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Want to be sure you have the perfect March Madness bracket this year? Not possible.

If you were to stack the amount of paper it would take to fill in every bracket with every possibility among the 68 teams who will play 67 games over the next three weeks, it would not fit inside the universe.

So says Michael Weimerskirch, a math professor at Augsburg College who gets paid to think about numbers and the way they affect the Kentuckys, Butlers and VCUs of the world.

But there's this small glimmer of hope. Weimerskirch says you could simply start flipping coins. The odds of finding perfection that way by flipping a coin to pick the winner of every game: 1-in-100,000,000,000,000,000,000. For those keeping score at home, that's 1-in-100 million trillion.

Or, to put it another way: "You're just as likely to win Powerball three consecutive times as you are to picking a perfect bracket by flipping a coin," Weimerskirch says.

Of course, the NCAA tournament is all about making the impossible seem possible. Butler, a school with only 4,000 kids, made it to the finals two years in a row. VCU started the tournament last year as a No. 11 seed and wound up playing in the Final Four.

For those setting their sights on winning their friendly office pool, there are, in fact, ways to improve your odds.

Weimerskirch suggests looking at the number of people in the pool. The more people in the pool, the more you must stray from picking a slate of straight-line favorites. Kentucky, by the way, is the odds-on pick at 2-1, followed by North Carolina at 6-1.

"It's one thing to pick favorites to win the whole thing, but you have to know others are picking the favorites to win the whole thing, too," he said. "So, if you're in an office pool with 1,000 people in it, you need to do something a little bit unusual."

He recommends selecting a No. 14 seed to make it to the Sweet 16. Or an 11 to go to the Final Four, a la VCU.

Continued here:
Picking perfect bracket a tough numbers game

by Department of Education and Children

The Insurance and Financial Services sector represented by the above professional body is the largest private sector employer in the Isle of Man. The local Institute on the Island is keen to encourage students at schools and colleges to consider careers in their sector to ensure the Isle of Man remains at the forefront of international financial services.

Yet surveys have found that students thought Insurance was boring and only maths boffins should apply. But when Insurance was re-branded as Risk, interest has increased dramatically. Caspar Bartington, CII Education Partnership Manager will be on the Island on March 19th where he will be joined by local Institute to deliver Discover Risk and Discover Fortunes. These are Insurance and Financial Services interactive sessions respectively, for 16 19 year olds. Sixth form students from Castle Rushen HS will participate in workshops in the morning and IOM College of Further & Higher Education business studies students will participate at the Nunnery campus in the afternoon.

In addition to encouraging new employees into the sector, Sharon Sutton, President of the local institute, and herself a Chartered Financial Planner said; We also want to develop people already working in the sector, and it is essential they have the opportunity to become professionally qualified in this field to become the business leaders in our community and wider afield.

With this is mind, Caspar will be meeting with Gail Corrin of IOM College of Further & Higher Education, to discuss the logistics of a work based financial services degree in partnership with local employers, the College and locally represented professional institutes.

-ENDS-

If you'd like to send any information or news releases to us then please feel free to do so and we would be more than happy to consider sharing your news with the Isle of Man!

Send your Isle of Man news to:webmaster@manx.net

Manx Telecom Ltd 2012

Manx Telecom Ltd, Isle of Man Business Park, Cooil Road, Braddan, Isle of Man IM99 1HX Registered in the Isle of Man Reg no.5629V Vat Reg no GB 003-2919-12

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Chartered Insurance and Personal Finance Society Encourage Career & Educational Opportunities

by Sefton Group

The Sefton Groups Health and Safety Manager has become the first Isle of Man recipient of a prestigious national award for occupational health and safety.

Julie Joyce was presented this week with her City & Guilds Medal for Excellence for outstanding performance in Level 4 National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in Occupational Health and Safety Practice.

Having started with The Sefton in 1984, Julie has held a variety of positions during her time with the Group, including several management posts.

Julie explained: I took responsibility for health and safety at The Sefton in 2008 as an integral part of my role as House Manager. Id recently undertaken the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Managing Safely course and found I enjoyed the subject and, as a natural advancement, I went on to take the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health National General Certificate, which in turn led to achieving this nationally recognised qualification for occupational safety and health practitioners.

The role of health and safety grew to encompass all of the Groups hotels, cinema and other properties until I took on the role as Group Health and Safety Manager in January 2009.

She added: The programme entailed completion of 13 units, and each unit comprised of required performance criteria suitably endorsed by appropriate knowledge requirements and measured against industry lead body standards.

Julies assessor, Stan Yellop of Safety Management Services (IoM) Limited, said: The combination of sustained committed effort and continuing enthusiasm in generating the evidence required for each of the units has resulted in Julie achieving the City & Guilds Medal of Excellence. Julies portfolio had to undergo rigorous independent assessment, together with third party professional endorsement in order to be considered for the award in the first instance.

Sefton Group Chief Executive Brett Martin said: Were delighted for Julie and very proud of her achievements. For the Sefton Group as a whole, her award demonstrates how strong our commitment to health and safety is throughout the organisation.

Link:
Leading Award For Sefton Group’s Health & Safety Manager

A plane from the airline involved in last years fatal Cork accident has crash landed on the Isle of Man.

The Manx2 aircraft apparently suffered a landing gear failure at Ronaldsway Airport on the island after flying from Leeds on Thursday.

There were 12 passengers and crew aboard the British Aerospace Jetstream 3102 service on Thursday, but no-one was injured.

The aircraft sustained substantial damage after its right undercarriage collapsed, causing it to veer off the runway on to the grass verge.

It was claimed that it took five minutes for emergency services to reach the aircraft as air traffic controllers did not immediately spot the incident.

According to some reports, another aircraft had to alert the control tower that the plane was in trouble.

Six people died when the Manx2 flight NM7100 flying from Belfast to Cork crashed in low visibility as it tried to land at Cork Airport in February last year. Three of the dead lived in Northern Ireland. The two pilots were among those killed.

The Fairchild Metroliner SW4 smashed nose first into the the runway, overturned, careered at speed over the tarmac and ploughed through 70 yards of adjacent grass and mud.

The front of the plane burst into flames but in less than two minutes two fire engines were at its side and had quickly extinguished the blaze.

Questions were later raised about why the pilot, who had only recently been appointed a captain, tried to land in such poor conditions.

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Cork tragedy airline plane crash lands on Isle of Man

by Mariel Norton

The Mount Murray Hotel played host to the much anticipated annual dinner of The Isle of Man Insurance & Financial Services Institute last week, which this year celebrated its 25th anniversary in typically convivial style. The dinner marks a momentous occasion for the Institute and coincided with the centenary celebrations of the CII or Chartered Insurance Institute, a professional organisation also aimed at supporting those working in the insurance and financial services industry.

Over 240 guests, including Lt Governor Mr Adam Wood and his wife, Katie Richardson, attended the event, which was kindly sponsored by Island based corporate financial adviser MAC Group. Guests were entertained by Mrs. Christine Hamilton - famously the wife of the former British Minister for Corporate Affairs, Neil Hamilton whose humorous and stirring speech went some way to explaining why the Institutes annual dinner is the most popular event in the industrys calendar.

Tickets once again sold out several weeks in advance, which is further proof of the Institutes aim to extend its reach and increase industry solidarity and engagement in spite of a challenging international economic climate. This year, the forum again paid close attention to the requirements of its members as they continue to work in challenging times, particularly where issues such as the Retail Distribution Review begin to impact.

Jon McGowan, Managing Director of MAC Group, commented: Not only is the CII one of the most long-standing organisations within the financial services industry, their dedication to the Islands leading industry professionals has helped enhance community engagement and training to help improve working standards on the Isle of Man. Were extremely pleased to be involved with such a major event, and look forward to supporting future events that will help benefit the wider business community.

The Institute has an established history of organising and providing its members with access to CPD or Continuing Personal Development programmes and also provides a forum through which members can get advice on training and qualifications for the insurance and financial services industry. As such, the annual dinner presented guests with the ideal opportunity to both network and get up to speed on the latest industry developments in the company of their friends and colleagues. The Institutes annual raffle also raised a grand sum of 2,700, which will be donated to Wish Upon a Dream; an Island based charity established with the primary aim of granting the greatest wish to sick and terminally ill children on the Isle of Man. A portion of the proceeds will also be donated to the Insurance Charities.

The Institutes President and head-organiser, Mrs. Sharon Sutton wishes to extend her thanks to all companies who donated prizes and all those who attended what was undoubtedly a thoroughly enjoyable evening for all.

-Ends-

If you'd like to send any information or news releases to us then please feel free to do so and we would be more than happy to consider sharing your news with the Isle of Man!

Send your Isle of Man news to:webmaster@manx.net

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The Isle of Man Insurance & Financial Services Institute Celebrates its 25th Anniversary