text:
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on April 4th, 2019
Evidence of meeting #143 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was indigenous.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Community Capacity Building and Retention of Talent
Committee Business
MPs speaking
MaryAnn Mihychuk
William Amos
Cathy McLeod
Mike Bossio
Rachel Blaney
Yves Robillard
Kevin Waugh
Arnold Viersen
Also speaking
Laurie Swami President and Chief Executive Officer, Nuclear Waste Management Organization
Bob Watts Vice-President, Indigenous Relations, Nuclear Waste Management Organization
Chief Arlen Dumas Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
Clerk of the Committee Mr. Philippe Méla
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
Grand Chief Arlen Dumas
I think there has to be a proper assessment of and respect for the political and technical auspices that already exist in our regions.
I think a big mistake currently being made by different people is that they're relying too heavily on the Assembly of First Nations. It is not the governing body of our governments, and we need to be mindful of that. Far too often, a breakdown occurs in communication flow.
If there are initiatives that you want to take in Manitoba, you come to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, and we will work through our political apparatus and ensure that the communication and the initiatives go where they're supposed to go.
The Chair Liberal MaryAnn Mihychuk
Okay. That's good advice.
We're moving on to MP Arnold Viersen.
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to our guests for being here today.
One of the things that we are studying in particular with this one is high school education. You mentioned that the staff had come up with this as well. What are some of the things that we could do differently?
The funding where I'm from has been matched to the provincial level. That has increased dramatically the availability of resources, but a big part of our problem is that they have all the money sitting there but nobody to come up and teach, or that with the teachers it's a revolving door. One school there had three principals in three months. Do you have any solutions for that kind of thing?
Yes, certainly. Manitoba has actually been the bastion of leadership on the education front, but unfortunately we've been a victim of the intentional underfunding for decades. Our community arguably was one of the first to actually take the initiative for our education authority, and I'm a product of that.
I'm grateful for it and for the leadership of the day, but unfortunately the mechanisms that were negotiated when I was going through school.... I graduated from my community. I was educated in my community. I then went to all the best educational institutions in the country. I went to Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, which was the best undergraduate university for well over a decade.
When I was going through the entrance level to get into my school it was 1996, and the reason why I say this is that I'm a product of the reserve school system, but for literally 20 years you've heard nothing but negativity in regard to those systems. Unfortunately, those agreements that were negotiated in the early eighties have not increased. The population of my community since the early eighties is almost four times what it was. The resources that were afforded to me are no longer available to anybody because those things are stuck in place, so in order to truly change that.... I'd be interested to find out when your area was—
Yes, just in the last two years or so.
It's going to take a long time for a true catch-up. Unfortunately in Manitoba we're a long way off. The problem is that when you make these grand pronouncements, you're not ensuring that things move forward. You have institutions that deliberately derailed first nations communities by not giving them comparable funding.
Further to your question, we have examples. We have our own first nations school systems. We have our own education centres of excellence. We have these things, but again, the only reason we have them is that we had to fight for them. We shouldn't have to do that. If we want to invest in our people and in the generations to come, we should be affording them any and all resources so they can sit one day and be the grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, having gone to all the best academic institutions in this country. Unfortunately, in my life I see that we have literally stepped back two generations. It shouldn't be that way.
How much time do I have left?
You have about a minute and a half.
Is there anything else you wanted to put on the record today?
Yes, I want to say that when people look into the issue that they look at the heart of the matter. Unfortunately, we're always blamed for our misery, when nothing could be further from the truth. Oh, it's about accountability. Every cent that comes to our communities is audited four to six times a year. If you want accountability, let's talk to the provincial governments that have benefited from using our statistics for decades, that have received resources on behalf of our membership and have never had to pay a cent toward educating our people. That's the reality that people need to take a look at.
MP Rachel Blaney; you're next.
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
First of all, thank you so much for being here today. I really appreciate what you brought to the table.
You talked earlier about essential services and the fact that there is no legal framework keeping that level of accountability. What I heard loud and clear from you is how do you build capacity when the essential services are not there? They're not providing that foundation.
I'm just wondering what steps you think need to be taken by the federal government, by provincial governments, so we can send along a message that they look at that framework and make sure it's there for essential services.
You'll enhance my capacity.
Again, by making a meaningful effort to build relationships. On the one hand, we have a quite a long history of working with our federal partners. We do audits. We do all the things we need to do to move forward. Then other envelopes of funding are earmarked for first nations people that go to the provincial coffers. There's no accountability there. There's no reporting back. There's no update.
When we do initiatives, or training for that matter, I'll give you an example. In my community we're fortunate to have a construction company that's made an effort to train and bring people forward. Because we're able to do that in this case, we're able to hold our provincial partners who receive employment and training funding on our behalf, and we force them to the table.
How many other communities are unable to do that?
Then where do those resources go that were earmarked for that training?
Fortunately, in that case, in that community we have our own journeymen carpenters who are building our own housing projects and doing all of these things. There needs to be more of a mechanism to hold people more accountable. The best way to do that is to make agreements with your treaty partners. We have resources for you; we want you to use them. You want us to do a million reports; we'll do it. That would be more accountable than what's currently happening.
You talked also about how everything is a program. It's a real challenge to maintain and keep great people working in your community because those programs are always short term. Then it's year to year, and you don't know.
How would you work with your federal partners to make that better?
Let's do multi-year programs. Let's make a plan. We have to be fiscally responsible and accountable. We know how things are going to go. Take right now for that matter. We already know our best practices in our region. We've shown how to do things responsibly. Let's make a multi-year agreement that will transcend election cycles.
Do you know what I mean? It's about making the proper investments for people.
I really heard that clearly, too. With the essential services, it's as if every new government that comes in deems how essential services should be, so that brings a lot of.... It's making it less.
Can you talk to me about rural and remote communities? I represent a lot of really rural and remote communities. I think of the multiple challenges they have in addressing the day-to-day issues. In the indigenous communities that I represent, a lot of the essential services are getting paid for by the revenue that they're creating in their own communities, so they never have the ability to take that next step to build up the strength of their community because they're paying again and again for the essential services that are underfunded.
Right. It must be noted that a lot of these services were chronically, if not deliberately, underfunded. You need to address that. If you want to talk about doing things properly, then you need to have a discussion on the fact that things have been chronically underfunded for literally 30 years. Today we can talk about making plans on steps forward, but unless you deal with that chronic underfunding, how do you get people up to date? That is in fact what happens. "Well, use your own source of revenue." "Well, I can't because I'm paying for funerals and I'm paying for all these other things that people are unaware of that are actual costs to communities."
How do you address that?
Again, you need to make arrangements and agreements that will meet everybody's needs. If the issue is reporting and accountability, then make agreements with people.
And more accountability in terms of what you are paying to the provinces or what the provinces are getting, compared to—
For instance, I can tell you that there have been eight personal care homes—we had to call them personal care homes—operating on reserve for the past 40 years looking after our elders. I bet you if you looked at the census, you'd find that the Province of Manitoba has used those numbers to acquire resources, but because the on-reserve institutions cannot meet an arbitrary provincial standard, no funding has ever flowed.
On that note, we have to call it quits.
We have 15 minutes to get to the House for the vote.
Meegwetch. Thank you.
The meeting is adjourned.


First DTM victory for Christian Vietoris.
Christian Vietoris wins second DTM race of the season at Oschersleben from 16th on grid.
Mercedes-Benz driver Christian Vietoris won the second DTM race of the season at the Motorsport Arena Oschersleben in front of 65,000 spectators (through the gates over the whole weekend). This was for Vietoris his maiden victory in his 34th race in the internationally popular touring car series. The race took place in difficult, changeable weather conditions. Vietoris made his first pit stop after the formation lap and switched to wet weather tyres. He pitted only once more in an exciting and eventful race that saw the safety car come out three times. He went into the lead just before the end of the race, defending his P1 to the finish line.
We need to keep our feet firmly planted on the ground.
Due to the difficult weather conditions and the three safety car periods, the race did not go the full distance of 51 laps but was stopped after the maximum race time of 75 minutes had elapsed. Vietoris gained 15 places on his original grid position during the course of the 44 laps that were completed. "My first DTM victory! To have secured it under such difficult circumstances and in such an eventful race is simply incredible," said Vietoris. "I'm absolutely delighted. We had been hoping for rain because our pace in the dry still isn't good enough. A wet weather race was our only chance of challenging for the win today, and we exploited this opportunity to the full. My team did a fantastic job today with the pit stops and strategy - this victory belongs to everyone in the crew.
2010 DTM champion Paul Di Resta ended the second race of his DTM comeback season in fourth place, just narrowly missing the podium. Gary Paffett placed eighth and also finished in the points. Vitaly Petrov, the first Russian DTM driver in the history of the series, finished 17th in his second DTM race. Canadian driver Robert Wickens retired after nine laps. Fellow Mercedes-Benz drivers Daniel Juncadella and Pascal Wehrlein also failed to take the chequered flag. As a result of this race win, Christian Vietoris moves up to second place in the drivers' championship. He is currently on 25 points, five behind championship leader Mike Rockenfeller (Audi). In the team championship, Original-Teile Mercedes AMG are in second place on 37 points, just one point behind Audi Sport Team Phoenix. Er liegt fünf Punkte hinter dem Spitzenreiter Mike Rockenfeller (Audi). In der Teamwertung liegt das Team Original-Teile Mercedes AMG mit 37 Zählern einen Punkt hinter dem Audi Sport Team Phoenix auf dem zweiten Platz.
Gary Paffett, 8th: "That was an incredible race which was very difficult and confusing for us drivers and for the team alike. The whole afternoon was a mixture of emotions. I got off to a phenomenal start, had good pace and was closing up on the leaders. Then I made a mistake on Turn 2 where I hit the wet kerbs and spun round. I was disappointed with myself for getting into such a situation. So I found myself at the back of the field and had to fight my way through again. Then it started to rain and we were confronted with the decision of whether to change the tyres or not. As you know, we have one mandatory stop during the official pit stop window, but the rain had started to set in just before. We took the decision to stay out. Unfortunately, that was the wrong call, as the track was getting wetter and wetter and the car was becoming harder to drive. When the pit stop window opened, we immediately switched to wet weather tyres.
Vitaly Petrov, 17th: "I drove a DTM car in the wet for the first time today, so it took a few laps to get used to conditions and understand how the car and tyres behave in the rain. It's very difficult to predict where you will finish in conditions like we experienced today, with all the safety car periods and everything, but that's racing.


text:
Morning Fizz: Normal Human Beings
Caffeinated News & Gossip featuring quips, quotes, and cross tabs.
By Morning Fizz 9/19/2013 at 9:01am
1. Mayor Mike McGinn's martyr complex theme that he's being persecuted by the evil Seattle establishment is getting pretty dull. However, in response to the latest news that a stunning majority of the Seattle City Council has actually taken sides in the mayor's race—in this instance formally supporting McGinn's rival, state Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Capitol Hill), McGinn's spokesman Aaron Pickus posted a hilarious version of the McGinn spin on his Facebook page last night.
Pickus quipped:
Now we know what all that white smoke was about billowing from Council Chambers. They've picked a new mayor.
The council typically remains mum in the mayor's race and reportedly hasn't weighed in like this since the 1970s.
2. The conundrum that's plaguing the Republicans was on display last night in Everett, where the GOP-controlled state senate held the second meeting of their transportation committee listening tour; on Tuesday night they were in Bellevue where the crowd overwhelmingly supported the pending transportation funding package (Metro service—facing a potential $75 million, 600,000 service hour cut—depends on it).
The 150 people that showed up in Everett last night—including business and Boeing reps—largely supported the package too (a ten-and-a-half cent gas tax, $10 billion proposal). But some anti-tax voices, including initiative hawker Tim Eyman, were also on hand.
And that's the perfect snapshot of the modern GOP dilemma: The business wing of the party vs. the anti-tax purists. What's a Republican legislator to do?!
Eyman, however, apparently doesn't believe the business faction speaks for the people. He told the committee: "Normal human beings are not in the crowd tonight."
This, from the guy who once showed up in Olympia wearing a Darth Vader suit.
3. One detail in the crosstabs from this week's KING 5 mayor's race poll we forgot to note: 25 percent of African American voters are undecided. This is noteworthy because conventional wisdom has been that black voters are solidly in McGinn's camp. Of the remaining 75 percent, McGinn has a slight lead—40 to 36 (we know that doesn't add up, but that's what the poll says).
African Americans are a small voting bloc, only about 6 percent, but the numbers present another question mark for McGinn and another opportunity for Murray, who's also been endorsed by Council Member Bruce Harrell, the only African American council member, who lost his own bid in the mayoral primary but did well with black voters.
Another surprise: Murray was beating McGinn among the cell phone users polled by KING 5: 33 to 27.
Morning Fizz, Transportation, Tim Eyman, Seattle Mayor's Race 2013

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


New Holland Loaders & Excavators » Farm Implement and Supply, with 2 locations to serve you in Kansas.
New Holland Construction is a global equipment manufacturer with a full line of products and services that meet customers' needs for Productivity, Performance, Fuel Efficiency and Value. Big or small project we have the equipment you need. Browse through our inventory of New Holland Construction Equipment and choose from our selections of Rock Solid Skid Steer Loaders, Track Loaders for muddy terrains, Wheel Loaders For Hauling, Backhoes Loaders for trenching, Compact Excavators For Digging and more.


text:
Hewlett-Packard Enters LTO-6 Tape Space
by Mark Hachman January 30, 2013 3 min read
Hewlett-PackardLTO-6storagetape
Hewlett-Packard is investing further in LTO-6 tape technology with its just-announced StoreEver tape portfolio.
With spinning disks gobbling up more and more backup capacity, tape is on the decline: In August 2012, the Santa Clara Consulting Group found that tape sales had declined 14 percent year-over-year, from $178.2 million to $152.7 million. Proprietary tape formats have largely disappeared, the firm added, leaving Linear Tape Open as the dominant format with 93 percent of total sales; last-generation LTO-5 was the only LTO tape format that had fared somewhat well.
In the tape market, capitalizing on the latest technology equals survival. Within twelve months of its introduction, LTO5 had become the dominant format. Simon Watkins, the worldwide product manager for HP's tape business, suggested in an interview that the company sees same aggressive ramp-up for LTO-6.
The new LTO-6 spec offers 400-Mbits/s in performance—using a 2.5:1 compression ratio, that's up to 1.4TB of data transferred per hour. The drives hold 2.5 TB natively or 6.25 TB, versus the 1.5 terabytes of native data/3 TB (compressed) offered by LTO-5.
A variety of smaller companies (including Tandberg Data, Imation and Fujifilm) have raced out of the gate with their own LTO-6 products. Tandberg's StorageLoader, for example, offers 50TB; the StorageLibrary T24 up to 150TB; and the StorageLibrary T40+ up to 250TB.
Now, it's HP's turn. In general, customers should expect to pay 2.5 cents per gigabyte, the company said. HP's solutions will scale up to 44 petabytes in a single system, nearly as large as HP Autonomy's 50 PB, disk-based cloud.
Tape's advantage lies in its energy consumption; on top of that, HP has instituted aggressive power management as part of its product build. "What we are seeing is that the role of tape is evolving, from it historical role short-term backup medium and really evolving into a broader set of storage goals, including the cloud and disaster recovery, the last line of defense," Watkins said.
StoreEver offers a larger roller and tape lifter that minimizes drag; a data-rate matching algorithm, which slows or speeds up the tape mechanism to match the data rate coming from the host; and TapeAssure, an existing management technology that monitors the drive, libraries and media. It can also be paired with a HP StoreOnce de-duplication solution to further minimize backup costs.
Image: HP
Palm's Ex-Chief Rubinstein Departs Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Pushes BPO Analytics Services
Hewlett-Packard Names Meg Whitman CEO
RIM Unveils BlackBerry 10, Its Big Turnaround Hope
When Is a Used Server Right for You?
Mark Hachman is a freelance editor at Slashdot Media. Previously, he served as the West Coast news editor for PC Magazine/PCMag.com, where he covered components, new technology, and the larger Web 2.0 companies such as Facebook and Google. Before that, he worked for eWEEK, TechWeb, and ExtremeTech, which he helped launch.


text:
Home › National News
Black Women At Higher Risk Of Cancer From Chemical Hair Products, According To New Study
A new study finds a correlation between cancer and chemical hair products.
NewsOne Staff
Black women face higher risks of breast cancer. However, a new study reveals chemical hair products may increase the risk even more.
RELATED: Black Single Mother Overcomes Breast Cancer, Creates $5 Million Beauty Brand
According to a new study from the International Journal of Cancer, Black women who use permanent dyes "every five to eight weeks or more was associated with a 60% increased risk of breast cancer as compared with an 8% increased risk for white women."
Author Alexandra White, Ph.D., head of the NIEHS Environment and Cancer Epidemiology Group, "Researchers have been studying the possible link between hair dye and cancer for a long time, but results have been inconsistent. In our study, we see a higher breast cancer risk associated with hair dye use, and the effect is stronger in African American women, particularly those who are frequent users."
The study also found "found that women who used hair straighteners at least every five to eight weeks were about 30% more likely to develop breast cancer." The risks were the me for Black and white women but "straightener use was much more common among African American women."
Semi-permanent or temporary dye found little to no increase in breast cancer risk.
Breast cancer is an epidemic for Black women — they are 40 percent more likely to die from breast cancer despite doctors diagnosing the disease in African-American and white women at about the same rate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Also, Black women are more often found to have triple-negative breast cancer, an aggressive type that frequently returns after treatment.
Age is also a factor: breast cancer incidence rates were higher among African-American women younger than 60 years old but lower among those who are 60 or older.
One reason for this statistic could be that medical professionals tend to find this cancer at an earlier stage in white women. Also, Black women may have inadequate medical care, including limited access to cancer screening technology.
Doctors encourage women, especially those at high risk due to a family history or having BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, to get out ahead of the disease. Early detection measures such as mammograms and screenings are strongly recommended. Women can visit local hospitals that offer low-cost mammograms or call their local American Cancer Society chapter for help with screenings or doctor referrals.
You're Not Supporting Gabrielle Union If You're Not Supporting Zion Wade, Too
Mother Encourages Daughter To Hold Her 'Head High' After Racist Incident
Heartbreaking: 15-Year-Old Reportedly Found Dead And Mutilated, And It's Getting No News Coverage
Powerful Images Of Activists Honoring Botham Jean On His Birthday
Activists demanding justice for Botham Jean refused to let leaders off the hook at a Dallas panel on Saturday.
More: https://t.co/oNf8lWCcsn pic.twitter.com/n3AR2qD9CF
— Dallas Morning News (@dallasnews) September 29, 2018
#StLucia Times: Botham Jean's family pleased with local support https://t.co/VbXDvsudAs
— St Lucia News 🇱🇨 (@NewsOfStLucia) September 30, 2018
Listen: Allison Jean calling in from St. Lucia: "I really thank you for continuing to stand with me. All I ask is that we recognize that the Lord is the one that takes vengeance. Whatever we do in seeking justice, we have to do it peacefully." @CBSDFW #BothamJean pic.twitter.com/xfpv8DFybK
— Yona Gavino (@YonaGavinoTV) September 29, 2018
#BothamJean's girlfriend joins protest demanding murder charges for Amber Guyger https://t.co/WSNDbwim05
— Jordan (@JordanChariton) September 29, 2018
Pastor prays over chanting protesters at Botham Jean birthday event #readlocal https://t.co/vy4S3wFvtV
— Fort Worth Star-Telegram (@startelegram) September 29, 2018
#BothamJean's birthday...
Frank Crowley Courts Building, Dallas https://t.co/1xVXsov2bD
— mademoiselle nobs (@patriciaturner) September 29, 2018
170,000 signature petition delivery rn calling for a murder charge against Officer Guyger#BothamJean pic.twitter.com/LGdyWBpsj7
— Wine Cave Inspector 🍷🦇🌹 (@seizethewhiskey) September 28, 2018
Despite rainy weather in Dallas, dozens of Christians have gathered on the county courthouse steps on what would have been Botham Jean's 27th birthday. They plan to praise God and peacefully call for justice in Jean's shooting death. #BothamShemJean #Justice4Botham pic.twitter.com/WvhchfbUVf
— Bobby Ross Jr. (@bobbyross) September 29, 2018
Saturday would have been #BothamJean's 27th birthday. To mark Jean's birthday, a town hall was held at St. Paul United Methodist Church in #Dallas where community members had the chance to bring up their questions and concerns about his case and others. https://t.co/V4wRGixoBG
— Francisco Taveira (@jftaveira1993) September 30, 2018
Watch what happened at 18:55 in @rolandsmartin's broadcast: 9.29.18 #RolandMartinUnfiltered: #JusticeforBothamJean … https://t.co/vNWGoWKwFy
— Barbara Green (@evanbgreen) September 30, 2018
Cries for justice on Botham Jean's birthday https://t.co/2uGyYIKQyW pic.twitter.com/iQhgLO9DY6
— WFAA (@wfaa) September 30, 2018
Getting underway. Town Hall Conversation, #CallForAction on what would've been Botham Jean's 27th birthday. #Dallas pic.twitter.com/lWHbkJnbvY
— Dionne Anglin (@DAnglinFox4) September 29, 2018
Prayer vs. Protest. To quote @JerryLEADS... "What a juxtaposition." ✊🏼🙏🏼 #BothamJean #JusticeforBothamJean #NoJusticeNoPeace pic.twitter.com/xIUXjT7OZu
— Stephanie Drenka | 신경선 (@stephaniedrenka) September 29, 2018
Continue reading Powerful Images Of Activists Honoring Botham Jean On His Birthday
From a contentious town hall-style meeting in Dallas to a march on the island of St. Lucia, activists turned out in full force to honor the memory of Botham Jean and to demand justice for him on Saturday, which would have been his 27th birthday. Jean's life was cut short on Sept. 6 when an off-duty Dallas cop shot and killed the St. Lucia native, claiming that she mistook his apartment for her own. SEE ALSO: Botham Jean Would Have Been 27 Years Old Today, See His Life In Photos About 200 activists attended a forum at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Dallas for what was designed as a call to action, the Dallas Morning News reported. https://twitter.com/dallasnews/status/1046231912619094016 The meeting began with Jean's mother, Allison Jean, phoning in from St. Lucia pleasantly thanking supporters for attending the forum and reaffirming her unwavering commitment to obtain justice for her son. But the activists soon became angry when the panelists, including Dallas County District Attorney Faith Johnson, began taking questions from the audience. It reached a boiling point when the activists demanded to know why Johnson failed to charge ex-officer Amber Guyger with murder instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Meanwhile, on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Jean's family and scores of supporters held a thanksgiving birthday march in his memory, according to the St. Lucia Times. The Justice for Botham Support Group organized the event, which included songs of praise and speeches. Back in Dallas, supporters joined their voices in singing the worship hymn "Let it Rise" at exactly 10 a.m. on Saturday. It was the last song Jean sang at his church. On Friday, the Justice For Botham Jean movement rallied at a petition delivery protest outside Johnson's Dallas office. They gathered 170,000 signatures to demand that the prosecutor upgrade manslaughter charges against Guyger. They fear that the district attorney will go lightly on her. SEE ALSO: Bill Cosby Doesn't Deserve Your Sadness Amber Guyger Is Fired For Killing Botham Jean Is His Own Dallas Apartment
Black Women At Higher Risk Of Cancer From Chemical Hair Products, According To New Study was originally published on newsone.com
Inside The James Ingram Tribute At #UrbanOneHonors [Video]
Donnie McClurkin Talks About Loving His Parents Even…
Faith Walk: Jealously Hurts Us More Than Anyone…
Kanye West On His Battle With Alcohol: 'Devil,…
Kanye West believes that he is living proof that God sometimes gets the last laugh in your battles. The entertainer…
Howard Thurman Helped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s…
Howard Thurman is the theologian who inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's value of non-violence.
All-Star Baseball Player Adam Wainwright Leads 1-Year Online…
St. Louis Cardinals MLB player Adam Wainwright has a launched an online Bible study course he'll lead for one year.
Former Baltimore Pastor Jamal Bryant Uses Church Funds…
[Stonecrest, GA] A donation from New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has wiped out the debt of more than 1,200 south…
Beauty Supply Store Accused Of Racial Profiling, Locked…
This case of mistaken identity for a group of wanted shoplifters shows that even in 2020, we still all look…
What Could Go Wrong As Popeyes Gives Away…
Really...what can possibly happen?
You Will Never Guess What Black Hair Brand…
One of the most significant haircare brands from the '60s is back.
The mother of Atatiana Jefferson, the woman who was shot and killed by a Fort Worth Police Officer in October 2019…
With All These Foundation Shades, An Ulta Makeup…
Ebony Kankam London says the incident made her feel like she was the problem, when in fact the issue was…
A Long Island high school teacher is accused of comparing four black students to monkeys, and the teacher is being…


text:
About The Signal
Advertise with The Signal
GSU's season ends in blowout to Houston in NCAA Tournament
On March 22, 2019 • By Jerell Rushin
Georgia State men's basketball player D'Marcus Simonds goes airborne during the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Championship at Lakefront Arena. | Photo submitted by Georgia State Athletics
The Georgia State men's basketball team had a shaky start against No. 3 seed Houston in the NCAA Tournament on Friday night.
The underdog Panthers trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half of their Round of 64 game.
Devin Mitchell heated up, quickly scoring 10 of Georgia State's first 17 points, to close that gap.
Then, D'Marcus Simonds rallied the team to bring it within five points of Houston. Houston responded and ended the first half leading 40-31.
There wouldn't be any climbing back into the game during the second half for No. 14 seed Georgia State. The Panthers were outscored 45-24 in the half.
Georgia State (24-10) lost 84-55 to the Houston Cougars (32-3).
Four seniors, Mitchell, Jeff Thomas, Malik Benlevi and Jordan Tyson played their final games for the program. So did junior Simonds, who will declare for the NBA Draft.
"I'm pretty sick, but, you know, it's basketball," Simonds said. "You win some, you lose some… We had a really good team this season and I was happy to be a part of it more than anything."
Houston's Corey Davis Jr. scored 26 points and made more 3-pointers, seven, than Georgia State's six.
Georgia State made the most 3-pointers in program history this season but shot 6-of-26 from behind the arc against Houston.
The Panthers only attempted 23 3-pointers, in part, because Houston defenders played the shooters tight, even off the ball.
Georgia State shot 30 percent overall, its worst shooting performance of the season.
"Our shots just weren't going down like we were accustomed to them," head coach Ron Hunter said. "Their transition was unbelievable. That was the difference of the game."
Things got out of control for the Panthers in the second half. Houston went on a 13-2 run to stretch its lead to 65-41 with 10 minutes remaining.
While Houston ran away with the victory, the Panthers went nearly nine minutes without a making a field goal.
Simonds scored 18 points to lead Georgia State, and Mitchell finished with 12 points. Mitchell scored just two points in the second half.
No other Panthers scored in double figures. Four Cougars did.
Georgia State missed more than a handful of makeable layups in the game, particularly in the first half.
Had those misses been makes, Georgia State's goal heading to the second half would've been to take, or extend, the lead rather than to overcome a near 10-point deficit.
"We've been in situations like that before," Mitchell said. "So I mean, we weren't worried, but, you know, we knew we had to score the ball a lot better than we had been and get stops on defense. And it was just tough to be able to do that in the first half."
The Cougars shot 51.6 percent in the game and began 6-of-8 when they owned a 15-3 lead less than five minutes in.
They took advantage of late defensive rotations by Georgia State to get easy shot attempts.
For the large majority of the game, Houston guard Corey Davis Jr. was the only Cougar to make a 3-pointer. He made all but one of Houston's 3-pointers.
Kane Williams and Damon Wilson are key returners to a Georgia State program that has made two consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and three in the past five years.
The Panthers expect to return the tournament next season despite the exodus of production in Simonds, Mitchell, Benlevi, Thomas and Tyson.
"I'll be disappointed if we don't get three in a row… it's going to start from day one, man," Hunter said. "That's the core of our program. I've got guys, my sophomores and freshmen, that's all they know about [is] going to the NCAA Tournament. They don't know anything else. We're not going to change that."


On Jan. 9, 2006, I had the windows on my newly purchased car tinted at Auto-Sound on Rockford Lane. I was given documents that stated the job came with a lifetime warranty. I was very well satisfied with the tinting until this past summer when a bubbling of the tint occurred on the rear window. It looked hideous.
The owner agreed that the tint needed to be replaced. When I showed him the original receipt, he said that this warranty included only the labor and that he'd do it but I would be responsible for the cost of material, approximately $20.
TintCenter's take on this disagreement is that the tint shop seemed to have followed its warranty policy; however, quality window film should not be bubbling 5 years after installation. We should be seeing film lifespan of 10 to possibly 15 years for properly installed high performance auto tint. Our best guess is that the film initially installed by the customer was poorly chosen.
If any of these films were chosen by this unhappy customer, the bubbling would have been entirely avoided. If somehow the bubbling or another type of film failure did occur, the replacement labor AND material costs would have been handled by the comprehensive SolarGard warranty.
TintCenter recommends that only brand name films with lifetime warranties should be purchased. Always take time to ask what the warranty options are for the films you are evaluating. Don't just take the tint shop's word on the warranty, also check our Window Film Library or the film manufacturer's website as well. Make sure you get a completely filled out and legible copy of the warranty form or card from the tint shop after your car tint has been completed.


Originally published as : Green, L. (2004), The Advent Of Broadcast Advertising In The Everyday Life Of Remote WA, In Gibson, M.and etal. (Eds.), Everyday Transformations: The Twenty-First Centry Quotidian, Proceedings of the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia (CSAA) Conference 04, Perth, Australia, 9-11 Dec 2004. Conference available here.


I'm back in the Studio! I had a lovely time visiting my mom and the kids had a ball, too. I enjoyed a bit of time in my studio this morning and here's the first project I created, in accordance to the Super Sketchy Sunday challenge at 365 Cards.
Here's the sketch we were to follow: --The piece of Kaleidoscope Designer Series Paper (A.K.A. "DSP") that I used is two-sided (as are most DSPs) and I used both sides of the same piece of paper. I found the mid-point on the DSP and then measured ¾-inch from one edge and cut the two triangular pieces (mostly yellow in my design, beige in the sketch). They're just the flipside of the orangey floral piece.
--Adhere the pieces of Designer Series Paper to a scrap of white card stock on the back (to make a stronger unit into which to punch the ½-inch circle for the Whisper White Jumbo Grommet).
--Next, I attached a piece of Whisper White Satin Ribbon to an 8 ½-inch by 4 ¼-inch (and folded) piece of Tempting Turquoise. Once that was attached, I added the bit with the Designer Series Paper pieces and grommet.
--To finish it off, I made a knot with another piece of Whisper White Satin Ribbon and attached it inside the grommet with a mini glue dot.


We study a generalization of the arc-sine law. In particular we provide new results about the distribution of the time spent by a BM with drift inside a band, giving the Laplace transform of the characteristic function. If one of the extremes of the band goes to infinity, our formula agrees with the results given in Akahori and Takacs. We apply these results to the pricing of exotic option contracts known as corridor derivatives. We then discuss the inversion problem comparing different numerical methods.


text:
Estonia: Ines to host Eurolaul again
by Benny Royston January 18, 2008 3:06 pm 138 views
This year's Estonian Eurovision Song Contest national final, Eurolaul 2008, have been confirmed. The responsibility falls to Marko Reikop and Ines, the 2005 show's host couple. Last year, the show was co-hosted by Marko and Maarja-Liis Ilus.
Marko and Ines have performed the role together once in the past, back in 2005 when Suntribe were victorious and went on to represent Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest semi final. Reikop has been host of the Eurolaul since 1996. Ines represented Estonia in Eurovision Song Contest 2000 with Once in a Lifetime. She also competed in the 2007 final.
Eurolaul final takes place in February 2nd and ETV will introduce all the songs one week before the final on 26th January.
Benny Royston
Romania: VH2 in, Alexandra Badoi out
Romania: All songs online


Radio listeners are soon to be offered a new type of radio which can play and record both digital and conventional radio.
The new generation of such radio sets was demonstrated in Amsterdam at the IBC, International Broadcasting Convention, by the Digital Radio Mondiale, (DRM), consortium.
They were first unveiled last week at a Berlin consumer electronics show.
Peter Senger, DRM chairman and chief of Germany's international radio station Deutsche Welle, said that it is the first digital radio which can receive the main European radio systems: DAB, DRM, AM, FM/RDS and short wave.
DRM is intended to replace long wave, medium wave and short wave broadcasts with a more reliable and higher-quality service for an audience which has largely moved to FM. AM is perceived as low quality because of interference and low fidelity.
The sample radio sets are the product of collaboration between the DRM consortium, Texas Instruments and RadioScape.
What started as discussions between international broadcasters is now almost ready for the general public.
"We have been pregnant for seven years and have now given birth", said John Sykes, the BBC World Service's digital radio project director.
Currently, 40 European broadcasters send more than 500 hours of programming daily using the system.
The choice is limited but ever-increasing: Radio Luxembourg has just relaunched an English service using DRM.
The BBC World Service also started a DRM radio service for Europe and even Deutsche Welle has committed to the phasing-out out of conventional short wave in favour of DRM.
There are opportunities for more stations. World Radio Network, which packages radio programmes from abroad is to trial a London-wide DRM service and regional services for Europe beamed from Bulgaria.
"London will provide a rigorous test environment," said its managing director, Gary Edgerton. "If it works in London it will work anywhere."
He envisaged specialised niche services which present AM and FM do not provide.
International commercial and public service broadcasters are frustrated that they cannot reach many listeners reliably across borders. DRM could help them.
"This technology allows better radio, over greater distances, in better quality", said Anton Hierhager, business development manager digital radio for Texas Instruments.
At the same time that popular commercial stations and respected public broadcasters are increasing the availability of DRM content. DRM-capable radios products are heading for the shops for Christmas 2005, DRM chief Peter Senger said.
The radios will first be made by Morphy Richards, Roberts Radio and Sangean.
There is no official price tag but it is thought that the early models will cost in the region of about 250 euros (£169). The designs are varied and not unlike DAB sets already on sale.
IBC takes place in Amsterdam from 8 to 13 September.


The Behind The Beyond " is a thriller mystery Game which is developed by a independent single person which tells the story about a agent who is a victim of his own hallucinations. Through out the game he is perplexed between his dreams and reality.
UBERMOSH:BLACK is the second volume of the arcade series UBERMOSH. Cut bullets with your sword, shoot with heavy guns and splatter enemies with a rage fueled psionic wave.
UBERMOSH:WRAITH is the fourth volume of the arcade series UBERMOSH.
Help little Jorji to survive in his journey to the depths of Impossible Forest, in this super-hard, hand-crafted 2D platformer.
Tomato Way is the only way.


text:
Mothers Against Drunk Driving: Successful Reformers—Or Hypocrites from Hell?
Brenda Walker
The sentencing last month in Howard County, Maryland of illegal alien Eduardo Raul Morales-Soriano to just 10 years in prison for the drunk driving deaths of two young people was a reminder of how that crime is still not taken seriously. Not only was the killer a previously arrested unlawful foreigner, he was massively drunk, with a blood alcohol level of four times the legal limit. [Illegal immigrant gets 10 years for killing two in crash, By Mike Santa Rita, Columbia Flier, May 29, 2008]
One of the victims was Corporal Brian Mathews, a Marine home on leave from Iraq. He was in a car stopped at an intersection with his date Jennifer Bower when Morales-Soriano's car plowed into them on Thanksgiving night, 2006.
The case received more attention than many because of the unpleasant irony: a Marine had survived the carnage of Baghdad but was killed by a drunk driving illegal alien at home.
The killer could have received 20 years jail time but the judge decided to halve that. State's Attorney Dario J. Broccolino preferred the longer sentence, saying "The drunk driver is often more dangerous than the hit man." (Man to Serve 10 Years for 2006 Crash That Killed 2, by Raymond McCaffrey, Washington Post, May 29, 2008)
At this point, let me make a disclaimer. As a boomer, I grew up in wild and wooly times, when following the Golden Mean meant ingesting a variety of legal and illegal substances. I can remember when it was no big thing to drive drunk, a practice that was accepted throughout society. Furthermore, as a frequenter of a cop bar in San Francisco, I know that the thin blue line has been wobbly itself not so long ago, when extreme drinking was sanctioned as a necessary stress-reliever in a very tough profession.
I therefore admire the Mothers Against Drunk Driving organization for creating a complete reversal of attitude across society in very short order. There's no other turnaround of public opinion that's comparable. MADD's campaign of showing the victims of drunk drivers was brilliant, and highly productive when combined with lobbying Congress and state legislatures for tougher laws.
Of course, it helped that Americans are reasonable people, because of their culture, and appeals to responsibility are effective.
There's no question MADD's efforts have saved many lives by changing behavior. People still drive drunk, but at lower levels and most people know that it is an irresponsible and dangerous practice. (Safer cars have helped greatly also, and for that we can thank Ralph Nader.)
For example, CBS reported in 2002, "The nation's alcohol-related traffic death rate has dropped by more than half during the past 20 years, a government study shows." (Drunk Driving Death Rates Drop, But..., Dec. 18, 2002). The report also noted that regional differences in the incidence of alcohol-related traffic fatalities had been "widely disproportionate."
(For a general statistical picture of roadway deaths 1994-2006, see the government's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). For alcohol-related data in 2006, see this chart, which shows 41 percent of crashes had an inebriation component. )
Knocking down drunk-driving deaths by half in 20 years is genuinely spectacular, and MADD deserves a lot of credit.
But like many other organizations that began with the best of intentions but went off track (from the Sierra Club to the churches), the Mothers have gotten full of themselves. And worse, they have forgotten their original goal of cutting down on drunk driving.
Founder Candy Lightner started the group in 1980 after her daughter was killed by a drunk-driver who was given a minimal punishment for the death. But Lightner broke with the organization in 1985 because of its growing trend toward attacking all drinking. She was quoted in the Washington Times in August 2002 as saying, "It has become far more neo-prohibitionist than I ever want or envisioned... I didn't start MADD to deal with alcohol. I started MADD to deal with the issue of drunk driving."
Those of us who enjoy responsibly hoisting a few do not appreciate neo-prohibitionism . We would prefer the storm troopers of the nanny state to mind their own business.
With its success and high profile in the do-gooder community, MADD has accrued a large bank account. A financial report for 2004 showed an income of $52,670,137. Maybe the message against drunk driving needs an ongoing educational campaign, since the behavior has not died out and is not likely to. But MADD now has to maintain its relevance to keep the millions rolling in.
And how best to accomplish a timely upgrade? The Mothers chose to embrace diversity, while doing a little two-step about the relation of culture to behavior.
On one hand, MADD's list of official policies includes: "MADD supports continued efforts to eliminate racial profiling and enforce drunk driving and underage drinking laws effectively and without prejudice."
That's probably vague enough to be accepted by La Raza. MADD's 2002 Annual Report listed La Raza President Raul Yzaguirre as a member of its Board of Advisors.
On the other hand, the Mothers must grapple with very insistent cultural factors if they ever hope to reduce Hispanic drunk driving. Unlike Americans, who merely enjoy slugging down their beverages for the fun of it, Mexicans and their southern brethren cling to excess drinking as part of their identity. Males regard being a hard-drinking guy with a hollow leg as a macho attribute. The ideal of machismo promotes the idea that consuming a lot of alcohol equals masculinity.
Apparently quantity matters:
"Bobby Dunn, who counsels Spanish-speaking DWI convicts in Johnston and Wilson counties, said his clients are often young men far from home with money in their pockets for the first time. Many were too poor to have cars in Mexico, so they have little experience behind the wheel.
"They also see drinking as a way of showing their manhood.
"'The magic number is 12,' Dunn said, or 'un doce' in Spanish. 'If you can drink 12 beers, you're a man.' [Hispanic DWIs rooted in immigrants' culture, By Marti Maguire and Kristin Collins, Charlotte News & Observer, April 1, 2007]
As a result of the macho-drinking-identity connection, trying to convince Hispanic men that they are too drunk to drive and should hand over their keys to a designated driver is a cultural loser. A real-life example was the death of 6-year-old Bryan Mendoza when his father insisted on driving the family home from shopping even though he was blotto drunk.
There's no argument that Hispanics drive drunk more frequently on average than other ethnic groups.
As an example, consider a 2003 special report from the Austin Statesman: A troubling trend: Hispanics and DWI. It opened with an eye-opener statistic: "Of 3,007 drunken driving arrests in 2002, 43 percent involved Hispanic men, even though they make up only about 11 percent of Austin's driving population."
The article further noted a 2001 stat from California, that 48 percent of drunk driving arrests were of Latino males, although that group comprised only 21 percent of the state's drivers that year.
And the prevalence is central, driven as it is by the heavy cultural baggage. In Mexico, drunk driving is normal. A few educational PSAs are not going are not going to solve this behavioral Gordian Knot. Mexicans are terrible drivers in general: the capital city racks up 1500 deaths to drivers and pedestrians yearly. Those from remote villages often didn't drive at all in Mexico, and they certainly didn't study driver ed.
Another measure of MADD's bad faith is how it attacked the new group Mothers Against Illegal Aliens and threatened it with a lawsuit because of MAIA's name: MADD warns off foe of illegal aliens (Washington Times, October 27, 2007).
Michelle Dallacroce, president of the Phoenix-based advocacy group, received a certified letter Oct. 10 stating that MADD owns the rights to the name "Mothers Against" and giving her 10 days to stop using it.
It's not like there aren't dozens if not hundreds, make that thousands, of groups of various sizes using that phrase—from Mothers Against Methamphetamine to Mothers Against Blogging (!) and Mothers Against the Draft.
Funny how MADD apparently has no problem with Mothers Against Jesus. But a group trying to protect America's law and borders is a threat.
There's no danger of anyone with an IQ over 60 getting the two Mothers Against organizations confused, so what's behind this kabuki dance?
MADD very likely wants to reaffirm its diversity cred with its friends in La Raza et al. Hispanic enemies of American sovereignty certainly don't want the message that their culture has a problem with safe and sober driving, because anyone can become the victim of a traffic crash caused by a drunk driving illegal alien. It's one minority group that's open to all.
In the same way that Mexicans are the worst possible immigrants overall (i.e., uneducated, too admiring of criminals, and corrupt to the point of bribing teachers for good grades), they are also the worst possible new drivers to have sharing our roads.
By not insisting that the border be closed to illegal Mexicans, MADD is essentially saying, "Welcome, new drunk drivers! Please sign up for our program."
MADD's baseline message has been one of prevention: if more people are convinced not to drive drunk, then there will be fewer deaths in alcohol-related traffic accidents.
Therefore, if the Mothers genuinely cared about stopping the roadway carnage, they would have to insist on keeping out the thousands of new potential killers arriving daily.
But MADD doesn't, and its integrity is questionable as a result. Border security and workplace enforcement are obviously part of any comprehensive program of preventing drunk driving deaths.
It's a no-brainer.
MADD's apparent view that alcohol-prone foreigners as fodder to be processed into responsible drivers some day is immoral. MADD tacitly accepts the collateral damage of dead Americans killed by drunk driving illegal aliens who haven't yet received the Good News from MADD.
[Contact MADD.]
Brenda Walker (email her) lives in Northern California and publishes two websites, LimitsToGrowth.org and ImmigrationsHumanCost.org. After all this trash talk about alcohol, Brenda recalls Ben Franklin's saying, "Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy."


Welcome to Attleboro Family Dental Care At Attleboro Family Dental Care, you'll always get the excellent dental care your family deserves. Our team of seven dentists includes specialists in areas like orthodontics and endodontics, so you can get all your treatments in a single, convenient location. We offer services for all ages, including general dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, restorative dentistry, and dental implants. And our extended hours make it easy for you to get an appointment, whether it's for your regular dental exam or a dental emergency.
Good dental practices aren't that hard to find, but excellent ones are. At Attleboro Family Dental Care, Dr. Hikmat Hannawi and our other dentists offer uncompromising excellence in dentistry for you and your family.
We've got a team of seven outstanding dentists, including specialists in areas like orthodontics and oral surgery. So you can get all your dental care at one convenient location instead of visiting multiple doctors to fill your family's needs.
To visit a dental practice that is committed to excellence, call Attleboro Family Dental Care at (774) 225-0618. In addition to Attleboro, we serve North Attleborough, Attleborough City, Cumberland, Pawtucket, Mansfield, and Norton.
Sometimes it seems there aren't enough hours in the day for activities like meals, much less for dental appointments. To ensure you can make time for regular dental care no matter how busy your schedule, we offer extended hours during the week. We can even schedule Saturday appointments by request.
Make an appointment to discuss dental implants for a lifelong tooth replacement.
If you've got a dental emergency, call us as soon as possible for a same-day appointment.
Visit our office for a consultation to find out if Invisalign or other orthodontic treatments are right for your smile.
If you're hiding your smile in every selfie because of chipped, crooked, or stained teeth, our cosmetic dentistry can help. Get a smile you can't wait to show off in pictures with teeth whitening, Invisalign orthodontics, dental veneers, and more!
If you can't enjoy a juicy steak or a crunchy apple because of missing or damaged teeth, let our dentists repair your bite with restorative dentistry. Fix your dental damage with same-day dental crowns, dental implants, tooth fillings, and more!
If you or a family member has a broken tooth, toothache, or other dental emergency, see our dentists right away for fast pain relief. Thanks to our extended hours, we can usually offer you a same-day appointment. And we use the latest technologies to keep your treatments quick and painless.
Our dentists use technology not only to provide excellent dental care but also to keep you and your family comfortable. For example, our DIAGNOdent cavity detectors use laser fluorescence to find cavities, so our dentists do less poking and prodding with dental instruments during your exams. And our imaging system produces detailed 3D X-rays of your facial anatomy with no need for us to put bulky film in your mouth.
If you're committed to getting excellent dental care for your family, call us at (774) 225-0618 or use our online form to make an appointment.


text:
Q: adduser: Specify only one name in this mode I'm trying to add a user with this command on my debian server:
#!/bin/bash

APPUSER="test1"
APPGROUP="test2"

# User
adduser -c 'uwsgi user' --group $APPGROUP --system --no-create-home --disabled-login --disabled-password $APPUSER

However it tells me I can only specify one name, but I am only specifying one name as far as I can see.
What's going wrong?

A: Option --group doesn't support any arguments unless you intend to create the given group. But it seems like you cannot add a new user and a (different) new group at the same time.
What are you trying to do? Are you looking for option --ingroup instead? Otherwise you have to create the group first. Then run adduser a second time to add a new user to the existing group.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This is a set of 32 Christmas thank you notes! Just print and write your message on them!
There are two color versions and a black and white for each design.
I hope these beautiful thank you notes are a time saver for you and a delight to the recipient!
✎"This was exactly what I was hunting for. Made thank you notes very easy this year!"
✎"Plan to use tomorrow!"Keri S.


American School, Second Quarter 19th Century Theorem: Still Life of Flowers in a Basket. Unsigned. Watercolor on velvet, worked in shades of green, pink, yellow, and blue, the basket sitting on a yellow plinth with a band of floral decoration, 21 x 25 in., framed. Condition: Staining, toning, scattered nap losses.


text:
Tag: Calculated X
January 1, 2023 January 1, 2023 Bill Webb, Jr.Leave a Comment on Playlist, January 1, 2023. Broadcast 137
Playlist, January 1, 2023. Broadcast 137
August 21, 2022 August 20, 2022 Bill Webb, Jr.2 Comments on Playlist, August 21, 2022. Broadcast 119
Playlist, August 21, 2022. Broadcast 119
May 27, 2022 Bill Webb, Jr.Leave a Comment on Alan Hayes
March 6, 2022 April 3, 2022 Bill Webb, Jr.Leave a Comment on Playlist, March 6, 2022. Broadcast 93
Playlist, March 6, 2022. Broadcast 93
September 12, 2021 April 3, 2022 Bill Webb, Jr.Leave a Comment on Playlist, September 12, 2021. Broadcast 66
Playlist, September 12, 2021. Broadcast 66
January 24, 2021 May 30, 2021 Bill Webb, Jr.Leave a Comment on Playlist January 24, 2021. Broadcast 33
Playlist January 24, 2021. Broadcast 33


This custom blinds and shades location has been serving the community since 2004. Our retail showroom is located just off Autoroute Chomedey (13) on the corner of the shopping plaza next to Structube. Our Design Consultants are ready to help you select the perfect custom-made window treatment for you home.


text:
Fact or Fallacy: What's the Best Way to Improve Campus Wi-Fi Performance?
Colleges Optimize Traffic on Busy Residence Hall Networks
4 Higher Ed IT Trends to Watch in 2018
Universities Partner with Cities to Boost Budgets for Technology Projects
Best Practices for Cybersecurity Are Simple and Keep Users in Mind
The 2019 Dean's List: EdTech's 30 Must-Follow Higher Education IT Influencers
In blogs, podcasts and tweets, these 30 influencers are shaping the conversation about university IT and education.
Home»Digital Workspace
Universities Embrace Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to Serve Students
Higher education serves up personalized learning portals —meeting students wherever, whenever and on whatever devices they choose.
Adam Garry
Adam Garry is the director of education strategy at Dell EMC.
For many people, the words "college student" conjure the image of a recent high school graduate who lives on a university campus and goes to school full time. But higher education institutions know better.
Nontraditional students who are older, live off campus, work, raise families and attend school part time or online are an important constituency — one that is growing.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 34 percent of college students are 25 years of age and older, and more than half of them attend part time. The study also revealed that 33 percent of students took at least one online course in the fall of 2017, a 31 percent increase over 2016.
Colleges and universities must rethink how they deliver the specific tools, applications and coursework needed by each student regardless of time, device or location.
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), once viewed as a way to centralize administration and reduce costs associated with managing personal computers, is becoming a powerful tool for meeting the distinct needs of a diverse student population.
Let Students Learn On and Off Campus
VDI — where the operating system, applications and data are hosted on server infrastructure in the data center, in the cloud, or both, and served up on demand to user devices — has become a game changer at many colleges and universities.
Initially, the University of Massachusetts Lowell turned to VDI as a way to reclaim space from "computer lab sprawl" — utilization was as low as 30 percent in some labs — after a 66 percent increase in enrollment in less than a decade.
By virtualizing some apps and enabling access from student devices, the school was able to shrink both the number and size of computer labs.
Today, the university provides its 18,000 students with virtual desktops, giving them access to any application linked to the college network from any device, whether they are on campus or off.
For nontraditional students, like a working mother who no longer needs to drive to the campus at night to use the computer lab to do her coursework, the change is transformational.
Overcome Old Security and Financial Barriers
Advances in VDI technologies, solutions and services are helping colleges and universities to overcome old barriers of performance, cost and complexity to deliver a customized learning experience.
The University of Arkansas, for example, was recently recognized with Tech Target's Access Innovation Award for the functionality, performance and value of its VDI solution.
The university's 27,000 students can all use laptops, tablets or smartphones to securely log in to their own personalized portal and workspace. This personalization allows adult learners to feel like a part of their university's learning community outside of the traditional borders of a campus.
By leveraging modern desktop virtualization software and server-based virtualized graphics processing unit cards, the university was able to deliver the performance to provide access to applications like computer-aided design with 3D graphics across all disciplines, including those that require high-performance computing environments.
Beyond universal application access for students, staff and faculty, the university's VDI capability also simplifies and reduces the cost and effort associated with deploying, securing, maintaining, and supporting hardware and software for end users.
For example, security, data protection and software updates are applied centrally — and each user is served a refreshed, up-to-date workspace every time they log in.
As a result, the university's IT department is able to shift its focus and resources to enabling new kinds of strategic IT-campus partnerships aimed at improving access and services for their off-campus student community.
These partnerships can strengthen the IT resources available to students. And students can feel reassured knowing the university programs they are utilizing are secure and up to date on the devices they are using.
MORE FROM EDTECH: Check out how universities are using solid-state storage to increase efficiency on campus.
VDI Cuts Costs for Higher Education
In addition to allowing greater access, replacing PCs and workstations with thin and zero clients helps to reduce the cost and complexity of computer labs.
Exchanging traditional computer lab desktops for flexibly configured thin or zero clients, even with accessories such as 27-inch displays, can reduce electricity consumption by as much as 90 percent and deliver nearly twice the average lifespan for PCs.
With two-thirds of its students working, caring for families or meeting other outside commitments, the Austin Community College IT Services Team realized another benefit of VDI. It helps students accelerate learning through blended approaches in which students can advance at their own pace. In fact, they program's first graduate was able to complete three semesters' worth of work in just seven weeks.
Accelerating learning allows adult learners to utilize their time efficiently — less time dedicated to schoolwork means that more can be spent with their families, at their jobs or pursuing other personal or professional goals.
Level the Learning Field for All Students
By providing students with simple, secure and affordable access to even the most performance-demanding applications required for their coursework, whenever and wherever they need it, higher education institutions are helping to expand opportunities, level the playing field, and help students of all kinds on the path to success.
The flexibility of VDI is breaking down barriers and providing students with a choice of when, where, and how they learn. It's fair to say that with VDI, higher education has never been more accessible.
SilviaJansen/Getty Images
Client Virtualization
Smart Solutions Help Small IT Teams Do More with Less
Tech that Provides Flexibility Can Drive Up College Completion
Simplify Device Deployments on Campus with Apple Configurator
Total Cost of Ownership: The Tech Triad of Successful Esports Programs
How 5G Will Advance Educational Technology on Campus
How Windows 7's End of Life Affects Colleges and Universities
Prepare Your IT Department for an AI Skills Gap
Review: NETGEAR ReadyNAS 424 Gives Users Speed and Flexibility


text:
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
by Franklin Foer
Soccer is much more than a game, or even a way of life. It's a perfect window into the crosscurrents of today's world, with all its joys and sorrows. In this remarkably insightful, wide-ranging work of reportage, Franklin Foer takes us on a surprising tour through the world of soccer, shining a spotlight on the clash of civilizations, the international economy, and just about everything in between. How Soccer Explains the World is an utterly original book that makes sense of our troubled times.
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization quantity
Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House That Herring Built
The Famine Ships: The Irish Exodus to the United States
The Family: A Journey into the Heart of the Twentieth Century
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
Eating Delancey


Our first rule : Enjoy our service.
Our second rule : In case of doubt, ask us first.
Our third rule : Pack smart.
We'll always handle your stuff with care, but you're responsible for packing your stuff. Please pack your items carefully so that they're not damaged during transportation or in storage. We recommend padding your items and the inside of our bins or boxes with packing materials such as bubble wrap and packing paper.
If you're storing a larger item, please pack it in a box, wrap and pad any delicate or sharp items, coil electric cords, and tape moving pieces in place. If you're storing an AC unit (please remove it from your window before we pick it up) or mini fridge, be sure to unplug it at least 24 hours before your pickup and let it drain and air out completely. As a heads-up, we're not responsible for any damage to larger items that we deem to have not been properly packed, wrapped, or otherwise prepared for storage.
Our fourth rule : Nothing fragile.
Please don't store fragile items in Boxify. Aside from the express cap on our liability per box, we disclaim all liability for items that Boxify would reasonably call "fragile" such as glassware, artwork, jewelry, and electronics.
Our fifth rule : Don't store anything that's illegal and/or unsafe.
Anything that goes boom, such as guns (or weapons of any kind), explosives, fireworks, and other flammables like gas, oil, kerosene, paint, and lighter fluid.
Anything that is or was alive. This includes things like fruit, meats, cheeses, animals, insects, fungal or bacterial cultures, etc.
Anything that's illegal, such as drugs, drug paraphernalia, stolen property, and anything else that you can get arrested for possessing.
Anything that smells, oozes, leaks, or bursts, such as hazardous items, toxic materials, items that produce gas or odors, any container with liquids, items that produce loud or disruptive noises, and items that may increase in size or burst. Basically, anything that might get outside of your box or bin and harm others, our customers and employees belongings, or our storage facility.
Our sixth rule : Pay your bills.
If you have questions about a bill please contact our customer support team at support@boxify.be. They're ready to help you every day from 8 AM to 8 PM.
Make sure that your credit or debit card information in your Boxify account is always up to date. If your card is expired, please update your account with your new card's information as soon as possible to prevent your account balance from going past due.


text:
Home » U.S. Victims of Terrorism Abroad Task Force
Victims of Terrorism Abroad Task Force
Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime
Department of Justice National Security Division
About the Victims of Terrorism Abroad Task Force
Additional OVC Resources:
ITVERP
Terrorist Incident Designation List
The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) was established in 1988 through an amendment to the 1984 Victims of Crime Act to oversee diverse programs that benefit victims of crime. OVC provides substantial funding to victim assistance and compensation programs. OVC sponsors programs and initiatives that support victims of domestic and international terrorism as well as victims of global crimes such as child abduction and tourist-related crimes. Through its Terrorism and International Victims Assistance Services, OVC offers informational resources and services related to international crime victim issues, including developing programs to support victims of terrorism.
Terrorism and International Victims Assistance Services programs include:
The Crime Victim Assistance Emergency Fund (the Emergency Fund), which assists U.S. nationals and U.S. Government employees who become victims of terrorism and mass violence outside of the United States. Support under the Emergency Fund is provided via an interagency agreement with the FBI. Please contact the FBI Office for Victim Assistance (OVA) for more information.
The International Terrorism Victims Expense Reimbursement Program (ITVERP), authorized by Congress to reimburse eligible direct victims of acts of international terrorism that occur outside the United States for out-of-pocket expenses associated with the crime.
The Antiterrorism and Emergency Assistance Program (AEAP), which offers multiple avenues of assistance to victims and communities facing acts of terrorism and intentional mass criminal violence including crisis response, consequence management, criminal justice support grants, crime victim compensation, and consultant services for training and technical assistance. This funding is not available to individuals but is available to: state victim assistance and victim
compensation programs; U.S. Attorneys' offices; victim service and nongovernmental
organizations; federal, state, and local governments.


text:
"The Dragon's Treasure" at Annecy 2021
CategoriesFestival News, News
"The Dragon's Treasure", an animated feature by Ashkan Rahgozar, made its way to the Mifa Pitches at The Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Each year, the Mifa Pitches aim to showcase the best original animation film projects in development.
"The Dragon's Treasure" along with seven other animated features from the United States, France, Germany, Denmark, Mexico, Indonesia and Latvia is going be present during the Mifa Pitches.
The pitches were selected from a total of 433 submissions from all over the world of which only eight works entered the Feature Films section.
The Mifa Pitches provide an opportunity for animation directors and producers to present their projects to professional audience. Various sponsored awards are presented to the winners including cash prizes, residences, development funding, and post-production services.
It is worth mentioning that Hoorakhsh Studios' "The Last Fiction" animated feature, was previously accepted in Mifa Pitches in 2013. The presence of "The Last Fiction" in Mifa Pitches was the first appearance of an Iranian animated movie in Annecy Film Festival.
The 2D computer animated film, "The Dragon's Treasure", is being produced in Hoorakhsh Studios in cooperation with a Canadian company, Mystic House.
The animation tells the story of an 8-year-old girl named Sayeh who goes on an adventure in search of the dragon's treasure to save her grandmother's village from drought. But she doesn't know that the real treasure is water and she must fill up all the aqueducts.
Pre-production of this animation has started in 2020 and will continue for another six months. "The Dragon's Treasure" is expected to be ready for 2023.
The 60th Annecy International Animation Film Festival, will be held online from June 14 to 19, 2021.
You can visit Annecy Festival website to read more about the news.
Post dateMay 6, 2021


text:
The Demise of Olympus: How and Why Did It Happen, and What Does the Future Hold?
Olympus was once the doyen of the photographic industry, with the OM range beloved for its svelte lines and high-quality manufacturing. Revitalized by mirrorless in the digital era through its collaboration with Panasonic, their OM-D range is iconic. So, why were they bought by the private equity fund Japan Industrial Partners — specialists in restructuring — and what are the portents for the future?
Film Camera Successes
Olympus has a heritage that spans back over a century, having been established in 1919. Initially, a microscope and thermometer manufacturer (and holding about 70% of the current endoscope market), they didn't start manufacturing cameras until 1936 starting with the Semi-Olympus 1 (a 4.5x6 folder) and followed by the Olympus Six (6x6) in 1940. As with other Japanese camera manufacturers, production ramped up after the war with the Olympus 35 coming in 1948, the first 35mm sold in Japan. It was the 1960s that ushered in Olympus' golden era. The beautifully designed half-frame PEN arrived pensively in 1959 but gained the admiration and a significant following. In 1967, Olympus launched the Trip series, selling over 10 million units and ingeniously incorporating autoexposure through a selenium meter surrounding the lens. Then, in 1972, the iconic OM arrived at a time when the high-end Nikon F reigned supreme. In stark contrast, the highly compact OM system (and it was a full system, including a generous lineup of highly regarded Zuiko lenses) was revolutionary, a real street camera. Olympus then launched the XA — probably the smallest true rangefinder ever made — in 1978. I have very fond memories of this camera and have one in my collection. It is a joy to shoot with, allows fully manual operation, and takes sharp pictures, yet slips easily into the pocket. Any film aficionado should own one.
As with a number of camera companies, the 1980s is where it started to unravel. Up to this point, manufacturers had often been optical businesses that had expanded into lens production and then the precision engineering of camera bodies. But the 1970s saw the integration of electronic operation: those that embraced it thrived, and this is no better exemplified than through the integration of autofocus. Minolta was at the forefront of this revolution (and formed the basis for Sony's current imaging division) with the 7000AF; Olympus' lackluster response was the 1986 OM-707, which was a commercial disaster and subsequently dropped. The 1990s was therefore a decade they would probably rather forget about in terms of SLR development.
Into the Digital Era
Olympus' success from 1990 through to 2010 was largely built on the bridge camera, the first film, and subsequently digital. Its Stylus and Camedia ranges were at the forefront of the resolution wars and persuaded consumers to buy cameras in their droves. It was a golden period of camera manufacturing as sales increased year by year, with those that made good products and were able to manufacture in quantity reaping the benefits. That said, it is hard not to make money in a rising market. With sales high, if you have a product, someone will buy it, and for Olympus, this meant they could sink profits into reviving their SLR line, which they did in the form of the E-1 in the defining year of 2003. Partnering with Kodak, they developed a Four-Thirds based DSLR from the ground up, which was perhaps counterintuitive at a time when Nikon and Canon were converting their 35mm systems. It was innovative, incorporating the first ever sensor dust removal system, but not quite competitive with the leading brands.
However, Olympus' digital legacy will largely be remembered for Micro Four Thirds, which they co-founded with Panasonic in 2009. Essentially a modernization of Four Thirds, achieved by removing the mirror box, it was a return to their film roots — a svelte street camera that would fit the hands of the well-heeled prosumer and targeting a different market to Panasonic. They started with a reboot of the successful PEN line with the release of the E-P1; however, it was the OM-D E-M5 that got pulses racing a little more, as it was genuinely built in the vein of the original OM, offered a range of quality lenses, and brought in-body image stabilization to mass production. It was a groundbreaking camera that garnered a plethora of awards when it was released in 2012. The M1 introduced phase detect AF in 2013, with the M10 coming in at a lower price point in 2014. All three have gone through two subsequent iterations, with the E-M1X arriving in 2019. The latter was a return to the ethos of the E-1: professional news photography. Built to a high specification and making good use of the 7.5-stop IBIS sensor, it was the best digital camera they had ever made.
Olympus' Strategy
It's perhaps strange to think that it was in 2003 that Olympus nailed their future strategy to the mast, one that they haven't veered from since: consumer bridge/compact cameras and Four-Thirds DSLRs. This business direction was taken on the hoof and a result of their failure to develop a winning AF solution for the original OM back in the 1980s. With no SLR line to produce in significant numbers in the 1990s, they found a winning formula in producing the Stylus and Camedia lines. These were hardly high-brow cameras, but the strategy of pile it high and sell it cheap (and not so cheap models targeted higher up) was successful and largely created the bridge camera market.
However, they needed an ILC alternative, something to place on the top tier, and this is where the E-1 came in. Developing Four-Thirds was a fascinating move and genuinely different at the time. It wasn't unsuccessful, but it wasn't the direction the market took either; however, they innovated over the lifespan of the system, including the introduction of IBIS and live view. In fact, it was during this "golden period" that Olympus introduced many of the features we now take for granted with mirrorless, as well as expanding its long-term sensor partnership with Panasonic. Innovation has been a central tenet for Olympus engineering, and so, it's perhaps no surprise that the MILC came out of this bonfire of technological development, although the PEN E-P1 was a low key start. Panasonic arguably stole the limelight when the G1 landed in 2008 (as Fstoppers' Wasim Ahmad outlines). The OM-D E-M5 was a return to form and pushed Olympus back to the fore of the camera industry; however, two bombshells caused this turn around to stutter.
The first of these was the infamous accounting scandal that rocked Olympus and the Japanese industry more widely. This involved the discovery of more than $1.5B of investment losses, kickbacks, and bribes, wiping out three-quarters of the company's valuation in the process. This dated back as far as the 1980s, with ~$600M of bribes from $7B of sales in the US alone between 2006 and 2011 resulting in a ~$650M fine. This was bad enough for the company, but also coincided with the collapse of the digital camera market. Olympus didn't know it, but by 2013, industry sales would halve in size and lead to year-on-year losses culminating in a $157M loss in 2019.
The cash cow that was compact cameras died off rapidly, leaving Olympus with an excellent (but small) MFT system. The original 2003 strategy of compact/Four Thirds was looking particularly shaky. Drawing an analogy, Nikon was facing a similar dilemma with a limited compact camera market and the increasing sidelining of DSLRs. The winning strategy was APS-C/FF mirrorless, one that Sony has leveraged to great effect. For Olympus, the blind adherence to MFT has continually pushed it into a corner, where the benefits of sensor size (cost, system size, and reach) have increasingly become less important to consumers and not valued by pros. The release of the E-M1X only made that more perplexing.
Olympus isn't a small company, employing over 35,000 people and generating a turnover of more than $7.5B. However, while it has championed the Four Thirds sector, it is its medical instruments (endoscopes) and science divisions that regularly post the strongest earnings: imaging accounts for just 6% of sales. It's clearly the combination of division losses and a bleak outlook that has ultimately led it to the decision to jettison the group.
To succeed in the camera sector, Olympus needs a leaner and more agile division. Whether that is enough remains to be seen; however, Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) clearly thinks that — at the right price — it is worth buying. JIP are private equity investors that specialize in spinning out unprofitable divisions from large companies to form profitable medium-sized firms that can then be sold on. Their most notable acquisition is Sony's Vaio laptop brand, which has successfully maintained core sales (with Sony maintaining a 10% stake) since they purchased it. This broadly looks positive.
With Panasonic shifting their strategy to both MFT and FF, Olympus' sole focus on MFT seems untenable in the long-term. They don't have the ability of Sony, Nikon, or Canon to rapidly pivot their R&D, ramping up production to meet these needs. Given how bleak the camera market now looks, what should a reinvigorated Olympus do? Whatever it is, it can't be the status quo.
Of course, there is another scenario to consider here: Olympus' Imaging Division isn't worth buying and that JIP is merely a mechanism for handling the divestment of "liabilities," unbeholden to any employment legislation. In short, they will be paid to take on the division. What they then do will remain to be seen. If the focus is solely on the bottom line, then the business will be about stripping assets (principally the patent portfolio) and licensing brands. Olympus' exit from South Korea gives an idea of the direction that might well be taken. A best-case scenario would involve a route similar to Vaio being taken, in which case production may be maintained in some form, but the design would likely be outsourced, with production shifted to low-cost domains.
Will Olympus Imaging become a shell company to profit from the remaining IP or still have a stake in camera production?
Lead image (OM) courtesy of Martin Taylor via Wikipedia, used under Creative Commons.
Mike Smith is a professional wedding and portrait photographer and writer based in London, UK.
focali.co.uk
More from Mike Smith
A Full Team on the Sierras: Images From 1866
Don't Make a New Year's Resolution...
Gear / December 4, 2020
When Fourthplace Is Best: Fuji's Game Plan
Gear / September 5, 2020
Panasonic's Silence: The Micro Four Thirds Conundrum
Photography 101 How to Use Your Digital Camera and Edit Photos in Photoshop
With Lee Morris
Kurt Hummel - July 2, 2020
I would like them to get into medium format and compete with Fuji. To many in APSC and Full Frame to compete with but in the affordable crop medium format you have Fuji and Pentax and it doesn't seem like Ricoh is doing anything with the 645 line anymore.
They have a history of great all weather bodies. If they could get a medium format system they may get Pentax 645Z users to switch over to a smaller mirror less system.
Deleted Account - July 2, 2020 [Edited]
Everyone has been publishing articles correlating increasing phone sales to decreasing camera sales. Add to that a global economy which is, or will be, in depression. Specific to Olympus, they produce a format, with perceived lower quality, in a zero sum market.
Yeah, I truly can't fathom what happened...
As to what will happen to Olympus or any other brand; I don't care, as it makes no difference to my existence.
V T Deleted Account - July 4, 2020
"As to what will happen to Olympus or any other brands; I don't care"
Sure you don't care. You are a watercolor painter, why should you?
Deleted Account V T - July 4, 2020
Adorable. You created an account for the sole purpose of trolling me.
I have been here for years, You are the troll.
Deleted Account V T - July 4, 2020 [Edited]
Show me on the doll where I hurt you.
"For years"
Look mom, I haz take foto.
Charles Mercier - July 2, 2020
Why are all the headlines saying "the end of" and "the demise of" when it hasn't happened yet??? Stick with the truth unless you know different, then write about that.
Deleted Account Charles Mercier - July 3, 2020 [Edited]
Yesterday Olympus updated the roadmap. A new 8-25mm f/4 is on the way, and a 100mm macro. And some other lenses.
They are not going away anytime soon it seems, just a change of ownership to restructure. But these influencers desperately want to hype ff and Olympus doesn't fit in their picture. So the same BS is told over and over again.
Spy Black Deleted Account - July 3, 2020
There's probably some small stock on these items already manufactured, like the 150-400 and such. This stock will need to be sold before the company is fully liquidated.
Deleted Account Spy Black - July 4, 2020
If that would be the case. They would just dump it on the market. Even if the stock is a few million it means nothing if liquidation is the goal. It makes no sense to do it this way if the intention isn't to continue business under a new owner.
Who knows, it may very well wind up being that. I'll just buy whatever I can and use it till it dies. I'll miss Olympus, I love my Olympus gear, but reality bites, and it's biting down hard on Olympus.
Teemu Paukamainen Charles Mercier - July 3, 2020 [Edited]
Truth and facts don't bring clicks. It's all about #fakenews and controversies nowadays. Journalism is already dead. Even more dead than Olympus or m4/3. Has been for years,
Ian Browne - July 3, 2020
what will be will be --- until then it's all speculations and rumours . Whatever the will be is the earth is not going to stop spinned .
Deleted Account - July 3, 2020
Write an article on the updated Olympus lens roadmap that was presented yesterday. And the new bird tracking AI update for the E-M1X that was also announced yesterday. And the yesterday released software to use your OM-D as a webcam.
Thijs Van der Feltz - July 3, 2020
I would like a philanthropist to step in to give Olympus camera division a chance to keep innovating, to save the Olympus legacy... at least until 2036, their 100th anniversary.
Chris Kontos - July 3, 2020
The fall / demise of Olympus has nothing to do with their cameras nor the industry. They have suffered from very bad and corrupt mismanagement. Its been a contact them in the media in Japan. In turn bad management has made very bad "camera" decisions, but this is not the core problem without dismissing anything in the article.
Deleted Account Chris Kontos - July 3, 2020
That problem was dealt with somewhere in 2011/2012. The persons guilty got there sentences. That doesn't have anything to do with Olympus in 2020.
Dana Goldstein - July 3, 2020
Last week I was at a major camera retailer in the northeast. They have already removed all Olympus signage from the store and have no information on product availability beyond what's physically in-store. I shot Oly for a couple of years, and my father shot the OM1 and 2 commercially for 20 years, so I'm sad about it but I also left M43 for good reason and have no regrets on the basis of sentiment.
Deleted Account Dana Goldstein - July 3, 2020
That's their choice. But it has nothing to do with the announcement of last week.
In my region we have a lot of dealers who don't sell Pentax, even one who doesn't sell Canon. And two that push hard on MFT and have more MFT equipment than any other mount.
All choices made out of business perspective and that's fine.
I also highly doubt there will be much camera retailers left in a few years.
John Haugaard - July 3, 2020
I am almost embarrassed for the author for his sloppy error in the first paragraph. Namely he asks, "So, why were they bought by the private equity fund Japan Industrial Partners . . . ?" No, Olympus was not bought by JIP or anyone else for that matter. Had he actually read the MOU, or noted accurate reports on the matter, he would know that discussions are under way concerning a sale by Olympus to JIP. It might happen. It might not. No one knows that for sure. Once I spot a sloppy error like that it is difficult to give credence to the rest of the reporting and analysis.
Michael L 00Robb00 00bboR00 - July 3, 2020
GM and Fiat were deep into public talks for them to merge and it didn't happen. Nissan and Fiat were later deep into public talks for them to merge and it also didn't happen. United and Continental went through three separate public merger talks over more than a decade before it finally happened. These things aren't necessarily sure things.
John Haugaard 00Robb00 00bboR00 - July 4, 2020
None of what you say mitigates the error in the words used by the author. Olympus has not now been bought by JIP. Might happen. Might not. As Michael L notes, "deals" get teed up and go nowhere. If someone is going to take the time to write an article for FStoppers they should state facts. The interesting questions is what might happen should JIP not elect to enter into a purchase agreement and complete the purchase.
V T John Haugaard - July 4, 2020
This is a bit like splitting hair. The author might have been in a hurry, but the poll at the end of the article clearly covers all options correctly. The sale to JIP is possible. May even be the best option. If the image division is not sold, it will likely be disbanded: some employees will find a job within the company in another area, most will be on the street. I experience this scenario myself (not in the camera business). If the division is sold to JIP, many if not most employees will have a chance to keep on working together within their area of expertise. I also experienced this scenario in my career. Thanks goodness I am now retired.
Joe Sevita John Haugaard - August 1, 2020
The sale or even talks with JIP means many things. It means they were dishonest in continued marketing as a new roadmap indicates a future. It also means that when it goes through, as it will since the Olympus CEO refused to even consider resolution, they will somehow either make a "good" profit", PE expects much more than the market, or they will fold. So this is more than disappointing as the future for the system is only about the ability to make PE returns. Very unlikely in my opinion unless they lower quality. Stuff is already made in china.
So we see why Panasonic went full frame. The technology is just not there for m4/3 which makes staying in business impossible.
JIP will not invest in going FF or Medium Format, it's was too big an investment.
Not moving to higher resolution, proving they can do it, is their downfall.
There is hope, a new company, I think in Israel is the first to start printing transistors, so can m4/3 offer 40 MP with good dynamic range? If not it's all over for "pro" level Olympus.
Momchil Yordanov - July 4, 2020 [Edited]
I see several reasons for the failure of Olympus camera division. One is indeed the rapid advances in mobile phone cameras (which reflects on all camera manufacturers).
Second is the drop in size and price of the full frame cameras and lenses. This is a touchy subject for the m4/3 users, but as a person who has both a full frame and a m4/3 system, the image quality is noticeably better from the bigger one. And if one just compare the latest Sony 7 series bodies, the new Samyang primes and the new Tamron zooms to the m4/3 gear, it quickly becomes apparent, that one of the main advantages of the smaller system is nearly gone.
Third reason is the neglect of video. Only lately Olympus made a concerted effort to give their models good video AF and things like flat profiles. In the same time, Panasonic produced a videobeast like GH5 years ago, with the same sensor Olympus is putting in their M1 cameras. Up until 2020 professionals around the world use GH5 and will keep on doing so while virtually no one is thinking of Olympus, when video comes to mind.
Another reason is price. Olympus gear is not cheap, especially for what it offers. You want a standard 50mm? Their 25/1.8 is 300 dollars and ONLY because it was dropped from 400, that was it's typical price for years. You want a 24mm wide angle? The 12/2.0 is 700 (!) dollars, and it was 800 for a long time! Sure, there are people who would match their good-looking, well build small Olympus cameras with good-looking same-brand lenses regardless of price, but how many are they?
And finally - a lot of people say that Olympus failed because "bet on the wrong horse" in m4/3. I do not believe this to be true. M4/3 is perfectly viable if Olympus and Panasonic were selling it differently. No need of expensive f/1.2 lenses and big sports cameras like the weird M1X. All they had to do was to pack all the tech in packages as small as possible, make some tweaks towards specific needs and pitch them to street photographers, vloggers and tourists.
There is one funny guy on YouTube that is chasing "the perfect camera" for vlogging. Olympus are pretty much the only company, that has everything needed for a perfect vlogging camera. Why there is no such model, when the explosion of YouTube and other platforms offered so many opportunities years ago?
P.S. Sorry for the long post :)
dick ranez - July 4, 2020
The market decides - and in this case the decision is clearly correct. The only surprise in Olympus demise is that they weren't sold to Panasonic, but then Panasonic probably understood the market, financial and technology that Olympus could bring to the table and decided they didn't need it - or could buy it cheaply from JIP or whoever got stuck with Olympus. "it's small and doesn't weigh very much" doesn't count very much when newer (better) full frame mirrorless offerings aren't that much bigger or heavier with much better lens selections. So Olympus joins Minolta, Konica, Contax, Yashica, Voigtlander, Petri and others at Kodak's round table of demised brands and they can wait for Pentax, Hasselblad and a few others to join the session.
Joe Sevita - August 1, 2020
Being a loyal customer for over 15 years, I am more than disappointed with Olympus. Not having followed this news, if it was even available earlier, it came as a shock.
Their investment in what I believe are technological marvels, especially the lenses which for their size can produce incredible length, the goal of all telescope makers, along with the consumer costs of the products indicated to me a successful invested business.
A new roadmap for what will be very expensive lenses.
Amazing videos hitting my email.
New software such as the Olympus workspace.
Looking back these were big indictors of their misstep:
The E1MX was a very strange release, big, more features, same resolution.
The CEO harping on their desire to focus solely on action, to the disregard of resolution.
JIP will see if this technology can be sold for a profit of a certain size. If that level cannot be made they will sell off the assets. That's the role of Private Equity firms.
So in my opinion purchasing anymore Olympus products is out of the question.
Their behavior was unethical and still is as they are still hitting me up for purchases but looking back, again, all their discounts were not for a new higher resolution camera but to rid themselves of inventory.
Nearly 15 Times Bigger Than Full Frame and Considerably Cheaper: Fstoppers Reviews the Intrepid 4x5 MK4
How Subtle Lighting Changes Can Create Entirely Different Photos


Cardiff University procured Infra v8 through an EU tender process in December 2007, and presently owns 70 concurrent and 60 named licenses. The university has held a maintenance contract with Alemba since December 2010.
Recognizing the absence of a central recording mechanism for calls to the Human Resources Department, Cardiff University approached Alemba to implement a new HR Service Desk with a single point of contact for multiple HR teams. The aim of this service is to support HR processes such as Payroll and the eRecruitment System, as well as the university's £2M CardiffPeople initiative. Customers of this service include 6000 Cardiff University staff members, 3000 casual workers, and all existing and prospective job applicants.
From the outset of this project, it was clear that utilizing Cardiff University's existing IT VMware Service Manager (VSM) system in the implementation of the new HR system would be advantageous in many ways, resulting, for example, in the reduction of initial software-, administrative training-, and implementation costs. With these benefits in mind, the project approach was founded on partitioning the client's existing VSM system, and creating two new partitions for HR and Payroll, which were to be configured in testing. This approach included performing test cycles to identify and eliminate issues with data migration and functional performance, ultimately utilizing VSM Configuration Portability to perform migrations.
Alemba made use of VPN to attain remote access to the Cardiff University systems in order to assist in the process of technical delivery. Once testing was completed, the major configuration changes, such as Integration Mapping, Officer Templates, Services, CIs, and SLAs, were migrated from the Development environment to Production using the VSM v9 Configuration Portability tool.
Since the implementation of Cardiff University's new HR Service Desk, the number of calls logged to HR per month has increased exponentially. A total of 2487 and 24840 calls logged to Payroll and HR, respectively, are estimated for the first year of implementation. Based on the success of this project, future joint initiatives between Alemba and Cardiff University are planned.