text:
import { PayloadBuilder } from '@snowplow/tracker-core';
import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid';

/**
 * Indices of cookie values
 */
const cookieDisabledIndex = 0,
  domainUserIdIndex = 1,
  createTsIndex = 2,
  visitCountIndex = 3,
  nowTsIndex = 4,
  lastVisitTsIndex = 5,
  sessionIdIndex = 6,
  previousSessionIdIndex = 7,
  firstEventIdIndex = 8,
  firstEventTsInMsIndex = 9,
  eventIndexIndex = 10;

export type ParsedIdCookie = [
  string, // cookieDisabled
  string, // domainUserId
  number, // cookieCreateTs
  number, // visitCount
  number, // nowTs
  number | undefined, // lastVisitTs
  string, // sessionId
  string, // previousSessionId
  string, // firstEventId
  number | undefined, // firstEventTs
  number // eventIndex
];

/**
 * Schema for client client session context entity
 */
export interface ClientSession extends Record<string, unknown> {
  /**
   * An identifier for the user of the session (same as domain_userid)
   */
  userId: string;

  /**
   * An identifier for the session (same as domain_sessionid)
   */
  sessionId: string;

  /**
   * The index of the current session for this user (same as domain_sessionidx)
   */
  sessionIndex: number;

  /**
   * Index of the current event in the session
   */
  eventIndex: number;

  /**
   * The previous session identifier for this user
   */
  previousSessionId: string | null;

  /**
   * The mechanism that the session information has been stored on the device
   */
  storageMechanism: string;

  /**
   * Identifier of the first event for this session
   */
  firstEventId: string | null;

  /**
   * Date-time timestamp of when the first event in the session was tracked
   */
  firstEventTimestamp: string | null;
}

export function emptyIdCookie() {
  const idCookie: ParsedIdCookie = ['1', '', 0, 0, 0, undefined, '', '', '', undefined, 0];
  return idCookie;
}

/**
 * Parses the cookie values from its string representation.
 *
 * @param id Cookie value as string
 * @param domainUserId Domain user ID to be used in case of empty cookie string
 * @returns Parsed ID cookie tuple
 */
export function parseIdCookie(
  id: string | undefined,
  domainUserId: string,
  memorizedSessionId: string,
  memorizedVisitCount: number
) {
  let now = new Date(),
    nowTs = Math.round(now.getTime() / 1000),
    tmpContainer;

  if (id) {
    tmpContainer = id.split('.');
    // cookies enabled
    tmpContainer.unshift('0');
  } else {
    tmpContainer = [
      // cookies disabled
      '1',
      // Domain user ID
      domainUserId,
      // Creation timestamp - seconds since Unix epoch
      nowTs,
      // visitCount - 0 = no previous visit
      memorizedVisitCount,
      // Current visit timestamp
      nowTs,
      // Last visit timestamp - blank meaning no previous visit
      '',
      // Session ID
      memorizedSessionId,
    ];
  }

  if (!tmpContainer[sessionIdIndex] || tmpContainer[sessionIdIndex] === 'undefined') {
    // session id
    tmpContainer[sessionIdIndex] = uuid();
  }
  if (!tmpContainer[previousSessionIdIndex] || tmpContainer[previousSessionIdIndex] === 'undefined') {
    // previous session id
    tmpContainer[previousSessionIdIndex] = '';
  }
  if (!tmpContainer[firstEventIdIndex] || tmpContainer[firstEventIdIndex] === 'undefined') {
    // firstEventId - blank meaning no previous event
    tmpContainer[firstEventIdIndex] = '';
  }
  if (!tmpContainer[firstEventTsInMsIndex] || tmpContainer[firstEventTsInMsIndex] === 'undefined') {
    // firstEventTs - blank meaning no previous event
    tmpContainer[firstEventTsInMsIndex] = '';
  }
  if (!tmpContainer[eventIndexIndex] || tmpContainer[eventIndexIndex] === 'undefined') {
    // eventIndex – 0 = no previous event
    tmpContainer[eventIndexIndex] = 0;
  }

  const parseIntOr = (value: any, defaultValue: any) => {
    let parsed = parseInt(value as string);
    return isNaN(parsed) ? defaultValue : parsed;
  };
  const parseIntOrUndefined = (value: any) => (value ? parseIntOr(value, undefined) : undefined);

  const parsed: ParsedIdCookie = [
    tmpContainer[cookieDisabledIndex] as string,
    tmpContainer[domainUserIdIndex] as string,
    parseIntOr(tmpContainer[createTsIndex], nowTs),
    parseIntOr(tmpContainer[visitCountIndex], memorizedVisitCount),
    parseIntOr(tmpContainer[nowTsIndex], nowTs),
    parseIntOrUndefined(tmpContainer[lastVisitTsIndex]),
    tmpContainer[sessionIdIndex] as string,
    tmpContainer[previousSessionIdIndex] as string,
    tmpContainer[firstEventIdIndex] as string,
    parseIntOrUndefined(tmpContainer[firstEventTsInMsIndex]),
    parseIntOr(tmpContainer[eventIndexIndex], 0),
  ];
  return parsed;
}

/**
 * Initializes the domain user ID if not already present in the cookie. Sets an empty string if anonymous tracking.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 * @param configAnonymousTracking Whether anonymous tracking is enabled
 * @returns Domain user ID
 */
export function initializeDomainUserId(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie, configAnonymousTracking: boolean) {
  let domainUserId;
  if (idCookie[domainUserIdIndex]) {
    domainUserId = idCookie[domainUserIdIndex];
  } else if (!configAnonymousTracking) {
    domainUserId = uuid();
    idCookie[domainUserIdIndex] = domainUserId;
  } else {
    domainUserId = '';
    idCookie[domainUserIdIndex] = domainUserId;
  }
  return domainUserId;
}

/**
 * Starts a new session with a new ID.
 * Sets the previous session, last visit timestamp, and increments visit count if cookies enabled.
 * First event references are reset and will be updated in `updateFirstEventInIdCookie`.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 * @param memorizedVisitCount Visit count to be used if cookies not enabled
 * @returns New session ID
 */
export function startNewIdCookieSession(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie, memorizedVisitCount: number = 1) {
  // If cookies are enabled, base visit count and session ID on the cookies
  if (cookiesEnabledInIdCookie(idCookie)) {
    // Store the previous session ID
    idCookie[previousSessionIdIndex] = idCookie[sessionIdIndex];
    // Set lastVisitTs to currentVisitTs
    idCookie[lastVisitTsIndex] = idCookie[nowTsIndex];
    // Increment the session ID
    idCookie[visitCountIndex]++;
  } else {
    idCookie[visitCountIndex] = memorizedVisitCount;
  }

  // Create a new sessionId
  const sessionId = uuid();
  idCookie[sessionIdIndex] = sessionId;

  // Reset event index and first event references
  idCookie[eventIndexIndex] = 0;
  idCookie[firstEventIdIndex] = '';
  idCookie[firstEventTsInMsIndex] = undefined;

  return sessionId;
}

/**
 * Update now timestamp in cookie.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 */
export function updateNowTsInIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  idCookie[nowTsIndex] = Math.round(new Date().getTime() / 1000);
}

/**
 * Updates the first event references according to the event payload if first event in session.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 * @param payloadBuilder Event payload builder
 */
export function updateFirstEventInIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie, payloadBuilder: PayloadBuilder) {
  // Update first event references if new session or not present
  if (idCookie[eventIndexIndex] === 0) {
    const payload = payloadBuilder.build();
    idCookie[firstEventIdIndex] = payload['eid'] as string;
    const ts = (payload['dtm'] || payload['ttm']) as string;
    idCookie[firstEventTsInMsIndex] = ts ? parseInt(ts) : undefined;
  }
}

/**
 * Increments event index counter.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 */
export function incrementEventIndexInIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  idCookie[eventIndexIndex] += 1;
}

/**
 * Serializes parsed cookie to string representation.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 * @returns String cookie value
 */
export function serializeIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  idCookie.shift();
  return idCookie.join('.');
}

/**
 * Transforms the parsed cookie into a client session context entity.
 *
 * @param idCookie Parsed cookie
 * @param configStateStorageStrategy Cookie storage strategy
 * @returns Client session context entity
 */
export function clientSessionFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie, configStateStorageStrategy: string) {
  const firstEventTsInMs = idCookie[firstEventTsInMsIndex];
  const clientSession: ClientSession = {
    userId: idCookie[domainUserIdIndex],
    sessionId: idCookie[sessionIdIndex],
    eventIndex: idCookie[eventIndexIndex],
    sessionIndex: idCookie[visitCountIndex],
    previousSessionId: idCookie[previousSessionIdIndex] || null,
    storageMechanism: configStateStorageStrategy == 'localStorage' ? 'LOCAL_STORAGE' : 'COOKIE_1',
    firstEventId: idCookie[firstEventIdIndex] || null,
    firstEventTimestamp: firstEventTsInMs ? new Date(firstEventTsInMs).toISOString() : null,
  };

  return clientSession;
}

export function sessionIdFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[sessionIdIndex];
}

export function domainUserIdFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[domainUserIdIndex];
}

export function visitCountFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[visitCountIndex];
}

export function cookiesEnabledInIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[cookieDisabledIndex] === '0';
}

export function createTsFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[createTsIndex];
}

export function nowTsFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[nowTsIndex];
}

export function lastVisitTsFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[lastVisitTsIndex];
}

export function previousSessionIdFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[previousSessionIdIndex];
}

export function firstEventIdFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[firstEventIdIndex];
}

export function firstEventTsInMsFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[firstEventTsInMsIndex];
}

export function eventIndexFromIdCookie(idCookie: ParsedIdCookie) {
  return idCookie[eventIndexIndex];
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Agency Partner
CMS Platform Partner
Careers(opens in a new tab)
FAQ & Support(opens in a new tab)
Case Study: Reducing ADA compliance risk rapidly and cost-effectively
When a major consumer electronics company found itself at risk of litigation for failure to meet globally accepted standards and best practices for digital compliance, it needed to act fast.
At stake: the company's ability to bid for government contracts, its public reputation, and its ability to engage millions of potential customers.
The AudioEye Solution
Combining best-of-breed automated tools and machine-learning technology with industry-leading consulting experience, AudioEye's comprehensive Managed compliance service brought the consumer electronics company into compliance rapidly. The AudioEye service also ensures that accessibility will be maintained as both content and regulations evolve.
On the path to accessibility from day one, thanks to a full compliance plan and associated legal support.
Resolved a significant portion of accessibility barriers automatically.
Ensures substantial conformity with required guidelines on an ongoing basis.
Maintained the client's ability to bid for state and federal government contracts.
Avoided the need to rapidly build up internal non-core skills and knowledge, while still receiving digital accessibility training for company employees.
Barriers to Commerce
Making your website accessible to users of all abilities is not just a moral imperative. By the thousands, companies of all sizes, representing all industries, are being sued for inaccessible online content, with plaintiffs claiming an inaccessible site is a violation of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Further, Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 require state and federal governments to ensure their online content is accessible, which extends to any organizations that receive federal financial assistance or those that contract with the state or federal government. And while the ADA does not mandate compliance for commercial organizations, there is growing legal precedence in the US courts for rulings against private companies also.
Moreover, with an estimated 25 percent of US adults – and 40 percent of those over 65 – living with disabilities, companies are increasingly aware of the significant opportunity cost of losing potential sales through non-compliance.
When the U.S. arm of a major global consumer electronics company discovered that its website did not conform to the global standards for digital accessibility, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), it faced potential loss of significant business with state and federal government organizations. A company spokesperson says: "We knew that continued non-compliance with website accessibility standards and requirements would lead to the loss of business-to-government opportunities. We were also concerned about the negative impact on our reputation, and mounting legal fees and financial penalties for non-compliance.
Choosing the Right Approach
The consumer electronics company modeled three possible responses. The first was to use its internal digital marketing team to bring the website up to the required standard and maintain ongoing compliance. This would require the internal team to develop and maintain company-wide standards and best practices, as well as establish coding for accessibility training. This level of commitment would set the company back months, if not years, and negatively impact agile development cycles. Furthermore, the company would then be responsible for generating compliance reports and associated documentation.
The second option was to engage an external consultant to audit the site and instruct the internal team to apply the appropriate accessibility updates. While this approach side-stepped the need to internalize knowledge and skills, it would have left the company dependent on a third party, with significant ongoing fees for audits and updates each time there was a site change or an update to the WCAG standards. This option presented a clear roadmap for any issues of non-compliance but was costly and still required significant time and potential setbacks to implement fixes.
"Understanding how the courts interpret the various accessibility regulations and standards is a non-core expertise we didn't want to necessarily build up internally. We wanted to lean on the industry experts," says the company spokesperson. "We also wanted to avoid the significant fees and lengthy timelines that came with relying on a consultant every time we made a site change."
The consumer electronics company decided instead to outsource the management of its compliance to an external vendor. The internal compliance team identified three potential suppliers. Two offered free software to identify a small percentage of non-compliant website elements, but still required a costly consultant-led review.
"By contrast, the proposal from AudioEye was immediately compelling," says the spokesperson. "AudioEye offered to take on the responsibility for maintaining our accessibility compliance, and at less than half the cost of the other companies."
AudioEye leverages the efficiencies of its patented technology coupled with machine-learning to automate the testing and remediation of common issues of accessibility. For anything that technology can't immediately fix, AudioEye then uses its subject-matter expertise to create custom remediations, certifying compliance with legal requirements and conformance with WCAG standards, providing a user Help Desk to report any issues of accessibility, and enabling enhanced usability through the AudioEye Accessibility Toolbar.
"Getting started with AudioEye was fast and easy," recalls the spokesperson. "On day one, we received our customized JavaScript to embed in our universal footer, and from that moment on, the process was essentially hands-off from our point of view."
AudioEye's automation discovered and fixed a significant percentage of compliance issues immediately. AudioEye then drew on expert engineers and Assistive Technology (AT) testers to remediate remaining issues.
Once the consumer electronics company's website was updated to substantially conform with WCAG standards – which also made it compliant with Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act – AudioEye added its AudioEye Trusted Certification, switched on the full functionality in the Accessibility Toolbar, and moved into the monitoring and maintenance phase. AudioEye will continue to collaborate with accessibility stakeholders to share testing results and to educate them about web accessibility best practices they can incorporate to improve accessibility. As new content is published to the sites and/or web applications, AudioEye provides continuous behind-the-scenes monitoring to ensure ongoing compliance and conformity, freeing the company to focus on content and branding.
"In our experience, AudioEye offers the fastest, most comprehensive, and most sustainable route to conformity," says the spokesperson. "If you have a large and complex website, it's impossible to fix it overnight—but with AudioEye, you get legal support and protection from day one, with a clear testing and remediation plan that you can use to demonstrate compliance. Then, as you work toward full accessibility, you can respond to litigation confidently and in a recognized best-practice way."
AudioEye Toolbar
Activation Site Menu
Simplify Navigation
Page Elements Menu
Enhance Keyboard Support
Personalize Experience
Addresses Feedback
Visual Toolkit
Customize Display
Voice (if applicable)
Utilize Verbal Commands
Promote Commitment
Full Compliance, Reduced Risk
As the U.S. website continues to maximize conformance to the WCAG, the consumer electronics company is compliant with the required contractor web accessibility standards for state and federal agencies, enabling it to continue to work with government agencies and significantly reduce its risk of website accessibility litigation. "With WCAG conformity, our site is accessible for people using industry-standard assistive technologies such as the JAWS® screen reader," says the spokesperson.
"And as the regulatory standards are updated, AudioEye updates its processes to stay ahead of any changes, so that we don't need to have that competence in-house."
The spokesperson adds, "Working with AudioEye enabled us to achieve compliance faster and more cost effectively than we thought possible. And as we move forward, AudioEye maintains our compliance without slowing down the launch of new site content or requiring us to shift priorities from other projects. We can focus on our business with peace of mind, knowing we have an expert watching our back."
Want the full case study?
Download a PDF version of this case study: Reducing ADA compliance risk rapidly and cost-effectively
PDF / Document Remediation
Support(opens in a new tab)
Subscribe to AudioEye News

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ms. Carrie Meyers Garazi Profile by Martindale-Hubbell. Find Ms. Carrie Meyers Garazi contact information, experience and credentials, peer review ratings etc.
Mrs. Carrie Meyers. Department: Modern and Classical Languages, Modern and Classical Languages. Middle & Upper School Language Teacher (French) University of Maryland, College Park, MD - Bachelors of Arts University of Maryland, College Park, MD - Masters of Education. .
Rating and reviews for Professor Carrie Meyers from Hunter College New York, NY United States.
Create review for Carrie Meyers from Hunter College.
Carrie Meyers is a english professor at Hunter College in New York, NY. Review Carrie Meyers' ratings by students and parents.
Inn Season Carrie Meyers. (2010). 2 Grand Megan. (2011). Show all Hide all |. Show by... Job, Year » · Rating » · Number of Ratings » · Genre » · Keyword ».
Ancestry.ca has at least 1 birth record for Carrie Meyers, among more than 271 birth records for this surname.
Family Tree Maker user home page for Heather-M-Wilson.
FCR-STEM Acting Director. Associate Director, Learning Systems Institute. Senior Project Team. Steven Blumsack, Ph.D. Melissa Dyehouse, Ph.D. Meghan Hauptli Everett. Zahid Kisa, Ph.D. Robert Lengacher. Kerry Maddox, Ph.D. Carrie Meyers. Maureen Oberlin. James Reynolds. Kris Ryan. Adam Santone, Ph.D.
THE UNWANTED LEGACY by GRUHN, CARRIE MEYERS and a great selection of similar Used, New and Collectible Books available now at AbeBooks.com.
Alibris has new & used books by Carrie Meyers-Herron, including hardcovers, softcovers, rare, out-of-print first editions, signed copies, and more.
PECH OPTICAL CORP Murray Street. Sioux City, IA FAX www.pechoptica|.com. Newsletter Contact: Carrie Meyers.
View and follow Carrie Meyers (carimari)'s photos and videos on Photobucket.
View and follow Carrie Meyers (Carriem81)'s photos and videos on Photobucket.
CARRIE MEYERS & HOLLY DAVIS live@mojos music venue for MOJOS ACOUSTIC SHOWCASE November of2.
Transpace is a gallery in the Center for Visual Arts that showcases work from School of Art Students. Bachelor of Fine Art and Master of Fine Art students are asked to display their work in partial fulfillment of their degree. Please join us for the opening reception or visit the gallery during gallery hours.
Sally Walker Badger; Obituary of daughter, Carrie Meyers Badger. Publication: Wilmette Life (Wilmette, Illinois), 8 Nov 2001, p. 5. Description. Comments (0).
All the books related to the search term: Carrie Meyers-Herron are displayed.
Carrie Meyers utilizes Military2Career.com to search, connect, and apply to companies and jobs specifically hiring Veteran professionals, all for free.
Rate and Review Carrie Meyers at Hunter College (Hunter), along with other Professor Ratings in New York, New York.
Carrie Meyers Perry, KS Appears in the BankruptReport Database.
Carrie Meyers (@dacakeums)'s Instagram Profile on Tofo.me: Instagram Online Viewer.


All applications will be vetted by a Vetting Committee (VC). The VC members consist of representatives from retail, technology and business sectors, as well as representatives from the Government. The VC will vet the applications in meeting or by circulation on a rolling basis throughout the year. The results will be announced on the website of the ReTAAS: www.retaas.hkpc.org. Applicants will be informed by the Secretariat of the results of their applications after the VC has made the decision.
Applicants are suggested to read the details of the VC member list as shown in the page of the Vetting before submission of their application. Applicants are welcome to contact secretariat for assistance if they need to enquire the company information of the VC members or have any special request on the protection of their projects data confidentiality, please contact our secretariat at 2788 6262 or email to retaas_sec@hkpc.org.


text:
Developer Wazdan Announces 'Major' Content Agreement With Buzz Bingo
Popular game developer Wazdan has announced a content agreement with online bingo website Buzz Bingo.
Under the "major" agreement, Wazdan has launched its entire portfolio of slots with the Buzz Bingo website, allowing registered users at the bingo and casino website to enjoy Wazdan content. Some of the games that have been made available at Buzz Bingo include Unicorn Reels, Burning Stars 3, Sun Of Fortune, Clover Lady, the recently released Prosperity Pearls, and the hugely popular Larry The Leprechaun and 9 Lions slots.
In addition to receiving the slots, users at Buzz Bingo can enjoy Wazdan's special features, which include customisable Volatility Levels, Ultra Fast Mode, Big Screen Mode, a Buy Feature, Energy Saving Mode, and plenty more, most of which was designed for mobile devices.
Andrzej Hyla, the Chief Commercial Officer at Wazdan, said in a statement: "Buzz Bingo is an incredibly well-known brand throughout the UK and we're very pleased to confirm this partnership. Our games portfolio continues to grow in popularity, accentuated by our innovative features, and we can't wait to enjoy a positive relationship with Buzz Bingo going forward."
Kieron Shaw, the Digital Operations Manager at Buzz Group, added: "We strive to deliver the very best slots content for our players at buzzbingo.com, so we are delighted to have signed this agreement with Wazdan. We're incredibly excited to share Wazdan games with our players, the sound and art design is second to none and with the vast majority of our players choosing to visit us on their mobile devices, features such as Ultra Lite Mode will ensure they have the very best experience regardless of device or connection."
The news comes after Wazdan gained approval to launch in New Jersey after receiving a transactional waiver from the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE). The approval comes after Wazdan struck several other agreements with Crowd Entertainment brands and Denmark's 25SYV, plus so much more.
Pragmatic Play Launches Virtual Games With BPlay
Meanwhile, developer Pragmatic Play has extended an existing content agreement with BPlay to boost its player reach in Santa Fe in Argentina and in Paraguay.
Under the extended agreement, Pragmatic Play will launch its entire selection of virtual sports content with BPlay in the South American countries. The games to launch include Penalty Shootout, Fantastic League, Force 1, Horse Racing, and Greyhound Racing too.
Victor Arias, the Vice President of Latin American Operations at Pragmatic Play, said in a statement: "We're very pleased to strengthen our relationship with BPlay further, taking our virtual sports offering live in Santa Fe province as well as in Paraguay. With so many markets offering interesting opportunities, we're eager to embrace every chance for growth out there and look forward to bringing our products live to players across LatAm."
Javier Samel, the Operations Manager at BPlay, added: "Pragmatic Play has an extremely strong multi-product offering and we're very pleased to take its virtual sports vertical live with our players in all the jurisdictions where we operate. It further strengthens our ties with the supplier and we look forward to achieving even more together."
The news comes as Pragmatic Play continues to strike content agreements to expand its player reach. Last week, the developer launched its live casino games with Peruvian gambling operator Doradobet, and before that struck agreements with Juega En Linea, 32Red, Jogos Da Sorte, Jazz Gaming, Kaizen Jogos, RGT, LuckyDays, GGPoker, White Hat Gaming, Novibet, Estelarbet, BetPlay, and so many others too.
In addition to forming content partnerships, Pragmatic Play has also been releasing new games too, including The Magic Cauldron – Enchanted Brew, Cash Elevator, Phoenix Forge, The Amazing Money Machine, Hold And Spin: Floating Dragon, Wild Booster, Juicy Fruits, Temujin Treasures, Fishin' Reels, and numerous others.
LeoVegas Joins Netherlands Online Gambling Association
Also this week, popular online casino LeoVegas has joined the Netherlands Online Gaming Association (NOGA).
According to GamblingInsider, NOGA is an organisation aiming to represent the majority of online gambling firms operating in the Dutch market when it launches on October 1st. The organisation has said operators should join to ensure they offer customer protection, responsible gambling, and equal chances at winning.
Peter-Paul de Goeij, the NOGA Managing Director, said in a statement: "We are absolutely thrilled with this news. LeoVegas is a well-recognised and appreciated brand, it has a great track record and brings swathes of knowledge and experience to NOGA, which it in turn can offer to and share with the local gambling industry.
"Like the other members of NOGA, LeoVegas takes consumer protection and responsible gambling extremely seriously, and leads the way with initiatives like LeoCare. We look forward to closely working together with them to the greater good of the Dutch gambling market."
Daniel Valiollahi, the Director of Communication and Public Affairs at LeoVegas, added: "We are looking forward to the Dutch market, finally, introducing local licenses that will ensure fair competition and high consumer protection. LeoVegas' corporate strategy is to grow in locally regulated markets, and as such we believe in well-represented and well-respected trade organisations such as NOGA to be a constructive speaking partner, ensuring Dutch re-regulation is successful."
Last month, LeoVegas launched its new Blue Guru Games development studio, which will design exclusive games for LeoVegas and provide them to other operators. As we reported, the first few games by Blue Guru Games will release later this year and the studio is aiming to release 20 games within the next 24 months.


14k white gold skull stud earrings. Make a fashion statement with these gold skull and crossbones earrings. These fancy solid gold stud earrings are dressy enough for special occasions, yet classically subtle for everyday style.


Community transformation through a cooperative business that resources locally grown organic produce and sells at accessible prices.
73 backers pledged $20,649 to help bring this project to life.
A hand crafted and signed thank you card from the cooperative.
A limited edition cooperative print designed in collaboration with Self Help Graphics.
A limited edition cooperative sweat shop free t-shirt designed in collaboration with Self Help Graphics.
A limited edition cooperative silkscreen tote bag created in collaboration with Self Help Graphics.
2 lbs of homemade salsa made by cooperative member Angelica Rojo. Choose between red and green or 1 of each.
2 lbs of Salvadorean Curtido(pickled cabbage) prepared by cooperative member Maria Luisa Ramos.
A crate filled with organic seasonal fruit from local growers from the Boyle Heights area.
6 artisan baguettes made w organic wheat flour(gluten free available) by Carmen Cortez.
50 Natural Bolis(Oaxacan ice popsicle) w/ raw cane sugar. Choose from Coconut, Pineapple, Strawberry, Hibiscus and Vanilla. Perfect for that party dessert.
90 minutes of live Son Jarocho, Rancheras, Corridos and other regional mexican music. Great for weddings, quinceñeras, baptisms or birthday parties.
6 X 4 wood raised bed garden box with six seasonal organic plants and herbs ready to go!
The Cooperative members will cater an event of your choice for up to 200 people. This is perfect for weddings, baptisms, quinceñeras or any big celebration. Menu is negotiable but limited to Mexican regional food. Includes aguas frescas.
90 min performance of musica tropical by Gabriel Gonzalez y La Verdad. Perfect for any party big or small.
90 min of your favorite boleros, rancheras, polkas and more by La Victoria. Perfect for weddings, baptisms, birthdays, or any other party.


IF there's one thing folk know about Thomas Gradgrind it is that he places due emphasis on facts. Facts, sir.
Charles Dickens, notorious libertine and adulterer, lampooned me as a man who had the multiplication table always in his pocket, ready to weigh any parcel of human nature and tell you what it amounted to.
Mr Dickens, a man who even had difficulty calculating how many women society had licensed to hop into his bed, castigated me for the model school that I kept in Coketown. My academy may have laid unusual emphasis on the balance sheet, sir, but at least no one emerged from it unaware of how many women one can marry at a time!
However, in a week when British children have been learning how well they regurgitated facts for the examiner, I do not intend to rely on the degeneracy of Mr Dickens to defend myself. I believe in facts, sir, and the facts speak for themselves with Gradgrind's Academy in Coketown again producing some of the best GCSE results in the country.
Let none of us forget some of the formidable minds who have passed through the academy in recent years. I would single out Friedman, Professor Milton, the distinguished monetarist who first put a price-tag on every aspect of society.
Not to mention Thatcher, Lady M, who was the first to recognise that the prices of certain things - healthcare, state education, compassion to name but three - were far too high for a truly utilitarian state. Since these eminent Gradgrinnians blazed their trail I have seen others proudly follow. Let me single out Birt, J, of the BBC, who was the first to realise that making programmes was a far too risky business and replaced his producers with accountants. Woodhead, C, another bright Coketown boy who was the first to recognise that academic excellence could be calculated to the smallest decimal point (and who has always given the academy an excellent write-up, I might add).
The current Government also has a number of Gradgrinnians on its books. Indeed Coketown economics still dominate just about every aspect of post-Thatcherite British life. Were I a man of emotions, sir, I might well take pride in this fact. Why then is it that I daily hear my name derided by fashionable liberals? Men such as Bragg, Lord M, a former Gradgrinnian whom I expelled for chattering in classes!
There is a bitter taste left in my mouth by this, sir, and that taste is the taste of humbug. Humbug, the very charge which that great fornicator Dickens, thrust down my throat in 1850! The fact that my own son robbed a bank and fitted up Stephen Blackpool for the theft is held as an indictment of Gradgrinnian ethics.
Licentious folk, like Dickens, consider Stephen Blackpool's subsequent death to be the result of Thomas Junior's dishonesty and believe this proves my whole morality bankrupt. Moreover they criticise me for helping Thomas Junior out of the country when matters looked difficult for him. Yet I ask you what practical benefit was there in coupling a prison sentence to my son's disgrace? We would only be tying down more state finances by keeping young Thomas in jail.
These same irresponsible liberals once again ignored the facts when they criticised Baroness Thatcher for helping her own son Mark whenever he got into scrapes. They even swarmed against Sir John Birt for using his influence to find a job for his daughter at LWT and against the chief inspector of schools for hushing up an alleged indiscretion from his youth (or someone else's - I can't quite recall the details).
Yet all this is to misunderstand the Gradgrind philosophy. Facts are indeed the only thing that matter, sir. Facts, sir. But some facts are just too important to be reported in the tabloid press. When we add up the balance, what profit is shown by always coming clean? That is what Gradgrind can teach today's politicians, sir. And a lesson worth learning they think it too.
I am a retired industrialist. I am a man of wealth and vision who is willing to put his expertise and idealism behind whichever government is in power. I know Blair, T, secretly subscribes to my ideas and I have lent a number of his colleagues money to ease the cost of house-buying. All I ask in return is a small post in acknowledgement of Gradgrind's undiminished influence over British political life. Chairmanship of a Government task force would do.
Thomas Gradgrind is principal of Gradgrind's Academy, Coketown, and a fellow of The Institute of Factual Studies. He was speaking to Adrian Mourby.


text:
Home » Blogger » Tips » Google Gmail Desktop
Google Gmail Desktop
In: Blogger Tips
Google Gmail Desktop A. Fatih Syuhud October 31, 2014
Nice gadget if you use Gmail extensively. Unfortunately, "The Gmail gadget currently works with the latest release of Google Desktop for Windows." Not yet for Mac.
TV, Internet harms kids' health
TV, Internet Causing Kids Harm: Report.
There's a strong link between media exposure and childhood obesity, smoking and sexual activity, according to US researchers who reviewed 173 studies on media and health conducted over the past three decades.
Nokia N97 vs RIM BlackBerry Storm
Whenever a new Smartphone is about to hit the market it will always get compared to the Apple iPhone. The BlackBerry Storm did, and now the Nokia N97 is, but it is a fairer comparison to put the N97 and the Storm together.
A device that will generate energy from ocean currents
Scientists have developed what they claim is a revolutionary device, which can generate energy from ocean currents, enough to power the entire world.
US: Pakistan accepts terrorists may be from its territory
The terrorist massacre in Mumbai was plotted in Pakistan and was executed by Pakistanis, Indian and US officials now agree. The big question now: How culpable are the Pakistani government and its military and intelligence agency, and how can the answer be handled either way it turns out?
Mumbai Terror Suspect's Arrest Captured on Video
Mobile phone footage shows alleged terrorist Ajmal Qasab captured and beaten following the attacks that killed more than 170 people in Mumbai.
Pakistan Offers to Help Investigate Mumbai Terror Attack
Pakistan has offered a joint investigation into terror attacks in Mumbai, after India blamed elements in Pakistan for planning the deadly in Mumbai.
Generic Heart Drugs as Good as Brand-Name: Study
Brand-name drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease are no better than generics, a new review of available evidence shows.
YouTube Changoever: Less Sex, More Symphony
YouTube appears poised for an image makeover, with a pair of announcements this week promising less sex and more symphony. YouTube's new Symphony Orchestra will accomplish the latter, offering classical musicians worldwide a chance to perform in an "online orchestra" packed with some of the industry's biggest names. more
Save Darfur
Dear Mr. Syuhud,
Your personal convictions about humanitarian issues ring clear on Blogger Indonesia, so please allow me to get right to the point. The appalling genocide in Darfur continues – now in its sixth year and at the price of nearly half a million lives. Ironically, December 9th marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Genocide Convention, and Darfuri people are still suffering and struggling to survive. As the Obama administration ushers in a new era of foreign policy, this nation has an opportunity – an obligation – to aid our global neighbors in Darfur. You, an influential voice, can play a pivotal role in making this happen . . .
The Save Darfur Coalition's "Be A Voice For Darfur" postcard campaign (http://addyourvoice.org) seeks to ensure that Darfur is a top priority for President-elect Obama, who has already promised "unstinting resolve" to end the Darfur Genocide. We aim for no less than 1 million postcards to be emailed and snail-mailed to President-elect) Obama within his first 100 days in office. With your help, we can draw desperately-needed political attention to the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
Can we ask you to add your voice? It takes only moments – please sign the pledge at http://www.addyourvoice.org/. Most importantly, you can influence others to stand up and be a voice for Darfur. Simply spread the word through your personal networks and Blogger Indonesia.
· You'll find a Darfur Blogger Toolkit with videos, photos, and other resources at www.addyourvoice.org/pages/blogger_toolkit.
· Facebook Causes and Save Darfur just launched their new petition application for the campaign. The new Facebook petition will be a gamechanger for cause-based social media marketing. If you're already using Facebook Causes, you can access and sign the petition at http://apps.facebook.com/causes/72?m=618c3fb4&recruiter_id=6746654. (As an incentive, Save Darfur is offering a free t-shirt to anyone who recruits 100 signatures.)
Your participation in this life-or-death campaign has the potential to impact thousands. I am personally invested in finding ways for the social media community at large to use our influence for good, and sincerely hope you will join us. Save Darfur is one of my clients, so if you'd like more information, please feel free to reach me at 703.894.5460 or mike@livingstonbuzz.com.
Thank you for being a Voice for Darfur.
Livingston Communications
Email: mike@livingstonbuzz.com
Web: www.livingstonbuzz.com
Buzz Bin Blog: www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog
Court ruling brings down Thai government
A constitutional court dissolved Thailand's top three ruling parties for electoral fraud Tuesday and temporarily banned the prime minister from politics, bringing down a government that has faced months of strident protests seeking its ouster.
Meanwhile, similar constitutional court (MK - Mahkamah Konstitusi) in Indonesia rules that gubernatorial election in East Java province be recounted in one regency (Pamekasan) and another run off in two other regencies (Sampang & Bangkalan).
Obama Unveils His National Security Team
The New York Times praises Obama's national security choice:
After years of watching American leadership crumble under the weight of bad decisions made in a White House shuttered to all debate, President-elect Barack Obama's national security team is a relief.
There is no underestimating the challenges facing Mr. Obama, and he will need a strong team to help him. The choices announced on Monday are a strong start.
Tags: Blogger Tips


Here's a giveaway I know all of you will definitely want to enter - a free coupon binder and a gift certificate from a coupon clipping service!
Readers, this one is coming very soon! Bloggers, please join me and say that Frugal Follies referred you!
"Loaded Coupon Binder & Gift Certificate Giveaway"
Must be 18 year of age or older to enter.
FREE Facebook or Twitter link with announcement post!
Click HERE for Announcement post!


This weekend, I played in the mud.
I planned and cut out two flower beds in front of my house, extending the builder's foundation design down the sides of my steps. It wasn't a big area – doesn't seem like it would be that big of a deal, but I am wiped out.
On Saturday, I laid the borders and removed the grass in muggy 90-something degree weather, which really was the toughest part. Today I put together a wheelbarrow, turned the soil and mixed in humus, manure, and rich garden soil, planted, watered, and mulched.
So there I was with no distractions, down in the dirt, creating something new and beautiful, despite my sore muscles, sunburned skin, and jeans that kept falling down after stretching out from a wet, sweaty waistband.
And flashes of my former life flashed through my mind, as I recalled various home-landscaping projects from my past which were led by Mr. N/A. I felt pain with every single one of them.
The first one was outside our tiny condominium we purchased at the height of the market in the 80's in the DC area. Sometime after telling me he wanted a divorce while we were on vacation in Mexico, he decided we should create a small flower bed. It was a triangle-shape, and we bought scalloped bricks for the edging. I remember dropping one of them on my foot – I still have a scar. Strains of Sinead O'Conner's Nothing Compares to You set a melancholy mood in the background. I convinced myself it was a symbol of a new start, but my gut wrenched inside.
Our next place, a new single-family home in the suburbs, discovered by yours truly, had lots of opportunities for landscape design. My former husband was creative and meticulous, and he spent countless hours creating a backyard fence from scratch. The beautiful rose garden surprised me a little, complete with a hand-stacked stone retaining wall. But the biggest project was the one we did in the front of the house, outside our side-loading garage. His parents even came down to help. We dug out the huge area and mixed in all the goodies, put down newspapers to block weeds, and planted azaleas, rhododendron, and a very ugly blue atlas cedar that I agreed on reluctantly as the other 3 ganged up on me with their own opinions.
I remember my arches hurt so badly the next day I could barely walk. No one warned me that stepping (or jumping, really) on a shovel with cute little flat tennies wasn't the wisest decision.
I think I cried when that stupid tree finally went in; I told myself he was really trying – that putting all that time and effort into our garden was his way of apologizing and investing in our tiny family's future.
And then, of course, there was the beautiful magnolia we planted in memory of our baby, lost in a miscarriage while he was traveling. We drove up to see his family shortly after my pregnancy ended – maybe it was his grandfather's funeral – and I had an emotional breakdown. They all just looked at me like "there goes the wacko," and I grieved the loss of my tiny baby on my own in his mother's guest room.
He decided to call in the professionals for help with our last house. It was a huge undertaking, and I decided to stay out of it, mostly, as I had my own work cut out for me on the inside of the house. I guess I don't remember much pain there, except for the argument with the son of the landscapers over the mismatched concrete-patio pour. (I think Mr. N/A actually defended me on that one, surprisingly enough.) Mostly I just felt numb and ambivalent. Sometimes I wonder what triggered that round of guilty behavior. Anyway, I think the subsequent owners yanked it all out and created their own design.
What a waste. Seventeen years of projects and pain. Seventeen years of wondering why my love was never enough.
Those gardening memories are in the past, and this weekend's garden was not about that. This garden is about gratefulness. I planted lavender plants in pink, white, and purple – the scent is simply divine and perfumes the path up to my front door. The flats of annuals in variations of yellow, my favorite color, are going to make a sunny welcome for my future.
There are so many ways of grieving, and our hearts just don't seem to ever be as far along as we want them to be.
It seems like these projects are both uplifting and are helping you with the grieving process at the same time, and this seems truly healthy.
I think vacations and my birthday are my biggest triggers for painful memories…times that should have been happy but were so often spoiled.
I never knew about your miscarriage or that he told you he wanted a divorce long before you split up. Those are both such devastatingly sad details.
I'm truly sorry for the pain you've gone through Lisa. Your love was always good enough; the man you were with just couldn't feel the way a man is truly supposed to feel, and didn't see you for who you are, for whatever reason.
I know someday you will be the sun in some man's sky, shining brightly.


Hello I am , July 4th, 2018, This is my post about Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14, on this page you can see so beautiful design about Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14, the first picture in this post is the best picture we use about Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14, detail on photo's above, you can see in the second paragraph.
The first picture is a picture Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14, the image has been in named with : Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14, This image was posted on category : Uncategorized, have resolution : 800x800 pixel. This posting entitled Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14, and many people looking for about Wood And Chrome Dining Table Stun Leg Coffee Large Slab With Chunky Home Ideas 14 from search engine.


I first got to know Mark Winkler back in 2010 when I was organising a charity martial arts festival. I had 12 styles have about 15 minutes each to demonstrate their style and we raised about £2000 for charity. Along with the usual well known martial arts, Karate, Kung Fu, Taekwondo etc; I wanted some arts that were less well known and not necessarily from Eastern Asia! My search lead me to Mark Winkler and the Russian martial art of Systema, which up to that point I'd never heard of before.
I found Mark to be a very knowledgeable martial artist. Before turning to Systema, he was a 6th Dan Karate. Very few people get to that high level, then change styles. Take up a second style maybe, but seldom do they change altogether. So I was intrigued about this Systema and what a man such as Mark had seen in it; especially as he has over 40 years training and has worked in the security field so has real life experience. In short, he knowswhat's real and what's not.
CW: Before you got into Systema, you were a 6th Dan at Wado Ryu Karate. Can you tell us about that, who you trained with, who were your main influences and any notable achievements?
MW: I was very fortunate my first instructor was a gent by the name of Peter Morgan who was with Unel Wellington of the WKA. Peter was a good technician and encouraged me in my training and teaching. I had my 2nd Dan with the WKA before moving and joining Steve Rowe of Shi kon. Steve was a great technician he really made me question the application in kata, I would go out to theatre with my wife and instead of watching the show I would be visualising different applications for the kata lol.
My 3rd Dan came from Steve Rowe. It was at that point I set up my own organisation with three clubs with Graham Morgan in north Wales and four I had in west Wales, it allowed us to invite instructors from different styles and different martial arts. We had some great instructors who visited many times, Gwyn Jones Aikido, Peter Jones Tai Chi, Steve Rowe Karate, the late Ron Chillington and late Toru Takamizawa to name a few. The name of the group was named after my brother Michael, he was lost to us in the troubles in Northern Ireland in June 88. Welsh guys in the forces are known as Taff so that's where the name Ffordd TAFF which is Welsh for Taffs Way, got its name.
My biggest achievements in Karate is I when a former student comes up to me and says thank you and shows some gratitude for something I tried to do.
An early publicity article back in the Karate days! With hair!
CW: Apart from Karate and Systema, do you have any significant experience in any other form of martial art? And want attracted you to Karate back when you first started?
MW: I did have private lessons in grappling when I was teaching in Albany and Williamsburg in America and Aikido here in the UK, at the time I was very much into lifting weights so used to try and use my strength and found strength v technique, there was only going to be one winner and it was not strength.
CW: As you rose to a senior grade in Karate, what did you used to do back then in terms of teaching and running your own Karate/self protection classes?
MW: From the start of my karate days with Peter Morgan I was always taught the importance of good form, it is your foundation and if your basics are weak every part of your training will be. So it's always been important to teach form, have your stances correct and good clean movement, but I also cross trained to keep it interesting and make them prepared for different confrontations.
CW: I know that lots of people train in more than one martial art system and many people try several styles before settling for one to commit to. But I don't think I've heard of anybody getting all the way to 6th Dan (which must have taken a few decades training) and then swapping styles. What was it about Systema that made you decide to change and was it an emotional decision having put so many years into your Karate?
MW: I had got disillusioned in Karate and found I was not teaching for the right reason. But the reality was that the issue was not Karate but something personnel deep inside me was the problem. I will be totally honest I had been struggling with depression for some time and knew I had to make some huge changes in my life or I wasn't going to get through the next 12months. So after teaching in Kelona (British Colombia, Canada), I flew to Prince George to spend a week with a Faith healer, then flew to Toronto for what was meant to be a week but stayed for six month training with Vladamir Vasilliev. I loved the thought of free movement that Systema offered and the comradery with the guys was at another level that I had before I found the training very difficult because of where I was emotionally with myself.
CW: Thank you for being so honest and open about your depression, that can take courage to admit. You mention about teaching in Albany and Williamsburg in America and Kelona in Canada, how did this come about, don't they have enough of their own instructors?
MW: I had already taught a short stint a couple of years earlier in the Czech republic, I went to Albany in New York first and whilst there I went to train at the local Karate club. It was not a style I was familiar with but I loved training in any form of martial art. Anyway, after maybe three classes I was invited to join the teaching team which I was happy to accept. Then when I was in Williamsburg, West Virginia, I visited a Karate school there. The instructor there a serving police officer was very interested in how Karate could be modified practically for self defence purposes and we spoke in depth, starting ideas and from that came a invitation to teach him and his small group.
In Calgary, Canada, very much the same. I visited the school and trained and got invited to teach and stayed out there for close to six months. It was that time a friend invited me teach a class of self defence at a private school in Calgary, I ended up teaching for around three months before the school told me it was stopping the class so it could run a visualisation group. Not wanting to end my time in Calgary I told them I taught visualisation back home and so I was given the job. I had no idea what it was so I had to rush back to my home out there and phone someone up in the UK to see what I was to teach the next day I then was able to formulate a class for the next morning I have been using the visualisation now for almost twenty years.
Teaching in Kelona in Canada was a invite through a friend.
CW: How would you describe Systema for anybody who has never seen it before?
MW: This is something I don't know if I can describe. I tell my students often the most important thing I think is to FEEL what is happening to your body and your partners body listen to both your emotions and training partners emotions through the contact between you and them, feel where the tension is and move around it, connect not only to your partner but also to yourself.
I think this is important in every part of your life, In my security work I have to connect with aggressive people. By connecting with their emotions you can some times manipulate the situation before things turn aggressive but if that fails then you have a better idea as to just how much force is needed to bring the incident to a end. In your personal life dealing with your partner and children by connecting emotionally with them it allows you have a better understanding of their needs.
CW: Most martial arts do to a certain extent adopt the culture of the originating country (lining up, bowing, etc). Separate to the physical elements of training, is Systema very influenced by Russian culture and did you find this at all strange at first coming from a strict Japanese influenced martial art?
MW: I enjoy working under a relaxed environment that Vladimir and his senior instructors offer. As opposed to bowing we shake hands, we work with relaxation, breath , and freedom of movement working away from tension which sometimes a Japanese martial art would work through tension. Although I enjoy all the freedom and relaxation that Systema offers I still enjoy watching a good kata being performed, the focus, clean strong movements of someone like yourself Charlie performing a powerful kick still has the hair stick up at the back of my neck.
CW: Thank you, that's very kind of you to say so. Did many (or any) of the people that you used to train Karate with, swap over to Systema with you? And was it a bit of shock for whatever Karate association you belonged to, losing a 6th Dan to another style?
MW: One guy Martyn Walters made the change over, he started training with me in Karate at the age of nine, I think he's thirty six now and still training with me. Martyn was the guy who introduced me to to Systema when he showed a video of the art to me. It shows he had never been to Canada and seen how big the country was when he suggested I pop in to see Vladamir, it was an hours flight from Prince George to Vancouver then another I think it was a four hour flight to Toronto. Pop over he said, as if it was next door lol.
I had my own association at this time but I did seek advice from other instructors as to training on the mats and which instructors to bring to the school. We had five clubs in the group and that was enough for me I didn't want more because I wanted something I could manage without relying too much on other people. It was not easy walking away from Karate and my group because many had been with me for years, but I had to do what was best for me and by the end with so much going on in my private life as well as in my Karate world I needed a new start.
CW: You've taken it seriously enough to travel to Canada several times to train directly under Vladimir Vasiliev, for months at a time. Before we talk about the training itself, this must take a lot of planning, preparation, commitment and sacrifice. How many times have you done this and how did you manage to work this in around your job/business and family life?
MW: I have been self employed involved in security for around thirty five years working from the night clubs, to one on one, to an enforcement officer for the high court. That's how I have financed my trips working as much as possible when I'm home and keeping my daily training going. I did the same when I did Karate, I went several times to America to train. I often have people tell me how lucky I have been to go and train in Canada and I how easy I have it. If lucky is coming back from these trips with no work waiting for you, not a penny in your bank account, feeling home sick being away from my children and grand children, having gone through a divorce because of my lifestyle, knowing the upset caused to my parents by constantly going away when they have been so unwell and selfishly I stayed away when both my parents had a stroke. Then if they want to call that lucky and easy then that's ok they can call it easy and lucky, I have other names for it lol. I have spent around three years back and forth there.
CW: I'd call it "commitment"! People often make judgements without all the facts. OK, so what was the training like over there. I have heard that it was quite rough and physically punishing at first without too much control, but had to be toned down a bit. Is there any truth in that?
MW: It was different many years ago, there is a huge emphasis on sensitivity now and connecting to yourself and to each others movement. I was used to being physical because of my work, it was learning the sensitivity of it all I had problems with, working constructively without applying tension. But I was lucky the guys I worked with in Toronto were good and very patient with me.
CW: Many other arts have changed over the years due to many influences, probably the biggest being competition. Many people feel that their art is less effective at real world self protection because of these changes. Do you feel that the change of emphasis towards sensitivity in Systema is good, bad, or indifferent when it comes to real world self protection?
MW: I think sensitivity is a must, a friend and student of mine who is a senior grade in Judo tells me how he uses sensitivity in his game, by being sensitive in touch, every slight movement his opponent makes is transmitted through the body this allows my friend to react a lot sooner to his opponents intention. As we get older our physical strength diminishes and if I was to deal with a physical confrontation as I did many years ago with a lot of force I know I would get hurt. I now try to fight with sensitivity, I try to have freedom in my movement. I move to counter their movements, I allow myself to feel what is happening as opposed to seeing. The more sensitive I am with my touch the more I feel, the better I react. One of the other very important thing we do in Systema is we learn not to take our opponents tension on board, tension from one person to another always happens because tension is transferable.
CW: I agree with you there, I think Karate was especially guilty of to much tension in it's early years of exporting it around the world. Are there any particular experiences or anecdotes that stick out for you?
MW: There are many, how I feel emotionally and deal with both my emotions and those emotions of a aggressive person in conflict in work as well as being more sensitive to others in my private life. Around seven years ago I got hit with a bottle on the side of the neck which caused internal bleeding and poisoning in the throat, it was two weeks later when I decided with a neck swollen from 17 inch to a 22 inch and not being able to breath that I sought help and was rushed in for a three hour operation. I know before Systema I would have totally freaked out instead of calmly trying to slow everything down and sip in some air until I could get assistance.
CW: What was Vladimir Vasiliev like as a person? I believe he was ex-KGB from the cold war era, and would presumably have had a few real stories of using Systema in the field. Is this correct, and if so could you ever get him to talk about them?
MW: Vladamir served in the forces as a Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces). He's a very warm and welcoming guy who is very much in tune with the individuals needs. One of the things that fascinates me is how he can connect with people's emotions the way he does. As for what went on in the field in conflict he's not one to tell and I'm not one to ask.
CW: I can understand where you're coming from, sometimes better to let some things just be. You now do security work in Cardiff. Have you ever had to use your Systema in a real life situation? If so, please tell us about it?
MW: I do night club work in Swansea but work on a one to one basis and high court work goes on all over the UK. We were sent to London for two weeks but we ended up working for twelve months there. Too offten the job can lead to confrontation with large numbers of people involved so having a good team working alongside helps. I have seen people badly hurt and find it uncomfortable to talk about.
CW: Fair enough, I can understand that. What direction will you be taking your training in now? Will you be continuing to go back to Vladimir in Canada? Or will you be focusing more on bringing in other top instructors to you for seminars?
MW: I will continue to visit Vladamir in Toronto but now it only be for a month at a time. Also we will continue to bring top instructors to Cardiff, we have already had Martin Wheeler over this year and we have Emmanuel Manolakakis coming soon.
CW: What would your advice be to anybody who is thinking of taking up Systema, either as their main style or as a second style alongside their existing main system?
MW: As with every martial art that you may want to learn, always seek out for a good instructor. I know this may be more difficult for anyone seeking instruction in Systema because we are still not a main stream form of martial art as yet, but there are good instructors out there holding regular workshops in the UK. If they want to get hold of me and let me know where they are from I will be more than happy to hook them up with a instructor near to them.
CW: You mentioned earlier that you're bringing top instructors to Cardiff, as well as hosting your own open seminars. Do you feel that these seminars have much to offer to martial artists of other styles? Is there much that they can take away and incorporate into their own training?
MW: I'm not going to make this comment because of my involvement in Systema but because I believe it to be true; I do believe Systema has a lot to offer other martial arts, whether you take on the breathing, the movement the relaxation there is so much more in Systema. It has something to offer every martial art. We have regulars training in Cardiff who teach Krav Maga, Judo, Karate and 2 that teach Tai Jitsu in Cardiff.
CW: What do you think about the general direction that martial arts are heading in today? On the one had you have a drive towards sport with Olympic Taekwondo having been heavily modified to make it more of a spectator sport, Karate running a similar risk having also been accepted into the Olympics, the rise of MMA/cage fighting and martial art schools often measuring their success in terms of how many trophies they've won.
On the other hand, many traditional schools are looking for more practical applications and there is a rise in Reality Based Martial Arts.
What is your general opinion on the state of martial arts today?
MW: Although I'm not involved in Japanese martial arts I like to think of them as a traditional martial art, and although it's not what I like to see I do think these arts broadening out and are offering something for everyone. But you need to be careful you don't go to far off track and lose your way because without the traditional aspects I think the arts will become without soul and meaninglessness.
CW: Outside of the practical self protection side of martial arts, what do you think martial arts should do for the practitioner in terms of self development, health and general well being? And is it necessary to have these things if we're mainly interested in self protection?
MW: In my opinion all these things, self development, health, your well being; all come under self defence and self protection. They are the same, it's to do with looking after yourself. Looking after you body, mind and Soul, to be able to function properly in stressful situations you need to look after yourself.
CW: What have martial arts done for your own development personally? And has there been much difference between Karate and Systema in this respect?
MW: As I said earlier I was a troubled guy having difficulty dealing with my own emotions, what Winston Churchill referred to as the black dog. Being dyslexic in school in my time was regarded as being stupid, so I went through my time in schooling constantly being told by some teachers how stupid they thought I was. I THINK THOSE WORDS ARE WHAT HAS DRIVEN ME SO MUCH, BUT TOO MUCH DRIVE CAN ALSO BE VERY DESTRUCTIVE. I have now found peace and grounding within. I have seen other instructors like yourself in other martial arts who are very keen to go that extra mile to help their students in their self development.
CW: What are your plans now? Do you intend to build up your classes and make teaching into a full time profession?
MW: With my business partner Sean McCarthy we have opened The Forge Central Martial Arts Studio in Cardiff, it's open to adults now but we will soon have children's classes and health, breath and movement classes up and running. I'm not planning in the near future to be a full time instructor, I will stay in the security business for now. But as I am fifty six now who knows what may happen in the future!
CW: Well Mark, I wish you every success with your business venture at The Forge, I sincerely hope it works our for you.
On behalf of myself and all the readers, I would like to thank you for your interesting and insightful interview and for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us.
If you are interested in training with Mark or booking him for a seminar, you can contact him via Facebook. As I mentioned at the beginning, I have attended a seminar with Mark and I can thoroughly recommend it if you get the chance.


text:
La soviétologie est l'historiographie de l'URSS, et plus généralement l'ensemble des analyses et des études de ce régime. La soviétologie, traversée par plusieurs courants, ne suit pas la même périodisation selon les pays, du moins jusqu'à 1989. En effet, le contexte de guerre froide a pesé lourdement sur les études occidentales de l'URSS, et particulièrement sur la soviétologie anglo-saxonne. La difficulté d'accès aux archives a rendu encore plus délicat le travail des chercheurs au cours de cette période.

La soviétologie anglo-saxonne

Jusqu'au milieu des années 1960

L'« école » du totalitarisme

Avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, les études universitaires sur l'URSS sont faiblement développées. Les rares travaux sérieux sont produits par des journalistes, comme . Ce n'est qu'à partir de l'après-guerre, et surtout du début de la guerre froide, que la soviétologie va connaître une forte croissance. Les pionniers sont  de Yale,  et Alexander Gerschenkron de Harvard. Les historiens de l'école du totalitarisme ont dominé la production historique sur l'URSS au cours des années 1950-1960, où ce courant est représenté dans le monde anglo-saxon par , Leonard Bertram Schapiro et Adam Ulam notamment.

Les plus extrêmes représentants de cette école pensaient que la société soviétique n'existait tout simplement pas, étant donné le contrôle implacable exercé par le Parti-État sur l'ensemble du pays. Néanmoins, Merle Fainsod, partisan lucide du modèle, a tôt admis la distance entre celui-ci et les pratiques réelles, en particulier la subsistance de nombreuses zones d'autonomie échappant au contrôle de l'État. Après examen des archives de Smolensk, Merle Fainsod parle dès 1958 d'un totalitarisme « inefficace » : « derrière la façade totalitaire se multipliaient les contradictions internes ».

La « kremlinologie »

Ce courant de la soviétologie de la fin des années 1940 et du début des années 1950 est appelé ironiquement ainsi par ses opposants du fait de son principal terrain d'investigations, le Kremlin de Moscou. Il qualifiait notamment les études journalistiques sur l'URSS. Les défenseurs de cette pratique, comme Robert Conquest, se sont ensuite approprié le terme.

Franz Borkenau a été le principal représentant de cette école. Il a travaillé pour le Komintern dans les années 1920 et considérait les luttes au sommet de l'État comme une clé servant à la compréhension de la politique soviétique. Franz Borkenau interprétait le cours entier de l'histoire soviétique comme une chaîne ininterrompue de conflits internes opposant les dirigeants soviétiques. Le but des kremlinologues était d'établir la nature de leurs conflits, les problèmes en jeu et les effets de ces conflits sur la politique soviétique. Les sources privilégiées pour cela étaient les journaux soviétiques et les comptes rendus des discours officiels. En se spécialisant dans les prédictions de l'avenir, la kremlinologie a souvent entraîné des erreurs d'appréciation. Car une déclaration qui semblait à contre-courant n'était pas nécessairement le signe de l'existence d'un conflit d'intérêts ou d'une activité subversive.

La kremlinologie privilégiait l'étude des décisions, des opinions et des ambitions des grands acteurs politiques soviétiques, ainsi que l'analyse des mouvements du personnel dans les institutions (nomenklatura). La politique décidée par le centre était considérée comme le seul facteur d'importance qui déterminait le comportement du « système » soviétique. Cela explique l'importance du genre biographique dans les études soviétologiques. De très nombreuses biographies ont été rédigées sur les personnalités du Kremlin et, en particulier, sur Joseph Staline.

Le tournant « révisionniste »

La première génération des « révisionnistes »

En 1964, Leopold Haimson, un élève de Michael Karpovitch, publie un article décisif, fondateur du « révisionnisme », dans lequel il remet en cause certains postulats de l'historiographie américaine. Il y expose la situation révolutionnaire en Russie au début du  et démonte l'idée selon laquelle l'insurrection d'Octobre se résumerait à un coup d'État réussi. La Révolution russe n'était donc pas un « accident », mais bien un événement inscrit dans l'évolution sociale de la Russie.

À partir de ce moment-là, la soviétologie anglo-saxonne s'oriente majoritairement vers l'histoire sociale de la période révolutionnaire et des débuts du régime soviétique. En Grande-Bretagne, Robert William Davies et Alec Nove, aux côtés de Moshe Lewin notamment, ont posé les fondations de l'étude de la société soviétique par leurs analyses du fonctionnement concret du régime. À la différence des kremlinologues, ils refusaient d'individualiser la politique dans leurs analyses, et postulaient que l'économique et le social en URSS pouvaient être autonomes par rapport au pouvoir politique.

Parmi les révisionnistes de cette génération, mais dans le domaine de la science politique ou de l'histoire politique, on compte aussi Isaac Deutscher, Edward Hallett Carr, Stephen F. Cohen et Robert C. Tucker. Chez certains, l'analyse de la guerre civile russe et de la période des années 1920 n'est pas sans rappeler l'interprétation trotskiste :  le triomphe de Staline représentait une « déviation » du Parti communiste par rapport aux principes du bolchevisme. L'évolution du régime pendant la guerre civile et surtout après la mort de Lénine en 1924 serait due au fait que la révolution russe a eu lieu dans un pays rural et arriéré.

Le politologue Jerry Hough entendait remettre en question « les vieilles images d'un État tout-puissant, dirigeant la société et menant la politique étrangère à partir d'un plan établi de longue date ». Jerry Hough, en cherchant à étudier la société soviétique en tant que société comme une autre, défendait le modèle du « pluralisme institutionnel ». Selon lui, le fossé qui séparait le pluralisme classique (celui des démocraties occidentales) du pluralisme institutionnel provenait de ce qui était toléré ou non dans le comportement politique. Dans le pluralisme institutionnel, ceux qui voulaient peser sur la dynamique politique devaient travailler à l'intérieur du cadre institutionnel existant. La bureaucratie jouissait donc d'une bien plus grande autonomie que la théorie du totalitarisme ne le suggérait, les bureaucrates jouant par exemple un rôle important dans l'élaboration des politiques.

La seconde génération

Les historiens « révisionnistes » de la seconde génération (la « nouvelle cohorte ») ont entrepris de revisiter la période stalinienne, à la manière de Moshe Lewin. Ils ont cherché à renverser les jugements universitaires prédominants sur cette période de l'histoire soviétique en s'opposant de manière radicale au « modèle totalitaire ». Sheila Fitzpatrick était le chef de file de cette seconde génération, qui a été largement influencée par ses études foisonnantes et novatrices. Au cours des années 1980, les historiens « révisionnistes » sont majoritaires aux États-Unis et la majorité des spécialistes anglo-saxons récusent plus ou moins le modèle du totalitarisme.

L'histoire soviétique des années 1930 était regardée, non plus « par le haut », mais « par le bas », à travers le prisme des profonds changements sociaux de la période. Les « révisionnistes » ont surtout remis en question l'atomisation complète de la société et le caractère central de la terreur, considérant que les théoriciens du totalitarisme avaient exagéré la soumission de la population. La société soviétique était davantage que l'objet passif de la manipulation du régime, elle n'acceptait pas en l'absence de tout esprit critique les messages, même les plus convaincants, transmis de manière massive par la propagande.

Les révisionnistes estimaient que l'école du totalitarisme avait accordé une attention exclusive au politique et à l'idéologique dans l'histoire de l'URSS. Ils ont choisi pour leur part de se focaliser sur l'analyse des processus sociaux, en faisant éclater l'idée même de « système ». Plutôt que de traiter de la planification et du contrôle exercé par le régime, ils se sont attachés à rendre compte de l'improvisation, de la spontanéité et des erreurs commises au sein de la structure étatique. De même, le politique n'étant pas indépendant d'autres facteurs, la société influençait parfois les décisions prises au sommet. C'est pourquoi les révisionnistes ont reproché à l'école du totalitarisme d'avoir surévalué le rôle des dirigeants soviétiques. Les biographes n'hésitait pas à faire porter tout un contexte par un personnage. Pourtant, si le pouvoir de Staline et son influence sur les événements étaient évidents, ils ne permettent pas à eux seuls de comprendre toutes les initiatives politiques prises en URSS de 1928 à 1953, ni même le phénomène du stalinisme.

Pour un grand nombre de révisionnistes, le concept de totalitarisme avait un sens insuffisamment précis pour servir d'outil dans l'analyse de l'URSS. Pour d'autres, le totalitarisme était inefficace à un tel point que l'on ne pouvait pas parler de totalitarisme du tout. Ainsi, John Arch Getty rejetait l'emploi de ce terme car, selon lui, « la sophistication technique et technologique qui distingue le totalitarisme de la dictature manquait dans les années trente ».

D'après la plupart des historiens de la « nouvelle cohorte », la période allant de la révolution de 1917 au stalinisme suivait une progression continue. Dans la vision de Sheila Fitzpatrick, « l'analyse de Trotsky de la société soviétique [...] développée de la manière la plus impressionnante dans le travail de Moshe Lewin [...] comporte des préjugés inhérents, et explique certaines choses très bien et d'autres mal. Elle mérite la même attention critique que le modèle totalitaire ».

La soviétologie française

En comparaison avec la soviétologie anglo-saxonne, la soviétologie française suit un cheminement à peu près inverse. Peu après l'abandon par les auteurs américains et britanniques de l'analyse en termes de totalitarisme, les spécialistes français semblent alors découvrir le concept.

Jusqu'aux années 1970

Dans les années 1930, des auteurs communistes anti-staliniens dénoncent le totalitarisme en URSS, comme Victor Serge, et surtout Boris Souvarine, précurseur de la soviétologie, dans son ouvrage sur Staline publié en 1935. Par la suite, jusqu'aux années 1970, les travaux français sur l'URSS sont extérieurs à la problématique du totalitarisme. L'œuvre d'Hannah Arendt n'est d'ailleurs traduite en français qu'à partir de 1972.

Une histoire de l'Union soviétique a été écrite par des universitaires membres du Parti communiste français (PCF). Il s'agissait d'une histoire militante, mais non officielle, puisqu'elle était soumise aux règles scientifiques. On note, dans la collection « Que sais-je ? », lHistoire de l'URSS de Jean Bruhat (1945) et L'Économie de l'URSS du géographe Pierre George. L'économiste et historien Charles Bettelheim, écarté du PCF en 1937, étudie la planification soviétique puis s'oriente vers une analyse critique du « capitalisme d'État » soviétique.

Roger Portal, directeur de l'Institut d'études slaves, exerce une influence importante sur l'histoire de la Révolution russe et des systèmes agraires en Russie et en URSS. Au début des années 1960, il envoie en Union soviétique un certain nombre de ses étudiants : René Girault, François-Xavier Coquin, puis Marc Ferro, Alain Besançon, Hélène Carrère d'Encausse et Jean-Louis Van Regemorter. Marc Ferro renouvelle les perspectives sur la Révolution russe de 1917, grâce à sa thèse de doctorat en histoire sociale, publiée en 1967.

 L'« école » du totalitarisme en France

La mise en avant du concept de totalitarisme s'inscrit dans un contexte politique : si David Rousset est le premier dès 1949 à parler ouvertement du goulag, c'est la publication en 1974 de L'Archipel du Goulag d'Alexandre Soljenitsyne qui ouvre une puissante vague d'anticommunisme et de rejet du marxisme venant non seulement des libéraux mais aussi des intellectuels ex-militants du PCF alors stalinien (François Furet, Alain Besançon, Annie Kriegel). Le rejet du totalitarisme devient aussi le mot d'ordre des déçus du maoïsme tels les « nouveaux philosophes » (Bernard-Henri Lévy, André Glucksmann, etc.) ou des historiens comme Stéphane Courtois ou Pierre Rigoulot.

L'historienne Hélène Carrère d'Encausse produit dans ses ouvrages une synthèse du point de vue de l'« école totalitaire ». Elle dépeint l'Union soviétique rongée de l'intérieur par le réveil des nationalismes, condamnée à la fuite en avant sur le plan international et incapable d'évolutions durables car enfermée dans sa logique profonde : « le système soviétique est resté identique à lui-même depuis 60 ans », affirme-t-elle en 1985.

De son côté, Alain Besançon produit une analyse de l'Union soviétique comme idéocratie, c'est-à-dire comme régime engendré et structuré par une idée (il emprunte ce concept à Waldemar Gurian). Selon lui, l'originalité de l'État soviétique résidait dans la place qu'il accordait à l'idéologie, considérée comme le principe et la fin du régime.

Au cours de l'année du quatre-vingtième anniversaire de la Révolution d'Octobre, Le Livre noir du communisme, et en particulier son introduction rédigée par Stéphane Courtois, déclenche une forte polémique qui donne lieu à de vifs débats car, au moment de la parution de l'ouvrage, le gouvernement français comporte des ministres appartenant au Parti communiste). Le Siècle des communismes, paru en 2000 et rédigé lui aussi par un collectif de chercheurs, a tenté d'apporter une réponse aux visions développées dans le Livre noir.

 La soviétologie depuis l'ouverture des archives

L'effondrement de l'URSS en 1991 a entraîné l'ouverture des archives du régime soviétique au printemps 1992. Une nouvelle période de la recherche historique s'ouvre alors, accompagnée d'un renouvellement des perspectives. C'est aussi le temps des controverses médiatiques.

Le débat engagé à partir de 1987, connu sous le nom d'''Historikerstreit (la « querelle des historiens »), autour des thèses d'Ernst Nolte sur le lien causal entre le Goulag et Auschwitz connaît alors un écho particulier. Le « génocide de classe » commis en Union soviétique serait l'original du « génocide de race » nazi. Les crimes communistes seraient non seulement antérieurs mais aussi logiquement déterminants par rapport aux crimes nazis, ceux-ci constituant une réponse en partie rationnelle aux menaces de destruction qu'auraient fait peser l'URSS et les Juifs sur l'Allemagne. Cela a débouché sur un autre débat, celui de la légitimité ou non de la comparaison nazisme-stalinisme ou nazisme-communisme.

Cette période ouvre ainsi la voie à un retour en force de la théorie du totalitarisme. Les tenants de cette approche ont cherché à limiter la portée des travaux des historiens « révisionnistes ». Richard Pipes a opté pour une position extrême en déniant tout intérêt à leurs travaux : « ce qui est vrai dans leurs écrits n'est pas nouveau, et ce qui est nouveau n'est pas vrai. […] Leur incapacité à proposer une étude originale de la révolution russe indique qu'il est peu probable que leurs efforts contribuent plus qu'en une note de bas de page aux histoires futures ». Dans son étude sur la Révolution russe, l'historien américain a pris le parti d'ignorer les apports de l'histoire sociale « révisionniste ». Il affirme malgré tout que son étude est « le premier [livre], en quelque langue que ce soit, à offrir une vue d'ensemble complète de la Révolution russe ». Richard Pipes décrit les bolcheviks comme un groupuscule de conspirateurs qui sont parvenus à imposer leur dictature à une société désorganisée.

Selon Martin Malia, dans un ouvrage paru en 1995, l'URSS était réellement socialiste : c'est la tentative de réaliser pleinement le socialisme qui a débouché sur la « tragédie soviétique ». Le régime soviétique est une dictature totalitaire car un groupe de fanatiques, mû par une idéologie à prétention totalisante, est parvenu à imposer sa volonté à la société. Martin Malia instaure donc une continuité très nette entre Karl Marx, Lénine et Staline : le totalitarisme était, selon lui, présent dans les « gènes » du marxisme-léninisme. L'autre grande synthèse fondée sur le concept de totalitarisme paraît la même année 1995 sous la plume de François Furet.

Dans Le Siècle soviétique paru en 2003, Moshe Lewin revient sur lHistorikerstreit et « la tendance à perpétuer le stalinisme, en le faisant débuter en 1917 et en la prolongeant jusqu'à la fin de l'Union soviétique », proposant dans cet ouvrage une étude qui aborde « la complexité et la richesse du siècle soviétique ».

Selon l'historien Nicolas Werth, l'ouverture (partielle) des archives soviétiques a aboli la soviétologie : .

 Annexes

 Notes

 Bibliographie

  Leopold Labedz et Walter Laqueur (éd.), The State of Soviet Studies, Cambridge, M.I.T. Press, 1965, 177 p.
  Walter Laqueur, The Fate of the Revolution. Interpretations of Soviet History, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967.
 Michel Winock, « Martin Malia dans l'historiographie du monde soviétique », Vingtième siècle : revue d'histoire, 25, 1990 lecture en ligne.
 Nicolas Werth, « De la soviétologie en général et des archives russes en particulier », Le Débat, 77, 1993, 127-144.
 Nicolas Werth, « Totalitarisme ou révisionnisme ? L'histoire soviétique, une histoire en chantier », Communisme, 47/48, 1996, 57-70.
  David R. Shearer, « From Divided Consensus to Creative Disorder : Soviet History in Britain and North America », Cahiers du monde russe, vol. 39, 4, octobre-, 559-591.
 Nicolas Werth, « L'historiographie de l'URSS dans la période post-communiste », Revue d'études comparatives Est-Ouest, vol. 30, 1, 1999, 81-104.
 Nicolas Werth, « Le stalinisme au pouvoir. Mise en perspective historiographique », Vingtième siècle : revue d'histoire, 69, janvier-, 125-135. lecture en ligne
 Vincent Lelièvre, « Le communisme en Russie, nouvelles approches historiographiques », Bulletin de liaison des professeurs d'histoire-géographie de l'académie de Reims, 25, 2001.
 Laurent Jalabert, Le Grand Débat. Les universitaires français - historiens et géographes - et les pays communistes de 1945 à 1991, Toulouse, Groupe de Recherche en Histoire Immédiate, 2001, 405 p.
 Jean-Paul Deptretto, « Comment aborder le stalinisme? Quelques réflexions de méthode », Matériaux pour l'histoire de notre temps, vol. 65, 2002, 48-54. lecture en ligne

 Articles connexes

 Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques
 Kremlin
 Guerre froide
 Totalitarisme
Histoire du communisme
 Transitologie

 Liens externes

 Wladimir Berelowitch, « La "soviétologie" après le putsch. Vers une guérison ? », Politix, 1992.
 Jean-Paul Depretto, « Pour une histoire sociale de la dictature soviétique », Le Mouvement social'', 196, 2001/3, 3-19.
 Nicolas Werth, « Histoire de l'URSS. Enjeux historiographiques et débats récents », conférence à Caen en 1998.
 Nicolas Werth, « Nouveaux dossiers, nouvelles biographies : l'ouverture des archives soviétiques », intervention aux Rendez-vous de Blois de 2000.

Historiographie anglo-saxonne
Historiographie de la France
Guerre froide

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Case Study: Non-Profit Charity: EMARC
EMARC decided to trust is computer network strategy planning and on-going support to Prosper-IT.
"Prosper-IT is ideal for an organization like ours that does not have internal IT expertise. They came in and cleaned up our computer network and then guided us in deploying technology that supports our requirements and keeps us on the path we need to be going forward—at a cost we can handle. Partnering with Prosper-IT is like having a full-time CIO on board."
Gail Covelluzzi, CFO, EMARC
EMARC, a non-profit charitable corporation, helps children and adults with developmental disabilities live, work and play in and around the communities. The organization was started in 1954 and annually serves more than 700 families from Everett, Lynn, Lynnfield, Malden, Medford, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefield and surrounding communities.
The organization has three offices, including the main office in Reading as well as offices in Burlington and Beverly. Programs include: Recreation, Residential, Family Support, Day Services, School-to-Work, Employment, Center for Emerging Artists, Life Choices and many more. There are also ten group-homes supported by a staff. EMARC has approximately 125 employees in Reading.
With the previous computer network infrastructure, the organization constantly ran into performance problems. "We had to regularly reboot our servers—sometimes more than once each week," said Gail Covelluzzi, the CFO for EMARC. "We also found that our Internet access was slow, and we did not have secure connections with staff that worked out of our group homes."
In addition to improving upon the performance, reliability and security of its computer network, EMARC also wanted to partner with an IT solution provider that could develop a long-range technology plan and help the organization comply with regulations such as the Mass Privacy Act.
"Ideally, we hoped to partner with someone that we could just turn over the computer network to and know that they would keep it performing for us so that we don't have to worry about our system," Covelluzzi said. "We wanted to have the freedom to just focus on providing services to our clients."
EMARC decided to trust is computer network strategy planning and on-going support to Prosper-IT, a solution provider that demonstrated prior success in supporting non-profit organizations and helping them develop long-range technology plans.
"We found Prosper-IT to be responsive and very aware of our cost limitations as a non-profit," Covelluzzi said. "They offered solutions that were within our budget and did not try to persuade us to go beyond what we could afford."
Prosper-IT designed a Citrix remote-access solution for EMARC that makes it much easier to deploy, manage and support end-users since all application and data now reside on servers at the Reading facility. End-users at remote homes can easily access applications through the Citrix connections, which are more secure than the previous virtual-private-network and Google mail connections that EMARC used to rely on. The entire staff at all locations can also now easily access applications from any Internet connection on a 24×7 basis.
When EMARC opened a new office in Burlington, the Citrix solution paid off further since it allowed staff in that office to remotely access applications and data in the Reading office. The organization thus saved costs by not needing to deploy any servers. "Prosper-IT was also very helpful in getting the building ready for us," Covelluzzi said. "In addition to taking care of the wiring, they managed the deployment of all the computer components so that we were ready to function from day one."
Prosper-IT also helped the organization improve its DSL Internet service by re-negotiating the long-term ISP contract that EMARC was tied to and upgrading the service so that end-users now have fast and reliable Internet access.
"We now have a reliable computer network that performs smoothly and is secure," Covelluzzi said. "There has been a huge difference for our staff in our group homes where we used to have as many as 20 service calls per month. We are now down to about one per month."
Covelluzzi added that another major benefit is the long-range technology plan that Prosper-IT has developed and reviews on a regular basis. This gives EMARC the comfort of knowing the computer network will support the organization's mission and not hinder any effort to provide services to clients.
"As a non-profit, we need to make sure our systems not only perform well but also do so at an efficient cost level and for a longer period of time than most commercial businesses," Covelluzzi said. "Prosper-IT is proficient at finding the right balance for us."
Another area in which EMARC has benefitted is compliance. Prosper-IT set up all the computer systems and applications that handle sensitive information to ensure the organization complies with regulations such as HIPAA and the Massachusetts Privacy Law. "We rely heavily on state funding, and without compliance we would lose that funding," Covelluzzi said. "The help we receive from Prosper-IT in this area is critical."
Prosper-IT also goes beyond partnering with EMARC as an IT service provider by supporting the mission of the organization. "They regularly donate money and items to help with our fund-raising events," Covelluzzi said. "They have shown a sincere interest in multiple ways in helping us achieve our goals."
Looking ahead Prosper-IT plans to help EMARC take advantage of virtualization technology by virtualizing the server environment. This will allow the organization to lower costs further by reducing the number of servers it needs to support is users.
"Prosper-IT is ideal for an organization like ours that does not have internal IT expertise," Covelluzzi concluded. "They came in and cleaned up our computer network and then guided us in deploying technology that supports our requirements and keeps us on the path we need to be going forward—at a cost we can handle. Partnering with Prosper-IT is like having a full-time CIO on board.
Prosper IT Case Studies
Non-for-Profit: The Charles River Center
Commercial Real Estate: Integrated Properties Moves to the Prosper Cloud Service!
Not-for-Profit: The Arc of the South Shore
CrossHarbor Capital Partners
Prosper-IT Case Studies	/