开云体育

I had my call today. ?I am on LTD and medicare and medigap f since 2/11. ?I was told by EH that I cannot sign up for their medigap option (120 more a month than I pay today) unless I drop my existing medigap. If I don't I will have to go to underwriting and will either be denied or given a higher price.? If I am denied does that mean I have no options to use my subsidy? ?I had not read enough to realize that it had to be used for insurance first.? This is a real cost hit to me because the part d pricing for my meds versus my 2013 ibm plan ?is going to add thousands to medical costs in the future.? Any ideas?

My profile has been 100% completed for some time and I have had an appointment with ExtendHealth also for some time. But, when I sign into My Account I can not find a "Funds and Claims" tag. The link provided by clk_griswo?ld (below) worked! However, when I got there and signed in I got the message: "There are no known funding arrangements. If you feel this is incorrect please contact us". So everyone needs to check their HRA and if there is no "Funds and Claims" tag use the link below. From: no_reply@... To: ibmpension@... Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2013 11:49:47 -0700 Subject: [IBM Pension] Re: EH site up for Medicare Plans, others MIA https://www.extendhealth.com/my-account/funds-and-claims ---In ibmpension@..., <ibmpension@...> wrote: Looked all over my EH Account site and can not find a "Funds and Claims" tab? ? ?

The IBM Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) is an employee [retiree] welfare benefit plan [health plan] and, as such, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act – ERISA applies. Below are applicable sections of ERISA, from the DOL website, with highlights added. Employee Retirement Income Security Act — ERISA DOL Web Pages on This Topic The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. ERISA requires plans to provide participants with plan information including important information about plan features and funding; provides fiduciary responsibilities for those who manage and control plan assets; requires plans to establish a grievance and appeals process for participants to get benefits from their plans; and gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty. There have been a number of amendments to ERISA, expanding the protections available to health benefit plan participants and beneficiaries. One important amendment, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), provides some workers and their families with the right to continue their health coverage for a limited time after certain events, such as the loss of a job. Another amendment to ERISA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which provides important new protections for working Americans and their families who have preexisting medical conditions or might otherwise suffer discrimination in health coverage based on factors that relate to an individual's health. Other important amendments include the Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act. In general, ERISA does not cover group health plans established or maintained by governmental entities, churches for their employees, or plans which are maintained solely to comply with applicable workers compensation, unemployment, or disability laws. ERISA also does not cover plans maintained outside the United States primarily for the benefit of nonresident aliens or unfunded excess benefit plans. Plan Information DOL Web Pages on This Topic The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires plan administrators — the people who run plans — to give plan participants in writing the most important facts they need to know about their retirement and health benefit plans including plan rules, financial information, and documents on the operation and management of the plan. Some of these facts must be provided to participants regularly and automatically by the plan administrator. Others are available upon request, free-of-charge or for copying fees. The request should be made in writing. One of the most important documents participants are entitled to receive automatically when becoming a participant of an ERISA-covered retirement or health benefit plan or a beneficiary receiving benefits under such a plan, is a summary of the plan, called the summary plan description or SPD. The plan administrator is legally obligated to provide to participants, free of charge, the SPD. The summary plan description is an important document that tells participants what the plan provides and how it operates. It provides information on when an employee can begin to participate in the plan, how service and benefits are calculated, when benefits becomes vested, when and in what form benefits are paid, and how to file a claim for benefits. If a plan is changed, participants must be informed, either through a revised summary plan description, or in a separate document, called a summary of material modifications, which also must be given to participants free of charge. In addition to the summary plan description, the plan administrator must automatically give participants each year a copy of the plan's summary annual report. This is a summary of the annual financial report that most plans must file with the Department of Labor. These reports are filed on government forms called the Form 5500. The summary annual report is available at no cost. To learn more about the plan assets, participants may ask the plan administrator for a copy of the annual report in its entirety. If participants are unable to get the summary plan description, the summary annual report or the annual report from the plan administrator, they may be able to obtain a copy by writing to the U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA, Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210, for a nominal copying charge. Participants should provide their name, address and phone number to enable EBSA to contact them to follow up on the request. Fiduciary Responsibilities DOL Web Pages on This Topic The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) protects your plan's assets by requiring that those persons or entities who exercise discretionary control or authority over plan management or plan assets, have discretionary authority or responsibility for the administration of a plan, or provide investment advice to a plan for compensation or have any authority or responsibility to do so are subject to fiduciary responsibilities. Plan fiduciaries include, for example, plan trustees, plan administrators, and members of a plan's investment committee. The primary responsibility of fiduciaries is to run the plan solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and paying plan expenses. Fiduciaries must act prudently and must diversify the plan's investments in order to minimize the risk of large losses. In addition, they must follow the terms of plan documents to the extent that the plan terms are consistent with ERISA. They also must avoid conflicts of interest. In other words, they may not engage in transactions on behalf of the plan that benefit parties related to the plan, such as other fiduciaries, services providers, or the plan sponsor. Fiduciaries who do not follow these principles of conduct may be personally liable to restore any losses to the plan, or to restore any profits made through improper use of plan assets. Courts may take whatever action is appropriate against fiduciaries who breach their duties under ERISA including their removal.

I received a flyer in the mail from Anthem BlueCross BlueShied [Colorado]. This mailing was specifically promoting Medicare Supplement Plan F. On the back of the mailing is the statement: “All Medicare Supplement plans are offered to Medicare qualified individuals under the age of 65.”

Here's a great Blog about IBM Medicare options/issues. http://ibmmedicare.blogspot.com

(Also posted on IBMretiree) I just got off the phone with E-Health and was told that buying a drug plan through E-Health qualifies same as medical plan as basis for HRA. I was told that this is a change from IBM last week. This is good news for many of us because the only medical plans they offered in my state were Humana and AARP and AARP is not on Advantage plans. I consider AARP a political organization, I do not belong to it, and would not join as a prerequisite to coverage. My doctor group that I have used for the last 30 years is not in the Humana network and will not accept them as insurer. On the Humana website they do not come up in the doctor search and my wife's doctors group is not taking new Medicare patients and is not on the Humana site either. This frees me up to probably get our policies from BCBS. I asked the E-Health rep to get an email and/or a web-site posting to verify this information stressing to her that we normally believe only that which we get in writing. RRM

I am not a legal professional and things seem to still be evolving on the IBM HRA, but here is my interpretation of ERISA as it applies to the IBM HRA and ExtendHealth. This was my response to a question I received earlier on ibmretireeissues. Can you net this out? My interpretations of the highlighted portions of the ERISA summary posted on the DOL website as I posted on these list-serves are: ERISA applies to the IBM HRA.IBM established and controls the HRA and as such has a fiduciary responsibility to the beneficiaries.ExtendHealth as the organization responsible for administration of the HRA also has a fiduciary responsibility to the beneficiaries.IBM/EH must provide a SPD to the beneficiaries but have not [yet]. My concerns/suspicions/opinions based on my personal observations/experiences are: IBM has exceeded its authority and created a possible conflict of interest by requiring that individual health insurance be purchased through, Extend Health, a private health exchange and the organization responsible for administration of the IBM HRA, in order to receive the benefits of the IBM HRA.Extend Health is engaging in a conflict of interest violation of ERISA through the deceptive practices of limiting the health insurance choices of the IBM HRA beneficiaries and by “pushing” those individual health plans that maximize commissions for Extend Health. IBM has a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that Extend Health, as the administrator of the IBM HRA, does not engage in practices that violate requirements of ERISA. If IBM is, or should be, aware of Extend Health violations of ERISA and does not take corrective action, then IBM is also in violation of ERISA.In light of the above, it is also possible, but can not be known without access to the detailed IBM HRA Plan documents and the contract between IBM and Extend Health, that Extend Health may be incentivised to limit claims to the IBM HRA so as to maximize the funds to be returned to IBM at the end of the calendar year, which would also be a violation of ERISA. From: skip.mcgaughey@... To: IBM_RETIREE@... Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 11:16:18 -0700 Subject: IBM Employee Issues RE: ERISA Applies To The IBM HRA Thanks for the information and post. Do you or anyone know any IBM knowledgeable legal people or retired federal regulators who can help us with understanding the legal and regulatory issues associated with ERISA. Thanks..... Skip.McGaughey@... ---In ibm_retiree@..., <retired_engineer@...> wrote: The IBM Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) is an employee [retiree] welfare benefit plan [health plan] and, as such, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act – ERISA applies. Below are applicable sections of ERISA, from the DOL website, with highlights added. Employee Retirement Income Security Act — ERISA DOL Web Pages on This Topic The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) is a federal law that sets minimum standards for most voluntarily established pension and health plans in private industry to provide protection for individuals in these plans. ERISA requires plans to provide participants with plan information including important information about plan features and funding; provides fiduciary responsibilities for those who manage and control plan assets; requires plans to establish a grievance and appeals process for participants to get benefits from their plans; and gives participants the right to sue for benefits and breaches of fiduciary duty. There have been a number of amendments to ERISA, expanding the protections available to health benefit plan participants and beneficiaries. One important amendment, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), provides some workers and their families with the right to continue their health coverage for a limited time after certain events, such as the loss of a job. Another amendment to ERISA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) which provides important new protections for working Americans and their families who have preexisting medical conditions or might otherwise suffer discrimination in health coverage based on factors that relate to an individual's health. Other important amendments include the Newborns' and Mothers' Health Protection Act, the Mental Health Parity Act, and the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act. In general, ERISA does not cover group health plans established or maintained by governmental entities, churches for their employees, or plans which are maintained solely to comply with applicable workers compensation, unemployment, or disability laws. ERISA also does not cover plans maintained outside the United States primarily for the benefit of nonresident aliens or unfunded excess benefit plans. Plan Information DOL Web Pages on This Topic The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) requires plan administrators — the people who run plans — to give plan participants in writing the most important facts they need to know about their retirement and health benefit plans including plan rules, financial information, and documents on the operation and management of the plan. Some of these facts must be provided to participants regularly and automatically by the plan administrator. Others are available upon request, free-of-charge or for copying fees. The request should be made in writing. One of the most important documents participants are entitled to receive automatically when becoming a participant of an ERISA-covered retirement or health benefit plan or a beneficiary receiving benefits under such a plan, is a summary of the plan, called the summary plan description or SPD. The plan administrator is legally obligated to provide to participants, free of charge, the SPD. The summary plan description is an important document that tells participants what the plan provides and how it operates. It provides information on when an employee can begin to participate in the plan, how service and benefits are calculated, when benefits becomes vested, when and in what form benefits are paid, and how to file a claim for benefits. If a plan is changed, participants must be informed, either through a revised summary plan description, or in a separate document, called a summary of material modifications, which also must be given to participants free of charge. In addition to the summary plan description, the plan administrator must automatically give participants each year a copy of the plan's summary annual report. This is a summary of the annual financial report that most plans must file with the Department of Labor. These reports are filed on government forms called the Form 5500. The summary annual report is available at no cost. To learn more about the plan assets, participants may ask the plan administrator for a copy of the annual report in its entirety. If participants are unable to get the summary plan description, the summary annual report or the annual report from the plan administrator, they may be able to obtain a copy by writing to the U.S. Department of Labor, EBSA, Public Disclosure Room, Room N-1513, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20210, for a nominal copying charge. Participants should provide their name, address and phone number to enable EBSA to contact them to follow up on the request. Fiduciary Responsibilities DOL Web Pages on This Topic The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) protects your plan's assets by requiring that those persons or entities who exercise discretionary control or authority over plan management or plan assets, have discretionary authority or responsibility for the administration of a plan, or provide investment advice to a plan for compensation or have any authority or responsibility to do so are subject to fiduciary responsibilities. Plan fiduciaries include, for example, plan trustees, plan administrators, and members of a plan's investment committee. The primary responsibility of fiduciaries is to run the plan solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries and for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and paying plan expenses. Fiduciaries must act prudently and must diversify the plan's investments in order to minimize the risk of large losses. In addition, they must follow the terms of plan documents to the extent that the plan terms are consistent with ERISA. They also must avoid conflicts of interest. In other words, they may not engage in transactions on behalf of the plan that benefit parties related to the plan, such as other fiduciaries, services providers, or the plan sponsor. Fiduciaries who do not follow these principles of conduct may be personally liable to restore any losses to the plan, or to restore any profits made through improper use of plan assets. Courts may take whatever action is appropriate against fiduciaries who breach their duties under ERISA including their removal.

I attempted a post on the ibmpension board in response to this post from justa_bean_counter: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ibmpension/conversations/messages/79978 In case the post does not get approved, I am also posting it here. I disagree with a few of these statements. For now, I will focus on the first sentence: “This board was set up in 1999 when IBM made the grab for our DB pension, converting it to a CB plan, and to monitor the lawsuits that ensued afterward.” Following is my perspective on what really happened: The ibmpension board was created by Sang J. Moon (an IBM employee) on May 18, 1999. He created it as an attempt to channel the acidic discussion about the IBM pension change away from the IBM finance board: http://finance.yahoo.com/mb/IBM/ http://finance.yahoo.com/mb/IBM/ If you go to that board and search for Sang J. Moon and search through his posts, you will find his announcement of this act. During the next 2 months, Sang’s attempts to moderate and calm the intensity of the forum encountered increasing pushback from a vocal minority of activists. Sang explained on July 18, 1999, why he set up the forum and that it was not intended to be an activist forum. A vocal minority of activists staged what amounted to be a hostile takeover during the next several weeks. They wore down Sang’s resistance, and on September 2, 1999, he turned the forum over to the activist leaders and resigned the group. The new forum leaders brought with them a zeal for monitoring lawsuits.

My second issue with this post from justa_bean_counter: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ibmpension/conversations/messages/79978 http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ibmpension/conversations/messages/79978 justa_bean_counter says: “It is not a 'blind' board where you have to be a member to have access to the postings, files, photos, and such.” She is wrong. The only thing you can see if you are not a member is the conversations/messages/postings. You can NOT review files, photos, links, and such unless you are a member. Well she got 1 out of 4 right. 25% is a fairly good percentage for a baseball hitting average. But it is not too good when you are trying to run a high visibility message board.

Una investigación realizada por cinco alumnas de un instituto de secundaria en Dinamarca revela los efectos que las ondas emitidas por los móviles y los routers con WiFi pueden ejercer sobre el entorno, en concreto, sobre las plantas. Estas chicas escogieron un router porque el tipo de microondas que emite es muy similar a las que transmiten los teléfonos móviles, y ubicaron junto a este dispositivo una maceta con seis semillas de berro sembradas. Después, en otra habitación independiente, en la que las condiciones eran las mismas (agua, temperatura y luz solar fueron controladas por las chicas para que así fuera), a excepción de la ausencia, en este caso, del router, plantaron otras seis semillas de berro del mismo tipo en otra maceta, así lo publica ABC.es. El resultado, tras doce días de experimento, es que las semillas que no se situaban junto al router germinaron normalmente, mientras que las que sí estaban ubicadas en la habitación del módem habían mutado de color y forma: estaban marrones, ajadas y resecas. Kim Horsevad, profesora de las estudiantes, ha explicado que, aunque las alumnas repitieron dos veces el experimento y lo hicieron lo mejor que pudieron dentro de sus habilidades, no se trata de un estudio profesional, sino de un experimento de instituto. Sin embargo, Horsevad ha defendido ante los medios que sus estudiantes se encargaron de controlar que las condiciones fueran exactamente las mismas para ambas macetas de semillas. Entre las reacciones que ha despertado la noticia, muchas aseguran que fue el calor del router lo que ha secado las semillas, y no sus microondas, ante lo cual Horsevad responde que el dispositivo estaban ubicados a la distancia suficiente como para que esto no sucediera y que la temperatura de las plantas fue comprobada y monitorizada mediante un termostato.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/2014/01/02/396b95e8-73cf-&#92; 11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html By Michael A. Fletcher <http://www.washingtonpost.com/michael-a-fletcher/2011/03/04/AB5zqwN_pag&#92; e.html> , Published: January 2 Strong stock market gains and slowly rising interest rates have left corporate pension plans in their healthiest state since the recession hit, a development that analysts say creates an opportunity for many firms to off-load them. The funding level for the nation's largest corporate pension plans increased sharply in 2013, with the ratio of assets to liabilities rising from 77 percent at the end of 2012 to 93 percent at the end of 2013, according to Towers Watson, a benefits consultancy. That has left corporate pensions in their best shape since 2007, when the average funding level for Fortune 1000 firms offering tradition pensions stood at 106 percent. The improved finances offer relief to corporations that have been spending tens of billions of dollars <http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/low-interest-rates-are-t&#92; he-final-straw-for-many-company-pensions/2013/05/23/a83bf23a-adbc-11e2-8&#92; bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html> in recent years to keep their pension funding levels in compliance with federal regulations. But rather than just assuring the future of the shrunken number of traditional pension plans that make retirees guaranteed payments for life, the improved funding levels also make it more feasible for more firms to shed pension obligations altogether. Firms can do that either by offering lump sums to workers or to transfer the future liabilities — and the money set aside to meet them — to insurance companies that convert them into annuities. "From a financial management perspective, as the funded ratios get closer to 100 percent, it becomes feasible to do things you couldn't three or four years ago," said Alan Glickstein, a senior retirement consultant at Towers Watson. The percentage of private-sector employees who are covered by traditional pensions has decreased by about half since the early 1990s, to just 18 percent last year, according to the Labor Department. The decline in traditional pension coverage, coupled with inability of many Americans to save for retirement outside of pension plans and the ever increasing cost of medical care, has contributed to growing concern that a growing number of Americans are at risk of downward mobility <http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fiscal-trouble-ahead-for&#92; -most-future-retirees/2013/02/16/ae8c7350-5905-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_st&#92; ory.html> when they enter retirement. In recent years, some firms — worried about the long-term financial responsibility of paying for pensions — have moved to get the liabilities off their books. In recent years, Verizon Communications transferred $7.5 billion in pension obligations to Prudential Financial. The move came after General Motors paid Prudential to assume $25 billion of its pension risks. With private firms facing tighter government rules to keep pension funding levels high as well as sharply higher premiums for government pension insurance, that trend is showing no signs of reversing. Add to that the growing volatility of financial markets over the past decade and a half, there is ample incentive for firms to drop pensions, many analysts say. "The improved funding environment will provide pension plan sponsors with some intriguing opportunities for 2014," said David Suchsland, a senior retirement consultant at Towers Watson. "We expect the actions we've seen among companies to de-risk their pension plans over the past several years will accelerate as funding levels continue to improve." Now, analysts say, with pension fund balance sheets healing, companies could be tempted to shed pension liabilities because as funding levels improve, the cost to firms of transferring pension liabilities to insurance companies or buying out retirees with lump sums goes down. This year "is looking to be a big year for risk transfer strategies such as annuity buyouts and voluntary cashouts to former employees, as improving conditions make these options much more feasible than before," said Richard McEvoy, head of the Financial Strategy Group for Mercer Investment Consulting.

Some “person” over on ibmpension who claims to be lousfriend says: “I don't think I did anything to rile anyone (more than usual, at least), but my membership to this group was deleted when I signed on to Yahoo, and it took several tries to get signed up again. Did this happen to anyone else?” Then justa_bean_counter responds with: “No one has been deleted. Moderators” Then bewarethebottomline says: I hesitate to say much about this for risk of breaking rules 3, 4, and 5 for this board. So I will say more about this on a board where truth telling is more accepted: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ibmpensionissues/info https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ibmpensionissues/info

Moderators and members should be aware of recent security dangers in using Yahoo groups. I am a moderator of the following group: groups.yahoo.com/groups/ibmemployeeissuesissues/ The group received a series of messages this morning from an ID that appears to be a Phishing expedition from an ID that appears to have been hacked. Steps you should take to protect against the security dangers: 1. I would advise all group moderators to hide their member list to provide protection from hackers. I just did this on the ibmemployeeissuesissues group. It is unfortunate that the moderators did not do this for the ibmemployeeissues group which was hacked and disabled a few weeks ago. 2. I would advise all group members to select the option to hide their email/IP address if they have posted messages using the web interface or plan to. 3. I would advise all Yahoo users to change their password to one that would be very difficult for a hacker to discover.

guardyourmanhood, I'm sure there is adequate Mental Health care nearby, but one has to first recognize the need for care before one calls for an appointment. Actually the ibmpension board was not originally founded by grumpy folks. It was founded by Sang J. Moon in an attempt to channel the acidic discussion away from the IBM finance board. The grumpiest of the grumpy folks moved in and staged a hostile takeover, drove Sang away, and established themselves as the new moderators. Inconsistent moderation? Not for me. Moderation for my posts has been very consistent. I have never ever had one of my posts approved. OBTW, I see you managed to get in a post on the ibmpension board inviting folks to join here for financial discussions. Hope a few take you up on that. Perhaps you will find less need to guard your manhood here. ---In ibmpensionissues@..., guardyourmanhood wrote : Let's just hope there is adequate Mental Health care for her in Westchester County. That message board was founded by grumpy folks and they want to keep it that way. Moderation is very inconsistent. Meanwhile, the rest of us can dream about what hot rod to buy with that RMD coming up!

Amazon.com: Mel Zimowski's review of Munsingwear ... http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEkQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Freview%2FR2J7TCABENU3YK&ei=TIZyU5TxGJXTsAT4sICQDQ&usg=AFQjCNFXM0kdTmy6o7VIV2GpmkgMMHFldw&sig2=lDKTSQBqCw6yi00-gDX0yg&bvm=bv.66330100,d.cWc http://www.amazon.com/review/R2J7TCABENU3YK http://www.amazon.com/review/R2J7TCABENU3YK

Puerile. ? ________________________________ Jack Butler

Why? ? ________________________________ Jack Butler

Origin of Taps From emails dating back to October 2008: It all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moan of a soldier who lay mortally wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The captain lit a lantern. Suddenly, he caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, he had enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was partially granted. The captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for the son at the funeral. That request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. Out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of his dead son's uniform. This wish was granted. This music was the haunting melody we now know as "Taps" that is used at all military funerals. Snopes says this story is false. Read more at http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/taps.asp#0xbqFDicfYgo3CXL.99 http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/taps.asp#0xbqFDicfYgo3CXL.99 Origins: It's hard to feel surprised when a melody as hauntingly beautiful as 'Taps' picks up a legend about how it came to be written — it's too mournfully direct a piece for the mere truth to suffice. Taps was composed in July 1862 at Harrison's Landing in Virginia, but aside from that basic fact the fanciful e-mail quoted above, which dates at least to the 1930s, in no way reflects the reality of its origins. There was no dead son, Confederate or otherwise; no lone bugler sounding out the dead boy's last composition. How the call came into being was never anything more than one influential soldier deciding his unit could use a bugle call for particular occasions and setting about to come up with one. If anyone can be said to have composed 'Taps,' it was Brig. Gen. Daniel Butterfield, Commander of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, V Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, during the American Civil War. Dissatisfied with the customary firing of three rifle volleys at the conclusion of burials during battle and also wanting a less harsh bugle call for ceremonially signaling the end of a soldier's day, he likely altered an older piece known as "Tattoo," a French bugle call used to signal "lights out," into the call we now know as 'Taps.' Summoning his brigade's bugler, Private Oliver Willcox Norton, to his tent one evening in July 1862, Butterfield (whether he wrote 'Taps' straight from the cuff or improvised something new by rearranging an older work) worked with the bugler to transform the melody into its present form. As Private Norton later wrote of that occasion: General Daniel Butterfield ... showing me some notes on a staff written in pencil on the back of an envelope, asked me to sound them on my bugle. I did this several times, playing the music as written. He changed it somewhat, lengthening some notes and shortening others, but retaining the melody as he first gave it to me. After getting it to his satisfaction, he directed me to sound that call for 'Taps' thereafter in place of the regulation call. The music was beautiful on that still summer night, and was heard far beyond the limits of our brigade. The next day I was visited by several buglers from neighboring brigades, asking for copies of the music, which I gladly furnished. I think no general order was issued from army headquarters authorizing the substitution of this for the regulation call, but as each brigade commander exercised his own discretion in such minor matters, the call was gradually taken up through the Army of the Potomac. 'Taps' was quickly taken up by both sides of the conflict, and within months was being sounded by buglers in both Union and Confederate forces. Then as now, 'Taps' serves as a vital component in ceremonies honoring military dead. It is also understood by American servicemen as an end-of-day 'lights out' signal. When "Taps" is played at a military funeral, it is customary to salute if in uniform, or place your hand over your heart if not.

http://shrturl.co/HDrI9 http://shrturl.co/HDrI9 http://shrturl.co/HDrI9 http://shrturl.co/HDrI9 http://shrturl.co/HDrI9 For more than a century IBM has been dedicated to every client's success and to creating innovations that matter for the world View on shrturl.co http://shrturl.co/HDrI9 Preview by Yahoo Tip of the hat to: Shrturl Edits Text and Images on any Web Page and Shares It http://lifehacker.com/shrturl-edits-text-and-images-on-any-web-page-and-share-1587966656 http://lifehacker.com/shrturl-edits-text-and-images-on-any-web-page-and-share-1587966656 Shrturl Edits Text and Images on any Web Page and Sha... http://lifehacker.com/shrturl-edits-text-and-images-on-any-web-page-and-share-1587966656 Web: Shrturl makes it easy to demonstrate something that needs to be changed on a Web page or simply prank your friends, as it lets you edit the pag... View on lifehacker.com http://lifehacker.com/shrturl-edits-text-and-images-on-any-web-page-and-share-1587966656 Preview by Yahoo

For a Company in Heliopolis looking for: Project Manager for projects operating at different locations across Cairo / 6 October OR 5th settlements Job Description - Coordinate all activities on assigned projects - Responsible for managing all project activities - Applying management techniques and processes to monitor and control time, cost, quality and scope on projects - Reduce the project risk to catch the project budget and time target - Participating and helping in projects initiation and Preparation of projects forms and procedures - Coordinating with other management functions of the project to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to ensure smooth operation of the project and that the programmed and financial restraints are followed - Following up projects performance and assisting in improving it - Responsible for all technical and coordination issues - Monitoring all incoming correspondence, outgoing correspondence, instructions and the alike from or to the Engineer to ensure compliance with the contract - Manage the technical team responsible for issuing and reviewing all engineering submittals, materials and technical drawings before submission to ensure compliance with the contract specs and within the program of work - Giving notices of claim for extension of time and additional costs and preparing such claims - Participating in the preparation of the variations cost and pricing new items Job Requirements: - Bachelor Degree in Civil or Architectural Engineering - 10 to 15 years of relevant experience, in contracting industry - Excellent communication skills - Excellent computer skills Package: 15000 - 20000 L.E. (Negotiable) + Medical insurance +++ Please send your updated resumes with mentioning in the subject line " Project Manager" to: mo.marzok@... mailto:mo.marzok@... Good luck all, Mohamed Marzok