text:
This guest post on Innovation Intelligence is written by Lieve Boeykens, Brand Manager at Materialise, developer of Additive Manufacturing software 3-maticSTL. Materialise is a member of the Altair Partner Alliance.
Fashion designers are always seeking to create innovating, mind-blowing outfits and the revolutionary 3D printing technology makes it possible to realize their wildest dreams. The Dutch fashion-tech designer, Anouk Wipprecht, has always been intrigued by the combination of design and technology. Her 3D printed designs have been shown and admired all over the world, such as the Smoke Dress, which could be admired at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt, and the Spider Dress which was exhibited at CES in Las Vegas. Materialise, a leading provider of 3D Printing software, is Anouk's well-established partner during her 3D printing fashion journey. Welcome to the era of 3D-printed fashion.
The Smoke Dress
The Smoke Dress, designed by Anouk Wipprecht and .MGX designer Niccolo Casas, and 3D printed by Materialise, reacts on the interaction between the wearer and the environment. If you step into the intimate space of the wearer, the dress immediately creates a veil of smoke.
Materialise 3D printed the Smoke Dress in polyamide and TPU 92A-1 (the first fully-flexible 3D printing material) to provide both support to the sensors and smoke system that are embedded in the dress, and to have the look and feel of ultra-futuristic fabric.
Materialise's design enhancement software, 3-maticSTL, was used to create an assembly system for the five different pieces of the dress. Materialise's Magics software was used to fix and prepare the design file for 3D printing. Magics and 3-matic STL are two components of Materialise's software platform that smoothly guides the user from design to printed part.
The Spider Dress
The Spider Dress was created by Anouk Wipprecht in collaboration with Philip H. Wilck and fully 3D printed using laser sintering. This piece of art simulates a spider's territorial instincts by using robotic arms that react according to data it picks up from motion and respiration sensors. When the wearer's breath becomes heavy, the sensors read that she feels threatened, so the dress's robotic arms will extend to defend her. If you approach the wearer in a quick, unexpected way, the defense mechanism will be triggered too. Once the threat has dissipated, the arms retract and the dress will have a softer expression.
Anouk needed advanced software to make the complex spine-like geometry of the dress's front printable. Materialise's software platform assisted in the creation of this both unique and wearable design. The designer used data preparation software package and STL editor Magics to fix the design files.
The future of 3D printed fashion looks promising. Through this innovative technology and a well-established software platform for 3D printing, very complex designs no longer need to be discarded. Designers can fully explore the limits of their fantasy and amaze the public with intricate, inspiring designs that could only be produced with 3D printing technology.


text:
Product code: WWSETTTMC
Waterproof breathable wet weather set
Includes jacket and over trousers. The jacket has a fold-away hood, patch pockets, internal cell phone pocket and storm cuffs.
The over trousers have velcro openings on the lower legs, access vents to under garments and elastic/drawcord waist band.
The garments have been fully seam-sealed for maximum waterproof properties.
The design & materials comply with AS/NZS 4602 Day/Night TTMC-W17
Price excludes GST & delivery

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Mailing List
Ask a Linguist
Social Media
LINGUIST List 18.2708
Mon Sep 17 2007
Review: Corpus Linguistics: Teubert & Cermáková (2007)
Editor for this issue: Randall Eggert <randy
1. Randall Eggert,
Review: Corpus Linguistics: Teubert & Cermáková (2007)
Message 1: Review: Corpus Linguistics: Teubert & Cermáková (2007)
Randall Eggert <randy
Review: Corpus Linguistics: Teubert & Cermáková (2007)
E-mail this message to a friend
Announced at
AUTHORS: Teubert, Wolfgang; Cermáková, Anna TITLE: Corpus Linguistics SUBTITLE: A short introduction YEAR: 2007 PUBLISHER: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd
Barbara Schlücker, Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie, Freie Universität Berlin
SUMMARY This textbook consists of two main parts: ''Language and corpus linguistics'', by Wolfgang Teubert, and ''Directions in corpus linguistics'', written jointly by Wolfgang Teubert and Anna Cermáková. It ends with suggestions for further reading and a short glossary. The book was published earlier as part of Teubert's and Cermáková's book _Lexicology and Corpus Linguistics_ (2004).
The first part ''Language and corpus linguistics'' is divided in five subchapters. Teubert starts by giving an introduction to the aims and main interests of Generative Grammar and structuralist theories, concluding that these theories are preoccupied exclusively with the sameness of all languages, the generative powers of rules, and the structure of language, but not with the lexicon (for Chomsky) or the mental processes linked to language (for the structuralists). Teubert then concentrates on the meaning of words which he believes to be ambiguous both from a mono- and bilingual perspective. He compares translations and backtranslations of the same word in several bilingual dictionaries. As all these translations turn out not to map well, Teubert concludes that the single word does not seem to be an appropriate unit of meaning because, as he puts it, ''units of meaning are, by definition, unambiguous; they only have one meaning'' (p. 16). He supports this claim by discussing at length idioms and collocations and their possible translations to other languages. He then concludes that lexicography cannot do without suitable corpora, especially from a bilingual perspective, because in bilingual lexicography a collocation can be defined as a phrase that cannot be adequately translated by translating the parts separately (p. 27). Corpus linguistics, then, is concerned with the meaning of language. Corpus linguistics is not about what happens in the mind in the process of encoding and decoding the meaning of language (as does cognitive linguistics) but with language itself. A corpus is a sample of discourse and studying this sample will give us the meaning of language in context. The last subchapter of part one is a brief history of corpus linguistics, where Teubert describes the first corpus projects and the development of corpus linguistics since the late 1950s as well as the two main directions in current corpus linguistics, namely corpus-based and corpus-driven research.
In the second part ''Directions in corpus linguistics'' Teubert and Cermáková first discuss the question of representativeness, concluding that a corpus cannot be representative of a given discourse as long as we do not have full access to all texts, spoken and written, of which the discourse consists - which will probably never be the case for any discourse, no matter how it is defined. Therefore, representativeness should not be a defining criterion of a corpus. The next subchapter, ''Corpus typology'', discusses several corpus types such as reference corpora, monitor corpora, parallel corpora and the question of whether the internet constitutes a corpus. The remaining subchapters all deal with the central subject of this book, the question of defining and identifying units of meaning. The main claim of Teubert and Cermáková is that meaning can best be described by usage and paraphrase. The usage pattern of a word contains information about co-occurrences and collocations, grammatical information as well as frequency information. Usage patterns can be detected automatically. Another way of identifying units of meaning are paraphrases. Paraphrases are statements, definitions, explanations and stories about a given meaning unit. The set of all paraphrases in a given discourse constitutes the meaning of this unit. Teubert and Cermáková demonstrate the identification of units of meaning for the examples of 'globalization' / 'globalisation' and 'friendly fire' by analyzing usage patterns and paraphrases from corpora. The existence of paraphrases, they argue, can also a be seen as an indication for neologisms: ''It makes sense to assume that the introduction of neologisms into the discourse always occurs along the same lines. As long as the word (or larger unit of meaning) is still new, it needs to be explained. Not everyone understands the word in the same way.'' (p.98). With the example of 'friendly fire', they also resume the bilingual aspect when they study translations of this expression in German. In addition to usage patterns and paraphrases, translations, then, are seen as a third criterion for identifying units of meaning: ''It seems that the translation equivalent of a true collocation is not what would be the most appropriate translation if each of the elements were translated separately. (...) Rather, collocations are translated as a whole, and it does not seem to matter whether the favoured equivalent makes any sense if interpreted literally as a combination of the elements involved.'' (p.113). As their concern lies in the bilingual aspect, Teubert and Cermáková finally discuss parallel corpora. In studying the translations of French 'travail'/'travaux' in English, namely 'work' and 'labour', they show that there are different collation profiles which do not overlap at all, i.e. words that do co-occur with 'work' never co-occur with 'labour' and vice versa. These findings lead them to conclude that in bilingual dictionaries single-word-entries should be replaced with entries of translation units.
EVALUATION This book deals with the meaning and the identification of units of meaning. Teubert and Cermáková discuss at length the problems which arise when we examine strings of words. When are we dealing with a fixed expression? What is a collocation? And how can the meaning of such units be described? One of the merits of this book certainly is the detailed discussion of examples like 'globalization', 'false', 'friendly fire' etc. These examples not only illustrate the problems discussed but they also show how the approaches suggested by the authors (usage patterns, paraphrases) work. This is especially true for the bilingual aspect: Teubert and Cermáková give many examples from existing bilingual dictionaries, demonstrating that the single word does not seem to be an appropriate unit of meaning as the meaning of single words is ambiguous, and thereby bringing out their claim that entries of translation units should replace single-word-entries in bilingual dictionaries.
Reading this book thus helps one to gain insight into the problems of lexicology and of lexicography. It is doubtful, however, whether this book lends itself as an introduction to corpus linguistics. Corpus linguistics is shown to be a useful instrument when identifying units of meaning and the meaning of these units. But it is a major problem that in this textbook corpus linguistics is addressed exclusively in the context of lexicology. The authors admit that grammar in principle could be a field of application for corpus linguistics. But unfortunately they omit this subject, stating that ''corpus linguistics should keep its hands off grammar, to the extent that the rules we find in our grammar books are indisputable. (They are not always, though)'' (p. 48). The relevance of corpus linguistics for the research of grammar, form and formal variation is completely disregarded in this book.
A second problem is that definitions of the notions of 'corpus' and 'corpus linguistics' are missing. The book starts with an extensive debate of Chomskyan linguistics and structuralism. It is only on page 24 that the notion of corpus linguistics is mentioned for the first time and it is then mentioned in a way that presupposes that the reader already knows what corpus linguistics is and what it is used for. On page 37 finally the aim of corpus linguistics is introduced as compared to Chomskyan linguistics and structuralism. There is no discussion of the essential properties that discriminate between a linguistic corpus and any arbitrary collection of texts, like for example composition, size or annotation. Thus, for the unskilled reader - probably the typical reader of an introductory textbook - the idea, the aims and the interests of corpus linguistics are very hard to grasp.
Another (minor) problem is the way the internet corpus is dealt with. In this book, the internet is used as a corpus and there is also a short section on this subject. But whether the internet really constitutes a corpus and under which circumstances we should make use of this corpus is a difficult question which is currently being debated (e.g. Kilgarriff & Grefenstette 2003, Hundt, Biewer & Nesselhauf 2007). Unfortunately, the authors do not mention this issue at all nor the relevant literature. Furthermore, when using data from the internet, they give Google as the reference for these data rather than the real sources. However, the fact that Google is an internet search engine but not an internet source should be known by a corpus linguist.
Obviously, many of these problems have to do with the fact that this book has been published before as part of _Lexicology and Corpus Linguistics_ (2004) and is now republished without adjustments. This would not only explain why the area of application of corpus linguistics is restricted to lexicology, but also why there is no introduction, which, among other things, defines the audience it is written for. According to the publisher's advertisement this book is ''a readable introductory textbook'' which ''will be useful to students trying to get a grasp on this subject''. Unfortunately, considering the problems mentioned above, I doubt that this is true. This book without doubt is appealing for everybody interested in lexicology and lexicography who wants to know how corpus linguistics can be used in lexicology and who ideally has some background knowledge about corpus linguistics. But it is not suitable as a textbook for students looking for an introduction to corpus linguistics with practical advice.
Hundt, Marianne, Caroline Biewer & Nadja Nesselhauf (eds.). (2007) _Corpus Linguistics and the Web_. Amsterdam: Rodopi
Kilgarriff, Adam & Gregory Grefenstette. (2003) Introduction to the special issue on the web as corpus. _Computational Linguistics_ 29/3, 333-347
Teubert, Wolfgang & Anna Cermáková. (2004) _Lexicology and Corpus Linguistics_. Continuum.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER Barbara Schlücker is a postdoctoral research fellow and lecturer at the Freie Universität Berlin. Her research interests include corpus linguistics, semantics and the morphology-syntax-interface.


text: This is an old school joint on S. Lamar. Only the 21 & up crowd is allowed in…which was actually a nice change. Bob Schneider plays every Monday night here with a variety of musicians…he's been playing here for the past 6 years. And that's quite apparent by the number of people who made it out for the show. When I got there at 8pm for the 8:30 start time, it was standing room only. Most of the tables they have here end up getting reserved by friends and family, so if you want a table it's best to get here by at least 6pm. The layout itself is pretty good…there is a small sunken area to your right as you walk into the bar that has a pool table…this particular night it was being used to show off all of Bob's merchandise. The main bar is in the center of the place & then there is a bunch of tables and seating to the left of the bar, right in front of the stage. This is really a great place and the show was rocking and FUN!! Seeing Bob perform here was definitely like seeing him in his element; the show had a very laid-back and comfortable air about it. I would love to go back here with a group of friends!


text:
Honor has freshly disclosed its first 5G Smartphone to come in 2019. Samsung, LG and Xiaomi are also making plans to present their first ever 5G devices for the Q1 of the next year. Honor i... Read more
At first, Lenovo Z5 has been announced in just three colors – Black, Indigo Blue, and Aurora, having the final one switching from Blue to Purple just determined by the lighting. By thi... Read more
Get ready for laptops having 128GB of RAM since they are on their way. Just this day, Lenovo has declared its ThinkPad P52, which, together with having that huge amount of memory, also has u... Read more
Lenovo has initially teased a render of its Z5 the previous month, stating that the phone is going to have a screen totally stretched to the edges. Though, when the smartphone has really bee... Read more
Copyright © 2019 Ghanalive.TV. All Rights Reserved.


text:
WITNESS joins HRW's Film Festival panel on virtual reality and human rights
WITNESS is proud to join the Human Rights Watch Film Festival (HRWFF) in New York as a presenting partner for the Festival's focus on virtual reality this year. Our Program Director Sam Gregory will be speaking on the following panel on June 15 at 6:30pm:
The Emerging World of Virtual Reality and Human Rights
Virtual Reality (VR) is an expanding arena for immersive and interactive video content. Creators are exploring ways to project participants into new worlds and experiences, and a growing number of these are focused on human rights. A variety of backers such as the New York Times, Google, Facebook and the United Nations are working to develop and expand our use of the technology. Questions about how best to use VR, and it's ability to impact human rights situations, are hotly debated – particularly as VR's unique approach to audience experience, raises new issues over legitimacy and responsibility. Creators differ over how far to push audiences' boundaries, for what impact, and with what design model. Opinions about these questions are ever-changing within the field. Join us for a panel discussion with creators, journalists, and human rights experts to discuss this exciting and evolving intersection of VR and human rights.
Panelists include Sam Gregory, Program Director at WITNESS, Francesca Panetta, Special Projects Editor at The Guardian and Lina Srivastava, Founder, CIEL.
We're also supporting HRWIFF's presentation of 6×9: An immersive experience of Solitary Confinement – a groundbreaking VR piece that explores solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. This special exhibit, co-created by The Guardian and The Mill, will be available to festival visitors every day 7:30-9:30pm June 10-19, 2016 in the lobby of the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Read Theater.
If you can't be in NYC, join the conversation online by tweeting us at @witnessorg and Sam at @samgregory and using #HRWFF and #video4change.
Featured image courtesy of HRWFF.


text:
Hot Topics: Habitats
by Peter Riley (author), Stephen Lillie (illustrator), and Laszlo Veres (illustrator) (UK edition)
This product is not currently available.
To help you find what you're looking for, see similar items below.
This product has not been rated yet.
0 reviews (Add a review)
Delivery information
We are only able to deliver orders to school addresses
- FREE delivery for schools*
- Delivery within 10 working days
Book Club orders
- FREE delivery to schools
- Books will be despatched after the school's order is confirmed
*We do not charge for delivery, but your order may incur additional customs costs.
More books for 5 - 11 year olds
- Creativity
- Cross-Curricular
- Geography > Habitats
- Non-fiction
- Science > Biology and Life Science > Animals
- Science > Biology and Life Science > Environmental or Green Issues
- Science > Biology and Life Science > Habitats
- Science > Biology and Life Science > Life Cycles
- Science > Biology and Life Science > Plants and Flowers
- Teaching Resource
- Topics
Product description
Get creative with the curriculum by making the most of topic work. The Hot Topics series of ready-to-go resources makes it easy and inspiring to teach your favourite topics – and tick off several learning goals at the same time.
- Cover more subjects in less time with engaging cross-curricular lessons
- Create brilliant displays, experiments, models and craft projects
- Each book contains all the lesson plans, activities, games, craft templates and instructions you'll need
- A whole-term topic that kids love, with differentiated lessons for three age groups
Find out how just one topic about habitats can help your pupils explore geography, science, creative writing, art and many other curriculum areas. Here is everything you need to teach your topic from start to finish, including lesson plans with clear learning objectives, photocopiables and templates.
"Hot Topics are packed with activities that are interesting, diverse, exciting and stimulating for children and teachers alike." Jane Lord, primary teacher
Product Details
Date published
May 3rd, 2012
Other details
- 80 pages
NewUK edition
This product has not been reviewed yet.


text:
Posted By: Liam Kelly on 7th Dec 2011 04:06
One seldom finds a city that is not fused with Eastern Culture in one way or another...D.C. is no different. The other night I caught the metro out to Chinatown to meet up with some new friends.
Chinatown is a visually pleasing experience that is characterised by beautiful archways, unique restaurants, a quaint night market and the out-of-place sound of a live country and western cover bands.
« read full post


text: EXPAT MORTGAGES MORE Bridging loans Expat mortgages First time buyer mortgages Guarantor mortgages High net worth mortgages High value home insurance High value life assurance Interest only mortgages International buyers Large mortgages London mortgage broker Million pound mortgages Mortgages for doctors Moving house mortgage Offset mortgages Offshore mortgages Private bank mortgages Professional mortgages Remortgages Self-employed mortgages Not all lenders offer competitive mortgages to expat buyers looking to purchase property in the UK, so finding the right deal for your individual requirements can be difficult. Founded in 1999, Private Finance is an independent mortgage broker that has strong relationships with the key UK lenders, including private banks and specialist lenders who do not have a high-street presence. We arrange bespoke expat mortgages, providing a tailored advisory service, delivered face-to-face when you are in the UK or via telephone and email, wherever you are located. request call back


text:
Ironbridge to Blaenavon to Cheddar: A Road Trip
I planned a brilliant road trip; it was all mapped out, places of note to stop at if there was time, places to stay and eat all sorted. There was going to be plenty to see and do and then after a series of unfortunate, last minute events, the plan went out of the window entirely and a new road trip was drawn up rather hurriedly, while on the road! But you know what, managing to see two UNESCO sites in two days and then tick somewhere else off my bucket


text:
Elliott Advisors (UK) beperkt reactie op verklaringen Vivendi
MILAN & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– De laatste verklaringen van Vivendi en de Raad die het controleert bij Telecom Italia ("TIM" of "het bedrijf"), verdedigt het mislukte rentmeesterschap en het aanvallen van de raad van commissarissen, het versterken van Elliott's opvatting dat TIM behoefte heeft aan een raad van echt onafhankelijke bestuurders die uiteindelijk de belangen van aandeelhouders op de eerste plaats zullen stellen, om het bestuur en de prestaties te verbeteren.
Onder Vivendi's leiding heeft TIM een diepgaande en aanhoudende koersdaling ondergaan, herhaaldelijk strategische fouten gemaakt en uitgevoerd zonder aandacht te hebben voor een goed bestuur en vertoonde talrijke belangenconflicten.
Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited Response to Vivendi Statements
MILAN & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)– The latest statements from Vivendi and the Board it controls at Telecom Italia ("TIM" or "the Company"), defending its failed stewardship and attacking the Board of Statutory Auditors, reinforce Elliott's view that TIM needs a Board composed of truly independent directors who will finally put the interests of shareholders first as it works to improve governance and performance.
Under Vivendi's control, TIM has experienced profound and persistent share price underperformance, made repeated strategic missteps, operated with no regard for proper governance and exhibited numerous conflicts of interest.
Elliott believes Vivendi's statement of April 17 (extracts of which appear below), lacks substance and is replete with platitudes that do not remotely address the issues which have plagued TIM under Vivendi's stewardship. Most notably, Vivendi repeatedly refers to itself as the "main" shareholder in TIM. It is in fact not; it is merely the largest shareholder, and Elliott believes Vivendi's interests are no more important than those of other TIM shareholders. Furthermore, contrary to Vivendi's assertions, Elliott is strongly of the view that it is never premature for companies to create value for their shareholders. Finally, when Italian authorities are publicly stating that Vivendi is an "awful" shareholder, it is clear that the status quo is untenable.
It is time for change at Telecom Italia. Elliott believes shareholders need a united board, not one divided and mired in litigation with its own statutory auditors. Shareholders deserve the opportunity to unlock significant value by supporting Elliott's proposal, which begins with electing a truly independent Board of Directors on April 24.
Extracts from Vivendi's April 17 statement:
- "Telecom Italia had lost more than 70% of its market value in the previous ten years before Vivendi came on board."The negative trend in TIM's stock price performance has accelerated since Vivendi nominees joined the Board in December 2015. In a little over two years, TIM's stock has fallen more than 35%1.
- "Vivendi has taken an industrial approach to Telecom Italia which is bringing a real competitive advantage."Vivendi's "industrial approach" has benefited itself, as evidenced by related party transactions allowing Vivendi to reap benefits accruing to its group companies such as Canal Plus and Havas, to the detriment of TIM and its shareholders.
- "Under Italian law and governance principles, as the main shareholder of Telecom Italia Vivendi has acted in the interests of the company as a whole and has ensured the Board and governance structures of the business are in full compliance with law."There are numerous examples that show Vivendi has acted in its sole interest: these include the blocking of the savings share conversion; breaching both golden power and Gasparri law; appointing non-independent directors; and appointing managers with conflicting roles such as Michel Sibony. Mr. Sibony was appointed Head of the Procurement Unit and Real Estate Department at TIM's March 6 2018 Board meeting, despite holding several functions within the Bolloré Group, Havas, and Vivendi (potential suppliers to TIM). He was also recently appointed Chief Value Officer at Vivendi.
- "As the main shareholder in Telecom Italia, Vivendi can provide stability and expertise while enabling other shareholders to invest and participate in the future upside."It appears that Vivendi's approach to telecom assets in the past (SFR, GVT, Maroc Telecom) has been to trade these businesses rather than to promote investment stability through long-term stewardship.
- "Vivendi has catalysed a recovery in Telecom Italia's share price at a time when telecoms operators in Europe and globally have suffered a savage derating. […] Telecom Italia stock has outperformed peers by 17% since June 2017 (Stoxx Europe 600/Telcos index)."Since Vivendi nominees joined the TIM board the stock has lost over 35% of its value, underperforming the Stoxx Europe 600/Telcos index (SXKP) by 20%. Even if one takes Vivendi's reference point of June 2017, the outperformance vs. the index was less than 1%2.
- "It is that recovery which is now at risk."Elliott is not proposing to overhaul Telecom Italia's management team but rather to address a track record of poor governance and a lack of stewardship, systemic since Vivendi nominees were appointed to the board in December 2015.
- "Elliott admitted in a recent document: 'Since 2016, TIM has started to consistently deliver growing revenue and EBITDA.'"This underscores Elliott's point: management is not the source of the problem. The languishing share price performance and growing governance concerns need to be addressed.
- "Yet it does not explain how that plan can be implemented with a divided Board…"The very reason the existing board is divided today is because of Vivendi's poor stewardship and disregard for best practice corporate governance. The current board is anything but united as evidenced by the recent 10-5 vote on the topic of litigating with the Company's statutory auditors (the 10 directors who voted in favour of this resolution were each nominated by Vivendi). Elliott agrees a divided board is detrimental to the Company and its shareholders. This division strengthens Elliott's case to replace six of Vivendi's nominated directors with new independent and highly qualified board members on April 24.
- "…nor does Elliott explain how it can help matters to impose a new strategy on Amos Genish and his team without the support of the company's largest shareholder."Elliott is not imposing any strategic plan. Elliott is a shareholder and is proposing independent, highly qualified directors to replace selected Vivendi nominees on the Company's board.
- "To give one example, the deconsolidation of the network business which has proven a failure in the few countries where it has been tried."Elliott advocates that it is incumbent upon the independent board of directors to explore and evaluate various alternatives to unlock value for all shareholders. The Czech Republic, the only other European example of a voluntary network separation in the telecom sector, has created significant value for shareholders of O2 Czech (ServiceCo), as evidenced by total shareholder return of almost 400% since June 2015.3
- "Perhaps Vivendi in the past underestimated some of Italy's uniqueness."In Elliott's view, respecting the rule of law (the golden power and Gasparri law), respecting the rights of minority shareholders, appointing highly qualified, independent directors and respecting the board of statutory auditors are not unique features of Italy, but common features of advanced market economies.
- "We recognize that the Italian government and regulators have an important stake in ensuring that Telecom Italia is well run and able to fulfil its role as the backbone of Italian communications infrastructure."Vivendi has failed to cooperate with the regulator and the government not only in Telecom Italia but also in its previous attempted hostile takeover of Mediaset.
- "Over time the conflict between certain investors' demands for quick fixes and the true interest of the Italian nation which lies in a strong, independent Telecom Italia will become more apparent."Telecom Italia's shareholders are focused on value creation for all shareholders, delivered by a strong management team, and overseen by a truly independent board with appropriate governance in place. The current slate proposed by Vivendi will, in Elliott's view, be unable to foster the independent corporate governance that the company so crucially requires.
- "Led by a main shareholder with a long-term industrial vision and the necessary commitment, the management can focus on delivering that strategy."Elliott believes management should be led by the current CEO and the board of directors rather than by a single shareholder. Elliott has been unable to identify any previous example of a telecom company requiring a media company to control its board in order to create value for its shareholders.
- "Vivendi has, we believe, demonstrated that commitment, and has been a positive catalyst for change."Elliott believes share price underperformance, CONSOB investigations, independent directors' and Italian ministers' comments, clearly show that Vivendi has failed in its stewardship role and has failed to be a positive catalyst for shareholder value creation at TIM.
- "We have proposed a slate of candidates for the Board who are fully supportive of the management team and their approach."Elliott, along with proxy advisors Glass Lewis, ISS and Frontis Governance, believes its slate to be a material improvement to that put forward by Vivendi, in terms of credibility, suitable experience and the support it can provide the management team.
- "In drawing up that slate we have listened attentively to the views of others."Vivendi may have listened to the views of others but it has evidently ignored them: Vivendi has presented mostly the same directors who resigned in March 2018, including those whom they claim to be independent.
About Elliott
Elliott Management Corporation manages two multi-strategy funds which combined have approximately $35 billion of assets under management. Its flagship fund, Elliott Associates, L.P., was founded in 1977, making it one of the oldest funds of its kind under continuous management. The Elliott funds' investors include pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, funds-of-funds, and employees of the firm. Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited is an affiliate of Elliott Management Corporation.
Our approach to TIM is consistent with our approach to many of our current and previous investments. We have invested a significant amount of time and resources into understanding TIM, including hiring numerous advisors and consultants with whom we have worked closely together with our business associates. We believe strongly in the value conclusions that we have drawn as a result of this effort.
|Calculated from 15-Dec-2015 to 05-Mar-2018 (latest undisturbed pricing date before Elliott interest in TIM was disclosed).
|Calculated from 01-Jun-2017 to 05-Mar-2018 (latest undisturbed pricing date before Elliott interest in TIM was disclosed).
|O2 Czech Republic (TELEC CP) total shareholder return since 01-Jun-2015 (date of CETIN separation) to 17-Apr-2018.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180418006694/en/
Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited
Sarah Rajani CFA, +44 (0) 20 3009 1475
Verini & Associates
Marcella Verini, +39 (02) 4539 5500
Stefano Marini
+39 (06) 42171 201
+34 (91) 7012170


text:
Baking a Cake or Mending a Heartbreak – What Do People Associate Chocolate with
If chocolate is the king of comfort foods and an essential first aid for all types of heartbreak, then one might consider the Swiss extremely depressed with Germans following right behind. As SEO experts we take extra care when interpreting data and though Switzerland ranks as the world's biggest chocolate consumer, more insight is needed to properly understand the phenomenon.
Countries with the biggest sweet tooth
In association with Statista analytics Forbes published a list of the world's ten biggest chocolate consumers, calculating the amount of pounds of chocolate consumed per person each year.
Among the top ten chocolate consumer only two of the countries are not located in Europe – USA and Australia. Lindt is Swiss and Milka is German and based on the data the two respected nations prove to be the most patriotic chocolate consumers. But, how come Australia beats France? And what are the reasons for Ireland taking 3rd place in worldwide chocolate consumption?
In order to answer these questions we've prepared a cultural SEO analysis on what people associate chocolate with when searching online. The research was done with the help of Google Trends where we picked the five most interesting countries among the above ten mentioned biggest chocolate consumers: Switzerland, USA, Ireland, Australia and Norway.
A cultural perspective on chocolate
With the help of Google Trends we analyzed the top 5 search related queries on chocolate in the following countries: Switzerland, USA, Ireland, Australia and Norway. When performing research for each country we respected the native tongue(s) used in the specific territory.
To better understand the top 5 search related queries on chocolate for each country we researched cultural factors behind the results. Many times, national traditions related with chocolate have a significant impact on search results. At the same time current trends in eating habits or what is popular on TV also shape chocolate query rankings.
Chocolate is part of Swiss history
When planning a trip to Switzerland you might notice subpages on informational websites dedicated only to Swiss chocolate history. The first chocolate Swiss brand Callier was started in 1819. With Switzerland having more than 40 chocolate manufacturers it comes as no surprise that when typing in schokolade (chocolate in German) three out of the top 5 related queries were associated with brand names: "lindt" – taking 2nd and 3rd place and "frey" on 4th. A clear indicator of chocolate patriotism is the number one related query "schokolade schweiz" – "swiss chocolate".
An interesting difference occurs when the search is performed in French – chocolat. It looks as one of the most important national traits of France also spreads across border to their Swiss neighbors – cuisine. Here all top 5 related chocolate queries correspond with baking.
First place takes "recette" which means "recipe". 2nd and 3rd occupies "gateau" – "cake", while 4th and 5th place are all about the world-known creamy-puff desert "mousse chocolat".
But, is the French gastronomic influence really that strong? Did you know that before 1897 chocolate was mainly used for drink recipes? The same year Rodolphe Lindt invented the process of conching which makes the texture of chocolate smoother and silkier and making it easier to bake with. Search queries on chocolate cake and mousse show that the Swiss are proud of being a pioneer in baking with chocolate and are continuing the tradition.
USA – home of the Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ruth Grave Wakefield is the mother of the chocolate chip cookie created in 1938. In the book "Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book" food writer Carolyn Wyman describes the cookie as the perfect "antidote to the Great Depression" which brought comfort to millions of people in a "single inexpensive hand-held serving". The American food icon maintains its popularity and that is why the word "chocolate" is found together with "chip" and "cookie" in all the top 5 related queries.
Irish Breakfast
Looking through search queries associated with chocolate in Ireland, you can notice the clear domination of pastries showing up in particular "cake" and "biscuit".
The Irish are the world's second biggest tea drinkers and when it comes to Tea Time there are certain steps one must follow when taking his or her tea. One of them also includes having a proper set of pastries to take with your favorite tea blend. And why not make them chocolate flavored? This explains why the Irish so often associate chocolate with baked goods in their search queries. Biscuit chocolate cake is so popular people devote articles on where to buy the best one in Dublin.
The Great Australian Bake Off
Though the show has been on television only since 2013 "The Great Australian Bake Off" quickly won peoples harts and firmly sustains its popularity. The show created a baking frenzy among Australians where its recipes are becoming neatly collected by baking blogs and recipe websites. That is why Australian's associate the word "cake" with chocolate, which ranks 1st and 3rd place on the chocolate related query scale. The word "recipe(s)" shows up on 3rd and 5th.
An interesting occurrence is "chocolate factory" on 4th place. As Australians are among the top ten biggest chocolate consumers in the world it explains why chocolate tourism is popular across the country. Chocolate factory tours are organized in manufacturing facilities of all scales – from small town sweet shops to larger plantations like Charlie's Chocolate Factory.
Sjokolade means chocolate in Norwegian
Chocolate experts know that the Scandinavian region cultivates its own chocolate traditions, focusing especially on bars and candies. Freia, ranking 4th, is a popular Norwegian chocolate brand producing the favorite Melkesjokolade (Milkchococlate), Sjokolade med søt kjeks (Chocolate with biscuits) and also Hvit Sjokolade (White chocolate), ranking 3rd on the top 5 chocolate related query list.
That Norwegians are also baking lovers proves that one of the most popular blogs in the country is Manuela Kjeilen's blog Passion4baking.com. "Kake" means cake in Norwegian and shows in three among the top 5 related chocolate queries.
Expanding your brand overseas is not an easy task. That is why it is always good to work with people who know how to approach international market. At GFluence we help various businesses with executing their international SEO strategy to its fullest potential. Check full spectrum of services that we can provide for your brand.
Featured image source: www.pixabay.com
Leave a Reply
Make sure you fill in all mandatory fields. Required fields are marked *


text:
Modelling Institute
Every young man or woman, somewhere in their journey of life dreams of becoming a model. The profession that is the fantasy of millions of youth all over the world is promoted by Lakhotia Institute of Design in a grand way, complete with the glitz and glamour,razzle and dazzle and the techniques and the arts to maneuver oneself to the world stage. Modelling simply means setting an example to others in the process of selling a product with a high standard of grooming, style, and the right attitude.
Hyderabad's sole modelling academy is the jewel in the crown, Lakhotia. This is where the diamond is polished from the coals and real pearls are discovered. Lakhotia Institute of Design is solely responsible for launching the careers of many successful models, male and female, not only in Hyderabad but also in other major metros like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune. With the fast growing fashion industry,there is the constant look out for fresh faces for the print,electronic media,ramp and giant brand advertisements. Modelling has always been a stepping stone to films and Lakhotia has always packaged and promoted its models in a way that they get the maximum visibility. From arranging for go-sees to setting up industry appointments for models as well as instant intimation for auditions and interviews, Lakhotia's modelling department has always taken responsibility and has mentored its models in the right direction. The modelling course trains its model enrollments in the finer nuances of poses, camera angles, ramp walking,grooming,fashion and style,health,fitness,beauty as well as media communication and industry awareness and interaction.
So come into the illustrious world of Lakhotia as fame and fortune await to embrace you in their realms.
Courses Offered in Modelling
Duration: 3 Months
Eligibility: Male: 5′ 7″ to 6′ 4″ & Female: 5′ 4″ to 6′
Duration: 6 Months
Eligibility: Male: 5′ 10″ to 6′ 4″ & Female: 5′ 6″ to 6′


text:
1850 new positions on the Virginia Peninsula from 2012 to 2016
Start: $ 11.31/hr. $ 23,500/yr.
Ave: $ 17.74/hr. $ 36,900/yr.
Employer website, Peninsula Worklink, Virginia Employment Commission
Newport News Shipbuilding Apprentice School
Virginia Wizard
Job Description: Lay out, assemble, install and maintain pipe systems, pipe supports, and related hydraulic and pneumatic equipment for steam, hot water, heating, cooling, lubricating, sprinkling and industrial production and processing systems.
Education Needed: Vocational training, OJT, or an AAS
Career Pathway: Most plumbers, pipelayers, pipefitters and steamfitters train on the job through jointly administered apprenticeships and in career or technical schools or community colleges. Attainment of this certification may help people trained in this area get more jobs and advance more quickly.
WorkKeys Scores Needed:: Applied Math (4), Reading for Information (3), Locating Information (4), Observation (3) and Applied Technology (3)
1) Review Essential Skills Below. Take our skills check up to see how you qualify against employer standards.
2) Visit Employer website, Peninsula Worklink, Virginia Employment Commission to learn about education and training programs.
3) Current employers of record for Pipefitters:
Davis Boat, Newport News Shipbuilding
Technical Skills
Installation: installing equipment, machines, wiring or programs to meet specifications.
Easily translates a word problem into a computational one.
Adds and subtracts whole numbers, including negative numbers.
Changes numbers from one form to another using whole numbers, fractions, decimals or percentages.
Converts simple calculations with money, volume, length and weight.
Adds, subtracts, multiplies, and divides all units of measurement.
Combines ratio, rate and percentage.
Draws and interprets bar graphs.
Performs mathematical calculations using decimals and fractions.
Follows directions correctly.
Communicates effectively with customers and fellow employees.
Listens well and applies what is learned.
Reads and applies safety warnings and simpler equipment instructions.
Writes sentences with minor grammar and punctuation errors.
Workplace Skills
Creativity, innovation, adaptation: contributes new ideas and adapts to changes in the workplace.
Diversity awareness and application: communicates and works well with customers and coworkers of different ages, genders, races, socioeconomics, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.
Professional ethics: abides by workplace policies and laws, and demonstrates personal integrity.
Personal hygiene and safety: follows safety guidelines and manages personal health.
Professional Skills
Time and resource management: punctual, timely with work deadlines, manages time and other resources well.
Team player: demonstrates commitment to the success of the team, assists others, requests help when needed and resolves conflicts effectively.
Positive work ethic: arrives ready to work, is supportive of accomplishing tasks at hand, completes work assignments in effective and efficient way, is willing to take on additional tasks.
Reasoning, problem solving: identifies, breaks down, prioritizes and resolves problems that arise in completing assigned tasks.
Locating information: knows how to research, locate and ethically apply reliable information to solve problems.
Systems thinking: understands his or her role in fulfilling the mission of this workplace.
Copyright Virginia Peninsula Career Pathways, 2011.


text:
Strawberry and Wheat Germ Shortcake
Strawberry and Wheat Germ Shortcake
Nutrition FactsServing Size: 1 strawberry shortcake (149g)
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Calories 290
Calories From Fat 110
- % Daily Value
- Total Fat 13g 20%
- Saturated Fat 7g 35%
- Trans Fat 0g
- Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
- Monounsaturated Fat 3.5g
- Cholesterol 40mg 13%
- Sodium 280mg 12%
- Potassium220mg 6%
- Total Carbohydrate 40g 13%
- Dietary Fiber 2g 8%
- Sugars 14g
- Protein 5g
- Vitamin A 8% Vitamin C 60%
- Calcium 10% Iron 15%
- Vitamin E 20% Thiamin 20%
- Folate 25% Phosphorus 10%
- Magnesium 8% Zinc 6%
Spring and summer offer the perfect time to whip up dishes made with locally grown, freshly picked strawberries. Enjoy these delicious gems while they last!
Serves 8
1 pound fresh strawberries, hulled and gently crushed with potato masher or fork
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 2/3 cups cake flour
1/3 cup Kretschmer Original Toasted Wheat Germ
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons sugar, divided
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 egg white, lightly beaten
Whipped cream
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Adjust oven rack to lower middle position; heat oven to 425° F.
To make topping, mix berries and sugar together in medium bowl; set aside.
To make shortcakes, mix flour, wheat germ, salt, baking powder, baking soda and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using large holes of a box grater, grate butter into dry ingredients. Toss butter with flour mixture to coat. Working quickly with both hands, rub butter into dry ingredients with fingertips until mixture is crumbly. Stir in buttermilk and mix until just combined. Form dough into a ball and turn out onto a cutting board.
Pat dough into 9 x 6-inch rectangle (about 3/4-inch thick). Flour 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter; cut dough into 6 rounds. Gather remaining dough and cut 2 additional biscuits. Place biscuits 1 inch apart on small ungreased baking sheet; brush dough tops with egg white and sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Place baking sheet on wire rack and cool shortcakes slightly, about 10 minutes.
To make whipped cream, chill large bowl and beaters for a handheld mixer in freezer for about 10 minutes. Add cream, sugar and vanilla to chilled bowl and beat on low speed until small bubbles form, about 30 seconds. Working in 30-second increments, slowly increase the speed to high and beat mixture until cream has doubled in volume and soft peaks form.
To assemble, halve each biscuit crosswise, spoon a portion of berries and then a dollop of whipped cream over each cake bottom. Top with biscuit top and serve immediately.


text:
NYC Mayoral Candidates Promise Disruption, SimCity and Hackathons at Gracie Mansion
BY Miranda Neubauer | Friday, August 30 2013
Frontrunning Democratic mayoral contender Bill De Blasio likened his ideas to the "disruptive" nature of technology in a recent interview with the New York Tech Meetup*, emphasizing the importance of transparency, grassroots organizing and engagement in the democratic process, invoking the examples of Barack Obama and Howard Dean. Dean endorsed De Blasio this week.
In late August, De Blasio, Republican Candidate Joe Lhota and Independence Party candidate Adolfo Carrion continued a series of video discussion sessions with the mayoral candidates that were organized by the Tech Meetup and hosted by ThoughtWorks.
Bill de Blasio
In his session, De Blasio praised Mayor Michael Bloomberg for embracing the technology sector and spear-heading the Roosevelt Island technology campus plan. But he criticized how the issue of high-speed Internet access had been handled during the Bloomberg years.
"That was old thinking and old government at its worst," he said. "Verizon got a franchise and then did not provide what it was committed to providing to make sure that people all over the city in every kind of neighborhood got the access they deserve. Well effectively, the city government gave a monopoly, and then didn't enforce the rules."
De Blasio said he wanted to move away from a corporate model of governance to a more inclusive and innovative approach. For example, he said, he wanted to double the number contracts going to smaller, start-up technology firms and use city subsidy money, lines of credit and equity funds to benefit minority and women-owned businesses in the tech sector and businesses that are looking for opportunities in the outer boroughs. Praising the evolution of the tech sector in Brooklyn, he suggested it could serve as a model for other parts of the city and emphasized his affordable housing plan as an important way of achieving those goals.
De Blasio, currently Public Advocate, pointed to his office's work in setting up the online Worst Landlords and the New York City Housing Authority repairs watchlists and said they succeeded in "organizing tenants to fight for their own rights." As techPresident recently reported, his office worked with New York City firm Albatross Digital to implement those tools. As mayor, he said he hoped to expand on those projects, noting that over 300 buildings had gotten heat, hot water and health and safety repairs because the watchlist made violations of the law public.
Looking beyond the Roosevelt Island Cornell/Technion campus, De Blasio outlined how he wanted to cut subsidies to larger companies and spend more to benefit CUNY by establishing a two-year degree in STEM and offering more financial aid.
As mayor, he said he wanted to work to create a stronger connection between public schools and the technology and other business sectors to create more opportunities for mentorships and internships.
Beyond his plan to raise taxes to support early childhood education, De Blasio said he believed a quarter billion dollars of tax payer money a year "is being misused in terms of large corporate subsidies" and said he would intend to "reprogram" that money to benefit small businesses and CUNY. "I've heard people in this community say that with some quick action the effect of more folks getting financial aid and some new programming being provided at CUNY could be felt in just a few years and might have a bigger impact in many ways than the Applied Sciences Center in terms of just the number of people reached and employed."
De Blasio praised the work of New York City's Chief Digital Officer Rachel Haot, but said that as mayor he would have a deputy mayor focused on the growth of the city's tech community. In addition to his affordable housing plan, De Blasio said he would continue Bloomberg's efforts to improve the immigrant experience to make the city attractive to technology employees.
Asked how he intended to support the technology community as it faced numerous regulatory challenges on the federal level, De Blasio pointed to his experience working under Andrew Cuomo as the HUD Secretary and as campaign manager for Hillary Clinton's first Senate campaign, and said he would be a forceful advocate in Washington for New York City interests. "The mayor of New York City is one of the leaders of urban America," he said. "Some of the changes needed would benefit cities all over the country...I would borrow from Mayor Bloomberg's efforts on gun control...but I have a more economic frame...I'm concerned about getting the federal government back into the mass transit and affordable housing business where it was for a half-century and should be and can be again."
Joe Lhota
Republican candidate Joe Lhota, former chairman and CEO of the MTA and deputy mayor under Rudolph Giuliani, noted in his remarks that he had played a key role in the first implementation of nyc.gov when the domain was purchased and the implementation of the city e-mail system.
As mayor, Lhota said he wanted to build on Bloomberg's embrace of the technology sector and education by continuing to diversify the economy as the established businesses of investment banking and law face decline.
He said he would support eliminating the General Corporate Tax, a tax on capital, which he said is preventing entrepreneurs from starting businesses. "I guarantee you that if you eliminate that alternative GCT tax,.... more and more businesses will start here in New York and more people will be employed," he said.
Lhota emphasized that there was a great need for better technology in government. "God forbid you have to walk into a police precinct tonight. It looks just like you see in a movie or a television show. It's a big wooden desk, probably mahogany, with a sergeant behind the desk, there's a police officer behind the desk, and there's a civilian behind the desk, and in front of that civilian, is an IBM Correcting Selectric, because they still do their police reports in triplicate using carbon paper and using a typewriter," he said. "It's really unfortunate. It's so bad that just about six months ago, the Bloomberg administration put out a request for proposals for typewriter repair services."
He also noted that New York City contractors are required to go to the Buildings Department once a year and "waste a whole day getting your license renewed," while the New York State DMV allows online license updates. Making technology more effective could help reduce the size of the city government, Lhota said, noting that 40 percent of city workers will be retiring over the next four to five years. "The question needs to be asked: do we need to replace all of them? Can we replace one for every two?"
Even though 311 celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, he said, "It's a telephone call center system, there's nothing innovative about a call center system." While New Yorkers can send in text messages, he said that Chicago did a better job of communicating with citizens using smartphones and other technology.
"Transparency means different things to different people, to me, it's enhanced communication," he said. As an example, he said he wanted to communicate to New Yorkers more effectively the constitutional and legal bases for the Stop & Frisk program and also provide more data to improve understanding of the program.
Lhota called himself a "data driven person," noting that he had "sat at the table" when the NYPD crime tracking system CompStat was created. "The value of CompStat is not just the numbers, it's how it can transform a city," he said, noting how it can inform how and where police officers are deployed and pointing out that crime is down 93 percent in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville since 1994.
Asked why the city government still faces so many technological challenges in spite of Bloomberg's technologist background, Lhota said many New York City workers have the attitude that "we've never done it that way before." "That's exactly what drives me crazy about our government and why I like the idea that so many people are going to retire," he said, noting that it is now 30 years since Mayor Ed Koch was able to hire many city workers after coming out of the financial crisis. Lhota said that the Buildings Department's long licensing process is due to the union being unwilling to make changes. "We're going to have to work with the unions to make these changes," he said. "They are afraid of technology, they are literally afraid of it."
He said problems with the implementation of the new 911 system and the CityTime payroll system resulted from the mayor and City Hall letting agency heads determine their implementation. "I think it needs to be more centralized. I think IT needs to be centralized with a better function," he said. As mayor, he said he one of his first tasks would be to evaluate which agencies are using technology well and to analyze the work of the CIOs of those agencies, and be able to rank which agencies are making the best use of technology and match up that ranking with the most effective CIOs. He pointed to the Department of Finance as currently being technologically most advanced with all its work processes computerized and online.
Lhota pointed to his experience at the MTA helping to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to subway platforms, though he said there were security and terrorism related risks to having it in the tunnels. "One of the things I noticed the year I was at the MTA is that the Millennial generation absolutely refuses to get on the bus," he said, which prompted the agency to begin the process of bringing WiFi connectivity to the buses. He said he wanted to work to increase fiber connections underground, increase connectivity in parks and New York City Housing Authority buildings.
Lhota noted the outcry over recent comments in which Mayor Bloomberg suggested "fingerprinting" NYCHA residents for security reasons. "He just used the wrong words...It's not fingerprinting, it's palm printing," Lhota said, recalling his own experience with the technology for I.D. purposes when visiting the doctor at NYU Medical Center. "Unfortunately he used the term fingerprinting, which has a criminal connotation to it." He added that all city buildings should have the capability to see who is at the door before buzzing someone in.
Lhota said he would continue the work of the NYC Digital Office and build on his experience at the MTA making data available to the technology community for the development of applications. "One of the things I want to do which is different and I wish I had the time at the MTA...I would love to create a SimCity for the city budget," he said. "You want to have transparency on the city budget? Why don't you all play with me on how we can balance the budget in the out years. Where are we prioritizing our money? Where is it going? Why is it going there? And to start thinking about what we can do both on the revenue side and on the expense side broken down by agency and number of employees."
Lhota, who earlier also said his campaign was using "interesting" technology to win the Republican primary, said he carried an iPhone, an iPad and a BlackBerry to use the PIN function to communicate with his wife and daughter.
Adolfo Carrion
Independence Party Candidate Adolfo Carrion, a former Bronx Borough President and Director of the White House Office of Urban Affairs under President Obama, emphasized his urban planning background and his vision of a "smart city." He said he wanted to look to the technology sector for inspiration on how to deliver city services to citizens in a user friendly way "in the palm of their hand" and use technology to bridge the disconnect between government and citizens, especially in light of low voter turnout. .
"Imagine that Adolfo Carrion is in Gracie Mansion and he invites you over for a hackathon," he said. "And he says folks, we've got a menu of challenges, let's start with how do we deal with a universal system for ensuring that you can use your one card to go from a ferry to a bus, to the subway, to the airport ... you guys will go to work on that."
He said he wanted to make the pipes, wires and supply chains of the city smarter and more effective by, for example, using technology to signify which trash cans are full to enable a more efficient pick-up. "I see a day where we have wired hard infrastructure that says to us: There is a water pipe about to burst on 7th Avenue and thirty-something street, it's this old, it has a pressure point that is about to crack, it'll happen in two weeks, let's get a team out there and avoid the disruption to traffic, the disruption to the economy and just imagine that multiplied many times over," he said.
Carrion said he wanted to apply the best practices learned from charter and magnet schools to other public schools, with an emphasis on more authority for principals and more technology in classrooms. "We disallow technology in the classroom now, it's the way that kids discover the world, we're actually going backwards instead of forwards in our education process," he said, adding that teachers should also be able to use more technology.
Carrion said he was a big supporter of government transparency, emphasizing that he would have an "Open NYC" policy.
He pointed to his experience as Bronx Borough President where he said he faced opposition to change from workers, corporations and politicians over plans to remake the Yankee Stadium area. The project, he noted, required action from then-Governor George Pataki, the New York legislature, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City Council. In challenging the conventional wisdom in being able to implement the wide ranging plan, Carrion said, "we hacked away at the conventional notions, the fears, and we did it through having conversations with folks on the ground." As mayor, he said he would put an emphasis on traditional town halls but also virtual feedback opportunities for citizens.
He said he would make it a priority to give parents "palm of the hand" access to their children's school records, create an NYC pass to allow New Yorkers to take the subway, ferry or pay their parking fees and make it more efficient to submit and get responses to city complaints.
Earlier this month, the New York Tech Meetup posted video interviews with candidates Christine Quinn, Bill Thompson, John Liu and Jack Hidary.
Quinn, a formerly leading candidate who has faced trouble in the polls in the week, has also been making technology policy a key part of her campaign beyond her NYTM discussion, announcing her endorsement by Sheryl Sandberg, outlining a plan to spur technology investment in Long Island City, Queens and announcing a plan to create one all-girls STEM-focused middle school in each of the five boroughs.
*Disclosure: PDM co-founder Andrew Rasiej is the volunteer chairman of the NY Tech Meetup board.


text:
Welcome to this weeks Color My Heart Color Challenge! This week for Color Dare #173 we are featuring PEAR & PEACOCK.Of course with blue and green I gravitate to boy theme so here is a fun little card using Loads of Fun C1623.
I love this stamp set as it if perfect of my son and his friends.
Supplies used:
- Adventure Fundamental paper pack Z3125
- Loads of Fun C1623
- Peacock Cardstock
- Pear and Peacock inks
- Enamel and Glitter Duos Blue Dots Z3122
Now it is your turn to create! Just create a project (card, layout or other craft project) using this weeks colors. Then link them to the Color My Heart Blog ~ Color Dare #173 or you can post them to the COLOR MY HEART FaceBook page. For this Color Dare Challenge, you have until Thursday December 31, 2015 at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time to submit your project. We love to see your inspirations.
Happy Crafting!


text:
White Rodgers – PTK
White Rodgers 5 + 2 Day Digital Thermostat
Programmable Digital Thermostat. Single stage heating & cooling or heat only. Battery powered for maximum compatibility. Dry contact allows Millivolt and 24V use. Two programs, one for weekdays and one for weekends. Each program has up to four separate time/temperature settings. Temperature range from 45° to 90°F. Includes 25′ of thermostat wire and connectors to mount on any millivolt valve.
This remote is compatible with the following millivolt kits: MVKN, MVK-P, MVK-NQM, MVK-PQM, UMVK-NP, MVK-EI, and MVK-HC.
Model # / Description
PTK / White Rodgers Programmable
Flames and flame colors on the website may appear differently in real life.


text:
Reasons Why You May Want To Use A VPN
However, commercially available services, while still technically VPNs, function similarly to proxies by providing a remote gateway to the Internet. But the question remains: Why do you need a VPN?
For the home user who sparingly uses the Internet, connects through a single computer's wired network and isn't overly concerned with anonymity or privacy, the answer is: You probably don't. However, if you don't fit this description, you might gain several benefits by using a VPN.
Hide Your True IP Address
When you connect to the Internet through your Internet Service Provider, your computer is assigned an Internet Protocol address. This IP address identifies your ISP's (and your) geographical location, aids sites in collecting data on you and can lead a well-connected investigator directly to your door.
Unless you're engaged in nefarious online deeds, the latter scenario is probably of little concern, but for the privacy minded, the former two scenarios might raise an eyebrow or two. And even if you aren't traversing questionable sites, there's little point in giving sites more information than you have to. And that's where a VPN comes in.
When connected to a VPN, all requests go through the VPN server, which in turn connects to online resources on your behalf and redirects data back to your computer. This intermediary function replaces your true IP address with that of the VPN, so websites and peers cannot identify you, your IP address or your location.
In this scenario, the only entities that can associate your IP address with the site in question are you and the VPN. Not even your ISP can make that connection, because it doesn't know what sites you're visiting.
Online Globetrotting
You can traverse the globe online even without a VPN, but some resources, such as country-specific broadcasts and websites, are only available to local users. If your VPN provides multiple servers, you can optionally connect to servers all over the world to view content that would otherwise be blocked.
Although not recommended, making yourself appear to be a local user could also theoretically circumvent fees associated with online services that charge for international connections.
Secure Connections
One of the most compelling advantages to using a VPN is encryption. When connected to a VPN, all your data to and from the VPN server is scrambled, so anyone who might intercept your data would be unable to decipher it. This is particularly useful for mobile devices, such as laptops and smartphones that connect to insecure public hotspots.
In such environments, morally reprehensible thieves could eavesdrop on your connection and collect virtually anything you submit, including passwords, emails and photos. However, by establishing a connection with your VPN on such hotspots, your data becomes an incoherent mess to any unauthorized users.
The benefits aren't limited to public hotspots. While you're indeed safer on a home network with the recommended WPA2 wireless encryption and strong, random password, you're not completely out of the woods. There's always a possibility of in-range hackers breaking into your network, especially if you fail to follow the aforementioned encryption recommendation. Employing a VPN on your home network prevents any intercepted data from being read, just like it would on a public hotspot.
Furthermore, ISPs have been known to snoop on their users. Whether this is solely watching ports to block peer-2-peer traffic or collecting of personal and identifiable data, you probably don't want your ISP Big Brother watching your every move.
It wouldn't even matter if you use a wired connection or the strongest wireless encryption in the world. By the time your data reaches the ISP, it's visible unless the website uses a secure connection or you use a VPN.
Circumventing Censorship
If you're a frequent international traveler, a VPN is a must. Not only does it protect your data, but it circumvents Internet censorship. As an example, China's Great Firewall blocks many staple sites, such as Facebook, YouTube and oftentimes Gmail.
If you need access to such sites, sign up for a VPN before leaving home, because the VPN's domain might be blocked once you're in your destination country, preventing you from signing up after arrival. VPNs get around censorship with a combination of the above merits, namely by tunneling to a country where they don't censor and preventing the censoring country's ISP from seeing the sites to which you connect.
The Downside
There are a few downsides to a VPN, although not as significant as the upsides. For one, a decent VPN will set you back about $10 per month, plus or minus. You can drastically reduce this expense by opting for an annual account that oftentimes cuts the average monthly costs to about half.
If your primary concern for a VPN is circumventing censorship, you'll need to do heavy research to ensure the VPN works in the country to which you're traveling. China, for one, aggressively combats VPNs, so only a few of them actually work well in China. Furthermore, the cat-and-mouse game between censoring countries and VPNs change frequently, so there's no guarantee a VPN that works now will continue to work tomorrow.
You'll also take a small performance hit when using a VPN, because you're routing all traffic through a remote node. This speed degradation is minimized if you use a reputable company that doesn't overload its servers, but even then, you might experience periodic slowdowns. In such cases, simply changing to a low-load server will often bring you back up to optimal speeds.
Finally, your security is only as good as the VPN itself, so make sure you use a reputable company. Remember all of your traffic is going through the VPN and will be accessible to the service. If you skimp out and use a questionable or free VPN, you might be handing over everything you do to a single entity, much like the ISP you're trying to keep out of the mix. Look for services with strong reviews that value privacy and anonymity and don't keep data logs.


text:
Capital Credits
The word "margins" means something different to a cooperative member.
As a cooperative, Wiregrass Electric does not earn profits like private corporations. Instead, WEC is member-owned, and members are entitled to a share of the margins earned by selling electric services. WEC refers to these margins as capital credits or patronage capital, and they reflect each member's ownership in their electric cooperative.
WEC tracks how much each member pays into their cooperative through the purchase of electricity. Each year, the Board of Trustees examines the cooperative's financial stability, including the investment needed for wholesale purchased power, power poles, equipment and much more.
Sometimes the cooperative will have a small margin of unspent funds at the end the fiscal year. The cooperative uses this money to help finance the operations of the cooperative, to ensure the cooperative can fulfill its mission of providing reliable, low cost power. After a set amount of time, WEC retires its margins and issues a capital credit.
To date, WEC has retired more than $12.4 million in capital credit refunds. Each year, the cooperative does its best to deliver these credits to the member, even if they have since left the cooperative's service territory. Advertisements are made for those who cannot be reached to claim their capital credit as soon as possible.
"Capital credits are a benefit of participating in a not-for-profit cooperative," says Les Moreland , CEO of WEC. "Here, each member is also a partial owner, and we answer to our members. Sometimes a power company will answer to a board of directors who live hundreds of miles away. At WEC, we're accountable to our neighbors. And I believe that's what makes this cooperative strive to do its best every day."
How do I claim a capital credits?
You will need some documentation in order to claim a check:
- You must provide a valid driver's license or state ID if you are the member of record.
- If the member of record is deceased, you must provide a death certificate plus one of the following:
- Letters of Administration, or
- Letters of Testamentary, or
- If you do not have item 1 or 2, please provide evidence that you are the legal and authorized representative of the estate.
This information must be presented at WEC's Hartford office located at 509 N. State Highway 167 in Hartford.
If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-239-4602.
A message from Wiregrass CEO Les Moreland on Capital Credits
"An electric cooperative is a special type of business. In October, we are celebrating our 75th anniversary. That means that 75 years ago, the people of this region came together and resolved to pool their resources to bring electricity to the Wiregrass region.
Back 75 years ago, not one for-profit company considered it. In the cities, you have plenty of meters for every mile of electric line strung up. Here, in the rural areas, things were different. There could be miles between homes and no profit to be had. So, Wiregrass Electric Cooperative was born and our mission then is the same as it is now: to bring affordable, reliable electricity to our members.
Like 75 years ago, we are still a not-for-profit utility. WEC provides electric service at cost. Those costs fall into two categories: building and maintaining 3,000 miles of electric infrastructure, and purchasing electricity to distribute to our members (wholesale power).
To accomplish this, WEC does have to collect more money than it spends each year. We call these numbers margins, and we pay this money back to our members every year as "capital credits" or "patronage capital." WEC has assigned and paid more than $50 million in capital credits the last 75 years. We retire these capital credits on a first in-first out cycle. We have retired nearly $4 million this way in the last 9 years.
That means if you purchase electricity from WEC, you receive capital credits from WEC every year. It's important to explain why your cooperative, and approximately 850 other electric cooperatives across the nation, operate this way. We do not retire capital credits the year in which a member earns and is paid capital credits because it would drastically increase each member's price of electricity.
As a cooperative, we have two sources of income: the rates we charge our members, and through borrowing money. We are fortunate to have an excellent partner who we can turn to when we need to borrow money: the Rural Utilities Service. They provide low-interest loans to not-for-profit cooperatives across the country to help us better serve our members. This is how our founders 75 years ago were able to come together and purchase the equipment needed to bring electricity to our communities in the Wiregrass region.
The RUS has standards for how cooperatives must operate in order to receive these loans, much like any bank. One important standard is the amount of equity we must have on hand. For WEC to borrow money, we are expected to have a certain amount of equity. Without being able to retain margins for a certain amount of time, we would be forced to turn to our only other source of income: our members. We are able to meet our goal of providing the most cost-effective service possible for every member because of this relationship with RUS. Your board and management team strive to retire capital credits as quickly as possible, and are always looking for ways to financially strengthen your cooperative.
In addition, current year margins are returned (when available) using our Wholesale Power Cost Adjustment (WPCA) credit, which has allowed your cooperative to refund nearly $5 million back to our members since 2010. Each member of this cooperative is an owner, and I hope everyone takes pride in what we have accomplished over the last 75 years.
One of the ways we've been able to accomplish so much and remain a community focused, not-for-profit company is the way we handle both capital credits and Wholesale Power cost credits. I also want to say that if any of our members are concerned about capital credits, or the way their cooperative handles them, my door is always open. Thank you for reading."


text:
Working as an Experienced Financial Advisors
For experienced Financial Advisors, UBS is a place where you can advance professionally and grow your business. We offer the advantages, strengths and capabilities of a global leader in wealth management.
Long-term relationships are at the heart of the UBS client experience. By providing clients with trusted advice that is tailored to their personal goals, supported by customized products and services, you will help us to achieve our goal of being the preeminent wealth management provider worldwide.
We appreciate the value of your knowledge and experience. That's why you will be encouraged to discover your own value proposition within our structured advisory process. At UBS, you can build a business around your personal talents and individual interests.
In our environment of professional excellence, you will be able to extend your skills and develop new competencies through ongoing learning and development. To help you become the choice of today's affluent investor, we provide training and resources that will enable you to quickly succeed in our competitive marketplace.
You will be able to call on:
A complete range of sophisticated wealth management solutions, products and services,
Expertise in global securities, structured risk management products and foreign exchange.
Enhanced research capabilities and access to the resources of UBS Investment Bank.
UBS has more than 440 branch offices across the US. To learn more about how UBS can help you grow your business, contact the branch office in your area.


text:
In eServices, an item in a system of categories and subcategories, called a category tree, that is created and edited by using eServices Manager (previously, Knowledge Manager). Besides denoting a concept, a category may be associated with one or more standard responses, and one or more screening rules. If an incoming e-mail is assigned to the category, the category's standard responses can serve either as the content for an automated reply or as suggestions for agents to use in their replies. A terminal or leaf category is one that contains no subcategories. A nonterminal category is one that does contain subcategories.
See also Knowledge Management.
Routing Strategy
A set of decisions and instructions that are created in Interaction Routing Designer (IRD) and that tell Universal Routing Server (URS) how to direct incoming customer interactions under different conditions. Can be contained in an Interaction Workflow. Can use subroutines, routing rules, business rules, attributes, interaction data, statistics, schedules, lists, and macros. Can apply logic (for example, segmentation, conditional branching, and so on). Can deliver the interaction to an agent or another target type, such as an ACD queue, agent group, campaign group, destination label (DN), place, place group, queue, group, routing point, skill group, or variable.
Screening Rules
Screening rules scan an interaction and try to match either a destination address (who the message is going to, whether that is identified by an email address, a cell phone number, or some other parameter), a regular expression, or both. Screening is performed by Classification Server when it is triggered by a Screen Interaction object in a routing strategy.
A screening rule can optionally be associated with a category.
Screening Rules topics include:
- How to Create and Test Screening Rules
- Screening Rules Reference—This section includes:
- What they check: What Screening Rules Check
- The functions, arguments, and operators used in them: Functions and Arguments
- A pattern builder to help formulate them: Pattern Builder
- Regular expressions to use in them: Regular Expressions
- Examples of Screening Rules
Comment on this article:
blog comments powered by Disqus


text:
SHAVER LAKE, CA—Thursday, while in Fresno, I looked up the weather for Shaver Lake and saw rain on Saturday and snow on Monday. Still not sure where to go though, I flipped my coin and She said to head back up the mountain. Didn't make sense to me, but I figured She had something for me to do up there or some lesson to teach me. So I told myself I'd spend a few days there then drive back down before the snow fell.
(I know how crazy the above sounds, but without a personal self—with almost no personal self-interest—what difference does it make where I go or what I do?)
Forecast: Rain Saturday night. Snow Monday afternoon.
I assumed the weather reports would be correct. That by "rain" they meant rain.
Being a complete snow noob, I learned a lot this morning (Sunday) when I awoke to about four inches of snow covering everything from last night (Saturday night… snow, not rain): How wet it makes the interior of the van when you track it in, how it sticks to stuff, how brutally cold it makes your fingers when clearing your windshield, how you can drive in four inches quite easily. Most importantly I learned not to trust mountain weather reports—to not assume they are going to be accurate.
So maybe that's what She had in mind for me—to teach me the basics of snow. But assumptions are what She had in mind for you.
When it comes to inner peace, there are some key assumptions which often make peoples lives miserable—or as the Buddha would say, lead to suffering.
Here are a few:
- The assumption that your story (history) is a part of you
- The assumption that your thoughts are a part of you
- The assumption that your body is a part of you
- The assumption that when your body dies, you die
Each of the above is an incorrect assumption, yet most people believe them to be facts.
They are not facts—they are beliefs.
Beliefs that aren't even true.
Believing in them has cause immeasurable suffering. Global suffering. Historic suffering.
Totally unnecessary suffering.
The first three assumptions can be seen through by realizing that You experience these things—that there are two things involved: You and that which you experience. Two things… Two. Separate. Things. You the experiencer… and that which you experience (your memories/history/story, your thoughts, your body).
The last assumption—that death isn't what it appears—simply takes a little research.
Look deeply. Examine the above. Root out and question your assumptions.
You'll be glad you did.
It's Time To Wake Up
Mystical Oneness and the Nine Aspects of Being is a step-by-step guide to enlightenment and beyond.
Amazon - Barnes and Noble - iTunes- Google Play - Kobo
It's Time To Be Happy
We live in divisive times.
It's Time Let Go
Imagine I have only seven days left to live.


text:
At P. S. 205 we incorporate 21st Century knowledge and skills to help students succeed in the Global community. We use technology strategically and capably. Students employ technology to enhance their learning and acquire information.
All classrooms have interactive whiteboards. Students use iPads and Laptops. All kindergarten classes have a Smart table and dash and dot bots for coding. Our G & T students in grades 3-5 have an NAO robot. All students have access to online coding programs. Students use iPads and Laptops regularly.


text:
Despite soaring dollar, Aussies still paying almost double on digital goods
The strength of the Australian dollar has been a sore point for many companies and freelancers in the country over the past few months, with the currency going well beyond parity and hitting as high as US$1.10.
While television news anchors report on news of the strong dollar with a smile on their face, the reality is that it hits hard, taking big chunks of income from our large base of freelancers operating with clients abroad and large companies alike.
But importing retailers haven't been passing on the significant savings they're enjoying, and are instead sitting on higher profit margins than they've ever enjoyed before. In keeping with pre-parity history, Choice reports that Xbox and Playstation games still cost 91% more in Australia (Rockstar Games' recent release, L.A. Noire, goes for about $110, or US$117), and albums on the Australian iTunes Store cost 73% more than their US counterparts.
Despite the fact that there's no extra expense in distributing digital goods internationally, digital retailers such as Apple haven't budged any more than physical importers have.
Choice has also made a submission to the Productivity Commission, which is investigating this disparity in the retail sector, which can be viewed here (PDF).
Read next: Microsoft only gets 5% of potential revenue in China due to piracy


text:
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is in Romania to meet with President Ion Iliescu and tour a Black Sea airforce base that could be used in future U.S. troop deployments in Europe.
Mr. Rumsfeld is scheduled to visit the Kogalniceanu air base in Constanta Monday before traveling to Bucharest Tuesday for his meeting with Mr. Iliescu, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, and the Romanian defense minister. Kolgalniceanu was used by U.S.-led coalition forces in 2003 as a staging post for the Iraq invasion.
Later in the week, Mr. Rumsfeld will attend a NATO meeting in Romania, where he is expected to ask alliance members for more support for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Earlier Monday, Mr. Rumsfeld was in Macedonia, where he helped award medals of valor to Macedonian soldiers who served with the Iraq coalition.


text:
Presentation for Port Leisure life savers
Laois County Council applauded the efforts of the staff of Portarlington Leisure Centre who recently saved the life of a man having a heart attack in the centre.
Sean Quirke and his staff - Pam Quirke, Margaret Rose, Julie Murray, Sharon Fitzgerald and Michael Carroll received a rapturous round of appluase from the councillors when their amazing feat was read out.
Cathaoirleach Paul Mitchell, who is also from Portarlington said before this there had only ever been three people in Portarlington who had saved lives. Two of those realted to a horse that bolted and the other happened in 1932 when a man dived in to the river to save a young man.
"None of those are alive today, but we are honoured to have you here today," he told the Leisure Centre staff.
A letter from the director of the National Ambulance Service, Robert Morton said the quick thinkning of the staff had saved the man's life.
Local councillor, Ray Cribbin described the staff's actions as fabulous and said the round of applause was needed.
"It was a wonderful achievement, when Sean (Quirke) rang that night to tell me, I felt proud to hear such a good news story," Cllr Tom Mulhall said.
"I feel safe going to board meetings now," he laughed.
The centre manager, Sean Quirke thanked the council for their presentatio and recognition.
"I feel privileged and proud to have this team who train so religiously in the hope that they will never have to do it.
"On the day, they just got on with the difficult task and dealt with the emotions later.
"They should take pride, as they saved a father and a husband.
"The last I want to do as the leisure centre manager is to be giving condolences to some family," he said.