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| compos mentis. Concision. Media. Clarity. Memes. Context. Melange. Confluence. Mishmash. Conflation. Mellifluous. Conviviality. Miscellany. Confelicity. Milieu. Cogent. Minty. Concoction. |
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Firms Seek to Delay Filing of Annual Reports |
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| Topic: Economics |
4:35 am EST, Apr 4, 2002 |
... companies have delayed filing their annual 10-K reports ... [citing] accounting problems, weak economy ... ... more [DC-area] companies than at any time in memory have asked for extensions ... Trend reflects concern about increased scrutiny ... DynCorp, the Reston-based government contractor requested a delay over concerns about its acquisition of GTE Information Systems LLC, which provides telecommunications and information technology services ... approved by the company's auditor, Arthur Andersen ... Several companies gave vague reasons for wanting to delay their 10-K filings. Primus Telecommunications Group, an Internet service seller, told the SEC it needed an extension because of its "current involvement in the restructuring/renegotiation of certain vendor financing arrangements" ... Network Access Solutions [an ISP] ... said its outside accountant, PricewaterhouseCoopers, needed more time. Firms Seek to Delay Filing of Annual Reports |
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Heads To Roll At Qwest -- News At 11 |
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| Topic: Economics |
6:20 am EST, Apr 3, 2002 |
A growing number of analysts and investors are calling for the heads of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s management after several quarters of disappointing results and growing concerns about the telecommunications giant's accounting practices. ... Analyst: "I think it would be healthy if there was a change in management, especially if there is a restatement of earnings, which there will be." ... no risk of a bankruptcy filing by Qwest, which gets 80 percent of its revenue from its traditional local telephone business. [This "analyst" obviously doesn't read the Cook report.] Another analyst: "I consider Qwest management unethical and I believe they have tried to manipulate results ..." For a few years, Nacchio's strategy appeared to pay off as the company achieved a growth rate of 12 percent. Analysts now question whether its results reflected reality or creative accounting. Heads To Roll At Qwest -- News At 11 |
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A Dim View of a 'Posthuman Future' |
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| Topic: Science |
6:10 am EST, Apr 3, 2002 |
If the human mind and body are shaped by a bunch of genes, as the decoding of the human genome seems to underscore, then biotechnologists will one day be able to change both and perhaps, in seeking to refine the imperfect human clay, will alter human nature. That prospect should be worrying a lot more people, in the view of the political theorist Francis Fukuyama, because history's central question -- that of what kind of society best suits human needs -- has been settled only if human nature remains as it is ... This article makes for a good backgrounder on Fukuyama, his career, and his books. A Dim View of a 'Posthuman Future' |
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WorldCom To Cut 7,000 Jobs |
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| Topic: Economics |
6:07 am EST, Apr 3, 2002 |
WorldCom, the nation's second-largest long-distance company, [will] cut about 7,000 jobs (over 9% of its workforce) as it seeks to recover from a slowdown in sales and a federal investigation ... As sales remain sluggish, WorldCom is trying to reduce expenses ... analysts expect sales to grow about 1% ... [but what about the drop in profits with the migration to data services?] In addition to job cuts, capital spending will be cut by $1.5 billion ... WorldCom To Cut 7,000 Jobs |
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Adelphia's PR Engine Still Running At Full Speed |
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| Topic: Economics |
5:59 am EST, Apr 3, 2002 |
Talk about a high-performance engine! Adelphia should get out of the communications infrastructure business and start doing PR full time! At 7:11 pm on Tuesday, this story hit the AP wire: A shareholder lawsuit accused Adelphia of misleading stockholders about its financial condition by failing to disclose billions of dollars of off-balance-sheet debt ... accusing the company ... of issuing misleading statements. ... stock dropped from $20.39 on 3/26 to $13.12 on 4/1 to $11.83 on 4/2 ... incurred off-balance-sheet debt of $2.3B ... announced Monday its annual 10-K financial report was being delayed to review accounting for the debt. Understandably, this news must have ruffled feathers at the company. So, after some poor soul no doubt spent a long night at the office, this story hits the wire at 12:47 am Wednesday morning: Cable Company Keeps Small - Town Touch Adelphia may be the sixth-biggest cable television company in the country, but founder John Rigas and family stay close to their roots in rural Coudersport, Pa., where Adelphia began 50 years ago as a $300 venture ... The company has kept its headquarters in Coudersport, about 70 miles north of State College near the New York border, where Rigas, his sons and their families are familiar faces. A town resident said: "The sons grew up here, they went to high school with us Their homes are right here. If we pass on the street, we say hello. ... John Rigas came to my dad's funeral and two of his sons came. That's the kind of community it is." ... gradually built their community antenna association into a larger cable operation ... They named their company "Adelphia," Greek for "brothers." ... branched out into sports properties ... John Rigas reached a handshake deal to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates ... only to have a California businessman outbid him ... family is involved in local affairs ... a member of the Rotary Club ... and the local hospital advisory committee .... It's too bad this strategy won't work for Global Crossing ... but it'd be a hard sell to convince people that a firm with the word "Global" in its name has any of sort of small-town charm. Adelphia's PR Engine Still Running At Full Speed |
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Arthur Andersen Delays Global Crossing's 10-K Report |
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| Topic: Economics |
5:31 am EST, Apr 3, 2002 |
Global Crossing notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday that it will delay filing its 10-K financial report. The company said Arthur Andersen, the firm's troubled public accountants, won't be able to deliver an audit of its financial statements for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2001, because of an ongoing investigation. ... Global Crossing officials said the company has not finished disclosures needed in the Form 10-K. The Form 10-K will be filed after Global Crossing completes its financial disclosures and the audit report from Arthur Andersen is received. Is this the whole truth? Is a bombshell announcement in the offing? Hmmm ... Arthur Andersen Delays Global Crossing's 10-K Report |
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First Monday Book Reviews |
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| Topic: Technology |
10:09 pm EST, Apr 2, 2002 |
Pierre Baldi.
The Shattered Self: The End of Natural Evolution.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. ... stands out, partly thanks to its somehow provocative and disquieting contents ... "Music can be represented, composed, and recorded in digital media in many ways ... edited and manipulated ... just like genomic DNA. ... Within a few hundred years, traditional instrumentalists could vanish almost entirely, and something derived from the computers of today could become a kind of universal instrument connected to the Internet." Ollivier Dyens.
Metal and Flesh - The Evolution of Man: Technology Takes Over.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. .... a collection of writings on the emergence of "cultural biology." ... three sections ... revolving around two central themes: how technology transforms our perception of the world and how culture is taking a life of its own. Two interesting book reviews from the latest issue of _First Monday_. First Monday Book Reviews |
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Crisis Communication and the Internet: Risk and Trust in a Global Media |
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| Topic: Society |
10:03 pm EST, Apr 2, 2002 |
Risk is one of the main features of modern societies. With the Internet, ... increased risk associated with information: free accessibility, interactivity, globality, and connectivity of personal, economical, political and media communication ... On the other hand, ... increased opportunities to secure information ... Does the Internet increase or decrease the risk of a communication breakdown? It has been demonstrated that trust is one of the features in complex modern societies which compensates for risk. ... does the Internet increase trust ...? The questions ... are seen in a much broader context: does Internet communication force a structural transformation of the public sphere? Crisis Communication and the Internet: Risk and Trust in a Global Media |
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Qwest Bracing for SEC Action |
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| Topic: Economics |
7:20 am EST, Apr 2, 2002 |
Qwest Communications International will take a charge of $20 billion to $30 billion, part of its efforts to reflect the decline in the value of recently acquired assets, including US West. The company also said it expects the Securities and Exchange Commission to recommend some sort of action against it ... Qwest may have to take another significant writedown on its investment in KPNQwest because shares valued at $7.15 on Dec. 31 have fallen by more than half. Qwest Bracing for SEC Action |
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Metromedia Fiber Slides Toward a Bankruptcy Filing |
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| Topic: Economics |
6:29 am EST, Apr 2, 2002 |
Metromedia Fiber Network, a major provider of optical fiber communications networks in and around large cities, replaced its top executives yesterday and said that it had violated several loan agreements, moving to the brink of bankruptcy. The company missed an $8.1 million interest payment Friday on $231 million in notes issued to Nortel Networks. The missed payment automatically put it into default not just on the Nortel notes but on more than $440 million in notes and other loans from major creditors and banks. As of the end of February, the company had $3.3 billion in total debt and less than $40 million in cash. ... Metromedia Fiber's collapse would be one of the largest yet in the telecommunications sector. The company ... claims to be the industry's leading supplier of high-speed voice and data networks to urban customers. Metromedia Fiber Slides Toward a Bankruptcy Filing |
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