We are all aware that purchasing a property is one of the hardest decisions to make in your life. You may even think of this as the biggest investment in your life so you can understand that most folks are reluctant to make a blunder. If this is your first time buying a house, it is usually better to look at mortgage loans, especially if you do not have the money to purchase the house with cash. In case you are living in Blackshear, GA, this is among the best things to do.
If you are a first-time buyer, there are plenty of things that you need to know when applying for a mortgage loan. We are going to provide some information that can help home buyers.
If you intend to obtain a loan, the most essential thing to do is to review your financial circumstances. Do you really believe that this is the correct time to obtain a mortgage loan?
You must be monetarily steady if you want a home loan since you need to pay this every month. You may evaluate your present budget and take notice of the amount that you could pay on a per month basis without affecting your financial circumstances.
This is absolutely your kick off point when you're purchasing a house. You can simply make some adjustments on your budget depending on the information provided by loan providers. This will give you a general idea on your present financial position.
After you evaluate your financial circumstances, the next phase is to begin looking for a house loan. This type of loan is made for all the individuals who want to own a house.
If you're living in Blackshear, GA, here are a few financial restrictions that you need to understand. This kind of loan is actually designed for home buyers with low and average incomes. You might not qualify for this program if you are earning a lot of money.
You will have the choice to consider FHA loans or VA loans, but it'll depend on your requirements. If you can't find a home buyer loan, you could consider these alternatives.
A home buyer loan is definitely a good choice, but it has particular constraints that you should know. There is always a dollar limit on the home that you may purchase so it is expected that you cannot choose costly homes. You'll be limited to the cheaper homes that are generally affordable to the folks with a low to moderate income. If this is your first time purchasing a house and you do not have money, would you actually purchase a costly house? You should also realize that the place can't be rented out and you must reside in the property as your primary residence. You could always obtain a different type of loan if you want to do this.
Obtaining a first-time home buyer loan could also provide a wide range of advantages to you. With this type of loan, you will be allowed to make a small down payment and there's a possibility that you won't have to pay any down payment.
The organizations will normally subsidize the interest charges and they can help you seek out the best loan with the lowest interest rate.
You may even refinance a mortgage if you prefer, specifically if you can find a loan with a good interest rate. You may always apply for a new type of loan and refinance your present loan to obtain a lower rate.
If you want to seek out a home buyer loan, you must check the different loan providers. Although they are offering the same type of loan, the interest rate and the terms and conditions are completely different. You can also find loans that will offer a higher income limit compared with the others and they could enable you to get more costly houses as well. You could always go around your city to locate loans or you could seek them out on the internet.
These financial institutions have their own website so you must already expect that you're not going to have a hard time finding a good loan provider in Blackshear, GA.
If you plan to get a different kind of loan for your first house, it's possible because some housing loans can offer you a good deal without the limitations. It indicates that you'll be permitted to choose the type of house that you want to purchase without any constraints.
You will need to think about your financial position when choosing a house so if you are planning to obtain a new loan, you need to think about your budget first so you won't have to cope with any difficulties later on.
You must know that one particular home buyer loan may have limitations that might not suit your needs so it is usually better to obtain a new kind of loan if you believe that a home buyer loan will not work for you.
Your credit score will always be among the most important elements of finding a good loan. Even if this is your first time in applying for a housing loan, your credit score will still have an effect on the interest rate.
You must first check your credit score and make sure that it is high enough to land you a loan with a low interest rate. If you believe that your credit score is quite low, you may find ways to improve it before applying for a loan.
Always remember that a house loan will have to be paid for over many years so if you settle for a high interest rate, it'll have a huge impact on your financial situation for years.
In case you are searching for homes in Blackshear, GA, you need to think about a real estate agent to help look for the best house for your current budget. You may seek out the best real estate agents in your area to seek out the house that will fit your requirements. If you actually obtained a home buyer loan, this move will enable you to find a house that will fit the restrictions. Without the help of a real estate agent, finding a house will be hard due to the limitations.
It is better if you could seek out multiple agents to help you since you will have more options. This is undoubtedly one of the best methods to find the property that you're looking for.
We are already aware that obtaining a house loan will be extremely hard. There are tons of things to consider if you would like to locate the loan that will suit your taste. A home buyer loan will certainly be a good choice if you have a low income and there are also some loans like the USDA loans if you'll not be eligible for this type of loan.
Although you have several options, you still need to know what you are doing, especially when you're buying a home. This is a really big investment and you can't make any mistakes.


Workshop with Richard Cullinan of Stoccata Sydney on the use of the Sword & Buckler including: attacks, defences, counters, fencing, fighting, redoubles, feints, chases, escapes, provocations, revenge, true love, and footwork.
Richard Cullinan first formally studied fencing in 1997 under Peter Linich, Maestro di Scherma. Building on this classical foundation, he branched out into historical fencing systems, and is recognised internationally for his research in Bolognese swordsmanship. He has also qualified as an Instructor at Arms in Classical Italian School fencing through the Fencing Masters Certificate program at Sonoma State University, California USA.
Payment can be made in cash, by bank transfer, or by credit card. If you would like to pay with cash or bank transfer please contact us to arrange payment and you will be given special instructions to book.


text:
Today in Trump's America: FEMA administrator under fire for use of government vehicles, per report
By Emily C. Singer
Welcome to Mic's daily read on Donald Trump's America. Want to receive this as a daily email in your inbox? Subscribe here.
Good morning from Emily Singer at Mic.
Here's what's happening in Trump's America:
• There are no public events on Trump's schedule.
About last night: FEMA administrator Brock Long under investigation
The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is investigating Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long for possibly misusing government vehicles to commute back and forth from Washington, D.C. to his home in North Carolina, according to a report published Thursday morning by Politico.
The investigation was triggered after a black Suburban Long used was involved in an accident, according to Politico's report. Long reportedly used a staff driver to take him on the six-hour trip back to North Carolina on the weekend and used taxpayer funds to put the driver up in a hotel.
Long is the latest Trump administration official to face questions about misuse of taxpayer funds, including now former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, who was forced to resign over his use of private jets, and now former Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt.
The news of the investigation comes as Long leads the response and relief efforts for Hurricane Florence — a massive storm system expected to make landfall Friday along the Carolina coastline and leave major damage in its path.
This also comes as the Trump administration is under fire for its response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last summer, which in August saw the official death toll climb to nearly 3,000, as well as its decision to divert $10 million from FEMA's budget to cover the costs of detaining immigrants who crossed the border.
Politico reported Long's use of government vehicles has led to problems between him and his boss, DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen — who asked him to think about resigning. Long refused, according to Politico.
Today in Trump's America: The final primary of 2018
We've reached the end of primary season, as voters in New York head to the polls to choose their nominees for state offices.
The marquee race is the Democratic gubernatorial primary between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and actress and activist Cynthia Nixon.
The race has grown ugly in the final days after the New York Democratic Party sent a mailer accusing Nixon of not standing up to anti-Semitism. (Nixon is raising her children Jewish and attends a temple in New York.)
Still, polls show Cuomo with a commanding lead. If Nixon wins, or even comes close to winning, pollsters will have a lot of explaining to do.
The race for attorney general to replace the disgraced former state AG Eric Schneiderman is another one to watch. It's a three-way Democratic primary between New York City public advocate Tish James, out as gay Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and law professor Zephyr Teachout.
The few public polls in the contest show the race is close. James has tied her fate to Cuomo, while Teachout has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The attorney general job is important. Not only is the AG the head law enforcement officer in the state, but they have the ability to investigate Trump's businesses located in New York. The job is a launching pad for other offices, including governor of the state.
There are also a handful of state Senate primaries that could determine whether Democrats take back control of the chamber. A handful of "turncoat" Democrats, who belong to the Independent Democratic Conference, have been caucusing with Republicans, giving the GOP a majority in the state. But if Democrats oust those members in primaries, they could win back control, giving Democrats an easier route to pass progressive policies in the state.
And the rest...
Migrant children: The number of migrant children detained after crossing the border is at the highest level ever recorded, with 12,800 children in custody, according to the New York Times. That's immensely higher than the 2,400 children who were in custody roughly a year ago in May 2017, according to the New York Times' report.
Kavanaugh apologizes to Parkland father: Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh apologized for not shaking the hand of Fred Guttenberg, father of one of the students killed in the shooting in Parkland, Florida in February. "In that split second, I unfortunately did not realize that the man was the father of a shooting victim from Parkland, Florida," Kavanaugh wrote in response to written questions from Democratic senators. "Mr. Guttenberg has suffered an incalculable loss. If I had known who he was, I would have shaken his hand, talked to him, and expressed my sympathy. And I would have listened to him."
Speaking of Kavanaugh… Politico reports Kavanaugh was more involved in a controversial judicial nomination than he let on in a 2006 Senate hearing to become a judge on the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Democrats say the emails raise questions about his truthfulness.
As for Kavanaugh's confirmation… Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) will still not say how she'll vote on Kavanaugh's nomination, as she faces immense pressure to vote against him over fears he'll overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case guaranteeing the right to an abortion. Kavanaugh can lose two GOP votes and still be confirmed, as Vice President Mike Pence would break a tie.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Torrington Elks to hold Flag Day celebration at Coe Memorial Park
June 2, 2011 Updated: Aug. 28, 2017 1:20 p.m.
TORRINGTON -- Torrington Elks Lodge #372 will host a Flag Day Ceremony on Tuesday, June 14 at 5:30 p.m. at Coe Memorial Park. The ceremony is open to all members of the community.
A Roast Beef Dinner Buffet will also take place at the Elks Lodge from 4 to 7 p.m. The price is $10 per person; with proceeds to benefit the Lodge Veterans' Fund. Reservations are required for the dinner; please call 489-6562 for more information. The Lodge is located at 70 Litchfield St., Torrington.
Patriotism has characterized the Elks since the early days of the organization. In 1907, Flag Day was first observed by the Elks. This tradition later was declared a national holiday by President Harry S. Truman, who was also an Elks member.
The Torrington Elks Lodge, with nearly 2,000 members, is the largest Elks Lodge in New England. Torrington Elks Lodge #372 is part of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the United States, which has the mission of serving people and communities through benevolent programs such as youth programs, athletic programs and patriotic programs. For more information about the Elks, call 482-5562.


I have been working in various ways over the last 10 years to help support people of all abilities in whatever way I can. I have often been asked how I got involved in this work. Frequently, people who work in this area either have a disability themselves, or have a personal connection with someone with a disability. The truth is, I have neither. So how did I start this journey in being an advocate for people with disabilities?
Back in college, I planned on being a physical therapist. But a friend of mine was doing social, academic, and communication skills coaching with some kids and teens on the Autism Spectrum, and told me she thought I would be really good at it. I started working with kids, as well as with their families, and it completely changed my career path. I saw amazing kids with so much to offer our community, but at the same time families who were struggling. Every parent has long lists of things to do, but when you add in additional care your son/daughter may need, IEP meetings and feeling the constant need to advocate for your child when schools, societies, and government programs are not meeting your needs, it can become overwhelming. I wanted to find ways to be a strong advocate and ally. Not someone who makes decisions for people, but who provides the resources and information necessary to make the best decisions for themselves.
Throughout years of being an ally, when I was asked what I do for a living, I would get basically the same three responses: "That must be so rewarding!", "You must be so patient!", and "You are such a good person!"
1. It's crazy how condescending these statements are. I'm not talking about to myself, but to the people I work with. People with disabilities do not exist to be inspiration to others. And they are not here so that people without disabilities can feel better about themselves for helping them.
2. I am the LEAST patient person I know. Ask my husband how annoying my impatience is. There is this attitude in our society that people with disabilities are "difficult" or "challenging to work this", and this simply is not true. The skill I use most often in my work is simply listening. Really, just shutting up and listening. I may never know what it is like to live with the disabilities that my clients have, but the least I can do is to listen to their wants and needs without interjecting what I think they should do. I provide resources and information, and let people decide for themselves what to do with it. It may not always be what I would do, but everyone, of all abilities, has the right to make their own decisions and take their own risks.
3. Let's not assume that anyone working with people with disabilities is automatically a "good person". That's not to say I'm a bad person. I'm not perfect, but consider myself a decent human being. However, 90% of sexual assaults are perpetrated by someone the victim knows. This means that when we are talking about people who have disabilities, it is often their staff and caregivers who are committing these crimes (along with family, friends, roommates, significant others, teachers, etc). This is a serious problem in our community. These staff people have the opportunity to assault over and over again, without ever being caught, stopped, or prosecuted.
So what does being an ally mean? It's first and foremost about listening. I can then take the concerns, wants, and needs I hear from people to provide the best resources and advocacy I am able to. This means not telling people what they need, not telling people what they should or shouldn't do, and not assuming you know what's best for anyone.
We all need allies. The epidemic of sexual assault and domestic violence against people with disabilities is not "their" problem, just like women's rights is not a "woman's problem", civil rights is not a "minorities problem", and so on. We should be standing up for anyone whose voice and power has been taken away, and should all recognize our privileges and use them to change our communities and the systems that are being used to oppress others.


Step Teachers have been asked to recruit an English Teacher for a school in Wandsworth who have been working with us over a number of years. The post of English Teacher will be a full-time, permanent post commencing from September 2019. The school are incredibly supportive, and will be happy take on a NQT.
The Head Teacher, the senior team and the governors lead the school outstandingly well, ensuring that both teaching and achievement are of the highest standard.
The tracking of pupils' learning and progress is accurate, consistent and rigorous.
Staff satisfaction is central to the ethos of the School and this is demonstrated by the very low rate of staff turnover and outstanding opportunities for professional development.


A few miles south of Bridgeport on the '395' in northern California, we took a minor road up into the hills. After quite an ascent, the road petered out into a rough, rutted track. Three miles of bumping up and down and hearing various kitchen items fly across the RV, we spotted our destination – the ghost town of Bodie.
Preserved in a state of 'arrested decay', this gold and silver mining town, which once was home to 7,000 inhabitants, sits on a high plateau. Buildings and their contents remain as they were left, when the last of the population departed back in the fifties.
It's an eerie, yet evocative place. I felt that photography in sepia was really the only just treatment for Bodie – and its ghosts.
Sick, and 5,000 miles from the NHS. What now?
Wow – that looks great.
Good that there isn't anyone else in the photos – adds to the atmosphere.
Just the sort of place I like to seek out – mostly in Japan though!
Thanks. It really is quite eerie – and it just felt right to shoot it all in sepia.


text:
Q: Convert Redis hash to JSON - PHP Can anyone please advise how I can convert a redis hash to JSON in php?
For example I set a hash like this;
HSET users:goku race sayan
HSET users:goku power 9001

And I want get it to this form;
$user_from_redis = {race: 'sayan', power: 9001}

Any advice appreciated!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
@interface CheckViewController : UIViewController
@end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Vertigo 42: A Richard Jury Mystery
Martha Grimes
Steve West
The inimitable Richard Jury returns in the latest in the bestselling mystery series: "Martha Grimes has written a whodunit with terrific characters and a grand plot mixed with her unique droll wit. Vertigo 42 is one smart mystery!" (Susan Isaacs, bestselling author of Goldberg Variations)
Richard Jury is meeting Tom Williamson at Vertigo 42, a bar on the forty-second floor of an office building in London's financial district. Despite inconclusive evidence, Tom is convinced his wife, Tess, was murdered seventeen years ago. The inspector in charge of the case was sure Tess's death was accidental—a direct result of vertigo—but the official police inquiry is still an open verdict and Jury agrees to re-examine the case.
Jury learns that a nine-year-old girl fell to her death five years before Tess at the same place in Devon where Tess died, at a small house party. Jury seeks out the five surviving party guests, who are now adults, hoping they can shed light on this bizarre coincidence. Ultimately, four deaths—two in the past, two that occur on the pages of this intricate, compelling novel—keep Richard Jury and his sidekick Sergeant Wiggins running from their homes in Islington to the countryside in Devon and to London as they try to figure out if the deaths were accidental or not. And if they are connected.
Witty, well-written, with literary references from Thomas Hardy to Yeats, Vertigo 42 is a pitch perfect, page-turning novel from a mystery writer at the top of her game.
Good read, interesting and entertaining.
This title is due for release on June 3, 2014.
This title is due for release on June 3, 2014
Vertigo 42: A Richard Jury Myster...


Beginning in 1998, Ultra-red launched an on-going investigation into the relationship between self-identified global electronica and the context of these developments within global capitalism. Each dispatch in this series features site recordings from specific locations within North America the totality of which form an imperialist archipelago. Drifting across the continent from Wall Street to the Tijuana Border, from the School of the Americas to the World Bank, Ultra-red takes its place in the growing opposition to tyrannical myths of benign globalization.


text:
By Shenron on Nov 13, 2010 with Comments 0
There are reports that BMW is working its next M5 sports sedan and the company is pretty much sure that the new car will be just as brilliant. BMW will bring the first concept version in the 2011 Geneva Motor Show and it is expected that the production version to be there few months later.
The BMW will aim to improve the overall performance and looks of the car with new M5. The BMW M5 will have the new aluminum chassis and a lot of carbon fiber will be used to reduce the overall weight of the car. BMW says that the new M5 produce 25% less CO2.
Like the Concept 6-Series Coupe, the new M5 will also borrow some elements from the next generation 6-Series. The new M5 will have an elegant exterior and a much more luxury oriented interior.
The spy shots we have revealed that the new version has a new production wheels, the meaty looking Pirelli tires and a new shift knob. The interior of M5 featured new seats and a new improved tachometer with reduced redline.
BMW M5 will have the same engine found in the X6 M, i.e. a twin-turbocharged 4.4 liter V8 engine with an output of 555HP and 680Nm torque. The new BMW M5 will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.4 seconds and it will have a top speed of 155 mph or 188 mph. an optional M Driver's Package will also be available for the next M5.
The next M5 will also feature an electronically controlled limited slip differential and Dynamic Performance Control.
It is expected that the next M5 will compete with Audi S6, Jaguar XF-R and Cadillac CTS-V. Dr. Kay Segler confirmed in the month of August that the M5 is on its way, but not for another year or two.
Tags: 2013 BMW • 2013 BMW M5 • BMW • BMW M5


Starting a new business or upgrading your coffee shop, automotive shop, barbershop or a beauty salon can be very expensive. Make sure you purchase the right shop equipment you need to provide the basic services you will offer to easily get the return on your investment.
If you are opening a salon, there is basic salon equipment you should have to offer full salon services. This salon equipment includes manicure tables, pedicure stations, shampoo systems, shampoo chairs, styling chairs, hair dryers, styling stations, and floor mats. Keep in mind that your beauty shop's image is everything. Some customers determine the quality of service based on the salon's look. Consider the type of clients you want to attract. If you prefer to charge just the minimal rates for your services, then purchase beauty salon equipment that is simple and functional.
SalonFurniture.com offers quality beauty salon equipment aimed at servicing high-end clients willing to pay high-end prices for quality manicures, pedicures, and haircuts. You can contact them through SalonFurniture.com or call 800-345-2924.
Nationwide Beauty & Barber Supply carries a variety of products used in the beauty industry including stations, styling chairs, mats, shelving, reception desks and custom salon furniture. Their website allows all day shopping online. The company also publishes a bi-monthly catalog that can be requested online, and is released for mail orders. A DYO or Design Your Own service for salon furniture allows the client to customize your salon's look.
Manta.com has a directory of over 6,455 beauty salon and barber shop supplies and equipment companies posted online. The list contains the company profiles and has links to information about small and medium size businesses and research reports.
For new coffee shop, automotive shop, barbershop or beauty salon operators working on a budget, you do not necessarily have to buy all brand new equipment. There is used equipment on the market that can do the same job but at friendly prices. Some used equipment even has brand names but are less expensive than the new items. You will just have to spend time to search for great deals at equipment shops or in websites selling used equipment. The money you save buying used equipment can be used to purchase other equipment you may still need.


text:
Re: [Foundation-l] Simple English Encyclopedia
Austin Hair
26 Feb 2009 26 Feb '09
On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 5:34 AM, Samuel Klein <sj(a)laptop.org> wrote:
For the record, lots of people who use simple: are devs or researchers who need a good small simple testbed, or people who only intend to read and use in contexts away from the original editable wiki. I would bet, though with lower odds, that this is the case for most users of WP as well,
That's probably the best possible use for Simple, but I don't think it alone justifies Simple's existence.
Cary writes:
In light of that, I understand that there is some kind of simple wikipedia usage among the OLPC (One Laptop per Child) distribution. Perhaps someone could clarify, but if this is the case, then that would make the likelihood that this already failing proposal would pass even more remote. Cary Bass
The simple-english snapshot has been replaced (in practice and in popularity) in the OLPC collection list by a larger snapshot from en, because of the difference in article quality and coverage. However, simple: snapshots have been requested recently by people interested in basic literacy (who weren't using WP at all before, but are coming around to the idea that simple articles can make good short readers). (@Pharos: I think French is a good idea, and there is definite interest in simple spanish articles.)
If someone can find the first request for deletion of Simple, they'll find that I made my case against it then. I still think that encyclopedia articles should be in plain language, and that splitting efforts from enwiki (though not that big a deal, anymore) doesn't help anyone, particularly when you're dealing with an entirely undefined subset of English. And, again, what's the goal? English is horribly irregular and difficult to learn, but what problem is Simple actually solving? When Simple Spanish was proposed, I opposed it even more strongly. The eswiki community was already fractured (read: gone); and, to its credit, Spanish isn't that hard. It's a pretty regular language when it comes to grammar, and it shares a vocabulary with most Romance languages. There's not a whole lot you can do to simplify it.
And two other ideas * this is a great thing to combine with wikikids efforts : kids learning to write articles tend to add simple stubs, write about topics of interest to other early eards, and may learn many things by trying to adhere to simplified encyclopedic style.
Efforts targeted at kids should definitely use simpler language. Kids should also be encouraged to contribute to Wikipedia articles in their native language, at whatever level they're comfortable with. Others can come by later and polish up their prose.
ps - Lars - what the creators of these sublanguages have in mind / how they test their criteria is fascinating... some cross referencing with decisions made in creating esperanto et al would be fun OR.
I'm actually very interested in this, academically, and hope we get more information. Austin


text:
Bristol Christian Fellowship (BCF) is a network of churches, located in the Bristol region in the U.K. It is a non-denominational church. There are currently three churches which make up the network: Resound in North East Bristol; Thornbury in North of Bristol; and Aardvark located in central Bristol. It is part of the Evangelical Alliance and the Pioneer Network.

History
Bristol Christian Fellowship first began in the 1960s, with a group of Christians looking for another way to experience church.

In the late 1960s, it grew out of the 'charismatic and house church movement. It emerged in a natural way, through various people encountering God in new ways and seeking an honest and authentic form of Christian community. Two groups, which initially met in houses in Olveston and Patchway, merged to form what became BCF.

During the Last 4 decades, the Church have made many changes in its shapes and meetings. The church maintained its presence in the north of Bristol and in Thornbury, with other churches joining along the way. In recent years BCF had been meeting as one group in east Bristol, but in 2009, there was a significant change that were made to the structure of the church. It was at this point that BCF started meeting as the three different expressions of Resound, Thornbury and Aardvark. These three groups have formed separate churches, thus, making the former 1 church system, a church network. all 3 districts of the church comes under the 'umbrella churches' of Bristol Christian Fellowship.

Leadership
Although the BCF Network functions as a single charitable trust church, leadership is primarily located a local level within each church.

Previous leaders includes: Dave Day, Neil Edbrooke, Steve Hepden, Nic Harding, Lloyd Pietersen

Bible Christian Fellowship had its own school built in 1984 until it was demolished in 1992, it was named as Oakhill, in which it was run by BCF members.

References

External links
  Bristol Christian Fellowship
  The Polemic of the Pastorals, Lloyd Pietersen
  Evangelical Alliance
  Pioneer Network

Charismatic and Pentecostal organizations
Christian organisations based in the United Kingdom
Evangelical parachurch organizations

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Psych-Rock Pacesetters MGMT Continue Stark Evolution With Self-Titled Third Album
by Molly Lambert
It's only been five years since MGMT's debut album, Oracular Spectacular, came out and turned the unknown musical duo of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser into instant festival royalty. The pair became reluctant generational ambassadors with songs like "Kids" and "Time to Pretend," which channeled post-adolescent anxieties through a golden haze that made them sound downright optimistic, even if perceived idealism was a willful misreading of the fairly grim lyrics, a trick played on the listener with hooks that channeled the childhood enthusiasm for which the songwriters were actually in mourning.
It was an insanely short slope from obscurity to oversaturation for Goldwasser and VanWyngarden, who met at Wesleyan University and were signed by Columbia Records in 2006, a year after graduating college. It's hard to feel too bad for a band that never suffered through even a year's worth of struggle before hitting it big with a worldwide string of hits that garnered fans like Paul McCartney, but let's try. By the time MGMT achieved ridiculous mainstream success, Goldwasser and VanWyngarden had already begun questioning its validity. Was MGMT really the greatest, biggest band in the world in 2008? Or was it just incredibly lucky, in the right place at the right time, with a giant promotional budget from a record industry desperately trying to figure out how to monetize something — anything — off the Internet and make it into a new business model?
These questions have shaped MGMT's evolution through its third album, the self-titled MGMT, which arrived on September 17. The not-so-long-gone time when "Electric Feel" lit up satellite radio stations every two minutes already seems like the very distant past, but the influence of MGMT's first album is still everywhere in the middle-of-the-road genre now known as indie music, the platonic ideal of a blog-hyped band hitting it big. Yet even as the influence of Oracular Spectacular lingers heavily, MGMT itself travels ever further away from "Kids" as a sound, a song, and a general ideology.
That shift began with the band's sophomore album, Congratulations. Having established themselves as the key purveyors of a wildly popular sound and sensibility, Goldwasser and VanWyngarden decided to reject the very style that brought them so many fans and warm accolades. Congratulations was a poison pen note to the neon headband–sporting, faux-tribal hordes that by 2010 had become an unavoidable part of the scenery at events like Bonnaroo and Coachella. MGMT swung from Oracular Spectacular's winning and crowd-pleasing formula of indietronica pop with a wistfully acid-brained bent, and instead pointed its sound straight down toward the bowels of psychedelic darkness.
The band expressed a public wish not to release any singles from Congratulations, in an effort to get listeners raised on an ADD diet of streamed singles to focus on consuming the album as a whole. For such a distinctly modern-sounding act, this was an extremely '70s idea: the concept album, and the concept is that the album only works as a whole. Goldwasser and VanWyngarden wanted to prove their rock elite street cred, and they did, with songs devoted to Dan Treacy from Television Personalities and to electronic glam spiritual godfather Brian Eno. "Brian Eno" was the heart of Congratulations, encompassing the band's mission to create intellectual but immediately gratifying songs like those on Eno's first three solo albums, but particularly the Roxy Music redolent art-pop of Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain (by Strategy), which combined arch-humorous lyrics with complex but catchy arrangements that often break down into searing noise.
The band's wish to avoid singles was overruled, and four songs from Congratulations were eventually released, with only the title track/fourth single bearing even a passing resemblance to the MGMT sound that had been defined and refined on Oracular Spectacular. In place of Oracular Spectacular's verdant synth lines and spuming grooves, Congratulations found the boys and their now five-piece band crafting flittering prog with Krautrock beats and bongo solos. Where MGMT's lyrics had been playfully nonsensical, they became increasingly abstruse, although ultimately not too hard to actually decipher. Despite the surrealist veil, the songs espoused a narrative commentary on the ills of fame and the hollowness of success.
It can be difficult to sympathize with the burdens of success, but all of MGMT's lyrics are shot through with the suggestions that Goldwasser and VanWyngarden consider themselves impostors to the throne. When Radiohead eschewed the era-defining Brit-pop perfection of "Creep" for something much weirder and less radio-friendly (if no less critically praised), crop upon crop of band sprang up to take over where "Creep" had left off, making room for groups like Coldplay to assume the mantle that Radiohead had rebuffed. Likewise, in the wake of MGMT abandoning its original sound, a million Internet acts applied the old fluorescent body paint in tribute, signaling fairly obviously that they, too, would like to be world-famous headliners commanding a swooning army of the young and drug-addled.
If Oracular Spectacular was a drug's come up and peak, and Congratulations the inevitable comedown, then the self-titled MGMT is the day after the rave has ended. It's the afterimage of the strobes, the echo of last night's deafening beat cooling down to a thrum, while you search around the room for your glasses, your wallet, your lost serotonin. It's the sound of what it feels like to melt into the rug. As a trio, the three MGMT albums chart the course of the rise and fall of youthful idealism. Hedonism gives way to genuine exhaustion, nihilism, and spiritualism battling it out for your adult soul. MGMT is not all darkness and despair, but there are a lot of hints that this is a breakup album.
VanWyngarden's voice is run through all kinds of filters to sound higher, more watery, more distant. The album opens with a helium gas tweak version of his voice, just to knock you off-kilter and make sure you stay there while you listen through the rest. The most obvious single candidate is a cover of Faine Jade's bubblegum psychedelic pop gem "Introspection," which VanWyngarden sings through a trippy tremolo effect that sounds just like the one used on "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and the Shondells. MGMT as hallucinogenic sunshine pop makes perfect sense. Goldwasser and VanWyngarden did once dress as the girls of "Scooby Doo." Maybe they also grew up listening to '90s bands covering '70s cartoon theme songs and internalized the grunge Day-Glo treatment. Currently, MGMT sounds like the Archies on E.
MGMT also calls to mind Steely Dan, a musical duo who met at a small East Coast liberal arts college and cultivated a shared niche aesthetic into a successful musical career. Steely Dan also seems like a band whose mainstream popularity might have surprised its creators, jazz-rock aesthetes who crafted cynical, cerebral songs in complicated, shifting tempos. For jazz-bearded weirdos specializing in doo-wop inflected songs about '70s sleaze, in a band named after a dildo in William Burroughs's Naked Lunch, Steely Dan remains wildly popular on dive-bar jukeboxes, with more than a dozen undeniably great classic hits. Considering the band seems so outwardly and unapologetically weird, Steely Dan has curiously wide appeal with classic rock fans. Steely Dan's success is a great argument in favor of pursuing specificity instead of attempting to appeal to everyone: By being insanely specific and trying to please yourself, you might please everyone else, too.
Deeply connected duos like Steely Dan's Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, or Goldwasser and VanWyngarden, manage to take that particular kind of inside joke that exists within friendships, and convey it through songs. You may not always understand what exactly the songs are about, but the ambiguity can be part of the enjoyment. You get the sense that the duos are speaking to each other through these songs, embroidering on a mutual thought or idea, trying to understand it themselves by expressing it together. But go too far inside, too deep into the code without making any openings accessible therein, and a duo risks excluding the audience altogether. Conversely, go too general, and the band might lose the particularity that made it work to start with. (Steely Dan and MGMT also share a genius for writing happy-sounding songs about depressing things.)
MGMT is both the broadest and most specialized MGMT album yet. It splits the difference between Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations, following its own internal logic toward the muted industrial underpinnings of "A Good Sadness," with shades of Depeche Mode, or the skittering anxious drums of "Astro-Mancy," and then down into the Nuggets rabbit hole again for "Alien Days" and "Mystery Disease." MGMT rejects rock-style minimalism in favor of copious studio tracks, all the better to gauze over the raw emotions being sung about in the detached Eno-esque vocal style the duo developed on Congratulations. Seventies concept albums loom large on MGMT as well, in their ambition, scope, and sheer experimentalism.
MGMT is a headphones album in the best possible sense. MGMT is one of a handful of bands, along with Australian psych-rockers Tame Impala, setting the pace for current psych-rock, pushing the genre forward using whatever technology becomes available. Another godfather who comes to mind is Todd Rundgren, the '70s critical darling who couldn't decide if he wanted to make perfect power pop, or soul, or protopunk, or prog rock, or hard rock, etc., so he just made them all. Some people may have thought that was confusing, or overly eclectic, or, god forbid, pretentious. The chaotic folky electronic soundscape of MGMT's "I Love You Too, Death" is a little silly, but it's supposed to be. It's both the bleakest and most beautiful, blatantly hopeful cut on the album.
MGMT might be missing a "Kids," but it has its very own "Hello It's Me" in "Plenty of Girls in the Sea." While most of the album is devoted to what sounds like a bad breakup — at the very least an existential crisis — the penultimate track is a fairly straightforward rocker that sounds like some of McCartney's solo songs from McCartney II (the amazing 1980 album in which McCartney discovers drum machines and synthesizers). True to form, "Plenty of Girls in the Sea" is an exhilarating song with lyrics that are pretty sad when read in print. At first, the fact that this sounds like a Beach Boys melody run through a fax machine distracts you from noticing that it's an ambivalent song about making peace with being alone, even if you'd rather not. But rather than turning to pleasure-seeking to deal with it, the narrator accepts that we have to "tend to the void, don't just fill it."
Maybe the kids are all right after all.
Filed Under: Music, New Music
Molly Lambert is a staff writer for Grantland.
Archive @ mollylambert
More From Molly Lambert
Corporate Synergy: The Focus-Grouped, Mundane Sci-Fi Mess of 'Jem and the Holograms' October 23, 2015
Songs of the Week: Selena Gomez, Nosaj Thing, and Courtney Barnett October 9, 2015
Lifetime's 'Unauthorized Beverly Hills 90210 Story' Is Not Nearly As Fun As the Real Thing October 5, 2015
Janet Jackson Returns With the Wistful, Experimental New Album 'Unbreakable' October 2, 2015
See all from Molly Lambert
Songs of the Week: The Return of Adele October 23, 2015
Grantland Channel: Inside Joke With Judah Friedlander
Meth Meridian: This Is Where Walter White's GPS Coordinates Actually Lead You


Turn your ideas and vision into beautiful custom cabinetry!
John's Furniture & Cabinets offers extensive design talent to help.
By simply providing a bit of information we can mold your ideas into a reality.
Measuring the available space is the starting point.It isn't necessary to be exact however, it's best to use a steel tape measure that spans your longest run rather than struggling with a ruler, yard stick, or cloth tape.
Take room dimensions, including all dimensions around the room. For doors and windows measure to the outside of the casings. Click here to see a sample. Please measure floor-to-ceiling height as well. There may be a variance so it's best to measure in more than one place.
Think about and list any particulars that will make your room the most practical, user friendly and convenient for you.
What appliances will the cabinetry need to accomodate?
Provide a list of appliances in the room. Our goal is to get everything to fit properly.


SOUTHAMPTON, England (AP) — Southampton beat Arsenal 2-0 at St. Mary's in the English Premier League on Thursday to maintain its surprise challenge for Champions League football.
Sadio Mane's third goal in as many games from the narrowest of angles gave Southampton the lead in the 34th minute, and Dusan Tadic capitalized upon a defensive error to add another in the 56th and seal victory against one of its rivals for a top-four finish.
Ronald Koeman's side stays fourth with the victory but has a three-point cushion over Arsenal in fifth, and is only a point behind third-place Manchester United after it drew at Stoke.
"It is nice to start the new year like this," Koeman said. "This result shows that we can beat a big team. We are learning, and that is important. The team showed their belief."
Southampton could have taken the lead after only seven minutes when Graziano Pelle headed a looping ball into the area against the foot of the post.
But Arsenal rallied, and brought an excellent save from Fraser Forster in the 20th.
Alexis Sanchez cut the ball back across goal and into the path of midfielder Santi Cazorla, only for Forster to beat his shot away.
The miss was punished 14 minutes later when Mane brushed past Laurent Koscielny's feeble attempt to block his path to goal, before reaching a pass ahead of Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who inexplicably rushed far out of his goal.
Pelle was poised in the center of the penalty area, demanding possession as he faced an unguarded net, but Mane chose to lob the ball perfectly over Szczesny and into the goal from the narrowest of angles.
It was an outstanding strike, but Mane's exertions to retain possession in the buildup came at a cost. He pulled up limping before play restarted, and seven minutes later was replaced by Harrison Reed.
Arsenal laid Southampton's goal under siege in the opening exchanges of the second half, and was denied by a second tremendous stop from Forster after 55 minutes.
Sanchez received the ball in the penalty area, slalomed into space and shot low at goal, but Forster flung himself down to palm away the strike and rose quickly to claim the rebound.
It proved to be a pivotal moment.
Southampton's following attack saw Victor Wanyama play in Steven Davis down the right with a searching ball over the defense.


text:
NA Collegiate Championship 2018
W8EDU Case Western Reserve University's amateur radio club, participated in the NA Collegiate Championship. Please see article below.
Mario Garcia-Sanz Appointed Program Director of ARPA-E
Mario Garcia-Sanz, professor of electrical engineering and computer science, has been selected for a two-year stint as a program director at the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
During his appointment at ARPA-E, Garcia-Sanz will work on projects related to advanced control engineering; wind energy systems; renewable and conventional power generation; electrical distribution systems; smart grid technologies; and water treatment plants and networks.
Case Western Reserve, Cleveland State and Mercyhurst Universities Form Cyber Research and Training Alliance
From the Cleveland.com Metro news - Case Western Reserve, Cleveland State and Mercyhurst universities have formed the North Coast Cyber Research and Training Alliance to develop cybersecurity education, research and training programs in western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio.
Zadina Named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division III Women's Soccer Team
Elle Zadina, Computer Science student, was named a second t eam Academic All-American for women's soccer by the College Sports Information Directors of America based on her outstanding achievements both on the pitch and in the classroom over her career as a Spartan.
The Case athletic department published the following article: http://athletics.case.edu/sports/wsoc/2017-18/releases/20171205k12k48
Mohammad Komki, Former PhD Student Recieves Tenure Track Position
Congratulations to Mohammad Komki, a former student who worked under Professor Malakooti in Systems and Control Engineering, received his PhD in January 2018. Mohammad has accepted the position of tenure track assistant professor at Texas A & M, College of Commerce in the Management School starting Spring 2018.


Grazing is an enchanting way to eat—it means skipping from dish to dish, tasting different things without committing to a single one. Food stylist Suzanne Lenzer enjoys this tapas-inspired style of eating, and with her guidance, you can too. Try your hand at fun, fast recipes like chickpea fries with Meyer lemon-scented aioli; roasted beet tartare with cheese and pistachios; kale, spinach, and Pecorino pizza slivers; sardine bruchetta with fennel and preserved lemons; scallop and plum ceviche with tarragon; and lemon-lavender posset―to name just a few.


text:
Oberhütte steht für:

Geografie:
 Oberhütte (Bad Grund), Ortsteil der Gemeinde Bad Grund (Harz) im Landkreis Göttingen, Niedersachsen
 Oberhütte (Leutenberg), ein Weiler von Leutenberg im Landkreis Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, Thüringen

Bauwerke:
 Oberhütte, eine Schutzhütte in den Schladminger Tauern im Bundesland Salzburg, Österreich


Time is money. You need a partner who can meet ever-changing compliance standards while leveraging the latest technology and techniques to maintain efficiency.
Bartlett & West's toolbox of energy consulting strategies will help you drive profits at the speed you want. We provide energy clients with sophisticated, proprietary technology and energy consulting services—all with adept navigation through the regulatory process.


text:
Original SWAT Kats Story
By Amanda Taylor
RATED K
Dr. Viper & Fan Character
Amanda meets her one true love — Dr. Viper.
This story was made before the story "After the Date". In this story, I warp to Mega Kat City to look for him, and we meet when I was about to give up.
I warped to Mega Kat city on a Friday afternoon in the sewers. When I got to nearest "Kathole", I slipped in and turned on my flashlight and looked around. I saw a fork in the tunnel, and I looked for 1 whole hour. I was about to give up when I saw two glowing eyes staring deep into my face with wonderment and anger.
"Well, well a tresssspasser, and you're not a kat," Dr. Viper said to me, looking at me head to toe. "And, you're rather attractive, my hairlessss friend."
"You really think so?" I asked.
"Yessss," he said.
And, just like that, he carried me to his lab.
"Now then. What are you doing here by yourssself and why?" he asked curiously to me.
"I'm from planet Earth. My name is Amanda, and the reason why I'm here is because of you," I answered simply.
"Why me?" he asked, getting casual with me.
"Let me put it this way," I said. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him on the lips.
When Viper felt that, he couldn't resist holding me close. He jumped and clicked his heels.
"Finally, ssomeone who truly lovess and respectsss me," he said.
And, that's how we met.
Navigate This Author's Stories
After the Date By Amanda Taylor
Visit Author's Page
The Chrome Saga
by Rob Nolan
Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. See author's page for description.


A) The impact of traumatic brain injuries: a global perspective. NeuroRehabilitation. 2007; 22(5)341-53.
B) Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: A Report to Congress (1999).
C) Progesterone as a neuroprotective factor in traumatic and ischemic brain injury. Prog Brain Res. 2009; 175:219-37.
D) ClinicalTrials.gov. US NIH. (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01143064).


Your visit to The Daffodil is guaranteed to be remarkable and memorable as we strive to offer our guests the very best experience in luxury & style.
We may seem like the idyllic location to unwind and relax (and we certainly are). However, we are also a hub of excitement and activities in the heart of the Lake District.
We're a dedicated, family run hotel and we understand the importance of a 'strong team'. That's why we are proud to offer the ultimate in corporate events, team building ideas and group activities via our recommended partner CBA Events and See Events.
See Events repertoire includes team building, themed events and entertainment, group activities including outdoor and water based adventure challenges, problem solving activities, orienteering tasks and family celebration days to compliment your conference, corporate away day or special event.
Whether within the stunning Daffodil grounds or elsewhere, we can offer tailored activities to your specific requirements with See Events, adding to those memorable moments that you will be sure to experience at The Daffodil.


Explore the spooky side of the Christmas City with Historic Haunts of Downtown Bethlehem. On the tour, you'll experience true-life ghost stories that can sometimes be scarier than fiction.
You'll visit Bethlehem's busiest night club. You'll walk by the theater where vaudeville was king.


text:
Anime Spring Season 2017: Final Thoughts
Posted on July 19, 2017 by Lena K.
It's that time of the year again, so enjoy our Final Thoughts on the spring anime season that just came to an end~
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai • 6/10
Length: 12 Episodes • Genre: Ecchi, Fantasy
Oh, what a guilty pleasure this was… I was constantly torn between seriously not liking it for it's over the top ecchiness and the ridiculous and kind of out of place singing scenes that happened almost each and every episode, and simply enjoying it for the fun it provided and also the yuri that more or less also stayed a constant element of the show for its whole run. I guess I can't say I'm fully satisfied with its yuri content, even though we did get quite a lot, though that shall be part of my full review that we'll post after the current tournament has ended. For now, let's just say I expected some more in the yuri department, even though we definitely did get quite a lot~
Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2 • 9.5/10
Length: 12 Episodes • Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Super Power
You can read our full review right here, but even though a lot of people might roll their eyes at the thought of a shounen anime scoring this highly, Shingeki no Kyojin isn't your typical shounen anime. Set in an unapologetically cruel world full of mystery and intrigue, the second season took what made the first season so memorable and largely did away with pretty much all of the unnecessary stuff that we saw in season one.
After having relatively minor roles in the first season, Ymir and Krista stole the spotlight—and for a moment in time—they were the center of the entire Shingeki no Kyojin universe. Feels good, man.
This type of anime might not be for everyone (especially yuri fans), but anyone who's into action, drama, and mystery can do a lot worse than to buy into what this series is selling~
Sekai no Yami Zukan • 4/10
Length: 13 Episodes • Genre: Horror, Supernatural
From the esteemed director of Zombie Ass: Toilet of the Dead (I'm not making this up) comes another season of Yami Shibai? Actually, even though the name may not be the same, this is still pretty much another season of a series that should've ended about four seasons ago. With next to no actual animation, Sekai no Yami Zukan gets by on the merits of its award-winning writing, which features stories based on the likes of a monster snowman, a man-eating car, and an Amazonian tribe that never gets ill, thanks to them shrinking their victims and forcing them to battle the pathogens inside their bodies. Okay, enough with the sarcasm. This was bad… really bad.
I'm still not sure why I subject myself to this odd brand of torture, but if you're in the mood for some comedy, this series isn't such a bad choice, and it's only four minutes per episode. By the way, Sekai no Yami Zukan featured what may be the single most hilarious episode of "anime" I've ever seen, and you can witness the glory in the slideshow above. Starring a killer clown that kidnaps you if you stay inside on a cloudy day (PSA: Go outside and get some sunlight, kids!), this episode was ridiculous, even by Yami Shibai's already high standards. And yes, those are the actual unretouched screenshots from the episode! At the very least, a few episodes had some nice art (even if it wasn't animated), and since the costs involved must be so low, I might as well prepare for the inevitable second season that's sure to come. Until then, excuse me as I watch Zombie Ass.
P.S. — I'm so sorry if those reading this are deathly afraid of clowns. 😛
World Fool News (TV) Part II • 5.5/10
Length: 12 Episodes • Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life
A few years ago, during a dark period in my anime-watching life known as "The I'll Watch It As Long As It's Short, Age", I stumbled upon World Fool News (TV), and lo and behold, another season has somehow happened. Mostly focusing on the behind-the-scenes hijinks of a dysfunctional television station, this is another one of those strange little shorts that could only happen in Japan.
From what I remember, not much has changed in this second season. It's not particularly funny, and it's certainly not much to look at, but it sort of has the appeal of public-access television. The oddball news stories, the staff that isn't very good at their jobs, and the low-budget production of WFN are things that are oddly mesmerizing. If this was longer than ten minutes, I wouldn't want to pick up this series again, but with an actual running time that's even shorten than that, this isn't the worst short-form anime ever made or anything. It's just not very good, yet these quirky little shorts help me appreciate some of the other anime that gets made, so I guess they're needed.
Other than these four, we unfortunately can't cover any more for this anime season, since Re:Creators, Shingeki no Bahamut: Virgin Soul, and Boku no Hero Academia 2nd Season are still running. Though, expect our final thoughts of those three in our Final Thoughts post at the end of the summer anime season~
This entry was posted in Anime, Final Thoughts and tagged Shingeki no Kyojin, Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai. Bookmark the permalink.
← Yuri Tournament: Yuri Manga Most Deserving of an Anime Adaptation – Semifinals
Yuri Tournament: Yuri Manga Most Deserving of an Anime Adaptation – Finals →
14 thoughts on "Anime Spring Season 2017: Final Thoughts"
Grimsabr says:
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai is easily my guilty pleasure of the season xD
B-M says:
Did you watch Little Witch Academia, Sakura Quest or the Washio Sumi movies? Some decent yuri in all of them, with excellent amounts in the Washio movies!
Otherwise a bit of a dull season, right?
shadesan says:
I really enjoyed Little Witch Academy, great characters and a fun story line to dive into. I know most people are into Diana x Akko, but I am partial to Sucy x Akko myself.
Gotta get to the new Yuuki Yuuna movies you mentioned, almost forgot about those!
No, no, no for me.
I already had enough 2 cour shows, and once upon a time, there was this person I liked to call Backpfeifengesicht that would always mention Yuuki Yuuna, and since I hated that person, I didn't want to watch it… 😀
Huh, so I guess Lena is watching the second season of My Hero Academy instead of you then?
We both are~
Whoops, I always get cours and seasons confused (well I confuse a lot of things).
Yeah, Sin was definitely…something. I enjoyed the characters, but the plot itself was kind of lacking. I honestly don't remember that there was that much singing beyond the idol episodes…perhaps I was distracted by all the hen…err I mean yuri content.
Haha, easily distracted huh? Well okay, there was quite a lot to get distracted by 😛
chimekolover88 says:
I know of the yuri content in Sin but I have yet to watch it. looks like another fun guilty pleasure series to add to my watch list 😀 shows like that are best suited to just turning your brain off and enjoying the show for what it is. This season will be better than last season at least with NTR anime even if the episodes are so short. The way the Citrus manga is going though, I cant wait until the anime comes out! is it time yet? >.< I need my animated Yuzu and Mei NOW!
*starts hyping* Just imagine an animated Mei x Yuzu kiss *passes out* 😀
STAY WITH US LENA!!!! dont pass out just yet! pass out when you do see the kiss! 😀
OG-Man says:
The second season of Titan was more enjoyable than the first one, mainly because it focused on the other characters. The twists were interesting but I was more invested in how the cast responded to the twists than the twists themselves. Oh and personal highlights were Sasha and YumiKuri.
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai is a fun watch.
Yup yupp. More Sasha would've been nice, but YumiKuri was awesome~
All I needed was to see the PV to know I wasn't going to like it, but okay. 😛


The chief executive of Glencore resigned from the board of Rusal yesterday.
Ivan Glasenberg walked away from the Russian aluminium producer as the company reeled from a series of heavy blows inflicted in the aftermath of recent targeted American sanctions against Russia.
Rusal was included on a list of a dozen companies and seven tycoons with links to President Putin that are facing sanctions, announced by the United States on Friday in response to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury and Kremlin-backed events in Syria and Crimea. Shares in Rusal fell by more than 50 per cent on Monday in Hong Kong, where it is listed.


Officials in the county declared a state of emergency, as Lindsey Bever reported in The Washington Post last week, announcing that the ban would remain in place for 30 days or until unvaccinated minors receive the MMR vaccine to protect them against measles, mumps, and rubella. Unvaccinated minors, the official said, would not be permitted in enclosed places like churches, schools, and shopping centers.
According to the rumored New York report, New York state had 259 confirmed cases in Brooklyn and Queens since October, many of them in the Orthodox Jewish community. According to the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the outbreak began after an unvaccinated child acquired measles on a visit to Israel, where there has also been an outbreak of the disease.
Also, Health Ranger reports that neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock states that much of vaccine science is fraudulent unethical.
Researcher and writer Dr. Russell Blaylock – an expert on excitotoxins like aspartame and MSG – about fraudulent vaccine science. Dr. Blaylock reveals the disturbing truth about vaccine trials and ethics, as well as very eye-opening breaking vaccine news.
Health Ranger: Well, the vaccine world has gone crazy, Dr. Blaylock, they're saying we should have mandatory participation in vaccine trials now, no right to opt out. Why, tell us why is that a crazy idea?
Dr. Blaylock: Well, it's a violation of the Nuremberg medical code, for one, you know this was to protect the public against being experimental animals for governments or vaccine companies. So suddenly we have this violation of Nuremberg protection, saying that you should be forced into a vaccine trial. And if your health is destroyed during testing of this experimental vaccine, then that's just the price you pay for living in this society. Well that's not certainly consistent with the founding of this republic, that people are forcibly put into experimental trials.
Starting today Wednesday, April 10, 2019, any child that has not received the measles vaccine will be banned from all public places.
"Autistic children have up to 10 times more of the metal in their brains than what is considered safe in adults, a study found. Aluminium crosses the membrane that separates the brain from circulating blood and accumulates in cells involved in maintaining a constant internal environment, such as temperature, the research adds.
Arizona SWAT Team Smashes Door, Raids Mother's Home at Gunpoint Over Unvaccinated Child!


Enterprise architecture in its current form is due for a review by the next administration—McCain or Obama.
Will EA be the same under the next president?
Government Executive Magazine, 15 September 2008, discusses "seven election-proof initiatives likely to go on in some form or another no matter who wins in November," and enterprise architecture is one of those.
The Federal Enterprise Architecture is looked at as a mixed bag by the Office of Management and Budget.
Indeed EA is a challenge for any organization—planning and driving business and technology change, breaking down organizational and functional silos, pushing for information sharing, interoperability, and reuse, mandating technical standards and preferred products, insisting on performance measurement, and enforcing compliance of IT security, privacy, Section 508, records management—EA is even more taxing for OMB which is looking to do these things across the entire federal government!
What is undeniable is that enterprise architecture plays a vital function in our organizations!
While the Schlarman's points may sound harsh, I actually agree with him on the unnecessary complexity. This is a core tenet of User-centric Enterprise Architecture. As Schlarman says, we need to "distill" the message and clearly present it to our organizational decision makers. It needs to be useful and useable to them!
EA will not only be saved, but will continue to thrive. As global competition continues to heat up, the pace of technology change spins faster and faster, and constrained resources continue to press us to do ever more with ever less, our organizations will be forced to respond in strength. Organization's will continue look to enterprise architecture to better plan business process improvement and IT enablement and to govern sound investments and change. User-centric EA will keep the efforts focused on valuable and actionable architectures.
Intel is one of the most amazing companies. They are the world's largest semiconductor company, and the inventor of the popular x86 microprocessor series found in most PCs. Intel has around $40 billion in annual revenue, and ranked 62 in the Fortune 500 last year.
Question repeatedly—a prior CEO of Intel, Andrew Grove, taught him "Ask why, and ask it again five more times, until all of the artifice is stripped away and you end up with the intellectually honest answer." It easy to accept things on face value or to make snap judgments, but to really understand an issue, you need to get below the surface, and the way you do this is to question and dig deeper. I think this is critical for enterprise architects who are evaluating business and technology and providing recommendations to the business that can potentially make or break change efficacy. Architects should not just capture information to plunk into the architecture repository, but should question what they are seeing and hearing about the business, validate it, categorize it, and analyze it, to add value to it before serving that information up to decision makers.
Measure Performance—"we systematically measured the performance of every part of the company to determine what was world class and what wasn't. Then as analytically as possible, --we made the cuts…and saved $3 billion in overall spending." Measuring performance is the only way to effectively manage performance. If decisions are to be anything more than gut and intuition, they need to be based on quantifiable measures and not just subjective management whim. Enterprise architects need to be proponents for enterprise-wide performance measurement. And not just at the top level either. Performance measures need to be implemented throughout the enterprise (vertically and horizontally) and dashboard views need to be provided to executives to make the measures visible and actionable.
Communicate, communicate—"I made it my job to communicate, communicate, communicate the positive message. I did open forums, I did Webcasts, I told the employees to send me questions via email and I'd answer them...you have to convince them through reasoning and logic, the accuracy of your claims." Good communication is one of those areas that are often overlooked and underappreciated. Leadership often just assumes that people will follow because they are "the leaders". NOPE! People are not sheep. They will not follow just because. People are intelligent and want to be respected and explained to why….communication early and often is the key. The approach to architecture that I espouse, User-centric EA, focuses on the users and effectively communicating with them—each the way they need to absorb the information and at the level that is actionable to them. Making architecture information easy to understand and readily available is essential to help make it valuable and actionable to the users. User-centric EA uses principles of communication and design to do this.
Intel, in its 40 year history, has repeatedly planned for change, measured it, and managed it successfully. Intel's CEO, Gordon Moore, is the epitome of driving change. Moore, the founder of Moore's Law, captured the exponential change/improvement in silicon chip performance—identifying that the number of transistors packed on silicon chip would double every two years. Intel's subsequent obsession with Moore's Law has kept them as the dominant player in computer processors and may lead them to dominance in cell phones and other mobile devices as well.
All too often, when there are issues in our organizations, we treat the symptoms instead of the problems. Just like this is bad medicine in treating illness and healing patients, so too it is ineffective in architecting our organizations.
The customer—"can be left feeling their problem was not addressed seriously, even when they've received some form of compensation." Customers are fairness-minded; they want to know why the problem occurred and that it will not happen again.
The service rep—"can start seeing complaining customers as the enemy, even though they point out flaws that need fixing." Customer service reps are yelled at and abused by frustrated and angry customers who hold the service reps responsible for failures that are out of their control.
The managers—"can feel pressure to limit flows of critical customer comments, even though acting on the information will improve efficiency and profits." Managers need to learn from failures and reengineer the processes to correct problems, but instead they fear reporting negative customer satisfaction and shun reporting these. In essence, they are taught to just make the problem go away!
"Fewer than 8% of the 60 organizations" in the wall Street Journal study did well integrating these actors and their perspectives to resolve problems at their root cause.
The focus unfortunately is on short term results instead of architecting long term success.
"Our experience with managers interested in improving service recovery indicates that most hope for a quick fix…but quick fixes only treat the symptoms of underlying problems. Real resolutions should involve closer integration among the three stakeholders, such as gathering more information from customers and sharing it throughout the company, and adopting new structures and practices that make it easier to spot problems and fix them.
While executive management often want to achieve a quick turnaround and show results ASAP, and getting the low hanging fruit is often quite tempting, it is not often going to lead to substantive improvement in our organizations without a commitment and plan to address root cause.
Sure, in architecting the organization, we need to start somewhere, show progress, and continuously build on initial success (i.e. it's an evolutionary process). However, there must be a long term plan/architecture that deals with genuine, deep-seated organizational issues, improves our underlying processes and their technology enablement, and leads to fundamental growth and enterprise maturation. A quick fix just will not do!
Operational efficiency can be the downfall of customer service.
Home Depot, with approximately $80 billion in sales is #22 on the Fortune 500. They are the world's largest home improvement specialty retailer with over 2200 retail stores, and after Wal-Mart, they are the second largest retailer in the U.S.
Yet, Home Depot has been on a slide, according to Fortune Magazine, 29 September 2008.
"Over the past several years a trip to the big orange box has so often ended in frustration that the company once famous for its helpful employees became fodder for late-night TV jokes and home to hundreds of blog rants about bad experiences and disengaged or scarce employees."
How has this affected business?
What went wrong at Home Depot?
Can you believe that Home Depot used 30 measures and NOT ONE had to do with customer service???
Now, under new CEO Frank Blake, Home Depot is returning to its customer-driven roots, and as a result they are closing the same-store sales gap with Lowes and stopping the slide in customer satisfaction. But regaining the trust of their customers will certainly be a challenge and a road to recovery.
As I read this story in Fortune about Home Depot and internalized it, I came to appreciate more than ever the duality and criticality of User-centric Enterprise Architecture (UCEA).
UCEA is not just developing the enterprise architecture with our users in mind (i.e. providing critical strategic information and governance services to the executive decision makers, line of business program and project managers, and IT professionals)—that is only one part. Perhaps the more critical element of User-centric EA is focusing the enterprise's architecture on its customers. The way to continuously move the organization into the future is to always to focus and refocus on the organizations' customers—on their needs, tastes, and continuous satisfaction.
The key is to align the business and technical architecture with customer needs. The organization will only succeed if its users are getting what they need and that is the architecture that must be developed and refined over time.
The question posed: is it time to switch our enterprise from PCs to Macs?
Aside from the design wow factor and their innovativeness, historically, Macs are safer from viruses and have lower maintenance costs. All good reasons to consider an enterprise roll-over to Macs.
From a User-centric perspective, Apple understands how people use technology and their products seem to be the choice many would like to make!
What is holding Apple back in the enterprise?
So what is an advantage to Apple in the consumer marketplace—catering to consumer needs and rapid innovation—is a boondoggle in the business environment. Ah, a double edged sword indeed.
Further, a wholesale switch-out to Apple in a Windows shop typically involves desktops, servers, operating systems, and reworking oodles of legacy systems; this is quite a costly endeavor that is not easy to justify in resource constrained organizations.
Further, one of the core principles of enterprise architecture is standardization in order to reduce complexity and achieve cost-efficiencies, so introducing new platforms or a mixed environment is frowned upon.
In the future, as more and more applications become commoditized and moved to the Internet, thereby reducing the cost of transition to Apple, perhaps Apple will have a better chance to challenge Microsoft on the business playing field.
The constitution, as we all know, sets up a wonderful form of government with three branches--the legislative, executive, and judicial--which function holistically and with checks and balances.
The legislative branch—"sets the policy [and] establishes technical direction" To me, the legislative aspect of architecture is carried out by the EA program. The program develops the methodology, framework, policies, and processes, and develops the architecture blueprints for our organizations. Of course, EA does this based on the requirements of the organization, just as congress sets direction based on the needs and wishes of their constituents (i.e. this is the way it is supposed to work).
The judicial branch—"creates and runs the 'governing body,' which manages compliance and recommends changes to policy and standards." This is clearly the EA board (EAB) and Investment Review Board (IRB). The EAB reviews new and major changes to IT projects, products, and standards and provides findings and recommendations to the Investment Review Board, which issues decisions on authorizing, prioritizing, and funding the IT projects.
Just as the three branches of government cannot function without each other, so to the functions of an enterprise architecture program cannot be successful without the others. The EA program sets the overall architectural policy and direction; the EAB and IRB vets and adjudicates the IT investments in accordance with the architecture; the business and technical professional executes or carries out the architecture with programs and projects to meet the business strategic, tactical, and operational needs.
Similar to the three branches of government, the EA program, boards, and business/technical professionals are each separate, but work together and counter balance each other to establish architecture direction, interpret it on a project by project basis, and execute those projects to modernize and transform the organization.
From the financial and credit crisis, to soaring energy prices, job losses, foreclosures, and run-away inflation, people's investment portfolios are looking pretty darn gloomy these days.
This is a way for people to hide from the reality of their losses. "Turning yourself into an ostrich doesn't make your losses go away, but it does enable you to pretend they aren't there." What a wonderful defense mechanism for our psyches!
Reading and thinking about this ostrich effect, I realized that it applies not only to the way people deal with financial losses, but all sorts of bad news they don't want to hear or deal with.
I believe in Freudian terms, they call this DENIAL!
Just put your head in the sand and whatever it is you don't want to deal with isn't there, right?
We all know that hiding from problems doesn't make them go away. Yet, this same phenomenon in people's personal lives is ever present in our enterprises!
How many of the executives in your organizations follow this prescription of sticking their head in the sand when they don't want to hear about or acknowledge problems in the workplace—competitive, technical, regulatory and so on?
Unfortunately, many of our leaders close their eyes and ears to the problems that afflict our organizations in spite of all the reports, briefings, metrics, dashboards, and subject matter experts they consult.
Why do our leaders ignore bad or challenging news?
I suppose similar to the investor who doesn't want to face the negative returns and shrinking balances on their account statements, executives often don't want to or are unable to deal with the harsh reality in their organizations and in the competitive environment. It's so much easier to pretend problems and challenges don't exist and continue to report stellar results and returns to their boards, stockholders, stakeholders, regulators, and oversight authorities.
In this election season, there has been a lot of banter of "putting lipstick on a pig." Sounds a little like how ineffective leaders pretend to lead, by putting rosy colored lipstick on a pretty awful looking pig.
The best leaders will use all the information available to face reality and raise the performance of the organization and its people to meet the challenges head on and truly grow and excel.
The average and worst leader ignore what's going on around them and see only what they want to see and report up and out what they believe others want to hear.
Where does enterprise architecture come into play with this?
Enterprise architecture is a vital source of information for our CIOs and other leaders. The wise ones see the strategic value of enterprise architecture, commit to it, champion it, and invest in it, using it to identify gaps, redundancies, roadblocks, and opportunities to innovate and improve the business and technology of the organization. I urge all CIOs to avoid being like the ostrich, and take this approach.
Enterprise architects, supported by business and technical subject matter experts across the organization, develop the current and target architectures. The difference between these is what I would call, the architecture gap, from which is developed the transition plan (so far not much new here).
New IT investments are a strategic, long-term strategy and retooling the existing IT assets is an operational, short-term strategy.
Enterprise IT (centralized IT; the CIO) manage the IT asset strategy.
If it is managed by enterprise IT, then it is a growth strategy (i.e. it is rolling out standardized IT—utility computing--for implementing enterprise solutions for systems or infrastructure).
If it is managed by enterprise IT, then it is a renewal strategy (i.e. for recapitalizing enterprise IT assets).
What the difference who is managing the IT assets?
When IT assets are managed by the enterprise IT, then the organizations is motivated by establishing centralized controls, standards, and cost-effectiveness.
Both approaches are important in establishing a solid, holistic, federated IT governance.
The link between IT assets, investment/containment strategies, business and enterprise IT actors, and the benefits to the CIO and the enterprise was a well articulated and perceptive examination of enterprise architecture and gap analysis.
We all want to know where IT is going in the future, what the trends are, so we can meet our future in it head-on.
CIO Magazine, 1 May 2006, had an article called, "The Postmodern Manifesto", predicting what the postmodern IT department will look like. 2+ years have passed (a long time in IT according to Moore's Law), but these IT trends remain solid and true.
Business innovation—"IT will assume responsibility for business innovation across the company. IT has spent the better part of 40 years automating business processes…IT's role in process innovation will only increase…'we've gone from being the engineers of new processes to being the movers of innovation across the company,'" says Judith Campbell CIO of New York Life.
Bottom line is the IT function and enterprise architecture in particular is viewed as the discipline for business process reengineering, improvement, and the introduction of new technologies, and the measure of success is results—cost-savings, cost-efficiencies, and performance improvements.
IT has always been challenged in measuring return on investment (or in the government return on mission), but it is especially difficult when it comes quantifying the return on an abstract called information.
This performance measurement challenge is manifest in the field of enterprise architecture as well.
Yes, we need to make sure the IT computer and server "lights" stay on, the network is up and the communications are available, but more importantly we need to take IT to the next level, to strategically partner with the business to architect, govern, and achieve genuine, measureable ROI and transformation!
View more Microsoft Word documents from ablumen.
Reaching for the stars—Toyota sets "near-unattainable goals." For example, "consider the company's strategy: Meet every customer need and provide a full line in every market." This runs counter to Michael Porter's strategy of "choosing what not to do." Additionally, Toyota's goals are "purposely vague" to force exploration, innovation, and collaboration to meet them.
Have you ever seen anything like these goals in your organization's strategic plans?
I highly doubt it. But imagine how your enterprise would change culturally and competitively overnight if you did!
Of course, Toyota's strategy of Kaizen—continuous improvement—is part of their unending desire to succeed and not be satisfied. They view improvement as not something you achieve, but as something you continuously strive for.
We can apply Toyota's reach goals and Kaizen philosophy to making enterprise architecture planning more effective too. We need to stop conveniently "planning" on things we are working on now or for which we have a head-up that are just around the corner. Sure it's easy to plan with 20-20 hindsight and it helps us to achieve our unit and individual performance plans and gets inappropriately recognized and rewarded, but this is really a short term outlook and not one that will drive organizational success. Instead, like Toyota, we need to set goals that are stretch goals for the organization, and which make us go beyond our comfort zones, so that we can truly work to break out of the box and differentiate ourselves and our organization from the status quo and the limits of our imagination. Setting the bar truly high and then not settling for anything less than continual improvement is a long term strategy for success and one that needs to be genuinely encouraged and rewarded.
This concept of valuing employees and listening to them can shed light on how we need to develop effective enterprise architecture and sound governance; whereby, we provide all major stakeholders a voice at the table--to participate in and influence planning, decision making, and innovation. This is the way to achieve higher returns and lower risks. We need to stop planning and making decisions on the whims of the few or based on gut, intuition, and politics. We must cultivate information sharing, collaboration, and elevate people as the quintessential element of our enterprise's success.
People are flawed, but our endeavors make us great!
What's an example of cloud computing?
In cloud computing, resources--either hardware or software--are available on-demand—as needed.
In the case of on-demand software, application service providers (ASPs) offer software as a service (SaaS). And for on-demand hardware or IT infrastructure (i.e. virtual data center capabilities such as servers or storage), the offering takes the form of utility computing. In both cases, technology resources are served up on a pay-as-you-go or metered basis, similar to the way a public utility would charge for electricity, oil/gas, telephone, water, and so on.
The cloud computing model is similar to service oriented architecture where there is a service provider and consumer, and here the Internet functions the basic service broker.
What are the major advantages of cloud computing?
Cost—one of the big advantages of this computing model is that the upfront IT investment cost is little to none, since the IT assets are in essence being rented.
Scalability—customers have the ability to use more resources when they have a surge in demand and can scale back or turn off the spigot when the resources are not needed.
Flexibility—As IT capabilities get updated by the service provider, consumers in the cloud model can make immediate use of them and benefit sooner than if they had to stand up the capabilities themselves.
Mission focus—The enterprise can stay focused on core mission and mission support capabilities and in essence easily outsource business support functions, where the service provider is responsible for enabling more generic (not strategic or differentiators) business capabilities.
What are the enterprise architecture implications?
Cloud computing can play an important role in focusing IT solutions on strategic mission requirements, simplifying and standardizing our IT infrastructures by outsourcing capabilities, utilizing a services oriented architecture (SOA) model where common business services are served up by providers and consumed by the enterprise, and more effectively managing costs.
What is the future of cloud computing?
Obviously, there are security implications, but as Galen Gruman states: "as SOA and virtualization permeate the enterprise, the idea of loosely coupled services running on an agile, scalable infrastructure should make every enterprise a node in the cloud. It's a long-running tend with a far-out horizon. But among big metatrends, cloud computing is the hardest one to argue with in the long term.
The interactive last part sounds like a prehistoric version of Second Life, which just may be the most interesting part to the new game.
On a recent vacation, I had the opportunity to test a free software download version called Spore Creature Creator, and while the game concept and the strange looking creatures were intriguing, I found the game quickly turned ho hum, boring.
Why is Spore so Important to Electronic Arts?
Electronic Arts has had six consecutive money losing quarters and is desperate for a product winner.
At a development cost of $50M, and $25M in marketing, distribution, and manufacturing costs, the company needs to sell a whopping million and a half copies of Spore at a price of $50 just to break even. (Note: a "blockbuster—generally mean sales of one million units or more for a PC game).
What is wrong with Electronic Arts Spore game concept?
Desperate times lead to desperate measures—Electronic Arts is losing money and prestige and is desperate for a hit, and one that signals a turnaround for the company. However, Spore is not a game changing event.
First, Spore is based on other simulation style games and is adding what? I'd say, aside from some creative graphics, not much. So it's not particularly innovative, which is what they really need a dose of (you can't keep milking the same cow endlessly with sequels—even Star Wars and Harry Potter eventually run out of steam).
Second, when organizations, like Electronic Arts are struggling and faced with daunting challenges, they need to be careful not to fall into the desperate flailing of a drowning victim. It's important to remain calm, keep your whits about you, and always follow a careful thought out plan to survive.
To me that's really the essence of Enterprise Architecture, sound planning and governance.
In the case of Electronic Arts, instead of simply rolling out their next sequel, they needed to be planning on their next big innovation. While Spore may be a cultural curiosity or phenomenon for a while, it does not measure up to true innovation.
Hence, the simple answer is the infamous reorganization.
Enterprises are constantly reorganizing (AKA "another REORG"). The reorgs are supposed to make the organization more efficient and effective, but more often than not, it results in instability, confusion, a reshuffling of bodies and a movement of lines on the org chart without any substantial changes to people, process, or technology. At the end of reorg, leadership falsely claims success and starts the process again, of course collecting their mega sized bonus along the way.
What a crock and what a disservice to our customers, employees, partners, and investors.
So should we stop reorging?
It sort of obvious, but most organizations still don't get that strategic execution depends on having a good plan to begin with and a sound governance structure to manage it!
Decision rights = sound governance.
Information flows = sound enterprise architecture planning.
We set a strategic direction—that is through our business strategy and enterprise architecture plans.
We enforce it—that is our governance (for authorizing, prioritizing, funding, controlling, and assessing programs and projects).
Reorganizations do not supplant the need for good planning and governance. Without good planning and governance, reorganizations are leadership's feeble attempts to do something, anything to change the status quo, and often they result in short-term gains only (and sometimes they do not even do that and result in more harm than good). However, a reorganization that is driven by solid planning and governance can have significant and lasting impact for our transformation efforts.


SEEING IS BELIEVING: WOMEN DIRECT is playing at the Oxford film Festival on Friday and it's very good. Made even timely by the events of the last year and a bit where the drive to bring diversity and end sexual harassment in Hollywood (and elsewhere) has forced a discussion of women in the entertainment industry and made many people ask why there aren't more women making films.
Primarily structured around interviews with Lesli Linka Glatter,Naima Ramos-Chapman,Sarah Gavron and Li Lu and filed in supplementary interviews with other women working as directors the film beautifully corrects the common misconception that that Katheryn Bigalow and Ava DuVernay are only women working today. The film reminds us that Betty Thomas is the highest grossing female director, a fact I'm guessing most people, are utterly unaware of. If you want a beautiful primer on the subject of women and film this is it.
I really can't saw much beyond that. My reluctance to discussing the film is not because there is anything wrong with the film, rather it's because real world events have overtaken the film. How I view the film has been altered by the discussion going on around me, among friends and in social media. When I was originally asked to review this film a year ago the discussions surrounding women in film had just begun to heat up. I passed on the film because it arrived at the wrong time. Had I seen it then I would have been absolutely in love with the film since it names names and beautifully corrects wrongs done by Hollywood by shining a light on the women who have been toiling in the trenches. Now a year later the film is still a wonderful recounting of the battles of the women, but for me as a film media professional (or what passes for one) the heavy discussion of gender issues have colored how I see the film. This is in no way the fault of director Cady McLain who has made a brilliant film it simply means the degree of love/like you have for the film will depend upon how you feel deeply you have been in the discussion.
The film screens Friday the 9th at the Oxford Film Festival and will be followed by a female filmmaker discussion. For more information and tickets go here.


This entry was published on 22nd July 2019 / Emma Ryu. Posted in Sturminster medical centre. Bookmark the permalink.
Date/Time Date(s) - 22/07/20192:00 pm - 3:00 pm Locations: Sturminster medical centre These start outside the medical centre AT 2PM, no need to book just come along. for further information call Karine on 01258 471968.


text:
Home » Business » Philip Morris to use public blockchain for tracking tax stamps
Philip Morris to use public blockchain for tracking tax stamps
Like many large enterprises, Philip Morris International, the tobacco giant, has come around to see blockchain technology as a money saver. A leader of the company has recently declared they will start using a blockchain, and in a change from other big corporations, they want to use a public one.
"We want to do public blockchains," said Philip Morris' global head of architecture and tech innovation Nitin Manoharan. He appeared on April 25 at the London Blockchain Expo, CoinDesk reports.
The specific application he has in mind is for tracking tax stamps on cigarette boxes. The stamps are worth a lot considering how tiny they are, about $5.50 per stamp, and they are easily counterfeited, costing the industry and governments $100 million a year. For Philip Morris alone, tracking legitimate stamps with a blockchain will save $20 million.
The reason Manoharan wants to turn to a public blockchain though is purely because of ambition. He wants Philip Morris to be an industry leader that other companies can join onto. He told CoinDesk:
"The aspiration is an industry-wide blockchain that interested stakeholders can come in and subscribe to it and benefit from it. If they see no value they can just leave."
The plan at the moment is to build the new tech on a mix of Ethereum and MultiChain, Coin Sciences' build-your-own-blockchain platform for enterprises. It will have differences from being just another public Ethereum project, Manoharan insisted.
He believes that going the public route, which many enterprises have shied away from for their supply chain solutions, is the right move. He said:
"Permissioned blockchains are fairly simple. The opportunity is small and you can achieve everything that permissioned blockchain does with existing infrastructure and existing tools. The real value is with public blockchains where you can have multiple players coming in and participating in a trustless manner."
Tax stamps don't look to be the only application of the technology for Philip Morris. They have five other ideas of how to apply the technology in 2019, and will consult with local government's on how to stay within the law, they told Cointelegraph.
Business 52 minutes ago
85% of UK firms applying for digital asset registration failed to meet minimum AML standards, FCA says
The FCA revealed that 5% of firms that had applied for authorization were accepted on the first attempt, while 85% were rejected for failing to meet the minimum AML and terrorist financing standards.