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To truly be a confident person, you need to learn how to be a good public speaker. It helps further just about any sort of career. If you need to brush up on public speaking, continue reading this article.
If you are preparing for a public speaking engagement in advance, memorize your speech first, before anything else. After you are able to do the speech from memory, you will be able to refine your delivery. Knowing your speech beforehand gives you that flexibility and allows you to be a lot more comfortable.
If you use a timer, you can accurately gauge the length of your speech. That way, you can make edits to stay within the allotted time. Find more information if you need to make your speech longer. In addition, make sure that you don't speak too quickly when delivering your speech.
If you want to give a good public speech it is very important that you adequately prepare in advance. Understand exactly what you are planning to say. Back up your words with thorough research. Jot down notes on what you would like to say. Try practicing this speech until you know it by heart. Preparation allows you to be more at ease.
It's vital to know about everything that you will be talking about during a speech. Even when you memorize your speech, it is good to know facts, figures and even jokes and stories related to your topic. Gauge how your audience is reacting to your speech and use these things in a good way. You might also find this information comes in handy when it's time to answer questions.
While delivering your speech, look at your audience. Don't allow anything to distract you, no matter what may be going on around the room or auditorium. You are trying to convince your audience of something, which means that it is very important for them to have your full attention.
Keep your attention towards the audience. Don't let yourself become distracted by other activity in the room. You are trying to convince your audience of something, which means that it is very important for them to have your full attention.
Do your homework on the topic you are presenting on. Do a lot of research so you have not only your point of view, but others as well. Think through what you want to say, and put those thoughts down on paper so you can follow your own train of thought. This kind of preparation is bound to pay off handsomely as your audience asks questions.
Become familiar with the venue in which you will make your speech. Understand the distance your voice can travel. Check out the microphone and other equipment so that you feel at ease with it. Decide how to use visual aids for your speech. Figure out to make eye contact with those in the audience.
Know who your audience is. If you can, it would be good if you could find out who will be attending. Prior to the speech, even say hello to some of them at the door. You will feel more comfortable, and so will your audience if you are engaging them on a personal level.
Practice makes perfect, and helps you master what you plan to convey. Try giving your speech while looking in a mirror, or record it and play it back to find out how to make it better. Also, get feedback from friends by practicing your speech for them.
Speaking the truth in sort of a story form helps make public speaking less complicated and more effective. Give a brief description of your story beforehand. Make sure that your story has a specific beginning, middle and ending so that your ideas are related better. Your story should be based upon a real event, as this will help ensure that your words are natural and authentic.
Avoid alcohol at all costs. While it might seem wise, it can actually backfire. Many great speeches turned bad from too much alcohol; don't make yours one of them.
Deep breathing can really help to calm your fears before a public speaking engagement. Taking a few deep breaths and exhaling completely before you begin your speech will help you get your nerves under control. Breathe in for four seconds and then breathe out. Repeat this until you feel your breathing and heart rate calm down.
Practice your speech daily. This will elevate your confidence and enable you to know the material backwards and forwards. Even though you might think you know your speech by heart, remember to take your speech notes with you to the podium. This allows you to take a quick peek at your notes should you happen to forget what you wanted to say next.
Rehearse your speech every day. You will feel more at ease with the material once you have done this. Even after you've memorized the speech, bring the notes with you when you take the podium. Thus, if you lose your way, you will be able to quickly take a look and get on the right track.
Note Cards
The conclusion of your speech should really pack a punch. Even though the entire speech is very important, a quality ending is usually what people remember the most. Ending on a boring note isn't going to lodge your speech into long-term memories.
If necessary, use note cards. While it it good to memorize your speech, a hard copy can come in handy. It is not necessary to write down the whole speech, but having important points jotted down on note cards makes it less likely that you will omit important facts that you wish to convey.
Write down key points and ideas on note cards. Though memorizing your speech is always wise, keeping a written copy on hand is also smart. You need not have the entire speech written down word for word, but having the key points you wish to make written on note cards can help ensure that you do not leave out any important information.
Even if you are very nervous and feel that you are falling all over yourself, don't apologize. Even if you are nervous, display confidence and your audience will feel confident in you. If you make a mistake, just correct it and move on without any apology.
When you speak to a large group, it is essential for you to have a voice that is clear and strong. Drink water to clear the passages before a speech, and keep it handy while you are speaking. Do not keep a bottle of soda up front with you. These drinks could decrease your saliva production and may create more mucous. A nice cup of warm tea just before a speech can help relax tense vocal chords.
If your audience will be a large one, make sure your voice is clear and strong. It is also recommended that you have water available to drink if you need it. Steer clear of dairy-based beverages or sodas on the day your speech is scheduled. These fluids thicken your saliva and may even stimulate mucous production. Drink a little tea to help relax those vocal cords.
If you know that you will have to make a public speech, attempt to visualize the speech. Picture the speech as well as the reaction of the audience. Also, your confidence will be boosted when you do this.
Do not make your visual aids too gaudy. They should simply add to the presentation, not take over it. You don't want them to take over. Get your point across with reliable visual aids. Colors are good, but too many colors might be a distraction.
Prior to getting to the meat of your speech, try and get the audience to connect with you. This does not have to be a joke or amusing anecdote. You can bring up a quick story about your day, what happened on the way to the speech, or just something that the audience can relate to. This is helpful when establishing a connection with your listeners.
Don't make your audience wait to ask questions at the end of the speech. They may not be able to remember what they need to ask. You will garner much more appreciation from your listeners if you permit interruptions, so let them fire away with questions.
Know about your audience before giving any speech. Each audience expects something different. As an example, your colleagues will be looking to learn something new from your speech. Family and friends are more likely to expect entertainment when you speak. It does not matter who your audience is as long as you provide what they want.
Don't try to wing it. This is one of the worst things that you can do. You may be successful, but it is not recommended. After the speech, you are likely to feel bad about it knowing that you left important pieces of information out.
Monitoring your speed is essential during a speech. Being nervous will make you talk too fast. Slow your speech down too much and you audience is sure to be too bored to listen. Try practicing the speech to adopt the best speed.
Think only positive thoughts. It's okay to be nervous. Almost everyone feels this way. But, thinking negatively isn't fine. When you tell yourself that you won't do well, that's probably what will happen as a result. Have faith in your abilities and it will improve the quality of your speech.
Before you engage in any type of public speaking, do some vocal warm ups. For early morning speeches, this is of the utmost importance. If you do not warm up, you will find that your voice will be dry. This can make it more difficult to project your voice in a confident, easy to understand way.
Tell a story to start your presentation. This can be a personal experience, a relevant news item, or a hypothetical situation. Help your audience empathize an understand by adding an appealing human element to the story. When preparing your story, don't incorporate inappropriate or offensive material.
Be prepared for questions. Twenty-five percent of the time allotted for your speech should be reserved for questions from the audience. Keep your answers short to make room for more questions.
To really succeed, public speaking ability is key. You should be able to speak confidently and adequately convey your message to a group. Apply what you've just learned, and give great speeches going forward.
Commit the key parts of the speech to memory. It is not necessary to memorize everything, but technical jargon and difficult passages are best committed to memory. As you get to these tricky areas of the speech, you will be able to relax because you know them inside and out. It can be the difference in being successful or failing.


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On the image above, I note that you were at f5.6 and 50mm. I thought the DoF might have been a bit deeper. Just shows that when you get up close, the DoF really starts to get a lot shallower.
Last edited by Donald; 7th April 2012 at 11:22 AM.
Hey Donald,
Thanks, yes I suffered the same when initially using the software, but have found that with just some minor ajustments the results can be quite good. I have really taken to using just the 50mm and working using manual mode for most of my photos now, I feel that it is really giving me a appreciation of aperature and distances and how it all works together, as well as the fact that the quality is quite a bit better than the kit lens.

subset: commoncrawl


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Property details
Brief description
Beach/water: Pebble beach in approx. 250 m, Rocky beach in approx. 150 m, Sea in approx. 150 m
Bedroom/s: 2
Floor space: 48 m²
Next village/town: Center Primosten in approx. 3 km, Rogoznica in approx. 10 km, Sibenik in approx. 20 km
Number of persons: 4-6
No pets allowed
Room/s: 3
Type of property: Property in a multi-family housing, apartment
Detailed description
Equipment: satellite TV; DVD, radio; internet access Wi-Fi (payment); combined heating/air conditioning (in the living room).
Feature: Property in a multi-family housing (5 units in total).
Furnishing: holiday standard, bright, laminate floor.
Please note: Non-smoking house. Owner lives at the lower floor. apartment, 4 - 6 people, 3 room/s, 2 bedroom/s, 1 bathroom/s, approx. 48 m², 1 floor/s, apartment on floor 2, access to the property via external stairs.
Room layout
Bedroom 1: double bed.
Bedroom 2: 2 x single bed.
Dining area: in the living room.
Important information: maximum occupancy: 5 adults and 1 child(ren) to 12 years.
Kitchenette: Kitchen/ cooking equipment: 2 gas rings, 2 electric plates, oven, microwave oven, combination fridge-freezer, coffee machine, water boiler, toaster. open to the living room, exit to balcony.
Living room/bed room: double sofa bed (1.50 m wide).
Sanitary 1: shower, WC.
Day trips: the owner organizes excursions by boat (payment and request on-site).
Estate: (shared use): approx. 600 m², closed plot (wall), garden, grapevines, fruit trees.
Infrastructure: washing machine (shared use, payment).
Outdoor facilities: (shared use): reserved open space (roofed), outdoor shower, brick barbecue.
Situation: holiday village, hillside location, in the village Dolac, sea view.
Exterior (private use)
Plot description: 1 x parking on the estate. balcony 8 m² (roofed), furnishing provided.
Arrival: Airport Split in approx. 42 km.
Beach/waters: Pebble beach in approx. 250 m. Rocky beach in approx. 150 m. Sea in approx. 150 m.
Next village/town: Center Primosten in approx. 3 km. Rogoznica in approx. 10 km. Sibenik in approx. 20 km.
Shopping: Next supermarket (Primosten) in approx. 3 km.


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Many of the iconic vehicles of the second half of the 20th century, from simple, but beautiful Fiats, Citroëns and BMWs – to many astounding Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Maseratis and Lamborghinis, rolled out of the coachbuilding facilities of Carrozzeria Bertone, as well as the design studios of Stile Bertone. A succession of cutting-edge concept machines during the 1960s and 1970s further cemented the belief that Bertone was not only the most audacious, but also arguably the most progressive and innovative of all the Italian design studios, ever. Several of the important concept cars, as well as the emblematic production models from the Bertone design studio, were either retained or later collected by the coachbuilder in a private museum, housed at Stile Bertone near Turin. This book is about the many extraordinary cars from the Bertone Collection.
This book is published by Dalton Watson Fine Books in Februrary 2018 at the Salon de Retromobile Paris
Within the covers of The 101 Automotive Jewels of India unfolds a journey of discovery, of the most unusual, exciting and best preserved automobiles in India. The 101 vehicles documented encapsulate the essence of the automobile in India and the impact on contemporary culture. This book brings out the most authentic examples of India's automotive past, as well as a carefully considered selection of historic vehicles that stood out either as interesting, fascinating, or simply beguiling.
The 101 Automotive Jewels of India by Gautam Sen & Makarand Baokar. Published by Heritage Publishers, New Delhi, India.
A selection of the finest Instagram accounts and photography. Cars gathers the most beautiful classic cars shots. A book published by Lanoo Publishers.
This magnificent book is a complete study of India's automotive elite – the maharajas who so many exotic and exclusive cars from British, European and American car makers, mainly before independence in 1947. The coverage, contains over 500 images which were shots over 3 years of span.
My task was travel and shoot all the prestigious cars owned by the maharajas in outdoors and a studio environment all over India.
This book was published in 2010 in French edition first by Haynes Publishing consisting of 383 pages and later was published in English and German. There were about 3000 copies printed in French and 3500 copies printed in English.
This coffee table book was commissioned by Mercedes-Benz India in 2010. It covers the history of Mercedes-Benz in India much before it had a plant setup in Pune, India.
This coffee table book was commissioned by Apollo tyres in 2010. It documents the history of car design, how it has changed over the decades and the star designers who have played a significant role in influencing the world of design. I had the opportunity to contribute some of the photos in my stock library.
This booklet was commissioned by Hyundai India 2015. It was a fun project where Hyundai gave us then newly launched Hyundai Creta to explore the Hindustan-Tibet road high in trans-Himalayas and the Great Rann of Kutch. And the highlight was arranging a photoshoot - with special permissions - at the India-Pakistan border. For me, this was one of the most memorable commissioned assignments.
This coffee table book was commissioned by Maruti Suzuki India in 2015. The brief was to show life on the Golden Quadrilateral, India's first modern highway network. I aimed to highlight the life the highway gives, and how the connection between Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai-Delhi makes these cities stronger and attracts life and sub-economies throughout the 5,846km.
I covered this whole route during the one-month commission, capturing the essence of India and its reliance on the highway for both road travel and local economy.


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Yesterday I posted about dandelions. Today I was cleaning out my email box and came across an old email from my friend Mellissae Lucia. She knows of my love of dandelions and when her friend posted about them, she forwarded it to me.
I am now forwarding it on – as a follow up to my last post, and, to introduce you to one of my favorite poets, Wendy Mulhern. She has such a wonderful way of crafting verse. I particularly enjoy when she allows the earth to speak through her.
Meet her here and engage with her work, The Authority of Dandelions.
Thank you Wendy for the beautiful poetry you offer the world. It has brought me a lot of joy over the years. Opening one of your books is a path into magic – and food for the soul.
We all need to find poets, musicians, painters, … who will help us touch that place of magic. It encourages us to make our own. We don't need science to tell us this, it just makes plain good sense.


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Are you a Thoroughly Modern Millie, or an admirer of the warmth and character of wood? Either way, you will thoroughly enjoy visiting the Osprey class stand at this weekend's RYA Dinghy Show.
Millies will be delighted to view the new Mark 5 Osprey, the first time an Osprey has been made in epoxy. So new that the Osprey team are still screwing on all the fittings, so there are no pictures of the complete boat are available. One Mark 5 will be on the Osprey class stand, and a second example on the stand of sole Osprey builder, Hartley Boats.
But wood lovers will see one of the prettiest examples of a wooden Osprey #1297, that is owned by Mick Taylor, pictured, which will also be on the stand.
The Osprey class is set for another jump in participation with record sales of the new Mark 5 providing the class with a major fillip, as the class prepares to embark on this year's exciting fixture list of major championships, national travellers, and regional travellers in Wales and the North. Not forgetting the class's exciting programme of free coaching days for association members, with three dates announced so far, and covering all the country from North of England, Wales and the South coast. Free coaching is not just for the many new entrants to the class who are buying Mark 5s, but also for those already in the class, whether they are beginners or experienced open meeting sailors.
Whether you are an admirer of wood, or a Thoroughly Modern Millie, make sure you visit the Osprey class stand in the Great Hall at Stand A4, near P & B, and prepare to be entranced.
More information on Osprey class at www.ospreysailing.org, or on Facebook page Osprey Sailing.
See you at the Show!


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Delaware River Report / Conditions September 16, 2017
Update – There is color in the West Branch due to the increased release. The closer you are to Cannonsville the more color and floating algae you will have to deal with. It is definitely clear enough to fish down here.
The release from Cannonsville has been increased to 600 cfs this morning. Maybe they plan on cutting back on Lake Wallenpaupack releases and they need the water to meet the Montague Flow Target although the Montague graph doesn't show the need yet. Anyway we'll take it. 600 cfs is still decent for wading and opens up some additional floating options. Kind of the best of both worlds. The increased release should cool the Mainstem which has had rising water temps due to the low flows and sunshine over the last few days. While the higher temperatures haven't been an issue for the trout it has slowed the hatching down there. Today should be cooler but still warm with air temperatures in the mid 70's. Winds should be 10 mph and less and then dropping in the evening. Stick with the olives, cahills / stenos, heptagenia, and isonichias and you should be fine. Have a few flying ants just in case.
Slate Drake #12 – 14 – Isonychia bicolor
Light Cahill – #14 – Summer Sulphurs, Stenocron spp.
Little BWO – #22 – 26- Pseudocloeon sp.
Blue Wing Olives – #18 – Baetis sp.
Tricos – #22 – 26 – Tricorythodes
Olive Sulphur – #18 – 20 – Heptagenia hebe
Little Tan Sedge – #16 – 18 – Glossosoma sp.
Green Caddis – #16 – Ryacophilia sp.
Tan Caddis #16 – 18 – Hydropsyche spp.
Click on the gauge below for the most recent update:
|West Branch at Stilesville, NY
|605 cfs
|West Branch at Hale Eddy, NY
|632 cfs
|East Branch at Harvard, NY
|167 cfs
|East Branch at Fish's Eddy, NY
|391 cfs
|Mainstem at Lordville, NY
|888 cfs
|Beaverkill at Cooks Falls, NY
|158 cfs
|Cannonsville Reservoir Release
|600 cfs
|West Branch at 191 Bridge
|West Branch at Walton (Cannonsville inflow)
|167 cfs
|Cannonsville Reservoir Capacity
|Pepacton Reservoir Capacity


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A penny for them...
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
No Internet!
Arghhh! We've had no internet for 2 days. I'm so behind with everything, it's going to be hard catching up. Being without an internet connection isn't the end of the world, but geeez I've really missed it lol. The things I used to take for granted like emailing, chatting to family, searching for resources, and just generally having a window open to the world wide web were non existent for 72 hours. That's a LONG time (insert pout here). Luckily Jim's brother, Fred, came to the rescue. Apparently because the electric was off for a few hours due to renovations, the router re-set itself. It's great having our own computer whizz tech guy in the family! Thanks Fred!Anyway, more news. My brother and his friend decided to fly over for a visit from the UK. They stopped off at Amsterdam for 2 nights before coming down south to us. Amsterdam is an eyeopener even for folk that have 'seen and done' that. They were amazed at the laid-back way of life, the buildings, the general hustle and bustle of the city, and what they witnessed as 'window shoppers' LOL.We picked them up from Centraal Station in Amsterdam on sunday morning and before leaving, we went for a stroll into the city. We saw a typical Amsterdam bike taxi and I just can't believe that people actually ride in those things. It's weird to see the guys cycling along with passengers, but I guess it saves on gas and there's zero pollution!Basically, my brother and his friend LOVED Amsterdam! But then, being in their late 20's and male MAY have something to do with it! If you've never been to Amsterdam you really do need to go and take a peek.I've missed another day of 'this day in history' so here are the 5th and 6thThis day in history - September 5th 1980 -In Switzerland, the official opening of the longest road tunnel in the world, the 10 mile long St_Gotthard - linking Goschenen to Airolo. Its construction has taken 11 years and cost 690 million Swiss francs.It's also National Cheese Pizza Day.This day in history - September 6th 1997 -Millions of people around the world watch live television pictures from London of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales who had died in a car crash in Paris a week earlier.It's also Read a Book Day.Oh and a Happy 2nd Wedding Anniversary to Mellissa and Josh. Hope you have a wonderful day :)
Posted by Mandy ::
Tuesday, September 06, 2005 ::
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After finding out that I passed the New York State Bar Exam, I made myself a pot of coffee, bought a ridiculous amount of sugary white flower at Murray's bakery on Sixth Avenue, and proceeded to do little other than blast rock music, dance around and play air guitar for the next two hours. And it was awesome.
My roommates dragged me out last night to celebrate, and it probably goes without saying that things really got out of hand in a hurry - the revelry escalated faster than the street fight in Anchorman.
Anyway, here's some rock.
Rilo Kiley - Portions For Foxes
U2 - I Will Follow
Bloc Party - This Modern Love
Sleater-Kinney - Entertain
Friday, November 16, 2007
That Escalated Quickly
Posted by Wade Garrett at 4:38 PM
Labels: Indie Rock, the Bar Exam
4 comments:
- afs said...
congrats on passing the exam!! also, thanks for that hysterical visual of you running around playing air guitar. I hope you really did do that.
- November 16, 2007 at 8:18 PM
- Wade Garrett said...
Oh, that definitely happened.
- November 16, 2007 at 10:04 PM
That's by far the best live version of "Portions For Foxes" I've seen on YouTube. Good find.
Also, its weird seeing the U2 guys look so young!
- November 16, 2007 at 10:34 PM
- ShakenNeighborSyndrome said...
Hey Man, that's awesome. Congrats.
- November 17, 2007 at 5:22 PM
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Abbott, Texas delegation ask Congress for hurricane relief funds
Gov. Greg Abbott and members of Lone Star State's congressional delegation last week signed a letter seeking $18.7 billion in Texas-specific Hurricane Harvey relief and recovery funding in the next federal supplemental appropriations bill. Meanwhile, the Texas Department of Emergency Management Commission is working with county judges and mayors to secure funding and resources requested by those local officials
John Sharp, who heads the commission, testified along with other state officials before the Texas House Appropriations Committee at a meeting in Houston last week examining recovery costs. In his testimony, Sharp urged officials in Harris County and other hurricane-stricken counties to submit the FEMA-required Request for Public Assistance forms by Oct. 31.
To read more please log in or subscribe to the digital edition http://etypeservices.com/Robertson%20County%20NewsID275/


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{mosimage}PGA Pro and CBS and TBS golf commentator Bobby Clampett discusses the impact zone of hitting a golf ball at the 17th Annual LCCC/Jack Nicklaus Golf Scholarship event on Monday, August 20 at the Oberlin Golf Club. Rain forced the cancellation of golf on that day, but Clampett spent time with attendees talking about how to improve golf swings as well as demonstrating the swings of several other famous golfers. The golf portion of the event was rescheduled to Monday, September 17.
The event raises scholarship money for LCCC and University Partnership students. First Place Bank sponsored this year's event.


text: 1st. I would like to thank Ms Jenne Q of MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal for giving us an opportunity to get a '5' days Giveaway of the famous MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal exclusively to our forum members. About MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal. Support for various storage devices and file formats MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal Edition can recover data from hard disk drive, SD card, USB flash disk, memory card, optical disc and other storage media. This data recovery software can recover data of different types such as images, texts, videos, music, emails, etc. MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal Edition is able to recover lost data from dynamic disk volume. There is no limitation to file size. Five powerful functional modules help users recover all lost data MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal Edition provides users with five powerful data recovery functional modules: "Undelete Recovery": is able to recover mistakenly deleted files and folders. "Damaged Partition Recovery": can help users recover data from current partition such as damaged partition, if the drive is displayed as RAW or Windows asks "Do you need to format this drive?" "Lost Partition Recovery": can recover data from lost or deleted partition. "Digital Media Recovery": is available for users to recover photos, music files, videos and other digital media files from portable storage devices such as memory card, memory stick and USB flash disk. "CD/DVD Recovery": is available for users to recover deleted or lost data from formatted or scratched CD/DVD. Data recovery process Choose needed functional module in the main interface of data recovery software for Windows according to current situation at first. Then, scan the storage device where lost data were. After that, fulfill data recovery if the preview effect is satisfying (Check the data needing to be recovered, and then save them to a secure location). Flexible, precise and rapid data recovery service MiniTool Power Data Recovery Personal Edition provides two scanning modes: Quick Scan and Full Scan. Users can choose the more suitable one according to actual demands. Users just need to directly perform data recovery operation since this data recovery software can load previous scanning effect. "Advanced Setting": certain function allows users to set file system and file type needing to be scanned in advance so as to rapidly find needed data. "Advanced Filter": via which, undesired data can be filtered out according to file format, size and creation date. Thus, users can save much time spent on data searching. "Find file": this function is available for users to scout for needed data by entering corresponding file name and format. "File Preview": with the help of this function, users can preview files (like pictures) smaller than 20 MB, and quickly find lost pictures. Homage , download link & key below; Homepage- http://minitool.com/data-recovery-software/power-data-recovery-personal.html Download - http://www.powerdatarecovery.com/download/pdr68-giveaway-revised-eidtion.exe An universal code to register the product; Spoiler AVVU4S3V4PAUSS34MFM3A8K4ASXUW84U Thanks, Sid. EXPIRED !


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Friday, March 18, 2005
So what the heck is it?
Henotheism is the belief that there is one god for a particular people or tribe, without disbelieving in other gods for other peoples. Moses, contrary to popular opinion, was a henotheist, not a monotheist. He did not disbelief in the gods of Egypt -- he said only that they were not for the Hebrews, who were to worship Yahweh and Yahweh alone. That's why the Egyptian priests are able to transform their staffs into serpents. It was a show of the power of their gods. But Yahweh is stronger, and the transformed staff of Moses devours the other two, "proving" that the god of the Hebrews is stronger than the gods of Egypt. A lesson the Pharaoh ignores to his ruin.
In the second novel, The Words of Making, a henotheistic religion arises that greatly alarms the king and the priesthood because of its popularity with the common folk. The men who are in power see the religion of the One God as a subversive force that must be contained or destroyed. The problem for the king is that his son, Gerin, has become a follower of the new religion, since he has come to believe that the divine presence who has appeared to him several times is a messenger of this new god....
1 comment:
- Saguaro Dreamer said...
I never heard the term "henothteism" before. Thank you for the brilliantly simple explanation, David. I've always had a vague notion that Moses, Elijah, Jonah and the rest of them would not be allowed to teach Sunday School in any of the "by-the-book" churches. Now I know why. Those mighty men of old did not treat other gods as figments of heathens' imagination, but as real supernatural beings. Furthermore, they didn't necessarily believe Yahweh to be superior to the other deities - just that he is "right" for the Hebrews. The crux of the Hebraic henotheism seems to be the belief that a Hebrew man calling on the name of Yahweh (a "Hebrew" proprietary god) will defeat a non-Hebrew man calling on any other god. Or at least that's my train of thought right now. Thanks, your post has truly been food for thought and grist for the mill.


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Growth to Moderate in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union will see 2007 economic growth moderate slightly from record levels, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said yesterday, cited by ireland.com.
Economic growth in 2007 is projected at 6.5% in the 29 transition countries it tracks, up from a November estimate of 6.0% growth. Spurred on by industrial revival, foreign direct investment and rapid credit growth on both the consumer and corporate level, growth reached a record 6.9% in 2006 versus 5.8% in 2005.
Russia, the largest economy in the EBRD's sphere, had economic growth of 6.7% in 2006, and is expected to buck the general trend of decline with a 6.9% increase in 2007. "Russia is the engine of this region. Russia is entering into a very strong investment phase. It is in it already and affecting growth," Erik Berglof, chief economist at the EBRD told reporters during the bank's annual meeting in the ancient Russian city of Kazan, 500 miles east of Moscow. "The main issue is about the ability to absorb the very large amounts of money that are being invested," he said. Berglof said that the slight drop in economic growth in 2007 was "only natural" given it was a record last year.
The rapid growth of emerging market economies, fuelled by high commodity prices, helped lead to record profits last year at the bank, which was founded in 1991 to aid the transition of communist bloc countries to capitalism.
The fastest growth in 2006 was recorded in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Mongolia, at 7.5%, up from 6.8% in 2005. The bank forecasts growth of 7.2% for 2007. "This was largely due to continuing high commodity prices but also strong domestic demand," the bank said in a statement. Foreign direct investment in the region is forecast to fall to 61.023 billion in 2007 from a record $70.838 billion in 2007. Inflation however remains a concern. Across the region median inflation is expected to rise to 5.9% in 2007 from 5.6% in 2006. Current account balances are expected to worsen, as are general government balances.
At its annual assembly in 2006 in London the EBRD announced its progressive withdrawal by 2010 from eight countries which it had helped achieve market economies since 1991. The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia all became members of the European Union on May 1, 2004 are now considered to have "sufficiently solid" markets and an access "to other sources of financing", EBRD spokeswoman Brigid Janssen told AFP. The Czech Republic will be the first country to lose the EBRD's services this year, she said.


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Date(s) - 24/03/2015
7:00 pm
Hotel CBD
We launched in early 2015 with the event entitled 'Collaboration'.
The event attracted 100+ young professionals across various industries. Keen to differentiate ourselves from other networking events, we recognised the importance of including collaborative activities to gain insight into challenges our members are facing. Career progression and job opportunities that recognise and/or utilise Latin American qualifications and experience were common areas that members identified as key challenges.
Based on this feedback, we sent a survey to our member to dig deeper and understand more about their experience with these challenges. The findings were then presented to a panel of experts (HR Managers, Head Hunters etc.) at a recruitment roundtable.
The outcomes from these discussions were presented back to members at the following networking event in August.
Click on the image below (winner of our photo booth prize!) to see photos from the event:


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Paul MacKenzie, one of the founders of Central Nervous Systems' and Death to Gremlins, is a force to be reckoned with. Between running two companies, travelling, playing hockey and scuba diving his way across the Caribbean Sea, he always finds time to stop by the Club, which he refers to as an extension of his office – a professional place to come to work, entertain clients and unwind.
Can you tell us a bit about Central Nervous Systems? What makes your organization unique?
Central Nervous Systems (CNS) helps manufacturing companies by implementing (installing and configuring) the software they need to properly manage their manufacturing related activities. These activities include: inventory management, purchasing, production scheduling, capacity planning, cost of goods manufactured, etc. What's unique about CNS is our focus on manufacturing. Our technical resources have extensive backgrounds in manufacturing so we understand how the software needs to support business processes. We're not throwing IT guys into a new environment – our IT specialists have all worked for a manufacture in the past and as a result are better able to understand the needs of our clients.
You also started Death to Gremlins, an organization designed to help businesses eliminate problems that arise in projects as well as provide project management services. Can you please tell us more about Death to Gremlins and the inspiration behind this company?
I started managing projects about 20 years ago, focusing on IT and business change projects. Death to Gremlins arose from the understanding that, as senior project management consultants, we have become specialists in hunting down and eliminating the hidden problems (Gremlins) that cause projects to stall or fail.
Do the two companies cross over at all?
Where CNS focuses on small manufacturers, DTG focuses on large manufacturers. The two brands are completely different; however there is definitely cross-collaboration that goes on amongst our team.
What would you say is your biggest professional success to date?
At the moment it would be running these two companies! We have experienced years of growth and success and continue to do so. However, I don't view this as my own professional success as the success is a result of all of our efforts. Every person on our team contributes a unique set of skills, whether it's to do with finance, sales or strategic planning, each one of us has played a vital role in the success of these two companies and continue to each day.
Why did you become a member of Terminal City Club?
I both live and work downtown so I was looking for a quiet place to wind down when things were stressful. When I looked at clubs in the area, TCC had the best mix of facilities under one roof – good dining, good gym and good business facilities. I also enjoyed that the membership was made up of other professionals at the same stage of their career that I was at.
What do you enjoy the most about the Club?
The fact that it has all the facilities I want under one roof. The Club is a big part of my professional life. For important dinner meetings with clients and colleagues we make reservations at the Club. The Club is also where we attend our partner meetings. My partners and I spend one full day at the Club each month planning the growth of our business. This meeting has become a tradition for us. We could easily have this meeting at our office; however we continue to choose to have it at the Club for many reasons. It is important to change settings and get out of the office – it helps foster innovation. We also held the launch party for Death to Gremlins at TCC which was a huge success.
We are very grateful for your continued support of our catering services and enjoy hosting regular meetings and events for your company. What do you enjoy most about holding events at TCC?
Convenience is a big factor. Whether it's dinning with guests, business meetings or one of our poker nights, everything is taken care of by the Club's great staff. We arrive and everything is as it should be. The professionalism of the staff is another enduring feature. They remember your name, and know what you like. I'm always very comfortable at the Club.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I play for two hockey teams in the winter months. I didn't start until later in life so I am no prodigy, but its great exercise and great fun. Lately, I haven't been using the gym or pool at the Club like I should but I know I'll get back in there now that hockey season is over. My wife and I also do three to four trips a year to some of the best diving sites in the world to feed our scuba diving habit. We're trying to decide if we're going to go to Galapagos this winter.
What would you say to someone considering joining TCC?
If the facilities at the Club are the facilities you need, and you want an environment that's more professional to work and play in, then it's the right place for you!
What is one piece of advice you would like to share with your fellow members?
Two things –
(1) Use the shoe shine machine in the cloakroom. It's brilliant.
(2) Use the Club! You have to first figure out why you are here and then use the Club for that reason. Make the most out of your membership.
To book spa services, please call the Fitness Centre at 604 488 8622 or fill in the following form.
To book spa services – please call the Fitness Centre at 604 488 8622
6 a.m. – 10 p.m.
8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Statutory Holidays
If you have any questions about our various squash programs, please fill in the form below and our program directors will get back to you.
6 a.m. – 10 p.m.
8 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Statutory Holidays
If you have any questions about our various swim programs, please fill in the form below and our program directors will get back to you.
In order to book a tour, please fill out the following form:
Dress Code: Smart Casual
Unless otherwise specified, all areas of the Club, including the Grill Room, 1892, Cuvée Wine Bar, patios and private function rooms have a dress code of smart casual. Smart casual attire includes collared or turtle neck shirts, golf or knee length shorts, and dress pants. Similar attire is required for ladies. Denim is acceptable provided a collared shirt is worn and denim is of a solid colour with no fading, tears or patches.
All footwear is to be clean and smart. Casual thong footwear is not permitted outside of the fitness centre.
Lions Pub
Request form
To book a venue, please fill out the following form:
Chicken & Corn | 7
Salmon Ling Cod & Clams | 8
Turkey & Bacon Sandwich | 15
toasted multigrain, sliced tomato
soup, salad or fries
Pan Fried Salmon | 18
kale, watercress, fennel, cherry tomato
soba noodles, lemon herb vinaigrette
Pan Fried Ling Cod | 22
pea risotto, broccolini, carrots
tomato fondue
Swedish Crème Panna Cotta | 11
raspberries, meringue
New York Cheesecake | 9
lemon curd, graham crumble,
raspberry coulis
Strawberry Rhubarb Short Cake | 10
fresh strawberries
Pavlova | 10
citrus curd, seasonal fruit
Caramelized Honey Custard | 9
hazelnut cookie, orange compote
Stay tuned for next quarter's wine club!


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Maya said to me the other day, "Grownups are like kids except taller. And they have boobs."
Ella said about Maya, "I don't think she's as funny as everyone else does. I've heard all her jokes."
Yesterday was Skyler's 7th birthday. I wasn't with it enough to take pictures, but we did make a special birthday breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and the girls made festive party hats out of construction paper. Without incident we managed to get the 2 dozen cupcakes sent from Emilie into the classroom. Maya did not bolt in front of any cars in the parking lot while my hands held a tray of cake. Sam brought me a cupcake after school and Ella told me: "When you eat that you will be in HEAV-en. Emilie makes the BEST cupcakes." Pause. Regret setting in. "Oh, not that your cupcakes aren't also delicious because they are."
Today is Sandi's birthday and, while we will see her later tonight, it is weird and unsettling to not be with her today. We have some birthday plans for the weekend which include a cheesecake so it's all good. But after having her gone for 5 days last week and having to study the majority of the 3 days she was home, we are missing her sorely. Maya has taken to crying for her many times a day (often when I reprimand her) and, frankly, it sucks.
Despite a major hiccup yesterday when I realized I was in fact sick and I was completely and utterly overwhelmed with my life and its inherent responsibilities, I am starting to find a rhythm. One new thing this year is that Ella is finally showing signs that she doesn't require as much sleep, leading to our girls having two different bedtimes. Maya is profoundly exhausted from preschool so putting her to bed early is effortless (in the going to sleep, the getting ready is still exceedingly stressful). This leaves Ella up for a bit longer and, when I can not feel too taxed by the length of the day, I am really enjoying the time alone with her. We work mostly on homework, which she has a fair amount of now and practicing reading. It is fun to watch how quickly she is improving.
It is fair to say that life still feels very disjointed, that while I am happy at least part of every day, I am also overwhelmed and ready to pull my hair out at least once and sometimes a hundred times. Yesterday, I forgot to take our patio umbrella down in the gusting wind and it broke. It felt like the cruelest thing, as though someone had run over our pet.
I'm trying to pace myself and remember that big reactions to ordinary things are probably to be expected. I got the kids summer clothes put away, a couple of closets cleaned, made some yummy food for my family, took some down time, went to work, made time to exercise, finally had the chimney swept and organized all my recipes into binders.
I have to come to accept that when my life feels out of order I don't stand a chance at calm.
I've also managed not to hurt anyone or harm anything. (Except if you count the flies that have obnoxiously infiltrated my house and whom I aggressively kill with a fly swatter.)
The real question is, how on earth will we survive 26 more months of it?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
trying to keep it light
Posted by love is written here at 12:00 PM
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Catch up with country pop-rock duo Towne (Steevie Steeves and Jon Decious) and watch the video for their single "Runnin' Into You" from their debut EP, Games We Play, out now.
What got you interested in starting Towne?
Jon: Oh, wow. How much time've you got? Really, everything with Steevie and I was so natural. It started when we met randomly at this songwriters guild out in Wyoming and we learned that we were neighbors; so we're 1700 miles away from home, we found out we were neighbors, we got to be best friends, and we got back to Nashville and started writing songs. We were playing these songwriter nights, just out and around town, and they kind of get boring, but it's something you just have to do. So, we figured, as long as we're going to be bored, we might as well be bored together. So we started playing the songs that we would write together and we started playing out at these songwriter nights and people kept asking us, 'hey, what's you band name, where's y'alls CD, how do I find you online?' questions like that that you'd ask a band, and we were like, 'well, we're not really a band'. Eventually, when you hear something enough, you're like, 'well, alright, maybe we should start a band,' and that's what led us to having a band together and making records and things like that. It was a very natural process.
Steevie: Yeah, I second that [laughs].
Which musicians would you say that you have been influenced by?
Steevie: Oh, man, we're all over the place, for sure. I gravitate towards the heavy hitter women, those rocker chicks. I was really big into Heart - the Wilson sisters - and really big into The Cranberries and Alanis Morissette and, as far as songwriters, Carole King and just people that were totally badass but I could relate to. Linda Ronstadt, big fan of hers, too. They definitely had a big influence on me. And, obviously, Jon and I together, we have a mutual love and respect for Fleetwood Mac.
Jon: I've actually got a pretty funny story that helps sum all that up. So, Steevie had all of the stuff that she was super into that maybe I'd never heard or maybe that I had never given too much thought to, and I was the same way: I was a huge fan of The Stones and The Beach Boys and The Clash - I could go on and on and on with people that I'm fans of - and she had never really given them too much of a second thought. And, I'll never forget it, we were at my place on 8th Avenue at my apartment and I had just moved in and I didn't have much besides a futon couch and a record player and a big stack of records and she was going through my records, like, 'what the fuck is this, what the fuck is that?' [laughter] but the one that she stopped at, she said, 'oh my god, I love Rumours,' and I was like, 'oh my god, I love Rumours, too!'. And so we just listened to Rumours for the next week because that's the only thing we could agree on at that time.
Steevie: Well, he knew every word to every song - and so did I - and you know how people are like, 'oh, I love Fleetwood Mac!' and you're like, 'okay, whatever, you don't really'? You know, if you don't know all the words to something, it's hard for me to believe that you actually love it. But, word for word man, we were going at it. It was almost like a competition, like, what's the words to every song. It was good to find somebody that had a love for what you did, too.
Which words would you use to describe your own sound?
Jon: That's a hard one. Personally, because that's all I can speak for, I never really describe our sound to people, it's mostly people describing it to us, because all it sounds like to me is Jon and Steevie.
Steevie: Yeah, and it's definitely, we get it all the time, it's very honest. Honest is a good word to describe our music.
Jon: We get OneRepublic and we get Fleetwood Mac from people and people are always saying Lady Antebellum. We hear from other people and it's never one thing or the other, for sure, but they always just say, 'I've never heard anything that really sounds like you guys,' which I think is a huge compliment.
Steevie: Yeah, it's like an emotional rollercoaster. Which is kind of what our lives are like [laughs].
Jon: It's like The Young and The Restless.
Steevie: It can be a challenge [to describe our sound] but our music is very reflective of our own personal experiences. We get it a lot, it's very honest and emotional and our harmonies are a little bit unique and we just try to lyrically present ourselves in the best way possible, kind of what we strive for.
What were your inspirations for your single and the video for "Runnin' Into You"?
Steevie: "Runnin' Into You", that was an easy video for us to do. Jon and I had dated for a small portion of our relationship together and we became exes, obviously; we're best friends now and we get along fine, but that song, once again, we pulled from our own personal life and we have to run into each other, pretty much, every single minute of the day [laughs]. But, we have a pretty good hold on it, we imagine that most people don't. "Runnin' Into You" was, we were just trying to portray that in the video, what we do daily: we're writing songs all the time but we write together and the whole song is based off of our lives, pretty much.
Jon: We have to see our exes every day.
Steevie: Yeah. We do [laughs].
Could you tell us more about your debut EP, Games We Play?
Jon: Again, it kind of goes back to our lives and the journey that we've had together, which has been very bizarre on a lot of levels, but I think relatable on a lot of other ones. We were making this record and thinking about what songs to choose and we wound up with these. We had this batch of songs and it really felt good, because it felt like a story that maybe a lot of people were living, but not a lot of people were talking about. Whether you have to see your ex, work with your ex, or just whatever's happening in our lives, I think is probably happening in a lot of other lives, but that story's not getting told very often, I don't think - or at least, I haven't heard it if it is.
Steevie: Mhmm. It's easy, when you live in Nashville, to fall in the cracks of the same old sound. I think a lot of people are sounding the same in country music and being very pigeonholed. We definitely didn't fit in with that mainstream, but we still have really great songs, so we definitely wanted to have our own style and our own take and, luckily, our producer let us have a say, creatively, on the whole project - and will in the future, as well. We definitely don't want to conform to any certain style that isn't us.
Jon: Yeah. And that's maybe going back to your original question. We get asked a lot, how did we come up with the band name Towne? Honestly, in Nashville, we're kind of like a band without a country: we're not Americana and we're not mainstream country radio, so we're kind of just somewhere floating on the river that runs between East and West Nashville and that's where we're coming from. We think that there's a lot of space in between those two extremities and we're like, well, let's just be that, because that's who we are. We're not super duper pop and we're not super duper broken down Americana or any of that, so we're just Jon and Steevie, right in the middle.
Steevie: We're in town.
Jon: We're in town, we're not in the city or the country, we're in town.
Is there a track off of that record you would call your favorite?
Steevie: We actually just shot a music video for a song off the EP called "The One I Love" and it is one of my favorites to perform and I think that the video is really going to make people think. It's got a great concept and there's a lot of depth to it and it's kind of my favorite right now, but it always changes. Jon sings a song, it's the last track on the EP ["The Rest"], and it's one of those showstoppers for us 'cause he takes the lead, vocally, and it's a non-love song, but it's a love song. Which is how a lot of our songs are [laughs]. We talk about love a lot. But, that's my favorite to perform, just because I get to hear Jon do all the work [laughs]. It's a good song.
Jon: I kind of like them all. I really like the song "Messed Up", personally, because it was a song that we had just, pretty much, got the idea for when we went into the studio and we didn't know how it was going to turn out and I think it surpassed all of our expectations and I just love when that happens. I love them all, but if I had to pin one down over the other, I'd probably say that, just for that reason.
Could you sum up Games We Play in one sentence?
Jon: Hmm, yes. Low maintenance, high standards.
Steevie: We've been saying that a lot. We actually want to come out with a T-shirt that says that. 'Cause Jon and I we're always on the road and it's usually the two of us in a shitty car...
Jon: Well, the whole story came from something Steevie said. She was talking about something and she got frustrated and she says, 'dammit! I might be low maintenance, but I've got high standards,' and we just laughed.
Steevie: 'Cause the songs came from a very real, honest part of our lives and it's just me and him on a guitar, for the most part, but when we went into the studio, we said, 'let's make this the best it can possibly be on a beer budget,' which is what we did. We're definitely low maintenance with high standards, that's it, that's how our music is.
What do you hope listeners are able to take away from your music?
Jon: I just hope that they like it enough to keep listening.
Steevie: We have a bizarre story, but we're pretty average people stuck in a bizarre world and we happen to have a handle on it enough to where we can write out our feelings that maybe most people don't have the nerve to do themselves. I think it's great therapy to feel like you're not alone when you think you're in a chaotic place in your life or whatever. Hopefully, people can sit and listen and relate to it and connect and come along with us on our journey, because it's about to get bigger and we got a lot more shit to say [laughs].
Jon: Steevie never runs out of shit to say.
Is there anything you want to add?
Jon: Check out our EP, check out our socials and our website, and just be sure to keep an eye out for us when we're on the road and come see us when we're in your town.
Steevie: When Towne comes to town.
Jon: That's right.


text: Marketing communications group Media Square yesterday reported a two per cent decline in revenue for the first six months of the financial year, reaching £21.8m compared to £22.3m last year. This was put down to the "challenging trading environment", although "prudent cost control" allowed the group to maintain its operating profit at the same level as last year. After a slow start, business picked up towards the end of the period due to the signing of new clients such as Kraft, Dixons , Santander, NHS and Unilever.


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Sometimes you need to step back and take a "bird's eye view" (like in this video) to do a quick audit on yourself and where you are.
Same goes for... you guessed it.... trading.... sometimes you are so caught up in trading that you are losing sight of the bigger picture. For me it goes back to the days where I made 10% profit consistently. A DAY! It started with per month, then per week, then per day. And then it derailed a little when I got greedy and had 200% days and -50% days.. the rollercoaster that probably all traders go through.
Until the day I took trading seriously, stopped making greedy and stupid mistakes, set some rules, and followed them. Trading hasn't been as much fun, but I sure don't miss the rollercoaster of draw dawns.


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- MelindaStachAsked on November 15, 2013 at 04:48 PM
I have set-up a donation form. Once the donor makes a donation, I would like to send the details of the form to him/her in an email body for them to easily print out. I would also like to add some custom text to the email body.
Once the form is submitted, I would like the donor and myself to get a copy of the email.
How do I set all this up??
- JotForm SupportjonathanAnswered on November 15, 2013 at 05:33 PM
Please review this guides
1. Notification-Autoresponder-Email-Details
The notification e-mail and autoresponder e-mail will allow you to be the recipient of the form's submission e-mail.
2. How-to-Create-a-Custom-Send-a-Friend-Form
The form fields on the upper right will be available in the e-mail template message body.
You can also customize the email message and add your own text.
Inform us if you need further assistance.
- JotForm SupportjonathanAnswered on November 15, 2013 at 05:34 PM
I forgot to add the how to Send-Notifications-to-Multiple-Recipients so, here it is.


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Posts in Niger Delta
Amnesty: Investigate Shell's "Complicity in murder, rape and torture" in NigeriaAmnesty International is calling for an investigation into Shell's complicity in "murder, rape and torture in Nigeria" in the nineties.
Rick Perry Tells Africa to Drill, Frack and Dig CoalRick Perry tells an African Oil Conference: "it's in fossil fuels that you will see real growth"
Protesters Continue to Defy Shell by Occuping Plant in NigeriaThe decades' long struggle for social and environmental justice in the Niger Delta continues, largely unseen by the wider world.
Oil Giant Shell Sued Again Over Nigerian PollutionThe serial offender Shell is being sued. Again. The oil giant finds itself in a court in London today for the second time in five years for its ongoing chronic pollution problems in the Niger Delta.
A Living Memorial for Deadened MemoriesNigerian activist Nnimmi Bassey on the state's efforts to crush memory of the struggle against Shell
And for Shell We Present an "Erratum"Sometimes the best protests are the most simple and symbolic. Yesterday, Shell's shareholders and senior management at the company's AGM in the Hague were presented with an "erratum" to the company's recent Annual Report. The spoof report by Friends of the Earth looks like a real Shell report, until you start to read it. For...
Continue reading 'And for Shell We Present an "Erratum"'.
Court rules companies can't be sued under Alien TortThis is bad news, which could have serious ramifications for holding companies legally accountable in the US for their operations abroad. And it has virtually received no press attention at all. Last Friday the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a suit brought by the Ogoni, who alleged that Shell was complicit in human...
Continue reading 'Court rules companies can't be sued under Alien Tort'.
Nigeria: Independent Figures Dispute UN's FindingsIf a tobacco company gave the World Health Organisation a $10 million grant to examine the health effects of smoking, health campaigners would be outraged. They would also treat the results with great suspicion. And the fact that Shell gave UNEP $10 million dollars to examine the cause of oil spills in Ogoni means that...
Continue reading 'Nigeria: Independent Figures Dispute UN's Findings'.
Back In the Other Gulf, Shell Appeals Landmark RulingBP may be paying out money faster than its going out of fashion for the Gulf of Mexico spill, but its arch-rival Shell is still not ready to part with its cash. Yesterday, the oil giant's Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, announced that it was going to appeal against the judgment of a Federal High Court, which...
Continue reading 'Back In the Other Gulf, Shell Appeals Landmark Ruling'.
From One Gulf to AnotherFive years ago, I co-authored a book called "The Next Gulf- London, Washington and Oil Conflict in Nigeria", that – as the title suggested – looked at the interlinked nature of oil politics from America, the UK and West Africa. In part the book details the grievances of the people of the Niger Delta –...
Continue reading 'From One Gulf to Another'.
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text:
Autumn or fall is a pleasant season in most states of the USA. The weather is cooler and the leaves of the trees along the avenues and the hardwood forests change colours. The days are warm and sunny and the nights become cooler. It is very certain that the crisp air will allow you to walk energetically. This means that you are happy and comfortable with the weather. You feel that the oppressive summer heat is having its end. This is one major reason why you should visit USA this fall.
If you are a traveller, autumn motivates you to visit the United States because the summer crowds have gone down in number, discounts are applied to the most of the hotel rates, and you can look forward to plenty of local experiences.
If you travel with your family, you'll find autumn the best time to visit the zoos.
The animals that were sluggish and apathetic during the summer, such as the big cats and bears, become livelier and appear to be comfortable in their winter coats. One more reason why you should autumn travel – why you should visit USA this fall.
Fall is also the season of festivals in many of the American states. Many visitors and residents alike enjoy Oktoberfest, Beer fest, and the Great American Beer Festival, where 3,500 different beers from various brewers are featured.
There are also music festivals coupled by food festivals in autumn, especially in Nashville, which is tagged as the Music City.
The New York City is a sight to see during Fall, when the Belvedere Castle gets covered by the red leaves of the Tupelo trees. Food kiosks such as the Blue Bottle Coffee and the Taco Truck all come out in October.
Autumn months could also mean generally better prices for travelers in most states. In Santa Barbara, California, for example, the hotel rates are down by 50% from August to September.
Cheap hotel rates make for another reason why you should visit USA this fall.
There are also the two autumn famous holidays celebrated everywhere in the USA: the Halloween and Thanksgiving.
The first one is a favourite with children, and celebrated on October 31. During Halloween, people decorate their front yards with figures of ghosts, witches, skeletons, and big Jack-o-Lanterns or illuminated pumpkin faces. This is a time when the football season begins and so all teams become active in local matches.
The fall season in the USA ends with Thanksgiving, celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November. During the harvest festival, families re-unite, get together and have a great feast.
If during your holiday, you're looking to hire a vehicle, feel free to contact us on +44 (0)113 880 0748 or via email on firstname.lastname@example.com.
Indigo Car Hire's deals are available all over the USA and include: debit card car hire, low deposit car hire, senior drivers car rental and many more.


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New York, US (PANA) - The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the Ebola vaccine trials now underway in Liberia will soon start in Guinea and Sierra Leone, the two other
most-affected countries in West Africa.
WHO said the vaccine trials in Liberia were being run by the Liberian government in partnership with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and would involve 30,000 volunteers in clinics and hospitals.
"They plan to test both leading candidate vaccines and compare both with a placebo group,'' WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said in a statement made available to PANA here, adding that a smaller trial is taking place first that would test the acceptability, reliability and the immune response in the trial currently taking place.
She said in Guinea, a so-called "ring vaccination trial" for Ebola would take place based on the
approach that was used to eradicate the smallpox virus.
Ms. Harris also explained that when a case of contamination was discovered, the person contaminated and a 'ring' of people around them would be vaccinated, to see if that prevented further cases occurring.
"Also, in Sierra Leone, a different approach would be taken," she said.
The spokesperson said teams would carry out vaccinations in one area, then a few weeks later,
vaccinate in another place, adding that the idea behind the process is that there should be fewer
cases in the place where the first vaccinations took place, and show whether the vaccine was truly protective or not.
"The focus in Sierra Leone would be on health care and front line workers, mainly in the western areas where there were still tremendous levels of transmission," she said.
Ms. Harris said it was important to note that the vaccine is a preventive measure, not a cure or a drug treatment for Ebola, which has affected 22,444 people with 8,959 deaths.
"It would be a tool to prevent outbreaks of Ebola, however, in the future,"she said, adding
that everyone involved in the trials was a volunteer and understood they had volunteered to
be part of a scientific trial.
According to her: "Trials have been carried out with animals, with non-human primates,
who have had a very good reaction when exposed to Ebola and did not catch it."
Meanwhile, WHO has announced the appointment of Dr. Bruce Aylward as its Special
Representative for Ebola Response.
It said Dr. Aylward would be expected to also work more closely with the UN Mission for
Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), the African Union, the Economic Community
of West African States (ECOWAS), and other partners to support the Ebola affected
countries to control the epidemic.
Also, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that, following the reopening of schools
in Guinea on 19 Jan., Liberia was preparing to reopen its schools on 16 Feb.
UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac said the agency and its partners were assisting in developing relevant safety protocols.
They include equipping every school with hand washing equipment at entrances and in every bathroom, ensuring upon entry to the schools and on a daily basis that the temperature of every child, teacher and employee is normal and ensuring that every school has enough water, given that only 45 per cent of schools previously had access to water.
-0- PANA AA/SEG 4Feb2015


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Preacher is looking to be an exciting trip into a non-Marvel comic universe, but a lot of the promotional material for the show (which is executive produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, for crying out loud) has been too earnest and serious. However, this new promo, titled "Under Control," proves that Preacher has more than just dour pouts coming our way. It's a charming thirty second spot that can make you laugh more than once in less than a minute.
Action, laughs, Ruth Negga. What else could you want from a new show? Check out the promo below!
Preacher centers on
Jesse Custer (Dominic Cooper) a conflicted Preacher in a small Texas town who is inhabited by a mysterious entity that allows him to develop a highly unconventional power. Jesse, his ex-girlfriend, Tulip (Ruth Negga), and an Irish vampire named Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) embark on a journey to, literally, find God.
The show's pilot was written by Sam Catlin, who also serves as showrunner. The show also stars Ian Colletti, Lucy Griffiths, W. Earl Brown, Elizabeth Perkins, Tom Brooke, Jamie Anne Allman, Derek Wilson, Ricky Mabe, and Jackie Earle Haley.
The beginning is nigh. AMC airs the first episode of Preacher on Sunday, May 22 at 10pm.


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"How much is my PhilHealth benefit for a specific illness?"
This is a common question a member poses when faced with prospects of hospitalization.
Gone are the days when PhilHealth cannot immediately provide the exact amounts of benefits for specific illnesses when faced with inquiries from its members. This development was made possible when the health insurer implemented its new benefit payment scheme, the All Case Rates, initially in 2011 and totally in 2014.
The shift in paying for the health insurance benefits to the health care provider from fee-for-service to Case Rates made it easier for PhilHealth to communicate the definite amount of benefits that every member should be able to avail himself of, and to empower them with the information as well.
Now, PhilHealth moves a step forward by introducing a user-friendly web facility known as the All Case Rates Search Engine, wherein members and even non-members can easily search for the rates that it pays for every compensable medical or surgical case.
"The facility is so easy to use, you only need to key in the name of the medical or surgical condition and the case rates will automatically be displayed," said PhilHealth President and CEO Alexander A. Padilla.
The searchable field for the case rates is positioned at the right side of the enhanced PhilHealth Corporate Website Homepage. The web user may either search by case (description), by ICD 10 or by RVS codes to show the entire range of case rates. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems Tenth Revision (ICD 10) and Relative Value Scale (RVS) are codes used by PhilHealth in identifying specific rates for every reimbursable medical condition and procedure.
The new facility also provides full description of the case, breakdown of fees/rates being paid for by PhilHealth to its accredited hospitals and physicians, categories of hospitals where a certain case may be availed of and even the compensable illnesses under the second case rates.
Aside from the new case rate search engine, the enhanced PhilHealth website offers various information modules and online services such as the e-registration and e-PRS to enable non-members to register online and employers to post their employees' PhilHealth payments on real time, respectively.
"We are continuously making online innovations to make our services more receptive to the needs of our growing members here and abroad," Padilla said. # Adapted News, PHILHEALTH


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Fourth Annual Algonquin Film Festival Features Original "RetroFilm!" Program
From: Donna Dudick
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2006 13:57:22 -0500
Subject: Algonquin Film Festival
Pass the word!
The Algonquin Film Festival of Bucks County has added a new location to its line-up for its fourth annual show. The film festival, which offers yearly film exhibition, seminars and workshops to aspiring filmmakers and cinephiles in and around Bucks County, will be held Sat., March 25th and Sunday March 26th, at the Delaware Valley College, 700 East Butler Pike, Doylestown PA.
In past years, the Algonquin Film Festival has hosted presentations by the following industry professionals: Director Susan Seidelman ("Desperately Seeking Susan,"), playwright Christopher Durang ("Beyond Therapy"), "Finding Neverland" music editor Christopher Kennedy, Oscar-winning composer Joseph Renzetti ("The Buddy Holly Story"), screenwriter Mark Rosenthal ("Mona Lisa Smile", "Jewel of the Nile,") Casting Director Mike Lemon ( "The Sixth Sense", "Signs" ) and Oscar winners Ted Tally (screenwriter, "The Silence of the Lambs") , Oscar-winning actresses Patricia Neal ("Hud") and Celeste Holm ("Gentleman's Agreement") Oscar-winning producer Tammy Stedman and producer Jonathan Estrin ("Cagney and Lacy"), as well as October Films acquisitions executive Eugene Haynes and others.
This year, the Algonquin Film Festival will host a presentation by scriptwriter and Bucks County resident William Mastrosimone, whose teleplay, "Into the West," was produced by Steven Spielberg for a mini-series starring Gary Busey and Josh Brolin in 2005. Mastrosimone also penned the play "Extremities," which was made into a film starring Farrah Fawcett, James Russo and Alfre Woodard, in 1986, and "Sinatra," a mini series produced for television in 1992.
The festival will also feature "Retrofilm!," screenings of rare, one-of-a-kind film owned by a special collector. Film historian Lou DiCrescenzo, a Bucks County native, has been collecting out-of-print film and film memorabilia for the past several decades. The "Retrofilm!" program will screen film from DiCrescenzo's collection, which dates back to film's infancy in the late nineteenth century.
Len Guercio, an adjunct professor in film at Temple University, and a filmmaker, is currently making a documentary about DiCrescenzo. Guercio decided to produce a documentary about DiCrescenzo when he realized the lengths that DiCrescenzo would go to collect his film. "Lou really cares about film and wants people to know what their cinematic heritage is," Guercio said in an interview. "He works to preserve the heritage of film in relative anonymity, not for his own glory, but for the benefit of others."
DiCrescenzo has traveled extensively in furtherance of his passion for collecting lost film. For instance, he owns Natalie Wood's own 35 millimeter print of "West Side Story" which he acquired from her estate. "Lou is an avid collector and a film enthusiast, and what's special about him is that he is willing to share his film collection with the world," Guercio said, noting that DiCrescenzo rents four, temperature-controlled warehouses to store all of his stuff. "Lou recognizes that he is in a rare position as a historian because he owns so many film prints that you will never see in the theater or on television," Guercio said.
As part of the "Retrofilm!" program, the Algonquin Film Festival will create something of an historical event of its own. On March 25th, it will screen the original 13 minute footage of the San Francisco 1906 earthquake, shot by Thomas Edison himself. DiCrescenzo will project the print on a circa 1906 hand-cranked projector while film composer John Avarese conducts his own original score, commissioned by the Algonquin Film Festival, to complement the silent film. Avarese has been studying piano since the age of five, and at age seven, was performing with classical music ensembles. He has composed more than 1300 commissioned scores for film, and he currently owns and operates JAV productions.
Tickets will be available at the door. Purchases may be made by cash, check or money order. Students will be admitted free of charge with student identification. Program tickets are otherwise $24.00 for each day or $40.00 for the two day festival. Seniors will receive a 50% discount. Contact the Algonquin Film Festival at (267) 981-1139, or at www.algonquinfilmfestival.com . The email address is email@example.com.
Algonquin Film Festival
You now know as much as I do about this whole thing. So if you have questions ... direct them to Donna or her organization.


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Posts Tagged 'AI'
Oculus Went, Atlas Shrugged
This has been some couple of weeks in technology.
First, Facebook's F8 conference last week, then Microsoft Build and Google I/O this week.
Coupla things stand out.
First, Facebook's introduction of Oculus Go, the company's new "everyperson's" more friendly and accessible VR. Looking back, I think the announcement was almost understated (and yes, there was a lot of other new news).
Like I always do when I'm considering a new tech purchase, I started searching for early reviews, and clearly Oculus/Facebook had done a good job getting devices into the hands of valued reviewers and sources. Almost to a one had mostly good things to say.
How often does that happen? So I bit, and received my device one day ago this week.
For me, getting the Oculus Go was kind of like one of those moments you won't forget: The first time I used the Netscape browser, the first time I used instant messaging, the first Tweet…Oculus Go was that moment for me where VR is concerned.
At SXSW two years ago I got to handle several of the leading VR goggles, and wasn't really blown away by any of them — maybe it was all the umbilical cords and overweighted goggles. And maybe it was also the experiences themselves.
But when I got the Oculus Go last Friday, it just went. From the moment I turned it on to the quick setup to immediately blowing another $40 on a bundle of VR games and experiences, it was all easy peasy and sense surround.
Saturday morning, I downloaded a single shooter space game called "End Space." It was so immersive that it had my brain thinking I was traveling through 360 degrees of space, requiring a spinning chair and, later, the spinning brain and dizziness to prove it.
Now THAT was the kind of VR experience I'd been waiting for. Like I said when I first got it, finally good enough is more than good enough. Sure, you can complain if you'd like about the resolution not being where we'd like it and the fact that it's really only 180 degrees, but those are minor roadblocks.
And these are still early days.
No, if nothing else, Oculus Go opens one's imagination as to all the possibilities of full VR immersion, from education to virtual travel to gaming (already a strong suit in VR) to remote work and collaboration and beyond. You can't smell it yet, but you sure can touch it and feel it, and it feels pretty cool.
The second thing was experiencing yet another of those AI aha moments.
My first was back in the Web's early Dark Ages, in 1997 in the auditorium of the Equitable Center in NYC where IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in chess — for those who saw it either there or online, it was an unmistakable leap forward — the machine beat the man. The next were IBM's Watson beating the world's best in Jeopardy!, and Google's AlphaGo beating the world's best humans in Go.
This week, watching the Google I/O webcast, I saw the Google Duplex technology in action, one where a disembodied Google Assistant voice was "smart" enough to call a hair salon and make an appointment…over the phone, and using her voice. The hair salon attendant seemed none the wiser.
I don't know if that comes close to passing the Turing Test, but it's pretty damned close.
And yet the very next day, I was attending a social media seminar given by our friends at Fleishman Hillard where I was introduced to "Lil Miquela" an Instagram influencer with over 1.1 million followers.
Lil Miquela supports Black Lives Matter and seems to have a keen fashion sense. Lil Miquela is also not real. "She" was invented by an influencer marketing company called Brud, which Crunchbase says is "a group of problem solvers specializing in robotics, AI, and their applications to media businesses."
Brud is in the business of selling access to brands to made-up influencers like Lil Miquela, and is backed by the likes of Sequoia Capital. And if you think about it, such a venture makes sense. As our Fleishman friends explained, "You don't have to worry about Lil Miquela and her friends doing something in Vegas they shouldn't be doing." A, because Lil Miquela isn't real, and B, because she has no "real" friends.
In other words, Lil Miquela and her ilk are "brand safe," so why wouldn't having a big brand associate themselves with her/it??
As I said in a room filled with actual real people, "We're entering a wild wild "Westworld" where there are no rules and the boundaries aren't clear…which makes for a nice petri dish in which just about anything and everything can by manipulated by digital, social and, now, AI and VR media. One day you're talking to a Google Assistant to make your hair appointment, the next day you're talking to a fake virtual IRS agent who's taking control of your tax refund for you.
On October 30, 1938, renowned actor Orson Welles aired a radio broadcast on CBS based on H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds.
Because the program was hosted on a "sustaining" show without commercial interruptions, "Mercury Theatre on the Air," the program went on for 30 minutes and people across the country mistook the science fiction for an actual new broadcast. It caused panic across the country and people took to the streets. The Martians had arrived at Grover's Mill!
That was 56 years before we saw the advent of the commercial Internet, and 80 years before we witnessed the Google Duplex phone call.
The saying used to go "Truth is stranger than fiction." Now, VR goggles and AI algorithms in tow, truth is increasingly turning into fiction, and that may be the slippery-est slope of all.
Perspectives on AI
MIT's "The Download" recently reported that China's artificial intelligence startups scored more funding that America's last year.
Of $15.2 billion invested globally in 2017 in AI, 48 percent went to China and 38 percent to America. That's the first time China's AI startups surpassed those in the U.S. in terms of funding.
But The Download also observes competition continues to be fierce across the board. AI startup investment rose 141 percent in 2017, and 1,100 new AI startups appeared last year.
The R&D and overall AI market may, in fact, be moving too fast.
In a separate report from Science Magazine, an analysis revealed that AI may be grappling with a replication crisis when it comes to research:
AI researchers have found it difficult to reproduce many key results, and that is leading to a new conscientiousness about research methods and publication protocols….The most basic problem is that researchers often don't share their source code. At the AAAI meeting, Odd Erik Gundersen, a computer scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, reported the results of a survey of 400 algorithms presented in papers at two top AI conferences in the past few years. He found that only 6% of the presenters shared the algorithm's code. Only a third shared the data they tested their algorithms on, and just half shared "pseudocode"—a limited summary of an algorithm. (In many cases, code is also absent from AI papers published in journals, including Science and Nature.)
Why are researchers holding back?
The article argues researchers believe some code may be a work in progress, or could be owned by a company or held tightly by a researcher eager to stay ahead of the competition.
IBM Research offered some assistance a the recent AAAI meeting, a tool for recreating unpublished source code automatically. Itself a neural network, it scans an AI research paper looking for a chart or diagram describing a neural net, parses those data into layers and connections, and generates the network in new code.
At this week's Index | San Francisco conference, on Wednesday at 9 AM PST, New York Times journalist and author John Markoff will be hosting a session entitled "Perspectives on AI." You can register to watch the livestream here.
IBM and MIT to Pursue Joint Research in Artificial Intelligence
IBM and MIT today announced that IBM plans to make a 10-year, $240 million investment to create the MIT–IBM Watson AI Lab in partnership with MIT. The lab will carry out fundamental artificial intelligence (AI) research and seek to propel scientific breakthroughs that unlock the potential of AI.
The collaboration aims to advance AI hardware, software and algorithms related to deep learning and other areas, increase AI's impact on industries, such as health care and cybersecurity, and explore the economic and ethical implications of AI on society. IBM's $240 million investment in the lab will support research by IBM and MIT scientists.
The new lab will be one of the largest long-term university-industry AI collaborations to date, mobilizing the talent of more than 100 AI scientists, professors, and students to pursue joint research at IBM's Research Lab in Cambridge — co-located with the IBM Watson Health and IBM Security headquarters in Kendall Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts — and on the neighboring MIT campus.
The lab will be co-chaired by IBM Research VP of AI and IBM Q, Dario Gil, and Anantha P. Chandrakasan, dean of MIT's School of Engineering. IBM and MIT plan to issue a call for proposals to MIT researchers and IBM scientists to submit their ideas for joint research to push the boundaries in AI science and technology in several areas, including:
- AI algorithms: Developing advanced algorithms to expand capabilities in machine learning and reasoning. Researchers will create AI systems that move beyond specialized tasks to tackle more complex problems, and benefit from robust, continuous learning. Researchers will invent new algorithms that can not only leverage big data when available, but also learn from limited data to augment human intelligence.
- Physics of AI: Investigating new AI hardware materials, devices, and architectures that will support future analog computational approaches to AI model training and deployment, as well as the intersection of quantum computing and machine learning. The latter involves using AI to help characterize and improve quantum devices, and also researching the use of quantum computing to optimize and speed up machine-learning algorithms and other AI applications.
- Application of AI to industries: Given its location in IBM Watson Health and IBM Security headquarters and Kendall Square, a global hub of biomedical innovation, the lab will develop new applications of AI for professional use, including fields such as health care and cybersecurity. The collaboration will explore the use of AI in areas such as the security and privacy of medical data, personalization of healthcare, image analysis, and the optimum treatment paths for specific patients.
- Advancing shared prosperity through AI: The MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab will explore how AI can deliver economic and societal benefits to a broader range of people, nations, and enterprises. The lab will study the economic implications of AI and investigate how AI can improve prosperity and help individuals achieve more in their lives.
In addition to IBM's plan to produce innovations that advance the frontiers of AI, a distinct objective of the new lab is to encourage MIT faculty and students to launch companies that will focus on commercializing AI inventions and technologies that are developed at the lab. The lab's scientists also will publish their work, contribute to the release of open source material, and foster an adherence to the ethical application of AI.
Both MIT and IBM have been pioneers in artificial intelligence research, and the new AI lab builds on a decades-long research relationship between the two. In 2016, IBM Research announced a multi-year collaboration with MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences to advance the scientific field of machine vision, a core aspect of artificial intelligence.
The collaboration has brought together leading brain, cognitive, and computer scientists to conduct research in the field of unsupervised machine understanding of audio-visual streams of data, using insights from next-generation models of the brain to inform advances in machine vision. In addition, IBM and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have established a five-year, $50 million research collaboration on AI and Genomics.
For more information, visit MITIBMWatsonAILab.mit.edu.
IBM Watson To Generate Match Highlights At The U.S. Open
IBM has announced it is launching IBM Watson Media, a new suite of AI-powered solutions on the IBM Cloud that analyze images, video, language, sentiment and tone, at the US Open.
By combining IBM Watson with IBM's video capabilities, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) will be able to rapidly share highlight videos of more matches while engaging and informing fans more than ever before.
The US Open will use one of the first solutions available through IBM Watson Media called Cognitive Highlights. Developed at IBM Research with IBM iX, Cognitive Highlights can identify the match's most important moments by analyzing the statistical tennis data, sounds from the crowd and the reactions of a player using both action and facial expression recognition.
The system then ranks the shots from seven US Open courts and auto-curates the highlights, which simplifies the video production process and ultimately positions the USTA team to scale and accelerate the creation of cognitive highlight packages.
The finished highlight videos will be available in four ways:
- Each day, the USTA will post a Highlight of the Day, as ranked by Watson, on its Facebook page.
- Fans that "favorite" players on the US Open apps will receive real-time push notification alerts about those players' highlights. Fans on iOS 10 can play the highlights within the lock screen.
- On the player bio page, video highlights will be available across all of the USTA's digital platforms.
- Onsite in the player's lounge and in the fan-facing IBM Watson Experience on the plaza near Court 9.
"The US Open is packed with so much action across so many courts that even the fastest video team is challenged to keep pace with what's happening," said Noah Syken, IBM VP of Sports & Entertainment Partnerships. "To meet that challenge, Watson is now watching the matches alongside the USTA to help bring fans closer to the best moments across the courts shortly after they happen. We're seeing this technology come to life through tennis, but the entire IBM Watson Media portfolio has the potential to impact many industries."
Codify Academy Users IBM Cloud, Watson to Design Cognitive Chatbot
IBM recently announced that Codify Academy, a San Francisco-based developer education startup, tapped into IBM Cloud's cognitive services to create an interactive cognitive chatbot, Bobbot, that is improving student experiences and increasing enrollment.
Using the IBM Watson Conversation Service, Bobbot fields questions from prospective and current students in natural language via the company's website.
Since implementing the chatbot, Codify Academy has engaged thousands of potential leads through live conversation between the bot and site visitors, leading to a 10 percent increase in converting these visitors into students.
IBM Cloud with Watson provided Codify Academy with the speed and scale needed to immediately start building with cognitive intelligence. Bobbot can answer more than 200 common questions about enrollment, course and program details, tuition, and prerequisites, in turn enabling Codify Academy staff to focus on deeper, more meaningful exchanges.
For example, students can ask questions such as "What kind of job will I be able to find after I complete the program?" or "How do I apply, and what are tuition rates?"
"We saw a huge spike in interest from potential students in the early days of our company, which is a fortunate problem to have, but made us realize we needed to quickly build a solution to help us scale," said Matt Brody at Codify Academy. "IBM Cloud gave us the infrastructure and access to cognitive services, including Watson, that we needed to quickly build and deploy an intelligent and intuitive bot – in turn helping us to field all inquiries and significantly increase enrollment."
Codify Academy runs on the IBM Cloud platform, which has become one of the largest open, public cloud deployments in the world. It features more than 150 tools and services, spanning categories of cognitive intelligence, blockchain, security, Internet of Things, quantum computing and DevOps.
"We have designed our cloud platform to serve as the best possible engine for cognitive apps such as chatbots," said Adam Gunther, Director, IBM Cloud. "This enables companies to harness and fine tune incoming data quickly to create highly tailored user experiences."
To learn more about Codify Academy, visit http://codifyacademy.com/.
Bot to Bot
Facebook's been in the news a fair amount this week.
Pivotal Research lowered its rating on Facebook to "sell" from "hold," according to a report from CNBC, explaining it is "facing digital ad saturation risk as large companies are 'scrutizing' their marketing budgets."
This despite the fact that Facebook has been one of the best-performing large-cap stocks in the market, growing nearly 50 percent year to date.
Earlier today, Fortune reported that Facebook is amping up its artificial intelligence capabilities, buying Ozlo, a small bot specialist based in Palo Alto.
Ozlo focuses on "conversational" bots that talk to users, and most of the company's employees will join Facebook's Messenger team.
But the story that really seemed to grab the Facebook headlines this week was the one that indicated two of its bots, instead of just talking to humans, were talking to one another and in a language that the chatbots "invented."
Before you go all "Westworld" on me, let's separate the fact from the fiction.
In an account from Karissa Bell at Mashable, Bell provided some much needed background to stifle the hype and get to the actual innovation. Bell wrote that "Facebook's AI researchers published a paper back in June, detailing their efforts to teach chatbots to negotiate like humans. Their intention was to train the bots not just to imitate human interactions, but to actually act like humans."
Which humans, we're not yet sure of. The Mooch? Kim Kardashian? Kid Rock (Soon to be Senator Rock, to you!)
But Bell's observation was that the narrative wasn't just about the chats coming up with their own language, but instead this: That not only did the bots learn to act like humans, actual humans were apparently unable to discern the difference between bots and humans.
Where the bot chatter went off the rails was in their use of the English language, the grammar and syntax rules for which the bots were not instructed to use. Hence, some of the shortcut phrases like "I can can I I everything else."
In the meantime, Elon Musk has cried AI Chicken Little once again, suggesting all this neural networking could be the end of humankind once and for all and that Zuck doesn't "fully understand" the potential danger posed by AI.
The truth probably rests somewhere in the vast middle ground between the two, a truth I imagine the bots are having a good chuckle over as they create the new digital Esperanto they'll need to take over the world.
Droning On A Bad Santa
Trying to get ready for the holidays?
You're not the only ones.
United Parcel Service and FedEx Corp. are having a hard time keeping up with holiday shipping volumes that have "blown past expectations," writes The Wall Street Journal. And the delayed delivery of millions of orders could rapidly become the Cyber Grinch that stole this Christmas.
Meanwhile, back at the Santa's workshop located in Cambridge, U.K., Amazon has apparently made its first customer delivery by drone. It's cargo? Some popcorn and — of course — a Fire TV video-streaming device.
Also according to the Journal, the drone made the trip in about 13 minutes, well ahead of the promised 30 minute windows for its "Prime Air" drone delivery service.
"But can it keep the pizza warm for that duration?" we ask.
If you're tired of waiting for the drones to arrive, perhaps you'd like to learn more about our coming machine overlords?
The New York Times Magazine goes deep and long on the "Google Brain," and the advances the company has made with its neural network capabilities for human language translation.
Before you get too excited about all these machines doing all this learning, however, you might want to take a second look at your vendor's privacy policy.
As an example, Evernote is slated to announce a new policy on January 23, writes TechCrunch, one that is expected to "let its machine learning algorithms crunch your data" and also "let some of its employees read your notes so it can ensure that the machine learning is functioning properly."
But worry not, Evernote responds, they've got someone watching the watchers: "Evernote claims that only a limited number of employees who have undergone background checks will be able to access user data and that users can encrypt notes they consider sensitive to prevent employees from reading them."
How reassuring! If only I had my smart Amazon drone that I could hire out to keep an eye out on all those Evernote monitors?!!!