Why spend money on the thing which is available for free. Now, there are many websites on the internet providing free movies. So, you do not need to spend your money in cinemas or on DVDs. Just search for them in a good search engine like Google or Yahoo because online movie websites are not at all difficult to find. Besides, watching movies online allows you to watch your favorite or update movies anytime you want.

You do not need to doubt the quality of movies available on the internet for free. There is no difference in quality between the DVD and the movie you are watching online. Even, you can enjoy movies released all over the world just by searching online for a certain movie by typing the movie title, a certain actor or other movie characteristics.

Or for you who are looking for some really old movies which you can not find at your nearest video store, many websites allow users to upload the movies.

One of the other good things about watching movie online is you can watch uncensored version of a particular movie that you were looking for, and that really attracts more people. All you need to have is only a high speed internet connection and a computer or laptop.

A huge number of people think that watching films over the internet is illegal and thus they fear the ultimate consequences. However, right now, there are licensed websites that allow you to download films and watch them online legally.

Legal sites usually require you to open account with them before you can get access to their movies. All you have to do is to register yourself as the website’s member and these sites will allow you to watch movies online. With these sites, you can enjoy your movies without worrying about pirated movies and illegal downloads.

At only just a few clicks away, searching for your favorite movie is just a piece of cake now.

Save your house, building and furniture from fire hazard with fire alarm. Fire alarm cannot be separated from flame detector. Flame detector will activate the alarm if they detect any heat or smoke in the certain room.

Francis Robbins Upton is the inventor of automatic fire alarm in 1890. The price of this product is quite expensive that makes not all of the people afford to buy this product. It uses a complicated design and it is uneasy to install.

Smoke detector has been improved from its first technology. The first smoke detector was invented by a Swiss Physicist, Walter Jaeger. This device was accidentally found when he wanted to make a sensor for poison gas. He frustrated because the device did not work well on a very small quantity of the poison gas. Then, he lit his cigarette. He was surprised since his device detected smoke from his cigarette.

Then, Duane D. Pearsall invented affordable smoke detector for house usage for the first time. This device needs battery to turn it on. It is easily replaced and installed. Thus, Duane built her first company in Lakewood, Colorado, namely Statirol Corporation.

Smoke detectors are sold in the market in 1969. At this period the price of the detector was very expensive that is why only business building and government building are equipped with this device. Due to the function of this device, today, almost all homes and building has been equipped with this device.

Some people complaint because their alarms do not work as the manufacturer’s claimed. The problem is that they forget to replace the battery or they install the device without the battery.

Hopefully, this article will help you to improve your house’s security. Have you equipped your house with this safety device? If the answer is yes, have you checked them regularly? Many fire hazards are happened because the user forgets to replace the battery.

Introduction

Medical massage therapy procedure consists of mobilization of skin, fascia and muscular tissue, trigger point therapy, and post-isometric relaxation techniques. Each of these modalities is equally important in order to reach rapid and sustained results. For decades, massive utilization of medical massage has proven to be a safe and very effective method of treatment for the support and movement system disorders, inner organ disorders, stress management, and more.

In the last few years, there have been numerous arguments in within the professional community about practitioners utilizing manual therapy and trigger point therapy. In recent professional publications many authors have been raising the following questions: Is a trigger point a formation of fibroconnective tissue in muscles? Have histological studies ever been done on trigger points? Is there a theory of peripheral nerve pain at the motor end plate a new theory and the only theory? Are ischemic compression techniques for trigger point therapy safe and effective?

The brief answers on aforementioned questions are:

1. Fibroconnective tissue formation in muscles is myogelosis, an incurable muscular pathology.

2. In many cases myogelosis is the result of inadequate treatment of trigger points.

3. A trigger point is a pinpoint localization of pain that can be found in muscles, connective tissue, and periosteum. The morphology of this point of pain is such that the demand of blood supply is much higher than the actual blood supply.

4. The theory of peripheral nerve pain at the motor end plate is not a new theory.

5. Any theory must be supported by clinical output.

6. Ischemic compression as a method of trigger point therapy has been proven by at least 4 decades of massive utilization as a safe and effective method.

7. Ischemic compression techniques are applied by gradually increasing pressure, thus excluding the possibility of doing harm to the patient and to the therapist.

In the search for true understanding of pathophysiology, the body’s sophistication and complexity requires us to take an integrative approach to any issue. Thus I would like to present to the reader a short scientific review of the trigger point issue and the trigger point therapy concept.

The Nature of Trigger Points

There is no statement in the modern scientific literature that calls a trigger point a “taut band of fibro-connective tissue.” However, it was once used in the late 19th/early 20th century until histological studies conducted by German scientists (Glogowski, and Wallraff, 1951; Miehlke et al., 1950) showed that there is no connective tissue proliferation (myogelosis) in the area of a trigger point in muscles. “In our opinion, fibrositis (in regard to trigger points) has become a hopelessly ambiguous diagnosis… is best avoided” (Travell, Simons, 1983). However, connective tissue will grow between muscle fibers when a core of the myogelosis is formed (Glogowski, and Wallraff, 1951). Myogelosis is a clinical outcome of years of reactivation of the active trigger point in the same area. At the same time, trigger point therapy is useless if the core of the myogelosis is already formed.

In 1843, for the first time, the German physician Dr. F. Froriep described trigger points as painful formation in skeletal muscles. In 1921 another German scientist, Dr. H. Schade, examined them histologically and formed the concept of myogelosis. In 1923 the British physician Dr. J. Mackenzie offered the first pathophysiological explanation of the trigger point formation mechanism and formulated the concept of the reflex zones in the skeletal muscles where the central and peripheral nervous system play a critical role. The reflex zones concept was further developed by the American scientist Prof. I. Korr in 1941 in a series of brilliantly designed experimental studies. Thus, the trigger point concept was developed long before the work of Travell and Simons, who based their publication (see references in “Trigger Point Manual” by Travell and Simons) on the works of the scientists mentioned.

There are numerous published results of histological evaluations of the trigger point areas. Even in the short list of references at the end of this article you can find ample evidence under references 5, 6, 7, 13, and 15.

It is misleading to state that Dr. Travell and Dr. Simons recommended using ischemic compression for trigger point therapy. They advocated injection, stretch and spray techniques, and muscle energy techniques for trigger point therapy. Although, Travell and Simons did mention ischemic compression as an option based on the European medical sources, they never recommended it as a treatment method.

The Role of Vasodilators in Local Ischemia

Awad (1973) examined biopsy tissues from trigger points using an electron microscope and detected a significant increase in the number of platelets, which caused the release of serotonin and mast cells, which in turn released histamine. Both serotonin and histamine are potent vasodilators and their increase is a clear sign that body is trying to fight the local ischemia in the trigger point area. In his now classical work, Fassbender (1975) conducted a histological examination of the circulation in the area of the trigger point and proved once and for all that “… the trigger point represents a region of local ischemia.” The same results were obtained by Popelansky et al., (1986) who used radioisotope evaluation of blood circulation in the area of the trigger point.

The End Plate Theory

The end plate theory is not a new theory. Travell and Simmons constantly emphasize the nervous system as a critical factor in the development of the trigger point and point out the importance of end-plate zones. They even name special types of trigger points called “motor trigger points,” which are located in the middle of the muscle belly at the neuromuscular junction. “The functionally significant structure with regard to the innervation of muscle fibers is the myoneural junction (end-plate zone)…” and “Some trigger points are closely associated with myoneural junctions, others not.” (Travell and Simmons, 1983). The idea of the nervous system and the role of end-plate zones is not a new concept. As early as 1947 Prof. Korr addressed the same issues in his research.

According to histological studies (Heine, 1997; Gogoleva, 2001) chronic pain and low grade tension in the skeletal muscles and fascia are responsible for the low grade inflammation around the terminal parts of the sensory and motor neurons which end in the soft tissues. This chronic inflammation activates the local fibroblasts, which deposit collagen around the nerve endings forming so-called “collagen cuffs.” This additional irritating factor triggers an afferent sensory flow to the central nervous system, which is interpreted by the brain as pain. This mechanism is partially described by the generation of pain in the area of motor trigger points. We have to consider that the terminal parts of the sensory and motor neurons are located in the soft tissues, including skeletal muscles. In other words, it would be logical to assume that something must irritate the terminal parts of sensory and motor neurons. This something is a tension in the skeletal muscles, including trigger points that are not associated with motor trigger points (since they are located in other parts of the skeletal muscle). Keep in mind that any inflammatory condition, whether in motor end plates or in muscular tissue, means that there is a decreased amount of blood supply to this inflamed tissue. From this it follows that gradual ischemic compression can be viewed as an anti-inflammatory effort.

There is no doubt that myofascial pain can be the result of peripheral nerve abnormalities. An example of this would be the irritation of the sciatic nerve by an over-tensed piriformis muscle resulting in the formation of trigger points in muscles innervated by the sciatic nerve. This list can be continued because any peripheral nerve’s entrapment in the key areas will cause formation of trigger points in muscles innervated by this nerve.

If one examines a patient with peripheral arterial disorder (e.g., Buerger’s disease) one will find numerous active and dormant trigger points in the leg and foot muscles. It would most certainly be agreeable that insufficient arterial blood supply as a result vascular abnormality is responsible for the formation of trigger points in the skeletal muscles rather than abnormalities in the motor end-plates. The same is true for trigger points in the skeletal muscles, which are developed as a result of chronic visceral disorders (e.g., patients with cardiac disorders exhibit active trigger points in the trapezius, levator scapulae, and rhomboideus muscles). In such cases the end-plate abnormalities do not have anything to do with formation of trigger points in the skeletal muscles. They are the result of the phenomenon of convergence of pain stimuli within the same segments of the spinal cord, which are responsible for the innervation of both the affected inner organ and the skeletal muscles. In 1955 Dr. Glezer and Dalicho formulated the theory that still stands clinically proven. They proposed and developed maps of reflex zone abnormalities of the skin, fascia and muscles, including trigger point development.

The Energy Crisis Theory

There is another theory, which links formation of trigger points with the shortage of ATP in the affected muscles as a result of insufficient arterial circulation. ATP is the energy source for cellular function, including muscles. Authors of this theory, called the Energy Crisis Theory, pointed out the formation of the trigger points in very healthy athletes who did not have signs of peripheral nerve abnormalities and still developed active trigger points. Gradual increase of the resting muscular tone in normal muscles triggers local vasoconstriction, interstitial edema, and ATP exhaustion with the subsequent formation of active trigger points. Prof. D. Simons reviewed this theory as well, and even used extensively works done by his colleagues, Dr. D.R Hubbard and Dr. G.M. Berkoff, in his own research.

Trigger Point Therapy Protocol

Ultimately trigger point therapy has the following goals:

1. Eliminate protective muscular tension in the muscles that harbor active trigger points.

2. Eliminate condition of the hyperirritability of the peripheral receptors, especially pain receptors.

3. Block the pain-analyzing system of the patient.

4. Produce reflex vasodilation.

5. Eliminate local ischemia.

To effectively achieve these goals the practitioner should conduct trigger point therapy utilizing several equally important components:

1. Detect location of the active trigger point.

2. Detect the pathway of pain radiation and examine tissues along this pathway in case satellite trigger points are formed.

3. Place finger in the trigger point. Slowly apply vertical compression of the tissues until the patient feels the first sign of pain. As soon as he or she reports it stop increasing pressure but maintain it at that same level. After 10 seconds of pressure application, the pain that the patient initially felt will disappear. The patient should immediately report to you as soon as he or she feels the pain cease. During the next 20 seconds the practitioner will be able to get to the “bottom” of the trigger point without unwanted activation of the pain analyzing system and generating protective muscular tension in the affected muscle or muscles in the region.

4. To accomplish the first three goals apply effleurage and kneading techniques on the affected muscles in the inhibitory regime for 5-7 minutes (comfortable gradual increase of pressure, in the same direction of the strokes).

5. Exit the trigger point as fast as possible to produce quick and effective vasodilation and elimination of the local ischemia.

The correct protocol of trigger point therapy does not have pitfalls. This protocol is equally effective for the motor trigger points, as well as for other trigger points. The applied pressure is never strong enough to go over the patient’s threshold of pain, causing the pain and injury of motor nerve endings. Peripheral vasodilation restores local pH to normal, increases oxygenation of the tissues in the area of the trigger point, and gradually eliminates the trigger point.

References

1. Awad, E.A.: Interstitial myofibrositis: hypothesis of the mechanism, Arch. Phys. Med. Rehab, 54(10):449-453, 1973

2. Fassbender H.G. Pathology of the Rheumatic Diseases. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1975

3. Froriep, F. Ein Beitrag zur Pathologie und Therapie des Rheumatismus. Weimar, 1843.

4. Glezer, O., Dalicho, V.A. Segmentmassage. Leipzig, 1955

5. Glogowski, G., Wallraff, J. “Ein beitrag zur Klinik und Histologie der Muskkelharten (Myogelosen)”, Z. Orthop., 80:237-268, 1951

6. Gogoleva, E.F. “New Approaches to Diagnosis and Therapy of Fibromyalgia associated with Spondylosis.” Ther. Arch., 4:40-45, 2001.

7. Heine, H. Lehbruh der biologischen Medicine. Stuttgart, Hippokrates, 1997.

8. Hubbard, D.R., Berkoff, G.M. “Myofascial trigger points show spontaneous needle EMG activity”, Spine, 18:1803-1807, 1993.

9. Korr, I.M. “The Neural Basis of the Osteopathic Lesion.” JAOA, 47(4): 191-198, 1947.

10. Kreymer, A.Y. Vibration Massage in Diseases of the Nervous System.

Tomsk University, Tomsk, 1987.

11. Mackenzie, J. Angina Pectoris. Henry, Frowde & Hodder & Stroughton, London, 1923.

12. Mezlack, R., Wall, P. “Pain Mechanism: A New Theory.” Science, 150 (Nov): 971-979, 1965.

13. Miehlke, K., Schulze, G., Eger, W. ” Klinische und experimentelle Untersuchungen zum Fibrositis-syndrom. Z. Rheumaforsch, 19:310-330, 1960.

14. Popelansky, Y.Y., Zaslavsky, E.S., Veselovsky, V.P. Medicosocial significance, etiology, pathogenesis, and diagnosis of non-articular diseases of soft tissues of the lims and back. Vorpr. Rheumat., 3:38-43, 1986.

15. Schade, H. “Untersuchungen in der Erkaltungstrade: III. Uber den Rheumatismus, in besondere den Muskelrheumatismus (Myogelose).” Munch. Med. Wschr., 68, 95-99, 1921.

16. Travell, J.G., Simons, D.G. Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction. The Trigger Points Manual. Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, 1983.

17. Wall, P.D., Crowly-Dillon, J.R. “Pain, Itch and Vibration.” A.M.A. Arch. Neurol., 2: 19-29, 1960.

Microsoft Business Solutions Navision is main ERP application for European, Brazilian markets plus it serves vertical segments of the USA market, such as light manufacturing, POS, CRM. As our experience indicates – Navision implementation requires more customization and tuning in comparison to another mid-market ERP solution from MBS: Microsoft Great Plains. Our goal is to popularize Microsoft Business Solutions products and enlighten IT people to do customize Navision in-house.

Today, the main topic of this article is working with native C/SIDE Navision Attain database via C/ODBC interface, in particular – Linked Server creation in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 environment and then Sales report design in Crystal Reports ver. 10. Let’s begin:

1. We will use Navision Attain 3.6 with Navision Database Server, Navision ApplicationServer and Navision Client. These component are installed on Windows XP Professional. To enable C/ODBC interface you need to install this component from Navision Attain CD.

2. Let’s create ODBC DSN for connection to Navision database: Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Data Sources (ODBC), then switch to System DSN and click Add. We will use C/ODBC 32-bit driver. Give Data Source Name Navision, Connection – leave it Local. As the database (Database button) select Program FilesNavision AttainClientdatabase.fdb (this is demo DB). Then press Company button – in our case we use CRONUS demo database. Important conditions to provide proper connection with C/SIDE database are correct options for C/ODBC. Click Options button and look at the options available – we will pay attention to Identifiers screen – this is where you setup identifiers to be transferred to client application. We will use these types: “a-z,A-Z,0-9,_” to make MS SQL Server 2000 work correct with C/ODBC source. We are now done with ODBC DSN. Lets setup Linked Server

3. Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager. Open object browser on the left side, select Security and Linked Servers. With right click select New Linked Server in the context menu. In the emerging dialog window, in the menu Provider Name select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers. Let’s name our Linked Server as NAVISION. In the Data Source string type in ODBC DSN name – NAVISION in our case. Linked Server is ready. Select tables list and we now see Navision Attain tables.

4. Now we need to create small procedure for Sales data extraction. Here is the text of the procedure:

CREATE PROCEDURE NavisionSalesReport AS

DBCC TRACEON(8765)

SELECT * FROM OPENQUERY(NAVISION, ‘SELECT * FROM Sales_Line sls, Customer cust WHERE sls.Sell_to_Customer_No_ = cust.No_’)

RETURN

GO

To clarify its text: TRACEON(8765) directive allows working with the data results of variable length returned by C/ODBC driver. If we don’t use this directive – we can’t pull the results from Navision tables – we will get errors, like this:

OLE DB error trace [Non-interface error: Unexpected data length returned for the column: ProviderName=’MSDASQL’, TableName='[MSDASQL]’, ColumnName=’Ship_to_Filter’, ExpectedLength=’250′, ReturnedLength=’1′].

Server: Msg 7347, Level 16, State 1, Line 1

OLE DB provider ‘MSDASQL’ returned an unexpected data length for the fixed-length column ‘[MSDASQL].Ship_to_Filter’. The expected data length is 250, while the returned data length is 1.

OPENQUERY statement opens linked server and transfers its SQL command, and in its turn returns the result set. To test the procedure type in this command in SQL Server Query Analyzer: EXEC NavisionSalesReport

5. Now – launch Crystal Reports, use standard Wizard, create new OLE DB (ADO) connection with our MS SQL 2000 Server and select NavisionSalesReport procedure in the list. As the report fields we can use Description, Quantity, Line_Amount and Discount_Amount fields. You can group by name Name – this is customer name. Our report is now ready!

Happy customizing, implementing and modifying! If you want us to do the job – give us a call 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Russian leader Vladimir Putin was born in 1952 in St. Petersburg (then referred to as Leningrad). After graduating from Leningrad State Faculty, Putin started the career of his in the KGB as an intelligence officer in 1975. Putin rose to the best ranks of the Russian federal government after enrolling in President Boris Yeltsin’s administration in 1998, being prime minister in 1999 before taking over as president. Putin was once again appointed Russian prime minister in 2008, as well as retained the hold of his on power by generating reelection to the presidency in 2012.

Watching the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, he retired from the KGB with the rank of colonel, and returned to Leningrad as a supporter of Anatoly Sobchak (1937-2000), a liberal politician. On the latter’s election as mayor of Leningrad (1991), Putin became the head of his of external associations and very first deputy mayor (1994).

After Sobchak’s defeat in 1996, Putin resigned the post of his and then moved to Moscow. In 1998 he was appointed deputy head of control in Boris Yeltsin’s presidential administration.

Shortly later, he was appointed head of the Federal Security, an arm of the former KGB, and head of Yeltsin’s Security Council. In August 1999 Yeltsin dismissed his prime minister Sergey Stapashin combined with the cabinet of his, as well as advertised Putin in the place of his.

In December 1999 Yeltsin resigned as president, appointing Putin acting president until recognized elections had been held (in original 2000). He was re elected in 2004. In April 2005 he made a historic trip to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the very first visit there by any Kremlin leader.

Because of term limits, Putin was pressured to abandon the presidency in 2008, however, not before securing the office for his protege Dmitry Medvedev. Putin served as Medvedev’s key minster until 2012, when he was reelected as Russia ‘s president.

U.S. Election Hacks

Months before the 2016 U.S. presidential election, properly over a dozen U.S. intelligence agencies unilaterally agreed that Russian intelligence was behind the email hacks of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta, that had, at the moment, been chairman of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

In December 2016 unnamed senior CIA officials further concluded “with a high amount of confidence” which Putin was really involved in intervening in the U.S. presidential election, based on a report by USA Today. The officials further went on to state that the hacked Podesta and DNC messages that were awarded to WikiLeaks right before U.S. Election Day had been developed to weaken Clinton’s campaign in favor of her Republican opponent Donald Trump. Immediately after, the FBI along with National Intelligence Agency publicly supported the CIA’s assessments.

Putin denied any such efforts to disrupt the U.S. election, and regardless of the assessments of his intelligence agencies, President Trump normally seemed to favor the term of his Russian counterpart. Underscoring their attempts to thaw public relations, the Kremlin in late 2017 discovered that a terror attack had been thwarted in St. Petersburg, because of intelligence offered by the CIA.

Private Life

In 1980, Putin met the future wife of his, Lyudmila, who was operating as a flight attendant at the moment. The couple married in 1983 and had 2 daughters: Maria, born in 1985, and Yekaterina, born in 1986. In original June 2013, after almost thirty years of marriage, Russia ‘s very first couple announced they had been getting a divorce, supplying very little reason for the choice, but assuring they came to it amicably and mutually.

An Orthodox Christian, Putin is actually believed to attend church services on dates that are important and holidays on a frequent basis and has had a lengthy history of stimulating the building and restoration of a huge number of churches in the region. He typically seeks to unify all faiths under the government ‘s expert and legally demands religious organizations to register with local officials for approval.

Standing in a long line at a hardware store, Tobe Hooper imagined taking a chainsaw off the wall and cutting his way to the front, inspiring his creation of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). George Romero found a local butcher in Pittsburgh to finance and provide blood and guts for his zombie thriller Night Of The Living Dead (1968). Wes Craven combined a nasty bully named Freddy that he knew in grade school with a frightening old hobo he saw hanging around his Cleveland neighborhood to create the dream killer Freddy Krueger for A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). And producer Val Lewton was given credit for saving RKO studios (teetering on bankruptcy because of the overspending Orson Welles) by producing the highly profitable Cat People (1944), keeping the budget way down by showing shadows rather than cats.

Low budgets can mean small paydays to horror actors. Universal Studios founder Carl Laemmle became disenchanted by movie stars demands for perks and high salaries. Horror movies were an antidote, if the Invisible Man or the Mummy demanded too much you could hire someone else and the public wouldn’t know the difference. One casualty was Boris Karloff who endured having make-up applied by Jack Pierce for four hours a day to play Frankenstein’s Monster. Although he loved the creature Karloff, who founded the screen actors union, complained publicly about the Frankenstein movies,” I was only in three of them but I get blamed for all nine.” He also said,” I get all the fan mail but somebody else gets the check.” Each Halloween Boris’s resentment grew when the neighborhood kids in Beverly Hills would ask him to go trick or treating.

Karloff’s influence was felt in Berkshire, England during the making of Hammer Film’s The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957). Fearing that any resemblance to the Universal’s Monster would cause a lawsuit, make-up artist Philip Leakey worked hard to make Christopher Lee’s creature gruesome and unique. Former cavalryman Lee became so angry at Leakey’s painful experiments on his face, he threatened to run him through with his sword. The make-up man disappeared for several days delaying filming. Later a calmer Lee lamented to his co-star Peter Cushing who played Baron Frankenstein,” Playing the creature is horrid. I have no lines.” “You’re lucky. I’ve read the script.,” replied Cushing. The film was horribly reviewed and highly profitable.

The film that many historians consider the worst ever made includes flying saucers hanging from strings, wiggling tombstones, and day scenes suddenly turning into night. It was originally called “Grave Robbers From Outer Space” but the Baptist ministers who financed it objected to that title, so director Ed Wood changed it to Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), never explaining what the first eight plans were. Four days before shooting began the film’s intended star, the morphine addicted Bela Lugosi passed away due to a heart attack. He was replaced by Wood’s wife’s chiropractor, who was considerably taller and disguised his appearance by holding a cape over his face. Being mistaken for others was nothing new for the temperamental Hungarian thespian. Forgotten by Hollywood producers (some who thought he had died years before) Lugosi had scraped by in the early fifties by doing one man shows as Dracula. One night he was strolling through a small town when a young boy eagerly approached him with an autograph pad. “You see,” he told a companion. “They know me everywhere.” He took the pad from the boy then hesitated before signing. “And what is my name young man?” Without missing a beat the kid said,” Boris Karloff.”

Special effects in low budget horror films often take very creative turns. In The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) director Jack Arnold was stumped as how to show the effect of giant rain drops falling around his protagonist, played by Grant Williams. Then he remembered as a kid dropping water balloons out of his third story apartment building window and the impact they made when missed their intended target and hit the sidewalk. Arnold gathered the crew around and said, “Anybody here got a condom?” There was nervous laughter. “It’s for an experiment for the movie. Come on you guys.” Reluctantly, one of the men reached into his pocket. Filling the contraceptive with water and dropping it worked perfectly on film. A few days later a female bean counter from Universal’s front office approached Arnold. “I was looking over the budget and was struck by all the contraceptives you purchased. That’s an unusual expense.” Arnold said,” Well everyone on the film has done such a great job I thought I would reward them with a big party.” “Oh I- I see,” replied the flustered woman. “Well. Carry on then.”

Did you know…

Boris Yeltsin -who was president of the Russian Federation- was a volleyball player. Russia hosted the Boris Yeltsin Cup in 2008.

The Japanese men’s team won the gold medal at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Japan beat East Germany 3-1 in the final. This team also won the gold medal at the 1970 Asian Games in Bangkok (Thailand). The Olympic players were: Yoshihide Fukao, Kenji Kimura, Masayuki Minami, Jungo Morita, Yuzo Nakamura, Katsutoshi Nekoda, Tetsuo Nishimoto, Yasuhiro Noguchi, Seijo Oko, Tetsuo Sato, Kenji Shimaoka, Todayoshi Yokota.

The FIVB (Federation Internationale de Volleyball) is one of the most successful sports organizations in the world. Dr. Ruben Acosta (president of the FIVB) said, “There are no secret to success. Just organization, administration and management, sharing know-how and skills, and seizing opportunities…”

In 2006, the United States was defeated by Venezuela at the Men’s Volleyball World Championships in Tokyo (Japan)…

In 1952, India was among 8 countries which took part in the First Women’s World Championships in Moscow (USSR).

The United States men’s volleyball squad finished 6th place in the Volleyball World League. The team members were: Marc Jones (played for SDSU), Parker Blackman (played for Stanford), Allen Allen (played for Hawaii ), Dan Greenbaum (played for USC ), Uvaldo Acosta (George Mason), Craig Buck (El Charro PD, Italy), Bryan Ivie (USC), Jose Gandara (UCSB), Tom Sorenson (Pepperdine), Eric Sato(SMCC), Brent Hilliard (CSULB), Jon Root (Stanford), Scott Fortune (Stanford), Carlos Briceño (Hawaii), Bob Samuelson (CSUN), Mark Arnold (Pepperdine), Mark Kerins (CSULB), Shirman Trevor (UCLA), Javier Gaspar (Penn Saint), Dan Hanan (Stanford).

South Korea has contributed greatly to the development of volleyball in the world. In the past century, this Asian nation sent several coaches to Latin America and other countries: Man Bok Park (Peru, 1975-1993), Young Wang Sohn (Argentina, 1977-1983), Park Jik Kuk (Mexico, 1981-1984), Park Moo (Canada, 1974-1976)…

The Netherlands men’s national volleyball team was coached by Arie Selinger, who had previously led the U.S. women’s volleyball team to Olympic silver medal in 1984…

Bulgaria hosted the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championships in 1970.

Final standings:

1.East Germany (now Germany)

2.Bulgaria

3.Japan

4.Czechoslovakia (now Slovak Republic)

5.Poland

6.USSR (now Russia)

7.Romania

8.Belgium

9.North Korea

10.Hungary

11.Brazil

12.Cuba

13.Holland

14. Italy

15.Mongolia

16.France

17.USA

18.Israel

19.Finland

20.Iran

21.Tunisia

22.Venezuela

23.Guinea

The U.S. men’s volleyball team has participated in nine Summer Olympics: Tokyo 1964, Mexico City 1968, Los Angeles 1984, Seoul 1988, Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008… America has qualified for the 2012 London Olympic Games…

Julio Velasco was assistant coach for Argentina at the FIVB Men’s World Cup in 1982. Seven years later, Julio, who was born and grew up in Buenos Aires (Argentina), was head coach of the Italian men’s national volleyball team, one of the world’s five greatest volleyball teams. Under his leadership, Italy won the following titles and medals:

1990: FIVB Men’s World Championships-1st place

1990: Volleyball World League -1st place

1991: European Tournament-2nd place

1991: Volleyball World League -1st place

1992: Volleyball World League -1st place

1993: European Tournament-1st place

1993: Volleyball World League -3rd place

1993: World Cup-1st place

1994: World Championships-1st place

1994: Volleyball World League -1st place

1995: European Tournament-1st place

1995: Volleyball World League -1st place

1995: World Cup-1st place

1996: Summer Olympic Games- 2nd place (silver medal)

1996: Volleyball World League -2nd place

Was the Icesave fiasco avoidable?

Introduction

This article analyses both the risk management aspects that were known to all market participants and the risk management regulatory framework which existed prior to the Icesave approval by the DNB in May 2009. The aim of this analysis is to attempt to understand whether regulators and the DNB in particular exhausted all their means and analysed thoroughly all information available at the time of the granting of banking permission to Icesave in the Netherlands.

At the time of the implosion of Icesave the bank had more than 100,000 accounts and more than 1, 7B Euro deposited money, but according to Landsbanki’s plans before the Icesave launch it expected to take only about 400-500 M Euro by the end of 2008. It looks like the DNB could do little to prevent the explosive growth of Icesave in the first few months of its operations.

Recently a report requested by the Dutch Parliament was published by two academics, DeMoor-Van Vugt and Du Perron from the University of Amsterdam. The report presented all events leading to the nationalisation of Landsbanki (the mother bank of Icesave) in chronological sequence, and analysed the actions of regulators both in the Netherlands and Iceland related to the granting of banking permission to Icesave. The report was mainly focused on the legal aspects of granting the banking license, with analysis of the European Passport regime and the home/host country model.

By granting the permit, Icesave was included in Dutch Deposit Guarantee scheme, although the home country (Iceland) was responsible for regulating the Landsbanki group. The Icelandic regulator primarily looked into the Group level reports, which were periodically submitted and showed solid liquidity buffers and withstood stringent stress tests.

The fact that the DNB granted the license provided the quality image to the bank. The authors stress that the DNB did not have the legal tools to prevent the granting of the license, but if it had been handled less favorably and more time spent analysing and asking tough questions, the whole disaster may have been prevented.

The most important recommendation of the report is that the European regulations should be substantially revised, to prevent a situation where a country bears the risk of failure of a financial institution (via a deposit protection scheme), but has little power in regulating such institution.

The difference between Foreign Branch versus subsidiary explained

A branch of a foreign bank is obligated to follow the regulations of both the home and host countries. Because the foreign branch banks’ loan limits are based on the parent bank’s capital, foreign banks can provide more loans than subsidiary banks. That was probably the main reason why Icesave has been launched as a branch and not a subsidiary.

The risk management framework prior the granting of a banking license to Icesave operations in the Netherlands

Now let’s move on from the legal to the Risk management framework which existed before the time of granting the banking license to Icesave.

Liquidity regimes are nationally based according to the principle of “host” country responsibility (although in some cases, the task, though not the responsibility, of supervision of branches is delegated to the home supervisor).

The risk assessment method used by the DNB called FIRM, which is kind of a scoring cards model. On the basis of the FIRM score the DNB sets the risk profile of an institution, which can lead either to a light or heavy supervisory regime. A branch office of a EU bank has a very small risk profile according to this model because it can request funds from the mother bank in the EU[1].

According to this method the DNB supervises on liquidity and integrity risks, which were both assessed as limited. By that time, February- May 2008, the Basel II requirements already had to be implemented and Landsbanki was informed about the requirements.

Let’s have a look now at the liquidity risk of Landsbanki at that time.

The original Basel II accord did not include liquidity requirements and a document named “Liquidity Risk:Management and Supervisory Challenges” dated February 2008 was the main source in defining the liquidity risk framework.

In that document the following elements were highlighted: liquidity policies, stress tests, scenario analyses, contingency funding plans, setting of limits, reporting requirements and public disclosure

It is worth mentioning that one important differentiating factor across regimes is the extent to which supervisors prescribe detailed limits on the liquidity risk and insurance that banks should hold. This is in contrast to an approach that relies more on reviewing and strengthening banks’ internal risk management systems, methods and reports.

The core sentence is: the application of liquidity regimes on a local management or legal entity basis requires that each legal entity be sufficiently robust with regard to external shocks. This may require a pool of liquid assets to be held locally, or for each entity to have independent access to contingent liquidity lines.

This pool has been requested by the DNB from Landsbanki but only just before the Landsbanki collapsed (September 2008).

Diversity in liquidity regimes

Liquidity regimes are affected by policy choices made by national authorities relating to the desired resilience of banks to liquidity stress. Factors include those nationally determined such as insolvency regimes, deposit insurance guarantees, and central bank credit and collateral policies, including intraday, standing facility, or emergency liquidity assistance arrangements, as well as the structure of the banking sector itself.

Communication between regulators

In the European Directive on Financial Stability a home country is obliged to contact the host country in question in case of known deficiencies. Strangely enough, on request of the DNB to provide more explanation about the explosive growth of Icelandic banks and liquidity problems, the FME (Icelandic supervisor) replied in August 2008 as following: “.. Landsbanki’s business is healthy, capital levels are strong and it performs well in various stress-tests that the FME applies.” [2].

Role of the supervisors in analyzing the market trends

In the Basel document regulating liquidity management it was clearly stated that to protect local entities supervisors have a duty to help ensure the resilience of entities within their jurisdiction to protect local depositors.[3]

In the later document issued in September 2008 and named “Principles for Sound

Liquidity Risk Management and Supervision” there is more clear description of the role of supervisors with an emphasis on the comprehensive assessment of a bank’s overall liquidity risk management framework by the monitoring of a combination of internal reports, prudential reports and market information. The market information was a missing link in the analysis of Landsbanki. The main European and Dutch banks had already withdrawn from Iceland by the end of 2007 as more reports came in indicating that the Icelandic economy and banks grew very fast and the bubble might burst very soon. The Swap rate of Icelandic banks and specifically Landsbanki were very high in the interbank market. This means that counterparties have less trust with these banks than with other banks. It worth mentioning that the Swap rate of Landsbanki was very high, (see a graph in the attachment).

So consequently the market knew that something was wrong with the Icelandic banks, but supervisors it seems were unaware or seemingly ignored the market behaviour.

Challenges in Liquidity Risk Management and Key Risk indicators

In certain circumstances, firms may also face challenges in transferring funds and securities across borders and currencies, especially on a same-day basis. For example, institutions operating centralised liquidity management may be dependent on foreign exchange (FX) swap markets.

For example, if the liquidity reserve of a bank in for instance NL is transferred within a cross-border group to Iceland where the local entity faces a liquidity shock but the transfer fails to resolve the problem within the group, the local entity in NL is likely to come under severe pressure and will have no liquidity buffer to prevent failure. In that event, depositors in NL are in a potentially worse position than before the transfer. If however the transfer succeeds in stemming the problem, and there is no reputational contagion, then depositors in Iceland would be better off and those in NL no worse off.

A bank also should design a set of key risk indicators or KRI’s to identify the emergence of increased risk or vulnerabilities in its liquidity risk position or potential funding needs. Such early warning indicators should identify any negative trend and cause an assessment and potential response by management in order to mitigate the bank’s exposure to the emerging risk.

Early warning indicators can be qualitative or quantitative in nature and may include but are not limited to:

o rapid asset growth, especially when funded with potentially volatile liabilities

o growing concentrations in assets or liabilities

o increases in currency mismatches

o a decrease of weighted average maturity of liabilities

o repeated incidents of positions approaching or breaching internal or regulatory limits

o negative trends or heightened risk associated with a particular product line, such as rising delinquencies

o significant deterioration in the bank’s earnings, asset quality, and overall financial condition

o negative publicity

o a credit rating downgrade

o stock price declines or rising debt costs

o widening debt or credit-default-swap spreads

o rising wholesale or retail funding costs

o counterparties that begin requesting or request additional collateral for credit exposures or that resist entering into new transactions

o correspondent banks that eliminate or decrease their credit lines

o increasing retail deposit outflows increasing redemptions of CDs before maturity

o difficulty accessing longer-term funding

o difficulty placing short-term liabilities (eg commercial paper).

In my opinion many of these KRI’s were in red during the approval period in first half of 2008.

On December 17, 2009, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) issued two consultative documents intended to apply lessons of the financial crisis to strengthen bank capital and liquidity frameworks while harmonising cross-border supervisory approaches. The central purpose for these revisions is to emphasise the holding of higher-quality capital and widen the pool of risks it is to support.

Conclusion.

It is certain that that the Icelandic authorities bear responsibility for the Icesave collapse, but also so do the Dutch and UK authorities for allowing Icesave to operate in their markets without adequate regulation and supervision of its operations or an appreciation of the consequences of a collapse (notwithstanding the European passport rules that allowed Icesave to operate in those markets).

The actual CDS spreads, the Basel II working rules on risk management that prescribes the DNB to do an integrated risk assessment, including Landsbanki and the FX exchange risk, the problems with the loans of Icelandic banks with the Luxemburg Central Bank, the different ‘warning’ reports on Icelandic banking by market participants and the lack of reserves in the Icelandic Central Bank were all reasons enough to at least take more than a formal procedural approach during granting the banking license to Icesave.

Please send your comments to: info@globalriskconsult.com

Written by Boris Agranovich

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This story is an excellently told one written by a woman who adores her large “sight hounds” as they are known by. They are Russian wolfhound’s or, as Chantelle’s preference for calling them “Borzoi” that quickly became her favorite pet once she saw one. The ultra beauty and grace of these huge dogs overtook her life and all she would have on her mind until she decided to obtain one was the “sooner rather than later” that would bring this dog into her home and life. When most of us have a pet or more, we generally love the animal and show our affection by petting, hugging, playing with it in various ways, walking it, feeding it, trying to have it get enough exercise, and maybe an occasional kiss. We usually, if it is a dog or cat, allow it to sleep in the same rooms as us and maybe even in our own bed. We do all we can to keep it healthy by watching its diet, taking it to a veterinarian when it doesn’t seem to be acting in the right way and Chantelle did all of these. Chantelle had several other dogs in her life as she grew up and became an animal lover, mostly loving dogs.

After searching animal shelters and breeders, “Boris” fell into Chantelle’s life. He was born in 1995 and was 13 months old when she brought him home. Boris was a very active 146-pound dog and seemed to be as affectionate of Chantelle as she was of him. Some logistics had to be reconfigured for the big boy to sleep and run around, as he loved to do. During the time that Chantelle had Boris she also had a boyfriend who she married shortly, a very active mother and father who shared her love for large dogs, especially Boris, and she taught college courses part-time. It became hard to leave Boris to go anywhere and do anything without him being there since, in her heart and mind, he was with her all the time anyhow! As I read the book I wondered if Chantelle loved her husband, Foster, or Boris more since she showed so much attention and care towards Boris. Sorry Chantelle!

Eventually Chantelle got pregnant, still taught, and still would not ease off of her activities with Boris. When she and Foster had to work the parents would board Boris since they had dogs too. Boris fit right in with their dogs. When Boris seemed sick or out of sorts, Chantell also did. He would go to the veterinarian if he showed any distress. As Chantelle’s pregnancy advanced, she tried to maintain the same activities with Boris all the while trying to find a new house they could purchase and start preparing that home for Boris and the new baby girl they would soon have.

Boris broke his hind leg one day while running towards Chantelle. She was heartsick. This presented many problems; how to get a huge dog to the veterinarian including getting him in a vehicle that could get close enough to where he fell with the break and, how bad was the break. After examination the veterinarian decided he needed some screws placed in his leg since the joint was shattered. After surgery and a short stay in the clinic, they had to find a way to get Boris home and how they would move him around to relieve himself, feed him, keep circulation going through his body, and let him know he is so loved. I think that entire family did so much to assist in the care of Boris. Boris showed little signs of improving even though the family made a sling for him that permitted them to move him for exercise. Several trips had to be made to the veterinarian and the clinic when Boris showed more distress. Eventually Boris was in so much pain and at his young age for his breed, a decision had to be made to try to do more for him or let him be out of his misery.

As I have said, I think at times Chantelle loved Boris more than humans. He was her closest attachment and had been during the years he was healthy. I did enjoy the book but I personally felt that far too much money was used in the many health aides needed to keep Boris in good condition.

As a side note, I am a dog lover. My wife and I lost our two dogs this past year. Duchess was a sheltie type dog, brown and white. She was over thirteen years of age. She suffered a stroke and after several months of coddling her she returned to an almost normal routine but the few exceptions to the norm is what made us watch her more. Finally one day she started going in circles seemingly not knowing where she was or what she was doing. My wife took her to the back dog area where she continued running in circles, crashing into the fence. This was too much suffering. At her age we knew it was her time to go. The other dog was my buddy. Moose was a 135-pound German shepherd who we always called our gentle giant. A better watchdog and protector you couldn’t find. He was deteriorating every week with his arthritis and was having extreme problems, then pain when he tried to get up or move. It hurt us so much but we could not let him suffer. He was over eleven years old, a good life for a large dog. They are both buried at the end of our property in our “Pet Cemetery”. So Chantelle, as much as I loved these two dogs, my wife and I knew it was time. It hurts and you know that.