down the number of flies that I carry and requires me to spend less time trying to select a fly to use and more time concentrating on presentation.
I have carried my quest for minimalism into my fly tying. Since I started fly tying nearly 50 years ago I have believed that the most productive flies are the least complicated. I believe that this is especially important when tying patterns for specific hatches and not simply tying attractor patterns. When I look at natural flies and compare them to many of the patterns that we use to imitate them I find that they are overdressed. Most of the natural insects are much slimmer and less bulky overall than many of the patterns that I see. I am continually cutting down on the amount of material that I use to tie many of the patterns that I use. I try to determine the key features that are essential in each pattern to make them effective and eliminate everything else. This provides a basis for continual refinement and puts an emphasis on observation and deductive reasoning.
A minimalistic fly pattern – a hook, tail, body and wing
A fine spring creek rainbow that thought my minimalistic fly was food
Now it's important to remember that this is not the only way to approach fly fishing. I find that limiting the number of patterns that I carry requires me to concentrate on fishing and not on changing patterns; however this might be not be everyone's cup of tea. Likewise, minimalistic fly patterns are not for everyone. Some people enjoy tying complicated patterns; they enjoy tying pretty flies where every turn of hackle is in place and all the tail fibers are exactly the same length. I know how to tie flies like that but I have determined for my personal use that the fish don't really care if there are three turns of hackle and not two and a half, or if all the tail fibers are exactly the same length. When the fish get that picky I will finally take up golf!
I think that minimalism is worth pursuing but it may not be for you, and that's OK. Once you have mastered the basics of fly fishing you need to find a personal challenge. Some anglers pursue big fish with light tackle, some anglers travel to exotic places to catch unusual fish, then there's salt water fishing, Atlantic salmon and steelhead, just to name a few of the various ways that anglers challenge themselves. Some anglers just want to catch fish and they wish to keep the challenges to a minimum, and that's OK too.
Whatever your take on minimalism I think that most of us can benefit from taking an inventory of all the stuff that we carry. Now, with winter still holding forth in many parts of the country, is a good time to take that inventory and perhaps lift some of the burden off your shoulders in the coming season.


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The good people of EBS Sweden are now bringing a healthy dose of fuzz to the bassist's toolbox.
The EBS FuzzMo (current price in Finland: 169,90 €) is a fuzz-type high gain distortion developed especially for bass.
This stompbox is made in China to the EBS' exacting standards. It's a sturdy pedal with very positive feeling controls.
The FuzzMo can be powered in three ways:
If you use an EBS amp from the Drome-, Gorm-, HD- or TD-series, you can use a TRS-cable (aka a stereo cable) to feed phantom power from the amp to the effect pedal.
The FuzzMo pedal also runs off a standard 9 V battery, but you will need a screwdriver to take off the base plate first.
The third alternative is to employ a Boss-type power supply (9 V DC, centre negative) to fire up the stompbox.
Even though the EBS FuzzMo looks somewhat similar to the company's Billy Sheehan -pedal, the controls on the fuzz work in a different way.
The FuzzMo doesn't do "nice and sweet" – the Gain control offers fuzz from medium-crunchy to balls-to-the-wall-fuzz. Shape adjusts the tone of the fuzz effect – not in the way a traditional tone control does, but rather by changing the waveform of the fuzz signal. At seven o'clock the sound is quite warm and organic with the waveform approaching a square, while five o'clock is far brighter and more aggressive with the waveform resembling a triangle.
The mini-switch underneath the FuzzMo-logo (called Character) also plays an important part in the stompbox' sound:
Switched to the left no EQ'ing is applied to the signal (FLAT). In the middle position there's a slight attenuation of the mid-range. SCOOP on the right side results in a very Metal-style scooped-mid tone with plenty of bite.
Modern bass effects often split the bass signal at the input. One half is fed through the effect, while the other half is kept dry and mixed into the wet signal before it reaches the output. The advantage of doing things this way is that it enables you to keep your bottom end and dynamic attack intact.
This is just the way EBS' FuzzMo works, too:
You use the Volume knob to adjust the fuzz signal's volume level, and then use the Blend control to add the desired amount of dry bass. This feature is especially important in fuzz pedals for bass, because the hard clipping of a fuzz effect practically negates all your playing dynamics by design. With the FuzzMo there will be no problems with your tone becoming mushy, clogged up and indistinct, because the Blend control lets you restore your bass guitar's punch and low end.
Here's a bit recorded with a Jazz Bass (both pickups on) and a relatively low Gain setting:
In this clip I added some more fuzz and bite to a Rickenbacker played with a plectrum:
Thanks to the ability to blend in the dry signal, the EBS FuzzMo also works extremely well with a five-string (in this case a Yamaha BB with active EMGs):
Note that on all these audio clips the Gain control stayed below one o'clock. If you want you can take things much, much further with this EBS-pedal!
The FuzzMo is a typical EBS-pedal – it's a sturdy, pro-quality stompbox and it sounds great. If you're a purveyor of sleazy, dirty and aggressive bass tones, you should definitely give this baby a spin!
EBS Sweden FuzzMo
169,90 €
Finnish distributor: F-Musiikki
+ build quality
+ can be powered in three ways
+ sound optimised for bass
+ three-way EQ-switch
+ Blend control
+ offers a lot of gain
– no quick access to battery


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The Ben Lee Fellowship (successor to the Fermilab Frontier Fellowship) was created to honor the memory of the Founding Head of the Theoretical Physics Department, with the goal of attracting to Fermilab distinguished visiting theorists with outstanding achievements in particle physics. Ben Lee Fellows contribute to, and profit from, the intellectual environment of the Theoretical Physics Department, and are encouraged to interact with the Laboratory's experimental community. Typically, a Fellow will present a research seminar and a colloquium, and will be invited to participate in the Fermilab Academic Lecture Series.
Term of Appointment
The term ranges between one month and one year.
Application Procedure
Interested senior theorists should communicate with the Head of the Theoretical Physics Department at least six months in advance of an intended visit to Fermilab.


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Teddybear· Registered
349 Posts
Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Belleville Denny's at odds with police
This Denny's restaurant at 1130 South Illinois Street in Belleville, got crosswise with city officers on Jan. 1, 2013, after a manager told several detectives they couldn't eat there with with their firearms, even though they were on duty. Photo by Amanda St. Amand of the Post-Dispatch
2013-01-03T00:10:00Z2013-01-03T05:49:59ZBelleville cops booted from Denny's for toting gunsby Joe Holleman [email protected]
BELLEVILLE • Police here have less than a sunny-side-up view of a local Denny's.
The Belleville police chief banned his officers from the eatery while on duty after several detectives were told they couldn't carry their guns in the restaurant, but Denny's says the incident stemmed from a misunderstanding.
The incident began about 10 a.m. Tuesday when five Belleville detectives went into the Denny's at 1130 South Illinois Street, ordered food and began to eat. The detectives had badges on their belts or on chains around their necks, but they weren't in uniform.
Belleville Capt. Donald Sax said restaurant manager David Rice then approached and told one of the detectives that a diner had complained about seeing one of the detectives carrying a gun.
Even though the detective told Rice all at the table were police officers, Rice insisted the detectives take their guns back out to their cars, Sax said.
According to Sax, Rice then told the officers that it is company policy to allow only uniformed officers to carry their guns into a restaurant and that a sign on the door stated that policy.
The officers all got up to leave, refusing to pay for their meal. As they were leaving, Sax said a Denny's general manager, Michael Van, approached the group. He told them Rice was wrong and it was fine for them to stay and to keep their guns.
The detectives, whom Sax described as "embarrassed" by the incident, decided to leave anyway. Sax said the detectives made a point to check the door on their way out.
"There was no sign on the door (regarding firearms)," Sax said. "They all looked for it."
Belleville Police Chief William Clay later issued an order to his troops, banning them from eating at that Denny's when they are on duty or when they're off duty and still in uniform. Off-duty and out of uniform, officers can eat where they want.
Belleville police also issued a press release, naming the managers and pinning the incident on "political stupidness."
"This was an insult, a slap in the face to those detectives and to all of the men and women who proudly wear the uniform or badge and serve in law enforcement," Clay said in the press release.
Of course, officers will still show up if Denny's calls for some kind of emergency, police said.
The Denny's managers, Rice and Van, were not available for comment. Corporate spokesperson Liz DiTrapano called the situation "a misunderstanding" and said there is no ban on armed officers.
"Obviously, all law enforcement officers are permitted to carry their firearms in our restaurants," she said.
Belleville police said they would be following up with Denny's management about the restaurant's policies.
At the Belleville restaurant on Wednesday, diners' views on the incident varied.
John Carrigan, 72, of rural Washington County, Ill., said he understood the concern some diners at Denny's might have had. "I'd have been scared to see a woman walk in with a gun nowadays with all the shootings," he said.
But Mike Wieland, 51, of Bluford, Ill., sided with the officers. "The police should be able to carry their weapons everywhere they go," Wieland said.
Margaret Gillerman of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.


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Nursery and Kids Rooms Photos and Design Inspiration
81 Nurseries and Kids' Rooms You Have to See to Believe
81 Nurseries and Kids' Rooms You Have to See to Believe
From nurseries for boys, girls, and surprise babies to the most creative indoor and outdoor playrooms and more, when it comes to kids' decor inspiration, we can't get enough! We've rounded up 81 of our all-time favorite spaces designed especially for little people. Scroll through, and we can almost guarantee that you'll find a favorite (or two, or three . . . ).
Have an awesome kids' room of your own you'd like to share? Feel free to send it our way!


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I'm single and don't know if I could ever get married after sleeping with so many married men — more than I can remember. It doesn't exactly give me faith in marriage.
I call myself a "freelance escort." I'm 28, but am told often that I look at least five years younger. I have the kind of tiny but curvy body that drives men wild, with auburn hair and almond-shaped eyes.
The first time or two, I looked at their wedding rings the whole time and they always noticed and then got nervous, as if my guilt was making them feel guilty. So I decided not to look at their hands.
They want to talk a lot more than you think. They want to vent about their kids' private schools, their bosses, their bonus talks, their friend beating them at squash. I didn't even know what the hell squash was at the time. Talking, talking, talking, as if their lives were harder than mine and I wasn't the one there to have sex with them for money. I started feeling resentful of them.
I got into it when I first moved to New York and desperately needed money to survive. Sam, who ran the first escort service I was with, told me when we met that some guys pay $2,000 an hour. I thought he was exaggerating, but I decided to try it. My stomach churned so much before I got picked up the first night that I was constantly going to the bathroom.
"How can I be sexy like this?" I thought.
The driver picked me up in Manhattan, far away from where I lived, and we went to an apartment in Midtown. The guy there said he was an "investor" and offered me champagne right away. He said he had seen a lot of girls but wanted me to be his "special" girl, and that he liked me a lot. We spent two hours together and I got $1,000 instead of the $3,000 I had been promised. I asked Sam why I only got $1,000, and he said it was the cut I got for jobs until I proved that I could hold onto clients.
I was pissed, but also elated going home with ten $100 bills in my bag. I started to fantasize about all the things I could buy myself, getting my own apartment in Manhattan. I worked three nights a week, then five, then almost every night. I actually started getting a rush out of it — these Wall Street men falling all over themselves, paying all this money for just a little bit of my time.
But after a few months it became exhausting. They have big egos and are big babies. If I made any sign that they weren't the best lover, or that their dick wasn't the biggest dick I'd ever seen, they started asking all these questions and putting me down like: "Oh, well you've just seen more cock than a normal, nice girl would."
No, actually, you're really small and you're bad in bed.
One guy, who said he was a bigwig at a global investment bank, came in his pants when I started undoing his belt. It was so awkward. He had been talking up how good he was in bed in the cab ride to the hotel from dinner, and when that happened, he freaked out. "That never happens! You must have done something to me," he said. Like it's never their fault.
Some, though, were animals in bed. It's like they have all this testosterone and power and it is somehow really hot with the right person. And some are really handsome and well-dressed. There have been a few where I've actually been jealous of their wives, even though they're there sleeping with me. It's a weird feeling. It's easier with the ugly or arrogant ones.
Having a cut of my money going to Sam and his crew, however, started getting to me, especially because clients started asking me to book appointments outside of the agency, which was forbidden. I told Sam I was quitting and he accused me of stealing clients.
I was not going to let him push me. I left, but had to handle months of angry texts, emails and phone calls. I finally had to change my number, though that was how I got in touch with many clients so I was pissed.
With Sam gone, I had to figure out a way to keep clients and to get new ones — which was relatively easy. I started looking online and found sugar daddy dating sites in a Google search.
I thought this could be a way to meet men who want something long-term. At first, there were a few possibilities. One guy who was in private equity gave me $5,000 a month for four months, but then he disappeared. These men, it's like they die one day. They write you all the time and want to see you a lot, but I now know it's only a matter of time before they die out. I look at it like that because it makes it easier to swallow that this person just drops you. I can't trust any of them. They're all liars. Some nicer or cuter than others, but all liars.
As told to Alex Belanger.


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The North Carolina Tar Heels will enter the 2013 baseball season in familiar territory as the nation's top-ranked team in the Perfect Game Preseason College Top 25.
As a program that has competed for the national title in the College World Series title series twice in the last decade, the Tar Heels are very much used to a lofty ranking.
Now comes the hard part of meeting expectations. The Tar Heels have room to improve offensively this spring after hitting just .276 last season, but their situation is looking up with the return of several key cogs, including Preseason All-American third baseman and top prospect Colin Moran.
The most impressive aspect of this team is the pitching staff. The Tar Heels have a terrific weekend rotation including Benton Moss, Kent Emanuel and Hobbs Johnson. They also have yet another stellar bullpen with Chris McCue, Tate Parrish, Chris O'Brien, Shane Taylor, Mason McCullough and Luis Paula back for another campaign, along with Chris Munnelly, who will serve as midweek starter and spot reliever during the weekend.
The Tar Heels might lead the way, but they're joined by some outstanding teams in the top five with Arkansas (2), Vanderbilt (3), Stanford (4) and LSU (5) part of the group.
In terms of conference representation, here's the breakdown:
Pacific 12: 6
Big 12: 3
Big East: 1
Big West: 1
Conference USA: 1
The Perfect Game Top 25 will be released each Monday morning throughout the college baseball season.
ALSO SEE: College Top 25 team breakdowns