CVS Health Corporation (CVS) is shifting even more to digital and health technology -- moving forward with mobile, helping to manage patient's health. Throughout the United States, enterprise organizations such as CVS are pivoting towards offering improved mobile shopping experiences for their customers.
The company is also aiming to improve patients health through its recent partnership with IBM (IBM) to use IBM Watson Health Cloud at CVS pharmacies, Minute Clinic and employer clients.
"The capabilities of the IBM Watson Health Cloud, when coupled with CVS Health's insights into medical utilization and patient behavior, could prove transformative for the industry," Mike Rhodin, senior vice president at IBM Watson, told Forbes.
CVS will use Watson to improve its results for monitoring patients' health issues.
In the last five trading days, shares of CVS rose by 2.23 %. Shares had risen 8.59% for the last 4 weeks. CVS is up 13.05% in the last 3-month period. Year-to-Date the stock performance stands at 19%. The 52-week high of the share price is $111.91 and the 52-week low is $74.69. The company has a market cap of $128,009 million.
Expanding digital and wellness services throughout CVS's stores and pharmacies could transform the healthcare sector and digital capabilities could meet the needs consumers seek. Will this help investors too?
CVS's digital offerings like its CVS/pharmacy Mobile app offered earlier this year gives an insight to consumers delivering a seamless personalized mobile shopping experience. The mobile app serves as an invaluable savings tool for ExtraCare members. The CVS/pharmacy ExtraCare program is the gold standard among retail rewards programs. It is currently the longest running program found in the drugstore space with a 15 year history.
"Our CVS/pharmacy Mobile app has gotten top marks from our customers, but we still constantly challenge ourselves to make it even easier, better and faster," said Brian Tilzer, senior vice president, chief digital officer for CVS Health. "It's important to us -- and our customers -- that we deliver a personalized mobile shopping experience and extend access to our pharmacy services in a way that's seamless. "
The company plans to expand to transform the consumer experience with the CVS/pharmacy Mobile app.
In June, CVS announced Norman de Greve as CVS' Chief Marketing Officer, effective July 15. Greve will be accountable for marketing strategy across the enterprise. The company had also recently opened a digital innovation lab in Boston. CVS currently operates 7,600 drugstores throughout the United States. The company has over 1,00 walk-in clinics and over 70 million members of benefit plans.
CVS (CVS) Adds IBM's Watson to Digital Strategy. InvestorGuide.com. WebFinance, Inc. http://www.investorguide.com/article/16748/biggest-data-for-cvs-wfu/ (access:April 25, 2019).


London: Confident that India can withstand the current global economic downturn, the Hinduja group today said that they were widening the scope of their investments in India to include nuclear power plants in collaboration with foreign partners.
Group chairman S P Hinduja said here that the economic strength of India or any other country should not not be measured by the performance of its stock markets.
"The Indian stock market is undergoing a correction which would not impact on the solid economic foundation of the country. India's potentiality, the market size, investment opportunities it offers and the talent and skill of its people remain undiminished," he said in an interview.
"In fact, this is the time to avail of investment opportunities in India. We are confident that prime minister Manmohan Singh, the architect of free market economy, and finance minister P Chidambaram will continue the reform process so that investors face no no hurdles," he said.
Besides continuing its investments worth several billion dollars in 10 core sectors such as infrastructure, power, finance and banking, healthcare and automotive industry, the Hinduja group was now now looking at investing in nuclear power plants against the backdrop of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The group was in discussion with potential partners in nuclear energy, Hinduja said but declined to give further details.
The Hinduja group sees business opportunities worth at least one trillion dollars in infrastructure in semi-urban areas, Hinduja said.
Speaking of the size of the Indian market, Hinduja said with a population exceeding 1.2 billion, India could be the leader of the world's consumer market if it develops 400 to 500 million consumers.
While hailing the liberalization process in India, he said that the government needs to open the market another 35 -40%. That could enable it to overtake the world leader, the USA, which has a market of 240 million customers.
Hinduja had little doubt that the Indian economy could withstand the current global problems because it had the potential of consuming four times what it produced and developed. The size of the middle class and the upper middle class with high networth was increasing.
"There was no no need for anyone in India to panic about the current situation. The paper value may have dropped but the demand and the potentiality of India continues to be solid," he said.


Any modern audiophile worth their salt has their music library broken down into three distinct categories: Disney villain anthems, string covers of '90s pop jams, and the best of the best video game tunes.
That latter category can be an especially valuable asset to your daily life. A particularly strong platformer theme can turn your morning commute or evening workout into a life-or-death adventure; meanwhile, some moody RPG music can make any idle conversation with a babbling coworker feel like an opportunity to unlock secret messages and advance to realms unknown. And now, those of you who share this adoration for gaming music will have a whole lot more of it to choose from, as Capcom has uploaded its entire library—or close to it!—of video game scores to Spotify.
If you're in the dark about the timing of this release, join the club. There's been no definitive announcement from Capcom as to why they've taken it upon themselves to flood Spotify with dozens of albums worth of hundreds of songs from franchises like Mega Man (a.k.a. Rocketman), Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, and more. But frankly, we're content to just accept this as an inscrutable act of charity on the part of the company bigwigs... or perhaps the inadvertent push of a button on the part of a clumsy new intern.
In other words, whatever the reason for the pleasant surprise that is this monsoon of handheld opuscula, we're thankful for it. If you have a Spotify account, we encourage you to transform your life anew into a pixelated power ballad. It's probably about time to spice up your morning soundtrack anyhow; there's only so many days in a row you can listen to Scar sing "Be Prepared," people.


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Remains Found Near Mason City NOT Missing Anchor
MASON CITY, Iowa (KCRG-TV9) -- The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said human remains found in rural Mason City last month are not those of Jodi Huisentruit.
According to a news release, the remains were found on May 20 in the 22,000 block of 275th Street. Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Deputies and DCI agents collected the skeletal remains and took them to the Iowa State Medical Examiner's Office in Ankeny. Staff performed an autopsy May 23, but authorities are not yet releasing the results.
The Iowa State Medical Examiner's Office was able to definitively determine the remains are not those of Huisentruit.
Huisentruit went missing on June 27, 1995. She had overslept for her shift to anchor the morning news at KIMT and called a colleague to say she was on her way. But she never arrived. Police found her personal belongings and a bent car key in the parking lot outside her apartment.
An anthropologist determined the remains may been in the spot where they were found for 5 to 15 years. Medical authorities believe the remains are those of a white female between 20 and 45 years of age, standing 5 feet to 5 feet 7 inches tall.
Authorities ask anyone with information about a missing person who fits that description to contact the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff's Office at (641) 421-3000.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Boehner preps his plan
Yesterday morning, President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told congressional leaders the risk of a market panic, driven by the Republican debt-ceiling dispute, was a very real possibility. East Asia is 13 hours ahead of EST in the United States, and to prevent the first wave of the larger disaster, they said, policymakers should try to announce a viable way forward beforehand.
The good news is, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) seems to care about that timeframe.
House Republican lawmakers are set to participate in a conference call with GOP leaders at 4:30pm Sunday, according to a source notified of the second such meeting in as many days.
The source, who intends to dial into the telephone conference, anticipates hearing from House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) of a deal reached by congressional leaders to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2nd deadline.
The bad news is, Boehner doesn't seem to care about handling this in a responsible way.
With Asian markets set to deliver a verdict within hours on the U.S. debt crisis, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said on Sunday morning that he was prepared to advance a House debt-ceiling plan without Democratic support.
I'm stepping away from my desk, and won't be immediately available to write about Boehner's message to his caucus. I sincerely hope the whispers coming from Capitol Hill are mistaken and that GOP leaders intend to be reasonable this afternoon.
But at this point, the picture appears rather bleak.
Boehner seems likely to tell his caucus that he'll push a two-step process, in which Congress will vote to raise the debt ceiling twice — once this week, accompanied by $1 trillion in cuts (and no new revenue), and again early next year, after additional talks on "reforming" taxes and entitlements. Democrats are willing to accept these terms, but want one vote on the debt ceiling, not two. (One vote would assure the private sector and global markets that default is off the table at least until at after November 2012, resolving uncertainty that the GOP pretends to care about.) Boehner intends to ignore the Democratic demand and create economic uncertainty on purpose.
From there, the Speaker hopes to have the House approve his measure sometime this week, daring the Democratic Senate to oppose it. The goal would be to transfer blame in the event of a crisis — Boehner would say Senate Dems didn't pass his bill, and are therefore responsible for missing the Aug. 2 deadline.
This is, in other words, a game of chicken wrapped in another game of chicken. The Senate could try to pass the House bill but improve it, sending it back to the House, but given how long it will take to pass the Senate version, there almost certainly won't be enough time for the back and forth.
President Obama has suggested he will veto any package that fails to extend the debt ceiling through next year. Boehner believes the president is bluffing, and if given a choice between failure and the bad House bill, Obama will have no choice but to sign the latter.
Of course, maybe we'll get a very pleasant surprise after the 4:30 call between Boehner and his caucus. Since I won't be at my desk, let's call this an open thread to discuss developments as they come to light.


Dr. Prusiner claims that frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a common condition that occurs after brain concussions, such as those suffered by soldiers and football players, is a prion disease. People develop FTD after repeated mild head injuries, which can cause post-traumatic stress syndrome, drug use, emotional detachment, depression, and progressive loss of intellectual and motor function (see MRI in previous chapter).
In August 2013, the National Football League agreed to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit brought by more than 4,000 retirees with advanced dementia and other problems as well as the families of players who have died from the long-term effects of head trauma. As with soldiers, an unusually high amount of football players with brain injuries commit suicide. The question is why. The NFL settlement is for medical exams, concussion-related compensation and medical research for retired players and their families.
Once CTE manifests itself, the disease pathology is almost identical to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Alzheimer's disease. Is CTE a prion disease?
Please visit http://alzheimerdisease.tv/cte/ for more information about head trauma.


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More than 50 million driven from homes by war, crisis: UN 20 июня 2014, 13:49
The number of people driven from their homes by conflict and crisis has topped 50 million for the first time since World War II, with Syria hardest hit, the UN refugee agency said.
More than 50 million driven from homes by war, crisis: UN
The number of people driven from their homes by conflict and crisis has topped 50 million for the first time since World War II, with Syria hardest hit, AFP reports according to the UN refugee agency.
The UNHCR said there were 51.2 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2013, a full six million higher than the previous year.
The protracted Syria conflict was largely to blame for the increase, it said in its annual report, released on World Refugee Day.
Since the war began in March 2011, a total of 2.5 million people have fled Syria, with 6.5 million more displaced inside the country.
The Central African Republic and South Sudan crises also sparked new waves of displacement.
"We are seeing here the immense costs of not ending wars, of failing to resolve or prevent conflict," said UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres.
"Peace is today dangerously in deficit. Humanitarians can help as a palliative, but political solutions are vitally needed. Without this, alarming levels of conflict and the mass suffering that is reflected in these figures will continue," he warned.
The spiralling numbers have huge implications for aid budgets, and place massive strains on nations on the front-lines of refugee crises, the UNHCR said.
Its data covers three groups: refugees, asylum-seekers, and the internally displaced.
Refugee numbers reached 16.7 million people worldwide, the highest since 2001.
A total of 6.3 million have been exiled for over five years, the agency said -- noting that that did not include five million Palestinians aided by the UN Relief and Works Agency, a separate body.
Overall, the biggest refugee populations under UNHCR care came from Afghanistan, Syrian and Somalia, who together form over half the global refugee total.
The world's top refugee hosts were Pakistan, Iran and Lebanon.
The regions with the largest refugee populations were Asia and the Pacific, with a total of 3.5 million people.
Sub-Saharan Africa totalled 2.9 million, and the Middle East and North Africa, 2.6 million.
Shirking responsibility
With most refugees hosted by poorer countries, human rights campaigners Amnesty International said rich nations must do far more to shoulder the load.
"The globe's self-styled leaders are lagging far behind the developing world when it comes to bearing the burden of the global refugee crisis," said Sherif Elsayed-Ali, head of Amnesty's refugees and migrants programme.
"Given the economic advantages rich countries have over poor, it's doubly shocking to see them shirking their responsibility," he said.
Amnesty noted that just three countries -- Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey - registered a total of 1,524,979 refugees from Syria alone last year.
In contrast, it said, the 28 countries of the European Union have pledged to resettle less than 30,500 Syrians -- with Germany taking the vast majority at 25,500.
Amnesty slammed China and Russia for taking in no refugees at all in 2013, despite being the two powers it said had done the most to block UN efforts to end Syria's war.
In addition to refugees, 1.1 million people submitted asylum applications, the majority in developed countries, with Germany the largest single recipient.
Syrians lodged 64,300 claims, more than any other nationality, while 60,400 came from conflict-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.
They were followed by 57,400 people from Myanmar, where minority Muslim Rohingya have fled state-backed persecution and sectarian violence.
Underlining the stark nature of the globe's conflicts, a record 25,300 applications were from children separated from or unaccompanied by parents.
The UNHCR said the world's 33.3 million internally displaced people were particularly hard-hit, since many are in hard-to-reach conflict zones.
They also lack the protection afforded to refugees under international treaties.


Is there any premium paid for gold finger cards (mostly video cards) that are super clean, meaning no heat sinks and no steel brackets? I picked up about 30lb of this material and would like to maximize the payout. Thanks!
Generally no; but you can always email Chris to see if there's any room to fudge.


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Ian Meadows
Augusta Supple
From small things big things grow…
If you click on the link on the "What's On Downstairs" page of Belvoir St Theatre's website: you'll be linked through to a grainy, black and white "teaser" of the upcoming show by Vassily Sigarev, Ladybird. Backed by what could either be an erratic heart-beat, a demanding military march, or the pulse of an insistent nightclub, is Ian Meadows - victorious, shadowboxing, dancing; and understandably so. There is a lot for him to be happy about.
Ian Meadows' company Small Things Productions over the course of a year has scored a couple of significant achievements in the independent theatre scene: a grant from the Australia Council, a project with a prolific and talented director (Lee Lewis) and its first production at Belvoir St Theatre's Downstairs Theatre. Produced by "a collective of young Australian artists committed to producing compelling, entertaining and socially urgent storytelling" the creative team includes the talents of designer Alice Babidge, Lighting Designer Luiz Pampohla, Adam Booth, Eamon Farren, Sophie Ross and Winner of the best Newcomer and Best supporting actress 2008 Sydney Theatre Awards: Yael Stone.
Founded with fellow actors Sophie Ross and Adam Booth, Small Things Productions has a big vision. What is interesting about the story of the company, the project and the telling of the "since graduating three years ago" story is the big picture sensibility Meadows talks about. There is a sense that he has a sense of longevity and sustainability in mind when he talks about this company and the possibilities of opening it up to projects beyond the here and now: beyond Ladybird.
Since moving to Sydney in 2007 as a freshly graduated actor from WAAPA, Meadows has been busy building his CV and networks. September 2008 introduced him to Sydney theatre audiences through multiple roles in Griffin Theatre's production of Damian Millar's award winning play The Modern International Dead, directed by Chris Mead for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Sydney Theatre Awards. "Up until that point I had mainly been working as a writer and in film and TV, which was nice after doing so much theatre [at WAAPA], to have a break from it, but that was an excellent way to get back into it." Ian has received development grants from The NSW Film and Television office for his collaborations with fellow WAAPA graduate Josh Wakely, for a project he is created as sole writer, and more recently directing a short film through the Emerging Filmmakers Fund.
When asked about how he describes himself professionally: "how do I define my job position? Usually I say I'm a carpenter" he laughs at the joke. "It's not true, I just like to say that, its easier." A writer (of TV and film), an actor, a director, Meadows now adds the feather of producer to his cap. Although in the broadness of his role, he struggles to define his one obvious talent he has, except for the fact that all that he does is one thing: storytelling. In an awareness of his position as a storyteller he also speaks of the aspects of producing which have really helped him refine his focus. Describing producing as the opposite of the process of acting: [producing involves] "being aware of the outside, what's on, when, what's out there and is a completely different process from the close internal examination of the character."
{xtypo_quote_right}How do I define my job position? Usually I say I'm a carpenter. It's not true, I just like to say that, its easier.{/xtypo_quote_right}
It's clear that the stakes are higher as an actor when also in the position of producing. Meadows talks about the importance of believing in the project completely, as it consumes every moment of his life. He speaks highly of his co-producers and co-performers Adam Booth and Sophie Ross: "Adam has a talent for contracts and finances and Sophie has a knack at marketing and I just hope that I earn my position of producer … when it comes to writing anything, that's when I think I make up for it."
Despite Ladybird hailing from a new wave Russian playwright, the script is as relevant and pertinent to the area in Western Australia where Meadows was raised. The story follows Dima who's choices are limited by his circumstances and is about to join the army - it is a "savage, hilarious and haunting dissection of futile dreams and rage of those living on the urban fringes, yearning for escape." Since finding the play early 2008, Meadow's connection to the play has evolved with a changing political environment and economic climate, through both the impact of the change of Australian government and the recent change of the US Government. It is clear: in a "small" play, Meadows sees the world at large. There is a social conscience which drives Meadows' curiosity and which has inspired him to put his money and talent where his mouth is.
Perhaps its Meadows' ability to see the universal as local, and vice versa which ensures that Small Things Productions is about to embrace some big themes, big issues? Perhaps it is his insatiable work ethic which inspires him to tackle a demanding dramatic role and a demanding role as producer? Regardless one thing is clear: in a "small" play named after a small insect, Meadows sees the world at large.
Ladybird opens at Belvoir St Downstairs Theatre, Friday March 20. Further information»
Credits: -
Top Right - Ian Meadows in rehearsal for Ladybird. Photo - Brett Boardman
Lyndelle Green
Lyndelle Green is the director of Phoenix Theatre Company's current production; the 'right of passage' Australian work, Away by Michael Gow. Between rehearsals Lyndelle spoke to...
Spreading like Wildfire
It was Sandra Stockley's bright spark, which ignited Wildfire Theatre Company less than a year ago… and there is no shortage of theatrical fodder to fuel the flames. Australian Stage's Augusta...


Less expensive than 60/40, we use this for all our copper foil soldering.
The ideal solder for copper foil seams and general purpose stained glass soldering. Sold on convenient 1 pound spools. Melting temperature 361� to 421�F.


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The Sutter Manual Microinjector is an economical and robust manual syringe driver for pneumatic or hydraulic control of injection needles or holding pipettes.
Suitable for injecting volumes in the nanoliter to microliter range.
Resolution depends on syringe size - eg. with 25 ul syringe, 1 div = 10.6 nl.
The PLI-100 Pico-Injector reliably delivers a wide range of volumes through micropipettes by applying a regulated pressure for a digitally set period of time. Compressed gas allows the user to deliver desired volumes from femtoliters to microliters while simultaneously holding a cell. Whether you need to do large injections into capillaries or very small injections into mammalian nuclei, the PLI-100 is well suited for your experiment.
The PLI-90 Pico-Injector, like the reliable PLI-100 Pico-Injector (above), controls the precise and reproducible regulation of injection pressure and time. Because the PLI-90 features only the injection, balance, and clearing positive pressures, it is a lower cost alternative to the PLI-100. This simplicity makes it even easier to use than the PLI-100.
Volumes for the Nanoject II range from 2.3 nl to 69 nl. Although previous models of the Nanoject series are excellent for Xenopus injections, the smaller tips and smaller injection volumes of the Nanoject II allow users to perform injections into other specimens/ applications that previously could not be performed.
Positive displacement technology and the use of precision micropipettes, eliminate the need for tedious calibration when the viscosity of the sample changes. Contaminants in the sample do not hinder or change the injection volume as with some other injectors. An optional universal mounting adapter provides easy mounting of the Nanoject II to a variety of micromanipulators and stereotaxic frames. The manipulator pictured is sold separately.


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Steve Bannon's Done
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/david-stockman/steve-bannons-done/
But it's way too late, says David Stockman.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/ron-paul/just-say-no-to-jeff-sessions/
To Jeff Sessions, says Ron Paul.
The Danger of 'Market Fundamentalists'
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/david-gordon/the-euro-might-destroy-europe/
To hyper-Keynesian Joseph Stiglitz. Article by David Gordon.
Principle and Tradition
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/bionic-mosquito/principle-and-tradition/
For libertarians.
The Biggest Nuclear Blunder of All Time
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/no_author/the-biggest-nuclear-blunder-of-all-time/
Threatening Los Angeles and San Diego. Article by Brett Redmayne-Titley.
Honoring Albert Camus
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/edward-curtin/to-honor-albert-camus-on-the-day-he-died-january-4-1960/
57 years after his death, or murder, says Edward Curtin.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/paul-craig-roberts/russiagate-turns-on-its-originators/
Turns on its originators, says Paul Craig Roberts.
Fake News Is Not Dying Out
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/no_author/the-trump-monster/
It's getting worse, says Jeff Thomas.
The De Facto Agent of Influence
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/phil-giraldi/nikki-haley-the-de-facto-agent-of-influence/
Phil Giraldi on Nikki Haley.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/doug-casey/the-war-on-some-drugs/
Actually, make that some drugs, says Doug Casey.
Smile, the Future Is Coming
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2018/01/george-f-smith/smile-the-future-is-coming/
George Smith on 10 desperately important things about money that people will not learn.
The Hidden Code
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5247215/Hidden-code-reveal-D-B-Coopers-true-identity.html
That could reveal D.B. Cooper's true Identity.


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Analysis | Employee Experience and Engagement
Amazon staff discuss policies after tornado tragedy
Amazon has come under fire yet again for its warehouse management.
December 13, 2021, 02:12 pm GMT | By: Daniel Richardson
Amazon has been criticized for the way it treats employees.
Now after a tragedy that killed six workers, the company is facing mounting pressure.
On the 10th of December, Amazon's Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse was hit by a tornado and at least six workers were tragically killed.
In the aftermath of the incident, many Amazon warehouse workers are questioning a phone ban that meant those impacted by this tragedy couldn't contact or be reached by their loved ones.
The e-commerce giant had relaxed its phone rules as part of a response to the pandemic, but at the time of this incident, the company had begun reintroducing a no-phone policy across the US. As part of this policy change, Amazon initially removed the protocol that enabled workers to get in touch with people in cases of emergency
With the phone ban continuing to be rolled out, Bloomberg spoke to employees about how they felt. One employee in a neighboring warehouse from Edwardsville said: "After these deaths, there is no way in hell I am relying on Amazon to keep me safe."
Additionally, Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, said: "Time and time again Amazon puts its bottom line above the lives of its employees. Requiring workers to work through such a major tornado warning event as this was inexcusable."
"This is another outrageous example of the company putting profits over the health and safety of their workers, and we cannot stand for this.
"Amazon cannot continue to be let off the hook for putting hard-working people's lives at risk. Our union will not back down until Amazon is held accountable for these and so many more dangerous labor practices."
These comments are not only damning but reflective of the greater issues that the technology and commerce company is facing.
Earth's best employer
Amazon has strived to become 'Earth's best employer' but during the pandemic, the company's shortcomings have been highly publicized.
Notably, the company has had workers on strict rotas which meant they had to urinate in bottles to keep up with their schedules. On top of that, Amazon drivers are facing AI surveillance under threat of losing their jobs, HR systems have been broken for extended periods of time, and underpaid staff when they needed it most, and claims of a discriminatory culture.
These kinds of issues culminated in Black Friday strikes in which MakeAmazonPay noted: "During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon became a trillion-dollar corporation, with Bezos becoming the first person in history to amass $200 billion in personal wealth.
"Meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers risked their lives as essential workers, and only briefly received an increase in pay."
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel responded to the threat of strikes by saying: "These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we are not perfect in any area – if you objectively look at what Amazon is doing in each one of these areas you'll see that we do take our role and our impact very seriously."
Additionally, in an effort to stop the formation of unions, founder Jeff Bezos said: "It's clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success."
What is Amazon doing?
In an effort to keep employees and attract new ones, Amazon has implemented several new policies. This includes increases in wages, education benefits, and more flexible working arrangements.
However, concerns remain in the HR department. Amazon has admitted to "inadequate service levels, deficient processes" and systems that are "prone to delay and error". Despite a vow by Bethany Reyes, who was recently put in charge of fixing the leave system, that training had been improved.
Evidently, there are many areas for Amazon to cover as they attempt to become a top employer. A clear place to start is to implement effective systems that manage, address, and report back on employee experiences.
Once this has been done, establishing a feedback loop that shows changes are being made and opinions are being heard would be an effective way to improve the outlook of employees.
Perhaps, what the aftermath of the awful incident in Ilinois draws attention to most, is the need for the company to listen to employees and begin focusing on them in an equal measure to consumers.
On the back of these kinds of efforts, employees may begin to trust the company once more.
Change Management Fortune 500 Talent Management


text:
Gary Andrew Michak
Home / Gary Andrew Michak
Gary started his Karate career in 1968 at the age of 8, after seeing a demonstration. He won his first trophies in Kata and Fighting in 1972. In 1973, at age 13, he started training with Master Joe Brague in Williamsport and Grand Master Jerry Durant in Erie, PA in Goshin Jutsu Karate. Also trained with James Juntia in Wilkes-Barre. In 1975, at the age of 15, he earned his 1st degree Black Belt in Goshin Jutsu Karate, the youngest person in Goshin Jutsu karate system to earn a black belt. In 1976 he opened his first karate school with his brother George in Plymouth, PA. He started competing regionally and nationally in 1979. In 1981-1982, he had the following national tournament victories: Mid-American Diamond Nationals, Minneapolis, MN (1st kata, 1st super light fighting, 3rd weapons, 3 hard style kata); Steel City Open, Pittsburgh PA (2nd fighting); AKA Grand Nationals, Chicago, IL (1st kata, 1st weapons, 4th fighting); All Ontario Karate Games, Toronto, Ontario Canada (1st kata, 1st fighting, 3rd weapons, grand champion Kata, Grand Champion fighting); Battle of Atlanta, Atlanta Georgia (2nd fighting, 1st kata and 3rd in weapons); U.S. Open, St. Petersburg, FL (1st kata, 1st team kata, 3rd weapons, 3rd fighting, 3rd overall champion); and Canadian Karate International Grand Diamonds, Ontario, Canada (1st fighting, 2nd in grand champion finals). In 1982, Gary appeared on the cover of the May issue of Karate Illustrated magazine. Also in 1982 he was nationally rated in the Karate Illustrated yearbook (nationally ranked #8 overall fighting, #7 Kata and #8 in weapons and 1st ever National Triple Crown Winner, achieving a national ranking in three divisions, Kata, fighting and weapons). In 1983 he appeared on the cover of Fighting Stars magazine and in Karate Illustrated yearbook nationally rated top ten in kata, top ten in weapons and top 20 in fighting. Between 1972 and 1984, Gary competed regionally, nationally and internationally winning over 1,500 trophies in the following categories, Kata, Musical Kata, Hard Style Kata, Weapons, Super Light Weight Fighting. 1975 until 2007, he owned and operated karate schools in Plymouth, Nanticoke, Wilkes-Barre, Kingston and Shavertown. Gary graduated from Wyoming Valley West High School, Kings College with a BA Degree, Pennsylvania State University with an MBA, and the University of Miami School of Law with a JD Law Degree. After a varied work history, in 2004 Gary opened his own law practice in Shavertown, PA. Gary is the son of George and Lillian Michak. He is married to Courtney Burgess-Michak. They have two children, Ariana and Thomas.


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LA's Philharmonic Is Bringing the Symphony to Everyone—In VR
L.A. Philharmonic
Jessi Hempel
The orchestra is launching a five-week tour, called VAN Beethoven, to bring concerts to the people via virtual reality.
Fifty-five seconds into Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, the French horns call out from the lilt of the orchestra with three quick high notes and three longer lower ones. It's Beethoven's dramatic introduction of Fate, the symphony's main character; it's a fitting personification by a musician entangled in a personal struggle with the concept. Even as he wrote the most famous and recognizable piece of music in the classical library, the composer was going deaf.
The moment is drama. Tension. Crescendo. And I am sitting in the middle of it. I can see Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel's slightly closed eyes as he leans forward to signal the horns. Thanks to the Samsung Gear VR headset I'm wearing using Oculus technology, I'm so close to the concertmaster, I could reach out to shake his hand.
This is the demo for the orchestra's new digital initiative. Four minutes later, I emerge from virtual reality to a bland conference room at a WeWork space in downtown Manhattan, slightly wistful. I'm not ready for the music to end. Starting September 11, you can have this experience, too. A bright yellow van---aptly named VAN Beethoven---will make a five-week tour through greater Los Angeles, stopping to treat locals to this very private concert I'm enjoying.
The promise of virtual reality has long been that it can take us places we never otherwise would have visited. And as I've tested applications of VR and its fraternal twin, augmented reality, over the past year, I've seen remarkable simulations. I stood on the moon with Microsoft's HoloLens. I perched in the forest as Reese Witherspoon wandered by in the movie Wild. And I nearly wept during Lost, director Saschka Unseld's animated short about a severed robot hand lost in the woods. But no programming has moved me as much as four minutes of classical music put together by the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra's crack digital initiatives team.
You should probably know that I'm a classical music buff. Having spent a couple decades in my younger years practicing the French horn daily, I watch symphonies the way some people watch soccer games, looking for form and tempo and star performances, and I listen to them with all five of my senses. I pony up regularly to sit in the symphony hall. Quite honestly, digital director Amy Seidenwurm didn't design VAN Beethoven for me. Many of the people who catch this tour will not be frequent visitors to Walt Disney Concert Hall. Her goal is to bring the symphony hall to its audience. Says Seidenwurm, "We're an organization dedicated to the art form---we need people to know that they like it."
This is what makes VAN Beethoven so incredible: it's the first time I've seen a nonprofit organization harness this technology to bring a cultural experience to underserved communities. Gaming is cool. Movies are awesome. But this? This is the larger promise of virtual reality, realized.
Efforts to introduce new listeners to classical music have been central to conductor Gustavo Dudamel. At just 34, he's a Venezuelan musician who came to classical music through a publicly-financed program called El Sistema, which offered free classical music education for impoverished children. He began playing the violin at 10, and conducting shortly after. By 27, he'd signed on to be the LA Philharmonic's permanent conductor. Dudamel likes to say that music is a fundamental human right.
VAN Beethoven will be outfitted with carpeting and a half-dozen seats from the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It will stop at a dozen locations from food festivals to the LA Korean Festival, and organizations can request stops here. Visitors will be invited to take a seat, slip into a Samsung headset, and experience the symphony. If you don't live in LA, or you simply miss the van, the VAN Beethoven experience will be available as a free app called Orchestra VR in the Oculus Rift and Samsung VR app stores.
Creating this short piece was a massive undertaking. It was funded by a gift from Geocities founder David Bohnett, an LA Philharmonic board member---and a man who cares deeply enough about the project that he is sitting beside me in the WeWork offices while I watch it. To make the piece, Seidenwurm employed the Canadian interactive agency Secret Location. They used two cameras, one with eight Go-Pros attached to it and another with six. They recorded binaural sound, using 40 microphones throughout the hall to replicate a 3D sound experience. So, when you're facing the orchestra and the violin makes an entrance, you hear it, as you would in the hall, from the left side. Swivel your head, and the orientation of the sound changes.
The team has also designed a series of animations that dance over the musicians, signaling an untrained ear to recognize the sound of various instrument and intended to animate the symphony's theme---the struggle with the idea of fate. The music is over too quickly, and shortly I find myself on the elevator, searching YouTube on my iPhone to find a longer recording of the symphony. You'll want to hear the whole thing. That's the point. And if you happen to be in LA next month, you can. The LA Philharmonic will start its fall season with a Beethoven festival, Immortal Beethoven, in which they will play all nine of his symphonies sequentially, twice.
Jessi Hempel is a senior writer at WIRED covering the business of technology. Before joining WIRED, she served as a senior writer for Fortune, where she penned cover stories on Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as IBM and RIM. In the past, she has written in-depth articles on... Read more
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When I was 14 I developed occasional severe diarrhea. It would come on quickly, usually within a couple of hours after eating, and it would disappear just as fast. By the time I was 16, scheduling my life around what had now become chronic episodic diarrhea, had become an acceptable way of life just like combing your hair in the morning. When I could eat, when I could not. Did I have to be somewhere? You can't eat, Brandee. Is someone coming over? You can't eat! It became an embarrassing, but well kept secret. I also started having these quarterly 'female' problems with severe cramping, lower back pain, chronic fatigue and loss of appetite which would last 3 days and then disappear for another 3 months.
During my sixteenth year, and after great urging from my mother, I finally summoned the courage to see a Gastroenterologist. I remember being asked by the nurse to strip naked from the waist down and put on a stiff hospital gown. I was lying on my side on a cold leather table when the doctor came in. My mom began relaying my history to him. The doctor did not ask me a single question, but did acknowledge me long enough to instruct me to roll over on my alternate side facing the back wall, which was now about twelve inches from my face. Without warning or explanation, the doctor performed a rectal exam practically propelling me through the wall from the shock of what he was doing and the pain caused from the procedure. When no blood was present in a stool sample, the doctor began having a conversation with my mother about what he would like to do next; completely ignoring me, the patient- sitting half naked in front of a stranger and scared to death because I did not understand what was happening to me.
In the end, I was scheduled to return to his office the following morning for a Sigmoidoscopy.On the way home, my mother explained to me what a Sigmoidoscopy was and what I should expect. Something the doctor had neglected to do.
The next morning, after fasting since 3:00 pm the afternoon before, mom and I left for the appointment. Upon arrival to the office, I was again asked by the nurse to remove all clothing from the waist down and was ushered, with mom in tow, into a room filled with all sorts of medical equipment and machines that set the fear alarm off inside my head. I was instructed to climb up on a table and lay on my left side facing my mother who was sitting in a chair at the beds side. After about an hour the doctor came in the room dressed in surgical scrubs with a mask hanging down from around his neck. Honestly, I was so misinformed that the sight of this almost catapulted me into a panic attack, which by this time, had also become a part of my life. (Terrified to leave your home because you 'ate food' can do that to a person.) The doctor announced that he would begin the procedure, which I will not bore you with. At the end of the procedure, he declared that all was well and diagnosed me with IBS- Irritable Bowel Syndrome. He wrote me a prescription for some antibiotics and Prilosec , which to this day I do not know why, as a common side effect of 'the little purple pill' is diarrhea. He instructed my mother to buy me over the counter Imodium AD with further instructions that I would take 1 per day. Unfortunately, I discovered early on in my disease that there was very little help for those with IBS. We were on our own for the most part.
After about 5 years passed, I began having daily heart flutters that would force me to cough. It felt like someone was slapping my left lung. I now know they are PVCs- Premature Ventricular Contractions. I thought that I was having a heart attack, but it turned out that the Imodium AD had been present in my body for so long, dehydrating my body of vital fluids, that it was affecting my organs adversely. Once I stopped taking the Imodium, my PVCs disappeared, but the diarrhea returned worse than ever. It was during this time I decided that I would try to control the diarrhea by way of diet. I stopped eating almost all together unless someone noticed at which time I would eat broccoli, raw vegetables and lean meats. But, mostly, I just did not eat at all.
Over the years I would continue to control my IBS as best I could. I became a hermit only going to work and home and started eating like a horse. I eventually put a lot of extra weight on my five foot frame, which worsened my entire heath profile and the way I would feel from day to day. I developed high blood pressure and Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension. I continued to deal with the quarterly boughts of 'cramps' and back pain with the added symptom of severe nausea. My Gynecologist (GYN) and Primary Care Physician (PCP) both concurred that I had severe Premenstrual Syndrome and advised me to take Midol as needed, which did absolutely no good at all. I could always tell when it was about to strike, as I would become very fatigued and begin to mentally prepare myself to spend the next 36 hours vomiting, in pain and trying to work a full time job while dealing with the pain and other symptoms. Because of the Imodium side effects, I had become a total medication Nazi whether is was an OTC or a prescribed medication, thus, refusing to take most anything.
In November of 2007 I was at work sitting in my office at my desk when I began feeling like I had been hit by a truck. The fatigue was setting in. I looked at the clock on my computer and knew I had about 5 hours before I would be on my back. Unfortunately, I still had 7 hours of work to go. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed with nausea and grabbed the trash can from under my desk. I was very alarmed because it was quite clear that almost none of the food from dinner 14 hours earlier, had been digested. For the remainder of the work day, I continued to vomit, experience the worst abdominal and back pain I had ever had at that point in time, and just wanted to go home. By the time I arrived home I was severely ill. I showered, went to bed with a heating pad and marked up my day to some nasty beasty caught in the office germ pool combined with my PMS symptoms.
Upon waking the next morning, I expected my usual feeling fine with a fatigue hangover. I would get everything done that I possibly could before it hit me again in the early evening of day number two. I was very wrong. I woke up feeling horrid, in pain, nauseated and severely fatigued. I pulled myself out of bed and went to work. We had our monthly executive meeting on this day, so I took a couple of Tylenol and prayed to get through. By lunchtime, I was feeling better and joined in on the working lunch offerings. I had a small bowl of soup and a green tea. Within an hour I was rushing upstairs to the bathroom to vomit. I somehow made it through the day and chalked it up to stomach flu.
Over the next week my symptoms did not dissipate and in fact, they had become increasingly worse. I visited my new PCP and felt like I was being chastised for being a woman. This man of medicine made me feel as though there was nothing wrong with me and it was in my head. That my PMS was an excuse and other than a low grade temperature, which was probably due to a bug, there was nothing wrong with me and I might be overreacting. Dr. B was my new PCP whom I had only seen a couple of times after my regular PCP had retired. I decided right then and there that I would not return to Dr. B and opted to find a new PCP. With work, family and the holidays approaching, I managed to get through the next 2 months by somehow dealing with my symptoms.
I have been told I have crohns colitis I am on steroids to see if the inflammations is working.HOw long dies it take to go in remission. Having the surgery in small intestine how long to heal. Please answer.


Alfredo Jaar, Shadows (installation view), 2014, at the SCAD Museum of Art. Images courtesy of the artist and SCAD.
Chilean-born artist Alfredo Jaar stands eagerly in this gap between seeing and believing. His work has confronted the world's most lamentable political traumas—oppressive dictatorships in South America, the cruel aftermath of colonization in Africa, the holocaust in Rwanda, extreme poverty, military corruption, and labor exploitation, among a litany of others.
His recent exhibition Shadows, a multimedia photographic installation on view at the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum through June 29, is dedicated to the question of photojournalism and its ability—or inability—to make real the imperceptible terrain of another's private suffering.
The second in a trilogy of installations, Shadows follows Jaar's most acclaimed work, The Sound of Silence (2006), a narrative eulogy to South African photojournalist Kevin Carter, who documented the 1993 famine in Sudan before eventually taking his own life. Utilizing a similar format—a theater dedicated to a single photograph—Shadows honors late Dutch photographer Koen Wessing who captured in disturbing detail the oppressive political landscape in Nicaragua at the height of the Sandinista insurrection.
Like much of his work, Shadows extends a fertile dialectic between what Jaar exacts in his mind and what he intuits from his gut. Hidden in the folds of his signature austerity are glimmers of the transcendent, capturing a felt sense of the eternal despite such a stern aesthetic.
Entering the black box of the artist's installation is a bit like entering a theater of the mind. If empathy begins in the imagination, then Jaar has quite literally constructed a theater—a mise-en-scène—in which to project his epiphanies, and Wessing's. Conjuring a deep sense of interiority, the installation is best witnessed in uninterrupted solitude.
Projected upon the rear wall of the theater, a single startling photograph emerges within a two-minute video loop. Taken by Koen Wessing in Estelí, Nicaragua, in 1978, one year before the revolution that overthrew a demoralizing 43-year military dictatorship, the image shows two young campesino women, their bodies flailing in anguish. The corpse of their father, assassinated by the Somoza's National Guard, has been brought to them.
Within a minute or so, the bucolic landscape behind them gradually fades to black, and the images of the two women, increasing in luminosity, become saturated with light. The emanation eventually becomes blinding, and reads as a third presence in the room, both warm and alarming, interrogating yet divine. The impulse is to stare and keep staring, despite the pain of looking.
When the room is enveloped in complete darkness, the viewer is pushed from objective witness to transcendent participant. Colorful afterimages of the two campesino women appear en masse, seemingly liberated from the photograph. They permeate the darkness like ghostly apparitions, transforming the theater into a tomblike installation. Like the death of Lazarus, the feeling is grievous but redemptive. Within seconds, the two-minute loop begins again.
Jaar's choice to highlight a single emotional narrative conveys a harder truth about Nicaragua's fraught political history than would an encyclopedic chronology of the country's corrupt leadership. Supported by U.S. funding, the Somoza dynasty, ruling from 1936-1979, maintained absolute political power and owned much of the country's wealth. Its National Guard, considered above the law and able to murder at will, asserted violence to control resistance, also ambushing Augusto Sandino, leader of the opposition.
Six additional lustrous backlit photographs from Wessing's film reel line the installation's entry and exit corridors. They flesh out a fuller emotional narrative: the father's body sprawled out on the grass, the two women collapsed in various states on their homestead, their limbs writhing as if in physical rejection of death.
But Jaar's choice to forego his verbal predilections (though there's still a short explanatory text available at the door) is as strategic as it is symbolic. The gesture pays homage to Wessing, who viewed language as an impossible deterrent from the potency of images. Wessing's 16-page Chili, September 1973, a powerful image-only publication of the violent military coup that resulted in Chile's 17-year dictatorship, was motivation for this reciprocal act. From this vantage point, Shadows exists within a web of individual and collective narratives: Wessing's, Jaar's, the campesino sisters, their father, and the collective cultural narrative of Nicaragua.
Jaar's 1982 Faces, shown concurrently, reiterates the parallel. Compiled from newspaper clippings around the 1973 coup in Chile (that Jaar experienced firsthand as a teenager), the work hones the private emotional realities of opposition members by enlarging their fear-stricken faces.
The unrelenting question is, of course, what can a photograph actually accomplish? Venture into the labyrinth of photography criticism and the ethics of representation, especially regarding war photography, and you'll uncover a broad spectrum of polemics—from hopeful romantics who believe photography can change the world to academic skeptics who deconstruct photographs to near oblivion, seeming to miss the point altogether.
Early photojournalists regarded their work as interventionist, expecting images of disparity and injustice to thrust viewers into action—not an unrealistic expectation given its novelty. But photography has since become the great egalitarian medium. The ubiquity of the camera, "the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood," according to Susan Sontag in On Photography, has made photographers of us all. The Internet, our new consciousness, bequeaths its visual maelstrom, anesthetizing our emotional cognition along the way.
Jarr's Shadows creates this space for engagement. Prioritizing the social and reverential over the individual and merely intellectual, Shadows reminds the viewer that photographs are not mere surface-dwelling species, decontextualized and severed from the roots of real experience. Instead, they exist within a conversation, within multiple overlapping narratives. They're deeply relational, acutely personal, and embedded within vast cultural and political ecologies. In fact, it is their very incompleteness, their inability to tell an entire story, that presents them as the perfect opportunity for curiosity and education.
Like great literature, interactive installations like Jaar's Shadows have the potential to nourish and expand our moral imagination by allowing us to enter the viewpoint of another from within. If it's true that the audience completes a work or art, Shadows is completed by the empathic potential it cultivates in the imagination of its viewers.


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Arturo Llobell (ur. 7 grudnia 1987 roku w Walencji) – hiszpański kierowca wyścigowy.

Kariera
Llobell rozpoczął karierę w międzynarodowych wyścigach samochodowych w 2003 roku od startów w Hiszpańskiej Formule Junior 1600. Z dorobkiem 45 punktów został sklasyfikowany na szóstej pozycji w końcowej klasyfikacji kierowców. W późniejszym okresie Hiszpan pojawiał się także w stawce Formuły Baviera, Hiszpańskiej Formuły 3, Międzynarodowej Formuły Master oraz Włoskiej Formuły Master.

Bibliografia
 Arturo Llobell

Hiszpańscy kierowcy European F3 Open
Hiszpańscy kierowcy Międzynarodowej Formuły Master
Ludzie urodzeni w Walencji
Urodzeni w 1987

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home Crime, Courts, Calamity Bombing Suspects Deny All Charges in Military Court
Bombing Suspects Deny All Charges in Military Court
Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter
BANGKOK — Two suspects accused of killing 20 people at a shrine in Bangkok denied the charges today before a military tribunal.
Adem Karadag, 31, aka Bilal Mohammed, told the military court Tuesday he was not even in Thailand at the time of the Aug. 17 explosion at the Erawan Shrine, which killed mostly foreign tourists.
His co-defendant, 27-year-old Yusufu Mieraili, said he did not want the court-appointed military lawyer assigned to him despite his request for civilian representation.
"I am not guilty and I have been in jail for six months," Mieraili said in court through a Uighur translator. "I want to find a lawyer and pay for it myself."
Top Brass Present During Torture, Bombing Suspect Alleges
Through his lawyer Schoochart Kanpai, Karadag admitted to entering Thailand illegally with a fake passport, saying he sought to travel on to work in Malaysia to help support his family in Turkey, who had already fled China's far flung Xinjiang territory.
Both defendants are ethnic Chinese Uighurs. Uighurs have complained of systematic discrimination and abuse by Chinese authorities. Violent attacks against Han Chinese have led Beijing to brand some as terrorists.
Outside the court, Karadag's lawyer said that while being detained inside an army camp in Bangkok, Karadag was waterboarded, forced to be naked in a cold room, and blindfolded while a dog threatened him.
Defense lawyer Schoochart Kanpai speaks to reporters Tuesday outside the military court in Bangkok.
Karadag alleges that he paid an agent, Abdullah Abdullahman, who he believed to be Turkish, to help get into Thailand. Abdullahman took him from a hotel in Vietnam to Laos and then entered Thailand on Aug. 21.
He said Abdullahman took him to stay at the Poon Anan Apartment in eastern Bangkok where he was arrested Aug. 29. Mieraili was taken into Thai custody Sept. 1.
Karadag's lawyer repeated allegations that his was tortured to confess many times between Sept. 14 and Sept. 26. Karadag claimed officers threatened to kill or deport him back to China.
In a letter obtained today by Khaosod English, he alleged that top officials were present when threats were made.
Through his lawyer, Karadag said he ended up confessing Sept. 22 that he was the man in pictures shown to him by police: the man in the yellow shirt who placed the bomb inside the shrine, a man in a gray shirt seen later inside Lumpini Park, and a man in a blue shirt who left a bomb in the water near Sathorn Pier.
Three days before he was led by police to publically "re-enact" the crime on Sept. 26, Karadag said he was taken on the morning of Sept. 23 to four places and told to say he was there before. They included the Erawan Shrine, a pier, a bridge and a mosque. He said he was accompanied by police officers including police chief Chakthip Chaijinda and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sriwarah Rangsitpramkul.
After being held in custody for nearly three months, the two accused were indicted Nov. 24 on 10 counts including premeditated murder and possession of explosives for the attack. They were not charged with terrorism.
Seventeen suspects were named in arrest warrants during the course of the investigation, but the two Uighur men remain the only to be arrested.
The next scheduled hearing is April 20, when the evidence against them will be examined.
Erawan Shrine Bombing
Previous articleTop Brass Present During Torture, Bombing Suspect Alleges
Next articleRetired General's Immodest Proposal Pits Prostitutes, Coyotes Against Monk Mob
Sasiwan Mokkhasen can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @amsasiwan.
Bangkok Bombing Trial Remains Stalled 3 Years On
Anger With China Drives Uighurs to Syrian War
Bangkok Bombing Suspect Gets Bail; Husband in Turkish Custody: Lawyer
Shrine Bombing Suspect Reappears to 'Fight Her Case'
Deep Scars Remain Two Years After Bangkok Shrine Bombing
Erawan Bombing Trial May Last Until 2022, Lawyer Says


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Boston's fallen firefighters to be honored at 2014 Irish Heroes of New England Awards
The Irish Emigrant
@IrishEmigrant
2014 Irish Heroes of New England Awards
The Irish Emigrant newspaper, in partnership with IrishCentral.com and Irish America magazine, will be holding its third annual Irish Heroes of New England awards on December 3 in Boston.
The Guinness brewing company and its "Made of More" campaign will be a main supporter of the event.
The Irish Heroes of New England Awards seeks to recognize members of the Irish American community, who through their acts of selfless bravery, leadership or community service, and inspirational stories showcase the best of what it means to be Irish.
In a statement, Connell Gallagher, publisher of The Irish Emigrant said "Heroes give more than they take. They think of others before thinking of themselves. And heroes inspire us all to be better people. With countless heroes worthy of recognition, the Irish Heroes of New England Awards seek to honor a representative group of individuals that epitomize the Irish spirit of service and giving."
Irish Heroes of New England Awards Honorees 2014:
• Lt. Edward Walsh, Boston Fire Department (Posthumous)
• Firefighter Michael Kennedy, Boston Fire Department (Posthumous)
• Officer James Flanagan, Weymouth Police Department
• Mark Porter, Director of Operations, Let's Stop Cancer Foundation
• Katie O'Halloran- Katie Born to Run
• John Dunleavey- Keynote speaker at 2014 Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress conference
In 2013, the annual awards recognized individuals with a focus on acts of bravery and courage, and fundraising efforts in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. Honorees last year included Officer Richard Donohue; MBTA Transit Police, Lt. Sean O'Brien, Boston Fire Department; and Ken Casey, of the Dropkick Murphys and Claddagh Fund.
For more information please contact awards@irishemigrant.com or call 617 268 8322
Related: Boston


text:
Penn State biologist and colleagues receive $4M grant to identify heat-tolerant corals
News and Research Spotlights
Penn State student Gwenyth Yetter receives PennACE Student of the Year Award
New approach can help identify young children most at risk for obesity
David Hughes makes Newsweek's inaugural list of 'America's Greatest Disruptors'
Carlo Joglar awarded inaugural Maskalick Biodiversity Seed Grant
New technique better assesses exposure of a population to a virus
An international team that includes Penn State biologist Iliana Baums has been awarded a $4 million grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to identify corals that are naturally resilient to climate change. This is one of four newly funded projects funded by the foundation that are focused on the conservation and restoration of coral reefs in the context of the climate crisis.
Coral reefs sustain more than a quarter of all marine life and drive $2.7 trillion dollars in economic benefits such as tourism and food each year. Climate change, however, is rapidly accelerating their path toward extinction, threatening the safety, livelihood, and food security of almost one billion people across the globe. As a result of climate change, half of the world's coral reefs have died in the last 50 years, and without drastic intervention to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, all will die by the end of this century under the current climate warming trajectory.
"Warming waters are particular damaging for corals because they can lead to bleaching, or the corals expelling the symbiont microalgae that live within their cells and provide nutrients," said Baums, professor of biology. "But some corals may be better equipped to deal with warming waters than others."
Project lead Christian Voolstra collecting samples underwater at Ducie Island, one of the world's most remote reefs in the world. Credit: Pete West
To find these resilient corals that have evolved naturally to be more heat tolerant, Baums and colleagues are using a portable experimental system called the Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) assay that functions as a "cardiac stress test" for corals. Coral species are simultaneously exposed to varying temperatures to test their bleaching response, allowing researchers to identify resilient coral colonies. Researchers will analyze the entire coral tissue, including the members of their microbiome, using an integrated systems biology approach to detect which corals can better survive high temperatures.
"This work will allow us to identify naturally heat resilient corals, which could inform conservation efforts," said Baums. "We can also focus our studies on these resilient corals to better understand what makes them heat tolerant and use that knowledge to slow the decline of coral reefs"
The project is led by Christian Voolstra at Konstanz University of Germany and also includes Daniel Barshis at Old Dominion University, Nitin Baliga and Dr. Jake Valenzuela at the Institute for Systems Biology, and Line Bay at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.
The Coral Bleaching Automated Stress System (CBASS) deployed on a boat to survey the thermal tolerance of Red Sea corals. CBASS assays consist of standardized 18-hour long thermal exposures to varying temperatures and subsequent elucidation of thermal tolerance thresholds to assess differences in the bleaching response of coral populations. Credit: Christian Voolstra.
The grant will allow the team to build on their successful initial research and turn innovative ideas into scalable, sustainable solutions for coral reefs. This new suite of research grants from the foundation is designed with a three-year timeline and focuses on applied solutions that can be deployed in the field by 2024.
"The rapid decline of coral reefs in the face of climate change makes finding adaptation techniques essential if corals are to survive," said Jody Allen, co-founder and chair of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. "These grants build on the foundation's longstanding commitment to coral reefs and support of applicable, scalable solutions to protect them. We are at a critical juncture with coral reefs facing extinction and the world must continue to invest in actionable research that ensures their preservation and long-term survival."
The "global search" research team has also received funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ruth Gates Coral Restoration Innovation Grant, the Fondation Pacifique, the German government, the University of Konstanz, and the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program, funded by the partnership between the Australian Government's Reef Trust and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation (RRAP).
About Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
For more than three decades the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has focused on changing the trajectory of some of the world's toughest problems. Founded by philanthropists Jody Allen and the late Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the foundation initially invested in community needs across the Pacific Northwest with a focus on regional arts, underserved populations, and the environment. Today, the foundation supports a global portfolio of frontline partners working to preserve ocean health, protect wildlife, combat climate change, and strengthen communities.
Iliana Baums
Professor of Biology
ibb3@psu.edu
Gail McCormick
Science Writer
glm173@psu.edu


text:
Trinity School at Meadow View is a private, Blue Ribbon Award-winning Christian school in Falls Church, Virginia.  It was founded in 1998 by the People of Praise and provides classical Christian education to students in grades 7-12.  Since then it has developed a strong educational presence in Northern Virginia and attracts international students. It is accredited by the Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS).

The Meadow View campus has two sister schools, Greenlawn and River Ridge.  The schools are independent and are owned and operated by Trinity Schools, Inc.

Faculty
Mr. Jon Balsbaugh serves the president of Trinity Schools, Inc.  Kay Yohe is Head of School at the Meadow View campus.  Timothy Maloney is the Associate Head of School.  Scott Niklason is Dean of Boys and Elizabeth Tehrani is the Dean of Girls. Trinity School at Meadow View employs faculty with degrees from the University of Oxford, Princeton University, University of Chicago, Georgetown University, Hillsdale College and other leading institutions.

Classes
Students at Trinity School at Meadow View take a variety classes lauded by the United States Department of Education, including a 6-year writing course and a 4-year Latin course.  The curriculum focuses on primary source material and small class sizes with dedicated, personal instruction from highly educated teachers.  Students who complete the full six-year program also graduate with four years of music, art and theater.

Athletics
In 2002 the Men's Varsity Basketball team won the First Annual Wakefield Holiday Tournament, led by Junior Forward Josiah Brand, who won the MVP of the Tournament, and Nicky Bell.

Facilities

External links and references
Map:
Trinity Schools at Meadow View web site
Trinity Schools web site
People of Praise web site

Christian schools in Virginia
Classical Christian schools
Private high schools in Virginia
Private middle schools in Virginia
Trinity Schools
Schools in Falls Church, Virginia


Located in Surprise, Ariz., 25 miles northwest of Phoenix, Surprise Stadium is the Spring Training home to the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals.
Surprise Stadium seats 10,500 fans and is located on a 124-acre site that includes six full practice fields and a half field, as well as separate clubhouse and office facilities.
Field dimensions of Surprise Stadium are 350 feet down the lines, 379 feet in the power alleys and 400 feet to center field.
Surprise Stadium features a variety of seating options from grass seating areas in the outfield to club seats on the stadium's second level. The stadium is handicap accessible and is served by nearby parking areas and a variety of concessions.
To reach Surprise Stadium on game days, make a right on Bullard Avenue and follow the signs to park in one of the lots outside of the center field entrance.
No bags larger then 16" x 16" x 8"
Please arrive early, and be prepared to comply with these additional security measures. Thank you for helping the Texas Rangers make this a safe and memorable Spring Training Season.


Condemn imperialist intimidation and aggression!
On July 2, the plane carrying the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was raided by officials in Vienna airport in Austria, at the behest of the US imperialists, to allegedly search for the presence of Edward Snowden, the man who had earlier leaked the damaging information about American cyber-espionage. In an act of blatant brigandage President Morales was held up for 14 hours while the "search" was carried out. The President had been forced to stop in Vienna to refuel his plane, because four European countries (France, Spain, Portugal and Italy) had refused him permission to overfly their airspace on his way back home from Moscow, again obviously because of pressure put on them by the US imperialists.
The US imperialists and their European allies chose to harass the Bolivian President because his government has taken a clear stand against US imperialism and its attempts to dominate Latin America and the rest of the world. This dangerous and piratical act of harassing him while he was in flight was a desperate attempt by the US imperialists to threaten him against taking any action in connection with the Snowden case that they don't like. This rogue-like action has instead backfired on the US. France has been forced to apologise to Morales because of the huge outcry in France and worldwide against their action. After he returned to Bolivia, leaders of Argentina, Venezuela, Suriname and Ecuador gathered in the capital city of La Paz to express their support for Bolivia and condemn US imperialism and its allies. His plane was met on arrival in La Paz by tens of thousands of his cheering fellow-citizens.
Mazdoor Ekta Lehar strongly condemns this outrageous attempt by US imperialism, through its allies, to intimidate the President, government and people of Bolivia, who have courageously opposed the hegemonic activities of US imperialism and have stood up for the rights and sovereignty of other nations.


A UK Lotto winner who gave away most of her £7.6 million winnings to charity has died, aged 77.
Barbara Wragg, from Sheffield, won £7.6 million on the UK Lotto in 2000 and immediately decided that she wanted to give a large proportion of it away. "As soon as we knew we'd won we made our decision to give much of it away," Mrs Wragg said at the time of winning back in 2000, explaining that she felt £7.6 million was too much money for one couple to spend. When he won the Powerball lottery in 2014, a Powerball winner from Tennessee insisted he'd be giving most of his $259.8 million prize to charity, while another winner, from New Jersey, set up a charitable foundation with her $429 million Powerball jackpot.
Over the last 18 years, Mr and Mrs Wragg helped friends and strangers as well as 17 different charities which included hospitals and schools. The two big Sheffield United fans sold their home cut-price to a couple of first time buyers and gave £20,000 of the proceeds to local hospitals in the city. We told you a few years ago how Mr and Mrs Wragg spent their Christmas spreading good cheer around Sheffield care homes after winning on the UK Lotto.
The UK Lotto winners also provided for their children, Mark, Shaun and Amanda, and funded reunion trips for army veterans. Earlier this year we had another big lottery win in Sheffield, as a lottery syndicate of couriers won £228,000 on the EuroMilllions.
They did treat themselves while they were being charitable, however, and their UK Lotto win allowed them both to quit their jobs and buy a big house in a fancy area. They also started spending their holidays on cruises, instead of going to Torquay as they'd done for the 31 years previously. A Lotto 649 winner from Canada also planned some holidays after his big win, as well as helping some local good causes.
Get ready for your big win and purchase your tickets online at Lottery24.com.


Financial Services for Police Officers : Cudlipp Financial Services, Inc.
As a retired police officer with 20 years of service, Michael Cudlipp understands the pros and cons of the retirement system, and advises those ready to retire how to use the system to their advantage.
Police officers typically retire younger than the general work force. Therefore, retired police officers require a specialized plan that will offset economic changes that affect the buying power of their pensions. Through our deep understanding of the financial hurdles that police officers often face, we are equipped to assist them in maximizing the efficiency of their financial plans for today and in the future.


text:
Law Meta
Law Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for legal professionals, students, and others with experience or interest in law. It only takes a minute to sign up.
does Iranian Filimo website give the foreign films copyright
I have bought Filimo account and think according some Iran relation problem with others world, i want to know does Iranian Filimo website give the foreign films copyright like this film ?
If not, for me as user of that website, according the Iranian law or international law, is it legal, to see the foreign films in this site even by paying fee.
Soheil PaperSoheil Paper
I don't think we can tell, because we have no way to know if the site has a license to make that film available. The situation with Iranian copyright law is unclear. The law itself makes it a crime to infringe copyright, and the law does not say that it applies only to works created in Iran – basically, the law doesn't saw what works are covered. The Ministry of Culture and Arts (ca. 1970) theoretically had regulations regarding registration of copyright. In theory, legal action could be taken against someone, but again it's impossible to tell what regulations implementing the law are in force. There is no way to know if the movie producers registered copyright in Iran.
The wording of the law is not clear as to whether "secondary infringers", i.e. customers, could be liable under Iranian law, because there was no such thing as "downloading" when the law came into existence. Downloading is not printing, publishing, broadcasting or distributing, which are prohibited without permission. Plus, the English translation has no legal standing in Iran and the Farsi text is not available.
From the perspective of Norwegian law, it would not matter whether you paid for a membership thinking that that gave you the right to watch whatever content they offer. Downloading / streaming the film would be actionable in Norwegian courts. But Iranian courts will not enforce a Norwegian judgment. So it is illegal, but not enforceably illegal.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Law Stack Exchange!
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text:
package io.gatling.app

import scala.Console._
import scala.annotation.tailrec
import scala.io.StdIn
import scala.util.{ Success, Try }

import io.gatling.app.classloader.SimulationClassLoader
import io.gatling.commons.util.StringHelper._
import io.gatling.core.config.{ GatlingFiles, GatlingConfiguration }
import io.gatling.core.scenario.Simulation

case class Selection(simulationClass: Class[Simulation], userDefinedSimulationId: Option[String], defaultSimulationId: String, description: String)

object Selection {

  def apply(selectedSimulationClass: SelectedSimulationClass, configuration: GatlingConfiguration): Selection =
    new Selector(selectedSimulationClass, configuration).selection

  private class Selector(selectedSimulationClass: SelectedSimulationClass, configuration: GatlingConfiguration) {

    def selection = {

      val simulations = loadSimulations
      val singleSimulation = trySelectingSingleSimulation(simulations)

      // -- If no single simulation was available, allow user to select one -- //
      val simulation = singleSimulation.getOrElse(interactiveSelect(simulations))

      // -- Ask for simulation ID and run description if required -- //
      val muteModeActive = configuration.core.muteMode || configuration.core.simulationClass.isDefined || selectedSimulationClass.isDefined
      val defaultSimulationId = defaultOutputDirectoryBaseName(simulation)
      val optionalDescription = configuration.core.runDescription

      val simulationId = if (muteModeActive) None else askSimulationId(simulation, defaultSimulationId)
      val runDescription = optionalDescription.getOrElse(if (muteModeActive) "" else askRunDescription())

      Selection(simulation, simulationId, defaultSimulationId, runDescription)
    }

    private def loadSimulations: SimulationClasses = {
      val fromSbt = selectedSimulationClass.isDefined
      val reportsOnly = configuration.core.directory.reportsOnly.isDefined

      if (fromSbt || reportsOnly) Nil
      else SimulationClassLoader(GatlingFiles.binariesDirectory(configuration)).simulationClasses.sortBy(_.getName)
    }

    private def trySelectingSingleSimulation(simulationClasses: SimulationClasses): SelectedSimulationClass = {

        def findSelectedSingleSimulationAmongstCompiledOnes(className: String): SelectedSimulationClass =
          simulationClasses.find(_.getCanonicalName == className)

        def findSelectedSingleSimulationInClassloader(className: String): SelectedSimulationClass =
          Try(Class.forName(className)).toOption.collect { case clazz if classOf[Simulation].isAssignableFrom(clazz) => clazz.asInstanceOf[Class[Simulation]] }

        def singleSimulationFromConfig =
          configuration.core.simulationClass.flatMap { className =>
            val found = findSelectedSingleSimulationAmongstCompiledOnes(className).orElse(findSelectedSingleSimulationInClassloader(className))

            if (found.isEmpty)
              err.println(s"The requested class('$className') can not be found in the classpath or does not extends Simulation.")

            found
          }

        def singleSimulationFromList = simulationClasses match {
          case simulation :: Nil =>
            println(s"${simulation.getName} is the only simulation, executing it.")
            Some(simulation)

          case _ => None
        }

      selectedSimulationClass orElse singleSimulationFromConfig orElse singleSimulationFromList
    }

    private def interactiveSelect(simulationClasses: SimulationClasses): Class[Simulation] = {
      val validRange = simulationClasses.indices

        @tailrec
        def readSimulationNumber: Int = {
          println("Choose a simulation number:")
          for ((simulation, index) <- simulationClasses.zipWithIndex) {
            println(s"     [$index] ${simulation.getName}")
          }

          Try(StdIn.readInt()) match {
            case Success(number) =>
              if (validRange contains number) number
              else {
                println(s"Invalid selection, must be in $validRange")
                readSimulationNumber
              }
            case _ =>
              println("Invalid characters, please provide a correct simulation number:")
              readSimulationNumber
          }
        }

      if (simulationClasses.isEmpty) {
        println("There is no simulation script. Please check that your scripts are in user-files/simulations")
        sys.exit()
      }
      simulationClasses(readSimulationNumber)
    }

    private def askSimulationId(clazz: Class[Simulation], defaultSimulationId: String): Option[String] = {
        @tailrec
        def loop(): String = {
          println(s"Select simulation id (default is '$defaultSimulationId'). Accepted characters are a-z, A-Z, 0-9, - and _")
          val input = StdIn.readLine().trim
          if (input.matches("[\\w-_]*")) input
          else {
            println(s"$input contains illegal characters")
            loop()
          }
        }

      val input = loop()
      if (input.nonEmpty) Some(input) else None
    }

    private def askRunDescription(): String = {
      println("Select run description (optional)")
      StdIn.readLine().trim
    }

    private def defaultOutputDirectoryBaseName(clazz: Class[Simulation]) =
      configuration.core.outputDirectoryBaseName.getOrElse(clazz.getSimpleName.clean)
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
No profit worries? Earnings week still served up drama
BNPL, crypto, bonuses, regulatory woes and even office layout bubbled up as subplots among Wall Street's heavy hitters.
Published Oct. 18, 2021
Chris Hondros via Getty Images
If earnings week showed anything, it's that profit among the biggest banks took a role of lesser concern.
That measure was up 59% year over year for Wells Fargo, 58% for Bank of America, 48% for Citi, 24% for JPMorgan Chase and 51% for one of the nation's largest regional banks, Truist.
Without that to talk about, it left room for a number of subplots to bubble into the conversation.
For JPMorgan, that B-narrative may have been the threat of still-developing offerings. ... No, not crypto. Rather, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL).
"When we talk about expenses, we will spend whatever we have to spend to compete with all these folks in our space," CEO Jamie Dimon said of BNPL growth on Wednesday's earnings call, according to Business Insider.
The bank's relatively new CFO, Jeremy Barnum, took a more light-hearted tone on the subject.
"For any given thing that's emerging, you can easily convince yourself that it's kind of not a threat. It's funny how layaway is back in the e-commerce checkout lane," Barnum said, adding the bank is attentive to the segment even though BNPL transaction volume accounts for a relatively slight proportion of the market. "We're in a moment of taking all types of potential disruptions, especially fintech-y type disruptions, quite seriously."
Fintech, to be sure, is where JPMorgan is expanding this year. Barred by regulators from buying another deposit-taking institution, the nation's largest bank has looked to adjacent arenas to grow in the U.S. In the past six weeks, that has meant buying a college financial planning platform and a restaurant platform that owns the Zagat guidebook.
On crypto, Dimon has sounded like the Jamie of old. "I personally think that Bitcoin is worthless," he told the Institute of International Finance last week, according to CNBC.
But "our clients are adults. They disagree. That's what makes markets," he added. "So, if they want to have access to buy yourself Bitcoin, we can't custody it but we can give them legitimate, as clean as possible, access."
Dimon in 2017 called Bitcoin "a fraud" and said he would fire "in a second" anyone at JPMorgan found to be trading in the digital currency.
"You can't have a business where people can invent a currency out of thin air and think that people who are buying it are really smart," he added, according to The Guardian.
Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, on his bank's earnings call Thursday, signaled his view is markedly less skeptical. "I don't think crypto is a fad. I don't think it's going to go away," he said, according to Bloomberg. "I don't know what the value of Bitcoin should or shouldn't be. But these things aren't going away, and the blockchain technology supporting it is obviously very real and powerful."
PNC CEO Bill Demchak and Citi CEO Jane Fraser, meanwhile, are taking a middle tack on the matter.
"I don't have to opine on whether I think that's a good investment or a bad investment," Demchak said, according to American Banker, adding that 10% to 15% of the bank's clients are moving money in and out of crypto exchanges. "There's the risk, I think, that people are aware of with certain of the stablecoins having, let's call it, suspicious collateral behind them."
Fraser — by the same, um, token — said her bank is "fairly cautious around crypto."
"I am frankly much more excited about the technologies behind crypto than some of the products themselves," she said Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
Pushback on Citi, Wells
Elsewhere, Citi may be trying to show it hasn't gone completely soft. Mark Mason, the bank's CFO, noted during the bank's Thursday call that it has invited staff back to 21 offices in North America. The bank took up the role of standard-bearer for hybrid work in March, when Fraser announced most Citi employees would work as many as two days a week remotely after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.
At least one analyst last week sought to bring focus to another of the bank's efforts — a disclosure, filed in August, that three Citi executives — Mason, Institutional Clients Group Chief Paco Ybarra and tech chief Mike Whitaker — would be in line for bonuses of up to $5 million each if they meet goals in overhauling the bank's internal controls and risk oversight — provided the bank's stock hits certain targets.
The problem, according to Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo, is the targets, in the filing were left vague.
"That's like charging us for dinner before we know if we're getting hot dogs or caviar," Mayo told clients, according to Bloomberg.
Mayo isn't the only skeptic. JPMorgan analyst Vivek Juneja pressed Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf when he said he remains "confident" the bank would continue righting itself over several years, in the regulatory sense.
Eyeing a more specific timeline, Juneja asked, "What do you need to do differently, especially as a management team?"
Kenneth Leon, director of equity research at CFRA, told American Banker the bank is "beginning to change culture, they have senior leaders that know what they're doing. … Now they've got to spread the word and get execution from middle management. That takes time."
Too close for comfort?
Not every subplot has such heft. But perhaps when a bank is reporting revenue over nine months that goes beyond what it generally does in 12 — vis-a-vis Goldman Sachs, it can be afforded frivolity.
The bank has apparently moved some senior executives from offices on the 41st floor of its New York headquarters to a grid of cubicles on the 12th floor — so they'd be closer to the 11th-floor "Sky Lobby" that's intended to serve as a hub of activity for the rank and file.
"There is a natural 'buzz' there, and I want our leadership team to be part of it," CEO David Solomon said in a memo, according to The New York Post.
The Sky Lobby cost more than $10 million to build out, a source told the Post. And the idea is that with executives one floor away rather than 30, collaboration would among the bank's staff would come more easily.
"You didn't find a lot of enthusiastic support for the idea," the Post's source said.
"Most people have just ended up working from their conference rooms," said another.
Filed Under: Retail, Fintech
Permission granted by SMBC
Inside Jenius Bank's plan to tap the US consumer market
Japanese giant Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has invested $150 million in the digital bank, which aims to roll out personal loans, savings and checking accounts within the next 12 to 18 months.


Gold Standard is one of the best Angus bulls Griswold Cattle has ever produced. He carries the same look and design of his great sire with a stout hip, big belly, and the easy fleshing package that GCC Total Recall is known for. Some of the greatest pedigree's of the Angus breed can be found on his paper's with 914K, Jet Stream's sister on his bottom side.