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Intro To Kinesiology 5th Edition Pdf

Introduction To Kinesiology

Intro To Kinesiology 5th Edition Pdf

Introduction To Kinesiology Hoffman Pdf

Intro To Kinesiology 5th Edition Pdf

Intro To Kinesiology 5th Edition Free Pdf

Download Book Introduction To Kinesiology 5th Edition in PDF format. You can Read Online Introduction To Kinesiology 5th Edition here in PDF, EPUB, Mobi or Docx formats. Adobe pdf xi pro free download. Download quickbooks pro 2008 free. Introduction To Kinesiology 5th Edition Author: Hoffman, Shirl J. Product Information. Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity, Fifth Edition With Web Study Guide, gives students a complete overview of the field of kinesiology and explores the common career paths, questions, and ideas that are part of this dynamic and expanding discipline. Introduction to Kinesiology 5th Edition Book Description: Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity, Fifth Edition, gives students a complete overview of the field of kinesiology and explores the common career paths, questions, and ideas that are part of this dynamic and expanding discipline. Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity, Fifth Edition, gives students a complete overview of the field of kinesiology and explores the common career paths, questions, and ideas that are part of this dynamic and expanding discipline. Introduction to Kinesiology: Studying Physical Activity, Fifth Edition With Web Study Guide, gives students a complete overview of the field of kinesiology and explores the common career paths, questions, and ideas that are part of this dynamic and expanding discipline.

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Download Book Introduction To Kinesiology in PDF format. You can Read Online Introduction To Kinesiology here in PDF, EPUB, Mobi or Docx formats.

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Author :Dr Shirl Hoffman ISBN :0736067035 Genre : File Size : 55.10 MB Format :PDF, Kindle Download :240 Read :343 The presentation package for 'Introduction to Kinesiology, Second Edition, ' includes a comprehensive series of PowerPoint slides featuring graphics directly from the text. More than 470 slides--organized by chapter so that instructors can easily choose the ones they need for their lectures--include the critical images that instructors can use for class discussion and illustration. The slides in the presentation package can be used directly with PowerPoint to print transparencies and slides or to make copies for distribution to students. Instructors can easily add, modify, and rearrange the order of the slides as well as search for images based on key words. The presentation package is free to course adopters and may be accessed online at www.HumanKinetics.com/IntroductiontoKinesiology. For non-course adopters, the presentation package is available for purchase on CD-ROM for Windows or Macintosh. 'Minimum system requirements' Microsoft(R) Windows(R) -IBM PC compatible with Pentium(R) processor -Windows(R) 95/98/2000/ME/XP (2000 or XP recommended) -16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended) -At least 28 MB hard drive space recommended for installation -Microsoft(R) PowerPoint(R) Viewer 97 (included) -4x CD-ROM drive -High color display setting (true color recommended) -Mouse Macintosh(R) -Power Mac(R) required -System 9.x/10.x -16 MB RAM (32 MB recommended) -At least 28 MB hard drive space recommended for installation -Microsoft(R) PowerPoint(R) Viewer 98 (included) -4x CD-ROM drive (or faster) -High color display setting (true color recommended) -Mouse

Introduction To Kinesiology

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Introduction To Kinesiology

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Introduction To Kinesiology

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Activity Manual For Introduction To Kinesiology

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Introduction To Kinesiology

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Introduction To Kinesiology

Author :Shirl J. Hoffman ISBN :0736055894 Genre :Health & Fitness File Size : 45.33 MB Format :PDF, ePub, Mobi Download :529 Read :612 Introduction to Kinesiology, Second Edition,provides a comprehensive, reader-friendly overview of kinesiology, laying a solid foundation for future learning and for working as a professional in any field relating to physical activity. This new edition is significantly updated and revamped, featuring these additions: -Expanded information and advice on careers relating to the field of kinesiology, including short- and long-term employment opportunities, allowing students to benefit from an inclusive and accurate job outlook early in their college careers -New schematics and visual effects to help students better understand the content, including more relevant photos to illustrate text points and new artwork to help clarify important conceptual connections -New profiles featuring significant scholars in the field -New and improved sidebars, interactive items, and key points to engage students more deeply and to acquaint them with relevant issues and problems Introduction to Kinesiology, Second Edition,contains updated research, statistics, and discussion focusing on practical applications in the field and offering advice about each profession in kinesiology. These features will help students identify and work toward attaining their career goals. The text uses a visually appealing pedagogical approach, including key points and interactive items as well as opening scenarios of real-world dilemmas encountered by professionals in the field, objectives, summaries, key terms, and a glossary. The new edition reinforces readers' learning through both text and graphic features. Part I,Experiencing Physical Activity, provides an extensively rewritten introduction to the field of kinesiology and goes into greater detail on exercise and skilled movement. It also delves into physical activity participation patterns, updated information on the relevance of physical activity to daily living, and how various professionals in the field incorporate physical activity into their educational, developmental, and treatment programs. Part II,Scholarly Study of Physical Activity, with chapters on subdisciplines, has been reorganized and simplified, making those topics easier to comprehend. It includes greater coverage of physical education as a career pursuit and features chapters from several new collaborators, adding to the richness of the text's perspective and insight. Part III,Practicing a Profession in Physical Activity, includes a new chapter on careers in coaching and sport instruction and an updated chapter on therapeutic exercise, with information on careers in physical and occupational therapy. This new edition improves on the already-solid foundation of learning laid in the first edition. Its superior content and reasonable price make this text an ideal choice for undergraduate kinesiology courses.

Studyguide For Introduction To Kinesiology With Web Study Guide 3rd Edition

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An Introduction To Kinesiology

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Sports Science Handbook I Z

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Foundations Of Kinesiology

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rahulguptablog · 4 years ago

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Microsoft Gold Competency Partner for Dynamics 365 in UK

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a smart business application plan from Microsoft that involves connections to run all parts of your activities and deliver truly improved results through man-made brainpower experiences. Dynamics 365 covers the conventional degree of ERP and CRM and grows well beyond areas that were not considered until long ago. There is Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP for small and medium affiliations, Dynamics 365 Finance and SCM for tremendous partnerships, Customer

Responsibility, sales, marketing, customer service, field service, project service automation (PSA), and human resources capabilities - all pieces of the Dynamics 365 suite in constant unforeseen development. Close to the Dynamics 365 suite are the different parts of the Power stage that develop the power of Dynamics 365 in a radical way.

It is a start to finish joining all Microsoft ERP, CRM and BI suites and is perhaps the best business stage. Generally works on any gadget like MAC / Windows / Android with solid and secure Microsoft cloud advancement. It is a supervised or encouraged approach to getting all business tasks done by putting everything on a modified plan that depends on the essence of both the company and the customer.

Why Microsoft Dynamics 365?

Once you've chosen Dynamics 365 for your alliance, you should finish the edge plan that best suits your issues the same way. But a growing group of customers take "on the web" as their default design model, they have different alternatives. Your business and administrative foundations, close to the limit of your foundation and the capabilities of social events, will affect your choice.

The variety of Microsoft Dynamics 365 may be your strongest advance yet on the Digital Transformation excursion. Parts 365 has packages that bring all aspects of your business together. These parts work autonomously, many equivalent to with a consistent mix.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a completely changed open door where you can work at your own pace and use whatever application you need and continue adding depending on the circumstances.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 in the cloud presents you with the best security framework in Microsoft Azure. Be it real security on worker farms, network availability, access controls, support gadgets and insurance against contamination and malware attacks. Purplish blue security is a form against what can be developed for a nearby establishment. Just when you use from the cloud, you simply get compensated for the licenses you have within your enlistment on a month-to-month basis. It can be adapted to go up or down. The Finance and SCM partitions have essentials for 20 clients on any occasion.

D365 allows you to have "endless experiences" in various aspects of your business. Data on Customers, Customer Service, Sales, etc. they allow you to reliably keep your business productive.

MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365 PARTNERS

At an expert lead company, association, or demo, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) encourages you to make yourself easier and more motivated from your customer insights. Since trades and associations are made up in a single development, salespeople can solve any interesting attendance problems, so they are not caught sleeping when they struggle to complete deals. Also, if a customer demands help, the customer service agent can see that there is a critical plan ahead and handle the guest depending on the situation.

With Customer Engagement LOB apps, you'll have the option of sensing and responding to issues that can interfere with plans, assessing how your partnership group is dealing with its ultimate tier nuances, and tracking your ongoing endeavors much more.

While you don't need to look at information bases, in any case, Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (on-premises) is useful for some things about how information is created in a structure. In particular, you should think of two definitions, as they are used at various points in development: they form the genre consistently.

You will continually work with different customer records and record types as customers travel through their business estimates, gathering the information they need to fill in the fields for their records - in conclusion, to win in your business.

To mount your business profitably and sufficiently, you need a Microsoft Dynamics 365 master and before choosing the best Dynamics partner, you must have a real assessment.

Now that you know what is Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partners, Lets talk about Top Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partners in UK with Gold Competency.

1. All E Technologies

AlleTechnologies is one of the UK's driving and confided in Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform usage accomplices. AlleTechnologies provide you with one of the best Customer Services in US and other leading Countries like India, UK, etc. Alletec has proven success with offshore project executions. More than 150 customers from US, Canada, Europe, Africa, APAC, and the Middle East have leveraged Alletec’s offshore model for their project success. With more than 20 years of Experience and several clients AlleTechnologies are successfully providing services all over the world.

This is what the Company Says-

“Partner with Alletec for a sustained digital transformation journey – connecting Customers, Products, People & Data.”

In this age of relentless transformation powered by ‘digital,’ Alletec helps you stay ahead with Intelligent Business Applications. Leveraging the suite of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Data & AI powered by Azure – our industry solutions and services are designed to help you win.

We help in bringing together - Company & Customers, Factory & Field Service, StoreFront & Supply Chain, Patients & Providers, People & Governments - by putting in place integrated operational systems of ERP, CRM, Collaboration Portals, Mobile Apps, and enable businesses draw actionable insights from data.

2. Infinity Group

By choosing to work with a certified Microsoft Dynamics partner such as Infinity Group, you’ll get access to a team of professionally trained Microsoft Dynamics Consultants who are accredited across the full Microsoft Dynamics 365 application stack. This will enable you to benefit from our broad experience and unique expertise in implementing custom, end to end Microsoft Dynamics 365 business applications for hundreds of organizations across the UK

This is what Company Says,

As one of the fastest-growing Microsoft Dynamics partners in the UK, Infinity Group has worked for a multitude of clients designing and implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions using the full Microsoft Dynamics application stack.

With a wealth of experience across numerous industry sectors and for both a wide range of small businesses and mid-market enterprises, we are regarded as one of the leading Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partners in the UK. Our Consultancy team has specialist experience across the full Microsoft Dynamics application stack which also spans across the Power Platform, including Microsoft Power BI, Automate, Power Apps.

3. Company Net

This is What Company Says,

CompanyNet was formed in 1996 as a specialist Intranet/Extranet provider. We were an early adopter of Microsoft SharePoint technologies and have worked with every version. After successfully delivering a corporate intranet for oil giant Burma Castrol, CompanyNet was bought by Castrol and became a core part of their in-house Innovation Team. In 2000, Burma Castrol was purchased by BP Amoco, and the CompanyNet management team bought the business back from BP. We have remained an independent business ever since. Continuing our intranet and extranet work, CompanyNet became more involved in the Microsoft Partner UK Network, having joined in 2001. Following a series of successful intranet projects, CompanyNet was awarded our first Gold Competency in 2003, for Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics 365. These competencies allowed us to successfully deliver our first Enterprise IT Service for The Coca Cola Company. CompanyNet’s early success as a Microsoft Gold Partner in the UK included a significant project to deliver business critical services for The Walt Disney Company in 2005. Disney still uses the original application more than 15 years later, and remains a loyal CompanyNet customer. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, CompanyNet continues to deliver successful projects throughout the UK from our base in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Conclusion

As indicated by my investigation, One should go with AlleTechnologies. I considered everything about the three and became acquainted with about how straightforward functioning at AlleTec is. All the three gives best Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Services in US however working at Alletec is quite basic and truly simple.

This is my suggestion, If anybody got any uncertainty/recommendation you can remark down roar or Ping me up.

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riichardwilson · 4 years ago

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The Renaissance Of No-Code For Web Designers

About The Author

Product designer @ Wix • Coder • Running shoes addict More about Uri …

Just like during the Renaissance, we’re living in times of incredible cultural and artistic innovation. As the Internet evolves, browsers align, capabilities are added and accessibility of technology becomes easier, designers face new opportunities to create, think, and change their status with no-code tools.

The word Renaissance — which means “rebirth” in French — was given to a tremendous period of philosophical and artistic achievements that began in the 14th century.

During this time, there were a wide range of developments, including:

Use of oil paints, rather than tempera, which made the painting process easier.

Use of fabric, rather than wooden boards, which reduced the expenses of painting.

Translation of classical texts in architecture, anatomy, philosophy, and more, making knowledge more accessible to the general public.

These developments and more made the Renaissance one of the most productive artistic eras in history, dramatically reducing the creative barrier and attracting a large audience rather than just a small group of elites.

‘Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.’ — Michelangelo. Some people see a block of stone, while other people see a source of creation. The tools available to us at any given time can bring out our maximum potential. (Large preview)

Just like the Renaissance era, today’s web design field is exploring its potential through no-code development platforms (NCDPs). These tools allow non-programmers to create application software through graphical user interfaces and configuration, instead of traditional computer programming.

The Designer/Developer Mental Model

Taken from ‘The Singularity Is Here: Human 2.0‘ by Amit Maman. Part of his final project at Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Maman created this triptych to show his vision of the singularity and the turning point in human history that it represents. His work is inspired by principles from the Renaissance era. (Large preview)

In 2000, usability expert Jakob Nielsen introduced “Jakob’s Law,” the idea that users develop mental models of the products they interact with based on their previous experience. The more users can focus on their goal without challenging this mental model, the easier it is for them to achieve that goal.

“CSS is closer to painting than Python.” — Chris Coyier, co-founder at CodePen

Design and development skills are rooted in different types of thinking and require different types of tools. While designers use WYSIWYG editors like Figma, Sketch, and Photoshop to place elements on the canvas, developers work with IDEs like VSCode, Webstorm, and Brackets. In order to remain productive, designers and developers need to be able to make changes and receive instant feedback, according to their mental model.

So, using drag and drop builders may actually interfere with developers who want to debug fast, but working only with a text editor may be inappropriate for designers who want to test composition.

Designers And Code

Many designers understand the functional differences between a mockup and a working product. In order to understand the possibilities of the medium, where to draw the boundaries and how to deal with the constraints, many designers are willing to “get their hands dirty” when it comes to learning code — but they have difficulties.

One of the main reasons designers are not coders is because there is a large gap between the designer’s mental model and the conceptual model of many code editors. Design and development take two very different modes of thought. This mismatch leads to a difficult and frustrating learning curve for designers that they might not be able to overcome.

Code Abstraction

(Large preview)

Abstraction is a core concept of computer science. Languages, frameworks, and libraries are built on different abstraction layers of complexity to facilitate, optimize, and guarantee productivity.

“Visual programming tools abstract code away from the creator, making them significantly more accessible. The real magic of these tools, however, is how they integrate all of the underlying layers of software into end products, providing useful functionality through modular components that can be harnessed through intuitive visual interfaces.” — Jeremy Q. Ho, No Code is New Programming

When working with abstraction layers, there are tools such as Editor X and Studio for websites/web applications, Draftbit and Kodika for mobile apps, and Modulz for design systems, which enable a visual representation of code, in addition to code capabilities.

By adopting a familiar visual medium, the learning curve becomes easier for designers.

If Chris Wanstrath the co-founder and former CEO of GitHub said, “the future of coding is no coding at all,” then surely no-code is a legitimate way to develop — despite the perception that these tools don’t offer the flexibility to write your own code, line by line.

Indeed, we see that interest in the term “nocode” is growing:

Search for the term ‘nocode’ in the last 5 years on Google Trends. (Large preview)

Difference Between Imperative And Declarative Programming

In order to understand the development of no-code tools for designers, you need to know the distinction between two types of programming:

Imperative Programming Deconstruct the result into a sequence of imperatives, i.e. explicit control flow. For example: JavaScript, Python, C ++.

Declarative Programming Declare the result, i.e. implicit control flow. For example: SQL, HTML, CSS.

Declarative languages are often domain-specific languages, or DSL, which means they’re used for a specific purpose, in a specific domain.

For example, SQL is DSL for working with databases, HTML is DSL for adding semantic structure and meaning to content on a web page, and CSS is DSL for adding style.

“There are too many variables to consider. The point of CSS is to make it so you don’t have to worry about them all. Define some constraints. Let the language work out the details.” — Keith J. Grant, Resilient, Declarative, Contextual

Imperative programming sets specific, step-by-step instructions to the browser to get the desired result, while declarative programming states the desired result and the browser does the work by itself.

The Middle Ages

The effort to create a visual interface tool for web design development started in the 1990s through groundbreaking attempts like InContext Spider, Netscape Navigator Gold, Microsoft FrontPage, and of course, Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver MX, Foundation Dreamweaver MX. (Large preview)

During this period, the common terminology included: visual HTML authoring tool, WYSIWYG web page compositor, or simply HTML editor. The term “no-code” was popular in the 1990s — but for a different reason. In 1996, the American rock band Pearl Jam released their fourth studio album, No Code.

These no-code tools dramatically reduced the creative barrier and attracted a large audience, the Internet wasn’t ready for these types of tools at the time.

This effort was limited for the following reasons:

1. Layout

When the inventor of the World Wide Web Tim Berners-Lee launched his creation in 1989, he didn’t offer a way to design a website.

This came along in October 1994, after a series of suggestions on how to design the Internet by different people — including one from Håkon Wium Lie — who proposed an idea that attracted everyone’s attention. Lie believed in a declarative style that would allow browsers to handle the processing — it was called Cascading Style Sheets, or simply CSS.

“CSS stood out because it was simple, especially compared to some of its earliest competitors.” — Jason Hoffman, A Look Back at the History of CSS

For a long time after, CSS provided design solutions for a single object — but it didn’t give an adequate response to the relationship between the objects.

Methods to address this were effectively hacks, and they weren’t able to handle a great deal of complexity. As sites evolved from simple documents to complex applications, web layouts became difficult to assemble. Instead of using a style in a declarative way as Lie designed, web developers were forced to use imperative programming.

A grid system based on the rules of Swiss designer Josef Müller-Brockmann that was customary in print from the 1940s seems like a distant dream when considering anything related to the Web.

Posters by Josef Muller-Brockmann. (Large preview)

Because of these layout limitations, no-code platforms were forced to add an abstract layer to perform backstage calculations. This layer causes a range of problems, including losing the semantic value of the objects, performance issues, bulky code, a complex learning curve, unscalability, and accessibility issues.

2. Browser Alignment

In the early days, browser makers were the ones who decided how to build the Internet. This led to the Web becoming a manipulative commodity. Competition between browsers led to unique “design features”. This forced the need to rebuild the same site several times, so it could be accessed from multiple browsers.

“Developers in the 90s would often have to make three or four versions of every website they built, so that it would be compatible with each of the browsers available at the time.” — Amy Dickens, Web Standards: The What, The Why, And The How

To offset the need to build websites that fit specific browsers, the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) community was established at MIT in 1994. The WC3 is an international community working to develop functional, accessible and cross-compatible web standards.

When the standards were introduced, browser makers were encouraged to stick to one way of doing things — thus preventing several versions of the same site from being built. Despite WC3’s recommendations, it took a long time for browsers to meet the same standards.

Due to a lack of alignment between the browsers (Internet Explorer, I’m looking at you), CSS for a time was stuck and no new capabilities were added. Once a declarative language doesn’t support something, it requires you to lean on all kinds of imperative hacks in order to achieve that goal.

3. Data Binding

In the early years of the Web, sites were developed as a collection of static pages with no semantic meaning. When Web 2.0 arrived, it received the description “the web as a platform,” which led to a significant change — pages had dynamic content, which affected the connection to the data, and of course the semantic meaning.

“Sites in the 1990s were usually either brochure-ware (static HTML pages with insipid content) or they were interactive in a flashy, animated, JavaScript kind of way.” — Joshua Porter, Web 2.0 for Designers

Indeed, connecting to data using a no-code approach has existed for a long time — but the user experience was difficult. Additionally, the transition to semantic marking so content could be detected in no-code tools was difficult because of the mixing between declarative and imperative programming.

No-code tools didn’t mesh with those core tasks.

(Large preview)

Proto-Renaissance

On June 29, 2007, the nature of the Internet was changed dramatically. This was the day when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone — a combination of mobile phone and media player that connected to the Internet and enabled multi-touch navigation.

When the iPhone was introduced in 2007, it was a turning point for web design. All of a sudden web designers lost control of the canvas on which we designed websites. Previously, websites only had to work on monitor screens, which varied in size, but not all that much. How were we supposed to make our websites work on these tiny little screens? — Clarissa Peterson, Learning Responsive Web Design

This created new challenges for web design development. Mainly, how to build a site that can be used on multiple types of devices. Many “hack” approaches to layout design simply fell apart — they caused more problems than they solved.

Everything needed to be reevaluated.

The No-Code Renaissance

(Large preview)

Browsers supporting WC3 standards (Chrome and Firefox ) have huge market share today, which has pushed more browsers to support the standards. The fact that all of the browsers support the same standard, enable alignment in the building of sites and ensure these capabilities would continue to work as standards and browsers evolve.

Methods such as media query, flexbox and grid — which are natively available in the browsers for layout design — have paved the way for flexible layouts, even when element sizes are dynamic.

“When CSS Grid shipped in March 2017, our toolbox reached a tipping point. At last we have technology powerful enough to let us really get creative with layout. We can use the power of graphic design to convey meaning through our use of layout—creating unique layouts for each project, each section, each type of content, each page.” — Rachel Andrew, The New CSS Layout

In this way, HTML became cleaner and it was able to achieve its original purpose: a semantic description of the content.

Finally, thanks to alignment between the browsers and new capabilities, no-code tools are backed by powerful, uniform technology. These changes created a clearer distinction between declarative and imperative. New possibilities were created to solve old problems.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci

The Effect Of No-code On Designers

Editor X | David’s photo by Igor Ferreira on Unsplash. (Large preview)

The developments of the Internet over the years has led to a situation where the abstraction between design and code is constantly improving. This has implications for the way web designers plan and implement their designs.

1. Design Planning

While popular design tools use static content for dynamic web design, no-code tools allow designers to work with the web’s own materials.

“Photoshop is the most effective way to show your clients what their website will never look like.” — Stephen Hay, author of Responsive Design Workflow

If we have a complex design with different states, micro-interactions, animations and responsive breakpoints — by using no-code tools we can work in a more tangible way.

Additionally, the development of the web enables no-code tools to clearly separate content from the design (which allows designers to visually manage real content). Reflecting the dynamic content in the design (e.g. text, images, videos, and audio), gives designers a clearer understanding of how it will appear.

The advantage of working in the no-code workspace is that interactions appear immediately. This allows designers to quickly test their design choices and see if they work.

2. Design Implementation

After investing in design perfection, designers should explain the visual and conceptual decisions to developers through prototypes. Prototypes not only take time in terms of preparation, but their design is also often implemented incorrectly due to misinterpretations.

With no-code tools, designers are able to place objects on their display and handle their visibility and behavior with ease and speed. In other words, they can design the end result without depending on anyone else.

To use myself as an example, when the Coronavirus pandemic hit, I worked with a small team on a project to help connect young volunteers to isolated seniors. In just three days, myself and another designer built the website and connected user registration data to a database, while the team’s developer worked to integrate data from the site into a separate mobile app.

The Effect Of No-code On Developers

Will no-code tools completely replace developers? The short answer: No. The significant change is in the way designers and developers can work together to create websites.

In addition to the development of CSS, Javascript has also evolved in parallel and perhaps even more. The idea that frontend developers need to control all the abilities makes no sense. And yet, the development of no-code over the years has enabled designers to build their own designs.

It’s a win-win situation, in which developers can focus on developing logic, and designers have more control over the user experience and styling.

The Effort Is Not Yet Complete

I don’t want to leave you with the impression that designers have complete freedom to design with no-code tools. There are still some missing style capabilities that CSS has not yet solved, and these still require imperative development.

Unlike in the Middle Ages, where art was considered as handicraft without a theoretical basis, Renaissance developments changed the status of the artist — who was suddenly considered a polymath.

No-code tools remove bottlenecks, which allows designers to gain more ownership, influence, and control over the experiences they design.

We’ve come a long way from the days when designers weren’t able to bring their designs to life. As the Internet evolves, browsers align, capabilities are added and the accessibility of technology becomes easier — designers are faced with new opportunities to create, think, and change their status with no-code tools.

The no-code movement not only affects how things are done, but by who.

Credits: Yoav Avrahami and Jeremy Hoover contributed to this article.

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alisonfloresus · 8 years ago

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Engineering Achievement In The Last 300 Years

Electrical energy is considered as one of the greatest engineering achievements for the last three centuries. This technology has deep and lasting impact in every walk of life all over the world. This paper delves into the significance of electrical energy and its role as a technology base for many other modern technologies. The people in the contemporary world are familiar with people like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison as the forerunners of electric power and its generation, yet there have been many other personalities that have contributed a lot in electric power generation throughout the last few centuries of creation of this incredible engineering technology.

Indeed, the modern world cannot sustain without a good supply of electric power. There is no major technology that is not reliant on electric power. For instance the world with modern technologies like computer, TV or air conditioners or other modern gadgets are almost totally dependant on electricity power. In fact electricity has been related with mankind in one form or other. People have had some kind of knowledge regarding its usage. Benjamin Franklin known as the father of electricity first accomplished his array of scientific experiments with electricity that included his well-known work of kite and key. Yet at that time there was no way to utilize that technology in different fields of life.

The advancements in electric power generation continued to develop with new tools and equipments which run and operated with electrical energy. Thus in 1870, Alva Edison, the American scientist was able to create the first electric power plant in USA. This was followed by growth of a number of electric power generating companies to meet the requirements of the people in the USA. At first these companies looked for the needs of businesses and for rich families who had various electrical appliances at home. It was as such profitable to those companies at that time avoiding many overheads in the supply of electric power. As with limited electric supply to few, the companies provided electricity that was used quite sparingly. With the passage of time and advancements in electricity there were several big companies in major cities of USA by 1920. These companies had unique equipments and tools to provide for diverse people and businesses.

Similarly, to provide optimum number of people and business the electric power, many US states promulgated new laws in their respective states. These laws remained applicable for many decades in the states. With modern electric technology and equipments developing, new endeavors and advancements were made to exploit the electrical energy in the eighteenth century. Hence technology gained momentum and for the next two centuries or so the scientists from all over the world worked hard to understand the nature of electrical energy in their countries. The subsequent centuries saw the large-scale creation of electrical energy. As such electrical technology was available in both commercial and domestic use. Its marketing and production improved considerably.

There are various sources of electrical energy. Coal, oil, and methane gas are used in large. In 2000, the USA consumed about 3.8 trillion Kwh of coal as a major source of thermal generated electricity in power stations. The other source methane gas is utilized to heat water for stream to produce combustible gases that move turbines to generate electrical power. Gas generators are generally used when there is a high demand for electrical power. In 2000, there was 16% consumption of methane gas in USA. Oil is the other electrical source which is in much demand all over the world. It can also be used to make turbine run to produce electrical energy. In the year 2000, the USA consumed about 3% of all power generated in its power plants.

Nuclear power is source of electrical power in which steam is produced by heating water through nuclear fission process. In nuclear power plants, there are continuous fission reactions that release both heat and energy. Consequently there is a continuous chain reaction in nuclear power reactor. The more the fission reaction, the more is the generation of nuclear energy. The heat generated by nuclear reactors is used to convert water into steam that operates turbines generating electric power. In USA, Nuclear power is utilized to meet 20% of energy requirements of the country. Hydropower is another source of electrical energy. About 7% of hydropower electricity is used by USA.

In hydropower electric generation process the electricity is a generated by flowing water in which turbines connected with generators thus producing electric power. Geothermal power is produced by means of heat energy underneath the surface of the earth. Places where there is enough heat close to the surface of the earth in which the underground water is converted into steam that can be utilized to run steam-turbine plants. In USA geothermal power account for about 1% of the power needs of the country. Solar power is source of energy that is derived from the sun.

As it may be seen that the sun’s energy is not accessible all the time and the solar energy is extensively dispersed all over. The procedure to generate solar power has traditionally been quite expensive in contrast to traditional fossil fuels. Solar power is generated by the process of Photovoltaic generation of electric power directly from sunlight in a solar cell. Accordingly Solar-thermal electric generators utilize solar energy to produce steam which helps in running of turbines. In USA there is less than 1% of the electric generation through solar power. Wind power is the source of electrical power realized when the energy contained in wind is converted into power. This kind of electrical energy source accounts for less than 1% of the USA’s power requirements. Biomass is the source of electrical power which is found in wood, municipal solid waste, and agricultural refuse of corn cobs and wheat straw. These are energy sources for generating electric power.

These sources convert fossil fuels in the boiler where combustion occur. The combustion generates steam that is normally utilized in traditional steam-electric factories. In USA, Biomass comprises about 1% of the power needs of country. Electrical energy is considered as the core of all industrialized and developing countries. The transmission and usage of electrical energy is simple with no emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutions. It can be generated in several ways too. Electricity can be used various ways and, for the future it offers the best opportunities for a sustainable and energy-efficient power supply. Electrical energy has been one of the most significant discoveries that have impacted the world most. It has profound effects on the daily lives of millions of people all over the world. It is one the most important part of modern technology without which most of the appliances in use today would not have been imagined and used. It is used in all advanced technologies in use like cellular phones, PCs, telephone and telephone lines, the Internet, the heating systems, the lightning of houses etc. Our lifestyle would have been quite different without the use of electricity.

All the modern technology would not have been possible without the use of electric power. Moreover the recent strides into space would not have been possible. Electricity has helped mankind to have good knowledge of its surroundings. Electrical power is quite economical and consequently has added attraction in its growing usage. In USA, though the relative cost of electrical energy is increased, however the real prices of it has been unchanged for many a decades. The above graph depicts the following: Real prices of electricity dropped in the 1960’s. Electricity prices were raised both nominally and in real terms in the 1970’s and in 1980 as fuel input prices increased and nuclear reactors construction costs rose. Real prices have steadily dropped since the early 1980’s as a result of restructuring programs. The fuel and environmental cost rise are now invalidating this development. The present US electricity prices are 20% less than their peak time and at a level compatible with industry’s lowest real level in the 1960’s. To counteract electricity prices in the 1990s, the US government and 22 states embarked upon a plan to restructure electricity, to promote competition and decrease prices for customers. The impact of electricity restructuring created mixed results from the viewpoints of cost control and ecological impact.

from JournalsLINE http://journalsline.com/2017/05/28/engineering-achievement-in-the-last-300-years/ from Journals LINE https://journalsline.tumblr.com/post/161173727450

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somekindamushroom · 8 years ago

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CROWN CORPORATION CRUCIFIED

- Dr.Rivka Meir, President of Lambert Financial Investments, with her husband Dr.Michael Meir, Vice President.

Crown Corporation has been crucified by the market, falling from a high of 975p in December 2003 to a low of 22.5p in February 2005 on thin volume SEE POST 1. Only 1.4m shares or about 2% of the stock has been traded since AIM admission on 31 October 2003, and much of this volume was buys (eg. the 225k that sent CCO up 178% from its opening price of 350p to a high of 975p was virtually all buys). There doesn't seem to be anything behind the drop: no bad news, no profit warnings, no crippling debt, yet this peculiar company (it is nearly 60%-owned by Lambert Financial Investments) has been a veritable crown of thorns for British investors! I spent several weeks investigating CCO, more time than I intended, but I was intrigued and wanted to get to the bottom of it. I hope you take a little time out and enjoy reading this report. I think you'll agree this is about as bizarre a stock as we're ever likely to see on AIM... :-)

03/05/03

The domain name www.crowncorporation.com is registered with register.com by a Dr.Ruben Linder who gives his address as Via Nocc, Gentilino, TI 6925, CH (e-mail: [email protected]). Linder is listed as the Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, and Zone Contact.

* I presume this is the same Dr. Ruben Linder who is named as a director under the Secretaria de Salud (ie. health department) for the province of Chubut in Argentina? Other than this, my search for info on him has come up blank. However, his wife(?) is Chantal Gilardini Linder (38), a professional coach certified by the International Coach Federation of Switzerland. Her address is:

Via Nocc 20, P.Dante 8, 6925 Gentilino, 6900 Lugano

See her "Coachticino" website

(note Dr.Linder's e-mail provider is ticino.com). Chantal Linder claims experience in banking, project management and team leadership. She specialises in coaching for children, personal coaching, and coaching for small business start-ups. Compare the type of coachin Dr. Rivka Meir has to offer.

04/06/03

Crown Corporation Limited is incorporated in offshore tax haven Bermuda with 12.1m shares (including 100k founder shares) with a nominal value of Euro 0.001 each.

* CCO was incorporated by the enigmatic Dr. Mariusz Rybak (nickname: 'The Baltic Barracuda'), a Polish scientist who emigrated to Canada with his family in the 1980's. He holds the 100k founder shares through his company Crown Management Corporation (CMC). I have been unable to find out anything at all about CMC, but if there's one thing that puts me off Crown, it's the sweeping rights attached to these founder shares (more on which later).

According to CCO's Interim Results to 31/3/04, on 4 Jun 03 'the company entered into a number of contracts in South America.'

For Bermuda taxation see also note 3 in Interim Results.

25/07/03

As Crown begins to seek a market listing, the authorised share capital is increased to Euro 200,100 allowing the issue of up to 188 million more shares.

07/10/03

Pre-Admission Announcement. Lists rules of AIM admission. Gives Crown's address as:

Crown Corporation Limited, Canon's Court, 22 Victoria Street, Hamilton, Bermuda, HM 11

Securities to be admitted: 70 million ordinary shares of Euro 0.001, plus 43.89m warrants to subscribe at Euro 7.50 and 43.89 warrants to subscribe at Euro 15.00.

Proposed Directors:

Dr. Mariusz Rybak (52?) - Executive Chairman

Wolfgang Klaus Menzel - Deputy Chairman & Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Jean-Pierre Regli (48?) - Non-Executive Treasurer

Friedrich Kramer (54?) - Non-Executive Director

Shareholders:

Dr. Mariusz Rybak - 29.11% (dir)

Wolfgang Menzel - 29.11% (dir)

Ursula Demagistri - 13.02%

Pierre Demagistri - 12.83%

Pierre Michelutti - 12.72%

Dr. Jean-Pierre Regli - 3.22% (dir)

Capital to be raised on admission: To be confirmed.

Accounting reference date: 31 December

Nomad: Nabarro Wells

Broker: Insinger Townsley

* Canon's Court is a bonafide office block in Hamilton housing many local and international businesses, mostly holding companies with interests in Hong Kong. Seems odd that the nominal value of the ordinary shares is a paltry 0.001 Euro when they floated at 5000 times that amount. Note that the above quoted shareholdings add up to 100.01%.

Biographical details on Rybak are scant. His core interests are hydrobiology and paleolimnology. Between 1982 and 1991, along with wife Izabela and others, he co-authored a number of papers for learned journals such as Acta Hydrobiologica, the Canadian Journal of Botany, and the Journal of Paleolimnology. In Acta Hydrobiologica 24 (1982) and 27 (1985), the Rybak's are cited as belonging to the Academy of Agriculture and Technology, Institute of Hydrobiology and Water Conservation, Poland.

In the early-90's, Mariusz and Izabela Rybak were directors of Ontario-based water and environmental monitoring company, Areco Canada Incorporated, a division of ChemiCorp. In the late-90's, Mariusz, Izabela and Andy Rybak were directors of Intelligent Detection Systems (IDS), which acquired 70% of ChemiCorp in 1999 "for grossly inadequate consideration". I'll look again at these companies later and give some background info on the other directors. I 've found nothing at all on the non-directors/seed investors Michelutti and the Demagistri's. Anyone know their history? I'd pay the nominal value of 10,000 shares just to find out!

10/10/03 to 24/10/03

Following a private placing of 26.01m shares, a total of 18.41m shares are now fully paid (not including the100k founder shares).

* The difference - 7.6m - was to be CEO Menzel's allotment, but he never paid up so his shares were cancelled on 8/1/04. I presume the placing was done with the help of Insinger Townsley, owned by Barry Townsley, who later joins the Board of Crown Oil Corporation as Vice President.

According to an article by Edward Kalfiyan at Lemming Investor, CCO's seed investors held shares worth 278% of their original stake mid-December when the price was £7.50. If Kalifyan is correct the placing price was Euro 3, or approx.£2 a share, with 18.41m (100%) roughly distributed as follows: Rybak (7.6m/41%), The Demagistri's (6.7m/36.5%), Michelutti (3.3m/18%) and Regli (800k/4.5%). Excuse my ignorance if I'm missing something, but how come this placing money (£36.82m fully paid?) wasn't capitalised on the Balance Sheet? Until I read this article, I was under the impression that these early shares had been issued at par.

23/10/03

Shares Magazine article. Crown are 'hoping to raise' up to Euro 300 million to invest in small, troubled US-quoted companies which Crown consider undervalued. They will go hostile if necessary, and have a 'hit list' of 10-25 companies in various sectors that are growing in sales terms, but have too many shareholders and need restructuring. Crown has assembled 'a band of more than a hundred semiretired US-based executives to run the company's investments', an approach descibed by deputy chairman Menzel as "very much hands on." Crown has 'already received commitment for Euro 200 million from a number of significant European institutions', and Menzel predicts that "it will go up by our first trading date." He says not more than 25% of Crown's capital will be invested in any one company. Menzel is described as a 'former private banker' with UBS and Credit Suisse who has joined forces with 'Canadian technology entrepreneur' Mariusz Rybak.

* Not much transparency here. No mention of which 'significant European institutions' are funding this enterprise, or who any of the 100+ semi-retired US executives are.

It seems unlikely, somehow, that Crown could raise over 200 million Euros so soon after incorporation - unless the directors have a pedigree to die for?

Wolfgang Menzel, the multilingual voice of CCO (he speaks six languages), may have been a 'former private banker' with UBS and Credit Suisse, but I've found nothing so far to connect him with either (curiously, there is an 'M.Rybach' who was a financial consultant with Credit Suisse c.2001). As of July 1994, Menzel was Vice President of an obscure institution called EBC Banking Corporation, which appears to have been involved in a $600m financial dispute (not sure if this was dollars or euros). In 2000 he was on the board of Westor OnLine Inc. an investment company/broker for small European enterprises, part of the group of Wester Financial Services Companies run by Westor Finance. For more on Westor Finance SEE POST 2

29/10/03

Lambert Financial Investments Ltd (LFI), a group 'of Belgian origin', unveil their $600m investment plan for Buenos Aires at the Alvear Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Crown Corporation Limited are present as Strategic Consultant, and LFI claims the support of the Argentine government. "We are hoping that the projects come" said Rivka Meir, who refused to name the companies LFI had 'chosen' for the $600m investment, or the rate of interest LFI would charge. The money is available to local industrialists on the condition that it is destined for "projects of national interest". Meir claims that "the 25 top ranking banks worldwide" have put up the investment cash. For further details on the Argentina contracts see entry for 10/12/03

Also on this day, Alberto Camjalli is appointed President of LFI in Latin America.

* It sounds almost as if LFI's motives are genuinely altruistic! During her speech, Rivka Meir pointed out that LFI had collaborated with the Spanish government in the shipment of waste-water treatment plant and field hospitals to catastrophe zones following natural disasters in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. To date, I have not found any evidence of LFI's involvement/presence in these countries.

LFI is a Delaware-incorporated company. Delaware is America's favourite tax haven. Incorporation is a cheap and simple process, and you can run your Delaware-incorporated company from your home office anywhere in the world. Nothing wrong with that - incorporation should be a simple process - but a system like Delaware's makes life easier for both reputable businessmen and swindlers alike.

30/10/03

This Is London publishes an article entitled 'Crown No Jewel' by Patrick Lay. One day before Crown's AIM listing with an Euro 200m placing (£140m), Fleet Street editor Lay complains that 'there is nothing simple about the organization.' As he points out:

'Crown Corporation is a Bermuda registered company (for tax reasons), owned entirely by European investors - no shares have been sold to UK holders. It will invest in Canadian and US undervalued public companies - there is a lot more transparency in those countries than in Europe - and yet it will have a quote on the London AIM market in sterling, although the shares are denominated in Euros.'

Menzel told Lay that Crown picked the AIM market so that 'European shareholders would find a level of liquidity to enable share dealing.' Crown has 100-150 part-time specialists seeking target companies or, in Menzel's words, "participating in the game." They have looked at 6000 small and mid-cap companies over the past four years and have identified up to 25 targets. Menzel anticipates taking control of 7 or 8 target companies in the first year.

Menzel thinks Crown's approach is "unique", but Lay argues that Crown are no different from other venture capital firms. He thinks it it is unrealistic to expect to win over the boards of so many companies in one year. He reckons that a hefty chunk of the placing money could "find its way into the pockets of US lawyers."

* Menzel told Lay that CCO chose AIM because it's the only market in Europe that "hasn't lost its shine". Perhaps what Menzel really means is hinted at by Lay from his inference that the AIM market lacks transparency. By hook or by crook, it is a relatively easy market to get into. Not good news for British investors, as anyone who put money into Crown in 2004 will surely testify! Then again, from my experience, there can't be many AIM investors who have really profited from companies incorporated in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and so on. It seems that generally offshore = trouble, because to get back to shore you have to swim with the sharks!

The 'European shareholders' and 'significant European institutions' Menzel spoke of invested in Crown via LFI, which holds about 60% of Crown acting as nominee. LFI have stated that none of its clients are interested in more than 3% of the share capital. This means there are a minimum of 20 'European' individuals and/or institutions involved. I would be interested to know who they are.

31/10/03(A)

AIM Admission Day. A further 43.89m ordinary shares are 'fully paid' as follows:

*41,400,000 issued to nominee holders Lambert Financial Investments (LFI) at Euro 5 per share. In settlement of the subscription debt CCO accepts a 'Certificate of Deposit' dated 12/12/03 and issued by Banco de Brasil for the sum of Euro 275m, with interest at 7.25% per annum maturing on 12 December 2004 (13 months and 13 days after admission day).

*2,890,000 issued to nominee holders Allgemeine Vermogensveraltung Frankfurt AG (AVF). Of these, 650k were issued at Euro 4 in cash, 240k at Euro 5 satisfied by a 'promissary note' of Euro 1.2m due on 6 July 2004, and 1.5m at Euro 5 for holdings in the following three companies:

400,000 shares in Global Advertisement Research Group

1,500,000 shares in Global Consulting AG Ltd.

1,069,000 shares in Winfield Resources Ltd (since sold).

The Global holdings are currently capitalised at c.Euro 7.9m. For more info on these companies SEE POST 3

* 'A CD [Certificate of Deposit] bears a maturity date, a specified interest rate, and can be issued in any denomination. CD's are generally issued by commercial banks.

Technically, a certificate of deposit is a promissary note on which the maker is a bank... Almost all large CD's... are negotiable.' - Investopedia.com

The transaction with LFI is specifically an NCD (Negotiable Certificate of Deposit) with a minimum face value of $100,000, which amount is guaranteed by the issuing bank (Banco de Brasil). According to Investopedia, an NCD can usually be sold in a highly liquid secondary market, but they cannot be cashed-in before maturity:

‘Due to their large denomination, NCDs are bought most often by large institutional investors. Institutions often use these as a way to invest in a low-risk, low-interest security.'

On the NCD maturity date, 12 Dec 04, Crown traded at around the 200p mark and was in a clear downward trend, so did LFI (acting as nominee) cough up the Euro 295 million due for its clients 41.4m Crown shares? That works out at Euro 7.12 per share, or more than twice the listed price on 12 Dec 04. Reason enough for LFI to negotiate settlement?

Included in the costs of issuing shares for the float is some 10,940,930 Euros - being 5% commission on the total funds raised at float plus Euro 200,000 in fees -and payable to Crown Management Corporation, which is the sole proprietor of the founder shares and is a company controlled by Mariusz Rybak! That's a hefty rate of commission and well into rip-off territory if you ask me!

31/10/03(B)

The LSE welcomes CCO to AIM (excerpts):

'They have a team of analysts, M&A specialists and retired directors at hand to detect and run the publicly-quoted small and medium-sized companies in which it intends to invest.'

"Our primary reason for listing on AIM is to offer potential shareholders a level of liquidity, as well as giving them the security of transparency" - Wolfgang Menzel (my italics).

* And so CCO floats with c.62.31m shares in issue. LFI have apparently made arrangements to pay some 295 million Euros (including interest) for a roughly 70% holding in a company with not much more than a business plan! They must trust Rybak implicitly if they invest knowing that by the rights attached to his founder shares he can wind up the company anytime he likes for any reason and trouser half the net assets! So who is this super-majority shareholder? Are they a 'significant European institution', perhaps affiliated with one or more of the "top 25 European banks"?

According to the Lambert-IMI website, which is about as queer a website as your likely to see for any investment company, Lambert Financial Investments Ltd are 'a leading technology-based multinational headquartered in Barcelona'. LFI was formed by a group of Jewish Russian scientists who had emigrated to Israel with high hopes but found little in the way of opportunity. They would find better opportunities in the Americas perhaps?

It has come to my attention that Alberto Camjalli, President of the Latin American division of LFI, has been convicted in the past for writing bad cheques. SOURCE

This was back in 1989, and he served his time (20 months) and paid his debt to society. He even got compensated when the registry of his criminal record was not scrapped after five years. SOURCE

For this and other reasons, I'm surprised that Rybak & Co. have given over $700m worth of contracts to LFI in exchange for a "promissary note" for $350m (since reduced to a fair value of $270m) maturing in May 2005. Of course, the bigger cash question is: have LFI paid the 295 million Euros due on 12 December 2004? If so, why hasn't Crown told its shareholders?

For a closer look at the Lambert/IMI website SEE POST 4

By a lucky fluke, I discovered the word-for-word source of Lambert-IMI's 'History' section, which has been tampered with in such a way that it appears Lambert chief Dr.Abraham Avi-Arad Hochman has a direct genealogical link to Belgian hero Bischoffsheim. Dr. Arad seems to be a respected mathematician with a colourful CV, so why the fake genealogy? It's a mystery to me, and the only thing I can think of is that, like many other unfortunate Jews, Arad's family history records only go back as far as WWII.

10/11/03

RNS. Crown has exchanged multiple contracts worth approx. $633m on completion with Alemarsa S.A., Raymon Cayetano Cordozo Goday and Magar S.A. Kaor S.A. and Lopsin S.A. for the installation of waste management infrastructure ($180m), water treatment infrastructure ($11m), and other construction projects ($442m) located in the Canuelas, Malvinas Argentinas, Tres de Febrero and La Matanza municipalities of Buenos Aires. The construction works are due to commence in July 2004 and comprise 14,000 dwellings, 9 industrial parks, 2 commercial centres, 3 complexes of municipal buildings and 2 hospitals. In addition, 3 waste management and 40 water purification systems are due to be delivered in H2 2004. Lambert Financial Investments 'has been instrumental in opening the Latin American market and securing the contracts for Crown.'

'It is intended that these contracts will be fulfilled largely by companies in which Crown plans to take substantial equity interests', says Menzel, adding that this approach is "unique" and "sets it apart from traditional investment or venture capital firms, because it is an operational company and will be able to generate new business for the companies in which it invests."

Jean-Pierre Regli, Treasurer of Crown and 'a member of its Audit Committee', points out: "Each contract will be backed by bank guarantees or similar arrangements which will provide a significant level of protection against financial failure of counter-parties to the contracts, [thereby underpinning] Crown's ability to borrow against the receipts due under the contracts should it wish to do so."

*As the ADVFN contributor mdchand suggests, winning big contracts and then taking an equity stake in the companies you use to fulfil those contracts is a recipe for corruption. No two ways about it!

There was a Crown Management Corporation back in the 80's who were associated with a 15-block Long Ping housing development in Hong Kong. Could they be linked with Rybak's CMC?

When CCO made this announcement, the wretched residents of the city of La Matanza lived in a maze of filthy 'cinder-block homes wedged together on dirt roads.' They had no sewers, so heavy rain would flood houses and septic tanks, often overflowing into already unhygenic wells. Boiling was the only form of water-treatment, but many people couldn't afford the gas to boil it. Nitrate levels were horrendously high, and waterborne diseases were responsible for 20% of infant deaths. So it is great news that Crown and Lambert have been awarded these contracts, and I imagine the citizens of La Matanza will be very grateful to them if it means they are now receiving safe drinking water - albeit for a few pesos more...

"We want to help, but we come to win" - Rivka Meir, President, Lambert Financial Investments.

Nov 2003

Buenos Aires Herald: 'EU investors to plow $1B into Argentina.' Menzel and Camjalli say their investment in Argentina represents a golden opportunity and they expect "quite a bit more than the market average" in return. Crown is said to have raised over Euro 200 million from "European banks" prior to AIM admission. Camjalli says that talks with a number of companies are progressing well, and that an investment deal has already been signed with the Alemarsa construction company.

Nov 2003

Bloomberg.com: 'Lambert and CC Ltd., a Bermuda based investment fund, said last month they would invest a total of $1 billion in Argentina'.

* ...on the other hand, the directors of Crown and Lambert would have to be pretty inhuman if they were merely pulling off some kind of scam here for personal gain.

I was disturbed to discover that a company named Alemarsa SA, with whom CCO/LFI have a supposed massive contract, was implicated in a multi-million dollar swindle with the voluntary fire service in Argentina. In September 1997, Hector Guillermo Erenu Rivers, son of an ex-army head, along with the fugitive Alexander Daniel Chavez, summoned representatives of various organisations of voluntary firemen to meetings in Cordova. They said they represented Alemarsa S.A., which they claimed was part of the World Bank Group and an investment society named "Fins" S.A (perhaps a reference to World Bank Group member International Finance Corp). They managed to swindle millions of dollars in upfront payments from these bodies in exchange for promissary notes for subsidies. At one point they even gave a new fire engine to a group of firemen to obtain the necessary confidence. I have no idea if this Alemarsa S.A is the same company in the CCO RNS.

In mid-2000, Jorge Rodriguez, executive vice president of Alemarsa S.A, claimed the company had been contracted for the 'Altos de Podesta' development involving the construction of 1756 houses in Buenos Aires. The project was expected to take four years or until July 2004 to complete. However, during the CCO/LFI presentation at the Alvear Hotel in October 2003 (see above entry for 29/10/03), Rivka Meir mentioned the deal with a 30-yr old local company Alemarsa, referring to their plan to build 1700 houses in the Altos de Podesta development. So it seems that construction hadn't even started yet! This doesn't bode well for the new contracts.

My search for info on Raymon Cayetano Cordoza Goday and Magar S.A, Kaor S.A and Lopsin S.A has come up blank in every case - I can't find thier websites, no mention beyond the CCO announcements, nothing. I've looked at lists and directories of waste management, water-treatment and construction companies in Argentina but to no avail. Neither they or any of these contracts are mentioned in this extensive article from Feb 2004 [ed: broken link] However, surely they must exist? If I do come up with anything I'll include it in POST 5

13/11/03

RNS. Jean-Pierre Regli, 48, is appointed CFO and Executive Director (previously Treasurer and non-executive). He is described as a Swiss/Italian private banker with 18 years experience in security and asset management. He held various executive positions in Swiss private banks with international operations in Italy and the Middle East. He was the CEO of Lugano-based private bank CIC Soginvest Banca, owned by CIC Paris. He also has his own Lugano-based fiduciary firm, Fiduciare Jean-Pierre Regli, where he manages assets for high net worth individuals and advises international corporations. Speaker of six languages, Regli is given credit for helping CCO acquire the Buenos Aires contracts.

* Until corporate bank accounts could be opened by Crown, their banking arrangements/transactions were done through the client's account of Fiduciarie Jean-Pierre Regli. Surprisingly, given his pedigree, info on Regli is sparse apart from that which has been given by Crown. On 27/03/03, a poster on ezboard.com requested urgent info on him. No-one responded. It seemed as if the poster had reasons to doubt him. However, CIC Banques are a reputable organization, but I've trawled through their archives and found no references to Regli or CIC Soginvest Banca! The services of Regli are provided to Crown via Elar International Corporation (EIC). Again, info on EIC seems to be non-existent, other than that they appear to be a real estate company based or once based at 1101 North Wilmot Road, Suite 225, Tucson, Arizona (presuming this is the same company).

Regli is also into horseracing. His most recent investment was a 90% stake in the Irish colt Grey Swallow,winner of the Irish Derby. Grey Swallow now races in Regli's colours. Does the fact he has his own colours mean he is fairly well-to-do? Maybe so, but he can't be that well off if he needed a loan of 89,000 Euros from Crown in Q1 2004 (see 'Other debtors' note in Interims to 31/03/04). Why did he need that money? To buy a racehorse?

18/11/03

Wolfgang Klaus Menzel resigns as CEO with immediate effect 'due to health reasons.' The mysterious Dr. Rybak takes over until a new CEO is appointed, so Rybak is now Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

* It is very odd that Menzel should have resigned so soon after the float (never paid for his shares either). I can't help thinking there was some reason behind his departure other than his health. Note that this is Wolfgang Klaus Menzel, not the distinguished professor of microwave technology and IEEE fellow Wolfgang S.Menzel who chaired the recent German Microwave Conference at the University of Ulm (5 - 7 April 2005) and competes in the Robot World Cup! At first I thought it was him. There are also various notable (but not linked imho) Klaus Menzel's out there, ranging from an expert in Construction Technology based in Munich, to the socialist-cum-fascist leader of the National Democratic Party in Germany!

20/11/03

Shares Magazine - Small Company News. Menzel confirms that that Crown are 'set to announce its first investment in a US-listed company in a few weeks'. Menzel says Crown are "speaking intensively" to a US environmental company and expects to confirm taking a friendly 51% stake shortly. Crown are also in discussions 'to take over a US bomb detection company.'

*Needless to say, the proposed transactions never materialised. I presume the US bomb detection company was none other than Scintrex Trace Corporation, the explosives and drug detection specialists once run by Dr. Mariusz Rybak, who was also Executive Chairman and CEO at the same time! SEE POST 6

Although promised, a replacement for Menzel has never been found, giving Rybak total control of CCO. Was it planned that way?

19/11/03

RNS. Crown engages Northern Securities Inc. a subsidiary of Northern Financial Corporation (TSX: NFC), as financial adviser 'to provide mergers and acquisition and restructuring services.' Crown plans to take stakes in up to 10 small-cap US/Canadian companies for restructuring/turnaround.

'Crown plans to invest in a wide range of industries including electronics, manufacturing, business services, entertainment and media, merchandising, broadcasting, communications, and industrial products... Crown anticipates that it will likely take until 2005 before all of its currently available funds are fully invested.' Crown has cash resources of some $340m Canadian dollars and a market cap of $680m Canadian dollars.

* NFC are described as 'one of the relatively few publicly traded investment banks in the Great White North, and the largest focusing on small-cap companies.' Northern Securities is a Toronto investment bank which offers small caps online trading and 'online public offering' services via e-northern.com (2004 sales: $14.5m CAN (net income $0.7m). 1-yr sales growth: 227.6%. Employees: 115 (2003). Net assets at full year to 31/3/04: $11.688m).

Sounds pretty good, until you discover that NFC have been losing money for years and have a huge shareholder's deficit. They've issued about 700 million shares, and the share price has fallen from (Canadian) $1.00 in the year 2000 to a mere $0.02c - a 98% drop, about as bad as Crown!. When this announcement was made, Northern Securities Inc. was under Early Warning with the Investment Dealer's Association (trading was actually suspended until 26 Jan 04). However, it does look like NFC are beginning to turn around following recent acquisitions and tighter cash control. I just think it's odd that Crown should have chosen NFC. I don't understand why they felt they needed NFC since Crown already claimed 100+ of its own semi-retired US executives who had already spent 3 - 4 years analysing some 6000 companies and whittling them down to a maximum 25 for potential investment purposes! As for having all funds fully invested by/in 2005, why has nothing happened? Did these former executives spend up to four years analysing 6000 companies for nought? Was there ever 100 executives?

For more info on NFC SEE POST 8 [ed:deleted here as of no relevance]

21/11/03

Daily Telegraph reports a 132.5p surge in CCO share price to 635p, making it the third biggest company on AIM.

22/11/03

Daily Telegraph reports a 102.5p surge in CCO share price to 737.5p (up 80% or 327.5p on the week). 'Traders said Crown is a thinly traded stock.'

* Apparently, the price was pumped up in December 2003 in part due to a stream of broker buys. Did the broker/s (Townsley?) know that Menzel wasn't going to pay for his shares, in which case the market cap was artificially high?

16/12/03

RNS. Crown wins contracts for the provision of security products and services with a total value on completion of US $70m. No further details can be released due to confidentiality agreements. As with the Argentina contracts, Crown plans to use companies in which it intends to take substantial equity interests. Following 9/11 and the threat of terrorism, Rybak sees the security industry as "a high growth sector on a global basis... As such our entrance into this market opens a realm of business opportunities for Crown". Regarding Crown's shortlist of investment targets, Rybak says: "Preliminary negotiations have commenced in relation to a number of these targets."

* Great! Sounds like the US bomb detection company Menzel spoke of will get some of this business? Sadly, there has never been any takeovers or substantial investments (discounting Global) on Crown's part! A few hours after this announcement, Crown was valued at over £600m as its share price reached an all-time high of 975p, yet only 4500 shares were traded on this day and there was almost zero volume in the days following. Very strange because you'd think if this was a scam then the directors and insiders would be cashing in? After this announcement there is no news from Crown for over three months.

09/02/04

In a private Board meeting, a resolution is passed to increase the authorized share capital from Euro 200,100 to Euro 500,100 by the creation of an additional 300,000,000 new common shares.

* Why? Haven't they enough already to draw on if need be? Does Dr. Rybak expect to issue these 300,000,000 shares someday and end up like strategic partner Northern Financial Corporation?

23/03/04

Appointment of Adviser. Moscow University professor Dr. Witali Wilkin becomes Crown's 'Strategic Adviser' for the oil and gas sector. According to Rybak he is "renowned for his expertise", having been adviser to Bridas Energy International Ltd, 'one of the world's leading independent energy companies.' Wilkin was responsible for the design, development and construction of the first European Liquid Gas Terminal in the ferry port near Rostock, Germany. He was formerly President of Wostok Chemical, Gmbh.

* No reason to doubt the above, but I can't find any background info on Wilkin or his connection with either Bridas Energy or the Rostock gas terminal. I can't find anything on Wostok Chemical other than a (previous?) address in Berlin. However, Bridas Energy was formed in 1948 and is indeed a leading independent oil company - it is the second largest oil producer in Argentina.

23/04/04(A)

Formation of subsidiary Crown Oil Corporation, a holding company 'for a number of operating businesses within the oil and gas sector, incorporating related exploration, transportation and construction activity on a global basis.' The four man management team are as follows:

*Dr. Marius Rybak, Executive Chairman.

*Barry Townsley, Vice Chairman. Barry was a founder/senior partner of Townsley & Co. and is the current Chairman of Insinger Townsley the stockbroking arm of Insinger de Beaufort, which happens to be Crown's broker.

*Prof. Joseph Benhamou, Non-Executive Director. A Jewish-Swiss investment banker who has spent his entire career in Geneva. Formerly General Manager of Republic National Bank of New York (Switzerland), he held the same position in Banque Jacob Safra S.A. He is the current Chairman of Banque SCS Alliance S.A. He is also a Chartered Accountant and has a diploma in electronic engineering from Ecole Technique Superieure. Teaches econometrics at Geneva University.

*Dr. Witali Wilkin, Strategic Adviser.

* With the addition of Townsley and Benhamou to the Crown team (all of whom are staunchly left-wing) Crown are beginning to look interesting! Townsley is the multi-millionaire owner of stockbrokers Insinger Townsley. He is also a regular donator to the Labour Party and member of Britain-In-Europe, a trustee of the Serpentine Gallery and avid art collector, a £1.5m sponsor of Stockley Park Open Academy, a Committee member of St.John's Hospice, a film producer (see 'Shiner' starring Michael Caine), an associate of the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign, and a 'Friend' of both the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Israel Center For Social & Economic Progress (ICSEP).

Insinger Townsley's 2003 Annual Report quotes the Karl Marx law of financial markets, that any practice or strategy which succeeds eventually fails through its own success, ie. when everyone believes equities must outperform bonds, then it is usually fully, or more than fully, discounted in the price, so that in reality the opposite happens.

For info on Benhamou and the Safras please SEE POST 9

Must say, judging by their pedigree, I wouldn't expect either of these men to get into bed with a bunch of no-hopers; but I wonder if they realised what they had gotten themselves into, and it remains to be seen what contribution they will make, if any, to Crown's future. We haven't heard a peep from Crown Oil in almost a year.

23/04/04(B)

Also announced on this day: non-binding terms agreed for the Euro 225 million acquisition of International Hydrocarbon Trading Ltd (IHT) in a deal involving some cash, some shares and a Certificate of Deposit. IHT is 'a BVI Company’ which holds a 49-year lease on a 100-hectare concession in Russia with 'approval to develop a natural resources transhipment terminal and berth structures.'

'Crown Oil is also close to entering into a contract pertaining to the construction of a gas pipeline within Russia.'

* A BVI company? BVI means incorporated in British Virgin Islands [ed: offshore tax haven]. That means only one director and/or shareholder required for incorporation. The process takes only 3 days, and for privacy reasons no names are given in the incorporation document, so for all we know IHT could be a related party or even another Hochman vehicle! For a BVI company the mininum paid in and issued share capital is just 1 share. A BVI company is exempt from tax for 20 years and doesn't need to keep accounts. There are no requirements for AGM's or other public meetings... etc... etc...!!! Thus it is almost impossible to get any information on IHT. I guess Crown had done due diligence and the proposition looked sound, but Euro225m for what is in essence a bit of land with planning permission? Seems a bit steep! Luckily, Crown didn't go ahead with the acquisition (or was it that IHT decided not to get involved with Crown?). Nothing has come of the proposed gas pipeline either.

28/04/04

Issue of additional 200,000 First Warrants. Also, following Menzel's resignation as CEO in December, the 7,600,000 shares he previously held have been cancelled, reducing the number of issued shares from 70m to 62.4m.

29/04/04

Jean-Pierre Regli pays back Euro 89,000 loan by Crown plus 2.8% interest in full (loan was granted between Dec 03 and Mar 04).

30/04/04

Exercise of 320,000 First Warrants at Euro 7.50 each

25/05/04

Exercise of 25,000 First Warrants at Euro 7.50 each. Number of shares in issue now 62,745,000.

* It seems someone had confidence in Crown to spend Euro 2.4m exercising 320k First Warrants. I presume this is linked with the 320k trade on 21 April (see Post 1), nine days before the warrants were exercised? Anyone have any idea what happened here?

02/06/04

Crown Corporation sells a combined package of the previous contracts announced on 10/11/03 and 16/12/03 for US $350m. The gross profit to Crown is equal to the sale price. The buyer is none other than Lambert Financial Investments, CCO's 'financial partner' in Latin America. The transaction is to be 'satisfied' by the issue of a 'promissary note' by Lambert due 31 May 2005. This is a Related Party Transaction since Lambert owns 59.14% of CCO. The Directors, having consulted NOMAD Nabarro Wells, think the transaction is fair to shareholders. The money, when received, will be invested in Crown Oil Corporation to develop prospects in the FSU (Former Soviet Union). Rybak says that the formation of Crown Oil "reflects our commitment to focusing initially on this sector" and should create "a substantial return to our shareholders" as Crown seeks to "capitalise rapidly on certain opportunities currently under review."

*Cleverly worded. Just because they consult with Nabarro Wells doesn't mean Nabarro Wells thinks its fair. It seems to me that Crown have promised to jump on to one hot-sector bandwagon only to promise to jump on to the next! First, they had identified 10-25 undervalued companies covering a myriad of sectors in the US; then their focus changed to Canadian hi-tech; next it was water treatment and construction in Argentina, and now its oil and gas in Russia. All in the space of a little over six months!

In this report I look at the Lambert-IMI website in some detail and expose its many errors. It isn't easy to believe the Crown story when you know that its future depends on Lambert. It is very easy to doubt Lambert's ability to pay up when you see the fake genealogy of its founder and his fake PhD in International Economics, the false claims on its website, the previous convictions of its President for Latin America. It doesn't help when you discover the weird stuff that Lambert's respective President and Vice President Rivka and Michael Meir are into! For a short biography of the Meirs SEE POST 10

Note 14 in Crown's first Interim statement deals with the sale of the contracts to LFI thus:

'No residual contingent liability to Lambert arises in respect of these assignments. The company is seeking from all other parties related to the contracts release from all the contractual obligations and any other liabilities under these contracts. In the abscence of which the company remains responsible for their performance.'

A promissary note is defined as: 'A written, dated and signed two-party instrument containing an unconditional promise by the maker to pay a definite sum of money to a payee on demand or at a specified future date.

The only difference between a promissary note and a bill of exchange is that the maker of the note agrees to pay the payee personally, rather than ordering a third party to do so. When a bank is the maker promising to repay money it has received plus interest, the promissary note is called a certificate of deposit(CD).' - Investopedia

29/06/04

Interim Results to 31 Mar 04.

Highlights:

*"A number of companies made presentations to your Board and its advisers in London. Upon further review, none of these companies met our stringent investment criteria." - Dr. Mariusz Rybak

"New managers and consultants will be appointed in order to provide the skills and experience necessary to exploit [new] opportunities." - Dr. Mariusz Rybak

Acquisition of IHT and Russian oil pipeline contracts not yet signed.

* These statements by Dr. Rybak are a huge disappointment considering previous announcements by him and the Board. Did CCO approach the 10-25 companies which over 100 semi-retired, consulting US executives had spent four years identifying? Don't these guys have enough skills and experience without appointing more? What happened to the US environmental company and the US bomb detection company mentioned by Menzel? Did these target companies take one look at Crown and say no way Jose? After all this, it's no surprise that the deal with IHT fell through!

Something else that stinks is the all-encompassing rights attached to the founder shares, which are owned by Rybak's Crown Management Corporation. One of those rights entitles him to an outrageous 0.75% of Crown's Net Asset Value every month as a founder share dividend. Up to 31 March this amounted to a whopping Euro 7.6m, but Rybak waived the dividend for the simple reason that Crown didn't have the cash to pay it! Other thorny accounting issues are discussed in POST 11

A new name associated with Crown crops up in this Interim statement - Lawrence Graham, who holds 100,000 First Warrants. Is this an individual or an institution? If the former, it is most likely the respected author/professor Lawrence S. Graham from the College of Liberal Arts at the Uni. of Texas, a true expert on the economics of Latin America. If the latter, it must be Lawrence Graham, the London commercial law firm which recently merged with the former law firm of Ernst & Young. Having expanded successfully into Monaco/Monte Carlo, Lawrence Graham has forged links with ultra-high net worth individuals. They also have a number of diverse AIM clients ranging from Coffee Republic to Vietnam Opportunity Fund. Not immune to scandal, one of their former partners, the fugitive Michael Fielding, embezzled millions from client accounts and did a runner to Florida in 2001.

19/08/04

RNS. Crown takes a second listing on the all-electronic Xetra exchange (symbol: FG6) via market maker Seydler AG (Frankfurt). Rybak chose the Xetra "to increase our European shareholder base [and] increase the opportunity for investors to take advantage of the growth opportunities available in our industry." Crown also announces its intention to maximise returns to shareholders by issuing dividend payments.

* Crown actually have three listings in Germany whose performances have all mirrored the increasingly depressed share price on AIM. To see how they're doing click on these links: *XETRA *FRANKFURT *BERLIN

These listings may seem pointless, but they have certainly increased liquidity in CCO shares (158 times more volume on Frankfurt than AIM in March 05) and occasionally offer opportunities to make a decent profit. For example, on 24 January there was a wild intraday rally in Germany, and I'm sure at one point you could have bought CCO from AIM at around 60p and sold them on the Frankfurt exchange literally minutes later for the Euro equivalent of around 80p. For more on the German listings see POST 12 [ed: deleted as of no relevance]

24/08/04

CCO Appoints IFC Metropol as Financial Adviser in Russia 'to both advise on and facilitate [Crown Oil's] Merger and Acquisitions activities... at a crucial stage in Crown's development when it is reviewing several exciting opportunities within Russia [with] the potential for high growth'. Rybak looks forward to "extending our footprint in the Russian market" as Crown opens two new offices in Moscow and St.Petersburg. IFC Metropol knows the Russian investment market well and will help Crown Oil identify undervalued assets or companies, undertake due diligence, and advise throughout negotiations. Mikhail Slipenchuk, CEO of IFC Metropol, looks forward to "a highly capital-productive partnership with Crown" and "a long term affiliation."

* Up to a point, I have to concede that this sounds promising. Metropol appear to be a class act. On 29 Mar 2005 they cut a deal with two leading Chinese mining companies to develop the Ozermoye polymetallic ore deposit in the Republic of Buryatia, which is 'one of the world's largest deposits in terms of zinc reserves'. They have been very active in the O+G sector recently and seem to be the right fit for Crown. See also POST 13 [ed: deleted as of no relevance]

30/09/04

Interim Results to 30 Jun 04.

Highlights

After deducting 'anticipated costs' on the disposal of the Argentina contracts, Crown book a profit of Euro 222,284,000 on turnover of Euro 223,473,000.

EPS 3.43 Euros

Shareholder's funds up more than 100% to Euro 423,115,000 (31/3: 205,780,000)

FSU now "major focus of our investment strategy and I anticipate developments in this area in the coming months." - Rybak

Negotiations with IHT not progressing well and "it currently seems unlikely that Crown Oil will proceed with the proposed development." However, Crown are looking at other opportunities and "I anticipate that at least one of these opportunities will come to fruition before... 31 December." - Rybak

The maturity date for the Euro 1,200,000 'promissary note' from AVF has been extended from 6 Jul 04 to 10 Dec 04.

* Crown's financial statements use the historical cost accounting method. I am not an expert accountant, but the way I see it there's something not right about booking profits from Argentina as revenue when the money (if it does come) will not be received until the middle of the next financial year, and when you don't know for certain the ultimate costs of disposal of the contracts or any contingent liabilities. Then again, the works were scheduled to begin July 2004. If they did, Crown would have had to sort it all out by then.

Other than that, these would appear to be a cracking set of results, especially for Rybak, since he is entitled to claim 0.75% of the Net Assets as a founder share divvy every month! They also cover up nicely the increase in creditors (thanks to Rybak's CMC), questionable related party transactions etc. Despite the dissapointing update on IHT, they set the stage for an even better Full Year (to "31 December"). It does not matter that the opportunity which Rybak anticipated in the FSU never materialised, because the money due from LFI for their shares is booked at the subscription price of Euro 207m, not the Euro 295m anticipated from the 'Certificate of Deposit'. So I won't be the least surprised if the difference of Euro 88m appears in the Full Year results as new shareholder's funds!

The extension of the maturity date for the AVF promissary note of Euro 1.2m is a cause for concern. Were AVF so strapped for cash that they couldn't fulfil their promise to pay a mere Euro 1.2m? Whatever, this doesn't bode well for the other promissary note on which Crown's immediate future depends! We learn from these results for the first time (it was not in the RNS announcing the contracts) that the $350m 'Promissary Note' is 'supported by a guarantee from Capital Merchant Bank, Sau Paulo, Brazil'. However, the note has been discounted to the directors' valuation of its fair value of US $270m, to account for the risks associated with fulfilling the contracts on time, etc.

We also hear for the first time of Dr.Arad's controlling interest in Lambert. In spite of his questionable genealogy, he is probably the most colourful character taking part in this bizarre masquerade. His CV/biography is explored in POST 14 unluckily for Dr.Arad!

Intimately connected with Dr.Arad is the symbolic matriarch of Lambert Financial Investments - a mystery woman named Hanna Lambert. When he incorporated LFI in Delaware in 1996, it was in memory of his supposed great grandmother Hanna Lambert. She is discussed in POST 15

For further comment on these Interims including Related Party Transactions see POST 16

Note that Rybak's statement about "other opportunities" by 31 Dec does not necessarily mean opportunities for Crown Oil in FSU, for which only Argentina cash (due from LFI) has been earmarked, not the placing cash (also due from LFI). Could "other opportunities" refer to the forthcoming demerger of Crown Pharma, which has reportedly been funded with US$294m? And is the placing cash now in Crown Pharma's coffers?

15/11/04

RNS. Crown appoints Nabarro Wells as Broker 'with immediate effect'. Nabarro Wells are now broker and nominated adviser.

*On their website, Nabarro Wells make it clear that: 'We act strictly as corporate advisers in order that we have no conflicts of interests... unlike firms who combine the roles of advisers and brokers'. So much for that! There's also a very interesting document available via their website about the benefits of an AIM listing, though I must say their own AIM client list has its fair share of clangers! Nabarro holds 100,000 First Warrants in Crown or about £500k worth; not a great deal of money, but I'm surprised they're interested in Crown at all. They say they 'are not necessarily dissuaded by difficult propositions, which we may regard as opportunities.' Clearly, Crown isn't one of them!

Crown traded at 220p on this day. The share price then took one of its biggest dives to date - hitting a new 135p low on 23 November although a mere 13k shares had been traded in the week since the announcement. So did Crown dump previous broker Insinger Townsley or did Insinger Townsley dump Crown? I can't see that it could be the former, since Barry Townsley is VP of Crown Oil; and if it is the latter, is Barry Townsley still "participating in the game"?

10/12/04

Deadline for 'promissary note' for Euro 1.2m by AVF.

12/12/04

Deadline for 'Certificate of Deposit' for Euro 295m by LFI.

12/12/04

Rybak's Crown Management Corporation, which was 'entitled to consultancy and other fees' under the arrangements made when CCO floated and under the rights attached to the 100k founder shares (held by CMC), has accepted 8,651,118 new 'common shares' to settle Euro25 million of the Euro32m owed to it. That's Euro 2.88 a share, equivalent to 200p compared to a market price on 12 Dec of 112p. However, the high price Rybak paid was based on the average closing price over the previous 90 days. In the official announcement five days later, it states that all the Directors 'other than Dr. Rybak' think the transaction is fair as far as CCO shareholders are concerned!

* Coincidentally, Rybak took 12.12% of the enlarged share capital and the deal was done on 12/12 (13 months and 13 days after AIM admission date). Could this transaction mean that the Negotiable Certificate of Deposit (NCD) due on 12/12 from Banco de Brasil did not materialise? Surely Rybak would have got at least some cash if that all-important money had come in?

The above announcement infers that Rybak thinks he's been hard done by. I don't see why. Even at the current (12/04/05) market cap of c.£20m CMC's 12.12% is valued at nearly £2.5m; Rybak still gets his ridiculous monthly divvy of 0.75% of the net assets; he is entitled to half of everything if he decides to cash in Crown's chips. They'd better not annoy him too much!

CONCLUSIONS: If Crown gets the $350m "promissary note" money from non-registered Capital Merchant Bank (Brazil) when it matures on 31 May 2005 (current estimated fair value $270m) it will be a miracle and Crown should experience a resurrection! Alas, we still don't know if Banco de Brasil paid Crown the Euro 295 million due in December 2004 as consideration for LFI's majority (nominee) shareholding. What would happen if, for whatever reason, that money doesn't come through? Am I right in thinking that their shares would have to be cancelled, and wouldn't it be the case that a false market was created here? Another thing that worries me is the actual terms of both the aforementioned "promissary note" and the "Certificate of Deposit" with Banco de Brasil (ie. an alternative name sometimes used by Banco do Brasil). For example, could there be a hidden "evergreen" clause (aka. auto renewal or auto extension clause) or similar instrument allowing LFI to extend the repayment date? 'A typical letter of credit transaction involves three separate and independent relationships...: (1) an underlying commercial transaction between a buyer and a seller, (2) an agreement between a bank and its customer (the buyer), pursuant to which the bank agrees to issue a letter of credit supporting the buyer's obligations to the credit's beneficiary (the seller), and (3) the bank's resulting engagementto honor drafts or other demands for payment by the beneficiary, on the condition that the demand is accompanied by certain documents presented to the bank in conformity with the terms of the letter of credit.' For more on these banks see POST 17 Do Rivka and Michael Meir have enough clout in the financial world to raise hundreds of millions? I don't think so, even if top executives from Nike (Argentina) and Coca Cola (Argentina) do give the 'Rivka Method' glorious testimonials! On the other hand, LFI are 'controlled' by Dr. Abraham Avi Arad Hochman, who may have the contacts to pull off such deals, I don't know. I do know he has a fake PhD in 'International Economics'. I suspect the middle part of his name is fake. I also know his genealogy is fake. That's the problem. Sometimes I think there's something fake about this whole damn set-up! "We demonstrate that through rebuilding and rewriting the past, people can change the present." - Rivka Meir New rules are being implemented that will help prevent AIM investors from having to swim with the sharks; nevertheless it is bad news that a company such as CCO should have chosen AIM as being the most accessible of European markets to conduct its bizarre business. To think that in Dec 03 Crown was the biggest stock on AIM with a market capitalisation of £600m (over a billion if you included the value of the warrants) - it makes me wonder. How could the LSE allow this to happen? How can the biggest company on AIM turn into the biggest dog on AIM in little over a year, and for no apparent reason? Finally, apologies for the very lengthy header, but Crown is a complicated affair and needs some explanation! This BB is intended merely as a reference companion to 'The Crown' BB, on which some punters had complained Crown was so complicated they couldn't make head or tail of it. Neither could I, so I resolved to find out what I can and post my findings here. I'm still uncertain about a lot of things, so I'll keep a hard copy at hand, on which I may make occasional notes for editing purposes should anything else come to light. Hope you have enjoyed this little tome. Cheers. jd

"If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing." - Napoleon Bonaparte

POST 1:

MONTHLY VOLUME (LOW - HIGH) 2003 Nov - 159,365 (415 - 800) Dec - 32,800 (700 - 975) 2004 Jan - 64,398 (675 - 800) Feb - 1,840 (650 -675) Mar - 103,600 (587.5 - 675) Apr - 367,150 (520 - 603) (includes 321k on 21 Apr: see header entry for 30/4/03) May - 80,805 (475 - 600) (includes 58.5k on 5 May) Jun - 125,205 (350 -520) Jul - 50,568 (350 -450) Aug - 93,602 (225 - 350) (includes 46k on 11 Aug) Sep - 23,736 (223 - 268) Oct - 11,900 (235 - 265) Nov - 25,706 (135 - 245) Dec - 69,850 (100 - 143) 2005 Jan - 59,616 (45 -127) Feb - 109,533 (22.5 - 52.5)

POST 2:

WESTOR Westor (e-mail: [email protected]) are a private offshore investment company founded in 1994 in Liechenstein. According to www.westor.com, the company 'assists business entities in negotiating and facilitating multi national contracts and with the establishment of subsidiaries throughout the world.' They claim to have an experienced group of attorneys, bankers, business managers and consultants at hand to advise private clients (see also Westor Online). Westor previously owned the domain names/websites Internet Stock Exchange.org, Share Stock Exchange.com, and Share Market.com, as well as a traditional trading brokerage with banking facilities at esharestockmarket.com. Notice how vague and unprofessional their website is? It gives links to US and Italian quotations - suggesting Westor has a dual listing - but when you click on the links all you get are the homepages for the Nasdaq and the Borsa Italiano! This reminds me of Crown's website (Westor's mission statement is very similar to Crown's). Dominick J.Porto is the brains behind Westor. He is a former Chairman of Nibius Fund, a hedge fund located in Lugano (where CCO finance director is based as well as Dr. Ruben Linder, Crown's domain name registrant). When Westor did a placing in 2000, theplacing document described him as a Swiss citizen with experience in international banking and a class B trading licence. Menzel was resident in Lugano at the time, where he acted as a financial consultant to private investors. In order to attract more investors in the placing, Westor pledged a portion of future profits to the Westor Children's Fund. I think Menzel may have played a significant part in setting up this fund.

POST 3:

ALLGEMEINE VERMOGENSVERALTUNG FRANKFURT AG If you have problems finding AVF on the web, it's because CCO have got the spelling wrong - they're actually Allgemeine Vermogensverwaltung Frankfurt AG. My first port of call was THREAD CONSULTING, which opened the AVF website. I noticed a box in the bottom right hand corner for Crown Corporation, but when I clicked on the box it came up with a white screen! Now try prompting Google with www.avf-ag.de and you'll notice that the header gives the name of one Helmut Keller. Clicking on his name brings up the AVF WEBSITE. It seems to be a reputable Frankfurt brokerage/finance company. There's a Frankfurt address, telephone number and e-mail ([email protected]), but it doesn't name the directors, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a related party to Crown. Another wierd thing about the AVF website is that under the link 'Kalendar', the only thing listed for Q1 2005 is the 'Motorsport Fur Alle' event on 16-20 Marz 2005. So I guess the directors are into racing (reminds me of Jean-Pierre Regli's horseracing interests). GLOBAL CONSULTING AG.,INC AVF gave 1.5m shares of GCAGI to Crown (about 15% of the share capital). Created in Wyoming in 1997 by one Prof. Dr. Ronald P. Boudreaux, Global's work is exclusively 'success oriented'. It's main goal (very similar to Crown) is to bring small businesses to the stock exchange in any country, and to equip them with fresh capital via floatation as opposed to bank loans. According to its website (which was last updated in January 2001), Global started out as an open enterprise, but a 'large empirical authority developed'. Global has or had offices in Spartanburg and Wuppertal: 512 W Woodlbury La. Spartanburg SC. USA e-mail: [email protected] UBG Hoffstaedter & Partner, Goebenplatz2, 42115 Wuppertal e-mail: [email protected] I tried typing www.globalinc.de into Google to see what it came up with: the name in the header is Helmut Keller! I hope this is not the same Helmut Keller who was behind Carnivora Research Inc, Int, the parent company of the patented 'Carnivora line of dietary supplements now used around the world since 1974.' (although the site is still 'under construction' see WWW.CARNIVORA.COM). Carnivora, an extract of Venus-Fly-Trap, is apparently sold over the counter in Germany but is banned in the USA. Why? Because a number of 'doctors' have been imprisoned for treating last-resort patients with the claim that Carnivora is a successful treatment for cancer, AIDS, etc etc (reminds me of some of the nutty claims on Dr.Rivka's website!!). GLOBAL ADVERTISING RESEARCH CORP AVF gave 400k shares (about 2%) of GARC to Crown. Presumably this company is linked with the above? There is also a Global Sources Limited in Canon's Court (the office block in Hamilton, Bermuda where Crown have their HQ) which may be connected. In Crown's Interim Results to 30/06/04 we are told that both GARC and GCAGI's shares are traded on TELEKURS. I've tried to find them to see how the shares are doing but so far Telekurs has come up blank. WINFIELD RESOURCES LIMITED AVF gave to Crown 1,069,000 shares in would-be oil company Winfield Resources, which have since been sold. Winfield was incorporated in British Columbia in 1987 and has its HQ in Vancouver (e-mail: [email protected]). Since August 2000, Winfield has been traded on the TSX Venture Exchange where, apart from a few decent spikes, the price has been sliding steadily for years (although they are currently edging north). They are focused on 'Discovered Resource Opportunities', but recently, they had to cancel a 5-well development program (a joint venture with Rideau) because 'the Company could not meet the cash call.' Their website is badly in need of updating, the last Quarterly Report being that ending on 30 June 2004. The following is from their Q2 report under 'Related Party Transactions', again very similar to Crown: 'Paid or accrued management fees of $12,000 (2003: $12,000) to a shareholder corporation which is controlled by a director of the Company.' 'Paid or accrued consulting fees of $7,211 (2003: $3,626) to a shareholder corporation controlled by a director of the Company.' 'The $1,610 (2003: $76,726) due to a shareholder corporation is non-interest bearing and has no formal terms of repayment.' Going by their last available figures, Winfield currently has a deficit of around 2 million dollars Canadian.

POST 4:

LAMBERT FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS/ INDUSTRIAL MATHEMATICS INSTITUTE It's almost fitting that a certain Lambert Financial Group was done in Arizona for swindling a married couple out of their fortune in a bogus farming operation! However, this company was run by one Clay Eugene Lambert: it has nothing to do with Lambert-IMI. Our Lambert was incorporated in Delaware in 1996 by its founder 'Dr. Abraham Avi Arad' in memory of his great grandmother Hanna Lambert (1831-1912), who was the daughter of the illustrious Jonathan-Raphael Bischoffsheim - or so it says on www.lambert-imi.com. IMI stands for Industrial Mathematics Institute. This IMI has nothing to do with the true Industrial Mathematics Institute at Johannes Kepler Universitat in Austria, or its US equivalent at the University of South Carolina. The website of Lambert-IMI is truly bizarre. One really needs to peruse it to see what I mean. The first thing that became apparent to me is that there's no names of staff/directors, no address is given, there are no telephone numbers, not even an e-mail address! Yet they claim to be 'a leading technology-based multinational headquartered in Barcelona, Spain.' Their staff are supposedly scientists with 400 years experience between them, who have written 50 books and some 800 scientific papers, as well as teaching over 1000 university degrees and winning many prestigious awards. 'We came about as a result of the need to bring together the abundance of talent that begun to be found in Israel as a result of mass emigration from Russia'. The 'History'section of www.lambert-imi.com is a must read. It would be a good idea if you make a hard copy of it, and then compare the text under the 'Jewish figures of note' section here: http://www.amyisrael.co.il/europe/belgium Once you have compared these two texts you will realise what a farce the Lambert-IMI site is, as its 'History' section is a near word-for-word copy of the Am Yisrael text. Here is the beginning of the Am Yisrael text: 'It is doubtful that the kingdom of Belgium could have been successfully created without financial backing from the Rothschilds of London. Their closest Belgian equivalent has been Jonathan-Raphael Bischoffsheim (born 1808 in Mainz, Germany), whose permanent willingness to help the Belgian state secure the necessary loans made him a close confident of the Belgian court.' ...'"Bisch" (as King Leopold I nicknamed him) created Belgium's National Bank'. Here is the beginning of the adulterated Lambert-IMI version: 'It is doubtful that the kingdom of Belgium could have been successfully created without financial backing form the Rothschilds of London. Their closest Belgian equivalent has been Jonathan-Raphael Bischoffsheim Lambert (born 1808 in Zerok - Poland) and father of Hanna Lambert, whose permanent willingness to help the Belgian state secure the necessary loans made him a close confident of the Belgian court.' ...'"Bisch-Lambert" (as King Leopold I nicknamed him) created Belgium's National Bank". Two more excerpts from the Am Yisrael text: 'Samuel Lambert and his son Leon (actually a branch of the Cahen banking dynasty: Samuel took his father's first name as his own last name) created the Banque Bruxelles Lambert'. 'One of Belgium's oldest engineering schools, the "Institut Montefiore" in Liege... carries the name of Georges Montefiore-Levi". And their Lambert-IMI counterparts: 'Samuel Lambert Rozenblum ha Cohen (actually a branch of the Cahen banking dynasty: Samuel took his father's first name as his own last name) (great-grandson of Leon Rozenblum-Lambert, father of Dr Abraham Avi Arad (Rozenblum ha Cohen) Hochman) created the Banque Bruxelles Lambert'. 'Hanna Lambert create the ? engineering schools?, ?the "Institut Montefiore" in Liege...". From the Am Yisrael original: 'People associating the "Flemish movement" with fascism and militant Catholicism will be surprised to learn that the (Jewish) Liberal leader Louis Franck --- together with the non-Jews Camille Huysmans (Labour) and Van Cauwelaert (Catholics) --- was one of the three principal advocates of Flemish language rights after WWI.' From the Lambert-IMI copy: 'People associating the "Flemish movement" with fascism and militant Catholicism will be surprised to learn that the (Jewish) Liberal leader Louis Franck, Hanna Lambert husband --- together with the non-Jews Camille Huysmans (Labour) and Van Cauwelaert (Catholics) --- was one of the three principal advocates of Flemish language rights after WWI.' How bizarre is this! The only conclusion I can make when comparing these texts is that 'Dr.Abraham Avi Arad' (as Crown calls him) or an associate has attempted to create a fake genealogy linking him with the house of Bischoffsheim! Furthermore, it seems that Lambert-IMI are trying to make out that they are connected with Group Bruxelles Lambert, with whom Lambert Financial Investments has nothing to do imho.

POST 5:

Any information I find on Raymon Cayetano, Kaor and Lopsin will be posted here.

POST 6:

INTELLIGENT DETECTION SYSTEMS (IDS)/ SCINTREX TRACE CORPORATION Mariusz Rybak was President and CEO of Intelligent Detection Systems (TSX: IDS), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of sophisticated detection devices and systems used in explosives and narcotics detection and mineral exploration. IDS operated through eight subsidiaries: Analytical & Security (run by executive VP of IDS Andy Rybak), IDS Power Control Systems, Scintrex Earth Science Instrumentation, Survey & Exploration Technology Services, IEC (Integration Engineering and Consulting), Chemicorp International (its environmental monitoring division was Areco Canada Inc), and Caduceon, Inc (run by Izabela Rybak). IDS operated from offices in Canada, US, Brazil, UK, France and Australia. The following chronology is a selection of events mainly from the latter days of IDS and should give a reasonable picture of Rybak's former company - a real company - while showing the obvious synergies with CCO. CHRONOLOGY 1986 IDS was founded as small start-up CPAD Holdings in 1986. 12/09/88 Leisure Lea Ltd is taken over by Areco Corporation Limited. 1994 Adamas Environmental Inc did the site contamination assessment on the Bayview Yard prior to its redevelopment. 1990-95 Dr.Blair Walker is a director of IDS and Senior Account Executive of GeoCommerce Inc, a subsidiary of IDS that had big plans for an e-commerce payments network. 18/01/96 Viva Golf is incorporated in Delaware by sole incorporator Cheryl A.Lewis, who elects Geoffrey D.Liddy, Stanley R.Bernstein and Ralph T.Woolbright as directors. 11/04/97 Share Acquisition Agreement whereby a share exchange was made between Viva Golf (old name for ChemiCorp) and the Rybaks (Mariusz, Andy and Izabela). The Rybaks transferred their 100% interests in Adamas Environmental Inc, and Areco Canada Inc, to Viva Golf for an 89% interest in Viva Golf, making the Rybaks super-majority owners. The three directors of Viva Golf - Liddy, Bernstein and Woolbright - resigned and were replaced by Mariusz Rybak, Andy Rybak and Darlene Neilsen Downey, who changed the name of Viva Golf to Advanced Environmental Solutions Inc (AES). A fourth director, Walter Jensen, joined them on 28 Apr. Liddy, Bernstein and others continued to hold a minority interest in AES (total 11%). 11/06/97 Former Viva Golf director Liddy writes to Rybak complaining that certain post-acquisition actions which had been agreed as part of the above transaction had not come to pass, and that the price of AES stock had dropped dramatically since Rybak took over. Liddy threatens a lawsuit against AES and Rybak. 22/06/98 Liddy claims in a letter to the Secretary of State (Delaware) that he is the President of AES and wants to change its name to Viva Holdings Corporation. Amazingly, he even manages to get the company symbol changed from AES to VVVV, thereby putting a halt on sharedealing in AES. June 1998 IDS acquires 96% of Scintrex. Following this transaction, the legal/operating name of IDS becomes Scintrex Trace Corp, whose subsidiaries include: IDS Intelligent Detection Systems (Vancouver) IDS/Scintrex Europe (France) Scintrex Ltd - Concord Plant Scintrex Earth Sciences and Instrumentation Division (Ontario) Scintrex Nucleonics (Ontario) Scintrex Airborne Systems and Surveys Division (Ontario) 1998 Intelligent Detection Systems is No.12 on the Canadian Technology Fast 50 Winners list, having achieved 2562% growth in a five-year period. Oct 1998 The Rybaks sell their 89% holding in AES back to the company, then AES sell most or all these shares to two groups of Swiss investors who become the super-majority holders. At the same time, the Rybak's resign leaving only Walter Jensen in charge. Dec 1998 AES changes its name to ChemiCorp. (Note: according to the next entry, the Rybak's still hold 20% of ChemiCorp.) 13/04/99 IDS Services LLC, a company run by the Rybak's, acquires a 70% stake in ChemiCorp [2005 symbol: CCIX.PX.]. This is a Subscription Agreement whereby IDS joins the Board as super-majority shareholder. Mariusz Rybak is elected Chairman and CEO, and Sanje Ratnavale is elected CFO and Secretary. IDS transferred its assets including licence agreements, technology and equipment for 50% of ChemiCorp on top of the 20% it already owned. "An exciting move for IDS", says Rybak.The acquisition will help IDS deliver more sophisticated chemical detection technology. At this time, IDS is marketing the LVBDS (Large Vehicle Borne Explosive Detection System) and claims 250 employees in Canada, US , Brasil, Australia and Europe. 24/04/99 IDS unveils its SARIS (Scintrex Automated Resistivity Imaging System) detection system, with potential applications including groundwater and mineral exploration, environmental site investigation, and archaelogy. June 1999 In a 600m(?) lawsuit, ChemiCorp International Inc. takes former Viva Golf directors Geoffrey D.Liddy, Stanley R.Bernstein and Ralph T.Woolbright to court after the Secretary of State (Delaware) refuses any further filings by ChemiCorp (Rybak had wanted to amend the Certificate of Incorporation to issue new stock) due to the confusion. Since resigning in April 1997, Liddy, Bernstein and Woolbright had continued to act as directors of Viva Golf. In a particularly bizarre move, Liddy had even paid franchise taxes for Viva Golf! The Plaintiffs for ChemiCorp were named as follows: Mariusz Rybak - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Julian M. Romeskie - President and Assistant Secretary. Sanje Ratnavale - Chief Financial Officer. Francois Hubert - Treasurer. For full details of this strange case see this PDF file: ROMESKIE v. CHEMICORP. 10/08/99 IDS reports revenue increase of 136% over 1998 Q2 results. Andy Rybak comments: "We are now reaping the rewards of over 10 years of research & development and relationship building". Q2 1999 IDS acquires 51% of Megafisica. Q3 1999 Power Control Systems (PCS) is working with the government of India as it prepares to build a huge water purification facility in Calcutta to provide drinking water to millions of homes and businesses in one of the most densely populated regions of the world. PCS expects to supply a number of key control and safety systems. Nov 1999 IDS biotech division Caduceon launches a diagnostic breath analysis device based on IDS' core sensory technologies (gas chromatography and ion mobility spectrometry). The device detects targeted molecules to identify metabolic dysfunction associated with maladies such as liver disease, cancer and diabetes. See Izabela Rybak's quote in the 1999 results. 16/11/99 IDS launches GeoPortal online e-commerce initiative to serve the estimated £300B (Canadian dollars) Canadian exploration and mining industry. Includes two now-defunct internet portals - MineOnline.com and GeoPhysicsOnline.com - which will give data on millions of products, allow electronic transactions etc. Rybak sees the sector as a prime candidate for a virtual marketplace due to the fragmented nature of the industry in often remote locations. IDS are working with e-Scotia.com (subsidiary of Scotiabank) to provide a complete range of electronic payment options and security services. Scotiabank hopes e-Scotia.com will be the most advanced marketplace for online transactions. 02/12/99 IDS subsidiary Scintrex acquires Val d'Or Sagax Inc, a small Quebec-based geophysical services company specialising in ground and borehole exploration. 08/03/00 IDS subsidiary Scintrex acquires Houston-based Photo Gravity Corporation, a specialised geophysical services company for the O+G industry. 22/03/00 IDS subsidiary GeoCommerce Inc. gets key contracts with Aspect Development as GeoCommerce launches a 10 million product supply catalogue online via its MineOnline.com and GeoPhysicsOnline.com websites. 20/04/00 Natural resources expert Scott E.Nelson joins IDS subsidiary GeoCommerce as CEO. He was a former President of Amarada Hess Canada Ltd, and in the late-90's was Chairman of EuroSovEnergy PLC, a London-listed energy group focused on resource opportunities in the former Soviet Union. 01/05/00 Power Control Systems wins a $1.4m contract to provide an advanced chemical analysis laboratory to the Chinese nuclear authorities at Qinshan, 100k north of Shanghai. Jay Sarkar was VP of PCS at the time. May 2000 Ontario is the site of the worst e-coli outbreak in Canadian history. Areco Canada Inc., the environmental monitoring division of ChemiCorp, provided analysis for inorganics, organics, pesticides and PCB's for much of Ontario's drinking water supply at this time. Jul 2000? IDS announce disposal of its IEC division. 05/07/00 IDS announce the sale and leaseback of their Concord manufacturing facility. 10/07/00 IDS raise $10m in new financing, saying that the $10m facility they already have is not enough. New CFO Tony Johnston replaces Adrian Van Vroenhoven. Further Non-Core Disposals are announced. The restructuring includes an agreement on $8m of convertible debentures from biotech venture capitalists Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. (RCT) a 6.9% stakeholder in IDS. RCT install two men on the IDS Board as Andy Rybak and Dr. Larry Haley step down. Gary Munsinger, President of RCT and a Director of IDS, assumes the Chair. Roland Horst continues as CEO. *Note that RCT are still active and Munsinger is still President. They are currently suing Microsoft in a patent infringement case involving halftone technology used in graphic displays and printing. HP. Lexmark and Epson have already settled with RCT and Microsoft look set to follow suit. 25/09/00 The Ontario Securities Commission issues a Cease Trading Order on all the directors and insiders of IDS, namely Mariusz Rybak, Andy Rybak, Francois Hubert, Adrian Van Vroenhoven, Research Corporation Technologies Inc, plus 18 other individuals. 12/06/01 The Manitoba Securities Commission suspends trading in IDS as the Company failed to file its Annual Accounts. They were given until 26 Jun but still failed to file. This was after they failed to file their 3, 6 and 9 month quarterly accounts for the year 2000, too. 30/06/01 Control Screening LP acquires Scintrex Trace (bomb and narcotics detection systems) from IDS, but not IDS itself or Scintrex Ltd. IDS was recently delisted from the Canadian Stock Exchange, and the various subsidiaries of IDS/Scintrex were sold off. * Regarding Menzel's statement about CCO being in advanced discussions with a bomb detection company, maybe Rybak wanted a chunk of Control Screening? They specialise in X-ray scanners, metal detectors etc, and, via Scintrex, explosives and narcotics detection devices.

POST 7:

Posted on 19/04/05. Since writing the previous post, I have come across further info which casts a dark shadow over the apparent demise of Rybak's company Intelligent Detection Systems (IDS), while at the same time calling into question the officially-stated motives behind Crown Corporation's acquisition plans! The sequel to the Romeskie v. Chemicorp litigation was CLARION FINANZ v. HORST, heard at the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware, in and for New Castle County on 13 June 2001 - the day after trading had been suspended in IDS. Plaintiffs Clarion Finanz AG - minority shareholder in ChemiCorp Marjorie Trust Reg - minority shareholder in ChemiCorp Defendants Roland Horst - CEO of ChemiCorp Adrian Beale - Senior VP of IDS Canada IDS Services LLC - a Delaware corporation ChemiCorp Int Inc - a Delaware corporation (nominal defendant) The Complaint was against the "defendants unlawful scheme and plan to acquire a 70% interest in Chemicorp International Inc. ("Chemicorp") for virtually no consideration and thereafter divest Chemicorp of its principal assets for the sole benefit of defendants and the companies with which they are affiliated... at the expense of Chemicorp (and its minority shareholders)". Although Horst and Beale were the "sole directors of Chemicorp" at the time of the litigation, IDS was controlled by the Rybaks when it acquired 70% of ChemiCorp "for grossly inadequate consideration"and failed to pay ChemiCorp's minority shareholders a pro-rata share of excessive dividends declared. Chemicorp was a sound, valuable enterprise, but the Rybaks sat back and watched the share price plummet (see: Romeskie v. Chemicorp). ChemiCorp was delisted from the NASDAQ, and the choice bits of the company sold off for a fraction of their worth. Needless to say, such a scam would only make sense if the buyers were former directors of Chemicorp and its affiliated companies! What would the 10-25 US/Canadian companies which Crown had identified as potential targets make of the above? Would they have gotten into bed with Crown only to be raped in similar fashion? CARLO CIVELLI Clarion Finanz is a Zurich-based investment management firm run by (I believe for the sole benefit of) the infamous swindler Carlo Civelli. There are currently more than a dozen listed companies in which Civelli has played a major role, and in almost every case the share prices have started high and then crashed to levels as low as 0.001 cent! According to Stocklemon in Jan 2005: 'the mysterious Swiss financier has been involved in some of the most notorious natural resource stocks in the past decade [including] Delgratia Mining, which was the second largest mineral scam ever (after Bre-X).' Civelli was behind the great PINEWOOD RESOURCES SCAM. He is currently a director/shareholder of SugarTrac, which makes glucose monitoring systems for diabetics. Stocklemon noted that Civelli had recently lent $4.5 million to Papua New Guinea explorers InterOil, a company with a market cap of more than $1 billion: 'Not at all coincidentally, in the opinion of Stocklemon, simultaneous with the insertion of [Civelli in particular], InterOil has quickly gone from a $200 million market cap... to a valuation of $1 billion in four months.' Making it a blinding short according to some! Since this article, Civelli has put up another $20 million in a Term Loan Facility to InterOil. I noticed when reading their 2004 Annual Report (published 31 Mar 05) the name Global Asset Management LLC cropping up. Could they be linked with Global Advertising Research Group or/and Global Consulting AG, companies in which Crown have a stake? * The Rybaks may have conveniently stepped out of the picture at ChemiCorp and disposed of their holdings just prior to its delisting, yet they must be held responsible for its downfall and they remained intimately connected with the subsequent sequence of events which led to the above Complaint; none of which would make any sense unless... unless the Rybaks were among the buyers picking up bits of IDS/Chemicorp on the cheap? With this premise in mind see Post 18. Note that New Castle County is where Dr. Arad incorporated Lambert.

POST 8: {ed: deleted]

POST 9:

JOSEPH BENHAMOU Joseph Benhamou joined Banque SCS Alliance S.A in April 2002. The bank is well-established but relatively small (currently less than 100 employees after lay-offs) and has been having financial difficulties for the past few years, seeing their worst ever year in 2003 (see Annual Report). However, in June 2004 Benhamou was promoted to Chairman of the General Management on the personal recommendation of Pascal Node-Langlais, Chairman of the Board, so presumably he must know his stuff. And a diploma from Ecole Technique Superieure is not to be sniffed at! A Joseph Benhamou registered the investment vehicle Texeuro SA in Greece on 2 Apr 03. As its name implies, Texeuro's mission is to acquire holdings in undervalued companies in the European textile industry. I presume this is the same guy, though haven't heard anything from Texeuro since. THE SAFRAS The Safra's are the banking house that conquered the Middle East, like the Rothschilds did in Northern Europe. They opened their Geneva branch Banque Jacob Safra (Benhamou was General Manager) in October 2000. The Safra Banking Brothers - Moise and Joseph - have many interests including a $90m stake in Israel's FIBI Holdings. The Safra's have been in the spotlight since 1999 when billionaire banker Edmond Safra, a friend of Shimon Perez, was allegedly murdered in a fire at his Monaco home (he also had homes in New York and Geneva). Days before his death, he concluded terms of the sale of his Republic National Bank of New York (Benhamou was General Manager) for billions. He had also recently changed his will leaving the bulk of his estate to his wife (he was her fourth husband!). Safra did business with the Russians and allegedly turned the Russian Mafia over to the FBI. He was especially paranoid about his safety because he did business with the Palestinians. For protection he employed a private army of security guards trained by Israeli intelligence, who were conspicious in their abscence at the time of his death. Lily Safra is the world's 7th richest woman acc. to Sunday Times Rich List 2005. See also: 'Safra Sells Banking Interests To HSBC for $10.3B'.

POST 10:

RIVKA MEIR nee.BERTISCH & MICHAEL MEIR - Rivka Bertisch Meir, graduate of the University of Hawaii and the Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, San Francisco; founder and President of the Rivka Bertisch Foundation, New York and Buenos Aires; co-founder of IRM Success,LLC; program planner and Director of the Maternal and Child Health Division of the Department of Public Health, Jerusalem; visiting instructor at the Hebrew University's School of Social Work. "We introduce people to psychoneuroimmunology and basic principles of the mind-body connection." - Rivka Meir Rivka and Michael Meir are both Argentinians who claim they have been resident in New Jersey for 30 years. Rivka Meir is the force behind DOCTOR RIVKA, which introduces us to 'Rivka's Method for Self-Transformation and Success'. A variation on the Rivka method can be found at the Meir's WinForSuccess.com. You can unleash your inner potential and get anything you want out of life by one or a combination of the following: 'Firewalking For Success' Glasswalking Past Life Regression Therapy Hypnosis This website (which is also the website for IRM Success Incorporated) has a definite air of quackery about it. There are countless self-help gurus out there willing to show you the way ahead - for a price. Most of Rivka's Method is just basic behavioural psychology with a spiritual slant (thanks to the principles of Humanistic and Transpersonal Psychology and Socially Engaged Spirituality she learned at Saybrook). The Meirs also offer Long Distance Coaching in English or Spanish, supplemented with a selection of videos and self-help cassette courses sold online HERE. You know the type: lose weight, stop smoking, etc etc. Rivka & Michael Meir are Members of the Parapsychological Association and the Spiritual Healing Circle. Selected Publications *Rivka & Michael Meir., 'Re-Creating Your Life', self-published book, 199? *F.Rivka Bertisch & Naum Kliksberg.,'The Phillipine Psychic Surgeons: Fraud or Truth? - the case of Emilio Laporga in Argentina', in Magazine Paranormal Argentina de Psicologia,1(3),pp-35-40, 1990. *Rivka Bertisch Meir, PhD,MPH and Michael Meir, MD., 'Independent Practice Journey to One's Higher Inner Self: Tapping the Spiritual Energy of the Holidays', paper presented at Spiritual Healing Event, Fordham University, NY, 10 Dec 2004. * I can't trace the whereabouts of the Rivka Bertisch Foundation, either in New York or in Buenos Aires, though according to the curriculum vitae of one Stanley Krippner, a professor of psychology at Saybrook Graduate School, he is a member. He also provides a testimonial on the Doctor Rivka website. I checked out Saybrook thinking it might be a diploma mill. While not a bricks-and-mortar institution, Saybrook is a long-established, WASC-accredited online school offering distance learning courses and degrees in "alternative" psychology. However, Rivka Meir's qualifications were not enough to convince the Board of Marraige and Family Therapy Examiners in her home state of New Jersey. I found this in their Open Session Minutes from 14 March 2002: 'On a motion by E.Stroh, seconded by Samira Haddad, the Board denied Ms.Bertisch permission to take the exam because she does not meet the educational requirements.' And this from their Open Session Minutes of 14 October 2004: 'Robert H. Greenwood, Esq. has petitioned the Board on behalf of his client, L.Rivka Bertisch Meir to remove the Web-page posting of the March 14, 2002 Open Session Minutes.' The Board refused. I guess they didn't want someone who took 'laser finger' surgery seriously to be a family therapist! 'Rivka's method helps families...create incredible levels of love, purpose, joy, communication and connection they never thought possible.' - Doctor Rivka. Rivka and Michael have both been speakers at seminars about domestic violence (according to heterodoxia.net). Rivka Meir describes herself as 'a powerful, inspirational mentor in human development... a cutting edge trainer and personal coach... a committed and dedicated counselor.' She claims to have served as Corporate Consultant to McDonalds, Queens Medical Center and Cynergy Data. Michael Meir is described as an 'innovative cardiologist' , psychotherapist and coach in human development with a 'prominent record' in Argentina and the US. He helped develop the Bertisch Institute, and is/was VP of Synergistic International, Argentina.

POST 11:

FOUNDER SHARES This must be the most bizarre set-up I've ever seen on AIM. Looking at the Net Assets/Shareholder's Funds vs. Market Cap, is this a dream multi-bagger come true? Net assets at 30 Jun were, after all, some 423m Euros, against a present market valuation of less than one-twentieth that amount! Well, you can't judge a book by it's cover, and the CCO story so far is so full of holes I fear it might all end in tears. There is one big Black Hole in particular, namely the rights attached to the 100,000 "Founder Shares" which are controlled by the mysterious Dr.Ryback via his Crown Management Corporation vehicle (CMC). Amazingly, as stated in the notes to the first Interim statement, CMC are entitled to a dividend of 0.75% of the Net Assets per month! As if that isn't bad enough, Rybak's CMC charges Crown 3.5 million Euros per month for "consultancy and other fees"!!! Yip, 32 million Euros in nine months says the RNS of 17/12/04. There are over 70 million shares in this company (apparently), yet Ryback's CMC, holder of the 100,000 "founder shares" are, among other things: * 'entitled... to receive a total number of votes... equal to 1.5 times the number of all votes exercised by all other persons entitled to vote on any occasion.' (ie. the 70mm shares have 40% of the voting rights. If it was 700m, they'd still have 40%). * 'entitled to exercise their voting rights in relation to any matter without regard to the interests of the company as a whole or those of any other shareholder.' * 'entitled to a sum equal to the total dividend... made to the holders of the [70m] common shares plus a fixed monthly dividend equal to 0.75% of the net assets of the company.' * Included in the Euro 11,778,870 costs of issuing shares is a whopping Euro 10,940,930 fee - '5% of the funds raised in the floatation' - by Crown Management Corporation! I couldn't believe I was reading this, yet there's more. It's all in the first Interim statement if anyone cares to dig further. Basically, if Ryback decides to wind the company up, for any reason he chooses, then "common" shareholders might as well kiss their investment goodbye! In that event, the 100,000 Founder Shares - which I presume were issued at par costing Rybak just 100 Euros - are entitled to half the net worth of the whole damn Company!!!

POST 12 and 13: deleted as of no relevance.

POST 14:

13A: ABRAHAM HOCHMAN - SELECTED CHRONOLOGY AND CV 1978: A declassified document from the US Congress House of Representatives refers to one 'Abraham Hochman, a resident of Argentina, who was abducted from his home in 1978.' At the time he was a noted 'companion' of Communist Vanguard in Argentina (founded 1965). 1996: 'Hanna Lambert direct great-grandson D?r Abraham Avi Arad (Rozenblum ha Cohen) Hochman creates in 1996 in Delaware^New Castle USA on the memory of Hanna Lambert: The Lambert Financial Investments Ltd and The Industrial Mathematics Institute who invested in Strategic portfolios as IBM, Intel, General Electric, Siemens, Deutsche Telecom, Cable and Wireless, Intel, Boing and Microsoft' - copied verbatim from Lambert-IMI website. Dec 1999: one Abraham Hochman-Bilbao owned the building where Lea, an independent publisher in Peru, printed their 'underground' Liberacion newspaper. The government bulldozed down the door and seized all Lea's assets on the basis of collecting an outstanding debt of US $260,000 which a defunct Hochman-Bilbao editorial house - Hochman International S.A - owed the Bank of Commerce. Hochman-Bilbao eventually proved that he 'merely rents office space to printing companies and does not own any of their assets.'Source 03/05/02: Human rights defenders Fundacio'n Rigoberta Menchu Tum (FRMT), and Industrial Mathematics Institute (IMI), Barcelona (represented by Dr.Arad) are organizers of a human rights event in La Paz. Aug 2002: Dr.Arad is a participant at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Beijing. 25/08/03: Dr.Abraham Arad Hochman is Scientific Director of UNESCO in Valencia, Spain. * Is this a timeline for one man or two? Is the Abraham Hochman - formerly of the Communist Vanguard - who was abducted from his home in Argentina in 1978 the same man who ran Hochman International S.A and published left-wing newspapers in the 90's? Is he the same man who controls Lambert Financial Investments- Industrial Mathematics Institute today and has a near-60% slice of CCO? Remember that Crown has a few keen lefties on its payroll or acting as consultants. The most complete CV of Dr.Arad available online may be found at the website of Blue Planet Run Foundation, whose motto is 'safe drinking water for everyone': According to Blue Planet (note all the capitalisation), Dr.Abraham Arad earned his undergraduate degree in 'Mathematics and Physics' aged just 14. At 19, he got a PhD in 'Logic and Mathematics' from the 'High Institute of Science and Technology' in Israel (HIST), as well as a PhD in 'International Economics' from Pacific Western University in Los Angeles, California. He served 18 years with the Israeli government, and was appointed to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office as 'Scientific Adviser for National Authorities'. His expertise includes 20 years leadership in 'Global Drinking Water Programs' including safety, public policy, water-treatment, bio-terrorism, and disaster emergency response teams. He is currently director of the Industrial Mathematics Institute in both Barcelona, Spain, and Jerusalem, Israel. He has extensive business experience, especially in Latin America, Middle East, Europe and China. He is an acknowledged 'Geopolitical and Bio-terrorism Analyst' with vast experience in global strategic alliances. Dr. Arad is also a member of the following organisations and institutions: British Society for the History of Mathematics Institute of Mathematics and its applications (UK) British Logic Colloquium European Association for Logic, Language and Information Associacio Catalina d'Inteligencia Artificial (Spain) Kurt-Godel Society (Austria) American Mathematical Society Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (US) Committee for Research and Exploration (Nat.Geographic) as well as: Center for Special and Strategic Studies (Israel) A paper by Goldenberg and Melloul entitled 'Restoration of Polluted Groundwater: Is It Possible?', prepared for the Geological Survey of Israel and published in Israel Environment Bulletin, Vol 15, no 5 (1992) gives particular acknowledgement to Dr.Arad 'for his useful remarks.' *At this point, I was beginning to believe that the Argentina contracts might be for real after all, because both Dr.Arad and Dr.Rybak are specialists in the science of water-treatment, and both have a history in security. Rybak is an experienced civil engineer and hydrologist, and Arad is clearly a brilliant mathematician having been something of a child prodigy. It then occured to me that, even in Israel, there is probably no such thing as an 'undergraduate degree' in 'Mathematics and Physics' for 14-year olds! So I tried to locate the whereabouts of the 'High Institute of Science and Technology' in Israel. In Nes Ziona maybe? Nope. Fact is, there does not appear to be such an establishment, and if you got your PhD from say, Technion or the Lev Institute, well you would say, wouldn't you? 13B: PACIFIC WESTERN UNIVERSITY Dr. Arad also has a PhD in 'International Economics' from Pacific Western University (PWU), also known as American Pacwest International University, formerly known as Pacific Western University Hawaii (maybe a Rivka Meir connection here as she claims to be ex-Uni. of Hawaii). PWU was incorporated under the business name Pacific (Hawaii) Corporation in 1988. Although there are now PWU's in California, and the Middle East, their parent is the original Hawaii branch. Sounds like a reputable establishment. Alas, the truth is there is no such place as Pacific Western University, either in Hawaii or anywhere else! See:STATE OF HAWAII (OFFICE OF CONSUMER PROTECTION) VS. PACIFIC WESTERN UNIVERSITY (1997-1999). The Consumer Protection Office complained that PWU was 'a for profit Hawaii corporation' and 'unaccredited degree granting institution' whose "campus" was a 'small adjoining section' of the law office of James W.Tharp at 1210 Auahi Street, Suite 104, Honolulu, Hawaii. Tharp was recognised as 'academic advisor' to PWU. Apart from Tharp's office, PWU had 'no physical presence' in Hawaii. By law, since PWU is an "unaccredited institution", it must disclose that it is not fully accredited (ie. by an agency or association licenced by the US Secretary of Education) in all company literature. It had failed to do so on a number of counts: *PWU placed ads in newspapers and magazines across America including USA Today, Forbes and Business Week attempting to recruit students to pay for tuition. It also advertised in Japan. As the ads were devoid of disclosures, each ad represented 'a separate and independent violation' of Hawaii law. *When consumers responded, usually by sending the cut-out coupons, PWU disseminated catalogues, promotional material (pamphlets, fact sheets) and 'written contracts' to prospective students which were also devoid of disclosure. Every document represented a separate violation of Hawaii law. *On its website, PWU asserted that it is "registered in the State of Hawaii to confer Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral degrees". This was considered 'unfair or deceptive trade practice' and 'grossly misleading to consumers by implying that the State of Hawaii somehow licences, approves, or regulates its operations.' Every misleading statement was a separate violation of Hawaii law. Apart from PWU, I'd like to know who the other Defendants in this case were. They are identified only as John Does 1 to 20 (directors, officials or agents of PWU), Doe Corporations 1 to 10, and Doe Entities 1 to 10. They had all played their part in the PWU scam; however, according to the Petition 'their true capacities, names and relationships to or responsibilities to or involvement with [PWU] are unknown... The Plaintiff has undertaken an investigation to determine the identities of [the John Does etc] but at this time, said identities have not been discovered.' Thus an injunction was sought enjoining PWU and anyone associated with it from continuing their business, along with a $10k civil penalty for each violation. The alternative for PWU was 'a multiplicity of lawsuits' from consumers who had been wronged. The trial date was set for 28 April 1999. Well, despite the above action, Pacific Western University is still trading today, but maybe not for much longer. In 2004, the US General Accounting Office published a report naming PWU as one of seven schools which have been labelled 'diploma mills' . These online schools all issue degrees to applicants based solely on "life experience", not academic background. No formal examination is required. The report prompted the US Senate to send out an FBI task force to investigate diploma mills. They discovered that a number of federal employees had obtained degrees from PWU - with the U.S government paying for tuition! According to an FBI consultant, the internet is the diploma mills wildest dream come true, because "they can maintain the fiction that they are a real place". On 16 November 2004, The Investigators on KVOA TV did a special feature on the 'Degrees for Sale' scandal. They decided to visit Pacific Western University at '1650 Western Boulevard, # 205, Los Angeles, California 90024'. It was a tiny office suite with two receptionists 'and a man who introduced himself as the dean.' The Investigators cornered various business professionals who had paid thousands of dollars to get a quick degree; for example, Dr. David G.Iadevaia had a PhD from Pacific Western which had earned him an extra $32,000 a year since 1992. He is just one among thousands, including Dr. Abraham Avi Arad Hochman, who controls Lambert Financial Investments, which owns the majority shareholding in Crown Corporation Limited, although it is controlled by Crown Management Corporation, a company controlled by Mariusz Rybak. See also the TESTIMONY BEFORE THE... HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BY ROBERT J.CRAMER, SEP 2004

POST 15:

THE HANNA LAMBERT BIOGRAPHY According to the Lambert-IMI website, Dr. Abraham Avi Arad Hochman incorporated Lambert Financial Investments in 1996 in memory of his great-grandmother Hanna Lambert (1831-1912), who it is claimed was the daughter of Belgian senator Jonathan-Raphael Bischoffsheim (1808 -1883). I believe this Hanna Lambert is an entirely fictional character... Bischoffsheim himself is recorded in the geneaology of Empress Josephine as being 'of unknown descent'. In the Goldschmidt family tree there is an entry as follows: 'Henriette (Jette) Goldschmidt (1812-1892) m.1832 Jonathan Raphael Bischoffsheim (1808-1883) [Belgian senator 1862-1883]' So it would seem that Hanna Lambert was born out of wedlock if the date of her birth given by Lambert-IMI is correct! However, there is no Hanna Lambert recorded in any of the Bischoffsheim genealogies I have seen. Lambert-IMI then says that Hanna Lambert created one of Belgium's oldest engineering schools, Institut Montefiore, now the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Liege. This is a nonsense. The Institut Montefiore was founded in 1883 and carries the name of Georges Montefiore-Levi, the inventor of phosporus bronze and a pioneer of Belgium's non-ferrous metals industry. Its creation had nothing to do with Hanna Lambert (although it stands on the very spot where St.Lambert was murdered in a political dispute in AD 705). I guess this lie was intended to give some clout to Arad's Industrial Mathematics Institute, since the Institut Montefiore has a long association with specialised industrial mathematics. Alas, Lambert-IMI goes on to tell one porky after another regarding Hanna Lambert. It claims she was the wife of Jewish-Liberal leader Louis Franck. Is this the same Louis Franck who corresponded with Sir Winston Churchill; the Governer of the National Bank of Belgium who helped stabilise the franc post-WWI; the Liberal minister for the Belgian colonies who encouraged the "Witnesses of Jehovah" evangelical movement; the devout Zionist who turned a blind eye to the slaughtering of half the blacks in the Belgian Congo and, in the late 1930's, gave his blessing to the building of penal settlements and concentration camps for the Congo "cannibals"??? The same: Franck was the husband of Hanna Lambert according to Lambert-IMI. Well, this Louis Franck was born in Antwerp on 18 November 1868, when Hanna Lambert was 37 years old!!! So while he may have done some glorious and some questionable things, one thing he did not do was marry a woman 37 years his senior! The final claim of Lambert-IMI is that Hanna Lambert created the first 'Industrial Jewish Fund' in memory of the Nobel-winning chemist Ilya Prigopine. This is probably the most bizarre claim of all. Not only is there no 'Industrial Jewish Fund', but Ilya Prigopine was born in Moscow in 1917 and never set foot in Belgium until 1929, seventeen years after her death! He won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1977!! So who was (or is) the real Hanna Lambert? I began to wonder if there is a more recent Hanna Lambert, a real person, maybe someone alive today? If so, I presumed she must have done something honourable before Abraham Hochman named Lambert Financial Investments after her. There is a Hanna Lambert(click for picture) who is Director of Early Childhood and Director of Admissions at the Akiba Academy in Dallas, a Zionist pre-school. A donation to Akiba made by one Julie Blasnik last year was made 'in honor of Hanna Lambert'. Could this be her? There is a correlation here with Lambert's President Rivka Meir, who claims she is program planner and Director of the Maternal and Child Health Division at the Department of Public Health in Jerusalem. Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken the Meirs have a daughter, Rivka, who is active in the Jewish Agency for Israel and Department of Jewish Zionist Education in Venezuela. There is another, younger Hanna Lambert, author of Civil Society as agent of democratisation?: A case study of three women NGOs in Mexico City (NGOs stands for Non-Government Organisations, defined by World Bank Operational Directive 14.70 as any 'private organisations that pursue activities to relieve suffering, promote the interest of the poor, protect the environment, provide basic social services, or undertake community development.'). Hanna Lambert is particularly involved with FORUM SYD, a SIDA-financed, Stockholm-based development cooperative whose motto is "global justice" and which encourages 'democratic ways to build a vivid civil society.' Most recently (2003-4) she has been active as a project manager in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala. There is an obvious correlation here with Lambert Financial Investments (LFI), if you believe Rivka Meir's story that LFI has collaborated with the Spanish government in the shipment of water-treatment infrastructure and field hospitals to areas of natural catastrophe in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras (see header entry for 29/10/03). Either of these women could be our Hanna Lambert. I wonder if they realise it themselves!

POST 16:

RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS, CREDITORS AND DIVIDENDS DR.ARAD Dr.Arad, who controls nearly 60% of CCO stock via LFI, was paid E145,000 as consultant's fees and is still owed E15,000. This is for the eight-month period Nov-Jun and works out at E20,000 a month. This is not an outrageous amount of money when you consider the value of the Argentina contracts which Arad helped bring Crown's way, not to mention the E295m which LFI promised to pay for its holding... ...but it looks a bit iffy when you add the money paid to the Industrial Mathematics Institute! Some E599,750 was paid to IMI, of which Dr.Arad is possibly the sole director/proprietor, and hence beneficiary. The accounts don't say what the money was for, and frankly, I can't see what great service an Industrial Mathematics Institute could have possibly provided to Crown for these figures to add up. Add the above two sums together, and you don't have to be a genius number cruncher to work out that Dr.Arad has received some E94968.75 a month for his services and the services of his Industrial Mathematics Institute. It remains to be seen whether he deserved this fat-cat jackpot. DR.REGLI E119,000 was paid to Elar International Corporation (EIC), which is still owed E15,000. That works out at E16750 a month in the Nov-Jun period. EIC provide the services of Crown director Dr.Regli, though I think it should be the other way around: ie. Regli provides the services of EIC, since to the best of my knowledge he is the sole proprietor of EIC. DR.RYBAK The figure for 'Creditors due within 1 year' is some E18,493,000. Most of this money is due to Crown Management Corporation (CMC), a Bermuda-registered company controlled by Dr.Rybak, who may be the only Director. Included in this figure is CMC's commission of E10,941,000, being a rip-off 5% of the money raised at the float plus E200,000 other expenses charged by CMC. The bulk of the balance in creditors is a dividend of some E7,336,000, being 0.75% of the net asset value of Crown calculated on a monthly basis for the period 1 Apr - 30 Jun and due to the holder of the 100k founder shares - which also just happens to be Crown Management Corporation! Dr.Rybak has already waived the whopping E7,590,000 dividend for the period from date of incorporation up to 31 Mar 04.

POST 17:

CAPITAL MERCHANT BANK Headquarters: Sao Paulo - SP - Brazil. According to their website, as of 31/03/05 CMB rank the second largest fiduciary company in Brazil based on managed assets of some US $55 billion. Apart from the section 'Assets Bank' being 'reformulated', there is a general lack of info on this site. Note the 'Important Legal Notice - Please read the disclaimer before proceeding' clause on the site. On 02/0703, JoeJoe22 left the following post on ezboard: "Any info on this bank?? Or supposed bank? I would be interested from the Swiss readers of this board as to their representative licence... to act as a representative of a foreign bank in Switzerland?". On 24/07/03, swissblue replied that CMB is "Not a registered bank". CMB is not on the list of banks at www.bcb.gov.br. For a recent (Jan 05) example of CMB's dealings see Form 8-K for ELDORADO ARTESIAN SPRINGS INC BANCO DE BRASIL Headquarters: Sao Paulo - Brazil. Banco do Brasil was founded in 1808 and is Latin America's largest financial institution with nearly 3000 branches in Brazil and beyond. As of 14/04/05 it held international reserves valued at US $61,297 million. It owns the registered mark "BANCO DO BRASIL" and sometimes uses the alternative name "BANCO DE BRASIL" on its website and in press releases Although BdB is without doubt a real bank in the truest sense of the word, neither of the above banks are immune to controversy. In August 2004 some high officials in Banco do Brasil were in the headlines amidst revelations of possible wrongdoings.

POST 18:

A VERY PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL Interestingly, on 15 June 2001, just three days after trading in IDS was suspended, the domain name caduceonlabs.com was registered with Network Solution by Caduceon Enterprises Inc Environmental Lab, 2378 Holly Lane, Ottowa (fax: 999 999 9999). The administration contact was one Marc Giroux (e-mail: [email protected]). On discovering this, I recalled doing a WHOIS search for Control Screening, whose fax number is also 999 999 9999. One thing that's been puzzling me is what Rybak was doing in the time since the break-up of IDS/Chemicorp in c.June 2001 and the formation of Crown in c.June 2003. Could Rybak still be involved in Caduceon? After reading the Clarion Finanz v. Horst complaint, it dawned on me that maybe Rybak still has a stake in the former subsidiaries of Intelligent Detection Systems/Chemicorp (in which case the Argentina contracts - water-treatment, infrastructure, security - might be for real?). However, since these are now privately-owned companies, it is not easy to confirm this. Even so, I would not be surprised if the "private individual" mentioned in the following statement from December 2001 turned out to be Rybak: "Caduceon Laboratories is owned by a private individual that owns Areco Canada in Ottowa and ETRL [Environmental Technology Research Laboratories] in Kingston. We are in the process of merging the three under one name being Caduceon Enterprise Inc. Environmental Laboratories. "Our laboratory has been a member of the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories since the late 1980's and was first audited by CAEAL [Canadian Assoc. For Environmental Analytical Laboratories] in 1993... "Initially Bondar Clegg and Company owned the laboratory. In 1994 Seprotech Systems Inc. purchased it. Seprotech sold the laboratory in June of this year to the owner of Caduceon. "Bondar Clegg was a geochemistry laboratory that got started in the environmental field when the Ministry of the Environment approached them to provide metals analysis on Hi-vol filter. Caduceon still has this contract and two other privatization contracts with the Ministry of the Environment." - statement by Michael Ziebell of Caduceon, in his Submission to the Walkerton Inquiry. Well, if my drinking water was severely contaminated by e-coli and people in my community died as a result I would demand to know the identity of the "private individual" responsible for the labs testing the water! Caduceon was established as Environmental Technology Research Laboratories (ETRL) in 1989 and incorporated in 1994. ETRL are cited in the Clarion Finanz v. Horst complaint as one of the purchasers in the IDS/Chemicorp fire sale! It seems more than likely, therefore, that Rybak is the "mystery individual" and "the owner of Caduceon". I checked the website of the Ministry of the Environment for Ontario and found the following Licenced Laboratories currently under Caduceon's wing: CADUCEON ENVIRONMENTAL LABS 285 Dalton Avenue, Kingston ON, K7M 6Z1 (serves Kingston) e-mail: [email protected] (Scott Burrows) 2378 Holly Lane, Ottowa ON, K1V 7P1 (serves Ottowa East) e-mail: [email protected] (Greg Clarkin) 40 Camelot Drive, Nepean ON, K2G SX8 (serves Ottowa West) e-mail: as above 3201 Marentette Avenue, Unit 5, Windsor ON, N8X 4G3 (serves Windsor) e-mail: [email protected] So Caduceon Labs are still around today and bigger than ever judging by their list of clients which includes the Canadian military and government. In January 2005 they acquired two new labs, one in Windsor (formerly Eco-Analytical), and one in Peterborough (formerly R&R Laboratories). ETRL are still located at 133 Dalton Avenue, Kingston, Ontario. Rybak's old company Adamas Environmental Inc! is still based at 40 Camelot Drive according to the Ottowa Energy & Environment Companies Directory. The full address/building name is actually 10-40 Camelot Drive. It is a 23,864ft single floor complex built in 1989 with a number of businesses operating within. A pic of the building can be seen on the website of Colonnade Development which currently (21/4/05) has several spaces for lease. Areco Canada Inc. were still at 40 Camelot Drive in February 2002 doing pesticide analysis for fishing clubs around Ottowa. I take it they're still operating out the premises today?

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dailyprofit4u-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Tips For Getting Into Futures Trading

The most reported financial instruments that investors are used to hearing about on the business news are stock options and futures. Many serious investors and traders wake up in the morning and sneak a peek at the stock futures to get a sense of where the market will open relative to the previous day’s close. Others may look at the price of oil contracts or other commodities to see if money can be made by hedging their bets during the trading day.

You might assume these futures contracts or options markets are another sophisticated financial instrument that Wall Street gurus created for their own disingenuous purposes, but you would be incorrect if you did. In fact, options and futures contracts did not originate on Wall Street at all. These instruments trace their roots back thousands of years – long before they began officially trading in 1973.HB Swiss Review

Commodity Futures A futures contract enables holder to buy or sell a particular quantity of a commodity over a certain time frame for a particular price. Commodities include oil, corn, wheat, natural gas, gold, potash and many other heavily traded assets. These derivatives are commonly used by a broad range of market participants ranging from Wall Street speculators to farmers who want to ensure consistent profits on their agricultural goods. (To learn more, check out Commodity Investing 101.)

The Japanese are credited with creating the first fully functional commodities exchange in the late 17th century. The so-called elite class in Japan at the time was known as the “samurai”. During this time frame, the samurai were paid in rice, not yen, for their services. They naturally wanted to control the rice markets, where the bartering and brokering of rice took place. By establishing a formal market in which buyers and sellers would “barter” for rice, the samurai could earn a profit on a more consistent basis. Working closely with other rice brokers, the samurai started the “Dojima Rice Exchange” in 1697. This system was much different from the present Japanese agricultural exchange, the Kansai Derivative Exchange. (The futures markets can seem daunting, but these explanations and strategies will help you trade like a pro. See Tips For Getting Into Futures Trading.)

Today’s futures markets differ greatly in scope and sophistication from the barter systems first established by the Japanese. As you might suspect, technological advances have made trading options and futures more accessible to the average investor. The majority of options and futures are executed electronically and go through a clearing agency called the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). Another feature of today’s options and futures markets is their global reach. Most major countries have futures markets and futures exchanges on products ranging from commodities, weather, stocks and now even Hollywood movie returns. The futures market, much like the stock market, has global breadth. The globalization of futures exchanges is not without risk. As we saw during the market meltdowns in 2008 and 2009, market psychology and fundamentals turned down with remarkable intensity largely due to derivative securities. If not for government intervention, the outcomes for the stock and futures markets may have been much worse.

The first options were used in ancient Greece to speculate on the olive harvest; however, modern option contracts commonly refer to equities. So what is a stock option and where did they originate? Simply put, a stock option contract gives the holder the right to buy or sell a set number of shares for a pre-determined price over a defined time frame. Options appear to have made their debut in what were described as “bucket shops”. The bucket shop in 1920s America was made famous by a man named Jesse Livermore. Livermore speculated on stock price movements; he did not actually own the securities he was betting on, but merely predicted their future prices. At the beginning of his career, he was basically a stock option bookie, taking the opposite side of anyone who thought a particular stock may increase or decrease in price. If someone came to him speculating the stock of XYZ Company was going to go up, he would take the other side of the trade. (Jesse Livermore’s investing philosophy wasn’t foolproof, but he’s still recognized as one of the greatest traders in history. To learn more, check out Jesse Livermore: Lessons From A Legendary Trader.)

Yesterday’s bucket shops are equivalent to the more modern illegal shops called boiler rooms. Both have illegal trading activity at their core. The 2000 movie “Boiler Room” depicts stock brokers creating artificial demand for stock in companies with tenuous earnings – if any at all. Eventually, these companies would go under, and the unscrupulous brokers would keep the money used to purchase the shares at artificially high prices. On some occasions, the brokers would make up companies that never existed and just pocket the money

In the beginning, the commodity futures markets and stock options markets were plagued with rampant illegal activities. Today, options are most widely traded on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE). Just like the stock markets, options markets activities draw much scrutiny from regulatory agencies such as the SEC, and in some cases, the FBI. Today’s commodities market is also highly regulated. The Commodity Exchange Act prohibits illegal trading of futures contracts and mandates the specific procedures required in the industry through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Regulatory agencies are concerned with a variety of issues, many of which stem from the highly computerized nature of today’s trading environment. Price fixing and collusion are still issues the agencies try to prohibit in order to create an “even” playing field for all investors.

Conclusion Today’s options and futures markets originated more than two thousand years ago. This may surprise some investors, who thought stock futures and options were the sole domain of Wall Street power brokers. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) – the largest market for stock options – basically evolved from early market trailblazers like Jesse Livermore. The first futures markets were created by Japanese samurai who hoped to corner the rice markets, while options can be traced back to the olive trade in ancient Greece. But while these instruments originated hundreds of years ago in a world very different from ours, their continued use and increasing popularity is a testament to their ongoing utility. (Flexible and cost efficient, options are more popular than ever. Find out why. Read The Four Advantages Of Options.)

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