Earlier this month we interviewed Angelee Samin, National Marketing Manager of Nightlife Music and asked about her experience working with P4 Group across all aspects of graphic design, strategic marketing, public relations and digital marketing, here is what she had to say.
Nightlife Music is a music subscription service for businesses that combines the best in music and tech to deliver immersive customer experiences. For over 28 years, Nightlife's investment in innovation and curatorial expertise has increased the value music holds in out-of-home settings, creating a better outcome for artists, rights holders, businesses and end consumers. Partnered with Spotify and currently in over 5,000 locations across the hospitality, leisure, tourism, retail and fitness industries, Nightlife's platform helps businesses engage with consumers through on-brand playlisting and the in-venue music request app, crowdDJ®.
How long have you been a client of P4 Group?
Nightlife Music have been working with P4 for around 12 months.
Why did you engage an integrated marketing agency?
With a rapidly growing client base and an increase in demand for our services across venues and events in the past year or so, Nightlife Music has seen a marked impact on the level of marketing resources required to drive the business. To keep pace with this growth, we engaged the services of P4 to work as an extension to our Marketing team, working closely with them to ensure the timely rollout of marketing and communications campaigns.
Working with P4 has allowed us to expedite certain components of our marketing activity and to ensure we're able to manage the timely delivery of various projects. With specialists in all areas of Marketing, P4 provide expertise to enhance our in-house marketing efforts and expand our marketing capabilities.
What do you love about working with P4 Group?
The range of services & specialised staff that P4 provide means that we can call on them as an extension of our Marketing team, to dial up or down our marketing resources for particular projects as required.
If you are thinking of engaging an integrated marketing agency, contact us today!


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ARTICLES WEIRD WORLD THE 6 GREATEST THINGS ACCOMPLISHED BY DEAD BODIES
The 6 Greatest Things Accomplished by Dead Bodies
K. Montagne
At the end of the day, our goal here at Cracked is to inspire you. For instance, below are some people who accomplished more than you ever will, even though they were corpses at the time. That's inspiring, right?
Oh, wait, that probably makes you feel worse about your life. Oh, well, maybe you'll make up for it after you're dead. After all, it's apparently possible to...
6 Win an Olympic Event
Arrachion was an Olympian who spent his days practicing the fine art of Pankration. Literally, this translates to the spiritual-sounding "all forces," but in practice, it means something closer to "choke the shit out of everybody (while naked.)"
Dude, your dick is touching my thigh. I WILL STRANGLE YOU.
In 564 B.C., Arrachion entered the Olympics hoping to secure the Pankration title for a third consecutive time. And damn it all, he did it: Roundly besting his opponent thoroughly and completely, though he did happen to be dead when he was declared the victor.
On the verge of defeat and pinned by his opponent in a stranglehold position, Arrachion unleashed a spectacular Kamikaze-style kick attack that had three very important consequences: The first was that it looked just totally fucking sweet; the second was that the impact of the kick dislocated his opponent's ankle; and the third was that the force put into the kick, combined with the arm-around-the-neck stranglehold, resulted in the instant snapping of his own neck.
Presumably drunk on olive wine and boy-meat, the Greek referee didn't notice this happen, so when his opponent conceded defeat, he proclaimed Arrachion the winner. It was only when he held up Arrachion's hand in a victory salute and it fell sharply backwards into his junk that the judge realized he had just pronounced a dead man the winner of an Olympic competition.
Pretty impressive. Still, it's not like he killed his opponent or anything...
Related: 5 Ways to Enjoy Terrible Winter Olympic Events
5 Kill a Man
Mael Brigte the Bucktooth was the leader of an ancient Celtic tribe that resided in the far northern reaches of Scotland in the ninth century. He had a somewhat rocky relationship with the Earl of Orkney, and "rocky," in ninth century Scotland meant "absolutely filled to the asshole with broadswords."
The Earl thus led the Viking invasion of what is now Northern Scotland against Brigte who didn't take too kindly to being invaded. Insults, headbutts and almost certainly bodily fluids were exchanged, and the two eventually set up a 40-on-40-man duel.
Throughout history, homo-eroticism has taken many forms.
Mael won the brawl (or at least tied) despite being dead at the time.
The Earl showed up to the brawl with more than twice the agreed upon men. Furious at this betrayal and, seeing as how the concept of "retreat" has still not been invented in Scotland to this day, Mael did the only thing he could: He charged anyway.
It worked out exactly how everybody figured: Earl reveled in his success by cutting off Brigte's head and attaching it to his horse's saddle as a trophy to mark the victory. This is where Mael's nickname becomes important: During the celebratory ride back to his people, the tooth of his enemy's severed head pierced the skin of the Earl's thigh and, thanks to the questionable dental hygiene of the time coupled with the sheep-ass and bog liquor remnants stuck between Mael's teeth, the wound became infected.
The Earl eventually died from a rather unpleasant bout of septicemia, killed by the severed head of his opponent.
That's the Scots for you: Defiant to, and well beyond, the end.
Related: Burning Man Off, Burning Man The Multiverse Is On
4 Get Several Dozen Women Pregnant
Canadian lawyer and investor Charles Vance Millar was renowned for his love of practical jokes, his affable nature, his intelligence and his ruthless business acumen: He set up his own law office and eventually used the profits to purchase the British Columbia Express Company, which provided most of the transport to settlers in the region. He had an uncanny knack for picking the right investment, and over a period of 10 years, his net worth rose from $100,000 to $750,000 (that was a lot back in 1897).
That could buy you many monocles.
In his later years, Millar really made a name for himself when his actions changed the lives of some lucky locals forever: He started a competition with the end-goal of taking people from their dreary normal lives and propelling them into the limelight, kind of like a turn-of-the-century American Idol. Only instead of singing, it was humping, and instead of Simon Cowell, it was presided over by a corpse.
Have fun with that mental image.
Millar's jester-like outlook on life lasted to the end, literally: On his deathbed, he amended his will to contain some rather unusual bequests. After leaving his holiday home to three men renowned for despising each other, and his shares in a Catholic brewery equally distributed to every Protestant minister in Toronto, the rest of his estate went to the local woman who could give birth to the most children in the 10 years following his death.
The decade-long sex-race became known as the Great Stork Derby, and while we can't say that all the women got pregnant solely to enter the race, we can tell you the numbers and let you judge those harlots for yourselves: The front-running five women had 56 children between them. When time was up, four women, each baring nine legitimate children apiece received a life-changing $125,000 a piece. Two further women who gave birth to 10 not-all-legitimate-babies received $12,500 each.
Just for taking one for the team, we presume.
Related: Cracked Round-Up: Severe Head Trauma Edition
3 Get Elected Mayor
Carl Geary served a minor post in the local government of Tracy City, Tennessee. The incumbent mayor, Barbara Brock, wasn't exactly popular with the people. So when she found herself up against Geary in the 2010 election, things were looking bleak: He was a popular candidate, beloved by the local people for his integrity, straight-talking nature, and ability to have a penis (this is Tennessee here).
Sure enough, the election wasn't even close: When the votes had been counted up, Geary took office with more than three times the total of his rival.
That's despite the fact that Geary had died nearly a month before.
Determined to kick Brock from office at any expense, the local population saw an ideal way to humiliate one of them uppity women-folk, and maybe bring up some much needed tourist cash with the world's first Zombie Mayor. So they elected a dead man. Despite his highly publicized death, locals continued to vote for Geary in such numbers that the long dead man polled 268 votes to his living and breathing rival's 85.
One local business owner, just to make it clear this wasn't some kind of bureaucratic mix-up, went on record as saying that, yes, he "knew was deceased. I know that sounds stupid, but we wanted someone other than her." Displaying the bitchy kind of wit that perhaps endeared her to the local populace so, Brock laconically responded to the humiliating defeat by stating simply: "I'll live."
Related: Susanna Salter Was the First American Woman Elected to Office (As a Joke)
2 Throw a Kick-Ass Party
Bredo Morstoel was passionate about two things: the outdoors and being really, really creepy looking.
Jack Skellington?
The former was a large part of the reason he moved from his native Norway to Nederland, Colorado. So it's no surprise when we tell you of his regular participation in a local outdoor festival. He actually started it! Oh, what a time it was: There numerous stalls selling all manner of produce, live music, games for all the family to enjoy and, of course, the opportunity to share a beer with Grandpa Bredo himself.
Or at least, what's left of him.
Upon dying, Bredo was put on ice and shipped to the Trans Time Cryonics facility in Oakland, CA. Eventually he was moved to "live" with his grandchildren, who hoped to use the opportunity to kick-start a cryonics center of their own. That didn't really take, but the town, embracing the publicity generated by their frozen dead guy, decided to hold an annual festival in his honor, called, accurately enough, Frozen Dead Guy Days.
If the music and shopping aren't enough to satisfy the festival goers, then visitors can also enjoy Coffin Racing, a parade of hearses or, most importantly, the annual party held in Grandpa Bredo's shed, which includes the opportunity to pack ice onto Grandpa himself, accompanied by some "unique and interesting goodies to eat and drink"...straight from his icy fucking tomb.
Related: Kick-Ass Scores A Tentative 'F#@k Yeah' Out of 10
1 Become Queen
During the 1300s, Prince Pedro, heir to the throne of Portugal, fell for one of his maids. This was a problem as he was married at the time (the maid worked for his wife, in fact). Well, it comes as no surprise that their dependence on the not-too-reliable "thou art nearly there, then with haste pull thine member out" method of contraception led to the prince fathering several illegitimate children with the maid, Ines De Castro.
But who could resist that sexy, savage, noble, visa- wait, is that a poodle?
When Pedro's wife died and he inherited the throne, Pedro proclaimed the maid as Queen of Portugal, which in itself is not altogether surprising. Well, not until you learn she had actually died five years earlier anyway.
Pedro's dad, aka the king, wasn't big on his son banging the maid. He did what any devoted and caring father would do: He ordered the death of the woman his son loved. You can imagine how this didn't sit well with Pedro, so after dad died, he declared that he had secretly married Ines when she was alive and retroactively proclaimed her Queen of Portugal. If you're thinking this is just a sweet posthumous honor for his departed lover, keep reading.
Not content with the mere public acknowledgment of her royal stature, Pedro went so far as to exhume Ines' body and actually sit her corpse on a throne while his courtiers were forced to "go down on one knee" and "kiss her hand" in honor of the new queen.
So by all means, bitch about whatever current ruling party you feel like. But always remember this: No matter how badly you think the Obama administration is fucking things up, at least he didn't make you "go down" on his corpse-wife at the inauguration.
For more insanity from the world of the dead, check out 6 People Who Died In Order To Prove A (Retarded) Point and The 11 Most Badass Last Words Ever Uttered.
And stop by Linkstorm (Updated 08.02.10) to find out which dead president runs Cracked.com.
Related: 'The Queen's Gambit' Is 'Rocky' With Chess

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Continuing my posts about freshwater crayfish which I photographed last weekend in the midlands, here's a picture which shows the entire animal. The native UK species, the white clawed crayfish, extends between 9 and 12 cm and reaches maturity within 2-3 years at which time it is about 5cm long.
I've learnt something today – Laura Bergerol, a photojournalist from New Orleans got in touch via twitter to let me know that crayfish are called ecrevisses in France. Thanks Laura.
Of course, it was from Louisiana that the imported signal crayfish came, but we won't mention that in polite company!
Posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 7:02 pm.	Filed under: Underwater Tags: crayfish, crustaceans, diving, ecrevisses, freshwater crayfish, uk wildlife, Underwater	RSS 2.0 feed.


What's the #1 productivity killer?
They'll stop productivity dead in its tracks. Whenever there is a question, it means there's a knowledge gap. And things won't get done (at least completely done) until that gap is filled.
Questions can stop productivity in two ways - it stops the person performing the task, and it stops the person who has to answer the question. In some cases, a whole team will stop work to hear, and then try to answer, a question.
Now there's no way that you can eliminate questions (nor would you want to), but if you could reduce the number of questions that have to be asked, decrease the time it takes to answer the remaining questions, and remove the need for other people to get involved in order to answer every single question, then you can make great strides towards creating a turnkey business and increasing productivity.
There are a ton of tools that we use to resolve different kinds of questions, and I'll talk about those in future posts. Today, I'm going to share with you 3 writing tools that I use to reduce the number of questions that I have, decrease the time it takes to answer those questions, and almost completely remove the need to get anybody else involved.
Here are some examples of how I'm using them to make my day more productive.
I talked about TextExpander in an earlier post, 7 Tools to Improve Your VSS Experience, but I think it's such a great tool that I wanted to talk about it again.
TextExpander is a tool that allows you to type in abbreviations, which it then expands into predefined text called snippets. For example, instead of writing out your email address, you could write "-em" and it would pop out johndoe@janedoe.com.
TextExpander's webpage markets the tool this way - "Type more with less effort! TextExpander saves your fingers and your keyboard..." And I agree, having to write my email over and over again gets annoying, and this tool removes the annoyance. But it can also be used in a way that removes questions, and that's why I love it so much.
Because I've been in a junior position for most of my career, I'm often writing emails on behalf of others. And every time I write for someone else, I'm stumped by the question - "What should I say?" Or more specifically, "What does my boss want me to say?"
With TextExpander, I don't have to answer that question as often, which also means that I'm not bothering somebody else.
Let me give you an example of how we use it. When we were signing customers up for our latest Beta release, we had to send out informational emails. We set up TextExpander to sync with DropBox so that Greg could write snippets that were then saved to my local version. This allowed me to simply open up a new email, type the abbreviation, have Greg's snippet pop in, and I could send an email that said exactly what Greg wanted it to say - no guessing.
It was so nice to not have to constantly ask Greg multiple times what he wanted me to say. Or to have to go through old documents/emails to see what I wrote to the last person and then copy and paste. I can just write the abbreviation and out comes the email.
Now I can be super productive when sending out emails on behalf of Blue Mango because I'm not stumped by the question, "What should I say?"
At my previous place of employment, I had three passwords I had to remember for my computer, and two or three others for client deliverables. That's not too difficult to manage.
After a month of being at Blue Mango, I had about about 30 passwords - way too many to keep track of in a Word document. I tried that for a few weeks and I found myself constantly asking, "what is my password?" Or "Where did I put that password?"
Resetting my password got old very quickly.
I eventually broke down and purchased [1Password](https://agilebits.com/onepassword), and I'm so glad I did. Not only does it enter the password for me via a hotkey, but I don't have to remember where or what my password is! That has honestly saved me so much frustration - I can now just bounce around to different web applications and just crank out whatever I need to do.
I love never having to answer the question, "What's my password?"
Whenever I write a blog post, I have my computer read back to me what I wrote and I'm constantly forgetting how to make my computer do that. So when Greg told me that [PopClip](http://pilotmoon.com/popclip/) made it easier to do that, I immediately wanted to buy it because it meant that I just had to answer the question, "I wonder how this blog post reads?" instead of "How do I make my computer read to me?"
But I found out that it can do a ton more with its PopClip Extensions, and now I don't have to answer the question, "Where is 'paste and match style'?" Or the question, "What does this word mean?" Or the problem "How do I get all of these capital letters to be lowercase?" Along with a bunch of other common questions I have while writing.
It's like a question answering machine! It saves me so much time because I don't have to search all over the place to perform these simple things that I need to do all the time.
Now you might not be able to, or want to, use these specific tools - you might have other tool sets that you use that will accomplish the same thing.
That's fine. The purpose of this post isn't to promote certain tools - rather, it's to get you thinking about solving the #1 problem holding you back from being more productive.
Try to discover ways that you can reduce the number of questions you ask, decrease the time it takes to answer the remaining questions, and remove the frequency others get involved so that you and your team can increase productivity.
To see how we're using other tools to increase our productivity, check out our webinar, "Build a Turnkey Business: Phase II."
Jonathan (Jay) DeVore is the Director of Marketing at Blue Mango Learning Systems, developers of ScreenSteps. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a BS in Accounting, and is a licensed CPA in the state of Virginia. Right after graduation, he worked for his dad's private medical practice in Pasadena, CA auditing the efficiency of billing and collections. After 9 months of living in the golden state, he moved his family to Virginia to begin working at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). As an accountant at PwC, he actually did very little number crunching (which surprised him), and instead audited government information systems for compliance with government requirements (e.g. NIST 800-53). During his time with the Big 4 Accounting Firm, he helped large organizations improve their documentation both from a compliance perspective and instructional perspective. His favorite aspect of work was training/teaching, so when Greg and Trevor approached him with an opportunity to create educational content for ScreenSteps, he jumped at the chance. Jonathan lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and children, and enjoys the beautiful weather the D.C. area offers 9 months out of the year.


text:
Victor Sikeley - Humans of St. Thomas
Current Students, Humans of St. Thomas, News, Opus College of Business, Our Community, Top News, Uncategorized
Our CommunityFaculty
March Town Hall Update on Action Plan to Combat Racism
Faculty, Homepage, News, Our Community, President's Office, Staff, Top News
Many members of the St. Thomas community gathered on March 6 for an update on the Action Plan to Combat Racism.
Several administrators gave updates on a wide range of efforts stemming from the action plan, detailing both short- and long-term aspects.
"Our university is at a really important moment in time," President Julie Sullivan said. "Racism still exists on our campus. … It exists sometimes in less visible ways, in our structures, policies and processes, just as it does across our state, country and organizations. Things have happened in our society and been embedded in processes and policies that give advantage to white people. That's something as a white person I'm trying to understand, peel back and deal with. … It's a long journey for me as an individual. It will be a long journey for us as a community. We can engage in it together."
Sullivan provided an update on elements of the action plan tied to budget and communication.
"A number of our departments are reallocating resources to do things quickly," Sullivan said. The opening of the Intercultural Center is an example of reallocated resources.
"We are putting new resources into training and opportunities for dialogue, specifically through Student Affairs," Sullivan said. An example of this was the Feb. 11 screening of the film "American Textures."
Abdul Omari is being tapped to lead additional training on campus.
The Wilder Foundation has been hired to do training with the President's Cabinet, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion training with department chairs.
Reallocating resources for the creation of the Associate Vice President of Inclusive Excellence position, as well as reallocating resources for that office. "When we hire that leader they will hire someone to come in and do an external assessment of where we are across the university in diversity, equity and inclusion work," Sullivan said.
More resources are being put toward the Excel! Scholars program to maintain the number of students benefiting from that program.
Financial aid policies: A reexamination is ongoing of how St. Thomas rewards financial aid to ensure it best meets the needs of our underrepresented students.
Looking at the two-year residency requirement and ensuring that is implemented in a way that the access to the two-year residency and all its benefits are equally accessible to all students.
"We're ensuring we're putting the resources behind implementing this plan," Sullivan said.
"Communication is always a challenge. We're trying to proactively communicate the progress we're making toward implementing the action plan," Sullivan said. "There's a website on OneStThomas under the President's Office we keep updated. There's been a continuous flow of articles in the Newsroom so people can be aware of what's happening. You'll continue getting emails from me. But we know that's not enough. You have to communicate in many ways because people get information in different ways. I continue to invite you to give us more feedback to how we can better communicate."
Anti-bias reporting system
Chief of Staff Amy McDonough provided updates on the anti-bias reporting system, and several people detailed the development of training resources.
The anti-bias reporting system was one of the first things that happened when the plan was announced. "We realized we didn't have a robust way to report an incident," she said. The revamped reporting system is available here.
"It's now clear who is responsible for responding to that incident so it's responded to in a timely manner," McDonough added. We have gotten a significant number of reports. We do feel the system is moving well."
Mandatory training for all students, faculty and staff: A task force is securing an online training tool that will be mandatory for all St. Thomas community members to complete.
Human Resources has been putting together an inventory of existing training efforts across different staff departments. "There are about nine departments (identified as needing support) that Human Resources will be working with to bring training to them," said Michelle Thom, associate vice president for human resources.
Manager's forum: Everyone in a managing position will be required to attend training on bias led by Omari.
Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity: Three staff members were trained last year as facilitators, and a cohort of employees is undergoing that program this year. The university is sponsoring the training of up to six new facilitators this summer in an effort to grow more cohorts next year and beyond.
The Wilder Foundation will be facilitating training for the President's Cabinet as well as for all full-time faculty members: "By the end of the school year, all full-time faculty will have engaged with an online inquisitive bias tool," said Ann Johnson, associate vice provost for faculty development. "Departments will be talking about how they can use that knowledge and bring it into the classroom. Adjunct faculty will get involved with that training in the fall."
"It's a top-down and bottom-up approach," McDonough said. "The leadership is serious about everyone getting the training we need."
Trauma resources
A hiring is in the final stages for a dedicated position of multicultural specialist in Counseling and Psychological Services, building on the current staff specializations for veteran students and LGBTQ students.
Residence life: Climate and construction
Director of Residence Life Aaron Macke detailed efforts playing out in the residence halls and with student leaders to bring engagement and learning more explicitly into the residence halls.
"We're partnering with enrollment services and Marketing, Insights and Communications around how we look externally, the shaping of future classes, of our residence life populations," Macke said. "We're adding language built in about expectations to do diversity, equity and inclusion work. We're scrubbing and redoing all elements of our materials. All websites, all brochures, everything, with some strong lenses toward being more clear and candid around expectations of learning diversity, equity and inclusion, and what we want to engage you with as students in our residence halls."
Construction and renovation: "How culture gets created and reflected in space matters. We have an unbelievable opportunity with two new halls and renovations of two existing halls to transform those spaces into those that look, feel and are inclusive," Macke said.
Recruiting and hiring of staff as student leaders: "This is the single most important thing we can do. It's front and center in our mind. … Our student leadership population is a wonderfully diverse group who are engaging with residents on a daily basis, doing difficult work, trying to be leaders and influencers around our climate."
Training for student leaders to do this work: "There's a committee dedicated to shaping that training to make sure our student leaders are doing diversity, equity and inclusion work and well prepared."
Faculty initiatives
Associate Vice President for Faculty Advancement Ann Johnson talked about several faculty-specific initiatives, including:
Conversations in the classroom: Johnson and others in faculty development are putting the finishing touches on a tool kit for faculty to better facilitate conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion.
Faculty hiring and retention: "We've been working on revamping our process for training search committees for hiring new faculty," Johnson said. "There is required training for the chair of the committee, and also one search committee member and designating them as the diversity advocate who will monitor every level of the process to make sure diversity and equity concerns are being integrated."
A faculty retention advisory group has been formed to develop plans around retaining diverse faculty and making sure they feel welcomed and supported as faculty members.
A policy has been implemented for all new faculty hires that at least one finalist is from an underrepresented group.
Pedagogy and curriculum development
Associate Vice Provost Rob Riley said a faculty and staff team of about 30 people will work on how to implement the new core curriculum, specifically the diversity inclusion and social justice flagged courses, and first-year experience.
Representing diversity with integrity
Chief Marketing Officer Kymm Martinez updated work stemming from Marketing, Insights and Communications (MIC), including consideration of tactics out of the anti-hate campaign last October, which created anti-racism buttons and door posters.
"There is a recognition that you cannot market your way out of this and that is not our intent," Martinez said. "It's to provide something you can wear to show your solidarity. A marketing campaign is not going to solve what we need at St. Thomas."
Martinez explained that MIC cancelled a marketing campaign in November "to make sure we weren't turning the page away from the conversation we are needing to have."
"We're in a mode of waiting," she said. "We would love to amplify a campaign a student or group has. We're not in a place of creating a campaign and forcing it on to the campus. It would feel inauthentic if we were trying to do this from our central group."
MIC has also taken several steps to represent diversity with integrity more effectively, including forming a committee to lead that effort. Coming out of that is:
A series of guiding principles for MIC's work. This is available on the MIC page on OneStThomas.
An annual audit of inviting people from across campus to comment on our marketing throughout the year.
Every person in MIC is going through Intercultural Development Inventory training, including a 12-month plan for both individuals and as an organization. Every individual in FY20 will have performance goals related to their advancement of their personal journey around diversity, equity and inclusion.
Next year's admission materials: "We will make sure our convictions are very clear. Anyone who harbors racist feelings or feel like they're coming to an environment where they can voice racist views, that those are not welcome here," Martinez said. "We will make that more clear in our materials."
Vice President for Enrollment Al Cotrone spoke about the university's efforts to recruit a more diverse student body, highlighting the projection that – as of now – St. Thomas is on pace to bring in a first-year class next year with more than 20 percent of students identifying as not Caucasian. This is in large part, he said, because of how the St. Thomas community has reacted since the racially-motivated incident last October.
"The action we've taken, the action plan, the engagement from students and working with us, has been out there and given us as recruiters things we can talk with prospective students and families about," he said. "We can reference our community, how it reacts, what it stands for and who is welcome here."
Cotrone spoke about several specific efforts, as well. Subcommittees were formed to examine and focus, Cotrone said, on:
How we can each individually get better at addressing our own biases.
What are we doing this year in this recruitment cycle that we can change?
Asking what we need to be able to make the difference we want.
"As we give tours and look around campus, what do we wish was different?" Cotrone said. "We did internally our own assessment, and then are approaching our colleagues across campus for things we want to change around campus." Cotrone called out the need to have more diverse representation across enrollment's ambassadors team. "We are asking for help this year and next year, and layering a plan to improve the level of diversity visitors experience with guides here on campus," he said.
Other actions include:
Increasing the number of Dease Scholarship awards this year.
Contracting with a new affinity organization through which enrollment can source and expose St. Thomas to more diverse students who may not have heard of the university.
Added a sentence to admission letters that says we will expect you to join us as we enhance our diversity and inclusion at the University of St. Thomas. "They know that is an expectation for as they come here," Cotrone said. "For next year we are replacing our preexisting optional essay that you have to read before you opt out, and that optional essay is going to say, 'Here is what our community stands for. Here is who is welcome here. What will you do as a Tommie to enhance that on this campus?' They have to read that. That's a very visible change next year to make it very clear what we expect."
Recruiting and retaining diverse employees
Associate Vice President for Human Resources Michelle Thom highlighted several initiatives revolving around the recruitment and retention of more diverse employees.
"In our job postings now we have bumped up to the top of every posting language around the importance of diversity and inclusion here at St. Thomas," Thom said.
Resurrect our affinity and employee resource groups.
Implementing a pilot blind resume screening program to see if that has an impact on diversity coming in the door.
Host more networking opportunities for our employees of color to gather and do some community building.
Leadership Academy offerings: Two years ago started Diversity and Inclusion training; those will begin to have badging and certification measurements attached to them.
Applicant experience: Create a survey to go back to our diverse candidates to ask about their experience as applicants and interview candidates to get more information to be better in recruiting employees of color.
Host focus groups around topic of retention: "What keeps our diverse employees here, and how can we replicate those best practices? We're turning over about 8 percent of our employees of color each year. That's significant and something we need to change," Thom said.
Outreach in the community at large to get a sense why diverse members of our community are not applying for jobs.
Working on developing a mentoring program for employees of color.
Performance assessment system for employees: HR is putting together language around what it means to achieve diversity in your role as an employee.
Creating a competency for our managers, specifically in how they supervise employees of color.
Developing framework for employees to have an individual professional development plan, specifically to our underrepresented employees.
Building into on-boarding system a diversity module.
Action Plan to Combat Racism
School of Law Graduate to Help Create International Judgment Convention
Director Named for Start-up Accelerator Partnership gBETA
Teach-in Tuesday: Hard Lessons from the Suffrage Movement
Faculty and Staff Take Part in Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity Training


In Prichard v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, No. 12-17355 (9th Cir. 2015), Matthew Prichard appeals from the district court's judgment affirming Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's ("MetLife") decision, as plan administrator, to deny him long-term disability benefits under the long- term disability plan of his employer, IBM (the "Plan"). The district court had reviewed MetLife's decision to deny the benefits for abuse of discretion. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (the "Court") ruled that the district court should have reviewed MetLife's decision de novo, and not for an abuse of discretion. Therefore, the Court vacated the district court's judgment, and remanded the case back to the district court to review MetLife's denial of benefits de novo.
In analyzing the case, the Court said that the district court must review a plan administrator's denial of benefits de novo, unless the benefit plan gives the administrator fiduciary discretionary authority to determine eligibility for benefits. Here, it is undisputed that the only document in the record that confers discretionary authority upon MetLife is the Plan's summary plan description (the "SPD"). Prichard argues that after the Supreme Court's decision in Amara, a grant of discretion located only within an SPD (as opposed to a formal plan document) is insufficient to warrant discretionary review. However, MetLife argues that Prichard misapprehends the scope of the Plan. According to MetLife, the SPD is the Plan (i.e., it is the only formal Plan document), and therefore the SPD's terms warrant discretionary review.
In this case, noted the Court, the Plan has a separate document, in the form of an insurance certificate which contains the terms of the Plan, so the Plan and the SPD are not one and the same. The Plan document does not grant discretion to the plan administrator. The Court said that, although the SPD in this case does indicate that MetLife has discretionary authority, the Supreme Court has made clear in Amara that statements made in SPDs do not themselves constitute the terms of the plan. Because the official insurance certificate contains no discretion-granting terms, the Court held, consistent with Amara, that the SPD's grant of discretion constitutes an additional term of the Plan and therefore cannot be applied. Consequently, the Court concluded that the district court erred in applying the abuse of discretion standard of review.


God Desires to Bless Me!
A Truth to Live – God has chosen to declare His goodness and glory in the earth through those who choose to follow Him. This means that if I choose Him to be my Savior and Guide, He will expand His influence in my life. He will use me in ever increasing measure.
Prayer – Merciful Father, I am thankful today that You have chosen to declare Your glory among the nations and to reconcile all people back to You through people like me. Transform me so that I can be used to a greater degree to share Your goodness with others. In Jesus' name, Amen.


text:
Home ▶ Vol 2, No 1 (2010) ▶	Govendor
Indiran Govender1
Gary Morris1
1Department of Family Medicine and Primary Health Care, University of Limpopo, Medunsa campus, South Africa
Correspondence to:
Indiran Govender
email: indiran.govender@gmail.com
PO Box 428, KwaDukuza 4450, South Africa
stress; over-servicing; general practitioners; kickbacks; medical misconduct
Received: 19 Jan. 2009
Accepted: 18 Aug. 2009
Published: 04 Mar. 2010
Govender I, Morris G. Business ethics of private general practitioners in KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal. Afr J Prm Health Care Fam Med. 2010;2(1), Art. #26, 4 pages. DOI: 10.4102/phcfm.v2i1.26
© 2010. The Authors. Licensee: OpenJournals Publishing. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
ISSN:2071-2928 (print)
ISSN:2071-2936(online)
Business ethics of private general practitioners in KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal
In This Original Research Article...
• Abstract
• Method
• A methodological note on ethics research
• Limitations
• Results
• Discussion
• Do most doctors act ethically?
• Continuing medical education on ethics
• Medicine imposes a higher standard of moralintegrity on the doctor
• Medically unwarranted certificates
• Unwarranted medical certificates to satisfy patients
• Unwarranted medical certificates to benefit financially
• Conclusion
• Acknowledgements
• References
Background: Private general practitioners (GPs) have been criticised by the lay press citing unethical practice and the acceptance of kickbacks. In 2003, the Ethics Institute of South Africa conducted a national study of all doctors and also accused private GPs of unethical practice. In countries such as South Africa, with a practice of fee-for-service payments, there may be a temptation to put material interests above the best interests of patients. Private GPs, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the press and the Ethics Institute publication have unfairly singled them out.
Objective: To detect whether private GPs in KwaDukuza perceive their colleagues to be practising ethically.
Method: The study entailed a cross-sectional descriptive study design, in which all 30 private GPs based in KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal, were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire during 2003. The survey was done on a voluntary basis and anonymity and confidentiality was maintained.
Results: Twenty-five doctors returned completed questionnaires (an 83.3% response rate). Seventy per cent perceived their peers to be practicing ethically, while 48% (12/25) reported that they did not observe any medical misconduct by their colleagues. The majority of the respondents (76%) reported that they did not know of any colleague who supplemented his or her income through the over-servicing of patients. The majority of the respondents (84%) also reported that their colleagues never accepted cash payments that were not declared for income tax purposes. Medically unnecessary tests are a form of unethical behaviour pertaining to over-servicing, and 64% of the respondents reported that medically unnecessary tests to satisfy patient requests were not an important reason for performing these tests. The doctors expressed high stress levels from multiple stressors in their occupation.
Conclusion: GPs in KwaDukuza indicated that they were under stress, but still practised ethically. The GPs emphasised the need for more training in medical ethics at all levels of the medical career. The majority of GPs of KwaDukuza perceive their colleagues to be practising ethically.
Private general practitioners (GPs) in South Africa have been criticised by the lay press of taking kickbacks and of unethical practice. The Ethics Institute of South Africa has added scientific influence to this accusation by carrying out a national study among all doctors1. The South African Revenue Service has used this information to target private practitioners. The findings of Landman and Mouton, who conducted the Ethics Institute's study, show that two-thirds of doctors surveyed indicated that they have observed medical misconduct by a colleague.1 Two-thirds of the respondents in the survey indicated that doctors supplemented their income by over-servicing their patients. Over-servicing as an ethical misconduct occurs when doctors recommend or perform medically unnecessary tests to benefit the doctor financially.
Paying a doctor for his or her professional services is sometimes viewed with resistance by society.2 The patient, the medical aid society and market factors all influence the remuneration of the doctor. Business-related issues also influence doctors in private practice. Doctors in private practice are faced with two competing interests: that of their ethical duties to their patients and that of the business interests of the practice.3
The rise of healthcare consumerism is seen to compromise the beneficence of the doctor-patient relationship.4Some moralists argue that beneficence can be an effective means of cost control as well as a crucial component of the moral foundation of the medical profession.4 However, other South African doctors have pointed out that in today's medical practice, bottom-line profit is crucial to the survival of a private practice.5,6,7 Hillier reportsthat in countries such as South Africa, with a practice of fee-for-service payments, there may be a temptation to put material interests above the best interests of patients.8
Private GPs feel they have been unfairly criticised. The ethical behaviour of doctors is a controversial issue. The researchers were interested in determining the perceptions of private GPs in KwaDukuza (formerly known as Stanger), of the ethical behaviour of their colleagues.
At the time of the study, there were 31 GPs (including the researcher) in Kwadukuza, which is located on the north coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive study, using Landman and Mouton's questionnaire,1 was carried out involving all the GPs in KwaDukuza. The questionnaire used was a validated and reliable tool, used in a similar study by Landman and Mouton1. Four questions in the questionnaire were repeated in different forms in different parts of the questionnaire to check for truthfulness of the responses. This study compared results to the survey conducted by Landman and Mouton, on behalf of the Ethics Institute of South Africa.1 The questionnaire used by the Ethics Institute of South Africa was developed over a period of six weeks, in consultation with various experts in the field of medical ethics and survey research.1
A methodological note on ethics research
Empirical studies, and surveys in particular, on ethics are difficult. They fall within the general category of sensitive research.1 It is considered sensitive research for a number of reasons, but primarily because of the degree of 'reactivity' involved. Reactivity refers to the phenomenon in social research where research subjects and participants react and respond in various ways because they are aware that they are being investigated (except in cases of covert research), which in turn can affect the overall validity and reliability of data.1
Some of these responses involve lying, deception, social desirability responses (trying to please the investigator) and acquiescence response sets (agreeing with everything being asked). Reactivity is a general feature of much social research but is more pronounced in research on sensitive topics. Any study that addresses matters of morality (such as this survey), private actions and behaviours (for example sexuality), or potentially threatening issues (for example information on income or crime-related behaviours) is generally considered sensitive research. In studies of this nature the reactivity is often even more pronounced. This clearly requires greater awareness and methodological sensitivity.1
In formulating the items in the questionnaire that refer to matters of unethical behaviour, the first problem Landman and Mouton1 faced was that no respondent would intentionally incriminate themselves when required to answer affirmatively about an unethical action. This led to the formulation of questions in the third person. Rather than asking the question: 'Has a private hospital offered you a kickback for referring patients to the hospital?' questions were rephrased to read: 'How often – in your estimate – does it happen to a doctor that he or she refers a patient to a private hospital and then gets a financial incentive from that hospital?'
A pilot study was also carried out by this study's researchers on five GPs from another town. This showed that all understood the questionnaire and that it took on average 12 minutes to complete. The survey was done on a voluntary basis and anonymity was maintained.
Thirty private GPs in KwaDukuza were sampled and 25 responses were received (giving a response rate of 83.3%). To encourage the GPs' response and to prevent sample bias, one of the researchers telephoned the doctors prior to them receiving the questionnaires, to explain the purpose of the study to them and to encourage all doctors to participate. After two weeks, reminders were sent to all doctors with a copy of the questionnaire.
The courier from the local pathology laboratory was used to distribute and collect the questionnaires. The distribution and collection of questionnaires took place in October 2003.
Ethics approval for the study was obtained from the MEDUNSA research committee.
This survey was carried out among the GPs in KwaDukuza only, and it is possible that generalisations may not be made to other doctors or to other geographic areas of South Africa. Another limitation of the study is that it measures the reported perceptions of others' practice and not actual practice.
It is possible that the GPs that responded to the survey may be different from the non-respondents. Those GPs responding may have felt a need to defend their colleagues and profession. The possible biases in the GPs that responded may include wishful thinking, protective biases towards their medical profession and personal image and the so-called group think, which may result in misconceptions
The results of this study may not be generalisable to doctors in other fields of practice or to GPs in other geographic areas of practice, because this study was limited to GPs in KwaDukuza.
Confidence intervals for the percentage response (95%) are shown for the results (Table 1), however, the sample size was small and therefore no clear statistical relationships could be drawn.
Table 1 shows that 72% of the responding GPs perceived the majority of doctors to be practising ethically.
Table 1: Doctors� need for ethics in continuing professional development (CPD), perceptions of medicine as a unique profession and of colleagues� ethical conduct
Six GPs knew of colleagues that supplement their income through the over-servicing of patients (Table 2).
Table 2: Unethical practices that GPs may conduct to enhance their remuneration
The majority of GPs (84%) stated that their colleagues never increase charges to the medcial aid/insurance by over-servicing.
Two doctors thought that doing medically unnecessary tests to satisfy the patient's request was a very significant pressure.
Almost all GPs reported stress from multiple sources. The important stressors included inadequate remuneration (96% of respondents), government intervention (100%), managed care (92%) and fear of litigation (72%).
The results show that the majority of KwaDukuza GPs perceive their colleagues to practice ethically (72%) in a very uncertain and stressful private practice environment. This is in contrast to lay press reports.8 Kickbacks, fee-splitting, over-servicing and fraudulent claims are contrary to the codes of conduct and regulations of the medical profession and also illegal in terms of South African law. All results obtained in this study are within the 95% confidence interval. The wide confidence intervals are due to the small sample size. Although this implies statistical significance, the small size must be taken into account when interpreting the results. The specific responses to questions will now be discussed.
Do most doctors act ethically?
Eighteen (72%) of the GPs stated that doctors act ethically (Table 1). In Landman and Mouton's study, 73% of the doctors were of the opinion that the vast majority of South African doctors are ethical in their professional conduct, while 10% of the doctors disagreed.1
This indicates that most of the doctors of South Africa are of the opinion that the vast majority of doctors are ethical in their professional conduct. No other research on this issue has been done in South Africa, therefore the evidence could suggest that the majority of doctors perceive their colleagues to be practising ethically.
Continuing medical education on ethics
The results are similar to the national study1 as far as the need for more ethics education and a larger emphasis of ethics in the continuing professional development (CPD) plan of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) are concerned. The local Independent Practitioner Association may address this need for more ethics training. The HPCSA may have to consider the results of the two surveys and increase the ethics weight of the CPD programme.
Medicine imposes a higher standard of moral integrity on the doctor
Almost all doctors (96%, Table 1) from KwaDukuza strongly agreed that a medical career imposes a higher moral integrity than other professions. This is necessary for doctors to evoke a trusting relationship with their patients. To agree that their career imposes stronger moral integrity and commitment is a basis for sound ethical practice. T he changing nature of the medical profession and the new demands being placed on medical practitioners as a result of business-type considerations require new innovative approaches. South African doctors are increasingly faced with these new developments and are clearly divided over many of the implications. In the national study1 there are equal proportions of doctors who believe that a medical practice is merely another business and doctors who believe that it is different from other occupations. The KwaDukuza GPs, on the other hand, clearly indicated that medicine as a profession is unique, and may be regarded as a calling. The GP in private practice has the autonomy of a self-employed professional; however, this entails both opportunity and responsibility. This responsibility includes ethical and legal behaviour by the doctor.
The majority of KwaDukuza respondents (84%, Table 3) stated that their colleagues almost never accept cash payments from patients that they do not declare for income tax purposes. This response is different from the national study,1 which included a large proportion of state-employed doctors who stated that their colleagues frequently accept cash payments and that these are not declared for income tax purposes. Most of the doctors in this study (84%) indicated that all cash received is declared for tax purposes and doctors do pay their correct taxes. Tax avoidance, as opposed to tax evasion, is not illegal. It does however affect the image and standing of the medical profession as a whole if members are seen to be avoiding tax and it therefore undermines the trust in the profession. This study showed that these GPs did not avoid or evade tax.
Table 3: GPs accepting cash payments and over-servicing patients to supplement their income
Table 4: Importance of unnecessary medical tests and unwarranted medical certificates
Over-servicing as an ethical misconduct occurs when doctors recommend or perform medically unnecessary tests to benefit the doctor financially.9 Some of the activities that are fraudulent include over-servicing, billing for services not rendered and the exchange of goods/services for medically coded procedures/investigations. The GPs of KwaDukuza are commendable, as they are perceived by their colleagues as not performing unnecessary tests to benefit themselves. This implies that only clinically indicated and necessary tests are done for the benefit of the patient. Only 36% of respondents from Table 4 indicated that some colleagues perform unnecessary tests to satisfy the demands of patients. Unnecessary investigations/interventions/referrals may be done for reasons that are not justified based on medical need or on evidence-based practice, but these may not necessarily be illegal. These may be done due to pressure from patients, the doctor's anxiety not to miss a diagnosis or the doctor's fear of litigation. Patients in private practice can sometimes exert considerable demands to have medical tests done. However, the majority of the GPs are able to withstand this pressure.
Medically unwarranted certificates
KwaDukuza GPs were asked to rate various reasons for issuing medically unwarranted certificates according to how important reasons were to them.
Unwarranted medical certificates to satisfy patients
It has been proposed by the national study1 that doctors, for different reasons, sometimes issue medical certificates that are medically unwarranted. From Table 4 it is seen that 19 GPs, or 76%, indicated that they believe that issuing unwarranted medical certificates to satisfy the patient was either not important at all (52%) or unimportant (24%). Only 24% (6) of the GPs indicated that the issuing of unwarranted sick certificates to satisfy the patient was important.
The national study by Landman and Mouton1 showed that the majority of doctors in their sample (60%) indicated that they believe that keeping the patient satisfied is a sufficiently important consideration when issuing medical certificates, even if the certificate is not warranted. A noteworthy fact is that 40% of the Landman and Mouton sample1 regards this consideration as unimportant.
In comparing the two surveys, GPs in KwaDukuza determinedly indicated that issuing unwarranted sick certificates to satisfy the patient is not an important enough reason for them to be coerced into issuing medical certificates.
Unwarranted medical certificates to benefit financially
In the sample of GPs from KwaDukuza, it was emphatically stated (96%) that the issuing of unwarranted sick certificates for financial benefit almost never occurs (refer to Table 4). Only one GP believes that this might be an important reason to issue a sick certificate. This indicates that KwaDukuza GPs are unlikely to issue sick certificates just to benefit financially.
In the national study, 81% indicated that they do not regard financial benefit to be sufficiently important to justify this practice. Only 19% of the respondents in this sample believed that issuing unwarranted sick certificates to benefit financially was an important reason to issue such certificates.
Both studies show that doctors are unlikely to issue unwarranted sick certificates for financial benefit. The GPs from KwaDukuza suggested that their colleagues do not succumb to pressure from patients to either issue unwarranted medical certificates or to over-service patients for personal financial gain.
The above discussion of the results shows that KwaDukuza GPs perceive their colleagues to be practising ethically, which is in contrast to the findings of the national study.1
The majority of GPs reported stress from multiple factors. Almost all doctors reported that external stressors, which include government intervention (100% of respondents indicated that this is a source of considerable stress) and managed care (92%), interfered with the autonomy and professional practice of doctors. Fear of litigation is also a viewed by 72% of the doctors as a significant source of stress. All but one doctor feels that doctors are inadequately remunerated for their work and therefore financial needs also place an additional burden of stress on the GPs. Private GPs need to make a profit to survive in a highly competitive business environment. This together with their reported high stress levels could pressurise doctors into behaving unethically and illegally. GPs from this study perceive their peers to be practising ethically despite the highly stressful environment in which they work.
Both this study on the GPs of KwaDukuza and the Ethics Institute's national study confirm that doctors are facing uncertain times and are under stress from multiple stressors, including financial needs and the intervention of government or managed care organisations in the practice of medicine.
This small study population of GPs makes the results limited to this population and objectivity and generalisation is therefore limited.
The results differed from that of the national study of the Ethics Institute of South Africa, inwhich unethical behaviour was highlighted.1 KwaDukuza GPs strongly indicated that their colleagues practice ethically. Both studies confirmed that the majority of doctors in South Africa have a greater need for medical ethics education. KwaDukuza GPs perceived their colleagues to be practising ethically in spite of pressure from multiple factors, including demanding patients, government intervention, threat of litigation, managed care intervention in the practice of medicine and constant reduction in their remuneration. The majority of the responding private GPs felt that their peers neither over-service patients nor issue unwarranted medical certificates for personal financial gain. It could be argued that the criticisms of the press are related to the current worldwide problem of the lack of responsible balanced press and media reporting due to financially competitive factors. This study showed findings contrary to the media reports.8
Thanks to N.L. Pillay and Partners pathology courier services for their assistance in the distribution and collection of the questionnaires and to Professor W. Landman for permission to use the Ethics Institute Questionnaire.
1.	Landman WA, Mouton J. A profession under siege? Medical practice and ethics. Pretoria: Ethics Institue of South Africa; 2001.
2.	Hillier SM. Medicine and social control. In: Gilbert L, Selilow T, Walker L, editors. Society, health and disease. Johannesburg: Ravan Press; 2002.
3.	Moreno JD. Paying the doctor: Health policy and reimbursement. Westport: Auburn House; 1990.
4.	Marsh FH, Yarborough M. A study of the role of beneficence in health care cost containment. Westport: Greenwood Press; 1990.
5.	Nuttal P. Representing the business interests of the, modern healthcare professional. Business Doctor. (1):5.
6.	American Christian Medical and Dental Society. Ethics: Conflicts of interest. Bristol: ACMDS; 1994.
7.	Rodwin MA. Medicine, money and morals: Physicians' conflicts of interest. New York: Oxford University Press; 1993.
8.	Munusamy R. Doctors hit out at medical aids. Sunday Times 2000 June 4;1.
9.	McQuoid-Mason D. Medico-legal and ethical problems in modern society:


Link to TES4 Construction Set Wiki: GetFactionRank.
Returns the calling actor's rank in a particular faction. If the actor is not in the faction, will return value as -1.
The console version of this command is broken and always returns -1.


text:
Rebelião da Ilha Anchieta foi um confronto ocorrido em 20 de junho de 1952, entre as forças policiais brasileiras e prisioneiros que tentaram escapar do presídio que existia, na época, na Ilha Anchieta, litoral norte do estado de São Paulo. O episódio foi uma das maiores rebeliões de prisioneiros da história, ficando conhecida como a "rebelião da Alcatraz brasileira".

Antecedentes
A colônia penal na ilha foi fundada em 1908, com o nome de "Colônia Correcional da Ilha dos Porcos" e abrigava presos comuns e menores infratores. Na década de 30, recebeu presos políticos da ditadura Vargas. Já tinha acontecido uma revolta em 1933, em que cerca de cem presos depredaram as instalações e tomaram o controle da guarda. Contudo, a situação foi controlada, não havendo mortos. Em 1934, em homenagem ao quarto centenário de nascimento de José de Anchieta, a Ilha dos Porcos recebeu o nome de Ilha Anchieta e o nome da colônia penal passou a ser "Colônia Correcional da Ilha Anchieta".

Em 1952, a prisão abrigava os criminosos mais perigosos do estado de São Paulo. Eram 453 presos no dia da rebelião, vigiados por um contingente de cinquenta policiais. A ação foi planejada com antecedência e os detalhes arquitetados pelo líder Álvaro da Conceição Carvalho Farto, alcunhado de "Portuga", que chegou a pedir para ir para o isolamento, alegando estar sendo "ameaçado" por outros presos, apenas para ter mais tranquilidade para estudar os detalhes da ação. Durante muito tempo, orientados por outro líder, João Pereira Lima, alcunhado de "Pernambuco", os detentos buscaram ganhar a confiança dos policiais e seus familiares moradores da ilha, visando facilitar a ação, no momento oportuno.

Rebelião
O dia escolhido para a ação foi 20 de junho de 1952, pela manhã, quando 117 presos foram buscar lenha, acompanhados de apenas dois soldados. Naquele dia, por volta das 12 horas, chegaria uma embarcação, chamada Ubatubinha vinda de Santos, trazendo mantimentos, como sempre acontecia uma vez por mês. Os presos planejavam tomá-la de assalto para fugir da ilha. Um dos soldados que acompanhavam os presos foi morto e o outro dominado. Os detentos retornaram ao presídio, onde se confrontaram em um tiroteio com os demais soldados. Neste  confronto morreram doze detentos, dois funcionários e seis soldados, incluindo o , morto por "Pernambuco", que comandou a ação. Os detentos invadiram a reserva de armas e se apoderaram de fuzis, mosquetões, metralhadoras, revólveres e farta munição.

Todas as celas foram abertas, libertando os demais detentos que estavam confinados. O plano era fugir na embarcação que chegaria pouco depois. A distância entre a ilha e o continente é de cerca de seiscentos metros. Mas a ação não aconteceu como o planejado, pois os criminosos, embriagados, circulavam armados pela ilha e a tripulação da embarcação percebeu que havia algo errado, decidindo não atracar na ilha. Os rebelados tentaram então fugir em barcos menores, o maior deles era uma lancha chamada "Carneiro da Fonte", com capacidade para cinquenta pessoas. Foi lançado ao mar levando mais de noventa detentos, começando a afundar pelo excesso de peso e alguns feridos foram jogados no mar. Aquelas águas tinham muitos tubarões e o sangue os atraiu. Dezenas de fugitivos morreram atacados pelos tubarões, outros baleados pela polícia ou pelos próprios companheiros. Ao chegar no continente, na praia de Ubatumirim, a lancha encalhou e ficou danificada. Muitos foragidos conseguiram chegar em terra nadando e se embrenharam na mata. O presídio foi incendiado pelos detentos, antes da fuga. Muitos também embarcaram em canoas menores, conseguindo chegar ao continente. Os que ficaram na ilha, renderam-se e a situação foi controlada pelos policiais.

Um forte aparato foi preparado para recapturar os fugitivos, envolvendo a Marinha, Exército e Aeronáutica, além das forças policiais de São Paulo e Rio de Janeiro, em uma ação que durou vários dias. A maioria dos fugitivos foi recapturada na Serra do Mar, nas regiões de Caraguatatuba, Ubatuba e Paraty. De um total de 129 detentos que conseguiram fugir, seis nunca foram recapturados. A rebelião deixou ao todo 118 mortos, sendo 108 presos, oito policiais e dois funcionários. Este número de presos mortos em uma rebelião só seria superado quase quarenta anos depois, na rebelião conhecida como o Massacre do Carandiru, em que morreram 111 presos.

Três anos depois, em 1955, o presídio da Ilha Anchieta foi desativado e os presos transferidos para a Casa de Custódia de Taubaté, presídio de segurança máxima onde, décadas depois surgiria a  criminosa denominada Primeiro Comando da Capital.

Em 29 de de março de 1977, a ilha passou a ser área de proteção ambiental, com a criação do Parque Estadual da Ilha Anchieta.

Na mídia
Mãos Sangrentas (1954) – Filme

Na literatura
Ilha Anchieta – Rebelião, Fatos e Lendas, Samuel Messias de Oliveira, 6ª edição – 2011 – ISBN 9788590516750. Catálogo na Fundação Biblioteca Nacional.

Ver também
 Massacre do Carandiru

Massacres e rebeliões prisionais no Brasil
Crimes no estado de São Paulo

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We interrupt this spinning discussion to bring you a Rare Breed Sweater Update! I have slowly but steadily been working on completing the right cardigan front and am pleased to announce that I finished it last night.
The bottom row is my Shetland row, featuring yarn from black, morrit, and grey Shetland fleece.
The top row features two colors of North Ronaldsay on the left and right, and Teeswater in the middle.
The body of the sweater is in Ryeland, and the blue seeding and Fair Isle details are from Hog Island roving.
The sleeves are next, which shouldn't take so long. I've used up all my rare breed samples and so the sleeves will be simpler in design. I'm planning to knit the ribbed cuffs in the green, and the rest of the sleeve in the white and blue seeding pattern.
I am very relieved that it's turning out so well.
Since you seem to like to spin a lot of different yarns, have you thought of knitting an afghan in squares, each square being a different fiber?
Or if you wanted to weave squares, you could use one of those "weavettes."
I really like all those different sheep! The horns, the no-horns and the little ones... very cool!
I have wondered since you started this sweater if when it comes time to wash it, will the different yarns behave different?
I have thought about that over and over.
Amazing - you're on the home stretch now!
Laritza, I think that as long as I simply soak and spin, and don't aggitate, I won't have any problems with the different types of yarns. If I wanted to full the sweater, I would have problems, as different breeds have different felting qualities. But I've made the sweater to fit so that I won't need to do that.
Holey moley - that's awesome. All of it - the design of the sheep, the even knitting across the lice pattern, the shaping. I am in complete and total awe.
Oh, so very cool! I'm really looking forward to seeing it with the sleeves and all put together. Catzee does such a nice job of holding the pieces on the floor doesn't she? (I like Peg's idea about the different squares for an afghan too - that might be kind of fun.) Several people on the shetland list said they wanted to see it when you were done, so I'll post a link on my blog in the next day or so :-) T.
ditto to what Sharon said! I am in complete awe! I bow to your creativity, your persistence, and your knitting skills. Way to go!
Beautiful, Leigh! How exciting to have a gorgeous sweater that also reminds you of all the different fleece that went into it.
I've really enjoyed watching the project/process. You're on the home stretch now.
What a terrific sweater! I love all the sheep in their own wool, and the little jacob there cracks me up.
If you aren't familiar with her already, you should check out www.spirit-trail.net - she's got amazing stuff!
Catzee seems to really enjoy that sweater a lot. I bet she'll be very snuggly with the wearer of this sweater when it is finished.


text:
<?php

/**
 * Export entity customer model
 *
 * @category    Mage
 * @package     Mage_ImportExport
 * @author      Magento Core Team <core@magentocommerce.com>
 */
class Mage_ImportExport_Model_Export_Entity_Customer extends Mage_ImportExport_Model_Export_Entity_Abstract
{
    /**
     * Permanent column names.
     *
     * Names that begins with underscore is not an attribute. This name convention is for
     * to avoid interference with same attribute name.
     */
    const COL_EMAIL   = 'email';
    const COL_WEBSITE = '_website';
    const COL_STORE   = '_store';

    /**
     * Overriden attributes parameters.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $_attributeOverrides = array(
        'created_at'                  => array('backend_type' => 'datetime'),
        'reward_update_notification'  => array('source_model' => 'eav/entity_attribute_source_boolean'),
        'reward_warning_notification' => array('source_model' => 'eav/entity_attribute_source_boolean')
    );

    /**
     * Array of attributes codes which are disabled for export.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $_disabledAttrs = array('default_billing', 'default_shipping');

    /**
     * Attributes with index (not label) value.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $_indexValueAttributes = array('group_id', 'website_id', 'store_id');

    /**
     * Permanent entity columns.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $_permanentAttributes = array(self::COL_EMAIL, self::COL_WEBSITE, self::COL_STORE);

    /**
     * Array of pairs store ID to its code.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $_storeIdToCode = array();

    /**
     * Website ID-to-code.
     *
     * @var array
     */
    protected $_websiteIdToCode = array();

    /**
     * Constructor.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        parent::__construct();

        $this->_initAttrValues()
                ->_initStores()
                ->_initWebsites();
    }

    /**
     * Initialize website values.
     *
     * @return Mage_ImportExport_Model_Export_Entity_Customer
     */
    protected function _initWebsites()
    {
        /** @var $website Mage_Core_Model_Website */
        foreach (Mage::app()->getWebsites(true) as $website) {
            $this->_websiteIdToCode[$website->getId()] = $website->getCode();
        }
        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * Apply filter to collection and add not skipped attributes to select.
     *
     * @param Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Collection_Abstract $collection
     * @return Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Collection_Abstract
     */
    protected function _prepareEntityCollection(Mage_Eav_Model_Entity_Collection_Abstract $collection)
    {
        // forced addition default billing and shipping addresses attributes
        return parent::_prepareEntityCollection($collection)->addAttributeToSelect(
            Mage_ImportExport_Model_Import_Entity_Customer_Address::getDefaultAddressAttrMapping()
        );
    }

    /**
     * Export process.
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function export()
    {
        $collection     = $this->_prepareEntityCollection(Mage::getResourceModel('customer/customer_collection'));
        $validAttrCodes = $this->_getExportAttrCodes();
        $writer         = $this->getWriter();
        $defaultAddrMap = Mage_ImportExport_Model_Import_Entity_Customer_Address::getDefaultAddressAttrMapping();

        // prepare address data
        $addrAttributes = array();
        $addrColNames   = array();
        $customerAddrs  = array();

        foreach (Mage::getResourceModel('customer/address_attribute_collection')
                    ->addSystemHiddenFilter()
                    ->addExcludeHiddenFrontendFilter() as $attribute) {
            $options  = array();
            $attrCode = $attribute->getAttributeCode();

            if ($attribute->usesSource() && 'country_id' != $attrCode) {
                foreach ($attribute->getSource()->getAllOptions(false) as $option) {
                    foreach (is_array($option['value']) ? $option['value'] : array($option) as $innerOption) {
                        if (strlen($innerOption['value'])) { // skip ' -- Please Select -- ' option
                            $options[$innerOption['value']] = $innerOption['label'];
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            $addrAttributes[$attrCode] = $options;
            $addrColNames[] = Mage_ImportExport_Model_Import_Entity_Customer_Address::getColNameForAttrCode($attrCode);
        }
        foreach (Mage::getResourceModel('customer/address_collection')->addAttributeToSelect('*') as $address) {
            $addrRow = array();

            foreach ($addrAttributes as $attrCode => $attrValues) {
                if (null !== $address->getData($attrCode)) {
                    $value = $address->getData($attrCode);

                    if ($attrValues) {
                        $value = $attrValues[$value];
                    }
                    $column = Mage_ImportExport_Model_Import_Entity_Customer_Address::getColNameForAttrCode($attrCode);
                    $addrRow[$column] = $value;
                }
            }
            $customerAddrs[$address['parent_id']][$address->getId()] = $addrRow;
        }

        // create export file
        $writer->setHeaderCols(array_merge(
            $this->_permanentAttributes, $validAttrCodes,
            array('password'), $addrColNames,
            array_keys($defaultAddrMap)
        ));
        foreach ($collection as $itemId => $item) { // go through all customers
            $row = array();

            // go through all valid attribute codes
            foreach ($validAttrCodes as $attrCode) {
                $attrValue = $item->getData($attrCode);

                if (isset($this->_attributeValues[$attrCode])
                    && isset($this->_attributeValues[$attrCode][$attrValue])
                ) {
                    $attrValue = $this->_attributeValues[$attrCode][$attrValue];
                }
                if (null !== $attrValue) {
                    $row[$attrCode] = $attrValue;
                }
            }
            $row[self::COL_WEBSITE] = $this->_websiteIdToCode[$item['website_id']];
            $row[self::COL_STORE]   = $this->_storeIdToCode[$item['store_id']];

            // addresses injection
            $defaultAddrs = array();

            foreach ($defaultAddrMap as $colName => $addrAttrCode) {
                if (!empty($item[$addrAttrCode])) {
                    $defaultAddrs[$item[$addrAttrCode]][] = $colName;
                }
            }
            if (isset($customerAddrs[$itemId])) {
                while (($addrRow = each($customerAddrs[$itemId]))) {
                    if (isset($defaultAddrs[$addrRow['key']])) {
                        foreach ($defaultAddrs[$addrRow['key']] as $colName) {
                            $row[$colName] = 1;
                        }
                    }
                    $writer->writeRow(array_merge($row, $addrRow['value']));

                    $row = array();
                }
            } else {
                $writer->writeRow($row);
            }
        }
        return $writer->getContents();
    }

    /**
     * Clean up already loaded attribute collection.
     *
     * @param Mage_Eav_Model_Resource_Entity_Attribute_Collection $collection
     * @return Mage_Eav_Model_Resource_Entity_Attribute_Collection
     */
    public function filterAttributeCollection(Mage_Eav_Model_Resource_Entity_Attribute_Collection $collection)
    {
        foreach (parent::filterAttributeCollection($collection) as $attribute) {
            if (!empty($this->_attributeOverrides[$attribute->getAttributeCode()])) {
                $data = $this->_attributeOverrides[$attribute->getAttributeCode()];

                if (isset($data['options_method']) && method_exists($this, $data['options_method'])) {
                    $data['filter_options'] = $this->$data['options_method']();
                }
                $attribute->addData($data);
            }
        }
        return $collection;
    }

    /**
     * Entity attributes collection getter.
     *
     * @return Mage_Customer_Model_Entity_Attribute_Collection
     */
    public function getAttributeCollection()
    {
        return Mage::getResourceModel('customer/attribute_collection');
    }

    /**
     * EAV entity type code getter.
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function getEntityTypeCode()
    {
        return 'customer';
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Want to switch data to Android phone? Don't know how to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android? Check the post to get 4 methods to move contacts from iPhone to Samsung Galaxy S9/Note 9, Google Pixel 3 or HUAWEI P20.
There are dozens of new Android phones every year for you to choose from. So as an old iPhone user, you might be attracted by and have bought some new released Android mobile phone. However, no matter it is Samsung Galaxy S9/Note 9, Google Pixel 3, HUAWEI P20, or someone else, there are something you have to think about, such as transferring contacts from iPhone to Android.
Here in this post, we are talking about this topic and offer you four ways, including Email, iCloud, Google Contacts and AnyTrans for Android, to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android for free!
If you just want to transfer a few contacts to your new phone, for example Samsung Galaxy S9, from an iPhone, there is one way you can manage it without computer, which is transfer contacts from iPhone to Android via e-mail.
Step 1Unlock your iPhone, go to Phone App > Contacts.
Step 2Choose one contact and share it with Email.
Step 3Log in Email on Android phone, download the v-Card and add it to contacts.
Actually, due to iPhone and Android phones take two different operating systems, there is no direct way for you to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android. However, you can use iCloud to download iPhone contacts to computer, and then transfer them to your new HUAWEI P20 or Google Pixel 3. This way can be a little bit complicated and time-consuming, but you can still transfer contacts between iPhone and Android by taking this method.
Firstly, sync iPhone contacts to iCloud. Just unlock your iPhone, go to Settings > iCloud, login you iCloud account and turn on Contacts sync.
Secondly, login iCloud.com by using web browser on your computer, go to Contacts category, select and download iPhone contacts as v-Card to your computer.
Step 2. Transfer downloaded contacts to your Android.
Connect your Android to computer, and transfer the VCF (v-Card) files to your device storage, and import these VCF contacts to your Android Contacts app.
If you got a lot of contacts, transferring them one by one via Email might not be a right choice. To batch transfer contacts from iPhone to Android, you might think about iTunes. Here we'd like to show you a method of how to transfer contacts from iPhone to android without iTunes.
If you have added Google account to your Android phone, everything would go easily – once you import VCF contacts from computer to your Google Contacts, all contacts will be automatically synced to your Android phone. Please refer to the method below to see how to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android via Google Contacts for free.
First, download iPhone contacts to computer in VCF form with iCloud, please refer to Method 2 to see how to do it.
Then import v-Card from computer to your Google Contacts, login Google.com/contacts on your computer, and import downloaded VCF file to Google Contacts.
After all VCF contacts have transferred to Google Contacts, log in Google Contacts on your Android phone, reload and all the contacts will be synced to your Android.
If you find the above methods are too complicated, then AnyTrans for Android is an easier way to go. Here are the reasons why we choose AnyTrans for Android.
It is regarded as one of the best iPhone data transfer tool and you can use it to transfer contents from iPhone to your Android phone directly and easily.
Besides contacts, AnyTrans for Android also supports user to transfer personal contents such as messages, call log, notes and calendar, and media contents such as music, photos, ringtone and videos.
It is really convenient for users to transfer contents via AnyTrans for Android, just a few clicks, your contents will be directly transferred from your device to your computer or new Android phone.
Transfer contacts from iPhone to Android via AnyTrans for Android is probably one of the most efficient ways. Please read this step-by-step guide to see how to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android without iTunes.
Step 1Free Download AnyTrans for Android to Mac or PC, connect both your iPhone and Android phone to it.
Step 2Choose Android Mover and AnyTrans for Android will show you all types of files you can move from your iPhone to Android.
Step 3Select Contacts and click the Next button. Then wait for the transferring process to complete.
All of the four methods above are efficient and can be used to move contacts from iPhone to Android. No matter you just only want to transfer a few contacts, or you want to transfer contacts from iPhone to Android without iTunes or you want to transfer the whole contacts to Android, you can find what you want in this article. If you still have problems, please leave a comment, we will reply as soon as possible.


All the text, audio files, images and graphics and their arrangements are subject to copyright and other laws to protect the intellectual property. You aren`t allowed to copy them for commercial use or distribution, nor to modify or use them on other websites. Furthermore some of these sites contain pictures whose copyright belongs to those who have made them available. The acquisition and use of these data requires the written consent of innco systems GmbH.


Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates called Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday and discussed the steps the government had taken to eradicate polio from the country.
The prime minister's focal person on polio eradication, Babar Atta, said that the premier told Gates that traces of polio virus had been found in three cities — Karachi, Peshawar and Chaman, a town near the Pak-Afghan border.
PM Khan also told Gates that the government is facing some difficulties eradicating polio due to the movement of people between Pakistan and Afghanistan but that his government is working on a new strategy to counter this. Gates appreciated PM Khan's anti-polio efforts.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been helping Pakistan's polio eradication programme for years. During the 30-minute conversation, the two also discussed how technology can be used to increase the effectiveness of polio eradication, said Atta.
The issue of poverty alleviation also came under discussion. PM Khan told Gates that Dr Sania Nishtar has been appointed the head of the BISP.


Earlier this year, Bob Ashford was barred from running in the election to become a Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC). You can read more about this here.
Since then, Bob has launched WipeTheSlateClean, a non-political campaign.
One of the campaign's aims to reduce the scope of Criminal Records Bureau checks to ensure that a criminal record does not mean a sentence for life.
and read Bob's interview with The Guardian on 4th December 2012.


text:
#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/export.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/iio/iio.h>
#include <linux/iio/buffer.h>
#include <linux/iio/kfifo_buf.h>
#include <linux/iio/triggered_buffer.h>
#include <linux/iio/trigger_consumer.h>

static const struct iio_buffer_setup_ops iio_triggered_buffer_setup_ops = {
	.postenable = &iio_triggered_buffer_postenable,
	.predisable = &iio_triggered_buffer_predisable,
};

/**
 * iio_triggered_buffer_setup() - Setup triggered buffer and pollfunc
 * @indio_dev:		IIO device structure
 * @h:			Function which will be used as pollfunc top half
 * @thread:		Function which will be used as pollfunc bottom half
 * @setup_ops:		Buffer setup functions to use for this device.
 *			If NULL the default setup functions for triggered
 *			buffers will be used.
 *
 * This function combines some common tasks which will normally be performed
 * when setting up a triggered buffer. It will allocate the buffer and the
 * pollfunc.
 *
 * Before calling this function the indio_dev structure should already be
 * completely initialized, but not yet registered. In practice this means that
 * this function should be called right before iio_device_register().
 *
 * To free the resources allocated by this function call
 * iio_triggered_buffer_cleanup().
 */
int iio_triggered_buffer_setup(struct iio_dev *indio_dev,
	irqreturn_t (*h)(int irq, void *p),
	irqreturn_t (*thread)(int irq, void *p),
	const struct iio_buffer_setup_ops *setup_ops)
{
	struct iio_buffer *buffer;
	int ret;

	buffer = iio_kfifo_allocate();
	if (!buffer) {
		ret = -ENOMEM;
		goto error_ret;
	}

	iio_device_attach_buffer(indio_dev, buffer);

	indio_dev->pollfunc = iio_alloc_pollfunc(h,
						 thread,
						 IRQF_ONESHOT,
						 indio_dev,
						 "%s_consumer%d",
						 indio_dev->name,
						 indio_dev->id);
	if (indio_dev->pollfunc == NULL) {
		ret = -ENOMEM;
		goto error_kfifo_free;
	}

	/* Ring buffer functions - here trigger setup related */
	if (setup_ops)
		indio_dev->setup_ops = setup_ops;
	else
		indio_dev->setup_ops = &iio_triggered_buffer_setup_ops;

	/* Flag that polled ring buffering is possible */
	indio_dev->modes |= INDIO_BUFFER_TRIGGERED;

	return 0;

error_kfifo_free:
	iio_kfifo_free(indio_dev->buffer);
error_ret:
	return ret;
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL(iio_triggered_buffer_setup);

/**
 * iio_triggered_buffer_cleanup() - Free resources allocated by iio_triggered_buffer_setup()
 * @indio_dev: IIO device structure
 */
void iio_triggered_buffer_cleanup(struct iio_dev *indio_dev)
{
	iio_dealloc_pollfunc(indio_dev->pollfunc);
	iio_kfifo_free(indio_dev->buffer);
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL(iio_triggered_buffer_cleanup);

MODULE_AUTHOR("Lars-Peter Clausen <lars@metafoo.de>");
MODULE_DESCRIPTION("IIO helper functions for setting up triggered buffers");
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");


text:
Mind the gap: public and private sector disparity in cybersecurity
By Louella Fernandes on May 11, 2022
Articles, Security
Amidst increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks and a constantly shifting threat landscape, cyber security partnerships across the private and public sector are essential in tackling these threats. This need for stronger collaboration between the two sectors was a topic of discussion at the recent 'Cybersecurity in Public Procurement' roundtable hosted by HP Wolf Security at the US Embassy in London.
The expanding threat landscape
In the aftermath of the Solarwinds attack of 2020, the public sector is facing a rapid rise in malicious threats, with ransomware and social engineering attacks becoming more prolific. However, as Ian Pratt, global head of security for personal systems at HP explained, while fears about nation-state actors have increased, cyber-criminals continue to be behind the vast majority of threats. And, in fact "the way people are being attacked hasn't changed much," with simple techniques like phishing continuing to dominate.
The lure of public sector data is attractive to cyber criminals that can exploit a treasure trove of personally identifiable information (PII) for identity theft, financial fraud, account takeovers, or to create spear phishing emails and social engineering attacks that lead to ransomware. Added to this is the fact that the public sector is particularly vulnerable due to a mix of outdated and legacy systems. According to the UK Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2030 report, 40% of all cyberattacks in 2020-2021 affected the public sector.
Government and the public sector are intrinsically linked: The U.K.'s Digital Marketplace shows the commitment of the government to embrace the products of commercial vendors of all sizes
In 2019, government spending on software and services in the Digital Marketplace was £1.3 billion. However, in real terms, this is only a small amount: total UK Government spend across all areas was nearly £850 billion, and several IT projects exceeded £1.3 billion on their own, being run by large IT companies.
Supply chains present an enhanced risk; unless carefully managed, the supply chain into government is at risk from cyberthreats.
This threat landscape has prompted the UK Government to set the wheels in motion to try and change this situation. The UK Government Cyber Security Strategy 2022-2030 delivers a vision of cyber security resilience through public-private sector collaboration: which aims to build greater cyber resilience across all government organisations and working together to 'defend as one'.
Defend as one: five best practises in cybersecurity collaboration
There are some practical ways to begin the process of collaboration between the public and private sectors:
Adopt a common approach to 'secure by design'. The U.K. Government Cyber Security Strategy report stresses the importance of baking security into the government's use of technology. The report also highlights the importance of continually assessing security across services and solutions.
Share threat intelligence. Sharing security information is vital to developing private-public partnerships to build more resilient systems.
Build collaboration portals to share knowledge. A practical means to share security information that is accessible will provide the intelligence to act. An example of this in action is the S. Quantum Dawn V project hosted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to carry out industry-wide cyber-resilience exercises.
Close the skills gaps in cyber security through education. A culture of security is vital in removing resistance to change. The captains of industry survey show most boards now prioritise security. This must percolate throughout an organisation to engender security at the heart of both the public and private sectors.
Use a common cyber security controls framework. Security frameworks guide how to build cyber-resilience into processes and technology. These frameworks also include the people that interact with these systems. For example, the public-private sector divide can work together by applying the Cyber Security Strategy's 'secure by design' framework, as outlined in the report.
As cyberattacks increase in sophistication, the private sector and public sector must take shared responsibility for securing critical infrastructure. The HP Wolf Security panel served to highlight the pressing need for the public sector to forge stronger partnerships with the private sector. As HP's Dr. Ian Pratt summarised: "to become truly resilient both private and public sectors need to consider their overall endpoint security posture and adopt state of the art hardware and software that can detect, resist and recover from attacks." Secure by design is essential in building resilience into the public sector that is intrinsically linked to the private sector. Placing security first, is a must have as the public-private sector relationships become ever fuzzier. Only deep collaboration will provide the intelligence and support needed to tackle our digitally transformed world's complex and voluminous cyberthreats.
Learn more about Quocirca's cybersecurity insights in our Zero Trust Trends 2022 report.
Canon Europe advances its information security strategy
How zero-trust security can bolster MPS provider offerings
8 factors to consider when selecting a cloud printing platform


VV Brown's second album opens with two songs that share Madonna titles but aren't cover versions. "Substitute for Love" and "Nothing Really Matters" were two of the singles taken from the ultimate Madonna make-over album and mid-career return to form, 1998's "Ray of Light". Unhappy with the r'n'b follow up to "Bedtime Stories" (an r'n'b influenced collection itself), Madonna scrapped the entire sessions and hired electrohead, Brit, William Orbit, started calling herself Veronica Electronica and the rest is pop cultural history. Albeit on an entirely different scale, VV Brown has followed Madonna's lead. About to release her follow up to the successful but underwhelming "Travelling at the Speed of Light" debut, Brown decided the hip hop and r'n'b-dominated follow up, a departure indeed from the nostalgic pop doo-wop of her debut, was not authentic and she walked away from the project and the album was never released. Two years on and as many career changes later she has returned with eleven angry, desolate and soulful songs set against a unsettling, uncompromising soundtrack and it is a startling reinvention indeed.
Samson & Delilah is released on VV Brown's own YOY record label so it can assumed that this is what she wants to sound like now with little or no interference from outside parties, and that is remarkable. The aforementioned "Substitute For Love" opens in much the same way as the Madonna track opens "Ray of Light", gently twinkling notes and ambient synths introduce Brown's incredible voice which is now several tones lower; a contralto to rival Grace Jones and she sounds magnificent throughout. A dominant all-electronic backing that is somewhere between The Knife circa "Silent Shout" and Massive Attack at their most austere ( think "Sly") with a mound of sticky dubstep coating the astounding, warrior-like, "Igneous". It isn't easy listening and the mood is pitch-black; a couple of songs like the title track can struggle to stand out when the melody is forsaken for a mood but these are minor niggles.
"The Apple", by some distance the most instant and accessible track here, sounds amazing. Its rolling, funking electro pop assertiveness is magical and Brown has huge fun with the relentless put-downs that lyrically dominate: 'Don't testify me, don't bring me down, don't hold me captive, you're not the apple of my eye you see'. "Nothing Really Matter" is a swirling, sombre and sharp-edged synth monster which would have sounded at home on Adult's last album, VV Brown never before having hinted at this unlikely and inspired direction.
"Faith", track eight of eleven, finally allows a chink of light to spill through and is more lifting sonically and melodically than anything preceding it. A duet with an uncredited male, it quietly references George Michael and with its theme of rebirth ('I shake it off as I fall down to the ground, I belly flop into a swimming pool of sound, so you got to have faith' ) and hope and a melody that will stick for days, it's one of the strongest and most soulful songs here. "Ghosts", in which Brown's vocals spectacularly morph into 80's singer songwriter Joan Armatrading, continues with similar themes and benefits from some simple but brilliantly constructed vocal effects over a droning organ and tight drum machines.
The album ends with two tracks which bring to mind a singer/songwriter who is now an almost-cliched reference point for artists and music fans alike. I'm loath to point out the similarities in the songwriting between that of the haunting "Knife" and Kate Bush's "This Woman's Work" and the foggy, suffocating album closer "Beginning", which sounds like a lost track from Bush's "Ninth Wave" concept album which formed the second part of 'Hounds of Love'. These aren't parodies though, as is often the case, they are very well crafted compositions from an artist who may or may not be familiar with Bush's work (I suspect the former) and to draw such genuine comparisons is a compliment indeed.
"Samson & Delilah" never goes too far, gets too crazy or attention-seeking. The measured and meticulous tone and pacing of this album is a very large part of its success. VV Brown will have her work cut out for her when it comes to the initial promotion of this admittedly difficult album (for such a visual artist she has made the odd decision to hardly feature in the videos for the first two singles) and many will not make the connection between the Marks and Spencer model and former pop star and Brown's current, definitive form. Twelve months down the line though, and many people will have hopefully been exposed to this album while having no idea who the artist is and it will become so something of a word-of-mouth slow burner. By any standards, this is a heartfelt and bold collection and a testament to VV Brown's self belief.