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Presentation Details
Enterprise transformation and the Role of Open Standards
Monday, October 24, 8:45 - 9:25
Enterprise transformation seems to be gathering momentum within the enterprise architecture community. The term, enterprise transformation, suggests the process of fundamentally changing an enterprise. Sometimes the transformation is dramatic but for most of us it is a steady process.
Key takeaways:
- Setting expectations and planning transformation
- The role of standards in enterprise transformation
- The work of the members of The Open Group.
Allen Brown is President and CEO of The Open Group – a global consortium that enables the achievement of business objectives through IT standards.
For over 10 years Allen has been responsible for driving The Open Group's strategic plan and day-to-day operations, including extending its reach into new global markets, such as China, the Middle East, South Africa and India. In addition, he was instrumental in the creation of the AEA, which was formed to increase job opportunities for all of its members and elevate their market value by advancing professional excellence.
Prior to joining The Open Group, Allen Brown held a range of senior financial and general management roles both within his own consulting firm, which he founded in 1987, and other multi-national organizations.
Allen is TOGAF® 9 certified, an MBA alumnus of the London Business School and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
Keynote Presentation
Monday, October 24, 9:25 - 10:10
The Benevolence and Justice Way of Management of the Business Transformation of Chinese Enterprises
In the past three decades, China has won the reputation of "World Factory" by seizing the historic opportunity of the division of the global industrial chain and made a miracle of sustained and rapid development of China's economy. However, Chinese enterprises are facing challenges of transforming and upgrading their existing business models to cope with the change of the global economic landscape and ongoing impacts of the global financial crisis,. Since 2008, Kingdee International Software Group has spent over three years systematically studying the transformation and management models of 1000 sample enterprises in twelve key as well as new industries, and eventually found the general rules and characteristics of the transformation of Chinese enterprises in the circumstances of re-shuffling of the global economic landscape.
This presentation covers some best practices companies and share the success stories of the business transformation of these Chinese enterprises that follow the management principles of benevolence and justice, such as "altruism" and "for the people" to explore and share the Chinese Management Model with the audience.
Key takeaways:
- The benevolence and justice way of management
- Radar Management Model of Business Components
- 5 dimensions of Business Transformation
Xu Shaochun (Robert) is the Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Kingdee International Software Group. Robert has been awarded the Special Expert Allowance by the State Council of China. He graduated from Southeast University (SEU) of China in Computer Science, and obtained Master of Accounting from Institute of Ministry of Finance and Executive Master of Business Administration (EMBA) from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Robert is a member of 9th Central Committee of China National Democratic Construction Association, a member of Council Member of China Siyuan Foundation for poverty alleviation. He is the Deputy Director of China Software Industry Association and a member of Accounting Information Technology Committee of Finance Ministry.
Scenarios for Business Architecture
Monday, October 24, 11.15 - 12.15
This presentation includes several case studies from companies that have implemented business architecture initiatives. It explains the motivations of the companies, the different objectives of the business architecture initiatives, different metrics of the team, and ways in which the initiative was successful, or was not.
Key takeaways:
- Awareness of what senior business leaders expect from business architecture
- Awareness of the different ways it is being used and what problems it is being used to address
- Awareness of lessons learned and pitfalls encountered by other companies.
Peter Havilandis the Chief Architect and Head of Business Architecture within Ernst & Young's Advisory Services practice globally. In this role he works with CIOs, chief architects, and heads of architecture to address challenges common to these roles such as optimizing and communicating strategy, driving change, managing reputation & value perception, measuring success, and managing risk.
He represents Ernst & Young within The Open Group and hold chair and vice-chair positions on a number of forums & workgroups, most notably the business architecture workgroup and the value realization workgroup. He was a key contributor to TOGAF 9 and and has recently published articles on such topics as value-centric architecture, risk mitigation via cultural governance, and improving business/IT alignment through enterprise architecture. Peter holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering in Industrial and Aeronautical Aerodynamics in addition to a number of The Open Group's architecture-related qualifications including Level 3 ITAC and TOGAF® 9.
Mieke Mahakena is a Capgemini certified Business Information architect who combines architecture with training and professionalization of architects. She has a leading role in defining Capgemini Academy's architecture training program and is responsible for defining and developing the strategy of Capgemini Academy for architecture training and certification. Mieke was involved in the TOGAF certification standing committee and contributed to the people certification program for TOGAF9. Mieke just started her second term as the chair of The Open Group's Business Forum.
Enterprise Business Architecture - A Practical Approach to TOGAF®
Monday, October 24, 11.15 - 11.45
Many Enterprise Architects find it the hardest to define Business Architecture for their organizations, be it the "as-is" architecture that exist today or the future state "to-be" architecture that they would like to have. In contrast, they find it much easier to define the applications, data and technology architectures although these should ideally be founded on a very well defined and understood set of business architectural constructs.
In this presentation, the presenter will walk the audience through a practical approach to analyse the "as-is" enterprise architecture and then apply a structured, example-driven approach to define the "to-be" business architecture for an organistaion using an easy-to-use set of business architectural constructs and methodologies.
Some learning outcomes of this session will be:
- Understanding business architecture and its relationship to enterprise architecture elements (e.g.application, data
- Ability to describe the strategic importance of business architecture when aligning IT with business
- Learning contemporary business architecture theory and able to apply to a real-world customer situation
- Identify the "as-is" business architecture and define "to-be" business architecture for an organization
- Using the following architectural constructs to define an organization from a "business architecture"
- The main business goals and objectives of the organization
- Business strategy to support goals/objectives
- Organisation structure
- Business Model
- Business Context Diagrams
- Business Processes
- Value chain analysis.
Key takeaways:
- Business Architecture artifacts
- A quick start guide to BA.
Senaka Ariyasinghe (MBA, TOGAF® 8 Certified, PMP, ITIL) is a senior IT professional at Cisco Systems specializing in Enterprise Architecture with over 23 year's of industry experience in high-tech, banking, insurance, service and the public sector. Currently doing Enterprise and business architecture consulting to Cisco's large customers globally.
A Case Study of TOGAF® for Business in Taiwan
Monday, October 24, 11:45 - 12:15
Emerging Web 2.0 and 3.0 trends are showing the contents of users can be shared to promote interaction and cooperation among network communities. Price competition in a market results in lower profits so that the business needs to cut down the purchasing cost to enhance its competency. Buy-together online for a particular commodity combines seller's and buyer's purchasing power to obtain a discounted price by sharing the total purchase cost with each other. It will naturally lead to lower wholesale prices. Enterprise Architecture emphasizes on through the integration of different organizations' information to achieve the ideal of information flow without boundaries. In addition, BI is emerging, using data warehousing to summarize data into information, using OLAP to support decision-making, and managing the organizational performance.
Based on a case study on sales and marketing of a food company, the purpose of this research is to show how to go through an iteration of the methodology, ADM (Architecture Development Method) of TOGAF, to design an Enterprise Architecture for Social Buy-Together Website (EASBTW) to integrate different sources of information. We have shown EASBTW to the case company, including three different areas of professionals to ask for their comments and suggestions. We look forward to the future development of an information system based on the EASBTW architecture, and promoting this architecture for industrial application.
Keywords: Enterprise Architecture, Social Buy-Together website, Social Networking
Dr. Chang-Ling Hsu is Assistant Professor of Ming Chuan University (MCU). He has published about 24 papers, four of them about TOGAF® in Information Technology and Information Management fields. Since 2010, Ming Chuan University, Department of Information Management, has been a member of The Open Group. Prior to joining MCU, Dr. Hsu was employed at Sybase (Taiwan) as an engineer, IMS (Taiwan) as an R/D manager, TPFA as a director of computer center, and Hung-Kuang University as a head of Department I.M.
Panel: Challenges in the Global Supply Chain
Monday, October 24, 1:30 - 3:00
"Challenges in Global Supply Chain" and the "OTTF Overview…"
Dr. Jenn-Nan Chen is a professor in the Department of Information Management at the China University of Technology, Taiwan. Before his teaching job, Dr.Chen had 38 year's of experience in the research center and industrial sectors. He received a Masters & Ph.D. degree in computer science, Northwest University, U.S. in 1986.
"Challenges in Global Supply Chain" and the "OTTF Overview…"
Andras Szakal is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Architect of IBM's Federal Software business unit. He is an IBM Distinguished Engineer, also an IBM Senior Certified Software IT certArchitect and an IBM Certified SOA Solution Designer. His responsibilities include developing e-Government software architectures using IBM middleware and leading the IBM federal government software IT architect team. Mr. Szakal holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from James Madison University.
Mr. Szakal has been a driving force behind IBM's adoption of government IT standards and is a member of the IBM Software Group Strategy Team. The team he leads has been responsible for helping the federal government move e-Government into the On-Demand era through the application of SOA. His team has been directly involved with multiple, high-profile, successful government software and services engagements based on open standards and open source.
Mr. Szakal represents IBM SWG on the Board of Directors of The Open Group. He currently holds the Chair of the IT Architect Profession Certification Standard (ITAC) within the Open Group.
OTTF Overview with In-Depth Look at Global Supply Chain Constituents and Their Roles
Monday, October 24, 3.30 - 4.30
This is an Open Session that will offer a presentation on the Open Trusted Technology Provider Framework (O-TTPF), a set of best practices for engineering development and supply chain integrity that cover the entire supply chain cycle: design, development, test, sourcing, manufacturing, support and maintenance, and end of life.
This presentation will look at all of the constituents of the supply chain and the roles they play and will include constituents and roles for: governments, commercial customers, providers (system vendors, component suppliers (hardware and software), distributors and re-sellers. We will look at whether this set of constituents and their roles and the flow of components, systems, and services in the global supply chain is correct from the global perspective especially from the Chinese and Taiwanese perspective. Intended audience: Government, Customers, Providers, Component Suppliers, Manufacturers
Key takeaways:
This session will give participants a good understanding of the global supply chain landscape, the constituents involved and the roles they play. It will explore this typical set of constituents and roles and will provide attendees the opportunity to provide input to assure the constituents and roles include the Chinese and Taiwanese perspective. It will give attendees the opportunity to learn more about the Forum and consider joining as a member to help assure that the best practices and the accreditation program being developed in the Forum take their requirements into account.
Andras Szakal is an IBM Distinguished Engineer and Chief Architect of IBM's Federal Software business unit. He is an IBM Distinguished Engineer, also an IBM Senior Certified Software IT certArchitect and an IBM Certified SOA Solution Designer. His responsibilities include developing e-Government software architectures using IBM middleware and leading the IBM federal government software IT architect team. Mr. Szakal holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from James Madison University.
Mr. Szakal has been a driving force behind IBM's adoption of government IT standards and is a member of the IBM Software Group Strategy Team. The team he leads has been responsible for helping the federal government move e-Government into the On-Demand era through the application of SOA. His team has been directly involved with multiple, high-profile, successful government software and services engagements based on open standards and open source.
Mr. Szakal represents IBM SWG on the Board of Directors of The Open Group. He currently holds the Chair of the IT Architect Profession Certification Standard (ITAC) within the Open Group.
A Case Study of DoDAF for Military Simulation
Monday, October 24, 1:30 - 2:00
"Simulation Model Construction Using DoDAF Products in Conjunction with Conceptual Modeling Process". For the purpose of developing executable models based on DoDAF products, we design a message-based, multi-unit, discrete-event simulation model. We will demonstrate the method through a case study in artillery fire support mission. For the complexity of military systems, DoDAF is an appropriate tool to analyze the system from operational, system, and technical standard views. Analysis products derived from DoDAF are static. If we would like to understand dynamic behaviors of the system, static products should be transferred into executable models. In the talk, we will present our research work focusing on applying conceptual modeling method to transfer DoDAF products into the executable model. For the purpose of developing executable models based on DoDAF products, we design a message based multi-unit discrete-event simulation model. We will demonstrate the method through a case study in artillery fire support mission. Intended audience: people in research and study of enterprise architecture and simulation, military people using DoDAF
Takeaways: DoDAF, conceptual modeling, discrete-event simulation
Jain-Shone Chung is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at the China University of Science and Technology in Taiwan. He received his doctoral degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia in 2003. His research interests include Modeling and Simulation, Architecture Design, and Artificial Intelligence.
A Case Study of DoDAF for Defense
Monday, October 24, 2.00 - 2.30
Mr Miao-Hung Tseng graduated from The Chung-Cheng Institute of Technology in 1980. He then served 4 years in the Army. Having got his MBA degree in 1986, he went on to serve in the National Defence Management Center, Joint 5 staff officer and Modelling & Simulation Center of National Defence University (NDU). Mr Miao-Hung Tseng retired from Army having held the post of chief of computer center of NDU for ten years. He served in the Army for a total of 24 years. In 2004, Mr Miao-Hung Tseng was invited to be an instructor in National Defence Management College.
C4ISR Systems (Command, Control, Communication, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance)
Monday, October 24, 2:30 - 3:00
Meeting the user's requirements by the formal DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF) is attracting interest in Taiwan currently. Efficiently and effectively describing and validating the architecture of a domain-specific military operation model at the beginning in a huge-grain C4ISR system project is difficult to achieve. In order to develop a complicate C4ISR system, our research team of the C4ISR research center in TMUST, specify the DoDAF as a formal discipline, integrating part of the contents of the system analysis and design methodology. We propose the huge-grain system theory, including the object-oriented method and the prototyping method for creating an Army C4ISR system architecture that is an advanced project of the to-be Army Digital Brigade. The user's requirements and system's specifications are obtained by the 12 DoDAF products selected and, the performance is validated by a prototyping tool, called CAPS (Computer-Aided Prototyping System).
Meng-chyi Harn is an associate professor in the Department of Information Technology at the Takming University of Science and Technology (TMUST), Taiwan, R.O.C. He was the dean of College of Informatics, TMUST. He received the Ph.D. degree in computer science, Naval Postgraduate School, U.S. in 1999. He has worked on the Graduate School of National Defense Information at the National Defense Management College, National Defense University.
ArchiMate® and TOGAF®
Monday, October 24, 3.30 - 4.00
A complete approach to Enterprise Architecture (EA) requires:
- A framework describing architectural viewpoints;
- A language for architectural descriptions;
- A method for constructing architectures.
TOGAF® 9, an Open Group standard, is the defacto global standard for Enterprise Architecture. It is used by the world's leading organizations to improve business efficiency. ArchiMate®, an open and independent modelling language for enterprise architecture, provides instruments to enable enterprise architects to describe, analyze and visualize the relationships among business domains in an unambiguous way. It is supported by different tool vendors and consulting firms.
Just as an architectural drawing in classical building architecture describes the various aspects of the construction and use of a building, ArchiMate offers a common language for describing the construction and operation of business processes, organizational structures, information flows, IT systems, and technical infrastructure. This insight helps stakeholders to design, assess, and communicate the consequences of decisions and changes within and between these business domains. standard is the leading language for integrated EA modelling, describing the business, application and technology layers and their relationships. In a recent update of the language, two extensions have been added for modelling the motivation for the architecture (e.g., goals, principles and business requirements) and implementation and migration planning.
Based on a comprehensive case study of application portfolio rationalization in a post-merger insurance company, this presentation will show how ArchiMate is used with TOGAF to improve business efficiency.
Key takeaways:
- Short introduction to TOGAF® and the ArchiMate® EA modeling language
- Demonstration of a complete real life case study.
Henry Franken is chair of the ArchiMate Forum at The Open Group. Henry is co-founder of the BPM Forum Netherlands. He has co-authored several international publications and Open Group white papers.
At BiZZdesign, Henry is responsible for research and innovation. Alignment with and contribution to open standards are key. BiZZdesign has contributed to and edited the ArchiMate 2 specification. BiZZdesign is involved in the workgroup working towards the next version of TOGAF® and its alignment with ArchiMate®.
BiZZdesign offers native tooling, consultancy and training for TOGAF and ArchiMate. BiZZdesign offers complete and integrated solutions (tools, methods, consultancy and training) to design and improve organizations. Enterprise architecture, business requirements management and process business analysis and management are important ingredients in the solutions.
ArchiMate® and SBC Architecture
Monday, October 24, 4.00 - 4.30
Archimate uses an architecture description language in which the structure and behavior are loosely integrated. SBC architecture uses an architecture description language in which the structure and behavior are tightly integrated. This presentation will elaboratre on the implications of this difference.
Mr William S. Chao received his Ph.D. degree (1988) in information science from University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA and now serves as the president of Association of Enterprise Architects, Taiwan Chapter. His research covers: system architecture, hardware architecture, software architecture, enterprise architecture, knowledge architecture, thinking architecture.
Keynote Presentation - Building an Architecture Practice in the Context of an IT Transformation
Tuesday, October 25, 8:45 - 9:25
In late 2009, Cathay Pacific redesigned its IT department in order to centralise all IT functions and establish a new operating model for technology delivery. In addition to being the key function to drive strategy and design, the Architecture practice was positioned to act as the bridge between the supply and demand sides of the new IT organization.
As Chief Architect, Jake Sims built the architecture practice from the ground up, designing it to integrate with the Portfolio Management function to define strategy and the Project Management, Development and Operations teams to implement new technologies. The development of the practice leveraged TOGAF® for accelerating the establishment of the process, content and governance frameworks. The practice has grown from a team of just 5 people at the beginning of 2010 to over 30 practicing architects today.
Jake Sims is the Chief Architect of Cathay Pacific Airways where he has developed the IT strategy and is responsible for managing the enterprise and solution architecture teams. He established the architecture discipline, designed its delivery methodologies and implemented the governance framework as part of an IT organization transformation program that was initiated in late 2009.
Mr. Sims has worked in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia where he has held roles for both consulting and industry organizations. He has established and managed practices in the Middleware & Integration and Enterprise Architecture domains. Using technology and Enterprise Architecture as drivers for change, Mr. Sims has developed transformation strategies for large organizations across multiple sectors. He has also worked in Project Management and Business Development roles for financial services and telecommunications companies.
Mr. Sims holds a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research and Engineering from Cornell University.
Keynote Presentation
Tuesday, October 25, 9:25 - 10:10
Based in Shanghai, Chris Forde , VP EA and Membership Capabilities, The Open Group is responsible for advancing the work of The Open Group's Architecture Forum on a global basis and driving the organization to an even stronger position within the enterprise and IT architecture markets. Chris is an enterprise architect and has held various leadership roles in business architecture, application development, information management and technology operations throughout his career.
Prior to joining The Open Group, Chris worked at American Express as Vice President for Strategy and Architecture for their Customer Servicing Capability. Chris has deep expertise in enterprise architecture and, as Chair of the Architecture Forum, he was instrumental in driving the successful development and launch of TOGAF® 9 from 2007-2009.
Connected Government as the New Normal: Architecting for Strategic Foresight
Tuesday, October 25, 10.10 - 10.50
The United Nations has recognized that transition towards the future of government requires a holistic and coherent framework, which cannot be delivered with piecemeal fragmented thinking and approach. Governments in the future will be more connected than ever before, by being FAST (Flat, Agile, Streamlined and TechSavvy). Singapore's eGov 2015 aims to fulfil the promise of connected government.
With its ability to manage complexity, Government Enterprise Architecture (GEA) has emerged as the essential means to drive public sector transformation and materialize connected government with demonstrable benefits. Elevating the effectiveness and quality of government services is not merely a matter of leading edge technologies; but also demands visionary leadership, strategic wisdom, clear directions and sound execution mechanisms. With collaboration, connectedness and coinnovation as the cornerstones of the governments of future, this example‐rich session will broadly address the following:
- What is connected government? Why does it matter?
- What is the role and impact of Government EA on connected government? Whom does it concern? Where should it be positioned in the organization?
- What are the enablers and inhibitors to its effective adoption of EA based connected government?
- What is the current state of practice in Singapore? Are there lessons to be learnt?
Dr. Pallab Saha is with the National University of Singapore, Institute of Systems Science (NUS‐ ISS). His current research, consulting and teaching interests include Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Governance. Dr. Saha has published three books, Handbook of Enterprise Systems Architecture in Practice; Advances in Government Enterprise Architecture; and Coherency Management– Architecting the Enterprise for Alignment, Agility and Assurance. His books are widely referred by practitioners and researchers around the world, making it to the Top Seller list in 2008 and 2009. His papers have been translated and published in Korean, Russian and Polish.
Dr. Saha is the primary author of the Methodology for AGency ENTerprise Architecture (MAGENTA) and Government EA Guidebook for the Government of Singapore and has led them to international prominence. They are available in IDS Scheer's ARIS Toolset. He is a recipient of the Microsoft research grant in the area of Government EA supported by the UN and the World Bank. He consults extensively and has provided consulting services to the Ministry of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Agency, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore, Integrated Health Information Systems, IP Office of Singapore, CPF Board, SingHealth, Governments of Oman and Kazakhstan, and Great Eastern Life Assurance among others. He has been invited as a distinguished speaker to the World Bank, Carnegie Mellon University, UN University, The Open Group, Microsoft, SAP Labs, Denmark IT Society, Korea Institute for IT Architecture, IEEE, SGGovCamp, Nanyang Business School, IIM Bangalore, Governments of South Australia, Jordan, UAE,
Macau, Korea, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Bangladesh and several Singapore government agencies. His work has been featured and cited by the UN, WHO, United States DoD, Carlsberg and The Open Group and has contributed to the World Bank's EA Guidelines for Vietnam and Bangladesh. Featured as an Architect in the Spotlight by the Journal of EA he has been an external examiner for research degrees to the University of New South Wales, University of Indonesia, a Visiting Researcher to the UN University, an expert reviewer to the ACM Enterprise Architecture Tech Pack and has been instrumental in bringing Asia's first GovCamp to Singapore. Dr. Saha is also the recipient of the 2010 Teaching Excellence Award of the NUS‐ISS.
Taking the Business Decision to Use Cloud Computing
Tuesday, October 25, 11:15 - 11:45
The presentation will describe the factors involved in taking a business decision to use Cloud Computing, based on The Open Group's recently-published book "Cloud Computing For Business".
Cloud Computing is not a "one size fits all" solution. For each situation, you must determine whether Cloud is the right approach and what is the right size and shape of Cloud to use. The starting point is a vision of how the technical possibilities of Cloud can solve a business problem or help you take advantage of a business opportunity. You then assess the risks and estimate the return, decide on your Cloud solution, put it in place, and monitor the results.
Participates will take away:
- How to develop a vision of a Cloud solution
- How to assess Cloud Computing risks, and
- How to measure and develop the return on investment in Cloud.
Dr Chris Harding is Director for Interoperability at The Open Group. He has been with The Open Group for over fifteen years, and is currently responsible for managing and supporting its work on interoperability, including SOA, Semantic Interoperability, and Cloud Computing. He was the lead author of The Open Group's recent book "Cloud Computing for Business."
Before joining The Open Group, he was a consultant, and a designer and development manager of communications software.
With a PhD in mathematical logic, he welcomes the current upsurge of interest in semantic technology, and the opportunity to apply logical theory to practical use. He has presented at Open Group and other conferences on a range of topics, and contributes articles to on-line journals. He is a member of the BCS, the IEEE, and the AOGEA, and is a certified TOGAF practitioner.
Enterprise Cloud Ecosystem
Tuesday, October 25, 11:45 - 12:15
This presentation highlights an approach of using TOGAF®, the de facto global standard for enterprise architecture, to manage business services for an enterprise cloud ecosystem. It also outlines the use of ADM (Architecture Development Method) of TOGAF to facilitate driving business decisions necessary to effectively evolve cloud ecosystem to achieve business agility.
Tejpal (TJ) Virdi works for The Boeing Company as Senior Enterprise IT Architect in Commercial Aviation Services and Global Services & Support IT Architecture group. TJ is primarily responsible for architectural leadership, aligning vision and strategy with enterprise information systems. Prior to joining The Boeing Company, TJ had worked in Healthcare IT for 15+ years in creating and managing innovative solutions. TJ has an MBA, a Bachelor of Science in Technology degree, and a Bachelor of Commerce degree. TJ is also TOGAF® 9 certified.
TJ is co-chair of The Open Group Cloud Computing Work Group, Cloud Computing Architecture, Using TOGAF for Cloud Ecosystem (TOGAF-CE) and Legacy Evolution to SOA (L2SOA) projects.
Business Transformation as an Enterprise Capability
Tuesday, October 25, 11:15 - 11:45
Progressive organizations recognize the fact that the ability to continuously reinvent their business is an Enterprise Capability. The challenge for many established enterprises however has been how to define, build, exploit and nurture this capability in their operationally centric culture.
This presentation will highlight the essential characteristics of a Business Transformation (BT) capability and how your organization can pragmatically exploit industry knowledge to own this capability.
Key Takeaways:
- Capabilities of a High Performance IT Organization
- Define the Performance Metrics of a BT capability
- Identify the Components of a BT capability
- Determine who should build and nurture BT capability
- How to build BT capability pragmatically
- How to avoid the pitfalls in building the BT capability and the capability abyss
- How will you know when you have BT Capability.
Jason Uppal is a professional engineer registered in the province of Ontario, Canada. He holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering, a graduate degree in Economics and a post graduate accreditation in Computer Science.
Jason is a recognized expert in Business Process Re-Engineering, Continuous Improvement and Automation. His Value Delivery skill transcended him to Enterprise Architecture and has been awarded the Master IT Architect certification by the Open Group in 2005. Since then, he has successfully completed the re-certification in 2008. Jason is an active member of the Enterprise Architecture community, a frequent speaker at many EA and IT governance related conferences and a member of The Open Group Architect Certification board since 2005.
Fuguo Wang is Enterprise Architect of QRS. He holds bachelor degree of applied mathematics and several certifications such as MCSE+Internet, SAP Solution Consultant, PMP, ITIL Foundation, and CIO class of Peking University.
Fuguo has several years of working experience in enterprise information system building and management. He worked for Ericsson in building Ericsson's largest manufacturing plant in China. He worked for Elcoteq in using balance score card to successfully merge IBM EMS business in China to Elcoteq China. He worked for Atos Origin in helping the Beijing Olympic Committee of 2008 to build Laoshan bicycle and mountain cycling competition venues. He is a sophisticate in enterprise information management.
For more information of him, please refer to http://tech.sina.com.cn/smb/2008-11-03/1534860038.shtml , one of the most popular web sites in China. You can reach him at firstname.lastname@example.com.
EA Enabled Business Transformation - A Pragmatic Approach
Tuesday, October 25, 11:45 - 12:15
This presentation is a case study of a medium size consumer products manufacturing organization that has diversified products and divisions in FMCG, logistics etc. The case study will describe the organization's driving forces for EA-enabled business transformation; the transformational challenges that the organization faced given the size, diversity of the organization, uncertainties, nature of the businesses, people, culture and innovative ways in which these challenges were addressed. This presentation also explains a pragmatic approach used for EA that enabled the transformation. Finally, it describes the best practices and lessons learnt.
Key takeaways:
- Organization driving forces for EA enables business transformation
- A tranformation approach that worked
- Organization challenges for transformation, best practices and lessons learnt.
Mr. Nethaji Chapala is a TOGAF certified Enterprise Architecture practitioner and Lead Consultant for Strategy and Architecture in Tata Consultancy Services Global Consulting Practice. He has more than 12 years of experience in IT and management consulting in various roles and diversified technologies. Nethaji has been helping various customers on developing the IT strategy and roadmap, Enterprise Architecture and governance, portfolio assessment and rationalization, and architecture assessment across the globe. Nethaji also delivers guest lectures in engineering colleges in Chennai. Nethaji holds a Bachelor Degree in Technology from J.N.T University, Hyderabad, India
Security Strategies for the Internet
Tuesday, October 25, 1.30 - 2.00
Threats and Countermeausres
This talk will discuss some of the reasons why the internet, as currently constructed, is not a safe place to do business both from a technical and governance perspective. Steve will cover some of the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the design of internet and security services and propose several areas where technologies and standards could be employed to defend against the attacks.
Steve Whitlock is chief strategist for Boeing IT Information Security. In this role, he provides strategic support for Boeing's long term information security capabilities. This includes the tracking of emerging technologies and the changing threat landscape, as well as helping to influence the direction of the information security industry in support of Boeing's global presence. With more than twenty-five years of research in information security and cryptography, Whitlock has provided strategic input to numerous global agencies, and has served on writing and steering committees for the Intelligence and National Security Association, Internet Security Alliance, Defense Information Base Technology and Architecture Working Group, Trans-global Secure Collaboration Program, and Enduring Security Framework Activity. He has served on the Program Committee for the annual ID Trust conference sponsored by NIST, ACM, OASIS and Internet 2 for eight years. He currently serves on the Jericho Forum Board of Management and is Vice Chair of the Open Group Security Forum. Steve has a master's degree in software engineering from Seattle University.
NASA's Identity, Credential and Access Management Program
Tuesday, October 25, 2:00 - 2:30
More than seven years ago, new regulatory compliance requirements caused NASA to re-evaluate existing but largely separate initiatives. These initiatives were to provide centralized privilege management, stronger credentials, and modern authentication services. Architecture development has led NASA to a cohesive implementation of Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) services. This talk will briefly describe the business, system, and technical view of NASA ICAM services. Success stories will be enumerated.
Dennis Taylor is an Information Security Architect with more than 30 years experience spanning nearly all facets of information technology. Most recently Dennis has been involved with the architecture and engineering of NASA's Identity, Credential, and Access Management (ICAM) program. Previously Dennis led an information security research team. Dennis has also been the Chief Architect for an IT outsourcing contractor. Dennis is an elected member representative to The Open Group Governing Board.
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) DNA Clustering and Defense "Kungfu"
Tuesday, October 25, 2:30 - 3:00
Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) (a.ka. Targeted Attacks) may not be identified in the wild but target specific a organization and company like incidents from Lockheed Martin and HBGary. This entire new class of threat could not be dealt with traditional virus detection and IDS/IPS.
We will share our research on clustering APT samples in various task forces in Asia and demonstrate the tools called APT Deezer and the tool of email with APT document attachement detection for enterprise defense.
Anthony Lai specialized in penetration test, code audit, crime investigation and threat analysis. He founded VXRL (Valkyrie-X Security Research Group) www.vxrl.org after attending to DEFCON 15, connecting to and learning from world hackers and security researchers.
Anthony has formed Xecure Lab (www.xecure-lab.com) with Birdman and Benson from Taiwan. He undertook APT and threat research and provided corresponding enterprise defense and service. Anthony has spoken at Blackhat USA 2010, DEFCON 18 and DEFCON 19 and Hack In Taiwan 2010 and 2011 and been certified with SANS GREM Gold, GCFA and GWAPT certifications.
The Open Group Certification Programs
Tuesday, October 25, 4:00 - 4.30
This presentation will give an overview of The Open Group's range of globally recognized, credible and portableprofessional certification programs. It will highlight why TOGAF ® 9 certification is used by the world's leading enterprises to certify a common body of core knowledge about the methodology and framework and explain the requirements for achieving certification.
This session will also examine the importance of and the growing demand for The Open Group's skills and experience based certification programs for Architects and IT Specialists and how they can fit into an organization's professional development framework.
Steve Philp is the Marketing Director for Professional Certification programs at The Open Group. Over the last 20 years, Steve has worked predominantly in sales, marketing and general management roles within the IT training industry.
Based in Reading in the UK, he joined The Open Group in 2008 to promote and develop The Open Group Certified Architect (Open CA) and The Open Group Certified IT Specialist (Open CITS) skills and experience based certification programs.
Cloud Interoperability Panel
Tuesday, October 25, 3:30 - 4:30
Cloud computing is a technical phenomenon of growing importance for enterprises today. It can improve agility, quality, and productivity, lower cost, and lead to new business opportunities. But a large enterprise will probably not rely on a single cloud service, and cloud computing will not completely replace existing IT services. Enterprises must therefore integrate multiple cloud services with their existing IT. Cloud interoperability will be crucial.
Interoperability is a prime concern of The Open Group, and the Cloud Work Group is preparing a report on Cloud Interoperability for The Open Group Board. Discussion of this has so far been confined to North America and Europe. It has not explored the special considerations that apply in other parts of the world.
Although cloud computing is available globally, there are differences in laws and regulations, and cultural differences, that impact on its deployment in different regions. There may also be technical issues, such as reliance on use of the English language and the Latin alphabet,
that make interoperability more difficult.
This panel session will discuss cloud interoperability in general, but will pay particular attention to issues that affect the Chinese community. The panellists will include both Chinese and Western experts, who will be well equipped to address these issues.
A summary of the discussion will be made available as part of the conference proceedings, and will also be an input to the report being prepared by the Cloud Work Group.
Patrick Fu is currently the Divisonal Director of Infrastructure Software at Cloud Computing center (CCMA) at ITRI. He is responsible for the research and development of the ITRI Cloud OS technology at CCMA, which has recently released its 1.0 version. Patrick has 20 years of Software industry experience. He has managed and successfully delivered multiple large-scale complex software development projects since 1988. Before joining ITRI,
Patrick was the VP of Engineering for Interwoven Inc., responsible for their Web Content Management Engineering team, with annual revenue of US$80 million. Prior to Interwoven, Patrick was a Senior Development Manager at Sun Microsystems Inc., where he managed multiple Networking related projects. Specifically, Patrick initiated the Solaris Clustering project, where he builds a team that covers both Engineering and QA for Solaris Clustering development.
Patrick has also been with the Engineering organization for IBM & Amdahl Inc., involved in multiple system software development projects including TPF, MVS, and MDF development. Patrick received his M.S. degree in Computer Science from State University of New York. He received his BSEE degree from National Taiwan University.


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Wikimedia United States Coalition
Wikimedia United States Coalition in other languages/Coalición Estadounidense de Wikimedia en otros idiomas: English/Inglés | Spanish/Español
The Wikimedia United States Coalition is a framework to organize the founding of a strong group of Wikimedia chapters and Wikimedia thematic organizations in the United States, and to promote cooperation among them. Chapters in the United States, unlike existing chapters in other nations, may be founded on a metropolitan and regional-scale level, because of the unique issues of uneven population density throughout the country, and the relative unimportance of state boundary lines.
Wikimedia New York City and Wikimedia DC are the first approved regional chapters in the United States. Wiki-Conference New York 2009 at NYU was the first live venue at which this framework was developed among aspirant US chapter organizers.
- 1 Metropolitan level operations
- 2 Function of the council
- 3 Local entities
- 4 Communities showing potential for new chapters
- 5 Events
- 6 Communication
- 7 WALRUS committee
- 8 Representatives
- 9 Wikimedia United States Federation, Inc
- 10 Links
Metropolitan level operations[edit]
United States chapters may be founded on the level of metropolitan areas, which are informally defined urban areas surrounding major cities, with a local orientation as community groups. It may be practical to extend the regions of operation significantly beyond the Census definition of the metropolitan area, since many parts of the United States are not in any metropolitan area.
Existing efforts have focused on the participation of those engaging in Wikipedia Meetup events, which is a good way to get started organizing, and it may be helpful for regions of operation to be roughly congruent with the area for which travel to such events is convenient. The utilization of the Geonotice tool, and hopefully other improved geoip tools in future, is a good path to build up such local organization in the medium term.
It may be helpful to look at C. Etzel Pearcy's 1973 redrawn map of the United States (explanation) of "natural" borders centered on major concentrations of population.
In areas where the major concentrations of population are not too divergent from state boundary lines (or where population is not dense at all, as especially in the rural West), it may be most beneficial to simply define chapters on a state-level basis.
The regions of operation of chapters will not be strictly defined, but people may participate in whatever chapter (or chapters) it is convenient or preferable to them to attend the meetings of.
- See also: User:Kelly Martin/US regions
Function of the council[edit]
The function of the council will be to promote the founding of new chapters, and to maintain a forum for communication among the different chapters.
This might include the organization of community-based nationwide efforts such as the in the example of Wikipedia Loves Art, but on a more regular basis it would also involve joint activities among neighboring chapters in the organization of larger events, and if there is more than one chapter in a state, the coordination of state-level promotional activities.
Local entities[edit]
The council should also explore the issue of how organize local chapters or groups in a coordinated or non-coordinated manner:
- Shall we establish completely autonomous, local chapters (e.g. Wikimedia NYC, Wikimedia DC, Wikimedia SF)
- Shall there be a national entity, with local subchapters or affiliates, that files for group exception with the IRS and loosely ties together affiliates through common purpose? (local units can either be separately incorporated or not)
- Shall there be regional entities with local affiliates? (e.g. Wikimedia Northeast US, Wikimedia Midwest US, Wikimedia Rocky Mountain Region...)
Communities showing potential for new chapters[edit]
The communities showing the greatest potential for new chapters are those that have successfully organized multiple Wikipedia Meetup events in the past, or have shown the potential to do so.
- Northeast
- (in Wikimedia New York City)
- New York City
- Philadelphia (see historical Wikimedia Pennsylvania discussions)
- Pittsburgh
- Washington, DC (see Wikimedia DC discussions)
- (in Wikimedia New York City)
- New England (see Wikimedia New England discussions)
- Boston
- Connecticut
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- New England (see Wikimedia New England discussions)
- West Coast
- Seattle (see Wikimedia Cascadia discussions)
- Oregon (see Wikimedia Cascadia discussions)
- San Francisco (see Wikimedia California and Wikimedia Cascadia discussions)
- Southern California (see Wikimedia California discussions)
- South
- Texas
- Tennessee
- Florida
- Atlanta
- Midwest (see Wikimedia Midwest discussions)
- Chicago
- Detroit / Ann Arbor
- Indianapolis
- Minnesota
- Ohio (see Wikimedia Ohio discussions)
- St. Louis
- Topeka
Regional WikiConferences[edit]
- Wiki-Conference New York
Discussion of this framework occurred at Wiki-Conference New York 2009 and Wiki-Conference New York 2010.
All chapters-interested folks in the US were invited to attend and represent their region. We were also glad to be joined by some like-minded friends pursuing their own efforts in Canada, as well as by Free Culture groups from across New England, who have their own experience with national and local chapters to share.
- West Coast WikiConference
Also, check out West Coast WikiConference as a forum for similar regional discussions.
National multi-events[edit]
An annual calendar:
- US Multi-Events
- Wikipedia Day US (January)
- Great American Wiknic (July)
- Wikipedia Takes America (September)
- Wikipedia Loves Libraries (October/November)
It is also hoped that some of this conversation can take place on the WikimediaUS-l mailing list.
Mailing lists[edit]
Local mailing lists include:
- Wikimedia_NYC
- wikimedia-dc
- wikimedia-boston
- Atlanta
- San Francisco
- Ohio
- Wikimedia-Cascadia
- Midwest
- Wikimedia minnesota
A number of regional US IRC chat channels are maintained.
Additionally, a channel for all US Wikimedians is available:
- Midwest US Wikimedians
- Northeast US Wikimedians
- West Coast US Wikimedians
WALRUS committee[edit]
The 'Wikimedians Active in Local Regions of the United States' (WALRUS) committee is a preparatory stage of the national Coalition, consisting of a partnership of existing and actively planned chapters (Wikimedia NYC and Wikimedia DC), along with leading Wikimedian activists and meetup organizers in the other regions of the US.
The WALRUS home on English Wikipedia is at WP:WALRUS.
Through this effort, cities across the US celebrated The Great American Wiknic in June 2011 and again in June 2012.
The WikimediaUS-l mailing list is home to the WALRUS committee and related discussions.
Starting in 2012, the mailing list will schedule monthly IRC meetings (generally on the second Wednesday) at #wikimedia-usconnect:
- meetings at 9pm Eastern Time, 6pm Pacific Time
- 2012
- March 1, 2012
- April 11, 2012
- May 9, 2012
- June 13, 2012
- July 11 & 14, 2012 @ Wikimania
- August 8, 2012
- September 12, 2012
- October 10, 2012
- December 19, 2012
- 2013
- January 16, 2013
- February 13, 2013
- March 13, 2013
- April 10, 2013
- May 8, 2013
- June 12, 2013
- July 17, 2013
- August 14, 2013
- October 16, 2013
- Meetings resumed via video conference in 2016
- March 2016
- April 2016
- May 2016
- June 2016
- July 2016
- August 2016
- September 2016
- October 2016
- November 2016
- December 2016
- 2017
|Northeast (regional contact: NYC)
|US-BOS metro, New England
|New England Wikipedian Meetup, Wikimedia New England
|Meetup / Observer
|US-NYC metro
|Wikimedia New York City
|Official Wikimedia chapter
|User:Megs, User:Pharos
|US-PHIL metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Philadelphia
|Meetup / Observer
|US-PITT metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Pittsburgh, Allegheny Wikimedians
|Meetup / Observer
|User:Piotrus, User:Chris troutman
|West Coast (regional contact: SF)
|US-SF metro, US-OR
|Wikipedia Meetup San Francisco
|Meetup / Observer
|Pete F
|US-LA metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Los Angeles
|Meetup / Observer
|Cascadia Wikimedians
|Official Wikimedia user group
|Wikipedia Meetup Portland
|Meetup / Observer
|User:Another Believer
|US-SEA metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Seattle
|Meetup / Observer
|South (regional contact: DC)
|US-DC metro
|Wikimedia District of Columbia
|Official Wikimedia chapter
|User:Harej, User:Kirill Lokshin
|WikiProject Florida
|User:Donald Albury, User:FloNight
|Florida Librarians of Wikipedia
|Wikimedia User Group
|US-ATL metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Atlanta
|Meetup / Observer
|US-NC Research Triangle
|North Carolina Triangle Wikipedians User Group
|Official Wikimedia user group
|WikiProject Texas/WikiProject Houston
|Midwest (regional contact: Midwest)
|US-CHI metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Chicago
|Meetup / Observer
|User:I Jethrobot, User:TonyTheTiger
|Wikipedia Meetup Colorado
|Meetup / Observer
|User:Buaidh, User:Gaurav
|US-DET metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Detroit / Wikipedia Meetup Ann Arbor
|Meetup / Observer
|US-EVV metro
|Wikipedia Meetup Evansville
|Meetup / Observer
|User:Bob the Wikipedian
|Wikipedia Meetup Minnesota
|User:Jonathunder, User:Innotata
|US-STL metro
|Wikipedia Meetup St. Louis
|Meetup / Observer
|User:Mark Schierbecker
|Ohio Wikimedians User Group
|User Group
Wikimedia United States Federation, Inc[edit]
There was in the past some thought being given to founding a legal entity, a Wikimedia United States Federation, Inc. This would have been a 501c3 nonprofit, whose organizational members would consist of all official Wikimedia chapters in the United States, as well as recognized chapters-in-formation groups that have chosen a board and have achieved a sufficient level of organizational maturity. A decision has been made to shelve such a proposal for now.

subset: commoncrawl


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Jubilant Sykes has sung classical and spiritual music at the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, London's Barbican Centre and the Hollywood Bowl.
But Hartford Stage is a decidedly different venue for a veteran of the world's concert stages.
This time he'll be in character, playing lyric tenor Roland Hayes, the first world-renowned African American classical vocalist, in the premiere of Daniel Beaty's "Breath & Imagination," which begins preview performances Thursday at Hartford Stage. The show opens Jan. 16 and plays through Feb. 9.
"Breath & Imagination," a co-production with Pittsburgh's City Theatre,...


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Daniel L. Boone, 71, Augusta, retired Cessna Aircraft employee, passed away on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012.
Daniel L. Boone, 71, Augusta, retired Cessna Aircraft employee, went home to be with the Lord on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012.
Viewing 1-6 p.m., with visitation 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, at Dunsford Funeral Home, Augusta. Funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, at Temple Baptist Church, 925 Douglas Rd., El Dorado. Interment to follow in Neal Cemetery, Neal, Kan.
Daniel was born on March 6, 1941, to Myron and MarDell (Williams) Boone in Neal, Kan. He graduated from Augusta High School in 1959 and attended Butler County Community College. He married Peggy Whiteside on Sept. 2, 1960, in Augusta.
Survivors include: his wife Peggy of the home; sons, Keith Boone (Avis Wagoner) of Wichita, Terry Boone of El Dorado, David (Tammy) Boone of Bradenton, Fla., and Corey (Angie) Boone of Cheney; daughter, Michele (Robert) McClaflin of Arkansas City; brother, Russell Boone of Augusta; sisters, Okema (Don) Fowler of El Dorado and Mona (Warren) Calvin of Cambridge, Kan.; 8 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.
Daniel was preceded in death by his parents.
Memorials have been established with Temple Baptist Church or The American Cancer Society in care of the funeral home.


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CAIRO (AP) — Doubts are emerging about the Egyptian government's ability to implement painful austerity measures linked to the International Monetary Fund's critical $4.8 billion loan that could stop an economic collapse.
A top IMF official began talks in Cairo Monday, the latest in the drawn-out negotiations for the loan. The government is confident that the loan would not only cover part of its huge deficit, but also, it would signal to investors that Egypt is again a safe bet after two years of turmoil that started with the 2011 uprising that unseated longtime President Hosni Mubarak.
But the Islamist government that replaced Mubarak has already had to postpone final talks on the loan because it was unable to carry out the first steps required by the IMF. President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood announced some of the measures, including tax increases, but quickly rescinded them over unrest surrounding his proposed constitution, perceived as pro-Islamist.
Now, with parliamentary elections upcoming, critics doubt Morsi will want to — or be able to — implement measures that could stoke new public anger, like cuts in subsidies for fuel and food that allow millions of Egyptians to survive despite their meager incomes.
Despite economic growth in Mubarak's last years in office, poverty deepened. About 40 percent of Egypt's people live near or under the international poverty line of $2 a day.
The head of the IMF's Middle East and Central Asia Department, Masood Ahmed, met Monday with Morsi and his prime minister ahead of the technical talks due to start soon.
Masood's visit comes a day after Prime Minister Hesham Kandil named a new finance minister, aiming to tackle Egypt's deteriorating economy.
The numbers are daunting. The budget deficit from July to November last year reached about $13 billion, compared to $9.5 billion in the same period last year.
The government admitted that its foreign currency reserves are at a critical level — enough for only three months of vital imports. Reserves have plummeted over the past two years, as foreign investment and tourism have dried up.
According to the new constitution, Morsi has to call for new parliamentary elections within the next two months. The parliament to be chosen would be the first to flesh out the constitution with legislation, making its composition — the proportion of Islamists to secular and liberal parties — crucial to the nation's future.
Critics warn that Morsi, as a politician, would be hesitant to impose austerity measures that could further inflame sentiment against the Brotherhood, already losing support because of Egypt's troubles an opposition suspicious of the group's attempt to monopolize power.
"They are in a very difficult situation," said Ahmed Shokr, a founding member of Drop Egypt's Debt Campaign. "They are trying to demonstrate to the IMF they are committed to this program, but on the other hand don't want to do it too quickly ahead of coming elections. I expect whatever they introduce will be very gradual."
Brotherhood officials acknowledge the seriousness of the economic situation and its impact on their popularity.
"The government must take these measures. They can't be postponed, even if they have a negative impact on the party," said Mohammed Gouda, an economic expert in the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. He added, "I have to deal with" the consequences.
After Morsi rescinded the first round of tax hikes on items like cooking oil, alcohol and cigarettes, the government offered a social dialogue on the economy. Gouda predicted some of the taxation measures might be altered after discussion with those involved.
Already the government has introduced a system designed to control the devaluation of the currency, long propped up by foreign currency reserves that are now too depleted to continue. Under an auction system, Egypt's central bank sold $360 million, allowing the currency to lose about 5 percent of its value in recent days
A devaluation has been anticipated as part of the talks with the IMF, but it is likely to further harm Egypt's trade deficit, because the country relies on imports for much of its basic food, including wheat, sugar and tea.
Samer Atallah, a professor of economics at the American University in Cairo, warned of implications from the negotiations for the loan.
"The whole process has been lacking transparency, and they put themselves in a difficult position without the political consensus needed to sell this to the public," he said. "I think austerity measures are extremely difficult to carry out before any elections, even with the Brotherhood's ability to mobilize" voters.
Fady Mohammed, a 21-year-old student who works on awareness campaigns in low-income neighborhoods, said discussions with people there focus on frustration at lack of change in their living conditions, two years after the ouster of Mubarak.
"Many say neither the Brotherhood nor the revolutionaries have done them any good," Mohammed said. "People feel that the government never takes the side of the poor and is more concerned about establishing control."
Gouda had no good news for the impoverished. He said years of poor economic policies were bound to hit Egyptians hard.
"We will have to rely on local civil groups and charities to compensate some of the low-income groups," he said.


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Kate Middleton blames herself over nurse Jacintha Saldanha suicide
THE Duchess of Cambridge blames herself for the death of hoax call nurse Jacintha Saldanha, royal aides have revealed.
She is terribly upset and blames herself
Pregnant Kate is devastated by the mum-of-two's suicide at the hospital where she was treated for severe morning sickness.
Kate, 30, believes that if she had not been in the unit the 46-year-old might still be alive.
Her worried husband, Prince William, is even considering quitting his RAF job early to be with her in London.
Along with family and friends, he has tried to reassure Kate the tragedy is not her fault.
Kate is also dreading having to go back to the King Edward VII hospital because of the awful events that followed her first stay.
Jacintha, 46, was duped into putting through a prank call from the two Aussie DJs pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles.
A royal aide said: "Kate is feeling vulnerable and the nurse's death is a dreadful blow.
"She is terribly upset and blames herself. But everyone is telling her there is no need to feel guilty.
"William feels helpless. He can hold her hand and be sympathetic but Kate still thinks if she hadn't been in that hospital none of this awful tragedy would have happened.
"It is not easy for her, especially if she has to go back into that hospital again."
The royal couple have been talking about whether William should leave the Forces when his tour of duty ends next year.
Now, following all the upset, rescue helicopter pilot Wills is thinking about quitting early to be with his wife.
She has been advised to stay close to her doctors in London rather than at their remote cottage near his RAF base in north Wales.
William is expected to decide by Christmas, then let his bosses know.
Wills and Kate issued a statement after Jacintha was found hanged at her hospital accommodation saying they were "deeply saddened".
Yesterday, Jacintha's family described the "unfillable void" left in their lives as a mass was held for her at Westminster Cathedral.
Her husband Benedict Barboza said: "I feel a part of me has been ripped out."
Son Junal said of his mother: "You were the core of the family who kept us together."
Daughter Lisha, 14, said: "We will miss your laughter, the loving memories and the good times we had together. The house is an empty dwelling without your presence.
"We are shattered and there's an unfillable void in our lives.
"We love you mum. Sleep in peace and watch over us until me meet again in heaven."


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Sculpture Shop
A large, all-college sculpture shop supports opportunities for production of a wide range of three-dimensional work. This facility, located on the fourth floor of the Foundation Building, is equipped with machinery for wood- and metal-working, mold-making, bronze casting and projects using wax, clay, plaster and some plastics. An Epilog 36EXT 60-watt laser cutting / engraving system is also available.
Monday - Thursday 12pm - 9:30pm
Friday 5:00pm - 7:00pm*
Saturday 12:00pm - 6:00pm
Sunday CLOSED
*Intro to Techniques classes take place on Fridays from 1:00 to 5:00pm. Shop is closed to other users during that time.


text:
Treasuries rose for a fourth day before a report that economists said will show manufacturing in the Philadelphia region shrank this month, underpinning demand for the safest assets.
Ten-year notes extended their run of gains to the longest in four weeks after purchasing managers indexes indicated both Chinese and euro-area manufacturing contracted in September. The benchmark yields climbed last week to the highest level since May after the Federal Reserve announced further stimulus. Ten-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities rose even as the U.S. prepared to sell $13 billion of the securities.
"We're talking about risk-off today with weaker China PMI numbers," said Justin Lederer, an interest-rate strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald LP in New York, one of 21 primary dealers that are required to bid at Treasury debt auctions. "The market got overdone last week and needed a little time to reprice."
The 10-year yield declined three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 1.74 percent at 9:21 a.m. in New York, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. It touched 1.89 percent on Sept. 14. The 1.625 percent security maturing in August 2022 gained 9/32, or $2.81 per $1,000 face amount, to 98 31/32. The four-day advance is the longest since the period ended Aug. 23.
Thirty-year bond yields fell four basis points to 2.92 percent and touched 2.90 percent.
Struggle Seen
U.S. government securities are rallying amid speculation the world's biggest economy will struggle even as the Fed tackles the slowdown with a third round of bond purchases under quantitative easing and other actions.
The Fed Bank of Philadelphia's general economic index will be negative 4.5 for September, according to a Bloomberg News survey. The Conference Board's gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months fell 0.1 percent in August, after increasing 0.4 percent in July, a separate survey showed. The reports will be released at 10 a.m. New York time.
"Markets are not optimistic about today's data, and so the Treasury market is supported," said Ralf Umlauf, a research analyst at Landesbank Hessen-Thueringen in Frankfurt. "There's a bit of snapback after the rise in yields we saw last week."
Ten-year yields are likely to extend declines in the short- term before rising to 2.10 percent by year-end, Umlauf said.
The Labor Department reported that more Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week. Jobless claims decreased by 3,000 in the week ended Sept. 15 to 382,000, department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 49 economists surveyed by Bloomberg projected 375,000.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Thu 26 Jul 2007
Third Line Center OptionPosted by Anthony Mastantuoni under 2007 Off-Season Moves
No Comments
A report out of the land of Maple Leafs and Argonauts might present the New York Rangers with an option for their third line center.
Paul Hunter of the Toronto Star wrote that the Toronto Maple Leafs' interest in Michael Peca might depend on their ability to find room against their tight salary cap. Hunter writes that one player who might be on the block is Matt Stajan. Moving the 23-year-old center would add an additional $875,000 to their approximate current salary cap space of $2.5 million.
Stajan, originally Toronto's second round draft pick (57th overall) in 2002 was one of the names mentioned in talks when the Rangers and Leafs were discussing the Brian Leetch deal that eventually saw Jarkko Immonen and Maxim Kondratiev come to New York.
The 6-foot-1 and 180 pound Stajan will turn 24 in December and is a veteran of thee NHL seasons. In 232 career NHL games, Stajan scored 40 goals and added 54 assists with 116 PIM. Last season, he appeared in 82 games and scored 10 goals with a career-high 29 assists and 44 PIM. Stajan has never been a minus player during his years in the OHL, AHL or NHL.
Stajan can play either wing and his game is based on his hockey smarts which make him a good two-way player. While he does have untapped offensive potential, his strength lies in his ability has a playmaker rather than as a scorer. The Mississauga, Ontario native has good size, but he still has some room to grow physically and become a more physical player. Stajan has the ability to be a solid two-way player.


text:
Computer Jokes
Yet another collection of jokes. (Nothing to do with me.) What's the difference between a computer salesman and a used-car salesman? The used-car salesman KNOWS when he's lying. How many computer technicians does it take to screw in a light bulb? Two. One to do it and one to tell … Continue reading


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Adventure Plan
|Haaku Uaari
It's a dark day in the pens. Mina has failed as a gladiator, almost dying in the process, Zar has in fact died, leaving Hakku in paroxysms of guilt, and Kindrok has returned from his imprisonment, almost dead from apparently repeated torture.
Kindrok was tortured to within an inch of his life, but eventually his captors became convinced that he had told them everything he knew.
Quick & dirty torture rules: Roll Intimidate vs. Will. Every success results in the revelation of one piece of information. A failure ends the torture. (This will not work against actual PCs, but it works for Kindrok.) | Well, that doesn't work. Kindrok only stops being tortured on a natural 1. But it should be Will here, not Fort, because it's presumed that the torturer can keep going until he breaks through the physical resistance of the subject. Okay, let's try: The torturer rolls Intimidate vs. Will (with situational modifiers for equipment as laid out on pp. 37-39, The Book of Vile Darkness, but I'm not worrying about that here). If the check succeeds, the character makes a skill check to see if any information is revealed: Bluff, Endurance, or Diplomacy. Insight can be used as a secondary skill. Other skills may be used if they can be justified; for instance, Intimidate may work in some situations (threatening what will happen when others find out the character's been tortured, for instance) After 3 failures, the character…dies? After 6 successes, the torturer is convinced that the character has told him all he knows, whether that is true or not.
This is not what I'm doing, though, or Kindrok fails/dies. Perhaps they let him go after the 3 failures, thinking they've told them all he knew.
Kindrok is broken. He's become a blubbering fool. He told his torturers most of what he knew or remembered about the VA. What they really wanted was names, and he gave them three: Vistna, Quistine and Suldin.
Not sure; find out.
Middle of the night, I believe.
It's getting downright chilly at night. Blankets are hard to come by, as they've mostly been taken by the stronger. The weakest, who have no blankets but need them most, are left to shiver in the cold. Occasionally it drops below freezing. There is dew every morning.
- Retcon: Mina was not allowed to leave by the Tembo. Instead she was knocked unconscious (below 0 HP), and awoke to find herself outside of the pit, with a scratched-up Lissan standing over her with concern. Everything else happened as stated. It's up to Sarah what Mina remembers or recounts.
- Don't forget to time the session & take regular breaks (10 minutes every two hours).
Weather forecast
It's low sun, so -2 adjustment to the temperature chart. Wind doesn't matter unless it's Storm or better. Well, I suppose Strong would result in a nice breeze in the city.
4: Warm/cool, 2: No wind.
Moon forecast
No moons to speak of. The moons are rising in early morning, with not much more than pale shadows of themselves visible. They rise earlier every day.
Scenes: Allies
Elf Brawl
Press Gang (though Eramas should come in again. Eremas will not ask to join the party, nor will Kindrok invite him. But Eremos will join in any fight Kindrok is involved in.)
Shanghaied (Zar; Shanghaied is still Mahlanda's story as well; that innkeeper obviously has a racket going.) (also…where's Chari? Still in the pits, I assume, kitchen help like Mahlanda? She will try to insist she gets rescued too when Mina tries to rescue her)
Scenes: Enemies
Cruel Overseer
Extra Work
Bully Boys
A—Friend in Need
B—Girl Trouble
What's the current status on this? I believe that Zar has to turn something substantive in by tomorrow night or he dies(?).
D—Plots (this has not been followed through completely)
Planned—Part Two
Scenes: Allies
Serious Offense (Kindrok)
Scenes: Enemies
Liurgand has tracked Mina throughout her escapades of the evening, and will turn her/them in tomorrow(?)
Theft (in progress)
E—Kindness of Strangers (in progress)
After consulting with Jason, we have come up with solutions to all of the plot holes engendered by Kindness of Strangers and Dispatches.
The mission into the pens is to kill as many slaves and guards as possible; with Ktandeo dead, the faction of the VA that favors more direct action and a more violent approach to defeating Kalak has become unbound and decided to act on its own to do whatever is necessary to slow down construction of the ziggurat, especially since it seems that the assassination plan has fallen through. This faction is led, more or less, by Faldar.
However, the plan goes awry. It was extremely bold: To sneak into the slave pens under cover of Invisibility and massacre the slaves. However, their plan was foiled by an over-alert Templar, who rouses his mates and manages to turn what would have been a simple massacre into an all-out fight. Most of Faldar's accomplices were killed.
The rationale for his later contacting the PCs for a mission into town is that he is now persona non grata with the mainstream of the Tyrian VA, and most of his compatriots are dead or in hiding.
Sarah/Mina believes that Mahlanda is Sadira. She is not; I'm not sure what her role or importance is; perhaps it doesn't matter. But she is not in Faldar's faction.
Don't forget that all of the major encounters in Part 1 lead to encounters in Part 2, and adventures after the module ends. These need to be worked out, as there are some incompletenesses and inconsistencies.
Kindrok's Trial
Kindrok will be captured and tortured tomorrow for information regarding the Veiled Alliance. His performance will be based on die rolls; Endurance? Fort? Bluff, perhaps. This can be figured out in advance, if I have time.
- Also remember that there are several unusual races in the pens—gith, etc.
- Don't forget about Liurgand, who is trying to insinuate himself into the group.
Start pointing out that the weaker slaves are starting to die off from the decreased rations.
- Morrow 3rd is in 6 days.
- Any astrologers will notice that we're getting near Low Sun, when Guthay(?) will be in conjunction with the Dark Sun. (What did I decide about this? Is this a year after both moons were in conjuction? Or before?) [told Haaku]
- Sunsickness rules for the Pens: Anyone who gets enough food and water during the day cannot worsen on their Endurance check the next morning.
- Work on Haaku some more. In particular, he never got his vial back. I think this should happen after he heals a guard or something.
- It's time to move to Part Three.
To Do
- Plot holes
- The templars were looking for a "Renegade Preserver." Most people have no idea what that is. However, that might explain why no one gave her up. Nobody likes a sorcerer, but if they have no idea what a Preserver is…
- Timor got passed by the party, but ended up conversing with Rhotan before the party arrived. Oops. How did this happen?
- There was another one I can't recall ATM, I thought regarding the rescued half-elf.
- Make a detailed session plan/narrative. A bald encounter list is not enough. Imagine out every session before it begins.
- Look—again—into a combat planner for iOS. I'm getting tired of using Sarah's phone.
- Have a note that says, "Heal disease overnight—no "full sustenance." What does this mean?
Pending Events
- The death of Kalak on Morrow 3rd.
The Verdant Passage
- Hexameron 15: Kalak discovers the amulets, Sadira escapes and meets Ktandeo, Rikus is hurt by the Gaj, Tithian takes Agis' slaves, Sadira is captured by Radurak.
- Hexameron 17: Agis meets with other nobles in the Red Kank (p. 102, "two days" since Caro's escape (possibly not the same day as he was taken? But it really seemed like it was.)
- Hexameron 18 or 20: Radurak sells Sadira to Agis (some confusion there; Agis says that his meeting with Ktandeo on the 17th was "a few days ago," but Sadira being captured by Radurak was clearly "three nights past." (p. 140) Yeah, this is a serious problem. This has got to be at least the 20th: "In the days following the uprising in the square…" (p. 136). I think the author was counting three days from the incident at the Red Kank, which is incorrect. She was captured two days before that, so it's actually been five days.
- Hexameron 18 or 20: Tithian discovers passage from Ziggurat to Golden Tower, Caro contacts Tithian ("three days," from when Caro was turned (or, more likely from the incident at the Red Kank), p. 154).
- Hexameron 20 or 22: Agis meets Tithian in the stadium ("Two days earlier, when Agis set her free," p. 168).
- Hexameron 22 or 24: Agis meets with Ktandeo. Ktandeo dies. ("Two days" after Agis' meeting with Tithian, p. 199)
The longer timeline makes more sense, and fits fine with the events of the campaign. It's the 24th now, so Ktandeo dies tonight; in a couple of days, Kindness of Strangers will occur. I may forward the current date (since I deliberately set up a timelessness to the pens) to match that, since I want Kindness of Strangers to occur before Mina's escape attempt. (Done. Jumped from 25th to 27th. This is still flexible though.)
Campaign Notes
Known NPCs
Kasia—Korvin's concubine, rescued from trade caravan. Currently attached to an unknown templar (Larkyn).
Chari—slave girl rescued from trade caravan, attached to Quistine. Currently a slave in the pits (in the kitchens)
Mahlanda (her name is unknown to the party)—preserver the party saved from the templars. Currently a kitchen slave in the pits.
Terric—'pissant.' Slave pit overseer (at least one of them).
Korik—Korvin's supervisor.
Fyrian Wynder—the half-elf the party saved from the wastes during Road to Tyr. Described on p. 61-2, City-State of Tyr. Of course they don't know his name. An ally.
Rhotan Vor—We know who he is. No one actually has the Favor of House Wavir, but they might be able to get word to him to ask him a favor.
Ktandeo—Probably impossible to contact, he will not be willing to help.
Timor—A senior templar. Described in City-State of Tyr. An enemy.
Turloff—A wealthy merchant. Described in City-State of Tyr. An enemy.
Sadira—Probably impossible to contact. They have no idea how. In fact there is no one left in the party who has met her. Also true of Ktandeo. No one knows her name.
Hamash in Freedom. Now a pit slave.
Verrasi of Minthur—Nobleman. Object of hatred for the PCs. Described in Freedom.
Eremas. Views Kindrok as a boon companion and a comrade-in-arms. Described in Freedom.
Mandax—Templar, enslaved Quistine once. Described in Part 1C, Freedom.
Torban—half-giant commander; captured Kindrok. Described in Part 1D, Freedom.
Maku—dwarf overseer. Not sure what happened to him, as everyone got moved to Boss' group.
Theindor—guard captain.
Yerik—dwarf elder.
Helon—Mul thug.
Cruerex—Informer. Described in Part 2D, Freedom.
Unused NPC names
- Xebron
Combat Planner
Refer to the Combat Assistant app. Make sure to pre-enter monsters.


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Supreme Judicial Court (March 10, 2010)
The Second Amendment does not restrict the state's right to regulate the possession of firearms. The obligation to secure firearms in G.L. c. 140, § 131L (a) is constitutional, and it allows for a licensed gun owner to use the firearm for lawful self-defense.
The defendant's son shot a BB rifle at his neighbor's house. The police arrived and the defendant's son showed the police the BB rifle and a semiautomatic hunting rifle without a trigger lock that was stored under the defendant's bed in a soft, unlocked carrying case. The defendant was charged with violating G.L. c. 140, § 131L (a) for failing to store a rifle in a locked container or with a trigger lock. The defendant moved to dismiss, arguing that mandating the safe storage of firearms impermissibly infringed on his right to bear arms for self-defense under the Second Amendment to the Constitution, as articulated in District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008) (Heller). The District Court Judge dismissed the count, stating that the provisions of G.L. c. 140, § 131L are indistinguishable from those struck down in Heller. The SJC granted the Commonwealth's application for direct review, reversed the decision and vacated the dismissal of the count.
The SJC determined that the Second Amendment does not restrict the right of the Massachusetts Legislature to regulate the possession of firearms and ammunition. Moreover, the Court found that the provisions of G.L. c. 140, § 131L (a) are distinguishable from those held unconstitutional in Heller. In Heller, a registered gun owner was prohibited in all circumstances from carrying or keeping a loaded firearm in the home. In contrast, G.L. c. 140, § 131L (a) does not require an individual with a valid firearms identification card to secure or render inoperable a firearm while the individual carries it or otherwise keeps it under his control. The legal requirement to secure the firearm arises only when it is stored or outside the owner's immediate control, thereby allowing a licensed person to use it for self-defense.


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Song Made Entirely From Super Mario Brother Sounds
Super Mario Brothers is a beloved video game, but is making music the next step?! In this new video, a catchy song was made only using iconic sounds from the video game. Pretty awesome! They even used a case the game came in, as well as the noise of the game going into the player! They definitely got creative with this one! Also, the video is set to the show the moments of the game where the sounds came from. Check it out above, and hope it doesn't get stuck in your head!


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In his first public statement on the conflict with Iran, David Grossman, the leading Israeli novelist of the past generation and the strongest voice of his country's moral conscience, told The Nation that he opposed an attack on the Islamic Republic by Israel or the United States, saying the consequences are likely to be more daunting even than those of Iran building nuclear weapons.
"I don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons, but I think that if the sanctions do not work, Israel and the whole world, painfully, will have to live with it," Grossman said, warning that bombing Iran would set in motion "a nightmare that's hard to describe." Nonetheless, he said he had "a very bad feeling" that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were going to order an attack, even against America's wishes. "There is a dynamic to all these warlike declarations," he said.
He spoke by phone on March 6 from his home outside Jerusalem. The day before, Netanyahu had brought his militant views on Iran to a White House meeting with President Obama, and later delivered a fright-inducing speech to an AIPAC convention, employing Holocaust analogies and vowing that "never again" would the Jewish people entrust their survival to any nation but their own.
"Israel," said Grossman, "is a deeply traumatized community that finds it very difficult to separate real dangers from echoes of past traumas, and sometimes I think our prime minister fires himself up in mixing these real dangers with those echoes from the past."
He said he feared that Netanyahu and Barak would bomb Iran partly out of a perceived strategic need to back up their threats with action but also because of what he sees as Netanyahu's sense of historic responsibility to save the "people of eternity."
"He has this idea that we are the people of eternity, am ha'netzach from the Bible, and our negotiations, as he sees it, are with eternity, with the primal currents of history and mankind, while the United States, with all due respect, is just another superpower like Rome or Athens or Babylon, and we've survived them all," said Grossman. "I'm afraid that this way of thinking might encourage Netanyahu to take the step" of attacking Iran.
Grossman's son Uri was killed in the 2006 Lebanon War two days after the author called publicly for a cease-fire, and while he was writing the last chapters of his greatly acclaimed epic of war and peace, To the End of the Land. An impassioned critic of Israeli militarism and the treatment of Palestinians, he deplored the overkill of the December 2008–January 2009 war in Gaza. He took part in last year's weekly protests against the dispossession of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem, and was beaten by Israeli police at one of them.


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June 17, 2015
About Us: Overview
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest and most effective animal protection organization. We and our affiliates provide hands-on care and services to more than 100,000 animals each year, and we professionalize the field through education and training for local organizations. We are the leading animal advocacy organization, seeking a humane world for people and animals alike. We are driving transformational change in the U.S. and around the world by combating large-scale cruelties such as puppy mills, animal fighting, factory farming, seal slaughter, horse cruelty, captive hunts and the wildlife trade.
Our mission statement: Celebrating Animals, Confronting Cruelty.
The Humane Society of the United States and our affiliates provide direct care to more than 100,000 animals each year—more than any other animal welfare organization—through our sanctuaries, veterinary programs and emergency shelters and rescues. We work to professionalize the field of animal care with our education and training programs.
We confront the largest national and international problems facing animals, which local shelters don't have the reach or the resources to take on, such as animal fighting, puppy mills, horse slaughter and soring, seal killing and other forms of commercial slaughter of marine mammals, captive hunting and the wildlife trade, and inhumane slaughter and factory farming.
While we come to the aid of animals in crisis, we also attack the root causes of problems. Our most important goal is to prevent animals from getting into situations of distress in the first place. We drive transformational change for animals—bringing a wide set of tools to take on the biggest fights, confronting multibillion dollar industries and staying the course until we achieve reform.
We work to:
- Provide direct care, rescue, and services for animals in crisis
- Pass local, state and federal laws to protect animals
- Make sure existing laws are properly enforced
- Help the biggest corporations reform their animal welfare policies
- Shape public opinion on animal cruelty through our awareness campaigns and investigations
We have:
- The world's greatest roster of scientists and other experts in animal welfare
- State directors across the country working at the local level
- Five affiliated animal sanctuaries and medical centers
- Programs that provide veterinary care and other animal services to inner cities, and a veterinary affiliate that provides these services to Native American reservations
- Wildlife sanctuaries in more than 35 states
- A global affiliate, Humane Society International, which runs programs in more than 20 countries
We take a mainstream approach and combat the most severe forms of cruelty and abuse. Leaders in the humane movement ranked us the most effective animal organization in the country in a survey conducted by Guidestar's Philanthropedia.
Please see our videos, annual reports and achievements to learn more about our work. And please join us in our mission to celebrate animals and confront cruelty.


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If I turn off the WiFi in the Control Panel, I want it to _stay_ off even if my son reboots it. Presently the WiFi gets turned on every time the machine boots up (G1G1, latest software/firmware).
I don't want to turn it off from the CLI because we _do_ occasionally use it to install new activities, etc., and I don't want to have to remember some arcane text command in order to turn it back on. Unless I can alias the commands to something _really_ idiot-proof like "wifi on" and "wifi off" or something like that.
Besides controlling my 5-yr-old's internet access, I also am trying to prevent the XO from killing its battery when we put it to sleep. Whenever he sleeps it, the WiFi stays on and drains the battery.


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Meet others in your local area to Run with. Plan group runs and participate in various long and short distance running. Discuss safety and more.
Running Meetups are just getting started. You can
start your own or check out related topics
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May 24. 2013 3:24PM
Governor orders flags to fly at half-staff for Memorial Day
By Doug Alden
New Hampshire Union Leader
CONCORD -- Gov. Maggie Hassan has ordered flags in the state be lowered to half-staff on Monday and Thursday in observance of Memorial Day.
While Monday is a state and federal holiday, the traditional date for Memorial Day is May 30.
Hassan issued a proclamation on Friday recognizing both, but officially declaring Thursday as Memorial Day in the state of New Hampshire. Flags will fly at half-staff until noon on Monday and all day on Thursday. The State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen will also hold its official Memorial Day service on Thursday at 11 a.m.
"Our debt to our fallen is as old and as great as this nation," Hassan said in a release. "I join all of the citizens of the Granite State in honoring our fallen heroes, their families and all of our veterans who have sacrificed so much for us."


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Cast of Characters
Transportation and Education Depts. Get Key Nominees
By Philip Rucker
President Obama continued to fill top administration jobs today, tapping nominees to head the Census Bureau and key divisions of the Education and Transportation departments.
Victor M. Mendez, director of the Arizona Department of Transportation, is Obama's pick for administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Mendez worked under former governor Janet Napolitano before she became Obama's homeland security secretary. In Arizona, Mendez helped implement the state's multi-billion dollar freeway system and gained extensive experience in transportation funding, technology, infrastructure, research and planning.
Joining Mendez at the Transportation Department will be Peter H. Appel, Obama's nominee for administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration. A principal with the global management consulting firm of A.T. Kearney, Inc., Appel has over 20 years of experience in transportation and infrastructure projects. He has helped organizations in the railroad, trucking, airline and ocean shipping industries, and he previously served as a top aide at the Federal Aviation Administration and at Amtrak.
At the Education Department, meanwhile, John Q. Easton is the nominee for director of the Institute of Education Sciences. Like Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Easton hails from Chicago, where he currently serves as executive director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. The consortium has been integral to reform efforts at Chicago Public Schools, where Easton previously held a number of top positions.
Earlier today, news broke that Obama would nominate Robert M. Groves, director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, as director of the Census Bureau in the Department of Commerce.
"At this critical time for our nation, I am grateful that these individuals will join my team as we take on the challenges American families are facing today," Obama said in a statement. "I know that their skill, dedication and commitment to serving the American people will help us move our agenda for the future forward."
Here are the full biographies of the four nominees, as provided by the White House:
Robert M. Groves, Nominee for Director of the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce
Robert M. Groves is Director of the University of Michigan Survey Research Center, Professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, Research Professor at its Institute for Social Research, and Research Professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, at the University of Maryland. From 1990-1992 Groves was an Associate Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, on loan from University of Michigan. From 1992-2001 he was the associate director, then director of the Joint Program in Survey Methodology, a graduate program sponsored by the US Federal statistical system. He is the author of seven books and scores of scientific articles concerning the improvement of surveys. He is a member of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Board of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Census Bureau. He is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, an elected member of the International Statistical Institute, a National Associate of the National Academies, National Research Council, former President of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), former Chair of the Survey Research Methods Section of the American Statistical Association. Groves was awarded AAPOR Innovator Award in 2000 and in 2001 he was awarded the distinguished achievement award, the AAPOR award, by the association. He was given the 2008 Fellow award by the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research. In 2008, he was given the Julius Shiskin Award for unusually original and important contributions in the development of economic statistics. Groves has an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Victor M. Mendez, Nominee for Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, Department of Transportation
Victor M. Mendez was a member of former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano's Cabinet as the Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation. He has extensive experience in transportation including innovations in the areas of funding and financing, technology, infrastructure, research, planning and internal operations. Mendez has served as a past President of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and in 2008 he was selected as Leader of the Year in Public Policy in Transportation by the Arizona Capitol Times. Previously, Mendez was selected as the Deputy State Engineer to lead the implementation of the Phoenix area's multi-billion dollar freeway system. Mendez earned a Masters of Business Administration degree from Arizona State University and a Bachelors of Science in Civil Engineering degree from the University of Texas at El Paso.
Peter H. Appel, Nominee for Administrator, Research and Innovative Technology Administration, Department of Transportation
Peter H. Appel is a Principal with the global management consulting firm of A.T. Kearney, Inc. He has led business improvement initiatives for clients in the private and public sectors, with a focus on Transportation and Infrastructure. Appel has over 20 years of experience in Transportation, and has supported organizations in the railroad, trucking, airline, and ocean shipping industries with growth strategy, supply chain improvement, post-merger integration, public-private partnerships, and other key business and policy issues. Previously, Appel served as the Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and as Assistant Director for Pricing and Yield Management at Amtrak. Appel earned his bachelor's degree from Brandeis University in Economics and Computer Science with Highest Honors, and received his Master of Science in Transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
John Q. Easton, Nominee for Director, Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education
John Q. Easton currently serves as Executive Director of The Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) at The University of Chicago. CCSR conducts research to inform and assess policy and practice in the Chicago Public Schools and expand communication among researchers, policy makers and practitioners as they search for solutions to the problems of school reform. Over the years, Easton has held a variety of positions at Chicago Public Schools, including Advisor and Director of the Department of Research and Evaluation and Director of the Department of Research, Analysis and Assessment. Easton has also served as the Director of Monitoring and Research at the Chicago Panel on School Policy, and the Director of Research at the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning at City Colleges of Chicago. Easton earned his Bachelor of Arts from Hobart College, a Master of Science from Western Washington University and a Ph.D. from The University of Chicago. Easton has taught at universities across the country and has authored and co-authored several books and papers in the field, including Charting Chicago school reform: Democratic localism as a lever for Change, What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public High Schools and recently, From High School to the Future: The Pathway to 20.
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Two more TAX CHEATS for the most TAX CORRUPT regime in history.
Posted by: LoonyLeft | April 3, 2009 2:37 PM
i have to absorb this information.
Posted by: TheBabeNemo | April 3, 2009 12:14 PM
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