Service Corporation International is an American provider of funeral goods and services as well as cemetery property and services. It is headquartered in Neartown, Texas. SCI operates more than 1500 funeral homes and 400 cemeteries in 43 states, eight Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico. Robert L. Waltrip, a licensed funeral director who grew up in his family's funeral business, founded the company in 1962. SCI began as a small network of funeral cemeteries in the Houston area; as SCI grew its offshore presence, it continued to acquire businesses in North America—a marketplace that, by the late 1990s, had become competitive among companies seeking to buy death care businesses. SCI, Alderwoods Group and Stewart Enterprises emerged from this period as the three largest companies in the industry. On December 31, 1999, SCI owned and operated 3,823 funeral service locations, 525 cemeteries, 198 crematoria and two insurance operations located in 20 countries on five continents. In 1999, SCI introduced Dignity Memorial, the first transcontinental brand of death care services and products in North America.

By unifying its network of funeral homes and cemeteries under one brand name, SCI believed it could establish recognizable and communicable brand values. In 2000, poor market conditions forced SCI to reevaluate operations. While foreign operations had once shown promise, nearly 70 percent of SCI's revenue was generated by operations in the United States and Canada; the company decided to divest many of its offshore businesses, in addition to many North American funeral homes and cemeteries. The UK arm now operates as Dignity plc. Between 2002 and 2006, SCI reduced its net debt by more than $1.0 billion, increased operating cash flow, simplified its field management organization to enhance efficiency and accountability. It changed business and sales processes, tightened internal controls following the protocols, strengthened corporate governance standards, established a new training and development system. For its shareholders, SCI returned value through more than $335 million in share repurchases, it resumed payment of a regular quarterly dividend in early 2005, the first since 1999.

In 2006, SCI merged with its nearest competitor in terms of size. The Federal Trade Commission blocked the merger. After agreeing to divest funeral home and cemetery locations in several markets and end licensing agreements with other funeral homes, the FTC allowed the merger to continue. By 2007, the integration of Alderwoods's locations and operations was complete. In 2009 SCI put in a bid to purchase Keystone North America for $208 million; the purchase added about 200 locations. In May 2013 SCI signed a $1.4 billion deal to purchase Stewart Enterprises, the second-largest death care company. In December 2013, the FTC imposed conditions on the acquisition, requiring the two companies to sell 53 funeral homes and 38 cemeteries in 59 local markets, requiring the merged company to be subject to a ten-year period during which the FTC will review any attempt by the company to acquire funeral or cemetery assets in those local markets. SCI operates the following brands in the United States and Canada: Dignity Memorial: Founded in 1999, provides services in 41 states and seven Canadian provinces.

Dignity Planning: Dignity Planning provides funeral planning and arrangements through Dignity Memorial North America locations. Advantage: Advantage provides basic funeral services and products. Funeraria del Angel: Funeraria del Angel provides specialized services for Hispanic customers. Memorial Plan: Memorial Plan manages six funeral homes and five cemeteries in South Florida. National Cremation Society: Founded in 1972, the National Cremation Society is the oldest and largest cremation service in the United States. Neptune Society: In June 2011, SCI announced the purchase of a 70% interest in Neptune Society, a national cremation services company founded in 1973. SCI's network of funeral homes consists entirely of existing businesses that the company acquired. SCI tends to buy successful funeral homes that are settled and well known in their community. SCI retains the funeral home's original name along with former owners who are kept on as management. A typical funeral home, owned by SCI will not contain advertisements or logos for SCI, with the exception of employee pins on staff lapels.

As a consequence, most North American consumers are unfamiliar with the company itself. Instead, SCI places strong emphasis on their Dignity Memorial brand; the "Dignity" logo can be seen throughout SCI's funeral homes and cemeteries, on staff, paperwork, etc. Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, the largest single-site operating cemetery in the world at 2,500 acres. Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in New York City. Westwood Village Memorial Park in Westwood, Los Angeles, California Pierce Brothers Mortuary in Los Angeles Riverside Memorial Chapel, New York City. Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Dallas Caballero Rivero Woodlawn Park North Cemetery and Mausoleum Crown Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery in Indianapolis, Indiana Writing in an October 24, 2013 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, journalist Paul M. Barrett found, despite its lower overhead, SCI has higher prices than independent funeral home operators. Barrett quoted "data compiled" by a "'concierge' funeral planning service" Everest Funeral Package, which found that for "traditional funerals, SCI charges $6,256 on average, 42 percent more than independents."

In reply, SCI points to "overwhelmingly positive responses" on custo

2001: A Space Odyssey is an oversized American comic book adaptation of the 1968 film of the same name as well as a ten-issue monthly series which expanded upon the concepts presented in the Stanley Kubrick film and the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Jack Kirby wrote and pencilled both the adaptation and the series, which were published by Marvel Comics beginning in 1976; the adaptation was part of the agreement of Kirby's return to Marvel. Marvel published the adaptation in its then-common treasury edition format featuring tabloid-sized pages of twice the size of a standard American comic book; the story is a close adaptation of the events of the film, but differs in the fact that Kirby incorporated additional dialog from two other sources: the Clarke/Kubrick novel and a copy of an earlier draft script of the film that included the more colloquial-sounding version of HAL 9000, as voiced by actor Martin Balsam before Douglas Rain took over. In addition, the comic narrative captions describe the characters' thoughts and feelings, a different approach from that taken by the film.

The treasury edition contained a 10-page article entitled "2001: A Space Legacy" written by David Anthony Kraft. Shortly after the publication of the treasury edition, Kirby continued to explore the concepts of 2001 in a monthly comic book series of the same name, the first issue of, cover dated December 1976. In this issue, Kirby followed the pattern established in the film. Once again the reader encounters a prehistoric man who gains new insight upon encountering a Monolith as did Moon-Watcher in the film; the scene shifts, where a descendant of Beast-Killer is part of a space mission to explore yet another Monolith. When he finds it, this Monolith begins to transform the astronaut into a Star Child, called in the comic a "New Seed". Issues #1–6 of the series replay the same idea with different characters in different situations, both prehistoric and futuristic. In #7, the comic opens with the birth of a New Seed who travels the galaxy witnessing the suffering that men cause each other. While the New Seed is unable or unwilling to prevent this devastation, he takes the essence of two doomed lovers and uses it to seed another planet with the potential for human life.

In issue #8, Kirby introduces Mister Machine, renamed Machine Man. Mister Machine is an advanced robot designated X-51. All the other robots in the X series go on a rampage as they are destroyed. X-51, supported by both the love of his creator Dr. Abel Stack and an encounter with a Monolith, transcends the malfunction that destroyed his siblings. After the death of Dr. Stack, X-51 begins to blend into humanity. Issues #9 and 10, the final issues of the series, continue the story of X-51 as he flees destruction at the hands of the Army. Allusions are made to the series in the Agents of S. H. I. E. L. D. Season 3 episode "4,722 Hours". List of comics based on films Marvel Treasury Edition Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe. New York City: Harper, 2012. 485 pp. ISBN 978-0-06-199210-0. Darius, Julian. "On Jack Kirby's 2001: A Space Odyssey". Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Darius, Julian. "The Continuity Pages: 2001: A Space Odyssey". Sequart Research & Literacy Organization.

Archived from the original on July 2, 2014. 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Comic Book DB 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Comic Book DB

In finance, the notion of traditional investments refers to putting money into well-known assets with the expectation of capital appreciation and interest earnings. Traditional investments are to be contrasted with alternative investments. Here the investor purchases debt issued by companies or governments which promises to pay an annual return until the debt is repaid; the value of the investment changes as the level of general interest rates fluctuates, causing the bond to become more or less valuable. In cash investing, money is invested in short-term, low-risk investment vehicles like certificates of deposit, money market funds, high yield bank accounts. In real estate, money is used to purchase property for the purpose of holding, reselling or leasing for income and there is an element of capital risk. Investment in residential real estate is the most common form of real estate investment measured by number of participants because it includes property purchased as a primary residence. In many cases the buyer does not have the full purchase price for a property and must borrow additional money from a bank, finance company or private lender.

Commercial real estate consists of apartments, office buildings, retail space, hotels and other commercial properties. Investors may purchase commercial property outright, with the help of a loan, or collectively through a real estate fund. Investment in real estate investment trusts is like investing in a pool of real estate that the company manages; this involves purchasing a share in the equity of a company in the hope that the share price will increase. Purchasing a share in the company is the same as owning part of the company. Stock investing can come in the form of buying individual stocks, mutual funds, index funds and exchange traded funds

The Independent Moving Pictures Company was a motion picture studio and production company founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle. The company was based with production facilities in Fort Lee, New Jersey. In 1912, IMP merged with several other production companies to form Universal Film Manufacturing Company re-named Universal Pictures Company with Laemmle as president; the Independent Moving Pictures Company was founded in 1909 by Carl Laemmle, was located at 573 11th Ave New York City, with a studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The first movie produced by IMP was Hiawatha starring Gladys Hulette, a one-reel drama short based on the 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. At a time when leading screen players worked anonymously, IMP performers Florence Lawrence known as "The Biograph Girl," and King Baggot became the first "movie stars" to be given billing and screen credits, a marquee as well as promotion in advertising, which contributed to the creation of the star system. In the early 20th century, the Motion Picture Patents Company, or the Trust, was fought by the unlicensed independent films, led by Laemmle.

Others against the MPPC included Harry E. Aitken, William Fox, Adolph Zukor; the flexible and adventurous independents avoided coercive MPPC restrictions by using unlicensed equipment, obtaining their own film materials, making movies on the sly. After many of the independents, including IMP, organized their distribution subsidiaries into the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company in mid-1910, with Laemmle as their president, the Trust issued an injunction against Laemmle for the camera being used, claiming that it was an infringement on their patents, but lost. Before long, the independents began moving to Southern California, opened up a West Coast movie-making industry. In 1910, IMP began production in Los Angeles, had a studio in Hollywood at Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street, which became known as "Gower Gulch" due to the actors dressed as cowboys and Indians waiting on that corner to be cast in Westerns. By May, 1912, the Motion Picture Distributing and Sales Company began to collapse, its supporting production companies removing their distribution needs to other companies or under their own direction.

On June 10, 1912, the assets of Independent Moving Pictures were transferred to the newly incorporated Universal Film Manufacturing Company, which undertook to distribute for several of the departing Sales Company producers in continued opposition to the Edison trust. IMP was corporately dissolved but its name continued to be used as a brand name for Laemmle's productions; the Broken Oath Their First Misunderstanding The Dream Artful Kate Pictureland Sweet Memories The Bridal Room Gold Is Not All Ivanhoe Fort Lee Film Commission Film History Before 1920 Independent Moving Pictures Company at the Internet Movie Database

The Baltimore riot of 1861 was a civil conflict on Friday, April 19, 1861, on Pratt Street, in Baltimore, between antiwar "Copperhead" Democrats and other Southern/Confederate sympathizers on one side and members of the Massachusetts and some Pennsylvania state militia regiments en route to the national capital at Washington called up for federal service on the other. The fighting began at the President Street Station, spreading throughout President Street and subsequently to Howard Street, where it ended at the Camden Street Station; the riot produced the first deaths by hostile action in the American Civil War and is nicknamed the "First Bloodshed of the Civil War". In 1861, most Baltimoreans were anti-war and did not support a violent conflict with their southern neighbors, but many sympathized passionately with the Southern cause. In the previous year's presidential election, Abraham Lincoln had received only 1,100 of more than 30,000 votes cast in the city. Lincoln's opponents were infuriated when the president-elect, fearing an infamous rumored assassination plot, traveled secretly through the city in the middle of the night on a different railroad protected by a few aides and detectives including the soon-to-be famous Allan Pinkerton in February en route to his inauguration in Washington, D.

C. The city was home to the country's largest population of free African Americans, as well as many white abolitionists and supporters of the Union; as the war began, the city's divided loyalties created tension. Supporters of secession and slavery organized themselves into a force called "National Volunteers" while Unionists and abolitionists called themselves "Minute Men"; the American Civil War began on April one week before the riot. At the time, the slave states of Virginia, North Carolina and Arkansas had not yet seceded from the U. S; the status of Delaware, Maryland and Kentucky, remained unknown. When Fort Sumter fell on April 13, the Virginia legislature took up a measure on secession; the measure passed on April 17 after little debate. Virginia's secession was significant due to the state's industrial capacity. Sympathetic Marylanders, who had supported secession since John C. Calhoun spoke of nullification, agitated to join Virginia in leaving the Union, their discontent increased in the days afterward when Lincoln put out a call for volunteers to serve 90 days and end the insurrection.

New militia units from several Northern states were starting to transport themselves south to protect Washington, D. C. from the new Confederate threat in Virginia. Baltimore's newly-elected reform mayor, George William Brown, the new police marshal, George Proctor Kane, anticipated trouble and began efforts to placate the city's population. On Thursday, April 18, 460 newly-mustered Pennsylvania state militia volunteers arrived from the state capital at Harrisburg on the Northern Central Railway at its Bolton Street Station, they were joined by several regiments of regular United States Army troops under John C. Pemberton returning from duty on the western frontier, they split off from Howard Street in downtown Baltimore and marched east along the waterfront to Fort McHenry and reported for duty there. Seven hundred "National Volunteers" of Southern sympathizers rallied at the Washington Monument and traveled to the station to confront the combined units of troops, which unbeknownst to them were unarmed and had their weapons unloaded.

Kane's newly organized city police force succeeded in ensuring the Pennsylvania militia troops' safe passage marching south on Howard Street to Camden Street Station of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Stones and bricks were hurled and Nicholas Biddle, a black servant traveling with the regiment, was hit on the head, but that night the Pennsylvania troops known as the "First Defenders", camped at the U. S. Capitol under the uncompleted dome, under construction. On April 17, the 6th Massachusetts Militia departed from Boston, arriving in New York the following morning and Philadelphia by nightfall. On April 19, the unit headed on to Baltimore, where they anticipated a slow transit through the city; because of an ordinance preventing the construction of steam rail lines through the city, there was no direct rail connection between the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad's President Street Station and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Camden Station. Rail cars that transferred between the two stations had to be pulled by horses along Pratt Street.

Sometime after leaving Philadelphia, the unit's colonel, Edward F. Jones, received information that passage through Baltimore "would be resisted". According to his report, Jones went through the railroad cars and gave this order: The regiment will march through Baltimore in column of sections, arms at will. You will undoubtedly be insulted and assaulted, to which you must pay no attention whatever, but march with your faces to the front, pay no attention to the mob if they throw stones, bricks, or other missiles. Do not

Annelise Riles is a leading global interdisciplinary anthropologist and legal scholar. Effective September 1, 2018, she will be the executive director of the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University, enhancing Northwestern's reputation for cutting-edge, interdisciplinary programs and research on globally relevant topics. Riles is the associate provost for global affairs and a professor of law and anthropology. Riles is the founder and director of Meridian-180, a multilingual forum for transformative leadership, its global membership of 800+ thought leaders in academia and business work together to generate ideas and guidance on the most important problems of our time. Riles received an AB degree from Princeton University in 1988, she received an MSc degree from London School of Economics in 1990 after she received the Marshall Scholarship. She received a JD degree from Harvard Law School in 1993, a PhD from University of Cambridge in 1996, she was associated with the American Bar Foundation, in 1996-97 as a postdoctoral fellow, from 1997 to 2002 as a research fellow.

She was a lecturer at the University of the South Pacific in 1995. She was associated with Cornell University as a visiting professor. In 2002 she became a professor of the Department of Anthropology, director of the Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture. In 2007 she became the Jack G. Clarke'52 Professor of Far Eastern Legal Studies. Financial Citizenship: Experts, Publics & The Politics of Central Banking The Network Inside Out Rethinking the Masters of Comparative Law Documents: Artifacts of Modern Knowledge Collatreal Knowledge: Legal Reasoning in the Global Financial Markets Retooling: Professionalism for the Future Collateral Knowledge Professor Riles' blog Papers by Professor Riles in SSRN Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture