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252 items found for ""

  • Christopher McCandless | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Christopher Johnson McCandless (February 12, 1968[2] – c. August 1992), also known by his pseudonym "Alexander Supertramp",[3] was an American adventurer who sought an increasingly nomadic lifestyle as he grew up. McCandless is the subject of Into the Wild, a nonfiction book by Jon Krakauer that was later made into a full-length feature film. Into the Wild (Trailer) After graduating from Emory University in Georgia in 1990, McCandless traveled across North America and eventually hitchhiked to Alaska in April 1992. There, he entered the Alaskan bush with minimal supplies, hoping to live simply off the land. On the eastern bank of the Sushana River, McCandless found an abandoned bus, Fairbanks Bus 142, which he used as a makeshift shelter until his death. In September, his decomposing body, weighing only 67 pounds (30 kg), was found inside the bus by a hunter. McCandless's cause of death was officially ruled to be starvation,[4][5] although the exact circumstances relating to his death remain the subject of some debate.[6][7][8][9] In January 1993, Krakauer published an article about McCandless in that month's issue of Outside magazine. He had been assigned the story and had written it under a tight deadline.[10] Inspired by the details of McCandless's story, Krakauer wrote the biographical book Into the Wild, which was subsequently adapted into a 2007 film directed by Sean Penn, with Emile Hirsch portraying McCandless. That same year, McCandless became the subject of Ron Lamothe's documentary The Call of the Wild.

  • Balaji S. Srinivasan | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Balaji S. Srinivasan (born May 24, 1980)[1] is an entrepreneur. He was co-founder of Counsyl, and is the former chief technology officer (CTO) of Coinbase and former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz.[2] Career In 2007, Srinivasan co-founded genetic testing company Counsyl, which provided tests to prospective parents to screen for Mendelian diseases.[1][2][5] Counsyl was acquired by Myriad Genetics for $375 million in 2018.[6][7] In 2013, Srinivasan joined Andreessen Horowitz as a general partner.[8] In April 2014, he co-founded Teleport, a job search engine. Teleport was acquired by Topia in 2017.[9][10] In 2013, Srinivasan co-founded 21.co, a Bitcoin mining startup that failed as a bitcoin mining business[11][non-primary source needed] but pivoted to become Earn.com, which allowed senders to pay users in digital currency to reply to emails.[1] Earn.com was acquired by digital currency exchange company Coinbase in April 2018 for over $100 million.[12][13] After Coinbase purchased Earn.com, it became Coinbase Earn and Srinivasan became Coinbase’s first CTO.[1][14][15] He left the company in 2019.[16] In 2020 Srinivasan moved to Singapore.[17] In July 2022, Srinivasan published The Network State: How To Start a New Country which coined the concept of a Network State which proposes the setting up of decentralized digital communities that crowdfund resources to build new autonomous cities and states.[18][19][20][21] The Network State https://thenetworkstate.com/

  • 12 Sectors of the Stock Market | Lionbliss Research

    Energy Technology Health Care Financials Real Estate Materials Consumer Discretionary Industrials Utilities Consumer Staples Communications Cryptocurrency Energy The energy sector includes companies engaged in exploration and production of oil and other hydrocarbons, refining, the transportation of oil and gas, and production of oil and gas equipment. The sector is generally mature with modest growth. Some of the best-known companies: Chevron, ExxonMobil, Halliburton Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Energy ETF (VDE) Materials The materials sector includes companies that produce chemicals, glass, paper, forestry products, metals, packaging, construction materials and steel. It tends to be a mature industry with modest growth potential. Some of the best-known companies: Dow, DuPont, Sherwin-Williams Popular sector ETF: iShares Global Materials ETF (MXI) Industrials The industrials sector includes companies that manufacture aerospace and defense products, electrical equipment and construction equipment. It also includes companies providing security services, employment services, professional services and transportation services. This sector may show strong growth during economic booms. Some of the best-known companies: 3M, Caterpillar, Delta Air Lines Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Industrials ETF (VIS) Consumer discretionary The consumer discretionary sector includes companies that produce cars, durable goods, clothing and leisure equipment. It also includes restaurants, hotels and consumer retailing, among others. This sector is sensitive to economic cycles, so when the economy grows, these companies tend to grow much more quickly, though when it slows, this industry typically slows even more. Some of the best-known companies: Amazon, Ford Motor Company, Home Depot Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF (VCR) Consumer staples The consumer staples sector includes companies that produce food, drinks and tobacco, and non-durable household goods as well as those retailers that sell food and drugs, including retailing supercenters. This industry tends to be mature with modest growth. Some of the best-known companies: Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Walmart Popular sector ETF: Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) Health care The health care sector includes companies that provide health care services, as well as health care equipment and technology. It includes companies at all stages of pharmaceutical and biotech research, development and production. This sector can be dynamic and exhibits above-trend growth, with some very quickly growing companies. Some of the best-known companies: Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, UnitedHealth Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Healthcare ETF (VHT) Financials The financials sector consists of companies involved in banking, including mortgage and consumer finance, as well as investment banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies. The sector has shown robust growth and profitability, but can be affected significantly by the trend of interest rates, causing cyclicality. Some of the best-known companies: Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase Popular sector ETF: Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) Information technology The information technology sector includes companies that produce software and other IT products and services. It also contains companies that manufacture hardware such as communications equipment, mobile phones, computers and semiconductor equipment. This sector has been a fast grower and contains some of the market’s largest companies. Some of the best-known companies: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) Communication services The communication services sector includes telecommunication and media companies, entertainment companies and those producing content and interactive games. This sector can offer significant growth opportunities as the world moves more online, but older companies face significant challenges from more dynamic entrants. Some of the best-known companies: Disney, Facebook, Verizon Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Communication Services ETF (VOX) Utilities The utilities sector includes companies providing electricity, gas and water (from conventional and environmentally friendly sources) as well as energy traders and distributors of energy. This sector is generally a slow and steady performer, rather than a growth sector. But “green” energy offers the promise of higher returns, although with higher risk. Some of the best-known companies: Dominion Energy, Duke Energy, NextEra Energy Popular sector ETF: Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) Real estate The real estate sector includes real estate services companies, real estate developers and equity REITs. This sector may offer strong growth opportunities, but shows steady growth overall. Some of the best-known companies: American Tower, Public Storage, Simon Property Group Popular sector ETF: Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund (VNQ) Cryptocurrency Digital medium of exchange using cryptography on a ledger to secure transactions and to verify transfer of ownership.

  • Alex Hormozi | Lionbliss Research

    Overview He is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. By the age of 33, Alex and his wife Leila’s portfolio of companies crossed $150M per year in revenue spanning: brick & mortar service, licensing, education, SAAS, and e-commerce. He is widely considered growth & monetization expert and is a guest contributor on Forbes & Entrepreneur. He and his wife now spend their time investing in founder-led service-based businesses to help them scale & multiply profits. They also donate millions to advancing equal access to education in underprivileged communities. (https://www.acquisition.com/)

  • Andrew Tate | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Emory Andrew Tate III (born December 14, 1986) is an American-British[1] internet personality and former professional kickboxer. Following his kickboxing career, Tate began offering paid courses and memberships through his website and later rose to fame as an influencer. Andrew Tate vs Piers Morgan | The Full Interview https://youtu.be/VGWGcESPltM

  • Domesday Book | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of William I, known as William the Conqueror.[1] Domesday has long been associated with the Latin phrase Domus Dei, meaning "House of God".[2] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1085 the king sent his agents to survey every shire in England, to list his holdings and calculate the dues owed to him.[4] http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/index.html Similar - In a parallel development, around 1100, the Normans in southern Italy completed their Catalogus Baronum based on Domesday Book. The original manuscript was destroyed in the Second World War, but printed copies survive.[17]

  • Ray Kurzweil | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Raymond Kurzweil (/ˈkɜːrzwaɪl/ KURZ-wyle; born February 12, 1948) is an American inventor and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He has written books on health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism. Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements and gives public talks to share his optimistic outlook on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology. Kurzweil received the 1999 National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the United States' highest honor in technology, from President Clinton in a White House ceremony. He was the recipient of the $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize for 2001. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2001 for the application of technology to improve human-machine communication. In 2002 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, established by the U.S. Patent Office. He has received 21 honorary doctorates, and honors from three U.S. presidents. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) included Kurzweil as one of 16 "revolutionaries who made America" along with other inventors of the past two centuries. Inc. magazine ranked him #8 among the "most fascinating" entrepreneurs in the United States and called him "Edison's rightful heir". https://www.kurzweilai.net/ Highlights During the 1990s, Kurzweil founded the Medical Learning Company.[19] Kurzweil has joined the Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a cryonics company. In the event of his declared death, Kurzweil plans to be perfused with cryoprotectants, vitrified in liquid nitrogen, and stored at an Alcor facility in the hope that future medical technology will be able to repair his tissues and revive him.[25] Kurzweil is agnostic about the existence of a soul.[26] On the possibility of divine intelligence, Kurzweil has said, "Does God exist? I would say, 'Not yet.'"[27] Content Ray Kurzweil: Singularity, Superintelligence, and Immortality | Lex Fridman Podcast #321: https://youtu.be/ykY69lSpDdo

  • Elvis Presley | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Elvis Aaron Presley[a] (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and initial controversy. B.B. King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular when they both used to frequent Beale Street.[46] By the time he graduated from high school in June 1953, Presley had already singled out music as his future.[47][48] On March 24, 1958, Presley was drafted into the United States Army at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. His arrival was a major media event. Hundreds of people descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus; photographers then accompanied him into the installation.[161] Presley announced that he was looking forward to his military stint, saying that he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else: "The Army can do anything it wants with me."[162] Presley returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged three days later with the rank of sergeant.[177] Presley returned to television on May 12 as a guest on The Frank Sinatra Timex Special—ironic for both stars, given Sinatra's earlier excoriation of rock and roll. Also known as Welcome Home Elvis, the show had been taped in late March, the only time all year Presley performed in front of an audience. Secured an unheard-of $125,000 fee for eight minutes of singing. The broadcast drew an enormous viewership.[184] G.I. Blues, the soundtrack to Presley's first film since his return, was a number-one album in October. Among the 27 films he made during the 1960s, there were a few further exceptions.[189] His films were almost universally panned; critic Andrew Caine dismissed them as a "pantheon of bad taste".[190] Nonetheless, they were virtually all profitable. Hal Wallis, who produced nine of them, declared, "A Presley picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood."[191] Shortly before Christmas 1966, more than seven years since they first met, Presley proposed to Priscilla Beaulieu. They were married on May 1, 1967, in a brief ceremony in their suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas.[199] The flow of formulaic films and assembly-line soundtracks rolled on. It was not until October 1967, when the Clambake soundtrack LP registered record low sales for a new Presley album, that RCA executives recognized a problem. Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968. He ( maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to both finance a theatrical feature and broadcast a Christmas special.[205] Years of prescription drug abuse and unhealthy eating habits severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42.

  • Abortion | Politics | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus.[nb 1] An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregnancies.[2][3] When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced abortion, or less frequently "induced miscarriage". Resources https://reproductiverights.org/ https://www.guttmacher.org/global/abortion / https://www.guttmacher.org/abortion-rights-supreme-court https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/choosing-life-beyond-the-legacy-of-roe Law and Policy Guide Center for Reproductive Rights - International and regional human rights norms, global medical standards, and comparative laws and policies on the following topics: Legal Grounds for Abortion Life Exceptions Health Exceptions Broad Social or Economic Grounds On Request Rape and Incest Exceptions Fetal Viability and Impairments Other Gestational Limits Accessibility, Acceptability, Availability and Quality Framework Right to Information Informed Consent Medical Abortion Adolescents Third Party Authorization Criminality Conscientious Objection Interactive United States map to access https://states.guttmacher.org/policies/ World Map of Laws Explanation of Categories of Abortion Laws Category 1. Prohibited Altogether The laws of the countries in this category do not permit abortion under any circumstances, including when the woman’s life or health is at risk. 24 countries globally fall within this category. 91 million (6%) women of reproductive age live in countries that prohibit abortion altogether. Category II. To Save a Woman’s Life The laws of the countries in this category permit abortion when the woman’s life is at risk. 41 countries fall within this category. 358 million (22%) women of reproductive age live in countries that allow abortion to save the life of the woman. Category III. To Preserve Health The laws of countries in this category permit abortion on the basis of health or therapeutic grounds. 48 countries fall within this category 186 million (12%) of women of reproductive age live in countries that allow abortion on health grounds. Category IV. Broad Social or Economic Grounds These laws are generally interpreted liberally to permit abortion under a broad range of circumstances. These countries often consider a woman’s actual or reasonably foreseeable environment and her social or economic circumstances in considering the potential impact of pregnancy and childbearing. 13 countries fall within this category. 386 million (24%) of women of reproductive age live in countries that allow abortion on broad social or economic grounds. Category V. On Request (Gestational Limits Vary) 576 million (36%) women of reproductive age live in countries that allow abortion on request. 75 countries globally fall within this category. The most common gestational limit for countries in this category is 12 weeks. Gestational limits are calculated from the first day of the last menstrual period, which is considered to occur two weeks prior to conception. Where laws specify that gestational age limits are calculated from the date of conception, these limits have been extended by two weeks.

  • Albert B. Fall | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Albert Bacon Fall (November 26, 1861 – November 30, 1944) was a United States senator from New Mexico and the Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding, infamous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal; being the only person convicted as a result of the affair. Albert Fall was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, to William R. and Edmonia Taylor Fall. He attended schools as a child in Nashville, Tennessee, but was primarily self-educated. By age eleven Fall was employed in a cotton factory. Fall was admitted to the bar in 1891. He served in the New Mexico House of Representatives from 1891 to 1892, and served on the territorial council from 1892 until 1893. Fall was appointed judge of the third judicial district in 1893, and associate justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court later the same year. Fall served on the Territorial Council again from 1896 to 1897, and as the territory's attorney general in 1897. He again served on the Territorial Council from 1902 to 1904. During the Spanish–American War, Fall served as captain of an infantry company. He served as attorney general again in 1907. In 1910 he was a delegate to the territory's constitutional convention. Fall was appointed to the position of Secretary of the Interior by President Warren G. Harding in March 1921. Soon after his appointment, Harding convinced Edwin Denby, the Secretary of the Navy, that Fall's department should take over responsibility for the Naval Reserves at both Elk Hills and Buena Vista, California, and Teapot Dome, Wyoming. This last setting became the namesake of the scandal to erupt in April 1922, when The Wall Street Journal reported that Secretary Fall had decided that two of his friends, oilmen Harry F. Sinclair (Mammoth Oil Corporation) and Edward L. Doheny (Pan-American Petroleum and Transport Company), should be given leases to drill in parts of these Naval Reserves without open bidding. In exchange, Fall accepted bribes. The investigation found Fall guilty of bribery and conspiracy as a result of $385,000 having been paid to him by Edward L. Doheny.

  • John McAfee | Lionbliss Research

    Overview John David McAfee (18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021)[3][4] was a British-American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and in 2020. In 1987, he wrote the first commercial anti-virus software, founding McAfee Associates to sell his creation. He resigned in 1994 and sold his remaining stake in the company.[5] McAfee became the company's most vocal critic in later years, urging consumers to uninstall the company's anti-virus software, which he characterized as bloatware. He disavowed the company's continued use of his name in branding, a practice that has persisted in spite of a short-lived corporate rebrand attempt under Intel ownership. McAfee was born in Cinderford, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England,[17] on 18 September 1945,[18] on a U.S. Army base (of the 596th Ordnance Ammunition Company), to an American father, Don McAfee, who was stationed there, and a British mother, Joan (Williams).[19][20] His father was from Roanoke, and McAfee was himself primarily raised in Salem, Virginia, United States. He said he felt as much British as American.[21] When he was 15, his father, whom a BBC columnist described as "an abusive alcoholic", killed himself with a gun.[21] He had spent his childhood living in fear that a beating from his father could happen at any time, and struggled to make sense of why this was happening to him.[18] Notable McAfee was employed as a programmer by NASA's Institute for Space Studies in New York City from 1968 to 1970 working on the Apollo program. From there, he went to Univac as a software designer, and later to Xerox as an operating system architect. In 1978, he joined Computer Sciences Corporation as a software consultant. He worked for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton from 1980 to 1982.[24] In 1986, while employed by Lockheed, he read about the Brain computer virus made for the PC, and he found it terrifying.[23] Sensing a business opportunity, he went about creating an antivirus software that could detect the computer virus and remove it automatically.[20] In 1987 McAfee created McAfee Associates Inc. to sell this software, which he named VirusScan.[22] This was the first anti-virus software brought to market, and one of the first software products to be distributed over the internet.[20][22] The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1992, and had its initial public offering the same year. In August 1993, McAfee stepped down as chief executive and remained with the company as the chief technical officer. He was succeeded by Bill Larson.[25] In 1994 he sold his remaining stake in the company.[26] He had no further involvement in its operations.[5] After various mergers and ownership changes, Intel acquired McAfee in August 2010.[27] In January 2014, Intel announced that McAfee-related products would be marketed as Intel Security. McAfee expressed his pleasure at the name change, saying, "I am now everlastingly grateful to Intel for freeing me from this terrible association with the worst software on the planet."[28] The business was soon de-merged from Intel, once more under the McAfee name. Other business ventures that were founded by McAfee include Tribal Voice, which developed one of the first instant messaging programs,[29] PowWow. In 2000, he invested in and joined the board of directors of Zone Labs, makers of firewall software, prior to its acquisition by Check Point Software in 2003.[30] In the 2000s McAfee invested in and advertised ultra-light flights, which he marketed as aerotrekking.[6] In February 2010, McAfee started the company QuorumEx,[32] headquartered in Belize, which aimed to produce herbal antibiotics that disrupt quorum sensing in bacteria.[33][34] In June 2013, McAfee uploaded a parody video titled How to Uninstall McAfee Antivirus onto his YouTube channel. In it, he critiques the antivirus software while snorting white powder and being stripped by scantily clad women. It received ten million views. He told Reuters the video was meant to ridicule the media's negative coverage of him. A spokesman for McAfee Inc. called the video's statements "ludicrous".[35] Also in 2013, McAfee founded Future Tense Central, which aimed to produce a secure computer network device called the D-Central.[36] By 2016, it was also an incubator.[37] In February 2014, McAfee announced Cognizant, an application for smartphones, which displays information about the permissions of other installed applications.[38] In April 2014, it was renamed DCentral 1, and an Android version was released for free on Google Play.[39][40] At the DEF CON conference in Las Vegas in August 2014, McAfee warned people not to use smartphones, suggesting apps are used to spy on clueless consumers who do not read privacy user agreements.[41] In January 2016, he became the chief evangelist for security startup Everykey.[37] In February 2016, McAfee publicly volunteered to decrypt the iPhone used by Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik in San Bernardino, avoiding the need for Apple to build a backdoor.[42] He later admitted that his claims regarding the ease of cracking the phone were a publicity stunt, while still asserting its possibility.[43] In May 2016, McAfee was appointed chairman and CEO of MGT Capital Investments, a technology holding company. It initially said it would rename itself John McAfee Global Technologies,[44] although this plan was abandoned due to a dispute with Intel over rights to the "McAfee" name.[45] He changed MGT's focus from social gaming to cybersecurity, saying "anti-virus software is dead, it no longer works", and that "the new paradigm has to stop the hacker getting in" before he or she can do damage.[46] Soon after joining MGT, McAfee said he and his team had exploited a flaw in the Android operating system that allowed him to read encrypted messages from WhatsApp.[47] Gizmodo investigated his claim, and reported that he had sent reporters malware-infected phones to make this hack work. He replied: "Of course the phones had malware on them. How that malware got there is the story, which we will release after speaking with Google. It involves a serious flaw in the Android architecture."[48] McAfee moved MGT into the mining of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, both to make money for the company, and to increase MGT's expertise in dealing with blockchains, which he thought was important for cybersecurity.[49] In August 2017, McAfee stepped down as CEO, instead serving as MGT's "chief cybersecurity visionary". In January 2018, he left the company altogether. Both sides said the split was amicable; he said he wanted to spend all of his time on cryptocurrencies, while the company told of pressure from potential investors to disassociate itself from him.[50] On 13 August 2018, McAfee took a position of CEO with Luxcore, a cryptocurrency company focused on enterprise solutions.[51] Death On 23 June 2021, McAfee was found dead in his prison cell at the Brians 2 Penitentiary Center [ca] near Barcelona, hours after the Spanish National Court ordered his extradition to the United States on criminal charges filed in Tennessee by the United States Department of Justice Tax Division.[5] The Catalan Justice Department said "everything indicates" he killed himself by hanging.[11][125][126][127] An official autopsy confirmed his suicide.[128][13] McAfee's death ignited speculation and conspiracy theories about the possibility that he was murdered. McAfee's death drew comparisons to the circumstances of the death of American financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.[129][130] Several times, McAfee claimed if he were ever found dead by hanging, it would mean he was murdered.[131] Minutes after the report of his death, an image of the letter Q was posted to his Instagram feed (his account was subsequently taken down), apparently in reference to QAnon conspiracy theories.[132][133][134] These theories have been referred to by some journalists as speculative, "bizarre," and "baseless," primarily based on McAfee's own statements.[132][133][134] The day after his death, his lawyer told reporters that while he regularly maintained contact with McAfee in prison, there were no signs of suicidal intent.[135] McAfee's widow reaffirmed this position in her first public remarks since her husband's death, and also called for a "thorough" investigation.[136][137] On 13 February 2022, a Spanish court ruled McAfee died by suicide.[138] In a Netflix documentary released on August 24, 2022, entitled Running With the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee, McAfee's ex-girlfriend, identified as Samantha Herrera, alleged that McAfee faked his death to avoid tax evasion charges. This allegation has not been proven, however.[139][140]

  • Neil Starr | Cornelius Vander Starr | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Cornelius Vander Starr (October 15, 1892 – December 20, 1968), sometimes known as Neil Starr, was an American businessman and founder of C.V. Starr & Co. (later known as Starr Companies) in Shanghai, China, which became AIG. AIG grew from an initial market value of $300 million to $180 billion, becoming the largest insurance company in the world. Starr was born to parents of Dutch ancestry. His father was a railroad engineer.[1] Starr attended University of California, Berkeley from 1910 to 1911 before dropping out and returning to his hometown of Fort Bragg, California.[2][3][4] He joined the U.S. Army in 1918 but was never deployed overseas because World War I had ended. Unable to resist a strong urge to travel and understand the world, he joined the Pacific Mail Steamship Company as a clerk in Yokohama, Japan. Later that year, he traveled to Shanghai where he worked for several insurance businesses. Starr was also an early investor in skiing at Mount Mansfield in Stowe, Vermont,[15] acquiring the Stowe Mountain Resort in 1949. It passed on to AIG in 1988.[16] Starr Companies In 1919 he founded what was then known as American Asiatic Underwriters (later American International Underwriters) in Shanghai, China, a global insurance and investment organization. He was forced to move his operation to New York in 1939, when Japan invaded China.[5] Starr worked for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II[6] and found himself engaged in such work as establishing the OSS insurance intelligence unit with William "Wild Bill" Donovan in 1943 and serving as the chief operative behind former U.S. Army Air Force officer Claire L. Chennault. Chennault is best known for coordinating the American-bankrolled American Volunteer Group (better known as the "Flying Tigers") to bring the fight to the Japanese without a declaration of war and return Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to dominance in China. Starr and the OSS later backed Chiang over communist leader Mao Zedong. In 2000, Mark Fritz wrote in the article entitled The Secret (Insurance) Agent Men for the Los Angeles Times: "They knew which factories to burn, which bridges to blow up, which cargo ships could be sunk in good conscience. They had pothole counts for roads used for invasion and head counts for city blocks marked for incineration. They weren't just secret agents. They were secret insurance agents. These undercover underwriters gave their World War II spymasters access to a global industry that both bankrolled and, ultimately, helped bring down Adolf Hitler's Third Reich."[5] After World War II, Starr hired O.S.S. captain Duncan Lee, a lawyer, who became the long-term general counsel of AIG. AIG left China in early 1949, as Mao led the advance of the Communist People's Liberation Army on Shanghai,[7][8] and Starr moved the company headquarters to its current home in New York City.[9] AIG was the world's largest insurance company, and as of 2021 remains unchallenged in that respect.[10]

  • Alphonso Taft | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Alphonso Taft (November 5, 1810 – May 21, 1891) was an American jurist, diplomat, politician, Attorney General and Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant. He was also the founder of the Taft political dynasty, and father of President and Chief Justice William Howard Taft. As Secretary of War, Taft's popular appointment by Grant did much to restore the integrity of the War Department. Taft reformed the War Department by allowing commanders at Indian forts to choose who could start and run post traderships, and by making reductions in wasteful military spending. Taft helped create the secret society known as Skull and Bones in 1832 with William Huntington Russell. Alphonso Taft formed a law firm with Thomas Marshall Key and William M. Dickson in April 1854.[7] Taft asserted that the school board was within its rights to stop the practice of reading the Bible in public schools, arguing that religious liberty demands that "The government is neutral, and, while protecting all [religious sects], it prefers none, and it disparages none."[10][11][12] Taft was appointed by President Chester A. Arthur as U.S. Minister to Austria-Hungary (1882–1884) and to Imperial Russia (1884–1885). Taft was a member of the Taft family political dynasty. His son, William Howard Taft, was the 27th president of the United States and the 10th Chief Justice of the United States, and was a member of Yale's Skull and Bones like his founder father; another son, Charles Phelps Taft, supported the founding of Wolf's Head Society at Yale; both his grandson and great-grandson, Robert A. Taft I (also Skull and Bones) and Robert Taft Jr., were U.S. Senators; his great-great-grandson, Robert A. Taft II, was the Governor of Ohio from 1999 until 2007. William Howard Taft III was ambassador to Ireland; William Howard Taft IV worked in several Republican administrations, most recently that of George W. Bush.

  • Frank Carlucci III | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Frank Charles Carlucci III GCIH (Order of Prince Henry)(October 18, 1930 – June 3, 2018) was an American politician and diplomat who served as the United States Secretary of Defense from 1987 to 1989 in the administration of President Ronald Reagan.[2] He was the first Italian American to serve in that position. Carlucci served in a variety of senior-level governmental positions, including Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in the Nixon administration, Deputy Director of the CIA in the Carter administration, and Deputy Secretary of Defense and National Security Advisor in the Reagan administration. Carlucci was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the son of Roxann (née Bacon) and Frank Charles Carlucci, Jr., an insurance broker. His father was of Italian and Swiss descent.[3] His grandfather was from Santomenna, Italy.[4] After graduating from Wyoming Seminary in 1948, Carlucci attended Princeton University, where he roomed with Donald Rumsfeld. Carlucci graduated with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1952 after completing a 153-page senior thesis, "Two American Businesses in Costa Rica."[5] He was an officer in the US Navy from 1952 to 1954.[7] He then attended Harvard Business School for an M.B.A. in 1954–1955.[6] He joined the US Foreign Service and worked for the US State Department from 1956 to 1969.[8] Notable In 1961, Carlucci was the second secretary at the US Embassy in the Congo. During that time, Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of independent Congo, was killed in January 1961 during the Congo Crisis.[9] According to subsequently-released US government documents, US President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the CIA to eliminate Lumumba.[9][10] Minutes of an August 1960 National Security Council meeting confirm that Eisenhower told CIA chief Allen Dulles to "eliminate" the Congolese leader.[11] The official notetaker, Robert H. Johnson, testified to that before the Senate Intelligence Committee in 1975. However, subsequent investigations indicate that Lumumba was ultimately executed by an order of a political rival, Moïse Tshombe, who led the State of Katanga, with Belgian assistance.[9][12] According to Robert B. Oakley, Carlucci befriended the future Congo Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula in 1959-1960, who was then a Congolese Member of Parliament.[13] According to James Schlesinger, Adoula began a White House meeting with President John F. Kennedy with the question "Où est Carlucci?" ("Where is Carlucci?"). Kennedy first responded, "Who the hell is Carlucci?" He then sent Dean Rusk to find him.[14] Oakley added that that instance was "the beginning of Carlucci's meteoric rise!"[15] Carlucci became Ambassador to Portugal and served in that position from 1974 to 1977.[17] He was remembered in Portugal among the winners of the coup of 25 November 1975.[19] The Carlucci American International School of Lisbon, the oldest American school in the Iberian Peninsula, is named after him. Carlucci was Deputy Director of the CIA from 1978 to 1981, under Director Stansfield Turner.[8] Carlucci was United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1981 to 1983.[20] He served as United States National Security Advisor from 1986 to 1987,[21] where he appointed Colin Powell, later his successor, as US Deputy National Security Advisor.[22] Carlucci became US Secretary of Defense in 1987 after Caspar Weinberger resigned for being involved in the Iran-Contra Affair.[8] Carlucci served in that position until the end of the Reagan administration, on January 20, 1989.[8][17] Business Life Carlucci served as chairman of the Carlyle Group from 1992 to 2003 and chairman emeritus until 2005.[8][17] He had business interests in the following companies: Ashland Global Holdings, General Dynamics, Westinghouse, Neurogen, CB Commercial Real Estate, Nortel, BDM International, Quaker Oats, and Kaman.[23] Carlucci was at one time a director of the private security firm Wackenhut[24] and was a co-founder and senior member of the Frontier Group, a private-equity investment firm.[25] Carlucci was an advisory board member of G2 Satellite Solutions and the Chairman Emeritus of Nortel Networks.[26] Carlucci was affiliated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a conservative think tank.[27] He was Chairman Emeritus of the US-Taiwan Business Council after he had been Chairman from 1999 to 2002; he was succeeded in 2003 by William Cohen.[28][29] Carlucci was a member of the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation[30] and was a founding co-chair of the Advisory Board for RAND's Center for Middle East Public Policy.[31] He was also a member of the Honorary Board of the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates drug legalization.[32]

  • Donald Rumsfeld | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush.[1][2] He was both the youngest and the oldest secretary of defense.[3] Additionally, Rumsfeld was a three-term U.S. Congressman from Illinois (1963–1969), director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), counselor to the president (1969–1973), the U.S. Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and the White House Chief of Staff (1974–1975). Between his terms as secretary of defense, he served as the CEO and chairman of several companies. While at Princeton he was friends with another future Secretary of Defense, Frank Carlucci.[21] Rumsfeld accepted an appointment by President Richard Nixon to head the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1969; appointed counsellor by Nixon and entitled to Cabinet-level status, he also headed up the Economic Stabilization Program before being appointed ambassador to NATO. Called back to Washington in August 1974, Rumsfeld was appointed chief of staff by President Ford. Rumsfeld recruited a young one-time staffer of his, Dick Cheney, to succeed him when Ford nominated him to be Secretary of Defense in 1975. When Ford lost the 1976 election, Rumsfeld returned to private business and financial life, and was named president and CEO of the pharmaceutical corporation G. D. Searle & Company. He was later named CEO of General Instrument from 1990 to 1993 and chairman of Gilead Sciences from 1997 to 2001.

  • Charles Philip Arthur George | Charles, Prince of Wales | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Charles, Prince of Wales (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948), is the heir apparent to the British throne as the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He has been heir apparent as well as Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay since 1952 and is both the oldest and the longest-serving heir apparent in British history.[2] He is the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having held the title since July 1958.[3] Upon the death of his father on 9 April 2021, Charles also inherited the title of Duke of Edinburgh.[4] Charles was born in Buckingham Palace as the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer, with whom he had two sons: Prince William and Prince Harry. In 1996, the couple divorced following well-publicised extramarital affairs by both parties. Diana died as the result of a car crash in Paris the following year. He was baptised there by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, on 15 December 1948.[fn 3] The death of his grandfather and the accession of his mother as Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 made Charles the heir apparent. As the monarch's eldest son, he automatically assumed the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.[16] In 1997, Charles represented the Queen at the Hong Kong handover ceremony.[65][66] At the ceremony, he read the Queen's message to Hong Kongers, which said: "Britain is part of Hong Kong's history and Hong Kong is part of Britain's history. We are also part of each other's future".[67] The Worshipful Company of Carpenters installed Charles as an Honorary Liveryman "in recognition of his interest in London's architecture."[165] The Prince of Wales is also Permanent Master of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Drapers, an Honorary Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, an Honorary Member of the Court of Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, and a Royal Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.[166]

  • Leon Fraser | Lionbliss Research

    Overview There is little put together on the web for Leon Fraser, but here's a little bit. https://prabook.com/web/leon.fraser/1044934 While a graduate student at Columbia, Fraser also served on the editorial staff of the New York World (1913 - 14) and spoke on street corners for various political candidates. He enlisted in the army, in which he rose from private to major and served in the Judge Advocate General's Department of the A. E. F. in France. Upon his return, in 1920, he served briefly in the Bureau of War Risk Insurance in Washington and, the next year, as executive officer and acting director of the federal Veterans' Bureau. He then joined the Paris staff of Coudert Brothers, an international law firm which specialized in counseling American banking and industrial companies on European loans and investments. Leaving Coudert Brothers, Fraser served from 1924 to 1927 as general counsel for the Dawes plan and as Paris representative of the office of the Agent General for Reparation Payments. Three years (1927 - 30) followed as the New York correspondent of the Boston legal firm of Ropes, Gray, Boyden and Perkins. In 1930 he returned to Paris at the invitation of Owen D. Young to serve as his legal and economic expert in connection with the drafting of the Young Plan and the charter of the Bank for International Settlements. When the B. I. S. was organized in 1930, Fraser was made director and alternate of the president, Gates W. McGarrah [Supp. 2]; he was president from 1933 to 1935. During these years Fraser promoted central bank cooperation, helped develop the standstill agreements with Germany, and participated in the granting of emergency credits to the Reichsbank and to central banks in Hungary, Austria, Yugoslavia, Danzig, and the United Kingdom. His ability at the B. I. S. to reconcile divergent points of view, to obtain the harmonious cooperation of directors representing many nationalities, and to enlist the loyalty of the staff greatly advanced the cause of international monetary cooperation. Upon his return to the United States, Fraser joined the First National Bank of New York, at first as vice-president (1935 - 36) and then (from Jan. 1, 1937) as president. He nonetheless emerged as a spokesman for the banking community, and in 1941 was elected for a three-year term as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Fraser's support of pacifist causes in the years before America's entry into World War I caused Columbia to drop him as an instructor, but when America declared war on Germany, Fraser enlisted in the Army as a private. He rose to the rank of major by the end of the war and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his efforts; after the war he held a variety of administrative positions in both government and private industry, and he served as a director, trustee, chairman, and treasurer for a number of businesses and charitable organizations. Fraser and another American, Gates McGarrah, served as the first two presidents of BIS, the Bank for International Settlements. (Fraser is another anachronism in this piece: the BIS was not founded until 1930 and Fraser did not become its president until 1935, so he could not accurately have been described as "president of the Bank for International Settlements" in 1923.) In 1945, while the 55-year-old Fraser was president of First National Bank of New York, he committed suicide at his summer home in North Granville, NY. In April 1945, at fifty-five, Fraser returned to his boyhood home of North Granville and took his own life.

  • Richard Whitney | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Richard Whitney (August 1, 1888 – December 5, 1974) was an American financier, president of the New York Stock Exchange from 1930 to 1935. He was later convicted of embezzlement and imprisoned. Whitney was born on August 1, 1888 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a son of Elizabeth Whitney, a daughter of William M. Whitney, and George Whitney Sr. His father, a descendant of John Whitney,[1][2] was president of North National Union Bank.[3] Richard and his older brother George Whitney Jr. (who later married Martha Beatrix Bacon, daughter of U.S. Secretary of State and Ambassador to France Robert Bacon) were educated at Groton School (where he was captain of the baseball team and school prefect) and Harvard University (where he was tapped for membership in the Porcellian Club).[4] Notable At the same time that Richard Whitney was achieving great success, his brother George had also prospered at Morgan bank and by 1930 had been anointed as the likely successor to bank president, Thomas W. Lamont. While Richard Whitney was assumed to be a brilliant financier, he in fact had personally been involved with speculative investments in a variety of businesses and had sustained considerable losses. To stay afloat, he began borrowing heavily from his brother George as well as other wealthy friends, and after obtaining loans from as many people as he could, turned to embezzlement to cover his mounting business losses and maintain his extravagant lifestyle. He stole funds from the New York Stock Exchange Gratuity Fund, the New York Yacht Club (where he served as the Treasurer), and $800,000 worth of bonds from his father-in-law's estate.[9] Having retired as president of the New York Stock Exchange in 1935, Whitney remained on the board of governors, but in early March 1938, his past began to catch up with him when the comptroller of the exchange reported to his superiors that he had established absolute proof that Richard Whitney was an embezzler and that his company was insolvent. Within days, events snowballed, and Whitney and his company would both declare bankruptcy. An astonished public learned of his misdeeds on March 10 when he was officially charged with embezzlement by New York County District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. Following his indictment by a grand jury, Whitney was arrested and eventually pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to a term of five to ten years in Sing Sing prison.[10] On April 12, 1938, six thousand people turned up at Grand Central Terminal to watch as a scion of the Wall Street Establishment was escorted in handcuffs by armed guards onto a train that delivered him to prison.[11] A model prisoner, Richard Whitney was released on parole in August 1941 after serving three years and four months in Sing Sing.[12] He became the manager of a dairy farm, supervising three farmhands and twenty-five cows. In 1946, he went back into business when he became president of a textile company that made yarns from the ramie plant, which grew in Florida.[13] Family In 1916, Whitney was married to Gertrude Alison (née Sheldon) Sands (1888–1969). Gertrude, a daughter of Mary Seney Sheldon and George R. Sheldon of Brooklyn, New York, was the widow of S.S. Sands & Co. banker Samuel Steven Sands III (a son of Anne Harriman Vanderbilt and step-son of William Kissam Vanderbilt), and from her first marriage. His father-in-law had served as president of the powerful Union League Club, and Whitney became a member of a number of the city's elite social clubs and was appointed treasurer of the New York Yacht Club. In addition to her son from her first marriage, Samuel Stevens Sands IV (1911–1976), Richard and Gertrude were the parents of two daughters together: Nancy Whitney (1917–2012),[14][15] who married Henry Averell Gerry (1914–2000),[16] a son of Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. and brother of Elbridge T. Gerry Sr. and Robert L. Gerry Jr.[17][18] Alice Whitney (1919–2015), who married Screven Lorillard (1909–1979), a son of Ernest E. Lorillard and Elizabeth King (née Screven) Lorillard.[19] Lorillard was previously married to Natica Blair, a granddaughter of DeWitt Clinton Blair.[20]

  • Howard C. Hopson | Lionbliss Research

    Overview Howard Colwell Hopson (May 8, 1882 – December 22, 1949) was an American businessman who was convicted of defrauding Americans of more than $20 million (roughly 324 million dollars in 2021).[1][2] Hopson built his company, Associated Gas and Electric (AG&E) into one of the largest electricity providing companies of the era. At its peak, AG&E was the country's third largest provider of electricity, and the fifth largest holding company. Notable Content He attended the University of Wisconsin, studying under Richard T. Ely and working as an assistant to John R. Commons, in 1901, and got a master's degree at George Washington University.[5] In 1907, he was hired by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The following year, Hopson gained a law degree, and his M.A. On October 26, 1908 the New York Public Service Commission hired Hopson as a secretary of the President, five years later placing him as its head of Division of Capitalization. (From 1908-1915, he was one of the key men in New York public utility regulation.) Hopson left the Public Service Commission in 1915,[2] to open a consulting business (H.C. Hopson and Company) at 61 Broadway in New York City. His company handled the business of American Telephone & Telegraph, The Consolidated Gas Company of New York, and the Electric Bond and Share Company.[10][b] Associated Gas and Electric Company Hopson purchased, with John I. Mange, the Associated Gas and Electric Company of New York for $298,318.19.[10][c] At the time, the company served 44,000 clients and had 3.5 million dollars in earnings. American Gas and Electric was a holding company organized in 1906 that owned several other gas companies.[11][12] Ithaca Gas Light company was founded in 1852. It supplied gas to 28 customers, was formed with a capital of $75,000. It became AG&E on March 19, 1906, through the efforts of William T. Morris. At the time, it was composed of 14 different companies, with a total value of $1.2 million.[8] By 1914, those 14 companies were consolidated to four, and eventually they were united under the New York State Gas and electric corporation.[13] Several other companies both in upstate New York, Kentucky, and Tennessee made up AG&E's portfolio. When Hopson purchased a controlling interest in AG&E, he immediately began buying up more companies, expanding into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the Philippines. In the 1930s, the assets of American Gas and Electric were well over $1 billion, and they had revenues of $133 million. They served 1.75 million customers in 6,000 communities. At its peak, AG&E was made up of over 250 corporations (sometimes placed as high as 522, and occasionally as high as "5,800 names"[8]) providing electricity, steam, ice, water, and transportation in 26 states, Canada, and the Philippines to 20 million people.[2] Eventually, it became the nation's third largest electricity producer, producing 9% of the United States' electricity, behind J. P. Morgan's United Corporation (23%), and Samuel Insull's various holding companies (11%).[14] In addition, AG&E became one of the top five largest holding companies. The stock of AG&E peaked at $61 a share, and about 500,000 people invested over $1 billion in the company.[8] In August 1935, Hopson admitted to attempting to change the policy of major newspapers. He threatened to drop advertising from The New York Times, the Hearst companies, Scripps Howard and many local papers as well.[17] Hopson also sued newspapers for libel, including suing the Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, and Survey Graphic.[1]

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