SENTENCES

Sleaze machine This was organised crime - highly organised crime. All financial activity was systematised using two parallel, bespoke computer systems. The first allowed internal communication within Odebrecht and also with outside financial operators. The second - the one the Federal Police in Curitiba still cannot access completely - was used to make and process payment requests. But none of this was known to the authorities in the early stages of the investigation. A breakthrough would seal the fate of the well-oiled sleaze machine at Odebrecht. By 2015, there was enough evidence against the company to arrest the unco-operative chief executive, Marcelo Odebrecht. In early 2016, the Federal Police gained access to the Hotmail account of one of the Structured Operations executives. They found emails related to financial transactions and a spreadsheet created by a secretary in the division, Maria Lucia Tavares. Her home was raided. Stashed in a wardrobe were printouts ...

Shadow budget Odebrecht was not the original focus of prosecutors in Curitiba. Lava Jato, the corruption case that's enveloped Brazil - putting some of the rich and powerful, including ex-president Lula, behind bars - began in 2014 as a money-laundering investigation. Focus shifted to Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, where top managers were appointed by political parties in power. Investigators uncovered evidence that a "cartel" of engineering corporations - including Odebrecht - was rigging bids and paying bribes to secure contracts at inflated prices. Petrobras had become a colossal piggy bank for its executives, politicians and political parties to raid. It's estimated more than $2bn was paid in kickbacks, while Petrobras lost about $14bn through over-pricing while the scheme existed. So in 2014, prosecutors began to investigate the most influential member of that cartel, Odebrecht. The company's bribery department, known by the rather p...

Prosecutors 'speechless' In the case brought by the US Department of Justice, with Brazil and Switzerland in December 2016,  Odebrecht and its petrochemical subsidiary, Braskem, admitted bribery  to the tune of $788m (£553m) and agreed a record-breaking fine of at least $3.5bn. The  construction giant  paid off politicians, political parties, officials of state-owned enterprises, lawyers, bankers and fixers to secure lucrative contracts in Brazil and abroad. The  huge construction company  paid off politicians, political parties, officials of state-run companies, lawyers, bankers and fixers to secure lucrative contracts in Brazil and abroad. Apart from  being the largest international bribery case ever, the Odebrecht story has one component that makes it exceptional: this was a corporation that created a  bespoke  department to manage its crooked deals - something prosecutors in Brazil and the US had never seen before. "In t...

Oaf... A person regarded as stupid or clumsy. Don’t Be the Office Oaf – Be Aware of Office Etiquette We have all experienced the Office Oaf who regularly blunders his or her way through the working day, disregarding the sensitivities of others, causing discomfort or irritation and regularly oversteps the socially acceptable norm. Should anyone make mention of it, the Oaf tends to become defensive and deny any wrongdoing. Often this is because the Oaf is either totally unaware of what would be good manners or simply is too self-absorbed. READ MORE HERE

Why is it rude and socially unacceptable to ask certain questions? The Independent  -  Christine Manby Picture the scene. You’re at a party. You know no one but the host and they’ve had to rush to the kitchen to rescue some smoking vol-au-vents from the oven. You spot a friendly looking fellow guest, also on their own, and sidle over to make their acquaintance by the buffet table. You swap names. You compare notes on your respective journeys to the venue. You talk about the weather. Hasn’t it been strange this year? So far so good. Now what? The host passes by with those vol-au-vents. You grab one and shove it in your mouth. And before you’ve entirely finished eating it you come out with the line , “So, what do you do?” If this were the 1970s, the needle would skitter across the vinyl on the record player, bringing the music to an abrupt and ugly end. As it is, the entire room falls silent as everyone turns to stare. It’s not that your mouth is still full of...

What is an actuary? Actuaries are highly regarded professionals; actuaries are problem solvers and strategic thinkers with a deep understanding of financial systems Being an actuary means having highly valued mathematical skills and expertise Actuaries come from different academic backgrounds but share a love of maths even if they haven’t done a maths degree. When you train as an actuary you’ll learn how to analyse data, evaluate financial risks, and communicate this data to non-specialists. Actuaries use their skills to help measure the probability and risk of future events Every area of business is subject to risks so an actuarial career offers many employment options, including banking, insurance, healthcare, pensions, investment but also non-financial areas.

What are the most common lies people tell on dating apps? Most people feel very bad about telling white lies on dating apps. Thanks to a new study, we now know why. Researchers at Stanford University found that dating app users typically lie for the main reason of appearing more interesting, and subsequently, more dateable. It is an strategy, that's all! It may come as a surprise but, the findings, published in a paper called Deception in Mobile Dating Conversations, revealed that the majority of deceptions were not about increasing the probability of hookups, or casual sexual interactions. Jeffrey Hancock, a professor of communication in the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences and a lead researcher, said: “Most of these lies were about relationships – or not starting relationships – rather than lying to hook up.” In order to examine what people lie about on dating apps, the researchers analyzed about 3,000 messages sent from 200 participants during the “discovery phase....

Ashley Graham Praised For Using Unedited Photos In New Swimwear Campaign Ashley has done great one more time. Body confidence? She is the one.  Ashley Graham has outdone herself yet again in the body confidence stakes after deciding to use unedited photographs of herself to front her new swimwear campaign. Would you take pictures for a an ad campaign without  editing? The supermodel, who shot her ‘Swimsuits For All’ collection on a public beach decided to go against the conventional approach. Brands in general use their own retouched images. She wanted to do differently. She wanted to be more transparent about her images, by using unedited snaps taken by press photographers. The campaign has been named the ‘Power of Paparazzi’.  Graham captioned one of the photographs: “I’m not ashamed of a few lumps, bumps or cellulite and you shouldn’t be either.” “This campaign is different than any other I have worked on throughout my entire career,”...

The whimsical music made me feel like a little kid again. During the party, our host asked us to join him in a whimsical game of make-believe. During the party, our host asked us to join him in a imaginative game of make-believe.  The author turned out to be just as whimsical as the magical characters in her children’s book. The author turned out to be just as unusual as the magical characters in her children’s book.  When we went into the interactive candy store, we felt as though we were in a whimsical world made of chocolate.  The loose-fitting dress has a fun and whimsical quality that makes it perfect for outdoor parties.  As soon as my husband uncovered his favourite childhood toys, he smiled and began to recall his whimsical days of youth.  It will be interesting to see how my serious mother-in-law responds to the whimsical present I am giving her for her birthday.  After being stuck in my accountant’s office all day, I looked forward to ...

The Matthew effect. The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage. This concept is described in sociology. The idea is, "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer."The concept is applicable to matters of fame or status, but may also be applied literally to cumulative advantage of economic capital. The term was first used by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1968. it takes its name from the parable of the talents in the biblical Gospel of Matthew. Merton has his collaborator and second wife, sociologist Harriet Zuckerman, as co-author of the concept of the Matthew effect.  In education, the term "Matthew effect" has been adopted by psychologist Keith Stanovich to describe a phenomenon observed in research on how new readers acquire the skills to read: early success in acquiring reading skills usually leads to later successes in reading as the learner grows, while failing to learn to read before the third or fourth year of schooling may be indicative of lif...

A Story about Three Servants Once, a man went away and put his three emplyees in charge of all he had. The man knew what each servant could do. So he handed five thousand coins to the first servant, two thousand to the second, and one thousand to the third. Then he left the country. As soon as the man had gone, the servant with the five thousand coins used them to earn five thousand more. The servant who had two thousand coins did the same with his money and earned two thousand more. But the servant with one thousand coins opened a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in there. Some time later the man of those servants returned. He called them in and asked what they had done with his money. The servant who had been given five thousand coins brought them in with the five thousand that he had earned. He said, “Sir, you gave me five thousand coins, and I have earned five thousand more.” “Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful serva...

The  stalwart  dog refused to leave his owner’s grave. The loyal  dog refused to leave his owner’s grave. When the king was accompanied by his stalwart bodyguards, he felt safe walking among his people. Only the most stalwart of employees will work for free. As a stalwart follower of the Democratic Party, I agree to vote for the party’s presidential candidate. The stalwart soldier died protecting his queen. 

Once there was a Brazilian man who really wanted to be rich. He had this fantasy of becoming rich since he was a naive kid and, so did his father. I guess he and his father was nothing different from the majority of people. He had already tried many different things in an attempt to become rich but, nothing worked.  At the age of forty he had already given up trying. He had no more hopes. Many people believe that someday luck will knock on their doors and they will make it big winning the lottery.  This man was too skeptical to have such hopes. His father at the age of 75 was still trying. Brazil is not the land of opportunities.  He was a teacher. Once he was in a classroom and one of his students was able to guess a random question spot on. He then joked saying that this student could win the lottery. As a joke, he asked the boy to write down fifteen numbers. These would be the numbers for a lottery ticket. The boy did it and he slipped the paper int...

She's always been there for me through thick and thin, so I can't turn my back on her now. She's always been there for me through good times and bad times, so I can't turn my back on her now. Our company has survived through thick and thin, and we'll be able to get through this ordeal as well. We've been together through thick and thin, and we won't desert each other now. Over the years, we went through thick and thin and enjoyed every minute of it. I will go on loving James through thick and thin no matter what happens. Few things give me greater pleasure in my public life than the knowledge that I have supported the Open University, through thick and thin. He’s been a good friend to her through thick and thin.

Celebrities are always larger than life to their fans.  Have you seen the new stadium? It really seems like it's larger than life when you're inside. Perry seemed larger than life to those who had only read about him. To the rest of us, he was a boor.  To the children, the star athlete who spoke at the school assembly seemed larger than life. He’s one of those larger than life characters. She was larger than life yet intensely human, brilliant yet warm.  He'sbigger than life, and she's quiet and humble.  John Huston was a larger-than-life character, whose temperament was as dramatic as any of the characters in his own films.

It’s ten o’clock. They might have arrived now. = Perhaps they have arrived. They may have arrived hours ago. = Perhaps they arrived hours ago. It is fruitless to speculate upon the might-have-beens of history. It might have been good. = Maybe it was good.

They stonewalled until they could come up with a response. They were just stonewalling for time. They're trying to stonewall the media. We're trying to get the information, but we're being stonewalled. Stonewalling is a refusal to communicate or cooperate. Such behaviour occurs in situations such as marriage guidance counseling, diplomatic negotiations, politics and legal cases. Body language may indicate and reinforce this by avoiding contact and engagement with the other party. People use deflection in a conversation in order to render a conversation pointless and insignificant. Tactics in stonewalling include giving sparse, vague responses, refusing to answer questions, or responding to questions with additional questions. In most cases, stonewalling is used to create a delay, rather than to put the conversation off forever. The earliest English stonewalls were literal; they were walls made from stone. Because a stone wall can be difficult to surmount, E...

That company is just rotten to the core—I wouldn't be surprised if all the employees were embezzling money! Bill said that John is evil to the core. This organization is rotten to the core. Father Godfrey Carney said the community was shocked to the core. The insurance industry is rotten to the core. Loxton, the artist, was English to the core yet she was inspired by France.

There’s no need to fly off the handle ! There’s no need to get so angry ! When I finally managed to speak to him, he flew off the handle and shouted down the phone. It's a shame the candidate allowed himself to fly off the handle like that during the debate, as it undermines a lot of the really solid arguments he'd been making up to that point. I know you're upset, but there's no point flying off the handle like that. It was just an honest mistake. Every time anyone mentions taxes, Mrs. Brown flies off the handle. If she keeps flying off the handle like that, she'll have a heart attack.

He is cunning. He is astute. He is crafty. He is sly. He's cunning and manipulative. It is said that the fox is more cunning than any other animal. Even though Shannon thought she had a cunning strategy to get Bill to propose, it turned out to be wasted planning when he told her that he was already married.