Last month, I wrote that the California Public Employees Retirement System had proposed personal trading regulations.  Due to a glitch at CalPERS, I (and possibly others) did not receive notice of the proposed rulemaking prior to the end of the comment period as required by Government Code Section 11346.4(a)(1).  I did, however, submit comments prior to the hearing on June 13.  Following the hearing, CalPERS gave this notice of changes to the proposed text.  Written comments on these changes are due no later than 5:00 p.m. on July 5, 2012.  The modified text is available here.

A Nod to Our Beginnings

Tomorrow we celebrate and remember the Fourth of July, the date on which the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.  Yesterday, I wrote about the name of the month of July can be traced back through Gaius Julius Caesar to Iulus.  According to the Roman foundational myth, Iulus was the founder of Alba Longa which eventually became the City of Rome.

One of the mottos on the reverse of the great seal of the United States, annuit coeptis, can also be traced to Iulus.  As told by Vergil in book IX of the Aeneid, a local leader, Numanus Remulus, taunts Iulus and the surviving Trojans as twice defeated and effete.  Iulus rises to the challenge and draws his bow.  As he does so, he prays to Jupiter ““Iuppiter omnipotens, audacibus annue coeptis” which means “All powerful Jupiter, give favor [literally, "give a nod to"] our bold beginnings”.

If you are wondering why Iulus said “annue” instead of “annuit”, Latin uses inflected verb forms.  ”Annue” is the the second person, singular, imperative form in the active voice (i.e, ”you favor”) while “annuit” is third person, singular, present (or perfect) active (i.e. he/she/it favors or has favored).

Vergil (his Latin name was Publius Vergilius Maro) was Rome’s greatest epic poet.  Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote that Vergil was the “[w]ielder of the stateliest measure ever moulded by the lips of man.”