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they still shouldnt kill a women for a reason like that christains are soppose to be good people. | toxic | en |
"
Please stop your disruptive editing. If your vandalism continues, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. society (review)
If this is a shared IP address, and you didn't make any unconstructive edits, consider creating an account for yourself so you can avoid further irrelevant warnings." | toxic | en |
Putting 'citation required' on just about every statement, even non-controversial ones, just strikes me as silly and for the average visitor, probably makes the article pretty unreadable. | toxic | en |
According to the sources I've quoted, Syrmians were Greeks which were captured as slaves by the Avars and transported in Panonia (see Syrmia, their name is derived from there). According to the sources, they were brought back to their homeland by Kuber. | toxic | en |
thanks for the laugh. Glad to see you hold yourself in such high regard, because I doubt anyone else does. 24.34.145.100 | toxic | en |
: This is good news, but notice that it does not really change the situation outlined in this article (clathrates buried in seabeds and permafrost thaw). Abd if these bactiera release carbon dioxide it still means increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. | toxic | en |
File:Mr.Criminal,2015.jpg listed for deletion
A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Mr.Criminal,2015.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why it has been listed (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry). Feel free to add your opinion on the matter below the nomination. Thank you. | toxic | en |
"
A quick search for other documentation on this speed record claim (Google search for ""'Empire State Express' record"") comes up with this link: GREAT SPEED Off THE CENTRAL.; Empire State Express Engine Travels at the Rate of 112 1-2 Miles an Hour. (New York Times; May 12, 1893). I've added the ref to the article, and I'll see if I can find any further documentation in my reference library. (Speak) " | toxic | en |
Kyle L -Damn I hate Calton soo much. | toxic | en |
Quit with your sarcasm and person attacks. Take it to IM or something if you have a problem. | toxic | en |
Californication
I just wanted to thank you for improving and creating all of those Californication-related articles. I was going to all of that, but I was feeling a little lazy. It was a pretty good surprise to come back and see someone had already done everything I wanted to. Glad to see there are other Californication fans on Wikipedia. →Talk | toxic | en |
re : basin production from ga 213
bob ,
as mentioned earlier , houston exploration is also delivering gas to us at
this meter . the following production is now on - line and a ticket should be
created and entered into sitara based on the following :
counterparty meter volumes price period
houston exploration 9696 8000 mmbtu / d 100 % gd less $ 0 . 16 2 / 1 - 2 / 28
fyi , i will create and submit a committed reserves firm ticket if and when
the gas buyer terms the deal up . additionally , this is a producer svcs . deal
and should be tracked in the im wellhead portfolio . . . attached to the
gathering contract .
thanks ,
vlt
x 3 - 6353
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - forwarded by vance l taylor / hou / ect on 02 / 09 / 2001
02 : 46 pm - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
enron north america corp .
from : robert cotten 01 / 26 / 2001 08 : 47 am
to : daren j farmer / hou / ect @ ect
cc : vance l taylor / hou / ect @ ect
subject : re : basin production from ga 213
daren / vance ,
deal # 586954 has been created and entered in sitara :
date meter # volume price
2 / 1 / 01 - 2 / 28 / 01 9696 5 , 000 100 % gas daily less $ 0 . 16
bob
daren j farmer
01 / 26 / 2001 08 : 25 am
to : robert cotten / hou / ect @ ect
cc :
subject : re : basin production from ga 213
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - forwarded by daren j farmer / hou / ect on 01 / 26 / 2001
08 : 24 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
vance l taylor
01 / 25 / 2001 01 : 58 pm
to : daren j farmer / hou / ect @ ect
cc : john peyton / hou / ect @ ect
subject : re : basin production from ga 213
daren ,
i ' ve just received word from basin to bring production on sometime today or
tomorrow ( they expect to get up to b / t 10 , 000 - 15 , 000 d ) ; if our facility
planning engineer determines that we can take the gas , then it will flow for
all of february and be priced at 100 % gas daily less $ 0 . 16 .
vlt
daren j farmer
01 / 25 / 2001 01 : 47 pm
to : vance l taylor / hou / ect @ ect
cc :
subject : re : basin production from ga 213
i need for you , or the producer services group , to determine if you think the
gas will flow for the month and at what price . i will use your decision for
our bidweek postion .
d
vance l taylor
01 / 25 / 2001 11 : 53 am
to : daren j farmer / hou / ect @ ect , robert cotten / hou / ect @ ect
cc : susan smith / hou / ect @ ect , melissa graves / hou / ect @ ect
subject : basin production from ga 213
fyi ,
how would you want to handle for february nomination ?
vlt
x 3 - 6353
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - forwarded by vance l taylor / hou / ect on 01 / 25 / 2001
11 : 55 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
enron north america corp .
from : brad blevins 01 / 25 / 2001 10 : 56 am
to : john peyton / hou / ect @ ect
cc : nick cocavessis / corp / enron @ enron , steve - hpl - schneider / hou / ect @ ect , pat
flavin / gco / enron @ enron , vance l taylor / hou / ect @ ect , buck
thomas / gco / enron @ enron
subject : basin production from ga 213
i have reviewed the gas composition analysis from spl of the basin production
from ga 213 . while spl ' s analysis does show a dewpoint of around 20 degrees
f at 400 psig , it is both my and john handley ' s opinion that the gas from the
wellbore had stratified by the time that this sample was taken . we expect
the dewpoint of the flowing gas to be higher . however , this was the best
sample that could be obtained at the time . we have conferred with steve
schneider and we are willing to take this gas on a conditional basis over the
next couple of days . once the 6 " line has been pigged , the production flows
stablilized and mitchell ' s conditioning equipment lined out over the next
couple of days , hms will need to take another sample at the meter run and
have spl run an extended analysis with a dewpoint curve on an expedited
basis . should this sample indicate a dewpoint over 45 degrees f , then this
production will be shut in again until hydrocarbon dewpoint conditioning
equipment has been installed . in the meantime , hms needs to keep a close
watch on all southern union city gates on galveston island to monitor for
liquids fallout . | scam | en |
"
Please do not vandalize pages, as you did with this edit to William K. Thierfelder. If you continue to do so, you will be blocked from editing. " | toxic | en |
"
== Name change ==
I changed the name to 2006-present War in Somalia (example: 2001-present war in Afghanistan) but administrators can agree freely on changing to Ethiopian war in Somalia (Soviet war in Afghanistan, as example) " | toxic | en |
internal guest access to enrononline
vince ,
following is an internal guest id and password which will allow you view only
access to enrononline .
please note , the user id and password are case sensitive .
user id : eol 59545
password : welcome !
if you have any difficulties logging in , please contact the enrononline
helpdesk at 713 - 853 - help ( 4357 )
with any questions . | scam | en |
Now Ford's lifelong friend, classmate and female, Leland Ingram Keyser denies it ever happened: see the Weekly Standard article. 🔚 | adult_sexism | en |
southwest power divestiture - signed
we received the $ 15 mm l / c from black hills corp . so we are done - we have a definitive purchase and sale agreement with black hills energy capital to divest of jedi ii / enron ' s effective 100 % membership interest in southwest power l . l . c . southwest ' s assets consist of las vegas cogeneration l . p . , sunco , ltd . l . l . c and las vegas cogeneration ii , l . l . c . financial closure is expected on or before august 31 , 2001 . | scam | en |
"
DRN escalation recommendation to ANI and Mediation re Historicity of Jesus
Just FYI
[ANI request]
[Mediation request]I believe the process works that if you Accept mediation that we can then reduce it to some mutually agreeable scope. If we start by asking for more then we expect to obtain, then when it is cut down to size we will still end up with more than we really need to bring balance back to the article. Please reconsider and please join in the discussion. Your moderate, calm and centred approach will win the day. I am sure of it.
Thank You
The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar For being nice to noobs like me " | toxic | en |
"
I'm sorry to sound a little condescending but KazakhPol should stop trying to whitewash his/her edits as if they only corrected the above minor points. This is simply not true, if you look at the history of his edits;
#You will see that s/he has consistently tried to malign this group as a terrorist group, and argued that he has references, and even provided links but either the links did not state what was claimed, or were not credible. It gave the reader the impression that such statements were referenced correctly when they were not.
# S/He has deleted swathes of the article that had been in place for months without a reason, and when questioned did not provide a satisfactory answer
#His/Her command of the English language seems poor, as illustrated in the history and in the above points made
#Lacks civility and has been warned many times. Gives me final warnings about vandalism when I didn't vandalise nor did I recieve any preceding warnings from him to receive a final one. He also accused me of being a member of this group!!
Now regarding KP's minor issues above:
*Refers to the mythical Uzbeki ethnicity
:: I've changed that, thank you for spotting it
*Incorrectly states that HuT is banned in Turkmenistan
:: No it doesn't
*Claims HuT ""survived"" a ban in Australia, implying it is somehow a living being
:: The use of the word 'survived' is wholly appropriate here, and is not reserved for living things only see: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=survived
*In the section on Aims it states that the Caliphate will be ruled by a Caliph which is a truism
:: Not for people who don't know the difference between the two, and are not familiar with what term to use for the head of state.
*Changes from referring to the Caliph/Caliphate with a capital C and a lowercase C throughout the article
:: I've changed that, thank you for spotting it
*Refers to Niqab as a right of women
:: No it doesn't say that it is a right categorically, it says that this party defends the right of women to choose the wearing of a Niqab, it is referring to the party's opinion
*Translates random words into Arabic without justification throughout the article
:: Could you provide a list?
*The section on Law, under the section on Policies, is merely a series of quotes
:: So? the sentences flow, and would do even if the quotation marks were taken out. If they were taken out it would still be a valid paragraph but wouldn't wouldn't illustrate that it is taken directly from HT's books.
*Excessive linking throughout the article to ""proscription"" and ""Al-Qaida"", which needlessy redirects, in one instance linking to the AQ page twice in one paragraph
:: Removed more than one linking to the same issue in the same paragraph
*Improperly uses lowercase letters at the beginning of official positions, as in ""prime minister Blair""
:: I've changed that, thank you for spotting it
*Refers to the ""Uzbekistan Government"", which should either be the Government of Uzbekistan, or the Uzbek government
:: I've changed that, thank you for spotting it
*""Craig Murray former British ambassador to Uzbekistan has made many claims"" could use a few commas
:: I've changed that, thank you for spotting it
*Refers to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as ""General""
:: Well he still is a General, despite the protestations of the defunct opposition he is still cheif of army staff, and head of the National Security Council!
*Passive voice throughout the article
:: please explain
Please do not pretend as if the above issues are what has wound you up, this is the first time you have raised them, otherwise most of the friction here has been aboout the above points I made about your obsession with labelling this group as terrorist, and even claiming they have killed hundreds of people in a year!
" | toxic | en |
"
::::As I said, this is only being characterised as being WP:POINTy by a single individual who has absolutely no qualms with kicking up drama. Now, you and I can either ""reduce the drama"" by giving in, and thereby encouraging such behaviour, or we can say that enough is enough and that we should act like adults and consider this proposal on it's merits and take part in an actual discussion. ˜ [ | ] " | toxic | en |
yeah stop this now, or i will put angelique carrington back on the rango page... | toxic | en |
Then your browser must hate a lot of commonly-used things here, like this tag ({{fact}}):
What browser do you use? == | toxic | en |
There are a whole lot more CSDs than those that appear on the log. Notice that I say some appear on the log, that isn't even the start of it. Probably less than 1% of my CSDs were not perfect. If you'd like, I could go through your edit history and talk page and point out every mistake that you have ever made. You need to read the following policies to start WP:AGF, WP:BITE. In your RFA process, it was pointed out that you too misused the CSD tags here here here here and countless other times. So, before you go WP:BITEing a user who is making good-faith edits and making block threats, you should read the policies a bit more clearly and see that you too are not perfect. | toxic | en |
Which four editors are you suggesting aren't connected to Waldorf (and I assume you mean Anthroposophy as well here)? BTW, I edit other articles as well. Re: the advert tag - I'm not the only editor on the list that has insisted it should stay (I think it was Fergie who replaced it last time). AGAIN, please stop removing it until there is agreement. We're a LONG ways from removing the brochure talk. It would be better if you didn't continulally reverse the edits that are getting away from the brochure language. Then it would be possible to actually remove the tag. | toxic | en |
Of course, but couture doesn't just mean fashion. Haute couture (basically, made to measure as opposed to ready to wear) would be a term for the high-fashion brands, such as Chanel, Versace and so on, and that's the sector her label is in. What about the section you lost from The Independent which brings VB up to date and describes her work with Vogue France and Parsons NY? Many thanks. | toxic | en |
"
Where TRM posted his slur against me is completely irrelevant. A personal attack made behind my back is still a personal attack. TRM [repeated his attack on me with the exact phrase (""i.e. paranoia"") that you explicitly warned him was ""not acceptable at all"" (i.e. blockable offence). With your ""location matters"" logic, all I would've had to do is post my reply on any talkpage except for WT:DYK. Seriously? — " | toxic | en |
Nirmal,
12 FEB, 2012
Subject: SORRY LETTER FOR RUDE BEHAVIOR
Dear Sir,
I am extremely sorry for my rude behavior on the Wikipedia talk page. I have rudely behaved with you and acted impolite and in a immature way.When you were deleting all my precious work i was angry,but now i realize it was for the good. That’s the reason I kept that in my mind and behaved so badly with you.The way I behaved with you was totally wrong. Please forgive me and please guide me while i rewrite the whole Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation an Indian revenue service page,please guide me..
Yours truly,
Mr.Nirmal Mathew
( ) | toxic | en |
== Essay ==
Hi Jehochman, I've written an essay, WP:SLACK, that could be of interest. | toxic | en |
::Recognition is a mere satisfaction of the statehood, establishment of security, and active a more an ability to cohabit with with those you desire rather those you need to. In the case of Kosovo, which fulfills the criteria of a state, enjoys its sovereignity in its very definition. Switzerland did not care about what Security of Council of some organization did not join until 2002 really had to say or decide. One of the permanent members, PR China defacto recognizes Kosovo passports, their Vienna and other Embassies issue visas on diplomatic and citizens on the Passport of the Republic of Kosovo. China's liaison office in the Republic of Kosovo, suggests citizens that obtaining visa, they must go to Consulate of PRC Embassy in Vienna, Austria. | toxic | en |
Eurocentrism?
This section of the article (probably receiving undue weight) currently does not make clear how the charge of Eurocentrism is related to criticism of Kuhn's thesis. | toxic | en |
::Do you need precise Volume, Chapter, Page, Line Coordinates, or you prefer a snapshot? | toxic | en |
Potential additions
from search results User:Ceyockey (talk to me)
Ocean bottom observatory
appearing in Loihi Seamount#Activity
Obo River
appearing in Thudaka Range and Ruby Range (Sifton Ranges) and Thudaka Peak
O.b.O.
appearing in Igor Dymkov
Obo, Papua New Guinea
appearing in Obo Airport (Papua New Guinea) | toxic | en |
Please don't be a jerk. I make edits in good faith. Not all things can be sourced (i.e. in the absence of a website link. Indeed, there are THOUSANDS of statements on wikipedia with no source. If someone like pigsonthewing wants a source they can use google or visit the website of the person/organisation that the article is about (and incidentally he shouldn't try to make people angry) | toxic | en |
please warn Fire Star
A while back when I was on an IP, you warned me for removing content from my talk page. You also restored content removed that I left on someone else's talk page. The user removed it because it was a personal attack. Fire Star is guilty of the same thing and I advise you warn him. | toxic | en |
", 26 June 2008 (UTC)
Yep, I have better source, http://prince-of-persia.uk.ubi.com/index.php?page=news & it states that perfectly... However, I have made this page roughly, can you please help me to clean-up ? – ‖ Poke • EditList ‖ 23:01" | toxic | en |
"I included Kutty as commenting on the political side, not as a ""scholar"". No further ""scholars"" are needed to establish that these ""theories"" are bunk. What we need instead is commentary on the role of Oak in revisionist Hindutva propaganda during the early 2000s. " | toxic | en |
But none of these capitals, i.e. Tokyo, London, can be called just a city, because they are not. They are municipalities, metropolitan regions, greater areas, etc. What you said above is basically personal commentary, which doesn't have much to do with this article. However, it still doesn't explain the fact why the GDP figures are even in the infobox. | toxic | en |
:::I hear what you are saying, but WP:BLP prohibits us from putting in material that suggests that Diamond is a fraud unless there are outstanding sources. All we have is a lawsuit that has been dropped and some blogs. The fact that an editor of this article is one of the severest critics of Diamond, and apparently initiated the lawsuit makes this whole issue very suspect. Maybe we should initiate an RfC and get input from additional editors. | toxic | en |
"
your debate on the ""dana jacobson"" article
i totally agree with your point of view about wiki article editors. i can't stand when someone continully reverts my additions to an article for no good reason. i see no reason why common knowledge facts are deemed ""inadmissible"" to wiki. let's say i add to the barack obama article the ""he was recently elected president of the united states"" but i don't cite a source. does that make it untrue? no. but some wiki jackass will remove it for not being a sourced statement. drives me nuts. try to add ""paris hilton has herpes"" to the paris hilton article. it won't last 10 minutes, even though EVERYONE knows the tramp has the herp. and if you are told that wikipedia is NOT a reliable source for citation in an article, then why are so many people so concerned about citing sources to make wiki more accurate? it's stated in the wiki rules that wiki is not a reliable source of info. anyway." | toxic | en |
Hardly a conflict of interest, the NPIA page is extremely neutral. I can only think that it is because I am British and not American that I am being treated in this way.
The NPIA page merely shows the functions of the agency in relation to it's work, it's not controversialor baised. | toxic | en |
Appropriate names==
Excuse me, Logolist, but there's no purpose served by implying obliquely that the Germans of today have designs upon Wroclaw, Szczecin, Gdansk, etc., if that's what you intended above.
Beyond that, you should understand that all these points of view about ex-German places that are part of post-1945 Poland have been made, aired, discussed, contested and reiterated ad nauseum on Wiki during the past couple of years.
My own view is that these places were known to most of the world by their German names for a long time, which should be explained where RELEVANT, i.e. in any historical section. This is especially true of Danzig/Gdansk, given its unique history in the interwar period and internationally high profile politically. A secondary point is that these places where known to their INHABITANTS by their German names before 1945.
There's nothing revanchist or revisionist in naming places with the names by which they were known to the world and to themselves during the historical periods involved. Indeed, it is linguistically revisionist, in a sense, to refer to Danzig (for example) as Gdansk when writing about the six centuries in which it was inhabited mainly by Germans.
I've argued all along that the Germans today should refer to these places by their Polish names when referring to contemporary events – for the same reasons that they should be referred to by their German names when historical events are the issue.
== | toxic | en |
":: Hmm, Thinking about it, getting involved in a more elaborate argument around the question the question of rigor or lack-there-of is fairly useless. To me, the SI's dismissal of Black Mask seems like a ideal example of rigor but I suspect we'd disagree about a lot. I'll boil the general argument down to the point that the intended mission of wikipedia is producing a neuteral summary of generally agreed facts about historically significant actors, in this case the SI. The question of Debord's dictatorial control is clearly a partisan position, therefore it should hardly be presented prominently (though it's certainly a fact the many have claimed this). The split with the Nashists was *A* significant event during period of development of the Situationists. But to call it *THE* significant event is to make earlier development of group more important than the latter development. Debord and Sanguinetti's book ""The Real Split In The International"" could just as well be called the ""fundamental split"" if you took later Situationist developments as more important. Naturally, a neuteral account would take neither position - it could still mention one or both.
Your claims that my lack of interest in the Nashists represent anti-Scandinavians racism might perhaps be considered another instance of your humor, perhaps? In anycase, the studies of the SI that come to mind are Sadie Plant or Len Bracken. Even Greil Marcus has some useful stuff. Indeed, in the clearly partisan Bob Black essay the introductory paragraphs still winds-up with a somewhat more balanced view of the group than the current entry here (though clearly there's still a ""revive the honor of forgotten Second Situationist Internation"" thing going on).
In anycase, I reviewed the history of text and it seem that the first or two paragraphs are essentially tacked-on afterwards. This explains the disjointed quality of the text as a whole - it clearly needs rewriting.
As far as links go, certainly inclusive links are another option - it is simply that the entry would have to be vastly MORE inclusive than the present entry if you wanted to include all links to comments and critiques on the Situationists.
" | toxic | en |
I'm the one who transferred the links. I just skimmed the WP:NOT and found the section you were probably referring to about NOT collecting links. It's sad because I actually do use wikipedia as a resource to find articles and such written by the people covered, so this kind of huge bibliography is a goldmine for me. If anyone can find a link to an external database, or if anyone wants to make this huge bibliography into an external database and link to it (*thinks wishfully*), that would be awesome... | toxic | en |
wiki can't edit
could you make Thai airways semi protected shorter. Now it ends in June could you change it to April or may??? | toxic | en |
enron actuals for july 7 thru 9 , 2000
july 7 teco tap 120 . 000 / hpl iferc
ls hpl katy 30 . 000 / enron
july 8 teco tap 40 . 000 / enron ; 80 . 000 / hpl iferc
july 9 teco tap 40 . 000 / enron ; 80 . 000 / hpl iferc | scam | en |
"
The Commons user ID ""Fillipmagazine"" is given as the uploader for this and some others, all of them targeted for deletion, of course. By an amazing coincidence, that's the so-called magazine that Nowa is trying to claim as conferring notability on these vanity pictures. ← What's up, Doc? carrots→ " | toxic | en |
Yes it is quite clear, I disagree but since it is the official document I agree that we should follow it. Feel free to remove my corrections at German urban district. | toxic | en |
I am aware of the issue that were of concern to Iridescent. They provide a reasonable basis for his suggestion that this article (which as it happens he wrote in the first place) not be run on the main page at this time. However, they do not require that article remain protected from editing, nor warrant its be deleted, revised, or de-featured.
The administrator who protected the article has said on his talkpage that he would not object to the article's being unprotected by an administrator with the relevant background. Accordingly, I am lifting the protection. Anyone with concerns is of course free not to edit the article, which has had relatively few editors in any event. | toxic | en |
Thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you may want to do. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. ·:· ·:· | toxic | en |
enron hosts annual analyst conference provides business overview
and goals for 2000
houston - enron corp . hosted its annual equity analyst conference today in
houston . ken lay , enron chairman and chief executive officer , opened the
conference by highlighting enron , s tremendous growth across all businesses
and the outstanding 700 percent return to shareholders over the past decade .
enron presented key objectives for 2000 :
? continued strong growth in the core wholesale energy businesses .
? break - out performance from retail energy services .
? rapid development of enron broadband services .
enron , s ability to extend core skills and competencies to new markets was a
recurring theme throughout the day .
wholesale energy business
growth prospects remain strong for wholesale energy operations and services ,
enron , s largest business . wholesale energy growth in north america is
expected to be driven by the continuing deregulation of power markets in the
united states and large - scale energy outsourcing by utilities and large
energy consumers . enron expects to continue to broaden its early lead across
the european continent as markets quickly open to competition . finally ,
enron is rapidly expanding its wholesale presence in other markets such as
japan , where large customers will be permitted to choose their electricity
provider in march 2000 .
enrononline will provide additional wholesale growth as incremental sales are
generated through this innovative , internet - based transaction system . over
450 customers around the world have used enrononline and over 10 , 000
transactions have been completed since its introduction in late november
1999 . yesterday , enrononline transaction levels reached a new record with
over 700 transactions , representing a notional value of $ 250 million .
transaction processing costs with enrononline are significantly lower than
costs associated with traditional transaction methods .
enron , s gas pipeline group is also well positioned to continue growing , with
expansions planned or underway on several of its systems .
retail energy services
with over 16 , 500 facilities under management , the infrastructure is in place
to service customers worldwide . as the strong contracting momentum
continues , enron energy services is poised to rapidly increase earnings in
2000 . enron energy services , goal for 2000 is to sign new contracts
representing $ 16 billion in future expenditures by customers for energy and
energy services , nearly double the level in 1999 .
enron broadband services
the new name of enron , s communications business , enron broadband services ,
reflects its role in the very fast growing market for premium broadband
services . enron is deploying an open , flexible global broadband network
controlled by software intelligence , which precludes the need to invest in a
traditional point - to - point fiber network . this enron intelligent network is
widely interconnected to both other wholesale bandwidth carriers and to
internet service providers , thus providing the platform for two new enron
business centers , bandwidth intermediation and broadband content delivery .
a direct transfer of enron , s core market making and risk management skills
from its energy businesses , bandwidth intermediation will provide
capacity - holders a vast array of alternatives for flexible , low cost
capacity . enron will also provide premium broadband content services , such
as high - quality video - streaming and large broadband file transfer , with
differentiated levels of quality in a usage - based business model .
as announced in a separate release , enron also reached an agreement with sun
microsystems that provides for accelerated development of broadband internet
services .
enron is one of the world , s leading electricity , natural gas and
communications companies . the company , which owns approximately $ 34 billion
in energy and communications assets , produces electricity and natural gas ,
develops , constructs and operates energy facilities worldwide , delivers
physical commodities and financial and risk management services to customers
around the world , and is developing an intelligent network platform to
facilitate online business . enron , s internet address is www . enron . com , and
the stock is traded under the ticker symbol , & ene . 8
# #
this press release includes forward looking statements within the meaning of
section 27 a of the securities act of 1933 and section 21 e of the securities
exchange act of 1934 . although enron believes that its expectations are based
on reasonable assumptions , it can give no assurance that its goals will be
achieved . important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those in the forward looking statements herein include
political developments in foreign countries , the ability to penetrate new
wholesale and retail natural gas , electricity and broadband services markets ,
including the energy outsource market , in the united states and europe , the
timing and extent of changes in prices for crude oil , natural gas ,
electricity and those relating to broadband services and content , the timing
and effect of changes in interest rates , the timing and success of enron , s
efforts to develop domestic and international power , pipeline ,
communications , internet - related and other infrastructure projects , and
conditions of the capital markets and equity markets during the periods
covered by the forward looking statements . | scam | en |
, DO NOT simply revert the edit | toxic | en |
enron mentions - 11 / 17 / 01 - 11 / 18 / 01
they left behind big piles of money
houston chronicle , 11 / 18 / 01
economic news helps stocks , not bonds
the new york times , 11 / 18 / 01
bullish , and patient , on energy stocks
the new york times , 11 / 18 / 01
aquila energy makes provision for dynegy withdrawal , ft says
bloomberg , 11 / 18 / 01
a tale of greed and hubris
sarasota herald - tribune , 11 / 18 / 01
counting blessings along with the losses
los angeles times , 11 / 18 / 01
don ' t be a pudd ' n ' head , diversify
the washington post , 11 / 18 / 01
wessex water ` to be sold '
the independent - london , 11 / 18 / 01
uk press : westlb makes grab for gbplb wessex water
dow jones international news , 11 / 18 / 01
quanta steels itself against takeover bid
houston chronicle , 11 / 17 / 01
business briefs / houston & texas
houston chronicle , 11 / 17 / 01
at enron , the big dogs ate first
portland oregonian , 11 / 17 / 01
finance week - from dealing to reeling .
financial times , 11 / 17 / 01
world stock markets - bears take upper hand on wall st .
financial times , 11 / 17 / 01
in brief / energy pension funds consider action against enron
los angeles times , 11 / 17 / 01
enron investors hope filing will shed more light on finances
bloomberg , 11 / 17 / 01
uk : trade , bank buyers circle enron ' s wessex water - reports .
reuters english news service , 11 / 17 / 01
a user ' s guide to living in calgary : people moving from houston find the cities much alike
national post , 11 / 17 / 01
westlb offers to buy enron ' s u . k . water unit , newspaper says
bloomberg , 11 / 17 / 01
enron closes on $ 550 million loan from j . p . morgan , salomon
bloomberg , 11 / 16 / 01
business
jim barlow
they left behind big piles of money
jim barlow
staff
11 / 18 / 2001
houston chronicle
2 star
1
( copyright 2001 )
will wonders never cease ? last week a couple of heavy hitters left money on the table .
mark mcgwire , the home - run - hitting baseball player for st . louis , retired . and he let it be known that he never signed a two - year , $ 30 million contract his agent negotiated last spring . why ? because he wanted to find out if his injured right knee would allow him to play as well as he had before . it didn ' t , and he decided he wasn ' t worth that kind of money .
then ken lay , chairman of enron corp . , said he won ' t take the $ 60 . 6 million he had coming to him in a severance agreement that comes into play when enron is sold to dynegy corp .
of course , neither mcgwire nor lay will ever have to consider my fallback retirement plan - sacking groceries at the supermarket , carrying them to the car and hoping for a big tip . still , it was a class act on both their parts . mcgwire only hit . 187 last season , well below his lifetime average . and lay ? well , let ' s say that rarely in the history of american capitalism has a company sunk as fast as enron .
remember that earlier this year its stock hit a top of $ 82 a share . now it ' s hovering in the single - digit level , and enron is being forced to sell itself to a smaller rival .
the stock price incentive
how did enron get into this position ? put the blame on the company ' s relentless drive to push up its stock price . and a big reason for that push comes from the way american companies compensate top executives .
in the last couple of decades , executive compensation has soared . the average chief executive officer today makes 531 times as much in salary , bonuses and stock options as the average factory worker .
apologists for executive pay say these kinds of figures really aren ' t relevant . most of the money top executives receive doesn ' t come from base pay or bonuses but from stock options .
such options usually work this way . executives are given hundreds or thousands of shares of stock that they can only buy from the company at a future date . the sales price can be anything from 10 cents to the price of the stock on the date the options were granted . if the stock increases past the exercise price in the option , the executive can buy the stock and then sell it , making big bucks . it the stock has dropped below the option price - it ' s underwater , in the jargon - then those options are worthless .
granting options aligns the interests of the top executives with the shareholders , those who favor this sort of incentive say . and that ' s true , if you talking about in - and - out traders . but it ' s not true if we ' re looking out for the interests of the majority who hold stocks for the long term .
keeping the debt hidden
keeping its stock price soaring was what brought down enron .
to hype the stock , enron ' s execs were hiding the debt it took on to fuel its amazing growth and some of its dicier investments , in partnerships . enron was supposedly only a minority partner in these deals . that way it could move a large portion of its debt off its books in that partnership . that , in turn , made the company ' s earnings look better .
when enron ' s executives finally fessed up , they had to write down their profits over the past few years by 20 percent . but the real irony here is that 80 percent is still a heck of a lot of money . but by that time , the majority of shareholders simply had no faith in enron ' s bookkeeping .
now look at lay ' s compensation . in 1999 he exercised stock options and made $ 44 million on them . in 2000 , sales of options brought him $ 123 million , and this year about $ 26 million , according to a study published by bloomberg news .
was lay deliberating deceiving investors to keep his stock options profitable ? i don ' t think so . he was simply following the latest fad in corporate governance . he was aligning himself with the interests of the shareholders .
the shareholders were happy with that high stock price . nobody - besides some stock analysts - complained about enron ' s often - impenetrable bookkeeping until that stock price started to fall .
would enron ' s bookkeeping have been different if top executives received fewer stock options ? maybe .
fewer stock options would mean lower pay for the top guys . and no one would want that job if he were only going to make $ 10 million a year instead of $ 100 million .
just kidding .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones section 3
databank
economic news helps stocks , not bonds
by jonathan fuerbringer
11 / 18 / 2001
the new york times
page 17 , column 3
c . 2001 new york times company
stocks rallied and bonds plunged last week as investors digested some positive reports about the economy . inflation at the consumer level declined last month , retail sales surged after falling in september , and weekly initial unemployment claims slowed .
all this news led some investors to conclude that the economy might not be as troubled as it appeared to be in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks . that was good for the stock market , but very bad for the many bond investors who had been assuming the worst .
for the week , the nasdaq composite index rose 70 . 10 points , or 3 . 8 percent , to 1 , 898 . 58 , while the dow jones industrial average climbed 258 . 99 points , or 2 . 7 percent , to 9 , 866 . 99 . the standard & poor ' s 500 - stock index gained 18 . 33 points , or 1 . 6 percent , to 1 , 138 . 65 .
but bond prices tumbled while yields , which move in the opposite direction , soared . the yield on the treasury ' s 10 - year note rose to 4 . 85 percent , from 4 . 31 percent a week ago , the biggest weekly move in percentage terms since the note was first regularly issued 25 years ago . the jump in rates also showed that many investors no longer expect federal reserve policy makers to cut short - term interest rates when they meet next month . jonathan fuerbringer
chart : ' ' stocks in the news ' ' amr nyse : amr the stock of the parent company of american airlines , along with other airline companies , rebounded on factors including lower oil prices and passage of the aviation security bill . friday ' s close : $ 20 . 06 week ' s change : + 10 . 65 % est . ' 01 p / e : - - dynegy nyse : dyn as part of its planned $ 9 billion acquisition of enron , dynegy will receive the right to acquire northern natural gas , a potentially lucrative pipeline system , even if the larger deal is not completed . friday ' s close : $ 42 . 47 week ' s change : + 9 . 57 % est . ' 01 p / e : 20 . 29 home depot nyse : hd the nation ' s largest home - improvement chain said its third - quarter profit rose 20 percent over the year - earlier period . friday ' s close : $ 45 . 80 week ' s change : + 8 . 76 % est . ' 01 p / e : 36 . 03 dell computer nnm : dell rebounding from a loss in the second quarter , dell reported a third - quarter profit of $ 429 mil lion . the company also predict d that pc sales would increase later this year . friday ' s close : $ 26 . 60 week ' s change : + 3 . 30 % est . ' 01 p / e : 41 . 05 sungard data systems nyse : sds an appeals court rejected the government ' s effort to stop sungard from buying a unit of comdisco , which filed for bankruptcy protection in july , while an antitrust investigation proceeds . friday ' s close : $ 28 . 64 week ' s change : + 9 . 56 % est . ' 01 p / e : 32 . 11 yahoo nnm : yhoo wall street analysts expressed confidence in the turnaround prospects of the company after it outlined plans to increase fee - based revenue and to reduce its work force . friday ' s close : $ 15 . 47 week ' s change : + 12 . 76 % est . ' 01 p / e : 309 . 40 philip morris nyse : mo philip morris says it plans to change its name to the altria group , pending approval by shareholders . friday ' s close : $ 48 . 13 week ' s change : + 2 . 78 % est . ' 01 p / e : 11 . 90 cv therapeutics nnm : cvtx the biotechnology company said clinical trials of ranolazine showed that the drug , which it developed , was effective in treating the chest pain of angina . friday ' s close : $ 51 . 67 week ' s change : + 48 . 97 % est . ' 01 p / e : - - ( source : bloomberg financial markets )
copyright ? 2000 dow jones section 3
investing
bullish , and patient , on energy stocks
by jan m . rosen
11 / 18 / 2001
the new york times
page 8 , column 2
c . 2001 new york times company
despite last week ' s plunge in the price of crude oil and in shares of big oil companies , some wall street analysts remain upbeat about the long - term prospects for energy stocks .
' ' these very dramatic downturns are great buying opportunities , ' ' said tina vital , an oil and gas analyst at standard & poor ' s , who recommends a broad group of integrated oil companies , including exxon mobil , chevrontexaco , royal dutch / shell , bp and totalfinaelf . ' ' they have excellent management , a top dividend yield and are a safe haven for investors , ' ' she said , provided that investors are patient and can bear short - term swings .
last week ' s price declines were set off by russian oil companies ' refusal to accept demands by the organization of the petroleum exporting countries for big production cuts . they were a reminder that the sector is extremely volatile . ' ' oil could go to $ 10 a barrel short term , ' ' she said , but there is no certainty of that . the oil producers could reach an agreement by january , sending prices upward . over the long term , she expects to see production cuts .
demand for energy has grown only 0 . 5 percent this year , and prices have been declining for some time for both crude oil and gasoline - - as drivers have seen at the gas pump . west texas intermediate crude closed friday at $ 18 . 03 on the new york mercantile exchange , up 58 cents from its thursday close , the lowest since june 1999 . but an economic recovery , expected by late 2002 , could cause demand to pick up , analysts say .
as oil prices have dropped , so have the prices of most oil stocks , but not as much as the overall market since the beginning of 2000 . over that period , the s . & p . energy index has lost 8 percent , while the s . & p . 500 - stock index is down 23 percent .
a report issued last week by the energy department said that while the sept . 11 terrorist attacks had intensified the country ' s economic slowdown , ' ' they are not expected to result in any long - term volatility in energy markets . ' ' the report estimated that commercial energy demand would rise 1 . 7 percent a year through 2020 , instead of the 1 . 2 percent predicted only a year ago . its predictions assume increased use of computers and office equipment , and slower increases in fuel efficiency for cars and trucks .
while they warn of the possibility of wild price shifts in the months ahead , other analysts are similarly bullish for the long term . l . bruce lanni , senior oil analyst at a . g . edwards his 12 - month target is $ 34 . ' ' we remain confident , ' ' he said , ' ' that the company ' s annual oil and gas production should grow by about 4 percent , on average , over the next several years . ' '
conoco ' s debt , at 55 percent of capital , is relatively high , but he expects the company ' s strong cash flow - - it equaled $ 5 . 33 a share last year - - to reduce the debt level to 46 percent next year and to 38 percent in 2003 . the company ' s after - tax interest cost is only 3 . 5 percent , he said .
mr . lanni also favors kerr - mcgee , a natural gas exploration and production company , and bp , calling both undervalued . he regards exxon mobil , royal dutch / shell and chevrontexaco as fully priced , so he is not recommending buying them now . ' ' if you own them , hold them , ' ' he said .
william featherston , executive director and an oil and gas exploration analyst at ubs warburg , said he felt ' ' near - term caution but medium - term optimism for sustainably higher ' ' natural gas prices . he said he would encourage investors to consider buying shares of exploration and production companies over the next two months . his top picks are apache , kerr - mcgee and eog resources .
such stocks are highly volatile , he said . they are ' ' trading - oriented vehicles , and short - term volatility in commodity prices generally provides the most attractive entry and exit points , ' ' he said . ' ' while natural gas prices declined throughout most of this year , prices rose at a startling pace , from $ 1 . 75 per million cubic feet at the end of september to over $ 3 per million cubic feet within weeks . ' '
he cited three reasons for the price rally : a decline in gas surpluses , predictions of a colder - than - normal winter and what he has called ' ' pathetic third - quarter natural gas production , ' ' despite record drilling activity .
the tangled finances of the enron corporation were also a factor in the recent price increase for natural gas futures , he said . enron , which marketed 25 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas , or more than 40 percent of the nation ' s demand , is under investigation by the securities and exchange commission and announced a $ 1 . 2 billion reduction in shareholder equity from deals with partnerships involving its former chief financial officer . it also reported a third - quarter loss and restated earlier earnings . enron has agreed to be taken over by dynegy , a smaller rival , for about $ 9 billion in stock . dynegy is also assuming about $ 13 billion in debt .
anxiety over whether the enron investigation would disrupt deliveries or have other market repercussions led to an increase in prices . while it is ' ' difficult to quantify the enron factor , ' ' mr . featherston said , the short - term effects on natural gas prices seem to be over .
other factors , of course , could also mean a bumpy ride for energy investors over the next several months . the status of the war against terrorism , president bush ' s decision to fill the strategic petroleum reserve , thus helping opec in reducing excess global capacity , and a united nations review of the food - for - oil deal with iraq expected in december could each have a significant impact on battered oil prices .
nevertheless , ms . vital said , for the long term , energy will probably be in short supply , and new sources must be developed . so she also likes the prospects of two drilling companies , noble drilling and nabors industries . both took a beating last week , along with the oil companies , so again she sees buying opportunities .
bern fleming , portfolio manager of the axp utilities income fund in minneapolis , who has stakes in dynegy , duke energy and dominion resources , said all three had good prospects for growth , thanks to a mix of assets , ' ' management i respect and solid business plans . ' '
photo : workers at an oil well near lafayette , la . although oil prices have plunged , analysts say there is still good long - term potential for the stocks of energy companies . ( marty katz for the new york times ) chart : ' ' power play ' ' energy stocks have generally outperformed the overall market since the beginning of 2000 . graph shows conoco shares , s . & p . energy composite , and the s . & p . 500 index since january 2000 . ( source : bloomberg financial markets )
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
aquila energy makes provision for dynegy withdrawal , ft says
2001 - 11 - 18 19 : 52 ( new york )
houston , nov . 19 ( bloomberg ) - - aquila energy corp . is one of
several energy traders limiting its trading with enron corp . in
case dynegy inc . pulls out of its bid for the company , the
financial times said , citing aquila .
aquila said it began making contingency plans in case dynegy
withdrew from its $ 24 billion takeover of enron , the paper
reported .
enron , the largest energy trader , decided to sell after its
shares plunged this year and a federal investigation of accounting
irregularities limited its ability to finance operations . enron ' s
collapse would have caused upheaval in energy markets , where the
company does one - quarter of all gas and power trades .
dynegy ' s agreement to buy enron allows it to withdraw from
the transaction under certain circumstances , the ft said .
perspectives
a tale of greed and hubris
waldo proffitt
11 / 18 / 2001
sarasota herald - tribune
all
f 2
( copyright 2001 )
for anyone not already disenchanted with the idea of total deregulation of public utilities , the most recent installment of the miserable enron story as it unfolded last week should serve as a convincing example of the folly of relying on unregulated profit - driven enterprises to supply our energy .
a year ago enron was the darling of wall street , the poster boy for the utility industry , its stock selling for about $ 85 a share . last week its stock was worth about 10 percent of that and the company had agreed to be bought by a competitor . there was fear the company ' s bond rating might fall to the " junk " level .
what happened ? it will take months , if not years , to untangle the details , but it is clear that the main culprit was greed , closely followed by hubris .
not too many years ago enron was a small , struggling , gas pipeline company in houston . as deregulation spread to more and more states , enron began acquiring pipelines , gas producers and utilities .
it also acquired friends in high places , especially the bush family and their key political advisers . and , it discovered it could make money faster by selling and trading energy than by producing it . enron sold many of its generating plants and became the biggest " power broker " in the nation .
though it was by no means the largest winner in the con game that bilked california consumers of tens of billions of dollars , enron was one of the first power barons to take advantage of california ' s flawed deregulation law - - virtually written by in - state and out - of - state utility companies .
the california fiasco soured ( probably ) most americans on utility deregulation , but enron was not singled out for calumny , and management saw no reason to examine its business ethics .
contrarywise . management had visions of even greater profits , which it felt no obligation to share with ordinary stockholders . the chief financial officer and other high - ranking executives set up affiliated or subsidiary partnerships which made deals with enron . i do not understand the details of these arrangements , but neither do independent accountants , the securities and exchange commission or congressional investigators . it does seem clear that the enron insiders made millions for themselves .
enron acknowledges , without explaining , that stockholder equity dropped $ 1 . 2 billion in the last quarter and that it had for the last five years overstated profits by some $ 600 million . whether this was by design or by mistake is in dispute , but it is the sort of thing which tends to undermine the confidence of investors .
so much for greed . back to hubris . it seems not unlikely that enron ' s leaders felt they might not be punished for a modest amount of corner - cutting because they had friends in high places .
the chief executive , kenneth l . lay , was and is a personal friend of george w . bush and has easy access to the white house . for many months after the new administration took office , karl rove , bush ' s top political strategist , owned enron stock valued at $ 100 , 000 to $ 250 , 000 , and sold it only after he had been able to secure a ruling that he did not have to pay capital gains tax immediately because he sold to avoid a conflict of interest . lawrence lindsey , the president ' s chief economic coordinator , and i . lewis libby , vice president cheney ' s chief of staff , owned stock in enron , and lindsey was paid $ 50 , 000 last year as a consultant for enron .
enron and its employees gave more than anyone else to bush ' s four political campaigns - - one ( unsuccessful ) for congress , two for governor and one for president . in 2000 , enron and its employees gave $ 113 , 000 to bush ' s campaign , $ 250 , 000 to the republican national committee , and $ 300 , 000 to the presidential inauguration committee .
cabinet appointments affecting energy policy , key sub - cabinet appointments , administration action or inaction in the california energy mess , and the overall energy policy of the administration could hardly have been more favorable to the interests of enron .
and now a couple of questions : is it possible the unusual financial maneuvers by enron went unnoticed or even unsuspected by all the savvy texas oilmen in the bush administration ? were those of them with heavy investments in enron unconcerned about the conduct of the company ? was enron right in thinking its friends in government would not be in a hurry to investigate or to reprimand ?
or , in light of our preoccupation with terrorism , will the enron case get much attention from the federal government ? or from voters ?
waldo proffitt is the former editor of the herald - tribune .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones financial desk
market beat
counting blessings along with the losses
tom petruno
times staff writer
11 / 18 / 2001
los angeles times
home edition
c - 1
copyright 2001 / the times mirror company
try finishing this sentence : " the best thing about my experience as an investor in 2001 was . . . "
many americans , contemplating the losses they ' ve suffered this year in the stock market , might say there was nothing " best " about what happened to them - - in fact , nothing good at all , perhaps other than that it might have been worse .
with share prices on the rise again , the damage to portfolios has been lessened . even so , stocks will have to post strong gains in the next six weeks to keep this from being the market ' s worst calendar year since 1977 .
the blue - chip standard & poor ' s 500 index rose 1 . 6 % last week , but it ' s still down 13 . 8 % year to date .
yet those losses , while certainly not trivial ( especially when they ' re yours ) , can obscure what arguably are some very positive aspects of this year ' s experiences .
with investing , adversity can be a more important teacher than success . if you ' re having trouble this thanksgiving week finding reasons to be thankful about anything investment - related , try these on for size :
* " asset allocation " is no longer just a quaint theory . the paramount investing rule has always been to spread your money around to reduce risk . but it took the worst stock bear market in 25 years to bring this lesson home for many people who thought equities only rose in value .
now , millions of investors have a far better appreciation for just how much they can lose in stocks - - and how bonds and short - term cash savings can offset market losses and preserve capital .
it has been a hard lesson , to be sure . but investors who take asset allocation to heart will be laying a much more solid foundation for their money in the long run . and don ' t underestimate what that can mean for your peace of mind long term .
* the wisdom of saving money on a regular basis has been relearned . in the late 1990 s , many economists lamented how the u . s . savings rate continued to shrink . some people felt there was little need to put significant new sums into savings when the stocks or stock mutual funds they owned seemed to be rising nonstop .
in other words , many americans were letting the stock market do their saving for them when share prices were rising 20 % or more each year .
now , with shares down and with the likelihood of much more moderate returns on stocks in this decade , it ' s clear that many people will have to find a way to save regularly if they ' re going to meet their long - term financial goals , especially retirement .
this may not be a pleasant reality , but it ' s better for most people to have faced this fact sooner rather than later , while there may be time to make up lost ground .
* a healthy skepticism has replaced mindless euphoria about stocks and those who tout them . the market ' s slide has discredited a legion of wall street analysts , money managers and others whose knowledge , understanding and judgment were clearly lacking , in retrospect .
investors have come to see that having blind faith in those who present themselves as " experts " is a highly dangerous strategy , if it can be called a strategy at all .
sure , it may have been more fun when technology stocks were shooting the moon and nobody had much use for reviewing a company ' s fundamentals . but that wasn ' t investing - - it was speculating , and on a massive , and ultimately ruinous , scale .
people have learned to be less trusting about what others say about the market , and that is more likely to be beneficial than detrimental to their portfolios in the long run .
just ask anyone who shifted their entire 401 ( k ) retirement savings sum into aggressive - growth mutual funds in the first quarter of 2000 - - right before the market peaked - - because of the bullish comments of some 25 - year - old tech stock analyst . those investors aren ' t likely to make a move like that again .
* free - market forces are weeding out the weak players and the phonies . capitalism may be harsh , but it ' s efficient when the good times end and it ' s time to find out which companies truly have talent and staying power - - and deserve more capital .
hundreds of dot - coms have failed , but who really misses them ? is it any harder to find what you want on the internet ? it probably would have been much worse for all concerned if those companies had sucked up investors ' funds for another year instead of failing when they did .
but the market isn ' t just eliminating small companies that never had much of a future . the financial near - collapse of energy giant enron corp . exposed a business that twisted accounting rules to its own benefit - - to the point that the company now concedes that financial statements all the way back to 1997 " should not be relied upon . "
also to be weeded out , though over a longer time period , will be mutual fund managers whose performance running other peoples ' money has been a nightmare for those investors - - meaning , the returns produced have been far worse than what the investors would have achieved in the average fund in that particular sector .
these managers know who they are - - and , hopefully , their shareholders know by now as well , and will vote with their feet .
the free market also is reminding cartels just how tough it is to control prices .
once again , the organization of petroleum exporting countries has lost its ability to prop up crude oil prices , which have sunk to two - year lows amid the weak global economy . that ' s lousy for opec , but it ' s great for every energy consumer .
* the market ' s woes have altered many investors ' priorities for the better . the wild bull market of the late 1990 s demanded peoples ' attention , and got it .
for some , stocks became an obsession . their portfolios dominated their lives , especially if they were actively trading shares . they believed they were going to be rich , or richer , and that it was all because of how smart they were .
now , most people have been humbled by the market . in the process , some have realized that they don ' t want their mood determined by their portfolio ' s day - to - date price changes .
the sept . 11 terrorist attacks , of course , also changed many peoples ' view of what truly matters to them .
money is important , but you aren ' t your stocks , and they aren ' t you . life is more than a daily stock quote .
*
tom petruno can be reached at tom . petruno @ latimes . com . for recent columns on the web , go to www . latimes . com / petruno .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
financial
investing james k . glassman
don ' t be a pudd ' n ' head , diversify
james k . glassman
11 / 18 / 2001
the washington post
final
hol
copyright 2001 , the washington post co . all rights reserved
warren buffett , who was probably the greatest investor of the 20 th century , is fond of quoting the salacious actress mae west as saying , " too much of a good thing can be wonderful . " in the market , such a motto would lead you to avoid diversification and instead concentrate your portfolio in stocks you really , really like .
peter lynch , who was probably the best mutual fund manager of the 20 th century , calls spreading yourself too thin " diworseification . "
smart , witty and brilliant at picking stocks , buffett and lynch may not need diversification , but the rest of us do . when you own one stock , you ' re out on a limb . for example , very few analysts - - with or without a conflict of interest - - predicted that shares of enron , the energy and trading company , would tumble by 90 percent in a year . put all your eggs in a basket like that and you end up with a gooey mess . the more stocks you own - - as long as they are in different industries - - the more the overall riskiness of your portfolio is modulated .
the reason you don ' t want a super - risky portfolio is simple : while warren buffett may be calm and prescient enough to ride out severe dips in the value of his holdings , most investors are not . a portfolio that increases in price by 10 percent each and every year is worth exactly the same at the end of three years as a portfolio that falls by half the first year , rises by three - quarters the second and rises by 52 percent the third . but reasonable investors prefer the consistent ride . it prevents them from doing something stupid , such as selling all their stocks after losing half their money during that first disastrous year .
consider the sad case of james d . mccall , who earlier this month resigned as manager of the merrill lynch focus twenty mutual fund . two years ago , merrill wanted mccall ' s services so desperately that the firm went to court to pry mccall away from his previous employer , pilgrim baxter , where he rang up impressive gains in the late 1990 s . ( his big success was called pbhg large cap 20 . ) and when they got mccall , merrill ' s brokers raised more than $ 1 . 5 billion from their clients for him to invest . while the average growth - stock mutual fund owns about 100 stocks , with the top 10 holdings representing about one - fourth of the portfolio ' s total value , mccall specialized in what are called " concentrated portfolios . " in the case of merrill lynch focus twenty , he owned , as the name implies , just 20 stocks . at last report , his top 10 holdings accounted for a whopping two - thirds of the fund ' s assets .
if mccall had spread his 20 stocks among , say , a dozen different industries , he might have smoothed his ride . instead , 69 percent of his assets went to technology firms . the focus fund and a smaller one that mccall ran called premier growth were launched in march 2000 . within just 17 months , all but $ 650 million of the clients ' original $ 1 . 5 billion had vanished .
it is hard to imagine losing as much as focus twenty did even if you tried . as of nov . 9 , the week mccall resigned , the fund was down 72 percent for the year , compared with a loss of 14 percent for the standard & poor ' s 500 - stock index , the benchmark for fund managers . according to the latest report from morningstar mutual funds , 19 of mccall ' s 20 stocks had declined during 2001 , the only exception being harley - davidson . more amazing , 16 of the 19 losers had fallen by at least half . ( by the way , enron was mccall ' s seventh - largest holding . )
" this fund has had a wretched existence , " wrote morningstar analyst kunal kapoor , who did admit a grudging admiration for mccall ' s perseverance . mccall ' s " faith may turn out to be well placed over time , " kapoor said . unfortunately , time ran out .
my point here is not to pick on mccall but to reveal the perils of concentration . buying focus twenty as a technology fund , and consigning it to no more than one - fifth of your holdings ( with the rest of your assets in diversified , conventional stocks or funds ) might have made sense , but focus twenty was touted as a " long - term capital appreciation " fund , not a sector fund . here , it failed , but maybe it didn ' t have to .
the manager who made the concentrated fund popular , tom marsico , who ran janus twenty , took care to spread his holdings around . his successor , scott schoelzel , has suffered losses lately ( he is down 28 percent year - to - date , but that ' s after a total gain of 546 percent in the preceding five years ) , but they have not been nearly so catastrophic - - and for good reason . schoelzel ' s last report lists among his top 10 holdings three tech stocks , two financials , one drug company , one energy firm ( whoops , enron again ) , one industrial , one consumer - durables company and one services firm .
for investors in individual stocks , the important question is this : how much diversification is enough ? some risk is inherent in even the broadest portfolio . this is called market , or " systematic , " risk . over the past 75 years , market risk , as measured in standard deviation , has been about 20 percent . in other words , in two - thirds of the years the annual return of the s that is , between a loss of 9 percent and a gain of 31 percent . that ' s still volatile , but if you invest in stocks you have to live with it .
what you don ' t have to live with is anything more volatile . so your objective in building a portfolio is to try to approximate systematic risk and avoid what is called " idiosyncratic , " or extra , risk . a portfolio with just a few stocks , or one like mccall ' s , that is overloaded in a single sector , has lots of idiosyncratic risk . in 1977 , an influential study found that investors could nearly eliminate that extra risk by owning just 20 stocks in a wide variety of sectors ; in fact , owning eight or 10 stocks depressed risk sharply .
recently , however , the market has appeared to be far more volatile , and a new study by a group of economists headed by john campbell of harvard found that many more stocks were needed - - around 50 - - to bring a portfolio down to the same level of riskiness as the broad market . what campbell ' s group found was that neither the market itself nor individual sectors had become more volatile in the 1990 s , but that stocks within those sectors had , so you need to own more of them .
but owning 50 stocks is a pain in the neck - - and it brings up the buffett - lynch admonitions about too much diversification . it is hard just to take the time to make the selections , but even buy - and - hold investors need to keep track of the companies they own to spot adverse changes in management , product failures or new competition ( not to mention enron - style accounting shenanigans ) - - signs that it ' s time to sell .
one good answer is to achieve balance by owning a combination of mutual funds and stocks . for example , you might want to put 50 percent of the money you have allotted for stocks into a fund that mimics the s & p itself , like vanguard index 500 , which charges rock - bottom expenses and guarantees that risk won ' t exceed systematic levels . you could also consider a broad fund that ' s managed by human beings , such as meridian value or baron growth , which are recommended by sheldon jacobs , editor of the no - load fund investor newsletter . then another 25 percent of your holdings can go into a few sector funds that specialize in technology , real estate , energy and small - caps , and the final 25 percent into a portfolio of 10 to 20 individual stocks . ( i own 16 , at last count . )
there are many valid variations . just don ' t emulate mark twain .
in a letter to clients recently , anthony m . maramarco of david l . babson & co . , the cambridge , mass . , investment firm , recalled the aphorism of twain ' s pudd ' n ' head wilson : " put all your eggs in the one basket - - and watch that basket ! " unfortunately , such a philosophy emphatically does not work in stock investing - - as twain himself learned when he sank nearly all his fortune into the paige linotype , a machine that flopped .
we all make mistakes . ( it was twain , after all , who pointed out that " human beings are the only animals that blush - - or need to . " ) but smart diversification helps investors avoid some of the worst of them .
james k . glassman invites comments at jglassman @ aei . org , but he cannot answer all queries .
http : / / www . washingtonpost . com
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
business
wessex water ` to be sold '
heather tomlinson
11 / 18 / 2001
the independent - london
foreign
1
( copyright 2001 independent newspapers ( uk ) limited )
wessex water , the water and sewage company , is understood to be up for sale following an offer to take over its owner , enron , by dynegy , the us energy group .
three years ago , enron spent pounds 1 . 4 bn on wessex water . but dynegy is understood to want to concentrate on us and european energy assets and is not interested in non - core assets .
any hope to regain the same amount of money could be derailed as the industry is put off by regulatory problems , and the company ' s results have worsened due to imposed price cuts over the past year .
" it is not that there is going to be a fire sale but most of [ the international assets ] are not core to the businesses we will continue to pursue , " said an enron spokesperson . " at the right price we will sell . "
scottish & southern energy and united utilities have been touted as potential buyers , yet industry insiders believe that the uk regulator , ofwat , will take a dim view of bids by uk water companies , as they are too large to buy it .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
uk press : westlb makes grab for gbplb wessex water
11 / 18 / 2001
dow jones international news
( copyright ( c ) 2001 , dow jones 44 - 207 - 842 - 9289
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
business
quanta steels itself against takeover bid
nelson antosh
staff
11 / 17 / 2001
houston chronicle
3 star
1
( copyright 2001 )
quanta services , which builds and maintains power and communications lines , said friday it is fighting a " creeping takeover " by utilicorp united , one of the nation ' s largest utility holding companies .
on thursday quanta board members changed the houston company ' s shareholder rights agreement - called a " poison pill " defense against takeovers - to deter utilicorp from acquiring a controlling stake .
the action was taken after negotiations with utilicorp fell apart and the kansas city , mo . - based company announced its intention to resume purchases of quanta stock .
a spokesman told bloomberg news on oct . 4 that utilicorp wanted to increase its stake to the mid - 40 s percentage range , which would give it effective control , with a vote on management .
utilicorp invested $ 320 million in quanta from september of 1999 through february of 2000 , said utilicorp spokesman ethan hirsh , bringing its ownership up to 28 percent , and has been adding stock since then . it owned about 38 percent when a standstill agreement stopped further purchases in early october .
part of the shareholder rights amendment limits further purchases by quanta by reducing the trigger point for the poison pill to 39 percent of quanta ' s outstanding shares , instead of the 49 . 9 percent that has been in effect just for utilicorp .
in addition to saying that utilicorp is no longer " an exempt " person under the 39 percent trigger , the amendments changed the kind of securities to be issued in the event the pill is triggered and how they could be exercised .
utilicorp had a higher trigger point that other potential acquirers because it already was a significant shareholder when the plan was initially drafted .
hirsch didn ' t think the amendments would prevent his company from buying more .
utilicorp ' s interest in houston acquisitions is not limited to quanta . its also said this week it would like to buy enron ' s share of a united kingdom power station that provides electricity sufficient to light 1 . 88 million homes .
it will soon get a 27 percent share in the station near london , known as the teeside power station , through the purchase of a utility there . it would like the 42 . 5 percent that enron owns , utilicorp president robert green said in a conference call .
green said he understood that stake was on enron ' s for - sale list .
utilicorp revealed in a securities and exchange commission filing that it bought 1 . 538 million shares of quanta ' s common stock on the open market , at a cost of more than $ 24 million , between sept . 28 and oct . 3 .
quanta ' s stock declined 27 cents to close friday at $ 15 . 69 , while utilicorp rose 10 cents to close at $ 27 . 50 . quanta ' s stock is down 51 percent for the year to date , and hit a 52 - week low of $ 9 . 94 on sept . 21 .
" after many weeks of negotiations with utilicorp , we could not reach agreement upon a strategy that would allow utilicorp to consolidate our financial results for accounting purposes on terms acceptable to quanta , " john colson , quanta ' s chief executive officer , said in a written statement .
" in the face of utilicorp ' s communications last evening breaking off negotiations and stating its intent to resume open market purchases of quanta stock , the board acted to protect the best interests of all quanta stockholders against a change of control transaction which did not provide an appropriate benefit to all shareholders , " he said .
quanta has a mutually beneficial relationship with utilicorp and hopes negotiations can resume , colson said .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
business
business briefs
business briefs / houston & texas
staff , bloomberg news , reuters , associated press
11 / 17 / 2001
houston chronicle
3 star
2
( copyright 2001 )
offer still on table for canadian hunter
burlington resources on friday extended a $ 1 . 96 billion offer for canadian hunter exploration ltd . until dec . 3 while canadian regulators study the bid .
the cash offer was to expire tuesday . investment canada , which oversees foreign ownership of canadian companies , won ' t complete its review by then , burlington said .
houston - based burlington agreed to buy calgary - based canadian hunter on oct . 9 .
azurix settles suit over dynegy buyback
azurix corp . , a wastewater - services management company , won a judge ' s approval friday in wilmington , del . , to settle shareholders ' lawsuits over parent enron corp . ' s $ 329 million stock buyback in march .
houston - based enron , soon to be bought by dynegy , said in october 2000 it would pay $ 7 for each of azurix ' s outstanding shares , or $ 275 million , to take the company private . seven azurix stock owners sued in delaware chancery court seeking more money .
enron eventually agreed to pay $ 8 . 375 per share , adding about $ 54 million to the offer , and stockholders agreed to settle the lawsuit , lawyers said .
sbc adds 2 states to long - distance rolls
san antonio - based sbc communications received permission friday from the federal communications commission to begin offering long - distance service to customers in missouri and arkansas .
the decision allows sbc to offer the service in the five states served by its sbc southwestern bell subsidiary . sbc has already received permission to compete in the long - distance market in texas , kansas and oklahoma .
while the fcc ' s decision was unanimous , there was discussion on whether sbc has made its dsl high - speed internet access service available for resale and if the federal law requires such resale . the commission will address the issue in another proceeding .
airline canceling 200 layoffs of pilots
fort worth - american airlines friday canceled the planned dec . 2 layoffs of 200 pilots because military duty was extended for pilots called up on reserve and other employees took leaves .
american laid off 386 american pilots sept . 28 and 200 more nov . 1 , as well as 120 at twa airlines . those were among 20 , 000 jobs amr eliminated as passenger demand fell . the company said it will bring employees back as demand improves .
southwest drops suit against orbitz site
dallas - southwest airlines co . has agreed to drop a lawsuit that claimed orbitz , an internet travel site owned by five rival airlines , displayed incorrect information about southwest ' s flights and fares .
" it gives southwest airlines the right to restart the litigation at its current point if southwest fares are ever displayed on orbitz again , " said linda rutherford , a spokeswoman for the dallas - based airline .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
editorial
at enron , the big dogs ate first
11 / 17 / 2001
portland oregonian
sunrise
do 6
( copyright ( c ) the oregonian 2001 )
summary : workers ' ire over 401 ( k ) plans is understandable
watching enron ' s bigwigs lose their jobs after inflating profits may offer some satisfaction to retirees and employees at the troubled energy marketer . but don ' t bank on it .
when corporate insiders can sell the company and stroll away with millions while workers and other stockholders are left with peanuts , it would be hard not to be bitter .
as oregonian business writer jeff manning reported friday , local employees of portland general electric , an enron subsidiary , watched their retirement savings sink after enron announced on oct . 16 that it would lose $ 618 million in the fourth quarter . this came after enron officers made more than $ 136 million selling stocks earlier in the year .
then on nov . 8 , enron dropped the other shoe : it admitted it had overstated earnings for four years by $ 586 million , or 20 percent . over those few weeks , enron shares plunged from $ 33 . 84 to its $ 9 close on friday .
the four - year overstatement developed through some novel accounting methods . enron and its auditor , arthur anderson , insist that its financial reports were all within proper standards , but the mechanics in this case included obscuring debt by placing it on the ledgers of other entities so that the parent company ' s profit picture appeared rosier than it actually was .
the weeks from mid - october to early november were wrenching for employees . because the company was changing its fund manager , they were powerless to make any changes in their 401 ( k ) plans . pge chief executive peggy fowler points out that the change in 401 ( k ) plan managers was announced last summer . and although employees could have gotten out of enron stocks over the history of the plan , enron seemed to be an attractive investment .
company executives , though , were selling . jeffrey skilling , who was promoted to enron chief executive early in the year but resigned in august , sold more than $ 5 million in company shares according to transaction records covering the first half of the year .
former chief financial officer , andrew fastow , who was fired last month in an action related to the financial mess , made $ 14 million in stock sales betweeen march and november of last year . kenneth lay , enron ' s chief executive , who returned after his protege skilling left , made at least $ 20 million in stock sales from late last year . he has announced that he would decline his severance package .
dynegy , another texas energy marketing company , has made a bid to buy enron . that probably means the best enron and pge employees can hope for now is that dynegy will be a better corporate owner , or they can try their luck with one of the many shareholder lawsuits being filed .
the securities and exchange commission is investigating enron ' s activities . if its behavior was illegal , there will be consequences for company officers .
that ' s still not much to offer to workers who have seen their retirement savings dissolve . but for now it ' s all there is .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones over many years they have pointed out that all the benefits of deals , and often more than all , accrue to the shareholders of the companies taken over , while investors in the bidding companies suffer dilution . investors know this , and in normal market conditions news of a takeover will depress the bidder ' s share price . but in a bubble market these prudent attitudes can be overwhelmed by euphoria , as well as technical factors relating to demand by fund managers so that they can maintain their weightings when a bidder is spraying around large quantities of new equity .
also , it is irrational that many more deals are done when the stock market is high than when it is low . two years ago , companies such as marconi were engaged in buying sprees at daft prices . now , when prices are much lower , hardly any acquisitions are being made ( and investment banks are dismissing thousands of employees ) . an exception to the deal famine is gold mining , which just happens to have been one of the stock market ' s strongest sectors this year .
another important source of irrationality has been the domination of stock market analysis by the stockbroking offshoots of the investment banks . over recent years their earnings - per - share forecasts for the next calendar year have been on average 8 per cent too high . this has not just been a mistake ; they have been paid to be over - optimistic . admittedly , attempts are being made to restructure the incentives here , as the embarrassed investment banks come under pressure from the regulators and the courts for their errors of judgment during the bull market , but it remains to be seen whether much will really change .
the mystery is why anybody would take notice of these forecasts , and indeed many professional investors do not . that merrill survey , incidentally , shows that fund managers on average expect no more than 4 per cent earnings per share growth over the next year , while the stockbrokers ' analysts are still clinging to the hope that it will be 15 per cent .
a final source of distortion is the tendency of companies to offer their executives the wrong sort of incentives . the ruin of marconi may appear irrational , when multi - billion - pound acquisitions are being declared worthless after only two years . but executives with lucrative stock option plans , which pay off if their gambles go right , combined with golden goodbye and pension packages that are triggered if things go wrong , may well consider it perfectly rational , from their viewpoint , to take much bigger risks than other shareholders , or employees , would consider acceptable .
moreover , sir christopher gent , shareholders of vodafone will remember , received a controversial # 10 m personal bonus last year for clinching the mannesmann takeover , a deal that requires # 10 bn of write - offs .
in normal market conditions the valuation of equities may be tolerably rational , but in a bubble market the rules are thrown out of the window . many investors certainly like the idea of getting rich quickly . that is why many people subscribe so keenly to national lotteries in which the chance of winning is so small as to be not worth rational consideration .
barry . riley @ ft . com .
( c ) copyright financial times ltd . all rights reserved .
http : / / www . ft . com .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
world stock markets - bears take upper hand on wall st .
by mary chung .
11 / 17 / 2001
financial times
( c ) 2001 financial times limited . all rights reserved
after an early game of tug - of - war , the bears took the upper hand as the dow jones industrial average closed 5 . 40 lower at 9 , 866 . 99 . the s & p 500 index gave up 3 . 59 at 1 , 138 . 65 and the nasdaq composite slipped 1 . 98 at 1 , 898 . 59 . volume was fairly heavy with 1 . 34 bn trades in the nyse .
the indices were earlier bolstered by news that some of the leaders of the taliban and the al - qaeda terrorist network had been killed in bombing raids on kabul and kandahar this week .
however , the momentum faded as investors found little reason to keep sending stocks higher following a sharp decline in the us consumer price index . the index saw its steepest monthly drop since april 1986 . separately , the federal reserve reported another drop in industrial output last month .
investors appeared more hesitant to step into the market and buy stocks after several weeks of sharp gains . however , the corporate picture looked to be improving for some companies such as dell . the computer maker reported third - quarter results that beat analysts ' estimates by a penny and predicted a small rise in sales for the current quarter . shares , however , fell 4 per cent at $ 26 . 60 .
rivals hewlett - packard shed 2 . 7 per cent at $ 21 . 50 and compaq gave up 3 . 7 per cent at $ 10 . 30 . yahoo ! , the world ' s largest internet portal , jumped 4 . 3 per cent at $ 15 . 47 after it announced a restructuring and job cuts , but reaffirmed its guidance for the fourth quarter .
shares in starbucks fell 9 per cent at $ 17 . 50 in spite of the coffee company reporting a 22 per cent rise in earnings for the fourth quarter .
energy prices rose in spite of the continuing dispute over oil production between opec and russia . amerada hess put on 2 . 5 per cent at $ 54 . 59 and exxon mobil added 1 per cent at $ 37 . 54 . enron , the embattled energy trading company , however , slid 5 per cent at $ 9 . most dow components were lower as alcoa slipped 1 per cent at $ 37 . 12 , american express shed 3 . 7 per cent to $ 33 . 13 and wal - mart fell 1 . 6 per cent at $ 55 . 10 .
toronto was little changed in morning trade in spite of a rally in technology and cyclical shares , the first sectors expected to respond to an improving economy .
however , at the close the s & p tse - 300 composite index was up 0 . 72 per cent at 7 , 315 . 30 as tech issues continued to strengthen .
overall , 11 of the market ' s 14 sub - indexes were higher but safe - haven gold stocks suffered as hopes grew for a swift conclusion to the war in afghanistan . the tech - heavy industrials sector enjoyed a 1 . 61 per cent gain . electronics manufacturer celestica charged ahead , rising 3 . 3 per cent to c $ 64 . 80 .
telecoms equipment heavyweight nortel networks jumped to c $ 12 . 69 as several investment firms raised targets .
( c ) copyright financial times ltd . all rights reserved .
http : / / www . ft . com .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones financial desk
in brief / energy pension funds consider action against enron
reuters
11 / 17 / 2001
los angeles times
home edition
c - 2
copyright 2001 / the times mirror company
some big pension funds that invested in enron corp . said they are considering legal options in the wake of the energy giant ' s stock collapse and a regulatory probe of its dealings .
spokesmen for the new york state and city comptrollers and an official from amalgamated bank , a trustee of workers ' retirement funds , said they were looking into lawsuits stemming from enron ' s murky financial dealings and stock plunge .
pension funds and mutual funds have been big holders of enron , once a wall street darling whose stock has plunged 89 % this year .
five new york city pension funds hold about 2 . 9 million enron shares , said david neustadt , a spokesman for the new york city comptroller ' s office . the funds serve teachers , police and other city workers .
enron shares fell 48 cents to $ 9 on the new york stock exchange .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
enron investors hope filing will shed more light on finances
2001 - 11 - 17 11 : 06 ( new york )
enron investors hope filing will shed more light on finances
houston , nov . 17 ( bloomberg ) - - enron corp . investors hope
the energy trader ' s third - quarter report to the u . s . securities
and exchange commission will answer some of the questions that
sent its shares tumbling and led to a proposed sale to rival
dynegy inc .
enron , which has been criticized for failing to clearly
explain how it makes money , may disclose in monday ' s filing more
on how much is owed by the company and affiliated partnerships , as
well as any planned job cuts and other cost - saving moves related
to dynegy ' s $ 24 billion buyout .
` ` investors will be looking for anything that affects the
likelihood of the ( dynegy ) deal going through and the timing of
such a deal , ' ' said edward paik , who helps manage the liberty
utilities fund , which owns 1 . 6 million in enron shares .
enron agreed to sell after its stock plunged 67 percent in
three weeks amid an sec investigation into partnerships run by
enron executives . investors worry that new disclosures , such as
previously unreported debt , might threaten enron ' s credit rating
and scuttle the merger , possibly pushing enron into bankruptcy .
` ` there ' s been so much skepticism about what enron ' s
liabilities are with these partnerships , i ' m looking to quantify
this , ' ' said glen hilton , a fund manager at montgomery asset
management lp , which holds dynegy shares .
enron chairman kenneth lay admitted last week that failed
investments and a loss of investor confidence forced the sale to
dynegy , and he and other executives pledged to be more open with
investors . lay , 59 , said last week he won ' t accept a severance
package of more than $ 60 million that he could have collected
following the takeover .
enron shares fell 48 cents yesterday to $ 9 . dynegy fell
$ 1 . 53 , or 3 . 5 percent , to $ 42 . 47 .
balance sheet
enron ' s third - quarter report , which had been expected last
week , was delayed by the dynegy talks and a restatement of
earnings , chief financial officer jeffrey mcmahon said . enron
reduced net income for four years by a combined $ 586 million to
include losses from affiliated partnerships .
monday ' s filing , called a 10 - q , will include a balance sheet
summarizing assets and debts . enron for years has omitted balance
sheets , which the sec requires as part of the 10 - q , from its press
releases announcing earnings .
investors renewed their criticisms of the practice after lay
mentioned during a conference call last month that dealings with
two partnerships had reduced enron ' s shareholder equity , or its
assets minus liabilities , by $ 1 . 2 billion . the disclosure led to
the ouster of chief financial officer andrew fastow .
` ` everyone is trying to make their own assessment of what
( enron ' s ) ultimate liability will need to be , ' ' said commerzbank
securities analyst andre meade , who rates the shares ` ` hold ' ' and
doesn ' t own them .
monday ' s report probably won ' t give a complete answer , said
louis gagliardi , an analyst at john s . herold inc . while the
balance sheet will list liabilities for the partnerships , which
were set up to buy enron assets and get debt off the company ' s
books , it won ' t spell out enron ' s share , he said .
` ` what is the net liability off the balance sheet ? ' '
gagliardi said . ` ` we really don ' t know what that number is . ' '
credit rating
dynegy has said it can back out of the acquisition if enron ' s
legal liabilities exceed $ 3 . 5 billion . the balance sheet ` ` will
help us see how good a deal this is for dynegy , ' ' said kathleen
vuchetich , co - manager of the $ 1 . 4 billion strong american
utilities fund , which owns 284 , 000 dynegy shares .
both companies are based in houston .
the filing also might offer details on the sec probe . ` ` it
may say what the sec is looking for , and what the rating agencies
have told them , ' ' said christopher ellinghaus , an analyst at
williams capital group . he added , though , ` ` i don ' t expect much . ' '
enron ' s stock drop led moody ' s investors service to cut the
company ' s debt rating to the lowest investment grade . dynegy held
off on a purchase agreement out of concern that the rating would
be cut to junk , jeopardizing enron ' s ability to raise cash needed
to settle its daily power and natural - gas trades .
enron may reveal where it expects to cut jobs and how much it
will pay to departing employees , paik said . chief operating
officer greg whalley said last week that fourth - quarter profit
will be hurt by severance payments and reorganization costs . he
didn ' t give details .
jobs likely will be eliminated in businesses the company
plans to sell , including its money - losing telecommunications unit
and operations in europe , analysts said .
enron has about 21 , 000 employees , two - thirds in the u . s . and
about a fifth in the u . k . its 600 traders are divided between
london and houston , where enron employs about 7 , 500 .
many enron workers are already preparing for layoffs , said
lyndon taylor , a houston - based recruiter for heidrick & struggles
international inc . , an executive placement firm .
` ` i got 56 resumes last week from enron , ' ' taylor said .
` ` that ' s equal to the number i got in the past year . ' '
- - margot habiby in dallas and jim polson in princeton
uk : trade , bank buyers circle enron ' s wessex water - reports .
11 / 17 / 2001
reuters english news service
( c ) reuters limited 2001 .
london , nov 17 ( reuters ) - both financial and trade buyers are considering bids for wessex water , the uk utility owned by crisis - hit u . s . energy group enron , weekend press reports said .
according to the uk trade magazine utility week , enron ' s rescue buyer dynegy wants to offload wessex as soon as possible , and focus on integrating enron ' s core energy businesses .
a report in the sunday telegraph newspaper named german bank westlb as a possible buyer at a price of 1 billion pounds ( $ 1 . 4 billion ) . westlb is the financial backer of the management buyout team that owns another southern england regional utility , mid kent water .
utility week raised the possibility that uk power utility scottish & southern might be interested .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
financial post : canada
a user ' s guide to living in calgary : people moving from houston find the cities much alike
claudia cattaneo
financial post
11 / 17 / 2001
national post
national
fp 7
( c ) national post 2001 . all rights reserved .
u . s . oil companies are setting up shop all over downtown , usually picking high - quality office space with lots of open space . anadarko petroleum corp . is located at fifth avenue place , burlington resources inc . is in bow valley square and devon energy corp . is in canterra tower . some end up in the offices of the companies they acquire . conoco inc . has moved into gulf canada square .
the big takeover wave has led to a reshuffling of downtown space . today , there is a shortage of large spaces and an increase in small ones available for sublease .
some would like to get the towers they occupy named after them but landlords resist this because naming a building after one tenant can be a disincentive for others .
oilmen ' s favourite hangout is the calgary petroleum club , founded by u . s . and canadian oilmen in 1948 in the palliser hotel . members have reciprocal membership at the petroleum club of houston . but calgary ' s pete club is a bargain compared to its texas counterpart . the initiation fee in calgary is $ 2 , 000 , monthly dues are $ 65 and the minimum amount members must spend in a year is $ 600 . the initiation fee for full membership at the petroleum club of houston is us $ 3 , 500 , monthly dues are us $ 110 and the minimum house account is us $ 75 per quarter .
u . s . executives running canadian oil and gas operations earn substantially more than their canadian counterparts because their compensation is competitive with the u . s . market .
when u . s . oil companies purchase canadian operations , they like to keep as much of the canadian staff as possible , since they are even more aware than their canadian rivals of the " war for talent . "
when recruiting locally , u . s . firms pay competitively but of course will pay what they must to get the best candidate . they also offer competitive benefits and stock - option plans . u . s . employers gulp at the generous holidays enjoyed by canadian oilpatch employees .
there ' s no american neighbourhood in calgary , although many recent arrivals are buying homes close to the city ' s core , particularly in such high - end neighbourhoods as mount royal , elbow park and britannia , where homes sell for $ 500 , 000 to $ 2 - million .
some u . s . companies purchase condominiums in such areas as eau claire on the bow river to house u . s . executives in transit .
ted zaharko , a broker - owner with royal lepage , says americans are driven by lifestyle choices and the fact that they can afford to buy expensive homes . living near other americans isn ' t important .
the cost of living is lower in calgary than in many comparable u . s . cities . however , u . s . cities become more competitive for high - income earners because personal income taxes in canada are higher than in the u . s . at the higher income levels . offsetting factors include access to health care , clean air , a short commute to work and the nearby mountain playground , which tend to be important to affluent people .
u . s . oil types may have strange accents - - many come from the southern states - - but oilpatch jargon is pretty much the same . calgarians and americans understand one another when they talk of dry holes ( no discovery ) , wildcat wells ( exploration wells ) or roughnecks ( rig workers ) . the language of money is also the same : barrels and u . s . dollars .
oilpatch humour is also borderless . one of the latest jokes circulating by e - mail , courtesy of oilpatch investment dealer peters & co . , is called " understanding enron . " the u . s . energy giant is in trouble over its use of off - balance - sheet transactions to keep debt off its books :
feudalism you have two cows . your lord takes some of the milk .
fascism you have two cows . the government takes both , hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk .
pure communism you have two cows . your neighbours help take care of them and you all share the milk .
applied communism you have two cows . you must take care of them , but the government takes all the milk .
totalitarianism you have two cows . the government takes them both and denies they ever existed . milk is banned .
mexican democracy you have two cows . the government takes both and drafts you into the army .
european democracy you have two cows . the eu commission decides which regulations for feeding and milking apply . if there aren ' t any , they invent some . they pay you not to milk the cows . they take both cows , shoot one , milk the other and pour the milk down the drain . they then require you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows .
american democracy the government promises to give you two cows if you vote for it . after the election , the president is impeached for speculating in cow futures . the press dubs the affair " cowgate , " but supports the president . the cows sue you for breach of contract . your legal bills exceed your annual income . you settle out of court and declare bankruptcy .
capitalism you have two cows . you sell one and buy a bull . your herd multiplies and the economy grows . you sell them and retire on the income .
enron venture capitalism you have two cows . you sell three of them to your publicly listed company , using letters of credit opened by your brother - in - law at the bank , then execute a debt / equity swap with an associated general offer so you get all four cows back , with a tax exemption for five cows . the milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a cayman island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company . the annual report says the company owns eight cows , with an option on one more .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones any bid for a water company in the
u . k . worth at least 30 million pounds must be referred to the
competition commission , the newspaper said .
enron bought wessex for 1 . 4 billion pounds in 1998 . rwe ag of
germany , europe ' s fourth - biggest power company , is also interested
in wessex , but enron thinks u . k . regulators won ' t approve an rwe
bid because the company already owns thames water , a large u . k .
water company .
westlb has also been reported to be preparing a buyout for
railtrack group plc , the insolvent owner of the u . k . ' s train
tracks and stations , the paper said .
enron closes on $ 550 million loan from j . p . morgan , salomon
2001 - 11 - 16 17 : 36 ( new york )
enron closes on $ 550 million loan from j . p . morgan , salomon
houston , nov . 16 ( bloomberg ) - - enron corp . closed wednesday
on a $ 550 million loan from j . p . morgan chase & co . and salomon
smith barney inc . that was secured with assets of its transwestern
pipeline co . , spokesman vance meyer said .
enron , the largest energy trader , said nov . 1 that it had
received a commitment for $ 1 billion in loans from the investment
banks that would be used for debt payments and to supplement cash
reserves .
enron secured the loans with the assets of transwestern and
the northern natural gas co . the two pipeline systems combined are
about 19 , 000 miles long and can deliver as much as 6 billion cubic
feet of gas a day . the remaining $ 450 million loan , secured with
the northern natural gas assets , is in the documentation stage and
is expected to close next week , meyer said .
enron agreed a week ago to be acquired by dynegy inc . in a
transaction now valued at $ 24 . 7 billion in stock and assumed debt .
the move followed a loss in investor confidence - - the company ' s
shares had fallen 90 percent this year - - and amid a federal
investigation of accounting irregularities that limited its
ability to finance operations .
chevrontexaco corp . , the second - biggest u . s . oil company and
dynegy ' s largest shareholder with 26 percent , provided enron ,
through dynegy , with a $ 1 . 5 billion cash infusion on tuesday as
part of the buyout agreement .
in return , dynegy acquired preferred stock and other rights
in the enron unit that owns northern natural gas . if the merger
isn ' t completed , dynegy will have the right to acquire northern
natural gas , enron said in regulatory filing wednesday .
chevrontexaco will provide dynegy with another $ 1 billion after
the merger closes to maintain its equity stake .
the shares of enron fell 48 cents to $ 9 , while shares of
dynegy fell $ 1 . 53 to $ 42 . 47 . both companies are based in houston .
shares of san francisco - based chevrontexaco fell 35 cents to
$ 83 . 45 .
- - margot habiby in the dallas newsroom ( 214 ) 954 - 9452 | scam | en |
== Mass towns ==
Hey, no problem. Glad I could help. - | toxic | en |
"::When I was placing some important publications in Turkish Wikipedia, many other editors supported and encouraged me to put more and provide the complete list of publications. Some of them even said that the articles were developing in the right direction ask me to make more research to complete the entire set of publications. I spent more than two weeks to find these publications from various other data bases since I know that Wait & Barut were two important scientists in their fields. They have more than 300 journal pubs and I have selected some important ones. When I gradually placed these publications, the editors were happy, they approved the material and ask for more. All of a sudden, the preparer of the singers, football players came out and erased all of them. Hey. What's going on there what's happening? Then this person also erased the material on English-Wiki which was approved by your editors. Now, have you understood the whole story?
User talk:68.100.166.227 68.100.166.227 If you still don't get it I don't need more explanation from you because I got it. You can go and examine the history of Wait & Barut pages in Turkish and English Wikipedia, Then you will see what was going on..
" | toxic | en |
nom change @ superior clear lake
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - forwarded by ami chokshi / corp / enron on 02 / 24 / 2000
10 : 40 am - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
troy _ a _ benoit @ reliantenergy . com on 02 / 24 / 2000 10 : 31 : 31 am
to : " ami chokshi "
cc :
subject : nom change @ superior clear lake
( see attached file : egmnom - feb . xls )
- egmnom - feb . xls | scam | en |
"
You sent me a message saying my contribution to ""Glass"" was unconstructive. However, if you look at the log you will see I removed the unconstructive bit and your revert actually put it back in! I guess it's just a synchronisation problem." | toxic | en |
"
==Sockpuppetry case==
{| align=""left""
||
|}
You have been accused of sockpuppetry. Please refer to Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Shittysmitttty44r for evidence. Please make sure you make yourself familiar with notes for the suspect before editing the evidence page. " | toxic | en |
"Welcome!
Hello, , and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:
The five pillars of Wikipedia
How to edit a page
Help pages
Tutorial
How to write a great article
Manual of Style
I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question and then place {{helpme}} after the question on your talk page. Again, welcome! Talk
My concern about your username (Heavybuddha)
Hello, , and thank you for contributing to Wikipedia!
I hope not to seem unfriendly or make you feel unwelcome, but I noticed your username, and am concerned that it might not meet Wikipedia's username policy. After you look over that policy, could we discuss that concern here?
I'd appreciate learning your own views, for instance your reasons for wanting this particular name, and what alternative username you might accept that avoids raising this concern.
You have several options freely available to you:
If you can relieve my concern through discussing it here, I can stop worrying about it.
If the two of us can't agree here, we can ask for help through Wikipedia's dispute resolution process, such as asking for a ""third opinion"", or requesting comments from other Wikipedians. Admins usually abide by agreements reached through this process.
You can keep your contributions history under a new username. Visit Wikipedia:Changing username and follow the guidelines there.
Let me reassure you that my writing here means I don't think your username is grossly, blatantly, or obviously inappropriate; such names get reported straight to Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism (WP:AIV), or blocked on sight. This is more a case where opinions might differ, and it would be good to reach some consensus — either here or at WP:RFC/NAME. So I look forward to a friendly discussion, and to enjoying your continued participation on Wikipedia. Thank you again! Talk " | toxic | en |
See explanation on Category talk:Parliamentary constituencies in the Republic of Ireland | toxic | en |
wish I had a brownie or a dab to knock me out rn | toxic | en |
"
Alpha was absorbed by Wilma as shown here:
The result was true. (talk✉) " | toxic | en |
== Trouted ==
I wake of all the stupid mistakes I have made today, I decide to trout myself. I will be more careful in the future. ~/ | toxic | en |
== My changes ==
Some changes I've made:
# I've reduced the subheadings. A single subheading is not required. It spoils the ToC. I've promoted some lower level subheadings to top level headings.
#I've reduced the table width so that the image does not overlap in 800x600 resolution.
# I've used the main template
#Please use between a unit and its number: eg 40 °C, it renders as 40 °C; 32 mm > 32 mm. It is part of the Manual of style.
# Page needs a copyedit. | toxic | en |
"
I'm done
Thanks for that, I've copied what I need to written an article so if you'd be kind enough to re-delete it, I'd be much obliged. Also, any chance you could provide me with the history so I can note it over there for attribution? thanks a lot, | Penny for your thoughts? " | toxic | en |
"
Start behaving like a decent human being and it would be reciprocated. How you are treated on wikipedia is a mirror image of how you treat others.♦ " | toxic | en |
Thank you
thank you for everything you've done so far and take care | toxic | en |
== History of Thailand since 1973 ==
I have noticed legal aspect and person's reference to mob were taken out, and instead summed up very briefly. Could you give reason why that so?
Thank you, | toxic | en |
TOCright: template for putting the table of contents on the right margin
Created by: User:GraemeMcRae | toxic | en |
re :
thanks . i ' ll pass this on .
i take it that this isn ' t sarcasm .
david
- - - - - original message - - - - -
from : lavorato , john
sent : thursday , july 12 , 2001 3 : 11 pm
to : oxley , david
cc : kitchen , louise
subject :
dave
we would like to thank you and your team for great preparation and execution of our prc .
john and louise | scam | en |
Well you just admitted he advocated for gun rights, therefore he is a gun rights advocate. | toxic | en |
Lol yep did that yesterday. Already got my fireplace. Now its just another icon sitting there for me. | scam | en |
re : eel directors and above
if you are referring to their career progression data , it is not readily available as for domestic employees .
i have to send names to the london office , and a few days later i recieve spreadsheets similar to the one i sent earlier .
sunjay
- - - - - original message - - - - -
from : kitchen , louise
sent : friday , september 21 , 2001 12 : 58 pm
to : arya , sunjay
cc : mrha , jean
subject : re : eel directors and above
where is the information like the others in order to allow us to make a judgement .
- - - - - original message - - - - -
from : arya , sunjay
sent : friday , september 21 , 2001 11 : 09 am
to : kitchen , louise
cc : mrha , jean
subject : eel directors and above
hi louise .
i received this spreadsheet from gemma butler in london which shows all director - level and above employees for eel .
no filters are currently active , and all female employees are at the top .
>
unfortunately , myself and jean have limited knowledge of the people in the international offices .
would you be able to identify possible candidates for us ?
here is a breakdown of the current state of the presentation . . .
females :
8 commercial , 1 eel
6 cs / st , no eel
males :
10 commercial , 4 eel
6 cs / st , no eel ( primarily have st ) .
i think we need a few additional commercial females , and a few male & female cs candidates to give us a balanced portfolio .
although i think the london office will be closed by the time i get the names to them today , we should have their data by early next week .
also , i have included a spreadsheet which includes the career data for the employees marcello romano identified , as well as a few others .
there does not appear to be the type of candidates you are wanting , but i ' ll let you make the call .
>
thanks ,
sunjay | scam | en |
Yes it is.. I am working on getting sources. As you can see on my userpage I am working on a series of articles, and it take time to find the sources, especially about a small un-developed kingdom, in an area where internet is almost non-existing.. ) | toxic | en |
quick note
Dear Flex,
The new Wiki Conservapedia could use some contributors to expand its articles on Christianity - especially its Christian apologetics articles. The site is more friendly to Christianity than Wikipedia. It is also less liberal. jazzman123 | toxic | en |
risk magazine - enron sponsored issue on energy derivatives
i have recently come on board as treasurer , enron india . prior to joining ,
i was with reliance industries , a petrochemical conglomerate in india .
the central banking authorities are now thinking of permitting
corporates to hedge their oil and other related risks . i believe the
literature published
by risk in collaboration with enron has come to be considered as an
industry standard . would it be possible to arrange for two copies to be sent
across to us .
thanx n regards
g . subramaniam
treasurer ,
enron india pvt . ltd .
36 , maker chambers vi ,
nariman point ,
mumbai 400 021 | scam | en |
Lex94, stop with the Lashley bull. Here is a list of the TCC titles.
WWE Championship
World Heavyweight Championship
WWE Tag Team Championship
World Tag Team Championship
IC title.
Here are the titles Lashley has won,
ECW title
US title.
Are either of those on the list above? If the answer is no then the position is clear, refrain from filling talk pages with rubbish about how Lashley is a potential or unofficial champion. And sign you posts. | toxic | en |
broken link/my IP is banned
The History article is here now:
http://scratchpad.wikia.com/wiki/Sinclair_BASIC_History
I'd change it but my IP range is banned. | toxic | en |
Pamela Anderson
Joy Stovall, I want to entertain you (double meaning) !!! Pamela | toxic | en |
BMW NOT unit construction
R and K series have a separate gearbox bolted to the crankcase. The term bolt-up unit construction is sometimes applied as was the case with the original BSA A7 where the separate gearbox bolted to the crankcase. Also consider the Nimbus where the gearbox and engine use a common oil supply but the gearbox is again bolted to the engine. Most of the American fours used a true unit construction. Given the opening definition can 2-strokes be considered unit construction as most used premix or a separate oil supply to the crankcase? | toxic | en |
"
::::Okay so now we wait for them to change their publications. · · email) (if I write on your page reply on mine) " | toxic | en |
== about lotto ==
lottery
lottery tickets
lottery software
lotteries
lottery win
lottery winning
winning numbers
lottery result
lotteries result
lottery results
lotteries results
lotery
lotery result
lotery results
lotteri
lotterie
lotteri result
lotteri results
loteri
loterie
lotterie
lotarie
loteri result
loteri results
loteria
lotomania
lottomania | toxic | en |
:::::DAMNIT FLUFFERNUTTER!!! Anyways, Fluffernutter is actually somewhat right. | toxic | en |
"
""...the Tigers never played against any team in the NFL""
Did the Tigers maintain their rivalry with the Bulldogs after the formation of the APFA? 147.70.242.54 " | toxic | en |
enron sells hpl and bammel
american electric power buys houston pipe line
american electric power thursday announced it has made a major move to expand
its wholesale natural gas business in the southwest , agreeing to acquire the
2 . 4 bcf / d houston pipe line ( hpl ) along with the bammel storage field , one of
the largest storage fields in north america , from enron . aep said since some
details remain to be worked out , it was not disclosing the terms of the
transaction at this time . aep will be acquiring the stock of hpl and it
expects to complete the deal in the next couple months .
hpl , one of the two original pipelines joined by enron chairman ken lay to
form the company in the mid - 1980 s , has an extensive 4 , 400 mile transportation
and gathering system through southern texas . the 118 bcf bammel field ,
located near the houston ship channel market area , has a 65 . 7 bcf working gas
capacity and is known for its fast in and out capabilities . it has a 1 . 4
bcf / d peak withdrawal rate and a 365 mmcf / d injection capacity .
" adding hpl to our natural gas asset portfolio will help us reach our goal of
becoming a top - 10 gas trader and marketer , " said paul addis , executive vice
president for aep . the company currently is second in the u . s . in electricity
volume . " hpl will enhance aep ' s natural gas business with its multiple
connections into the production areas of texas , its numerous interconnects
with intrastate and interstate pipelines and its position in and around
houston as a premier provider of natural gas . "
aep , headquartered in columbus , oh , has numerous power generation plants in
the midwest and southwest , including a number of gas - fired plants in texas .
in 1998 it bought the louisiana intrastate gas ( lig ) system .
john olson , energy analyst with sanders , morris & mundy in houston , said " for
55 years hpl has enjoyed a reputation as one of the strongest pipelines in
the country . as a stand - alone operation it is first class . it ' s a very , very
strong asset . " he said hpl has been showing losses of $ 50 million a year or
more in recent years , " but those numbers are meaningless " because enron has
been using it at discounted transportation rates to underpin its marketing
efforts . olson said the sale is a continuation of enron ' s move to sell most
of its hard assets and become a soft asset player . " they are emphasizing
their trading . they are doing far better at trading . "
for one houston - based risk manager , the sale of hpl by enron was a question
of rate of return . the competition among intrastates in texas is fiercely
competitive and for gas delivered to the houston ship channel it can be a
game of half - cents , with a shipper on one of the multiple intrastates
undercutting another to try to shave a profit , he said . enron recognized this
and wanted out , he speculated .
- - | scam | en |
removing edits concerning air crash investigations and qualifying them as third class spam
Someone (AndyTheGrump) is accusing me of putting information about aircraft investigations as third class spam mail on wikipedia. This is outrageous and completely ridiculous. I am an aviation specialist, I was general manager of large airports (among others Schiphol-Amsterdam), a professor in economics (graduated Erasmus University Rotterdam, 1973))and a consultant for many governments world wide (a.o. Netherlands, Indonesia, Chad, Philippines) on issues regarding aviation. I am a registered transport consultant at the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.I can proof that on every account. The problem with aviation accidents is that every country makes it own report of the accident, many are not in English, not all use metric systems. Many reports are not easy to obtain, or simply (against all international rules) not available. This is very frustrating for people working in this field. Everybody likes to avoid the mistakes others made. Not everybody is American, there are also Asians, Africans, Russians, etc. who are entitled to the same knowledge as you and me. For this reason we publish for many years these reports all in the same style and the same format and all in English. This makes comparison easy. Aviation security and safety is not a joke. Because we are talking over small series and the information has to be available for many years we found the solution in publishing them as print in demand by lulu.com. I do not see what is wrong with this. Publishing via a normal publisher means that the series are too large, the books become too expensive (especially for third world countries) and after a certain time the publication is no more available. You should appreciate what we do instead of insulting us. You think we make any money out of this? Think about translation costs, not everybody works for free. This way you do not help wikipedia, but you are a stumble block. You are probably some kind of Johnny the Selfkicker.
Dr. Dirk J. Barreveld, Netherlands
( ) | toxic | en |
":::::::::::::Really? What ID material? Please, point me to a single piece of research into ID. There is none. ""How dare they""? Your manufactured outrage is laughable.
" | toxic | en |
@Threehoez rip plate, brownies, large tea, fries, beans potato salad, poboy | toxic | en |
"
I would have guessed that it was Canadiandy who would be complaining here; take a look at his edit history: how many actual contributions to articles has he made ? ) His bit here smacks of 'admin shopping' to help his 'cause'. Cheers | Talk " | toxic | en |
"
This reaction is absurd. The ""blatant vandalism"" on Gogo Dodo's wall was a simple response for unnecessary and excessive editing on my article covering agrizoophobia. It was nothing more than a playful joust aimed at showing the sillyness of altering another person's work. Even a child could connect this sort of obvious symbolism. I propose that an IQ test be administered prior to handing out admin rights on this site." | toxic | en |
"
::I've changed it to ""ushered in."" If you don't like it, please change it to something more acceptable. Thanks. " | toxic | en |
Đó là tác phẩm 'Truyện Kiều'. | toxic | vi |
Hello, many thanks for the note. It works for me (too slow IMHO, but it works!). Many thanks to all of you. Dferg (w:en: - w:es:) | toxic | en |
Jihadi rehab needs to account for the unpleasant fact that it's the worst behaviors that *attract* participants. | toxic | en |
RE: DataPower announces XML-in-silicon
Hardware acceleration for SSL makes sense since PKI can slow down a
transaction by as much as 1,000-fold. Per this article, XML formatting only
increases doc size by about 20-fold.. I'm not sure there are enough "powers
of ten" in there to justify hardware acceleration.
Expect the next major release from DataPower to be the revolutionary new
"email chip" - allows you to offload the sending and receiving of email
messages onto dedicated hardware while you get on w/ more important things
.. like listening to MP3s..
Best,
Paul Sholtz
-----Original Message-----
From: Rohit Khare
To: fork@spamassassin.taint.org
Sent: 8/27/02 3:00 PM
Subject: DataPower announces XML-in-silicon
No analysis yet... don't know what to make of it yet. But here's the raw
bits for all to peruse and check out what's really going on... Best,
Rohit
===========================================================
DataPower delivers XML acceleration device
By�Scott Tyler Shafer
August 27, 2002 5:46 am PT
DATAPOWER TECHNOLOGY ON Monday unveiled its network device designed
specifically to process XML data. Unlike competing solutions that
process XML data in software, DataPower's device processes the data in
hardware -- a technology achievement that provides greater performance,
according to company officials.
The new device, dubbed DataPower XA35 XML Accelerator, is the first in a
family of products expected from the Cambridge, Mass.-based startup. The
DataPower family is based on a proprietary processing core technology
called XG3 that does the analysis, parsing, and processing of the XML
data.
According to Steve Kelly, CEO of DataPower, the XA35 Accelerator was
conceived to meet the steady adoption of XML, the anticipated future
proliferation of Web services, and as a means to share data between two
businesses.
"Our vision is to build out an XML-aware infrastructure," Kelly said.
"The XA35 is the first of a family."
Kelly explained that converting data into XML increases the file size up
to 20 times. This, he said, makes processing the data very taxing on
application servers; DataPower believes an inline device is the best
alternative.
In addition to the large file sizes, security is also of paramount
importance in the world of XML.
"Today's firewalls are designed to inspect HTTP traffic only," Kelly
said. "A SOAP packet with XML will go straight through a firewall.
Firewalls are blind to XML today."
Future products in DataPowers family will focus more specifically on
security, especially as Web services proliferate, Kelly said.
According to DataPower, most existing solutions to offload XML
processing are homegrown and done in software -- an approach the company
itself tried initially and found to be inadequate with regards to speed
and security. After trying the software path, the company turned to
creating a solution that would process XML in hardware.
"Our XG3 execution core converts XML to machine code," said Kelly,
adding that to his knowledge no other company's solution does. Kelly
said in the next few months he expects the market to be flooded with
technologies that claim to do XML processing -- claims that he believes
will be mostly false.
Other content-aware switches, such as SSL (secure socket layer)
accelerators and load balancers, look at the first 64 bytes of a packet,
while the XA35 provides deeper packet inspection, looking at 1,400 bytes
and thus enabling greater processing of XML data, Kelly explained.
The 1U-high network device has been tested against a large collection of
XML and XSL data types and can learn new flavors of the markup language
as they pass through the device.
The XA35 can be deployed in proxy mode behind a firewall and a load
balancer, and it will inspect all traffic that passes and will identify
and process those packets that are XML, Kelly said.
In addition to proxy mode, the device can also be used as an application
co-processor. This deployment method gives administrators more granular
control over what data is inspected and the application server itself
controls the device.
DataPower is not the only company chasing this emerging market. Startup
Sarvega, based in Burr Ridge, Ill., introduced the Sarvega XPE switch in
May, and earlier this month Tarari, an Intel spin-off, launched with a
focus on content processing and acceleration.
The DataPower device is now available, priced starting at $54,995. The
company has announced one customer to date and says the product is in
field trails at a number of other enterprises.
========================================================================
=
DataPower has been addressing enterprise networking needs since it was
founded in early 1999 by Eugene Kuznetsov, a technology visionary who
foresaw the adverse effects XML and other next generation protocols
would have on enterprise networks. Long before industry interest in XML
grew, Kuznetsov assembled a team of world-class M.I.T. engineers and
designed the industry's first solutions to address the unique
requirements for processing XML. The first such solution was a software
interpreter called DGXT. This software-based approach to XML processing
is still licensed by many companies for use in their own products today.
Leveraging the detailed knowledge and customer experience gained from
developing software-based accelerators, Kuznetsov's team raised the bar
and designed a system for processing XML in purpose-built hardware. In
2001, DataPower's effort produced XML Generation Three (XG3�), the
industry's fastest technology for XML processing, bar none.
Today, XG3� technology powers the industry's first wire-speed XML
network devices, enabling secure, high-speed applications and XML Web
Services. While other companies are just now marketing first versions of
products, DataPower is delivering its third generation of technology,
providing an immediate return on technology investments to
industry-leading customers and partners.
DataPower's M.I.T. heritage is complemented by a management team that
brings decades of experience in the networking and computing industries,
drawing veteran leaders from several successful companies including
Akamai, Argon, Cascade, Castle Networks, Sycamore and Wellfleet.
========================================================================
=
DataPower Technology Secures $9.5 Million in Funding
Venrock Associates, Mobius Venture Capital and Seed Capital Back Pioneer
in XML-Aware Networking for Web Services
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - July 8, 2002 - DataPower Technology, Inc., the
leading provider of XML-Aware network infrastructure, today announced
that it has secured $9.5 million in series B financing. Investors for
this round include Venrock Associates, Mobius Venture Capital and Seed
Capital Partners. Michael Tyrrell, of Venrock, Bill Burnham, of Mobius,
and Jeff Fagnan, of Seed Capital, have joined DataPower�s Board of
Directors.
DataPower will use this funding to accelerate development, marketing and
sales of the company�s breakthrough technology for XML-Aware networking.
Founded in 1999, DataPower invented the world�s first intelligent XML
networking�devices, capable of transforming XML traffic and transactions
at the wire-speed enterprises need to effectively embrace Web services
and other XML-centric initiatives. DataPower�s solutions are based on
its patent-pending XML Generation Three (XG3�) technology.
"Enterprises are adopting XML at rapid rate to facilitate inter-and
intra-company communications but their network infrastructure is ill
prepared to support the requirements of this new traffic type.
DataPower�s XML-acceleration devices enable the wirespeed processing of
XML that is required to support next generation enterprise
applications," said Eugene Kuznetsov, CTO and founder of DataPower
Technology.
"DataPower gives companies the ability to use XML that�s critical to Web
services projects without sacrificing an ounce of performance." A single
DataPower acceleration engine delivers the processing power of 10
servers�breaking the performance bottleneck associated with XML
processing and delivering an extraordinary return on investment. In
addition, the DataPower platform provides enhanced XML security,
protection against XML-based denial-of-service attacks, connection of
e-business protocols for incompatible XML data streams, load balancing
between back-end servers and real-time statistics reports.
"In the post-bubble economy, technology investment decisions require
laser-focused scrutiny. DataPower�s patent-pending technology addresses
a very real and growing pain point for enterprises," said Michael
Tyrrell of Venrock Associates. "By turbo-charging their networks with
DataPower�s unique XML-Aware networking technology, companies will be
free to adopt next generation Web services without encountering
performance and security pitfalls."
"We looked long and hard for a company capable of addressing the rapidly
growing problems surrounding XML message processing performance and
security," said Bill Burnham of Mobius Venture Capital. "DataPower is on
their third generation of technology. Their patent pending XML
Generation Three (XG3)�technology was quite simply the single most
compelling technology solution we have seen to date."
"XML is not a nice-to-have, it is a must have for enterprises serious
about optimizing application efficiency. Since 1999, DataPower has been
developing solutions to facilitate enterprise use of XML and Web
services," said Jeff Fagnan of Seed Capital Partners. "DataPower�s
XML-acceleration devices are a key requirement for enterprises that rely
on XML for mission critical applications."
About Venrock Associates
Venrock Associates was founded as the venture capital arm of the
Rockefeller Family and continues a tradition of funding entrepreneurs
that now spans over seven decades. Laurance S. Rockefeller pioneered
early stage venture financing in the 1930s. With over 300 investments
over a span of more than 70 years, the firm has an established a track
record of identifying and supporting promising early stage, technology-
based enterprises. As one of most experienced venture firms in the
United States, Venrock maintains a tradition of collaboration with
talented entrepreneurs to establish successful, enduring companies.
Venrock's continuing goal is to create long-term value by assisting
entrepreneurs in building companies from the formative stages. Their
consistent focus on Information Technology and Life Sciences-related
opportunities provides a reservoir of knowledge and a network of
contacts that have proven to be a catalyst for the growth of developing
organizations. Venrock's investments have included CheckPoint Software,
USinternetworking, Caliper Technologies, Illumina, Niku, DoubleClick,
Media Metrix, 3COM, Intel, and Apple Computer. With offices in New York
City, Cambridge, MA, and Menlo Park, CA, Venrock is well positioned to
respond to opportunities in any locale. For more information on Venrock
Associates, please visit www.venrock.com
About Mobius Venture Capital
Mobius Venture Capital, formerly SOFTBANK Venture Capital, is a $2.5
billion U.S.-based private equity venture capital firm managed by an
unparalleled team of former CEOs and entrepreneurs, technology pioneers,
senior executives from major technology corporations, and leaders from
the investment banking community. Mobius Venture Capital specializes
primarily in early-stage investments in the areas of: communications
systems software and services; infrastructure software and services;
professional services; enterprise applications; healthcare informatics;
consumer and small business applications; components; and emerging
technologies. Mobius Venture Capital combines its technology expertise
and broad financial assets with the industry's best entrepreneurs to
create a powerhouse portfolio of over 100 of the world's leading high
technology companies. Mobius Venture Capital can be contacted by
visiting their web site www.mobiusvc.com.
About Seed Capital Partners
Seed Capital Partners is an early-stage venture fund affiliated with
SoftBank Corporation, one of the world's leading Internet market forces.
Seed Capital manages funds focused primarily on companies addressing
Internet-enabled business-to-business digital information technology
opportunities, which are located in the Northeastern U.S., the
southeastern region of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and Israel. Seed
Capital�s portfolio includes Spearhead Technologies, Concentric Visions
and CompanyDNA. For more information on Seed Capital Partners, please
visit www.seedcp.com.
About DataPower Technology
DataPower Technology provides enterprises with intelligent XML-Aware
network infrastructure to ensure unparalleled performance, security and
manageability of next-generation protocols. DataPower�s patent-pending
XML Generation Three (XG3�) technology powers the industry�s first
wirespeed XML network devices, enabling secure, high-speed applications
and XML Web Services. Founded in 1999, DataPower is now delivering its
third generation of technology, providing immediate return on technology
investments to industry-leading customers and partners. DataPower is
privately held and based in Cambridge, MA. Investors include Mobius
Venture Capital, Seed Capital Partners, and Venrock Associates.
CONTACT:
DataPower Technology, Inc.
Kieran Taylor
617-864-0455
kieran@datapower.com
Schwartz Communications
John Moran/Heather Chichakly
781-684-0770
datapower@schwartz-pr.com
========================================================================
Steve Kelly, chairman and CEO
During over twenty years in the technology industry, Steve Kelly has
built and managed global enterprise networks, provided consulting
services to Fortune 50 businesses, and been involved in the launch of
several start-ups. Prior to DataPower, Kelly was an
entrepreneur-in-residence at Venrock Associates, and was co-founder of
Castle Networks, where he led the company's sales, service and marketing
functions. Castle was acquired by Siemens AG in 1999 to create Unisphere
Networks, which was subsequently purchased by Juniper Networks. Kelly
was an early contributor at Cascade Communications, where he built and
managed the company's core switching business; Cascade's annual revenues
grew from $2 million to $300 million annually during Kelly's tenure.
Kelly also worked at Digital Equipment Corporation where he managed and
grew their corporate network to 50,000+ nodes in 28 countries, the
largest in the world at the time. Kelly has a B.S. in Information
Systems from Bentley College.
Eugene Kuznetsov, founder, president and CTO
Eugene Kuznetsov is a technology visionary that has been working to
address enterprise XML issues since the late 90s. Kuznetsov founded
DataPower Technology, Inc. in 1999 to provide enterprises with an
intelligent, XML-aware network infrastructure to support next-generation
applications. Prior to starting DataPower, Kuznetsov led the Java JIT
Compiler effort for Microsoft Internet Explorer for Macintosh 4.0. He
was also part of the team which developed one of the first clean room
Java VM's. This high-speed runtime technology was licensed by some of
the industry's largest technology companies, including Apple Computer.
He has consulted to numerous companies and worked on a variety of
hardware and software engineering problems in the areas of memory
management, power electronics, optimized execution engines and
application integration. Kuznetsov holds a B.S. in electrical
engineering from MIT.
Steve Willis, vice president of advanced technology
Steve Willis is an accomplished entrepreneur and a pioneer in protocol
optimization. Prior to joining DataPower, Willis was co-founder and CTO
of Argon Networks, a provider of high-performance switching routers that
was acquired by Siemens AG in 1999 to create Unisphere Networks;
Unisphere was subsequently purchased by Juniper Networks. Before Argon,
Steve was vice president of advanced technology at Bay Networks (now
Nortel Networks) where he led both IP and ATM-related technology
development and managed a group that generated 24 patent applications,
developed a 1 Mbps forwarding engine and led the specification of the
ATM Forum's PNNI routing protocol. Most notably, Steve was co-founder,
original software director and architect for Wellfleet Communications, a
leading pioneer of multi-protocol routers. Wellfleet was rated as the
fastest growing company in the U.S. for two consecutive years by Fortune
magazine. Willis is currently a member of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF) Routing Research Group. Willis has a B.D.I.C. in Computer Science
from the University of Massachusetts.
Bill Tao, vice president of engineering
With a vast understanding of network optimization technologies and
extensive experience in LAN and WAN networking, Bill Tao brings over 25
years of critical knowledge to lead DataPower's engineering efforts.
Prior to DataPower, Tao was the vice president of engineering for
Sycamore Networks, developing a family of metro/regional optical network
switches. He is also well acquainted with network optimization
techniques as he was previously vice president of engineering at
InfoLibria, where he led development and software quality assurance
engineering for a family of network caching products. Tao has held
senior engineering positions at NetEdge, Proteon, Codex and Wang. Tao
received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of
Connecticut and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of
Illinois.
Kieran Taylor, director of product marketing
Kieran Taylor has an accomplished record as a marketing professional,
industry analyst and journalist. Prior to joining DataPower, Taylor was
the director of product management and marketing for Akamai Technologies
(NASDAQ: AKAM). As an early contributor at Akamai, he helped develop the
company's initial positioning and led the technical development and
go-to-market activities for Akamai's flagship EdgeSuite service.
Taylor's early contribution helped position the service provider to
secure a $12.6 billion IPO. He has also held senior marketing management
positions at Nortel Networks, Inc. and Bay Networks. Taylor was
previously an analyst at TeleChoice, Inc. and the Wide Area Networks
editor for Data Communications, a McGraw Hill publication. Taylor holds
a B.A. in Print Journalism from the Pennsylvania State University School
of Communications.
=================================================================
Board of Advisors
Mark Hoover
Mark Hoover is President and co-founder of Acuitive, Inc., a start-up
accelerator. With over 20 years experience in the networking industry,
Hoover's expertise spans product development, marketing, and business
development. Before launching Acuitive, Hoover worked at AT&T Bell
Laboratories, AT&T Computer Systems, SynOptics, and Bay Networks, where
he played a role in the development of key technologies, such as
10-BASET, routing, FDDI, ATM, Ethernet switching, firewall, Internet
traffic management, and edge WAN switch industries.
George Kassabgi
Currently Vice President of Engineering at BEA Systems, Mr. Kassabgi has
held executive-level positions in engineering, sales and marketing, and
has spearheaded leading-edge developments in the application server
marketplace since 1996. He is widely known for his regular speaking
engagements at JavaOne, as well as columns and contributions in JavaPro,
Java Developer's Journal and other publications. In addition to being a
venerated Java expert, George Kassabgi holds a patent on SmartObject
Technology, and authored the technical book Progress V8.
Marshall T. Rose
Marshall T. Rose runs his own firm, Dover Beach Consulting, Inc. He
formerly held the position of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Area Director for Network Management, one of a dozen individuals who
oversaw the Internet's standardization process. Rose is the author of
several professional texts on subjects such as Internet Management,
Electronic Mail, and Directory Services, which have been published in
four languages. He is well known for his implementations of core
Internet technologies (such as POP, SMTP, and SNMP) and OSI technologies
(such as X.500 and FTAM). Rose received a PhD in Information and
Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, in 1984.
| scam | en |
hpl nomination for december 30 , 1999
( see attached file : hpll 230 . xls )
- hpll 230 . xls | scam | en |
* Oh, and one more thing. Are you too stupid to realise the reason you can't reference your sources is because you keep deleting them as 'advertising?' | toxic | en |
The person who closed that discussion left open the possibility of reopening it, as a general discussion or article-by-article. So, I might just do that, which is what the pro-diacritics crowd has done repeatedly. | toxic | en |
Adoption please - correctly publishing research/technical based articles
Hi Chris,
I have been looking for an adopter to initially guide me on the correct way to publish research articles on an algorithmic technology and your profile seems to fit very well. I would appreciate it if you would adopt me.
Thank you in advance. Best wishes, Antony ( ) | toxic | en |
Seriously, Florida. A vote for Charlie Christ is a vote for taxes and ebola. | toxic | en |
Deleting admin's note: this has been found to be a copyright violation as well. | toxic | en |
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