This post is part of a new project for the Critical Physiotherapy Network. If you want to know more about the project, track back to this post.
One of the best ways I know to understand connectivity is as a powerful critique of both the medical and social models of disability.
The medical model of disability is based on the premise that you are disabled if you have an impairment. You are disabled, for example, if you are blind, have lost sensation down the left side of your body, or have chronic lung disease.
By contrast, the social model of disability works from the assumption that it is not impairments that are inherently disabling, but social environments that present barriers to people engaging meaningfully in the world.
The medical model has a long history in physiotherapy. Our students are taught what is normal before learning to assess the various physical abnormalities that they will encounter in practice. They learn about normal weight, normal FEV¹, normal end-feel, and so on, and medicine's reductive model of health and illness becomes well entrenched in student's minds long before they learn that there are alternatives.
The social model has been a powerful counter-narrative in health care over the last 50 years, however, with many health professionals, disability rights activists and service users advocating for other ways to understand the experience and material realities of disability.
In recent years, a third critical perspective has emerged, drawing on the writings of Margrit Shildrick and Janet Price, but latterly developed by Barbara Gibson and others. This view focuses on the mediating technologies that make it possible for people to engage in meaningful activities. Here, a mediating technology is anything that allows a person to engage meaningfully in the world; be it a communication aid, a wheelchair, a guide dog, another person, or a host of other 'tools' that people can use to communicate, remain active, have fun, relax and live otherwise normal lives.
In crudely simple terms, the principles that underpin the idea of connectivity suggest that there are problems with both the medical and social models of disability because both rely on defining the disabled person as 'other'. While many critical theorists have sympathy for the social model because it challenges the power asymmetries created by biomedicine and works to emancipate the voice of previously marginalised disabled people, there is obviously a problem in perpetuating the notion that disabled people are 'other' 'exotic' or 'different' – even if it is for politically laudable ends.
Connectivity provides a counterpoint to this view and I'll try to unpack it in more detail in the next post.
If you have any better explanations for these ideas, know of good resources and want to add comments that we might use in our paper, add them below.
Gibson, B. (2006). Disability, Connectivity and Transgressing the Autonomous Body. Journal of Medical Humanities, 27, 187-196. DOI 10.1007/s10912-006-9017-6.
Shildrick, M. & Price, J. (1996). Breaking the boundaries of the broken body. Body and Society, 2(4), 93–113.
Shildrick, M. (1997). Leaky Bodies and Boundaries: Feminism, Postmodernism and (Bio)ethics. London: Routledge.
Shildrick, M. & Price, J. (2002). Bodies together: Touch, ethics and disability. In, M. Corker & T. Shakespeare (Eds.), Disability/Postmodernity: Embodying Disability Theory. London: Continuum, 63–75.
Michael Schillmeier's /Rethinking Disability: Bodies, Senses, Things/ contains a chapter-length theoretically informed critique of the social model of disability, "In Media Res: A Dis/Ability Manifesto" (2010, pp. 101-125). From the sociology side of things, I think it is one of the finest there is.
Historically, in some cases, society has created disability evolving from eras such as the industrial revolution. This in particular has invented and provided practical means and solutions to speed up our lives but at risk of potential harm and injury. Yet once an individual is rendered 'disabled' an ostricization occurs from society. It appears with a minimalist level of support to re-enable the individual into society. The medical model and Societies prejudice creates a different perspective towards disability rather than empowering and emancipating.
I have had the absolute privilege of meeting some fantastic individuals that have managed to 'cope' with minimalist support whom have achieved what society would deem impossible but to them is part of their everyday life. That to me is laudable.
Wondered whether Mol's (2002) ethnography of diabetes might be a useful reference point – as a way of conceptualising how (dis)ability is 'done' in practice, & its potential to multiply (e.g. everything from an 'exhibit' in a Victorian circus or medical ward round to a super-human technologically-enhanced entity) as the body moves through time/space?
physiotherapeutic approach both in medical and social context. The term socially marginalized is defined as individuals living a life which falls outside the common perception of what a good life is. The enormous problem with setting up these two models against another, is that medical excludes psychological, environmental and social factors and social faktors excludes biomechanical factors.
I work on how people can change the lives of homeless people through football. Right now the tournament (homelessworldcup.org) is host in Santiago, Chile.
We are physioteam from Danmark and Norway who is treating players from all over the world and on busy day had around 150-200 treatments a day with all kinds of injuries: dislocated fingers and shoulders, broken bones. Major acute ligaments and muscle ruptures. Minor muscle and ligaments sprains and strains, Burns and scrapes, dehydration, anxiety reactions, muscle sourness, prophylactic treatments and Counseling and suicidal thoughts.
For all the over 1000 participants, we use a football as the mediating technology, and thats helps them to engage meaningfully in the world, communicate, remain active, have fun, relax and live otherwise normal lives.
1) As you note the social versus medical model discussion has created its own classificatory binary. The connectivity premise is a radical departure in that it challenges the parameters of the debate. Instead of focusing on where disability is located ie body vs society, it rejects disability as a (stable) category. Different connectivities can then be analyzed for their effects. Some will be 'disabling' some 'enabling'; often they will be both depending on context and how disability and ability are ordered within that context. Another way of thinking of this is not to focus on what a person is (disabled vs non-disabled) but what the connections (assemblages) do in the world (eg through an ANT analysis) . 2) A potential direction for the paper is to critically examine the success of the ICF in putatively (!) addressing the divide between the social and personal models of disability. The ICF was created in part in response to critiques of the ICIDH and its presupposition that impairment led to disability in a linear cause and effect relationship. A close reading of the ICF reveals that this relationship still lurks in the details of the model. Moreover the ICF still positions disability in opposition to typical or "normal" body structures , functions, activities and roles. The ICF then, while perhaps useful in many ways, functions to categorize persons as disabled or non-disabled in relation to their biological impairments and to normative assumptions of good or poor function.
Very much enjoying this blog Dave! I hope you don't mind if I add a comment in agreement. I have been thinking quite a bit about connectivity as I work through analyses in my doctoral work. Thinking about 'connectivity' offers an immediate shift in perspective – away from the notion that disabled people are 'other'. Rehabilitation, amidst broader social structures, constructs disabled persons as subjects of a particular type: subjects who need fixing, who need to be normalized, who suffer, who heroically overcome, etc. There is a particular focus on individualized subjects in rehabilitation where what is counted, and what counts almost always relates to 'individual patient' units of measurement. As a researcher, thinking about the aims of my research and how/whether I can provide specific suggestions to improve children's rehabilitation, I am mindful that I risk reproducing this focus on individual subjects – albeit in ways that advocate opening up multiple possible subjectivities including more positive disability identities. Connectivity provides a lens to generate/catalyze my thinking about 'the problem' and therefore, potential 'solutions', differently, that is, where the 'problem' is not located at the level of the individual subject. This suggests, for me, an appreciation of how thinking about how connectivity, and specifically Barbara Gibson's work on 'assemblages', can be fruitful. Connectivity offers a strategy for thinking, not only about how we all accomplish particular actions in our everyday lives, but as way of thinking differently about problematizations that are implicit in rehabilitation e.g. value laden notions of ability/disability, functional/non-functional, enabling/disabling and the ways these mediate our thinking about 'what' is meaningful.


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Great Eskape is the official cycling team of Greateskape.com, based in the Washington, DC metro area. Our team motto is "reckless in pursuit of glory" and we pride ourselves on being a fun-first team dedicated to keeping 'cross weird. When Great Eskape is at the race there are none more hyped than us. Members of Great Eskape race bikes because racing bikes is fun, but don't sleep on us, Eskape captured 26 podiums in road, cross, and gravel events in 2018.
We love shredding hard and fast on all manner of bikes, but we mainly stick to racing cyclocross and gravel events. Great Eskape isn't just about racing, even though we really love that part. We love to ride our bikes cool places, pitch our tents, sit by a firepit, drink our coffee outside, and generally have a big ol' time.
All of Great Eskape's 2018 cyclocross and adventure racing team members are back at it in 2019, plus a few new friends. Roster announcements coming soon.
We thank Reckless Ale Works, Conte's Bike Shop, Zeke's Coffee DC, Handup Gloves, Endless Bike Co, Highway Two, and Fizik for your support of our racing and adventuring.
You will see some members of Great Eskape racing all over the Mid-Atlantic racing scene, but you'll see a lot of us at these races!
For inquiries regarding our sponsors or membership, or to just say hello, email us at greateskap3 at gmail dot com and keep up with us on instagram: @greateskape and #15seconsofflow #recklessinpursuitofglory #greateskape.
Great Eskape is a close-knit, friends-first team and we only consider new membership requests on a case-by-case basis. If you dig our vibe and are interested in our brand of bike racing we encourage you to contact us and come hang out at races and events to get to know us, we love making new friends and welcome like minded folks on our rides and adventures.


The Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada has received permission to appeal a Jan. 31 Ontario Divisional Court decision that would force objecting doctors to refer for assisted suicide.
Lawyers for the CMDS will file a motion with the Ontario Court of Appeal on May 22 and have 30 days to draft a brief stating reasons the court should overturn the lower court decision.
The Christian Medical and Dental Society argued that the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario were violating doctors' religious freedom and conscience rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with a policy that would force them to either directly refer for assisted suicide or take up a medical specialty such as dermatology or plastic surgery allowing them to evade the issue.
A three-judge panel agreed that the CPSO policy does violate doctors' Charter rights, but that on balance the right of patients to access a legal medical service outweighed the harm done to objecting doctors.
The estimated cost of the appeal is $125,000, of which the CMDS has so far raised $90,000. The CMDS has been supported by the Call for Conscience campaign which has accumulated a database of 47,000 names and e-mail addresses from individuals asking the Ontario legislature to strengthen conscience protections for doctors, nurses and religiously-sponsored hospices, hospitals and long-term care facilities. The campaign, supported by Ontario's Catholic bishops, is also asking for expanded palliative care options throughout the province.
About 3,400 people have sent letters to candidates running in the Ontario election through the Call for Conscience website at canadiansforconscience.ca.


Very exciting to see my little site so well-rendered on smaller devices, so thanks for a great feature.
NOT show the sticky post?
Front Page Options for showing selected categories, but the post always seems to show.
Oh, that worked perfectly. Thanks Syahir. Love this theme!


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Software Engineer – Malta
29th January 2019 /0 Comments/in Careers /by
We are looking for Software Engineers to join our expanding team. Operating from the Malta office, having strong technical skills with an unbending desire to make things right, the candidate will be maintaining and developing on our gaming platform which drives dozens of gaming websites and provides sports events to hundreds of thousands of players worldwide.
Candidate main tasks will include:
Write well designed, maintainable, and testable code and integrate software components with the in-house gaming platform.
Prepares documentation as required such as release notes, comments and systems architecture.
Exercises discretion and independent judgment in the design and implementation of software applications.
Assures highest attainable level of system control and performance capabilities.
Unit test any code produced and handle the change management cycle until the new code is released to the production environment.
Participate actively in code reviews with an international team of developers.
Manage multiple priorities with excellent follow-through to meet deadlines.
Carry out meetings and actively correspond with the team and stakeholders to clearly define and document requirements, accurately determine effort in terms of time and resources.
Suggest improvements that could improve operational efficiencies and guide users whenever requirements do not meet security, quality or performance standards.
Contribute to the continuous learning of the team to ensure improvement and increased efficiency.
Experience & skills
Bachelor's degree in Information Systems or equivalent qualification.
3+ years of development experience preferably in a Java environment.
Strong grasp of Object Oriented Programming and SOLID concepts.
Strong knowledge of Java 7/8 language and core libraries.
Experience in Spring Boot, Maven, and Tomcat.
Experience with designing and building robust APIs and integrating third-party APIs (Soap/REST)
Ideally experience in Microservices, Docker and Continuous Integration.
Strong knowledge of SQL with exposure to Postgres or SQL Server.
Experience with web application development (Html5, CSS and Javascript). Preferably knowledge of any main JavaScript framework.
Strong understanding of source code version control systems with GIT experience being a strong plus.
Experience with automated and manual refactoring.
Knowledge of Microsoft or Linux based technologies with shell skills.
Experience in working with Jira and Confluence.
Ability to solve problems, think logically, take initiative and learn quickly in a fast paced environment.
Great agile and team-player skills. Collaboration is a must.
Passionate about staying on top of current trends and best practices in software development.
Good reading and written communication skills in the English language – all code and documentation is written in English.
Interested? send us your cv on jobs@tain.com
Tain is one of the most established content and technical services providers in the online gambling industry, having been founded in 1999. Tain's strengths are its in-house products, including a market-leading gaming platform, payment gateway, casino games, and a comprehensive sports book and odds feed. Tain has also integrated top-tier game providers such as NetEnt, Evolution and Play'nGo.
NOC Engineer's – Malta
25th June 2018 /0 Comments/in Careers /by
We are looking for some NOC Engineer's to join our 24/7 team. Operating from the Malta office, having strong technical skills an unbending desire to make things right, the candidate will be supporting the systems of our casino & sportsbook platform which drives dozens of gaming websites and provides sport events to hundreds of thousands of players worldwide
Proactive monitoring of all production networks, servers, applications and services
Provide timely response to all incidents, outages and performance alerts
Categorize issues for escalation to appropriate technical/operational teams
Perform basic troubleshooting and operational tasks such as deployment of patches and script execution
Single-Point-of-Contact for all communication in relation to production issues
Manage, maintain and improve ticketing system and surrounding processes
Notify customer and third-party service providers of issues, outages and remediation status
Other duties / projects assigned by management
Participate in a 24/7 shift rotation schedule being; day, night, rest, off
Experience working in a 24×7 mission critical environment
Basic system administration skills on Linux and Windows Systems
Basic database administration skills (SQL)
Basic network troubleshooting skills
Ability to work on multiple tasks simultaneously and prioritize
Willing to work shifts including weekends, in a 24/7/365 NOC environment
Previous experience in the gaming industry will be considered as an asset
Interested? send us your cv on jobs"at"tain.com
Press Release: Tain keeps on expanding with the launch of Amazing Gaming
22nd January 2018 /0 Comments/in News Items /by Keith Mangion Livori
Malta, January 22nd 2018
Tain announces the launch of Amazing Gaming, a new brand within the group of companies focused on creating and developing player-facing content, and which will be officially launched and showcased during ICE 2018.
"Tain has always believed in the power of its in-house products and the setting up of this brand was the most logical step forward." According to Tain's Sales Director; Christian Hellman.
"Amazing Gaming has the advantage of over 30 years of combined experience within the industry through its sister brands; Tain and Betting Promotion which puts it in a very good position to deliver what works effectively for the players.
All our teams have been tirelessly working on this project for several months now and we are very proud to see it come to fruition and to be able to give it its due prominence during the upcoming ICE Totally Gaming show."
The team behind Amazing Gaming was not daunted by the challenges this new project presented, as can be seen by the diverse selection of content that is included in its initial portfolio: table games, slot games, live casino dealer tables and a fully-managed Sportsbook solution.
Hellman continued; "It was very important for us to offer a well-rounded portfolio from day one and to this end we have focused on the verticals we know best – table and slot game development, Sportsbook and Live Casino.
The team at Betting Promotion who is behind the fully-managed Sportsbook solution, has been working on introducing new features, better coverage and working on what is probably the best ESports offering on the market.
Amazing Gaming has also partnered with Portomaso Casino to host its own live tables in Malta and will couple these with a live casino feed from Manila, increasing the number of tables to 20 and giving it an overall international feel.
Our development team has developed new Blackjack, Roulette and Baccarat games, two new traditional slot games and an innovative game, the type of which has not yet been seen in the European market and which we believe will blow our audience out of the water!"
Amazing Gaming and its suite of products will be launched at ICE Totally Gaming 2018 between February 6-8 in London, at stand N1-530.
For more information, contact Amazing Gaming on info@amazinggaming.com
www.amazinggaming.com
About Tain:
Founded in 1999, Tain is one of the most established content and technical services providers in the online gambling industry. Tain's strengths are its in-house products including a market-leading gaming platform and payment gateway. Tain has also integrated top-tier game providers such as Microgaming, NetEnt, and Play'nGo.
www.tain.com
About Betting Promotion:
Since 2003, Betting Promotion has been a market maker at the world's leading betting exchanges. The trade is done automatically, achieving the ever-elusive equilibrium of being both effective and stable at the same time. Betting Promotion also offers odds to bookmakers.
19th September 2017 /0 Comments/in Careers /by Keith Mangion Livori
We are looking for some DevOps Engineer's to join our core team. Operating from the Malta office, having strong technical skills an unbending desire to make things right, the candidate will be maintaining the systems and databases of our casino & sportsbook platform which drives dozens of gaming websites and provides sport events to hundreds of thousands of players worldwide
Build, install, configure and maintain systems in both physical and virtual environments
Implement and improve continuous delivery
Develop scripts and routines in order to improve and streamline operational processes, and automate tasks where possible
Application deployments and configuration management
Ensure systems, network and application availability
Provide technical support on escalated issues and liaise with developers where required
Take part in a rotating on-call schedule
3 years + of experience working in systems administration. Previous development experience will be considered an asset.
Strong knowledge of Microsoft or Linux based technologies.
Good Exposure to Postgres, SQL Server, MySQL, Cassandra, MongoDB & Hadoop clustering.
Experience with virtualization technologies such as KVM, vMware and Hyper-V.
Experience with SAN administration.
Experience with Firewalls and load balancers.
Experience with monitoring tools such as OpenNMS and Nagios
Experience with automation tools such as containers, ansible and puppet
Experience with one or more of the following: Team Foundation Server, Jira , Confluence
Experience with availability solutions such as Veeam
Ability to solve problems, think logically, take initiative and learn quickly in a fast paced environment
Recruiting a Linux Systems Administrator – Malta
8th March 2017 /0 Comments/in Careers - closed /by Keith Mangion Livori
We are looking for a Systems Administrator to join our core team. Operating from the Malta office, having strong technical skills an unbending desire to make things right, the candidate will be maintaining the systems of our gaming platform which drive dozens of gaming websites and provides thousands of games and sport events to hundreds of thousands of players worldwide.
Daily monitoring, troubleshooting and upkeep all services to ensure maximum availability
Scheduled release deployments
Day-to-day operational tasks including application configuration changes and user administration
Make recommendations to management for new equipment, upgrades and improvements in order to meet ongoing capacity and performance requirements
Must-have requirements:
3 years + of experience working in systems administration
Strong Linux administration skills ( preferably CentOS & Red Hat )
Very good working knowledge of Tomcat including installation, configuration and tuning
Experience with virtualization technologies, including mainly KVM and also VMWare
Scripting ability using Bash and/or other scripting languages
Solid knowledge of DNS, SSL, HTTPD, Syslog, SNMP, SMTP & LDAP
Experience with SAN administration
Good understanding of network related aspects including VLANs, NAT, VPN & firewall rules
Configuration of backups involving NFS/CIFS storage and tools such as Bacula
Experience with automation tools
Working knowledge on Servers running Windows Server 2008 and 2012 is considered a plus
16th January 2017 /0 Comments/in News Items /by Keith Mangion Livori
16 January, 2017 – Malta (Press Release): Tain, the gaming software and solutions provider, has successfully launched its new Fast Bet sports betting service.
Fast Bet gives punters the opportunity to place wagers on whether incidents will take place within a defined period during a sports event.
Markets for football matches include whether there will be a goal, corner, free-kick, goal-kick, red card or throw-in during the period, with Fast Bet also available for other major sports. Punters simply click on an event and select the timeframe, which could be as little as a single minute.
Fast Bet – which Malta-based Tain is to showcase at next month's ICE 2017 event in London – enhances Tain's already comprehensive sportsbook service.
Tain Managing Director Mathias Larson said Fast Bet offers operators the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the rest of the sector.
"Sportsbooks that can offer something different will be the ones that prosper in a competitive marketplace," said Larson. "Fast Bet is an exciting new service that can help operators to stand out from the rest.
"Fast Bet is ideal for those punters who become bored through having to wait until half-time or full-time to see their bet settled.
"Sports fans can put their knowledge and expertise to the test over a limited period of time. If they think a spell of attack is certain to lead to a goal, or if they think a couple of bad tackles might culminate in a red card, the Fast Bet service is perfect for them."
Fast Bet is the latest enrichment to Tain's service since it was acquired by XIN Gaming last June.
Last month it was announced that Tain would increase the number of live events it covers each month to 23,000. In increasing the number of sports covered to 50, Tain now offers markets on the likes of curling, biathlon and water polo, as well as traditional major verticals such as football, tennis and US sports.
Larson added:
"Tain now offers the extras that complement its fully-managed sportsbook. Operators are excited by our enhanced service, and we look forward to displaying our offering to the rest of the sector at ICE 2017."
The Fast Bet service will be demonstrated at Tain's stand (S1-342) at ICE 2017.
Mathias Larsson
mathias@tain.com
9th January 2017 /0 Comments/in News Items /by Keith Mangion Livori
Malta, January 09 – Poker Players International (PPI) and Tain have, as of today, partnered to offer real money poker in legal jurisdictions throughout the world, via PPIPOKER.net. Employing the most advanced software in existence, this new poker destination aspires to meet and exceed every player's gaming interest and desire.
For nearly a decade, PPI has been widely viewed as the largest and most trustworthy marketing services and player representation firm in the poker industry. PPI has represented hundreds of professional players and dozens of corporate clients in all aspects of the industry. The firm has been instrumental in assisting startups in becoming established brands, which, in turn, have experienced massive success.
"We couldn't be more excited about the team we've assembled and the partnerships we've established to deliver this product to the players," commented PPI Co-Founder Randall Kasper. "We've seen firsthand every pro and con of every single issue in this area and we are going to give the players the best of the best, period."
In the weeks to come, PPI will be expanding their offerings. These include classic casino gaming, live table games, and a state of the art full service sportsbook developed and serviced by Tain.
"We left no stone unturned," said PPI Co-Founder Eugene Castro and Business Development Leader. "We considered all software options, ultimately deciding to contract to deliver the most advanced and diverse poker software in existence, developed by GGNET. We partnered with Tain, a pioneering company universally recognized as the best and most established content and technical services provider in the online gambling industry, to provide an integrated platform for poker, casino and sportsbook with top notch customer service, deposit and withdraw methods. This is nothing short of an online poker dream team."
This announcement follows on the heels of Tain and GGnet's announcement to offer the unparalleled GG software on the Tain Network.
Tain CEO Mathias Larsson commented: "We are very excited to deliver a gaming environment to PPI and it's wide reach to players. PPI and its principals have a long history of serving in literally every aspect of the poker world, from player representation, poker room consulting and marketing, software development and content providers to a myriad of poker publications. We here at Tain are extremely optimistic this inaugural rollout of our combined suite of products including the GGnet poker software will be a resounding success."
Tain is one of the most established content and technical services providers in the online gambling industry, having been founded in 1999. Tain's strengths are its in-house products, including a market-leading gaming platform and payment gateway. Tain has also integrated top-tier game providers such as NetEnt, Evolution and Play'nGo.
About PPI:
Poker Players International is the most prolific full service poker in the world, representing hundreds of the greatest players in the world, in addition to offering unparalleled marketing services to a wide array of corporate clients. The professionals at PPI have decades of experience in player representation, event management, corporate consulting and marketing services.
13th December 2016 /0 Comments/in News Items /by Keith Mangion Livori
13 December, 2016 – Malta (Press Release): Tain is to significantly expand its sportsbook service through the addition of 5,000 more live events per month.
The software and solutions provider, which is headquartered in Malta, will now offer around 23,000 live events from 6,800 competitions each month.
In increasing the number of sports covered to 50, Tain will now offer markets on the likes of curling, biathlon and water polo, as well as traditional major verticals such as football, tennis and US sports.
The expansion of the sportsbook service is the latest development since Tain was acquired by XIN Gaming in July.
Mathias Larsson, Managing Director at Tain, said: "Tain's sportsbook is one of the industry's most established, dating back to 2009.
"The foundation has always been there to offer operators a fully managed sportsbook and a very good margin. What has been missing within the sportsbook is the 'extras'. Since the takeover we have already added a number of bonus features such as 'cash out', that in itself is a very strong feature. Now with the addition of another 5,000 live events per month I can proudly say that we are a strong competitor in the market."
The Tain sportsbook can be plugged into any wallet solution, including the Tain Casino, and provides players with a seamless betting experience across a wide variety of different gaming products.
The flexibility of the offering means that operators can select a fully-managed solution or retain their own trading team, as well as choosing from a selection of HTML5 interfaces or building their own.
Larsson added that Tain is set to reveal further enhancements to its sports offering at the ICE Totally Gaming event in London in February.
He said: "At ICE we will launch the next major addition to our sportsbook service. While we will not make any public announcements until February, we will gladly discuss it with operators that are interested to know more."
Tain adds Yggdrasil to its portfolio of games
2nd December 2016 /0 Comments/in News Items /by Keith Mangion Livori
Tain will provide full suite of games to its white label's and turnkey operator's
2nd of December, 2016 – Tain has put pen to paper in a deal that will see it receive a full suite of award-winning video slots games from Yggdrasil.
Yggdrasil will integrate its blockbuster portfolio of HTML5 games into the Tain platform, which already offers its partners more than 2,000 titles from third party suppliers.
Tain will also gain access to Yggdrasil's collection of in-game promotional tools, BOOST™, including the recently-launched Missions feature, as well as the social sharing tool BRAG.
Tain is one of the longest-serving platform and content providers in the industry, and was one of the early pioneers of online gaming.
Mathias Larsson, managing director at Tain, said: "Yggdrasil continue to design and develop mind-blowing games that are very much best-in-class and we have wanted to be able to offer them to our players for some time now. It's great to have reached a deal, and we look forward to seeing how our partners respond."
Fredrik Elmqvist, CEO at Yggdrasil Gaming, said: "We are delighted to have reached a deal with Tain to add our games to their already bursting portfolio. We believe our titles will be a big hit with their white label and turnkey partners, and will be enjoyed by their players.
"Tain has been plying its trade in the egaming sector since the first casinos appeared online, so it is great to be able to work with such an experienced and knowledgeable company. We are excited to see what the new owners XIN Gaming will do to further develop this venture."
Yggdrasil's portfolio contains a wide range of popular casino games, including: Big Blox, Vikings Go Wild, progressive jackpot Joker Millions, and Super Heroes.
Recruiting a Casino Coordinator
2nd September 2016 /0 Comments/in Careers - closed /by Keith Mangion Livori
Tain is seeking a Casino Coordinator to join our team. Operating from the Malta offices, the Casino Coordinator will be responsible of all the tasks involved to keep the casino portfolio up to date, plan and evaluate campaigns to improve the ROI and actively identify and/or support, solve and prevent poor customer experiences.
The main responsibilities include but are not limited to:
Ensure that the casino portfolio is up to date, and competitive in the core markets.
Manage the releases of games by liaising with game providers and technical teams.
Communicate upcoming game releases, new product features, opportunities and insights to all customers.
Plan, create and execute tailor-made retention campaigns for whitelabel customers, specific to their markets and needs, focusing on increasing the revenues for each brand.
Assist and support turnkey customers with creating, setting up, planning, executing and evaluating new marketing and sales campaigns/activities as required.
Constant evaluation of campaigns in order to improve efficiency and ROI.
Assist clients with managing and optimising their casino content.
On request, assist the Account Management team in negotiations with new and existing providers, as well as with the management of client accounts.
Evaluate casino lobbies across devices, brands and markets to ensure the best possible user experience.
On request, actively take part and assist in marketing and sales activities such as events/seminars/conferences or other.
Keep up to date with the market and industry knowledge.
Need to be knowledgeable and stay up to date with all relevant regulations and ensure that our games offering and relationship with the supplier stays compliant.
Requirements and Competences:
Previous working experience in a similar position within the iGaming industry.
Genuine interest in casino games, including both slots and live dealer.
Good knowledge of marketing & product lifecycle is considered an asset.
Professional customer care skills.
Fluency in English, both spoken and written. Fluency in other languages is a bonus.
Posses good analytical and problem solving skills.
Highly organised character who is self-motivated and able to work on own initiative.
Working knowledge of Microsoft Excel and other MS Office applications.
If this sounds interesting to you, send your CV to jobs@tain.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I have studied this mysterious Phantom for many years. He promised me he would not cause any trouble as long as he is let alone. As long as you remain a friendly spirit and his faithful audience, he will not harm you.
I must warn you that, while the Opera Ghost is relatively harmless these days, he still loves to do mischief. Our beloved Trap Door Lover has many secret passages about this place. Beware the Siren! I will keep watch, but I may not always be able to help you.
Who exactly is this Phantom? Where exactly does he live? Where did he come from? What was his childhood like? What kind of person is he? Why does he wear the mask? How can he be so loving one moment, so sinister the next?
Before the worldwide popularity of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, there existed a habitual formula of the suddenly scarred fallen hero. While this is appreciatively an attempt at a sympathetic portrayal, I believe it does too much injustice to a sophisticated character such as Erik. While Erik's story is, in many ways, a surreal and scary re-telling of the old fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, there is also much more. The Beast in the children's beloved tale was once a handsome Prince who is now punished for his misdeeds and unkindness. With time, he learns to become a gentle, kind, loving creature. Upon finding true love, his curse is lifted.
With Erik, his only crime is to be born different in ways that both mesmerize and horrify. He can be at one moment both angelic and demonic. With or without true love, Erik still remains Erik. He is a prodigy repeatedly struggling against societies that boast of enlightenment yet still wallow in conformity and superstition. Time and time again, he encounters cultures that pride themselves in being civilized while creating outcasts from their own intolerance for those who are different. Oftentimes his abilities are exploited by those in power; he then becomes their convenient scapegoat and is condemned in the name of law and order. His story is about a yearning for love in spite of his differences. By this, I do not mean only his physical differences, but also his psychological, spiritual, and intellectual differences as well.
Part Orpheus, part Hermes, and part Hades, Erik is an extremely gifted person whose abilities are almost godlike. Yet in countless ways he is still all too human, a "mere mortal." He can be both frightening and vulnerable, macabre yet pathetically romantic. An unusual combination of the Dr. Faust, Don Juan, and Don Quixote with an aura almost reminiscent of both Count Dracula and Frankenstein's Creature, Erik's moral ambiguity is so extreme that he could just as easily qualify as an anti-hero as he would an anti-villain (a relatively new term in Wikipedia). Some days in the past, I also leaned towards the Byronic hero. These days, my two key terms for him are "shadow self" and "catharsis." Erik is like water, forever changing, and so my own definition could easily change as early as hour from now.
My web site is a motley assortment of the many aspects of Erik's character and portrayals. This includes novels, fan fiction, poetry, historical insight, fun trivia, movies, and musicals. It will not be exclusively based on the Broadway hit composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. While I adore Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical and I am eternally grateful to him for bringing the Phantom worldwide attention, there are countless Web Sites available on that understandably popular version of the story.
Victor Hugo once said, "Happiness is knowing we are loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves." Love comes in many forms and expresses itself in many ways. You need not be one who "drools" for him. Like me, and at least one portrayal of the daroga, it is a site for people who would love to be his audience. This site is just as much for people who simply admire him as a gifted person, those who want to ease the pain of a tortured soul, people who would like having a man like Erik as their friend, dry-humoured people with an irresistible need to root for fictional villains, and even for those who, in the spirit of Special Agent Fox Mulder of X-Files fame, either believe or want to believe that he actually existed and may even possibly still be alive.
Come on, come all! This is Erik-friendly country!
P.S. - If, perchance, you have come simply out of curiousity about his face, I have a chart for you. I understand the inevitable curiousity. It got Christine herself into trouble. On the other hand, I hope you also follow in the spirit of Erik's story to see the gifted musician, magician, architect, and healer as well. I hope you mingle long enough to see past the "freak show." In any case, I have descriptions, but no photos, here.
Disclaimer: The artwork on my site had been given to me by other fans as a gift. The occasional soundclips in the background at some pages are freebies from Partners in Rhyme. The locust graphic and rose background on this front page as well as the curtain backgrounds used elsewhere on this site were freebies from old sites that are no longer in existance. No copyrite infringement is intended on the YouTube videos I embedded at the Phunny Phantom section.
This web site has been brought to you today by the letters "O" and "G," and by the number "5."


Data delayed at least 15 minutes, as of Apr 24 2019 13:39 BST.
As of last trade, Autogrill SpA (AGL:MIL) traded at 8.64, 22.31% above the 52 week low of 7.06 set on Dec 20, 2018.
Autogrill SpA is an Italy-based company engaged in the restaurants industry. The Company operates mainly through Food & Beverage business sector, including four subdivisions, such as Food & Beverage Italy, Food & Beverage HMS Host, Food & Beverage Others and Food & Beverage Corporate. Through the Food & Beverage division the Company offer includes restaurants supplies, sale of daily use products, such as newspapers and magazines, cigarettes and other products, among others. The Company distributes its products through three channels, including airports, motorways and other, such as railway stations. Autogrill SpA manages a portfolio of approximately 350 brands, directly or under license. On August 30, 2013, its subsidiary World Duty Free SpA (WDF) filed an application for the listing.


The hidden delights of the Middle East are waiting to be discovered.
Traditional beauty and modern opulence happily sit side by side, providing unimaginable luxury. From the ancient forts and stunning harbours to the lavish shopping and magnificent skyscrapers, the Middle East has all the excitement you could wish for.
Topped with 365 days of sunshine and sandy beaches that go on forever, this really is the ultimate holiday destination.


I'm feeling all kinds of: Meh?
That horrible itchy feeling you get when a broken bone, sprain, torn tissue, or other internal injury begins to heal that you can't actually scratch.
the sound of your pants ripping as you sit down next to your date.


Prioritization is firstly about focus—where to assign resources and when to start the work. It is not primarily about scoring methods and ranking mechanisms. Without defining project priorities, it is difficult to effectively distribute personnel to carry out the highest valued projects. Project priorities enable management to assign their employees to the most important projects. Gaylord Wahl of Point B says that priorities create a 'true north' which establishes a common understanding of what is important. Prioritizing projects enables organizations to make the best use of company resources. Without a clear and shared picture of what matters most, lower-value projects can move forward at the expense of high-value projects. Again, prioritization is about focus—WHERE to assign resources and WHEN to start the work. Prioritization and resource allocation go hand in hand.