text:
ZTE Wins Orders from China Mobile for GPON
Friday, April 18, 2014 China, China Mobile, GPON, ZTE
ZTE confirmed the receipt of orders from China Mobile for GPON equipment in the operator's annual tender. Financial terms were not disclosed.
ZTE was one of only three successful vendors in China Mobile's tender for more than 614,000 ONUs (Optical Network Unit) and over 3,000 OLTs (Optical Line Terminal). The other winning bidders were Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell and FiberHome.
"ZTE is committed to achieving win-win with our customers through dedicated R&D efforts and high-quality customer services," said Bei Jinsong, Director of Optical Access Products at ZTE. "Our efforts have resulted in industry-leading product performance and increasing market acceptance for ZTE's GPON equipment."
http://www.zte.com.cn
Tera Santa Consortium Demos 1 Tbps with ECI, Finisar, Technion
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Academia, ECI, Germany, Israel, Terabit
ECI Telecom, Finisar, MultiPhy, and the Technion Israel Institute of Technology have successfully demonstrated 1Tb/s transceiver transmission with the Tera Santa Consortium.
In the trial, the consortium transported non-regenerated 1Tb/s coherent super channel signal through the German Research Network - Deutsches Forschungsnetz e.V. (DFN-Verein) optical network. The trial, which took place at the Technische Universität Dresden, ran over DFN's live X-WiN network, and used the 1Tb/s transceiver developed by the Tera Santa Consortium, as part of its research on 1Tb/s adaptive coherent channel behavior. It demonstrates the advanced capabilities of the Tera Santa 1T transmission system and technologies in compensating for channel impairments and chromatic dispersion utilizing advanced QAM16 and OFDM modulations and algorithms.
The Tera Santa Consortium was established in 2011 as an initiative of the Israeli Chief Scientist Office in the Ministry of Economy, through the Magnet Program which promotes cutting-edge technologies for the future. The Tera Santa Consortium brought together Israeli technology companies and universities to develop the world's first Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based optical transceiver. The members of the consortium are ECI Telecom, Finisar Corporation, MultiPhy, Cello, Civcom, Bezeq International, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Ben-Gurion University, the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University and Tel-Aviv University.
For the trial, ECI deployed its Apollo family of packet-optical transport solution across DFN's X-WiN's network in 2012, and has since upgraded it to support the delivery of 100G services
Finisar demonstrated the software-defined 1 Terabit optical transceiver, which hosted the different algorithms developed by the consortium, in an end-to-end transceiver platform utilizing Finisar Flexgrid™ - WSS used to add/drop the 200GHz super channel signal. The OFDM algorithms were developed by both MultiPhy (128 OFDM carriers) and the Technion (1024 OFDM carriers), using two different implementation approaches.
"ECI and our technology partners Finisar, MultiPhy and the Technion, members of the Tera-Santa consortium, demonstrated the power of 1-terabit optical link coherent technology. With such high transmission rates, DFN can exponentially increase its network capacity and provide its users better and more cost effective services," stated Shai Stein, CTO, ECI Telecom and Consortium Chairman.
http://www.ecitele.com/
IBM to Build $500 Million Private Cloud for The Hartford
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 #cloud, IBM
The Hartford, a leading insurance and financial services company, in property and casualty insurance, group benefits and mutual funds, awarded a six year agreement to IBM to build a private, cloud-based infrastructure based on the IBM PureFlex System. Under the $500 million agreement, IBM will also provide a number of other services related to mainframe, storage, backup and resiliency. The Hartford will define the services it requires, and IBM will be responsible for the solution and delivery of those services.
"Today's announcement is an example of how leading organizations are utilizing cloud technology to gain competitive advantage," said Philip Guido, general manager, IBM Global Technology Services, North America. "Clients today are looking for IT partners who can understand and help drive their business with a focus on innovation and delivering business outcomes, not just IT efficiency. This expansion of our partnership with The Hartford illustrates the work IBM is leading with cloud."
http://www.ibm.com
The Japan-U.S. Cable Tests 200G Undersea Transmission with Ciena
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 200G, Ciena, Submarine Cable
The Japan-U.S. Cable Network completed a 200G trial over a segment of its network on the U.S. West Coast. The trial employed Ciena's submarine solution and 16QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) using the company's 6500 Packet Optical platform and WaveLogic coherent optical technology. The trial was successfully conducted earlier this year on a 630 km submarine segment in California, and builds on the successful deployment in 2013 of Ciena's 100G submarine solutions across the Japan-U.S. Cable Network.
Ciena said the trial demonstrates how 16QAM technology can be leveraged to double the number of bits per wavelength to support twice the amount of data compared to standard 100G technology.
"The Japan-U.S. Cable Network is a critical source of capacity for our consortium members. The goal of this trial was to ensure that the cable's various segments can be equipped with appropriate future-proof technologies to scale network capacity in a cost-effective manner, as needed to meet rapidly increasing demand for bandwidth. This collaboration with Ciena is helping the network prepare for cost-effective growth."
http://www.ciena.com/
Lightpath Tops 7,000 Locations in New York Metro Area
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Cablevision, Ethernet, NY/NJ
Cablevision's Lightpath division now now connects more than 7,000 locations and spans more than 5,800 fiber route miles throughout the NY metro region. In the past year, more than 1,000 new locations have been brought onto the company's network.
"Lightpath is bringing more services, value and cutting-edge connectivity to more businesses as it expands ever further into key regions that need a powerful fiber network to support increasing demands," said Julia McGrath, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Lightpath. "With one of the densest fiber networks in the country, Lightpath is helping to ensure that more businesses than ever are positioned to capitalize on a range of new opportunities, driving success."
http://www.golightpath.com
Finland's Elisa Deploys Alcatel-Lucent's 7950 Core Router
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Alcatel-Lucent, Core, Finland, Router
Elisa, Finland's leading provider of mobile and fixed broadband services, announced a significant network upgrade that includes Alcatel-Lucent's 7950 eXtensible Routing System (XRS) core router, 7750 Service Router (SR) , 7210 Service Access Switch (SAS) family for aggregation, 5620 Service Aware Manager (SAM) for management and a service portal for provisioning.
Alcatel-Lucent will also be supplying installation and commissioning, lifecycle program management, operations support and consulting and will manage a seamless migration of network elements and services from its global Migration Operations Centre. Financial terms were not disclosed.
"Finns use the most mobile data per capita in the EU, which requires us very high standards for being able to fulfill all future needs our customers have. The world of our customers will become even more digital as data centers evolve into cloud services and the use of IPTV services continues increasing. Upgrading our core network to the new generation IP/MPLS network will ensure enough capacity and speed for our customers also in the future," stated Timo Katajisto, Executive Vice President of Elisa.
http://www.alcatel-lucent.com
AMS-IX New York Launches POP in Sabey Data Center Manhattan
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Data Centers
The new launched AMS-IX New York neutral Internet exchange has launched a point-of-presence within Intergate.Manhattan, Sabey's 1 million-square-foot facility at 375 Pearl Street in Lower Manhattan. The exchange has already signed Netflix, the world's leading Internet television network, and IX Reach, a global leading provider of wholesale carrier solutions, as the first two customers for AMS-IX New York. At present, 16 additional customers have applied for a connection to the exchange.
John Sabey, President of Sabey Data Centers, said, "The Open-IX model creates neutral, member-governed exchanges that allow participants to trade traffic. Open-IX spreads exchange operations across multiple data centers in a market. This allows users and carriers the ability to connect and peer traffic not only in New York City but across the United States and Europe and to potentially avoid legacy building risks and expense."
Sabey claims its 32-story Intergate.Manhattan facility is the most efficient data center in New York City, with brand new infrastructure and state-of-the-art climate control and electrical systems. The building's Con Ed substation is on the second and third floors, eliminating a risk from storm surge damage that affected so many buildings in Lower Manhattan during Superstorm Sandy.
https://nynj.ams-ix.net
http://www.sabey.com
In December 2013, the Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX) announced that Netflix is the first customer for AMS-IX New York. Netflix established a peering connection at AMS-IX in Amsterdam.
AMS-IX USA recently reached agreements with Digital Realty, DuPont Fabros Technology, Sabey Data Centers and 325 Hudson to operate and build an Open-IX Internet Exchange in the New York/New Jersey area. AMS-IX also has plans to deploy its distributed Internet Exchanges in the Chicago and Silicon Valley markets, which are currently planned to go live in respectively the first and second quarter of 2014.
Tata Communications Expands Global Data Center Footprint
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Data Centers, Tata
Tata Communications continues to build out a fleet of data centers located across its global fiber network. The company announced strategic partnerships with NEXTDC in Australia, Interxion in Germany and Austria, as well as Pacific Link Telecom (PLT) in Malaysia. These partnerships will enable Tata Communications to extend its current data centre offerings in these regions and to deliver a uniform customer experience across geographies. As businesses go global, the addition of new geographies means customers can now have a single vendor operation and contract for a secure, robust and scalable data centre network.
Tata Communications now has one million square feet of colocation space across the globe.
"As technologies evolve and newer trends like BYOD and video streaming become a central part of enterprise business needs, it is important to have these applications hosted on a global data centre network to provide a uniform experience to the end-user. Additionally, hosting applications in interconnected data centre enables the user to access the data from anywhere, anytime and on any device. Expanding our data centre footprint forms part of our strategy to enable businesses with the most robust backbone for their organisations' digital infrastructure," stated Srinivasan CR, Vice President, Data Centre Services, Tata Communications.
Tata Communications is the only private subsea cable owner that has 100G deployed across major routes around the world on its own infrastructure. It also has the largest privately- owned submarine cable networks in the world, which accounts for over 20% of the world's internet routes. It includes the world's only wholly-owned sub-sea fibre network ring that circumvents the globe.
http://www.tatacommunications.com/
AT&T Wins LTE Deal with Volvo Cars North America
AT&T was awarded a multi-year contract to provide connectivity to future Volvo vehicles in the U.S. and Canada. AT&T is scheduled to power Volvo's US 2015 model year connected car solution with Sensus Connect, an embedded infotainment service. Volvo customers in the U.S. and Canada will also have access to Volvo On Call, a service allowing remote access to car functions and an emergency crash notification service. Volvo plans to enable cars with AT&T on-board for sale this summer.
"We expect Volvo customers will be delighted to have these services on board, and we're committed to working with Volvo Cars to give their customers a unique and valuable service," said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, Emerging Devices, AT&T Mobility. "Our Single SIM will make it easy for Volvo customers to have high speed wireless connectivity in the U.S. and Canada."
http://www.att.com
In March, AT&T confirmed that most 2015 Buick models will come with OnStar 4G LTE and a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot, allowing passengers to browse the Internet, download movies, play games or send email on up to seven devices at once. The connectivity will be provided by AT&T.
Buick announced today at the DENT Conference that the 2015 LaCrosse, Regal, Verano and Encore would come standard with OnStar 4G LTE hardware, with data packages available for an additional charge. Available in the U.S. and Canada, OnStar 4G LTE hardware will be in every Buick model by the 2016 model year.
Dell and Red Hat Team on OpenStack Private Clouds
Wednesday, April 16, 2014 Dell, OpenStack, Red Hat
Dell announced a partnership with Red Hat to offer enterprise-grade, private cloud solutions based on OpenStack.
The Dell Red Hat Cloud Solution, powered by Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, addresses enterprise customer demand for more flexible, elastic and dynamic IT services to support and host non-business critical applications – including mobile, social and analytics – and dev/test environments.
The companies also have extended their collaboration to enable the compatibility, portability and reliability for Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) offerings that enterprise customers need as they build public, private and hybrid cloud environments.
http://www.dell.com
Google Cloud Expands to Asia-Pacific
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 #cloud, Google
The Google Cloud Platform has added support for two Asia Pacific zones, including local language tools and the developer console in Japanese and traditional Chinese.
Google Cloud is now available from its asia-east1-a and asia-east1-b data centers.
Google Cloud Platform is a set of compute, storage and big data products that allow developers to build on top of the same infrastructure and technology that powers Google.
Google said local developers across Asia Pacific will now experience better performance and lower latency.
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2014/04/cloud-platform-expands-support-to-asia.html
In December 2013, Google announced the opening of two data centers serving the Asia-Pacific region: Changhua County, Taiwan, and Singapore.
The new data center in Changhua County, Taiwan is located on 15 hectares of land. The facility represents a total long-term investment of US$600 million. It features a nighttime cooling and thermal energy storage system.
The new data center in Singapore is located on 2.45 hectares of land in Jurong West and is Google's first multi-story facility.
http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/changhua-county/
http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/singapore/
Microsoft Updates Azure Capabilities
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 #cloud, Microsoft
Microsoft recapped the series of updates to is Azure cloud services over the last 10 days. These include:
Web Sites: SSL is now included at no additional charge in standard tiers. Up to 500 websites can be hosted in a single standard tier hosting plan. Azure web-sites run in VMs isolated to host only specified web applications (for predictable performance and security isolation). The user can scale-up/down the number of VMs either manually or using our built-in AutoScale functionality. The pricing for standard tier web-sites is based on the number of VMs.
A Traffic Manager and Java support were added as well.
Virtual Machines: Support for Chef and Puppet extensions, Basic Pricing tier for Compute Instances
Virtual Network: General Availability of DynamicRouting VPN Gateways and Point-to-Site VPN. This allows individual computers to be connected to a Virtual Network in Azure. The DynamicRouting VPN Gateway in a Virtual Network will now carry the same 99.9% SLA as the StaticRouting VPN Gateway.
Mobile Services: Preview of Visual Studio support for .NET, Azure Active Directory integration and Offline support;
Notification Hubs: Support for Kindle Fire devices and Visual Studio Server Explorer integration
Storage: General Availability release of Read Access Geo Redundant Storage
Active Directory Premium: General Availability release
Scheduler service: General Availability release
Automation: Preview release of new Azure Automation service
http://www.microsoft.com
Dell'Oro: NFV Report Sees Gradual Adoption
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 #NFV, Dell'Oro, Research
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is positioned as the catalyst for a new generation of network equipment, however, Service Providers will follow a gradual, evolutionary path, says Shin Umeda, Vice President of Dell'Oro Group. A newly published NFV report from Dell'Oro looks a the metrics to watch in this emerging market sector.
In this video, Shin Umeda discusses the firm's first NFV Advanced Research report including:
0:31 - What's in the report
1:12 - Is NFV having a commercial impact today?
2:03 - Which market segments will be impacted by NFV first?
2:48 - Anticipated shifts in the vendor landscape due to NFV.
See 3-minute video: http://youtu.be/GA6xANnb_kw
Ericsson Joins NYU Wireless' 5G Project
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 #5G, 5G, Academia, Ericsson
Ericsson announced a partnership with New York University's Polytechnic School of Engineering to develop 5G technologies.
The NYU WIRELESS program, which was launched by the university in 2012, combines wireless, computing, and medical applications research. It includes more than 20 faculty members and 100 graduate students from the NYU School of Engineering Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and the NYU Langone School of Medicine. Ericsson has now joined the program as an affiliate sponsor.
"We are pleased to have Ericsson join the NYU WIRELESS industrial affiliate program and welcome its participation," said Professor Theodore (Ted) Rappaport, NYU WIRELESS Director and founder. "Our students will benefit from working alongside this global innovator and leader in network infrastructure technology and wireless services." Rappaport holds the David Lee/Ernst Weber Chair in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the NYU School of Engineering, as well as appointments at Courant and the department of Radiology at NYU Langone Medical Center.
Last year, NYU WIRELESS completed its move into 13,500 square feet of world-class research space on the grounds of the NYU School of Engineering in downtown Brooklyn.
http://www.ericsson.com/news/140415-nyu-wireless-and-ericsson-join-forces-to-speed-development-of-5g-mobile-technology_244099437_c
Other companies participating in NYU Wireless include AT&T, Huawei, Intel, L3, National Instrument, NSN, Samsung, and Qualcomm.
Intel's Data Center Revenue Hits $3.1 billion, up 11% YoY
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 Financials, Intel
Intel reported first-quarter revenue of $12.8 billion, operating income of $2.5 billion, net income of $1.9 billion and EPS of 38 cents.
Q1 Key Business Unit Trends
PC Client Group revenue of $7.9 billion, down 8 percent sequentially and down 1 percent year-over-year.
Data Center Group revenue of $3.1 billion, down 5 percent sequentially and up 11 percent year-over-year.
Internet of Things Group revenue of $482 million, down 10 percent sequentially and up 32 percent year-over-year.
Mobile and Communications Group revenue of $156 million, down 52 percent sequentially and down 61 percent year-over-year.
Software and services operating segments revenue of $553 million, down 6 percent sequentially and up 6 percent year-over-year.
"In the first quarter we saw solid growth in the data center, signs of improvement in the PC business, and we shipped 5 million tablet processors, making strong progress on our goal of 40 million tablets for 2014," said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. "Additionally, we demonstrated our further commitment to grow in the enterprise with a strategic technology and business collaboration with Cloudera, we introduced our second-generation LTE platform with CAT6 and other advanced features, and we shipped our first Quark products for the Internet of Things."
http://www.intel.com
CERN Data Center Deploys Red Hat Virtualization
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 Data Centers, Red Hat, Switzerland, virtualization
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has deployed Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and Red Hat Technical Account Management services across nearly 600 servers in its Geneva data centre.
Red Hat said its Enterprise Linux is running some of CERN's most critical applications, including the Large Hadron Collider Logging Server and the central financial and HR systems for CERN's members of personnel and 11,000 users. CERN also runs Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization in its cutting-edge LHCb experiment, which focuses primarily on identifying the differences between matter and antimatter.
The infrastructure is comprised of physical two-socket servers and is virtualized using Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization on Dell PowerEdge M610 servers (with Intel Nehalem or Ivy Bridge processors with between 96 GB and 256 GB RAM per server) and a Brocade FC8 SAN with a NetApp data storage system. The infrastructure is designed for high availability and is built to be completely redundant, a critical feature for CERN as control system downtime almost always results in data loss.
http://www.redhat.com
Red Hat Builds OpenStack Cloud Momentum
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 #cloud, Red Hat
Proof-of-concept deployments for Red Hat's OpenStack hybrid cloud offerings are now underway with customers around the world, including at The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Midokura (a Japanese company developing SDN solutions), Australia's National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, and Portugal's Universidade do Porto.
At its Summit 2014 event this week in San Francisco, Red Hat said it has achieved significant momentum for its OpenStack-powered solutions for building hybrid clouds. Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, currently available in version 4.0, delivers an integrated and optimized foundation for building OpenStack clouds, bringing together trusted Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat's OpenStack technology.
"We're thrilled by the early momentum behind Red Hat's OpenStack-powered offerings since general availability in July of last year. We've seen OpenStack move from an enterprise promise to enterprise reality, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform and Red Hat Cloud Infrastructure have emerged as industry-leading offerings for secure, scalable private clouds. These customer successes underscore the value Red Hat is offering through a solution engineered together with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and OpenStack, as well as establishing the standard for the largest OpenStack partner ecosystem to provide an open alternative to customers' private cloud needs," stated Radhesh Balakrishnan, general manager, Virtualization and OpenStack, Red Hat.
Motorola Solutions to Sell Enterprise Business for $3.5 Billion to Zebra Tech
Motorola Solutions will sell its Enterprise business for $3.45 billion to Zebra Technology in an all-cash transaction.
Zebra Technologies, with 2013 sales of $1.0 billion, specializes in barcode and enterprise printing, asset tracking, Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, and motion and location sensing. The company is based in Lincolnshire, Illinois.
Motorola's Enterprise business generated 2013 pro-forma sales of approximately $2.5 billion (excluding sales of its iDEN products). The business unit supplies mobile computing and advanced data capture communications technologies and services.
After the sale, Motorola Solutions will continue to manufacture, design, integrate and deliver voice and data communication solutions for government and public safety customers worldwide.
"Our Enterprise business is an ideal fit for Zebra," stated Greg Brown, Motorola Solutions chairman and CEO. "This transaction will enable us to further sharpen our strategic focus on providing mission-critical solutions for our government and public safety customers. Upon closing of the transaction, we intend to return the proceeds to our shareholders in a timely fashion."
http://www.zebra.com/
http://www.motorolasolutions.com/
Riverbed's SteelFusion 3.0 Targets Branch Converged Infrastructure
Tuesday, April 15, 2014 Enterprise, Riverbed
Riverbed Technology announced a new version of its branch converged infrastructure solution that centralizes data in the data center and delivers local performance and nearly instant recovery at the branch.
Riverbed SteelFusion 3.0 (formerly known as Riverbed Granite) fuses branch servers, storage, networking, and virtualization infrastructure into a single solution.
6x performance gain in the branch with a new high-end appliance. With a 6x performance gain over the previous high-end SteelFusion appliance, the new SteelFusion 1360P appliance ensures users get faster, local performance for storage-intensive workloads like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and CAD/CAM applications.
3x increase in data-capacity at the data center with a new higher capacity controller appliance. Higher capacity on the storage delivery controller, the SteelFusion Core 3000, means storage admins can now support up to 100TB consolidated data, a 3x improvement over the previous high of 35TB supported. This enables scalability for global enterprise companies looking to consolidate their data and applications.
Enhanced recovery innovation. A new predictive pre-fetch capability on the converged appliance, the Branch Recovery Agent further reduces recovery time from major outages. This ensures employees can remain productive with constant access to applications and data, despite major disasters.
Simplified operations. Server, virtualization, and backup administrators will see an improved scale-out architecture with pooled management of storage delivery controllers. A new recovery agent for the converged appliance makes it simpler and faster for administrators to recover a branch from a major outage.
NetApp and EMC integration. Support for NetApp cluster mode and EMC VNX2 snapshots continue seamless integration advancements to ensure SteelFusion integrates seamlessly with data center SAN infrastructure to provide backup consolidation.
"With more and more branches and data, organizations are struggling with the cost and inefficiency of managing islands of infrastructure – servers, apps and storage – outside the datacenter. Riverbed developed the first solution that delivers all the benefits of converged infrastructure found in the datacenter, such as performance, security, scalability, better disaster recovery, and manageability, but optimized for the unique requirements of the branch," said John Martin, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Storage Delivery at Riverbed.
http://www.riverbed.com
Red Hat to Launch OpenShift Marketplace for Cloud Apps
Monday, April 14, 2014 #cloud, Red Hat
Red Hat is preparing to launch OpenShift Marketplace, an online shop for cloud applications.
The OpenShift Marketplace will bring the power of Red Hat's OpenShift Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) partner ecosystem directly to OpenShift Online customers. Red Hat said customers will be able to securely access and manage leading OpenShift application technologies from a single location. Customers and developers will be able to easily search for third-party OpenShift solutions and add-on productivity offerings, including database, email delivery services, messaging queues, application performance monitoring and more, all managed from a central location. Several OpenShift partners have already signed on to add their solutions to the OpenShift Marketplace, including BlazeMeter, ClearDB, Iron.io, MongoLab, New Relic, Redis Labs, SendGrid, and Shippable.
http://marketplace.openshift.com/


thanks mntiwana for your reply.
it is very humble of you by telling that i have very little knowlege about it, despite you having vast knowledge and experience.
what mladen says, is very useful to put some settings in indicators to be used, though i am not as good as you to use different settings as you do.
you are fabulous in using different settings on simple indicator and your settings puts that indicator on steroids.
can someone upload the rainbow stochastic and other rainbow type indicators here?
This is a qqe using polychromatic momentum in it's calculations.


text:
This document does not exist under Belgian law. When such a certificate is required by an investor, two documents should be produced: (i) a certificate confirming the company's registration with the Crossroads Enterprise Database and (ii) proof of publication
in the Belgian State Gazette of official documents relating to the incorporation of the company/appointment of company representatives.
FR: Déclaration de constitution de société / NL: Oprichtingscertificaat
A transfer of majority ownership upon the occurrence of a certain event, such as an acquisition or merger or when a majority of the company's voting rights changes hands. In most cases, change-of-control provisions are designed either to protect (a group of) shareholders against a hostile takeover or to ensure that the provisions of a given agreement are maintained/amended should a change of control occur.
FR: Changement de contrôle / NL: Controlewijziging
In order to encourage investors to subscribe to (convertible) bonds/notes and other financial instruments, a provision is often included in the issue conditions stating that if the company experiences a change of control, the holder is entitled to the principal plus interest, as well as an additional amount (a premium), which is often a multiple of the principal amount.
FR: Prime de changement de contrôle / NL: Controlewijzigingspremie
Requirements which must be met (or waived) before a deal or financing arrangement can be closed. Such conditions typically include the provision of a legal opinion, the appointment of new members to the board of directors, the production of certificates issued by parties to the agreement or third parties, etc.
FR: Conditions de closing / NL: Opschortende voorwaarden
See share
FR: Action ordinaire / NL: Gewoon aandeel
See Crossroads Enterprise Database
FR: Numéro d'entreprise / NL: Ondernemingsnummer
a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which alone or together with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data
A percentage discount applied when determining the number of shares to be issued upon the conversion of financial instruments. The discount is applied to the share price upon conversion in order to enable investors to convert their financial instruments into more shares than they would otherwise be able to purchase for the same nominal amount. The purpose of the discount is to compensate investors for the risk run at seed stage.
FR: Décote de conversion / NL: Omzettingskorting
A financial instrument which entitles its holder or the issuer to either claim the repayment of a certain amount of debt (plus interest) or exchange the debt instrument for the company's shares (i.e. remain the holder of a debt claim or become a shareholder in the company). Conversion is usually subject to the fulfilment of specific conditions.
FR: Obligation convertible / NL: Converteerbare obligatie
A reference document prepared by a company describing the principal aspects of its governance, notably its structure, the terms of reference for the board of directors and its committees, and any other important points relating to internal or external organisation.
FR: Charte de gouvernance d'entreprise / NL: Corporate governance charter
The company's interest in pursuing its objectives, covering both the interests of shareholders and, if applicable, other stakeholders. The corporate interest will vary depending on the type of company (family business, listed or unlisted company, corporate group) and its stage of development. The corporate interest guides the corporate organs in the short, medium and long term, and the courts generally sanction non-compliance.
FR: Intérêt social / NL: Vennootschapsbelang
The description of the company's activities in its articles of association, covering concrete (material) or abstract (ideas, philosophies, values) actions the company intends to take to achieve its goals.
FR: Objet social / NL: Maatschappelijk doel
Concept covering the social, environmental, and economic concerns a company faces in the performance of its activities and in its interactions with stakeholders.
FR: Responsabilité sociétale (ou sociale) de l'entreprise (RSE) / NL: Maatschappelijk verantwoord ondernemen (MVO)
A party to which money or a debt is owed. In practice, creditors may benefit from more or less protection, e.g. (i) secured and unsecured creditors (the latter do not enjoy special rights in the event of default, such as the right to take possession of a certain asset or to be paid before (all or some) other creditors) and (ii) junior and senior creditors (in the event of default, a junior creditor's claim will only be satisfied after all senior creditors' claims).
FR: Créancier / NL: Schuldeiser, crediteur
A database of all information about companies and their establishments. Every company, regardless of its corporate form, must register with the CED before taking up an activity in Belgium. Upon submission of its articles of incorporation to the registry of the competent commercial court, the company receives a number, which must be used in all dealings with administrative and legal authorities, clients and suppliers. This number is also the company's VAT number (after registration with the VAT authorities). All Belgian establishments of a company should be registered and are granted a registration number.
FR: Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE) / NL: Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen (KBO)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
FARLEY | It's momentum versus a two-week break after the Timbers dominate Austin
By Richard Farley @richardfarley
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Timbers gave the performance they wanted, closing their 2021 Major League Soccer regular season with one of their best games of the season. But with two weeks between their 3-0 win over Austin FC and the next time take the field, the Timbers' form will have to be more than an artifact of this moment. Now winners of three straight games, Portland need their new standard to persist when they open the playoffs in two weeks against Minnesota United.
"Credit to the guys – they fought through it and we were able to come back strong and finish fifth in the entire league," head coach Giovanni Savarese said after the game. Portland came into Sunday night locked into the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
"This is credit to the work that everybody put in — the players, the staff, everyone," Savarese said. "Now it's about taking one game at a time."
MORE TIMBERS: Schedule | Roster | Tickets
The Timbers' Western Conference quarterfinal fate was cemented after Minnesota's 3-3 draw with the LA Galaxy on Decision Day, booking the Loons' ticket to Portland for the playoffs' first round. When they arrive at Providence Park two weekends from now, Minnesota will face a team that went outshot Austin FC 23-6 on Sunday, getting first-half goals from Cristhian Parades and Jaroslaw Niezgoda before, eight minutes after intermission, Sebastián Blanco scored the night's final goal.
"[The win] gives us a lot of confidence," team captain Diego Chara said in postgame media. "We know now we're going to play at home, the playoff game. It's going to be against a difficult team, but now we have a couple weeks to prepare for that game."
Sunday's the type of performance teams hope for in a regular-season finale – a one-sided game that took the coaching staff's gameplan from the whiteboard to the field. Portland controlled play with and without the ball, taking advantage of Austin's want for possession by forcing high turnovers that turned into multiple goals. For most of the game, Austin was left without a good chance on goalkeeper Steve Clark, and between hit crossbars and open chances that went barely wide, Portland had reason to think the final margin could have been more.
"I thought our guys did a fantastic job to close the spaces, to move them wide, to prevent guys from getting in the box and finding the ball with those crosses and when we had the chances to move forward, not only the goals that we scored, but we created a lot of chances," Savarese explained. "Unfortunately, we couldn't capitalize a little bit more on those opportunities, but overall I thought a very strong performance."
With any result at the end of the season, "what's next" becomes most important. Yes, it's nice the Timbers put in such a dominant performance. At home against an expansion team, a playoff team should, even if Portland had struggled against Austin during two other meetings this season. But what does tonight's performance mean for the Timbers' chances against Minnesota United in two weeks? Or a potential conference semifinal in Colorado against the Rapids, should they advance? Or the type of competition the team could face in the later rounds of the playoffs?
"Every team that we were going to face in the playoff, we know is going to be a tough match," Savarese said. "The good thing now is that we know who we're playing, and we can prepare for it. [Minnesota has] a good team. They're a difficult team. They have some interesting players that can be dangerous, and now we have to fully focus on them and prepare ourselves to what we have to do in this game coming up, now that we know who our rival is going to be in that first match in the playoff."
This is also where the Timbers' two-week break becomes particularly. In the past, Major League Soccer has had trouble scheduling the start of their playoffs against FIFA's November international window. This year, the league opted to wait until that break is over before beginning its postseason. As a result, teams will have a two-week gap between their final regular season action and their first win-or-else battle. The postseason's start will be less about what teams were in Week 34, more about what teams are after two weeks to recover.
"We have a couple of weeks to prepare well for [Minnesota]," Chara said. After that, the sprint is on. This year's MLS Cup final is scheduled for December 11. The playoffs start on the November 20. Over those 21 days, the league will complete four rounds of playoffs – a sprint that will not only test team's high-end quality but also depth. Whereas in 2018, when the Timbers went to that year's final, home-and-home series and an international break extended the playoffs over more than a month, this season's format packs the postseason into a moment.
"It's about taking one game at a time," Savarese reiterated, when asked about the coming postseason. "One practice at a time, making sure that we train as well as we can, that we work on the things that we need to continue to improve and the things that we have shown to be solid [and] be even better.
"That's it. Keep a very good environment, which has been the case with the guys and the staff. Now the most important part has come, and we have to take it one game at a time."
Fourteen teams qualified for this year's postseason. Each needs to calibrate for a new challenge. The playoffs start in two weeks, and once they do, they'll be over in an instant.


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About MCB
Journal Article | Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't | Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Initiation of latent DNA replication in the Epstein-Barr virus genome can occur at sites other than the genetically defined origin.
R D Little, C L Schildkraut
R D Little
Department of Cell Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461, USA.
C L Schildkraut
DOI: 10.1128/MCB.15.5.2893
Our laboratory has previously shown that replication of a small plasmid, p174, containing the genetically defined Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent origin of replication, oriP, initiates within oriP at or near a dyad symmetry (DS) element and terminates specifically at a family of repeated sequences (FR), also located within oriP. We describe here an analysis of the replication of intact approximately 170-kb EBV genomes in four latently infected cell lines that uses two-dimensional gel replicon mapping. Initiation was detected at oriP in all EBV genomes examined; however, some replication forks appear to originate from alternative initiation sites. In addition, pausing of replication forks was observed at the two clusters of EBV nuclear antigen 1 binding sites within oriP and at or near two highly expressed viral genes 0.5 to 1 kb upstream of oriP, the EBV-encoded RNA (EBER) genes. In the Raji EBV genome, the relative abundance of these stalled forks and the direction in which they are stalled indicate that most replication forks originate upstream of oriP. We thus searched for additional initiation sites in the Raji EBV and found that the majority of initiation events were distributed over a broad region to the left of oriP. This delocalized pattern of initiation resembles initiation of replication in several well-characterized mammalian chromosomal loci and is the first described for any viral genome. EBV thus provides a unique model system with which to investigate factors influencing the selection of replication initiation and termination sites in mammalian cells.
Molecular and Cellular Biology May 1995, 15 (5) 2893-2903; DOI: 10.1128/MCB.15.5.2893
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There is no limit to the number of strategies, techniques, and technologies that tout successful educational moments, but learning derived from the students themselves results in unparalleled outcomes. In the remote settlement of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, students from Greenland, Denmark, and the United States gather for a three week polar science experience that exemplifies this student centered approach. A modest program with personal exploration as its central goal, connects young people with a variety of international practicing scientists. Ultimately, this program – dedicated to inspiring the next generation of polar scientists, defined by the participants, and built around its location – can provide powerful lessons in practice and pedagogy for traditional education systems.
The area next to the glacier is so inspiring as there is a dynamic balance between rock, ice, and life.
The idea of the Joint Science Education Project (JSEP) was conceived by the Joint Committee, a high level government forum, during the International Polar Year. These diplomats recognized the value of fostering international diplomacy as well as interest in polar science. For the American contribution to the program, Dartmouth's Institute of Arctic Studies currently collaborates on its implementation with financial support from the National Science Foundation. Over the years, the program has grown and morphed into its current rendition. Despite the evolution of the program, polar science remains the dynamic and unifying platform and student growth the primary purpose.
If allowed the opportunity, naysayers could cite many reasons why the success of JSEP is not transferable beyond Greenland's rugged, glacier scarred landscape. So let us address the elephant in the room directly. There are many advantages for JSEP that would be – at best – challenging to reproduce in schools. JSEP selects five participants from a large pool of students from across the country, which means the American students are highly motivated and qualified; JSEP takes place in an interesting and exotic location that is difficult to get to from the U.S.; and JSEP has an enviously small student to educator ratio of about 5 students per teacher. Attributing JSEP's successes solely to these statistics; however, prematurely overlooks the true pedagogical strengths at the heart of the program. It is JSEP's driving philosophy that is worthy of reflection.
Lesson 1: Interdisciplinary. Using polar science as a vehicle to provide authentic field experiences opens the door to many interdisciplinary possibilities. Polar science, by its nature, connects STEM content areas. It is organized by its location rather than its subject matter. The clear distinctions between physics, biology, chemistry and earth science that are the tenants our secondary schools become blurred. Examples of research based out of Kangerlussuaq include atmospheric chemistry to measure the concentrations of gas trapped in ancient ice cores; lichenometry (using lichens as a date indicator) to calculate rates of soil erosion; and creating detailed maps of the topography beneath the glacier using various remote sensing devices.
Each country hosts an evening focused on their culture. During the Greenlandic night, students compete in a traditional game to see who is able to eat their dried fish the fastest without using their hands.
While the connections and crossover between disciplines seems obvious from our adult perspectives, experiences like JSEP are eye opening for students who have spent their entire educational careers progressing through a series of distinct courses. More than once, students share personal epiphanies noting "I had no idea I could combine physics and chemistry into one career." While comments such as these showcase the success of JSEP, more troubling they highlight the failures of our current educational systems.
In addition to the intersections between science disciplines, the polar regions also provide opportunities to insert elements of the humanities including social sciences, government, history, and the arts. Students contemplate current issues such as mining rights as the ice sheet retreats and Greenland struggles to gain political and financial independence from Denmark. Students connect with locals to learn about the traditional use of native plants for medicinal purposes as well as consumption. JSEP also draws on the diverse perspectives provided by the international delegation of students to enhance understanding and communication about environmental change in the polar regions.
Lesson 2: Varied Expertise. Scientists, clumped as a homogeneous group, carry the reputation as challenged communicators. Sharing complex concepts with audiences of varied backgrounds is difficult for any presenter; and yet, there are assumptions that as professionals, scientists will excel at this skill for which they receive minimal training.
Small groups of students work together to develop and answer questions. There is extensive field opportunities as well as time in the classroom to process data and observations.
Science teachers have backgrounds in STEM content. As college graduates, often holding degrees in the sciences, these teachers work to balance their understanding of content with mastery of pedagogy. During summer months and professional development days, occasional courses or conferences focused on their content areas are squeezed in between the improving best practices in education and their personal lives. Maintaining a current license requires evidence of continued learning in their subject matter, but this patchwork of courses and credits can never provide the same level of familiarity as with scientist dedicated to their research.
Students work closely with the faculty and graduate students from Dartmouth College. Many of the students are from underseved populations. JSEP promotes confidence in students that may have questioned their capabilities to reach for highly ranked schools. Currently to former JSEP students attend Dartmouth College.
JSEP brings together these groups of specialized experts – high school STEM educators, Dartmouth faculty, and graduate students. This international collaborative team uses the graduate students' research as the seed from which to build rich meaningful curriculum. The teachers help with the development of the lessons and support graduate students with the implementation. It is mutually beneficial as the graduate students gain experience communicating their research through direct instruction and through guiding students' independent field work.
Lesson 3: Student driven. On the very first day of JSEP students walk along a ridge in small groups and record as many observations and questions about the environment as possible. The walk ends on the top of a bluff providing 360 degree views of the valley. The graduate students meet the group and from the vantage point use natural landscapes to give brief introductions to their research. With small teams of students rotating through these stations, students gain confidence to ask questions and connect with the researchers.
Following this day of exploration, students write three questions they are interested in pursuing. Their questions are not required to mirror the graduate students research exactly, rather the idea is to tap their own interests and quandaries and pair them with the most relevant graduate student.
Small groups rotate through stations showcase graduate research. The amazing vantage point is an ideal location to promote deeper thinking about the landscape.
Based on the students' questions new groups are established with each graduate student working with between 3 and 4 students. The goal for each group is to develop a question, follow the scientific method and produce an end product that will communicate their discoveries to the public (each group shares their work with international travelers at the Kangerlussuaq airport). The graduate students mentor the students. This includes working directly with the students to develop reasonable, attainable questions, traveling into the field to collect data and checking in with their group through the analysis process.
Students share their learning with intergenerational travelers passing through the airport. This provides a diverse and captive audience for the JSEP students.
It is not a new realization that providing students with opportunities to explore their own interests and deliberately integrating subject matters produces positive results in both learning and engagement. The problem is more schools, courses, and programs, need to move beyond reading and talking about these philosophies and to begin adopting and implementing them as pillars in their programs. This best practice cannot be a special day before a vacation or occasional events sporadically appearing throughout the year, rather it should be the center of planning and collaborating for teachers. JSEP provides another example of creative and committed educators working along scientists to promote STEM in the next generation.
Students complete an erosion lab in Greenland.
Look beyond the spectacular backdrops in these pictures and see the faces of students connecting with their learning in engaging and interesting ways. Schools do not need to have ice sheets in their backyards to recreate this environment. Educators need to tap into what they do have. Their communities do have institutes of higher learning with a pool of potential near peer mentors.
A similar activity is completed outside of Rutland, Vermont. Students evaluate soil erosion originally caused by Tropical Storm Irene.
Their schools do have a natural world with interesting possibilities to explore just beyond their student and faculty parking lots. Their courses do have numerous links to other content areas, current events and local issues. And ultimately their students do have interesting questions to investigate, they have the capability of collaborating and seeing projects through fruition, and they have the potential to become truly engaged and inspired by their own learning.
Final group photo. This is taken during our midnight hike to a nearby waterfall. Since we are north of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets while we are there.
Erica Wallstrom, 2014 Cohort, at the South Pole in Antarctica.
Erica Wallstrom is in the 2014 Cohort of Rowland Fellows and is working with her fellow Fellow on developing Rutland High School's Global Issues Network (GIN) – which strives to mentor and motivate youth to take informed, thoughtful and sustainable actions to address the most pressing global issues.
Through the integration of academic disciplines GIN will foster communication, design solutions, participation, and understanding when grappling with complex issues that result from both the actions and inactions of students.


In the past, there have been many disputes that the school struggles with technology, but what most people don't know is that it is slowly progressing.
According to Associate Vice President, Larry Kraus the IT department has a number of challenges but are constantly working to fulfill the needs of faculty and students. Some challenges are repairing computers and providing services to the campus.
According to Kraus, he is not aware if more funding is being provided to help with IT issues but more staff have been hired for the department.
Secretary of the Math Department Jonathan Galley, said that by hiring more staff they hope to see a progress in the IT department.
"I've worked here for five years and I'm constantly placing work orders. One thing I have noticed is that they've gotten better which is a good thing," Galley said.
Christopher Rivera, animal science major says that Wi-Fi is very important because he uses his cell phone for Wi-Fi and there is times it does not work.
"Some students use their laptops or phone to do homework. The fact that it takes so long to connect to Wi-Fi is frustrating because I'm wasting time and there are times when I have a class so I have to leave and I don't get my work done," Rivera said.
Wi-Fi is a big issue in this school. Students, faculty, and staff have a hard time connecting to internet connection on campus. According to Galley, there will be a possibility in Wi-Fi signal increasing in the math building.


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Научные публикации, проиндексированные в SCOPUS и WoS CC
Название: Magnetic ionization-thermal instability
Авторы: Dudorov, A. E.
Stepanov, C. E.
Fomin, S. O.
Khaibrakhmanov, S. A.
Издатель: Oxford University Press
Библиографическое описание: Magnetic ionization-thermal instability / A. E. Dudorov, C. E. Stepanov, S. O. Fomin, et al. — DOI 10.1093/mnras/stz1335 // Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. — 2019. — Vol. 487. — Iss. 1. — P. 942-951.
Аннотация: Linear analysis of the stability of diffuse clouds in the cold neutral medium with uniform magnetic field is performed. We consider that gas in equilibrium state is heated by cosmic rays, X-rays, and electronic photoeffect on the surface of dust grains, and it is cooled by the collisional excitation of fine levels of the C II. Ionization by cosmic rays and radiative recombinations is taken into account. A dispersion equation is solved analytically in the limiting cases of small and large wavenumbers, as well as numerically in the general case. In particular cases, the dispersion equation describes thermal instability of Field (1965) and ionization-coupled acoustic instability of Flannery and Press (1979). We pay our attention to magnetosonic waves arising in the presence of magnetic field, in thermally stable region, 35 ≤ T ≤ 95 K and density n ≲ 103 cm-3. We have shown that these modes can be unstable in the isobarically stable medium. The instability mechanism is similar to the mechanism of ionization-coupled acoustic instability. We determine maximum growth rates and critical wavelengths of the instability of magnetosonic waves depending on gas temperature, magnetic field strength, and the direction of wave vector with respect to the magnetic field lines. The minimum growth time of the unstable slow magnetosonic waves in diffuse clouds is of 4- 60 Myr, minimum and the most unstable wavelengths lie in ranges 0.05-0.5 and 0.5-5 pc, respectively.We discuss the application of considered instability to the formation of small-scale structures and the generation of MHD turbulence in the cold neutral medium. © 2018 The Author(s).
Ключевые слова: INSTABILITIES
ISM: CLOUDS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
Условия доступа: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Идентификатор SCOPUS: 85071180961
Идентификатор PURE: 10305266
ISSN: 358711
DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz1335
Располагается в коллекциях: Научные публикации, проиндексированные в SCOPUS и WoS CC
2-s2.0-85071180961.pdf 405,55 kB Adobe PDF Просмотреть/Открыть


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Getaway to the Blue Mountains
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA — Like all good Sydneysiders, we decided we needed a little break from the city.
The Blue Mountains once marked the frontier beyond Sydney, and in a way, they still do. It's a vast swath of forested highlands that starts about an hour west of town, and it's another hour to the tourist villages of Leura and Katoomba.
We got there on the train from the Central Railway Station, using our Opal cards. Of course, it rained hard nearly the whole way, and it was still raining when we got off in Leura.
We stalled by having lunch at the Red Door Cafe. Beth was going to get something normal until she spied the specials board, and then she ordered a wild rice, mushroom and sage rösti with chili-chive fried eggs, pumpkin slabs and a salad of radish, almond, peach, green onion, parsley and Pecorino cheese shavings. Alas, it wasn't more than the sum of its parts.
Torsten's steak sandwich had fewer ingredients but was less than the sum of its parts. Our lunch did get us out of the rain, which had mostly stopped by the time we were done.
Leura is a tony little tourist town, and even Beth was drawn in by some of its shops. We killed more time window-shopping, then walked to the Broomelea B&B, an Edwardian cottage built in 1909 as a summer home. Our room had a big canopied bed, and Torsten looked at it longingly, but with the rain stopped, we had to hike.
Bryan, our host, handed us a map with a two-hour hike marked, and then he filled a Ziploc bag with salt to get rid of leeches. Land leeches? Was he pulling our leg? No, this area has leeches that behave like ticks, hiding amid moist leaves along trails and crawling onto unsuspecting legs. They especially like warm, muggy days after a good rain, just like today!
Our route started at the end of the street and plunged us into a valley that, after a week of rain, felt like the jungle. The poorly maintained trail had turned into a rushing creek, and Torsten's sneakers got soaked right away. Beth was wearing her waterproof Salomon hiking boats, but the slap-slap of wet plants quickly soaked her pants.
We were kind of wondering why we were there until we had climbed to an overlook and could see what it is that draws tourists: a vast forested canyon below, a sandstone-topped mesa opposite and outcroppings and pillars on the sides.
We followed the clifftop trail to a park that had Flintstones-style bathrooms apparently chipped out of a giant sandstone boulder. From there, we walked down the Leura Cascades to a sandstone overhang and the top of Bridal Veil Falls.
Looking up, we saw an overlook high above and decided to go for it — we couldn't get any wetter, sweatier or grimier than we already were.
It was a pretty good view, for sure. The best part was when we realized we didn't have to retrace our steps, because we were only half a block from Cliff Road. A paved road, hurray!
We walked back to the B&B and took showers, and when Beth saw the room had one of those great towel-warming racks, she washed all of her clothes and hung them to dry.
By the time we sallied out for dinner, most of Leura's cafes had closed. We ended up at the Alexandra Hotel, where we sat outside under an overhang. Torsten had cannelloni with pumpkin, feta and spinach, and Beth had part of a so-called French onion soup that didn't have bread or Swiss cheese in it and wasn't broiled. Her Lazy Yak ale was good, though.
We didn't bother with dessert, because our B&B was well-stocked with Lindt balls, Cadbury mini-bars and brownies. After one of our grubbiest days ever, it was nice to enjoy a little luxury.
Australia, Blue Mountains, Hiking, Leura, Sydney
One thought on "Getaway to the Blue Mountains"
Leeches! Oh my! You two are something!


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Sen. Lucio encourages South Texas College students to join the voting process during upcoming Tuesday, November 6, 2018 elections
by Legislative Media | Oct 20, 2018 | Politics
Featured: Student Government Association at South Texas College hosted Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., D-Brownsville, at a town hall-style event at the STC Pecan Campus in McAllen on Thursday, October 18, 2018. Lucio spoke about the importance of voting ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, November 6, 2018. Lucio's presentation took place in the new Student Union Building, 3201 W. Pecan Boulevard in McAllen.
Photograph By BEN BRIONES
By JOSÉ GÓMEZ
Urging students at South Texas College to become a part of the voting process as Election Day nears, Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr., D-Brownsville, challenged them to create the world they want to live in by making their voice heard at the ballot box, regardless of party affiliation.
In addition to local races throughout the Lone Star State – including for State Representative, District 41 Hidalgo County Judge, and Chief Justice, 13th Court of Appeals – voters in the Rio Grande Valley and statewide will be casting their ballots for the top leadership roles in Texas, featuring the races for U.S. senator, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and more.
(See: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2018/texas-general-election-candidates/)
Addressing a packed house comprised of students, faculty and administrators, Lucio hosted a town hall-style meeting with STC students on Friday, October 18, 2018, speaking about the power of voting in order to shape the "economic future of the community".
Student Government Association (SGA) representatives from three STC campuses including Pecan, Mid Valley and Starr County, had the opportunity to ask Lucio pressing questions focused on current issues . He then fielded questions from students in the audience before being presented with a gavel by SGA students.
"If we participate in the (voting) process, we might live to see the world we really want to live in. My intention today is to make sure that this generation is the one that puts the puzzle together in this great country of ours," Lucio said. "We are in this together, all of us, not only here in the Valley or the state of Texas, but in the entire country. We shouldn't be fighting one another, and there shouldn't be divisiveness."
Often called the "father" of South Texas College, Lucio introduced the legislation that called for the creation of STC in 1993. Then Rep. Roberto Gutiérrez, D-McAllen, was the House sponsor of Lucio's Senate Bill 251, which called for the creation of a college to serve Hidalgo and Starr Counties.
In June of that year, then Gov. Ann Richards signed the legislation creating South Texas Community College, converting the former Texas State Technical College campus in McAllen into a locally governed community college serving Hidalgo and Starr Counties.
Since that time, STC has seen steady growth in its student enrollment starting with 1,058 students in 1993 to more than 34,000 students by fall 2017.
"We are living a dream," Lucio said referring to the impact of STC. "It's one of high success, and one that can stay up with any other junior college in the nation. Wonderful things have happened, but they did not just happen. It took people coming together, and I love Dr. Reed's approach of being inclusive, which means not only her staff or professors, but the student body as well, everyone coming together."
Dr. Shirley Reed is the founding president of STC.
"I would like to leave you with a strong message, and one that will hopefully inspire you, as I have been inspired by those I have depended on to guide me," Lucio told attendees. "The important thing is to respect where we come from, who we are, respect ourselves and respect others."
TEXAS SENATE WELCOMES PETER FLORES, R-PLEASANTON, AS NEWEST MEMBER
Sen. Peter "Pete" Flores , R-Pleasanton. took the oath of office on Friday, October 19, 2018, becoming the newest member of the Texas Senate.
Flores won a special election for Senate District 19 in September 2018, and will now represent the largest district in the state, stretching from western Bexar County all the way to Reeves County in West Texas, covering 35,000 miles and includes 400 miles of the international border with Mexico.
Flores fills a seat that became vacant earlier this year after former Sen. Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, resigned after Uresti was convicted of 11 federal felonies relating to his alleged involvement in a Ponzi scheme, according to the FreeBeacon.com. Uresti's departure triggered a special election, the first round of which was held in July.
(https://freebeacon.com/politics/texas-republicans-flip-long-held-democratic-state-senate-seat/)
Flores won his seat by crisscrossing the district, putting more than 7,000 miles on his truck in five weeks of campaigning, said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, R-Houston.
"To win a campaign, you have to have a good candidate and you have to have someone who is willing to work hard," said Patrick. "He was the best candidate, and he worked hard…knocking on doors, introducing himself, meeting voters, many who had never had anyone knock on their door to introduce themselves and ask for their vote."
Patrick pointed to the increase in enthusiasm for the run-off election as proof of his hard work. While run-offs normally see a decrease in turnout, turnout for the SD 19 run-off almost doubled the first round of voting, rising from 26,000 voters to 44,000 in September.
"That is an historic, all time high of a percentage of people turning out for a run-off election [in Texas], and that's attributable to you, Pete," Patrick said.
Flores is a former Texas game warden who rose to the rank of colonel and head of the Law Enforcement Division of the Parks and Wildlife Department, the first Hispanic Texan to hold that post.
Carter Smith, the current executive director of TPWD, offered effusive praise for Flores at the Friday, October 12 ceremony.
"I first met Pete about a dozen years ago and his reputation as a lawman aptly preceded him," said Smith. "Plenty affable, plenty likable, he'd give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it. He was also no-nonsense, a straight shooter, somebody who was absolutely not confused about what was right and what was wrong."
Flores was gracious in victory, thanking his family and constituents for their support.
In his inaugural speech, Flores identified property tax reform, economic development and support for law enforcement as his top priorities for the upcoming session.
"We're all here for a better Texas, all of us, and with that in mind we'll get there," he told his colleagues. "With me, you're going to have an open mind and you're going to have some one who will listen and who is with you towards the same goal: to be a better Texas."
A graduate of Texas A&M University, Flores grew up in Laredo and settled in Pleasanton in 2012 following his retirement after 27 years as a game warden. He and his wife Elizabeth have two daughters and two grandchildren.
Session video and all other Senate webcast recordings can be accessed from the Senate website's Audio/Video Archive.
David A. Díaz contributed to this article. For more on this and related state legislative news, please log on to Titans of the Texas Legislature.
Mario Lizcano, Administrator of Corporate Affairs, DHR Health, who can "walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch…", named Man of the Year 2020 by the Edinburg Chamber of Commerce January 21, 2021
"Topics for the 87th Legislature" provides an easy-to-understand, trustworthy guide of hottest issues facing Texans in 2021, says attorney Omar Ochoa January 18, 2021
DHR Health's Carlos Cárdenas, MD praises the roles of print and broadcast news journalists in 2020: "We couldn't do public health without you." January 8, 2021
Proposed Rio Grande Valley School of Law, supported in 2019 by likely Speaker of the House Phelan, reintroduced by Rep. Armando Martínez for action during 2021, says attorney Omar Ochoa January 2, 2021
Titans of the Texas Legislature Archive
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Foreigners looking to start a business in Indonesia can choose between the small industries, such as the manufacturing of local products which attract tourists, or one of the large industries such as the fast-moving consumer goods, or FMCG sector, which also caters to the needs of locals.
Opening a FMCG company in Indonesia implies registering a company with the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) when it comes to foreign investors. These must also comply with other requirements which can be explained by our Indonesia company incorporation consultants.
obtain import/export licenses and transportation permits, apart from the business licenses issued by the BKMP.
Our local agents can help foreign entrepreneurs with the registration of a PT PMA – limited liability company with full foreign ownership – for setting up a FMCG business in Indonesia.
China, the largest consumer market in the world, is the main importer of FMCG goods produced in Indonesia, a trend that is expected to continue.
If you want to start a FMCG company in Indonesia and need assistance, please contact our local company registration representatives.


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Ema Tanioku
"Emaeri" is the nickname for models Ema and Eri Tanioku, who are Aomoji fashion model twins. Ema and Eri Tanioku specialise in twin fashion coordination. Over the years their fanbase has increased due to their cute looks. Ema Tanioku spreads Harajuku culture within Japan as well as overseas and works as a Harajuku Tourism Ambassador. Starting off as a model, Ema has broadened her talent range from fashion magazines to TV, and from playing the lead role in dramas to movies.
TALENT RELATED ENTRIES
Manga Series Tokyo Revengers Gets Exhibition at Tower Records Shibuya
17.September.2020 | ANIME&GAME / SPOT
# exhibition
# Shibuya
# Tokyo Revengers
# Tower Records
Tower Records Shibuya will host an exhibition dedicated to the ongoing manga series Tokyo Revengers from September 26 to October 18. The exhibition is being held to promote the release of the 19th volume which hits shelves in Japan on September 17.
Tokyo Revengers is a manga series written and illustrated by Ken Wakui. An anime adaptation is scheduled to broadcast in 2021.
The exhibition will feature a variety of works drawn by Ken Wakui for the series, both black and white as well as coloured illustrations, as well as panels of each character, and more. There will also be an exhibit for the upcoming live-action film.
Tokyo Revengers x TOWER RECORDS OSMO Stamps (22 Designs) | ¥909 Each (Before Tax)
Tokyo Revengers Monochrome Panels | ¥30,000 Each (Before Tax, Includes Shipping)
Fans can also get their hands on a range of exhibition-exclusive merchandise, and from October, the exhibition will sell some Tokyo Revengers x Tower Records collaborative merch. There'll be some signed artwork for sale too.
Character Business Cards (11 Designs)
And for every ¥1,000 spent at the exhibit, fans will receive one of 11 possible character business cards.
Tokyo Revengers Exhibition – Tower Records Shibuya
Running: September 26, 2020 – October 18, 2020
Time: 12:00-15:00 / 16:00-20:00 (Last Entries 19:30)
Location: Tower Records Shibuya Floor 8F SpaceHACHIKAI
Entry: Free (But you must book a place online)
Exhibition Information (Japanese): http://towershibuya.jp/news/2020/09/15/148467
Anna Yano
Released the song "Shape My Story" produced by kz (livetune) in August 2013. Performed as the vocalist on a single for kz's solo project 'livetune' in January 2014. Both songs were used as theme songs for anime series and received attention in Japan and overseas. In October 2015, she formed a new unit with kz called 'livetune+' and they released their first EP "Sweet Clapper" on May 11, 2016.
Ayumi Seto
Active as a model, especially in fashion magazines. Receives tremendous support for her cute and distinct fashion. In February 2014, she debuted her apparel brand 'Aymmy in the batty girls' where she works as a designer. She was the first Harajuku and Aomoji-kei model to establish an authentic apparel brand. She develops clothing items through her unique fashion sense lens.
Tokyo Stroll: The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone #11 – 'Hatoya' in Asakusa
16.August.2019 | FEATURES / FOOD
# Asakusa
# coffee
# Ema Tanioku
# Tokyo Stroll
In this edition of The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone, I visited Hatoya which is located in Asakusa Shin-Nakamise Arcade.
The streets of Tokyo's historical district of Asakusa are packed to end with cafés. You can be spoiled for choice, but Hatoya stood out to me in particular as it's an especially old café. Business there began back in 1927 but the actual building was built back in the Taisho period, meaning its history spans more than 90 years ago!
The outside appearance of the shop is smart and chic so it's very easy to spot. I couldn't tell by looking from the outside, but the inside is full of old decorations and odds and ends which make you feel the history of the café.
One reason why I wanted to visit this place so much is because I was drawn to their logo. It's really retro-kawaii so I just couldn't resist!
You should take some photos too if you visit.
It was time to head inside. It's really comfy and cozy in there; the atmosphere was nice and relaxed.
Framed on the wall is a map of the Asakusa area during the Taisho era. Hatoya became famous back then because people could buy coffee for a mere 5 sen (a single sen is one-hundredth of a yen).
When business first began at Hatoya, because the café was opposite the stage door of a theatre, all of the famous actors and actresses would pop in. Some include famous Japanese comedian Roppa Furukawa and film actor Kiyoshi Atsumi who played Tora-san in the film series Otoko wa Tsurai yo.
I ordered the café's popular hotcakes which cost ¥600. They have been making these same hotcakes since before the war.
They were nice and fluffy and had a deliciously gorgeous brown colour. The flavour was out of this world when the butter melted from the heat of the hotcakes and mixed together with the syrup.
The portion might look like a lot but they are fluffy and have a light flavour so can be finished with no problem.
And is the café's signature milkshake (¥500).
It's so refreshing that you can knock it back all in one go. It has a simple flavour but it tasted so good!
I also ordered the ¥600 cream soda, my favourite beverage.
I've been to many cafés, and have covered many in this series, but this is the first I have dined at with such a deep history. I found myself enthralled by the stories of the owner who has continued to treasure the café and maintained it all the same since it opened. I feel like I have learned about a world I never knew about. The next time I go to Hatoya with a friend I'll be sure to let them in on its history. I encourage you to visit too!
Writer/Model: Ema Tanioku
Photographer: Haruka Yamamoto
Design: Yuko Abe (ASOBISYSTEM)
Hatoya
Address: 1-23-8 Asakusa, Taito Ward, Tokyo
No Fixed Holidays
Tabelog Page: https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1311/A131102/13076130/
Tokyo Stroll: The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone #10 – 'Donguriya' in Nishi-Ogikubo
10.May.2019 | FEATURES / FOOD / SPOT
In this edition of The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone, I visited Donguriya.
To get there I plodded along from the North Exit of JR Nishi-Ogikubo Station, and after about 3-minutes I saw it!
Various shops lined the street, but nature had almost reclaimed this single building which was wrapped in foliage. There's no doubt that the people who pass by this way stop to take a look. Its inviting appearance elicits a peek as you're left wondering what kind of place it is. I feel like a wonderful story is about to unfold!
A sign sits at the front of the cafe with its mascot character waiting to greet you.
He's cute in a way that I can't describe♬
Time to head inside.
Most of the interior is made of wood, a perfect accompaniment to the cafe's name Donguriya ("Acorn Hut").
All of the signs as well as the menu on the wall are handwritten by the owner himself. It's heartwarming just to look at♬
Sipping coffee while enjoying the jazz music coming from the record player is nothing short of a luxury!
I ordered pizza toast (drink + pizza toast set is ¥800), a Donguri cookie and coffee (drink + Donguri cookie set is ¥650).
The toast is sliced thickly; the crusts are crunchy and the middle is soft. It was really tasty and had an old-fashioned taste to it.
Donguri's cookies are made by someone who has been a fan of the cafe since long ago. They have a simple sweetness and go perfectly with the coffee!
Since the cookies are made by a regular who has always loved Donguri they are the perfect cookies for Donguriya! If you pay a visit then you should definitely order one.
The blend coffee is full-bodied and has a rich aroma. There is a slightly bitter aftertaste too. The coffee beans are also roasted in-house! It was really tasty and easy to drink even for someone like me who doesn't know a lot about coffee.
The owner and his older brother went to numerous cafes with their friends to try various different coffees before coming up with their own blend. It's the real deal.
It really felt as if I had been sucked into the world of a story with the warm light filtering through the windows and illuminating the tableware and furniture.
Finally, a photo with the owner himself!
He told me wonderful stories about the coffee and food at Donguriya which made me fall in love with the cafe even more.
I want to bring my friends here next time♬
Writer: Ema Tanioku
Translator: Joshua Kitosi-Isanga
Donguriya
Address: 3-30-1 Nishiogikita, Suginami Ward, Tokyo
Business Hours: [Mon-Thur] 10:30-22:00 / [Fri-Sun] 10:30-22:30
Access: 3-minutes on foot from JR Nishi-Ogikubo Station
Tokyo Stroll: The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone #8 – 'Ginza West'
05.October.2018 | FEATURES / FOOD / SPOT
# Ginza
Ginza is a district in the heart of Tokyo famed for its extravagant streets lined with upmarket shops, luscious restaurants and fantastic entertainment. But it's not only worthy of note for its flamboyance – it's also rooted in rich culture and history.
Today, I visited Ginza West, a café that has been continuously loved in Ginza ever since it opened in 1947.
Before entering I saw lots of delicious confections lined up on display. You can order takeout too. Your mind will wander off as you ponder on which to take away for snack time.
The entire café is clean and tidy throughout and you can feel the decor has grace. It's different from other cafés in that it has a dignified atmosphere to it. It has an air of tension to it, the kind that makes you straighten up your back. It's a place that's nice if someone wants to enjoy a luxurious experience once in a while.
I ordered cake and tea set! The tea cost ¥1,048. A cake set is the price of the drink plus ¥324.
You can actually have them bring you samples of cakes being served on that day. There's so many cake varieties it's hard to choose.
The most popular is this one – the Mosaic Cake!
Its appearance is cute. I ended up wanting to take a lot of photos.
The Mosaic Cake is made of cocoa sponge and butter sponge which is arranged to look like a mosaic piece. You can really taste the different flavours of each sponge. It's only moderately sweet so it's not too heavy. I wolfed it down!
And then, and then!
I got the white cream soda which I'd been wanting to try. It cost ¥1,188.
When you think of cream soda it's generally green coloured melon soda with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. But this one uses no colouring. The soda is clear and also served with vanilla ice cream. Try drinking it yourself after adding a syrup of your choice.
It looks like a very elegant beverage.
In terms of taste, if you eat the vanilla ice cream after drinking some of the soda (which is subtly sweet) it makes for an exquisite balance. It's a flavour I've never had before – it's a novel sensation.
The chairs in the café have something about them too! They feel extremely comfortable, I felt exhausted. The staff kindly told me the secret behind them.
The back legs of the chairs are a little wider than the ones at the front allowing you to lean back much easier and making it feel much more comfortable. The chair legs are also cut to a certain length to allow easier sitting.
So that's why. That's why I felt so relaxed simply sitting on them. I felt I could be sat there no matter the hour.
t's a kind of consideration you'd only find at a café. Hearing about those chairs made me think that cafes really are such wonderful places. The more you learn about them, the more you come to love their charms.
I wonder where I'll visit next? Look forward to it!
Ginza West
Address: 7-3-6 Ginza, Chuo Ward, Tokyo
Opening Hours: Weekdays 9:00-22:00 (Stand Open Until 23:00) / Weekends 11:00-20:00
No Fixed Holidays.
Access: 5-minutes on foot from exit C2 of Ginza Station via Tokyo Metro Line / 10-minutes on foot from Yurakucho Station via JR Line
*347m from Ginza Station
Website: http://www.ginza-west.co.jp/
Editor: Ai Watanabe
Tokyo Stroll: The Café That You Want to Visit to See Someone #7 – Garden Café & Bar 'Urara' in Daikanyama
15.August.2018 | FEATURES / FOOD / SPOT
# daikanayama
The place I am showcasing today is 'Urara,' a garden café and bar located in Daikanyama. Their shaved ice is super popular in summer. It's somewhere I love and often go to in my private time.
It's an old Japanese-style house so it has a much different atmosphere to that of stylish Daikanyama. The outside of it has a warm and welcoming feel to it that will have you wanting to see what kind of place it is.
Upon entering through the shop sign curtain, you arrive in the courtyard which is surrounded by trees. You can hear the sounds of birds from somewhere, and when the wind blows you also hear the rustling of tree leaves. You completely forget you're in Tokyo as you feel like you've come to a grandma's house in the countryside. It's very relaxing.
Hm? What's this odd looking thing?
These unique ornaments were scattered all around the courtyard ready to greet us!
This sign makes for a great photo spot. It says 'Urara' just like the name of the café. Its nostalgic design is so cute!
When you really look, it says tissue paper on it! There's lots to be discovered on the posters and signs that make up the interior, it's a lot of fun!
I ordered the Uji adzuki bean shaved ice topped with condensed milk! It cost ¥600 for the shaved ice and ¥100 for the topping. The matcha used is from Uji in Kyoto. Such a big portion of shaved ice is enough to cool you down by just looking at it.
Where have I tasted this before…
The matcha seeped all the way to the middle of the shaved ice. The refreshing sweetness was so tasty. The adzuki beans are from Tokachi in Hokkaido. They were a perfect combination with the condensed milk. The ice used is natural ice from Nikko. It's fluffy, tastes great, and doesn't give you brain freeze!
Natural ice is different from regular ice. It's frozen slowly so the crystals have high density, and it takes longer for it to melt. The cool part was how it didn't crumple instantly when I poured the syrup on it!
This is blueberry syrup (¥600). The blueberries used are from Nagano. They make it from jam in the café. Isn't the colour just beautiful?
It has that sour flavour that blueberries have and a refreshing, lip-smacking sweetness.
I normally don't drink alcohol, but since Urara is a café and a bar I will show you a mojito (¥600). The mint is so refreshing!
On a hot summer's day it seems like there are people who order both shaved ice and beer together. They're seasonal items so will satisfy and cool you down.
I also got to meet Tama-chan, the cat who comes to play at Urara. One time when I came before Tama was out walking so I didn't get to meet him.
Lastly, I snapped a photo with Arai who's in charge of promoting Urara!
We're roughly the same height and have a similar interest in clothes so I grew an affinity with her.
Coffee shops and cafés in old style Japanese houses tell you something about the people associated with them.
Urara feels natural thanks to SELIN & Co., an apparel maker who make things that feel one with nature. The staff at Urara all love living things, so the big hearted atmosphere there was really wonderful.
If I was to set up a shop I wonder what it would be like…
I think I'd want to put out something warm like Urara.
■Information
Address: 20-10 Sarugakucho, Shibuya, Tokyo
Opening Hours: Weekdays 11:30am-7:00pm / Weekends & Holidays 11:30am-7:30pm
*Closed during rainy weather.
Access: 4-minutes on foot from Daikanyama Station via the Tokyu Tokoyo Line
Website: http://www.hrm.co.jp/news/2016/04/garden-cafe-bar-urara
Photographer:Haruka Yamamoto
Editor:Ai Watanabe
Design:Yuko Abe(ASOBISYSTEM)
Translater:Joshua Kitosi-Isanga
Evangelion Business Shirts, Ties, and Accessories Released in Japan


Drastic changes may be in the works for the Dodd-Frank Act, but the question for banks is whether Republicans will go too far.
President Trump has repeatedly called for overhauling the crisis-era law, most recently issuing an executive order that directs the financial agencies to consider scaling back regulations. The action follows his promise to "do a big number" on the "disaster" that is Dodd-Frank — refrains echoed by the law's congressional critics.
Banks, meanwhile, have embraced targeted reforms rather than a wholesale rollback, which could spur tensions with elected officials as legislation is hammered out.
How far to go in neutering the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and scaling back limits on proprietary trading are both issues where elected GOP officials and the banking industry may diverge. In addition, big banks are far from enthusiastic about a proposal to provide an "off-ramp" to institutions that maintain a leverage ratio of 10 percent.
"It's unclear at this point if congressional Republicans and industry have found a way to meet in the middle over the legislative strategy regarding Dodd-Frank relief," said Isaac Boltansky, a policy analyst at Compass Point Research & Trading.
The banking industry's approach to fixing Dodd-Frank hasn't shifted significantly, but momentum is now on its side. That's a stark contrast from recent years, when the Democratic White House made clear that it would not approve any significant changes to the law.
"We now have unified government and believe that many of the items that we've pursued for years can finally come to fruition," he added.
The community banks may have what is likely the biggest opportunity when it comes to significant changes to Dodd-Frank. Regulatory relief for community banks is one of the few bipartisan issues within financial services, though efforts at passing consensus legislation have still fallen short in recent years. "On Capitol Hill, they're like Mom, the flag and apple pie," said Ian Katz, an analyst at Capital Alpha Partners, of smaller banks.
Though Fine said that his group has gotten "more aggressive" with its requests to Congress this year, he conceded that individual changes to the law remain much more likely than a full rollback.
Other industry executives are equally optimistic about the potential for reforms, though most remain acutely aware that any legislative relief will need at least a handful of Democrats to avoid a filibuster in the Senate.
While banking leaders are feeling hopeful, they remain largely focused on addressing a handful of top priorities, rather than pushing for overly broad changes to the law.
If the banks are able to clear up questions around existing rules and policies and get a number of targeted legislative fixes, "they'll consider 2017 a banner year," said Boltansky.
The Republican sweep has lawmakers and industry revisiting the central vehicle for legislative change — the Financial Choice Act, introduced last summer by Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the Financial Services Committee.
The chairman is said to be working on a "2.0 version" of the bill to be released this month. The Trump administration is reportedly in conversation with the chairman and committee members on the legislation, as the White House is much more limited in its ability to unravel the law directly.
For banks, renewed focus on the Choice Act will provide an opportunity to engage more fully than last fall, when the legislation was considered more of a political document than a framework for reform.
But with more engagement comes the possibility of disagreement, especially if Republicans push for a broad overhaul of the law.
Still, as a long-time opponent of Dodd-Frank, Hensarling has now found a strong backer for sweeping reforms in the new president.
Hensarling said on Feb. 3 that Trump's executive order "closely mirrors" his own efforts to roll back Dodd-Frank. He joined the president at the White House for the signing of the order.
Of course, some of the strong political rhetoric can be chalked up to signaling efforts to push for the most far-reaching version of a bill possible, particularly before negotiations get going in the Senate.
Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is said to be intent on planning his own package of changes to Dodd-Frank, one that would likely be more moderate by design, in an effort to entice panel Democrats. Republicans in the Senate would ultimately need at least a handful of Democratic votes to move a bill — though that looks to be an uphill battle given the divisive political climate.
For many banks, the prospect of another total overhaul is less than desirable, as the industry has already paid billions of dollars to comply with Dodd-Frank. The biggest banks also remain a political target, particularly in the wake of the Wells Fargo fake accounts scandal, and flying under the radar may be preferable to standing front and center in the current fight.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon told Bloomberg Television last month that he doesn't want the government to rip up Dodd-Frank.
The head of Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, similarly told CNBC last month that he's "not a fan of getting rid of Dodd Frank" but said some changes are needed. He singled out the Volcker Rule, a provision that bans proprietary trading and reiterated longstanding concerns that it is contributing to a reduction in market liquidity, citing a recent Fed staff paper that reached a similar conclusion.
Hensarling's Choice Act aims straight for the Volcker Rule — which the chairman has called "misguided and unneeded" — and calls for an outright repeal. That position is at odds with what banks say they're after.
"Nobody's interested in going back to the days of proprietary trading," said the second senior financial services industry official. Instead, the official noted that larger banks are seeking a clearer sense of when they're following or violating rules, which are overseen by five regulatory agencies, and measures to counteract any declines in liquidity.
Steven Mnuchin, Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, echoed those industry sentiments in his testimony before the Senate Finance Committee last month. He said then that he supported the rule for institutions backed by deposit insurance, but raised concerns about compliance and liquidity.
Lawmakers and industry officials are also in the midst of debating what to do about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has been in conservative crosshairs since its inception. But while many banks would like to see the single-director agency moved to a commission structure — or even put under congressional appropriations — there's less interest in having the agency wiped out.
But on the Hill, the future of the agency may still be up for debate.
"We're fighting sometimes both sides — we do have some members of Congress who wish to eliminate the CFPB and some who want to keep it exactly like it is," said Richard Hunt, president and chief executive of the Consumer Bankers Association, which has advocated for changing the agency's structure.
He called the future of the agency "a jump ball" in the current political environment.
The House bill calls for restructuring the CFPB and putting it under the appropriations process, as opposed to killing the agency outright. It's possible such changes could be achieved through the budget-reconciliation process, which requires just a simple majority in the Senate.
While there are many parts of the House bill that banks do support, they have frequently been less enthusiastic about its central "choice" — a regulatory "off-ramp" from many of Dodd-Frank's prudential rules for banks that maintain a leverage ratio of 10 percent.
"Large banks are not really interested in major relief or in a 10 percent leverage ratio, because that would be very expensive," said the second senior executive.
At the moment, there's little indication that the chairman plans any significant changes to that portion of the bill.
"While we could have a full debate on whether Congress should be in the business of determining capital levels for banks, we know that the capital provision is a pillar of the chairman's legislation and will likely be maintained in the bill," James Ballentine, the top lobbyist for the American Bankers Association, told Bloomberg BNA in an interview.
The ABA, a trade group for U.S. banks, has said the 10 percent threshold is complicated to calculate and its effect on banks would be difficult to predict.
With the political landscape so radically shifted, the banking industry is back at the negotiating table.


Located in the city centre, next to the historic and picturesque Vermanes Park, the historical Benjamin's House has been fully restored and is now known as the Europa Royale Riga Hotel. Built in 1876, this splendid mansion was reconstructed in the same character as the original in order to preserve the architectural charm of the building. This building is one of the most rare pergola examples of historic architecture in the city.


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