text:
Is Compostable Packaging Doing More Harm Than Good?
by Lynn Storer May 16, 2019
Scientists have announced that they've completed a deep-dive in the Mariana Trench, only to discover a plastic bag and sweet wrappers in its murky depths.
Given that the trench's deepest point is more than 2,000 times the height of Everest, we can safely assume that humankind's obsession with plastic has now polluted every corner of the globe.
Right now, there is money to be made from appealing to our eco-friendly instincts and our desire to decrease our reliance on plastic; stories like this just emphasise the urgency that Greta Thunberg has also expressed.
But we all need to be on our guard; rather than relying on alternatives, avoiding plastic use entirely is really the only way to deal with the problem.
Biodegradable and Compostable Plastic Can Survive for Years
Any effort that we can make to reduce the environmental impact of plastic should be welcomed. But researchers recently found that so-called 'biodegradable' and 'compostable' carrier bags don't break down in the way we might expect.
In fact, many of the bags found in this study are still strong enough to carry shopping after three years underground.
The key point is that special facilities are often needed to degrade these new eco-plastics, and it isn't good enough just to put them in landfill and hope for the best.
In water, compostable bags broke down after three months, but with completely unknown environmental effects. For example, there's a chance that the partial breakdown of these materials could result in more microplastic fragments polluting the sea, our bodies, and the bodies of the creatures we eat.
Products like sugar cane plastic require a hot composting facility, something that isn't yet available in the UK for trade customers.
The Answer: Give Up Single Use Plastic
To have a positive environmental impact, there are three things you can do:
Avoid using plastic or plastic-coated bags entirely; switch to cotton totes
Don't ever buy fresh produce wrapped in plastic
Use reusable cups rather than takeaway cups, which are plastic coated
Avoid household or baby wipes which generally contain plastic materials; switch to reusables
Don't rely on compostable plastic unless you know it can be processed properly and not just buried.
We are also doing our bit by providing greener options:
The Pantry is now stocking Maistic bin bags. They're made of a type of wheat fibre that's compostable at home using ordinary composing techniques.
Where possible, we use Vegware; 38% of the UK's trade waste clients now have access to its disposal facilities, making it one of the best compostable options in the country.
We also run a refill service for laundry liquids, detergents, and toiletries. Please contact us via our contact page for more information.
Wherever possible, we use paper bags, except when hygiene regulations force us to use plastic (such as when packaging Wackley Brook meat). We're always looking for ways to reduce this further and we welcome your ideas and feedback.
Back to Pantry Blog


text:
Environment Technology
Governments Urged to Invest in Emissions-Scrubbing Tech to End Climate Crisis
January 14, 2021 January 14, 2021 MADELINE REYES
Climate change, emissions
Researchers say governments around the world must invest now in direct air capture technology, which would scrub greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and — hopefully — thwart global warming.
(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
(CN) — The latest proposed solution to combat the ongoing climate crisis comes from researchers from the University of California, San Diego, who found that rising temperatures can be substantially reversed with a significant investment in direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide from the air.
In their study published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, the UC San Diego team demonstrated that with a large enough deployment of DAC technology, CO2 can be extracted from the air and stored underground. When coupled with effective government regulations on emissions, the technology could reverse and mitigate the damage of climate change by 2100.
The year 2020 was a poster year for climate disaster, breaking records for the worst fire seasons, most destructive storms, spiking temperatures and melting polar ice, declining ocean health, unequal distribution of climate consequences, and too many more for comfort.
Luckily it was not all doom and gloom. Studies such as this one have produced promising avenues for climate recovery, and as a result of the multiple lockdowns and CDC recommendations to combat Covid-19, emissions saw a 7% decrease from 2019. But without aggressive measures to undo the worsening effects, experts fear it won't be enough.
Mitigating climate change must be a collaborative effort of immediate and meaningful reform from governments and a willingness to adapt and upgrade from large contributors. Policies will need to be put in place to drastically reduce CO2 emissions, such as the Paris Agreement, which will strive to keep global temperature increase under 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.
But the process, however vital for restoring climate health, will be an expensive one. In fact, the authors stress that to win the war on climate change, governments must prioritize it as equally as military spending. By looking at previous U.S. spending in times of crisis — including recent pandemic responses — the authors calculate that available funds will likely push $1 trillion a year.
"DAC is substantially more expensive than many conventional mitigation measures, but costs could fall as firms gain experience with the technology," said first author Ryan Hanna, assistant research scientist at UC San Diego. "If that happens, politicians could turn to the technology in response to public pressure if conventional mitigation proves politically or economically difficult."
Co-author David G. Victor, professor of industrial innovation at UC San Diego's School of Global Policy and Strategy, stressed that cutting down on existing and future emissions will not be enough anymore, and at this point crisis efforts are also going to rely on removing massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere.
"Current pledges to cut global emissions put us on track for about [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit] of warming," Victor said. "This reality calls for research and action around the politics of emergency response. In times of crisis, such as war or pandemics, many barriers to policy expenditure and implementation are eclipsed by the need to mobilize aggressively."
The researchers calculated that if these carbon capture plants are erected by the year 2025, with a yearly investment of 1.2 to 1.9% of global GDP, they would remove approximately 2.3 gigatons of CO2 by 2050 and 13-20 gigatons by 2075. By 2100, the plants would have removed an estimated 570-840 gigatons of CO2 and put the planet on track to achieve the goals set by the Paris agreement.
Although an unprecedented and impressive feat, the authors warn that alone it will not be enough, as the global temperature would continue to rise about 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit. To prevent that from happening, DAC plants will need to be accompanied by dramatic cuts in current CO2 production.
"Policymakers might see value in the installation of a fleet of CO2 scrubbers: deployments would be highly controllable by the governments and firms that invest in them, their carbon removals are verifiable, and they do not threaten the economic competitiveness of existing industries," Hanna explained regarding how DAC is likely the best solution to climate change amidst political pressure.
To demonstrate their proposal's success, the team built a model to simulate the deployment of DAC scrubbers, based on recommended funding and accounting for technological improvements over time. They found that even with the large investments, they will still face a challenge of preparing this technology to roll out at the scale needed for climate recovery.
The authors compare their results to Operation Warp Speed, because although the Covid-19 vaccine has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration challenges remain to manufacture and distribute it to everyone on a global scale.
Currently, 15 direct air capture plants are operating around the world, removing a total of 9,000 tons of CO2 annually according to the International Energy Agency. With the right effort and emergency funding, a massive push for more plants would cause that total to skyrocket.
"Crisis deployment of direct air capture, even at the extreme of what is technically feasible, is not a substitute for conventional mitigation," the authors warn.
"For policymakers, one implication of this finding is the high value of near-term direct air capture deployments — even if societies today are not yet treating climate change as a crisis — because near-term deployments enhance future scalability," they write. "Rather than avoiding direct air capture deployments because of high near-term costs, the right policy approach is the opposite."
One thing is clear: Climate change must be taken seriously in its severity and dealt with as the crisis it is. Similar to the Green New Deal, the authors note that the development of DAC plants of this size would create many new jobs that would be a helpful boost to the economy after so many jobs were lost in the pandemic.
← European Rights Court Takes Up Russian Annexation of Crimea
Sharp Rise in Jobless Claims as Pandemic Bites Again →

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Joseph Ashford Reveals the 3 Traits that Helped Him Build K4 Global
Joseph Ashford is the owner of K4 Global, a dynamic firm based in Bournemouth that's been remarkably effective at boosting the profile of its clients. Focusing on growth and industry position, K4 has a handle on the markets and what it takes to really make it a competitive landscape. Ashford has faced a lot of personal and professional challenges in his life, and he recently shared some of the primary factors that shaped his success.
The Road to K4 Global
Joseph Ashford started off his professional career learning the art of buying and selling (mostly vehicles). When the economy took a hit around 2007, he was quick to pivot to stay afloat. Working with his father as a plumber, he learned a trade that was recession-proof, even if it was a job he ultimately didn't enjoy. Even as he tried to get back into buying and selling cars, which is ultimately what he wanted to do, he kept getting pulled back to more tangible tasks like construction.
He built his own construction company and began buying and selling land instead of cars. After purchasing at a low point in the market and selling when the market started to swing back again, he got the same taste of trading strategy that he had before his diversion.
Wherever he could see a margin, whether that was commercial property or an emerging business, he made swift decisions. His instinct and acumen allowed him to build his fortune to the point where he wanted more. He started to see that there was something more to all of this, especially when people started reaching out to him for his help in managing their own business affairs.
Grit and Motivation
Like many true entrepreneurs, Joseph Ashford talks a lot about what it means to him to keep moving forward, even in the face of defeat. When you work in a variety of sectors, the reality is that you need to know both the strengths and disadvantages of each one. Ashford has had to be about as versatile as a professional can get. "The biggest thing that I learned, and it taught me through all of this is, never to give up. It's good to have a dream. Focus on your dream and it's also good to understand that it's not just a straight river getting there."
Kindness and Heart
Even if most entrepreneurs have a similar attitude to getting things done, not all of them can claim to have the same attitude toward how they treat other people. Ashford says that there are some people out there who might describe him as ruthless. However, he says that this judgment doesn't hold water if you look a little deeper. When asked what contributed to his success, he's adamant that "the best, most successful business deals or ventures I've had, have started with a clean, kind heart."
Caring about other people doesn't start with his clients, though. It starts with his staff. He credits a lot of what he's managed to accomplish to the hard work of his team. It's not always easy to achieve that kind of loyalty, but he's managed to hire people who are ready to commit to a cause — and not just for the sake of their salary.
A Different View
Ashford may have wanted to make money in his career, but he also didn't want it to be the primary fuel for the fire. For him, enjoying his life in Bournemouth meant having a good time as well as building his wealth. So, if he happened to run across an idea or business that he believed in, even if the profit margins weren't as stark as he'd like them to be, he took the opportunity anyway.
As he put it, "I had a slightly different view that if I liked it and I liked the people, I liked the idea and I fancied having a go and it was all my own money, I'd have a go." Clients of K4 Global in Bournemouth would agree with this. The level of customer service that they receive is unlike anything they've experienced before.
For the staff to go above and beyond like that, they have to be helped by a professional who understands the true value of what's on the table. The trajectory of Ashford's life has trained him to quickly hone in on what matters, so he doesn't waste time on the fluff. It may not have been an easy journey, but he wouldn't have it any other way.
ah@capmarketsmedia.com
Previous Article SatixFy Taps RADCOM, GreenRoad Technologies Veteran David Ripstein for CEO Post
Next Article Zeta Announces the Hire of its First Chief People Officer, Candice Chafey
SatixFy Taps RADCOM, GreenRoad Technologies Veteran David Ripstein for CEO Post
Zeta Announces the Hire of its First Chief People Officer, Candice Chafey
Upshot Secures $22M Series A2 for Development of NFT Appraisal Tech
On Running Raises Full-Year Guidance After Yet Another Better-Than-Expected Quarter
Phillips Edison & Co. Chairman & CEO Jeff Edison on Retail Sector's Resilience, Evolution


text:
Hyundai Motorsport set to go electric.
Hyundai Motorsport has begun work on an electric race car, heralding a new era of motorsport for the company.
It is the first-ever electric vehicle to be created by Hyundai Motorsport from its Alzenau-based headquarters.
The car will make its first appearance on the media day at the International Motor Show (IAA) in September.
7 August 2019 - Hyundai Motorsport has begun work on its first ever electric race car in an exciting new project that will herald a new motorsport era for the company.
The car, which has been designed and built at the company's headquarters in Alzenau, Germany, will break cover for the first time on the media day of the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt in September.
The move to electric continues the growth of Hyundai Motorsport, which has become well established in rallying and circuit racing since its inception in 2012. The multiple rally-winning WRC team, now in its sixth season, is currently leading a closely fought Manufacturers' Championship.
The company also boasts a successful Customer Racing division, established in September 2015, which has developed the competitive i20 R5, i30 N TCR and Veloster N TCR cars that have between them claimed victories and championships in motorsport series around the world.
The first glimpses of the new car can be seen in videos published on Hyundai Motorsport's Social Media channels, offering a hint of what is to come at the official reveal next month.
Mirroring the move towards hybrid technology and electrification in the automotive industry, motorsport has also ventured into new territory in recent years with the introduction of electric and hybrid series and regulations. This exciting new chapter promises to showcase Hyundai's high-performance capabilities, its green technology credentials and its unwavering passion for motorsport.
Team Director Andrea Adamo said: "A new era is dawning at Hyundai Motorsport. For many months, our team in Alzenau has been working hard on an exciting electric vehicle and soon we will be able to share the fruits of these labours. It promises to be a new chapter for our company, a natural extension to our motorsport activities, one that links closely to the current trends and innovations in the wider automotive industry. There's not much longer to wait; all will be revealed at the IAA in Frankfurt in early September."


text:
SATURN WASCA: Runs Heart of Darkness, Hints greater potential
Posted on March 16, 2022 March 17, 2022 by SaturnDave (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!)
Heart of Darkness garnered a lot of buzz back in the latter half of the '90s… It was both well promoted and highly anticipated as the follow up project to Éric Chahi & Delphine Software's earlier Out of This World strategy/platforming adventures. Many Saturn owners looked forward to experiencing this cinematic title on their home console back in 1996[1].
HoD hyped in OSSM Cover Story
However, after 6 years and numerous iterations in development, it was pushed back until it finally saw release in 1998 on PlayStation and Windows PC. Unfortunately, by this time the Saturn was already dead in the water, and while a Saturn port had been in development until at least 1997-03[5][6], it never had a chance to make its way onto store shelves.
Stolar's infamous quote pretty much put the final "nail in the coffin"…
Fast forward to 10-05-2017, and A Murder of Crows had managed to obtain a copy of the early beta prototype disc that was originally shown at the 1996 Tokyo Toy Show (v.0.9.39) and uploaded a video demonstration as proof of the game running in the Yabause emulator.
A Murder of Crows demonstrating the rare proto running in Yabause
Unfortunately, due to a lack of proper optimization, the game required a non-existent (to consumers) 48Mbit (6MB) expansion memory cart using an unusual memory mapping in order to boot and run on stock Saturn hardware. Regardless, it was exciting to see the Saturn port running, and community members were nonetheless impressed.
Original Disc Reads: "Strictly Confidential
Archive No: V.0.9.39 / Date: 27/12/96
Heart of Darkness Toy Tokyo Show
Playable version"
Then on December 24, 2018, A Murder of Crows RELEASED his own dump of the prototype (along with several other dumped disc images) to the community in honor and memory of his late friend, Don Russell, who had passed away after a tough battle with cancer.
AMoC's released dump is still available for download and currently hosted at Hidden Palace.
While some attempts were made to get it running on real hardware using resources available (such as the Action Replay cart), it would remain necessary (for the time) to use an emulator spoofing the sufficient virtual memory expansion in order to get the prototype running at all…
Example Screenshot of HoD Proto running in Yabause with virtual RAM expansion
However, one cart solution that had already been in development since 2015 would, nearly 8 years later, ultimately manage to boot and run this prototype on REAL HARDWARE…
Co-Developer of WASCA, hitomi2500, demos the proto running on REAL hardware
Enter the WASCA Cartridge… a development project by cafelalpha2 and hitomi2500 that got its start back in 2015. WASCA (still in development) is a Sega Saturn multipurpose cartridge designed to mimic Power Memory, Backup, 1MB ROMs from KoF 95 and Ultraman, and 1M/4M RAM expansion. It's also designed to launch any 3rd party code (such as bootloaders like PseudoSaturn, for example). Future firmware upgrades may even include NetLink and ODE functionality… The cart is based on the Altera MAX 10 FPGA with external SDRAM and internal Nios II soft CPU.
WASCA v. 1.1
However, perhaps most important (at least where THIS article is concerned) is the fact that (thanks to hitomi2500) WASCA now officially supports the Heart of Darkness Prototype, capable of loading all necessary data required into expansion RAM in order to run this beta build!
"WASCA has 512Mbit (64MB) SDRAM memory mapped onto CS0 and CS1 slot bus ranges. Saturn's CS0 range is 32MB and is used for bootable carts code and data, however, only up to 1 or 2MB were ever used in Saturn games, while the ST-V arcade board used the entire range. The CS1 range is 16MB, and was used exclusively for backup carts. That is where the Heart of Darkness proto stores its data. Since WASCA emulates backup with RAM (automatically syncing to SD card), there was no need to map additional RAM as it was already there… For a homebrew developer, the current WASCA prototype can provide as much as 48MB of RAM, and it's possible to distribute the game as a file on SD card. Also, launching ST-V Arcade ROMs should be possible, but I'm not sure about [individual game] compatibility…"
-hitomi2500
PPCenter Saturn Cart Gallery
In response to an inquiry regarding the potential availability of WASCA as a product for sale, hitomi2500 expressed hope in bringing it to small market but also made it clear that they could not currently acquire the chips necessary to produce it. However, the design is open source and it is possible that either cafe-alpha may assemble some for sale or that it may likely end up on Aliexpress, as these things often do…
A massive Saturn fan since Christmas '96, Dave is enthusiastic about growing the community and spreading Saturn love and knowledge to fans old and new. Co-founding the SEGA SATURN, SHIRO! podcast back in 2017 and creating the SHIRO! SHOW in 2020, he seeks to create interesting and engaging Saturn-related content for the community. Dave's interests circle around game preservation, and he is a huge fan of game magazines and developer interviews.
Liked it? Take a second to support SaturnDave (Sega Saturn, SHIRO!) on Patreon!
RetroRGB #4mb ram cart #cartridge #prototype #rom cart #sega #sega saturn
Journey to Silius & Uforia Vinyl Soundtrack Pre-Order February 9, 2023


text:
The Modern Job Seeker Is Always On the Hunt (Even In The Bathroom)
A survey from Jobvite says many job seekers are turning to social media to find jobs. Watch out, because recruiters are looking at your social profiles, too.
[Image: Flickr user rafael-castillo]
It seems every other day, you get an invitation to a colleague's going-away happy hour, or see on LinkedIn someone jumping over to a new company. But Jobvite CEO Dan Finnigan says this wasn't always the case. When companies had to cut costs, they used to target every budget they could slash before touching payroll.
"My father's generation–he came up in the '60s in his business career, his generation is what I call the Mad Men generation–they changed jobs every four times in a career," Finnigan told Fast Company. Fast-forward to the tech bubble bursting in the late 1990s and early 2000s–when he said companies began targeting their head counts–and the portrait of a modern job seeker is much different, according to a survey the company put out Thursday.
Polling 2,135 adults nationally, the report found that 71% of the labor force says it's on the job market–Finnigan labels them "job shoppers." As a baby boomer, he says his generation, on average, will hold seven to eight jobs throughout a career. But for someone currently in his or her early 20s, that number is more like 15 to 20. "If you do the math on the average working life of an employee, it means you're going to change jobs every three to four years," he said. Subsequently, the stigma that used to accompany job hunting is no longer there.
People are increasingly using their mobile devices to search for and apply for jobs. Jobvite says 43% of respondents are now conducting job-seeking activities on smartphones and tablets anywhere they can.
27% of all job hunters are doing so on mobile devices while in bed
16% are using their smartphones and tablets to look for jobs while at restaurants
15% are looking while they're waiting for the bus or train
13% are audacious enough to job hunt in their current offices
7% were not ashamed to admit that they have looked at job information while in the bathroom
The rise of the social job seeker means people are increasingly turning to LinkedIn (23%), Facebook (19%), Google+ (16%), Instagram (16%), and Twitter (13%) to learn more about prospective employers. Of the employed social job seekers, 76% reported finding their current positions through Facebook. Those who use mobile are also more likely to use Facebook over LinkedIn in their job search.
Close to half of social job seekers have modified their privacy settings across social networks and 40% said they have changed their online presence. And for good reason. Jobvite says 93% of recruiters are looking at candidates' social profiles, with 42% having reconsidered candidates based on this information.
What could a global tax on wealth of $5 million-plus pay for?
The world's largest vertical farm will have a secret ingredient: fish
This Brazilian billionaire should be your role model for corporate activism
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stands to walk away with a massive payday if he leaves the company
YouTube goes back to basics, winding down original content in a fresh focus on creators
Free COVID test kits: Where can I order them and how long will they take to ship?
It's been nearly impossible to recycle underwear—until now
These robots are powered by algae balls living inside
4 underused U.S. rail lines that should follow New York's lead and be revived
5 steps to provide feedback that's helpful, not hurtful
3 ways a purpose-driven company can stay true to its values during hypergrowth
The surprising way to beat the one thing your brain is hardwired to hold you back on


The wines of Greyfriars Vineyard are made by the Wagstaff family, on the south facing chalk slopes of the Hog's Back at Puttenham, just outside Guildford in Surrey.
A small number of vines were first planted at Greyfriars in 1989 but now the vineyards span almost 50 acres across three sites.
Hilary and Mike Wagstaff purchased Greyfriars in 2010 and have since turned a hobby scale vineyard into a commercial business producing boutique award-winning wines. They now have 75,000 vines, a state-of-the-art winery and a chalk underground cellar. It is their goal to make 100,000 bottles by 2020 and encourage the British public to drink more English sparkling wine.
The style of Greyfriars wine reflects the unique local soil conditions, climate and heritage of the Surrey North Downs.


text:
Home / Articles / Arts & Entertainment / Celebrities / Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks
Monday, August 6,2012
Rod Stewart & Stevie Nicks
By Liz Sterling
If you missed the 2011 Heart and Soul Tour, the love fest between Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart, you're in luck! They will be traversing the country and arriving in south Florida at The Bank Atlantic Center on Saturday, August 4, 2012 at 7:30 p.m.
"I couldn't be happier to be back on the boards with Stevie this summer," says Rod Stewart. "We had fantastic fun on the road together last spring and I'm thrilled at the chance to bring it to new cities and fans this summer."
Stevie Nicks says, "I had a great time last year on the road with Rod, he is really fun to work with. I am very excited to join him again this year."
Legendary rockers Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks are celebrated by both fans and critics alike. Stewart and Nicks first joined forces in the spring of 2011 for their acclaimed "Heart & Soul Tour." US Weekly called the show "magical," with a set list that "sparked non-stop cheers from the sold-out masses," and the Boston Globe declared "Stewart & Nicks make a classic combination" delivering sold-out audiences a "hits-packed night of crystal visions and reasons to believe."
In a career spanning five decades, Stewart has amassed an estimated 250 million in album and single sales and an incredible 16 Grammy nominations. He also joined the list of artists who are two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees – as a solo artist and as a member of the seminal 1960s rock band the Faces. Nicks is a multi-Grammy Award winner as a solo artist and member of the legendary Fleetwood Mac and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee. Her new CD "In Your Dreams" was deemed by US Magazine as "the best album of Nicks' four decade career."
Rod Stewart may not be "For ever Young," as one of his more famous songs suggests, but my sources tell me in fact, he just may be forever fantabulous! At 66, the veteran rocker is the consummate crowd pleaser and glides effortlessly across a stylish stage. Stewart and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac perform a three-hour concert packed with classic hits, good vibes and plenty of nostalgia.
I just love nostalgia, especially when it comes to rock and roll, concerts, a good night out and superb entertainment. What are you doing this month? How will you spend your free time? With the dog days of August upon us…let's remember to let our own hearts and souls sing out loud, enjoy the company of others, play, swim and smile!
GET ON UP Real Estate Remains No. 1 Economic Generator in FloridaCrystal Ball for 2011
Related to:nicksstewartstevierodrockroll2011soul
Also in Celebrities:
Procrastination A New Point of ViewTrans-Siberian OrchestraJane LynchGeorge ClooneySigourney Weaver
Also from Liz Sterling:
Procrastination A New Point of ViewTrans-Siberian OrchestraGeorge Clooney


text:
LNGFRM
What Is Underground In Rap
I will talk about the players, how rap has evolved and how to find underground rap if you're interested.
"Is underground rap real? Do underground rap artists actually exist?"
It's a question I hear a lot. But for all the negativity that has surrounded rap for a long time, rap, to be honest, has its own kind of underground.
Before I answer this question, let's define underground.
Artists who want to express themselves artistically without label or power and in the face of a lot of negative media – the kind of media that often begins with the question: "Is it true or not true?"
Artists who have no desire to be accepted by the mainstream.
This means to me: No excessive members of the music industry.
For example, rappers in independent record labels. Artists have a way of saying what is on their mind, but not being content with simply being liked or being part of the mainstream.
Artists who either don't like mainstream media (and in some cases, musicians that can't afford to be in it). And in some cases, artists are against the mainstream media.
This might be a broad definition, but if you break it down, it becomes quite clear. However, I've found that some fans don't know what it means.
Or when I try to explain, I'm met with a blank stare. The definition of "underground" is vague.
So let's get into that definition and the relevance of underground music to today's rap scene.
First of all, "Underground" as defined by dictionary.com means:
in disregard of convention
far or at a distance from a center of importance or activity: subversive movement
hidden or hidden from view
within or without what is known, accepted, customary, or desirable
referring to something especially so, corrupt, wicked, depraved, scandalous, scandalous behavior, or affairs: particularly venial
So why is it important to this music? I recently re-watched the documentary, "How To Rap", and it was eye-opening.
Why do artists do what they do? Why do they think the way they think?
Because they don't give a fuck, that's why. They are either cocky and proud of it, or they are insecure and try to drown their sorrows in music.
They are so interested in their craft that they are willing to live an alternative lifestyle to perfect it.
They are fed up with being controlled. Artists, sometimes, or better yet, simple people, have a full-time job.
Rappers have to be creative
They have to make a living. They have to support themselves and their families.
And they are being scorned for it.
See, in "How To Rap", one of the creators of the "Underground" definition of "rapping" was Louis Farrakhan, the "spiritual leader" of the Nation of Islam.
As a producer, he is credited for producing classic rap records such as Eric B. & Rakim's "Eric B. Is President", Public Enemy's "Fight The Power", and KRS-One's "Paid In Full".
As an artist, he is even known as the man who inspired Tupac to rap.
This man is constantly referred to as a "nerd" and a "jazz, rock, and blues player."
But he has been at the forefront of the music business, from when music first became popular, and he still is.
He was a writer, editor, and author of several books.
He was one of the first black men to obtain a Ph.D. in American history, and also founded the Black International Political Alliance.
One of his recent positions was as an advisor to the Democratic presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama.
One of the most brilliant artists in music, in history. Yet, he's not famous because of his accomplishments and opinions.
He's famous because of the "jokes" he tells humorously and appropriately. He is famous for being powerful.
He doesn't want to be. So that's why he's underground.
If you really think about it, the rest of rap is about being rebellious against the system
The people who do appreciate rap know that.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers who get addicted to drugs.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers who get pregnant.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers being caught in prostitution.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers having sex with a co-worker.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers cheating on their wives.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers being arrested for selling drugs.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers getting robbed.
Some people don't, and that's why we hear about rappers getting shot and killed.
For a nation that focuses on the number of black men that are dead in the inner city, we sure are obsessed with rappers dying.
Rap is not just about dancing and partying. In fact, that is the main reason why we feel as though it has no redeeming value.
But no matter what, rap is a way of communicating and being expressive with no filter.
And that is what rap is.
Mike Malone is Deputy Editor and co-founder of LNGFRM. His main areas of coverage are interviews, music, entertainment, and anything to do with gaming.
Jiawei Cui Loves Music, and Music Loves Him Back (Interview)
Rihanna's Savage X Fenty performance will include Johnny Depp
Top 20 Steely Dan songs!
Why Should You Sell Your Property to Land Acquisitions LLC? An...
How Can Real Estate Agents Market Themselves?
How Can A Real Estate Market Crash?
How Can Real Estate Be An Investment?
LNGFRM.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
© Copyright 2019 LNGFRM.net. All Right Reserved.


Wicked Sensual Care Collection Ultra Fragrance Free silicone lubricant is luxuriously sensuous and long lasting. This high performance, velvety smooth formula will enhance pleasure without feeling heavy, greasy, or tacky. Ultra is formulated with the highest quality silicone available in the personal care market. Ultra Fragrance Free contains no additives or fillers for an exceptionally silky feel. Ideal for water play, Ultra enriches intimacy and gives way for intense sensation and heightened ecstasy. Also Ultra is glycerin and paraben free and vegan - no animal by-products or testing.


text:
News > Heartwire from Medscape
Outcomes Worse in Cardiac Arrest Treated With Epinephrine
Pam Harrison
PARIS, FRANCE — An association between giving epinephrine during out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and poor neurological outcomes, with the risk going up with the dosage, was observed in a large cohort study that also saw the risk increase with the interval between the arrest itself and epinephrine administration[1].
The study was published in the December 9, 2014 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology with Dr Florence Dumas (Paris Descartes University, France) as lead author.
Researchers analyzed all patients who had experienced an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between January 2000 and August 2013 who had been resuscitated and admitted to a major Paris hospital.
During that period, 1646 patients were successfully returned to spontaneous circulation and were admitted to the hospital. Ninety patients were excluded from the analysis because their epinephrine status was unknown.
Nearly three-quarters of them had received epinephrine as part of their out-of-hospital resuscitation protocol. International guidelines recommend the administration of 1 mg of epinephrine every 3 to 5 minutes during cardiac resuscitation.
Of the 1556 patients included in the analysis, 31% survived to hospital discharge and 29% of them survived with good neurological outcomes.
However, as Dumas and multicenter colleagues reported, only 17% of patients who received epinephrine as part of the resuscitation protocol had a good neurological outcome compared with 63% of those who did not (P<0.001).
Moreover, compared with patients who did not receive epinephrine, the likelihood of patients surviving neurologically intact was less than half (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.48) in those who received 1 mg of epinephrine; 70% less for those who received 2 to 5 mg of epinephrine (OR 0.30); and 77% less for those who received greater than 5 mg of epinephrine (OR 0.23).
The adverse association of epinephrine was observed regardless of the length of resuscitation patients required or in-hospital interventions performed.
"Delayed administration of epinephrine was also associated with worse outcome," investigators add, those in whom epinephrine was given within the first nine minutes after cardiac arrest having a better outcome than those who received epinephrine later.
Association of Time of Administration of Epinephrine and Likelihood of Good Outcome
Interval between epinephrine and cardiac arrest (min) Likelihood of a good outcome (OR)
< 9 0.54
>22 0.17
Postresuscitation Intervention
Investigators also evaluated whether the use of evidence-based postresuscitation intervention, including coronary reperfusion with PCI and hypothermia, influenced outcome in patients who received epinephrine.
After adjustment for different confounders, use of epinephrine was negatively associated with favorable neurological outcomes (OR 0.32), even after adjustment for hospital interventions, the authors observe.
The adverse association between the use of epinephrine and survival was also apparent across different subgroups as defined by the initial rhythm, length of resuscitation, and postresuscitation care and the presence or absence of postresuscitation shock.
As the authors point out, patients who received epinephrine had less favorable prognostic characteristics than those who did not. For example, they were more likely to be older (P=0.02), less likely to have a witnessed event (P=0.006), and less likely to present with a shockable rhythm ( P<0.001). They also had had a longer duration of resuscitation (P<0.001).
Senior author Dr Alain Cariou (Paris Descartes University) told heartwire that while the negative association seen between epinephrine use and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was seen across all subgroups, it was still an association, and the association should not be construed as causal.
"Probably in some patients, epinephrine could be associated with more risk than benefit, but it does not mean that we need to stop the use of epinephrine in resuscitation. Its use is still recommended," Cariou said.
Nevertheless, the fact that there appeared to be a dose-response relationship between worsening outcomes and increasing doses of epinephrine underscores the likelihood that the negative association seen in this study is "something we can trust."
"The problem is, if we do not use epinephrine in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, we do not have many alternatives to use in this situation, and that is probably why the guidelines still recommend its use," Cariou said.
"So it's important to try to identify whether there are better alternatives, but in the meantime, an important question to answer for me now is whether a lower dose of epinephrine could be associated with a more beneficial risk/benefit ratio."
All Depends on Timing
Asked to comment on the study, Dr Gordon Ewy (University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson), who wrote an accompanying editorial[2], told heartwire that any potential benefit from the use of epinephrine in the out-of-hospital cardiac-arrest setting depends entirely on the timing of its administration.
"Epinephrine is not necessary early on, and that is why [automated external defibrillators] AEDs and [implantable cardioverter defibrillators] ICDs work," he said. "But when it's too late, nothing works, including epinephrine."
He also cautioned that this study was not a randomized controlled trial, and as such, there is no information about why patients did and did not receive epinephrine at the time of the arrest.
"All of the changes that we've made in resuscitation practices are based on our studies in the animal laboratory, and as researchers showed 50 years ago, after 10 minutes of untreated ventricular fibrillation, it is very hard to resuscitate an animal or a person if you don't give something," Ewy said.
"So if you give patients epinephrine at the right time, it increases the [coronary perfusion] pressure and perfuses the heart and the brain; it can work, but as time goes on, it's less effective, and finally it's not effective at all."
A large registry study by Hagihara et al also found that prehospital use of epinephrine was significantly associated with an increased chance of return of spontaneous circulation prior to hospital arrival in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in Japan but that chances of survival and good functional outcomes were decreased 1 month after the event[3].
The authors and Ewy have reported they have no relevant financial relationships.
Heartwire from Medscape © 2014 Medscape, LLC
Cite this: Outcomes Worse in Cardiac Arrest Treated With Epinephrine - Medscape - Dec 02, 2014.
Pam Harrison is a freelance writer for Medscape.
Disclosure: Pam Harrison has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Hospital Diagnostic Coding Trends for Heart Failure: No Observed Gaming Effect
Financial Penalties Seem to Curb All HF Readmissions, Not Just Those Penalized
Cardiovascular Care Better at Top-Ranked Hospitals
News Diabetes Independently Linked to Increased Heart Failure
News Hospital Diagnostic Coding Trends for Heart Failure: No Observed Gaming Effect
Does PIONEER-HF Warrant Acute HF Indication for ARNI?
News TARGET: Could a 'Controlled Diuresis' Device Avoid Pitfalls of Diuretics in Acute HF?
Pediatric Congestive Heart Failure
Congestive Heart Failure Imaging
Natriuretic Peptides in Congestive Heart Failure
Fast Five Quiz: Test Your Knowledge on Key Aspects of Heart Failure
Top News From ESC 2019: Slideshow
European Consensus Statement on Acute HF Management
Why 'Choosing Wisely' Won't Protect You in a Lawsuit
Mineralocorticoid Receptor Antagonists Unlikely to Induce Hypotension in HFrEF
Epinephrine for Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Questioned
Treating out-of-hospital cardiac arrest
Streamlined CPR by EMS can improve survival


text:
« From Logic to Ontology: The limit of "The Semantic Web"
Is there a Social Semantic Web? »
Google Revealed: The IT Strategy That Makes It Work
A unique mix of internally developed software, open source, made-to-order hardware, and people management is the secret behind the search engine.
By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
<!– –>Aug. 28, 2006
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=192300292
In Building 43 at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters is a video screen that depicts the world as seen in Google Earth. Across a revolving globe, streams of colorful pixels, like sparks from a Roman candle, mark the geographic origin of queries coming in to Google's search engine. It's a real-time representation of Google as the nexus of human curiosity.
Google is different. And it's different not only because its thinking is original and its applications unique–witness search queries morphed into a lobby display of bursting color–but because the company's unconventional IT strategy makes it so. Commodity hardware and free software hardly seem like the seeds of an empire, yet Google has turned them into an unmatched distributed computing platform that supports its wildly popular search engine, plus a burgeoning number of applications. We used to call them consumer applications, but Google changed that. Businesses also use them because, well, Google is different.
The IT infrastructure behind Google's Web services doesn't matter much to the millions of people conducting searches, but it's everything to the hundreds of engineers dedicated to Google's mission of organizing the world's information and making it "universally accessible and useful." That calls for an IT plan that matches the company's business vision in scope and ambition.
Choice is always better than control, Merrill says.
Photo by Jeffery Newbury
Google managers tend to be reticent on the subject of IT strategy, they're loath to talk about specific vendors or products, and they clam up when asked about their servers and data centers. But a day spent with some of the company's IT leaders reveals there's more to Google's IT operations than a search engine running on a massive server farm. Behind the seeming simplicity is a mash-up of internally developed software, made-to-order hardware, artificial intelligence, obsession with performance, and an unorthodox approach to people management.
There's a lesson in Google's IT philosophy for other companies: Shun the herding instinct that leads toward the same systems and software everyone else is using. There may well be competitive advantages in doing things your own way.
"Culture drives the way you do things," says Douglas Merrill, VP of engineering and Google's de facto CIO. "To the extent, like us, your organizational culture is unusual in important ways, you will have to build different ways of running your traditional systems."
Google's A Do-It-Yourselfer.
Should You Be Too?
Google's great IT advantage is its ability to build high-performance systems that are cost efficient (we didn't say cheap) and that scale to massive workloads. Because of that, IT consultant Stephen Arnold argues, Google enjoys huge cost advantages over competitors such as Amazon, eBay, Microsoft, and Yahoo. Google's programmers are 50% to 100% more productive than their peers at other Web companies, a result of the custom libraries Google developed to support programming of massively parallel systems, Arnold says. He estimates the company's competitors have to spend four times as much to keep up.
Pimp My ServerHow does Google do it? For one thing, Merrill says, "we build hardware." Google doesn't manufacture computer systems, but it does order them to its own specifications, then installs and tunes them like something out of MTV's Pimp My Ride. "What it comes down to is we're very good at buying commodity servers and using them to their fullest, to the point where they're almost so damn hot they'll melt," open source program manager Chris DiBona says.
That hands-on approach, born of the frugality of a garage startup, persists because Google's scale demands it. Google has between 200,000 and 450,000 servers spread among up to 65 data centers, depending on how you define them and who's doing the counting. And those numbers continue to rise.
The company won't discuss these estimates; it considers such numbers to be a competitive advantage. In fact, one of the things Google likes about open source software is that it facilitates secrecy. "If we had to go and buy software licenses, or code licenses, based on seats, people would absolutely know what the Google infrastructure looks like," DiBona says. "The use of open source software, that's one more way we can control our destiny."
Scale works in Google's favor. The marginal advantage of custom-built servers becomes significant when multiplied by hundreds of thousands of machines. The company is constructing a 30-acre data center along the Columbia River in The Dalles, Ore., where it can get low-priced hydroelectric power for computing and cooling (see story, "Google Goes Its Own Way In The Data Center").
Open source software lets Google control its own destiny, DiBona says.
Google organizes its machines, which run Linux, into "cells," which DiBona describes as a kind of disk drive for Internet services. (Not to be confused with Gdrive, the long-rumored Google hosted storage service. "There is no Gdrive," a spokeswoman insists.) Software programs reside on racks of inexpensive computers, and programmers decide how much redundancy to give them. The cells take the place of commercial storage equipment; DiBona says Google's cells are cheaper to create and maintain, and he hints they can handle more data, too.
No level of minutiae escapes Google's attention. For years, the company's engineers have studied the inner workings of microprocessors, and as Google continues to scale up, chips tuned to its unique needs could become a necessity. In a paper published in an industry journal last year, distinguished engineer Luiz Barroso said key workloads at Google suffered from single-core designs in recent years. Many server-side apps, such as serving the Google search index, don't process in parallel well at the instruction level on such chips.
The arrival of more chip-level parallelism as Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Sun Microsystems build multiple cores onto their chips has been a boon, says Barroso, a former chip designer at Digital Equipment and Compaq.
Google has even considered designing its own computer chips, but such a bold move may be unnecessary given industry trends. "Designing a microprocessor is a complex and costly task," says Urs Holzle, senior VP of operations. Google prefers to work with chip manufacturers to make sure they understand its applications and design chips that are a good fit. It's been advocating designs that focus on aggregate throughput and performance per watt rather than single-thread peak performance. "Recent trends in multicore CPUs very much follow that direction," says Holzle.
Custom TailoredTo wring every ounce of performance from its hardware, Google writes custom software–lots of it. Major innovations include MapReduce, a programming model to simplify processing and create large data sets; BigTable, a system for storing and managing massive amounts of data; Sawzall, an interpreted programming language for analyzing large data sets in a distributed computing environment; Google File System, a distributed file system for data-intensive applications; and Google Workqueue, a system that groups queries and schedules them for distributed processing.
It's in tools like Sawzall that Google's obsessive focus on computational efficiency becomes clear. Not every company tackles productivity at such a fundamental level, but for Google it made sense to develop a programming language specifically to deal with data sets that are too large to fit in a conventional relational database. Even though other programming tools could be used to deal with the problem, Google engineers developed a custom solution for the sake of efficiency. Google engineers contend Sawzall programs are a fraction the size of equivalent MapReduce programs in C++ and significantly easier to write.
Such concerns explain why Google isn't content with the standard Linux kernel; it runs a modified kernel tuned to its needs. By tinkering with the low-level behavior of Linux, Google engineers have solved data corruption and bottleneck problems, while increasing overall system reliability. The kernel alterations also made Google's computer clusters faster by making them communicate more efficiently. Of course, Google experiences the occasional system glitch, and, when it does, millions of users can be affected. Three years ago, a system failure hobbled 20% of search traffic for 30 minutes.
Google created its own Web server instead of using the open source Apache Web server, which underpins more than 60% of Web sites. Google's Web server can run on more machines and balance workloads among servers more effectively than Apache for Google's large code base, which contains lots of dependencies among programs, DiBona says. The company's approach to software like the Common Gateway Interface standard for linking databases to dynamic Web pages may be harder to use than with Apache, but it runs faster. "If we can eke out 10% to 20% better performance, we can save a lot of power, AC, and people," DiBona says.
Google built its own CRM system to support its business of selling Internet ads billed by a mixture of bid price and click-throughs. But Google isn't dogmatic about building its own tools. For accounting, it uses Oracle Financials.
Sometimes, value can be bought off the shelf, Merrill says, holding up a plastic fork as an example. But there are times when off-the-shelf software won't do. "Our culture is pretty deeply embedded in many of our processes," he says. "So what we don't want to do is buy a tool, which by extension changes the cultural aspects of the way we do things."
Keep It InterestingGoogle doesn't disclose how much it spends on IT. Susquehanna Financial Group estimates Google invested about $300 million in IT in the first half of this year, or about 30% of the company's overall capital expenditures during that period, according to analyst Marianne Wolk. For the past few years, she says, Google was spending roughly 50% of capital expenditures on IT, but that percentage has diminished as the company increases spending in other areas, including land, as it expands.
Google's unorthodox approach to managing its Ph.D.s drove its decision not to budget research and development separately, as most tech companies do. "You end up in many companies with this divide between research and engineering," explains Alan Eustace, senior VP of engineering and research. By dividing those budgets, he says, "you're pretty much guaranteeing institutionally that you won't be solving interesting problems."
IT management at Google is decentralized. The company has neither a CIO nor CTO, but it's brimming with senior-level engineers and other technologists. They include Bill Coughran, VP of engineering for systems infrastructure, who oversees the distributing computing programs that power Google's online applications, and Eustace, who's responsible for product R&D. Sergey Brin isn't just Google's co-founder–his day-to-day job is president of technology. Merrill, brought in as senior director of IS three years ago, now is responsible for internal engineering and worldwide support.
Google employs a matrix management system where managers have many direct reports, and engineers report to multiple people. Engineers get most of their direction and critiques from the project leaders with whom they work. Since engineers can change projects every three months, Google eschews traditional approaches to project management and performance appraisals. Like other things at Google, artificial intelligence and computer automation perform some of the grunt work. "Our goal is to automate as many things as we can because it makes unfun things not happen," Merrill says. "Nobody wants to have a boring job, right?"
A tracking system automatically pulls information on job applicants, gives a hiring manager a job candidate's resumé, offers questions to ask, and sends the manager an e-mail after the interview asking what he or she thought of the candidate. Job interviews can involve logic questions, writing code, talking about software architecture, and generally proving to Google's brain trust that the applicant is a fast learner, since the company doesn't keep people working on the same problems for very long.
Lots of small, short-lived projects mean traditional project management software based on task lists isn't right for Google. For one thing, techies aren't very good at cataloging how they spend their hours. What they are good at, it turns out, is writing up a few short sentences or snippets about what they do each day. Those get compiled in a database along with periodic updates from project leaders about a team's deliverables. The project system tags the input by topic and routes to the appropriate people. "This is not hard AI," Merrill says. Still, who else manages workers like this?
Performance reviews are handled in a similarly technocratic way. Google's "Perf" system lets managers write e-mails–again read by a computer before any human–describing what a worker did on a project that was good or bad. Come review time, peers get an e-mail asking to compare the employee to other Google people. Perf breaks up the answers, measures who's being compared with whom, and–get this–makes the answers public. The way Merrill figures it, techies like open-air back patting. Presumably, the process airs some dirty laundry, too, but Merrill says that would happen anyway. "We have to protect our culture as we're growing fast," he says. "That's what keeps us up nights."
Google's approach isn't without its detractors. One marketing person who came to Google in 2004 as part of an acquisition grew frustrated by lack of resources and support, and quit. "I think Google is a great place to be from an IT engineer standpoint," the former employee says. "I don't know that it's quite as good as people think from the business and marketing side."
The company has a ways to go before its marketing savvy matches its engineering. Apart from its search engine and advertising system, Google's wide variety of online applications have seen only modest adoption (see story, "In Depth: Google Aims At Microsoft Office's Weak Spot With Desktop Suite"). Its Gmail service has yet to seriously challenge long-established free e-mail services from Yahoo and Microsoft. The same is true for its online financial portal, Google Finance. And Google Maps remains a distant third to MapQuest and Yahoo Maps.
Culture Of Choice
Google employees use Linux, Mac OS, and Windows on desktop computers, depending on their needs and desires. Many use homegrown programs such as Google Desktop, Google Earth, the acquired Writely word processor, and the recently launched Google Spreadsheets. In general, if an employee wants certain software, he or she can request it through the company intranet without jumping through a lot of hoops for approval.
Merrill is evasive when asked what kinds of commercial PC software are used at Google. "More important than what we put on each desktop is how we think about what to put on each desktop," he says obliquely. "Goo-gle's philosophy is that choice is always better than control. Tightly centralized control gets in the way of innovation."
He then takes a jab at CIOs–which he describes as a title used by "old-world companies"–at other companies. "Most people in my job try to control. 'Here are the three things you can buy.'" Merrill explains. "I try to control as a little as I possibly can but make it easy to work within parameters that I know how to work with."
Merrill sees a distinction between tools that tell you something and tools that stop you from doing something. For example, he observes that some financial services institutions block instant messaging because of they way they interpret regulations. "We don't think that's the right approach here," he says.
The right approach, as Merrill sees it: Talk a lot; use data, not intuition; automate wherever you can.
Collective InsightVP of engineering Adam Bosworth last year wrote that Google's success in making a more relevant search was based on "leveraging the wisdom of crowds," referring to the company's PageRank algorithm. (James Surowiecki's book, The Wisdom Of The Crowds, was published in 2004 by Random House.) Company founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin built the business on PageRank, which analyzes the human-generated link structure of the Web to determine the relative importance of a Web page. As PageRank sees it, the more people link to a given page, the more important that page is likely to be.
This turns out to be the perfect division of labor between man and machine: Evaluating content is easy for people, and analyzing large data sets is easy for computers. By marrying collective intelligence with automation, Page and Brin built a company fueled by artificial intelligence. "AI is a great tool for helping people make better decisions," Merrill says. "It's not so good at making complex decisions."
The wisdom of the crowd, farmed and refined by machine, remains critical to Google. As Merrill puts it, "All of us together are smarter than any of us individually." That insight may not be as surprising now that it has been reinforced by the likes of Wikipedia and Digg.com, but it's still mostly lip service at many other companies.
At Google, however, examples abound, such as the way the company decides on new employees. "No one can hire anyone here," Merrill insists. "Hiring decisions are made by public groups. We all hire everyone."
That faith in group intelligence manifests itself in the lunch line. Google provides free meals to employees partly as a perk and to enhance productivity, but also to encourage interaction. It's about the pollination of ideas over salads and sandwiches. "If you want people to talk, if you want people to engage, how do you do that?" Merrill asks. "You give them lunch."
Google has an expression to describe this open discourse: Live out loud. "Everything that's done privately is done publicly here," he says. (As if to make the point, Merrill took off his T-shirt during our photo shoot, showing off his tattoos.) "We make decisions in public. We expect people to debate. You're supposed to engage. You're supposed to disagree."
There are, of course, limits. Merrill concedes that some things need to remain private. "Customer data privacy is obviously critical to us, so that stuff is protected a lot," he says. "But our belief is that some of the things that are private in normal businesses aren't really private."
Normal businesses? That would be 99% of other companies. The challenge for Google is to remain different–which is part of its competitive advantage–while staying true to its mission to organize the world's information and make it universally, rather than selectively, accessible and useful. Because you can be sure that other companies are watching and learning from Google's every move.
— with Aaron Ricadela and Charles Babcock
Continue to the sidebars:
Google's Brew Of Open Source And Custom Code,
and Profile: Google Technologist Knows Problem Solving Firsthand
Copyright © 2007 CMP Media LLC


Happy 2012! The new year is a time to celebrate new beginnings and make new resolutions, but it's also a time to rewind and revisit some of the top moments of the year before. I hope you've been able to take the time as a family to reflect on the most meaningful moments from 2011. The new year is a great opportunity to discuss with your family some of those favorite memories or even some of the more difficult ones. What's your best memory? What do you have to be thankful for?
At Orange Parents, we're thankful for your readership and interaction with us over the past year, for sharing our posts, and spreading the word. We're thankful for great authors like Carey, Reggie and Kendra as well as our guest bloggers. Thanks for your wisdom and wonderful insights on parenting.


text:
Published on October 5th, 2018 | by Steve Hanley
EV Charging News From California, China, & North Carolina
October 5th, 2018 by Steve Hanley
There's a lot happening in the world of electric cars these days. Tesla is knocking the cover off the ball with the Model 3, Jaguar and Kia have new electric SUVs coming to market shortly, and Nissan is busy updating the LEAF into a real electric car with real range. The question on everyone's mind is, will EV charging infrastructure be able to keep up with the surge in electric car sales?
A German/Chinese Partnership
German company Hubject and Star Charge China have announced a partnership they say will lead to the largest open platform charging network in the world. Combined, the two companies will have more than 100,000 charge points available to customers in China, Europe, and the US.
On its website, Hubject says, "With more than 300 partners, the Hubject platform is the biggest international digital B2B market place for services related to the charging of electric vehicles. More than 55,000 charge points on three continents are connected to the open Hubject platform."
The partnership will provide Star Charge China with an entrée into the European charging market and strengthen Hubject's presence in China, where it already has an office in Shanghai, according to a report in Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology.
"In Star Charge, we have found the perfect partner in China who will help us to push on with our vision of customer-oriented charging in this very important market," added Christian Hahn, CEO of Hubject. Shao Danwei, CEO of Star Charge, adds "We are pleased about the collaboration with Hubject, as we can now offer convenient access to our network to even greater numbers of people, both in China and in Europe."
The partner's claim about having the largest charging network in the world may be subject to revision if ChargePoint follows through on its plans to install 2.5 million charging stations in North America and Europe in the next few years.
Electrify America Begins Phase II In California
Electrify America will invest $800 million over 10 years to expand EV charging infrastructure in California. The four phase plan kicked off last year with the addition of charging stations to the Golden State's largest urban areas. Phase I is due to be completed by next summer but Electrify America has already begun making plans for Phase II which will run from July, 2018 through December, 2021.
"In developing our plan, we conducted a robust outreach process to solicit input and met with leaders in California communities, government and business to inform our decisions," Giovanni Palazzo, CEO of Electrify America, says in a statement to the press.
"Our goal to establish one of the largest, most technologically advanced and customer-friendly charging networks in the U.S. remains. We want to demystify what it means to own and drive electric vehicles by making chargers more visible, more convenient, and more a part of the everyday lives of Californians across the state."
This next phase will target more home charging equipment for single family homes as well as condominiums and apartment buildings throughout the state as well as more fast chargers in other urban areas. Perhaps the most unique feature of Phase II is an incentive program that will pay EV owners to allow utility companies to manage individual charging sessions to help balance the electrical grid.
Some chargers will be dedicated to electric bus and truck needs as well as Uber and Lyft drivers who use electric cars to provide ride hailing services. Finally, selected locations will benefit from zero carbon electricity thanks to solar panels and battery backup installations.
Smaller, More Efficient Fast Charger
Researchers at North Carolina State University have engineered a new fast charger they say is one tenth the size of conventional equipment and is also more efficient. At present, their prototype is limited to 50 kW of power, but plans are afoot to boost that up to as much as 350 kW.
Professor Srdjan Srdic says a conventional 50 kW fast charger includes a distribution transformer that weighs as much as 2,200 lbs plus a separate fast charger unit which can weigh an additional 600 lbs. "Our 50 kW medium voltage fast charger weighs only around 100 kilograms and can be wall- or pole-mounted," he says.
"The MVFC does the work of both the transformer and the fast charger, taking power directly from a medium-voltage utility line and converting it for use in an electric vehicle battery. This new approach offers four times more power from the same system footprint, reducing the system installation costs at the same time."
Costing less money to manufacture and install would be important considerations for expanding EV charging infrastructure. In tests, the new equipment is 97.5% efficient. Many conventional chargers are only 93% efficient. "In other words, we were able to cut the wasted energy by more than 60%," Srdic says.
"We've had the more powerful, multi-vehicle MVFC in mind for some time, and recently received funding from the Department of Energy to build a next-generation prototype," says professor Srdjan Lukic. "In the multi-port station design, a utility line is connected directly to a solid-state transformer which then feeds a local DC microgrid with battery storage systems and multiple charging nodes."
The multi-port MVFC will have a rating capacity of one megawatt, with each charging node capable of providing up to 350 kW of power. "We are building five charging nodes into the prototype, but there could be twice as many or more. We're currently looking for industry partners to help us move from our fully functional prototypes to the marketplace," Lukic says.
Charging equipment isn't as sexy as the electric cars that are starting to find their way onto America's highways and byways but is just as essential to the success of the electric car revolution.
Tags: 350 kW fast charger, Electrify America, Hubject charging network, North Carolina State University, Star Charge China
Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. His motto is, "Life is not measured by how many breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away!" You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.
Scoop: Ford To Partner With Electrify America For Customer Access To EV Charging Network →
Electrify America Is Ready for Primetime (& The Odd 3 AM Drift Competition) →
NYTimes Spreads Misinformation About EVs — Let's Clean Up The Mess →
Betting Against Tesla Is Betting Against Yourself →


text:
Melanie Thorne
Author of Hand Me Down, Instructor, Editor, Writing Coach
Hand Me Down
Author Q&A
Buy Hand Me Down!
FRIDAY NIGHT WRITES–Online Course
Go Away, I'm Writing
My Teaching Philosophy
A Few Selections from Chapter 1
My mom and her husband are doing it in her bedroom. I listen to her bedsprings squeak and their hushed, heavy breathing. I need to pee, but if I get up they'll hear me, and that sudden, conscious silence would be worse than the sound of chimp squeals and hyperventilation muffled by our hollow bedroom doors and the three feet of hallway in between. At least she's not screaming, Oh, God, like I've seen in movies. I chew the slippery skin on the inside of my mouth and wonder if it's still a sin to take the Lord's name in vain during sex, or if then, it is like a prayer.
It is Terrance's first night out. For two years my mom has saved her nice voice for his collect calls, driven the hour and a half to Vacaville every Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning to see him, waited expectantly for his twenty-page letters full of shaded hearts pierced with arrows, poems wrought with adolescent angst, and fantasies I can never, ever, repeat out loud. His dark penciled writing is frilly with curled loops and a childlike slant. I only read the letters because Jaime made me. "Why would he want her to do that thing with the marshmallows?" she asked after she found the envelopes, dozens of them, in a pile under our mom's nightstand. I told her I'd rather not think about it.
Water sloshing and soft moaning sounds radiate from Mom's bathroom now, and I start to wonder how they can both fit in the tub but, gross. When Terrance arrived at the apartment today he said, "I know you don't like when I hug you, but I'm going to anyway!" He scooped me up in his arms and spun me around like I was a toddler while I stayed straight as a corpse. Mom snapped a photo and giggled. He set me down but held me close to his chest, the pressure of his splayed hands across my lower back kept my hips against him. He breathed in my ear, "I missed you."
"We're so excited you're home," Mom said, taking another picture. "Aren't we, Liz?"
"Not as excited as me," Terrance said. His fingers grazed the sides of my breasts as he released me, and if he hadn't done it before, I might have thought it was an accident. He wagged his thick black eyebrows at Mom and they haven't left her room since.
If Jaime still lived here, I'd be lying along the outer edge of her bed, singing or cracking jokes, but alone, I stuff Kleenex in my ears and fold my body until my limbs are wrapped around me like a shell.
One afternoon about a month ago, Jaime came into my room and put her head in my lap like she used to when we played house and I was the mom. "What's wrong?" I asked, putting down my book and stroking her hair.
"Terrance is getting out next month," she said and started crying. "Mom's really excited."
"Fuck," I said. "It's too soon."
"I called Dad. He said we can come live with him and Crystal."
I sighed. "He's not sober."
"So? At least he doesn't lie."
"Mom's not going to lie us into a ditch on the way to school." I touched Jaime's hairline at her right temple, where a V-shaped silvery-white scar is etched into her skin under the blond strands.
"It wasn't a ditch," she said, shaking her head and brushing off my hand. "It was an accident."
I eyed the raised and shiny reminder of the cost of letting my guard down for even a second. I said, "They're not accidents when he's drinking."
Jaime pulled her bangs over her scar the way she does when she catches me staring. She sat up. "Crystal told me this wasn't Terrance's first time in jail. That he didn't deal drugs like Mom said."
"Well, he did that, too," I said and wondered how much of the police reports Crystal had shown Jaime. Some of that stuff was not for kids. Living in Crystal's filthy two-bedroom trailer was not for kids, either.
"I'm scared, Liz."
"Scared enough to live with Dad?"
"He said he'd love to have us," she said.
"He'd love to have us take care of Crystal's daughter for him."
"You're not scared of Terrance the pervert?" She looked at me and I marveled again at how our eyes could be the exact same color blue, like seeing my eyes in her face. "Did Crystal tell you what he does?" she said. She sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "It's freaky and gross."
Crystal had seated me at her always sticky kitchen table and read me dozens of pages of eyewitness accounts, police summaries, and victim statements that provided details of his crimes I didn't need. I'd already noticed Terrance's wandering eyes carried the same restless look as cheetahs and tigers pacing in their zoo cages, instinct contained but not eliminated. "Yes, I'm scared of Terrance," I said. I've stopped wearing shorts to bed and I get dressed in the locked bathroom. "But I'm scared of Dad, too."
"Dad would never hurt us," she said and hugged me. "He loves us at least."
He hurts us all the time. "You know that doesn't matter," I said. "He loved Mom, too."
Sometimes Terrance plays the acoustic guitar he bought with Mom's money. It's a honey-colored wood, classy, and he offered to teach me to play when he found me holding it in my lap and strumming randomly. He sat next to me on the couch, scooted until his thigh lined up against mine. "I'm a good teacher," he said, tilting his head toward my neck. The iron smell of his breath, like warm blood, made my stomach churn.
"You can't really play," I said. I pushed the guitar at him, trying to force him back. "You only know two chords."
He leaned over the instrument between us. "I can play," he said. He trailed his fingers down my forearm from elbow to wrist and rested the tips on my skin like he was taking my pulse. "I'm really, really good, Liz," he said and wrapped his hand around the guitar neck right below my fist.
I retracted my arms and stood up, fighting to keep my face neutral. Our eyes met and Terrance smiled at me with his crooked mouth like he'd won something. He embraced the guitar I'd dropped, stroked the curved wood, and gazed up at me with heavy-lidded eyes. "You want to see?"
I ran and didn't breathe until I made it to my room. "He's so creepy," I told Rachel from under my covers.
"Duh," she said. "They don't send normal people to prison."
We sit at the table. "What's wrong?" I say. A thousand gerbils run treadmills in my stomach.
"Well, Terrance's parole officer called today." Mom glances at Terrance, who's not listening, just making smacking sounds as he chews. I imagine his face exploding. "Apparently someone called and stated their concern for the minor female living in this house given Terrance's record."
She takes a breath. "So the officer—what a jerk—made it a condition of Terrance's parole that he not be allowed to be near girls your age unsupervised." The gerbils hit double time. "That includes after school and sleeping in the same house." She rolls her eyes and waves her hand as if they're being ridiculous. "Since I can't supervise while I'm asleep."
"What?" Fiery tops spin in my head. I feel dizzy. "Does that mean—"
"It's silly really," she says. "There's no reason for such an extreme response, but, you know, the system stinks." She sighs.
I stare at her freshly cut and colored hair, her manicured nails. I think of all the food in the cabinets she bought for him: twelve-packs of soda and beer, doughnuts, Doritos, beef jerky, pork rinds, sunflower seeds. All the money spent on toys for him while she said she couldn't afford to buy me shoes. I think about how she's ignored me for weeks, gone to bars with Terrance and come home late, taken days off work to take him shopping, skipped church to stay in bed.
"But I was trying," I say.
"I know," she says, dropping her eyes to the tabletop.
I whisper, "For you."
She whispers back, "I'm sorry."
I think about how long she stayed with my dad; how she prayed for him every night kneeling in front of her bed, and every morning tried harder to please him through his hangover. The gerbils drop dead, and in my vacant stomach I know she's made that choice again.
Mom opens her mouth, so I try to tell her with my eyes that I know what she's going to say, that I don't need to hear it out loud. But this woman sitting in front of me with my cheekbones and small wrists and wavy hair won't look at my face. My eyes and throat burn like the room's on fire and my ribs feel shattered under the weight in my chest, but she says without flinching, "You and Terrance cannot both live here."
Want more? BUY NOW
You can also read an excerpt from chapter 3 with my commentary here at the Page 69 Test. It begins, "Her blond hair covered her face and she didn't move. I couldn't tell if she was breathing…On the floor at Jaime's side, I swept her hair off her chilly forehead, pressed two fingers to her damp neck, and found a pulse."
About Me Books Events Hand Me Down Life News Random Reviews TV/Movies Writing
Dedicate Your No-Trump Vote
Some Smart People Said Some Nice Things About My Book
Happy Happy Valentine's Day
Advice from Nancy Drew
Archives Select Month November 2016 February 2015 July 2014 April 2014 November 2013 June 2013 May 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011
This is me, Melanie.
Want More, Sooner?
RSS Yourself
*Photo Credit: The author photos on the Home and Bio pages were taken by Lisa Farrer at Lisa Farrer Photography.*


So you have a campervan that sits in you driveway for most of the year and you want it to start earning some of it's keep. The best way to hire out your campervan is through an online membership to a website that caters to just such events. A membership with one of these websites is an effective and simple promote your campervan rental. Your listing is easily maintained via the website and you don't need to know how to program, Internet technologies or HTML. The owner of the website will take care of all the technical issues for you. Your individual campervan listing page will be automatically created by the website. You can even provide a link to your own website for your own Search Engine promotion.
The primary focus of the website is to display the member's campervan rental listings at their best, gain the most exposure to our member's rental listings, connect qualified rental clients to our member's rental location, provide the finest collection of campervan rentals online and, educate our member's on the best practices in campervan renting. So what does this service cost? That depends on the owner of the website but the cost is usually around $15/month ($US). A setup fee may be required from new members. There should be no commissions, surprises, or hidden charges. You should be able to setup your membership and models for free therefore you only have to pay when you're ready to have your listing activated.
Why list with a website service? They are the best way for someone looking for a campervan to rent to find one. These online classifieds brings together campervan owners and renters in an efficient and comfortable way. Most websites, at least the better ones, have monthly visitors that number in the tens of thousands during the prime rental months. The website you select should be committed to continually promoting the website (and subsequently driving more traffic to your campervan listing) through an extensive online marketing effort. The website should be built upon state-of-the-art technology using advanced software techniques and based on an advanced. It should be supported by certified web application software professionals.
This ensures your classified campervan rental listing is readily accessible to eager campervan renters and can be viewed quickly. Most importantly, the website should be an efficient and cost effective to advertise your campervan for hire. This will help ensure a quick rental during those times in between your own vacations. Let that campervan that is sitting in your driveway nine months out of the year earn some of its own keep. Although there will be some extra wear an tear on the campervan by renting it out, this is often offset by the resulting use keeping everything in working order and heading off any future problems caused by dry rotted hoses and lines and engines sitting inactive for too long a period. Want to hire out you campervan? A website that specializes in those sort of events is just what you need.


Other measures to take effect include one to expand gun rights, making it lawful for a person who is licensed to carry a handgun under the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act to store it out of view in a locked vehicle when the vehicle is left unattended on school property.
The measure's author, Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said the bill protects the constitutional rights of people with permits who were previously prohibited from driving onto school property if they were carrying a weapon.
"It's a matter of a handgun-license owner, even a teacher, being able to exercise their Second Amendment right, even if they're going to work," Kern said.
Another firearms-related measure will allow current or former district attorneys to carry firearms for personal protection - even after leaving office - if they have completed a handgun qualification course developed by the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training.
"Other measures to take effect include one to expand gun rights, making it lawful for a person who is licensed to carry a handgun under the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act to store it out of view in a locked vehicle when the vehicle is left unattended on school property."
This is another change to Oklahoma's law which adds some common sense. Minnesota's carry permit law has had this in place for over ten years. If you're going to prohibit citizens carrying in certain venues, you need to give them a place to safely store their firearm if they need to go there.
Wrong. In a locked car is not a safe place for storage. Home in the safe is the only alternative.
Vehicle theft and burglary is one of the most common crimes in America. How safe is a gun in a locked car?
"Vehicle theft and burglary is one of the most common crimes in America. How safe is a gun in a locked car?"
Interesting point Anon. In America it looks like a gun is nearly three times safer in a car since there seem to be nearly three times the number of burglaries than there are of auto thefts.
Auto thefts compared to break-ins is a false comparison. You'd have to add the cars that are broken into but not stolen.
Plus, the home burglaries in which guns are locked in a safe usually don't add to the problem.
That's why I said auto thefts and burglaries. I understand the difference.
SS, that sill leaves millions of car theft and burglaries. To say one is greater than another, is not to say cars are not a source of getting guns by criminals. Certainly when talking millions, it's an unsafe practice.


text:
<?php

use ExCodeception\BaseFixture;

class UserFixture extends BaseFixture
{
    protected $dataFile = __DIR__ . '/../_data/user.php';
    protected $entityClass = 'User\Entity\User';
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: how to return array using closure I am new on Swift and I am trying to use closure for getting results back from viewcontroller
Here is the example
class MD5Calculator {

    static func imageChecksum(imageArray: [UIImage], onCalculated: @escaping () -> [String]){

        DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {

            var array: [String] = []

            for chosenImage in imageArray {
                if let jpegData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(chosenImage, 80) {
                    let checksum = jpegData.md5()
                    let chsum = checksum.toHexString()
                    array.append(chsum)
                }
            }

            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                //return array
            }
        }

    }
}

I want md5 calculation do in background and when its done pass it to viewController.
I created closure but I don't know how to return it.
my question is:

*

*How to pass string array with closure

*How to call ImageChecksum in view controller

A: Your usage of closure is not effective. The array you are about to send back should be the parameter of the closure not the returning type.
This should work
class MD5Calculator {

    static func imageChecksum(imageArray: [UIImage], onCalculated: @escaping ([String]) -> ()){

        DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {

            var array: [String] = []

            for chosenImage in imageArray {
                if let jpegData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(chosenImage, 80) {
                    let checksum = jpegData.md5()
                    let chsum = checksum.toHexString()
                    array.append(chsum)
                }
            }

            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                //return array
                onCalculated(array)
            }
        }

    }
}

EDIT: Use it in your ViewController like this
MD5Calculator.imageChecksum(imageArray: [imageArray]) { array in
    // 'array' is your returned result
}

A: The main problem is, that you have defined closure incorrectly. Basically, the idea is, that you should define a closure with a return value, when you want to get the value inside the function, not the outside. The usage (in this case) would be something like: let someConstant = onCalculated(). This is the way you get the value inside the function.
In your case (you want to return a value from function), the closure should be defined something like: onCalculated: @escaping (_ someArray: [String]) -> Void. in this case, you would just return the value from the function: onCalculated(someArray)
The usage:
MD5Calculator.imageChecksum(
    imageArray: inputImageArray,
    onCalculated: { someArray in
        // enter code here
    }
)

P.S. Consider to use optional unwrap for closures!

A: You should send your result array as a parameter of closure, not as return value.

*

*How to pass string array with closure?
class MD5Calculator {

static func imageChecksum(imageArray: [UIImage], onCalculated: @escaping (_ checksum: [String]) ->()){

    DispatchQueue.global(qos: .userInitiated).async {

        var array: [String] = []

        for chosenImage in imageArray {
            if let jpegData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(chosenImage, 80) {
                let checksum = jpegData.md5()
                let chsum = checksum.toHexString()
                array.append(chsum)
            }
        }

        DispatchQueue.main.async {
            //return array
            onCalculated(array)
        }
    }

}
}

2.How to call ImageChecksum in view controller
MD5Calculator.imageChecksum(imageArray: []) { (checksum) in

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
RTA and Mastercard collaborate to enhance public transport payment solutions experience
Supporting the Dubai government's Smart City vision, Mastercard, a technology leader in the global payments industry, has entered a partnership with the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The partnership will enhance Mastercard support for RTA in enabling frictionless, faster and more secure public transport tariff payment and simplify the journey for commuters as part of its global digital payments economy and City Possible initiatives.
Through this project, RTA and Mastercard will assess the benefits that open loop technology will bring to the public transport infrastructure, in line with global best practices. The joint study between RTA and Mastercard complements RTA's nol strategy and plans by leveraging Mastercard's global experience in the transport space, which includes contactless solutions for open-loop transit systems and the integration of digital payments into cities' core infrastructures, thus providing a best-in-class customer experience.
Acceptance of bank-issued cards along with nol Digital and nol Account Based Ticketing solutions are part of the technology roadmap of RTA's nol strategy, which aims to make the nol brand the leading digital ticketing, payment and access platform that enables seamless mobility in the region.
The RTA partnership is part of Mastercard's wider vision to connect urban communities through flexible solutions. Having successfully accomplished this in global hubs like London, Mastercard aims to bring these gold standards to the region starting with the RTA in Dubai, a city that prides itself in adopting excellent technologies.
"We are excited to collaborate with Mastercard, an international technology and financial leader, to study the impact of accepting bankcards on the public transport riders in line with RTA's constant commitment to facilitate its services to the public from different social segments. It is also based on isRTA's vision of providing Safe and Smooth Transport for All," said Abdul Aziz Al Falahi, CEO of RTA's Corporate Technology Support Services Sector.
"Enabling the public from all social segments to use bankcards to fulfill their commuting needs is aligned with RTA's strategic goal No. 3, which is 'People Happiness'. RTA has always sought the best methods to make people, including citizens, residents, tourists and visitors, happy by providing them with safer, sophisticated, secure and faster solutions that enhance and make their lives happy, easier and comfortable. To meet this goal, RTA has collaborated with internationally reputed organisations, hence our partnership with Mastercard is strategic due to the importance of this service," said Al Falahi.
"Conducting this study will definitely support Dubai's ambition to be the smartest and happiest city in the world by harnessing the latest technologies and most advanced methods to realize this objective. This initiative will also incorporate excellence and innovation, which are vital factors to fully accomplish the smart city vision," he added.
Commenting on the partnership, Khalid Elgibali, Division President, Middle East and North Africa, Mastercard said: "Dubai continues to be one of the world's most visited cities, with visitors and residents alike expecting advanced infrastructure and transportation services. Our partnership with the RTA is part of Mastercard's commitment to offer unparalleled customer experiences to the city's travelers."
"With 70% of the world's population expected to live in urban areas as early as 2050, cities must adopt smart innovations to become more efficient and enable people to go about their day-to-day activities seamlessly. As a leader in bringing cutting-edge solutions to cities worldwide, Mastercard is engaging with governments across the globe to harness contactless and open-loop technologies in order to make cities more connected, efficient and inclusive," Elgibali concluded.
As the Official Payment Technology Partner for Expo 2020 Dubai, Mastercard is committed to working with the UAE government to help realize its vision of a smart, connected city enabled by cashless technologies. According to the recently launched Mastercard Global Destination Cities Index 2019, Dubai remains the fourth most visited city in the world, welcoming 15.93 million international overnight visitors last year, with figures expected to grow ahead of the global event next year.
Source: Media Office


Turn your life around now! If you've struggled with other weight-loss methods, change is possible with the right treatment and an experienced team by your side.
Surgical Weight Control Center in Las Vegas offers effective treatment options such as the gastric sleeve and gastric band. All procedures are performed at Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center, which is a nationally credited bariatric center. We provide you with long-term management to help you take control of your lifestyle and regain your health.
Talk to our team today and give yourself a fresh start.
Questions? Chat with our Patient Coordinator.
I tried different diets and exercise routines, but they weren't cutting. I felt discouraged and saddened by the possibility of an unhappy, overweight life, or worse."
Attend a free weight-loss seminar to learn more about weight-loss surgery options and the process.
View weight-loss procedures to help you achieve your health and life goals.
Learn about treatments, like the LINX® device, for patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
We host a number of informative seminars across the area. Find one nearest you.
Introducing the New Shaper App!
Reshape your body, discover weight-loss surgery options, meet our surgeons and more!


text:
You are here: Home » G-20 News » Australia » Australia: Halal expert earns processing industry's highest honour
Australia: Halal expert earns processing industry's highest honour
By Jon Condon – for Beef Central
The managing director of the Wodonga abattoir in northern Victoria, Jon Hayes, earned the meat processing industry's highest honour last night when he joined a select group of industry stakeholders named as Distinguished Australians of the Year.
Wodonga's Jon Hayes, centre, is inducted as one of AMIC's Distinguished Australians by Maersk Line's Nicholas Long and AMIC processor chairman David Larkin.
As part of his long-standing responsibilities as an AMIC processor board member, Mr Hayes has taken a key role in representing Australia's interests in the field of Halal certification, allowing Australian exports to access a growing number of Halal-dependent markets around the world.He has chaired AMIC's Halal committee for more than a decade, and has represented Australia numerous times at World Halal forums. Because of his integrity and commitment to the Halal cause, Mr Hayes has been one of the few non-Muslim representatives asked to speak at the forum events.
There is no doubt that Australia's reputation as a reputable and committed Halal beef and sheepmeat supplier has been greatly strengthened as a result of Mr Hayes' contribution to industry.
He was also large responsible for the formation of the former AQIS Halal Consultative Committee (as of yesterday renamed simply Department of Agriculture).
The committee comprises all Australian Halal stakeholders, including the 15 Islamic certifiers operating in Australia, individual processors, AMIC, AQIS and other government agencies. The committee's focus is to ensure that Australia's Halal systems and processes carry the highest integrity in international customers' eyes.
Mr Hayes worked his way up from the industry grassroots, starting work at Newcastle abattoir before training as a meat inspector. He worked as an inspector at a wide number of plants across Australia from Townsville to Homebush, Dubbo and Portland.
When the organochloride residue controversy broke in the late 1980s, he was called to Canberra to assist with the administration and clearance of product, and the implementation of new testing protocols.
In 1991 he accepted a position as managing director of the Wodonga abattoir and rendering business in Victoria, a position which he continues to hold today, 22 years later.
"John Hayes has been a truly great contributor to the betterment of the industry, and one with significant technical skill and experience," AMIC processor chairman, David Larkin said.
– See more at: http://www.beefcentral.com/processing/article/3706#sthash.cLldfqsX.dpuf
Tags: Australia Halal, Halal beef, Jon Hayes
Category: Australia, Halal Integrity, Meat & Poultry, Media & Events, Oceania
« UK: World's largest Halal Food Festival launches in London
Dubai: 'Islamic Economy Award' launch in November »