text:
Brian O'Doherty
P!/Simone Subal Gallery
Artist, writer, editor, arts administrator, and more, Brian O'Doherty has been well known in the New York art world since coming to the city, in the late 1950s, from his native Ireland. His book Inside the White Cube, first published in 1976 as a series of essays in this magazine, is a foundational critical text, an analysis not so much of art as of its physical environmentthe white-walled modern galleryand of the sociological and ideological networks invisibly embedded there. This was a context designed to sanctify its content by itself receding from the eye, by going unseen, but O'Doherty saw it, and did so with radical clarity.
If O'Doherty is a little less known as an artist than as a writerhe is also, incidentally, an accomplished novelistthat may be in part because he exhibited for many years under a pseudonym, Patrick Ireland. Adopting the name in
Artforum print subscribers have full access to this article. Please sign in below.
Not registered for artforum.com?
SUBSCRIBE NOW and save up to 65% off the newsstand price for full online access to this issue and our archive.
Order the PRINT EDITION of the Summer 2014 issue for $17 or the ONLINE EDITION for $5.99.
* This rate applies to U.S. domestic subscriptions.


text:
BoE Holds Special Meeting on GHS Field Lighting
By Richard Kaufman
Sentinel Reporter
For years, the topic of lighting at Greenwich High School fields has been a hot button issue for the town, especially for the Board of Education.
With the change in start times this fall and dismissal pushed back an hour later, debate has come to the forefront even more, as scores of student athletes and teams have been forced to find solutions for completing practices in waning daylight.
On Tuesday night, the Board of Education took the first step on what figures to be a long road ahead in addressing the problem during a special meeting at Central Middle School that featured public comment.
After hearing the public speak on the issue for nearly an hour, the board held a discussion and voted in favor, 6-2-0, to authorize the initiation of litigation against neighbors of the high school, to modify an existing judgment which was put in place in 2003 regarding the usage of lights at the property.
No litigation can be initiated in this matter unless and until the Board of Selectmen authorizes the same on behalf of the town. The Board of Estimate and Taxation will also be involved in the process, as the board will ask for additional appropriations. The BET will not act until they have a clear signal from BOE and BOS what they intend to do.
Currently, GHS can only use lights at Cardinal Stadium for 10 athletic games and six practices per year, which includes state playoffs. The ruling was set in place back in 2002 by the Planning & Zoning Commission, and upheld by the court in '03.
The decision did not come without passionate pleas from the community asking for litigation. In total, 16 spoke in favor, while two opposed.
Rick Kral spoke in opposition of litigation. He said the neighbors of Greenwich High have not had the proper forum to present their concerns, and that the community needs to come together to fix the issue.
Kral also suggested the board submit two Municipal Improvement requests to the town. One would lay out what the board wants as far as requirements for using the lights. The other MI would address lighting for field No. 7, which Kral said could help alleviate some problems.
"Your decision to try to vote tonight to go strictly out to the legal road is premature. We don't know what you're going to do, the neighbors don't know, we as the athletic community don't know. We'd like to know what that is and for that plan to be put in place so we can move," he said.
Mike Kaye also spoke in opposition, and said there needs to be more time for studies and conversations on the matter.
"I think we should not proceed with litigation but proceed with an open forum in which everyone can speak so we can go forward with the right decision for our town," he said.
Peter Carino, a lifetime resident of Greenwich whose kids went through the school system, said he's concerned about safety of the children if the lights remain unused. He noted that a student athlete, whether it be from Greenwich or elsewhere, could get hurt playing on a dimly lit field during a practice or game which would open up a set of new problems.
"Why we let people [play] in the dark, after sunset; it's a dangerous situation. It has to end immediately. Something has to be done just for self-preservation. That horrifies me as a Greenwich resident," he said.
Carino said the sports facilities and programs need to be up to par, since Greenwich competes with other towns when people look to move to Fairfield County.
"We lessen the sports programs, the less kids are involved. The last thing we need is more kids who are sitting around on their phone instead of running around outside," he said.
Emily Philippides, a student and captain of the indoor track team at GHS, spoke about her team's concern for safety. She said the team is usually outside every day from December until February since there are no indoor track facilities.
"Now with this school start time change, we can't go on the roads anymore because it's unsafe running in the dark when there's cars next to us," she said.
Philippides said the team is then forced to run on the track, but the problem isn't solved and it's still dark.
"I don't understand how we could be running outside when we can literally see nothing in front of us," she added. "We don't want our program to deteriorate just because of this single issue that could be resolved if we simply turn the lights on for an hour or two after it gets dark outside."
Marianne Iuteri, whose oldest son plays on the football team, voiced displeasure that the team had to sit on a bus and go up to New Canaan to practice recently.
"This will make the time that they can start their homework and eat dinner delayed even later," she said. "We are not nurturing our children as we should be, but we are fracturing them. As parents we demand that something should be done."
Robert Sisca, a Greenwich real estate attorney who practices mostly throughout Westchester and Fairfield Counties, said he's heard from prospective purchasers or sellers that they're avoiding Greenwich "because of the poor state of sports facilities in this town."
"I would suggest, if you want to know what's wrong with Greenwich sports facilities, get in the car, drive to New Canaan, drive to Darien, drive to Ridgefield," Sisca said.
Toni Natale, who helped start the crusade in getting the lights at Cardinal Stadium, said she compromised in order to get them up, which set boundaries on height and usage as laid out in the '03 ruling. She offered words of advice to the board.
"Don't compromise," she said. "That's all I can say to you. Get these lights done for these kids. Let it be safe, and do it in a very speedy and proper way but don't compromise like we did then. We're sorry for it now."
State Rep. Mike Bocchino spoke as well, and said that it's prudent to look at what has changed since the ruling was handed down and how the start times have affected athletics. He mentioned field No. 7 as a possible option, and Western Middle School as a site for high school games since it would offer the adequate parking and potential lighting.
"Remember, a lot of these student athletes utilize sports as their opportunity to further their educational experiences. If we don't give them and afford them that opportunity, we're really doing a grave injustice," he said.
The board then held a discussion for the matter for 45 minutes. Board members Laura Erickson and Barbara O'Neill opposed initiating litigation right now, citing that they believe a lot more legwork needs to be done with the neighbors.
Both mentioned the meeting on Monday which featured lighting experts and the neighbors. Erickson said that by the end of that meeting, there seemed to be a better understanding on the neighbors' part about how, with new lighting technology, a solution could be reached without infringement.
"I think we need to respect our neighbors. In turn I think they will be more respectful of us and our needs as a community, as a school, as a town," Erickson said. "I'm not against this at all, but in order to strategically get to where you need to go, you can't use a sledgehammer. You have to use respect."
Debbie Applebaum expressed concern over approaching the situation the right way with the neighbors.
The other board members agreed, saying that positive communication with the neighbors is necessary moving forward and that more meetings with them are currently being scheduled. But litigation, even though it could be lengthy, starts the process of hopefully finding a solution down the road.
"I want to make sure everybody understands that this is a process, a legal process. As with all litigation, this might take a while, possibly a year or more and ultimately the outcome is uncertain," said board member, Peter Bernstein.
Dr. Gaetane Francis said she's looking ahead.
"I'm thinking about next fall. I think it's really important for us to move this forward," she said.
Jennifer Dayton said the only way to sift through what can and can't be done is to go to court. "I want to take care of the neighbors, but the only way we can even have a conversation and discussion about the underlying facts are to go to the court," she said.
Board chair, Peter Sherr, said this issue has illuminated a big problem for the board and the time to act is now. He said there have been several accounts from the neighbors about different agreements in place regarding lighting, even though the town has mentioned just that one '03 court ruling.
"Eventually we have to resolve all of those claims and we need to get to the bottom of what we can and can't do at the GHS property," Sherr said.
Sherr said that lighting at GHS is just one potential solution in supporting student athletes, and mentioned others.
"Creating world class training facilities at middle schools, bubbling at GHS. Supporting the building of new facilities at the Eastern Civic Center and Havemeyer Field or another Parks and Rec location that is not under control of the BOE."
Sherr went on to say that he has confidence that through a dialogue with neighbors, the issue can be solved. He said that he prefers the term "negotiation" rather than "litigation", and that initiating litigation doesn't mean "hauling off and suing everyone" right now.
"I'm confident, maybe foolishly so, that we can solve the needs of the non-student athletes. We can solve the needs of the student athletes, and we can be good neighbors to the people who are in the neighborhood of which we are also a neighbor," he said. "We need to get at this, we need to stop talking about it, it's time to take some action."
Superintendent, Dr. Jill Gildea, called the lighting and fields issue a town wide problem, not just a school problem.
"I think we have to stop tripping all of this up and get ourselves together collaboratively to solve these issues as a town," she said.
The board voted, with Sherr, Dayton, Applebaum, Bernstein, and Lauren Rabin in favor of initiating litigation. Erickson and O'Neill opposed. The crowd erupted with applause as Sherr adjourned the meeting.
The Board of Selectmen's next meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 30, at which time they may or may not take up the issue.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
LinkedIn has for the last week been testing in Australia a function called Career Advice which connects users who are prepared to be mentors with those seeking expert help in their career development.
To find the new service, go to your profile view and look for the dashboard:
Fill out your preferences:
Area of expertise to choose include administrative, business and strategy, community and social services, consulting, design, education, engineering and technology, finance, marketing, media and communications, military and protective services, operations and product management.
And pick an industry. LinkedIn then makes suggestions on who to make contact with.
LinkedIn's Director of Product Management, Hari Srinivasan, told Business Insider Career Advice is a world-first interactive platform for professionals, employees and workers to offer support and advice to jobseekers.
"Essentially it is a new free service that connects LinkedIn members with others in their industry to act as mentors for them, and for those mentee members to seek career advice," he says.
LinkedIn members don't need to be connected with each other on LinkedIn to communicate.
"Both sides have to say they are interested. A mentor comes in and says they want to be a mentor and a careers adviser," says Srinivasan.
"Another comes in and wants advice. They specify a bit about what each wants and we match them together.
"There's a lot of questions around, 'Hey, I'm wanting to make a job change' or things about starting a company. And these are questions that LinkedIn is for.
"And we saw these conversations to organically happen and we thought the community could do more. So we created product that enabled these interactions."
First LinkedIn started using the product enhancement internally and then last week released a small test in Australia and in San Francisco.
"It's still pretty early," says Srinivasan.
Business Insider Emails & Alerts
Site highlights each day to your inbox.
Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.


text:
More whiny-ass musing on the indelibility of youth and dangers of overabundance. This What Do I Know dude is worn out physically and emotionally by packing 5,000 CDs and wondering if he has gained anything over when he had 60 cassettes he knew by heart. He's a flipping piker: I have to move 25,000 records and CDs and not for one moment do I wonder if I would be better off without them. I crave variety and specificity and if I want to hear all the Toy Dolls' records, that's what I want to hear.
So has the writer gained something by accumulating 4940 recordings more than he used to have? Yes, he has gained something: access to variety and granularity of musical mood and experience – even if he doesn't listen to all 5000 with any regularity, he CAN listen to any one of them any time he wants.
You want to know what makes me want to defenestrate someone? When they come over to the house to socialize and I ask what they would like to hear, and they say, "You pick it out – there's too much to choose from," as if that is something BAD. Would you rather I had 60 cassettes, you pud? Isn't variety GOOD? You don't have to look through them all – just look around until you find something you like, or something that looks interesting – no pressure, no hassles.
So anyway, here's what the guy has to say:
- Less is More
….After stacking hundreds upon hundreds of cds in boxes, ripping a tape gun across the top, marking the outside with a fat red marker and stacking them all in the corner, it hit me – why am I hauling all this crap around? Am I any more satisfied – musically – with a collection of music that is a thousand-times larger than when it all fit into a single briefcase?
The music on those cassettes – some of which weren't the most sophisticated, mature, or with any lasting value (some of it was total crap) – shaped and defined those early years like nothing I've listened to since. I can still remember all the lyrics from every single one of the albums in that case; the "flow" of the track progression, the time of year I acquired it (early R.E.M. always "smells" like Fall and Winter to me), and the life-altering events that indirectly revolved around them.
Sure, I've purchased tons of great albums between then and now, and I am still an avid collector of new music. But is the experience any richer? Am I more fulfilled?
If you aren't, you should be.


text:
Infinity Wireless hotspots are a hassle free way to stay connected at some of Malta's most popular locations
Most property owners now know that access to the Internet is an important criteria when choosing accommodation.
Can your customers conveniently check their email, chat with friends and family, check the weather, download charts, read their local newspaper or make dinner reservations online from the comfort of their boat?
Wi-Fi is not only a powerful tool for healthcare professionals—it is the cure for boredom in the waiting room.
Ozone Infinity keeps you connected around Malta & Gozo. Need to find a hotspot near you?
© 2016 Copyright Ozone Infinity


text:
Because of technological advancements, all of us have smartphones now. These devices carry some of our most important information such as photos, contacts, health data and so much more. However, it doesn't seem like most of us care enough to secure our devices. There are so many dangers out there that can befall our phones, therefore, our vital information. In this article, we discuss the top mobile security tips to keep your phone safe. These tips are necessary when you play UK slots online too as they help protect your banking information as well. Read on.
Keep Your Operating System Up to Date
Now and Gaian, mobile phone operators release updates for phone OSs. This is done so that security and performance can be improved. Many phone users don't update their phones because they worry about certain things like battery performance after installation, as well as their phones' memory. Also, users worry that they may lose their data in the event that their phone crashes during an update.
However, we strongly suggest that you update your phone's OS as soon as it becomes available as it can actually protect your device from vulnerabilities and newly discovered threats.
Protect your Smartphone with a Password
While this may seem like an obvious thing to do, there is a high percentage of people who do not password protect their phones. Phones without passwords can be stolen or can just login to your sports betting sites australia, and play your games or easily wiped and passed on. Also, you may put your data at risk because snoopy people have easy access to your private communications.
Never Jailbreak your Phone or Use Unofficial Apps
Most iPhone users jailbreak their phones so that they can use other app stores. It should be noted that apps on the Apple App Store are well vetted. Therefore, this reduces any chances of dodgy apps on the store.
Dodgy apps may steal your information like banking details or passwords. They may even install spyware and viruses on your phone.
Understand the Risks of Using Public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi networks can be used by attackers to intercept the traffic that you send. Because of that, we strongly suggest that you never send any sensitive information over public networks like entering passwords or carrying out banking transactions.
Download Security Software
Always be vigilant about downloading security software for your smartphone. However, make sure you download on the best and recommended security packages.


text:
Overexposure to Radiation Worker
This is an isotope manufacturing facility. The licensee technician needed to transfer a Co-60 source drawer into a shielded container called a therapy head. A special handling tool had been bolted to the end of the source drawer and this tool was needed to safely transfer the source back inside the therapy head. The technician attempted to move the source drawer in order to gain access to the handling tool but the source drawer was stuck, so the technician pulled on the drawer. In doing so, the drawer slid out of the cask about 22.8 cm (9 inches), bringing the source to within an estimated 5.1 cm (2 inches) of the cask external surface and exposing the technician. The technician quickly pushed the source drawer back inside the cask and noted that the electronic personnel dosimeter (whole body) being worn by the individual was reading 56.2 mSv (5.62 rem). The technician was not wearing extremity dosimetry. The technician immediately left the area. The licensee's preliminary calculations are a whole body dose of 169 mSv (16.9 rem). Depending on various assumptions, the extremity dose is estimated to be between 2,370 mSv and 9,500 mSv (237 to 950 rem). The technician's badge has been sent for emergency processing and the individual is being restricted from radiation work for the time being. NRC EN51331
UPDATE: The NRC conducted a comprehensive follow up inspection for this event. The NRC and company officials found, through a review of the video surveillance, that the technician actually removed the source drawer from the cask and replaced it within 4-5 seconds. The source drawer contained approximately 135.6 TBq (3,664 curies) of Cobalt-60 and the design of the source drawer was such that the radiation beam was highly collimated. On October 1, 2015, the company informed the NRC that it was assigning a whole body deep dose equivalent of 56.2 mSv (5.62 rem) for the August 20, 2015 event, and a maximum extremity dose of 384 mSv (38.4 rem) to the technician's left hand. The licensee determined that the root cause of the event was poor coordination and control and the technician's removal of the source drawer. Corrective actions included personnel training and procedure modifications. NRC EN51331
Event date: Thu, 20-08-2015


text:
Along with you, we are closely watching the impact COVID-19 is having on our communities and businesses. We understand the tremendous impact that the restaurant and franchise industries have on the economy. Families rely on you for their meals. Employees rely on you for their livelihoods. In this environment, C Squared Advisors' purpose of providing financial support to the restaurant industry takes on new meaning, and that is why we wanted to provide you with some thoughts on preserving liquidity and debt relief options.
- Cash is king in your ability to maintain your going concern value. If you haven't already, it's time to update your cash flow projections and determine your cash flow needs over the next 30, 60, 90 days and determine which expenses can be reduced during this time. Challenge discretionary costs without compromising operational excellence and cleanliness and put non-essential initiatives on hold until things stabilize and get back to normal.
- Closely monitor relief and assistance packages that are being discussed and provided for at all levels of government.
- Restaurant leaders have done a fantastic job communicating and explaining the most critical needs of our industry. Expect to see new bills, amendments, and aid programs announced over the coming days and weeks and make sure to assist your employees in applying for available and evolving benefits.
- Contact landlords and key vendors. It is important to over communicate and to be transparent that you are evaluating liquidity forecasts and may need some help. Nobody likes surprises and most creditors and vendors are expecting these calls and requests.
- Speak with your lender about debt relief options. If you don't know how to approach your lender or need help leading those negotiations, get help. It is important to move quickly as almost every small business will be requesting relief, so you want to be at the front of the line.
- In most cases, lenders and other creditors will provide relief and while the easiest ask is for interest only payments for a period of time, don't limit your ask if that is not enough. The federal government has encouraged and communicated with banks to work with borrowers. Other creditors will do the same.
- Insurance providers should be contacted to understand whether business interruption coverages may apply.
- Franchisors should be prepared to provide some short-term relief. Franchisor participation in restructurings provides a key catalyst for other creditors to follow and participate.
- If franchisors are inundated with requests for relief, they should consider contracting with an outside expert to assist their franchisees with restructuring obligations. This has been an effective tool in prior industry downturns.
- The goal is to preserve capital and maintain going concern value, so that you can live to fight another day. COVID-19 will end, and the operators best positioned with staffing and operations stand to benefit greatly when this dissipates.
- Above all, stay positive. The restaurant industry is full of strong, passionate individuals, and we know that franchisees and franchisors will find a way to work together during this challenging environment and in the process, bring about further innovation and ingenuity.
Carty Davis is CEO of C Squared Advisors, an independent investment bank that provides financial and transaction advisory services to the restaurant and franchise industries. For more information go to https://c2advisorygroup.com.


text:
Way to go! Here are some of the major concepts for conditionals:
if statement checks a condition and will execute a task if that condition evaluates to
if...else statements make binary decisions and execute different code blocks based on a provided condition.
else if statements.
===, and
!== can compare two values.
&&, or "and", checks if both provided expressions are truthy.
||, or "or", checks if either provided expression is truthy.
!, switches the truthiness and falsiness of a value.
if...else statements.
switch statement can be used to simplify the process of writing multiple
else if statements. The
break keyword stops the remaining
cases from being checked and executed in a
switch statement.
In main.js, practice the skills you learned in this lesson.


text: King Leopold II of Belgium personally signed a letter to President Dole dated October 20, 1894, recognizing the Republic of Hawaii. His Minister of Foreign Affairs also wrote an accompanying cover letter to his Hawaiian counterpart. Both letters are in French and there is no translation. Click on the photos to zoom in for more detail.... Read More


text:
So this is a follow-up review. Before, I wrote that my senior dog, who had a tumor that the vet wanted to remove, had a dramatic recovery. After several weeks of giving her CBD with her food twice daily, her tumor shrank up. She had been listless and very slow on walks, which is not too unusual considering her age (she is a14 year old labrador).After about 6 months of using CBD drops, she leaps out of bed in the morning, ready to go on a walk. She literally bounces until I take her down the road! My other lab (13 years old) has cancer and has gotten very weak and frail in the last couple of months. I think the CBD drops are relieving some of her discomfort, as she now lets me pet and brush her without wincing, and goes on short walks. While it's not going to cure her, it seems to help her relax and hopefully will make this time easier for her. As long as I have my older dogs, they will have this CBD to make their final years less painful!
This put a big smile on our faces Kate! We are thrilled that Daily Wellness is making such a difference to your four-legged friends!
I have two German short haired pointers-they are high energy! My 13 year old is slightly arthritic and I started seeing that she wasn't entirely comfortable recently. My other GSP can be very anxious and so I thought your supplement could work for both dogs in different ways. They have been on it twice a day for a couple of weeks and I see a difference in both. Bella seems more comfortable and Aasha, less anxious. I will do a full report when I finish the bottle!
We are so happy to hear the product is helping your GSP babies! Keep us updated on how your dogs like the whole bottle. Thank you for the review!
I find relief in my overall pain levels. My dogs seem to have more energy. Love the products!
We tend to hand out all of our leef products to friends visiting so have to constantly stock up. We really believe in Leef products.
This product cam highly recommended from a friend. She had great results. After a little research I did find out that the added ingredient for absorption- Propanediol, can be dangerous for cats- causes low red blood cells and possible anemia. If you have pets that share food, you may want to consider this. Blue Buffalo just recalled all their cat products including this.


text:
Jan. 11, 2015
Box Score | Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
NOTRE DAME, Ind. (AP) Brianna Turner raced toward the basket, leapt in the air, caught the lob pass from Lindsay Allen and quickly tossed it in the basket.
Next trip down the floor, Turner took another high pass from Jewell Loyd for the alley-oop layup as the Irish jumped to a quick 7-0 lead against Boston College. Turner scored two more baskets on lob passes from teammates in the opening six minutes and she finished with 21 points during a 104-58 rout of the Eagles on Sunday.
"They just throw the ball to the backboard and I just tipped it in," Turner said.
Boston College guard Nicole Boudreau said she finds it hard to believe Turner is only 6-foot-3.
"I felt like she was 6-7 with just how long she is," said Boudreau, who finished with 10 points. "We couldn't find an answer for that in the first half."
Boston College coach Erik Johnson said it's a style of play unfamiliar to women's basketball.
"It's different throwing to someone who can catch the ball up there," Johnson said. "You watch the NBA guys get used to just throwing some of those drive-and-dish passes, whereas in the women's game we're still accustomed to throwing bounce passes."
It wasn't just Turner, though. Kathryn Westbeld, another freshman, matched her season-high with 15 points and four other Irish finished in double figures as the Irish outscored Boston College 52-12 in the paint and outshot the Eagles 58 percent to 33 percent.
Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said it was the best the Irish have played this season, especially in the first half.
"I was really pleased with the rebounding, the defense and the offense. You can see glimmers. There's been moments. But that's the first time we've had a whole half of it. That was really good to see," she said.
Notre Dame (15-2, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) hadn't been dominant in recent games, needing to rally from nine points down to beat Florida State 74-68, trailed late in the first half against Syracuse and trailed by as many as 22 before losing to Miami 78-63.
"I thought it was really important to get our confidence back," McGraw said. "We were really just shattered after that last game. There were so many things that didn't go well. It was really great to be firing on all cylinders."
Johnson said he told the Eagles (8-8, 0-3) they need to try to emulate the Irish.
"Their lapses are small and their stretches of excellence are long," he said.
Emilee Daley led Boston College with 12 points as the Eagles were held to a season-low in points. Ashley Kelsick added 11. Kelly Hughes, Boston College's leading scorer at 15.7 points a game, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with nine points.
Madison Cable added 14 points for the Irish, Mychal Johnson had 13 and Michaela Mabrey and Loyd had 11 each.
The Eagles last beat Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2006. Overall, Boston College is 5-15 against the Irish. The Eagles had lost the previous four games against Notre Dame by an average of 35.3 points.
Diamond Thompson was in uniform for the first time since injuring her calf at DePaul on Dec. 10. She got in the game with four minutes left.
Notre Dame won its 12th straight after a double-digit loss.
The 104 points is the most the Irish have scored against the Eagles.
Forward Taya Reimer, who started Notre Dame's first 15 games, was at the game Sunday after missing the game at Miami for personal reasons. She wasn't in uniform, though, after not practicing in recent days.
McGraw said she expects Reimer to be at practice Monday. McGraw said she allowed Reimer to take time off to think about some things. McGraw said Reimer never expressed an interest to her in transferring.
"She was concerned. She wants to play well. She's a really good player, she has a lot of talent. We had a really good conversation about how we're going to get there."
Notre Dame plays at No. 8 North Carolina on Thursday.


text:
Natural Riding
Forlagets beskrivelse:
Natural Riding provides a refreshing new approach to improved riding performance through the development of greater harmony between horse and rider. The emphasis is on the rider's increased awareness, improved relaxation and a more positive attitude, rather than on instruction imposed from outside.
· A new approach to riding – 'inner learning' techniques. · Promotes greater harmony between horse and rider. · Of benefit to novices, experienced riders and coaches. · 146 explanatory photographs and line drawings.


text:
For publicly traded companies, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires an audit of internal controls. The purpose of an internal control evaluation is to evaluate risk, which offers auditors a….
The Leslie Fay Companies was a women's apparel manufacturer established by Fred Pomerantz, a former Women's Army Corps uniform maker during World War II. Despite the "volatile and intensely competitive" (Knapp 34) nature of the industry, Leslie Fay grew to have the second largest annual sales compared to any of the other publicly owned women's apparel manufacturers, only behind Liz Claiborne. Fred Pomerantz hired Paul Polishan for a position in the accounting department where Polishan befriended Pomerantz's son, John.
After Fred Pomerantz's death in 1982, John Pomerantz became CEO and chairman of the board, having been president of the company and overseeing operations ten years prior. Polishan was also promoted and became the company's CFO and senior vice president of finance. Although Leslie Fay's headquarters was situated in New York City's garment district, the accounting office was off-site in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Polishan was known for his "strict and autocratic" (33) rule in this location, demanding much from his employees and tolerating very little.
In Polishan's absence, the accounting office was run by Donald Kenia, the company controller. Contrary to Polishan's demeanor, Kenia was meek and soft-spoken.
The women's apparel industry suffered during the late 80s and early 90s due to the "casualization" (Knapp 35) of American fashion as well as the economic recession. The desire for more casual-looking clothes led to declining sales of dresses and other high-end attire. The recession also caused "many consumers to curtail their discretionary expenditures, including the purchase of new clothes" (35). This was a major blow to Leslie Fay's principal customers—department stores. When some of these department stores filed for bankruptcy, Leslie Fay incurred material losses. "In October 1991, John Pomerantz announced that Leslie Fay had achieved record earnings for the third quarter of the year" (36). These earnings were achieved despite the crippling economic situation and John Pomerantz's old-fashioned business practices that shunned "extensive market testing" (35) and the use of computers. While many competitors were financially struggling, Leslie Fay was growing. On January 29, 1993, Polishan informed Pomerantz of a major financial issue; apparently Kenia had "secretively carried out" (Knapp 36) an accounting hoax for several years, overstating earnings "by approximately $80 million from 1990 through 1992" (33) and submitting "approximately $130 million of bogus entries" (39). Leslie Fay's inventory was inflated, understating cost of goods sold and therefore increasing the gross profit margin.
In addition to the forging of "inventory tags for nonexistent products" (39) and the fabrication of "large amounts of bogus in-transit inventory" (39), orders were prerecorded, discounts were omitted from financial statements, and expenses and liabilities at the period-end were not reported. Almost all of Leslie Fay's journal entries relating to cost were tampered with in some way. Donald Kenia claimed full responsibility for the fraud, but because of his compliant nature and low stakes in the company, many believed this to be false. Polishan, as CFO, "was directly responsible for the integrity of Leslie Fay's accounting records" (Knapp 37), and since he ruled the accounting office with an iron fist, he was thought to have played a greater role in the scam. Kenia lacked an obvious incentive in orchestrating this large-scale fraud since he was not compensated based on earnings, but other executives, such as Polishan and Pomerantz, who owned a significant amount of shares in company stock, did benefit. They received "substantial year-end bonuses, in some cases bonuses larger than their annual salaries, as a result of Kenia's alleged scam" (34).
Pomerantz and Polishan claimed to have known nothing about these accounting errors. After the fraud was uncovered, the audit committee investigated and released a report that exonerated Pomerantz (40), but Kenia later confessed, in opposition to his original testimony, that Polishan "had overseen and directed every major facet of the fraud" (42). Polishan and Kenia were convicted. In 1997, Leslie Fay was ruled to pay $34 million in settlements and filed for bankruptcy, but the company was able to return to a "profitable condition" (42) before being bought out in 2001. The role of Leslie Fay's external auditor in the midst of this fraud naturally comes into question. BDO Seidman had been Leslie Fay's "audit firm since the mid-1970s and issued unqualified opinions each year on the company's financial statements" (Knapp 39).
After the revealing of the fraud, BDO Seidman withdrew these unqualified opinions for 1990 and 1991. The accounting firm took on a similar defense to that of John Pomerantz, claiming themselves as victims of deception. Leslie Fay stockholders sued BDO Seidman for reckless auditing in 1993. Leslie Fay's financial statements had been "replete with red flags" (40), contributing to the lawsuits. These pending legal battles led to questionable auditor independence, thus causing BDO Seidman to resign as Leslie Fay's auditor. Numerous misstatements in almost all cost and liability line items leads to the question of whether the lack of sufficient internal controls was largely responsible for the fraud and if the external auditor's failure to check Leslie Fay's internal controls caused them to miss such errors.
Business Risk Assessment
Nature of the Entity
The Leslie Fay Companies was a publicly traded firm on the New York Stock Exchange in the business of manufacturing women's apparel. From its inception, Leslie Fay's focus was on producing "moderately priced and conservative dresses for women aged 30 through 55" (Knapp, 34). In 1982, John Pomerantz, son of Fred, became the company's CEO and chairman of the board following a leveraged buyout after the death of his father. The firm re-listed on the NYSE in 1986. Pomerantz, Polishan, and other company executives held large portions of company stock, and as a result, they had a direct financial interest in the continued financial success of Leslie Fay. Top executives were also the recipients of frequent and large year-end bonuses. In some cases, these bonuses were greater than their annual salaries.
Structurally, the company CFO and controller, Polishan and Kenia, had large overriding powers over financial data. Internal controls were severely lacking, allowing management to skew almost all transactions related to cost. Polishan "'dominated' Kenia through intimidation and fear" (Knapp 42), convincing Kenia to inflate Leslie Fay's gross margins. Until the fraud was uncovered, Leslie Fay produced the second largest earnings in the industry, placing the company in the leaderboard.
Industry, Regulatory, & external factors
To understand the position of Leslie Fay in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it is important to look at the state of the women's fashion industry at that time. Leslie Fay's key competitors included Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, and others. However, the firm's top rival was Liz Claiborne, "the only publicly owned women's apparel manufacturer in the late 1980s that had larger annual sales than Leslie Fay" (Knapp 34). The firm's principal customers, which were also shared by its competitors, were the large department store chains. Several industry trends contributed to economic hardship. The most impactful of these trends was the "casualization" (Knapp 35) of America. This was a trend that had developed a few years earlier and was in full force by the late '80s. Millions of consumers began to shun the traditional notions of women's fashion and opted instead to dress in more comfortable clothing. This movement began with younger women but then hit women in the 30 to 55 year-old segment, Leslie Fay's target market. More specifically, this shift toward casual clothing significantly impacted women's dress sales.
In the early 1970s dress sales began to decline as a result of the popularity of pantsuits, and by the late 1980s the shift toward casualwear had permanently damaged the sales of dresses. All of this was bad news for Leslie Fay. Since they were a manufacturer of "stylishly conservative dresses," (Knapp 34) they were stuck in a current towards casual clothing with a business model attempting to swim upstream. The culture of deregulation in the United Sates that began in the 1970s, took off in the 1980s, and flourished in the 1990s and early 2000s had an affect on the financial and accounting departments of many companies. Specifically regarding accounting, the PCAOB did not exist until 2002. This meant the lack of a regulatory body to oversee the creation of and compliance with accounting and auditing standards. In addition, law did not yet require the modern, SOX-created version of the audit committee, responsible for the hiring and firing of the external auditors among other things.
The CFO and CEO were not required to personally attest (with a signature) to the accuracy of the company's financial statements, giving them less accountability. The overall lack of accountability for CFOs and CEOs and the more laid-back approach that auditors took during that time period enabled Leslie Fay's scandal to pass through unnoticed for that long. A variety of external factors influenced Leslie Fay. Most important was the recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The recession only heightened the problems in the women's fashion industry, as consumers began to watch their spending and spent less on new clothes.
There was an overall economy-wide decline in retail spending, which hurt business for the major department stores that were Leslie Fay's customers. As a result of weak retail sales, many department store chains were forced to either merge with competitors or to liquidate. This hurt Leslie Fay because the surviving department stores, with which the firm did business, "wrangled financial concessions from their suppliers" (Knapp 35). As Leslie Fay's primary customers took hits during the economic recession, the manufacturing firm also suffered great losses.
Internal Control
From the information presented in the case by Knapp, it is evident that Leslie Fay did not have an effective system of internal controls. First and foremost is the fact that the firm's accounting offices were located 100 miles away from corporate headquarters. Being this far away from the Garment District in Manhattan would have made it difficult for internal and external auditors to have a complete understanding of how Leslie Fay's business operated since they could not physically observe it. In addition, most accounting personnel located in PA could not discuss issues face-to-face with people in corporate headquarters. Paul Polishan made frequent trips to New York, however he was ultimately responsible for orchestrating the accounting fraud, and his autocratic leadership style exacerbated the issue.
Anyone who asked for records had to immediately answer to Polishan, providing a reason why they needed to know that information. This gave Polishan the possible ability to cover up information before anyone else could see them. Leslie Fay also had a lack of any type of information technology system. In an age where it had become commonplace in the industry to use computer networks to monitor daily sales, the firm was still making calls to customers on a weekly basis to record sales numbers (Knapp 35).
This made it easier to manipulate sales and inventory numbers towards the end of accounting periods, especially when considering Polishan's conviction, because a lack of IT meant less-precise numbers. In addition, the accounting offices in PA were not up to speed with modern data processing; rather they did more work by hand. Lastly, the extent of the influence that Polishan had over Kenia, the controller, and ultimately the entire accounting process, indicated a lack of checks and balances within the system. Knapp states in the case that Kenia and other subordinates followed any order given by Polishan simply due to his intimidation factor. A good system of internal controls would guard against this, a key arrangement Leslie Fay clearly lacked.
Objectives, Strategies, & Business Risks
Leslie Fay had received complaints from consumers that its clothing line was too "old-fashioned," "matronly," and "overpriced" (Knapp, 36). Given these circumstances, the firm should have sought to revamp their product line and manufacture more trendy clothing while staying true to the basic ideas about fashion that Leslie Fay was known for. Unfortunately for the company, John Pomerantz insisted on doing business the old-fashioned way and relied on himself and his designers to forecast fashion trends. This might have worked had Pomerantz known what the overall trend in the women's fashion industry was, but he did not make use of market testing to see what women were really looking for in clothing. The firm faced many business risks during this time period. The recession heightened competition as many firms were all targeting the same market segment that was spending less on new clothing.
There was also pressure to overcome Liz Claiborne as the sales leader in the industry. Leslie Fay was also pushed to develop trendier clothing in a changing set of consumer demands. The liquidation and mergers of department stores led to many write-offs and loss of income for the manufacturing firm. Leslie Fay was also subject to less-advantageous sales terms forced upon them by the stores such as longer payment terms, more lenient return policies, and increased financial assistance (Knapp 35).
As always, the pressure is on keeping costs down in the market they are in. Since they aimed for moderately priced clothing, the firm needed to drive down costs in order to make a profit on their merchandise. The firm had to keep sales and profits up all while factoring in these changes in the economy and in their specific marketplace. Leslie Fay faced the pressures of meeting analysts' projections, since they were a publicly traded company. If they did not meet projections, they were subject to a loss of investor capital. Healthy financial numbers were also important to maintain for the sake of keeping creditors happy. The firm needed financing from both lenders and investors in its common stock to support the design and manufacture of its clothing.
Entity Performance Measures
The state of the economy and industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to reduced spending, which would have translated to lower sales and earnings for most firms in the fashion industry. However, as noted in the case and as seen by Leslie Fay's financials, the firm was achieving record earnings despite a slow retail industry (Knapp 36). Some key financial ratios and observations are presented in Exhibit 1. An analysis of these ratios shows that, according to Leslie Fay's doctored financial statements, they were more liquid than the industry average, but less solvent.
They had lower inventory, accounts receivable, and asset turnover ratios than the industry, and the ages of their inventory and accounts receivable were higher than the industry average. Their gross margin percentage was about on par with industry average, however they showed a higher profit margin on their sales (by 1.31%) as well as a significantly higher ROA (9.79% higher). Their ROE was lower than the industry average. A higher profit margin on sales, together with decreased sales from 1990 to 1991, suggests that Leslie Fay manipulated cost-side entries.
Fraud Triangle
Changes in consumer behavior of the women's apparel industry pressured Leslie Fay as it suffered a decline in customers in the 1970s and 1980s. During this time, fashion trends were shifting to become more casual, and new styles included more comfortable, well-worn garments like jeans and t-shirts. Even Leslie Fay's target market of women between the ages of 30 and 55 were dressing more casually and purchasing less dresses. As one-third of Leslie Fay's total sales are attributed to dresses, Leslie Fay felt the pressure of the change in the apparel industry (The Leslie Fay Company Inc. History). It was also affected by the economic recession of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The company's major customers, department store chains, experienced a decline in retail spending due to this recession (Knapp 35).
The financial strain on department stores caused them to demand financial concessions from suppliers like Leslie Fay. The company was asked to allow the department stores longer payment terms and more lenient return policies, and to provide more financial assistance for in-store displays, kiosks, and apparel boutiques (Knapp 35). Retailers criticized Leslie Fay of manufacturing clothes that were overpriced and old-fashioned. The company was forced to give rebates to wholesale customers that could not sell all of the apparel they had purchased. Pressure from retailers created an environment that burdened Leslie Fay with finding new ways to keep up profits.
Executive compensation is another incentive to commit fraud. Executives including Pomerantz and Polishan had substantial interests in the Leslie Fay Companies as they owned large blocks of the company's stock. In addition, executive bonuses were extremely generous, sometimes exceeding annual salaries (Knapp 34). Top executives whose financial interests were heavily invested in Leslie Fay through stock ownership and these large bonuses were more likely to commit fraud for their own personal benefit.
A significant aspect of Leslie Fay's operations was the geographical difference between corporate headquarters and the accounting offices. Corporate headquarters were located in Manhattan, while the accounting offices were 100 miles northwest in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Paul Polishan dominated the Wilkes-Barre office, nicknamed "Poliworld," as the CFO and senior vice president of finance. This physical separation between the accounting department and other executives and top management created an opportunity for fraud. Finance and accounting employees were not as closely supervised as those in the corporate headquarters due to this geographical disconnect.
This also limited the internal controls that could be implemented over the accounting department (Knapp 33). Public accounting firms were not yet regulated by Sarbanes-Oxley, creating an opportunity for Leslie Fay Companies to commit Fraud. SOX mandates that public companies obtain an integrated audit, including an audit of financial statements and internal controls over financial reporting (Messier 43). BDO Seidman was not required to conduct an audit of internal controls as there was no existing regulation. This means that management's actions relating to financial reporting were not necessarily being investigated by its external auditor. This lack of regulation affected the audit procedures performed by BDO Seidman, which left the internal control system unchecked.
Paul Polishan's dominating personality made him a powerful influence over his subordinates, especially Donald Kenia. Polishan strictly ruled the Wilkes-Barre offices and when senior managers from the corporate headquarters asked him for financial information he often demanded the reason they needed the information (Knapp 33). This defensiveness which should have been a red flag created an environment where people were hesitant to question Polishan. The relationship between Kenia and Polishan was also closely examined during the investigation of Leslie Fay. Kenia claimed to have been "dominated" by Polishan through intimidation and fear (Knapp 42). Polishan's daunting personality allowed him to intimidate Kenia and his staff into falsifying financial transactions and commit fraud. Polishan's dominance at Leslie Fay put a strain on internal controls.
Case Questions
1. A common size balance sheet and income statement, as well as key financial ratios are detailed in Exhibits 2 through 4. Key ratios that should draw auditor attention include inventory turnover and age of inventories, accounts receivable turnover and age of accounts receivable, gross margin, and profit percentage. The low and continuously decreasing inventory turnover and similar accounts receivable turnover that the ratio spreadsheet shows means that inventory is sitting for 85.68 days in stock before it is sold, and when it is eventually sold Leslie Fay is not receiving the money owed to them for 56.33 days. While this is to be expected in the recession that the company was facing during this time period, it is significantly longer than the industry averages of 53.7 days for inventory and 45.5 days for accounts receivable.
This should draw auditor attention to the inventory and accounts receivable lines on the balance sheet, making sure they are valued correctly and completely, including appropriate allowances. With customers buying less and taking longer to pay for it, how does the company maintain the steady gross margin and profit margin in line with and exceeding industry norms, respectively? This is the key question that should have drawn auditor attention and where auditors should have exercised their professional skepticism. Decreasing inventory turnover and accounts receivables turnover is to be expected in hard times when customers want to buy less and some are even going bankrupt, but more attention should have been focused on how Leslie Fay managed to exceed the rest of the industry in profit margin (Leslie Fay's 3.5% compared to the industry average of 2.2%) under these conditions.
2. In addition to the balance sheet, income statement, and financial ratios, an auditor would like to have other key financial information to perform the actual audit. For the auditor to decide what additional financial information was needed, he would first perform a comparison similar to that in Question 1, which evaluated the risks on the financial statements, especially in relation to industry norms. Through this analysis, the auditor would have decided that physical inventory counts and substantive analysis of the inventory would be important information to have because Leslie Fay is a merchandising company whose business completely relies on its inventory. During a recession, it would also be important to verify sales and the gross margin, to ensure that gross margin is actually higher than industry averages as the company claims.
The auditor should scan for large and unusual entries, especially at the end of the period, to ensure that Leslie Fay is not just manufacturing additional inventory at the end of the period to bring down the cost of goods sold. Auditors should also confirm sales with the customers both for occurrence and completeness of the transactions that were recorded. During this check it would be important to read sales contracts to ensure that revenue was recognized accordingly. Finally, the auditor would need to verify that Leslie Fay included a large enough allowance for doubtful accounts. During this period there was a recession and many customers were unable to pay or were going out of business, a major concern for company.
3. When evaluating a company's industry, it is important to note the current economy and the riskiness of the industry itself. Even before the recession hit, Leslie Fay was not big on change; it did business without the use of much technology or consumer tracking, even in the accounting departments. In the highly volatile fashion industry, how did Leslie Fay cope with constantly changing styles and tastes? They tried to predict changing styles on their own, without any tracking of consumer preferences to help guide them (Knapp 35). Leslie Fay was taking a risky approach to a risky market. As the economy declined, this fashion industry only became more risky. The industry was clearly in a downfall due to the recession and the culture's movement away from dresses, both of which caused a decrease in how many dresses were purchased by retail customers.
In this kind of market, it would be important for the auditors to not only gather non-financial information about Leslie Fay and the fashion industry, but they should also gather information about Leslie Fay's clients, the big department stores, to determine whether or not they will be able to pay for outstanding accounts receivable. This information would help determine an appropriate allowance for doubtful accounts, which would influence the amount of sales recorded in the income statement and the accounts receivable balance on the balance sheet.
The downward pressure on the industry would greatly increase the incentives and pressures to maintain good financials, which in turn, would increase the risk of fraud. All of these factors should influence the type and quantity of the tests performed by the auditors. Auditors should confirm purchases with customers, and inquire inside and outside the firm for how Leslie Fay products fit in the market. The downturn of the economy should also increase the testing done to the sales account to ensure that they actually happened to answer this question: How did Leslie Fay profit when all other companies in the market were losing revenue?
4. As previously mentioned, Paul Polishan played a very dominant role in the accounting and finance departments in addition to his subordinates at Leslie Fay. When there is such a dominant person at the top, especially one that has great control over subordinates, the reliability of the financial information decreases. The commanding figure decreases the checks and balances within the company that ensure correct information, which increases opportunities for fraud. Auditors need to recognize this figure and plan accordingly to inquire about company information from both internal and external independent sources, keeping in mind that the dominant person could also compromise internal inquiries. The auditors must recognize the authoritative force and try to examine the aspects that he had definite control over deeper. The auditor should seek out the motivations that the dominant player may have and examine areas that he would want to have altered.
For example, Polishan's personal income was greatly influenced by stock price, meaning that he would want to inflate profits to increase market value. Auditors must, therefore, decrease detection risk and sample potentially affected accounts more. The auditor should then take the time to carefully evaluate management assertions about completeness, rights and obligations, valuation and allocation, and existence of account balances and transactions that have taken place. Overall, the auditors need to begin to audit a company with a dominant figure like Polishan with a good level of professional skepticism, realizing that the tone at the top decreased the internal controls and they will have to increase the amount of testing and inquiring done to get an accurate picture of the company's financials.
5. Independence and objectivity are two of the most important external auditor characteristics. The SEC ruled that BDO Seidman's independence had been jeopardized by the lawsuits that named BDO Seidman and Leslie Fay as defendants because of the lack of objectivity that the accounting firm would have if they performed the next year's external audit. Because the shareholders' lawsuit against them put BDO Seidman and Leslie Fay on the same side, BDO Seidman now had a personal stake in Leslie Fay's financial statements and was no longer independent of the firm's financials. If BDO Seidman were to perform the audit, the shareholders would not be able to rely on or trust the financial statements; they would assume that BDO Seidman would alter the auditing process to their benefit.
The lawsuit was not the only object of conflicting interest between BDO Seidman and Leslie Fay. GAAS #2 states that an external auditor must be independent in the way of thinking. After the fraud was revealed, BDO Seidman retracted two unqualified opinions for the past two years and publicly stated that they were victims of the Leslie Fay fraud, blaming Leslie Fay's upper management for the entire scheme. This blame game back and forth between Leslie Fay and BDO Seidman clearly eliminates any possibility for auditors to go into a Leslie Fay audit with an independent mindset.
Additional Questions
1. The fraud would have been more detectable to the external auditors had SOX been implemented at that time. Howard Schilit, a forensic accounting specialist, "suggested…that Leslie Fay's financial data had been replete with red flags" (Knapp 40), indicating that enough irregularities were present to justify further scrutiny. One of the largest components of SOX is the investigation of internal controls. Such an investigation would have helped the external auditors realize that the information they were given was not fully reliable. BDO Seidman should have evaluated the checks in Leslie Fay's system, making sure that neither Donald Kenia, the controller, nor Paul Polishan, the CFO and senior vice president of finance, were able to tamper with the financial data without regulation.
The lack of any sort of IT system due to the CEO's particular affinity to "old-fashioned" (Knapp 35) tradition also gave more power to executive management—they had absolute control over the financial data without electronic evidence of tampering. The numerous red flags described by Schilit make it apparent that BDO lacked professional skepticism in this case, resulting in the unqualified audit reports for Leslie Fay's financial statements.
2. The proper execution of audit tests would have enabled BDO Seidman to uncover the accounting errors. Inquiry of Leslie Fay personnel would have quickly indicated that Polishan had absolute control over the financial data, causing the auditor to then test internal controls. An observational inspection of the application of internal controls should have been administered so BDO Seidman could see what checks Leslie Fay had in place to regulate their financial data. If this was properly observed, executive management's control over the fraud may have been revealed. Many substantive procedures could have been implemented to further uncover errors. A test of details would have shown errors in all the major line items regarding cost and liabilities. Substantive tests of individual transactions, such as with purchase invoices, could show that the inventory reportedly in-transit did not actually exist.
A walkthrough and inspection of documents and activities would reveal that much of the inventory reported was falsely recorded because there would be no organic process in which actual inventory entered the warehouse and was recorded—since they were fabricated, the observer would have recognized this key step. A test of account balances would also show that the inventory on hand did not match up to the reported amounts. Substantive analytical procedures are key in this case. Due to poor economic circumstances and competitor struggles, a red flag should have been raised when Leslie Fay continued to report earnings growth but failed to explain how.
Since bonuses were tied to earnings, executives had incentive to inflate their numbers. Pomerantz's "total salary and bonuses of "3.6 million [was] three times more than the 1991 compensation of Liz Claiborne's CEO, whose company reported sales more than double those of Leslie Fay's" (Knapp 40). BDO should have compared Leslie Fay to other companies in the women's apparel industry, noting differences in trend lines. The gargantuan bonuses may have indicated that company operations were not management's largest concern.
The accounting fraud engineered by Paul Polishan, CFO and SVP of finance at Leslie Fay, undoubtedly tarnished the reputation of Leslie Fay and its management, as well as BDO Seidman as its auditor. Many factors ultimately contributed to the $80 million accounting hoax that was finally uncovered in the early 1990s. One of the major factors included a severe lack of internal controls. No employee would contest the domineering Polishan, especially the second-in-command at the office, Donald Kenia, the controller. In addition, whenever an employee or management at the corporate headquarters would request financial information from Polishan, he would question them about why they needed the information, which should have been a sign that perhaps something illegal was happening behind the scenes. Not only was there a large communication problem between the executives of the company, but also the lack of transparency between executives was astounding, as other executives were in the dark concerning the fraud. Leslie Fay's continued success in a struggling women's fashion industry should have sparked BDO Seidman to look more closely into the financial information provided by Polishan, and perhaps conduct substantive analytical procedures on a more detailed level.
BDO Seidman also should have actively compared Leslie Fay to its close competitors, and the industry as a whole, to see that key financial ratios did not match the general trend. The opportunity and incentives for Paul Polishan to commit fraud were both present. The physical distance of Polishan from headquarters opened up a large opportunity for him to commit fraud. In addition, he had an employee willing to take the fall for him when the fraud was uncovered. With this opportunity, Polishan was able to evade bad financial statements that the declining women's fashion industry would have given him and increase his bonus, which was tied directly to the earnings of Leslie Fay. Had the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) legislation been implemented prior to the accounting scandal at Leslie Fay, the fraud would have been more easily detectable. SOX would have held executives accountable for the accuracy of financial statements The external auditor would also have been held to a higher standard of providing reasonable assurance as to the accuracy of the company financial statements.
Even though BDO Seidman only provided an "unqualified opinion" on the accuracy of the statements, SOX would have prevented BDO Seidman from being so careless in their auditing of Leslie Fay. Lastly, SOX would have required an in-depth review of internal controls, which Leslie Fay was lacking. The lack of internal controls at Leslie Fay, and BDO Seidman's ignorance of this problem, was a major contribution to the fraudulent accounting scheme that took place. If the external auditor, BDO Seidman, had performed a proper review of Leslie Fay's internal controls, they would have uncovered a complete lack of said controls, including a lack of checks and balances between top management. This deficiency caused a major disconnect between the CFO and other company executives, with the critical problem being information asymmetry between the two parties.
The accounting offices of Leslie Fay were located a hundred miles from the corporate headquarters, furthering the gap between the CFO and other top management, and not allowing the accounting team to physically see the operations of the company. Additionally, Leslie Fay lacked any type of information technology system, and instead tracked daily sales and inventory counts by hand. This allowed for easier manipulation of data linked to the earnings process of the company. As seen through the situation at Leslie Fay, strong internal controls, and the regulation of these controls, is essential to the uncovering and prevention of fraud within any company. The effectiveness of the internal controls should be tested by the external auditor, as well as periodically evaluated by executives of the company.


text:
Your shopping cart is empty.
From all us at Contemporary Art Gallery Online, to you and your family.
We wish peace, joy and wellness. Stay safe. And always take time to enjoy the art!
Your shopping cart is empty.
Contemporary Art Gallery Online
Showcasing Tomorrow's Art Giants, Today!
Happiness and color are apparent in her art, reflecting her personality and the vibrant atmosphere of the Texas Hill Country. With an unerring eye, she brings an imaginative approach to her interpretation of the world around her. Her wide subject range including landscapes, florals, animals and abstracts. Rhodes delights in surprising art lovers, who may not always know where her fancy will turn next. Rhodes is represented by a number of art galleries in Texas and beyond, and has been shown internationally. She attended Hunters School of Art in San Antonio and has studied with many of the country's leading artists, including Joseph Mendez, Scott Christensen, Matt Smith, Don Ward, Ray Vinella, and Ann Templeton.
"I take my art seriously, but not myself. My spontaneous and sometimes provocative perspective and ability to see the humor in situations makes my life and art more interesting."
This presence of this badge signifies that this business has officially registered with the Art Storefronts Organization and has an established track record of selling art.
It also means that buyers can trust that they are buying from a legitimate business. Art sellers that conduct fraudulent activity or that receive numerous complaints from buyers will have this badge revoked. If you would like to file a complaint about this seller, please do so here.
The Art Storefronts Organization has verified that this business has provided a returns & exchanges policy for all art purchases.
How To Return a Purchase? If you are not completely satisfied; you can return your art within seven days. Please save the original packaging when you receive the art. If you choose to return the art, repackage it in its original box and contact us at email@example.com or (844) 210-7722. We will then issue you a prepaid FedEx or UPS shipping label to affix to the box and return. Items must be shipped backed within seven days of receiving the order. 50% of the cost of the return will be deducted from your refund. If you live outside of the United States, please see below for the return procedure. Art that is returned damaged will not be refunded. Photographs and limited edition prints that are returned wrinkled, dented, or smudged due to mishandling will incur a handling fee based on the size of the piece. Outside the United States, How To Return a Purchase? If you are not completely satisfied; you can return your art within seven days. Please save the original packaging when you receive the art. If you choose to return the art, repackage it in its original box and contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com or (844) 210-7722. We will provide you with the return shipping address so that you can ship the artwork with the carrier of your choosing. You are responsible for the cost of return shipping and any customs and brokerage fees charged upon return. Items must be shipped within seven days of receiving the order. Receipt of a Damaged Piece of Art? We package all artwork in custom built art boxes to insure safe delivery, so receiving damaged art is a rare occurrence. If you receive a damaged piece of art, contact us within 24 hours, at firstname.lastname@example.com or (844) 210-7722. Please take a picture as well as save the box and all packaging material; we must have these items in order to process the claim.
This website provides a secure checkout with SSL encryption.
Become a member and be the first to receive new content and special promotions.
This is only visible to you because you are logged in and are authorized to manage this website. This message is not visible to other website visitors.
Click on any Image to continue
The above preview shows how to use the live preview on this website. The image displayed is just an example, and is not available for sale.
This means you can use the camera on your phone or tablet and superimpose any piece of art onto a wall inside of your home or business.
To use this feature, Just look for the "Live Preview AR" button when viewing any piece of art on this website!
Below, select which favorite lists you would like to save this product into.


text:
Dog bite is a serious problem and by it the created disease, rabies, is highly dangerous. More than 92,000 cases of dog bite had been reported across Sindh but hospitals had 6029 vials of vaccines.
In Chinese company where dog bites vaccines were brought has been closed since rabies had been eliminated in China. In India because of Kashmir present circumstances, the vaccine is not imported.
I request government of Pakistan to look out this burning issue and do the vaccines management.


text:
About Us
Mini Fish Kids Fashion is a children's clothing store established in 2008 when I had my daughter Taylor. I did learn how to sew at school, but never ignited my passion until I had a little human to sew for. I started in a bedroom at home making bibs and dresses, and before I knew it I was sewing for friends, family, doing local markets and opening pop up shops in Lower Hutt. I had my son a few years later and felt so grateful to be working from home and balancing work and family to suit us! They are now 10 and 7 and gymnastics mad, so naturally my business focus shifted to follow their interests and my first leotard was made about 4 years ago, I have since sewn 100s for girls and boys and recently moved into crop tops, shorts, ¾ and full length leggings too. What next?
Last year I tried to find a medal holder to display Taylors achievements but couldn't find one locally. I designed one and had it laser cut for her birthday and to gift to friends. After showing on my Facebook page I was overwhelmed with requests, so I had some made. If you are interested in having something different cut on top, please email me, you need to order ten to produce.
Then recently I fell in love with MADMIA Socks and decided to become a stockist, these are so vibrant and fun and fit everyone from kids size 5 to adults. Stay tuned as I have other items in the pipeline!
Please email me or PM through Facebook if you see something you like but not in your size. I will take on a small amount of custom orders each week while I build stock for sale.
I am incredibly grateful to enjoy the balance of working from home, picking up my kids after school and playing taxi mum while hearing about their days, thank YOU for making this happen.


text:
Wiley is the cutest Dalmatian pup, who wears his heart on his sleeve, well perhaps to be more accurate, on his nose. The one-year-old pup became very famous all over the internet for his unique heart-shaped marking which was squarely placed on his face, and his Instagram followers (over 120k followers) can't seem to get enough of him.
His human mom, 26-year-old Lexi Smith describes her pup as "54 pounds of goofy, clumsy, sassy, hungry, cuddly, curious, wild, crazy, silly, happy love." And she also added that "No amount of pictures on could ever fully capture all that he is and all that he means to me, he's my best friend."
Little Wiley the Dalmatian found his way to Lexi who lives in Colorado, from Oklahoma, on St. Patrick's Day in 2018. While his unique markings make him stand out of the crowd, Lexi states that it's not the reason that she chose him. Fortunately for Wiley, the four-legged energized bundle of fur, he and Lexi live in an area where he can release some of that energy.


text:
Big is beautiful. Watch this hour long BBW lesbian strap-on experience with curvaceous brunette Sydney Screams and black haired dyke Alexis Rain. They begin with some sensual dancing and grinding. Things get steamy as they make out and Alexis rips her underwear. The brunette wants to leave but she can't. A spanking session then ensues, her huge jello ass shaking and jiggling after each hit. While licking her pussy, the dyke's face completely disappears under meaty flesh. Soon she whips out the strap-on and begins fucking the bigger girl. Each of her thrust hard and intense. Enjoy the moans of pleasure from the unwilling participant.
Date: 2019-01-30
Time: 16:50:19


text:
Renton Sewer Repair
Beacon Plumbing Heating & Mechanical Inc. is a family owned and operated Renton Sewer Repair contractor serving the Renton, WA community since 1999.
Our services are available for residential and commercial sewer customers. We specialize in solving sewer, drain and septic pumping problems; and other plumbing issues.
Sewer Line Replacement Renton
There is no need to panic if your home or business place is facing the problem of clogged sewers and drains. Beacon Plumbing is here to help you. True to our motto 'Stop Freakin…Call Beacon', we will be with you within no time to rid you of your plumbing and sewer problems.
If your sewer lines is broken and you are in need of a sewer line replacement whether its a residential sewer line replacement or a commercial sewer line replacement you will know the full price before we start the job.
There will be no surprises once your sewer line repair is completed and the sewer line has been replaced. What we quoted you for the replacement of your sewer line will be the price.
The services offered by us include:
- Sewer line inspection, repair and replacement
- Drain and sewer cleaning
- Garbage disposal installation and repair
- Videoing and locating sewer lines
- Perma line sewer re-lining
- Rooter services
- Toilet plumbing inspection, installation, repair and replacement
- Clogged toilet cleaning
- Sewage pump repair and replacement
- Sewer clean-outs
- Kitchen and bathroom plumbing repair; and remodeling
- Water repair service
- Septic system repair
- P-Trap and S-Trap drain installation and repair
- Roof and storm drain cleaning
Sewer Line Repair Renton
Some of our special features are:
Emergency sewer line repair isn't the most ideal circumstance. Beacon Plumbing is open 24 Hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Many of our sewer experts live right here in Renton and our main shop is located in the Renton area. If you are facing an emergency sewer line repair situation there is no company most likely to get to your residential or commercial sewer line repair quicker than Beacon Plumbing. We offer fast same day emergency sewer line repair and we have a full team of expert sewer line repair experts. Call us now!
- Wide range of services related to plumbing, heating and sewer problems.
- 24 hour emergency services.
- Quick response, same day services.
- Reliable, effective and affordable services.
- Genuine estimates conveyed before start of project.
- Capable, trained and experienced sewer repair experts.
- Punctual, clean-cut and professional technicians.
- Use of high-tech plumbing & drain equipment and tools.
- Project planned according to customer's schedule and convenience.
- Military and Senior discounts; special promotions for Microsoft and Boeing employees.
- 12 month guarantee on all plumbing parts and labor.
- Assured customer satisfaction; over 150,000 happy clients.
Call Beacon Plumbing for the most efficient solution to your drain and sewer issues.
(206) 693-4302


text:
We are going to run a Bitcoin full node in a Debian system (Sid)
Download Bitcoin precompiled binaries
I download the Bitcoin Core binary suitable for my system architecture (e.g: linux amd 64 bits)
I download 64 bit version for linux:
$ wget https://bitcoincore.org/bin/bitcoin-core-0.14.2/bitcoin-0.14.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
Extract the tar ball:
$ tar xvzf bitcoin-0.14.2-x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz
Install the binaries in /usr/local/bin directory
$ sudo install -m 0755 -o root -g root -t /usr/local/bin bitcoin-0.14.2/bin/*
Run Bitcoin node
By now we are going to run only Bitcoin node with no graphical interface:
I create a new user to run the Bitcoin node
$ sudo adduser bitcoin_user
Then we log in with the new user
$ sudo login bitcoin_user
And launch the Bitcoin node (in daemon mode listening to commands):
bitcoin_user@my_box:~$ bitcoind -daemon
Bitcoin server starting
you can execute
$ bitcoind -server to accept RPC-JSON commands.
If you do not want to print the log to stdout:
$ bitcoind -printtoconsole=0 ...
Disable wallet functionality:
$ bitcoind -disablewallet ...
Disable network:
$ bitcoind -noconnect ...
Show help about bitcoin server options:
$ bitcoind -help
We can list configuration files:
$ cd .bitcoin
$ ls
banlist.dat bitcoind.pid blocks chainstate database db.log debug.log peers.dat wallet.dat
Data directory
bitcoin.conf configuration file
NOTE: Right now, if we do not open the necessary ports in the router we are only using our Bitcoin node as a wallet.
Communicate with the server using Bitcoin client for command line
Get general help:
$ bitcoin-cli help
Get help for a specific command:
$ bitcoin-cli help getinfo
$ bitcoin-cli getinfo
$ bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo
$ bitcoin-cli getnetworkinfo
$ bitcoin-cli getnettotals
$ bitcoin-cli getwalletinfo
$ bitcoin-cli getconnectioncount
To stop the Bitcoin server:
$ bitcoin-cli stop
List my accounts:
$ bitcoin-cli listaccounts
"": 0.00000000
NOTE: "" is the default account.
Get addresses for your default account:
$ bitcoin-cli getaddressesbyaccount ""
Validate an address:
$ bitcoin-cli validateaddress "1pXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
It shows public key, etc for that address.
Dump private key:
$ bitcoin-cli dumpprivkey "1pXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
It shows private key associated to that address. Be careful!!!
Show info about a block based on its hash:
$ bitcoin-cli getblock "0000000000000000038726af63010f9b3e8fa34ac75050d620d1253176ed88fc"
We recommend you to encrypt your wallet: How to encrypt and decrypt your Bitcoin wallet
If your wallet is encrypted, you need to enther the passphrase to execute dumpprivkey and other protected commands.
E.g: We enable the passphrase for 300 seconds:
$ bitcoin-cli walletpassphrase "my_pass_phrase" 300
Now we can dump the private key if we want to:
$ bitcoin-cli dumpprivkey "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
We can manually lock the wallet if we do not want to wait until timeout:
$ bitcoin-cli walletlock
How to perform a transaction
We will use sendtoaddress command:
$ bitcoin-cli help sendtoaddress
sendtoaddress "address" amount ( "comment" "comment_to" subtractfeefromamount )
Send an amount to a given address.
Requires wallet passphrase to be set with walletpassphrase call.
1. "address" (string, required) The bitcoin address to send to.
2. "amount" (numeric or string, required) The amount in BTC to send. eg 0.1
3. "comment" (string, optional) A comment used to store what the transaction is for.
This is not part of the transaction, just kept in your wallet.
4. "comment_to" (string, optional) A comment to store the name of the person or organization
to which you're sending the transaction. This is not part of the
transaction, just kept in your wallet.
5. subtractfeefromamount (boolean, optional, default=false) The fee will be deducted from the amount being sent.
The recipient will receive less bitcoins than you enter in the amount field.
"txid" (string) The transaction id.
> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd" 0.1
> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd" 0.1 "donation" "seans outpost"
> bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd" 0.1 "" "" true
> curl --user myusername --data-binary '{"jsonrpc": "1.0", "id":"curltest", "method": "sendtoaddress", "params": ["1M72Sfpbz1BPpXFHz9m3CdqATR44Jvaydd", 0.1, "donation", "seans outpost"] }' -H 'content-type: text/plain;' http://127.0.0.1:8332/
First we introduce wallet pass phrase if our wallet is encrypted:
$ bitcoin-cli walletpassphrase "my_wallet_pass_phrase" 500
We need to set a transaction fee amount in Bitcoins per kilo byte:
$ bitcoin-cli help settxfee
settxfee amount
Set the transaction fee per kB. Overwrites the paytxfee parameter.
1. amount (numeric or string, required) The transaction fee in BTC/kB
true|false (boolean) Returns true if successful
> bitcoin-cli settxfee 0.00001
> curl --user myusername --data-binary '{"jsonrpc": "1.0", "id":"curltest", "method": "settxfee", "params": [0.00001] }' -H 'content-type: text/plain;' http://127.0.0.1:8332/
URLs to find a suitable transaction fee:
Convert satoshis per byte into BTC per kB
When writing this article 200 satoshis per byte was a good value.
100000000 satoshis equal 1 Bitcoin.
200 satoshis per byte == 200000 satoshis per kB == 0.002 BTC per kB
As a general rule:
X satoshis per byte == X*1000 satoshis per kB == X/100000 BTC per kB
$ bitcoin-cli settxfee 0.002
$ bitcoin-cli getbalance
True in the end means fee will substract from transfered value so less than 0.05 BTC will arrive.
$ bitcoin-cli sendtoaddress "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" 0.05 "test" "to_destiny" true
It returns the transfer Id. You can use that Id to show info about the transaction
$ bitcoin-cli gettransaction "1eXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"
After transaction completed we can check balance:
$ bitcoin-cli getbalance
To show amount of bitcoins each of your addresses currently contains:
$ bitcoin-cli listunspent
You can find info about your address, transfer, etc in this URL:
Change address
If after a transaction the bitcoin node generates a change address which does not appear in current account, then
$ bitcoin-cli listunspent command won't show the new address and correct values.
$ bitcoin-cli listaddressgroupings will show the new address, among other used addresses.
To add the new change address to default account:
$ bitcoin-cli setaccount "1XXXXXXYYYYYYYYYZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ" ""
$ bitcoin-cli listunspent and
$ bitcoin-cli getaddressesbyaccount "" commands will work again.
How to run a bitcoin full node:
Secure your wallet:
Download bitcoin core:
Original Bitcoin client/API calls list:


text:
Sure, there are some stores which I have frequented in the past but sometimes it is great to go online and surf around to get new ideas and that was exactly what I did. I found several great sites where they have the most beautiful items you can imagine. I was thinking to myself, if only I could afford to buy every item I saw and liked, wouldn't that be great. Ha Ha.. Then I would have to get myself a bigger house to put all those new stuff.
I spent my entire lunch hour checking through the internet and I came across some very nice looking bookcases. I am sorely lacking these in the house. Currently my books and magazines in the house are stacked up on tables, on chairs and on the floor. A few times, in my haste, I have nearly managed to killed myself when I tripped over them…sigh.. I think it is high time I got a bookcase, for my sake. It is not that easy to look for bookcases as a lot of them will not able to stand the load of the books and in my experience, teak is the sturdiest. And I do love all wood that the pesky little termites hate. However, I saw the bookcase that I am looking on the internet.
I have seen how an old chair can be given a new life with just a cushion and a couple of soft throws. I think that is exactly what I will do. I don't think it is worthwhile for me to lug the old chair to the furniture repair shop to get it upholstered and lug it back again? Nah.. I think getting a few throws is a much better alternative. A piece like this is quite lovely. Ah, can you imagine it… with the rain falling outside and you are tucked in your old-new chair with a good book….mmm.. Now that is what I call life.
That reminds me, my reading room is also my
Now, all I need to do is to send an nice little email to my dear friend in UK to bring them back to me when he comes home this Christmas and that will be my Christmas present to ME :D.
Technorati Tags:furniture, household stuff, bookcases, throws, candle holders
Generated By Technorati Tag Generator


text:
Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.
Like rocket-packs and hover boards, the ability for a Canadian to vote in a federal election via the Internet continues to be a sci-fi dream.
"With elections it's unlike any other system in a cyber security system because everyone's a potential adversary -- the voters, the voting vendors, election officials, third parties. So you have to imagine how to protect against all those possibilities," explains Aleksander Essex, an Assistant Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Western Ontario
"Internet voting has been used at the national level in other countries, but none as big as Canada," says Nicole Goodman, Research Director, Centre for e-Democracy and Assistant Professor at the Munk School of Global Affairs. She has a list of factors that she says are stopping us from implementing it at the Federal level "from concerns about security and the process of authentication, to the reluctance of government to embrace digital technology to policy and scalability."
Goodman is also the director for the Internet Voting Project, a research project that looks at the effect of voting online in elections.
The only country that has used iVoting at the national level is Estonia, which has a population three per cent the size of Canada's.
Every Estonian adult is required to own a valid passport and also an ID card according to Mihkel Solvak, a researcher at the Institute of Government and Politics, at the University of Tartu.
"Every citizen (and legal resident) actually already owns the key ingredient of ivoting, a secure way to identify herself online. Voters tend to ivote quite quickly, the electoral authorities have reported that the whole process takes on average 90 seconds, so most voters cast a vote after identifying themselves in one and a half minutes. The voter can vote an unlimited number of times during the ivoting period with only the last ivote counting. This option is there to ensure that voters who might have been pressured to ivote in a specific way can revote later," said Solvak.
Solvak cites a Liberal party campaign promise as one of the driving forces for implementing iVoting in Estonia.
"In a nutshell one could say that a mixture of political, technical and social issues happened to coincide that all led to this voting mode being introduced."
Diane Benson, spokesperson for Elections Canada, says that a pilot project for Internet voting at the federal level was talked about in 2008, but is not being pursued at this time.
"We continue to study internet voting along with other innovative ways to vote but believe there are challenges related to the integrity, verifiability and the secrecy of internet voting," she said.
"Take every single cyber-security problem that you can think of an internet voting inherits them all," agrees Essex.
"A classic question I get all the time is -- I can bank online, why can't I vote online? And it comes down to the fact that they are fundamentally different problems. If you're willing to give up the secret ballot then you can vote online with a fair degree … the problem is that when you want to have something that is absolutely counted correctly on the one hand and absolutely preserving the privacy of voter on the other hand and then have them both at the same time, you get into a massive open technical problem that the entire research community hasn't solved in a robust way."
In their 2011 Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada asked Canadians for the main reason they did not vote in the May 2, 2011 federal election. Twenty-three per cent of respondents said they were too busy, 10.1 per cent said they were out of town and 8.5 per cent reported a disability or illness that precluded them from voting.
Could that 40 per cent of Canadians who did not vote be successful voters if iVoting existed this time around?
According to Goodman, Internet voting may not be the magic bullet we want it to be. "Literature produces mixed results as to whether internet voting impacts voter turnout. In the analysis of the 2010 Ontario municipal election, my research with my colleague Leah Stokes showed a 3.5 per cent increase."
Solvak on the other hand has high expectations for Estonian voting. He says that after 10 years of iVoting every third vote in Estonia is now cast online and he expects that number to grow.
But even if every eligible voter in Estonia voted via the Internet, it still wouldn't pose anywhere near the security risk that Canada faces with its 25 million eligible voters.
"It's like a vacuum cleaner for all types of vulnerabilities and adversaries. It's the final frontier of cyber security." Says Essex
Angela Misri is a freelance writer and digital producer. She is the author of Jewel of the Thames and she can be reached at @karmicangel.
Thank you for reading this story…
More people are reading rabble.ca than ever and unlike many news organizations, we have never put up a paywall – at rabble we've always believed in making our reporting and analysis free to all, while striving to make it sustainable as well. Media isn't free to produce. rabble's total budget is likely less than what big corporate media spend on photocopying (we kid you not!) and we do not have any major foundation, sponsor or angel investor. Our main supporters are people and organizations -- like you. This is why we need your help. You are what keep us sustainable.
rabble.ca has staked its existence on you. We live or die on community support -- your support! We get hundreds of thousands of visitors and we believe in them. We believe in you. We believe people will put in what they can for the greater good. We call that sustainable.
So what is the easy answer for us? Depend on a community of visitors who care passionately about media that amplifies the voices of people struggling for change and justice. It really is that simple. When the people who visit rabble care enough to contribute a bit then it works for everyone.
And so we're asking you if you could make a donation, right now, to help us carry forward on our mission. Make a donation today.
- Tell the truth and avoid rumours.
- Add context and background.
- Report typos and logical fallacies.
- Be respectful.
- Respect copyright - link to articles.
- Stay focused. Bring in-depth commentary to our discussion forum, babble.
- Use oppressive/offensive language.
- Libel or defame.
- Bully or troll.
- Post spam.
- Engage trolls. Flag suspect activity instead.


text:
Take a 3 hour gourmet dinner cruise on a high-end luxury yacht with the stunning skyline of Chicago as your backdrop. Climb aboard your recently renovated vessel, featuring a sumptuously-appointed rooftop lounge and stylish interior design, for your cruise along Lake Michigan. Then sit down for a 3-course dinner, informed by some of the world's top celebrity chefs and composed of fresh ingredients cooked right onboard. After dinner, enjoy coffee and tea, captivating views of Chicago landmarks such as the Willis (formerly Sears) Tower and John Hancock building, plus musical entertainment provided by the onboard DJ.
Spend an exceptional evening cruising the shoreline of Chicago onboard a luxury yacht, admiring the city's striking architecture as you enjoy a gourmet, 3-course dinner. It's the perfect way to spend a festive evening living it up with friends, family, or that special someone during your time in Chicago. Make your way to Navy Pier on the evening of your cruise, making sure to dress to impress for this festive evening. As you make your way through this famous entertainment complex, enjoy the bustling mix of pedestrians, street performers, and lakeshore views found at this famous pier. Then step onboard your yacht to begin your unforgettable evening. You'll have your picture taken by the ship photographer to help capture the moment. Then follow your host as you're whisked to your table for your meal. The servers will introduce themselves and offer you the chance to decide how you'd like them to pace your meal. Musical entertainment is provided by the onboard DJ, who will keep things lively with a mix that covers everything from classic jazz to more contemporary hits. When you have a few moments, make sure to explore the ship's luxurious design and amenities. Ranging from the temperature-controlled dining area to the observation deck, you're sure to notice the vessel's attention to detail and unique art-deco interior accents, most of which pay homage to the classic ocean liners of yesteryear. Make sure to also stop by the Captain's bridge, an area that's open to all guests for the majority of the cruise.


text:
To exchange your experience, select a product, add it to cart and proceed to checkout.
Once there, enter your voucher number to exchange for a different experience.
Vivid Sydney is the festival of spectacular lights, cutting edge music and innovative arts. Vivid Sydney 2019 will kick off on the 24th May - 15th June and with our range of experiences, you'll see it all! Discover the festival on board a harbour cruise, up high with a bridge climb or from a harbourside restaurant. Find Vivid Sydney deals and must do experiences at RedBalloon.
See the city come to life at night with Vivid Sydney. Officially kicking off 24th May until 15th June, Vivid Sydney 2019 is the festival of the year. See the lights, music and ideas from the best vantage points such as onboard a Vivid cruise, up high from the Sydney Harbour Bridge or from the ground at a delicious harbourfront restaurant.
Every year Vivid is getting bigger and better with new installations, art and projections with 2019 promising to be the best festival yet. Whether you're a Sydneysider looking for things to do during Vivid, or you're travelling from interstate or overseas and looking for the best ways to see it all, RedBalloon's range of experiences has every angle covered.
Jump on board a Vivid Sydney Harbour Cruise and see the dazzling installations without the long lines or huge crowds. Cruise to the offical Vivid playlist, discover famous Sydney sights and marvel at the illuminated foreshore. Or for an exclusive Vivid experience, break out your best moves on an illuminated dance floor like no other on top of the Sydney Harbour bridge. Wearing your flashing Vivid Climb vest, you'll climb the Bridge above the bright, bold and beautiful Vivid lights before dancing under the starts on 70's style dance floor.
There is so much to see and do this year at Vivid Sydney and you can find it all on RedBalloon. Make Vivid Sydney 2019 the year you tick off an amazing experience from your must do list.