Friday, August 25, 2006
Headlines--- Corrections: August 23, 2006 edition ######## surrounding the article denotes it is a “press release”
----------------------------------------------------------------- Corrections: August 23, 2006 edition Baycap Tel# 310.944.9900 “Could you make the change? “Todd Sheets Funder - Update A -Accepts Broker Business | B -Requires Broker be Licensed | C -Sub-Broker Program
The Bizarre NorVergence Leases Part II —“slander is a verbal statement, libel is a written statement.” (name with held-at request of sender) “I hope the law firm Askounis & Borst, P.C. doesn't threaten to sue us again, this time because we called the situation bizarre. Perhaps if we had called it stupid, we might be sued for libel???? It certainly is bizarre.” http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/August%202006/08-23-06.htm#norv Part III ---“Do you mean gross profit? or Net Profit?” (name with held-at request of sender) http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/August%202006/08-23-06.htm#norv “What is a professional lease salesperson?” Typo corrected, sentence now reads: ” I have met way too many lease salespeople that have a limited understanding of the purpose of each type of lease or the rules and regulations that are required to offer them.” http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/August%202006/08-23-06.htm#sales “Future of Equipment Leasing” Graphic link broken regarding picture of Jeff Taylor's new book, certainly to be controversial.
http://www.leasingnews.org/archives/August%202006/08-23-06.htm#clp
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The Golitzin Family, Photograph by Kathleen King Collector Collector: Boston, MA Collector: Jacksonville, E. Brunswick, FL Controller Controller: Chicago, IL Controller: Philadelphia, CA Controller: Seattle , WA Controller: Southeastern, MI Controller: Uniondale, NY Contract Administrator Contract Administrator: New York, NY Contract Administrator: Portland, OR For a full listing of all “job wanted” ads, please go to: To place a free “job wanted” ad, please go to: * "On many occasions I have tasted wines from Washington that were doing quite well after 10, 15, 20 or more years. The winery with the absolute best -- virtually flawless -- record for this is Quilceda Creek." -------------------------------------------------------------- Under New President Fred Van Etten,
Here is the story from www.stltoday.com By Jerri Stroud ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH Attorneys general in 21 states, including California, Missouri and Illinois, have reached a settlement with Popular Leasing USA of Baldwin, Missouri, in connection with a fraudulent telecommunications scheme by NorVergence Inc., a New Jersey company that collapsed in 2004. As part of the settlement announced on Thursday, Popular Leasing will forgive debt or provide refunds of $15.3 million to 650 customers. The agreement includes $3.1 million owed by 113 Illinois firms, ( $3.5 million in California .) and $461,000 owed by 21 Missouri companies (There originally were over 300 who Popular served, but most settled, probably not at this price. Editor) Popular Leasing is a subsidiary of Banco Popular North America, Puerto Rico's largest bank. A spokesman for Banco Popular said the settlement should end its litigation related to NorVergence. In 2004, NorVergence promised businesses that they would save on telephone and Internet bills if they rented a "matrix" box from NorVergence. The businesses agreed to leases requiring them to pay $200 to $4,000 a month. NorVergence then sold the leases to about 40 finance companies, including Popular Leasing. The boxes didn't work and NorVergence had no agreements with telecommunications companies to provide services to its customers. The company collapsed and was forced into bankruptcy in 2004. Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission imposed millions of dollars in fines on NorVergence's founders, brothers Thomas N. Salzano and Peter J. Salzano. The FTC also barred the Salzanos from engaging in the fraud again. Popular Leasing and other finance companies tried to collect from NorVergence customers, even after NorVergence collapsed. Popular Leasing sued the customers, seeking payment under the leases. Besides businesses, the customers included nonprofit groups, churches and some towns. Popular Leasing also agreed to refund a portion of premiums and other fees associated with replacement insurance for the matrix boxes. Popular Leasing had based the premiums on the total rental-contract amount rather than the value of the matrix box. The practice drove up the cost of the five-year leases that NorVergence customers signed. Customers whose NorVergence leases were bought by Popular Leasing will receive notices in the mail about the settlement, which they can accept or reject. Rust Consulting will handle the settlement process for Popular Leasing. If customers have not settled with Popular Leasing already, they will have two years to pay the company 15 percent of their balance as of July 15, 2004. If they have settled with the company and paid more than 20 percent of that balance, they will receive a refund for the amount over 20 percent. Earlier, states reached settlements with 10 other finance companies, which agreed to forgive $37 million in rental payments from about 1,700 NorVergence customers.
-------------------------------------------------------------- NY AG Now at $20 Million The formal press release regarding additional NorVergence Lease has been released by the New York Attorney General's office. The majority of the settlements are 90%, plus personal property tax, insurance, late charge, and while the figure 87.5% is utilized in the release, if the lessee settles within 30 days it is 90%. Here is the current press release : Leasing News story on August 11, 2006:
---------------------------------------------------------------- Celebrate! Romoff new President: One World
One World Leasing, the world's first equipment leasing co-op, with 17 member-owners representing in excess of $250,000,000 in equipment financing annually has hired as its new president veteran Ira Romoff. One World Chairman John Winchester, CLP, told Leasing News that their goal was to increase its membership from 17 to 75 by 2010. They are putting their faith in Ira Romoff, who says, "I can do it." Lou Manitzas, One Source Financial, head of the search committee told Leasing News," We interviewed over 30 candidates, eight very serious, and any of the top five would have done a great job...many had run bank and large company leasing operations, but as Ira learned more in the interview of our goals, how we worked, the more excited he became, and the more excited we became in his choice."
"This is bulletproof," Romoff told Leasing News. "In addition to all the things I am bringing, this time I am not doing the marketing...quite different, so I can spend time on administration, proper funding, analysis, help find the resources, help increase the volume, pre-screening, maintain the quality with top co-op members who are experienced, know what they are doing, help build and control the volume, and perhaps even set up equity to underwrite a co-op fund, too." Romoff says he has formed five leasing companies from scratch in his career, and certainly has built several leasing companies that all have been bought by a bank. When Sovereign bought ICB Bank, he was basically out of a job. His wife is very active in the community, with a lot of volunteer work, and "didn't want a lunch buddy." "You know I first read about One World in Leasing News,” Ira Romoff said. "It intrigued me, the entire concept. I was approached by several companies, and banks, to start a leasing operation, but I didn't want to do that again. When I was approached by One World, it excited me." One World Chairman John Winchester used the same word in describing Romoff becoming president.
John Winchester, CLP and ComCo/OneWorld Equipment Finance 1. "I'm so excited,” he said. "From the very beginning I saw where this co-op could go...what a great idea it was, and Sharon Foglesong brought us to the next plateau and realized we needed a person like Ira Romoff. But it was the search committee that did all the work and deserves all the credit as they came up with several top candidates." The search committee was: Bud Callahan-National Equipment Leasing-Indianapolis, Indiana The interview and selection committee was the OneWorld Board of Directors: John Winchester,CLP-ComCo Equipment Finance Nashville, TN Chairman "This was very much a group process with as much member input as we could gather," Winchester added. “What a great family of guys to be associated with. This is going to be a great ride hop on and join us." The main office is located in Phoenix, Arizona, but will eventually move to New York City. "In this day and age it doesn't matter where the headquarters really is, "Romoff states.”Technology has made this possible." The team now includes: Aaron Rios, AAW Capital Corp. dba Prolease, Newport Beach, CA Ira Romoff was executive vice president of European American Bank's Leasing Department and a member of EAB's Executive Management Group. Under Mr. Romoff's direction, the EAB Leasing Department has advanced as an integral part of the bank's record growth since 1991. As a result, EAB's Leasing Department ranks among the top fifteen bank leasing companies throughout the United States. EAB purchased Fidelity Leasing April 14, 2000, and was the premier lessor when purchased by Citibank on February 12, 2001 for $1.6 billion and $350 million preferred stock. The news of closing the broker origination division hit all the leasing industry hard, especially on the east coast. Reaction was swift about the resignation of European American President Ira Romoff; the eminent departure by Fred Anderson along with Omar Diaz and Rich Illich. Ira's staff have also started several successful leasing companies. On June 6, 2006, Leasing News wrote," Certainly the ICB Leasing and Sovereign merger was not foreseen, and perhaps there will be a covenant not to compete, but at a certain date, Leasing News will most likely be receiving another announcement from the energetic veteran with a great sense of humor, and hopefully before the next St. Patrick's Day Parade." August 29th will be his first day as president of One World Leasing.
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-------------------------------------------------------------- John McCue on “The World is Flat”
"When I read Thomas Friedman's book, 'The World is Flat,' it influenced my thinking tremendously," John McCue, now CEO of NetSol Technologies U.S. Operations, told Leasing News. He first met Najeeb Ghauri, Chairman of NetSol Technologies' at an Equipment Leasing Association meeting and they became friends. McCue said he spent a year talking with him about McCue System's product “LeasePak.”
John McCue "Netsol had a presence all around the world from China to Europe, but, although they were headquartered here in California, they did not have a U.S. product," McCue explains. "That idea of not having to deal with internal competition among similar products, the ability to overcome the thinking of SAP and Oracle -- that only big companies take care of big companies -- brought me to the conclusion that our customers, the long term, our employees, and stockholders would benefit from the joining of these two companies." McCue believes this puts NetSol now in the forefront, globally, in vehicle and equipment leasing. The combined experience and marketplace compliment each other. The ability to the ability to offer cost-effective, scalable solutions that can inter-operate via a global data platform to offer cross-portfolio reporting, risk management, and audit compliance is now in place.” "You have to understand that each country and region has its own tax and accounting problems, and many are new to leasing," he said. NetSol Technologies' Chairman Najeeb Ghauri on Thursday announced that the Board of Directors of Netsol Technologies Inc. has reaffirmed its commitment to LeasePak as the company's core offering for the US equipment finance market. LeasePak is the flagship product of the company's wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, McCue Systems of Burlingame, California.
Najeeb Ghauri “The fact that LeasePak is so widely accepted in the U.S. equipment finance industry was a key reason we were determined to add McCue Systems to our corporate family,” states Ghauri. “LeasePak represents 35 years of proven equipment leasing expertise. Now that we can bring to bear the talents of NetSol's 500-person offshore development staff, we look forward to an even brighter future for LeasePak.” “NetSol's commitment to LeasePak is unquestionable and a foundation of our business model for the US,” states Netsol Technologies' Chief Product Architect, Graham Tarrant. “As a multinational provider of regionally focused equipment finance solutions, we think our ability to bring to market an array of proven portfolio management technologies is an important competitive advantage.” Tarrant adds, “Our commitment to LeasePak's continued and accelerated evolution is a cornerstone of our product strategy.” CEO of NetSol Technologies U.S. Operations, John McCue states, “We strongly value Netsol's commitment to our customer base as well as to the continued evolution of our LeasePak product. I look forward to seeing the benefits of NetSol's CMMI Level 5 development staff supporting our technology offerings for the US market. We fully anticipate extending the reach and usability of LeasePak to deliver new levels of productivity and competitive advantage for equipment lessors and manufacturing captives.” LeasePak has a 30-plus year history in the US market, while the various customizations of LeaseSoft have been developed to meet the needs of Europe, the UK as well as the Far East. "The advantage of this solution set is that it's scalable downwardly as well as upwardly. A customer can use any of these regionally focused applications on a stand-alone basis -- if they don't need the global reporting capacity they can wait until they do," explains Andrew Lea, VP Marketing & Corporate Communications of McCue Systems." We offer a cost-effective point of entry without limiting future scalability… so that the total cost of ownership at a given size in terms of users or customers or contracts or locations is predictable yet scalable on a global level, the footprint of the equipment finance application or the enterprise itself grows. “Version 6.0 Enterprise Edition is about to be released. It will offer many new functionalities and tools, using state-of-the-art technologies to streamline the portfolio management process. If you are in the UK or Europe or the Far East, then we would suggest one of the other solutions within the NetSol Technologies family, specifically the solutions from the LeaseSoft. "The other ‘megavendors': These companies have a number of implementations that have been either in process for a long long time or have been canceled or have resulted in “private resolutions”. To date neither SAP nor Oracle nor IDS' Profinia has successfully been implemented in more than one customer each. "New compliance -- regulations require the lessor or bank to be able to account for the security of information at every stage of the processing chain, and to be able to prove the auditability of every business process that can have an impact on the security of information." For more information, visit www.mccue.com . About NetSol Technologies, Inc. NetSol Technologies is an end-to-end solution provider for the lease and finance industry. Headquartered in Calabasas, CA, NetSol Technologies, Inc. operates on a global basis with locations in the U.S. , Europe, East Asia and Asia Pacific. NetSol helps its clients identify, evaluate and implement technology solutions to meet their most critical business challenges and maximize their bottom line. By utilizing its worldwide resources, NetSol delivers high-quality, cost-effective IT services ranging from consulting and application development to systems integration and outsourcing. NetSol's commitment to quality is demonstrated by its achievement of both ISO 9001 and SEI (Software Engineering Institute) CMM (Capability Maturity Model) Level 4 assessment. For more information, visit NetSol Technologies' web site at www.netsoltek.com. -------------------------------------------------------------- Linda Kester joins “Financial and Sales Training” List Financial and Sales Training Second Column: YCS - Year Company Started | YELB - Years in equipment Leasing Business
For the full list, please go here:
-------------------------------------------------------------- Inside Balboa Capital President Patrick “Evergreen” Bryne's Brain
### Press Release ########################### The Global Truck Leasing Market Generated Total DUBLIN----Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c40894) has announced the addition of Truck Leasing: Global Industry Guide to their offering The Truck Leasing: Global Industry Guide is an essential resource for top-level data and analysis covering the truck leasing industry. It includes detailed data on market size and segmentation, textual analysis of the key trends and competitive landscape, and profiles of the leading companies. This incisive report provides expert analysis on a global, regional and country basis. Scope of this title: - Contains an executive summary and data on value, volume and segmentation Highlights of this title: The global truck leasing market generated total revenues of $17.7 billion in 2005; this represents an increase of 3.8% on the previous year's value and a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% for the five-year period spanning 2001-2005. Product differentiation in the truck leasing market is low, therefore companies offering extended services will see their revenues grow. Deregulation in markets such as Spain, Italy and China has allowed international market leaders to expand their operations. Why you should read this report: - Spot future trends and developments Definition The truck leasing market is defined as all operational leasing agreements with terms longer than one year. Only trucks of above 3.51 ton gross vehicular weight are included. The market value is measured in terms of the lessors income before any taxes and levies. Any currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been created using constant 2005 annual average exchange rates. For the purpose of this report Americas comprises Canada and the US. Europe comprises Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the UK. Asia-Pacific comprises Australia, China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand. The global figure comprises Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe. The Companies Mentioned inside Report are: - Penske Corporation For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c40894 ### Press Release ########################### All Points Capital Chooses Arcot Systems Multi-factor North Fork Bank Subsidiary Chooses WebFort Strong Authentication Software Smartcard for Protecting Online Banking Customers Today, Enabling Digital Signatures for Tomorrow SUNNYVALE, Calif.----Arcot Systems, Inc., a leading provider of multi-factor authentication, credential management, and digital signature software solutions, today announced that All Points Capital, a subsidiary of North Fork Bank, has chosen the company's WebFort multi-factor authentication solution -- with its underlying patented ArcotID technology -- for authenticating financial institution customers into its online transaction portal. All Points provides an Internet transaction gateway to thousands of customers, the majority being independent lessors, or companies that lend money to other businesses and consumers. All Points Capital (APCC) selected Arcot's WebFort solution in order to fortify its online protections for its customers, and to comply with U.S. FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) guidelines on the use of authentication in Internet banking environments. Moreover, the company selected Arcot in order to lay the framework for future digital signing applications for the addition of value-added customer services and improved internal document management efficiencies. All Points Capital chose Arcot's multi-factor authentication product over other solutions for three primary reasons: 1. Platform & Network Compatibility "We chose the WebFort solution for FFIEC compliance primarily because Arcot's solutions were more compatible with our internal systems," said Kawai Chan, Technology Officer for All Points Capital. "We reviewed a variety of solutions being used by other financial institutions and when it came right down to it, Arcot's software worked best with our systems. Other vendors that we looked at required Linux or Apache, or required significant changes to our platform and business processes." Chan continued, "We did not want to redesign or extend our current system infrastructure to accommodate a new authentication system. We needed a system that could be incorporated into the network design easily, not the other way around." Ease-of-use of the patented ArcotID "software smartcard" technology underlying the WebFort solution also played a significant role in APCC's choice. "Our test users found the ArcotID very intuitive to use," Chan commented. "The act of using the ArcotID mirrors that of traditional user name and password so implementation of the solution doesn't require us to ask our customers to change their behavior -- the way they access our online business portal." And with an eye to the future plans for its business, APCC chose the WebFort solution because its platform provides the basis for the secure digital signing of electronic documents, a utility that the company plans to implement in the future for facilitating business process flow and lowering operational costs. "We didn't want to choose an authentication solution and meet FFIEC compliance in a vacuum from our other business initiatives. Arcot's solution opens the door to business improvements, rather than boxing APCC onto a narrow path, or providing us with an orphan solution that didn't fit in with the rest of our systems and business plans." "The team at All Points Capital shared our vision of authentication as a business enabler, not a one-time technical solution, and we are proud to have won their business," said Martin Yam, Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Arcot Systems. "They recognized the superiority of our solution from a practical standpoint and we look forward to working with them, and growing with them as the company moves to take advantage of the many applications that our WebFort solution provides." To learn more, visit www.arcot.com/arcotid.html and www.arcot.com/ffiec. About All Points Capital All Points Capital (APCC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of North Fork Bank, headquartered in New York. APCC provides recourse and non-recourse financing to independent lessors nationwide, as well as direct equipment leasing and municipal finance. Since APCC's inception in December of 1999, its portfolio has grown to nearly $2.0 billion in receivables and was ranked #38 in asset size in the Monitor(TM) Top 100 Equipment Finance/Leasing Companies in the U.S. as of year-end 2005. For more information, visit www.allpointscapital.com. About Arcot Systems Arcot Systems is a leading provider of secure e-payment, strong authentication, credential management, and digital signature software solutions. The company's cost-effective and highly scalable software-based authentication products limit online transaction fraud and enable advanced functionality such as the turn-key issuance of roaming credentials and secure electronic document exchange. Arcot's products meet the need for strong, multi-layered transactional security while providing customers with a seamless, user-friendly experience. The company's offerings are compliant with U.S. and international standards including 3-D Secure, IdenTrust, SAFE bio-pharma, and FFIEC Internet Banking Authentication recommendations. Enterprises also work with Arcot to meet legislative requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA. Over 11,000 card-issuing banks and 25,000 online merchants and other enterprises use Arcot to protect the identities of millions of consumers worldwide. For more information, visit www.arcot.com. Contact: Arcot Systems or Neale-May & Partners (for Arcot) ### Press Release ########################### ePlus Announces Second Noncompliance Notice from NASDAQ HERNDON, Va--ePlus inc. (Nasdaq NM: PLUS), announced that because it did not timely file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, it received a staff determination letter from the staff of the Nasdaq Global Market on August 17, 2006 indicating that this matter serves as additional basis that the Company is not in compliance with the continued listing requirements of Marketplace Rule 4310c(14). As previously disclosed, the Company received a staff determination letter dated July 18, 2006, which was a delisting notice pertaining to its failure to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2006. In response to the letter dated July 18, 2006, the Company has appealed the staff determination, and a hearing before a Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel is scheduled for September 7, 2006. Under Nasdaq's rules, a timely hearing request automatically stays the delisting of the Company's securities pending the Panel's decision. There can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company's request for continued listing. The Company's delay in filing its Form 10-Q is the only listing deficiency cited in the second staff determination letter. The Company's inability to complete and file its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006 and Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 is a result of the Audit Committee's ongoing investigation of stock option grants by the Company since its initial public offering in 1996. The Company has previously disclosed that it will restate its previously issued financial statements for the fiscal years ended March 31, 2004 and 2005, as well as previously reported interim financial information, to reflect additional non-cash charges for stock-based compensation expense in certain reported periods commencing with the fiscal year ended March 31, 1998, and that its financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, to be included in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, will include non-cash charges for stock-based compensation expense. The Audit Committee voluntarily advised the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission of its investigation and the Audit Committee's preliminary conclusion that a restatement will be required, and the Company is cooperating with the staff's informal inquiry into the matter. ePlus has previously issued several press releases and filed several reports with the SEC including reports on Form 8-K, and investors are encouraged to read these in their entirety for discussion of the delay in its financial statements filings. The Company plans to file its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2006 and its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 as soon as practicable after the resolution of the previously disclosed matters. About ePlus: ePlus is a leading provider of Enterprise Cost Management solutions to information technology, finance, procurement, operations, and supply chain professionals who want to reduce the costs of finding, purchasing, managing, and financing information technology goods and services. Our Enterprise Cost Management solutions provide sourcing, procurement, spend analytics, supplier management, document collaboration, asset management, professional services, and leasing to ePlus' 2,000+ customers. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Herndon, VA with more than 30 locations in the U.S. For more information, visit www.eplus.com, call 888-482-1122 or email info@eplus.com . ePlus(R) and ePlus Enterprise Cost Management(R), and/or other ePlus products referenced herein are either registered trademarks or trademarks of ePlus inc. in the United States and/or other countries. ### Press Release ###########################
News Briefs--- Mortgage rates hit a five-week low New Home Sales, Durable Goods Orders Dip Home prices in Massachusetts fell 3.5 percent in July, the largest decline in 13 years New home sales slowest in 3 years At least inflation seems under control ... Chicago Storms' fury: Homes set ablaze, thousands left without power Apple Recalls A Million Batteries Fannie Mae Won't Face U.S. Charges Over Its Books GM to introduce new V-8 turbo-diesel after 2009 Wal-Mart Gets Communist Branch in China IBM buys Internet Security for $1.3b Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson dead at 78 How to Eat to Prevent or Treat Diabetes ---------------------------------------------------------------
You May have Missed--- Is economy headed to a soft landing? ---------------------------------------------------------------
Sports Briefs---- Red Sox Won't Let Weaver Make History Baseball memorabilia collector dumping Bonds Jerry Rice signs a one-day contract with the 49ers today T.O. might miss rest of preseason games Raiders should send Porter deep ----------------------------------------------------------------
“Gimme that Wine” Anger as 2005 Bordeaux wine fetches record prices Field of blends N.C. wine country is ripe for picking Bill preserves historic Napa Valley vineyard Wine Prices by vintage US/International Wine Events Winery Atlas Leasing News Wine & Spirits Page The London International Vintners Exchange (Liv-ex) ----------------------------------------------------------------
Calendar Events This Day Kiss and Make Up Day Uruguay: Independence Day ----------------------------------------------------------------
There is an underground mushroom in Oregon that measures 3.5 miles across. People have known about the "honey mushroom" for some time, but were not aware of how large and invasive this species of fungus could be. The fungus was investigated more closely by researchers when they realized that it was responsible for killing large groves of evergreen trees. When foresters cut into an infected tree they would find spreading white filaments, mycelia , which draw water and carbohydrates from the tree to feed the fungus. Researchers collected samples of the fungus from a widespread area and analyzed the DNA . A large sample of the specimens they collected turned out to be from a single organism. Humongous Fungus Until August of 2000 it was thought that the largest living organism was a fungus of the same species ( Armillaria ostoyae) that covered 1,500 acres (600 hectares) found living in the state of Washington. But then mycology experts surmised that if an Armillaria that large could be found in Washington, then perhaps one just as large could be responsible for the trees dying in the Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. Researchers were astonished at the sheer magnitude of the find. This most recent find was estimated to cover over 2,200 acres (890 hectares) and be at least 2,400 years old, possibly older. To go into the forest where this giant makes its home you would not look at it and see a huge, looming mushroom. Armillaria grows and spreads primarily underground and the sheer bulk of this organism lies in the earth, out of sight. Occasionally, during the fall season, this specimen will send up golden-colored "honey mushrooms" (see photo, above left) that are the visible evidence of its hulking mass beneath. Scientists have not yet begun to attempt to estimate the weight of this specimen of Armillaria . How is it possible for a single fungus to get so big? Scientists who study this species of funges have postulated that the huge size may be a function of the dry climate in eastern Oregon. Spores And yes, the honey mushrooms are supposedly edible, but apparently not very tasty .
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Today's Top Event in History 1918 --Composer/Conductor Leonard Bernstein born Lawrence, MA. One of the greatest conductors in American music history, he first conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at age 25 and was its director from 1959 to 1969. His musicals include West Side Story and On the Town, and his operas and operettas include Candide. He died five days after his retirement. October 14, 1990, at New York, New York. While growing up in Manhattan, my mother would take my brother and I one Sunday once a month to the children's concert that he conducted along with a short movie clip about music staring Gerald McBong Bong. As I grew older, we went to the concerts on weekends, then saw West Side Story and On the Town, plus Candide, composed by Leonard Bernstein. My father played classical music all the time at our house and I grew to love this music. In fact, I first learned about how jazz worked from the Bernstein concerts and he also produced a Columbia record, which is not out of date today, about “Jazz,” equating it to Shakespeare sonnets.
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This Day in American History 1814-James Madison became the first president to face enemy gunfire while in office and the first president actively to use his authority as commander-in-chief. On this day he assumed command of Commodore Joshua Barney's battery, stationed a half mile north of Bladensburg, MD. In 1813, the British fleet "parked" off the east coast of the U.S. This was called a blockade. They stopped trading ships from going in and out. They attacked U.S. navy vessels. British ships in Chesapeake Bay went even farther. Soldiers from the ships burned and looted homes around the Bay. Barney came up with a plan. The plan called for a small group of ships to sneak into the Bay. They would attack the British ships. Then they would quickly hide again. The larger warships couldn't move as easily as the small vessels. Joshua's plan was put into action. He helped build a flotilla of barges. The flat boats would hold one cannon each. This little fleet fought back against the British warships. Two of the big ships were sunk. The enemy was kept busy dealing with the sneak attacks. In 1814, the British launched a plan. They would attack the U.S. capital! They thought they could win the war by taking Washington, D.C. They sailed their fleet up the river near Washington. Barney's flotilla kept the enemy ships back for several weeks. Finally, the larger ships won the battle. They landed troops at a town near the capital. Joshua had already decided what he would do. He had his own boats burned! Then, if captured, they couldn't be used by the enemy. Barney and his 400 marines marched to Bladensburg. This small town was the only thing that stood between the British and the U.S. capital. Barney's men went to help the militia defend the city. The defeat (August 24, 1814) here of American troops under Gen. W. H. Winder enabled In 1813, the British fleet "parked" off the east coast of the U.S. This was called a blockade. They stopped trading ships from going in and out. They attacked U.S. navy vessels. British ships in Chesapeake Bay went even farther. Soldiers from the ships burned and looted homes around the Bay. Barney came up with a plan. The plan called for a small group of ships to sneak into the Bay. They would attack the British ships. Then they would quickly hide again. The larger warships couldn't move as easily as the small vessels. Joshua's plan was put into action. He helped build a flotilla of barges. The flat boats would hold one cannon each. This little fleet fought back against the British warships. Two of the big ships were sunk. The enemy was kept busy dealing with the sneak attacks. In 1814, the British launched a plan. They would attack the U.S. capital! They thought they could win the war by taking Washington, D.C. They sailed their fleet up the river near Washington. Barney's flotilla kept the enemy ships back for several weeks. Finally, the larger ships won the battle. They landed troops at a town near the capital.9 Joshua had already decided what he would do. He had his own boats burned! Then, if captured, they couldn't be used by the enemy. Barney and his 400 plus 100 marines marched to Bladensburg. This small town was the only thing that stood between the British and the U.S. capital. Barney's men went to help the militia defend the city. The Americans lost the battle as basically Barney's men ran out of ammunition and refused to retreat. The fight so impressed the British that all prisoners were treated as if they were officers and commodore Barney was fully escorted to the nearest large city where his wounds could be attended to. The British under General Robert Ross to march on Washington., D.C., and burn many of the public buildings. By the end of the same day, the Capitol building, the President's Mansion and many other public buildings were in flames. The following day more buildings were burned. At about noon a tremendous storm of hurricane force descended upon the city halting further destruction. With their mission accomplished, the British feared the Americans would reassemble their forces and attack while they were in the vulnerable position of being a long distance from their fleet. The men were miserable in the 98 degree temperatures. They were tired, ill and wounded. At dusk the troops quietly withdrew from the city. The troops were so exhausted that many died of fatigue on the four day march back to the ships, several deserted, but the body of men marched on. The full story is located here: --------------------------------------------------------------
Baseball Poem An Asterisk as Big as a Ball the ball talked to from Tim Peeler, from his book These come from a soft cover 128 pages -------------------------------------------------------------- SuDoku The object is to insert the numbers in the boxes to satisfy only one condition: each row, column and 3x3 box must contain the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. What could be simpler? |
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Ten Top Stories each week chosen by readers (click here) |
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