text:
Ask Me Anything! with Corey Hauer, $984 Million Broadband Grant Winner
About Our Distinguished Guest
You might've heard about Corey as one of the largest winners of the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase 1, where LTD's applications netted a total $984 Million in broadband grant award money.
LTD's success in the RDOF auction process generated controversy within the industry, prompting questions like "How'd they manage to win so big?" and "How will they deliver?"
We have a different question: what might broadband grant applicants and state directors learn from Corey and LTD's approach?
Here is your chance to get to know Corey as a person, his vision for the future, how he thinks differently than many operators, and how he was able to win such sizable broadband grant support.
See the Broadband.Money profile of Corey Hauer
Corey lives in Las Vegas, NV. LTD serves thousands of customers in rural areas throughout the U.S.
About Ask Me Anything! (AMA)
Event Transcript
Jase Wilson: Awesome. Corey, it's really a pleasure to have you. Thank you for making time. I know you're busy getting folks connected at LTD and doing all kinds of awesome stuff to get broadband out to lots of parts of the United States, so thank you for making time. And here we're with Ask Me Anything series at Broadband Money. We had a couple of amazing events along with Peggy Schaffer from Maine, along with Craig Settles, who's a telehealth pioneer. We have one upcoming, January 14th with Scott Woods, who's a director at the NTIA, absolute visionary and hard worker, getting folks connected in minority communities. So please make time for that. But I just wanna shout out, folks, welcome. Last check, there were over 130 folks that had RSVP'd, so we wanna say hello and thank you to all of you. I really appreciate it. Corey, let's go ahead and get started with it. I have a quick question for you though. You started LTD. When did you start?
Corey Hauer: So LTD is my second rodeo in rural internet service, but I started that in 2010 in Southern Minnesota, which is where I grew up.
Jase Wilson: Well, awesome. And I'm curious too, Corey, I know there's a lot about you and your winnings from the public limelight of, this sort of spotlight that's put on you when you won such a massive award in this recent auction, but I'd love for you, if you could tell the folks on the call, like why did you start LTD? What were you trying to do? Were you trying to win a bunch of grant money?
Corey Hauer: Yeah, it's an interesting question. And I really enjoy the WISPA industry events, meeting up with other operators and figuring out their origin stories too. And our origin story is a little different because I had some previous experience doing telecom in rural areas at another company. But a lot of the operators I run into at these events, I think their common theme is they live in rural nowhere, they can't get broadband, they're techie, and they know a way to fix it. And so I've run into hundreds of operators that have done that in rural areas throughout the US. I guess the difference with us is I started this company, I was able to recruit people from my last company, but also from other areas where I knew I'd be able to get talent, and we focused on areas that were unserved and underserved. I mean that was really the genesis of the company is going where we knew we were gonna win. Our very first community that we served was a small town called Rose Creek, Minnesota, and it's interesting, the incumbent phone company was CenturyLink, and they had a 24-port DSLAM, so they could serve 24 people with DSL service in that small town while there's a lot more than 24 homes, so there was a year's long waiting list hoping someone would cancel their DSL so someone else could get it.
Corey Hauer: And obviously, we knew that there would be built-in demand on day one, and we crushed it on day one, and signed up everybody that have been waiting, and then everybody else who didn't really know they needed broadband yet, discovered that they did need broadband. And so we grew geographically as quickly as we could get equipment and get things installed in rural areas surrounding there.
Jase Wilson: Nice, Corey. Thank you. And in our prep session, you mentioned that also you... When you guys started, you even drove around... One of the things I was really struck by is you drove around and knocked door-to door in the country roads...
Corey Hauer: Yeah, I've eaten a lot of gravel dust. [laughter] I've driven thousands of miles of rural area.
Jase Wilson: Okay.
Corey Hauer: And... It's interesting having conversations with farmers and people living in rural areas and really discovering that they need it, they know they need broadband, they don't know how to get it, they can be angry about them not getting it, and that's about the extent of it. You can call a politician and complain, "Hey, how come we can't get broadband in our township?" And we really took the approach that, "Hey, we can solve this, let's go solve this at scale." And so we went from one tower site in 2010 to over 2,500 tower sites today, just by having those conversations and driving down gravel roads and finding structures and building them out.
Jase Wilson: Okay, so you've been at it for a while, and you didn't start it with the intention to win a billion bucks of grant money. So we're gonna have some questions about how you were able to achieve that later and how you're gonna do all the wonderful things that you have to do in order to put that grant money to good use, but I wanna dive into the questions. And folks, if you have any more questions, pile them on top. I'm gonna start at the bottom and roughly go in the order of number of likes. There are some great questions, you probably have to hit the Load More Comments button in order to see them, but if you have any questions, I'll be refreshing the page and our friend Drew Clark from Broadband Breakfast is on the call, is on standby, and he's sort of coaching me to try to become a videocast MC and he's there as kind of training wheels in case the wheels start to fall from me doing this. So Drew, if you see any questions come in, let me know, okay? Great. I have an initial question here from Ahmed and he says, "How do you make fixed wireless stable? And then what's your approach to engineering for failure conditions?"
Corey Hauer: That's a great question, I love it. And it's an engineering question, so you really can dial in the performance of your equipment to handle snow, rain, sleet in terms of weather, you can engineer in power redundancy which is probably the largest issue in WISP networks, and this is something that's fresh in my mind in Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. In the last two days, we've been recovering from a massive December wind storm, including several tornadoes, literally the first tornadoes to occur in December in Minnesota history. And so our crews are filling generators where battery backups have been exhausted and that, in operating a large fixed wireless network like we operate, we cover roughly 50,000 square miles, I can tell you that power is the biggest issue we face, just the stability of the electrical grid itself is probably the biggest thing. And that's one of the good things, is you can solve that with money. You can throw bigger batteries at it and standby generators. And so you can engineer with a well-capitalized wireless network, engineering additional stability and additional redundancy. The other thing too is people talk about fixed wireless, it's never just fixed wireless, it's hybrid network.
Corey Hauer: So we utilize fiber, and we're pushing fiber deep into our networks to give us additional capacity. And obviously with our RDOF awards, we're planning on doing tons and tons of fiber. I mean that's to the extent in places where we still will utilize fixed wireless. The depth of fiber into our network will offer additional stability. Think of a wireless link where you can have a tower hit by a tornado, which happened to us, we had a tower hit by a tornado, we're engineering and building a new site today to replace the damaged site. But fiber can get it...
Jase Wilson: Well this just happened.
Corey Hauer: This just happened. Yeah, this is happening right now.
Jase Wilson: Oh geez.
Corey Hauer: Yeah right now we have crews on a site in rural Iowa that are... I got the pictures of the site flattened like a pancake. So imagine a 100-foot crane just folded over in someone's farm place. Yeah. I mean, thankfully, no loss of life. We don't know of anybody that was killed in the storm. So that's... We can fix networks, we can fix wireless infrastructure, and we're doing that, but...
Jase Wilson: Yeah spot-on. Yeah, I grew up in the Midwest. I remember tornados vividly. I don't know which is scarier is more, how dependent we become on broadband and how many people still need access to broadband right now, or December tornadoes. That in itself is kinda strange but... So switching gears a bit, you've talked a little bit about, like Ahmed's question is about wireless, and people hear wireless and... Me personally, I'm a huge fan of fiber, but I'm also a huger fan of get the job done now. So in our conversation preparing for this, you mentioned several times about this hybrid concept. Drew has questions about fiber, there's a bunch of really good questions coming in about fiber, and you started as not fiber, but you've always incorporated fiber into your networks, and you're talking about this hybrid thing, can you say a bit more about it? And we'll go to Drew's question next. What percentage roughly are you thinking about your RDOF winnings are gonna go towards fiber versus how much of it is gonna go to wireless in its various forms?
Corey Hauer: Yeah. So our plans for RDOF are fiber. We're gonna continue to invest in wireless infrastructure... Excuse me, in non-RDOF areas, but in the RDOF areas, our plans are for fiber. And one of the... It's interesting, and I talk to a lot of politicians and stakeholders at various levels of government, and there's a perception that wireless is unreliable. And I think a lot of that is driven by our cell phones, that we are accustomed to driving through areas where our calls drop or maybe with one bar of signal. And circling back to Ahmed's question, a well-engineered network shouldn't be giving somebody one bar of signal at the end.
Corey Hauer: You build additional towers. You should be living in five bars of signal land. And so engineering a stable wireless network, quite honestly, the answer is engineer it for five bars of signal, and that's a non-technical term for the actual signal strength numbers that we use to engineer networks, but the bottomline is you can invest in enough towers and enough equipment to get five bars into the nooks and crannies. The other thing, and this circles back to your fiber question, so wireless internet companies in general, we have a problem where people call us up and they say they want service, but they can't get it, and the reasons they can't get it are the same. They either live in a deep valley where you can't get wireless signal down to them, or they live in the middle of a forest where you can't get wireless signal to them. So those are the two killers of being able to deliver broadband via fixed wireless, easily solved by fiber.
Corey Hauer: We can go down into the valley and follow 16 poles, lay 16 poles of fiber to get to everyone in that valley, and in fact, that's what we do every day in the areas where we're building fiber today. And there are some... We are building fiber and some hoots and hollers in Tennessee that...
Jase Wilson: Hoots?
Corey Hauer: Hoots and hollers. I had to learn what a holler was. But...
Jase Wilson: I knew what a holler was.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, they talk...
Jase Wilson: What the hell is a hoot?
Corey Hauer: Yeah that's a good question. Maybe somebody can answer that in the AMA chat. I don't know. But I know what a holler is.
Jase Wilson: If any listeners... Yeah. Well, okay. But you're getting both hoots and hollers connected in.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, I mean that's a... But fiber is like the tool for that. And if you look at our RDOF award areas, it's the places that didn't get served. I mean by definition, the RDOF locations are quite rural and low density and hard to get to with other technologies like fixed wireless. So the maps that show unavailability of 25 x 3, there's a lot of discussion about mapping and how maybe the maps aren't accurate and...
Jase Wilson: Yeah.
Corey Hauer: That's not an AMA question, but I do think that perfect is the enemy of good in terms of mapping, and I think the FCC did the best job they could with mapping using the data they had. But I think that if you look at the map areas, not just of LTDs, RDOF award areas, but RDOF in general, there's a lot of terrain out there that isn't gonna be served well with fixed wireless. And not discounting my colleagues, I mean there's other companies that propose to building fixed wireless at the gigabit profile. I know Nextlink, Resound, Etheric, GeoLinks. I'm not here to naysay those guys. If they can do it, I think they can do it. I think the technology exists. But I think we're inclined to build fiber for our RDOF areas.
Jase Wilson: Awesome. Yeah, so what I'm hearing is you started off with wireless and you're going in this hybrid, and you're not against fiber, and you actually enjoy fiber, too. Let's... Let me get into a couple of more questions about that specifically and scaling, knowing that there are things like supply chain constraints going on and a shortage of folks. So you have 15 states that you're gonna go and pull fiber in and run fiber in over the next few years. So I'd love to hear from you about some serious questions. First is, how are you gonna find that man... She called it a manpower. I think we're supposed to say people power now. The first in power to build the networks. How are you gonna find those persons?
Corey Hauer: Well I don't wanna give too many of the secret sauce answers, but we have some good pipelines of people that are gonna be able to do the types of pole attachment work that we are gonna need to do in some of the underground work. But I think there's pretty wide understanding. There's gonna be a lot of broadband projects constructed over the next 10 years. And I think that this isn't gonna be a, we go recruit these guys away from X, Y, Z Construction Corp or ABC Construction Corp. I think this is gonna be creating new jobs, maybe from other trades. This is... We view this as a large construction project and...
Jase Wilson: Reskilling.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, I mean that's... Nothing wrong with being a carpenter, it's a great trade, but arguably, if you're a carpenter, you have a lot of the skills that could be applied to installing broadband infrastructure and probably at a better wage. I have friends that are union carpenters and they make a good wage, but if they were building fiber networks, they would make a better wage. So I think that's part of our inclination is to create and train professionals to install fiber networks. I think that's...
Corey Hauer: And I think it's interesting, the Windstream CEO sort of probably doesn't see eye-to-eye with me in a lot of ways, but we do agree in this way, that he's hiring a 1,000 self-perform fiber installation folks, and we think that's a path. I think that the reality is at the scale that we're gonna be building, we're gonna need many hundreds of people constructing fiber spread across some pretty wide geographies, and so we'll have a lot of regional construction zones where we will be hiring and training people to complete our fiber infrastructure.
Jase Wilson: Nice. And so you're kind of, if I'm understanding correctly, saying something along the lines of the right tool for the right job, and you've studied the problem in a variety of different contexts and... There's a great question from TJ York. "Can you talk a bit about the differences between your approaches in the rural and urban context when it comes... " And he says specifically fiber to the premises, but I would open that up to all the different techniques and approaches that you're gonna be using knowing, now that we... I think we all agree that fiber to the premises wherever possible is the ultimate goal, and then meanwhile, with the need to get folks online really quickly, like things that we can do to Sort of for on that. So I'd love for you to answer that one next.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, and I love that question. RDOF really doesn't include much in terms of urban areas. Sort of by definition, urban areas are largely served. It doesn't mean we don't care about urban 'cause urban people count too, and even suburban. I'll say that we have a focus on maybe touching some suburban areas that are near our RDOF, and they are radically different. And so where I live, I live in an urban area where the utilities are underground and installing utilities adjacent to those existing utilities cost a lot of money. You have to locate the gas line, the water line, the sewer line, potentially the cable TV provider and the phone provider, that all costs a lot of money. And I think part of the, I won't call it a misunderstanding, but there's a lot of chatter around how expensive it is to put in fiber, and I'll say that it is in certain areas, it's very expensive. For instance, where I live, it would be costly to add another set of infrastructure underground. These rural areas are not that. I sort of talked about the thousands of miles of gravel roads that I've driven over the last 12 years. There's no water lines. There's no sewer lines. There's no, in most cases, no buried electrical lines.
Jase Wilson: Interesting.
Corey Hauer: People are... For the lion share of our RDOF areas, if they have gas in their house, it's an LP tank sitting in their backyard that they pay someone to come fill a couple of times a year. There's no... Their gas line is 20 feet long from the LP tank to their house. And so it's a different cost structure when you're working in an urban area or a suburban area. It's also a different cadence of construction too. So if you think of what's involved in having to miss and find all those utilities and inevitably you're gonna hit a gas line and cause a ruckus and have to recover from that, that cadence is radically different in the rural areas. So cost, definitely a different timing, definitely a difference... And also competitive markets. So the economics of coming into an urban area with another fiber line competing with the incumbent broadband utilities is probably challenging. And I'm not saying people don't do it. MetroNet, Ziply, those kind of companies are definitely doing builds in urban areas with some success, but they have density, so they have a lot more homes per mile than what we're looking at.
Corey Hauer: The beauty of the rural areas is our lower cost structure sort of makes up for the lack of density. So I'm excited about the rural areas that we're gonna be building out just because obviously we're gonna be seeing a subsidy, but also the demand vector is gonna be highly different than maybe being $10 cheaper than the competitor in an urban market. Now, one thing I'll expand about a little bit because we've done some of this, I think I've said I'm really bullish on wireless outside of our RDOF areas, and we've done some of that, we actually built one of the first Terragraph networks in New Hampton, Iowa where we're offering gigabit over wireless. That's something a lot of people think can't be done, and it works. It's a technology with a specific use case. You're not gonna do it for miles out in the country, but in a dense area... And I study urban WISP with some granularity to what they're doing and it's fascinating. I found out another urban west WISP in Southern California, I know of a couple in Northern California. WISP technology works in urban areas, and I think it really hasn't... You'll see reports in cable companies' SEC filings talking about the threats of wireless as a competitor to them.
Corey Hauer: I think that's real. I think they know that there is a competitive threat in urban areas from wireless technology. Even our handsets, our mobile handsets are getting pretty good with 5G technology. So it's... Urban isn't our laser focus, but we're definitely gonna play in that space.
Jase Wilson: I wish someday they would tell us here in San Francisco that that stuff's getting pretty good.
Corey Hauer: Well...
Jase Wilson: Super glad. Yeah, cool.
Corey Hauer: Some areas, yeah.
Jase Wilson: That's really good, Corey, thank you. So let's switch gears a little bit. I have a random question for you. You live in Las Vegas, right?
Corey Hauer: Correct.
Jase Wilson: Okay. This is really important. Are you a Raiders fan?
Corey Hauer: I am not.
Corey Hauer: My wife is a Southern California girl and is not a Raiders fan, and so I am not... I'm not really a football fan. We're hockey people.
Jase Wilson: Okay, I understand, I understand. Yeah and... Corey, we've got a ton of good questions here in the list. I'm gonna keep going up the list. Drew asks, "You're awarded more in RDOF funds than Elon Musk of SpaceX," he asks, "Do you plan to engage in a tweet storm with Elon?" which is, I wouldn't recommend it 'cause he's the Dank meme overlord and really good at Twitter. But I have another question that's related to this, because when we first met and we started having conversations, Corey, you're kinda... You really struck me in the fact that you... You drilled really deep and really specific into cost structure in a way that kinda reminds me of Elon Musk and the way he breaks down problems from first principles and thinks about, Well, if we did it the way we always do it it's gonna be roughly the same cost, but if we recast the incumbent structure and think about it from first principles, and what are the raw ingredients and then how much would those cost and you talked about the months that you spent and going line up skill access things, you Kinda use like the rain man of broadband, but instead of phone numbers and a phone book, it was like line items in a Bomb.
Jase Wilson: So can you talk a little bit about your obsession with cost structure, and does that in any way like influence... And I don't wanna be the one to break this to you Corey, but you have some critics. I don't know if you know that or not, but they didn't hear from me if not, but you have some critics and they tend to dwell on the idea that your award is impossible it can can't be done. But hearing you say what you say about rural reserve and everything, kind of I think it makes me think something like a lot of people are applying incumbent cost structures and in particular, predominantly urban models, and maybe even legacy telco cost models onto a problem that you're saying is it's actually... It's a different... It's a different and needs to be approached differently. So can you talk about that? Is that gonna be part of your success in getting these folks connected...
Corey Hauer: For sure, yeah. All respect to other broadband providers in the industry. They've done some great things and continue to do it, but you're right, we definitely have a different thesis on cost structure and what it takes to build these networks, and there's just difference in engineering approaches. We have a competitor in one of our fiber footprints that has a single node for their GPON architecture, so every single fiber line comes from one spot, and that's a fine construction method, but you end up needing 572 count fiber as you're leaving the central office or maybe even more than one of those, where we have an approach that's a distributed network architecture with field cabinets and smaller count fiber. It's a different approach, it's a different thought process, you're still delivering Giga, 10 gig or 100 gig out to the areas that you need it, but it's just a different network design and there's pluses and minuses, you can have the engineering discussions. The Cybertruck is a great example. So I look at that truck and I realize that Elon didn't design it to look pretty, he designed it to make it cheap and consequently tough, but to build a Cybertruck, to take those flat sheets of 30X steel and build a truck, it's gonna be crazy fast for them to do it.
Corey Hauer: And it's gonna be a crazy truck. It's gonna be probably the strongest truck ever made for a consumer truck, but the design decisions were optimizing for rapidity of building and also cost, and it's gonna haul freight down the road, or lumber, or kids. It's gonna do the job that pick up stew for people, not as pretty maybe or as conventional as what people would expect.
Jase Wilson: Some people would say it's pretty.
Corey Hauer: A lot of haters.
Corey Hauer: I talked to a lot of people that hate that truck, but in the same way, obviously, we know we have some critics and some folks that say it can't be done, but...
Jase Wilson: I didn't wanna be the one that broke it to you.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, I mean I've had a couple of team members say, hold my beer as a response to that, and that obviously we're joking, we wouldn't really think that, but we're building fiber networks today. We know experientially what it's costing us to build fiber networks in quite rural areas, so we're not making numbers up, we're not pulling up out of the air, this is experientially what we're building fiber for, and it is different, but I think to your point, it's the difference between urban and rural. There's a lot of difference between going down a rural county road than a dense urban area where they just... There's a lot of obstacles and a lot of delays and delays cost money, so it is markedly different.
Jase Wilson: Yeah, delays. That reminds me... We'll get into some more questions related to performance and the accountability and stuff that it's coming up for you to do the work that the grant money will allow you to do, but... Jessica's, the new FCC chair woman. She has this brilliant... I think it's brilliant, like re-mix of a bushism where she says something like, No Child Left offline. Right, and I think that's very powerful because we work with a lot of folks that do philanthropic work in education, it's really frustrating to hear that there was already a gap between broadband haves and have-nots in the country, but COVID accelerated it and forced it... Some describe it as a digital canyon between the haves and have-nots. And just if you're listening, this is interesting because my understanding Corey is that you haven't received the award money yet, so you haven't actually been able to connect people, but meanwhile you could be out there connecting people, right, and you said that you've done some of these deployments for a fraction of the cost and what they result in is like good broadband, maybe not perfect broadband, but at least for now, it's good broadband and it's now, right, and then there's this other issue that it's sort of a wet blanket for a lot of folks, me included.
Jase Wilson: But We quintupled the money supply in the United States of America in 2020. And if history rhymes, and we can look at nations that have done that in the past, that means that we have at least rampant inflation, if not hyper-inflation coming up, and that also... Correlate it to that is of course, that there is an exponential decay to the Purchase Power of the broadband grant money that we have set aside to solve this problem. So, I have a question for you, Corey, I don't know what LTD stands for, but can we rename your company to LFG?
Corey Hauer: Okay, I'll buy it. Oh, yeah. I like it. I'll have to make some board minutes to that effect 'cause I like it. Yeah, you bring up several great points, one is sort of the cost of building this, and if anything, it's gonna make it more important to build cost effectively and build quickly and get this...
Corey Hauer: There's a syntax of this where you get the money and you build it. You have the time in between, but the demand vector is here. It is the hockey stick. So with COVID, what we call our legacy company our wireless companies, saw tremendous immediate uptick and I think we did some research to see where people were coming from, were they switching from DSL competitors, were they switching from hotspots? What were they coming from, when they came to our broadband? It was interesting, they were coming from their phones, they were households that only had phones internet, the cell phone is all they had. And I think if COVID did anything, it took maybe the estimate of 17% of rural households that didn't have broadband and took them into the they need broadband... And I think that's maybe the one sort of ray of light of COVID is households have realized that for education reasons, for entertainment reasons, for being able to work for reasons, they need real hard wired... And I'll include fixed wireless in there, that is a hard land wire coming into the house, but that type of broadband, I think is a standard as much as clean water and electricity in 2021 and probably has been since the start of COVID.
Jase Wilson: Yeah, well said, well said. Everybody that's listening, thank you all for what you're doing to get folks connected, and that's really important work that you're doing. I know, Corey, that's what you're trying to do too. Well, let's keep rolling. And I mentioned that you have some critics, I would love to get into some questions, Corey, that deal with "Corey, how are you going to do all the stuff that you need to do in order to get these people access to the Internet?" What's the next step for you?
Corey Hauer: Well, we're building some fiber pre-RDOF, running the training programs that we're gonna be using to staff up our teams, and that obviously we'll do that at larger scale once the RDOF funds start flowing to us and just yesterday the FCC announced some additional... What do they call their notice? Their public notice, their PN came out saying they're ready to authorize another group, so I don't think the FCC has authorized anyone large yet, I think the largest so far has been Windstream with a $250 million reward award, but the FCC has is a hard lift. They're working through 417 provisional winners. My guess is they'll get to some of the larger awardees next year, but that's tea leaf reading on my part, but they did award over a billion dollars in this latest round, so they're getting there.
Jase Wilson: Wonderful. Drew has a question about, how are you gonna deliver the performance required to meet your award criteria without spending multiples of grant winnings?
Corey Hauer: Well, I think that fiber's gonna meet the criteria, we're gonna be able to deliver the gig down 500 up with low latency that's required for RDOF. But in terms of how we're gonna do it, we're gonna build it quickly and we're gonna build economic CAPEX rates, we're gonna use some new thinking to deploying rural fiber. And I say new, it's probably new to the industry, it's not new to us. We've been doing it for a bit now, but that is how we're gonna do it.
Corey Hauer: And it's how do you eat an elephant? Well, carve it up into individual bites. And our particular elephant is a number of regions, so that's also... Are gonna be our approach. We're not gonna build the whole thing from one location, we're gonna have regional offices and we're gonna bite off multiple elephants over the six-year build out window.
Jase Wilson: So, you're not daunted, it sounds... This work is definitely cut out for you.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, it's big. Right? I could minimize it. It's a big undertaking, but it's certainly something... We've spent 11 years growing our fixed wireless footprint, peddle to the metal, the entire time building 30 new tower sites a month for years, and that sort of cadence, we're gonna keep doing... We're gonna keep building at a rapid rate, but we're gonna be doing it in multiple areas at a time. So, not just our Midwest footprint where we've been focused, we'll have teams in Colorado, we'll have teams in Texas, we'll have teams in Illinois.
Jase Wilson: You have a plan and you're ready to rock, once the funding rolls.
Corey Hauer: We are, yeah.
Jase Wilson: And the outcome is that you're able to get people connected in hard to connect areas.
Corey Hauer: People come to work for LTD for... Obviously, it's a good paycheck and it's a good job, but there is a satisfaction when you go home at night and you've changed people's lives in a palpable way. And talking to my installers and my field techs and tower techs, like even the work they're doing right now, repairing storm damage. It's pretty satisfying, in knowing you're doing that sort of good. I'm sure the guys in the '30s, guys and girls in the '30s that were building rural electrical infrastructure that didn't exist before had the same feelings. They... My ancestors grew up are from Northeast Iowa. Those areas when they got power, it changed lives, you could farm past sundown because you had lights in the barn.
Corey Hauer: And you could go do things and work on equipments. And it changed the way that people lived in rural areas. I think in the same manner this type of broadband that we're gonna install with RDOF will be a game changer, because if you work for X Y Z multinational, you're gonna be able to potentially live in rural Southeast Missouri where you probably couldn't pre-covid, but those rules have changed now. The companies are finding out that their workforces could be productive working remotely. So I talked to county commissioners all over the country and different stakeholders, and they all get this, they have the people that are scooping up farm studs in their rural counties, and they're working for these large multinationals. And it's changing the demographic of these rural areas, and I think in a positive way because I think there's a bit of a chasm in our country between rural and urban, and maybe urban people don't understand rural people or vice versa. We're gonna be more of a melting top potentially. I think that the broadband's gonna enable some of that, some of those types of discussions to happen, that probably haven't happened before.
Jase Wilson: That's a cool vision for the future Corey so we'll keep rolling that. Adam Bender asked an interesting question. Can you comment on what the California PUC denying your ETC application yesterday means for LTD and if you will appeal as you did in Iowa. And a follow-up is how much of a setback for LTD are the CPUC and Iowa Utilities board decisions and how concerned are you about other states like South Dakota.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, that's a great question. So we're obviously super disappointed with the California Public Utilities Commission. And I've hesitated to say things publicly, but they've fired their shots. Every single decision that CPUC made yesterday was done unanimously. Which tends to lead me to believe they didn't read a lot of the things that they voted on. It's my guess, 'cause I think if they had read what they voted on, they would have saw that it was pretty poor without getting into the specifics. It's a public document, you can read it, but it appears to me that for whatever reason, California is trying to prevent broadband from happening in their state. And not just referring to LTD broadband, but all of the other RDOF winners that didn't already hold what's called the CPNC in California, that's sort of like a CLAC authority in other states, but they call it a CPNC in California. Every single winner, including LTD broadband, has been a subject of an intentional 18-month delay in certifying ETC Eligibility in California. And that's unique, they're the only state in the country that, in my view, isn't running a serious attempt to get RDOF funding going in their state, so there's no...
Corey Hauer: If you didn't already hold the CPNC in California, you're not building RDOF and you're not gonna build it this year or next year because of the inbuilt delay. And in fact, one of the earlier decisions made by the California Public Utilities Commission was in regard to some of their programs that they're running for grants in California that overlap RDOF areas and in general RDOF areas have sort of been carved out from other federal grant funding, so as not to subsidize an area with two different competitors and breaking the economics of those subsidy areas. California dismissed all of the companies that challenge those awards and said, "You don't have your ETCs", which is ironic, 'cause the reason they don't have their ETCs is 'cause the California Public Utilities Commission hasn't done it. And so, it's astounding to me.
Jase Wilson: That's very interesting.
Corey Hauer: And I love California as a state. We visit there often. I think that their CPUC is clearly dysfunctional and we're absolutely gonna appeal. The areas in California that we won are very rural. And I wonder how much politics is involved in that. There may be some blue-red fights going on that we don't know about, but the reality is that there's a lot of need for broadband in the rural areas of California that were part of RDOF.
Corey Hauer: Not just LTD's award areas, and for CPUC to by intent delay, all of this funding, I just I and I know they're trying to do state funding alongside that, Gavin Newsom has talked about a couple of billion dollars for broadband, both last mile and state-run broadband in California. But it's a subject I care about, I care about the rural Californians that are affected by this, and it's not just an LTD issue, I think it's... I don't know why the National Press, particularly the telecom press hasn't picked up on this. I hope that they do. I think that this is an unknown issue to a lot of people, and it's and to me, it's quite sad.
Jase Wilson: Why? But why are they... Why? Aren't they supposed to be helping folks get the utilities that they need? But...
Corey Hauer: I don't know. I wish I knew. To be honest, the Administrative Law Judge that was assigned our ETC application, I guess I don't wanna get too much into this specific to the judge but I'm okay.
Jase Wilson: Yeah that's fine.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, I'm a little bit astounded. My wife's an attorney. I know that you fight battles and you do the things you're gonna do, but it very much feels like this ALJ and perhaps the CPUC is trying to railroad LTD out of California. And...
Corey Hauer: Yeah, it's astounding to me and my other counsel that is working on our California legal work is astounded. It's not a great look for the CPUC and for this judge to be honest.
Jase Wilson: Well, that gets into some interesting other questions, I had one from Erin, and then Joan Ingebretsen, I am sorry Joan if I mangled that. Asked some really great questions. We are gonna go into those real fast and my question Corey to you is can you give us a sense of your thinking on the FCC hasn't awarded these places, and we now have... We're staring at a tsunami of new broadband grants coming in that in areas there's a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt among RDOF winners. There's a lot of confusion about, is it going to be something that they're gonna displace the RDOF subsidy. And the opposite is a concern too, that are they going to say, "Well, that place, that area won RDOF and so therefore, it doesn't qualify for RJA, money in the B program or any of the other programs. Do you have any knowledge of that? Or do you have any thoughts on what's going on there? Is that a concern or is that... Or is that completely crazy? 'Cause it seems like $42.5 billion bucks for bids is, you could go in and it's all we'll triple down on those areas, right? I guess there's just... I'd love to hear your thinking on that.
Corey Hauer: So it's interesting 'cause there's a lot of discussion about broadband, and I think the first discussion is about availability. And we've probably all agreed that universal broadband availability is a huge priority. Some political folks have come right behind that and said, "Well, not just availability, but affordability." Well now that's a different conversation.
Jase Wilson: Yes.
Corey Hauer: Because if you're going to solve for both, you need probably 10X the money because you're gonna have to have a competitor to deflate the market to a point where it's "affordable". I think that there's certainly programs like the EBB program, and that's evolving to a new permanent program that are subsidizing broadband costs for low-income households. We participated in that program and we'll participate in the Future program, but I think it's a great idea. 'Cause I think that broadband affordability is an issue. But I think that subsidizing competition can be problematic, but I think it's 10x problematic if you're subsidizing multiple competitors in an area. And so my understanding is that the intent of the federal subsidies is to subsidize one area once. At least as things are written today, there's definitely politicians that want to change that and subsidize every area twice. That is what it is.
Corey Hauer: You just be careful what you ask for. Right. I think that would be my caution to those folks, I think, in my view, solve the access issue first, and if there's things you can do like the EBB program to solve affordability, if that becomes the next problem. But I think the access issue is pretty clearly right in front of us and solvable with, I think your point, Jay, so there's a ton of money that's been allocated. If we can't solve it with 9 billion in RDOF and $65 billion in bid funds, I would say the problem probably can't be solved. And I would also caution maybe the idea of over-funding because now you talked about inflation, you can inflate up the cost of these projects to where they actually don't ever get done. And this is sort of... I say this a lot, that I don't think broadband is or should be a political issue, I think it's a quality of life standard issue, and as a group of rate payers, in the case of RDOF funds, taxpayers in the case of bid funds, we ought to be able to solve it. And then in my view, it probably shouldn't take 65 billion and 9 billion, I think it should be solvable for less...
Corey Hauer: I'm not here to fight that battle, I'm just here to solve it in our small way, we're gonna solve it for the RDOF areas that we were awarded. And I think the other RDOF awardees are too, I think this is... The FCCs run three reverse auctions now. And I'd say that they've ran 'em well. The work that they've done to build a cost-effective solution for getting these areas served with broadband, reverse auction. I think there are people that will probably disagree with it, but I think it's been proven to be a successful mechanism for getting accountability, performance and economic feasibility to deploying broadband.
Jase Wilson: That's a good attitude Corey Great. That brings us to Jones's question then, do you have the contingency plan if the FCC doesn't approve your long-form application?
Corey Hauer: Well, I don't think that is a thing that's on the radar. The FCC has been very collaborative with us, and I think with other RDOF awardees that I've spoken to. I don't think the FCC's goal or job is to try to blow up RDOF. I don't hear that. There may be some upset competitors that hope that will happen. I don't see that in the cards. I think that the FCC wants RDOF like have to like the rural broadband experiments to be successful and to check the boxes in these geographies where RDOF was awarded. I just don't see that as a goal for the FCC. They want the companies that are participating in it to succeed and complete their obligation.
Jase Wilson: Nice. So we have a few more minutes Corey I wanna close it out with a quick note, broadband money, the place we are right now, the services, it's all about helping local providers, local networks, Mom and Pop, ISPs, RUCs, utilities community networks, every flavor of approach to solving this problem that Corey you're talking about stating it's to help those local folks get their share of grant money and the subsidies. So it's really... It's been an honour to get to hang out with you here. Corey I'd like to wrap up with a couple of more questions. One is, what's one thing that you would like the industry to know? And that could it be straight to the haters, that could be to the folks that are listening in from the various states where you won. And or even folks from the FCC that are sitting in on the call or whoever you wanna talk to. Just like what's one thing you want them to know?
Corey Hauer: Well, I say this a lot when I speak at different venues. I've spoken before on a number of task force that are related to broadband. And I think the biggest misunderstanding about broadband is an odd one, and you probably wouldn't think of it, it's where the weakest link is. And we're a pretty large operator, we support tens of thousands of customers, and what I mean by the weakest link is typically the in-home network. Even in Las Vegas where we have relatively good internet, people perceive their internet to be bad because they don't have the right in-home networking equipment to deliver their good broadband to the nooks and crannies of their house where they might be doing a Zoom call or doing something that's needing better broadband. And as a company, we focus like a laser on that. We're including that equipment and those solutions as part of our offering, because we realize that we're gonna get blamed if the broadband experience is bad, it's us. So we're owning that, and I think that... I'm on calls all the time with people that have problems with Zoom. And I have the conversation I'm having with you right now talking about the importance of getting robust Wi-Fi to all the devices.
Corey Hauer: I think that rightly or wrongly, the cable industry has done a great job of selling people on the idea that they need gig service to do a three mega zoom call. It's not that you need 1000 megs to do 3 megs of video streaming, it's that you need a robust path from your... Whatever your broadband is to get to your device so your 3 Meg Zoom call is reliable. That would be something that if I could teach everybody that one thing, I think it's probably an aside to the real broadband issues that we're talking about in this call, but once you solve it, you have to solve it all the way to the device.
Jase Wilson: All of that as the provider, you're saying that you put on your own shoulders, not just getting to the house or the business, or the farm or the barn or whatever people are getting their broadband these days inside of the premises, right? It's your responsibility as a provider, you're shouldering that, as like the experience of the connected family or business, right. Is that am I hearing you correctly?
Corey Hauer: Yeah and...
Jase Wilson: You're saying that that's part of your duty as the provider, is to help them understand, it's like grandma was like, I can't get the WiFi, I can't watch my programs. Wheel of fortune is not coming in, and it's like well grandma, you know the routers in a brick closet. [chuckle] You're stuck... There's a Faraday cage under that stuff like you need to move it. That's something that most providers probably don't tackle, but you're saying that's part of your job?
Corey Hauer: There's folks in the industry that will say, well, that's a revenue opportunity, you can upsell and you charge for the mesh router system or however do it, and I think the skepticism of the consumer is real, right, that they think they're getting screwed and trying to make an extra $20 a month off them to provide the solution that should already be part of it. And I'm not saying the providers that wanna charge money for that are wrong, I'm just saying it's whether you charge money for it or if you include it, to me, making sure the customer has the solution is as important as getting the broadband there. 'Cause it doesn't do any good, right, because if your weakest link is the very next link between you and your iPad and your PC, you may as well have bad broadband because you do. That's, if your home network solution is bad, you have bad broadband, regardless of how good your broadband is, it's bad for you.
Jase Wilson: That's awesome. Okay, we got one more minute. So one last question it's from Drew your critics worry that you'll squander the winnings, however, historically, incumbents who received grant funding did not spend much of it on broadband. They spend it on other Bs with bonuses, the buy-backs and the BS. So Drew's question is what will you do differently?
Corey Hauer: Well, I think that the biggest thing is we'll actually go to the residences, and I won't name the company, but I've driven around California and I've seen all sorts of fiber along rural pole lines, and I go and I look at the name and I see who it is. And I recognize it, and I realize that that fiber stops at not one house on that road, it literally goes to the cell tower and it goes to the school. And that's because that's where they bid and they won the big contract for the commercial service. And that's one of the companies that gets the money that you talked about, that they've been getting rate payer money for years to subsidize their networks in rural areas, but they don't stop at any of the houses on that road. So the reason that those areas are part of the RDOF rural ward area is because of that. They just chose not to do it, and I think our focus has largely been residential, first. We focus as a company on unserved residential locations, we certainly have commercial customers, and we value our commercial customers, but we've been a residential first focus. I think that the larger usual suspects, and particularly the legacy telcos, if they could find a private equity firm to buy their rural residential customers, they would sell them all tomorrow, and a lot of them have.
Corey Hauer: You've seen some of the companies divest a lot of their residential-facing infrastructure, I would say residences matter. They do... 'Cause residences are businesses too. You're working from your home, is that a residence or is that a business? You have a small business in your home. Is that a residence or a business? I would say that it's as important to have residences have great broadband as it is to have great electricity.
Jase Wilson: It's also where people live in many cases. In the end it's about connecting people. So your point's taken. Corey, we're out of time, folks that have joined, again, thank you for making time to connect. Thank you for what you're doing to help people get better access, and Corey, thank you so much for making time here to share with us and to help folks understand. So I really appreciate you.
Corey Hauer: Yeah, Jay, thanks for having me. Thanks to you, Drew.
Jase Wilson: We'll see all.


va1599 Black top grain leather cowboy hat with "hair on" cowhide appliques & leather braided hatband. All season water repellent hat, great for adventuring outdoors Wire in brim for custom shaping. Satin-like Lined interior, sure-fit sizing & padded sweatband for a comfortable & snug fit everytime. Gromets in crown for venting. For hat size Around head, just above eyebrows and ears. Hat Sizes: 53=53 cm | 54=54 cm | 55=55 cm | 56=56 cm | 57=57 cm | 58=58 cm | 59=59 cm | 60=60 cm. All natural leather has some small signature markings that make each hide unique such as scratches, wrinkles & interesting color variations. The hair-on section is the real cowhide with fur as such the natural color patterns vary from speckling to whole areas of black, white & brown. If you prefer a particular color please email us.


Rosalie van der Vaart obtained her Master's degree in Health & Clinical Psychology in 2008 at Utrecht University. In 2013 she received her PhD at the University of Twente based on her thesis "Rheumatology 2.0: empowering patients by eHealth", in which development, implementation and evaluation of a health portal for patients with rheumatic diseases were studied, taking into account patients' needs and skills. Thereafter, she lead a Post-doc research project in which she studied how to combine ehealth with face-to-face therapy in Mental health care. This led to the development of an instrument to tailor blended care on an individual level.
Since 2014 she works at Leiden University, where she conducted Post-doc research on internet cognitive behavior therapy for chronic pain as part of the National MUSS project "Grip op Klachten". Currently she works as an assistant professor and is involved in a diverse range of eHealth and Population Health Management projects, i.a. in collaboration with LUMC and Campus Den Haag. She recently developed the Digital Health Literacy Instrument which aims to measure digital health skills of patients.
Rosalie van der Vaart's current research focusses largely on implementation and evaluation of eCoaching for patients with chronic somatic conditions, using internet cognitive behavior therapy (iCBT). In her project she has special attention for the usability and adoption of eHealth among both patients and care providers. As eHealth coordinator she is involved in a broad range of projects regarding digital health care, studying online screening, serious gaming and iCBT to increase coping and health behavior among patients with chronic somatic conditions. In collaboration with Campus Den Haag she works on several projects regarding Population Health Management, in which optimizing health care for risk populations is the central aim.


RCS Ltd., an established distributor in the cellular phone and electronics market, announced today that they have entered the LED lighting market. The company now services buyers and sellers of LED lights worldwide both through their online platforms, and with their experienced staff of sales professionals. RCS Lighting brokers stocks of the most cutting edge LED technology for all applications, keeping companies supplied at the lowest prices.
RCS lighting provides full service brokerage, including locating the cheapest stocks, ensuring quick delivery and handling all legal and tax import/export requirements. The LED market is now truly global as RCS Lighting operates globally in sixteen different languages with branches in 6 countries and contacts in 68.
"Given the similarities in the marketing structure between our current businesses and LED lighting it was a sound decision to enter the lighting market," said Rami Feller, President of the RCS Group. "Our large and experienced sales and logistics teams already in place; provide a competitive advantage for anyone looking to buy or sell stocks of LED lighting."
RCS currently employs 30 sales professionals and over 15 logistics experts and boasts a commitment to providing high quality service including expedient deliveries of all needed stocks at the lowest market prices.
RCS, founded by Rami Feller, is the world's largest international distributor of cellular phones, digital cameras and other portable electronics. The company's international sales team maintains strong connections with over 3,000 manufacturers, operators, distributors and wholesalers of cellular phones, digital cameras, tablets, and other portable media devices in 120 countries, enabling it to source and close deals at the best possible price in the shortest possible time.
With over 30 professional sales agents, and 20 logistics experts, RCS is unmatched in its trading capabilities.


text:
Watch Live TV on Google Glass? RTVE App Makes It Happen
Matt McGee
Glass Apps
Spanish broadcaster RTVE (Radio Televisión Española) has become the first to offer live television streaming via Google Glass.
The RTVE app — which offers streams from four TV channels, including one that's all sports — launched last week to coincide with the coronation of new King Felipe VI (who himself has worn Glass).
This video gives a taste of how the app works:
I haven't tried the app out myself, so I can't speak directly to how it impacts battery life on Glass — but it's probably a pretty big drain. And then there's the issue that Glass isn't built for long interactions, and watching TV in the Glass display for lengthy periods of time may not be good for your vision. Still … if the Seattle Seahawks are in a close game and it's the 4th quarter and all I've got is Google Glass and some app that's streaming the game, I'm watching. So be careful about quickly dismissing the idea of live TV via Glass. (And remember: Years ago, everyone doubted that we'd ever want to watch videos on our phones.)
Droiders is the company that worked with RTVE to make the app a reality. You can read more about the project on Droiders' website. And if you want to install the app, start here.
droidersrtve.estv
First Look: All 13 Diane Von Furstenberg Google Glass Frames are Now On Sale
Skylight Takes Google Glass to the Enterprise
I'm the founder of GlassAlmanac.com and an original Glass Explorer since May 6, 2013. I'm #teamcharcoal and proud of it. You may also know me as the Editor-In-Chief of Marketing Land and Search Engine Land, two popular websites that cover news and advice for marketers.
6 New Glass Apps: Beer Locator, Instagram Photo Explorer, Camera Expander & More
3 More Apps Land in the Glassware Directory
High Temps are Damaging Google Glass Beyond Repair

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Growing up, I was always told the same thing from all of my hairstylists: my hair was thin, but at least I had a lot of it!
Fast forward about 20 years later, and here I am – I never guessed I'd author a women's hair loss blog. I'm in my thirties. I have a loving husband and two *gorgeous* sons. I have a great job and live in a great house.
The hair, of course…I'm suffering from women's hair loss. Alopecia. That's right, I'm a female losing hair.
I've been blessed that while I think my hair loss is pretty horrendous, I've been able to hide it with a bunch of different techniques (using the right volumizing products for thin hair as well as scalp concealers definitely help).
Once I wasn't able to hide it any more (hiding the scalp was pretty easy and I have a whole tutorial on how to do that, but hiding the fact that my ponytail was the width of a pencil was not!), I decided to take the plunge into wearing faux hair…and I've never looked back.
I now wear my faux hair daily (you'll hear me talk about it as "helper hair" quite often) and guess what? No one besides my husband and one very good friend know that I wear hair.
Because I now have a full head of hair, my confidence has skyrocketed and I do so many things that I felt I wasn't able to before – family photos (now I don't mind being in pics!) and vacations (no more burnt scalp!) are two that come to mind immediately.
Wearing hair has been a blessing I never thought I'd have to discover, but I'm so glad I have! There are SO many of us out there suffering from hair loss, and even so many of us who wear faux hair.
The Corner of Hope & Mane Community is proof that there are amazing women out there who have overcome their hair loss woes by wearing faux hair, and I'm honored to know each and every one of them.
Please stay in touch–I'd love if you'd sign up for email updates below and talk to me via the comment form after my posts. I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to drop me a line, anytime!


text:
ReportCyber
End of Support for Microsoft Windows 7
End of support
First published October 2019; Latest version January 2020
End of Support for Microsoft Windows 7 (January 2020)
The Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents ranks timely patching of security vulnerabilities, as well as using the latest operating system, as essential mitigation strategies in preventing cyber security incidents.
On 14 January 2020, Microsoft ended support for Microsoft Windows 7. As such, organisations no longer receive patches for security vulnerabilities identified in this product. Subsequently, adversaries may use these unpatched security vulnerabilities to target Microsoft Windows 7 workstations.
Organisations using Microsoft Windows 7 should upgrade to the latest version of Microsoft Windows 10 to continue receiving patches for security vulnerabilities, while also benefiting from security improvements in the newer operating system. Organisations yet to upgrade to a newer supported operating system should review their risk assessments and begin planning for the implementation of mitigation strategies to reduce their risk exposure – noting there will still be an overall increase in risk exposure until such a time that Microsoft Windows 7 is upgraded.
The advice in this publication is intended for organisations unable to upgrade from Microsoft Windows 7. The advice is separated into mitigation strategies for organisations operating an entire Microsoft Windows 7 fleet and mitigation strategies for organisations that have limited Microsoft Windows 7 deployments in order to support legacy business applications.
Operating a fleet of Microsoft Windows 7 workstations
Organisations continuing to operate a fleet of Microsoft Windows 7 workstations beyond the end of support date should implement the following mitigation strategies:
Implement application whitelisting, such as Microsoft's AppLocker. Application whitelisting, when implemented appropriately, can detect and prevent malicious code execution amd network propagation attempts by an adversary.
For unsupported native applications either upgrade to supported versions or, if this is not possible, consider removing the application or using alternative applications to achieve similar business functionality. Each unsupported application upgraded, removed or replaced with a vendor-supported alternative generally reduces the attack surface of workstations and can assist in preventing malicious code execution.
Negotiate an Extended Security Update (ESU) arrangement with Microsoft for the provision of patches for security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows 7. Whilst an ESU arrangement will not address all security vulnerabilities disclosed for legacy Microsoft applications, it will assist in reducing the attack surface of workstations.
Ensure that privileged account credentials are not entered into Microsoft Windows 7 workstations (e.g. to administer other workstations, servers or applications within an organisation's network). Instead, a vendor-supported operating system should be used for these activities, and a low privileged account used for all other non-administrative activities. Microsoft Windows 7 workstations will be at a higher risk of being compromised due to unpatched security vulnerabilities, and lack additional security functionality of newer Microsoft Windows versions to protect privileged account credentials from being captured by an adversary and used to propagate throughout a network.
Implement Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET). Implementing EMET for applications that commonly interact with data from untrusted sources can reduce the risk of successful malicious code execution as well as assisting in the identification of such attempts.
Implement a third party software-based application firewall that performs both inbound and outbound filtering of network traffic. A software-based application firewall can assist in detecting and preventing malicious code execution, network propagation and data exfiltration by an adversary.
Apply basic hardening, where possible, to operating systems, applications and user accounts. Disabling unneeded functionality or common intrusion vectors such as AutoRun, SMB and NetBlOS services, can assist in preventing malicious code execution and network propagation by an adversary.
Ensure antivirus applications continue to be supported by vendors. If support ceases from a vendor, switch to an alternative vendor that continues to offer support. The use of antivirus applications can assist in detecting and preventing malicious code execution.
In addition to the above mitigation strategies, a number of mitigation strategies can be implemented to reduce the likelihood of malicious code reaching Microsoft Windows 7 workstations in the first place. These include:
Implement automated dynamic analysis of email and web content in a sandbox to detect suspicious behaviour. By analysing data from untrusted sources for suspicious activity upon simulated user interaction, malicious code can be identified and blocked from reaching vulnerable Microsoft Windows 7 workstations.
Implement email and web content filtering of incoming and outgoing data to only allow approved file types. By controlling the types of data that reach Microsoft Windows 7 workstations, organisations can reduce the likelihood of malicious code execution as well as identify the source of such attempts.
Prevent users from connecting removable media to Microsoft Windows 7 workstations. As Microsoft Windows 7 workstations are more susceptible to exploitation, data transfers to such workstations should be controlled via an organisation's ICT service desk to reduce the likelihood of malicious code execution and data exfiltration.
Operating a limited number of Microsoft Windows 7 workstations
Organisations continuing to operate a limited number of Microsoft Windows 7 workstations beyond the end of support date in order to support legacy business applications should implement the following mitigation strategies:
Isolate Microsoft Windows 7 workstations from other workstations and non-essential network resources. This can reduce the risk of an adversary using a compromised Microsoft Windows 7 workstation to propagate throughout a network and access other workstations and network resources.
Virtualise access to Microsoft Windows 7 operating environments and required applications from within a vendor-supported operating system. Using virtualised environments can hamper an adversary's ability to extend their reach beyond the virtualised environment and propagate to other workstations and network resources.
Prevent Microsoft Windows 7 workstations from directly accessing, and being directly accessible from, the internet. As legacy business applications are likely to operate in a local stand-alone mode, or only require access over an organisation's intranet, restricting access from Microsoft Windows 7 workstations to and from the internet can reduce the risk of such workstations being directly compromised by an adversary.
Additional considerations
Independent of how Microsoft Windows 7 workstations are operated by organisations, organisations should implement a robust centralised logging and auditing framework to capture and analyse both computer and network-based events. An appropriate auditing framework within an organisation can assist in identifying individual workstations that may have been compromised as well as helping to tailor incident response measures to remove infected workstations from an organisation's network. Further information can be found in the Australian Cyber Security Centre's Windows Event Logging and Forwarding publication [1].
The Australian Government Information Security Manual (ISM) assists in the protection of information that is processed, stored or communicated by organisations' systems. It can be found at https://www.cyber.gov.au/ism.
The Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents complements the advice in the ISM. The complete list of strategies can be found at https://www.cyber.gov.au/publications/strategies-to-mitigate-cyber-security-incidents.
Advice from Microsoft on Microsoft Windows 7 End of Life support can be found at https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-windows-7-support.
Organisations or individuals with questions regarding this advice can email asd.assist@defence.gov.au or call 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371).
Advisory 2020-002: Critical Vulnerabilities for Microsoft Windows Announced, Patch Urgently
On 15 January 2020 (AEDT), Microsoft released security patches for three critical and one important vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Remote Desktop Client, Remote Desktop Gateway and the Windows operating system.
Quick Wins for your End of Support
Every software product has a lifecycle. Knowing key dates in a program's lifecycle can help you make informed decisions about the products your small business relies on every day. This guide helps small businesses understand what end of support is, why it is important to be prepared and when to…
Hardening Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Workstations
Workstations are often targeted by an adversary using malicious websites, emails or removable media in an attempt to extract sensitive information. Hardening workstations is an important part of reducing this risk. This document provides recommendations on hardening workstations using Enterprise…
Need help? Think you might be the victim of a scam, cyber crime or identity theft? Report an issue
Australian Signals Directorate


Get your commercial grade Steel Diamond Plate here.
Perfect to use as a heavy duty flooring surface over existing cement or mezzanine structures in factories, freezers and more. This is real commercial grade Steel Diamond Plate. Diamond Plate is also known around the world as tread plate, checker plate and floor plate.


text:
Norway's govt fund raises stakes in Bangladesh stock market
Mostafizur Rahman | Published: 00:00, Mar 09,2019	| Updated: 21:29, Mar 09,2019
Norway's sovereign wealth fund (SWF), the world's biggest fund, raised stakes in the Bangladesh's capital market for the third consecutive year in 2018, despite the market remaining bearish in the year due to the December 30 national polls-centric political uncertainties.
The government pension fund of Norway increased its ownership in nine companies, kept unchanged its holdings in three and lowered in five firms in 2018 compared with that in the previous year, according to a web site post of Norges Bank Investment Management Company which manages SWF.
It offloaded its stakes in three companies to invest in three new firms.
SWF has been increasing its stake in the Bangladesh stock market every year since its start of investment in the country in 2015 with around $19 million.
The fund enhanced its presence in an otherwise dull market keeping in mind huge potential of the country's stock market, market operators said.
They said that the development of the country had been rising significantly that drew attention of countries across the globe.
Bangladesh's gross domestic product growth hit record 7.86 per cent in last fiscal year (2017-2018), according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
Market experts said that the country had to increase investment in infrastructure development and other projects to achieve its 2021 and 2030 visions.
They said banks could not finance the huge amount of money needed for investment and the capital market would be the main source of funds for the development.
A Chinese consortium of Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges on September 5 last year joined Dhaka Stock Exchange as its strategic shareholder through purchasing its 25 per cent shares for Tk 947 crore that also created a positive impression of the Bangladesh's stock market, they said.
Therefore, the foreign fund found it profitable for more long-term investments in the capital market of Bangladesh in 2018 despite the market passing a very tough year amid elections-centric political uncertainties, they said.
DSEX, the key index of DSE, shed 13.75 per cent, or 858.88 points, over the year to close at 5,385.64 points on December 27, 2018, the last trading session of the year.
Besides, the average turnover at DSE plunged by 38.43 per cent to Tk 552.03 crore in 2018 compared with that of Tk 874.83 crore in the previous year.
The net investment value of SWF declined to $202.91 million in 2018 compared with that of $244.41 million in the previous year due mainly to the significant fall in share prices of most of the companies.
SWF almost doubled its holdings in Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company, Singer Bangladesh and Eastern Bank in 2018 compared with that in the previous year.
It offloaded its stakes in LankaBangla Finance, MJL Bangladesh and Mutual Trust Bank, and invested in Summit Power, Bashundhara Paper Mills and BBS Cables.
The fund cut investments in ACME Laboratories, Berger Paints, Mercantile Bank, Olympic Industries and Southeast Bank.
SWF invested most in Square Pharmaceuticals ($44.25 million) followed by Grameenphone ($37.81 million), BRAC Bank ($27.86 million) and Beximco Pharmaceuticals ($11.22 million).
The net foreign investment at DSE was Tk 530.74 crore negative in 2018 at DSE from Tk 1,704.94 crore positive in the previous year.
More Stories from Stocks
Stocks end flat as investors assess govt benefits to banks
HC accepts for hearing BSEC's appeal
Dhaka stocks rise sharply on bargain hunting
BSEC yet to finalise draft M&A rules
BSEC to tighten monitoring of MFs' investment in non-listed cos
India stocks hit record highs on economic recovery hopes
Dhaka stocks advance for third day
Beximco Pharma to buy 54.6pc stake of Sanofi Bangladesh for Tk 413cr
BSEC fines PK Halder, 15 others Tk 4.68cr for share price manipulation
Stocks gain for 2nd day


text:
Truck crash on Summerland Way, driver trapped
Emergency services have been tasked to a truck crash south of Casino.
by Rebecca Lollback
Rebecca Lollback
6th Nov 2020 12:31 PM | Updated: 1:00 PM
UPDATE, 1pm: A MAN in his 20s is being treated by paramedics on scene after his truck flipped on the Summerland Way this afternoon.
UPDATE, 1pm:
Three ambulance crews and the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter, along with police, have been tasked to the scene at Myrtle Creek.
A spokesman from NSW Ambulance said the man, believed to be 29, was trapped.
"He has suffered a chest injury but it appears he is in a stable condition," he said.
Original story: Emergency services have been called to a truck crash south of Casino this afternoon.
According to Live Traffic NSW, the crash happened just before 12.30pm on the Summerland Way at Myrtle Creek.
A spokesman from NSW Ambulance said the truck had flipper and the driver was trapped.
The extent of the driver's injuries are not yet known.
"Three crews are on their way as well as the Westpac (Life Saver Rescue) Helicopter," the NSW Ambulance spokesman said.
Traffic is affected in both directions.
Drivers are urged to take extra care or avoid the area if possible.
summerland way
truck crash
summerland way truck crash


Smashing Pumpkins Lean on Classics in L.A.
Don't front. You know it's a good lead: Quasar, /ˈkwāˌzär/, noun: 1. "A massive and extremely remote celestial object, emitting exceptionally large amounts of energy, and typically having a star-like image" (Google). 2. The name of the new song the Smashing Pumpkins opened with at their sold-out tour kickoff at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre. 3. Useful shorthand for describing Chicago alterna-rock legend Billy Corgan with (or without) his band.
Did Modeselektor Bite Flying Lotus?
Your SPIN link is all goofy.


An integral part of the design of the L-509X is LUXMAN's original ODNF* amplification feedback circuit, featuring a high-speed primary slew rate, an ultra-wide bandwidth and a low level of distortion that is achieved by feeding back only the distorted components of the audio signal from the output of the amplification circuit. The L-509X is equipped with the latest Version 4.0 ODNF providing a dramatic enhancement of accuracy in distortion detection due to the triple-paralleled first stage error detection circuit. Lower impedance and a higher signal to noise ratio have been achieved due to the paralleled first stage and Darlington equipped second stage amplification circuit. A 3-stage Darlington circuit and a 4-parallel push-pull structure is used for the output stage, similar to the M-700u power amplifier. This achieves output at 120W+120W(8Ω) and 220W+220W(4Ω), enabling the L-509X to drive speakers powerfully with rich dynamics and full expression.
High quality RCA terminals, made of copper alloy, are used for the LINE-1 inputs of the L-509X, combining the beneficial conductivity of copper and durability of brass. The L-509X features many custom-made components befitting a flagship model, such as the robust power supply and high-grade speaker terminals that are compatible with Y-connectors.
Thorough vibration countermeasures have been taken, using cast iron feet with a density gradient to eliminate resonance. The high grade, aluminum body remote control is also supplied as standard.
The L-509X is equipped with a discrete buffer circuit that is equivalent to the type used in the high-end LUXMAN C-900u separate amplifier. The clarity of the audio signal is preserved by this circuit whilst at the same time the following power amplification stage's driving force is significantly increased.
Large-capacity, low resistance speaker relays are connected in parallel, enabling loss-less transmission of the powerful driving force that is generated by the generous power supply circuit and the amplifier output section of the L-509X. The use of 3.5mm2 cabling for the amplifier board output and the unit's damping factor of 370 enables the L-509X to drive all kinds of speakers accurately.
LUXMAN's New LECUA1000 is at the heart of the preamp section and the volume adjustment control of the L-509X. This computerized attenuator is integrated with the amplification circuit, a feature integral to the high-end LUXMAN C-900u control amplifier. LECUA provides an ideal level control system which allows smooth and fine adjustment of the volume over 88 steps, thereby minimising the deterioration of audio quality at any point of the volume adjustment range. An advancement of the New LECUA1000 is the 3D design layout. The attenuator circuit board is directly connected to the amplification circuit board. Signal routing has been minimized andefficiency has been successfully enhanced. In addition, this design is extremely resistant to external vibration and eliminates changes in audio quality over the volume control range. The robust nature of this system ensures longevity and durability. *LECUA stands for "Luxman Electronically Controlled Ultimate Attenuator".
Hear the Luxman L-509X Integrated Amplifier at Command Performance today!


Manufacturers spend BILLIONS in newspaper advertising to offer over $300 billion worth of grocery coupons every year. However, Consumers saved less than $2 billion by using these coupons. Since 90% of All households use coupons weekly, it's clear that consumers are not getting all the savings that are really available to them. The reason is that with newspaper coupons, savings are by chance, not choice. Now you can select the savings on the products you need when you need them. You select the groceries you want to buy from a list of national brand name products. No more clipping coupons to save on a few items. This program is guaranteed to save your family over $1000.00. It makes good economical sense to save on necessities of life.
Click the button below to add the $1000 Grocery Savers booklet to your wish list.


text:
Clothed In the Soft Horizon Mathew Adkins
Clothed In the Soft Horizon (1994)
Mathew Adkins
Clothed In the Soft Horizon
This work is based on the painting 'Fuji seen through the waves off Kanagawa' by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849).Wave paintings on screens and doors where characteristic in the Edo period. Hokusai's work is a summing up of this tradition. The painting has a quasi-fractal 'look' in the self-similarity of the wave tips to the waves themselves, this is an aspect that is exploited in the work. The work presents an interplay between event-gestures constructed in the studio and their natural counterparts. These are modelled after both individual water droplets and the motion of a wave that builds, crashes and breaks. The latter model permeates not only the overall structure of the work but also the spectromorphological design of many of the individual sounds. Anecdotal references included in the work stem from the concept of a 'flow' of ideas resulting from the stimulation of the imagination by a given word, in this instance 'water'. The work is not only a physical portrayal of the flow and motion of water, but also a personal response to it. The work is presented as a continuous but always changing expanse of sound.
More works by Mathew Adkins
Melt (1994)
Symbiont (2002)
Pagan Circus (1996)
Pagan Circus
Surfacing (2003)
Noumena (2000)
Noumena
Still Time (2001)
Still Time
Deepfield (2000)
Deepfield
Mapping (1997)
Liquid Neon (1999)
Liquid Neon
Breaking (1999)


Wing Chun Home Training with Sifu Adam Williss brings The Dragon Institute's proprietary Wing Chun training to your home!
The Dragon Institute's Wing Chun home training program blends authentic traditional Wing Chun training with a modernized approach including a curriculum specifically designed for the Western lifestyle and mindset. This is old school Wing Chun for the modern world!
Let's face it, 99% of Wing Chun videos on YouTube is full-on CRAP!
Garbage from clowns, self-appointed masters with no legitimacy, unqualified advice, inexperienced teachers, showboats and entertainers.
Why waste so much time sifting through hours of crappy Wing Chun videos when you can get quality Wing Chun training guaranteed! The quality of The Dragon Institute's Wing Chun Home Training Program is 100% Full-Money Back Guaranteed!
Sifu Adam Williss has been practicing Wing Chun for 24-years! He is the founder of The Dragon Institute, one of the most acclaimed Wing Chun schools in the world. He's taught thousands of students through his classes, private lessons and workshops. And owns two successful schools in Orange County, CA. Now you have the chance to learn directly from Adam Williss!
You've seen Sifu Adam Williss' Wing Chun lessons on YouTube. You see how he describes everything in detail and how insanely knowledgeable he is. This is how teaching should be. Detailed, clear, broken down.
Traditional yet not bound by it. Progressive yet with the experience to back up innovation.
Imagine what his exclusive training can give you? How would it feel to REALLY know Wing Chun?
The Dragon Institute's curriculum, has been specifically designed to be the easiest-to-follow and most logical approach to learning high quality Wing Chun in the world. This is our promise.
Now, it takes honest hard work from you and a real commitment to yourself.
Contact us today, so we can get you started!


These are the Stories Behind All of our Activities in the Community.
Participation and involvement in the community has become a priority at CES and we hope that it inspires others to do the same. We can tell you, whole-heartedly, that it not only helps improve our community but it makes us a far better company in a multitude of ways. We support many different activities in the Clearwater / Tampa Bay area and this activity helps us grow as a company and as individuals. We were on the ground helping in areas devastated by hurricanes, we help out in our own community garden across from our offices in downtown Clearwater.
Educating our Youth with the Truth about Drugs Whenever and Wherever We Can!
CES Says No To Drugs And Yes To Life And Is Rewarded And Acknowledged For Our Efforts!
CES is thankful to help others!
CES Contributes to Slashing Crime Rates and to Winning Silver Medals!


text:
import Resolver from './resolver';
export type { ResolveModuleConfig } from './resolver';
export * from './utils';
export default Resolver;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Nara Suite Serviced apartment Bangkok is located in Narathiwas Soi 24/ Sathupadit Soi 19. This is one of Bangkok's most popular areas for expatriates and has excellent access to all parts of the city. It's just 5 minutes away from Sathorn and 10 minutes from Silom - two of the city's most well know areas for business, entertainment and embassies.
The area has a wide choice of restaurants, coffee shops spa and a 24 hr supermarket. There is also an international school just 5 minutes walk away.
Nara Suite Serviced apartment Bangkok with affordable rates; daily, weekly, or monthly, and modern facilities, you can rest assured that Nara Suite will meet all your needs and provide a pleasant stay in Bangkok.
The ROOMS range from 35 sqm to 70 sqm and are fully equipped for a convenient and enjoyable stay for either business or pleasure, short or long term. Fully equipped with air conditioning, TV, Shower & bath tub, hot & cold water, dining and living set, kitchenette with 2 sets of dining utensils, stove, microwave and refrigerator.


text:
City states in the global economy: Industrial restructuring in Hong Kong and Singapore
Wing Kai Stephen CHIU, K. C. HO, Tai Lok LUI
Offices of the President (P)
Department of Asian and Policy Studies (APS)
This is the first serious comparative study of two dynamic Asian city-states that are emerging as key regional?indeed global?cities. Providing both historical comparisons and analyses of contemporary issues, the authors consider the patterns, strategies, and consequences of industrial restructuring. They build their analysis around the interrelationships of four institutional spheres: the global economy, the state, the financial system, and the labor market. This leads to a unique emphasis on the distinctiveness of individual NICs, as opposed to much of the literature in the field, which tends to group these Asian dragons together as a single, undifferentiated case.The book addresses three basic sets of questions tied to industrial restructuring in Hong Kong and Singapore: First, what are the basic patterns of restructuring in the two economies? What corporate strategies have manufacturers used to restructure their operations? Are Hong Kong and Singapore diverging or utilizing the same restructuring strategies? Second, how should the process of restructuring in the two economies and the concomitant similarities or divergencies be explained? Third, what are the consequences of the restructuring process for the two economies? How are these processes shaped by the shared histories of Hong Kong and Singapore as colonial port cities, their current status as NICs ?squeezed? between industrialized western societies and the Third World, and their role as important regional cities in East and Southeast Asia? Copyright © 1997 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
Taylor and Francis Inc
9780813336350, 081333635X
Chiu, S. W. K., Ho, K. C., & Lui, T.-L. (2018). City states in the global economy: Industrial restructuring in Hong Kong and Singapore. New York: Taylor and Francis Inc.
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'City states in the global economy: Industrial restructuring in Hong Kong and Singapore'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
industrial economy Social Sciences
Singapore Social Sciences
restructuring Social Sciences
Hong Kong Social Sciences
economy Social Sciences
financial system Social Sciences
Southeast Asia Social Sciences
Third World Social Sciences


text:
NDSU Opera Teaches Us All a Little About 'Patience'
Laura Ellen Brandjord February 11, 2019 No Comments
Gilbert and Sullivan's classic is still relatable today
NDSU OPERA | Photo Courtesy
Tyrie Williams plays the role of Colonel Calvery, the leader of the dragoon guards.
Tessa Hartl stars as the simple milkmaid, Patience, who has enrapt both poets.
For this year's spring production, the NDSU Opera presents Gilbert and Sullivan's satirical "Patience" Feb. 15 and 17.
The story unfolds in a small village, where the dragoon guards' usual routine of returning from fighting to the arms of the upper-class women of the town is disrupted by the introduction of a poet. Vocal performance major Tyrie Williams, who plays Colonel Calverley, explained, "They are used to going off to fight and coming back to the women of the village. Now they are all in love with this one poet, but the poet is only interested in the milkmaid Patience."
Of course, the tale of slighted love doesn't end there, as Williams continued: "Patience doesn't care for the poet. Eventually, another poet shows up and is also in love with Patience. This time, Patience reciprocates his feelings."
"Each generation suffers at the hands of some pretty ridiculous trends, and the folks of the late 19th century were no exception."
Tessa Hartl, "Patience"
Tessa Hartl plays the role of this simple milkmaid. Of her character, Hartl shared, "Patience the milkmaid represents both the innocence of youth and a voice of reason when everyone else is wrapped up in their drama and trends (even though for a little while she becomes the very center of this drama)."
As a vocal performance major with an emphasis in opera, Hartl said she considers her gained experience with NDSU Opera is invaluable. "You go in, sing a piece for the voice faculty and leave knowing that you have a pretty good chance of being accepted." Hartl explained a thick skin is needed to deal with rejection, especially in the world of opera before the age of 30. NDSU's friendlier atmosphere allows young vocalists to gain experience and the opportunity to mature their voices.
Esteemed guest director Frederic Heringes received high praise from the cast. "Fred is all about using the feeling and energy from the crowd, as well as what is going on in the story to help you interpret your lines in the moment. He doesn't believe in just learning the parts an exact way, and I really enjoy that." Williams explained. Hartl agreed, adding, "I admire his attention to detail and how he can remain so true to an opera's history all the while staging it in a way that breathes fresh life into it."
Both Williams and Hartl said they believed the opera is still relatable to audiences today. "Each generation suffers at the hands of some pretty ridiculous trends, and the folks of the late 19th century were no exception when it came to a liberal and artistic movement called 'aestheticism' that rankled stuffy British society," Hartl explained. "However, the heart of the opera is in everyone's struggle to find and understand the true meaning of love. Of course, each character comes to their answer by different means, just as we all do."
For those on the fence about going to see an opera, Williams and Hartl both recommended that you to give it a try. "You can't really say you don't like it until you at least try it once," Williams pointed out.
Hartl said she believes the opera would also appeal to fans of Monty Python, as the humor is in a similar vein: "This opera contains no shortage of high-energy shenanigans that I think still appeal to modern audiences. 'Patience' is full of catchy tunes and British silliness, which spans from making a mockery of authority to a tangled web of romance, and no matter where your fancy lies on that spectrum, it can be assured that there is something for everyone in this show." Hartl humorously added, "Plus, you can totally tout your sophistication to people because you just went to an opera. "
What: "Patience"
When: Friday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 17 at 2 p.m.
Where: Festival Concert Hall
For tickets, visit ndsu.showare.com or call the box office at 701.231.7969.
Previous Previous post: Save Yourself from Frostbite with Delivery
Next Next post: Fantasy Hoops | Trade Deadline Aftermath


text:
package org.apache.felix.scr.impl.inject;

public final class ActivatorParameter extends BaseParameter
{
    private final int m_reason;

    public ActivatorParameter(ScrComponentContext componentContext, int reason)
    {
        super(componentContext);
        this.m_reason = reason;
    }

    public int getReason()
    {
        return m_reason;
    }
}