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Letter to PMRA: Response to Proposed Re-evaluation Decision for Imidacloprid
Richard Aucoin
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0K
Thursday, March 23rd, 2017
RE: Response to Proposed Re-evaluation Decision for Imidacloprid
Dear Dr. Aucoin:
The Alberta Wheat Commission (AWC) is pleased to have the opportunity to share the producers' perspective in response to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency's (PMRA) decision to re-evaluate the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid. AWC has developed a reputation for demonstrating leadership and facilitating collaboration and is well-positioned to provide the producers' perspective on policy matters. AWC not only represents the interests of over 14,000 wheat farmers in the province of Alberta, we take advantage of every opportunity to work in partnership with other producer commissions and associations here in Alberta and across the country on issues of common interest including the role that neonicotinoid seed treatments serve as a valuable tool to cereal, pulse and oilseed production across the prairies.
Given the work that AWC has led with respect to sustainability at the provincial level with Team Alberta and the Alberta Farm Sustainability Extension Working Group as well our leadership at the national level with the National Environmental Farm Plan and the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Crops, we will also take this opportunity to highlight how seed treatments have enabled producers to grow crops more sustainably.
Imidacloprid is a valuable management tool used by producers on a wide range of agricultural crops to manage pests such as pea leaf weevils and aphids as well as wireworm in wheat for which imidacloprid is the only effective management tool. Cereal producers typically treat with a fungicide-only seed treatment and utilize insecticide seed treatments only when protection against insect pests is required.
Scientific rigour is becoming increasingly important as Canada's agriculture sector looks for ways to become more efficient and more sustainable through the adoption of new technology and innovative ways to grow more food with fewer inputs. Canada is recognized globally for its leadership in the establishment of a predictable, science-based regulatory environment - one which international investors have come to rely on. Maintaining this standard with respect to evaluation is key to encouraging the type of investment required to keep Canada's agriculture sector competitive in the global market place. Losing access to modern farming tools such as seed treatments including imidacloprid puts Canadian farmers at a competitive disadvantage, especially when you consider that these tools are readily available to farmers in competing jurisdictions, including the United States.
Farmers are price takers and therefore any costs incurred by farmers cannot be passed on to our customers. If farmers continue to lose access to valuable tools such as seed treatments, pest-management will become more complex and costly. This increase in cost, coupled with a certain reduction in yields will have a negative impact on their already narrow margins.
The PMRA's decision with respect to imidacloprid has the potential to set a precedent for the use of similar products and this is very concerning to an industry that has come to rely on PMRA's previous track record for employing a transparent, rigorous, science-based approach to evaluation. It is therefore critical to ensure that PMRA is encouraged to protect the credibility of the process and not allow outside motivations to influence what must be an objective science-based approach.
Imidacloprid is one of the most extensively studied insecticides. As such, it has one of the largest available datasets to characterize the potential impacts on non-target organisms. According to the product registrant, Bayer, the dataset for aquatic invertebrates is comprised of more than 110 studies performed in laboratories and over 31 meso and microcosm studies. Therefore the PMRA's decision to undertake a regulatory phase out of this product after a re-evaluation that relied heavily on laboratory results without adequate in situ evaluation and testing is concerning. AWC, along with a number of our industry partners, are recommending that the PMRA take the time required to evaluate additional watershed data from a variety of Canadian regions, including privately available data, prior to the issuance of the final re-evaluation decision. We also request that these concerns be addressed prior to commencing the re-evaluation process for thiamethoxam and clothianidin.
As previously mentioned, today's producer is on the cutting edge of technology, always adopting new practices that make their farming operations more efficient and in-turn more sustainable. They are proud of their role as stewards, protecting what they have inherited and preserving and improving the land for generations to come. Canada's cropping sector has long been part of the climate change solution. The introduction of conservation tillage has allowed Canadian farmers to significantly increase the amount of CO2 that is effectively removed from the atmosphere and stored or 'sequestered' in the soil. This has resulted in crop productivity increasing at twice the rate of increases in greenhouse gas emissions between 1990 and 2013. In 2000, for the first time in Canada's history, agricultural soil sequestered more carbon than was emitted.
Imidacloprid maintains a favourable environmental profile; it has provided an effective way to manage wireworm in wheat, which prior to its advent could only be controlled through the use of spring and fall tillage, releasing previously sequestered C02 into the atmosphere, or the application of non-selective foliar treatments. According to research conducted by the Government of Alberta, "overall, the new seed treatments are more effective, control a broader range of pests, and are much safer to use for both the applicator and the environment" (2013).
In addition to the positive environmental impacts of modern seed treatments they are safer for farmers to handle and apply, "one key benefit is lower dose and use rates. This decreases the amount of product that needs to be used and reduces environmental exposure to the user" (Government of Alberta, 2013).
In our view, insufficient relevant data has been collected to allow for a science-based decision to be made concerning imidacloprid at this time. Furthermore, AWC is concerned about the precedent that could be set for future reviews and the impact it will have on the sustainable management tools available to Canadian farmers.
AWC is grateful for the opportunity to provide comment as part of the Committee's Review of this important matter and I invite you to contact our Government Relations & Policy Manager, Erin Gowriluk via email at egowriluk@albertawheat.com or telephone at 403.219.7901 should you require any additional information with respect to our submission.
Kevin Auch,
AWC Chairman
12 - = 8


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Career Opportunity- Maximize Your HVAC Skills »
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A Year with Networked Lighting Control
Three examples show how lighting controls can benefit facility managers over the course of a single year.
By Craig DiLouie Lighting
Lighting controls are devices and systems that support visual needs and energy management. Over the past 20 years, the general trend has been toward greater sophistication and abilities. In the last decade, the technology underwent a revolution as extraordinary as the shift from traditional to LED lighting.
Today, lighting controls offer significant value. The ultimate in lighting control is a centralized networked lighting control system, which has been shown to reduce energy consumption by an average 47 percent. In new construction, it can readily justify itself based on energy savings and other benefits. In existing buildings, despite its value, it becomes more challenging due to the size and cost of the usually commensurate LED load being controlled, unless rebates are available.
As a result, the conversation around centralized networked lighting control is changing. While traditionally, lighting controls were touted and accepted as energy-saving solutions, saving energy is only part of the value proposition around today's most advanced solutions. With new capabilities such as color control and data, the value proposition has expanded to include wellbeing, data that can be used to improve operations, and location-based services.
A challenge remains, however, which is translating these capabilities to one's applications. What could be done with greater lighting control in my building? How is the system operated to save energy while deriving other benefits specific to my applications? How could the data be used to benefit my stakeholders?
To answer this question, let's look at three theoretical applications. By making them theoretical, we can fully examine capabilities realized over a given year, while penetrating deep into building operations. This approach may help readers visualize what such a system can do for them, enabling them to derive benefits from advanced lighting control that go far beyond energy.
Networked lighting control
Before we begin, it is useful to define exactly what we mean by centralized networked lighting controls.
Networked lighting controls are intelligent (computing-based) systems in which devices communicate within a network to enact control strategies. On the network, each control point has its own unique address, which can be assigned to control strategies and schedules individually or in groups. This type of solution can be desirable for complex, layered strategy implementation, software-based zoning and rezoning, and simplified wired or wireless connectivity.
Typically, these systems are factory-configured with energy code-compliant sequences of operation and implemented at the room level. The intent is virtually to install and forget, which can be effective. In medium-sized and smaller projects, this decentralized approach is quite common. In larger projects where a skilled operator can operate the software, centralizing the system at the building level can produce significant additional capabilities such as measuring and monitoring, ongoing management and tuning, location-based services, and a path for building systems integration.
An interesting facet of this is data. By centralizing the system, all sensor and energy data is fed to a server or the Cloud for analysis via software. Measuring and monitoring enables highly detailed energy information, automated system response, automated maintenance alerts, and generation of data beyond lighting, such as occupancy that can be used for new value-added services such as space utilization. By adding Bluetooth nodes to luminaires, we also gain the potential for indoor positioning services such as asset tracking.
That's a lot to take in. What does it mean in a building?
Chris owns a commercial building that is occupied by various tenants, some spanning multiple floors, and others that are moving in or out of the building. He needs a robust system that can be flexible enough to add and remove tenants on an as-needed basis, while also monitoring their energy use.
Chris installs a system that uses a network of smart panels throughout his building. These panels communicate with a central control server located on a computer in his office, where software allows him to select each panel and monitor the tenant's energy consumption.
New tenants often move in during the summer months. The lighting control panels are connected using a dynamic network, so new tenants can make use of these panels to install their own lighting and controls and also add new panels if desired. When a tenant moves out, the panels can remain dormant but connected to the system until a new tenant moves in and re-activates them; this way, new tenants can easily connect to the building's network.
The system is also connected to the energy grid, which provides Chris the ability to monitor electricity costs by time of day and reduce energy consumption where possible during peak energy costs. The energy reduction is automatic, but he defines what the system does during peak times.
When the months grow colder, Chris's system monitors traffic at the front door using occupancy sensors. By identifying peak traffic hours, the entrance can be heated adequately so that draftiness is reduced, while also reducing energy waste during low use times when the door remains closed most of the time.
At the end of the year, Chris's system has collected data on all his tenants, and he notices that one of his tenants is using a lot more energy than others. Upon investigation, he learns the tenant has manually overridden the daylight sensors by covering them up with tape so that the lighting stays on at full all day. He subsequently discovers sensor sensitivity wasn't programmed the same as on the rest of the floors and maintains a much lower brightness than it should. A quick reprogramming session results in a happier and more energy-efficient tenant.
Chris's system is well-prepared for future changes. By implementing a networked lighting control system that has panels networked back to a server, he can easily add or remove controls components whenever he wants, thus allowing the system to be upgraded with ease when the time comes. Additionally, if he wants to change his graphical user interface (GUI), he can either make the changes himself or hire a programmer to create a custom GUI to control the new system.
Hotel facilities manager
Jamal is the facilities manager of a famous hotel in a borough of a major metropolitan area. The hotel offers numerous amenities for guests and visitors. He needs to be able to monitor and manage the lighting for various space types and under a variety of conditions.
Jamal updates his existing networked lighting control system, which already has a robust and dynamic network of devices. In the new system, he can monitor and adjust the lighting and shades in all spaces from his tablet, which he carries around with him everywhere he goes in the hotel.
Touchscreens with custom GUIs are also installed to control the restaurant, café, lobby, outdoor pool, and ballrooms from a nearby locked room. With these new touchscreens, hotel staff can set the mood of each space by adjusting the brightness of different lights without worrying that random guests may accidentally change the lighting.
During the summer, Jamal's system uses daylight sensors to minimize energy consumption and to give his guests a comfortable experience. Because of the bright days, he doesn't want guests to be plunged into darkness when they go from outside to inside, so the vestibules and areas closest to the vestibules provide lighting that slowly adjusts people's vision to lower light levels inside the hotel. He walks around the hotel regularly to make sure the system is providing the perfect experience for his guests by using his tablet to adjust lighting and temperature in each space.
Jamal's hotel has more frequent ballroom reservations in the autumn months, but his staff can set up spaces quickly because they now have access to the custom touchscreen GUI that can control all of the ballrooms from one location.
During the winter months, Jamal's control system adapts to take on a warmer but less bright color tone and perceived intensity so that guests and visitors have a cozy experience inside the hotel. While the system automatically makes these adjustments, his tablet can take control of each public space to adjust if needed.
Meanwhile, Jamal wants to ensure that his guests never need to think about the lighting, so he wants to be alerted immediately if any lights underperform or malfunction. The system identifies malfunctioning lights and alerts him. The system also identifies when lighting is reaching its end of life and should be replaced.
Jamal can track which public spaces are used by his guests and how frequently. Using the software, he creates a heatmap and finds one of the ballrooms is used significantly less than the rest of the ballrooms. After investigating why this is, he finds that this ballroom's windows look out into a new high rise construction site nearby. Jamal decides to use the ballroom as temporary storage until the construction is completed.
National company CFO
Daria is chief financial officer for a major car manufacturer with several locations scattered around the country. Her company owns and runs a warehouse to assemble the cars, several office buildings including the headquarters, sales floors, and staff parking lots and garages.
She wants a system that can control different building types and can collect usage data so that she can track building occupancy and energy use. With this data, Daria can evaluate the utilization and efficiency of each building. She has a system designed and installed that connects to the Internet so that she can see and control all lighting at every location. The provided solution features a central server at each building, which connects to a network of devices. Each server and connected space operates independently, but Daria can change the programming from her laptop so that energy efficiency measures can be tuned as needed.
During the summer, the system uses data collected from the daylight sensors and dimmer switches in the warehouse to inform her whether electric lighting is needed during sunny days. She finds that in combination with the skylights in the warehouse, she can dim the lighting to 50 percent of their full brightness while still providing plenty of light for the workers, which cuts down on energy usage.
Employees at Daria's company often work in open office environments that have shared lighting, but she wants to provide them with individual control for the lighting directly over their desks. With the networked lighting control system, employees have remote dimmers that control the light directly over their desk, which becomes valuable during the winter months when there is less daylight.
Since Daria is not able to physically be everywhere at once, she needs a way to monitor how each building is being utilized. Her control system generates robust data showing her which spaces are currently in use and historical data of which spaces are most and least utilized. With this data, she can plan renovations that reduce overhead and expand the more frequented spaces.
At the end of the year, Daria's system has a full calendar year of data to review. Her user interface provides her with an easy way to present this data to the CEO, the board of trustees, and investors. With this data, she can demonstrate how much energy the company has saved and can also project new savings based on future decisions, such as telecommuting for southern states during the summer and for northern states during the winter to reduce energy consumption.
Being connected to the Cloud, Daria's system can work with a variety of manufacturers and any new technology. She can increase her granularity of data by increasing the number of sensors at each building. She can also add new buildings to her system and even duplicate a design from one building to the next.
What can it do for you?
These and many other examples illustrate what a centralized networked lighting control system can do for various types of decision makers in different types of buildings throughout a year. Ideally, they cut through the buzzwords and features to inspire you to readily visualize what it can do for your building, which can be helpful in deciding whether this type of solution is right for you.
Craig DiLouie is education director for the Lighting Controls Association, a council of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association dedicated to educating the public about lighting control technology and application.
posted on 8/20/2021 Article Use Policy
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The BlueTooth adapter is not a self-contained communication system. Connected to the universal interface of your baehr intercom it links via BlueTooth radio technology, wirelessly, to your BlueTooth capable mobile phone¹ or navigation system¹. Once you have paired your mobile and/or navigation system with the BlueTooth adapter and activated the BlueTooth function they will automatically pick up the connection every time you engage the ignition of your bike. Your mobile can just stay in your pocket. With this system music transmission is only possible in telephone quality. ¹An up-to-date listing of tested devices can be found on our website. For more information please refer to the manual of your mobile phone or navigation system.


Joseph Joubert says, 'What is true by lamplight is not always true by sunlight.' Light has the ability to fool our perception by making things look better. Since, the human evolution light is prevailing. It has also undergone several changes along with human evolution. Being in a digital era, where everything is digitised you can either get your favourite lights online Australia or from the Australian lighting store.
Everybody loves to light their homes with the best lighting systems, but sometimes an improper lighting system might be a disaster in your home, giving your home a dull and melancholic ambience. If you are living in a small apartment and worried about the lighting system, don't worry, this bog is for you. This blog gives you a few tips to make your smaller rooms look bigger with the lighting techniques. Let's see in detail below.
Why Is Lighting Important For A Home?
Lighting is the essential element in the home decoration. We all desire to bring more light into our home. Light can create both reality and illusion. Lighting fixtures illuminate your treasured objects like ceiling fans, and highlights your favourite colours, as well as affects your mood, mental health, and performance.
Even a house with lots of windows cannot guarantee proper lighting. But with lighting fixtures, properly arranged, your rooms can shine brightly. You must be conscious of the therapeutic benefits of light and make lighting fixtures a high priority in your home decorations. The three types of lighting general, task and accent must work in harmony.
· Compact Lighting Fixtures for the Ceiling - The multiple sources can distribute the lights in such a way that it illuminates the whole space, leaving no dark corners.
· Compact Lighting Fixtures for the Ceiling – Have slender pendants hanging from the centre of your ceiling. The flush lighting fixtures would be an ideal choice.
· Light Your Shelves and Wardrobes – Use lighting inside your wardrobe to artistically illuminate the shelves.
· Utilise Backlighting To Give the Illusion of Extra Depth – It eliminates darkness behind furniture and gives the sense of extra depth.
· Use Mirrors – Mirrors in combination with light illuminates the room to look bigger.
· Apply Light Colours for Your Walls and Ceiling – Paint light colours as light colours reflect light better.
Thus proper lighting makes any room seem bigger.


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If you have previously purchased goods or services from us we may provide to you details of similar goods or services, or other goods and services, that you may be interested in. Where your consent has been provided in advance we may allow selected third parties to use your data to enable them to provide you with information regarding unrelated goods and services that we believe may interest you. Where such consent has been provided, you can withdraw it at any time.


Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi, whose film "Half Moon" has been highly praised at the San Sebastian Film Festival, has said it is increasingly difficult to work in Iran, where his latest movie has been banned because a woman sings in it. "Half Moon" tells the story of a group of Iranian Kurd musicians en route to a concert in Iraq but includes a taboo subject: women singing. "In my country it is forbidden to listen to a woman's voice," explained the film director. And in the film the musicians are accompanied by a female singer, Hesho, whose voice is heard several times during the film. Virginie Grognou reports.


Whether you are already fit or only starting to get in shape, chances are that you probably have some fitness goals. You may have noticed that the enthusiasm you had when you had first set up your fitness goals started to somewhat taper off as the weeks go on. In addition, you may find yourself losing focus and failing to achieve the milestones you had envisioned for yourself. All sorts of health goals, including eating a more balanced diet, increasing muscle mass, running your first 5K or even half-marathon can be achieved if you choose the right approach to follow through on your plans. If you are stuck in a fitness slump, here are some tips and tricks to get you back on track.
Keeping track of your progress is essential to know if your fitness routine is working for you. In addition, recording your progress helps you stay motivated and brings you closer to your goals, one step at a time. What should you be keeping track of? It is generally a good idea to keep a record of your food habits and your workouts. Taking some notes on what you are eating can be helpful to gain some perspective on your diet, and to see if there is any room for improvement. Keeping track of the exercises you performed can help you stay focused on your fitness goals, and make it easier to remember details such as the weights you used and the number of repetitions you did. You may also find taking progress photos, or "workout selfies," can help you visualize the changes in your body over time. Just remember that according to fitness studies, stepping on a scale won't always give you an accurate idea of your progress. Instead, a useful technique to track your progress is to measure your thighs, hips and biceps — since muscle takes up less space than fat, this is a good way to see how you are advancing in your fitness plans. In addition, keeping a record of your waist-to-hip (WHP) ratio is another method to assess your fitness level, with the ideal ratio being 0.85 or lower.
If you have been working hard at achieving your fitness goals, but are nowhere near your desired results, it is time to get a close look at your diet. Poor eating habits will interfere with your fitness progress, and it is very important to choose the right foods. General diet recommendations for nutritionally-balanced meals include avoiding processed foods, as well as foods high in fat and sugar.
In addition, it is not recommended to eat late at night, rush through your meals and eat at irregular intervals. On the other hand, nutritionists recommend eating a similar number of meals and snacks each day, being careful not to snack out of boredom, and paying attention to the quantity of food you eat. Keeping healthy snacks available within reach at work and at home can help to reduce unhealthy snacking in between meals. Examples of healthy snacks to stock up on include fruit, low-fat dairy products, vegetables, and whole-grain foods.
In order to successfully reach your fitness goals, it is necessary to be realistic about your expectations. Setting up fitness goals that are overly ambitious will likely lead you to disappointment and loss of motivation. According to fitness experts, your goals need to be clear and specific. For instance, specific goals include how much you want to lift, what distance you would like to run, or exactly how much weight you would like to lose. In addition, your fitness goals need to be measurable and attainable — you need to be realistic about whether you can achieve your goal within the time period you give yourself. For instance, if you have not exercised in years, it is not reasonable to expect that you will start running for an hour every day. Setting a timeframe is equally important as setting realistic goals — it helps you organize your time better and to set up milestones to reach along the way.
Keeping in mind the obstacles to your fitness goals is crucial when deciding and planning your fitness goals. We all have important commitments that can't drop, and these include social, professional and personal obligations. It is, therefore, important to plan your workout routine and fitness goals around these commitments, and not the other way around. A recent study reveals that when its participants planned their fitness goals, they based their plans on ideal conditions, and ended up achieving less than they predicted because they didn't factor in other important activities that distracted them from their goals. Experts' advice? Be realistic about your distractors, and plan your fitness goals accordingly. Even if you have limited time to go to the gym, you should still make the effort, since doing a shorter session is better than doing nothing at all.
Hi! We're Team NeuroGum, aficionados of all things brain-related, from creativity to working out. With backgrounds in art, science, and athletics, we love delving into all the potentials of the human body.
We also created the world's first nootropic energy gum, made help you optimize your mind — anywhere, anytime. Find out more here.
Fitness goals don't always go as planned — This is what you do was originally published in Think Tank by NeuroGum on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.


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Q: Created new torrent but client unable to find seeds I tried creating a new torrent, using uTorrent, following the directions from torrentfreak.  I used a bunch of trackers (just in case any individual one was having troubles) and uTorrent shows it as "seeding" with 100% of the file.  It shows: seeds 0(1), peers 0(0).
http://exodus.desync.com/announce
http://eztv.tracker.prq.to/announce
http://open.tracker.thepiratebay.org/announce
http://www.torrent-downloads.to:2710/announce
http://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce
udp://denis.stalker.h3q.com:6969/announce
http://www.sumotracker.com/announce

I've also attempted to remove the torrent and then re-add the torrent, pointing it to my already existing files, forcing uTorrent to recheck the files and then begin seeding.
Yet when I share the .torrent file with my other computer and attempt to download, it is unable to find any peers or seeds.
To confirm that both clients are working, I downloaded a torrent on both computers, using their respective clients, using torrents I found on isohunt.  This tells me that there must be something wrong in how I'm creating my torrents.

A: When you create a torrent, you are the only seed until some peers start downloading your file, once they have a full copy they will be added to the number of seeds available.
Did you open/check the ports forwarded on your router to accommodate your torrent clients?
Your clients should be configured to use a port of your choice in this range= 49160–65534

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You've been harvested: Why travel marketers should be worried about Cambridge Analytica
News / Technology
By Nick Vivion | March 19, 2018
This article was originally published on
This is a new weekly-ish column from the editorial staff that will cover current events from a direct perspective based on our team's expertise in travel, hospitality, and technology.
In case you missed it last week, UK firm Cambridge Analytica was accused of unauthorized scraping 50 million user profiles from Facebook. The furor has rightly been extreme, reaching far beyond the United States into Europe.
Beyond the political bent, the inescapable core truth of this is that one company abused a platform created by another company to harvest private data from people who didn't opt-in to sharing their data. Yes, some of this data was set to public by users who either didn't know how to set their settings private, who didn't want to or potentially weren't even given the ability to opt out by Facebook.
For the travel industry, this global kerfuffle means that the data privacy landscape has shifted far beyond simply "being ready for GDPR." This is a watershed that is likely going to lead to some major lawsuits. Already Facebook's stock is suffering, especially after media outlets reveal step-by-step how Cambridge Analytica managed to scrape this much user data without being stopped.
Everyone needs to take time today to review organizational data collection policies. By the end of this week, you should know exactly what information is captured at each stage of your customer journey. And then you can know where, when and how you are vulnerable -- and if you are doing right by your customers. Here's why.
First off, you must be extremely careful about how and where you are scraping data for users. The easiest test is to consider how you would feel if a company was doing that practice to you or your family. The 'sketch test' is a simple and straightforward way to do the right thing.
Second, when you screw up, say you're sorry. Even after being informed of the violation back in 2016, Facebook still hasn't notified any of the 30 to 50 million users that Cambridge Analytica allegedly received scraped data from. How is this even possible? In what world is it ok that a company knowingly refuses to inform people that their privacy rules -- as defined by the platform itself -- have been violated?
Facebook's tepid response is couched in language that contradicts the actual events. Paul Grewal, deputy general counsel at Facebook, is ignorant of just how tone deaf the company has become to a reality that we all face -- a reality of excessive intrusions into our psyches that manipulate the basest instincts in humanity. He said:
"Protecting people's information is at the heart of everything we do. No systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked."
Share this quote
So if protecting user information is at the heart of Facebook, then Facebook itself has been violated at its core. The heart has been pierced -- and Facebook's response is not strong enough to suggest that the company actually understands how major this violation is. If my heart was pierced, you'd better believe I would be more adamant about pursuing my attacker!
And also -- how in the world can the company claim that no "sensitive pieces of information" were stolen? Wow. Just in case you missed it, here are the qualities that Cambridge Analytica was provided by researcher Aleksander Kogan that told Facebook all data collection was being done for non-commercial research:
[caption id="attachment_167554" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
Email copy received by the New York Times.[/caption]
I may be a sensitive Millennial, but I'm pretty sure the majority will agree that this information is most definitely 'sensitive.' How often do you go around broadcasting your IQ? Or how satisfied you are with life? Or how neurotic you are?
It's not quantitative info like age and gender that's scary -- it's the deep psychographic profiling that this company managed to compile from scraping information that was not theirs to scrape in the first place. They did not own this information, they did not have rights to this information, and what they did definitely violated Facebook's policies -- and might have even been illegal in some jurisdictions.
When social media is under attack, maybe don't take to social media to whine?
One Facebook executive -- none other than the company's chief of security Alex Stamos -- said this in a series of now-deleted tweets: "The recent Cambridge Analytica stories by the NY Times and The Guardian are important and powerful, but it is incorrect to call this a 'breach' under any reasonable definition of the term."
Most users do not care if this is a "reasonable" data breach, as defined by an intruder stealing information. It's a breach of trust, regardless of whether a system was breached in the traditional sense of the word. It's a breach of trust that Facebook will not allow third-party apps unfettered access to profiles that had no chance to opt-in. It's a breach of trust that Facebook chose to allow these bad actors to remain on its platform -- Facebook did nothing to protect its users, and then acts shocked that users are bothered.
Just look at another tweet below from a Facebook exec, showing the shared disease of a tone-deaf tech response that, at it's best, is not winning the company any hearts or minds. At its worst, it's deeply alienating and shockingly out of touch with how "normal" people feel about the global backlash against this unauthorized breach of the platform's privacy protections.
https://twitter.com/boztank/status/975018461997887494
The lesson here is two-fold: first, do the right thing. And then, if that fails, don't be tone deaf if you either thought you were doing the right thing and weren't, or clearly did the wrong thing and are trying to make it right. This is going down as a case study in 'how not to respond to a data crisis.'
Vet your partners
Facebook should have done a better job at understanding how its partners were using its data, and if they were abiding by the network's data collection rules. Facebook did not vet Aleksander Kogan, the researcher who is purported to have provided the vast majority of the unauthorized user data. The company had a program for academics, but it did not back that program with a functional vetting process.
If you are going to bring a partner into your core business -- in this case, Facebook's core business is monetizing its user data -- then you need to vet them clearly, carefully, and consistently. A fundamental misunderstanding of what's important to Facebook -- the integrity of its user data -- has led the company to a massive crisis.
"We wanted as much as we could get," said Cambridge Analytica co-founder Christopher Wylie. "Where it came from, who said we could have it — we weren't really asking."
If you don't vet your partners, you are asking for trouble. Due diligence up front is far more effective in the long term than dealing with the fallout in the future. It might seem annoying, especially if you are a tech company whose motto once was "move fast and break things." But sometimes the only thing that you'll break will be your own business. Protect yourself from bad actors by vetting your vendors rigorously!
And this extends out to any partners that your brand might engage with. Check out Channel 4's investigation into Cambridge Analytica, using a fake client to get the company's CEO to share some ethically dubious strategies with an undercover journalist. Whether it's a potential client or a partnership, due diligence is de rigueur. The more intertwined the world is, the more liability brands open themselves up to with each partner relationship. Be wary, be smart, and do the work upfront to stay in the clear.
Here, let me help: here's a video of Cambridge Analytica's Chief Data Officer at ITB Berlin this year, discussing "the future of personalized advertising." When you hear a company make those claims, it's time to ask: where did you get your data -- and show me the proof that you had permission to use said data!
When in doubt, ask
This applies to both vendors and users. If you don't know where a vendor gets its data, ask. If you don't understand the answer, ask again. If the vendor is unable to provide a clear, easily understandable answer, then look for another vendor. And yes, this could include Facebook. With its new Trip Consideration feature, travel brands must be crystal-clear that there are no data liabilities baked within any data-driven personalization ad product.
You are not innocent just because you don't know where the data comes from! Remember that willful ignorance is not a defense in many cases. And even if you don't run afoul of the government, user trust is a tough thing to regain.
So this means you should also ask your users for permission. Wherever possible, ask your users to opt-in and offer customizable settings for communications, personalization and data sharing. By erring towards the side of caution (or simply caring more about your user than you currently do), you will not only protect yourself but make a better product.
Put the user at the heart of everything you do, and you can't go wrong. Stop being creepy, start being thoughtful, and let's move forward to a world where users don't have to worry about being psychographically profiled down to their own "neuroticism."
If brands don't answer this wake-up call, a user revolt is coming. And that data spigot is going to be regulated so much that the promising future of data-driven personalization will fade away.
The stakes are high -- are you prepared to do what needs to be done?
Opinions and views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of tnooz, its writers, or its partners.
Photo by Bernard Hermant on Unsplash
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And there she is. Mako!
The villainess of the DNA2 manga finally rears her head in a Simgirls story. I've been looking forward to seeing her in the game, even before I added her to my first fanfic. Wonder what kind of evil thoughts are on her mind!


Discussion in 'HOWTO-Related Questions' started by thabangk, Oct 28, 2009.
Is it possible to use this :Virtual Users And Domains With Postfix, Courier, MySQL And SquirrelMail (CentOS 5.3 x86_64) where as i do have a registered domain and I don't want to disturd the current operating mailserver.Please advice i would like to test before this setup and i'm getting problem with hostname.It is not recognized and i'm about to try DDNS so that i can test.Is it really a nice move or anybody help me with the altenative.
Yes, you can use a Dyndns hostname for testing. Just make sure that the MX record points to your server.
for my understanding the DDNS forwaded the mail to my host and the is something that is blocking the connection.So what settings i need to allow the mail to come through the firewall and reach the mail system.I just configured the IPCop but not sure what more do i need.
Someone please help me solve the problem.
I just realised that the mail is queued and for [email protected] was delivered.


Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited has announced it is integrating the company's commercial, marketing and business development teams under the leadership of Ms. Ina Lui, who has been promoted to the new role of Senior Vice President, Commercial, Business Development and Strategy, following the decision of Mr. Barrie Woolston to resign as Chief Commercial Officer.
Ina Lui in her newly expanded role will assume additional responsibilities in commercial and marketing.
Ina possesses over 25 years of experience in the satellite, telecommunications and technology sectors, covering areas in commercial, marketing, product and business development. She has worked in Singapore, South China and Hong Kong, and has held senior management positions at ABS, Intelsat, PanAmSat and Hong Kong Telecom. Prior to joining AsiaSat, Ina was at ABS as Managing Director, Sales Asia Pacific where she was responsible for sales and business initiatives for the region.


text:
You are here: Home / The Pixar Times / Cars 2 / Marvel Comics To Launch Disney Pixar Presents Magazine
Marvel Comics To Launch Disney Pixar Presents Magazine
Prior to BOOM! releasing comics based on Pixar films, the Pixar brand had never really graced comics. The company did an excellent job at adapting the characters to print, releasing many well-written and beautifully drawn comics based on Toy Story, The Incredibles, WALL-E, Cars, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. When Disney announced that they had purchased Marvel, there was speculation as to whether BOOM! would continue releasing Pixar comics, or if Marvel would take over. That was answered today, as Marvel officially announced that they would be releasing a brand new line of magazines called Disney•Pixar Presents. You can stay updated with Tania clay blog.
Beginning with Cars (most likely to tie-in with Cars 2), the magazine line will present a mixture of new material and reprints of older comics originally published by BOOM!. It is great to see that Marvel will be bringing over many of those who worked on the comics for BOOM!, as the creators were doing some nice work.
Comic Book Resources contacted BOOM! seeking a comment on the situation. You can read the publisher's comment on CBR's official website.
Below you will find the full press release, followed by a few more images of the forthcoming magazine:
New York, NY – February 14, 2011—Marvel and Disney Publishing will debut DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS, a new monthly magazine featuring some of the most popular characters from the acclaimed Disney/Pixar films. Intended for readers of all ages and priced at $5.99, the first issue will hit stores in May 2011.
Each issue of the magazine contains 96 full color pages of content, including a mix of brand new stories, classic adventures, puzzles, games and more. Featuring characters from Disney/Pixar's hit movies Cars, Cars 2, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3, and more, DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS will be available at bookstores, retail chains, comic stores and more. The series debuts with DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS: Cars Magazine #1
"We're excited for the launch of DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS, teaming with our friends at Disney/Pixar to bring some exciting new material to fans all over the world and introducing a whole new generation to comics," said Axel Alonso, Marvel Editor-in-Chief. "We're committed to providing a great product and ensuring these books are available in locations that parents and kids frequent. The Disney/Pixar library includes some of the most popular characters of all time, making DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS exactly the kind of comic magazine that kids and parents have been demanding!"
Rev up those engines and join your favorite characters from CARS in DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS: Cars Magazine #1 as Lightning McQueen organizes a charity race for young cars with special needs, but he didn't invite Piston Cup champion Chick Hicks. The snub gets Hick's competitive juices flowing, and he's out to show McQueen a thing or two about racing! Will Hicks ruin the good nature of the Radiator Springs Rally Race? Find out this May everywhere books and comics are sold.
DISNEY•PIXAR PRESENTS: CARS MAGAZINE #1
Written by ALAN J. PORTER & MARK COOPER
Penciled by ALLEN GLADFELTER, MAGIC EYE STUDIOS & TRAVIS HILL
Rated All Ages…$5.99
ON-SALE IN MAY
To find a comic shop near you, call 1-888-comicbook or visit www.comicshoplocator.com
Source: Marvel.com
Filed Under: Cars 2, Comics, Press Release, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3 Tagged With: Pixar Comics, pixar marvel


text:
Dave Mirra practice in June 2005, about a year before what he described as his worst crash ever. (AP)
Matt Higgins
The Last Days of Dave Mirra
In the wake of the X Games star's suicide, friends contemplate the role of repeated head injuries and the psychological toll of retiring from BMX
[Editors' Note: If you are having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK).]
When news broke that Dave Mirra, the most dominant and decorated BMX star in X Games history, had committed suicide at age 41 in his hometown of Greenville, North Carolina, on February 4, his friends thought it was an Internet hoax. A few even texted Mirra to let him in on the joke.
"That's the last guy you would think, because he's stronger than you," says Ben Bostrom, a retired motorcycle racer who was Mirra's triathlon training partner.
Mirra's strength and determination were renowned. Driven and intense, he had won 24 X Games medals in two decades of competition, all but one of them in BMX. (He also won a bronze medal in rallycross in 2008.) But he was humorous and sensitive, a devoted family man to his wife, Lauren, and daughters, Madison, 9, and Mackenzie, 8. Friends say it seemed like he had a lot going for him.
"We've got a good collage of misfit individuals in our community," says BMX icon Mat Hoffman, 43. "He was the one who had it the most together out of all of us."
Recently, the 41-year-old had surprised friends by telling them he was planning a comeback to the sport: he was building a new vert ramp for training; he presented the Number One Rider Award (NORA Cup) at a September BMX awards ceremony in Las Vegas; and he was making arrangements to attend a reunion of older and retired riders in California in March. "Everyone was getting real excited," says Hoffman.
In the nearly two weeks since his death, some have speculated that head trauma—Mirra, like many BMX riders, took multiple spills over his career—may be to blame for his death. Indeed, those who suffer from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain condition currently plaguing football and other sports that involve significant head trauma, often suffer from depression and exhibit impulsive behavior. NFL Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau, who in 2012 shot himself in the chest at age 43, had CTE; Greenville Mayor Allen Thomas, who was friends with Mirra, suggested that he might have had it as well. (UPDATE: In late May, Mirra's widow, Lauren, announced that a study of her late husband's brain concluded that he had CTE. The study was coordinated by Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati, a neuropathologist at the University of Toronto, and the Canadian Concussion Centre. The diagnosis was confirmed by neuropathologists in the U.S. and abroad, according to a release by a Mirra family spokesperson.)
But in more than a half-dozen interviews with friends, colleagues, competitors, and authorities, it became clear Mirra had lost direction, whatever else he may have been suffering from. When he ended his BMX career in 2010, at age 35, he refocused his passion and commitment first on rally car racing, then on a budding interest in triathlons. But several setbacks last year caused his commitment to waver. Famous for his energy and work ethic, Mirra complained of fatigue and confessed that he was feeling down. Alarmed, some friends talked and said they needed to keep an eye on him.
Born in 1974 in Chittenango, New York, near Syracuse, Mirra stormed the BMX scene in 1987 when he was 13. (Even at that young age, he was already sponsored by Haro Bikes.) After dominating riders in his age group with a repertoire of the most advanced tricks, performed with uncanny consistency, he turned pro at 17.
"He had a young cocky persona, but it was done with humor," recalls Dennis McCoy, 49, who was an established pro when Mirra first arrived on the scene.
At the time, Mat Hoffman was the dominant competitive rider. When he first saw Mirra, he realized that reign was over. "I was like, 'I better start getting used to getting second,'" he says. "A lot of us specialize in different disciplines in the sport, but Dave could do all of it. He could do big, burly tricks, then lay down the most beautiful finesse on the ground."
Mirra's career nearly ended just as it was taking off, though. In 1993, when he was 19, he was hit by a drunk driver after leaving a club in Syracuse, fracturing his skull, dislocating his shoulder, and leaving him with a blood clot on his brain. He spent six months off his bike while recovering. In 1995 Mirra had his spleen removed following a slam at an event in Dallas. The injuries didn't stall his ascent in the sport, though. When ESPN debuted the X Games (then known as the Extreme Games), in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1995, Mirra capitalized on the increased visibility and commercial opportunities for what had been a fringe sport.
"He was exactly what we were looking for in terms of a marketing message about the X Games," says Chris Stiepock, who spent nearly 20 years working on the X Games for ESPN, and now works at NBC Sports. "He was clean-cut. He was well-spoken. He was obviously very athletic, and he took it seriously."
With the retirement of skateboarder Tony Hawk in 1999, Mirra emerged as the face of the X Games franchise. In 2000, he became the first BMX rider to land a double backflip in competition, and was soon featured in ads for Burger King and sponsored by Slim Jim and DC Shoe Co., which designed a signature line of shoes for Mirra. His name even graced a video game franchise by Acclaim Entertainment.
Mirra once held the record for most X Games medals by any athlete with 24, including 14 golds (which was broken by skateboarder Bob Bunrquist in 2013). He won the Park and Vert competitions from 1997 to 1999. "Because he was so great, he was his worst critic," Hoffman says. "Everybody else is praising how amazing he is, and in his mind he's like that could be better and I'm going to make it better, and he did."
He earned at least one BMX medal every year from 1995 until 2009, except for 2006. That was the year, while practicing on the Park course at the X Games in Los Angeles, Mirra fell 16 feet from a ramp onto his head, in what he described as his worst crash ever. He spent months recovering after a trip to the ICU. Although he returned to competition and won three more medals, his era of dominance was over. Mirra would never win gold again. In 2010, he missed the X Games while recovering from bacterial meningitis, which his wife, Lauren, said had nearly killed him. (Without a spleen, he was more susceptible to infection.)
He had also begun showing psychological effects from all of his injuries.
"There's this term called pop-out-itis, whenever you're going fast at a ramp and your brain switches where you can't do this, and you jump out to the deck. He did that a couple times, and was like, 'Man I'm getting this pop-out-itis,'" says Hoffman.
In a 2013 interview for X Games.com, Mirra explained his mindset leading to retirement. "For me, it came down to risk versus reward," he explained. "My mental stance on it was that I always loved to progress, first and foremost. It was never going to be that fun for me to go on riding on a plateau level and not keep progressing, but by the same token, I got to a point where I really couldn't take getting injured anymore in the name of progression."
Rather than show up and fail to place, Mirra simply walked away from his bike. "I don't really miss it," he said in the interview.
BMX fans were upset about the abrupt retirement. T.J. Lavin, a BMX medalist who retired in 2010, remembers talking to Mirra about being the object of public ridicule. "People would talk shit about us [on social media and online] and it would hurt our feelings," Lavin says. "He was very, very, very sensitive, almost to a fault. He would say, 'Oh, Lavin, I don't give a shit.'" But when pressed, Mirra would admit that the criticism stung.
There comes a reckoning for every athlete when his skills diminish and his competitive career begins to wane. Faced with life-altering, disorienting decisions, he's dogged by questions about himself: Who am I now? And where do I go from here?
"It is a big comedown," says Lavin, whose career ended after he crashed while competing in a 2010 BMX dirt jumping event, sustained bleeding on his brain, and was placed in a medically-induced coma. "You see it with everybody, from baseball to football players and everybody else. They're not in the pinnacle of their career anymore. It's a hard pill to swallow."
Retirement didn't sit well with Mirra either, who friends say felt adrift without someplace to channel his inner drive. "He was the most fierce competitor I've ever known," says Katie Moses Swope, Mirra's publicist. As his BMX career wound down, Mirra tried to direct his substantial energies into another X Games sport: rally car racing. At first, he was successful. He won a bronze medal in the event at the 2008 X Games, and joined the Subaru racing team. But he struggled to continue that success. In 2013, he was bounced from Subaru, and joined the Mini team, where he posted fast qualifying times, but was dogged by wrecks and false starts.
"It was never going to be that fun for me to go on riding on a plateau level and not keep progressing, but by the same token, I got to a point where I really couldn't take getting injured anymore in the name of progression." (Corey Rich/Aurora Photos)
Then, in 2012, Mirra watched a friend from Syracuse, Eric Hinman, compete in an Ironman in Lake Placid, New York. He recognized something that was both familiar (he had, after all, made a career riding a bike) and presented a new challenge. Mirra hired a coach and devoted himself to triathlon training in 2012.
"I saw his training, his intense dedication, and decided I needed something to fill a void," Mirra told Triathlon Magazine Canada about Hinman's example. In March 2013 he competed at the 70.3-mile Bay Shore Triathlon, in Long Beach, California, placing fourth. "When I called my wife from the finish line I was almost in tears I felt so good," he told SI.com.
Mirra told XGames.com that he liked the heart and hard work required to get a good result. "I've never been a runner," he said. "I've never been a swimmer and I never spent much time on a road bike, but I'm willing to put the work in and I've got some big personal goals for next year."
He competed in the Raleigh Ironman 70.3 but was bogged down with the swim and run. He struggled to finish races in 2013 and switched coaches to improve his swimming. In September of that year, he qualified for the 2014 70.3 World Championship in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec. He finished in 4:36, good for 79th out of more than 300 in his age group.
As he trained, he began talking to Ben Bostrom, a pro motorcycle rider who he had met on the 2014 Race Across America, a 3,000-mile road bike race from the Pacific coast to the Atlantic. When one of Bostrom's teammates got sick in the race and Bostrom had to log more miles, Mirra offered to ride with Bostrom, even though Mirra had just completed his own ride. Their friendship was cemented in the grind of long days on the bike. The two made a pact to qualify for the 2015 Ironman World Championship, in Kona, Hawaii.
"I definitely didn't have his work ethic," says Bostrom. When other riders turned their bikes over to mechanics while they ate dinner and rested, Mirra would set to work on his own bike. "I've never seen anybody put so much into it."
Mirra switched coaches again in preparation for a full Ironman's longer distances (140.6 miles instead of the 70.3-mile half-Ironmans). "This is what scares me about the full distance," Mirra told Triathlon Canada. "I just change as a person. It's like a first relationship in high school, where not a second goes by in the day when you're not thinking about the person."
Ironman officials had previously offered Mirra a "media" qualifying exemption for the world championship. The same offer had been made to Olympic champion speed skater Apolo Ohno and retired Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward, but Mirra turned it down. He wanted to earn his way.
Because both Bostrom and Mirra were 41, and every event has a limit on the number of qualifying slots for Kona in each age group, they registered for separate competitions last year to avoid being in direct competition for a slot. Bostrom competed in Ironman Canada in Whistler, British Columbia, while Mirra signed up for Ironman Lake Placid, both held July 26.
Bostrom battled the conditions—becoming nearly hypothermic. While he crossed the finish line, he did not qualify. Meanwhile, Mirra struggled on the run, finishing in 11 hours, 54 seconds, good for 24th in his age group but not good enough for Kona. After the race, the tone of his Instagram posts was overwhelmingly positive and triumphant. Yet Bostrom heard something else when they caught up by phone. "I could hear the letdown in his voice," he says, "trying to figure out why he failed. He analyzed it. He broke it down."
Bostrum said they could train together and try again in 2016. He said they would be stronger. At first, Mirra seemed to agree. In the coming days, however, he changed his mind—he wanted to attempt to earn a world championship slot at Ironman Mont-Tremblant on August 16, less than three weeks after the Lake Placid race. Rest and recovery from an Ironman is measured in months, not weeks. The psychological and physiological toll is depleting. Mirra disregarded that and went at another competition full bore. He completed the 2.4-mile swim in a personal best—one hour, seven minutes—but his legs simply stopped turning during the bike ride, and he did not finish. "Mirra went back for another go in just two weeks," Bostrom says, "which the body can't do."
On September 17, Mirra was in Las Vegas—where both Bostrom and Lavin live—to attend the Number One Rider Award (NORA Cup) ceremony, an annual gathering of the tribe held by Ride BMX magazine. "No one had seen him in a while because he had been in his other worlds," Hoffman says. "Everybody was so ecstatic that Dave was there. It was more like a Dave reunion than an awards show."
Mirra stayed at Lavin's house that week, and the two of them planned to join Bostrom to do some time trials. (Lavin is a triathlon competitor as well.) But the intense training never materialized: they rode bikes only once, and swam once in Bostrom's pool. "It wasn't the guy I was used to hearing push me," says Bostrom. "Instead I was pushing him to try to train."
One night Mirra replied by text. I'm sorry, Bostrom recalls him saying. I don't mean to let you down. I just feel really low. I guess it's just midlife crisis. The next day he sent another text saying he needed to get home to his girls. "He left just like that," says Bostrom.
Lavin had his own cause for concern. A teetotaler, he had observed Mirra drinking more than usual that week. One night he sat Mirra down at a Starbucks at 4:30 a.m. "I was like, 'Dave, you've developed some bad habits and it's not a good look'," Lavin recalls. "I wanted him to focus on being a great dad and a good person."
The day Mirra left Las Vegas, Lavin phoned Bostrom. "We've got to watch that guy," he said. "He's pretty down."
Both men periodically called to check up on Mirra. "I'm just tired, man," he told Bostrom on one such phone call. "My body is just tired."
On the afternoon of Thursday, February 4, Mirra was at home in Greenville visiting a friend across town. "They were making plans to go out again," Greenville Police Chief Mark Holtzman would explain one day later. Around 4 p.m., Mirra left his friend's house, climbed into the cab of his truck, which was parked in the driveway, and shot himself with a handgun. He left no suicide note, but Holtzman said a police investigation concluded that "he had been struggling in some areas like [depression]."
After Mirra's suicide, Bostrom got a call from Jimmie Johnson, the six-time Sprint Cup series champion, and another fitness fanatic. "Have you looked into head injury?" he asked. Bostrom hadn't, though he had sustained a major blow in a motorcycle crash at Daytona International Speedway. Johnson explained that a football player friend of his had gone just like Mirra. "You guys should look out for each other," he said.
To Lavin, CTE sounded plausible. "There's no other explanation for why a guy with everything would do something like that," he said.
Others were skeptical. Hoffman, who estimates he's had at least 100 concussions, was among them. "It's so easy to go, 'OK, that's what's wrong,'" he says about CTE. "I don't think it's so simple."
Many are baffled that a man with so much to look forward to—his wife and daughters, a return to BMX—would give that up. Yet some friends wonder if his failure to reach new goals in new sports may have contributed to that moment. They knew that Mirra's success was due to an abiding drive to achieve more. At 41 years old, though, his days of performing at the highest level were dwindling. Hoffman was even wary about Mirra's return to BMX, though he says the two never discussed it. Hoffman didn't want to add to any pressure Mirra had already put on himself.
"The greatest athletes and artists are their worst critics," Hoffman says. "The trick is being your worst critic while not driving yourself crazy."
Filed To: Athletes / Biking / Racing / Sports / Stress Management / Outside Features
Lead Photo: AP
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Can anybody give me any informaition about the MBA in ISM Paris. I have not heard much about the institue. I got an interview call. So wanted to know if its worth giving a try for.
I have never heard about this school, but it depends on what you are looking for.
But be careful with this school, is it accredited? In the rankings not to be found.
I am currently a PhD candidate with ISM Paris and I have found it to be an excellent program. The school is accedited with the smaller Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) and the European Council for Business Education (ECBE).
ISM is in the process of becoming accredited with the more prestigious Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) but that will take many years as several baseline requirements still need to be met.
Overall the school is actually pretty good, with professors (mostly PhD and DBA) coming from the US and Europe. The facilities are small and a bit cramped for the number of students attending seminars, but the staff is very responsive. Bottom line, the school is well accredited by recognized organizations in the US and Europe and the cost is very competitive. So far, this has been a great experience and I do recommend ISM for anyone interested in an MBA, DBA or PhD.
I have a friend who is doing their Executive MBA degree and he seems to like it so far. He thinks its flexible and allows a huge international exposure to places, students, and professors... so maybe worth checking out. Best of luck.
OK, so the program DOES have some accreditations, that is already something, even if it not the accred. we usually look for. You should check on the website if it is a real accreditation and not a mere membership with the Accreditation organizations, the latter being often presented as if they were full accreditations but not at all.
Anyways, as this school is not know internationally you should only consider it in case your funds are limited and your results are not good enough to achieve scholarship or similar. If the professors are good you can maybe get something out of the degree in terms of know how, and achieve the MBA as title, but nothing more.
Best is to visit the school personally if you can!
So you're reply got me curious and I looked into it...apparently it is accredited with the second largest association in the United States (http://www.ism.edu/About-ISM/ISM-Overview-Accreditation.html). I hadn't heard of the school until my friend enrolled, but apparently it better know in Europe and some parts of the US like New York. Which makes sense because they have their campus in those locations. My friend says the professors are good. I'm not sure about the students, but it's at least cool that they hold classes in several different world class locations. Well, good luck with the decision.
That's cool, MBA in Paris. If there's a chance too, I would go for it. Good luck to you!
Don't know about the MBA program, but I know they have a pretty solid Ph.D program in business. I think it is most known for the doctorate programs.
As a recent graduate of the MBA program at ISM I can tell you that the value of small, seminar based courses, with professors from top MBA programs in the US such as Yale and Thunderbird and a culturally diverse student body is unmatched. I sat in many top tier US MBA classes (UCLA and Pepperdine) prior to applying to ISM and was very disappointed. The research based, seminar structure of the program is ISMs greatest asset and employers are looking for much more then brand name MBAs these days. Employers are intrigued and impressed with both the practicality of the program as well as the mystique of an American MBA program in both Paris and NYC.
Did anyone see that ISM does not seem to hold any school accreditation? The programs are accredited, but that doesn't hold much value, since the school needs to be accredited first before any programs area accredited. I'm wondering because they offer PT programs, which is good for me, but I can't take a chance on a school that is playing with accreditation. Also, membership is not the same as accreditation, so that means nothing to me. It would be great for me to study in Paris, but they don't have any official French recognition. They only have the authority to operate as a school, but that seems to mean that their degrees are not validated by the French government, right? I mean if it was, the degrees they offer should be validated by the French government; if not, I don't see where this school is recognized anywhere in the world. Weird, cuz I like what I see...but accreditation is too important to ignore.
ISM does not have meaningful international accreditation, and the comments on this page from several years ago from people with less than a handful of comments on the board cannot be taken too seriously. See Why international accreditation matters http://www.find-mba.com/board/41224 The faculty members' profile, far from generally being from FT-ranked schools like Yale or ASU/Thunderbird as stated above, say they are largely from ISM (eg http://www.ism.edu/paris-faculty-directory/dr-barak-ben-avinoam.html) and http://www.ism.edu/paris-faculty-directory/dr-desmond-cooney.html, other unaccredited schools or school not worth mentioning on their profiles (http://www.ism.edu/paris-faculty-directory/dr-tobias-de-coning.html). Those from accredited schools are generally lower-ranked or unranked schools (eg Southampton http://www.southampton.ac.uk/business-school/about/staff/tye1u12.page# and ENPC http://www.ism.edu/paris-faculty-directory/dr-mark-esposito.html).
But, of course, even if all the faculty were flown in from triple-crown schools, the reality is that without meaningful accreditation the school will not develop an ecosystem of strong students, alumni, donors and recruiters.
There are many problems at this school; some of the problems are concerning management, its a new school, un-established, business-oriented; several deans have changed in a short period, and there's a high transition amongst professors; student quality and research program are severely lacking. There are a couple of former students with lawsuits against the school and as one commentator mentioned accreditation is questionable. I'd save the money and look for a more credible program, most especially for the Phd doctoral level.


As any successful personal injury attorney, you always look out for your client's best interest.
So, when a client asks you for an advance on their case, you hesitate before referring them to a lawsuit funding company. You've probably been warned before about lawsuit loan sharks and their predatory tendencies.
We don't blame you if you familiarize with the above scenario. In fact, we understand and even encourage all personal injury attorneys to practice the same caution. The reason why is simple: the lawsuit funding industry is still in its early stages and is barely regulated.
In certain states, even 'barely regulated' is too generous of a term. States like California, Nevada, Florida, Texas, New York and New Jersey lack any type of oversight to regulate pre-settlement funding. This murky regulatory environment has resulted in an exploitation of plaintiffs at the hands of litigation financiers.
As an attorney, there are many ways to prevent your client from getting taken by a shady lawsuit funding company. Below are 11 facts every attorney should know before co-signing a funding contract with their client.
1. The "funding company" your client reached out to might be a broker-in-disguise.
There's nothing wrong with lawsuit funding brokers, but there is when a broker is falsely presenting him/herself as a direct funder.
2. Broker fees are almost always passed along to the plaintiff.
Why would a broker not present themselves as they are? Because they are going to make 10-20% in commission on whatever amount your client will get funded. It is common for a funder to pass along the origination fee onto your client.
3. It is not uncommon for fees to go beyond 3.5% per month compounded MONTHLY until your clients' case is settled.
At 3.5% per month compounded monthly, if the your client's case takes 12 months to settle, expect to pay over 70% including fees. If the case lasts 24 months from the time the funding agreement was signed, your client will owe almost 150% worth of interest.
4. Many companies charge application fees north of $400.
Many funders do not expect the payment upfront, so they deduct the application fee from the purchase price. As a result, your client will also pay interest on the application fee.
5. Huge application fees are not reduced for smaller advances.
Some companies knowingly give out $1,000 advances with $400 in application fees. Even before one day of interest has accrued, your client is already in the hole for 40%. Ouch!
6. The second funder (almost) always buys out the first one.
If your client got an advance from "Funding Company A" and applies a few months later with "Funding Company B", company "B" will always buy out the remaining interest of the first funder. This is known in the industry as "paying off" the initial funder.
7. If your client applies for lawsuit funding from a second source, there's a chance their initial advance will get refinanced with a higher rate.
When the second lawsuit funding company buys out the advance given by the initial funder, the second company now owns the whole lien. The rate they assign, whether higher or lower, will now be the rate your client has to pay until the case is settled.
8. Every funding company has a different fee structure.
The two most popular fee structures are: a fixed payout amount every six month period or a compounded monthly interest. Both can be excessive or fair, so it all depends on the percentage rate for either fee structure.
9. Aggressive funding companies tend to over-fund cases to maximize profits.
Don't allow a funding company to over-fund your client's case. Over-funding could result in your client receiving next to nothing once the case is settled. Plaintiffs should only take what they need to get through their lawsuit. Typically, your client's advance should not exceed 10% of the most conservative value of the case.
10. Regulatory conditions are always changing.
It's important to keep up with the regulatory environment of lawsuit funding in your state. Always make sure the terms in the funding agreement abide by the current regulatory guidelines.
11. Some companies don't disclose a payoff table in their agreements.
Always make sure your client knows how much they will owe 6,12, 18, and 24 months away from when the funding agreement is signed. A professional lawsuit funding company will always provide a clear payoff table in the agreement.


Before getting into the process of insulation and heat transfer system set up in your home, firstly, you need to be aware of two crucial points.
In all the three methods of heat transfer, warmer items always mislay heat to cooler objects, as explained by renowned master electrician Hamilton. Now here is some science and practical applications.
Communal insulation categories work to decrease the amount of heat transfer by duping air. These embrace fiberglass, foam, and cellulose padding. Their main technique of dropping heat transfer is via stopping convection.
The hands-on side works like this. As you warm-up your home in the winter season, you are continually losing heat to the cooler outside air.
Your thermostat signs a drop in temperature and your heat transfer system functions to keep up with the heat loss.
As you cool your home in the summer, the outdoor heat constantly transfers to inside your home.
Your thermostat turns on the air conditioner whenever the heat transfer or heat gain in this case has surpassed your desired indoor temperature.
Collective insulation types as already mentioned above work by decelerating the transfer of heat equally inside as well as outside of your house.
These heat alterations also generate air activities that work exclusive inside your house walls and at roof space to further accelerate heat transfer. If you look at the construction of these insulation types, you will notice they are designed to trap or stop the flow of air.
These insulation types aren't quite effective in lowering the copy of radiant heating however.
Essentially, just like widely held of home building materials, they acquire a higher rate of radiant high temperature transmission.
Since tanned heat is typically the major function of heat copy in properties, this demands something that addresses this temperature altercation.
Do checkout this post to get through how heat transfer systems works and what you need to take care of.
Reflective insulation or glowing barriers use tiers of aluminum, newspaper, or vinyl to snare air, lowering convective heat copy.
The aluminum part though is incredibly effective in reducing radiant heat copy. The metalized foil materials found in reflective insulation will certainly decrease up to 97%.


text:
Quadrophenia Replica Lambretta sells for over $200,000!
Posted on Thursday ,28 November, 2013 by admin
On Saturday 23 November Sotheby's in New York held a charity auction in aid of RED, a charity founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to engage business and people in the fight against AIDS.
Designers Jony Ive (design boss at Apple) and Marc Newson collaborated with musician Bono to organise the charity auction and one of the 44 lots was a replica of the Lambretta ridden by Jimmy in the film Quadrophenia. To add to this,
it was also signed by Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey from The Who. Because of these, and no doubt because the replica looks pretty damn good, auctioneer Sotheby's put an estimate on the Lambretta of U$30,000 — 50,000. They were probably considering too that back in December 2008, Bonhams' auction house sold the 'original' Lambretta used in the 1979 film, complete with the logbook for the KRU 251F number plate (the F was covered over for the film as it was set in 1964 and this was a 1967 scooter). How much of the bike was original and how much fitted at a later date as the scooter was privately owned and used as such, is of course unknown… Anyway the Bonhams' estimate for the scooter was between £20,000 and £25,000 but it eventually went for £36,000 include buyer's premium and other stuff you have to pay after an auction.
A recently built replica of Jimmy's Lambretta from the film Quadrophenia.
Anyway, back to New York and the replica Lambretta sold for a whopping U$ 209,000 (hammer price with buyer's premium), which for those of us in Blighty is almost £128,000 and surely some kind of record amount paid for a classic scooter?
I doubt the replica will be ridden much anyway, as the kind of person who spends that sort of cash doesn't ride their toys, and probably doesn't know that he could get a bespoke replica built to his own exact specification for a fraction of the price, probably pay Leslie Ash an appearance fee to pose for photos on the pillion and still have enough left over to buy her an ice cream afterwards!
The U$209,000 replica of Jimmy's Lambretta from the film Quadrophenia.
This entry was posted in 1960s, Lambretta, Music, scooter and tagged 1967, 5:15, bonhams, hollywood, Innocenti, James michael Cooper, Jimmy, lambretta, Lambretta Li, Lslie Ash, marketing, Pete Townshend, Quadrophenia, record amount, Roger Daltrey, scooter rally, sotheby's, Sting, The Who, Vespa, world record by admin. Bookmark the permalink.
2 thoughts on "Quadrophenia Replica Lambretta sells for over $200,000!"
Crocodile Jock on Thursday ,28 November, 2013 at 6:03 pm said:
Probably have enough left over to buy Leslie Ash a 99. Always had a soft spot for Toyah (or Monkey as she was known) in that film, although our Leslie was an absolute cracker… before the botox anyway.
admin on Thursday ,28 November, 2013 at 11:34 pm said:
Ha ha, yes indeed!


text:
The correspondence and public papers of John Jay - 1
CONFERENCE WITH FLORIDA BLANCA.    319
although he was First Secretary of State, he must
first confer with them on this subject; and from his
own personal inclinations to second the King's intentions and to serve America, he was desirous of concerting with Mr. Jay measures in such a manner as
would prevent him from meeting with opposition
from his colleagues, and therefore he spoke to him
not as a minister, but as an individual.
In order to facilitate this, he said it was necessary
to make some overtures for a contract, in case Mr.
Jay was not absolutely empowered to make one ; and
then he pointed out the object most essential to the
interests of Spain at the present conjuncture. He
said that for their marine they wanted light frigates,
cutters, or swift sailing-vessels of that size. That for
ships-of-the-line, they could procure them themselves ;
that if America could furnish them with the former,
they might be sent to their ports in Biscay, loaded
with tobacco or other produce, and, discharging their
cargoes, be left at the disposition of Spain. He also
mentioned timber for vessels, but said that was an
article not so immediately necessary, though it might
be an object of consequence in future. He observed
that he mentioned this at present in order that Mr.
Jay might turn his thoughts on that subject as soon
as possible, and that he would, in order to explain
himself with more precision, send him, either on
Saturday or Sunday next, notes containing his ideas
on this subject, and adding that he hoped that
the one, viz., Jay, would assist the other, meaning
himself, to  manage  matters  in such  a way as to
Title The correspondence and public papers of John Jay - 1
Creator Jay, John
Transcript CONFERENCE WITH FLORIDA BLANCA. 319 although he was First Secretary of State, he must first confer with them on this subject; and from his own personal inclinations to second the King's intentions and to serve America, he was desirous of concerting with Mr. Jay measures in such a manner as would prevent him from meeting with opposition from his colleagues, and therefore he spoke to him not as a minister, but as an individual. In order to facilitate this, he said it was necessary to make some overtures for a contract, in case Mr. Jay was not absolutely empowered to make one ; and then he pointed out the object most essential to the interests of Spain at the present conjuncture. He said that for their marine they wanted light frigates, cutters, or swift sailing-vessels of that size. That for ships-of-the-line, they could procure them themselves ; that if America could furnish them with the former, they might be sent to their ports in Biscay, loaded with tobacco or other produce, and, discharging their cargoes, be left at the disposition of Spain. He also mentioned timber for vessels, but said that was an article not so immediately necessary, though it might be an object of consequence in future. He observed that he mentioned this at present in order that Mr. Jay might turn his thoughts on that subject as soon as possible, and that he would, in order to explain himself with more precision, send him, either on Saturday or Sunday next, notes containing his ideas on this subject, and adding that he hoped that the one, viz., Jay, would assist the other, meaning himself, to manage matters in such a way as to


The First Voyage 40 posted on 19th Jun 2014, 7:00 AM.
More good news that's bad for updates: my wife and I just adopted a baby! If you're interested, the full story (with pictures) is here.
It's going to take me some time to adjust to being a stay-at-home dad, but rest assured I remain committed to this comic and updates will resume...probably this fall.
I like how you drew the stars. You know, the first panel's incredible, but I like the stars.
Thanks! The stars are probably the one thing doing what I want them to stylistically.