http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?are...eid=251608

Kimi Raikkonen heads to Brazil this weekend aware that nothing less than victory will be good enough to keep his world championship dreams alive.

The Finn, who has finished second in the last two visits to Interlagos, has a 25-point deficit to points-leader Fernando Alonso which means that for Kimi to stay in the hunt he has to win with the Renault driver failing to make the podium.

“With only three races remaining nothing but another win will do for me in Brazil this weekend," said Raikkonen.

"I will be pushing hard to get maximum points for both the driversÂ’ and constructors' championships."

McLaren's pursuit of Renault in the constructors' championship fight is much closer however, with a one-two finish enough to move the team to the top of the table.

But despite having the dominant package in terms of performance a formation finish is proving difficult to achieve for McLaren-Mercedes.

The team has been heading for one-two finishes in the last two races, but on both occasions the team has hit problems.

In Italy tyre issues and a practice engine failure hampered Kimi while in Belgium Montoya was taken out of second place by Antonio Pizzonia.

“Our main aim at is to leave Brazil having secured a one-two podium finish, and we know we have the performance to achieve this," said McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh.

"We came so close to taking the lead in the constructorsÂ’ at Spa, however were hampered by matters out of our control, however we are looking to make amends in Brazil."

WILLIAMS CONFIRMS BUTTON RELEASE

The Williams team has confirmed that it has freed Jenson Button to drive for his team of choice, BAR-Honda, for 2006 and beyond.

Button was contracted to Williams for next year but was adamant that he wanted to race for BAR, triggering a protracted and unseemly dispute which was quickly dubbed ‘Buttongate’.

The two parties appeared to be at a stalemate before Williams acceded to ButtonÂ’s request to be released from his contract in return for substantial compensation.

Williams said in a statement: “As consideration for the release from the terms of his contract, Jenson has agreed a financial settlement with WilliamsF1."

Button was grateful for the co-operation of team owner Frank Williams.

“I would like to thank Frank for accommodating a compromise to what was a binding contract and I regret the difficulties my decision has caused everyone involved,” he said.

“I am glad that we have brought this matter to a conclusion and we can return to what we do best – racing,” added Williams.

No details of the financial settlement between Button and Williams were released, but estimates range from £10 to £20 million.

The compensation, plus the lower salary Williams will pay any of the likely replacements for Button, will boost the teamÂ’s coffers at a time when it has lost the financial backing of engine partner BMW and principal sponsor Hewlett Packard.

Life insurance, so much part of our everyday lives, has a longer history than most would imagine and as the welfare state withers, life companies could again assume the prominence they had in Victorian Britain.
Even the Romans did it. But life insurance in the Roman Empire was primarily a short-term contract - more comparable to what we understand as travel insurance - and primarily the preserve of merchants looking for cover for a dangerous journey.
However, Roman insurance was not limited to such simple contracts. The Romans are known to have had a table of annuity values founded on mortality data known as Ulpian's Table, which was in use in parts of Italy until two centuries ago.
Some historians go so far as to argue that the Romans even had a kind of mutual life insurance. This, they say, was a derivation of ancient burial societies, in which people who were member of sects dedicated to a particular god would pay subscriptions which would in turn take care of their death expenses if they had no families. This simple concept developed and began to include survival benefits for the family of the deceased.
One of the earliest life insurance contracts written in this country dates from 1583. However, the merchants who had insured an alderman were unwilling to pay out after he died within the allotted period. So the first indigenous life insurance contract that we know about had to be settled by the courts. The merchants were forced to pay out on the policy.
Another policy dates from 1588, when William Gibbons bought life insurance for one year from the Chamber of Assurances for the princely sum of £328.6s.8d.
Life insurance schemes were run on the basis of limited membership and mainly by the Amicable Society for a Perpetual Assurance (chartered in 1706), the Royal Exch-ange and London Assurance.
Total membership was extremely select, with only a few thousand people subscribing. Criteria were crude, though small pox victims and childbearing women had to pay extra premium. Policies tended to be short term and restricted to the upper echelons of society.
One curious side effect of the emergence of the life insurance industry was that people began to use life insurance as a means of speculation, in effect gambling with other people's lives.
The problem was serious enough to warrant legislation - the 1774 Gambling Act was designed to halt the practice and introduced the requirement for declaration of interest in the insured life.
In 1762, the Society for Equitable Assurances for Lives and Survivorships was formed following a concept developed by James Dobson.
Dobson, a Fellow of the Royal Society, has come under the influence of a new wave of mathematics emanating from figures such as Abraham de Moivre and Edmund Halley.
This had given him the idea of founding a society on new Enlightenment principles and putting life insurance on a scientific basis, believing that premiums could be much lower and fairer as a result. Even though Dobson died before he could see the fruits of his labours, the application of mortality tables and mathematics of probability to the calculation of premiums revolutionised life assurance.
The template of the Equitable was copied by many others, which have gone on to become household names such as Norwich Union Life Insurance Society (1808) and Scottish Widows' Fund and Life Assurance Society (1815).
These were followed by others, set up for particular sections of society, such as those founded by Protestants (the "provident" societies).
Often, the subscription criteria were strongly influenced by the beliefs of a particular section in society. For instance, Scottish Mutual initially req-uired total abstinence from its policyholders. Others restricted themselves to particular professions, most notably Clerical, Medical and General.
The Scottish companies were for the most part mutuals, which helped them escape the scandals that bedevilled the sector in the first half of the nineteenth century. It was on the basis of good reputation they acquired at this time that Scotland secured its strong presence in the industry.
The life insurance industry also contributed commission hungry salesmen and gaudy blanket advertising at train stations to the tapestry of Victorian society.
Vast armies of salespeople and agents were employed, totalling perhaps as many as 80,000 at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.
Another development was the introduction of group life schemes - an innovation of Provident Mutual, which set up a scheme for the Post Office in 1859.
The Prudential pioneered the selling of life insurance scheme to the working class. Hitherto, it had been the preserve of the upper and middle classes. The Prudential's strategy of selling "penny policies" was enormously successful, and it is on the basis of marketing life insurance to the working classes that the company not only wormed its way into the national psyche ("the man from the Pru") but also became the dominant player.
In 1871, the Pru introduced to major innovations - arithmoneters (a primitive type of calculator) and the employment of female clerks, as long as they were "daughters of professional, financially secure and socially respectable men" and worked in separate offices.
Like so much else in Victorian Britain, the life industry was a successful exporter, particularly to the colonies. In addition, a local market became established for the sale of interests in life policies and policies were also frequently used as securities for loans.
The life industry continued to grow strongly and even the economic turmoil of the 1920s and 1930s and the creation of the welfare state after the Second World War did little to impede its relentless rise.
Indeed, becoming a life insurance salesman was a popular option for servicemen returning from war, who were quickly sent out with a rate book to work on purely on commission.
With the housing boom and introduction of personal pensions in the Thatcher years, the companies were given a new lease of life, only for that to be tarnished by the repercussions of a succession of scandals relating to private pension misselling, the shaming of Equitable Life and concerns over endowment mortgages shortfalls.
Now the same companies have been again invited into partnership with the state as part of the New Labour government's flagship stakeholder pensions policy.
But received wisdom is that the Government's low-margin pension is going to claim some high-profile scalps as life companies are forced to consolidate. How many of the old life offices and their histories will survive into the future is not yet clear

Kan iemand asseblief vir my herinner wat whiplash in Afrikaans is? :dazed:

Vandag ontmoet ek 'n Amerikaanse tiener en sy vra toe waar ek vandaan kom?

Toe sy hoor ek is van Suid Afrika vertel sy sommer baie trots en opgewonde dat sy 'n Afrikaanse woord ken..... makietie. :jive:

Ek kan nie onthou wanneer laas ek die woord makietie gehoor of gebruik het nie!

Iemand anders het nou die dag gese dit is so lekker toe iemand praat van.... ons het 'n hond uit die bos uit gekuier.

Las so bietjie van daardie spreekwoorde of gesegdes aan...

I am looking for the following staff to work in New Zealand. We will take care of the visas.

AUTO ELECTRICIANS - Who has experience working on Forklifts.

DIESEL MECHANIC - Must have experience working on trucks or heavy equipment. Scania, Cummins, Mac, Cat and Komatsu would be an advantage.

[BMECHANICS[/B] - Certified mechanics with a minimum of 5 years experience on Mac, Cummins, Scania, Volvo or Mercedes. Various positions in Australia and new Zealand

ACCOUNTANTS - We have a client looking for x2 qualified/experienced accountants.

CIVIL ENGINEERS - must come from a mining background. Project Management / Roading and Construction Management would be an advantage.
South Island. $115.00 per annum

Positions in other industries available as well.
07944750668

What are the latest trends for training puppies? I remember putting the puppy's nose in it's wee or poo and then putting it outside, while telling it its been a naughty dog etc ... has anyone used other methods?

We have finally sorted out the PM pop-ups syndrome of the forums. Please, go to your UserCP >> Edit Options

scroll down to the bottom of the Messaging & Notification panel and you will see 2 drop down menus where you can set your PM option.

Thank you

ForumAdmin

What famous performer's signature mustache was usually painted on?