The appeals court was deciding whether the National Labor Relations Board has the power to issue a rule requiring nearly 6 million private-sector employers to post notices informing workers of their right to join a union. Failure to post the notice would be, the NLRB says, an "unfair labor practice," equivalent to interfering with, restraining or coercing employees.
The regulation of speech about unionization has been tightly restricted for many decades. In 1947, Congress amended the National Labor Relations Act with this: "The expressing of any views, argument, or opinion, or the dissemination thereof, whether in written, printed, graphic, or visual form, shall not constitute or be evidence of an unfair labor practice under any of the provisions of this [act], if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit." The Supreme Court had already held that employers have First Amendment free-speech rights to engage in non-coercive speech about unionization.
In the recent case, the NLRB argued that the required posting is its own speech, not the speech of any employer. The appeals court disagreed and cited some "firmly established principles" of free-speech law, including "the right to decide not to disseminate" the speech of others. The Supreme Court has hitherto held that it is unconstitutional to force students to salute the flag. And the court has said "freedom of speech prohibits the government from telling people what they must say." Otherwise the First Amendment, "which guards the individual's right to speak his own mind, left it open to public authorities to compel him to utter what is not in his mind." Just because the NLRB wrote the required posting does not make it merely "government speech" rather than the coerced speech of employers who are compelled to disseminate it on their premises.
So the NLRB's rule requiring the posting was illegitimate. But, then, everything the NLRB, as currently constituted, does is illegitimate because two of its members were put in their seats by an unconstitutional act by President Obama.
So the D.C. court said those three appointees were not rightfully in office. The NLRB said it "respectfully" disagreed with the court and went its merry way, without a quorum. Absent the perfunctory expression of respect, this was pretty much what George Wallace did 50 years ago this year when he stood in the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama to prevent two young blacks from registering as students.
Wallace said the district judge who had ordered the admission of the students was entitled to his opinion but that he, Wallace, had a different opinion, so there. Which is essentially what the NLRB said when the D.C. court said the board lacked a quorum to act. The NLRB went on issuing edicts, legitimacy be damned.
Courts defeated Wallace's lawlessness. Presumably the Supreme Court will defeat Obama's by telling the NLRB that the D.C. court was right about recess appointments. By such judicial vigilance against the excesses of elected officials, democracy is disciplined and progressivism's agenda — unchecked executive power — is understood to be unconstitutional.


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Can Narendra Modi justify his newfound love for Pakistan after David Headley's confessions?
EPA/Verna Saddock
By MK Bhadrakumar
Published February 11, 2016 This article is more than 2 years old.
The deposition by David Headley, the Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, has not been earth-shaking in its content. We already knew almost everything he said.
Nonetheless, it was important to hear things from the horse's mouth.
Having said that, Headley also puts the Narendra Modi government in a serious dilemma.
What do we do now with what Headley has told us? That is the core issue. How exactly are we to follow up on his deposition?
The bureaucratic option is always there—share the contents of Headley's deposition with the Pakistani authorities through diplomatic channels and seek follow-up action in good faith.
But it will be a cynical thing to do to rest oars thereafter since we can be 100% certain that Pakistan will do nothing in the matter and will continue to parry.
Pakistan cannot and will not cooperate with India. It cannot cooperate with us because its culpability is crystal clear and those responsible for the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai included senior Pakistani military officers.
The Pakistani top brass's involvement in terrorism implies that any action on the Indian demarche by their government will bring the roof crashing down on the Inter-Services Intelligence, better known as ISI, and irreparably damage the reputation of their army as an institution.
It is too much to expect any Pakistani government—or any country for that matter—to indulge in such brutal soul-searching. Those who advocate atonement by Pakistan are either ignorant of statecraft or are simply dissimulating.
What else can India do? Indeed, a blistering international campaign can be launched with India's able diplomats firing all six cylinders to expose the grotesque face of Pakistan to the world community.
Foreign secretary S Jaishankar promised recently to put Pakistan to "shame".
Fine. But, where does that take us? For one thing, Pakistan's reputation is already in the mud but it has been chugging along, nonetheless. Some more mud isn't going to make any difference.
Besides, it is sheer naivete to believe we can put Pakistan to "shame." The international community is not willing to join hands with us on such a track.
Second, to every fistful of mud we throw at Pakistan, one can be certain that Islamabad will return with an equal fist. And if past experience is anything to go by, Pakistan has a way of getting the better of us in a slugfest.
Two options
The real dilemma lies on two other counts. One, how do we handle the relations with Pakistan in the aftermath of Headley's disclosures?
True, he didn't add much to what we already knew. But he did bring the 26/11 attack back into focus.
The memory was getting jaded in our collective consciousness, which is overcrowded since 2008 with scams, beef-eating, air pollution, gang rapes, et al. But the jaded memory got burnished in the past 48 hours. The pain has returned.
For the government, which also happens to be rooted in nationalist sentiments, it becomes difficult to be seen constructively engaging Pakistan when that country's enemy image is such a widely shared public perception.
Simply put, it is even difficult to defend Modi's overtures to Pakistan as "statesmanlike."
Equally, the foreign secretary's expected trip to Islamabad for talks will not make sense to the Indian public—in a near future, at least. The government might as well roll down the shutter and close shop as if Pakistan never existed. This is one option.
The other option will be to punish Pakistan in the same coin. The present government unabashedly admires Israel. Ask Israel how best we can punish Pakistan.
Political assassination is a favourite weapon in the Israeli armoury. Commando raid is another. Outright invasion is yet another.
Choose the method best suited to our needs and circumstances. And hit Pakistan hard—so hard that they cry for mercy. This is the second option.
Both these options are widely recommended by our pundits as mutually reinforcing ones, too. But then, there is a catch in all this.
Ignoring Pakistan is actually a non-option, if only because we simply cannot choose our neighbours. And in this case, there isn't any certainty that Pakistan is in any mood to "ignore" us. It will probably keep reminding us every now and then that it does remember us.
Again, even assuming we share the Israeli DNA, Pakistan is not Palestine. While Israel can use Gaza and West Bank as punch bags, if we punch Pakistan, make no mistake, it will punch back.
There is a moral in the story, after all, why Israel ceased to attack Lebanon once it transpired that Hezbollah has a stockpile of 40,000 rockets to retaliate. That is the story of all "asymmetric" wars.
Besides, do we really want to get entangled in a futile war of attrition with Pakistan and make it our way of life?
India has so much going for it by way of manifest destiny as an emerging power if only it could sustain a high momentum of growth—for which, of course, a peaceful immediate external environment is a crucial prerequisite. War and conflicts will be a drain on resources.
Diplomatic embarrassment
All in all, therefore, Headley's deposition poses a diplomatic embarrassment. He is an American citizen. What he divulged would already have been known to the US authorities.
On the other hand, the US has lately intensified its collaboration with Pakistan by forming an exclusive Quadrilateral Consultative Group to try and negotiate a settlement with the Taliban.
What emerges is that the US has specific interests to pursue in the region, which demands that Pakistan be cultivated as a key non-NATO regional ally.
The Obama administration continues to do business with the Pakistani military and the ISI despite their dalliance with Osama bin Laden who was responsible for the death of 2,996 people in America.
Suffice it to say, the only option open to India too will be to remain engaged with Pakistan, to lower the tensions in the relationship and work toward eliminating the root causes behind this "asymmetric" war.
This post first appeared on Scroll.in. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 206. Hereinafter cited as The New Extinct Peerage.
[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 222. Hereinafter cited as The New Extinct Peerage.
[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 234. Hereinafter cited as The New Extinct Peerage.
[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 235. Hereinafter cited as The New Extinct Peerage.
[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage, page 236.
[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 75. Hereinafter cited as The New Extinct Peerage.
[S21] L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage, page 238.


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"If it does not nourish your soul, get rid of it."
After years of accumulating items which I had deemed necessary at the time, I eventually discovered this baggage generated little joy, an epiphany that trickled in slowly as I recognized how these "things" were an attempt to fill the gaping hole in my heart.
Unraveling grief is a consuming and emotional journey into a darkness you cannot escape regardless of the alcohol, food or purchases you consume, grief has no relief. But oh how I searched with each stage demanding its own voyage. A path of self-discovery that cannot be ignored, although I often tried.
It was not until I began releasing the notion that things could fill the grievous parts of my life, traveling through the sadness instead of around where I began to uncover gratitude. Discovering pieces of grace provided something to grasp, a tangible heirloom of the love in my heart, an invitation to forgive these constraints.
In order to practice mindfulness, I needed to unravel the pain and examine it in new ways, without distractions like purchases, food or any other fill in the blank to act as a medicine while surrendering what no longer serves me.
Beginning with mindful purchases, and trial and error practice, when thoughts tried to convince me otherwise, I began to recite, does this speak joyfully to my soul?
Penning my pain into journals and stories, letters to Ryan or my father on how I was attempting to survive and surrendering to the emotions allowed it to unravel any myths I had gathered. A relief providing space to breathe and the grace to understand the gifts of love and life that I had been given.
Thank you for your loving words. Going through the darkness is not an easy thing to do, but making that choice is the first step into the darkness. We can not forget the past, we can forgive it. Gratitude is so easy to give, so easy to find, but so many times we pass it on by. I travel through the darkness with you but when you find the light it is such a blessing.
Looking forward to Spring!! Love and prayers, hugs and kisses as you look forward to your precious "bundle of joy!"


Tech journalist Pamela Pfiffner explores the rich history behind the modern publishing revolution, as seen through the lens of one of its most important players. In the past 20 years, Adobe Systems has become synonymous with great design tools, and the company's impact on how we work in publishing, graphic arts, and on the Web is unmatched. Join Pfiffner on a colorful journey from the roots of the desktop publishing revolution through the rise of the Web and interactive design. Along the way, you'll witness the birth and evolution of PostScript, the explosion of the Photoshop market, the realization of the paperless office, and other events that have shaped the way we communicate.


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Is afforestation in any case climate-friendly?
Because trees absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, some scientists see reforestation as a possible measure to reduce carbon dioxide-induced global warming. However, simulations on the "Piz Daint" supercomputer show that afforestation of grasslands can be counterproductive.
October 12, 2020 - by Simone Ulmer
Planting trees to combat climate change is a frequently and controversially discussed idea in recent times. Trees bind carbon dioxide (CO2) trough photosynthesis and could therefore remove this gas from the atmosphere for a certain period of time. However, when the trees die, for example, or if they are used as firewood, the greenhouse gas returns to the atmosphere. Furthermore, biogeophysical changes resulting from afforestation could also have consequences that call into question the possible benefits of this measure. This assumption is confirmed by the latest simulations carried out by Edouard L. Davin, Senior Scientist at the Institute for Atmosphere and Climate at ETH Zurich, on the "Piz Daint" supercomputer at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS). Together with an international team of scientists participating in a large-scale pilot study on how land use and climate influence each other across different scales (Land Use and Climate Across Scales Flagship Pilot Study), Davin shows that the reforestation of northern regions could even lead to a winter warming.
Land use change affects the climate
Land use change affects, among other things, the albedo of the Earth's surface, i.e. the amount of solar radiation that is reflected back to the atmosphere. For example, a snow-covered tree population at higher altitudes reflects much less solar radiation than a treeless landscape with a closed snow cover, resulting in a warmer environment. Similar feedback processes can also occur in the water cycle between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere when land use change impacts plant transpiration and evaporation of water (evapotranspiration). Even changes in the roughness of the Earth's surface can influence climate — the smoother a surface is, the less turbulence is generated in the lower atmosphere.
Until recently, it was difficult to quantify the extent of these biogeophysical effects. However, there is increasing evidence that changes in land use are driving local and regional climate change, writes Davin's team in their publication, which appeared in the journal Earth System Dynamics. The researchers therefore argue that the impacts of land use change should not only be taken into account in global models, as is currently the case, but also in regional climate models.
Improving regional climate simulations
They have now taken the first step in this direction with their latest study, which aims to integrate land use change into regional climate simulations across Europe. By comparing model simulations in which Europe is either maximally forested or without any forests at all, they attempted to quantify the biogeophysical effects of such land use changes on the regional climate. For the simulations — which the researchers describe as idealised experiments — they used a multi-model approach for the first time that included an ensemble of nine different regional climate models.
This ensemble of simulations with different combinations of land and atmospheric models enabled the researchers to compare the respective influence of atmospheric and land processes. They found that at maximum afforestation, the simulations across all nine models show temperatures over northern Europe average + 0.2° to +1° Celsius warmer in winter and spring than in a grassland landscape. According to the researchers, this is the direct result of reduced sunlight reflection (albedo) due to afforestation. For summer and autumn, however, the underlying models give a very heterogeneous picture, ranging from large-scale cooling of up to -2° Celsius to a warming of +2° Celsius following afforestation. The researchers suspect that this is due to the fact that the models show large differences in the evapotranspiration response to afforestation.
Coniferous versus broadleaf trees
The uncertainties in the simulations of the summer and autumn months clearly show the researchers that they must continue to improve their models. However, they are convinced that, despite idealised conditions, their multi-model approach could provide better and more reliable information for land use planning than individual models. "Another essential aspect to consider in future research is the type of trees used for afforestation", says Davin, echoing a study recently published in Scientific Reports in which he was involved. "Foresters tend to favour coniferous trees for economic reasons. But in many regions, broadleaf trees could be better adapted to a warmer climate and provide more cooling effect".
Davin, EL et al.: Biogeophysical impacts of forestation in Europe: first results from the LUCAS (Land Use and Climate Across Scales) regional climate model intercomparison, Earth Syst. Dynam. (2020), 11, 183–200, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-11-183-2020.
Schwaab, J, Davin, EL, Bebi, P et al.: Increasing the broad-leaved tree fraction in European forests mitigates hot temperature extremes Sci Rep 10, 14153 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-71055-1.
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The latest DRI Training course, 'Preparing Your Collection for DRI', recently finished its current round in Dublin. This course is geared towards collection curators who do not have an archival background and do not have extensive experience with managing collections, but is also useful for trained archivists and experienced collection curators who wish to find out how their skills apply to the management of collections within the Digital Repository of Ireland. The course consists of a series of four one-hour seminars, and the slides from the recent seminars are now available to download from the DRI Slideshare account.
Rebecca Grant - DRI Training Series: 1. Organising Your Collection. Download slides here.
Tim Keefe - DRI Training Series: 2. Digitising Your Collection. Download slides here.
Clare Lanigan - DRI Training Series: 3. Understanding Copyright. Download slides here.
Kathryn Cassidy - DRI Training Series: 4. Metadata and XML. Download slides here.
The course is due to be repeated outside Dublin, and will be built upon in future DRI Training courses. For updates, check this website, join our mailing list and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.


Ferrybank is a suburb of Waterford City in Ireland. Much of Ferrybank is under the political jurisdiction of Waterford City and County council and thus an area of administration for Waterford City, on the northern bank of the River Suir, extending into County Waterford. However, some parts of Ferrybank extend into County Kilkenny and are administered by Kilkenny County Council. There is an ongoing boundary dispute between both jurisdictions, with debates and proposals ongoing for many decades.
The Ross Abbey Town Centre Shopping Complex was built in 2008 at a cost of €7 million and was sold in 2013 for €225k. It remains empty since it was constructed.
The Ferrybank Shopping Centre on the south Kilkenny/Waterford border was completed in 2008 at a cost of €100m. It has never opened, due to the failure of Dunne's Stores to take up its planned anchor tenancy.


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A Painful Reminiscence of a Dignified Soul - eBook
A Painful Reminiscence of a Dignified Soul
By: Zhong Da
As a youth, Zhong Da was strong-armed into joining the Communist Party of China. Under Mao Zedong, he suffered extreme persecution due to his honesty and sense of justice. Yet he still remained a pure and dignified person. In A Painful Reminiscence of a Dignified Soul, Da seeks to show the true history of Mao's China. While he is still held in high esteem by the people of China, he was in fact the most base, shameful, cruelest, and most vicious dictator in the history of the world. Da uses all the facts at his disposal to show the horrors of communism and remind people that they must live meaningful, dignified, and ethical lives with a loving heart, a clean conscience, and the pure heart of a child.
Zhong Da was born in the Jiangsu Province of China. He was a senior editor of The Youth Publishing House of China; Researcher of Academy of Social Sciences of Jiangsu Prov.; Council Member of Translators' Association of China. Now he retires to write at home. He is currently a senior editor and a research fellow of sociology.
(2020, eBook)
The Unruly Soul - eBook
A Soul for Sale - eBook
The Soul in Our Hearts - eBook
The Anchor of Soul - eBook
Triggering and Increasing Palliative Care Consults in the Emergency Room
Triggering and Increasing Palliative Care Consults in the Emergency Room - eBook
Grampa Solarman's Tales of the Olde Quest: Volume 1
Grampa Solarman's Tales of the Olde Quest: Volume 1 - eBook
D-Day Man
D-Day Man - eBook
Undone - eBook
An Absence of Honor: Activist Essays


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Asus Zenfone 2 Review: Very Fast, Very Affordable
With a world's-first 4GB of RAM and U.S.-first Intel Atom CPU, the Asus Zenfone 2 goes toe to toe with other flagship phones for less than half the price.
By Sam Rutherford 18 May 2015
Flagship-level performance and 4GB of RAM
Micro SD storage with two micro-SIM slots
Solid performance
Robust camera features
Just $299 unlocked
Weak speakers
Awkward power-button placement
A bit heavy
Today's best Asus Zenfone 2 Review deals
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Phones like the Oneplus One and Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 exposed a weakness in flagship smartphone elitism by offering very competitive packages for significantly less money. But Asus' Zenfone 2 may be the dagger in the heart. Not only is the Zenfone 2 the first phone in the world packing 4GB of RAM, but it's also the first phone in the United States with a 64-bit Intel Atom CPU, instead of the Snapdragons and Exynos processors consumers are used to seeing.
But Asus didn't stop there. The Zenfone 2 boasts a 13-megapixel rear camera with some clever shooting modes, a 5.5-inch full-HD screen, and a removable back with support for two SIM cards and expandable microSD storage. While it involves some trade-offs, such as below-average battery life, the Zenfone 2 really makes you wonder why you'd spend $600 or more on a phone ever again.
Who it's for: Smartphone shoppers willing to go the unlocked route to get very fast performance and a big screen for a low price.
Configurations and Networks
The Zenfone 2 comes in two unlocked flavors: the $299 model with a 2.3-GHz Intel Atom Z3580 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage reviewed here; and a $199 version with a 1.83-GHz Intel Atom Z3560 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. Both versions will be available direct from Asus' online store, or the typical list of online retailers such as Newegg, Amazon and B&H.
The Zenfone 2 supports the following bands: FDD LTE 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/9/177/18/19/20/28/29, TDD LTE 38/39/40/41, WCDMA 850/900/1900, TD-SCDMA 1900/2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900, although network functionality varies from country to country. In the United States, the Zenfone 2 supports both 3G and 4G LTE on T-Mobile and AT&T. You can activate this just by sliding in your SIM.
Design: Like the G4 but with a twist
With a 5.5-inch screen, plastic removable back and rear-mounted volume rocker, the Zenfone 2 strikes more than a passing resemblance to LG's G4. But Asus has incorporated a few traits to give the Zenfone 2 a personality of its own.
(Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)
In front, the glossy black Zenfone 2 is one of the few phones still championing three capacitive-touch buttons for back, home and menu on its bottom bezel. Below, its chin features a subtle laser-cut concentric-ring finish, which is a birthmark tying it to the design language seen on Asus' other Zen devices.
Annoyingly, Asus put the power/lock button in the middle of the top edge, a move opposing the more common side-placement seen on most phablets. This forces people with smaller hands to awkwardly shimmy their grip up the phone in order to lock the screen. Thankfully, the Zenfone 2 supports tap-to-wake, making a couple quick hits on the screen a much more accessible unlocking alternative, even with just one hand.
The rounded plastic back features a faux brushed-aluminum texture, a 13-megapixel camera sandwiched between the dual-tone flash and elongated volume rocker, and a speaker grille on the bottom. Prying the back off reveals the two slots for micro-SIM cards and one for microSD. You can also see the battery peeking out from behind the plastic shroud, but Asus says it's not user-replaceable (although some intrepid screw-removing owners may beg to differ).
As LG does with the G4, Asus offers additional backs, featuring a multi-faceted crystalline pattern or colored gradients, but nothing in leather. There's no word yet on pricing for these accessories.
At 6 x 3.04 x 0.15-0.43 inches and weighing 6 ounces, the Zenfone 2 is heavier and thicker than other 5.5-inch phablets, such as the LG G4 (5.86 x 3 x 0.24-0.39 inches and 5.47 ounces), Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 (6.01 x 2.95 x 0.29 inches and 4.85 ounces) and the OnePlus One (6.01 x 2.98 x 0.35 inches and 5.71 ounces).
MORE: Best Smartphones on the Market Now
Display: Colorful but a bit dim
While many phablets have moved to quad-HD screens, the Zenfone 2 holds firm at 1,920 x 1,080 on its 5.5-inch IPS display. The Zenfone 2's blacks looked significantly better than the washed-out grays I saw on Alcatel's Onetouch Idol 3, but not quite as inky as those on AMOLED screens like on the Galaxy S6. The Asus phone also failed to keep DC's heroes in the Legends of Tomorrow trailer from looking like a knock-off version of the Avengers. But it did capture the electric-orange dashes and the Atom's glowing armored suit with the accuracy and excitement to make it entertaining.
Producing 325 nits of brightness, the Zenfone 2 couldn't quite match the output of screens from the LG G4 (396), Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 (736 nits) or OnePlus One (432 nits). The difference was most evident outside, where the Zenfone 2's screen was a bit harder to read than the others.
The Zenfone's range of colors is just a few percentage points away from ideal, as its panel reproduced 96 percent of the sRGB spectrum. That's more than the Onetouch Idol 3 (94) and the OnePlus One (93), but less than the LG G4 (110).
The one aspect where the Zenfone 2 fell short was color accuracy, as it notched a Delta-E error rating of 8.5 (closer to zero is better). The LG G4 and Idol 3 both performed better, at 3.5 and 2.6, respectively.
MORE: Best Free Android Apps
The Zenfone 2 also comes with Asus' Splendid display-tuning app, so you can choose from among multiple color profiles. Options include Standard, Reading, Vivid or Auto, or you can create your own using the slider. There's even a Glove mode, so you don't have to worry about buying a new set of touch-screen–friendly hand protectors in the winter.
Audio: Rear-facing speakers just don't cut it
When I first saw the large bezels on the top and bottom of the Zenfone 2, I was hoping Asus had managed to cram front-facing speakers into its phablet. Unfortunately, sound has been relegated to a single speaker on the back. As a result, the Zenfone 2 delivered low volume and weak bass by projecting audio away — and not toward — my ears.
When I listened the Tame Impala's "Eventually," the distorted lows crackled and hissed in protest, while the snare drums sounded shallow and tinny.
Asus' Audiowizard app features several presets for music, movies, gaming and more, and a smart mode for automatically selecting what's best, but it didn't do much to improve the overall audio quality.
ZenUI: A nirvana of gestures and customization
The Zenfone 2 runs Android 5.0 with Asus' ZenUI skin on top. A swipe down from the home screen still opens up the notifications tray, and swiping with two fingers reveals the entire quick-settings menu. A swipe up from the bottom opens the ZenUI launcher, which gives you fast access so you can customize widgets, wallpapers, themes, settings and more.
You can customize almost everything, from the look of the folders and your preferred font, to the animations you see when flipping between screens, with the ability to find new options on Google's Play Store.
ZenUI also adds new gestures to your repertoire, so you can summon your email inbox by tracing a lower case "e" on the screen when it's off, or a "c" to launch right into the camera. You can select up to six different apps in this way, so getting into your favorite app is often just one letter away.
Additionally, Asus includes built-in Trend Micro security to protect you from phishing attempts and malicious software, and a Kids Mode so you can select which apps children are allowed to use, while also blocking incoming calls unless you input a password.
Performance: Flagship-level power for half the price
The performance of the Zenfone 2 distinguishes it not only from other $300 phones, but also catapults it onto nearly the same footing as current flagships.
This comes from Intel's 2.3-GHz quad-core 64-bit Atom Z3580 CPU, a globe-topping 4GB of RAM and 64GB of flash storage. This gives the Zenfone 2 a massive well of power to draw from, like a Corvette idling at a stoplight, so navigating the home screen or playing 1080p movies was always smooth and fluid.
The PowerVR Series 6 G6430 GPU also handled gaming with ease. When I played Mortal Kombat X for Android, the Zenfone 2 never lagged or stuttered, allowing Sub-Zero and me to show Scorpion a grisly demise by way of an icicle made of out of his own frozen heart.
Using Geekbench 3 to measure overall performance, the Zenfone 2 scored 2,832. That's higher than the OnePlus One (2,504) and the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 (2,029), but short of the Snapdragon 808-powered LG G4 (3,493). The smartphone average is 2,440.
Performance was even better in 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited graphics test, in which the Zenfone 2 scored 20,588. That's three times better than the Onetouch Idol 3 (6,384), and also higher than the OnePlus One (18,399), LG G4 (18,510) and smartphone average of 14,883.
The Zenfone 2 also beat its closest competition when it came to video editing, by converting a 204MB 1080p movie to 480p in just 3 minutes and 40 seconds. That's faster than the Onetouch Idol 3 (8:22), OnePlus One (5:58) and the LG G4 (4:13).
I did notice that occasionally under load, the back of the Zenfone near the camera got a little warm, but it never became too hot to touch. Just once, when using the Boostmaster fast charge after streaming a 1080p movie, a notification popped up saying the CPU had overheated, but after another full day of use, I never saw that message again.
If you're wondering whether the Intel modem inside the Zenfone 2 offers good 4G LTE performance, it held up well against the Galaxy S6 Edge on T-Mobile's network. In the same location, the Zenfone 2 averaged 5.6 Mbps downloads and 7.8 Mbps uploads on the Speediest.net app, versus 6.1 Mbps down and 7.3 Mbps up for the Samsung.
Camera: Good, but could use some tweaking
Asus makes some pretty big claims about the cameras in the Zenfone 2, saying they can "See What Others Can't See." While that's true for some of the cameras' advanced shooting modes, their standard auto shots don't have the same kind of prowess as the phone's CPU and RAM.
The Zenfone 2 sports a 13-megapixel Toshiba camera with dual-tone flash and PixelMaster 2.0 tech in the rear, and a 5-MP OmniVision shooter up front, both with apertures of f/2.0. And to see how they performed, I put their pictures up against a similarly priced competitor in the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 and my current favorite smartphone camera, the Samsung Galaxy S6.
(Image credit: Samuel C. Rutherford)
In a daytime shot, the Zenfone 2's rear camera did a good job capturing One World Trade Center towering over lower Manhattan, with sharp details on the flag in the foreground and buildings in the background. However, I noticed some blown-out highlights in the sky and on the tower of the WTC, details the Samsung Galaxy S6 or similarly priced Onetouch Idol 3 did not miss.
MORE: The Best Smartphone Cameras
The Zenfone 2 struggled indoors, capturing too much yellow when shooting a spread of pears and nectarines, something that, again, did not confuse other cameras.
In a low-light shot of the cavernous terminal at Grand Central Station, the Zenfone 2 did better than the underexposed photo of the Onetouch Idol 3. But with its orange color cast, the Zenfone 2's image lacked the color accuracy and detail of the Galaxy S6's shot.
The Zenfone 2's worst shot was the one I took with its dual-tone flash. While this shot did capture accurate skin tones on my roommate's face, it came at the expense of everything else, including too much grain, and harsh highlights. It was a little better than the Alcatel's underexposed shot, but not quite up to the quality of the GS6's photo, which looked a little yellow, but featured even and properly exposed light.
The Zenfone 2 makes selfies simple, because the volume-down button on the rocker doubles as a shutter. With 5 megapixels to work with, shots came out crisp. Even in less-than-ideal light, the Zenfone 2 captured the slight redness in my face from sun exposure the previous day, as well as the varied plaid patterns in my shirt. Just remember that Beauty mode is on by default every time you switch to the front-facing camera, which can make you look like an anime character if the slider is set too high.
Advanced Camera Features: A sight to behold
For more-proficient photographers, Asus adds a manual mode available from the menu in the bottom right (in landscape view) that includes settings for ISO, shutter speed, white balance, exposure compensation and selective focus.
Unfortunately, the options are more limited than what the camera can do in auto mode; I saw shots in auto at ISO 1100, while the highest option in manual was ISO 800.
But the best thing about manual mode is the inclusion of a histogram, which is a visual representation of the light and tones in an image. Using this tool, you know your photo will be well exposed even before you take it, and will look good on anyone's screen (important when sending pictures to others).
Asus also touts multiple special modes, the most important ones being SuperHDR, Super Resolution and — my favorite — the low-light mode. SuperHDR promises more detail for backlit photos, combining multiple shots into a single composite image, while Super Resolution combines four 13-MP shots into a 52-MP monster-size photo using what Asus calls Multiframe fusion. Both modes worked well, but if your hands are shaky or the subject isn't well lit, Super Resolution photos come out blurry and grainy.
MORE: Best Photo Editing Software
But the low-light mode really takes the cake by merging four adjacent pixels into one. This cuts resolution from 13 MP to 3 MP, but allows for increased light collection so you can take pictures in places you never thought possible. You even get prompted automatically to enter this mode, by an owl that pops up on the screen, so you don't even need to dive into the menu to select it.
In my room lit only by the glow of my two desktop monitors, the Zenfone 2 captured a stunning picture of my Nikes sitting on top of a Surface 3. By comparison, a shot from the Galaxy S6 looked more like a sad, impressionist painting than a photo, while the shot from the Onetouch Idol 3 didn't come out at all.
Battery Life: Drains fast, charges fast
It seems Intel and Asus still have some work to do on battery efficiency. On the Tom's Guide Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over 4G at 150 nits of brightness), the Zenfone 2's 3,000-mAh battery lasted just 7 hours and 5 minutes.
That's half an hour shorter than the LG G4 (7:38) and an hour less than the smartphone average (8:18). This runtime is also 2 hours less than the Onetouch Idol 3 (9:16), and a far cry from the OnePlus One's 13:16.
MORE: 10 Smartphones with the Longest Battery Life
Fortunately, what the Zenfone 2 lacks in longevity, it compensates for with Boostmaster fast-charging. Starting from 25 percent battery, the Zenfone 2 got back to 72 percent in just 30 minutes, compared to the Idol 3's 50 percent in the same amount of time. A nearby Samsung Galaxys S6 Edge with its Quick Charge 2.0 barely beat the Zenfone's recharging feats by going from 25 percent to 76 percent in the same half hour. It, however, has a smaller, 2,600-mAh battery.
ZenUi Apps: An alternative to Google and a little more
Asus includes more than 20 apps on the Zenfone 2, which mostly provide an alternative to Google apps like Play Music and Photos. However, there are some gems like the AutoStart Manager, which makes it easy to specify which apps start up when you turn on the phone.
The four ZenLink apps are the best of the bunch, providing super-simple ways to share files and data with another smartphone or PC. The ShareLink app transfers movies, music and even entire apps with just a couple touches over Wi-Fi Direct, so you don't even need Bluetooth or an Internet connection to use it. Because the app is available for free on the Play Store, it works with almost any Android device.
Party Link is the same thing but for multiple devices at the same time, and PC Link pairs the Zenfone to a computer so you can see and control your phone over USB or Wi-Fi. Remote Link allows your Zenfone 2 to operate as a wireless mouse, keyboard or controller for your computer.
Asus crammed more RAM into its phone than any company before, and its Intel Atom CPU smokes other midrange unlocked phones like the Alcatel Onetouch Idol 3 and OnePlus One. Its removable back plate adds both style (with additional colors and designs) and substance (with access to the microSD and dual SIM card slots). I also appreciate some of the software features Asus included, such as ZenUI Launcher, gesture control and PC Link.
The Zenfone isn't perfect, though. Its battery life is lacking; its rear-facing speakers underwhelm, and the rear camera — even with its advanced shooting modes — can't match the quality of top-tier smartphones. But at $299, it doesn't have to.
You wouldn't be insane for picking a Samsung Galaxy S6 or LG G4 over the Zenfone 2, but you would be crazy for not considering it, and the money you'd save.
No Contract Phone FAQ
Best Family Plans
Mobile Wallets: Apple Pay vs. Google Wallet vs. Samsung Pay
togo09 20 May 2015 11:30
Very good review, Tom, also if you would compare 4GB asus zenfone 2 with 64 GB oneplus one, which one would you preferred
twisterkiran 10 June 2015 15:53
With minimal usage Im getting close to 3 days of Battery life and the Camera is a work of art for those who know a little bit of Photography . I would go on to say that this will be the best phone of 2015 for the price at which it is being offered. And as far as OTA updates is concerned, they are the fastest I guess.On 2 successive Mondays I got OTA updates fixing Yellowish tint in Camera and battery life. Its a great phone all in all. Im super happy. My search for the Incredible has ended. :-)
Kiran Nayaknur
WhatsApp just revealed a big upgrade to keep you from jumping ship
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Before Tim Burton's Batman, Heath Ledger's Joker and the Dark Knight rose, there was the 1960's version of the caped crusader. And boy, was it glorious. Not only was it delightfully over-the-top, but it was also a pure celebration of the childish joy that comic-books of the era embodied. So news that a Batman '66 animated film is in the works was met with fervent celebration, as should the revelation that Julie Newmar will be appearing.
According to 13th Dimension's sources, the animated film will feature the vocal talents of Newmar, however they refused to confirm whether she would once again be portraying Catwoman. But I'm pretty sure it goes without saying that she will be. Because if she doesn't, then those involved will have a full-scale riot on their hands, the likes of which has only been seen when Arkham Ayslum's walls have been penetrated. The aforementioned publication confirmed that Warner Bros. have so far failed to provide a definite answer on this rumor, however their insiders are adamant it's happening.
It's already been confirmed that both Adam West and Burt Ward, who wonderfully portrayed Batman and Robin, respectively, throughout the 1960s, are on-board for the project too, which means that the film has a full-blown reunion on its hands.
81-year-old Newmar effortlessly portrayed the devilish Catwoman in the first two seasons of the 1960s Batman television show. However, Lee Meriwether replaced her for the 1966 Batman feature film, while Eartha Kitt took her place for the third season of the show.
But despite these other performances, Julie Newmar, who also forged a formidable theater career that resulted in her winning a Tony award, has always held a firm place in the hearts of Batman fans across the world. In fact, her portrayal of Catwoman is regarded as the pinnacle of the character. Even Michelle Pfeiffer's turn as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in Tim Burton's Batman Returns and Anne Hathaway's as the feline inspired anti-heroine in The Dark Knight Rises didn't come close to eclipsing Newmar's popularity.
Both Burt Ward and Adam West confirmed that they'd be returning for the film as the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder at last weekend's Mad Monster Party convention in North Carolina. Ward also teased that the animated Batman feature film would be 90 minutes long and would be out in time for the 50th anniversary of the original Batman TV series, which ran from 1966 to 1968.


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Q: cannot use object of type stdClass as array when trying to modify a array I've just read a simple array from my db that was json_encoded, so i decoded it and tried to change a value at index 0, but i get the following error
cannot use object of type stdClass as array when trying to modify a array
any help?

A: by default json strings are decoded as objects and not arrays.
so you must use json_decode's second parameter. so your call should be like this:
$array = json_decode($string, true);

A: A JSON-encoded entity can be an object or an array - it appears that in your example it's an object (of type stdClass). You can either reference it as an object
$jsonProperty = $decoded->property;

save the original JSON object as an array
$encodedJson = json_encode((array) $object);

or force decoding as an associative array
$decodedJson = json_decode($json, true);

Personally I'd use the first option and refer to a JSON object with PHP's object access notation for clarity.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How students are making the grade up and down the Main Line.
• At Barrack Hebrew Academy, the only pluralistic Jewish day school in the Tri-State area, seniors can enroll in an engineering course to engage in advanced projects like building and designing bridges and other structures, launching rockets, and formulating cosmetics. Upperclassmen serve as mentors to students in middle-school science courses.
• The Baldwin School goes beyond AP testing with its innovative Capstone Courses, which explore areas of intensive study.
• Upper-school students at the Agnes Irwin School can partake in Transitions, an enrichment seminar that addresses such topics as self-defense, financial literacy, study skills, computer safety, the college admission process, nutrition and more.
• Juniors and seniors at the Shipley School can decide their own course of independent study in areas outside the normal curriculum. Recent subjects have included Buddhism, marine biology, climate change and sustainability.
• The Westtown School utilizes its rural 600-acre campus as a living laboratory for classes in biology and research ecology.
• At Villa Maria Academy, 10 faculty members lead students in five different ensembles and offer instruction in more than 20 instruments. So it's no surprise that students routinely do well in regional and all-state competitions.
• Merion Mercy Academy students don't have to wait until college to opt for online classes. AP micro-economics, AP macroeconomics, AP psychology and Mandarin Chinese are just a few of the courses offered on the Web.


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https://www.fairplanet.org/story/growth-for-the-country-dust-for-the-peasants/
Growth for the country, dust for the peasants
Pablo Pérez Álvarez
Las Bambas, mining, Peru, Pisaccasa
They were made promises of employment and development with the building of a huge mine, but the indigenous peasants in the Andean region of Cotabambas have so far got damaged crops, dead livestock, a rising cost of living and, worst of all, dead protestors.
Ebert Buendía longs for the life they had in his village, Pisaccasa, one kilometer from Las Bambas mine, in the South of Peru. He thinks that the pit has caused too many conflicts and very few benefits for the zone. "We used to live off our lands quietly, peacefully. Nobody disturbed us," he says.
Cotabamba's population, quechua (the ancient language used by the incas) speakers, used to consume the outcome of their crops (potatoes, corn, quinoa, legumes…). Occasionally they sold a cow or a sheep to buy some staples they couldn't produce and some months of every year the men emigrated to cities to get a paid job. Their incomes were very low and, neglected by the State, they had very poor public services including health, education and infrastructure.
So they welcomed with hope the arrival of a huge mining project in the region that, when fully operating, extracts 450,000 tons of copper a year, and almost twice that in other minerals (like zinc, molybdenum and silver). The company that owns the mine, at the beginning the Swiss Xtrata, promised them development for the region, employment opportunities in the pit and a low environmental impact, as it would take their raw production away through a pipeline.
"We were convinced that a complete change, a great advance was coming for Cotabambas," Ebert recalls. That's why the allowed the mine to widen the unpaved road that passes through the region, so they could use it during the mine construction period to bring the required equipment and supplies, according to the temporary contract signed in 2010.
During the construction, things ran relatively smoothly. The mining company hired a lot of local labour force and tried to keep the villagers happy with some aid programs. But once the mine was finished and the extraction began, it brought qualified workers from outside. The locals were scarcely hired and, if they were, it was mostly for the lesser paid jobs: drivers, security guards, and cleaning staff.
"Here we don't have any chance to work for the company. They just bring people from other parts of Peru. If we cannot get a job there, where are we going to get it?" Ebert asks.
Besides, "the investment in the village by the company has been zero", he says. The firm will pay a mining canon for the right to extract minerals and a part of that will be managed directly by the municipalities, but many years may pass before that. According to the Peruvian laws, which are very friendly to foreign investment, it has a grace period to regain its investment and, in any case, it won't pay anything until at least 2022.
Contrary to the promises made, "we are poorer than before", Ebert claims. This is because "the mining company has made the cost of living increase. Things cost double what they did before it arrived. Where is the peasant going to get that money if he only lives off his potatoes?", he wonders.
Mining activity is the backbone of the Peruvian economy, but the pattern of the projects in this activity is always the same. Most of the mines are located in Andean zones, very poor and underdeveloped, and they generate wealth for the country's economy but they leave only environmental damage and social conflicts in their midst.
The mining concession changed hands in 2014 and was bought by the Chinese company MMG. The new owner changed the terms of the project with the government's approval but without consulting the local population.
On one hand, it decided not to make a pipeline and to take away the raw minerals in trucks by road. On the other hand, it built a processing plant for molybdenum, initially planned in another region.
"The molybdenum doesn't affect human health, but it has a very strong stink, very annoying," points out Ana Leyva, director of Cooperacción, a sustainable development NGO that has been working for the Cotabambas' peasant population since the beginning of the project.
"In addition to that, this mineral has an effect on the animals, as it causes them an illness, although this hasn't been very investigated yet," admits Leyva, who regrets the lack of information from the company and the government.
But the main problem so far has been the use of the unpaved road to transport the minerals, as the big trucks that carry them raise clouds of dust that are undermining the crops and the pastures, and causing respiratory health problems, mainly for those who are the most vulnerable: children and the elderly.
"The field where our cattle graze is covered by the dust. By consuming pasture with dust, the livestock is starting to die. And nobody accepts responsibility for it," says Juan Carlos Huilca, another neighbour of Pisaccasa. The crops are also affected by the dust and "they no longer produce as they used to do," he adds. "In this area there's no life anymore".
Since Las Bambas became operational at the beginning of this year, around 250 trucks take the minerals away daily and come back to the mine to be charged again. In addition to the dust, the convoys - with up to 30 vehicles - circulate day and night, on a road that passes through several little villages, causing noise, vibrations and the risk of accidents and spills.
In Pisaccasa, trucks cross through the middle of the town and it's causing houses to crack, disrupting sleep and the tranquility of locals, filling their homes, the school and the health center with dust.
The unilateral changes in the project by the company have triggered the anger of the Cotabambas population. In September last year they protested against the mine and paralysed activities in the mining zone. The Peruvian government, then lead by the unpopular president Ollanta Humala (whose term ended last July) sent hundred of policemen to placate the revolt. The result was three peasants dead and dozens injured.
The local population has since avoided more confrontations and have been trying for months to reach agreements with the Chinese company in a dialogue process along with governmental participation, but it has taken too long to produce any results. At the beginning of October, MMG and the Peruvian government agreed to pave the road to halt the dust problem. But still a lot of peasants don't agree at all with the use of the road. On 14th October a new protest resulted in clashes with the police and another man was shot dead.
There are still many conflicting issues to solve and grievances to redress. "We are not against the mining company," says Felipe Mamani, who represents 29 little villages in the talks. "We also wish for the growth of the country but we don't want this company to come here to abuse indigenous people."
© Pablo Pérez Álvarez
Peasants from Las Bambas claim that the mine is ruining their crops production
General view of the Las Bambas mine
A truck from Las Bambas passing through Pisaccasa
An indigenous peasant from Mara shows the rest of two dead cows. She blames the Las Bambas mine because the dust its trucks cause ruins the pastures and the water springs
Protect the indigenous populations across the world!
Duties to the community
Paradigm shift urgently needed
Frank Odenthal
A new report has been published ahead of the UN World Food Summit, which will take place in 2021, calling for a radical shift in today's agriculture.
Nicaragua's Indigenous People face a humanitarian crisis
Georg Diez
THE NEW INSTITUTE
Lottie Cunningham Wren, winner of Right Livelihood Award 2020, fights to protect the rights of the indigenous people and the afro-descendants in Nicaragua.
Preventing fire with fire
Wildfires are increasing in frequency and intensity worldwide. But it is not too late to tackle the problem.
Embracing artificial intelligence to preserve dying languages
Bob Koigi
Language is pivotal in the areas of human rights protection, good governance and peace building. But every two weeks, a minority language dies.


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Compass Group Australia wins 2020 Women In Resources Award
Compass group Australia has won the 2020 Women In Resources Award – 'Outstanding Company Initiative Large Company' for our Launch Into Work Program.
Compass Group recognises that women continue to experience significantly higher unemployment rates and we fully support the fact that there are women who are ready and willing to work, but just need an opportunity. They represent a substantial candidate and talent pool for our business operations. Compass Group has developed an innovative initiative as a key component of our Gender Equity Strategy to proactively increase female participation in our workforce.
In partnership with Registered Training Organisation – Marr Mooditj Training and the Federal Department of Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business, Compass Group Australia has designed a 5-week pre-employment project targeting the sourcing, recruitment, upskilling and placement of unemployed women into our ESS remote offshore mining sector operations. The Project is tailored to our industry and employer needs and is designed to better match female job seekers to our respective job vacancies, reduce staff turnover rates and create career opportunities in our business.
Launch into Work participants are all long-term unemployed and come from diverse backgrounds including Indigenous, mature aged, and some have previous substance misuse and/or domestic issues. In 2018 we delivered the first Program of training, mentoring and work experience. In addition to 'work skills' the program takes a holistic approach focusing on practical life skills and confidence that will help the participants overcome individual barriers to employment. On their final week, the women complete an on-site work experience placement.
On successful completion of the Launch into Work Program, all women receive a Certificate II in Hospitality and are offered ongoing employment within our Business. To address retention, individual mentoring and support is offered to the women on an ongoing basis and this has enabled us to immediately identify issues as they occur and then put into place strategies to resolve problems on a case by case basis.
CGA Share Insights & Learnings at IMARC
In November 2020, Compass Group's Managing Director, Shelley Roberts, spoke at the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC), an online event that highlights global and
Our Festive Favourites for Your Table
The holiday season can be stressful, but with our help it doesn't have to be. This year we want to share some of our favourite
Zero Waste Cooking Class – Whole Baked Cauliflower
In Australia the annual food waste bill is estimated at $20 Billion. Government studies show 289 kilos of food per person, per year, go to


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Q: What is Max allowed size of Swap files for new 17.04 installation? I've not yet updated to  ubuntu 17.04 and I wish to do a clean install
before 17.04 my setup was somewhat like this
sda      8:0    0 111.8G  0 disk
├─sda2   8:2    0     1K  0 part
├─sda5   8:5    0  14.3G  0 part /
├─sda1   8:1    0   7.6G  0 part [SWAP]
└─sda6   8:6    0  89.9G  0 part /home

Now I'm going to delete the /Swap partition in favour of Swap files, These are my following questions regarding that

*

*Where the swap files stored? in /root or in /home?

*What can be the max size of swap files? (so that my partition could have that much space)

*Is it in proportion with RAM? or Disk?

*Should I add that 8GB space (deleted /swap) to /root or to /home?

*How do I enable Hibernation in Ubuntu 17.04?


The sun has got his hat on. Time to show off those pins in a pretty dress again then. Quick, winter is coming.
To get the most out of this sunny spell, we've put together a weekend dresses edit.
In a distressed floral print, this dress is a perfect AW15 staple. Wear with or without tights and ankle boots for a slick day to night look.
In our exclusively designed print, this scuba dress is the perfect going out dress. Pair with heels and a structured jacket to look slick and on point.
In a vintage style, this tea dress will be a quirky addition to your wardrobe. Team with tights and a pretty cardigan for a cute day look.
Keep cosy in this knitted jumper dress in a vibrant print. Team with tights and boots for extra warmth.
Shop our women's wear with an extra 30% off this week.


Marks and Spencer in Ballymena is currently selling Fashion targets Breast Cancer lip Balm for £3. Available at the till points in the fashion department the lip balm gives 100% of the proceeds to the charity. The lip balm is strawberry flavoured and although it looks bright leave lips with a subtle sheen.
Fashion Targets Breast Cancer is the UK's leading charity fashion campaign. Now in its eighteenth year, the campaign raises vital funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. Today there are 550,000 people living with a diagnosis of this disease; taking in to account their loved ones, the number of people affected by breast cancer in the UK runs in to the millions. For more information click here.
So pop down to Marks and Spencer in Ballymena to pick up this guilt free treat.


Microsoft Office 2007 is the latest upgrade for the Microsoft Office family of products, and brings new productivity and application integration features.
Many organisations are currently planning to upgrade, and install Microsoft Office 2007, despite the software being available since November 2006. This is mainly down the fact that the software brings a huge range of new features.
To migrate to Microsoft Office 2007 successfully, users must ensure they are using the right Windows operating system, which means Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, or Windows Vista.
Microsoft Office 2007, officially called 2007 Microsoft Office system, was released around the same time as Windows Vista. As a result, many business users have been evaluating the office productivity software throughout 2007, alongside Windows Vista, in order to manage the volume of change that the software would bring to their organisations.
The new features of Office 2007 include an entirely new graphical user interface called the Fluent User Interface, also known as the Ribbon User Interface, which replaced the menus and toolbars of previous versions of Office.
Microsoft Office 2007 also includes new applications and server-side tools. Among these are Groove, a collaboration and communication suite for smaller businesses, which was originally developed by Groove Networks before being acquired by Microsoft in 2005.
Also included is Office Sharepoint Server 2007, a major revision to the server platform for Office applications. This supports "Excel Services", a client-server architecture for supporting Excel workbooks that are shared in real time between multiple machines, and can be viewed and edited via a web page.
Microsoft FrontPage has been replaced by Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer, which is designed to develop Sharepoint portals.
One key feature of Office 2007 is the ability to integrate Office applications, like Excel and Outlook, into enterprise applications such as SAP.
This allows users to integrate supply chain, business intelligence, communications, and enterprise content management components into their familiar Office applications.
Microsoft and other third party organisations have a number of migration tools and documents available to help IT managers with their Office 2007 upgrades.
Office documents have a new default format, Office Open XML, which uses the smaller XML file format, and free add-ons are available that let older Office editions open documents created under the new Office 2007 format or convert between file formats.
Then there is the Office Migration Planning Manager, an executable that surveys the Microsoft documents on an organisation's desktops, and reports to a central server, colour-coding a report to highlights particular issues.
Another tool is Local Installation Source (LIS) which uses the Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to "drizzle" code onto desktops over a network over a long period of time - even months.
This enables the IT department to prepare desktops for the upgrade by delivering new Office applications and features incrementally before going live 'en masse'. For many larger organisations, this is a preferable option.


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Martech: Analytics & Data
Getting to know you: Salesforce integration helps marketers map a customer's journey
Thunderhead's decisioning hub adds an engagement layer to the CRM company's extensive data.
Robin Kurzer on December 7, 2017 at 1:12 pm
As personalization continues to trend in martech, more and more companies are seeking new ways to understand and communicate with their customers. Salesforce RTIM is a new integration between Salesforce and Thunderhead's ONE engagement hub that promises to give marketers deeper insight into every user touch point.
Salesforce RTIM provides insights that are based on real-time interaction management and uses machine learning and other analyses to predict user behavior.
"We visualize the customer journey through our listening online and offline, including at stores, ATMs, across all the touch points," CMO Jason Hemingway told me. "It marries all the data together and builds a visualization of what happens and what will happen. The ultimate goal is to be able to personalize every interaction."
Hemingway said that the data provided by Salesforce RTIM allows marketers to see and customize interactions across a customer's journey. "Real-time journey analytics are a means to an end for us. It's the omnichannel personalization brands can provide their individual customers with that makes this product truly powerful."
Image of the ONE dashboard showing customer touch points
"You can remarket or you can even suppress your communication. Our software will understand where they've been, and show you where it's going. It can tell you that this is the most appropriate conversation we can have," Hemingway said.
Hemingway called this an outside-in approach, with the customer in the center and all the brand interactions working for the customer.
Hemingway also told me that by delivering appropriate conversations at the right time, Salesforce RTIM helps brands build trust with their customers.
"Trust over time is what builds engagement. Trust and knowledge. Trust builds happy customers, which leads to increased engagement and loyalty," Hemingway said.
Thunderhead was recognized as a leader in journey orchestration by Forrester Wave. Its current clients include Office Depot, Aston Martin and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Channel: Martech: Analytics & DataMachine Learning & Artificial IntelligenceMarketing Tools: AnalyticsPredictive MarketingSalesforce


White privilege. You probably have some emotions connected with that phrase. If you're a person of color, you might find some comfort in the idea that maybe some of the struggles you run into in your life don't have to do with you at all; maybe the deck was just stacked against you.
If you're not a person of color, it probably gives you an impending sense of doom, waiting to hear what accomplishment will be attributed to it, and by it be diminished. What line will you be bumped to the back of because of assumed preferential treatment you've been given in the past.
I am not a person of color, so I can't speak to the struggle that those who are have gone through, but the vlogger in this video is, and she's got a few things to say about white privilege.
Firstly, let me just say that if you're one of the white people that's been uneasy with either holding onto or letting go of white privilege, you've officially been given permission from a black person, you may let it go now. It's a little sad if you feel you have to wait for permission, but there you have it.
What's interesting, is hearing her perspective about how black and white people buying into white privilege assumes a greater status for the white person that they shouldn't have. If the goal is truly to make everyone's status be merit based, making the black people start out behind by saying that they don't possess white privilege is a pretty crappy thing to do. You're saying that white people are better, but it's OK because we'll agree to be sorry for it.
If oppression is defined as "being subject to unjust treatment or control" then I think it's safe to say that the community is safe, and maybe she's right and the white men are the ones at risk. By contrast, privilege is defined as "a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people." So if you're getting things handed to you that you didn't earn, that's what is meant by privilege.
Victim status is really a nice thing to have. It would be great to be able to point to something and say that it's why your life hasn't worked out the way you wanted it to. But I think what our friend with the blunt speech is trying to point out is that giving yourself an excuse for failure isn't going to make your life any better. Pitting yourself against entire races of people and championing a cause that has no defined solution is just going to make you mean and distressing to be around.


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I believe that you're truly leading a group, team or an individual, when your actions influence their ability to grow on a daily basis. This allows you to shrink, as the team begins to solve problems and develop even more leaders.
So your leadership is measured against the level of success others attain. That's servant leadership at it's finest.
To truly lead, you need to keep yourself small, while allowing others to shine.
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Beaumont, California homes for sale and other real estate includes mostly standard sales, but short sales, foreclosures, probate and trust sales do appear on the market from time to time. And of course, land sales.
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EU passenger rights extended to boats and cruises
After rail and air, passengers travelling by boat in Europe will be entitled to reimbursements and other compensation as of tomorrow (18 Dec) in case of cancellation or delays of more than 90 minutes.
The new EU rules include guarantees of reimbursement or rerouting in case of cancellation as well as adequate assistance such as snacks, meals and where necessary accommodation of up to three nights (with a limit of £65 a night). In situations of delay in arrivals, passengers will be entitled to compensation between 25% and 50% of the ticket price.
LOCAL Lib Dem MEP Catherine Bearder said it was important to raise awareness of these new EU rules as in the case of air and rail travelling many passengers were often left in the dark about their rights. SHE added:
"It is great news for passengers travelling by ferry or going on cruises to be able to get assistance and claim compensation when things go wrong.
"People with a disability or reduced mobility are especially protected by the new rules and entitled to specific assistance free of charge both at port terminals and on board ships."
In March 2013, EU passenger rights will be extended to travel by coach.
The Regulation on passenger rights in maritime and inland waterway transport was published on 17 December 2010 as Regulation 1177/2010. It will enter into force on 18 December 2012.
The Regulation applies in respect of passengers travelling
- on passenger services where the port of embarkation is situated in the territory of an EU Member State
- on passenger services where the port of embarkation is outside the territory of an EU Member State and the port of disembarkation is situated in the territory of a Member State, provided that the service is operated by a Union carrier
- on a cruise where the port of embarkation is situated in the territory of a EU Member State.
All boats carrying over 12 passengers will fall under the new rules, with the exception of excursions and sightseeing tours. Not subjected to the rules are ships with an operating crew of no more than three persons, or where the overall service is less than 500 metres.
For more information, please visit: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/passengers/maritime/


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Riffing off my Nation piece on the "college for all" debate, Max Bean has written a really thoughtful series of posts about his time teaching math in a "no excuses" charter school, and the way in which the entire school culture was built around the expectation–an unrealistic expectation–that every child would attend and graduate from a four-year liberal arts college.
…the instruction, particularly in mathematics and writing, focused heavily on state-test content and memorized rules. Many students could simplify algebraic expressions and solve linear equations, but few of them could solve even a simple application problem or adapt their knowledge to an unfamiliar context. Several of the weakest ones could not tell you what number comes below a hundred (see my post on this problem).
Under such conditions, the relentless focus on college created a divergence between the way we talked inside the school and the external reality. Material that was slightly more challenging than the norm—stuff that, at the private school where I had worked previously, would have been considered standard grade-level material—was referred to as "collegiate." One day, I sat in on a lesson on basic logical operators used in database searches; at the end of the lesson, another teacher who had also been sitting in, told the students that the subject they were learning, formal logic, was one that she hadn't studied until college. No doubt, that was technically true, but the level of rigor of the lesson was hardly collegiate; by the standards of an affluent private-school, it was remedial. The importance of making students feel proud of their achievements cannot be overstated, and these white lies (no pun intended!) are told with the best of intentions; but repeated too often, they fostered dangerously inaccurate self-perceptions.
In his next post, Max acknowledges that teachers and administrators within the no-excuses charter movement worry, sometimes strenuously, about this disconnect between rhetoric and reality. He offers a brief intellectual history of "college for all:"
The "college for all" rhetoric is a reaction against what reformist critics of the 1990s (E. D. Hirsch is the obvious example) viewed as the softness and low expectations (and unconscious racism) of the Romantic-progressive attitudes that dominated public schooling in the mid-20thcentury, when vocational tracks served as dumping grounds for low-income and non-white students. (See Dana Goldstein's article for The Nation for more detail on this.) Indeed, the moniker "No Excuses" is part of the same reaction: neither poverty nor broken homes nor drug-addicted parents nor anything else will be an excuse for academic failure. We must have high expectations for all students.
Indeed we must, but we should think carefully about what exactly those expectations are. "High expectations" is not a single idea; it's a broad principle that can mean different things in different contexts. When we boil it down to the simple, concrete goal of universal college attendance, we lose more than we retain. As always, in the field of education, the attempt to expand and replicate a good idea has produced a codification that retains the veneer of the organic original, but little of its genius.
As some of the commenters on my last post pointed out, the question that's really at stake here is, what are the purposes of schooling? High expectations will have a very different meaning depending on how we see those purposes: are they economic, social, intellectual, moral, democratic? College provides such a convenient token for high expectations, because it appears to serve all of these aims simultaneously. That very convenience should give us pause.
This is all a great argument, I think, for mixed academic/vocational courses of study like the ones I reported on in The Nation, at Aviation High School in Queens and Tech Valley High outside Albany. These programs connect high school students with the world of work though internships and skills classes, and put some of them on track to earn an occupational certificate straight out of high school. But they also require students to complete the core classes required for admission to a four-year college. This kind of high school curriculum is based on a realistic assessment of the American economy–including the fact that middle-class jobs in many growing industries, from health services to hospitality, do not require a four-year degree.
For more, check out Max Bean's excellent blog, Dewey to Delpit.
This entry was posted in Business & Economics, Class, Education on July 8, 2011 by Dana Goldstein.
I agree that many middle class jobs in many industries don't require a four-year degree, but are they jobs in demand?
In the United States, we don't have enough scientists, engineers, and other high skill roles that keep us a globally competitive nation.
We don't train and educate enough of the populations who have been historically marginalized in under-represented fields such as women and minorities.
Every high school student doesn't need to go to college, but they should be prepared to and be ACCEPTED into a college. It's up to them if they go or not, but at least the school they attended did there job and not keep them stuck 20-30 years later in the same economic class from there freshman year in high school.
Hi Kalimah, This is a really great point. There are a lot of high-skills jobs that Americans aren't being prepared for, like engineering, and we absolutely should strive to get more non-traditional people into those jobs, including people of color and women. The problem Max wrote about — and that I was tackling, in many ways, in my Nation piece — is what to do with older kids, in their teens, who have already been denied a high-quality education and are years behind in basic academic skills. For those kids, we may want to direct them more explicitly toward careers that don't require a 4 year degree.
You have raised an issue that's also relevant to non-minority HS students. The "college for all" refrain is demoralizing for students who prefer technical rather than academic learning. Even in "good" school systems, there are plenty of HS students who can not realistically expect to do well in college, and they are offered no alternatives at all. In our (praiseworthy) attempt to get as many students as possible, and especially those who have been denied in the past, to attain a 4-year degree, we are damaging young people for whom that is not a realistic (or even desired) option.


Thank you! Thank you all so much! It's such and honor to be here..You like me! You really like me!
I would also like to point out that you didn't like the CAKE i offered you. It's not real cake you know. Dieters can enjoy it too!
That was a hilarious song.
now this was the kind of birthday wish i could live with. oh wait, it's nothing to do with me?
ROFLMBO!!! That is great… jussssssssssst great! HAPPY BLOGGIVERSARY Tilden!
I wish i had this for QV's birthday although then he may have pushed me down the stairs.
Happy Birthday – Arrogant Worms.
I don't get it. I thought you liked Tilden.
Karen — that is one of the mysteries of family relationships. We insult each other with love.
Kelly — I am certain it will be a winner!


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" document.write(adsrc) } catch (err) { console.log (err.message) } } Roddy Graham's blog: 13 December 2010 - Keeping the UK on the move
Blogs and Comment
Roddy Graham's blog: 13 December 2010 - Keeping the UK on the move
Roddy Graham is chairman of the ICFM and commercial director of Leasedrive Velo
I don't know about electric cars - we probably now need electrically-heated road surfaces! I'm only joking but the point is that we do need to seriously review how we keep UK PLC on the move when weather conditions deteriorate.
The Met Office has now confirmed that the big freeze will continue for the rest of the year and you can guarantee that will not be the end of it before spring arrives sometime next year. The bets are on as to whether that will be late March or April or even May!
That same illustrious body took considerable flack for not forecasting the heavy snowfall to hit Scotland during the evening of December 6. Certainly, my homeland has borne the brunt of the terrible weather this time around and my mother in all her eighty odd years has said she has never experienced anything like it in her lifetime.
Many motorway routes, let alone main A and B roads, both north and south of the border have become paralysed with motorists stuck overnight in their vehicles. The freezing conditions have subsequently led to thick frozen ice on roads, some of which later in the week became impassable as their surfaces more resembled ice rinks.
Even down south, which in parts have escaped relatively unscathed, we have had perilous road conditions where the heavy frost from trees has melted in the sunshine to leave sudden patches of thick snow on the ground.
As our winters become colder, we are going to have to react to the changing climatic conditions, irrespective of what is eventually settled at the Cancun Climate Change Conference.
Our neighbours, TRL, are participating in an international conference mid-December where 11 national road administrations are coming together to discuss the findings of their research in how the effects of climate change are impacting our national road networks - heavier rainfall, higher winds, heavier storms, colder winters and hotter summers.
For the moment, our prime concern is the colder winters. What Government and local authorities need to do is become the beneficiaries of best practice from our northern European and Scandinavian partners. If Germany, Poland, Norway and Sweden to name but a few can keep their motorways and main arterial routes free-running in the depths of winter, then so should we.
As a nation we need to adapt and become better practised at tackling severe winter weather conditions. Government needs to start laying down minimum standards for the Highways Agency and local councils to follow, based on what our northern European and Scandinavian partners do best.
We need to see continuous improvement in road surface design and treatment. The Highways Agency and local councils need to be better equipped, not only in terms of equipment and materials but also in terms of communications.
The Met Office, infamous for its ability to dismiss hurricane warnings, needs to step up to the plate and prove why the millions spent on weather forecasting are worth the investment.
The Government needs to accelerate the rollout of the superfast broadband highway to enable more home working for employees affected by adverse weather conditions. Employers, themselves, need to adopt a more flexible way of operating to make sure that productivity is not lost when the white stuff hits the fan.
Make no mistake. Harsher winters appear here to stay and we need to learn how to adapt to them to keep UK PLC on the move.
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