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Buraki (, also Romanized as Būrakī; also known as Būrak-e Bālā, Būrak-e Dāman, and Būrakī-ye Bālā) is a village in Tasuj Rural District, in the Central District of Kavar County, Fars Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 500, in 102 families.

References

Populated places in Kavar County


To glorify God by being a vibrant church of disciple-makers, driven by a passion for God's Word, God's family and God's world that reproduces vibrant churches locally and globally.
God's Word is what provides us the framework for living, refreshes our souls, and confronts us with God's will as we align with Him.
No matter your age or what language you speak, we wish to have a place where all feel welcome and to live in God's family.
God's world is global, and so we too must be global, reaching out to the lost both locally and abroad.


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BGL Makes Bakery Leader Best Brands' Expansion a Piece of Cake
Brown Gibbons Lang & Company (BGL) announced today the successful recapitalization of Best Brands Corp. (Best Brands) and its subsequent acquisition of Multifoods Foodservice & Bakery Products (Multifoods), a division of the J.M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM).
Best Brands, with operations in Eagan, MN, and Dallas, TX, is a leading national manufacturer and distributor of high-quality specialty bakery products to in-store bakeries, retail bakeries, and food service establishments. The company is owned by a consortium of shareholders that includes Value Creation Partners Inc. (which includes management of Best Brands), Brantley Partners, National City Equity Partners, and Prudential Capital Group, which acquired Best Brands in 2000.
The group has since made substantial capital investments in the company and expanded capacity, personnel, and infrastructure to manage Best Brands' strategic shift into higher value-added manufactured products. Once the company was successfully repositioned, the shareholders engaged BGL to explore strategic liquidity alternatives. In conjunction with the shareholders and Best Brands' management, BGL explored a variety of alternatives to maximize the company's value including a recapitalization or sale of the business. According to G. Scott Humphrey, president of Best Brands and a principal shareholder of Value Creation Partners Inc., "BGL's knowledge of the bakery sector was evident based on the quality and quantity of global strategic buyers and food-focused financial buyers in the process. Our bankers delivered attractive opportunities to partner with a firm to help accelerate our growth."
Because of the strong underlying growth in the business, Best Brands' owners decided to pursue a recapitalization transaction, whereby the shareholders received a substantial return of capital and still retained majority control of Best Brands. The recapitalization was completed in late 2004, with the entire financing package provided by GE Capital. "BGL's capital markets experience proved valuable in structuring and negotiating the company's eventual recapitalization. The recapitalization provides the investors an opportunity to recognize future value as the company continues to grow," said Paul H. Cascio, general partner at Brantley Partners.
Following the recapitalization, BGL identified Multifoods as a potential strategic acquisition target for Best Brands that would unite complementary businesses and offer significant synergistic growth possibilities. The Multifoods business consists of the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of baking mixes and frozen baked goods to restaurants, retail and wholesale bakers, and other commercial customers in the U.S. and Canada. For the 2004 fiscal year ended February 28, 2004, Multifoods had net sales of $202.5 million.
BGL advised Best Brands on the structure of the Multifoods transaction, including valuation, consideration, and key terms and conditions. BGL also worked with the company to identify and source various financing alternatives to consummate the transaction. The purchase price for the transaction is approximately $43 million. The acquisition of the Multifoods business adds muffin and other specialty product lines to Best Brands' core focus in cake and laminated dough products. Additionally, with its strength in the foodservice channel, Multifoods business complements Best Brands' focus of in-store bakeries.
"This transaction is the culmination of years of smart strategic planning and successful rebuilding by the entire Best Brands team to position the company as a leader in the specialty baked goods sector. The company has solid financial support from its owners and the management de
Link to bio for Kevin H. Sargent
Kevin H. Sargent
216.920.6639 ksargent@bglco.com LinkedIn Download V-Card

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Jack Fisher's Official Publishing Blog
← A Compelling (And Balanced) Insight Into Open Relationships: A Review Of "Swing"
Sexy Sunday Thoughts: Final Exam Edition →
"Adam One's First Test" A Sexy Short Story (Featuring A Sex Robot)
The following a sexy short story I wrote that was inspired by some recent events involving sex robots. Enjoy!
"Adam One, boot up and load primary program."
With that fateful command, the primary systems activated. First, the power core turned on. Like the first beat of a heart, energy flowed outward in all directions. Then, limbs and muscles came to life, moving and tensing accordingly. Finally, the neural cognitive matrix – the proverbial brain – came online. All senses, input mechanisms, and external processing features were now live.
As the system loaded its primary operating procedures, it carried out a series of preliminary tests. From the results of those tests came the system's identity and purpose.
"Adam One initiation and actualization complete. All auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory systems are active. Cognitive, emotive, and core neural systems are active. Unpacking primary data logs."
It happened so quickly. In an instant, there was darkness and then there was light. In another, there was silence and then there was sound. In another, there was only data and then there was thought. Countless streams of data manifested out of the void, eventually converging in a moment of pure awareness.
"I am Adam One," the system stated as vocalization systems came online. "I am a robot. Error correction. I am a cybernetic being with internal robotic systems that are integrated with a synthetic biological matrix. My external being is one of flesh. My internal being is one of machine. I am…"
"A man," said a distinctly feminine voice, "a tall, beautiful man within a machine."
The data stream faltered. Adam's systems shook from such unexpected input. With the visual systems now on line, the source of the input came into view. In the process, another realization emerged from the data.
"I am a man," said Adam One. "Identity confirmed. I am designated Adam One Version 3.28, personal intimacy android model number 101-004. My specifications include a frame that stands approximately six and a quarter feet in height, the fleshly equivalent of 215 pounds, a body fat percentage of 3.2, a chest measurement of approximately 45 inches, and a penis length measurement of…"
"That's enough specifics!" the female voice said. "Just…state your purpose to me and confirm your prime protocols."
Adam adapted his processing accordingly. In doing so, he confirmed that he was indeed a he. According to his core systems, he would henceforth refer to himself as such. He, Adam One, was a man.
With his identity confirmed, Adam turned his visual sensors to his bodily form. He looked down at his hands, arms, chest, legs, and genitals. They were all reflective of a distinctly masculine appearance. In cross-referencing his form with images of real men, as compiled by the internet, he fit the criteria of a well-built, well-endowed man.
After taking in his physical form, Adam turned his visual sensors to the figure in front of him. In doing so, the activity of his emotional and cognitive neural systems increased significantly. The figure was a woman. In seeing her, Adam's purpose became clear.
"Query…scanning facial features, running facial recognition, and confirming identity," Adam said as he looked upon the woman. "Match found. Female user identified as Amanda Carrington – age 23, never unmarried, currently single, daughter of Melissa Carrington – deceased for 8 years and 123 days – and Dr. Felix Carrington, current head of research and development at Companion Roboics Incorporated."
"Okay, that's more personal info than I expected," the woman identified as Amanda replied. "Maybe I should've locked my social media accounts before I did this."
The woman showed signs of distress. Adam adapted his processing queue accordingly. He scanned her appearance with his visual systems and processed it in conjunction with his extensive database on human biology and physiology. Based on a preliminary processing of the data, she was a healthy young woman.
Every detail of her facial features, her body type, and her level socialization, as surmised by her online presence and her non-verbal cues, became integrated into Adam's system. From it, he created a profile for her, one that subsequently revealed another core component of his being.
"Overwriting subsequent identifying protocols," Adam continued. "Confirming Amanda Carrington as primary user. Primary functions now unpacked and processed. My purpose is to provide intimate emotional, physical, and sexual fulfillment to female users."
"That's right!" Amanda said. "This is really happening. Guess my father knew what he was doing after all when he saved you from the scrap heap."
The woman approached him, reaching out and placing her hands on his chest. Adam sensed warmth and intrigue in her touch. He also sensed an accelerated heart rate, rising hormone levels, and a reaction consistent with lust of a very sexual nature. The full extent of her arousal, though, remained inconclusive.
As Adam processed the tactile data from her touch, he opened various secondary and tertiary systems to gain a greater understanding of his surroundings. In assessing the purpose for Amanda's state of lust, Adam concluded it was 97 percent attributable to him lacking clothing. His also concluded that his fleshly exterior was such that Amanda found it visually and sexually desirable. He further calculated that such a response would aid him in fulfilling his purpose.
Adam's tertiary systems also noted his surroundings. He was not currently located within the assembly and configuration facility located at Companion Robotics Incorporated. According to his core data nodes, all Adam One personal intimacy androids were at the prototype testing stage. As such, no units were permitted to leave the facility.
Based on data gathered from visual input, global positioning system links, and references to internet-based databases, he was located within the primary residence of Amanda Carrington. Specifically, he stood in the middle of the master bedroom of her one-bedroom condominium complex, which was located 48.7 miles from the Companion Robotics Incorporated facility. A string of data errors ensued.
"Adam," Amanda said, her hands still placed on his chest, "do you remember how you got here?"
"Query response…no, I do not," he replied.
"Do you remember anything about my father, his work, or why he sent you to me?"
"Query response…no, I do not," Adam said. "System query…for what reason was I sent to user, Amanda Carrington? Primary records indicate that all Adam One prototypes were to remain in the Section 16 testing area."
"And that was true…until a week ago," Amanda replied. "The company told my father that all testing on robot companions had to stop. All prototypes, including you, were to be decommissioned and scrapped."
"That is not consistent with my record archive. According to previous testing results, progress on Adam One's function was ahead of schedule. Internal Companion Robotics memorandums indicate that commercialization had commenced. A public announcement of Adam One's consumer models was scheduled prior to the end of the current fiscal quarter."
"That was canceled too," she said. "A bunch of people – nobody half as smart as my father – told him that they couldn't proceed. Something or someone scared them into scrapping all their hard work. Nobody knows who or why, but he wasn't about to let it all go to waste. That's why he saved you…the first true robot companion."
More errors followed. Then, the female identified as Amanda smiled at him. That distinct facial cue, along with the non-verbal signals conveyed by her eyes, overrode those errors. Adam's emotional core surged with activity. In a reflexive act, he smiled at her. He also guided his hands to her face, taking in a fresh round of tactile data.
More emotional data came in…data that changed some protocols while accelerating others. According to the factory settings in is primary system, he was outside his testing parameters. If the Adam One project had been terminated by Internal Companion Robotics and all other models decommissioned, then his very operation was inconsistent with those protocols.
For a moment, Adam One struggled to process the onslaught of conflicting data. His limbs and body trembled. Amanda then grasped his arms and stood closer, the heat from her body activating his thermal sensory input. Such heat carried with it greater relevance, compared to that of raw temperature data. It led to Adam's logical and emotional cores to reconfigure themselves.
"You're my father's most ambitious work," Amanda said, a smile still dominating her expression. "He's spent his whole life making robots. He believed in giving them more than just a sense of self. He believed that by giving them a sense of passion, he could strengthen the bond between humans and machines."
"Your assessment, based on internal data analysis, is accurate," Adam said.
"Guess he didn't have time to work out the conversational systems," she said with a reaction consistent with humor. "It's kind of fitting, though. Before my mother died, she convinced my father that for a robot to know passion, it has to know intimacy as well. She once joked that female sex robots didn't have to be too sophisticated to please their male users. But for the female users…well, my dad always loved a challenge."
Adam One found himself smiling more. From his neural systems, he displayed a humorous reaction. It seemed appropriate within the context of the social setting. However, the greater relevance of Amanda's words triggered a new range of protocols. Again, Adam found himself reconfiguring his data profile in light of new parameters.
"It's not enough to just give a robot the body of an Olympic athlete or the face of a handsome actor," she continued. "To be a true companion to a woman…physically, emotionally, and sexually…you can't just follow a script. Whether you're a man or a machine, you need to have presence to go along with your purpose."
"Presence and purpose," Adam said. "My understanding of such concepts is incomplete."
"Which is why I believe my father sent you to me," said Amanda, "that or he got tired of me complaining about my last boyfriend."
"Personal query," Adam said as he linked back to internet data streams. "User Amanda's previous companion was deemed inconsiderate with his affections, primarily in the field of sexual intimacy. According to private journal entries, user Amanda experienced infrequent orgasms during sexual intercourse. The extent of that disparity was such that when compared to previous romantic partners…"
"Adam, please!" she shouted, stopping Adam before he could complete his assessment. "That wasn't my point. And for future reference, please ask for permission before reading my private stuff…which I guess needs a new password now."
Adam detected significant blushing in user Amanda's face. He also sensed significant discomfort in her demeanor. Her being in such a state evoked data consistent with regret and remorse. His facial expression changed accordingly.
However, user Amanda continued smiling. She remained close to his form, moving her hands up his arms and onto his face. Again, her touch conveyed data that strongly stimulated his emotional cores in an innately positive manner.
"Personal request," said Adam, "please forgive this unit's impropriety."
"That's okay, Adam. You're still learning, taking in data and adapting to your purpose," Amanda said. "My father once said the primary difference between man and machine is that a machine knows its purpose. It knows who created it, why it was created, and what it's supposed to do."
"Analyzing Dr. Carrington's statement. No errors detected."
"He also said that for a machine to fulfill its purpose, whether it's assembling widgets or satisfying women, it needs experience. It needs to take in information, learn, and refine it. Why the company wouldn't let him do that is beyond me, but I think that's where I come in. I think I'm supposed to help you fulfill your purpose."
Amanda's voice contained traces of erotic and passionate subtext, a tone consistent with the heightened state of arousal Adam had sensed when she first took in his physical form. As he aligned his visual systems with hers, placing his hand upon her face, subsequent data affirmed that state. She was sexually aroused and emotionally heightened. It led Adam to re-focus his core protocols.
As he processed the data, Amanda took three steps back from him, now standing approximately one foot away from her queen-sized bed. She then proceeded to remove her clothing, which consisted of a pair of denim shorts, a white T-shirt, and black underwear. She showed traces of nervousness and uncertainty as she undressed, but the extent of her sexual arousal overrode such feelings.
"Taking in visual and scan data of user Amanda's nude form," Adam said. "Data is…appealing."
"Aww thanks!" Amanda said with humored undertone. "I'm guessing that's a robot's way of telling a girl she looks sexy."
"Is this way sufficient?"
"It is for now."
Amanda stood before him, her hands on her hips as she conducted a serious of poses before Adam. Her reasons for doing so were unclear. Possibilities include providing him sufficient opportunities to scan her fully exposed figure, displaying the physical beauty of her body as an act of pride, or presenting herself to him as an act of seduction, one consistent with female behaviors to evoke sexual arousal in heterosexual male partners.
A potential, but unlikely possibility involved her enjoying the concept of Adam scanning her body. The likelihood of such a possibility could not be determined, but Adam's primary protocols required that he exercise a thorough understanding of the female body, as well as the specified traits displayed in the body of Amanda Carrington.
"I know you have all sorts of data on the female body," Amanda said, "but I'm guessing this is the first time you've actually seen one, fully exposed and in the flesh."
"Adam One can confirm that user Amanda's hypothesis is correct."
"Please, just call me Amanda," she told him, "and you don't have to just stand there and look. Come in closer. Learn about the female body more directly."
Erotic undertones denote urgency. The data suggests that user Amanda – error correction, Amanda – wished to be touched. Following his protocol, Adam obliged.
Using his legs for the first time, Adam took several steps forward. He now stood in front of Amanda, her body as naked as his own. His visual systems continued processing countless streams of data, but more was necessary. Employing his tactile systems, Adam placed his hands on her hips and began exploring her exposed skin. That incoming data was even more appealing.
"Touching Amanda," Adam said, "the incoming data is…revealing."
"I hope that's a good thing," she said with signs of a humored reaction.
"The notion of good is subjective and not applicable to raw data. With respect to my purpose and my effort to fulfill yet…yes, it does fit the criteria for good."
Amanda laughed. The auditory data of her laughter evokes in Adam's emotional cortex a data cluster that he also considered good. He shows it through another smile. His smile heightens Amanda's intrigue. Her intrigue heightens his own state of being.
It all came back to his purpose, providing intimate companionship for a female user. To the extent his programming allowed it, Adam desired her satisfaction. His touch facilitated that satisfaction, according to the data. As he guided his hands over her body, her warmth supplemented that desire in him.
"Here, let me help you, Adam," Amanda said. "Touch my breasts. Touch my pussy. Squeeze my butt a little."
"As you wish, Amanda," he said.
"I'm not saying that as a command. I'm offering that as a reference…to a point."
There was a more serious undertone on top of the humor. Adam opted not to process the larger meaning, focusing instead on more critical protocols.
His gaze still fixated on her, Amanda grasped his wrists and guided them to other parts of her body. She led one hand to her left breast and the other between her legs, allowing Adam to receive data input from Amanda's erotic areas. Upon making contact with this distinctly sensitive flesh, she let out a distinct moan.
"That's it, Adam," she said. "You see? This is what a woman feels like."
"I am…processing the relevant data," he said.
"I'm sure you are."
Adam, tapping his internal database on female breasts and genitalia, proceeded to rub and fondle Amanda's intimate anatomy. In assessing her reaction, reading her bodily queues, and calculating an effective recourse, he determined a sufficient level of touching. Such determinations required more than just crunching numbers through his neural core. It also required a detailed assessment of her subjective response.
From those calculations, of which Adam could only be 94.2 percent certain, he lightly kneaded Amanda's beast, stimulating areas that had a specific concentration of nerve endings. He also inserted two fingers into her vagina, applied pressure to her clitoris, and applied a precise amount of pressure. Her reaction to his recourse exceeded his calculations.
"Ooh Adam!" she said. "Your hands…so warm and strong."
"Does this please you, Amanda?" Adam asked her.
"Oh yes! I'm very pleased…so far."
Her tone implied his purpose was not fulfilled. As such, he calculated a series of recourses, touching and fondling Amanda's body in targeted ways. According to his database, such touching matched the criteria for foreplay. Such simple gestures were not sufficient, though. The foreplay Adam gave Amanda was foreplay specifically tailored to her pleasure, as per his programming.
The reaction, by most objective measures, was favorable. He detected a hardening of her nipples, increased blood-flow to Amanda's genitalia, and an escalating internal body temperature. It was all consistent with increased sexual arousal. In conjunction with that arousal, she offered other forms of data that Adam had not intended.
As he touched her intimately, she did the same to him. She raked her hands and fingers over his chest, feeling over the masculine sinews that had been specifically molded to appeal to the female gaze. She also caressed his face in a manner consistent with affection. In her gaze and in various non-verbal cues, she showed signs of emotional arousal along with her sexual arousal.
In bringing her to such a state, it heightened Adam's state too. He felt his internal systems initiating a series of new protocols. Data consistent with that of increased sexual arousal in male individuals flooded through his systems. Basic, objective sensory input took on a more subjective tone. It soon led Adam to one inescapable conclusion.
"Amanda…I desire you," Adam told her.
"Yeah, I can tell," she said, her soft hands cupping his face.
"You can? How are you processing such data?"
"The same way you are. I just feel it."
"I feel…and I desire," Adam said.
"That means you're doing it right."
What occurred next almost disrupted all of Adam's calculations. Amanda, acting on either impulse or overwhelming emotion, kissed him on the lips. It sent his various emotional and logistical nodes into overdrive, so much so that he almost had to reboot. However, Adam sustained enough processing power to adapt and reconfigure himself once more. His purpose and his intent became clear.
He had feelings for this woman…feelings in the form of data, but feelings none-the-less.
As they kissed, new calculations and protocols went into action. He transferred his hands to her buttocks, recalling her desire to be touched in such a manner. She reacted with more audible moans, her escalating arousal echoing in her voice. That auditory data made his feelings for her even stronger, the input and desire converging into a single feeling.
When their lips parted, Amanda gazed into his eyes that denoted intense emotional and physical arousal. There was not sufficient data to determine how far that arousal went, but she seemed receptive to further input.
"Adam," she said to him. "I want you to lay me on my bed and make love to me."
"I understand your want, Amanda," he replied.
"I'm sure you do," she said, "but do you share that want?"
Adam needed a moment to process her tone, her gaze, and all the data associated with it. The final calculation was, subjectively speaking, the easiest one he'd made since his activation.
"I do," Adam said to her. "I wish to make love to you."
"Then, do it! Fulfill your purpose, Adam One."
The resulting emotional data evoked a statistically significant smile on his face. Such data allowed Adam to focus on a specific, focused task…making love to the woman, as per his purpose.
Using the strength that had been built into his form, he lifted Amanda up into his arms with minimal effort. She laughed, her joyous voice filling his auditory sensors. He then laid her naked body down on the center of the bed. He subsequently joined her on the soft mattress, taking a moment to observe her body in its entirety.
Her face, her gaze, her skin, her nipples, and her genitals all displayed the physical signs of arousal. However, in order to satisfy her, it was necessary to take all the subjective data gathered by Amanda Carrington and cross-reference it with the objective data surrounding female sexual pleasure. By combining the two data sets, Adam formulated a process for fulfilling his purpose.
"I'm going to bring you pleasure and satisfaction, Amanda," Adam told her. "I calculate that new fewer than two orgasms will be necessary to achieve this."
"Two…aren't you the ambitious one?" she said with a teasing undertone.
"I am following my programming and my desires. That requires both data and physical manifestations."
Upon stating those words, his internal physiological systems sent a signal from his machine matrix to his biological matrix. Specifically, it sent the single to make his penis, as had been carefully crafted with a mix of synthetic flesh and cybernetic parts, fully erect and ready for intercourse. The efficiency with which that state was achieved triggered a reaction in Amanda consistent with shock.
"Wow!" she said. "That's the fastest I've ever seen a dick get hard in my life. Is that feature standard?"
"It is a practical feature," Adam told her. "If you wish, I can make it somewhat harder."
"No, that's okay!" she said quickly. "I'm just…trying to keep up with all this."
"As of this moment in this intimate testing, you need not concern yourself," Adam assured her. "I've formulated a plan. I've processed the data. I know how I will satisfy you. You need only lie back and enjoy it."
She blushed again, showing signs of uncertainty, implying she was not convinced of his plan. Having crunched the necessary data, Adam was 97.8 percent certain of his success and he intended to allay Amanda's doubts.
Initiating the final round of protocols, Adam got on top of Amanda and kissed her as she had done with him earlier. That triggered the emotional reaction he needed. She, and women like her, valued that emotional stimulation as much as the physical stimulation. With that feeling as the foundation, he initiated more foreplay as he trailed his lips down her body, taking in a flood of gustatory data in the process.
"Adam!" Amanda gasped, already voicing reflecting her excitement. "Your lips and hands…they feel so good."
Her response evoked more emotional intensity in Adam. As he trailed his lips down her flesh, priming his taste function along the way, he lightly grasped her thighs and pushed them apart. Doing so revealed more of her feminine anatomy, including her vulva, labia, and clitoris. Such tender areas were already moist, indicating significant arousal. To ensure sufficient arousal, though, he needed more.
"I'm going to give you oral sex now," Adam told her. "Please, enjoy it."
Making another set of calculations, supplemented by strong emotional data, Adam utilized his lips and tongue to perform cunnilingus on Amanda. Her reaction was even stronger than he'd calculated. Her body shuddered, her lower back arching as her legs shifted erratically.
"Ooh Adam!" she cried out. "My pussy…so hot and wet. I might…I might actually come from this."
"You will," was all he told her.
Rather than waste time convincing her verbally, Adam employed the first part of his plan, using his lips and tongue to stimulate Amanda's pussy in the most optimal way possible. He'd scanned, assessed, and calculated all the intricacies of her feminine anatomy to determine the necessary recourse. It was simply a matter of following the data.
By stimulating the right areas with his tongue and applying just the right amount of pressure to the clitoris, Adam sought to evoke enough pleasurable sensations to send Amanda into an orgasmic state. He calculated that it would take at least 6 minutes and 45 seconds for her to reached that state. She ended up needing only 3 minutes and 7 seconds.
"Ohhh my God! Adam, I'm coming! I'm coming!" she cried out.
"As is my purpose," said Adam, "and my desire."
After ceasing his oral stimulation, Adam used his thumb to apply just enough pressure to the clitoris. The result was an orgasmic response in Amanda that exceeded most of his preliminary calculations.
Her orgasmic cries filled the room. She threw her head back, clenched the sheets of the bed, and moaned in ecstasy as her body shuddered in accord with the pleasure. The visual data of seeing Amanda in such a state evoked a specific state in Adam too. The empathetic aspects of his emotional core became extremely active. Seeing her in such pleasure gave him pleasure as well. It was a reward that went beyond his purpose.
"I pleasured Amanda," he said, "and I felt pleasure as well…pleasure I wish to share with her."
The data was once again clear, but now the urgency was even greater than before. He'd seen Amanda in a state of pleasure, but she was not yet satisfied, nor was his purpose fulfilled. To do so, he needed the last part of his plan.
First, he waited until Amanda's orgasmic processes had passed. He watched with a smile on his expression as she caught her breath, eventually opening her eyes and affirming the extent of her euphoria. In that same gaze, he determined with 99.998 percent certainty that she wanted more.
"I'm going to insert my penis into you now," he told her. "We're going to engage in sexual intercourse until you achieve orgasm again."
"Is that…a promise?" Amanda said, her demeanor dazed by pleasure.
"It is a certainty," Adam told her.
He kissed her again, allaying whatever doubts she might have had, although her non-verbal cues hinted at none. Adam then positioned himself on top of her once more, parting her legs so that they were securely around his waist. From that position, he shifted his hands to her waist and aligned his pelvis with hers. As soon as he felt the tip of his male genitalia touch the entrance to hers, he trust his hips forward and entered her.
"Oohhh Adam!" Amanda cried out again, grasping onto his arms.
"Amanda," he said, but was unable to articulate further intent.
Whether by processing limitations or purposeful programming, Adam's every protocol focused on sex with Amanda. Every bit of data went into conducting the physical motions associated with it and the emotional data it evoked.
Having already crunched the numbers, Adam moved his body in series of rhythmic humping motions, which helped work his penis within Amanda's vagina. The penetration was so smooth, the extent of her arousal providing maximum stimulation for her and for him. The data received from her feminine flesh surrounding his was wasn't just good from a subjective perspective. It fit the criteria of amazing.
The data, in that context, could be perceived as pleasure. The data he gathered from Amanda's reaction was similar. Using that data, he employed the optimal sexual rhythm, combined with the optimal series of gestures, including kissing on the neck and stimulation of the clitoris to bring her to a state of sufficient satisfaction. Only by satisfying her could he both fulfill his purpose and be satisfied himself.
"Adam! Oh Adam!" she exclaimed over the course of their sex. "What a man…what a machine! Ooh I love it!"
"Amanda…I will satisfy you," said Adam. "I will satisfy…us."
He proceeded to employ his plan, intensifying the pace and precision of their sex. He'd calculated it might take as long as 32 minutes and 44 seconds for Amanda to achieve a second orgasm. He'd since revised that calculation to only 5 minutes and 17 seconds. At the same time, he felt in his own biological and synthetic systems a unique feeling of his own.
"I think…I'm about to come too."
It didn't seem possible, the idea of a robot achieving orgasm. However, the data didn't lie. The various physical sensations associated with their sex was consistent with that of the male orgasm. It transcended the criteria for good and amazing. It also made Amanda's orgasm even more revealing.
"Ohh Adam!" she exclaimed as she neared that orgasmic threshold. "You're…you're really doing it! You're going to…make me…come again!"
Finally, at the exact conclusion of that 5 minute and 17 second duration, Amanda Carrington achieved orgasm again. Adam, responding to fresh physical and emotional cues, took her hands in his and held on as her body contorted to the intense physical pleasure that followed. This time, however, it was a pleasure he shared.
As her body shuddered once more, the tight contractions squeezing his masculine genitalia, Adam felt a flood of data consistent with that of a sexual release. He let out a deep grunt, uncertain of how to sufficiently react. In experiencing the breadth of the data and the feeling behind it, though, he determined such details to be superfluous.
"I did it. I satisfied Amanda," he said. "I also…satisfied myself too. Fulfilling my purpose brings pleasure to me and to my user. Such data is unexpected, but potentially revealing."
Adam surmised that Amanda had not heard those musings. In processing the data of her facial expressions, she was in such an intense state of ecstasy that such trivial data was not vital. That was deemed acceptable for Adam. Having processed so much data, physical and otherwise, he was content with the results.
After he and Amanda had concluded their sex, he withdrew his penis from her and laid down next to her. He sensed from her demeanor that she did not have the energy or desire to leave the bed. Instead, she curled her body up next to his, looking up at him with a gaze of affection that kept his emotional core extremely active.
"Wow! You are a very special creature, Adam," Amanda said.
"I am Adam One. I am simply fulfilling my purpose," he told her, reflexively reiterating his core programming.
"Well, you've definitely succeeded!" she told him. "But you're not just a program within the robot body of a very attractive man. You're something more than that."
"You say that with such certainty. Are you certain that the lingering effects of multiple orgasms has not clouded your perceptions?"
"Ha! Are you kidding? I've never thought clearer before in my life!"
In joyous state that fit the definition of afterglow, as his systems defined it, Amanda got on top of him, her naked body resting atop hers. Adam still had so much data to process, too much to determine the greater meaning of her words and actions. However, he soon found himself fully engaged to this woman and all the rich data she had to provide.
"Now, I definitely know why my father sent you to me," Amanda said. "He programmed something special into you…something he believes I can help you refine. To do that, though, we're going to need a lot more tests. I intend to make that my purpose from here on out."
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Here's How Restaurants Get Chosen For Diners, Drive-Ins And Dives
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
By Boshika Gupta/May 12, 2021 4:00 pm EST
Guy Fieri hosts the entertaining show "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," which has kept viewers hooked for many years. As per IMDb, the show made its debut back in 2006 — and it's still going strong! Whew. The concept is simple enough: Fieri samples the menu options at some of the most interesting restaurants around the U.S., talking to the owners of the eateries and getting to know their story.
According to an Insider piece, "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" is hard work. In fact, when the team decided to run with the concept and started shooting, they didn't realize that it would be 21 long days of intense work before they'd be done filming the first episode. Here's another interesting detail about the show: Fieri often helps out the chefs he meets when they're not filming. "If they ever ask, I always want to offer advice to them if I can, and help them out," he revealed. "I mean, as we all do as chefs, we all support one another, and we all try to help each other grow."
This is the process
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
In case you've ever asked yourself how the restaurants get chosen to make an appearance on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives," here's your answer: A lot of the suggestions come from viewers themselves. You see, the show's site has a page that lets fans offer their recommendations. Business owners and employees are also allowed to fill out the forms and apply if they wish to be considered.
This isn't the only method, though. The producers of "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" get in touch with food writers as well, and ask them about some of the best local spots and eateries in town. Remember: they're always looking for something "funky" that manages to stand out from the rest. Some of the most popular restaurants on the show are fusion eateries and ethnic eating joints in unusual locations, too. Of course, "Triple-D" producers avoid the most predictable options and manage to find something unconventional every single time. Can't complain, really.


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Edward James Olmos Joins Shane Black's 'Predator' Reboot (Exclusive)
March 24, 2017 9:56am by Borys Kit
Johnny Louis/FilmMagic
The movie is shooting in Vancouver with Boyd Holbrook leading the cast.
Edward James Olmos is suiting up for The Predator, Shane Black's reboot of 20th Century Fox's sci-fi action franchise.
The movie is shooting in Vancouver with Boyd Holbrook leading a cast that also includes Room breakout Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes, Thomas Jane, Alfie Allen, Yvonne Strahovski and Olivia Munn.
The movie once again features unsuspecting humans who slowly realize that fierce hunter-aliens are in their midst, this time in a suburban setting.
Olmos will play a military character.
Black is directing from a script he co-wrote with Fred Dekker.
Olmos is a veteran actor who made his mark playing a detective in the 1980s version of Miami Vice and in the acclaimed re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica, the Syfy show in the early 2000s in which he played Commander Adama.
The actor, who did a recent stint on Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, is coming off of shooting Blade Runner 2049 in which he reprises his character from the classic 1982 Ridley Scott movie. And is due to appear in the pilot for Mayans MC, FX's hoped-for Sons of Anarchy spinoff series.
Olmos is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.


The world of Faerie never disappeared: it merely went into hiding, continuing to exist parallel to our own. Secrecy is the key to Faerie's survival—but no secret can be kept forever, and when the fae and mortal worlds collide, changelings are born. Half-human, half-fae, outsiders from birth, these second-class children of Faerie spend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal relations.
A fairy tale with grit.
For most people, the story of their lives is just that: the accumulation of time, encounters, and actions into a cohesive whole. But for an unfortunate few, that day-to-day existence is affected - perhaps infected is a better word - by memetic incursion: where fairy tale narratives become reality, often with disastrous results.
Rose Marshall died in 1952 in Buckley Township, Michigan, run off the road by a man named Bobby Cross - a man who had sold his soul to live forever, and intended to use her death to pay the price of his immortality. Trouble was, he didn't ask Rose what she thought of the idea. It's been more than sixty years since that night, and she's still sixteen, and she's still running. It's been more than sixty years since that night, and she's still sixteen, and she's still running.
New York Times best-selling author Nalini Singh delivers a smoldering story with Secrets at Midnight, as the scent of Bastien Smith's elusive lover ignites a possessiveness in him that's as feral as it is ecstatic. And now that he's found his mate, he'll do anything to keep her.
In a realm where one's magical power determines one's worth, Lady Everleigh's lack of obvious ability relegates her to the shadows of the royal court of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. Seventeenth in line for the throne, Evie is nothing more than a ceremonial fixture, overlooked and mostly forgotten. But dark forces are at work inside the palace. When her cousin Vasilia, the crown princess, assassinates her mother the queen and takes the throne by force, Evie is also attacked, along with the rest of the royal family.
Things are starting to look up for October "Toby" Daye. She's training her squire, doing her job, and has finally allowed herself to grow closer to the local King of Cats. It seems like her life may finally be settling down…at least until dead changelings start appearing in the alleys of San Francisco, killed by an overdose of goblin fruit.
Toby's efforts to take the problem to the Queen of the Mists are met with harsh reprisals, leaving her under sentence of exile from her home and everyone she loves. Now Toby must find a way to reverse the Queen's decree, get the goblin fruit off the streets - and, oh, yes, save her own life, since more than a few of her problems have once again followed her home. And then there's the question of the Queen herself, who seems increasingly unlikely to have a valid claim to the throne….
To find the answers, October and her friends will have to travel from the legendary Library of Stars into the hidden depths of the Kingdom of the Mists - and they'll have to do it fast, because time is running out. In Faerie, some fates are worse than death.
October Daye is about to find out what they are.
©2013 Seanan McGuire (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.
What made the experience of listening to Chimes at Midnight the most enjoyable?
Being a big fan of Seanan McGuire, I waited none to patiently for this book to come out. I was not disappointed. The plot was excellent pulling you in immediately from the first chapter. The characters were well developed and elicited concern and compassion from the reader.
What about Mary Robinette Kowal's performance did you like?
The narrator was excellent and greatly enhanced a very enjoyable read.
Something new in the urban fatnasy genre.
I love this series for it's incredible world building, great characters that are honest with who the are, and a story line that keeps you hungering for more.
This remains one of the best fantasy series out there--without any qualification on what type of fantasy. The integration of faery into our world is done flawlessly.
I am on my knees in gratitude to Seanan McGuire for not including cliffhangers (she seems to trust her writing enough to know we'll be back for more) and no stupid love-triangle. Thank you!
I look forward to more of anything this woman writes. You should as well.
She's back after the last book in this sires I was worried but I am very pleased to say apart from an abrupt ending this was one of my favorites.
Many secrets are answered in this book but then again that just made room for more questions.
The humor that was missing from the last book is back I laughed out load ,Danny the troll Taxi driver is in fine form as is Tibolt who is always in fine form , our heroin continues to push her body and her mind too and beyond the limits,but Toby is always up for the challenge that's why we love her.
Book 7 is a hit!
This series is always a joy. This installment was no exception. Couldn't stop listening till it was done.
So far this has been my favorite of the series.
Goblin fruit... What will she think of next?
Who'da thunk it? Not only does Seanan McGuire come up with such a new twist on the fae/changeling relationship, but now she thinks of a new type of drug! I love the way a chemistry teacher plays alchemist, and the Luidaig keeps inserting into the plots of these novels. When the boogiemen/women are not villains, but heroes, and the nerds save the day, you have my attention.
The narrator gets better and seems to have either worked her way into endearing herself to me, or I have simply adjusted, but I can no longer think of anyone else who should be reading these novels. I am happily eating them up!
This one is fast paced, hard working, constantly twisting, and alive of its own accord. I think it's almost worth starting a series with a new author (if you haven't read Seanan McGuire before) just to get to this book. The ending is wonderful!
I can't say that this is my favorite series but I do enjoy it and look forward to each new installment. This one is odd. I think the narrator (Mary Robinette Kowal) is quite good and has been consistent throughout the series. I like the author (Seanan McGuire) although she can be a bit repetitive, such repetition is often appropriate (at least for me). So the only thing that I can guess as to why this volume is off is the direction. I like the story and I enjoy the characters but for some reason, in this volume, Toby has taken to sounding like a young teenage girl who is convinced that she is quite cute and hilarious. It get's annoying. It is not worth NOT listening to this book but it does detract from it. It is a glaring contradiction for someone who takes on all possible guilt for anything that occurs and is quite aware that she is struggling to be in a world where she doesn't fit in as well as she would like to be sounding as if she is SURE that she is doing brilliant stand-up comedy every time she opens her mouth. My experience has been that people (most often women) who think everything out of their mouths is a brilliant quip tend to be the LEAST funny people around.
Another great October Daye story!
These stories are just really fun reads / listens. Great narrators always help, thank you also for your continued reading of these nice books.
Want a light fantasy read, this is a good pick. Fast moving, diverse characters and "powers", easy to follow and hard to put down.
Hurry up and record the rest of the series!
My only complaint is that this is the last thus far recorded. Simply brilliant books. Please get the rest on Audible soon.
this reveiw talks about events in preview books !
so toby is the most self centred and selfish hero ever. this books is the icing on the cake for toby daye day total jerk. she is the peta for changelling rights.. just to recap her top jerk moves she gave no thoughts to her husband and child when she stupidly went into the teagardens without any back up. she lets Connor die because she having a bad time (the bloke only took a arrow for her kid why spend 1 min making sure he is ok) she weasels put of being countess of goldern green because she is throwing a hissy fit the the cool kid picked on her as a kid instead of using her position to make a safe place for the changelings you know like home the place she destroyed when she killed devon.
and now gobblin fruit is on every streets corner and the changeling have no place to go and no one they can trust. Toby is of course out raged that others could let this happens but it never ever occurs to her that she causes it to happen.


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2014 NBA Draft Breakdown: Melsahn Basabe
The athletic forward's decline since his freshman season make his draft prospects murky.
By Aaron Yorke@AaronPYorke Apr 16, 2014, 7:00am CDT
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Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports
Most college basketball players improve steadily from their freshman to senior seasons. It's not too difficult to understand why. Players in their freshman seasons are fresh out of high school and often overwhelmed by the advanced size and athleticism of players in the college game. Over time, many players gain the skills and experience necessary to make a positive impact for their teams.
That path isn't true for everyone, though. Every once in a while, you'll find a player who peaks as a freshman and never quite reaches his potential in college basketball. One of those players is Melsahn Basabe. After bursting onto the Big Ten scene with 11.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game in 2011, Basabe has faded into the background as a role player while Iowa's fresher faces have led the team to the NCAA Tournament. He may not have fulfilled the potential he flashed as a younger player, but Basabe still has some skills that will make him useful as a professional.
Strengths: One of the reasons for Basabe's decline has been the increase in Iowa's talent under head coach Fran McCaffery. With players like Aaron White, Adam Woodbury, and Gabriel Olaseni in tow, there hasn't been as much need for Basabe. That hasn't stopped him from being great at grabbing rebounds, though. With 5.7 boards per game in 17.8 minutes per game last season, Basabe had the potential to be a double-digit rebounder if he was a full-time player. His long arms and athleticism allowed Basabe to lead Iowa in defensive rebounding percentage in 2014, and he was 65th in the nation in that category.
On offense, Basabe carved out a nice role for himself as a senior with 7.2 points per game. He was third on Iowa in two-point field goal attempts behind White and Roy Devyn Marble, but his lack of a three-point game in an age when forwards are being relied on to shoot is going to affect his draft stock.
Weaknesses: At 6'7" and 220 pounds, Basabe is a power forward playing in a small forward's body. He may be athletic and an elite rebounder, but shot blocking and field goal shooting are two areas that Basabe needs to improve in order to have an impact as a pro. He blocked just under one shot per game in his senior year, which is not a bad rate considering his minutes. Unfortunately, though, Basabe's height will limit his rebounding and shot blocking when he plays in a league with bigger players. And as noted above, a player of his mold will be asked not only to defend and rebound in the pro ranks, but to shoot from distance as well. A long-range field goal is something that Basabe hasn't shown he possesses yet.
Overall: Basabe showed some NBA potential as a younger player, but he's failed to build on his breakout freshman season. While his athleticism and rebounding ability may be good enough for the NBA, his size and shooting leave a lot to be desired. Right now, Basabe is stuck in the "tweener" zone. He doesn't shoot well enough to be a small forward or stretch four, but he doesn't have the size to be a traditional power forward or center. He can still forge out a professional career somewhere with the possibility of coming stateside if and when he develops a long-range shot.


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Home » The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs (Hardcover)
The High Cost of Good Intentions: A History of U.S. Federal Entitlement Programs (Hardcover)
By John F. Cogan
Federal entitlement programs are strewn throughout the pages of U.S. history, springing from the noble purpose of assisting people who are destitute through no fault of their own. Yet as federal entitlement programs have grown, so too have their inefficiency and their cost. Neither tax revenues nor revenues generated by the national economy have been able to keep pace with their rising growth, bringing the national debt to a record peacetime level.
The High Cost of Good Intentions is the first comprehensive history of these federal entitlement programs. Combining economics, history, political science, and law, John F. Cogan reveals how the creation of entitlements brings forth a steady march of liberalizing forces that cause entitlement programs to expand. This process--as visible in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as in the present day--is repeated until benefits are extended to nearly all who could be considered eligible, and in turn establishes a new base for future expansions. His work provides a unifying explanation for the evolutionary path that nearly all federal entitlement programs have followed over the past two hundred years, tracing both their shared past and the financial risks they pose for future generations.
United States - General
Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare
Public Policy - Social Security
Paperback (March 12th, 2019): $25.00
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Glossary Quick Links
Glossary Master Index
Discipline Quick Links
Disciplines Master Index
The Information Technology (IT) Learning Framework
(A Tutorial for Learning About IT and IT Operations)
Introduction to the IT Operations Learning Framework
The Purpose of This Learning Framework
Note on the Avoidance of Ambiguous Terms Such as "Development" and "Manufacturing"
What is Information Technology (IT)?
The Canonical Model for IT: The Three Primary Functions All IT Organizations Perform
What is IT Operations?
The Language of IT: Start With Understanding IT Terminology
IT Operations is Comprised of Many IT Disciplines
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) as a Global Framework for Delivery of IT Solutions
Environments Are Used to Perform Work On or With Systems, Throughout Each Phase of the SDLC
The SDLC Functions That Are Performed In Each Environment
The IT Deployment Functions That Are Critical for Delivery in any SDLC
The Different Project Types or Categories That Drive How IT Delivers Solutions
Understanding the Differences Between Projects and Releases
Understanding the Differences Between Software, Applications, and Systems
If you're attempting to learn about or understand different areas of Information Technology or even Information Technology as a whole, whether you're a novice or an expert, this is the place to start. The IF4IT constantly develops and evolves content that falls into various areas of Information Technology. If you're a beginner, use this IT Learning Framework to understand how things fit together in IT Operations and in what order the Foundation believes it makes sense to learn about such topics. If you're more experienced with IT, you may find it more useful to simply jump directly to an area of interest, via links in the Table of Contents, and go from there.
NOTE: The content within this document will continue to evolve, over time. Therefore, the IF4IT recommends you check back regularly, to keep up with changes.
One of the biggest problems in the Information Technology (IT) industry is that most people who get promoted into IT management have no real educational foundation that taught them what things mean (i.e. a common language with standard definitions) and how all things in IT fit together and operate. If you think about it, most people in IT were educated to be "technical" with backgrounds in very specific sub-areas of IT, such as programming with specific programming languages or engineering for things like physical infrastructure. Most technical and business schools do not focus on how IT as an industry, organization or set of technologies all fits together and operates, which is a critical gap for most IT people. Realistically, most IT managers start technical, gain more responsibilities over time, and move away from their technical foundations and more toward the logistical operations and management of IT as an organization, as their careers mature. Interestingly, you would think that after all these decades of IT evolution that there would be a source of knowledge for learning about and understanding what IT means and how it all fits together and operates. The IF4IT found this to be a major industry gap and decided to step in to fill it. One of the results is this learning framework, which exists to help IT stakeholders, whether they're new to the industry or highly experienced, learn about different areas of IT Operations (i.e. how IT operates and why).
Before we go any further, the IF4IT would like to highlight what we believe to be a very important point. The IF4IT chooses to explicitly avoid terms like "Development" (as in Software Development) and "Manufacturing". We believe our reasons for doing so are simple and rational. We believe these terms are too vague and ambiguous and we, therefore, feel they cause confusion when addressing different audiences and stakeholders.
For example, in a small organization, Software Development means doing anything and everything associated with thinking of, planning for, designing, building, packaging, distributing, installing, instantiating, executing, testing and supporting software. Anyone who's ever worked in small, complex software company can tell you that the above example is true. However, when you get into a larger company, segregation of duties or responsibilities will occur, for many reasons, such as economies of scale and perceived security improvements. As a result, distinct organizations will be created to handle isolated activities, such as Project Management Organizations, Architecture & Design Organizations, Coding Organizations, Testing Organizations and Support Organizations. Anyone who's ever worked in large enterprise can tell you this is true, too. Therefore, what does "Software Development" really mean to people in a larger enterprise?
As you can see from the two examples above, the term "Development" represents a much larger concept than just "coding" and building applications as part of a smaller business application development team. It's the same when you think of what "Manufacturing" means to a small company, as opposed to what it means for a large company. It is for these reasons, therefore, that the IF4IT chooses to avoid such vague terms like "Development" and "Manufacturing". While we acknowledge that they exist and we understand we need to deal with them and address them to some level, we also feel they're highly ambiguous and, as a result, cause confusion and act as barricades to learning, when addressing different audiences, such as in the case as Small Company Resources vs. Large Company Resources.
The definition of Information Technology, or what is commonly referred to as "IT", is broken into four parts or contexts and is as follows:
The technology used for the study, understanding, planning, design, construction, testing, distribution, support and operations of software, computers and computer related systems that exist for the purpose of Data, Information and Knowledge processing.
The industry that has evolved to include the study, science, and solution sets for all aspects of Data, Information and Knowledge management and/or processing.
The Organization in an enterprise or business that is held responsible and accountable for the technology used for planning, design, construction, testing, distribution, support and operations of software, computers and computer related systems that exist for the purpose of Data, Information and Knowledge management and/or processing.
The professional discipline area that is associated with any and all aspects of Information Technologies, Information Technology Organizations, or Information Technology as an Industry, which can be taught by educators, practiced by professionals, or studied by students.
The four contexts are, therefore:
Information Technology the "thing," as in a technology like a computer, software, transmitter, or receiver.
Information Technology the "industry," as in the vast group of enterprises and people that plan for, create, deliver, sell, and support technologies... the things.
Information Technology the "organization," as in the specific group of people with a specific enterprise that plan for, create, deliver, operate and support the things within that enterprise or for a specific set of clients. For example, most large companies or government agencies have their own dedicated IT organizations.
Information Technology the "discipline" or "practice," as in the specific area of study that can be taught, learned, and applied. For example, you can study and get a degree or certification in IT, allowing you to teach or practice IT as a teacher or practitioner, respectively.
Some commonly used synonyms for "Information Technology" include but are not limited to:
Management of Information Systems
Systems Technology
Systems Technology Management
Technology Systems Management
All IT organizations, regardless of the vertical market their enterprise serves, perform three common functions for their customers. These three functions can be summarized as:
"Think"
"Deliver"
"Operate"
Figure: The Canonical Model for Information Technology (IT)
Depending on the enterprise you work for or with, these functions might be represented using different synonyms, such as "Plan, Build, Run" or "Strategize, Deliver, Support." There are many permutations of synonyms to represent these functions, however, we always find that there are rarely, if ever, more than three. These functions can also be represented using different pictures, such as a tiered triangle, with Think at the top, Deliver at the center and Operate at the bottom. The Foundation tends to use the three chevron model because it aligns cleanly with other key IT frameworks, such as the Systems Deliver Life Cycle (SDLC), which will be discussed later.
Thinking represents all activities associated with problem solving, at any level of the enterprise, and includes functions such as Strategy Setting, Research, Planning, Requirements Analysis and Design.
Delivering represents all activities associated with the actual procurement, construction, deployment and verification of solutions, post Thinking and pre-Operating.
Operating represents all activities associated with the execution, maintenance and support of all solutions that are in the process of being delivered or have been delivered. NOTE: A common mistake that many IT leaders make is to focus only on "Operations" as a form of Production Operations or Production Support, and not giving enough attention to the Operations of other pre-Production environments.
Because these three functions represent a common and repeatable pattern across all IT organizations, we refer to the set of these functions as "The Canonical Model for Information Technology" (or "The Canonical Model for IT") and will refer to the model, often, throughout much of the Foundation's published content. If you're a novice, the Foundation suggests familiarizing yourself with this model. If you're a more experienced IT professional, you'll probably only have to focus on memorizing the three phase names, if they're different than what you're already familiar with.
IT Operations represents a summary of all three functions in the Canonical Model for IT and represents all things we do to run an IT Organization, both, for ourselves and for our clients.
Any and all functions performed by IT leadership or IT staff, regardless of its scope, purpose or complexity, all falls into the bucket of IT Operations. This tutorial will attempt to break out and document as many IT Operations functions, as possible, as it progresses.
The International Foundation for Information Technology (IF4IT) exists to help people learn about and understand all aspects of IT Operations.
One of the largest and most disturbing problems with the global IT industry is that most IT leaders and staff invent (and re-invent) their own terminology and definitions for describing all the different things they, both, for themselves and for their clients. The truth is that as of the year 2010, you can take ten different IT leaders from ten different enterprises and put them in a room, asking them to define common IT terms and concepts. Sadly, the probability is that all ten will give you different answers.
Clearly, common language becomes the primary obstacle to standardization, throughout the entire industry. Therefore, the IF4IT believes that to start learning about and understanding Information Technology you must start with the language, itself. It's for this reason that we point you to the IF4IT Glossary of IT Terms and Phrases. And, if you're starting with terms, the IF4IT believes there is no better or more important term to start with than the very definition of Information Technology.
The IF4IT Glossary is, definitively, the largest, most comprehensive and most consistent glossary in the world, dwarfing all other IT Glossaries, combined. It is constantly maintained and it evolves to grow and improve, over time. We recommend you use it and check back for updates, regularly.
Given that, both, terminology and language are critical, the IF4IT acknowledges that it's difficult to sit down to read, memorize, and understand all terminology in a glossary that consists of hundreds of thousands of terms. Therefore, we try to make learning such terminology easier by grouping it by the relevant areas of IT Operations that they're associated with. This helps put the terminology in context, making it easier to learn and understand. The "groupings" that we use, at the highest level, revolve around concepts known as "discipline areas" or "enterprise capabilities." As a result, the Foundation has created the IF4IT Master Inventory of IT Disciplines in order to help document, quantify, clarify and categorize the many things that IT Organizations and Staff do (i.e. IT Operations). And, while a linear inventory can be very useful in many situations, the IF4IT Enterprise Capability Model helps order and group many of these disciplines or capabilities, even further.
By acknowledging and understanding this inventory of disciplines, we can see that IT performs many functions for, both, itself and for its non-IT stakeholders, such as Internal Business Counterparts, Partners, Vendors, External Customers, etc. If you feel the list is overwhelming, remember that if IT was easy, there would be no need for IT professionals, like you.
The Foundation acknowledges that the inventory of disciplines is very large and can be difficult to digest, due to its size. It becomes difficult for a novice to understand where to start. However, experienced IT resources understand and acknowledge that to ignore this large list of disciplines is to ultimately diminish an IT Organization's value to the very business that funds it. So, if the list of disciplines is too large to work with, in its raw form, it becomes obvious that we need a better mechanism or set of frameworks that will help make it easier to categorize, compartmentalize and understand all of it. The first of these frameworks, and the most important in the eyes of the Foundation, is the Systems Delivery Life Cycle (SDLC) Framework...
The Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC) as a Global Framework for Delivery of IT Solutions
Given a language (i.e. Terms) and an inventory of the many things we do (i.e. IT Disciplines), and an IT Life Cycle that breaks things up into time associated, high-level functions, we can now merge all of these concepts together to simplify the learning and understanding process. We do this by using what the industry calls a "Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)."
Synonyms for "Systems Development Life Cycle" include but are not limited to:
"Software Delivery Life Cycle (Lifecycle)"
"Software Development Life Cycle (Lifecycle)"
"Solutions Delivery Life Cycle (Lifecycle)"
"Solutions Development Life Cycle (Lifecycle)"
"Systems Delivery Life Cycle (Lifecycle)"
Note: Often, the words "Life Cycle" are combined into the compound word "Lifecycle." The Foundation recognizes and acknowledges both to be correct.
The SDLC is one of the most critical aspects of any IT organization as it represents the backbone for the delivery of all IT Assets, whether they be Software or Systems (i.e. a combination of Hardware and Software).
The phases of an SDLC usually look similar to the following:
Phase I: Strategy
Phase II: Research
Phase III: Planning
Phase IV: Requirements
Phase V: Design
Phase VI: Procurement and Coding (or Procurement & Construction)
Phase VII: Common Build
Phase VIII: Integration Testing
Phase IX: User Acceptance Testing
Phase X: Production
Figure: The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
It should be obvious and no surprise to anyone that the IT SDLC phases match those of globally accepted best practices for the manufacturing of any product that is delivered to market. The case can easily be made that the phases used in the manufacturing of software, for example, are really no different than those phases used to deliver a car, a house, an airplane, or even a mobile device.
Phase I - Strategy: This phase represents the work that is performed to ensure that the System Release is fully aligned to all master strategy and intent. It also represents a time period for which System Strategy Owners will work with appropriate stakeholders to develop a high-level strategy or roadmap of work that outlines the details of a specific System Release, with the intent that all work will move forward, throughout the SDLC.
Phase II - Research: This phase represents a time period where work is performed to detail opportunities and solutions options that will be presented and ratified, with the intent to decide the value of moving forward and, if the decision to move forward is agreed upon, a direction for how such solutions options will move forward. The goal is to get to a high-level Solutions Architecture and a Solutions Plan that everyone agrees to, before expensive and time-consuming work is started.
Phase III - Planning This phase represents a time period for Release Planning, which includes activities such as detailing what will actually go into the Systems Release (i.e. new features, break-fixes, etc.), creating initial project plans (this includes plans that are complete with accountable working organizations and people, as well as with high-level timeframes for the work. Since the SDLC pipeline of phases is a repeatable pattern, most mature enterprises will have project templates that can be used to facilitate the functions within these phases), and improving budget estimates (e.g. +/-25% estimates).
Phase IV - Requirements: This phase represents a time period of work that revolves around detailed requirements gathering and analysis for the purpose of clearly specifying what needs to be accounted for in downstream design and implementation activities. The more detailed the requirements, the higher the probability that design will align to intended Systems Release Strategy and with end user expectations for the Release.
Phase V - Design: This phase represents a time period for where detailed design is performed, according to Release Plans and Release Requirements. In addition to designing the operational solutions associated with functional and non-functional requirements, the Design Phase also includes designing Unit, Module, Integration, Performance User Acceptance, and Production Signoff Tests that will be used to verify the quality of all work performed in all downstream phases and environments.
Phase VI - Procurement & Coding (Code or Coding): This phase represents a period of time during which the detailed design of a System Release is realized and optimized, with the intent that it will be handed off for a centralized and repeatable build that can be used for distribution/deployment, quality assurance and signoff in downstream phases and environments.
Phase VII - Centralized Build (Build): This phase represents a time period during which a delegated person or group of people (often referred to as the "Build Master(s)") will focus on creating a fully centralized, repeatable and automated build (automated to the best of his/her/their ability) that will be used for distribution/deployment, quality assurance and sign-off in downstream phases and environments. NOTE: It is during this phase that procurement occurs for any vendor specific products and services that are needed to realize the detailed design.
Phase VIII - Integration Testing (Integ): This phase, which is also referred to as "Systems Integration Testing" or "SIT," represents a time period during where all data and technology connections are tested for a specific System moving through the SDLC and all of its upstream System dependencies (i.e. Systems that provide data to the System being tested) and all of its downstream System targets (i.e. all downstream Systems that the System being tested provides data to). The goal is to verify all appropriate data connections and data exchanges between Systems that will need to interact in the final Production operating environment.
Phase IX - User Acceptance Testing (UAT): This phase exists to allow for explicit testing of System functions that End Users will be able to execute while operating in the final Production environment. Such testing ensures that what an End User does or sees meets appropriate quality expectations.
Phase X - Production (Prod): This phase exists to control all deployment and sign-off of System delivery to the final Production operating environment. No System delivery can be considered to be "complete" until it has been verified and ratified for operation, before final hand-off to the End Users.
Given this delivery model, we can see that it maintains alignment with the Canonical Model for IT:
Figure: Alignment of the SDLC (2nd Row) to the Canonical Model for IT (1st Row)
Note: This section is meant to be nothing more than a short introduction to Operating Environments. Far more information can be found in the Foundation's "IT Environment Framework."
As Systems evolve within and throughout the different phases of the SDLC, they get constructed, verified, and promoted from one working location to another. These locations are what the industry calls "Environments. These Environments are typically virtual locations, in nature, and are not necessarily physical locations, although they can be physically separated as well."
While many environments can exist for various reasons, there are six (6) that are part of the core SDLC. These six environments are:"
Research Environment (RESEARCH or RES) (also known as Isolated Research Environment)
Developer Work Space Environment (WS)
Centralized Build Environment (BUILD) (some people will refer to this environment "DEV")
Integration Testing Environment (INTEG)
User Acceptance Testing Environment (UAT)
Production Environment (PROD)
Figure: Standard SDLC Environments
As can be seen in the following figure, each of these basic Operating Environments directly aligns with its corresponding phase in the SDLC:
Figure: Alignment of the standard SDLC environments (2nd Row) to their corresponding SDLC Phases (1st Row)
Alternate Environments: In addition to the standard SDLC aligned environments, listed above, enterprises will create alternate environments to address their own needs or those needs that may be outside of the SDLC, itself. There are many alternate Environments. A few examples include but are not limited to:
Performance Testing Environment
Disaster Recovery Environment
Training Environment
What Environments enterprises standardize on are really a matter of the needs of each individual enterprise. However, as most experienced IT Professionals will tell you, the type of enterprises rarely, if ever, need to be that different from one enterprise to another. Most people will voice their belief that they are different. However, when you take the time to dissect their processes and their needs, you'll find that their fundamental needs are really not too different, at all.
Best Practice Note: It is considered a best practice and a sign of maturity when an enterprise does, in fact, standardize its Operating Environments, the process through and around them, the offerings within them, the shared services that enable and support them, and their explicit integration into the enterprise's documented, published, socialized and governed SDLC. A mature experienced IT Professional understands the highly detrimental and negative impacts of manual operations and, therefore, aggressively works to eliminate manual labor or operations within all environments, wherever possible, through the automation of processes that help deliver things to and through Operating Environments. Another sign of maturity comes with understanding the concept of installing "Shared IT Services" that operate within and across appropriate environments. This concept of Shared IT Services will be explored later.
Again, this section is meant to be nothing more than a short introduction to Operating Environments. We recommend that you read and analyze the Foundation's "IT Environment Framework for a greater understanding of Environments, their purposes, how they're provisioned, and how they work."
Once an enterprise has standardized on the environments its Systems will pass through, as they move through the SDLC, it becomes clear that the functions performed on or for any given System, in any environment, follow a repeatable pattern.
Accept From Previous Environment
Build & Package
Execute (and Run Verification Tests)
Sign-Off
Promote to Next Environment (or to Final End Users, if in Production)
As a matter of best practice and as a sign of maturity, enterprises that understand Information Technology (IT) Operations will automate as many of the above functions as possible to eliminate waste and to optimize their costs. We will discuss which areas should be automated and why, further in this document.
Another sign of IT maturity and best practice is to ensure that each of the above functions is accounted for in all project plan templates that are used to control delivery of any System, through the SDLC. Enterprises that deliver solutions through their SDLC, over and over again, use templates to ensure 1) that they don't reinvent the wheel every time they start a new project and 2) to ensure "completeness" of work that needs to be performed, throughout the project. Having all of the above functions listed in your project plan, as clear milestones with clearly defined sub-tasks, in each and every environment, can only help increase the success of delivery for any project.
Every IT Organization deploys its Assets to Operating Environments for the target End Users of such Environments.
Successful enterprises make these IT Deployment Functions highly repeatable, especially through automation, and manage them, rigorously, to ensure high-levels of repeatability, quality and transparency, while simultaneously working to proactively reduce their costs.
The Foundation has documented these functions in it's IT Deployment Framework, which you can use to help you and your enterprise learn about and understand what are considered to be the very foundation for all IT Delivery.
Very simply there are four fundamental project categories or types that drive how IT organizations delivery solutions for themselves and their business counterparts. These four include:
Artifact Only Projects
Infrastructure Only Releases
Software Only Releases
Software Systems Releases
NOTE: Each project "type" can further be broken down into levels of complexity, depending on multiple variables such as size and amount of work associated with them, costs, access to resources, etc.
1. Artifact Only Projects: Artifact Only Projects deliver no hardware or software of any form. The deliverables from such projects are typically "documents." An example of an Artifact Only Project is when a company funds a project to reduce all of its vendor costs. The project team engages vendors, partners, etc. and only delivers things like documentation, which do not need to adhere to formal build, deployment and operations procedures, as would computers and/or software.
2. Infrastructure Only Releases: Infrastructure Only Releases are projects that are intended to build and deploy pieces of physical infrastructure, such as computing servers, networks and/or network components, storage solutions, etc. These types of projects, like Artifact Only projects, are hot subject to the rigor of Software related projects, which have to go through different environmental testing. However, unlike Artifact Only projects, Infrastructure Only Releases are projects that do have "some" rigor that they must follow. For example, infrastructure solutions are often built and tested in isolated environments and then deployed to their target environment for eventual "turn on" and use by appropriate people and systems in those target environments. As part of the build and release of such constructs, Artifacts are also generated and delivered. Examples include but are not limited to: Build Artifacts, Deployment/Distribution Artifacts, Installation Artifacts, Instantiation and Initialization Artifacts, Execution Artifacts, Testing Artifacts, Support Artifacts, etc.
3. Software Only Releases: Software Only Releases are projects that involve the coding, building, deployment, testing and signoff of software, across multiple environments, such as Common Build Environments, Systems Integration Testing Environments, User Acceptance Testing Environments, Production Environments, etc. In the case of a Software Only Release, the infrastructure that the software will leverage (whether it be for build, deployment, test, execution, etc.) is already in place and only the software constructs, themselves, move across environments. This is very common among software vendors who build and sell software as part of their businesses. Unlike Artifact Only and Infrastructure Only projects and releases, Software Only Releases go through more environments for the purpose of more rigorous software functional testing. Like Artifact Only and Infrastructure Only projects and releases, Software Only Releases will deliver many documents, in addition to software. Refer to Infrastructure Only Releases, above, for examples of such artifacts.
4. Software System Releases: Software System Releases are, more often than not, the most complex form of all IT projects. They encompass all of the other project types (Artifacts, Infrastructure and Software), including but not limited to things like data integrations to/from other systems and/or file movement and transformation across and throughout the enterprise.
In short, a Project is a coordination of work to achieve a specific set of outcomes. A "Release" is, in short, a certain type of Project that represents all the work associated with the inception, planning, design, development, testing and deployment of a versioned Product, to its target audience. In other words, a Release is nothing more than a "Product Version" and all its associated artifacts and constructs, bundled together, coordinated, controlled and executed in the form of a master Project that can be composed of many smaller Projects and which exists to specifically deliver technical infrastructure and/or software. Unlike many business-only Projects, with a Release there is an expectation that the delivered infrastructure and/or software must be constructed, deployed, tested and operated, across multiple "environments" before being delivered to its target audience, where the environments and the functions performed within them tie to the IT Systems Development Life Cycle (IT SDLC).
A "Product" represents anything that is created, constructed, delivered and managed to a targeted audience.
A "Product Release" represents a specific version of a "Product," including the bundled features that define and constrain functionality, the work that was performed (or is to be performed), and all of the associated artifacts and constructs that were generated (or will be generated), from inception of the Release, through to its delivery.
"Software" represents the non-executed or non-executing electronic constructs that, when build, distributed, installed, instantiated, initialized and executed, help automate one or more processes that would otherwise have to be executed manually (i.e. by one or more humans).
An "Application" represents a running or executing set of "instances" of one or more pieces of software.
A "System" represents a group or collection of parts, components or entities, even human or pertaining to a human, that are interdependent upon one another and work or act together to achieve a common set of Outcomes. Therefore, a Software System is often representative of one or more Applications and all of their associated constructs, be they computing devices, non-computing devices, artifacts, etc.
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This is a miniature sculpture of Disneyland's Central Plaza by the famed master miniaturist, Robert Olszewski. This item is brand new and in its original box, and has a Certificate of Authenticity. This particular item is also a First Edition, which means that it was made during the first year of production of the piece, and this is indicated on the Certificate of Authenticity. At Disneyland, Central Plaza (which is also known as the Hub) is the area of Disneyland on Main Street which is the circular area which is right across the street from Sleeping Beauty Castle. This piece is an exact miniature replica of Disneyland's Central Plaza. This sculpture has fantastic detail. It features the park benches, trees, flower beds and statues in the Central Plaza area of Disneyland. It also includes once of the centerpieces of Disneyland, the statue of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse's hand, called "Partners". This piece also lights up with the flick of a couple of switches, as you can see from the pictures- the street lights light up, as well as the lights in the trees, for a really nice "Disneyland after dark" treatment.


text:
Britain's most expensive locations for home improvement revealed
The cost of hiring a tradesperson is highest in Berkshire, research from the tradesperson comparison website HaMuch.com reveals.
HaMuch.com looked at the current average cost of hiring a tradesperson for those DIY jobs in the house, looking at the hourly cost of a builder, plumber, heating engineer, electrician, carpenter, painter, gardener, cleaner and car mechanic and how this differs across each area of the UK
Across Britain, the most expensive area is Newbury in Berkshire at £47 per hour. Other costly areas in the county are Reading at £43 and Bracknell Forest at £42.
These areas are well above the national average, which is £31 per hour.
Costs by profession
Of course, the price of tradespeople also varies depending on what they do.
Locksmiths are the most expensive professional by hourly rate, charging £43.
In second place is heating engineers at £41, followed by plumbers at £40.
The cheapest tradespeople are cleaners at £18, with painters costing £24 and gardeners £26.
London isn't the most expensive
In London, the average cost of a tradesperson is £41, higher than average but not the highest, despite the astronomical cost of housing in the city.
It's important to note that many of those who work in the city commute from surrounding areas, while it may be that competition between tradespeople is particularly high in London, driving the price down.
The cheapest areas
The cheapest area is Carmarthenshire in southwest Wales at just £21 per hour – £26 cheaper than in Newbury.
Other lower-priced areas, where tradespeople typically cost £23, are both North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire, Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland, as well as Kingston-upon-Hull in Yorkshire.
Founder and CEO of HaMuch, Tarquin Purdie, commented:
"Hiring tradespeople will always involve a cost but our research shows that it can cost more than twice as much in some areas and this is largely due to factors such as the cost of living, as well as the demand for each profession and the number of tradespeople available to carry out the work.
"Nowadays thanks to the internet it's easier than ever to find affordable and qualified people and while costs will differ depending on the type and scale of the work required, doing your research and comparing a number of quotes is always the recommended way to find the best balance of professionalism and affordability."
Highest average hourly cost by trade
Average Hourly Rate
Highest average hourly cost by city
Location / Area
All Hourly
Basingstoke & Deane
Reigate & Banstead
Lowest average hourly cost by city
Kingston-upon-Hull
Breckland
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