text:
D.A.N.T.E.
MEMBERSHIP: Emil Stein (leader)
PURPOSE: Establishing a name for themselves as a terrorist cadre to be reckoned with
AFFILIATIONS: Beck
ENEMIES: Captain America (Steve Rogers), "Dum Dum" Dugan, Nick Fury, Iron Man (Tony Stark), Mr. and Niki Nishimura, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate), Tom Tojumi
BASE of OPERATIONS: Mobile across the planet in their flying headquarters, which never stayed in one place long enough to be located
FIRST APPEARANCE: Tales of Suspense II#1 (January, 1995)
POWERS/WEAPONS: DANTE used a cadre of agents wearing armor derived from unknown sources; though it did roughly resemble Iron Man, it was not Stark technology. The agents could fire and fire energy blasts, and had some degree of enhanced strength and durability.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - D.A.N.T.E. was founded by Emil Stein, a former Nazi. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall (see comments), many of the former members of the East German secret police vanished into the terrorist underground. Stein eventually led some of these to form DANTE.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Seeking to establish DANTE as a credible threat, when he was contracted to assassinate a diplomat on holiday in Switzerland, they leveled the Alpine hotel where he was staying, killing eighty-nine.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - In pursuit of an undetermined target, DANTE took out a passenger aircraft, killing all 316 passengers.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - DANTE took out a politician's house in London and office in Budapest.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - DANTE decimated a skyscraper in Sydney.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - DANTE (or other terrorists) uncovered an unnamed SHIELD agent who had infiltrated the European terrorist underground for two years. The agent was found floating face-down in the Danube.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - DANTE was hired by a cadre of businessmen who believed that stronger ties between America and Japan would be averse to their own personal fortunes. These businessmen paid DANTE a fortune to kill Japanese businessman Nishimura while he visited the US, intending to bring disgrace to America for failing to protect him and to drive a wedge between the two nations.
(Tales of Suspense II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Though DANTE's stealth technology had allowed them to elude SHIELD, they did learn that the terrorists planned to assault trade talks between the American government and a delegation of Japanese corporate heads. Due to the perceived importance of this meeting to the American economy, the US government refused to cancel the talks, instead directing SHIELD to protect the talks and/or stop DANTE.
(Tales of Suspense II#1) - Fury drafted Captain America and Iron Man to protect the talks and/or stop DANTE. Meanwhile Stein recruited Beck to work with DANTE. Despite the heroes investigations and efforts, DANTE successfully stole information from Stark Enterprises regarding how machinery could be made to interact with the human body. They also stole Nazi Sleeper technology from an installation in Paris (the French Underground had obtained it during World War II) as well as technology from a computer research facility in Texas. Stein used the information from Stark and the technology from Paris and Texas, combined with technology developed in East Germany to transform Beck into a powerful cyborg warrior.
SHIELD mistakenly believed that the President of the USA was DANTE's target, but they instead gave Nishimura food poisoning, and then targeted him as he recovered some distance from the trade talks. Captain America was captured by DANTE, and Stein enjoyed taunting him with his plans, but Captain America broke free and destroyed DANTE's headquarters before heading to stop him. Iron Man defeated the lot of DANTE's armored warriors by magnetizing them all to him and then introducing a computer virus into their systems which shut them down. However, it shut Iron Man's armor down, too, and he fell towards certain doom until Captain America rescued him.
Cap brought Iron Man to Nishimura's townhouse, arriving before Beck could kill him. Captain America outmaneuvered and apparently slew Beck, and Iron Man removed much of his armor so that he could move more freely, and he slew Stein.
COMMENTS: Created by James Robinson and Colin MacNiel.
DANTE is never spelled out.
I vote: Destruction, Assassination, Nihilism, Terror, and Extortion
Ronald Byrd suggests: Directorate Attached to National Terrorist Endeavors...Neo-Nazi would also work well there.
Markus Raymond suggests: Deutsch Arische Nationalisten Terror Einheit which would mean German Aryan Nationalists Terror Unit.
I'd guess that Stein had to have some sort of enhancement (beyond his braces) to remain active at eighty years old plus. Such treatment might have allowed him to survive a laser blast to the chest. The same possibility of survival is true of Beck.
The German reunification doesn't have to be topical. While the date of the fall of the Berlin Wall remains fixed in 1989 (see below from the Wikipedia), the formation of DANTE did not have to follow it immediately. A cabal could have made plans before going public years or even decades later.
On August 23, 1989, Hungary removed its border restrictions with Austria, and in September more than 13,000 East Germans escaped through Hungary. Mass demonstrations against the government in East Germany began in the fall of 1989. Leader of the German Democratic Republic, Erich Honecker, resigned on October 18, 1989. He was replaced by a short-lived successor, Egon Krenz, a few days later.
The travel restrictions for East Germans were somewhat lifted by the new government on November 9, 1989. After a misunderstanding, G�nter Schabowski announced in a press conference that all restrictions had been abandoned, and tens of thousands of people immediately went to the Wall where the border guards opened access points and allowed them through. November 9 is thus considered the date when the Wall fell.
Holy Dr. Evil, Batman! Stein has Captain America at his mercy, then leaves him unsupervised and strapped to a table, intending to kill him later? Super-villains always do this, and it is so often their downfall. He even explained his secret plans (so Cap could foil them once he got free), and Captain America easily and quickly blew up DANTE's headquarters, hinting that perhaps it had a large, flashing red button labeled "Self-Destruct."
The Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, and Strange Tales one shots in 1995 were all works of art! Highly recommended. Despite the above paragraph!
There's a guy who looks somewhat like Emil Stein in the flashback to the postwar V Battalion days in Citizen V and the V Battalion I#1.
--Sean Curtain
Profile by Snood.
No known connection to:
DANTE - Shadow Consortium, created Armada. Scientific genius --Nova II#11
DANTE ?? - former bodyguard to Christine Gallhager, hands cut off by Agent X, who then convinced him to ditch Gallhager and split the profits with him
--Agent X#8
DANTE ?? - boyfriend of Christian Frost, deported when framed by Winston Frost--Emma Frost#4
DANTE ALIGHIERI - the protagonist of Milton's Dante's Inferno, enemy of Belasco--KaZar the Savage#11?
other terrorist cabals
Emil Stein has no known connection to:
STEIN, CHASE – see TALKBALK--Runaways#1 (2-6� Talkback)
STEIN, JANET – Pride, mother of Talkback. High tech inventor --Runaways#1
STEIN, VICTOR - Pride. High tech inventor, father of Talkback--Runaways#1
other "Stein" characters
Beck has no known connection to:
BECK, ELMORE - father of Mysterio--Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man#1
BECK, HENRIETTA - mother of Mysterio--Webspinners: Tales of Spider-Man#1
BECK, SPENCER - Wasp's agent --Avengers I#379/2
BECK, - friend of Venom, wf --Venom: The Madness#1
BEKK - warrior of Crystalium--Crystar#7 (8-11
other Beck characters
Emil Stein
A former Nazi agent, he opposed Captain America "a couple of time" during World War II, and Cap referenced him as "right up there with the Red Skull and Zemo."
In the modern era, he worked in East Germany until forced to flee during the German reunification in 1989. At some point he organized a group of former East German secret police to form DANTE. He enlisted Beck and masterminded the assassination attempt on Nishimura, but though he could have just fatally poisoned Nishimura (rather than just giving him intestinal issues), he chose a more bold route, which he felt would be better remembered. He also left Captain America unsupervised, which allowed Cap to: (1) Break free, (2) destroy DANTE's ship, (3) save Iron Man's life, and (4) kill Beck, stopping him from killing Nishimura. In addition, it was Iron Man who stopped Stein from killing Nishimura and killed Stein. Bad move.
After Beck's death, Stein prepared to slay both Nishimura and his daughter Niki, but the otherwise immobilized Iron Man removed much of his armor and tackled Stein, using his laser cane to blow a hole through his chest.
Stein wore a crude exoskeleton which granted him some degree of enhanced strength despite his advanced age. He used a cane which could discharge a deadly laser blast.
--Tales of Suspense II#1 (1(fb), 1
A premiere assassin, after successfully completing a mission to kill Amir Cullah, he was taken aboard DANTE's ship and made an offer by Stein. Beck had no interest in the money Stein would have offered him, but he was interested in the power to become an even better assassin. For DANTE, Beck stole Nazi Sleeper technology from a Parisian agency (alleged to be the equivalent of SHIELD), which, combined with computer research technology taken from a firm in Texas, information from Stark Enterprises regarding how machinery could be made to interact with the human body, and technology developed in East Germany--a means to graft plastic and alloy devices onto and into human tissue, resulting in a symbiotic mechanism, was used to transform Beck into a powerful cyborg warrior.
Beck was sent to assassinate Nishimura in the most sadistic manner he could think of. At first, Beck felt somewhat detached from reality in his new cyborg body, but after battling Captain America, his hunger for victory and death returned. Captain America initially attacked him in a suit of armor taken from DANTE's headquarters, but Cap noticed that while Beck was absorbing any energy assaults, his skin was scratched in one of their struggles. Unable to keep up with or injure Beck in the armor, Cap stripped it off and managed to knock Beck off balance, skewering him on a multi-spike ornament.
--Tales of Suspense II#1
Tales of Suspense II#1, p40 (ship)
p2 (Stein);
p6, panel 3 (Stein face);
p29, panel 3 (World War II);
p5, panel 1 (Beck normal);
p54 (Beck cyborg);
p7, panel 7 (armored agents)
Tales of Suspense II#1 (January, 1995) - James Robinson (writer), Colin MacNeil (artist), Marc McLaurin (editor)
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Google.HashCode.ConsoleApplication.Practice
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Représente la zone de dessin.
    /// </summary>
    public class Painting
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Zone de dessin sous forme de tableau à 2 dimensions.
        /// </summary>
        private char[,] DrawingZone { get; set; }
        /// <summary>
        /// Nombre de colonnes (abscisses, x).
        /// </summary>
        private int ColumnsCount { get; set; }
        /// <summary>
        /// Nombre de lignes (ordonnées, y).
        /// </summary>
        private int RowsCount { get; set; }

        /// <summary>
        /// Initialise une nouvelle instance de la zone de dessin.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="columnsCount">Nombre de colonnes (abscisses, x).</param>
        /// <param name="rowsCount">Nombre de lignes (ordonnées, y).</param>
        public Painting(int columnsCount, int rowsCount)
        {
            this.RowsCount = rowsCount;
            this.ColumnsCount = columnsCount;
            this.DrawingZone = new char[rowsCount, columnsCount];
            // Fill drawing zone with blanks :
            for (int rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < this.RowsCount; rowIndex++)
                for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < this.ColumnsCount; columnIndex++)
                    this.DrawingZone[rowIndex, columnIndex] = '.';
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Initialise une nouvelle instance de la zone de dessin
        /// avec un dessin spécifié.
        /// </summary>
        public Painting(string drawing)
        {
            var rows = drawing.Split(new string[] { Environment.NewLine }, StringSplitOptions.None);
            this.RowsCount = rows.Length;
            this.ColumnsCount = rows[0].Length;
            this.DrawingZone = new char[this.RowsCount, this.ColumnsCount];
            // Fill drawing zone :
            for (int rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < this.RowsCount; rowIndex++)
                for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < this.ColumnsCount; columnIndex++)
                    this.DrawingZone[rowIndex, columnIndex] = rows[rowIndex][columnIndex];
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Indique si le <see cref="Point"/> spécifié est inclus dans la zone de dessin.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="point">Vrai, si le <see cref="Point"/> spécifié est inclus dans la zone de dessin.
        /// Faux, sinon.</param>
        public bool Contains(Point point)
        {
            return this.Contains(point.X, point.Y);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Indique si le point formé par les coordonnées spécifiées est inclus dans la zone de dessin.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="point">Vrai, si le point formé par les coordonnées spécifiées est inclus dans la zone de dessin.
        /// Faux, sinon.</param>
        public bool Contains(int columnIndex, int rowIndex)
        {
            return this.ContainsAbscissa(columnIndex) && this.ContainsOrdinate(rowIndex);
        }

        private bool ContainsAbscissa(int columnIndex)
        {
            return columnIndex >= 0 && columnIndex < this.ColumnsCount;
        }

        private bool ContainsOrdinate(int rowIndex)
        {
            return rowIndex >= 0 && rowIndex < this.RowsCount;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Paint the point given by abscissa and ordinate.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="columnIndex">Abscissa (x).</param>
        /// <param name="rowIndex">Ordinate (y).</param>
        public void Paint(int columnIndex, int rowIndex)
        {
            if (!this.ContainsAbscissa(columnIndex))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("columnIndex");
            if (!this.ContainsOrdinate(rowIndex))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("rowIndex");
            this.DrawingZone[rowIndex, columnIndex] = '#';
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Erase the point given by abscissa and ordinate.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="columnIndex">Abscissa (x).</param>
        /// <param name="rowIndex">Ordinate (y).</param>
        public void Erase(int columnIndex, int rowIndex)
        {
            if (!this.ContainsAbscissa(columnIndex))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("columnIndex");
            if (!this.ContainsOrdinate(rowIndex))
                throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException("rowIndex");
            this.DrawingZone[rowIndex, columnIndex] = '.';
        }

        public void Display()
        {
            for (int rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < this.RowsCount; rowIndex++)
            {
                for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < this.ColumnsCount; columnIndex++)
                    Console.Write(this.DrawingZone[rowIndex, columnIndex]);
                // Draw a new line unless for the last row :
                if (rowIndex < this.RowsCount - 1)
                    Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            var capacity = (this.RowsCount * this.ColumnsCount) + this.RowsCount;
            var draw = new StringBuilder(capacity);
            for (int rowIndex = 0; rowIndex < this.RowsCount; rowIndex++)
            {
                for (int columnIndex = 0; columnIndex < this.ColumnsCount; columnIndex++)
                    draw.Append(this.DrawingZone[rowIndex, columnIndex]);
                // Draw a new line unless for the last row :
                if (rowIndex < this.RowsCount - 1)
                    draw.AppendLine();
            }
            return draw.ToString();
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The 21st century has seen a steady growth of the importance of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). It was there that the Great Game, a struggle for supremacy and influence, was played between the British and the Russian empires in the 19th century. Nowadays, the metaphor of the New Great Game is employed to refer to the rivalry for power over Central Asia between such actors of world politics as China, Russia and the USA, along with the European Union, Iran and Turkey. The region's appeal and significance to international politics derive from its huge oil and gas reserves, its geopolitical situation, growing threat of international terrorism (born in Afghanistan and Pakistan), drug trafficking, migrations and religious fundamentalism. This volume adds to the practical and theoretical dimensions of the debate on Central Asia. As such, it will be of interest to researchers, analysts, students, journalists and all those interested in international relations.


In European Equity Markets the pan-European Stoxx 600 closed down 1.36 percent, with all sectors and major bourses in negative territory. Europe's auto stocks were the worst performers Thursday on the back of earnings news. Fiat Chrysler fell 12 percent after the carmaker posted softer-than-expected profit guidance. Looking at individual stocks, U.K. medical products maker Smith & Nephew rose 6 percent, to the top of the Stoxx 600, after its earnings report showed revenue growth in line with analysts' expectations.
In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar edged higher against the euro on Thursday after the European Commission slashed its economic growth forecasts for the euro zone due to the expected impact of trade tensions and other challenges for the bloc's largest countries. In a quarterly economic forecast, the EU executive revised down its estimates for inflation in the 19-country currency bloc next year and also cut euro zone growth estimates for this year and next. The euro was 0.10 percent lower against the greenback, on pace for its fourth session of losses.
In Commodities Markets oil fell on Thursday after data showing a rise in U.S. inventories weighed on sentiment already rattled by the global economy, though prices were buoyed by the prospect that supply could fall short of global demand. Brent crude oil futures were last down 50 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $62.19 a barrel. U.S. crude futures were down 75 cents, or 1.39 percent, at $53.26. The oil price also came under pressure as weekly data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday showed an unwelcome increase in stocks of crude oil.
In US Equity Markets stocks extended losses on Thursday after a CNBC report said a meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping was "highly unlikely" to take place by a key March deadline, set by the two countries for reaching a trade deal. The S&P 500 was down 36.50 points, or 1.34 percent, at 2,695.11 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 112.60 points, or 1.53 percent, at 7,262.68. Twitter Inc fell 7.3 percent after the company forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates and reported a drop in users for the fourth quarter.
In Bond Markets Germany's 10-year bond yield fell on Thursday to its lowest level in over two years, taking a step closer to zero percent, after sharp cuts to the European Commission's growth and inflation forecasts fueled concern about the economic outlook. Germany's 10-year bond yield fell over 5 bps to 0.105 percent, its lowest since November 2016 and set for its biggest one-day fall in five weeks. French and Dutch 10-year bond yields fell to their lowest since late 2016 at around 0.54 percent and 0.22 percent respectively.


text:
In Creativity, Education, Mental Objects
A Commentary on the Evaluation of the Creative Partnerships Cultural Education Programme2010-11-032010-11-03https://movingfinger.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/output-onlinegiftools-2.gifMoving Fingerhttps://movingfinger.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/output-onlinegiftools-2.gif200px200px
This modest piece deals with a vital question: how can arts practitioners contribute to school education? And what educational value to they add? I worked with David Ewens and Stephen King in response to a request from Munira Mirza, the Mayor's cultural advisor, to comment on the robustness and validity of a report by Price Waterhouse on the work of Creative Partnerships (CP) which helps connect schools with professionals from the cultural industries, such as actors or directors, who then work with children up to the age of 16. It was launched in 2002 and was originally run by Arts Council England (ACE), who transferred responsibility for delivering the scheme to Creativity, Cultural and Education (CCE), a national body, in early 2009. It costs $38m per year.
CCE commissioned Price-Waterhouse-Cooper (PWC) to estimate the value which CP has contributed to the UK economy. Their report[i] concludes that CP yielded a £15 return for every £1 invested, applying a cost-benefit approach which they argue is compatible with the 'Green Book',[ii] the Treasury's guidelines for appraising and evaluating publicly funded projects.
The Arts Council confirmed in November 2010 that CP will be wound up at the end of 2010/11. There is widespread acceptance that there are some benefits to 'cultural education programmes' which provide schoolchildren with extra-curricular cultural inputs, and similar programmes like London Schools Arts Service (LONSAS) remain operational. Since the GLA has oversight of London's educational and cultural needs, it has an interest in identifying good practice in such projects. However there is no generally accepted approach for evaluating their success. To this end the Mayor's Cultural Advisor, Munira Mirza, asked GLA's Intelligence Unit to comment on the robustness and validity of the PWC report.
The PWC report's method raised profound issues of methodology, including the way in which educational gains should be evaluated, the use of secondary data in place of primary data to measure educational gains, and the use of 'Green Book' cost-benefit methodology to monetise what are essentially non-monetizable benefits which are visible in the educational gains for pupils with numerous benefit to society (including savings in subsequent social care and crime costs) but do not necessarily translate into the narrow framework of gains to income. Our response drew on the best available educational expertise, and commented on these questions.
[i] Price Waterhouse Cooper (2010) The costs and Benefits of Creative Partnerships. Available at www.creativitycultureeducation.org/research-impact/exploreresearch/pwc-report,57,RAR.html, [accessed 1/11/2010]
[ii] HM Treasury (2003) THE GREEN BOOK: Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government. Available at www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/green_book_complete.pdf [accessed 1/11/2010]
Culture and the City – presentation to Winnipeg conference on 'My Cities Still Breathing'Cities, Creativity, Mental Objects, Policy
Strategies for Creative Spaces: A London – Toronto case studyCities, Creativity, Mental Objects, Politics

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
by Circle - Stories, on Oct 27, 2021 6:20:20 PM
(Loh Kean Yew competing at the 2021 Denmark Open. Photo Credit - Badmintonphoto)
Team Singapore shuttler Loh Kean Yew spent 4 weeks (departed from Singapore in late August) in Dubai, training with the reigning Olympic Men's Singles champion, Viktor Axelsen. The 24 year old Singaporean was invited together with 4 other players (in the Men's top 60 rankings), to spar and train with the Danish star at his new base at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex. Also in the training camp was India's world number 24, Lakshya Sen.
(Loh Kean Yew with Viktor Axelsen. Photo Credit - Loh Kean Yew's Instagram Page)
Following the end of his training stint in the Middle East, Kean Yew embarked on yet another training stint. This time, the newly minted Olympian spent 3 weeks with the French national team at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance near Paris. And after almost 2 months of training in 2 continents, Singapore's top Men's Singles player began his campaign at the 2021 Dutch Open.
The tournament (near Amsterdam) represented his first competitive event since his Olympic debut in July at Tokyo 2020. And the reigning SEA Games Silver medallist began with a 21-14, 21-16 victory over Vladimir Malkov (Russia) in the round of 32. That winning momentum continued as the 2nd seed blazed his way past 3 other opponents without dropping a single set, to reach the grand final. And standing before him was the defending champion and top seed, Lakshya Sen.
(Loh Kean Yew after winning the 2021 Dutch Open. Photo Credit : Rene Lagerwaard)
Having trained with the Indian shuttler just a few weeks prior in Dubai, Kean Yew was able to apply the lessons and newly acquired gameplay techniques, to triumph 21-12, 21-16 in less than 40 minutes. The victory marked his 6th career title and his 1st since the 2019 Thailand Masters.
"With the Dutch Open, from the start, my target has been to go to the finals. I'm glad I hit the target. During the tournament, I had a good start and managed to ride on the momentum. This is a boost to my motivation and I hope to carry on this momentum to gain more points and continue to rise in the world rankings, which will allow me to play in bigger tournaments," said a victorious Kean Yew.
The Technical Director of Singapore's Badminton Association Martin Andrew, was also delighted with Kean Yew's return to form, especially after an 18-month absence from overseas events due to Covid-19.
"Kean Yew has just had a good training stint where he's been exposed to different top levels and styles of player. Training in Dubai with the Olympic Champion was valuable and of course a high level. Then he went to France to train with their national players before a week long period in Holland reuniting with Coach Mulyo and two other Singapore players before playing in the Dutch Open - which he has just won!
He's been able to build in his good performances in the Olympics and continue to develop his attacking dynamic style of play. He will now move onto the Danish Open and French Open in the next 2 weeks followed by the Hylo Open in Germany. Kean Yew will then travel to play two tournaments in Indonesia before the World Championships in Spain. So by the time he returns to Singapore, we will be getting ready for Christmas!"
(Terry Hee and Loh Kean Hean after winning the Dutch Open Men's Doubles. Photo Credit : S'pore Badminton Association FB Page)
It was double joy for the Loh family as his older brother Kean Hean was also successful, in winning the Doubles title at the Dutch Open. The 26 year old and his partner Terry Hee took down Malaysia's Tan Wee Kiong and Tan Kian Meng 21-14, 18-21, 22-20 for only, their 2nd international title as a duo. It was also a rare moment for the Loh brothers to be lifting trophies at the same event.
"It feels amazing. Since he has been traveling a lot, we rarely get to spend much time together. So having to get a title together, especially with us getting victories in the same competition, the only thing I can say is that the feeling is indescribable," said Kean Hean.
Following the Dutch Open title win, Kean Yew travelled to Odense to compete in the Denmark Open. Just 2 days after his Amsterdam victory, the Singaporean would go on to meet a familiar face in the tournament's 2nd seed and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion, Viktor Axelsen. In the round of 32 encounter, the 24 year old put up a strong challenge against the Dane, who was competing in front of his countrymen. And in the end, Axelsen triumphed in straight sets.
"It was never going to be an easy match playing against Viktor, an athlete with such an exemplary track record. It went down 19-21, 14-21 and concludes my 3rd meeting with Viktor and my Denmark Open campaign. Managed to Thank the crowd in Odense, and to everyone for the encouragement," commented Kean Yew.
Losing to the defending Olympic champion on his homecourt is certainly, nothing the Singaporean shuttler should be disappointed nor be embarrassed about. The 24 year old, "gave his all" and now looks ahead to the French Open, followed by a trip to Germany and Indonesia. And with the latest confirmation of the SEA Games in Hanoi taking place in mid-May 2022, that should serve as the added determination for the region's 2nd best shuttler to continue to improve his game and get ready for a 2022 campaign, which will be historic in multiple ways.
Best of Luck, Loh Kean Yew !!
Raj Kumar's been in Singapore's sports reporting and broadcasting scene since 1997. He was the former Sports Editor and Presenter on Power 98FM (SAFRA Radio) and 938LIVE (Mediacorp Radio). Over the years, he travelled to report on Team Singapore at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympiad, including 4 SEA Games cities. As a familiar voice and face on Radio, TV and online sports, he has produced and hosted more than 650 talkshows and programmes.
Tokyo 2020: TeamSG's Tandem Para-cycling duo of Steve Tee and Ang Kee Meng, shrugged off their recent training injuries to achieve Personal Best!
TeamSG's Feng Tianwei sets up a showdown against World No 1 Chen Meng in the last 8, at the star-studded WTT Cup Finals in Singapore!
Team Singapore |
Loh Kean Yew |


Born at Vercheres, Quebec, and graduated from Joliette College, he came to Manitoba from Montreal around 1886. He worked in a government job for a time then became secretary-treasurer of St. Boniface. He later practiced law and served two terms as Mayor of St. Boniface, the first in 1907.
He and wife Alexina Pariseau had nine children: Graziella (b 1875), Alice (b 1878), Annette (b 1881), Zotique (b 1882), Romain (b 1885), Jacques (b 1891), Aime (b 1893), and Armand (b 1898).
A severe stroke in 1914 left him permanently disabled. He died at his St. Boniface home, 472 Des Meurons Street, on 25 August 1921.
"Ex-Mayor Bertrand of St. Boniface, Dead" Manitoba Free Press, 25 August 1921.


When northwest Oregon native and journalist LeeAnn Kriegh moved to Bend in 2012, she fell in love with the trees and birds, flowers and critters. Wanting to learn more about them, she began sifting through nature guidebooks, but wasn't satisfied by what she found on local bookstore shelves.
Kriegh's book, "The Nature of Bend," which was released in 2016, makes her one of about 40 Central Oregon authors who have their titles available at local bookshops and libraries. A smaller slice — around half a dozen — have written books with outdoor themes, such as guidebooks to nature or recreation.
But for many like Kriegh, having one's name on the spine of a book is a crowning achievement — being a published author. And Kriegh encourages others to do the same. Publishing a book isn't an impossible, pie-in-the-sky dream. It's a workable goal that can be achieved through pragmatic steps, according to multiple authors and publishers.
You should be ready to make a serious time commitment toward the topic you'll dedicate a book to, Kriegh said. She spent an estimated 2,000 hours working on her full-color guidebook, which she dedicated to 350 species. That's about 20 hours each week for 2½ years, including weeks off, she said.
Kriegh, 46, initially set off on the traditional publishing route by sending a detailed proposal to a book publisher. While she waited, the full-time copywriter who owns WordDoc, a writing and editing business, began plugging away at the book. Half a year passed before the publisher declined Kriegh's proposal. Central Oregon seemed too small a market, she recalled them saying.
"You wouldn't think that would take six months to decide," Kriegh said with a laugh. During that time she decided she wanted to keep complete control of all the book's elements — how it was going to look, the voice she would use, how it would be distributed, rather than court another publisher.
She opted for self-publishing, which means not only would she pick up the check for printing, but she would also assume the editing, marketing and distribution responsibilities usually handled by a publisher.
Kriegh coordinated with more than 40 photographers, both professional and amateur, who donated about 650 images to her book. She also conferred with local naturalists and scientific papers for the fun, engaging details she was after. Kriegh outsourced layout duties to a designer.
"It was a fun challenge," she said.
Kriegh established her own publishing company, Tempo Press, and ordered two print runs from a small Illinois press.
"(Establishing) Tempo Press was just for fun, so there would be a nod to my beloved dog (Tempo) on the spine," said Kriegh, adding that she funnels all book proceeds through her writing and editing business.
Kriegh is currently working on "The Nature of Portland," a similar book she hopes will appeal to an urban audience. She'll stick with self-publishing and will again visit bookshop after bookshop, introducing herself and persuading staff to stock her book.
At Dudley's Bookshop Cafe, "The Nature of Bend" is propped face-out in the "Local Interest" section, which includes guidebooks, Central Oregon histories and other genres tackled by local authors. More than 40 titles cram the section.
Along with "Nature of Bend," other locally themed guidebooks, such as Jason Chinchen's "Central Oregon Bouldering" and Kim Cooper Findling's "Bend, Oregon Daycations," are steady sellers. Dudley's sells three to five of most guidebooks each week — and more during summer.
Bend resident Lucas Alberg made signing a book deal look easy. Maybe that's because he's experienced in both professional writing and marketing. Alberg, 39, has worked as Hydro Flask's public relations and communications manager since 2012. While visiting an outdoor trade show in Salt Lake City several years ago, Alberg introduced himself to employees staffing the booth belonging to Wilderness Press, an outdoor publisher. The accomplished runner told them about his idea for a guidebook dedicated to Central Oregon trail running.
The Wilderness Press representatives were intrigued and told him to send a book proposal. Alberg returned to Bend and fired off the proposal he had already prepared with help from a friend who had written a few Northwest mountain biking guidebooks. For good measure, Alberg also sent it out to a couple other publishers. Tim Jackson, the senior acquisitions editor at AdventureKEEN, which publishes the Wilderness Press imprint, received Alberg's proposal. Jackson sifts through about 100 solicited and unsolicited submissions each year. He acquires about 12 to 15 new books. He also commissions 20 or so revisions of titles with enduring relevancy. Alberg's proposal stood out, Jackson said. The nine-page document was "an example of the more professional, organized and very detailed outline we receive," Jackson said, adding that Alberg's previously published articles, most recently in Bend Magazine, spoke to his reliability and skill. Alberg also sent sample chapters, which detailed 6- to 8-mile loops at Smith Rock State Park, Whychus Canyon Preserve and the Big Obsidian Flow Trail.
"It was very nicely done," Jackson said.
Alberg spent about eight months compiling descriptions of 50 Central Oregon running loops appropriate for particular seasons. Wilderness Press' in-house cartographer took the GPX files Alberg created with his smart watch while running the loops and turned them into the book's maps. Jackson handled some editing duties while a copy editor handled the nitty-gritty and a marketing manager took care of promotion. Wilderness Press released "Trail Running Bend and Central Oregon" and sent Alberg on a small book tour around the state. It culminated with a reading at Powell's City of Books in Portland. Afterward, Alberg was asked to sign a register of visiting authors, some of whose titles have appeared on The New York Times' best-sellers list.
"It was truly an honor," Alberg said.
A parent to young children, Alberg has recently finished a children's book that he has begun shopping around. He's also planning for a memoir about his time as Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia during a period of violent upheaval. But he demystified the possibility of book authorship when he sought to tackle the feasible, straightforward nature of a guidebook.


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Peleloe Tepoe, een plaats in Sipaliwini in Suriname
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Home » From System Integrator to Solution Innovator
Integration & Network SolutionsTrends & Industry Issues
From System Integrator to Solution Innovator
KEYWORDS financial trends / security integrators / security systems
End users' expectations of the security integrator are changing dramatically, from the services integrators offer to how they offer them and how they are priced. Integrators discussed this trend, including topics such as the greatest changes affecting their businesses, how they continue to differentiate themselves, and how they envision the integrator of tomorrow — when they came together as part of a panel discussion at the Security Industry Association's recent Securing New Ground conference, held in October 2014 in New York.
Panelists at this special session titled, "Redefining Systems Integration: From System Integrator to Solution Innovator," included:
Carey Boethel, president and CEO, Securadyne Systems LLC.
Paul Thomas, president and COO, Northland Control Systems Inc.
Eric Yunag, president and CEO, Dakota Security Systems Inc.
The panel was moderated by Ray Dean, president, Security Oversight Group LLC.
The following article includes lengthy excerpts from the panel session.
MARKET STRATEGIES
Ray Dean: Can you give us a little detail on how you go to market?
Carey Boethel: We tend to focus on facets of industry that view security as mission-critical, specifically those that face regulatory requirements and dynamic risk environments. We take the solution all the way from conception, early needs analysis, threat vulnerability assessment, and master planning; through installation, service and maintenance after the sale, and also record our strategy as hosted/managed services. If we do it right, we're there for many years with the customer, helping them manage, administer, and then optimize that system over time.
Paul Thomas: We've been around about 30 years. Seven or eight years ago, we went through a reinvention process and totally reinvented our strategy. We actually refer to our firm as a program management engineering firm versus a security integrator. Although we do the traditional security integrator functions, it's not really a key component of our growth strategy.
We also changed our strategy on our customer base and became very, very narrow. We focused on just high-tech enterprise companies that are global. We are a global company. We have offices in Shanghai, Singapore, London; we're opening one right now in India. We have another one in D.C. and one in California. We were in 60 countries last year with our customers. Working with these high-tech companies, it's very difficult to integrate yourself into them quickly. We really only bring on one to two customers a year. We also have embedded staff at those customers. We have anywhere from two to six people that are on board, integrated in the security departments of our customers.
Our main customers are companies like Apple, Facebook, Google. We realized there was another group of customers like Twitter, Uber — that type of customer — that just doesn't have the security staff on board yet, because they're $1 billion, $2 billion, over 1,000 employees, but yet they need everything that we offer to our big customers. So we recently opened up an operations center at our own facility, 24/7, and started a managed service division. We're trying to change that model and say we're a virtual operations center versus just a managed service center.
n Eric Yunag: We host security systems as a traditional systems integrator. Our company is 35 years old. We focus heavily on what we refer to as economically insensitive verticals with unique security challenges. We're looking to find relationships with clients that have very unique problems to solve and business issues that they'd like us to deal with. For us that manifested itself primarily in financial, industrial, healthcare and education. Inside of those verticals, the strategy is if we can't find one of three Rs to address — in terms of risk, regulation, or producing return — we really don't have any business being there.
Our geography is not global; we're predominantly in what we refer to as "the fly-over states" of the upper Midwest — from Montana east to Chicago and from the Canadian border, south through Kansas.
GREATEST CHANGES IN THE INDUSTRY
Ray Dean: What are you seeing that's changing our industry?
Paul Thomas: We deal with high-tech customers that are in the social media space, and they're growing faster than I've ever seen companies grow in my life. So these customers want change, drive change, need change. They're almost always trying to evolve.
Our customers are coming to us now, because they don't know where else to go, asking us about big data, about data correlation, about software as a service, about much more wireless than we see today. How do we do much bigger mesh networks? How do we get rid of cable? How do we get rid of panels? They see it as an unnecessary evil in the middle of this solution to have access at a door, but yet at a panel having to make some of those decisions. They talk about the Internet of Things. Why isn't the door part of the Internet of Things? Why isn't the camera part of the Internet of Things? Do we need all of that other stuff?
I think we're going to see other people enter this space very, very quickly because other industries are going to drive this change.
Cyber security is another great thing that's popping up right now. We're getting asked tons of questions about cyber security, which we know very little about. I refer to our learning curve right now as just-in-time learning. We get a question today and we're supposed to be experts tomorrow. We're spending a lot of time just learning about all this stuff.
We have customers that are monitoring social media around virtual spaces around their corporate campuses, and they're asking us for that solution. They want to know all the social media that's happening within one mile of their campus: Who's sending videos from their phone? Who's sending pictures from their phone? Yes, there are people that deliver those solutions. We have found we can do it, but that's not our core business. We do readers, cameras — now we find ourselves in this other space.
Eric Yunag: Paul has a different view of it, of course, with the type of clients he deals with. I think that manifests itself for all of us in a sense that what our customers perceive as value and what is valuable is really changing under our feet right now. The ability to procure a product and install a set of products is just not perceived as valuable anymore and increasingly less so.
What our clients are really looking for is the ability to address risk overall. The problem is, how do we address risk? Risk takes different shapes in different industries with different types of clients. The onus is on us to be able to adapt to that and to be able to bring the solutions that comprehensively start to deal with risk overall.
For us, as security practitioners, to be dogmatic about it and say, "Here's what we're going to do relative to the risk that you have," I don't think is going to cut it in the future. I think a lot of people, manufacturers in particular, are starting to think about that a little bit differently.
The Internet of Things introduces potentially more risk into situations — not less. What is it that brings business value to our clients? And how do we help mitigate risk across a broad spectrum, and not just look at it in a traditional vein of the products that we sell?
Carey Boethel: You have this interesting dichotomy that is occurring. On the supply side, there is commoditization. IP cameras are for sale on the Internet with full price transparency and, essentially, unrestricted access to the product. On the other side, you've got an increasingly difficult risk environment to deal with. End users look to a variety of different players in the supply chain, including the systems integrator that helps them solve those problems. It's not done anymore with product or the installation of product. We have to find new ways to create value.
We're focusing at Securadyne on doing that on the very front end of the customer relationship and on the back end of the relationship. What that means is being much more consultative in our dealings with customers early in the sales cycle; looking to solve real problems, enterprise risk problems.
Then at the back end of the life cycle, improving the value proposition beyond just service and maintenance and getting into a more intimate relationship with the customer, where we're hosting and managing systems, where we're administering the systems and functioning essentially as an outsource component of that end user's corporate security and public safety function.
In the middle part of that life cycle, there is the consulting and design, the deployment of technology, and the use and optimization of it. The middle part of that equation is seeing margin pressure, and the commoditization of sensors is driving that margin pressure. It's forcing us to get out of what, historically, has been our comfort zone and get more serious about the front end of the relationship and the back end of the relationship.
Professional services and consulting services embedded deeper within the customer's organization will drive more value that really transcends the product. I think that's the future for integrators.
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES YOU FROMOTHER INTEGRATORS?
Ray Dean:?In the marketplace, potential clients will frequently seek information amongst their peers during the system integrator selection process. They check references. They dig deeply into some completed projects that you have. What they learn usually weighs very heavily, in terms of how they make that selection. What would your clients say differentiates you from your competitors?
Eric Yunag: When we dig deep into that, the thing that comes out most often is the concept of partnership. When you ask our best clients how we engage with them, it really is a business partnership in the sense that we operate at a business level with stakeholders all across an organization. In our best relationships, we find ways to help bring business value beyond just the core security functions of our clients' organizations.
As an example, we have a manufacturing client who we work with. The initial entry to the client, of course, there was a lot of interaction with facilities and security and the CSO type people within the organization. But as the relationship developed and we found more opportunities to speak with people inside the organization in operations and safety and that kind of thing, we started to leverage systems for quality assurance with products, being able to extend the manufacturing process, demonstrations and safety things. And we just found different ways all throughout the organization to bring business value to the investment they were making in systems.
Carey Boethel: The thing we hear more than anything else is our domain knowledge — our knowledge of our customers' business environment and operating environment. We don't try to be all things to all people. We tend to invest pretty heavily in understanding and penetrating markets where we can become a subject matter expert. As we do that, as we learn about our customer and our customer's customer, we're able to have a different level of dialogue, and the solution tends to take a different form. It's more business-oriented and ROI-based than it is subjective and loss-prevention based.
Paul Thomas: For us it's a couple things. One is customer service. I know that sounds pretty old-fashioned, but we preach customer service through every touch for the customer. We are always letting our employees know how we're touching them, because it's not just the customer-facing people. It's everything from the quality of our invoicing, through our collections, through our purchasing department, through our shipping and receiving, to the driver that's just delivering material to the customer.
I think they would talk a lot about our ability of being transparent with them. A customer wants to know anything about us, anything about our pricing — we're open. We sit down with procurement and show them the costs of our employees. We show them the burdens of our employees. We show our markups. We show markups on material. We show cost of material. We agree that what we're trying to do is get a fair margin for what we do — and we do. So if we have the conversation around that area, it goes extremely well.
I think the other thing they would talk about is our ability to deliver extremely elegant, nimble solutions. We work very, very hard to not deliver status quo solutions — to really look at everything from the cost to just truly how lightweight is that solution across their systems, as we're touching IT and those sort of things.
INVESTMENT IN PROJECT MANAGERS
Ray Dean:For integrators whose reputations depend on delivering projects on time, on budget, and within scope, skillful project management is a major differentiator between you and your competitors. What investments do you make in your workforce — specifically, security project managers — to ensure you meet or exceed your client's expectations? What does tomorrow's security project manager look like?
Eric Yunag: Our primary mechanism for project management is the Security Industry Association's Certified Security Project Management (CSPM) credential. Of the 300-some-odd CSPMs, I think, that SIA has produced in the 10 years that the program has been in existence, we have, I believe, eight or nine of those as an organization.
For us, it normalizes the expectations for what it means to be a project manager in the security industry and helps us credential those guys in a way that is meaningful for our customers. What is most meaningful for our clients is the consistency of delivery. At the end of the day, for our customers of any significance, consistently delivering a solution across whatever their footprint looks like is one of the most important things they expect us to bring to the table.
The other part of it, in terms of what changes in the future, is the increasing focus on truly limiting the risk in personal security outcomes, and not just delivering a technology solution. While that falls on us as an organization as a whole, that touch point of the project manager or the person who's on the ground while a solution is delivered and interfacing with all the stakeholders inside an organization is, in my mind, a critical pivot point.
Are the solutions that we're delivering truly accomplishing a security outcome? What is the point of buying all this technology if we're not actually producing a security outcome of some kind? Of course, it's incumbent upon our organization as a whole to deliver that. That's the thing we're stressing most with our project managers now, not just taking what's on paper here and ensuring that it gets delivered in a consistent and timely basis and efficiently, but are we really accomplishing something that is meaningful to our clients?
Carey Boethel: It's a major area of investment for us. The project manager is probably the most important role in our organization. They touch the customer more than anybody else. They are essentially our profit managers. We all want to please our customers, and we go to great lengths to do so, but there's an art to doing that while, at the same time, managing scope. If you don't manage scope well, you're not going to be able to please your customers over the long term because you're not going to make any money, and you're not going to be healthy. We have to do that.
So we spend a lot of money here. This year alone we put 25 project managers through the CSPM course. Our program managers have the Project Management Institute, PMP, certification. We have a program management office that functions a little like Paul's company, in that they manage large-scale local deployments.
So these are certifications that are really table stakes for our organization, and that's the first line of investment.
The second line of investment focuses on how to create a better customer experience. You can't take a project manager, say, from the construction industry, with all the requisite certifications, and put them in an end user board room and expect them to create a positive customer experience. At least, my experience has been it doesn't work that way. There's an approach that has to be taken. You have to manage the profits of the company while, at the same time, managing the expectations of the customer — and that's the project manager.
Paul Thomas: We've changed the word "project manager" to "program manager," again, probably due to the marketplace, where we've managed hundreds of projects across any one customer and that belongs to a program manager. So we have program managers and project managers.
We used to get these guys from our industry. We used to search long and hard. We would want a guy with 15 years, 18 years in his pocket, so he could just come in and start working day one.
About five years ago, through QBRs, our customers came back to us and said, "That's great, but that's not what we need. We need guys that work with our real estate group, our M&A group. We need guys that work with our IT group. We need guys that actually can sit down with our facilities group when we're doing an M&A and help plan this stuff out."
So we switched and started hiring folks out of two different college programs: the construction management program, somebody with a CM degree, and an IT management degree. We found that those guys could learn our industry extremely fast.
So we're looking for credentials after a degree program in PMI because that means something to facilities, or that means something to the real estate group. Then we're also looking for credentials in the security space. For us, it's the most important position that we have.
INTEGRATOR OF TOMORROW
Ray Dean: Since 9/11, we have seen rapid growth in our industry. By all accounts, we anticipate that growth will continue well into the future. As businessmen running successful organizations, part of the strategic view is to project and, hopefully, accurately predict the future of our industry. Can you give us some insight into what you think the integrator of tomorrow and the future is going to look like?
Paul Thomas: I'm not sure where security fits right now. If you look at it as a global structure, if you look at our customers and look at their security departments, where do they report to? They used to report to facilities. That was kind of traditional, back maybe 10 years ago. That moved a little bit over time and sometimes went to finance.
Now, 100 percent of our customers report in to IT at some level. They're reporting up to some leg of that stool. So I would see in the future that our industry probably belongs in that IT space, either underneath the information security or squarely next to the information security leg of that stool.
I do believe that our stuff is becoming much more IT-based. There are appliances that sit at the end of wireless or the end of cable, somewhere out there. It really is an IT product that we're selling, and it is IT that we're affecting. So I think we'll get brought into that space whether we want to or not, but I think it's healthy for our business to do that. I think it's a great space to be in, but I do think it'll be kind of a third leg of the IT stool in the future.
Eric Yunag: What is valuable for our clients? I think it's rooted in that. To Paul's point, the ability to deliver an IP device on a network is not something that is perceived as valuable. The value we all bring to the table…is the fact that we bring security expertise to the table, or we should be bringing security expertise to the table. We should have disciplines of physical security and the concepts of limiting risk and this kind of thing.
I think the expectations for us and our industry are evolving rapidly. What people expect is different than it was a number of years ago. We have these high-profile, national tragedies — Sandy Hook and Boston bombing. We have continual school shootings. People who have nothing to do with this industry ask me all the time, "Why in the world can't you use systems and cameras to limit the loss of life in these instances, rather than just have great pictures of bodies on the floor?"
That's a very interesting question. To me, it's rooted in a lot of the fundamental challenges our industry has. We all know, technically, as security practitioners, why it's so difficult to extend video to first responders and law enforcement, and privacy issues that are there, and versions of clients and video platforms, and all the kinds of things that are out there.
In my mind, the challenge that exists is the fact that we don't have an industry coalescing set of standards that truly meets what our clients need in the coming years, which is ubiquitous exchange of security information, regardless of platform, to produce security outcomes.
I think there are a couple of really big issues that are at play, that we have the chance to either rise up and fulfill our destiny as believers in this industry or forfeit some of that to people who are going to bring innovative solutions to those challenges.
Carey Boethel: I believe the integrator of tomorrow will go one of two ways. It'll either go down market and be relegated to a contractor, or it'll go up market and look more like a professional services organization. We talk about IT, IQ, and we've been talking about that for years. If you don't have that today, you're not a player in this space. That's table stakes, and that's going to continue.
We employ people with Ph.Ds in information technology. You have to do that to compete in the enterprise space. I think we're going to continue to see more and more of the lower level, undifferentiated IT infrastructure, bar cable sensors, appliances, subcontracted to companies that can really eek out efficiencies in the field and become very, very good at the installation — not necessarily the provisioning but the installation of that equipment.
You're going to see the integrator focus much more on the head end and much more on the upper end, the more sophisticated end of the value proposition. So the deployment model will change, and the profit formula will change. It'll take time, but it'll change one way or the other, in my opinion. n
Is the Trend to Embed?
Ray Dean:Are you finding that more and more of yourcustomers are looking to have you embed people [in their facilities]? Or are they looking for you to come in and manage their services?
Paul Thomas: Our customers all want us to be embedded. They're using us as kind of a labor pool, so if we can't deliver what they want, they will go find it and then they will ask us to hire that person. There's no real advantage to us to do that in the short term.
If it works into our strategy and they actually become one of our employees, and we grow by it, then it makes sense. We're seeing it across multiple customers right now, where they say, "You know what? I got a person. I don't have head count. We'd like you to hire them. Here's what we'll pay." They kind of do the whole deal, and all they do is say, "Just hire them and put a shirt on them."
Ray Dean: So some of it is not really profitable, but it's for the sake of the customer.
Paul Thomas: We make it profitable. That's the hard part. Because of our transparency, our customers understand our burdens. If we hire somebody at $50,000 a year, there is also another $40,000 that goes into his pay. They understand our margin. So we get to a point where it makes dollars and sense for us, but it doesn't make long-term strategy. Just to sell one person for one job is a one-to-one ratio. It can't bring value to our company.
Eric Yunag: I agree with what Carey said earlier about consistency in deployment. That's definitely an expectation for our customers and one of the things I think is very important in delivery. But the challenge that creates for us is the ability to be nimble and react to circumstances that are very different from one client to the next or one industry to the next.
We've had customers that want us to embed a number of people. It just completely depends on the circumstance of the client, how we believe that we can add value in a circumstance like that. We see more and more clients looking for that solution because the amount of time that we spend engaging across all these different functional parts of organizations is time-consuming. They see it largely as an efficiency play in a lot of cases.
Carey Boethel: I have one subtle change in that we try to become functionally embedded, rather than the description that Paul gave where you have a one-to-one relationship. It's hard to get any economies out of that kind of assignment. So to the extent that we can have what we call "putting people in the cloud," maybe they're geographically remote, but functionally embedded within the customer's organization.
About Securing New Ground
Securing New Ground is scheduled to take place October 28-29, 2015, at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York. Securing New Ground (SNG) is about the business of security. At SNG, C-level executives, new entrants, investors and security practitioners discuss and map the state of the security industry. For more information, visit www.siaonline.org/Pages/IndustryEvents/Securing-New-Ground.aspx.
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All of our 55-passenger, deluxe coaches come with an array of amenities to make your travel experience a comfortable and enjoyable one. We start with the comfortable high back seats. Most of our coaches have reclining seats with a fold down footrest to keep you relaxed on your trip.
All of these buses come with a VCR/DVD entertainment system. This system includes 4-6 TVs placed through the bus to allow everyone to have a good view of what is playing. Four of these buses are equipped with a television tuner that receives broadcast TV. All buses are equipped with an AM/FM stereo and several have CD players. One bus includes a 5disc CD changer for those who really like to listen to music. Every seat has its own overhead, reading light to help you coordinate your next destination, or just catch up on your reading. Every coach has overhead storage for carry-on items with large luggage bays for larger items. Every coach has a fully functioning and clean restroom at the back of the bus. Finally, we have one coach with wheelchair capabilities for those passengers with special needs.
Our 39-passenger coach may be shorter on seats, but is definitely not short on comforts. This bus has high back reclining seats to help you relax on your trip. The bus has a VCR/DVD entertainment system with 4 TV monitors so there is not a bad seat in the bus to watch your favorite movies. This coach also has an AM/FM stereo listening pleasure.
Every seat has its own overhead, reading light to help you coordinate your next destination, or just catch upon your reading. The coach has overhead storage for carry-on items and large luggage bays for larger items. This bus has a fully functioning and clean restroom at the back of the bus. Finally, we have one coach with wheelchair capabilities for those passengers with special needs.


The Only Species / Genus That I Would Consider Over-Hunted [By Me], Happens To Be Various Invasive Species.
Yeah let's get rid of candles because it might cause a fire, let's also sterilize our shoes before we walk outside because it might spread some unknown germ. Anyways straw men aside we have a handful of incidents that introducing captive bread populations can have a diverse impact on ecosystem. I can provide examples but not statistics, mostly because 1) The amount of people keeping large populations in captivity the reintroducing into the wild is minimal and 2) because the ones who do take a lot of precaution to not screw up.
Here is a page from Project seahorse a conservationists group for preserving sea horses. Disease is clearly one thing they are concerned about and I bet none of them are Myrmecologists. Pretty much if you ask any conservation group in charge of releasing captive bread populations into the wild one of their main concerns besides behavioural issues and genetic diversity is the potential to introduce a pathogen.
Your anecdotal statement of just one Camponotus vagus colony is nice and all but doesn't negate my point or why we have these precautions in the first place. I think the concern expressed by most Myrmecologists here is that if releasing captive ants or any organism really is normalized then that one in a million chance of something devastating happening will increase.
Even then it's not just Myrmecologists and ants, any captive population risks introducing disease to a wild one. As for scientists and their own agenda, I'm pretty sure scientists have their own beliefs of how some things work, conflict in science is unavoidable but to say that everything they do aren't supported by facts (what facts? Is there a fact that diseases can't develop in one population and not the other?) is quite an overreach of logic. As for the 'arguing with rank as scientists' to push an agenda that is just another form of corruption, which is not unique to just scientists.
A friend of mine complains the spider out front his house seems to catch more queens than he does.
I don't think there's any harm in any one person collecting too many queens, but the methods used to search for certain species might be detrimental to the environment. Firstly if you're collecting every queen ant that shows up to a black light then you're doing it wrong. Maybe only 40% of them are mated with and of those only a fraction have removed their wings. These are the ones you should be collecting because there's some level of certainty in their success.
Without using a black light the only reliable method of collecting certain Camponotus species is to ripping the bark off of fallen logs. This method renders the log uninhabitable by any future queens for decades to come. Harsh storms will cause more trees to fall in time but a single anting trip can render these logs useless. On the few times that we've found colonies of Strumigenys and Proceratium in logs the nest was usually torn in half on accident while looking for Camponotus queens. Upon revisiting these logs I've never found a colony of either. The nonnative Vollenhovia emeryi seems immune to this.
Almost everything is possible with a low probability. The question is how high is this probability? Is it so low that we don't have to worry at all? Is it so high that we have to be really worried? Of course there is a possibility that diseases are spread to wild ants I never said that there isn't.
Before being worried about ant keepers spreading diseases by releasing native ants myrmecologists should better be worry about all the plants which are planted in gardens, parks etc. every year which might not only spread diseases to other plants in the wild but could also contain other animals which live on the plants or in the soil like ants.
So provide statistics which show how high the probability. And if you can't don't expect that everybody to share your opinion on the danger of releasing native captive ants.
The captive frogs got infected by non native frogs (from South Africa) which were housed in the same room. At least in the US ant keepers should quite rarely have non native ant species since it is illegal.
Scientists caused the whole mess not private keepers.
Edited by Barristan, September 23 2017 - 8:34 PM.
Notice how important genetic testing is in determining whether ants should be used for release. Even if an ant is properly identified to have the same morphology as its namesake in another place, this does not mean that they are the same ant! Any phenotypic distinctions which weren't picked up by the somewhat archaeic Linneaen system in native German Camponotus vagus are put under serious threat when genetically distinct C. vagus are introduced, especially considering that the two populations most likely can mate. Flying blind and releasing southern Camponotus vagus with no concern could easily accelerate the extinction of German C. vagus.
And I mean come on people! Why is this aspect of ant-"keeping" so important to you? Do you really think that taking these risks is worth compensating for irresponsibility? This is a failure in ethics. Can you take care of Solenopsis invicta? No? Then don't capture it. If you find yourself with a species that is too difficult to care for, then find somebody who can take it in or destroy it humanely. I even understand that there are researchers studying brood-hunting ants that have come to us in the past, looking for help to sustain laboratory colonies. It's the ubiquitous lack of understanding of population genetics and epidemiology which prevents many of you from navigating this safely. No, I'm not aware of any studies detailing the risks or releasing captive Formicidae by hobbyists, because we biologists have not studied everything in the world yet! Sorry! In the meanwhile, can you please listen to people who are at least aware of the complications involved? Can you focus on fulfilling the responsibility to your pets? That would be a very respectable thing to do.
I'm not a myrmecologist, just somebody who knows a lot about ants for fun. I'm training as a geneticist, but I've spent the last few years out of school recovering from depression. I plan to return in the spring, which is why I'm going to be preparing for that instead of arguing about this BS.
Until then, continue to enjoy my proficiency and reliable identifications, but nothing which contradicts Mikey Bustos -- that all goes double for the actual myrmecologists.
Edited by Batspiderfish, September 23 2017 - 8:41 PM.
Quick question but if there are bacteria in our homes which could be brought outside when we release ants, technically we are even bigger organisms and therefore can carry even more of those bacteria and spread it when we go anting.
It has more to do with long-term exposure for the animal in sub-optimal living conditions than the sort of "patient zero" scenario we're used to seeing in movies. It is more or less safe, especially in terms of practicality, for us to enter and leave our homes as we please. Humans did not become susceptible to HIV by their very first contact with chimpanzee immunodeficiency virus, but it would take many, many exposures of close contact with blood through hunting before the chimpanzee virus was evolved to even be capable of persisting within humans, let alone cause disease in humans. Our very distant relation to ants aside, our bodies are ecosystems of their own, and most of the organisms which might infect ants have no chance at propagating to ant-infectious levels amongst our very aggressive skin flora.
It's worth noting, however, that environmental conditions can cause the organisms on our body to fall out of balance, which can cause disease. Staphylococcus aureus is a naturally occurring bacteria which inhabits our body, namely on the skin and in our gut and upper respiratory system . Combined with the rest of the flora in our bodily ecosystem, they normally contribute to our health by out-competing harmful organisms which aren't quite as adapted to living in our bodies. But they are still bacteria, not human cells, and given the opportunity they will flourish to a degree which may cause problems. Those problems become very serious as they obtain resistance to antibiotics and transform into what we know as MRSA or Staph, which is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Bacterial conjugation makes it fairly easy for many species of bacteria to resist antibiotics and pass that trait to other bacteria, even other species of bacteria. Contact with disease-causing levels of MRSA may even dose enough of this bacteria onto another person for this condition to become infectious, even though that person was already covered in S. aureus. I bring this up just to illustrate that even the organisms which are already living on our bodies can cause problems to us if we experience prolonged, poor environmental conditions or if there is a factor which causes the flora competing with something like S. aureus to weaken. Like ourselves, ants are covered with comensual microorganisms.
Back to the ants, though -- the wild ants making forays into our homes are not being subject to the untidy and unsanitary conditions which the majority of us are putting our ants through. It may not be enough to stop a colony from growing (although it is enough of the time, especially with beginners) but our captive colonies are living far away from the vast teams of detrivores which take care to the garbage that wild colonies are always able to place a safe distance away from the nest. Our captive colonies have chronic exposure to the microorganisms in our house, layers of dust and dander, living directly adjacent to their garbage and dead, which they often depend on us to remove mechanically. It is not an ideal situation. Our ants are also given foods raised in similar conditions, foods which they may never have encountered in the wild. We don't know what sort of consequences this environment and this regular exposure to an alien ecosystem has on the ants.
Remember that just because a disease might not be killing the ants, it may be lowering their fitness to a point where they are unable to compete and survive in the wild. That would be a bad thing to befall on wild populations.
We are not saying that your home is a bomb of disease waiting to decimate all of your wild ants at the first exposure. We are saying that prolonged non-wild conditions come with a degree of risk that can easily be mitigated if we just take care of our pets for the rest of their lives. We also have to live with the fact that we don't have god eyes that can detect disease or genetic differences in ants just by looking at them. The advice put forward by myself and by myrmecologists is a precaution, and very easy to follow. As evidence of the general trend that animals raised in captivity present a very real risk of ecological harm after released continues to come forward, it is important for us to decide not to be ethically lazy in our hobby and to operate in a way which helps to protect the ants that we love. The very specific research regarding the effect of released ants by bumbling hobbyists does not yet exist, as even now we are only beginning to develop our understanding of disease in Formicidae, and we shouldn't wait for that research to do the right and sensible thing.
Edited by Batspiderfish, September 24 2017 - 5:19 AM.
Have any of y'all ever heard of pesticides?
I agree that hobbyists shouldn't spread pesticides everywhere for no reason. They should attack anybody using pesticides. Do not feed your ants pesticides. Feed your ants pesticides.
I do keep ants. I like social parasites in particular. I love innocent questions like this.
What I meant by that is that I've heard people say things like lifting too many rocks can harm the ecosystem very much in that area, say a large field for example. And yet everyday massive fields are completely smothered in chemicals meant to kill nearly all insect life, but I haven't heard anything about that. You'r kind of focusing on the 10 and no the 90. Just let people do what they want to do.
There are enough pesticides, do you think that overhunting the already minimized population is the right thing to do?
All my colonies are dead.
So your ants could escape and could spread diseases wouldn't it be better for you to stop ant keeping if you are so concerned about the next ant apocalypse caused by not yet known diseases?
This is the most idiotic and shortsighted thing that I will read today.
Edited by Reacker, September 24 2017 - 9:36 AM.
Edited by TennesseeAnts, September 24 2017 - 9:42 AM.
you are all getting pretty ridiculous, I can't even say that pesticides are a larger problem than ant keepers for the environment. I mean seriously, do you disagree with that!?
No, of course I don't.


text:
Q: Test Whether the screen is ON/OFF in iphone I am developing a application to test whether the iphone screen is OFF or ON and i tried the code of accelerometer that specified in stack overflow it working well for screen on status but when i turn off the screen the accelerometer is not deactivating.
So i am getting doubt about the fact that did really accelerometer get deactivate automatically when the screen turns off. If anybody having clear idea about it please share it.
Thanks

A: Application are paused when it sleep. You should realize a background task for it.
https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/DOCUMENTATION/iPhone/Conceptual/iPhoneOSProgrammingGuide/ManagingYourApplicationsFlow/ManagingYourApplicationsFlow.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40007072-CH4-SW20

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Dolihil--{P-Glc:Man9GlcNAc2-PP}--dolihol alfa-1,3-glukoziltransferaza (, -{ALG6, Dol-P-Glc:Man9GlcNAc2-PP-Dol alfa}--1,3-glukoziltransferaza) je enzim sa sistematskim imenom dolihil -{beta-D}--glukozil fosfat:-{D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->3)-(D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->3)-(D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->6))-D-Man-alfa-(1->6))-D-Man-beta-(1->4)-D-GlcNAc-beta-(1->4)-D-GlcNAc}--difosfodolihol alfa-1,3-glukoziltransferaza. Ovaj enzim katalizuje sledeću hemijsku reakciju

 dolihil beta--{D}--glukozil fosfat + -{D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->3)-[D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->3)-[D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->6)]-D-Man-alfa-(1->6)]-D-Man-beta-(1->4)-D-GlcNAc-beta-(1->4)-D-GlcNAc}--difosfodolihol  -{D-Glc-alfa-(1->3)-D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->3)-[D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->3)-[D-Man-alfa-(1->2)-D-Man-alfa-(1->6)]-D-Man-alfa-(1->6)]-D-Man-beta-(1->4)-D-GlcNAc-beta-(1->4)-D-GlcNAc}--difosfodolihol + dolihil fosfat

Konsekutivna adicija tri glukozna ostatka posredstvom enzima EC 2.4.1.267, EC 2.4.1.265 (-{Dol-P-Glc:Glc1Man9GlcNAc2-PP-Dol}- alfa-1,3-glukoziltransferaza) i EC 2.4.1.256 (-{Dol-P-Glc:Glc2Man9GlcNAc2-PP-Dol}- alfa-1,2-glukoziltransferaza) predstavlja finalni korak formiranja lipid-vezanog oligosaharidnog sklopa.

Reference

Literatura

Spoljašnje veze

ЕЦ 2.4.1


trail: Part single track and part old logging road. Loop or shuttle.
Several miles of this trail are along the Berry Gulch Creek. Easy access to the creek for lunch/rest stop.
This is a beautiful, easy, six mile loop off of Highway 20 down to Berry Gulch and than back up to Road 408. At Highway 20's milepost 8.65, turn south on to road 560 which is marked on the yellow gate. There is plenty of parking here at the start (#1). Take this road down to the first main fork (#2). Take the right fork, which is Road 521 but unmarked, to the bottom of the gulch, until you reach the creek (#3). Turn right. From here to the next gate is road 550 and what a delight it is! You will hear the bubbling of the creek (even in the summer), notice many large second growth trees that help create a full canopy over the trail and a portion of the forest that has not been disturbed for many years. This is what a forest should look like. There is access to the creek for a rest/lunch spot about one mile after you reach the creek. After several miles along the creek, the trail to Road 408 climbs gently up the hill using long switchbacks. There's a spur going off the end of each switchback. So, beware of this if you want to stay on the main trail. After reaching the 550 gate (#4), turn right on to Road 500 which merges into 408. You can either walk back to where you parked on Highway 20 or have a car waiting for you at gate 550. If you wish to avoid walking on Highway 20, it's recommended that you use two cars. Park one at Gate 550 and one at Gate 560.


There's just something about them that annoys me; something makes we want to punch them in the nose. Ugh, they drive me crazy. But doing so would be wrong, so I try to resist the baser urges where violence towards mimes is concerned.