text:
Arena Pharmaceuticals Files Marketing Authorization Application in Switzerland for Lorcaserin as a Treatment for Weight Control
SAN DIEGO, July 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) announced today the filing with the Swiss health authority, Swissmedic, of a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) for lorcaserin hydrochloride, an investigational drug candidate in Switzerland. The intended indication is as an adjunct to diet and exercise for weight control in patients with an initial body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m(2) or greater (obese), or 27 kg/m(2) or greater (overweight) in the presence of at least one weight related comorbid condition. Arena expects that Swissmedic will accept the filing later this month and confirm the filing is sufficiently complete to permit a substantive review process.
"This submission reflects our continued efforts to make lorcaserin available to physicians and patients beyond the United States," said Jack Lief, Arena's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to Swissmedic's review of our application and to the potential approval of lorcaserin in Switzerland for patients who are obese or overweight with comorbidities."
As part of the Swiss MAA, Arena submitted data from its three double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials, which demonstrated that lorcaserin along with diet and exercise was more effective than diet and exercise alone at helping patients lose 5% or more of their body weight after one year and managing the weight loss for up to two years. In these trials, the most common adverse reactions for patients without diabetes treated with lorcaserin were headache, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, dry mouth, and constipation. In patients with diabetes, the most common adverse reactions were hypoglycemia, headache, back pain, cough, and fatigue.
The MAA filing in Switzerland is the third marketing application submitted to date for lorcaserin. Lorcaserin was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the trade name BELVIQ in June 2012, and is currently under review with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Switzerland is not part of the EMA and requires an independent application and approval from Swissmedic.
About Lorcaserin
Lorcaserin is believed to decrease food consumption and promote satiety by selectively activating serotonin 2C receptors in the brain. Activation of these receptors may help a person eat less and feel full after eating smaller amounts of food. Arena has patents or patent applications that cover lorcaserin in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and many other jurisdictions that, if issued, in most cases would be capable of continuing into 2023 without taking into account any patent term extensions or other exclusivity Arena might obtain.
About Arena Pharmaceuticals
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing oral drugs that target G protein-coupled receptors, an important class of validated drug targets, in four major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, central nervous system, inflammatory and metabolic diseases. For more information about Arena, please visit www.arenapharm.com.
Arena Pharmaceuticals® and Arena® are registered service marks of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
BELVIQ® is a registered trademark of Arena Pharmaceuticals GmbH.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include statements about lorcaserin's (or BELVIQ's) safety, efficacy, mechanism of action and intended indication; Swissmedic's acceptance and review of the lorcaserin MAA; the potential approval of lorcaserin; lorcaserin's patents; and Arena's efforts, focus, goals, strategy, research and development programs, and ability to develop compounds and commercialize drugs. For such statements, Arena claims the protection of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual events or results may differ materially from Arena's expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following: the timing and outcome of DEA, EMA, Swissmedic and other regulatory review is uncertain; limitations on the indicated uses, distribution, marketing and other limitations on BELVIQ or, if approved, any of Arena's other drug candidates; risks related to commercializing drugs, including regulatory, manufacturing and supply issues and the pace of market acceptance; cash and revenues generated from BELVIQ, including timing and impact of competition; government and commercial reimbursement and pricing decisions; risks related to relying on collaborative agreements; the timing and receipt of payments and fees, if any, from collaborators; unexpected or unfavorable new data; nonclinical and clinical data is voluminous and detailed, and regulatory agencies may interpret or weigh the importance of data differently and reach different conclusions than Arena or others, request additional information, have additional recommendations or change their guidance or requirements before or after approval; data and other information related to any of Arena's research and development programs may not meet safety, efficacy or other regulatory requirements or otherwise be sufficient for regulatory review, approval or continued marketing; Arena's ability to obtain and defend patents; the timing, success and cost of Arena's research and development programs; results of clinical trials and other studies are subject to different interpretations and may not be predictive of future results; clinical trials and other studies may not proceed at the time or in the manner expected or at all; having adequate funds; and satisfactory resolution of litigation or other disagreements with others. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by Arena's forward-looking statements are disclosed in Arena's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements represent Arena's judgment as of the time of this release. Arena disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as may be required under applicable law.
Contacts: Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Investor Inquiries: Russo Partners
Media Inquiries: Russo Partners
Cindy McGee
David Schull
www.arenapharm.com
SOURCE Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc.


"Spectacle" was the perfect name for Sasha Howell's first fashion centered event.
The very first Kickstarter I ever backed, Sasha Howell's "Spectacle" took place at The Underground on May 23, 2014.
Duluth designer Sasha Howell and I after her show.
Sasha had a dream of hosting her own fashion show so she asked the community of Duluth (and the rest of the internet) to help. We both knew fashion enthusiasts probably existed in the area, but it just took us a little while to find each other.
Models getting ready backstage. Photo by Nickila Photography, as part of Kickstarter donation perk.
I have no idea how she managed to put together so many looks in a relatively short amount of time, but I am absolutely amazed. There were five different collections showcased over the course of the evening - Steampunk, Horror, Sasha Style, Burning Man inspired, and Lisa Frank inspired.
Photo of the runway at the Underground in Duluth, MN. Photo by Nickila Photography, as part of Kickstarter donation perk.
Her background as a costume designer (for the Renegade Theater Company and College of St. Scholastica) and with theater showed not only in the detailed garments in each collection, but the choreography. Each look was "performed" down the runway, it wasn't enough for her to send models down a catwalk.
Leather, buckles, brocade, vests all representative of the style.
Inspired by the Murder Pretty production studio she is also involved with, the Horror collection featured zombie makeup and did indeed look like something right out of a horror movie.
Mirroring her own way of dressing, the Sasha Style collection had some animal print, distressed leggings, and long dresses.
It was also Sasha's dream to attend Burning Man, and when it didn't work out to attend this year, she put her energy towards making awesome costumes inspired by the festival.
Rainbows, unicorns, neon…everything from the Lisa Frank creations I held dear to my heart as a kid, alive on the runway.
Taylor Byykkonen. Photo by Nickila Photography, as part of Kickstarter donation perk.
The event ended with a drag show, featuring entertainers from the Superior Flame.
Here's hoping a Sasha Howell production becomes a yearly tradition!
Written by Urban Orchid On October 23, 2014 In Sasha Howell, Costume, "Duluth", "fashion"
Change can be a good thing. After 14 seasons at the Graves|601 hotel, the Spring 2014 iteration of the glamorous event was held Saturday, April 26, 2014 at the newly renovated Minnesota Orchestra Hall.
The sleek staircases and glass in the atrium made for a really dramatic display. Setting up seating on the same level as the catwalk, as opposed to models walking down a raised catwalk, made it feel more intimate and allowed viewers to see a lot more detail in the designs than before. Additionally, general admission viewing from the upper atrium levels provided a unique experience.
Event host, Tricia Khutoretsky of Public Functionary, took advantage of the multi-level venue.
Even on a rainy and windy evening, the venue was full of fun and fashionable people supporting the Minnesota art and fashion community. During the VIP pre-party, I was able to sample sushi from Social House and spring rolls from Lotus while enjoying a concert by Shiro Dame.
This was also the room where the silent/text auction benefitting Public Functionary was set up. Auction items were displayed on tables around the room. Up for auction were a bunch of art and fashion related items, including a delicate looking skull sculpture and a t-shirt/clutch/candle set. Artists were painting models right in the middle of the room. The finished paintings were also up for auction.
Auction package I bid on but lost. Came with a candle, MPLS tshirt, and clutch from Parc Boutique.
Envision is broken up into two runway shows. Part One featured looks from Idle Child, MAI, Cocoon by Elizabeth Geisler, MartinPatrick3, Velvet Moon, Khampian Vang, and Samantha Rei. My seat was right at the corner so I was able to see details of both the front and the back of each look.
Work out wear by MAI. Also check those shoes.
I didn't get a clear shot of one of my favorite items. Photo credit: Nick Kozel. But absolutely every male I know needs this shirt sold at MartinPatrick3.
Another of my favorite items was the "Poppy" dress by Samantha Rei.
The finale strutted by and the lights came on, allowing time to grab a drink and mingle. After months of stalking following her on Twitter, I introduced myself to Tara Murphy of Neon Esquire. After our conversation, trust me, there are huge things coming for the Minnesota fashion community that extend beyond the Twin Cities and even beyond the state. Be sure to check back here and on her website to stay in the loop.
Intermission also gave me time to get to the photo booth set up in front of the red carpet.
My friend and I pose for a photo. Photo credit: Michael Johnson.
Part Two brought looks from Caroline Hayden, Roe Wolfe, Atmosfere, Tessa Louise, Kjurek, Russell Bourrienne, and Cliche. The music for this half felt louder and more upbeat…it made me want to get up and dance.
Loved the structured and polished looks by Caroline Hayden. I wish she could design my work wardrobe!
I also realized I love Tessa Louise. These gold pants are amazing.
I also loved every piece in this look by Tessa Louise and could wear them all summer long.
Cliche's set made things interesting with light up umbrellas and masks.
After the show ended, everyone was invited to the mezzanine floor to dance and mingle. I finally had a chance to peek through the gift bags and was not disappointed. A can of RedBull was the first thing I discovered and I downed it right away so I could continue to enjoy the evening. Also included were coupons galore for the retailers and designer stores that showed, including $100 off at SEE Eyewear, which is great since my glasses are broken. Now, if only I could find my prescription. The gift bags also contained a sketchbook provided by Utrecht and a shot glass from Aviv Vodka.
Gift bag contents. Minus the RedBull I drank immediately.
Envision Spring 2014 was beautifully executed and continued to get me excited about Minnesota fashion. Now that MSP Fashion Week is back on, I'm starting to plan out how I'm going to spend it - I could definitely work from the Minneapolis branch of my office during the day and go to shows at night!
September is still months away but in two weeks, Minnesota will be celebrating a new fashion milestone. Duluth based designer Sasha Howell will be presenting her Kickstarter funded fashion event entitled "Spectacle" on May 23rd. I've already got my tickets and can't wait! For more information on Sasha Howell's "Spectacle", please check out the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/530266843758624/.
Envision Fall 2014 is set to be September 19, 2014 so be sure to mark your calendars and check out the Ignite Models website and MNFashion website to stay updated!
Written by Urban Orchid On May 10, 2014 In "Duluth", "Envision", "MNFashion", "Minnesota", "fashion"
My last post was a month and a half ago and so much has changed since then.
Last month I was feeling stuck - stuck in my childhood home, stuck in Vegas, stuck in an internship that I didn't love. My internship provided a great learning experience and an edge in the industry, but it was no longer exciting to me and I felt my performance start to slip. In addition, changes and stress in my personal life had me itching for something fresh.
I made plans to take a trip to visit an old friend in a place I'd never been and quite honestly never saw myself going. Before I left, I submit applications to job opportunities in the area that I saw online, knowing I had nothing to lose. One such opportunity really spoke to me - the firm seemed to have a position available to do exactly what I had studied to do and was looking for someone exactly like me - from my major to my interests, skills, and prior (in)experience. I got a call as I was preparing to go to the airport that they wanted to set up an interview. I went and the interview must have gone well...though I wasn't sure of it when I left.
Upon my return to Vegas, I immediately felt like I needed to leave again - I had outgrown my old room and life. Thankfully, I got a call back from the interviewers and after some discussion and deliberating, I accepted an offer to join their team. In the timeframe of about a week and a half, I picked up my life and relocated to snowy Duluth, MN. Yup, somehow it's still snowy in mid-April.
The April blizzard that shut down the office early during my first week.
Duluth isn't as big or glamorous as Las Vegas or Chicago, but it's charming and even shin deep in snow, I'm excited about this new chapter of my life. I sit here at a coffee shop in the middle of the downtown area watching people pass by not only on the red brick sidewalks, but also through the glassy skywalk system above. The Skywalk is a system of indoor walkways spanning three miles and connects most of the businesses downtown, providing a safe, efficient, and comfortable commute. I had never heard of it until last month but as part of my new job, I will be aiding in the design of an addition to it.
Part of the Duluth Skywalk, somewhere downtown.
It may seem like it, but I haven't given up on this blog and in fact have plans for going in a new direction. Maybe not entirely new - still planning to post about shopping consciously, fashion, eco brands, and good food - but definitely adding new elements from a new location. At first I lamented the lack of my old favorite chain shops and eateries (no Sephora or Nordstrom or Costco or Chipotle, OMG), but I love that Duluth has so many unique businesses and Minnesota pride. There's a lot more going on here than I originally imagined - from art gallery openings, to up and coming music acts, interesting restaurants, and lots of beer.
I know Surly is a Minneapolis based brand, but this was delicious and still means Minnesota is way cooler than I thought. I know Duluth has Fitger's and Canal Park Brewing and others, though.
There are still posts I have yet to catch up on, but forgive me - it's been a hectic couple of weeks! Things are starting to slow down so I should soon have time to resume posting. Please feel free to share with me any Duluth/Minnesota based designers and businesses I should check out! I'm sure there are some here, I just don't know how to find them. There's definitely a few things here I'm going to look into but a lot of the action seems to be in Minneapolis and hope to make it down there sometime soon.
A lot still changing but every day I'm feeling more and more at home here. This probably won't be my last move, but it's one I should be happy with for some time - the fact that I'm feeling more comfortable instead of more anxious as things settle is great. I'm so ecstatic to have found such an incredible start to my career. Hoping this will be just the change of pace I am looking for and pleased to have an audience to share my journey with.
Written by Urban Orchid On April 21, 2013 In "Duluth", "beer", "shopping"


1. What assumptions are councillors using for the anticipated level of investment that the private sector will make in the proposed outsources services and why are these assumptions not detailed in the business case report?
Councillors are not making any assumptions about the anticipated level of investment by a partner. We do expect that in order to make the cost savings investment will be made by any future partner, for example in technology and equipment. The exception to this is the cremators where significant investment will be required; the delivery of this investment will be considered separately.
During the competitive dialogue process, the council will be specifying the outcomes it wishes to achieve. It will choose its partner based upon the most efficient and effective solutions put forward to meet those outcomes.
How can you prepare a business case and ignore investment. What will be the cost of that investment and how is it likely to affect the price charged by the outsourcing company?
2. Are councillors concerned at the lack of benchmark data and evidence from other outsourced councils to support the assumptions set out on pages 41-43 of the report.
Benchmarking data for the services in scope is limited, and in many cases the services themselves believe it to be unreliable. Where possible, CIPFA data and national indicators were used to give an indication of potential cost reduction and income increases. Where it was not possible to use benchmarking data, these assumptions were based upon what the services believed was possible, and market research.
3. Do councillors believe that the rather simplistic +or-10% for the sensitivity analysis is adequate for such a complex project?
- The effect on revised gross expenditure.
This is part of the financial model which underpins the Business Case, which at this stage is a description of the reasons for the project and the justification for undertaking it (based on the estimated costs of the project, the risks and the expected business benefits and savings). For DRS in particular, it provides the indicative evidence on which to progress the project to the next phase of activity, and further detailed modelling will occur one (sic) competitive dialogue is underway and we are clearer about what solutions the market has to offer. As a dynamic document, the Business Case will then be updated on the back of this data.
From my perspective simply tweaking the answers by +/- 10% is not a credible sensitivity when the assumptions are not supported by any evidence.
4. Do councillors believe that 4 key risks as set out on pages 52-53 of the report are an adequate assessment of the risk this project is likely to experience?
The risks set out within the business case are the key risks only and not a full risk assessment of the project. A full risk register will be maintained by the One Barnet Programme Office and managed according to the London Borough of Barnet corporate risk management strategy.
No operational risks in the business case doesn't give me any confidence. Given Grant Thornton's previous comments back in December I think we have every right to be worried.
With questions out of the way the actual agenda item was dealt with in less than five minutes. Outsourcing approved.
So what is the answer. Well fellow residents of Barnet we all need to keep our fingers crossed and hope that this outsourcing project goes well because if it doesn't (and currently there is no evidence to suggest it will) we will all be paying for this mistake for years to come.
Today the OJEU notice has been published, kicking off the outsourcing process for the Development & Regulatory Services. In the Notice it states that value of the contract will be between £270 million and £290 million excluding VAT over a 10 year contract with an option to extend for a further five years. That seems to be a huge sum to gamble based on a business case which is flimsy in the extreme. The undue haste of this project is amazing. Interested parties will be invited to a bidder briefing day on 5 April. This seems exceptionally short notice and might suggest that all the potentially bidders have already been put on alert. All this and the business case still hasn't been signed off by the Cabinet Resources Committee. I am utterly shocked at the way the whole process is being driven through with such huge sums of money involved. Every single resident of Barnet should be very very worried and asking their councillors some detailed questions about the whole basis for this high risk project.
For all the talk of a cashless only pay by phone parking system being introduced, it appears that the council are having to bow to the pressure of so many people who say they do not have mobile phones. I read in the latest tranche of Delegated Powers Reports that Barnet are contracting with PayPoint to allow people to pay for their parking in local shops which have a PayPoint terminal. PayPoint also operate the telephone payment system so the two systems should work together. There will be a fee to pay by cash of 5% of the value of each transaction, with a minimum fee of 15p per transaction.
Having tried to park at 4 separate locations in the last week only to find that on each occasion the pay and display machines were not accepting cash, I think this is probably a welcome step not only for drivers but also for shopkeepers and the Council who must be losing significant revenue from people who simply drive away when they can't pay by cash.
Well well.On 30 March the General Functions Committee are considering whether they should allow bloggers and tweeters to film council meetings. They are also considering whether the Council should webcast meetings themselves. The report states that "The Council has been advised that the annual revenue cost to the authority would be approximately £14-16K per annum, including: installation; equipment hire; support services (including live monitoring, content hosting, streaming, project management, licence cost, equipment installation and hire); and 80 hours of content streaming". Sounds like good value to me. But wait. One of the options the committee is considering is "That the Committee indicate whether a report should be brought to a future meeting on the detailed financial implications of the various options for introducing a webcasting system to record Council and committee meetings". My concern is that this option gives them an opportunity to say they want webcasting and then kick it into the long grass while they "wait" for the report. I hope councillors listen to the public and make their mind up quickly.
Next Monday, the members of the Cabinet Resources Committee are going to rubber stamp yet another scheme to outsource services at Barnet Council. I have read the Business Case and basically it all boils down to a question of trust.
Do I trust a set of assumptions about the level of cost reductions and income increases which have absolutely not a single piece of supporting evidence other than trusting the people who are putting forward this scheme?
Do I trust the assumption they have made about the on costs that will be saved – that includes all that expensive IT investment that the council have been spending money on for the last 6 years.
Do I trust the assumption that they will have to retain 7.5% of the workforce to deal with all the elements that legally the council are not allowed to outsource – even though nobody seems to know?
Do I trust the assumptions on the sensitivity analysis that the best and worst case is only 10% away from the other assumptions – so for Planning that means that at worst they will save 18% and at best 22% or maybe even more?
Do I trust the assumption that there are only 4 key risks and that the mitigation steps will adequately address them?
Do I trust the private sector to deliver savings of as much as 20% whilst at the same time making investment in the services and leaving enough for a profit to satisfy their shareholders?
Do I trust the private sector to provide the level of transparency and governance standards that we currently expect (although don't always receive) from a public sector?
Do I trust a process where the council enter an 18 month negotiating process without knowing what they are going to end up with at the end?
Well, for me the level of trust required here looks more like blind faith and I'm not that gullible. Frankly, it amazes me that any councillor can vote for something that requires this level of trust. It also amazes me that the ratepayers of Barnet trust councillors to make these decisions.
I implore every single ratepayer in Barnet to ask their councillor how they can take such a risky decision based almost exclusively on trust.
Barnet Corporate Risk Register - a sea of red!
Looking through the papers for the forthcoming Barnet Council Audit Committee I was surprised when reading the Corporate Risk Register at just how many items were marked as high risk. Of the 13 items 11 have a high impact and 10 have both a high impact and either a medium or high probability of occurring as well. My attention was drawn to the new revenue and benefits system which will not be in place to collect taxes and administer benefits. It notes that the current supplier of Revenue & Benefits IT has been taken over by a third party and they are now "desupporting" the existing system and forcing all current users to source new systems. Dear oh dear. The problem may be resolved by now as the risk register was dated 31 January 2011 but it shows that when you depend on third parties they can let you down.
I am genuinely worried that the risks attached to the One Barnet Programme are being consistently underestimated and that hope is outweighing common sense. The One Barnet programme represents one of the largest risks to the borough yet there is virtually no transparency on the One Barnet risk register. Every single citizen of the borough will suffer the consequences of this programme if it goes wrong - surely we have the right to at least look at the One Barnet risk register and see what fate awaits us.
Outsourcing - short termist approach!
The latest Delegated Powers Report is one which seeks authorisation to purchase new servers for the regulatory services department (planning, development, environmental health). Now we aren't talking about that much money - £27,500 certainly when compared to the dreaded SAP system which has cost millions. However what is interesting is that they have chosen the cheaper option to get them through the next 18 months. There is an option which will deliver a complete solution but the report notes that this option would only be chosen if the systems is to "remain council responsibility in to the foreseeable future" and that "bearing in mind the One Barnet programme due for Regulatory Services in 2012" they have gone for the cheaper option. Now I have dealt with outsourcing companies for many years and they are prepared to invest - often that is the key driver for outsourcing. However their own Internal Rate of Return (IRR) required to justify investment is often high - some companies I have dealt with look for an IRR of 20%+. They have to recover that investment somehow and it ends up in the charges. Basically you end up using them as an expensive bank and in most cases that just doesn't make sense. I know money is tight now but like a lot of those PFI schemes, trading investment today for much higher future payments just doesn't make economic sense.
What really worries me is that the council are forcing through this outsourcing agenda even though I am not sure they have fully thought it through. The evidence is at best flimsy and it could end up costing us millions to sort out in the future.
Barnet we have a problem!
Although it is laudable that the council are at last addressing these serious shortcomings I can't help but feel they are coming at the this problem from the wrong direction. In the Purpose of the Job section of the job description, 6 of the 8 bullet points refer to how the complaints process can be monitored, recorded or managed in a better manner. Only two points relate to how the person can contribute to service improvements. In a commercial business I doubt they would beef up the customer complaints department in this way – they would put much greater emphasis on tackling the areas that are giving rise to complaints. The best solution would be an organisation that has no need for a complaints officer. Given that the council are in the process of making 800 people redundant and cutting services perhaps they feel they are likely to get a lot more complaints and are responding accordingly. All very worrying!
As a reasonable person I thought I should investigate what the experience of other local authorities have been with outsourced contracts. A simple trawl through the internet reveals that there are quite a few negative comments and not many positive ones – other than press releases put out by the outsourcing companies.
Essex County Council is facing a claim for 'substantial' damages after terminating an IT contract with BT worth at least £250m. Essex signed the ten-year contract with BT's Syntegra subsidiary in 2002, with 130 council staff and 200 third-party contracts transferred to the company.
THE chairman of Liverpool's finance select committee demanded to know why a damning report revealing the city council is being overcharged £10m a year by BT was kept secret. Cllr Paul Clein said it was disappointing to have to read the details of the report in the Liverpool ECHO as his committee and a special panel set up to scrutinise the contract was not aware it had even been written. The Liverpool ECHO revealed how the secret report into the controversial Liverpool Direct Limited (LDL) concluded that £23m-a-year could be saved if the contract were terminated. The bleak assessment of the £70m-a-year LDL contract also stated BT has been "excessively marking up" the cost of equipment not specified in the original deal, which was signed in 2001. The council claims the report, written in June, is a draft and has not yet been fully evaluated.
Thurrock Council has been slammed for charging residents £71,200 in illegal fees.
"The first three years of the contract have been a difficult time for both the Council and SWO, largely owing to the challenge of implementing SAP across the County Council and its partners. Both SWO and the Council have clearly spent significant time and money to make a success of the arrangement but so far the benefits have not fully met those originally envisaged. Performance management arrangements of the contract have improved over the last year but more work is required.
Potential savings of £45.5 million (£22 million implemented and £23.5 million awaiting implementation) have been identified and agreed. The Council is in the process of delivering these savings, with a further £40 million identified by SWO but not yet agreed by the Council for delivery (the 'pipeline'). However, actual savings are below those originally forecast and currently stand at £3.3 million 'cashed', part of the £22 million of benefits implemented – savings to this value will flow as spend is incurred in future years. To realise the original savings profile will require a significant increase in the delivery of savings but this may be curtailed given the reductions in local government spend nationally.
Now I'm not saying that all outsourcing contracts are a problem but surely these sorts of reports should be getting Councillors to at least ask some probing questions about how this process is being handled, what risk assessments have been undertaken and what are the potential downsides. So far the lack of challenge has been terrifying. My experience at the One Barnet Scrutiny Panel suggests that there is no meaningful scrutiny taking place at all. We have only been told of the huge savings that will be made by One Barnet. What we need is a balanced and open debate on whether outsourcing is the right answer in Barnet but sadly I fear that will never materialise.
Outsourcing Planning - Have they thought it through?
As part of the preparation of the Localism Bill there was a submission to the parliamentary committee on the outsourcing of the planning function in Local Authorities. As well as setting out advice, there was an example of best practice from New Zealand. I have set out below a small excerpt from that best practice guide.
• Why the council is considering outsourcing?
• What services does the council need to outsource, and to what extent?
• Does the council still want to be outsourcing in 12 months time?
• What are the future workload predictions? Consider historic trends, economic outlooks, and projected growth. Is it necessary to outsource the entire consent (planning application) service or would partial outsourcing be sufficient to manage peaks in resource consents? Consent volumes are also related to the plan provisions. Consider whether the plan provisions are likely to change in the near future (through either plan changes or the review process).
• What outsourcing options are there? Will outsourcing to one or more local suppliers create unworkable conflicts of interest, or remove necessary consultant options for the community?
• Does the council need particular technical skills or an increase in general resources? Would it be better to increase in-house resources, rather than outsourcing? Will 'in-house' skills be lost or can 'in-house' skills be enhanced?
• Will the use of an external contractor create tension within the planning department, or with other departments of the council? What type of work does the existing staff want to retain? Staff may wish to retain the more challenging and complex applications to enhance their professional development and maintain job satisfaction.
• What are the views and expectations of the council's managers and politicians?
• Does the council need to consult internally and/or externally? Does the community want the council to retain services in-house?
• What management structure and systems will be implemented to ensure a smooth transition of processing consents between council and contractors?
Today I received responses to my questions submitted to tonight's Cabinet Resources Committee. I think the answers are fascinating more by what they don't say than what they do say and the way they try and side step the answers. I decided that after last night's fiasco I would not appear in person to challenge the responses but it is clear to me and anyone who looks in details at the responses that there are some pretty big hole in the thinking behind the latest outsourcing scheme.
Q1. Are the Committee confident that the decision to press ahead with the preferred option is sufficiently robust to withstand any potential legal challenge given that there is no supporting evidence for any option other than the performance of the current in house team in any of the evaluation matrices and there is no risk assessment of any option?
Appendix B of the Options Appraisal outlines the scores attributed to each theme for each potential delivery option and the rationale behind these scores. These scores were developed through discussions between the project manager, One Barnet Implementation Partner and senior officers within the Council. Whilst it can be acknowledged that these scores are subjective, the rationale behind them, particularly comparative scores for the same theme across different delivery options is based on an in-depth understanding of the different delivery options. Appendix C, D and E of the Options Appraisal discuss the Strengths, Weaknesses and Impact on Staff of each potential delivery option. While not formally a risk register, this analysis is assessing and recognising the risks inherent within each of the potential delivery options, which must be taken into account through any decision-making process and future plans for the delivery of the option must be developed in order to mitigate these risks. In no cases are these risks perceived to be insurmountable and without potential mitigating action. The weightings for each service were developed by the project manager in conjunction with the service lead(s) (senior officer(s) within each service) and implementation partner. This process involved evaluating and understanding the available data, as presented in the options appraisal, about the cost, performance and change and improvement requirements for each service. Weightings were then developed (and iteratively improved through discussions with project board) based on what was required for each service given the conclusions drawn about the data in order for the desired outcome to be achieved for each service. Consequently for a service that is already working well (i.e. is high performing and low cost) with little change needed, the themes given the highest weighting were performance and cost, as in order to achieve the One Barnet objectives of high-performing and low-cost support services a delivery option that can best deliver against the performance and cost themes would be the preferred option (even if the services are already high-performing and low-cost, as there is still room for improvement to make them higher-performing and lower cost). Conversely, a service requiring significant transformation, again understanding that the One Barnet objective is to have high-performing and low-cost services, had a higher weighting on other themes (such as transformation and pace) as these are important to deliver the required transformation to deliver the desired outcomes for that service.
Yes but it doesn't answer the question about the risk of legal challenge and it concedes that the scores were subjective and that there is no risk assessment of the options just strengths and weakness. It reminds me of what Grant Thornton said last year, "there is evidence to suggest that risk management is not widely understood within the Council."
Q2. Are the Committee concerned that the Finance and Revenue & Benefits functions will be included in the outsourcing scheme even though there is no evidence to support this strategy other than the appetite of the private sector?
It is entirely appropriate that the Finance and Revenues & Benefits functions are included in the cluster of services to be outsourced, as this is the option that it is believed will best deliver the desired outcomes for these services. It is true to say that they are already relatively high performing and relatively low cost, however there is potential for improvement to make these services higher performing and lower cost than they already are, and the options appraisal recommends that outsourcing these services is the option that will best enable this desired outcome to be delivered. It is important to understand that the outsourcing option is not an option that should only be recommended when services are high-cost and low performing, in fact experience from other organisations show that services should only be outsourced when their performance is at least adequate, to prevent the private sector from realising significant benefits that will not be passed back to the Council.
So when a service is running well and at low cost you give it to an external company who are in business to make a profit and take the risk that they will c**k it up. Doesn't make sense to me!
Q3. Can the Committee confirm that they are not prepared to consider an in house option under any circumstances?
The Options Appraisal has considered the in-house option, and in fact for Legal Services has recommended that in-house delivery is the preferred option. In-house options will be considered at options appraisal throughout the One Barnet programme, and where through options appraisal the in-house option is the recommended option plans will be developed to implement this option.
No. Cllr Rams stated quite clearly at the One Barnet Scrutiny Panel in response to a question from Cllr Rawlings that they would not be considering an in house option. The reason why figures for an in-house option are included is because they represent the base case against which the other options are judged. The only reason why Legal is staying in house is "because the private sector do not have an appetite to take it on". For that read they can't make money at it.
Q4. Are the Committee concerned that, as there is no possibility of an in house option, key members of staff will start leaving the Council in the intervening 18 months that it will take to negotiate a contract with the outsourcing company? How has this been addressed within the option appraisal risk assessment?
It is important during a period of change to ensure communication and engagement of employees is well planned and implemented. There will always be a risk to an organisation at these times and risk management is essential. There is an entry on the One Barnet Programme risk register which relates to the potential exit of existing employees due to future uncertainty, with actions against this for managers to carry out. As part of the communication and engagement strategy, staff groups and briefings are taking place and they offer channels for employee feedback. Line managers are required to manage their direct reports and understand where there may be a risk and support individuals through the change. Where outsourcing is the chosen option on a project there will potentially be development opportunities from working for a different and possibly larger organisation. There are a number of employees who recognise and welcome this prospect.
Nice side step of the question. I asked if it was considered in the option appraisal risk assessment. The answer should have been no because there was no option appraisal risk assessment. There cannot have been a fair assessment of the options because if this does represent a risk for an outsourced option, the score would be much lower for an in-house option making in-house look more attractive. I wonder who are the employees that welcome the prospect of outsourcing?
Q5. Are the Committee concerned that this outsourcing report appears to be critical of the way the Council has been run as evidenced at Appendix F paragraphs F1.5, F2.5, F3.5, F4.5, F5.5, F6.5 and F7.5? Who is to blame, officers or councillors and who should the residents hold accountable?
The Options Appraisal gives an honest and open appraisal of the current performance of each service in scope. Any organisation at any point would expect to have areas of the organisation in need of change and improvement, and this is more likely to be the case when, as in the case of the Council currently, the organisation is undergoing significant change and facing significant pressures. The report is not being critical of the way the Council has been run, it is quite correctly identifying weaknesses and areas for improvement (which if it did not would invalidate the recommendations in the options appraisal).
OK so the current regime have been running the council for nine years. Who is responsible for the "weaknesses and areas for improvement" and why weren't they improved years ago. No one to blame. No one to hold accountable.
Overall a sorry set of responses which illustrate what a mess they are in.
I will leave the details of the council meeting to those more competent at reporting. I will however share my experience of the evening. Turning up at the Town Hall at 6.30 I joined a queue of people hoping to get into the public gallery. After 20 minutes in the freezing cold I eventually got to the front of the queue. Ten people at a time let in. As I walked through the front door I was greeted by lines on police on either side. Up the stairs and into the chamber - ah no sorry its full, go to the room down the corridor. There was where I met some of the Private Army, security guards from a company called Met Pro Rapid Response in black army style fatigues and padded jackets. I found their presence most intimidating. Anyway the meeting kicks off and we find that we are staring at a blank screen, it is an audio link only. What a complete waste of time. Disconnected voices issue from the loudspeakers no announcement of who they are. The meeting proceeds but a number of people in our ante room simply give up and leave. Bully boys ask where are you going - you even need permission to go to the toilet! Eventually it become clear that there are 17 seats available in the public gallery. One of the Labour councillors asks the Mayor if we can be some of us in the ante room can be allowed into the public gallery. Oh no says the Mayor, the Police have advised against it. So someone came and asked the Inspector, who I have to say seemed an eminently polite and reasonable chap. Yes, 17 people can go in but ideally they should be Barnet residents. We are summoned up from the ante room and are about to be shown into the public gallery by the police when up sweeps an anxious looking Nick Walkley. No you can't go in putting his arm up and stopping me from entering. Hang on a minute the Police have just told us we can - make your mind up. Next up comes a breathless Craig Cooper - no the Mayor has said you can't come in even though we are all respectable residents and we have been advised to do so by the police. What a total and utter mess and a clear sign that democracy is not working in Barnet even though the Mayor insists it is.
Overall tonight was an abject example of a tin pot regime completely and utterly out of touch with the people they are there to represent.
Mrs Angry, you are right Barnet is broken and it is a damn shame!
Mr Reasonable believes in the freedom of the press including bloggers and the ability of residents to see what is going on in their name so I am going this evening with my official Barnet Bloggers Pass - well its as official as Barnet saying we can't film!


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the act or a result of breaking; break or rupture.
an infraction or violation, as of a law, trust, faith, or promise.
a gap made in a wall, fortification, line of soldiers, etc.; rift; fissure.
a severance of friendly relations.
the leap of a whale above the surface of the water.
Archaic. the breaking of waves; the dashing of surf.
to make a breach or opening in.
to break or act contrary to (a law, promise, etc.).
(of a whale) to leap partly or completely out of the water, head first, and land on the back or belly with a resounding splash.
lenityRead more in this article about some frequently asked questions and fun facts related to our definitions.
1. fracture. 3. crack, rent, opening. 4. alienation, split, rift, schism, separation; dissension.
2. Breach, infraction, violation, transgression all denote in some way the breaking of a rule or law or the upsetting of a normal and desired state. Breach is used infrequently in reference to laws or rules, more often in connection with desirable conditions or states of affairs: a breach of the peace, of good manners, of courtesy. Infraction most often refers to clearly formulated rules or laws: an infraction of the criminal code, of university regulations, of a labor contract. Violation, a stronger term than either of the preceding two, often suggests intentional, even forceful or aggressive, refusal to obey the law or to respect the rights of others: repeated violations of parking regulations; a human rights violation. Transgression, with its root sense of "a stepping across (of a boundary of some sort)," applies to any behavior that exceeds the limits imposed by a law, especially a moral law, a commandment, or an order; it often implies sinful behavior: a serious transgression of social customs, of God's commandments.
This breach is an extraordinary emotional drag on the exhausted population.
Good old Sir Bob Geldof stepping into the breach again to raise money for crisis-hit Africa?
But while progressive attempts to address the class divide have been less than successful, can the Republicans fill the breach?
He receives a letter alleging "breach of contract" over his sabotaging the Commander Cigarettes deal.
Moreover, the current foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman was charged, though not convicted, with fraud and breach of trust.
He unfolded the sheet and scanned the charges—coercion, larceny, livestock theft, and breach of contract.
The breach between the two men which led to open collision took place in 1846.
The breach was apparently healed, but rather to avoid a scandal than from sincere forgiveness.
Advancing to the attack, the janissaries burst through the mass of Turks still continuing the conflict, and rushed up the breach.
The law has been declared by the law officers of the Crown to be a breach of the London Convention.
Old English bryce "breach, fracture, a breaking," from brecan (see break), influenced by Old French breche "breach, opening, gap," from Frankish; both from Proto-Germanic *brecho, *bræko "broken," from PIE root *bhreg- "to break" (see fraction). Figurative sense of "a breaking of rules, etc." was in Old English Breach of contract is at least from 1660s.
1570s, from breach (n.). Related: Breached; breaching.


text:
Влади́мир Большако́в:
 Большаков, Владимир Иванович (род. 1946) — украинский металловед.
 Большаков, Владимир Викторович (род. 1937) — писатель, поэт, драматург, корреспондент газеты «Правда».
 Большаков, Владимир Николаевич (род. 1934) — эколог, академик РАН.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
DevOps: More than just the latest IT fad
Toad for Oracle
Denis.OSullivan
The Fad
The IT industry has a tendency to follow fads. We love our buzzwords and discovering new toys to play with. Some of these fads come and go, while others stick around. One that is certainly going to stick around is DevOps.
For those of you unfamiliar with DevOps it is a software development and delivery process that emphasises communication and collaboration between product management, software development, operations professionals and close alignment with business objectives. (Well, that's what Wikipedia says anyway). In reality it means slightly different things to different organisations but the overruling principle is collaboration and teamwork. And if I learned anything from the Lego movie it's that "everything is awesome, everything is cool when you're part of a team!"
As I see it there are 3 pillars to DevOps – People, Processes and Tools. The people are, of course, Developers and Operations, the Processes generally relate to automated, repeatable processes and then finally the Tools required to make it all work.
While a lots of new ventures in the world of IT lean towards replacing people, when it comes to DevOps people are at the core. When you look at the definition you wouldn't be wrong in thinking it's a return to the good ole days of the IT 'Jack of all trades', but its more sophisticated and interesting than that. Collaboration and teamwork get mentioned a lot with DevOps but I believe it's also about responsibility and ownership, both collective and individual. So don't feel like being a specialist developer or database administrator is a negative in the world of DevOps. A better way of looking at it is, instead of being part of a group of specialist developers or DBAs, you are part of a cross-specialist group, consisting of traditional development and operations personnel, collectively taking ownership of a product/project.
The Processes
Key to DevOps is Continuous Deployment – the fully automated release of software changes. By automating many stages of the software deployment process organisations hope to improve the velocity and veracity of their software releases. In other words – more releases of less buggy software. This in turn will mean "the business" realise the value of software enhancements quicker and have a reduced risk of software-related issues, ultimately making them more agile, flexible and competitive. Well, that's the perfect world scenario anyway! And the reason why DevOps is here to stay is because that "perfect world" scenario does usually happen.
Tools can be Continuous Deployment orientated – for example, Version Control Software like Git or Subversion and CI servers, like Jenkins or Bamboo, are core to the Continuous Deployment story, as this is where the aforementioned automated processes take place. But there are many other tools that are not Continuous Deployment orientated but still critical to DevOps. These include your application & database IDE's, your performance monitoring tools, your bug tracking system, etc., etc. So when it comes to tooling up, DevOps is not an off-the-shelf solution. There are a lot of independent tools used at different stages and for different purposes, and these need to be synced up.
Put simply – the database is the problem. This stateless pain in the backside has been largely ignored when it comes to Continuous Deployment. Traditionally it has just been too difficult to incorporate, especially if there is business logic stored in procedures and functions. As mentioned previously, key to Continuous Deployment is automated processes, and automating processes like schema & data compares, unit testing and code reviews of PL/SQL, while integrating with version control systems and CI servers, has not been possible.
Quest have just released the Toad DevOps Toolkit, the tool that bridges the aforementioned gaps that have traditionally made it difficult to bring database development into the DevOps realm. Now with the Toad for Oracle portfolio you can integrate your tools – the version control system, the database IDE and the CI server, while automating all processes, meaning DevOps teams can now fully include database development in their Continuous Deployment Lifecycle.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
How many times has Bolivia changed currencies?
Bolivia has changed the name and look of its currency several times. Does anyone know exactly how many times has Bolivia changed it currency? And what were each of the currencies called? And why does it do that so much?
If you accessed this from our July 2011 newsletter, click here to return.
Comments for How many times has Bolivia changed currencies?
by: me
how did it used to look? did the look change?
Bolivian currency
by: BoliviaBella
The Bolivian currency used to be called the "peso". Then, when I was little the currency in Bolivia was called the "peso boliviano". Then in 1985 or so, when inflation rates rose to over 13,000%, the government simply knocked off all the zeros and the name was changed to just the "boliviano". So 1 million pesos bolivianos became 1 boliviano, or something like that. I have a photo my brother took once of me with my arms filled with piles of bills. It was like 10 million pesos bolivianos. But since the exchange rate was 3,600,000 pesos bolivianos equals 1 dollar at the time, all that money was actually only about $2.77 (2 dollars and 77 cents).
So it's been changed at least twice that I know of.
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Bolivia Trivia.


text:
Betfakkar Fi Eih (, English: What Are You Thinking About?)  is the sixth studio album by Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram. It was released on July 30, 2008 in the Arab World, and August 1 of the same year elsewhere through In2Musica, to reach remarkable career-defining success that none of Ajram's previous records had achieved.

Betfakkar Fi Eih produced several hits which continued Ajram's reign as the artist with most number-one hits in the history of the modern Arab music industry. The lead single and title track was a change in the sound of Ajram welcomed by critics and fans. The album, just like its predecessor Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa also featured product placement as a tool to promote many of its songs, including "Meen Ghairy Ana," "Wana Ben Idek" and "Lamset Eed." The latter being an ad for Sony Ericson smartphones, with which Ajram made a deal upon dropping the album. Other singles include "Mashi Haddi," which became a big hit in the summer of 2009.

The album brought Ajram to global recognition, when she returned home from the 2008 World Music Awards with the trophy for the best selling Middle Eastern act. Ajram is the youngest Arabian act to score a WMA.

Production and changes
In June 2008, Jiji announced the filming of a video for a song called "Aktar W Aktar" (Sahharny Sahhar) which was rumored to have been the old album title. However, "Betfakkar Fi Eih" then became the lead single and album title.
"Biteegy Sirtak" was rumored to have been a 15-minute-long song, as mentioned by Samir Sfeir himself and Nancy Ajram, but the album version was edited down to 6 minutes for radio broadcast.

In January 2007, news about "Ibn El Giran" (The Neighbor's Son) had leaked and it was mentioned that Nadine Labaki was to film it as her music video comeback. She  had reportedly met with music producer Hamid Al Shairi for suggestions that would match the music video. However, Nadine did not direct any music videos for three years ahead, and "Ibn El Giran" was later directed by British director, Mike Harris. Also, "Zaman Kan Andi Alb" (I Used to Have a Heart) is strongly rumored to be directted by Nadine Labaki, to supposedly sequel "Inta Eyh". However, in mid 2009 rumors had it that the song will be directed by Yehya Saade, preceded by the Khaliji song of the album, "Khaffef Alayya". This led to complaints from fans, first due to the choice of Yehya as a director, especially after the release of several controversial clips by him. The choice of "Khaffef" was also not well-received, since this song did not catch as much attention as Nancy's previous Khaliji hit "Mishtaga Leik". Zaman Kan Andi Alb's music video still remains in question. The song is the second creation of Samir Sfeir and Tarek Madkoor in the album, after "Meen Ghayri Ana" which fans highly requested a music video for. Due to all these reasons, Nancy decided in November 2009 to cancel filming "Khaffef" and to film "Meen Ghayri Ana" instead, thus satisfying huge fan demand cleverly, keeping Yehya as the director of the clip. However, later on, fans were surprised to see that none of the songs mentioned were filmed as music videos, in spite of official statements with set filming dates and crew.

Artwork

The album includes two different photoshoots by David Abdallah, whom Ajram constantly works with. As opposed to her previous typical-photoshoot album covers which did not achieve satisfaction, this album's was generally Ajram's most liked cover by the public. The cover shoot showed Ajram sitting at the back of a car, staring mysteriously outside the window, or simply with her eyes closed, appearing to be deep in thought and imagination. The cover came to match the album's theme of change and maturity, as it serves to impose the question of the album title, "Betfakkar Fi Eih" (What Are You Thinking About?). In the other shoot included in the inlay booklet, Ajram poses in common photoshoot style, with rose petals flying all around her. The three different looks in the shoots and the three different hairstyles in the car shoot were the work of her make-up artist, Fady Kataya, and hairdresser, Wassim Morkos from Pace e Luce, respectively. The artwork was designed by Lebanese artist Georges Yucef, who have previously designed Ah W Noss and Ya Tabtab...Wa Dallaa album covers. The album booklet contains full Arabic lyrics to the songs.

Musical composition

Ajram chose the album title track "Betfakkar Fi Eih" (What Are You Thinking About?) because its meaning described the change in the album. The first preview of the album was from the hit "Meen Ghairy Ana" in Ajram's three part Coke commercial, which served as a very successful promotion 5 months before release. Even though "Meen Ghairy Ana" is considered by many to be the smash hit of the album, the choice of the lead single was to be the album title track as usual, which did not satisfy all critics. Along with the album's release came a high budget video for "Betfakkar Fi Eih" with hi-tech effects that marked a first in the Arab world.

Ajram, before the album's release was rumored to have already filmed "Meen Ghairy Ana" and "Ibn El Giran". "Meen Ghairy Ana", by the successful trio, Nizar Francis, Samir Sfeir and Tarek Madkour who previously created Ajram's smash hits "Yay" and "Ana Yalli", is an upbeat romantic song which was used for the 2008 Coca-Cola campaign in the Middle East. In the song, Madkour's brand new Western formula of beats and instruments created a unique and "colorful" style for Ajram; a much richer mix than the simple, yet unique electric guitar he included in the album's hit "Betfakkar Fi Eih", from which the video's whole style was inspired. Ajram also continues her drama of "Inta Eyh" from Ah W Noss with a sequel in this album. In "Zaman Kan Andi Alb" (I Used to Have a Heart), the sad heartbroken wife who once made sure to be smiling to her cheating husband has a change of heart, or more accurately a loss of one. In the song, Ajram faces him with the truth she was hiding in the old song and video and announces that she no longer has a heart like before to love him. The song is also by Samir Sfeir and Tarek Madkoor, who this time chose to create a simpler mix to the song that focuses on Sfeir's tune and shows a wide vocal range for Ajram.

The most successful song in radio stations upon release of the album is most probably "Lamset Eed" (Touch of a Hand), a very romantic song with deep, sad feelings. The song, by the same trio, Fares Iskandar, Salim Salama and Hadi Sharara, who created Ajram's previous hit "Ehsas Jdeed", shows a maturity in her style and a convincing singing of feelings. In "Min Dally Nseek", the second video of the album, Ajram contributed in forming a first-time collaboration between Egyptian composer Walid Saad and Lebanese music producer Hadi Sharara who created a fast, different and new mix for the song for which he praised Ajram for making a "brave" choice. Another romantic rock power ballad song is "Wana Ben Ideik" which shows Ajram's deep convincing feelings towards her lover. This is Ajram's second cooperation with Egyptian composer Mahmoud Khayami after "Baddallaa' Aleik" in Ah W Noss. In "Mashi Haddi", Ajram returns to Lebanese folklore last seen in her 2001 album Sheel Oyoonak Anni, but this time with a fast oldies style that takes a great credit for the album's uniqueness. Ajram also sings an old Egyptian style in "Ibn El Giran" where she performs a short "Mawwal" at the end of the song for the first time since "Baddalla' Aleik" in Ah W Noss. Another fast Egyptian song by Mohammed Rahim is "Sahharny Sahhar" which was rumored to have been the old title of the album. Probably the most remarkable feature of this song is that it is a Tarab song by Samir Sfeir "Biteegy Sirtak". Ajram who always performs Tarab for other singers in her concerts finally included her own track after the 1998 tracks of her debut album Mihtagalak. The song, which was originally 15 minutes long had to be edited down to 6 minutes for radio stations to be able to play it all.

Genre

In Betfakkar Fi Eih, Ajram performed the widest variety of styles in comparison with her previous albums, many of which were completely new to her. To categorize the most significant:

Pop: "Betfakkar Fi Eih", "Meen Ghayri Ana", "Min Dally Nseek"
Egyptian/Bellydance/Maksoum: "Sahharny Sahhar", "Baladiyyat", "Ibn El Giran"
Ballad: "Wana Ben Ideik", "Zaman Kan Andi Alb", "Lamset Eed", "Leya Haq"
Khaliji (Gulf): "Khaffef Alayya"
Tarab/Modern Tarab: "Biteegy Sirtak", "Safer"
Oldies Pop: "Mashi Haddi" (80's Lebanese pop), "Ibn El Giran" (includes short "Mawwal")

Singles

Promotional Singles

"Meen Ghairy Ana (Nos El Kawn)" - 3 Coca-Cola Commercials (instrumental version, a cappella version, album version)
Director: Manfredo Leteo

"Ibn El Giran" - Damas Jewellery (Farfasha)/World Gold Council
Director: Mike Harris

"Wana Ben Ideik" and Betfakkar Fi Eih" - 3 Sony Ericsson Commercials
Director: Leila Kanaan

Music Videos

 The title track and lead single "Betfakkar Fi Eih" was released on July 19, 2008. The music video was directed by Said El Marouk and released simultaneously with the album release on July 30.
 "Min Dally Nseek" was released as the second single on November 5, 2008. Its music video was directed also by Said El Marouk.
 "Lamset Eed" was released as the third single February 27, 2009. Ajram filmed its music video with Leila Kanaan as the first collaboration with her.
 "Ibn El Giran" was released during Ajram's pregnancy while the video was filmed to sequence her Damas Farfasha campaign filmed earlier. Music video directed by Mike Harris.
 "Mashi Haddi" was the final single which was released on August 2, 2009, even though "Zaman Kan Andi Alb" was scheduled for release later on.

Other charted songs

 "Meen Ghairy Ana" was delivered through a series of three Coke commercials in March 2008 as part of the official Middle East Coca-Cola song of the year. Alternatively known as "Noss el Kawn", the song topped several charts and served as a successful promotion for the album's official release. "Meen Ghairy Ana" has been sampled by several artists and translated into Hebrew and Persian.
 "Wana Ben Ideik" was released as a promotional single, it was used in commercials for Sony Ericsson in which Nancy was the new spokesperson for, the commercial was directed by Leila Kanaan. The song received remarkable attention globally and was remixed by several international DJ's including Space Cowboy.
 "Sahharny Sahhar", rumored to have been scheduled as the lead single, charted at #56 on Radio Panorama FM even though never released as a single. Nancy later performed the song on the final episode of "The Manager".
 "Zaman Kan Andi Alb" was scheduled to be released as the final single from the album, but this project had been cancelled due to several reasons, mainly Nancy's pregnancy. It was announced to be a sequel to Nancy's previous smash hit "Inta Eyh", and charted on several radio stations.
 "Baladiyyat" charted on several stations and was promoted on TV as a live performance.
 "Biteegy Sertak" was a radio hit. Many stations considered it a new, unique move in Nancy's career. A video of a live performance of the song was played by many TV channels.

Track listing

Standard edition

Tour

The album was widely promoted by Nancy's 2008 world tour. The tour became Nancy's first to feature legs outside the Arab World.

Setlist

"Betfakkar Fi Eih"
"Mashy Haddi"
"Min Dally Nseek"
"Wana Ben Idek"
"Baladiyyat"
"Ibn El Giran"
"Ya Salam"
"Yay"
"Ah W Noss"
"Waving Flag" (Added later to the 2010 shows)
"Meen Ghairy Ana"

Reception

Betfakkar Fi Eih is considered one of Nancy's most successful albums to date as it won her first World Music Award after seven albums. Betfakkar Fi Eih was the most selling album in the Arab world (Middle East and North Africa) for the year 2008, even though there were huge competitors at that same year including Nawal Al Zoghbi, Elissa, Ragheb Alama, Tamer Hosny, Samira Said, Marwan Khoury, Myriam Fares, Haifa Wehbe, Mohamed Hamaki, Amal Hijazi, all of whom released comeback albums in the same year. In addition to the WMA, another award the album won was the Student's Choice Award based on a voting survey carried between over 8,000 Lebanese college students who voted it as album of the year.

Betfakkar Fi Eih peaked at #1 for 7 consecutive weeks in Beirut Virgin Megastores, and still continues to top charts around the Arab world, occupying #1 in Weekly Sales Charts numerous times in Beirut, Dubai, Egypt, Syria & Jordan, and online sources. In the lead hit video, prominent director Said El Marouk was thoroughly criticized for focusing on high-level effects and styles rather than a coherent storyboard for the clip. However, Betfakkar Fi Eih was nevertheless voted #2 for the best video of 2008 in an online survey by Stars Cafe. Min Dally Nseek on the other hand, which came three months later and also by Saeed, peaked at #1 for seven consecutive weeks in Melody Hits Top Music Videos and Top Songs.

Two months upon release, many then-unfilmed songs achieved huge success among the public and acquired "smash-hit status", including the album's promo song 5 months pre-release, "Meen Ghayri Ana", as well as the instant radio-hits "Lamset Eed", "Mashi Haddi", "Wana Bin Idek", "Sahharny Sahhar", and the first two singles, "Betfakkar Fi Eih" and "Min Dally Nseek". Due to huge amount of video requests for different songs, Nancy announced that she will be filming about 10 music videos from the 14 songs of the album.

Betfakkar Fi Eih broke the record in HitMarker's Top 10 best-selling Arabic album charts by remaining for 54 consecutive weeks in the list since the date of its release. The album's singles and music videos, including the title track, have all reached #1 spots at Hitmarker, the only official pan-Arab music charts that are the trusted source for the WMA's.

Personnel

 Samir Sfeir: four songs (most composer with songs on the album). Previous songs for Ajram: "Ana Yalli", "Inta Eih", "Gayyin Ye2ulouli", "La Teloom" from her hit album Ah W Noss, and "Yey (Sehr 3youno)" from Ya Salam.
 Tarek Madkour: who arranged 3 songs in the album. Madkour has previously composed and arranged Ajram's famous hit songs "Ah W Noss" & "Ya Tabtab", and has arranged: "Yay", "Inta Eih", "Oul Tani Keda", "Ana Yalli", and many others.
 Salim Salameh: composed two hits in the album, Lamset Eed and Mashi Haddi. Salameh previously composed Ajram's smash hit "Ehsas Jdeed" and her first best selling album's title "Ya Salam", with "Ahla Jaw" and "Nasseito Garho".
 Hamid Al Shairi: cooperated with Ajram for the first time in three songs, "Mashi Haddi", "Ibn El Giran" and "Sahharny Sahhar", notably adding a brand new oldies touch to her music.
 Walid Saad: composed 3 songs in the album, "Min Dally Nseek", "Safer" and "Baladiyyat". Saad previously composed "Elli Kan", "Moegaba", "Hobbak Leyya" and "Ana Masri", Ajram's song for Egypt.
 Hadi Sharara: has previously arranged "Ehsas Jdeed" for Ajram, with two songs in this album "Min Dally Nseek" and "Lamset Eed".
 Mahmoud Al Khiyami: previously did "Baddallaa' Aleik" for Ajram and is considered from Egypt's top composers, composed a slow song for her in this album called "Wana Ben Ideik".
 Mohammed Rahim: composed two songs in the album "Sahharny Sahhar" and "Ibn El Giran". Rahim previously composed Ajram's smash Coca-Cola hit "El Dounya Helwa" and "Ana Leih" from her album Ah W Noss.
 AbdulRab Idris: a singer and composer, composed "Khaffef Alayya" (the only Khaliji song in the album) which was written by the great poet AlNasser.

Background vocals: Ajram did the background vocals for all of the songs of the album except Tracks #2, #6, #8, #9, #12 and #14.

References

External links
 Official Website

Nancy Ajram albums
2008 albums


Ratchet & Clank is set in a Sci-fi setting following a young 'Lomax', cat-like creature named Ratchet who has always dreamed of travelling the galaxy with his ship. He meets a little robot, aptly named XJ-0461 also known as Clank.
Clank escaped from his factory and crash-lands on the same planet as Ratchet. Clank then helps complete Ratchets ship, and they team up to stop the Evil Chairman Drek who wanted to harvest a number of plants to build a new one for his benefit.
This is portrayed as the main goal in the game but as you explore, tonnes of subplot unravels, and you don't just find yourself grinding through levels to get to the end. The progression flows smooth and does not feel rushed or forced.
Graphically the game holds up incredibly well for a 2002 game with the animations looking very natural, and the player models look great, even to this day.
The variations in all the planets you visit are vast and carried out very well with each one feeling different and new to keep you interested. Each one mostly looked visually pleasing, apart from some sections did suffer a little due to being too dark.
The voice acting was perfectly fine, with no character really having a bad performance. The sounds were overall very good with fast beat techno type music, that did fit when you were running about with your vast arsenal of weapons.
The game play had a lot of replay-ability with it being a mix of action/adventure/platforming, but mostly involved either using Clank who's positioned on your back to give you abilities, like jumping higher or hovering to get around or using your weapons to engage in combat which is satisfying and rewarding.
The humour that is present in Rachet & Clank makes the game play more enjoyable as you actually find yourself involved in the cutscenes instead of just switching off and ignoring them, which some games can suffer from.
Love Mario Kart? Now You Can do it For Real!
Let's not forget about the mini games, like 'the trespasser', an ever difficult increasing laser game that became a fan favourite. Of course, with many others.
There are obviously bad aspects of this classic, including the lack of health and the fact that items can be a bit overpriced in comparison to how common the currency is (bolts). None of these problems really take away from the experience too much.
If you got into the Ratchet & Clank series later on with one of its many games and wonder where it all started. This original titles still holds up significantly well compared to some titles that came out of the early 2000's.


Thankfully, there is a tool available that has been specially designed for busy online marketers and all those working online. This digital marketing platform is called Builderall.
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To be honest with you, this price is in fact very reasonable and affordable for a lot of the people, especially novices. Considering buying all of the tools contained would likely amount to thousands of dollars if purchased separately.
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Most products out there simply target a specific group of people. However, like what I have listed above, BuilderAll is catered to a wide assortment of users.
In all honesty, using WordPress is similar to learning a totally new language in the beginning. So quite a number of people can have a hard time with WordPress when they are just starting out without clear guidance.
At this point, it is clear how BuilderAll has innovated digital marketing completely, by furnishing a feature-packed product, which is of good quality, fantastic value, and is affordably priced. If you see the potential of this amazing product, and what positive results it can make on your company, in addition to the possible growth our business and become more powerful in our niche, then we need you to aid expand our business as well as yours.
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At the beginning of Season Three of Downton Abbey, The Great War is over and the long-awaited engagement between Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) is on. But all is not tranquil in the home, as Mr Bates (Brendan Coyle) remains in prison for murder, while his faithful wife Anna (Joanne Froggatt) awaits his fate.
I spoke with Brendan and Joanne at the TV press day for the phenomenally popular series.
Is this role in Downton Abbey the best part you've ever had?
Brendan: Yes it is, and it's the first part I've ever had that was written for me. I didn't realize that until I joined the cast. [I was told], 'It was written with you in mind.' That's never happened to me before.
How did it feel to be nominated for the Emmys?
Joanne: Brendan and I had shot half of a scene and then it was our lunch break, which was when the Emmys were announced. I was in the post office on my lunch break and ran back to my dressing room to get changed back into my costume.
Brendan and I didn't see each other until we went back to finish the scene. So the first half of the scene he's quite normal and calm.
Brendan: Pre-nominated. Second half, post-nominated. I wanted to see the rushes to see if there was any kind of glow.
I assumed that Bates would not be found guilty. Did you know the full plot arc at the beginning or were you surprised too?
Brendan: Just getting a script is a bit of an event in itself. We're the last ones to receive the script. So when we get the scripts, it's really a case of phones off, kettle on, sit down, it's an event.
I read it as a fan of the show as well. But to answer your question, no, I did not know what was going to happen. And so when he was found guilty, there was a real thud in my chest.
So it was a fascinating read. I loved the fact that they might be bold enough to do that, but I didn't think they would. I realized about seven pages later that they weren't going to.
Joanne: The same with me. When I read the bit where Mr Bates gets sentenced to murder, I literally gasped. I was like, 'No, no. What happens to us?' It's just as much a surprise to us, and that's great.
It's like opening a little Christmas present every time you get a script.
When you first start playing Bates, how did you get the hang of the limp?
Brendan: It was trying to figure out exactly what this injury was and how it would affect his movements. I had this strap which limited my movement so I couldn't completely stretch my leg. We decided it's a war wound that flares up every now and again.
I got a letter from a guy who had a disability. I'm not quite sure what it was, but all of his life he had these terrible nicknames thrown at him.
Now he's being called 'Mr Bates.' So he wrote to thank me for giving him, at last, a cool nickname.


A teenage girl was discovered face-down near the bottom of a friend's backyard swimming pool, and toxicology tests confirmed that she was extremely intoxicated immediately prior to her death.
According to Lake County Sheriff's deputies, a Lake Mack-area couple arrived home to find their 15-year-old daughter passed out in her room, and the girl's 16-year-old friend in the family's swimming pool. Both girls were transported to a nearby hospital; the 15-year-old is expected to recover, but the 16-year-old was declared dead shortly after she arrived. A Sheriff's Office spokesperson said the teens "had spent the day drinking vodka and smoking marijuana," apparently while at the house.
In car crash cases, most all drivers have a duty of reasonable care towards other people on the road, and some courts have adopted this blanket standard in premises liability matters, like slip-and-falls, swimming pool drownings, and injuries due to inadequate security. But most jurisdictions continue to use the common law approach that adjusts the duty depending on the type of victim.
Invitee: If the victim has permission to be on the land but the victim's presence does not benefit the landowner in any way, the owner has a duty to warn about latent defects, like loose floorboards or missing steps on a staircase.
Licensee: If the victim's presence benefitted the landowner in any way, either socially or financially, the owner has an affirmative duty to keep the premises reasonably safe.
As to the dangerous condition itself, such as a wet spot on the floor, the plaintiff can introduce circumstantial evidence to prove that the defendant should have known about the defect, and therefore should have remedied it.
It is a violation of Section 562.11 of the Florida statutes to "to sell, give, serve, or permit to be served alcoholic beverages to a person under 21 years of age or to permit a person under 21 years of age to consume such beverages on the licensed premises." In the above story, it appears that the homeowners indirectly provided alcohol to the minor girls, because the owners negligently made alcohol available to them. Arguably, negligent provision constitutes permission to serve under the statute.
If the owners did violate the minor alcohol provision law, such a violation is negligence per se in civil court. In most cases, the violation of a statute not only creates the presumption of negligence, but also creates the presumption of reckless or wanton conduct, which raises the possibility of punitive damages.
Landowners must make sure their guests are reasonably safe. For a free consultation with a Port St. Lucie attorney who stands up for victims, contact Eighmie Law Firm, P.A. You have a limited amount of time to act.


text:
In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation.
What are the different types of fraud?
The main types of fraud includes:
Cyber crime – phishing, spoofing, spam emails, malware, spyware & click fraud
Identity theft – physical theft of mail, telephone and online ID theft
Credit and debit card fraud – stolen cards, skimming and counterfeiting
Cheque fraud – stolen cheques, tampering cheques and counterfeiting
Mortgage fraud – falsifying information and defaulting on loans
Employee fraud – physical theft, misappropriation of funds and false accounting
Scams and deceptions – ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes and advanced fee fraud among many others
What is the size of the fraud problem?
The exact size of the fraud problem is impossible to estimate but on a global scale would be trillions of dollars every year.
In 2012, the Annual Fraud Indicator estimated the fraud losses from the UK alone each year totalled £73 billion, from the Private Sector (£45.5bn), Public Sector (£20.3bn), Individuals (£6.1bn) and Not-for-profit (£1.1bn). In a 2003, report by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) and PwC entitled "Serious Fraud in Australia and New Zealand" annual fraud losses were estimated at AUD$5.8bn, which is increasing year on year.
Each year, the Big 4 consulting firms publish their own Global Fraud Survey findings which not only provide estimates into fraud losses but also highlights concerns and fraud trends across 30+ countries by conducting in-depth interviews with key stakeholders.
Understanding the main types of fraud and the actions your organisation can take to protect themselves from the rising costs of fraud, such as developing an effective Fraud Risk Management Framework is essential to counter fraud risks.
Why not subscribe to the fraud daily digest and keep up to date with the latest developments.
Fraud has been around for centuries dating back to 300 B.C., when a Greek merchant called Hegestratos, concocted a plan to sink a barge loaded with corn and collect an insurance claim, but drowned in the process!
Even before money was invented, when merchants used to barter with each other for commodities, opportunists would take advantage of the fact that it is hard to keep track of quantities and misrepresent these to take advantage for their own benefit.
Since money became a recognised mechanism for transferring value there has been a long and chequered history of fraud, counterfeiting and other schemes and scams, including the first recorded Ponzi scheme uncovered in 1920 after an Italian immigrant, Charles Ponzi, collected about $20 million ($230m in today's money).
Ninety years later in 2008, Bernie Madoff, a stockbroker and investment adviser, as well as, the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ was convicted of running the world's largest Ponzi scheme, which has been estimated to have involved $65 billion. In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and received 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.
Fast forward to today, the pace of fraud is unprecedented with fraudsters and cybercriminals scamming individuals, companies and governments out of billions of dollars every year in more sophisticated schemes including massive data breaches involving stealing the credit card details of hundreds of millions of customers.
For more information on Fraud visit our resource centre
What is the impact of fraud?
According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)#,5% of revenues of a typical organisation is lost to fraud each year – which if applied to the Gross World Product translates to a projected global fraud loss of $3.25 trillion each year.
Fraud perpetrators continue to develop more inventive schemes and an equally sophisticated response is required to protect your organisation from the risk of fraud
Developing an effective fraud risk management framework to identify, assess, mitigate and manage risks is a critical step in reducing fraud losses and other associated consequences
#2012 Report to Nations survey
What are the consequences of failing to comply with AML/CFT laws?
The diagram below sets out the components required to effectively manage the threat of fraud in your organisation.
Designing, implementing and operating an effective fraud risk management program can be a complex undertaking and presents a significant challenge to most businesses.
Do you know how to spot fraud vulnerabilities in your business?
What solutions do we offer?
Arctic Intelligence is a RegTech business that enables audit, risk and compliance 'as-a-service' through technology allowing our solutions to guide you to compliance.
In order to manage fraud risk exposure, it is critical that organisations develop a detailed understanding of the internal and external threats and develop mitigating systems, procedures and controls to reduce their risk exposure.
Arctic Intelligence has developed a Risk Assessment platform for identifying, assessing, mitigating and manage fraud risk exposures across the main categories of risk, including:
The diagram below, depicts how the Arctic Intelligence Risk Assessment Platform can help your business manage fraud risk exposures.
The Risk Assessment Platform is designed to help you to identify, assess, mitigate and manage risks for financial crime and other risk domains.
The platform is highly configurable allowing you either purchase a content library or to create or upload your own risks and controls, as well as, change the risk methodology and risk weightings across the model and align the assessment to your risk management framework.