text:
Filtering the noise: An Andrew Sayer interview
By Jens Heig | 05.16.17 06.09.17
To be completely honest, "Filtering the noise" is a more politically correct title than what Andrew Sayer actually does, and that's filtering bullshit.
I discovered Board Rap when Snowboard Mag was tagged in an Instagram post regarding an interview I did with Travis Rice following the release of The Fourth Phase. The website, with its crude but effective design, soon became the first URL on the magical "b, down, enter" technique and where I now go to feel the pulse of what was happening amongst my comrades in skate and surf. Then came the inevitable fact. I needed to figure out who ran this site.
Turns out it was easy, just a quick email and soon I was on the line with Andrew "Swayzar" Sayer. He grew up snowboarding in Whistler and enjoyed a career for several years before, enticed by waves and surf culture, he relocated to Southern California. He was one decision away from attending the fateful Eagles of Death Metal concert in Paris that was the site of a terrorist attack. He swears by the surf in Morocco. And he has some pretty pointed opinions about the current state of board content on the internet.
That's why Board Rap exists. While Andrew has featured Snowboard Mag stories on the site, I cannot stress how refreshing it is for a new, independent voice in in boardsports culture.
boardrap.com
@boardrap
When did you start Board Rap?
I had the idea for quite a while. I put it all together and designed it myself, and I don't really know what I'm doing so it took a little bit longer than I thought. So it has probably been up in running in its current state for about a year. About a year before that I was kind of plugging it with content and seeing what worked and what didn't, making a couple of changes from the original idea.
What gave you the idea? Why did you think that you needed to make Board Rap?
I've been snowboarding for a really long time and was a big magazine nerd. Even before I started snowboarding, I remember having some of the very first Transworlds. I would read them and still be too small to be able to snowboard; my parents had me on skis. There was something about the magazines that I just loved. And then I went through my snowboard career I also did a lot of writing and working with magazines, a lot of freelance stuff, then started my own surf magazine. Just seeing how the whole media landscape evolved with everything going online, advertising dollars not being spent there and more on social media and blah blah blah… You know the whole story. It seemed like [we] needed a place that got away from the advertiser's reach. There is probably more good stuff out there than ever, but there is also a lot that has been watered down, a lot was advertorial. A lot of it is stuff that websites have to put up there to make advertisers happy.
So I wanted somewhere that people could go and instead of going to twenty or thirty different websites, just to go there every day and that would be enough to give them a feeling of what's happening out there in the world that ties in surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding and how they relate to one another. There are a lot of good websites that do their own culture very well and then there are a lot of websites that just mix in action sports as a whole, which I think is pretty lame. If you just group those three things together: the history, the lifestyle, and the culture, it all plays off each other.
You have certain sites that you feature on a regular basis. Is there a certain criteria for the stories?
"Surfers aren't the wack contest guys anymore. We just need to teach them how to name their tricks properly."
There is no exact criteria because it is all curated by me. I look for stories that are a little bit bigger than just another edit. Every website just puts up the latest edit, and that's not taking away from that but I like things that tell more of a story, have a little more history to them, even things that touch on pop culture. A lot of people think that's kind of cheesy, and it usually is. I guess it tells a story of where we are in the culture. When The New York Times writes about snowboarding, what are they saying? Who are they getting to write it? Are they doing it properly? Then you can even build your own story out of a really cool Instagram photo. If you're a younger kid and go to Board Rap, I think you can get a good picture of not just the latest stuff, it has a bit of everything in it from back in the day as well.
What does the following look like?
I don't know exactly because I'm not good at tracking all that stuff and it's pretty young still. But I do know that it's very industry heavy. I know that most of the main editors and a lot of brand managers are on it. One guy who hit me up is a marketing manager, and he found out that his company had just been bought by a conglomerate through Board Rap.
No way.
And he had no idea. Then another guy, who was a video game developer, found out that one of the riders that they had been working on for this video game had just gotten cut, slash created his own brand. And his whole team found out through Board Rap.
One funny story. I put up an article and about ten minutes later I got a text from Dane Reynolds. I kind of know him, but not really, didn't even know that he knew I did the website. I don't know how he got my cell phone number. But I guess I leaked the news of his brand [FORMER] a little bit early. So it was a frantic text being like, "Sayer! Can you please take that down? No one is supposed to know yet." Like, oh man, fuck. Anything for Dane. So I guess he obviously goes to it. That's kind of cool to know that you can put something up and a few minutes later have Dane Reynolds give you a text message.
Yeah it really shows authenticity if a bunch of people like that are continually going to it and pay attention, following on social and everything like that. What has been the response?
It has been really good, I live in Venice, and grew up in the snowboard industry and surf industry, so through the industry friends at least they're all really stoked on it. It's a lot easier to go through that and get something that's a little bit more insider than just rolling around to a million sites every day, or having to create your own feed. I don't think it has really reached the vast majority of younger kids yet. I think [with] the younger kids coming up, it's not so much like, "I'm a skateboarder, surfing's wack, snowboarding's wack, hockey's wack." I think a lot of kids now are growing up where they go for a surf, they go for a skate, and then they play basketball, and they do whatever. It's not quite as cut and dry. So I think it all kind of works together well.
I would agree.
Even if you look at the skaters now. Dylan [Rieder] surfed, Austyn [Gillette] surfs. A lot of the guys. There's not so much of a stigma. Look at what FORMER is doing. Surfers aren't the wack contest guys anymore. We just need to teach them how to name their tricks properly. That's another goal right there.
There is a lot of backlash right now about the World Surf League [WSL]. What are your thoughts on that?
"I think anytime you have a big discussion like that—when some people love it and some people hate it—that's when really cool things happen on both ends."
I think the WSL is great as a talking point. It's awesome that people get riled about about it. That's another thing in general, I think anytime you have a big discussion like that—when some people love it and some people hate it—that's when really cool things happen on both ends. For instance, the Olympics. I'm all for the Olympics because I don't think that's going to take away from the complete other spectrum. Just because [surfing and skateboarding] are getting into the Olympics doesn't mean that Baker or whoever, the core street brand, is going to disappear. If anything, more people get into the sport and say, "I don't want to do contests, I want to be a dirtbag and just film in the streets with my friends." I think if anything, that part of it will be helped out as well as bringing more money into the culture in general. Same thing with the WSL. Yeah, there are definitely things that can be fixed but I can't imagine surfing without the tour. It would be strange.
Do kids think that same way about snowboarding? Seeing the contests on NBC, with the Olympics coming up, and that they don't need to do double corks or whatever. Do you think that can exist in snowboarding as well?
I don't know. I don't actually watch too many contests in snowboarding. The one-off events are a lot harder to get behind—they all have different concepts. Even if there is a TTR [World Snowboard Tour] world champion or whatever, I don't think a lot of people know what that means. Until everything is a little bit more regulated, I think it will be hard for snowboarding to be anything beyond like a one-off big air contest, which I think is pretty boring to watch. I don't get too much out of it. I think freeride could really catch on in the next few years. A full tour with the best riders. With the freeride thing, as long as there's jumps, you can make everybody happy with style vs. tricks. It's just really hard to get the production down and get it into a viewable format.
You have the overarching goal of sharing content that contributes to the overall culture and lifestyle of skate, surf, and snow, but is there a long term goal with Board Rap? Or are you just trying to see what happens and just go from there?
It's more of an experiment to see what happens. I would love to be able to grow a massive amount of traffic. Going back to the original goals, one of them was never to be one of those websites that is trying to steal everyone else's traffic. The original goal is to only have a link that shot straight to the original source. Unfortunately, it's just really hard to build a website like that. I also found that it was nice to give some personal opinions on everything before shooting it out. But yeah, the goal is to bring traffic to the people that I think are doing a really good job, like Snowboard Mag or whatever.
You mentioned Dane, have there been any other stories that have come out of running the site day to day?
Another funny one, but maybe not funny because it made me feel like a dick… Because I try to make [the writing] a little interesting, so some of it is off the cuff. So I wrote a story about one of those anti-shark technology bands, which, in my mind, I just think they're bullshit. Selling $400 leashes just to give people a false sense of mind that they're not going to get attacked by a shark… Until there is total proof, I'm sticking with that story.
"If we just lose all the magazines and core websites, then what culture are we promoting?"
So anyway, I wrote a story about Tom Carroll getting involved with one of the Australian shark band things, and just wrote a bad taste joke about how he might be back on drugs because he needs to take money from a fake company that is selling snake oil. Again, within thirty minutes I had an email from the owner of the company. An hour after that, I had an email from Tom Carroll. I felt terrible. I meant no disrespect whatsoever, he's an absolute legend. Huge respect for his whole story, coming clean, getting straight and telling everybody, that's totally not what I was trying to do. Next thing I know, I'm writing an eight-paragraph apology to Tom Carroll and giving him my phone number if he wants to talk about it. That was another one, learning to watch my words when it comes to things like that.
But it shows that there is influence, people are paying attention. If you can write something like that and immediately have responses, I think that's a pretty big deal.
It is cool to see that. But there are certain things like past drug abuse, and a couple other touchy subjects. Most things are free game in this world, I think. Most snowboard and surf media is pretty tame on athletes compared to the rest of the world. I think it's fine to start some… not beef, but sometimes people have to be called out.
Criticism is fair. Is there anything else you want to add?
Everybody out there, keep buying magazines, as well as supporting the websites. Anytime something print-related comes up I love showcasing that. As companies grow their own social media followers—and just working in magazines myself and trying to sell ads—it's like, "ok, this company has two million followers, we're a little magazine, we have fifty thousand followers and a small readership." Then the brand's like, "Why would we want to spend money if the reach is like 200 times yours?" But it can't really come down to that, because if we just lose all the magazines and core websites, then what culture are we promoting? Then the whole thing starts to disintegrate. Keep supporting magazines and the culture. That's the main thing.
Also, some people think that everything was always better back in the day, where I'm a big believer that everything is better right now. Even if there are certain things that you don't like, if the right people are in the industry still I think it's all going to come down and regulate itself. Frontside threes and backside 180s are the best things ever, that doesn't mean I want someone to win a big air contest doing a frontside three. You still want to see the progression, and eventually the progression will have amazing style as well.
Stay up to date in surf, skate, and snow at boardrap.com
Off Course: A Jake Blauvelt Interview
For Jake Blauvelt, being on the right track and feeling connected to the mountains requires first going, "Off Course."
Off Course: A Jake Welch Interview
For Welch, Off Course was a reminder of why he started snowboarding in the first place:
Soundboard: Kerry King and Slayer are Repentless
We sat down with the King of thrash metal to talk everything from politics, to legacies and board sports.
Keeping it creepy: A Dave Banks Interview
Seattle based illustrator Dave Banks talks feline AIDS, pranks, and what it's like designing snowboards for a living.
March: A Jesse Grandkoski and Travis Parker interview
Sleeping with rabbits, farting, roadkill, and Airblaster.


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Q: What is the sure way of presenting a view controller after app is opened in iOS? I would like to present a view controller (for Local Authentication like Touch ID/Passcode) each time the app is opened.
What is the sure way of achieving this?
My current approach is that I get the reference of tab bar controller and use that to present this view controller for Passcode/Touch ID.
But, it doesn't work when an alert controller (alert or action sheet) is displayed.
Any suggestions on how to achieve this?
Thank you!

A: Follow below steps:
1) Take one empty viewController into your storyboard or xib.
2) Assign it as initalViewController. It will comes up as soon as splash screen will gone.
3) You can do Passcode/Touch ID stuff what you want to do.
4) After that you can go with your normal application flow.
Hope it will help you :)

A: Use LAContext with LAPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBiometrics.
You can refer link to implement passcode feature.
http://www.appcoda.com/touch-id-api-ios8/

A: One approach could be to present this LocalAuthentication Controller to the UIApplication.shared.keyWindow.rootViewController from the AppDelegate didFinishLaunchingWithOptions, So when the app launches you'll always see the lock screen, after the use provided either a Touch Id or good creds, you'll clear and present tabBarController onto the window

A: Set storyboard reference id for the TouchId/Authentication view controller in the storyboard.
Initialise the authentication view controller and present it when app come to foreground (applicationDidBecomeActive(_:))
func applicationDidBecomeActive(_ application: UIApplication) {
    let storyboard = UIStoryboard(name: "storyboardname", bundle: nil)
    let authenticationVC =  storyboard(withIdentifier: "authenticationvc reference id")
    UIApplication.shared.keyWindow?.rootViewController?.present(authenticationVC, animated: true, completion: nil)
//After successful authentication dismiss the view and go with normal flow.
}

A: Just make the authentication screen the initial view controller, then have it segue to your main landing page after authentication is complete.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Have you taken any time this January to reflect back on 2018 and notice how things have grown or changed?
Maybe, like us, you are charging forward with new goals and resolutions for 2019. Maybe, also like us, you are looking back and celebrating the big milestones and accomplishments that took place as you gather strength for the new excitements and new challenges.
That's exactly what we're doing today for Blyth-Templeton Academy as a whole. How did our personalized, experiential education environment grow and change in 2018? Here are four major milestones we passed in the last twelve months.
BTA Voted One of Top Three High Schools in DC!
In April of this year, Blyth-Templeton Academy DC learned that readers of the Washington City Paper had voted BTA as one of the three best high schools in DC as part of their annual Best of DC picks. Other top schools included DC International and Woodrow Wilson High School. We are proud as can be of this honor and incredibly grateful to the many families, students, school counselors, and neighbors on Capitol Hill and throughout the Washington region who have voiced their enthusiastic support for our model and our DC school.
This was one of the most significant developments that took place in 2018 for our school community. Nashville is a city of both tradition and innovation as a leader in the music, healthcare, hospitality, and tech industries. While the city is growing rapidly and moving toward innovation, education options in the Nashville area have remained fairly stagnant.
Blyth-Templeton's mission "to transform the lives of its students by providing highly individualized, dynamic, and experiential education in small classes with dedicated and skilled educators" offers parents an accessible private education alternative that reflects their values.
We are absolutely delighted to have Kalee Barbis as the Head of School for Blyth-Templeton Nashville. With degrees from the University of Tennessee, Lipscomb University, and Vanderbilt University, Kalee is deeply committed to personalized, experiential education. Kalee spent the past three years in Washington DC, founding Washington Leadership Academy, an XQ Super School focused on reimagining high school, as the assistant principal. Prior to that, Kalee taught in Nashville for six years.
Blyth-Templeton Academy Nashville will launch in fall of 2019.
As our school community grows, we have realized the growing need to tell the story of BTA and of experiential education more generally to interested parents, students, and community members.
Our model is based on a fundamental question: what if the future of education was developed around the student and driven by the student?
In this past year, we have released two new resources, both designed to help parents and students understand the future of education, the community life of BTA, and how to navigate applying to and joining our school community.
How can we help high school graduates have the skills they need to face the challenges and opportunities of the next twenty, thirty, sixty years?
In this resource, we explore the future of education and the forward-thinking education models that are needed to prepare students to be passionate, thoughtful, effective leaders in the decades to come.
As the world debates the importance of transparency in the admissions processes of our higher education institutions, we are stepping forward to share our application process with you directly. Our goal is to figure out what makes you you and what motivates you to love learning, not simply make you take a standardized test or submit a coached essay.
This was the final exciting development in an exciting year for Blyth-Templeton Academy.
After 42 years of being CEO and Chair of Blyth Academy Canada, Sam Blyth decided he wanted to spend more time with his family, including his grandchildren. Therefore, Blyth Academy Canada agreed to a merger with NACE Schools Group, which operates 37 schools in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, and India. Pat Shaw, BTA co-founder and board member, will lead the combined group forward as CEO.
Now, Temp Keller, BTA co-founder and president, will continue to lead Blyth-Templeton Academy forward as an independent organization, ensuring that the day-to-day operation in Washington D.C. and Nashville will not change. Our goal remains to make 21st century learning and outcomes accessible to all through experiential education and deeper learning in small class sizes.
While BTA is not a part of the Blyth-NACE merger, the Blyth and Templeton collaboration remains. In fact, there will now be more opportunities for interested BTA Students to study abroad via exchange programs within the larger network of schools — not only at Blyth Academy Canada (now 14 campuses), Blyth Academy Florence, Blyth Academy Qatar and Blyth Academy Nashville (opening September 2019) — but at the 37 NACE schools as well.
As we move strongly into 2019, we are so grateful for the dedicated group of parents, students, and friends of BTA that make our school community what it is: a warm, inclusive, high-quality environment focused on personalized learning and academic excellence.
Are you interested in learning more about Blyth-Templeton and what makes us so unique? Come for the upcoming Exhibition Day to see our students and community at work!


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the mailbox giveth
The Mailbox Giveth: Dead Meat
Dead Meat
"The King" b/w "Electric Head" & "Rubbersnake"
Released: 11.30.10
If you head over to Dead Meat's myspace page, the band dubs their sound "reggae." If you hear their new 7," you'll understand why that's funny.
There was an immediate rush of nostalgia that sort of warmed my heart when I opened up Dead Meat's single, "The King," its Raymond Pettibon-inspired ink drawings evoking the excitement of opening up mail order packages from SST Records as an impressionable youth, subject to the visceral and irrevocable alterations those recordings would bring about. Thankfully, the expectations of its package garner results, the single reminiscent of the sort of analog-heavy six-string snarls that I remember hearing years ago: those gritty and broken notes that would act a presage to what would ultimately drive a crowd of bodies to move tantrum-like once the snare beat was enacted.
"The King"'s percussive build-up ultimately leads the song through a mass of dissonant mire that's bore through by vocalist Joe Santarpia's sullen yowl, lengthy vowels and held pronunciations eerily spoken and not necessarily sung. "Electric Head" has more of a rapid approach, amplified strums and cymbal-heavy rhythm cultivating a proper ALT-sound next to the one that bands like Bush persistently attempted to emulate to no avail. "Rubbersnake" is strange in that it seems like the snippet of an otherwise larger track, highly saturated riffs and emotional fortitude established with one verse, no chorus, no real bridge. It's good, but strange.
Along with the 7" comes a download code for Early Recordings, a digital-only offering that features iPod-ready versions of the single's three tracks. No turntable? You can buy Early Recordings separately.
There's a late 80s/early 90s clarity to Dead Meat, which only offers further confirmation of the era's importance in terms of its musical renaissance, (as short lived as it was), and also conveys its place in influencing new bands and new ideas. It was after all, the last time rock rags, paper fliers and cassette tapes meant so much. Bands like Dead Meat have and continue to come to be, but in a digital age it's become easier to separate cheap imitation from genuine homage. Any band can attempt to sound like Dead Meat, but it's more than the mere riff that relaunches an aesthetic of yore, or a classic Alternative sound. There's an ability to figure out the sound's distillation, of how to capture a time and place. With only three songs, and one very simply illustrated 7" single, Dead Meat comes across perfectly representative of a past that will never be repeated, but can still be replicated with some integrity intact. Even when the band has a digital-only release as accompaniment, it's at least commendable to take some of the polish off digitized "perfection."
Labels: 7" alternative indie post-punk punk the mailbox giveth

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
AIG WINS GOLDEN EAGLE
Joanne Wojcik
SACRAMENTO, Calif.-American International Group Inc. has won the bidding war for Golden Eagle Insurance Co., marking the second time AIG has picked up a financially troubled California insurer in recent years.
AIG beat out bids from rival Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., which has been serving as interim reinsurer of Golden Eagle while in rehabilitation, and nearly a dozen other insurers and reinsurers that expressed interest in the troubled company after California regulators put it on the auction block in February (BI, March 3, Feb. 10).
According to AIG's winning bid and rehabilitation plan, Golden Eagle's existing business, including related assets and liabilities, will be transferred to newly created San Diego Casualty Insurance Co., which will write new and renewal business.
Other Golden Eagle assets
and non-insurance liabilities will be transferred to a liquidating trust. Former Golden Eagle owner John C. Mabee will be entitled to anything left in the trust when the plan is wrapped up.
Under the deal, AIG will reinsure 100% of Golden Eagle's liabilities.
The California Insurance Department said AIG was selected because it best met the criteria set out in the request for proposal. Under the Insurance Department's request for proposal, bidders were required to contribute enough capital to allow San Diego Casualty to write at a maximum 3-to-1 net premium-to-surplus ratio.
Bidders were rated on several items, including the amount of capital contributed to San Diego Casualty, the extent of the cap on existing liabilities and the continuity offered Golden Eagles' employees and policyholders.
AIG officials, who declined to comment beyond the company's press release, did not identify the new company's management team.
However, the release said the new company, which will remain in San Diego, will employ all of the Golden Eagle employees "necessary to conduct the business going forward."
Golden Eagle is the second financially troubled insurer AIG group has picked up in California in recent years. In 1994, AIG rescued 20th Century Insurance Co., which was teetering under the weight of claims from the Northridge earthquake (BI, Oct. 3, 1994).
Since AIG's $200 million capital infusion at the end of 1994, 20th Century's statutory policyholder surplus has grown to $436.4 million at year-end 1996.
When AIG took over the company in 1994, its policyholder surplus had dropped to $82.6 million because of earthquake losses.
Most financial analysts are viewing AIG's move as a wise business strategy.
"Every major insurer would like to believe they have the ability to pick up and restructure troubled companies for a profit," said John Wicher, managing director of Russell Miller Inc., a San Francisco-based investment banking firm specializing in the insurance industry.
But AIG is unique in its ability to identify problem assets, implement appropriate changes and turn them around, he said.
"It's really impressive what AIG can do," Mr. Wicher said.
AIG realizes that "with troubled transactions come a long list of opportunities," agreed John L. Ward, chairman of Cincinnati-based Ward Financial Group Inc.
"In many situations troubled acquisitions are the best acquisitions. AIG is not the first company to recognize this," he said, pointing to Zurich Insurance Group's 1995 deal with Home Insurance Co. and CNA Insurance Co.'s 1994 takeover of Continental Insurance Co.
Golden Eagle was an especially attractive target because California regulators put its reserves at an "ultraconservative level," according to Mr. Ward.
"It's likely some of those reserves may be redundant at this point," he said. "So you take over this company, implement tough, solid claims-handling practices and there's a good chance those reserves are going to fall in the future."
Insurers that assume the liabilities of their troubled counterparts also may enhance their relations with regulators, Mr. Ward suggested.
"When regulators get involved, they can be an excellent ally, and they have a lot of power that can work to the benefit of the new investor," he said.
And "good relations with regulators can go a long way in future discussions of rate increases and rollbacks," he pointed out.
Barbara Stewart, president of Stewart Economics Inc. in Atlanta, likened AIG's strategy to that of Berkshire Hathaway Group, which typically "picks up good businesses and then lets them continue to operate with its capital backing."
"It's really just capital looking for good opportunities," she said. "There's a lot of capital in the insurance business looking for places to be used."
Furthermore, "I wouldn't characterize either one of these insurers as troubled," Ms. Stewart said of Golden Eagle and 20th Century. "These are both excellent investments because they are sound, good businesses that were just inadequately capitalized."
Golden Eagle is California's third-largest workers compensation insurer, writing about $400 million in workers comp premiums and $300 million in other property/casualty lines in 1996.
The Insurance Department seized Golden Eagle on Jan. 31 due to questionable business practices that it charged put policyholders, employees and clients of the company at risk.
While the insurer reported surplus of $232.1 million at year-end 1995, an Insurance Department examination concluded that higher-than-reported losses and expenses actually left it with surplus of only $81.6 million.
The Jan. 31 seizure of the company capped a long-running struggle between Mr. Mabee and the Insurance Department, which last year ordered Golden Eagle to boost its reserves by $138.5 million.
The department also charged that Mr. Mabee and other members of his management team had taken out nearly $120 million in unsecured loans from the company. The amount was increased from an earlier estimate of $69 million after department auditors reviewed the company's financials, explained Karl Rubinstein, deputy conservator.
"Our analysis by my accountants reflects that Mr. Mabee and people acting in concert with him have taken more than $120 million out of the company since 1984," Mr. Rubinstein said.
Department auditors also revised its reserve deficiency estimate for year-end 1996 to $272 million, he added.
Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush has filed a lawsuit against Mr. Mabee to recover the loans.
But Mr. Mabee has filed a motion challenging the choice of judge, delaying hearing on the case, according to Mr. Rubinstein.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge William Cahill had been assigned to the case.
Mr. Rubinstein expects to work out details of AIG's bid in less than two weeks. Then the deal will be subject to court approval, which will take about 30 more days, he said


Never leave home in your invisible jet without a snack box of these delicious jelly beans featuring Wonder Woman packaging. Lasso some now!
Display box contains 12 Wonder Woman Jelly Belly Superheroes Jelly Beans Bags, each with a net weight of 2.8 ounces.


why when I send and receive a message with a smiley do I only see the characters used to make said smiley? like instead of seeing I see ": )" is there a way to change this? is it something to do with the translation? In Chinese do they use different characters than here in the US? Thanks for any and all help in advance.


text:
Bouygues to cut 1,516 jobs as French M&A talks collapse
Written by Mike Hibberd
French multi-play operator Bouygues has announced plans to cut more than 1,500 jobs, after CEO Olivier Roussat told a press briefing that consolidation-focused discussions being held with incumbent Orange and fast-growing newcomer Iliad had stalled.
Citing a 1Q14 loss of €19m the firm said it needed to invest in its network and cut its prices and that its headcount would have to be reduced by 17 per cent—1,516 jobs—in order that its transformation plan be sustainable. It will look to "very aggressive pricing" in fixed broadband in particular, the firm said in a statement on Thursday. It said that it would also look to improve its customer service activities.
"Obviously the talks did not succeed," Roussat said. "We are cutting costs to survive in a four-player market."
Bouygues was left isolated recently when it was outbid by Altice-owned Numericable for control of French operator SFR. With 11.86 million customers, according to numbers from Informa's World Cellular Information Service Plus, Bouygues is some distance behind second-placed SFR, on 20.96 million and market leader Orange on 26.73 million. Meanwhile the hugely disruptive Iliad-owned Free Mobile is hard on Bouygues heels, having roughly trebled its subscriber base in two years, to 9.23 million at the end of the first quarter this year.
In the wake of Bouygues' announcement, French Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg said that the government was keen to see consolidation rather than job cuts, Reuters reported. It is not clear why discussions between the three operators bore no fruit, however, particularly as incumbent Orange has publicly voiced its enthusiasm for consolidation.
In mid-May Orange published a statement on its website in which it said that it was "assessing the opportunities that the changing landscape in the French telecommunications might offer," adding that it believes "consolidation in the French mobile market would be positive in the long term for both investment and for the consumer."
How successful Bouygues is in implementing its transformation plan remains to be seen. But increasing network investment and stepping up customer experience efforts will clearly be challenging against the backdrop of further price cuts.
Tags: Bouygues, France, Free Mobile, merger and acquisition, Orange
Orange seeks to win over regulators with Belgium network deal
Iliad borrows €300 million to densify French fibre footprint
French government issues €750 million call for 6G projects
European telcos prep advertising JV


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Data Protection Bill 2018 – Seanad Second Stage
Address by Charlie Flanagan, T.D, Minister for Justice and Equality
Cathaoirleach,
I am very pleased to have the opportunity today to launch the Data Protection Bill 2018 in Seanad Eireann. I look forward to hearing your contributions, and I hope you will support this important Bill. My officials are here with me today and they are available to any Member who wants to have a detailed briefing on the technical aspects of this legislation. I want to thank the members of the House that undertook the pre-legislative scrutiny work in their capacity as Members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality.
In a nutshell, this legislation will introduce stronger rules on data protection. People will have more control over their personal data and businesses will benefit from a level playing field.
Members of this House will no doubt be aware of the General Data Protection Regulation, generally referred to as "the GDPR", of which there has been a great deal of debate both in Ireland and across the European Union. The GDPR regulates the processing by an individual, a company or an organisation of personal data relating to individuals in the EU. It does not apply to data processed by an individual for purely personal reasons or for activities carried out in a person's home, provided there is no connection to a professional or commercial activity.
The GDPR is a significant Regulation and this Bill will give further effect to the GDPR as well as transposing the accompanying law enforcement Directive into national law. Furthermore, it will establish the Data Protection Commission to replace the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. The GDPR enters into effect on 25 May next and the Directive must be transposed into national law by early May. Accordingly, I am hopeful that with the support of both Houses, this Bill will be signed into law and enter into force in May next, alongside the GDPR. I believe that the GDPR and this legislation will serve to make our data protection laws fit for purpose in the digital age.
I am conscious that many people may be inclined to switch off at the mention of data protection because they see it as a technical issue, as an issue that does not concern them directly. That would be a mistake for the simple reason that the updated data protection rules entering into force in May next will affect all of us in one way or another. It will affect each of us as individuals, because it will increase our control over the manner in which, and the purposes for which, our own personal data are used. It will affect businesses – whether large, medium or small – because it will require them to review, and update, the manner in which they collect, use or store the personal data of their customers and their clients, or any other individual whose personal data they retain. The same applies to Government Departments and public bodies.
The simple fact is that data protection law has not kept pace with the many technological advances and new business models, such as cloud computing, that have emerged in recent years. Our current data protection law, based on the EU's 1995 Data Protection Directive, predates mass internet usage, hand-held devices, apps and games, social networking, and data analytics, all of which involve the collection and processing of our personal data, often for purposes that are opaque and largely unknown to us. The basic data protection principles set out in the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003 will remain largely unchanged following the entry into force of the GDPR in May next. However, the GDPR's provisions will strengthen our control over our own personal data and the purposes for which it may be used.
Increased transparency is essential to increased control. In future, all information must be provided in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible format, using clear and plain language. It will no longer be acceptable to direct users to terms and conditions written in legal jargon.
The obligations placed on companies and public sector bodies that collect, use and store personal data are set to increase, but will do so in a measured and proportionate manner. The compliance burden will increase for some, but that will be proportionate to risks for the rights and freedoms of individuals arising from any accidental or unlawful loss or disclosure of, or access to, their personal data. By proportionate, I mean that for SMEs for which data processing is not a core part of the business and where the company's activity doesn't create risks for individuals, then some obligations of the GDPR will not apply (for example the appointment of a Data Protection Officer ('DPO')).The new obligations will inevitably pose a greater challenge for bodies, whether in the public or private sectors, that specialise in data processing and for those handling, for example, customers' financial data or patients' sensitive health data.
While large companies have been gearing up for entry into force of the GDPR for some time, it is likely that the SME sector and micro-enterprises will continue to require assistance and support during the coming period of adjustment. Awareness raising activities have been under way for the last year and a half, involving conferences, seminars and workshops, and those activities will continue. Minister Pat Breen, who has special responsibilities in this policy area, has been very active in promoting awareness of the changes to come and I know he has an ambitious schedule planned for the coming months. Practical guidance is also vital and I strongly recommend the Data Protection Commissioner's web page "gdprandyou.ie". It contains a wealth of useful information and practical guidance for both business and individuals.
High data protection standards are in everyone's interests, including the interests of business. The harmonised rules set out in the GDPR and the Data Protection Bill will ensure that the same data protection safeguards will operate across the EU. This will provide a level playing field for businesses, especially those involved in the cross-border provision of goods and services. In this context, it is worth remembering that exports are a critical aspect of our strong economy. Enhanced data protection standards will also be beneficial to the increasing numbers who avail of the Government's online services.
To make the enhanced protections meaningful, public and private enforcement of data protection law is set to increase. The Data Protection Commission will in future have stronger supervision and enforcement powers, as well as a broader range of sanctions at its disposal, including the possibility of administrative fines. The scope for compensation claims arising from infringements of data protection rules will also increase, resulting in higher levels of private enforcement activity.
This Government is committed to achieving the full potential of the digital economy, and its capacity to promote innovation, to create jobs and to boost economic activity in the State. We already host many of the world's leading digital companies here and they provide their services well beyond our shores. That number will increase in the future. The GDPR, together with the provisions of this legislation, will ensure that data processing involved in the provision of these services will meet the highest data protection standards, and the establishment of the Data Protection Commission will ensure effective supervision and enforcement of these high standards.
Following protracted negotiations, the GDPR was agreed in early 2016 and will, as I mentioned, enter into force across the EU on 25 May 2018. An accompanying Directive, which establishes data protection standards for the processing of personal data by competent authorities for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences and the execution of criminal penalties, requires to be transposed into national law by 6 May 2018.
Both the GDPR and the Directive have a legal basis in Article 16 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and they provide for significant reforms to current data protection rules based on the EU's 1995 Data Protection Directive. Both instruments generally provide for higher standards of data protection for individuals, and impose increased obligations on bodies in the public and private sectors that process personal data. They also increase the range of possible sanctions for infringements of these standards and obligations.
The GDPR seeks to provide for a uniform interpretation and application of data protection standards across the EU, thereby providing a level playing field for all those doing business in the EU digital market. The European Data Protection Board, a new entity that will replace the current advisory committee and made up of representatives of the data protection authorities of all Member States, will play an important role in this respect.
At the heart of both the GDPR and Directive is a "risk-based" approach to data protection. This means that each individual controller and processor is required to put appropriate technical and organisational measures in place in order to ensure – and, importantly, to be able to demonstrate – that their processing of personal data complies with the new data protection standards.
I would remind Senators that the terms "controller" and "processor" apply to us too - those of us involved in the handling of constituents' requests and representations are data controllers, and any operator of an off-site storage facility for files containing personal data is a processor. So this is an issue for the Oireachtas in a very direct way.
For the purposes of assessing the nature, level and likelihood of risks for the rights and freedoms of individuals, controllers and processors, must have regard to the nature, scope, context and purposes of their data processing activities. In certain cases, this will in future require the carrying out of a data protection impact assessment in order to take steps to mitigate such risks. Where mitigation measures are not feasible, prior consultation with the Data Protection Commission will be mandatory.
Both the GDPR and Directive place greatly increased emphasis on the transparency of processing, the responsibility of the controller and processor for compliance with data protection standards, and the need for appropriate security standards in order to protect against data breaches such as unauthorised or unlawful processing and accidental loss, destruction or damage.
Both the GDPR and the Directive impose an obligation on all public authorities and bodies, as well as some private sector bodies, to designate a Data Protection Officer with responsibility to oversee data processing operations, and to report data breaches to the relevant data protection authority.
The GDPR also limits the grounds for lawful processing of personal data by public authorities and bodies. For example, depending on the circumstances, an individual's consent to the processing of his or her personal data may not provide a reliable basis for such processing by a public authority. The so-called "legitimate interest" ground in Article 6.1(f) of the GDPR will no longer be available to public authorities when acting in their public capacity.
Both the GDPR and Directive provide for increased supervision and enforcement of data protection standards by the data protection authorities of Member States, including the future Data Protection Commission. The GDPR provides for the possible imposition of substantial administrative fines (up to €10 million or €20 million, or 2% or 4% of total worldwide annual turnover in the preceding financial year). I will return to the fines issue shortly.
The liability of controllers and processors will also be broadened to include non-material damage such as distress. In future, an individual who has suffered material or non-material damage because of a breach of his or her data protection rights under the GDPR or this legislation will have the right to seek compensation in the courts.
Purpose and structure of the Bill
The key purposes of the Bill are as follows:
to give further effect to the GDPR in the areas in which Member State flexibility is permitted;
to transpose the Directive into national law;
to establish the Data Protection Commission as the State's data protection authority with the means to supervise and enforce the protection standards enshrined in the GDPR and Directive in an efficient and effective manner, and
to enact consequential amendments to various Acts that contain references to the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003.
The Data Protection Bill 2018, which is both lengthy and complex in nature, comprises the following Parts:
Part 1 (sections 1 to 8) contains a number of standard provisions, e.g. citation, commencement and definitions. Section 7 makes provision for repeals, while section 8 defines the residual scope of the Data Protection Act 1988.
Part 2 (sections 9 to 27) establishes a Data Protection Commission to replace the Data Protection Commissioner as the State's data protection authority. Its primary task will be to act as the supervisory authority for the purposes of the GDPR and the Directive. Establishment of the Commission – comprising at least one commissioner and not more than 3 – is a future-proofing provision to allow, should the need arise in future, for the appointment of additional commissioners in response to an increased Commission workload.
Part 3 (sections 28 to 55) gives further effect to the GDPR in a number of areas, mainly affecting the public sector, in which the Regulation gives Member State a margin of flexibility. In certain cases, this involves the creation of a regulation-making power that will permit the making of more detailed regulations in due course.
Part 4 (sections 56 to 62) contains a number of provisions that are consequential on replacement of the Data Protection Commissioner with a Data Protection Commission. The intention is to provide for a smooth and frictionless transition from current arrangements to the new structure.
Part 5 (sections 63 to 99) transposes the law enforcement Directive's provisions in national law.
Part 6 (sections 100 to 151) contains provisions dealing with enforcement of the obligations and rights set out in the GDPR and Directive by the Data Protection Commission. The intention is to ensure effective supervision and enforcement mechanisms, together with the necessary procedural and due process safeguards.
Part 7 (sections 152 to 157) contains a number of miscellaneous provisions, mainly concerning the application of data protection rules to the courts and a number of related legal matters.
Part 8 (sections 158 to 162) contains consequential amendments to a number of Acts.
As regards substance, the Explanatory and Financial Memorandum that accompanies the Bill contains much detail, and I do not intend, therefore, to delve into all the Bill's provisions. I want, however, to take the opportunity to highlight a number of issues, and to refer to Part 5, which transposes the law enforcement Directive into national law.
Repeal of Data Protection Act 1988
Sections 7 and 8 of the Bill contain provisions concerning the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003.
While Article 2.2(a) of the GDPR provides that its provisions do not apply to the processing of personal data in the course of an activity falling outside the scope of EU law, there has been considerable uncertainty about the scope of that exclusion in light of evolving Court of Justice case law. A detailed analysis of relevant Court of Justice case law by the Attorney General's Office has concluded that this exclusion is essentially limited in practice to data processing in the context of national security, defence and the international relations of the State.
While national security and defence lie outside the scope of EU law, the Council of Europe's 1981 Data Protection Convention (Convention 108) contains provisions that apply to data processing for these purposes. The process of updating and modernising this Convention is under way at present in Strasbourg, but that process has not concluded to date. Pending the updating of Convention 108, section 8 proposes to confine the scope of the Data Protection Act 1988 to data processing in the context of national security, defence and the international relations of the State. On completion of that process, it will be possible to update the content of this legislation by means of an amending Act and to repeal the 1988 Act. All key data protection standards will then be found in a single consolidated Act.
Consistency mechanism (One-Stop-Shop)
The GDPR contains a 'consistency mechanism', or so-called 'One-Stop-Shop', which is intended to streamline the handling of data protection infringements and complaints across the EU. For this purpose, it employs the concept of a "lead' supervisory authority, i.e. the data protection authority of the Member State in which a controller's "main" or only EU establishment is located. It means that complaints will be investigated by the data protection authority of that Member State irrespective of the Member State of origin of the complaint. That data protection authority may request assistance from other authorities for investigation purposes, but the initial decision as to whether or not an infringement has occurred, or is occurring, will be the responsibility of the lead authority.
Before arriving at any final decision in cross-border cases, the lead authority must submit a draft decision to the other data protection authorities that have an interest in the case for their views, and must have regard to any objections received from them. If there are any remaining objections to a revised draft decision, it may trigger referral of the case to the European Data Protection Board – comprising representatives of all supervisory authorities – for a binding decision. The EDPB may take a binding decision by majority vote, which may or may not coincide with the (revised) draft decision of the lead supervisory authority.
This mechanism has, of course, a special significance for Ireland since many multinational companies that provide digital services across the EU and beyond have their headquarters here. This means that the Data Protection Commission and its handling of cross-border complaints will be the focus of particular and sustained attention across the EU.
This is the backdrop to the proposals in Part 2 of the Bill to establish a Data Protection Commission, with at least one but not more than three Commissioners.
While there are no specific plans at present to increase the number of Commissioners, significant levels of additional financial and staffing resources have been allocated to the Data Protection Commissioner in recent years in order to prepare for the expected workload increases following entry into force of the GDPR and this legislation. Staff resources have trebled from 30 in 2013 to over 90 at present. Additional funding of €4 million in 2018 will bring the overall budget to about €11.7 million, and this will facilitate the recruitment of additional staff (bringing the total to about 140).
In order to underline and further enhance the independence of the Commission, as required by the GDPR and Court of Justice case law, the Commissioner will be the Accounting Officer of a separate financial Vote. This is covered in sections 25 and 156 respectively. Commencement of these provisions will take place when the necessary procedures for a separate Vote are in place.
Children-related provisions
Article 8 of the GDPR specifies a 'digital age of consent' of 16 years but allows Member states to lower it, but not below 13 years.
This means that where information society services are offered directly to children, the processing of a child's personal data will be lawful only if, and to the extent that, consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child. In such cases, the service provider must make reasonable efforts to verify that consent is given or authorised by the holder of parental responsibility over the child.
In late 2016, my Department launched a consultation process and invited submissions from interested parties on the 'digital age of consent' to apply in this jurisdiction under Article 8. The Government Data Forum, which brings together legal and data protection experts, business representatives from SMEs and multinationals, as well as sociologists, psychologists and education specialists, also carried out a consultation process. A majority of respondents – including the Ombudsman for Children's Office, the Internet Safety Advisory Committee and the Children's Rights Alliance – recommended setting the digital age of consent at 13 years.
When appearing before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality for the pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Bill in July last, the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Dr Geoffrey Shannon, also recommended setting the 'digital age of consent' at 13 years. This recommendation was adopted by the Committee in their Report published in November last.
The Government considers that a 'digital age of consent' of 13 years represents an appropriate balancing of children's rights, namely a child's right to participation in the online environment and a child's right to safety and protection, rights that are enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Provision is made for that in section 29.
As regards "preventative or counselling services" provided for children, subsection (2) clarifies that such services are excluded from the scope of Article 8. The legal advice available to the Department points to the risks of attempting any definition of such services. Any inadvertent exclusions could risk the termination of preventative or counselling services already being provided for the benefit of children under 13 years.
I fully support the recommendation of the Joint Oireachtas Committee for consultation of children in relation to data protection measures. Article 57 of the GDPR requires data protection authorities such as the Data Protection Commission to promote public awareness and understanding of the risks, rules, safeguards and rights in relation to data processing, and it states that activities addressed specifically to children must receive specific attention. Adequate consultation with children in relation to the content of such activities will be necessary and appropriate. I also support the Committee's recommendation that education programmes be implemented to assist children in exercising their data protection and digital rights. In this context, I want to draw attention to the Webwise initiative (webwise.ie) operated by the Professional Development Service for Teachers, which promotes online awareness and safety objectives. My Department provides funding to webwise.ie and I am working with Ministers Bruton, Zappone and Naughten on the broader issue of child safety online.
Restriction on exercise of data subject rights
Article 23 of the GDPR makes provision for possible restrictions on the exercise of data subject rights in order to safeguard important objective of general public interest, some of which are set out in paragraph 1 of that Article. It specifies that such restrictions must comply with three conditions:
they must be in a legislative measure;
they must respect the essence of the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals;
they may not exceed what is necessary and proportionate in a democratic society.
The need to apply restrictions on the exercise of data subject rights might arise, for example, where a regulatory body such as the Legal Services Regulatory Authority or the Medical Council is examining a complaint of unfitness to practice or an allegation of improper conduct. It could also arise where the Health and Safety Authority is investigating a workplace accident. The objective in such cases is not permanently to set aside the data protection rights of individuals concerned, but rather to protect the investigation or examination from access requests or requests for rectification or erasure of personal data so that the investigation or examination can be brought to a conclusion and appropriate action can be taken.
Section 54 of the Bill, which provides for appropriate restrictions in order to safeguard a range of important objectives of general public interest, such as avoiding obstructions to any official or legal enquiry, investigation or process. Such public interest objectives also include cabinet confidentiality, judicial independence, parliamentary privilege, and legal privilege.
Any such restrictions must be set out in law or in regulations under subsections (6), (7) and (8) and the regulations must comply with subsection (10), i.e. respect the essence of the right to data protection, and restrict exercise of data subjects' rights only in so far as is necessary and proportionate in a democratic society. Similar safeguards apply in the case of restrictions on data subject rights under Part 5; these are provided for in section 89.
Administrative fines
Article 57 of the GDPR confers a broad range of corrective powers and sanctions on the data protection authorities, including the Data Protection Commission. These range from issuing warnings or reprimands, to ordering public or private bodies to facilitate the exercise of data subject rights and to bring their data processing operations into line with data protection law. The Commission will also have the power to impose a temporary or permanent ban on mon-compliant processing operations. Data transfers to third countries may also be suspended if data protection standards applicable there are considered inadequate by the EU. All of these corrective actions, including prohibition orders, apply equally to the public and private sectors.
Article 83 of the GDPR provides for the imposition of administrative fines for infringements, including data breaches. It states that each Member State may lay down the rules on whether and, if so, to what extent administrative fines may be imposed on public sector bodies. While the possibility of imposing such fines on Government Departments, public authorities and public bodies could have a deterrent effect, it would also reduce the funds available to such bodies for the provision of important services to the public. Any deficit arising from the payment of fines would be likely to lead to demands for replacement funding by means of a supplementary budget. This could result in a wasteful, circular flow of funding. On the other hand, the Government recognises that non-application of administrative fines could create competition distortions in those areas in which public and private bodies operate in the same market (e.g. public and private hospitals; public and private transport providers).
In order to ensure fair and equitable trading conditions, section 136 of the Bill provides that administrative fines may be imposed on public bodies when they act as "undertakings", i.e. when they are providing goods or services for gain in competition with private bodies. This will ensure fair competition between the public and private sectors in the provision of goods and services.
Transposition of law enforcement Directive
Part 5 of the Bill – sections 63 to 99 – transposes the law enforcement Directive into national law. Chapter 1 contains relevant definitions (section 63) and outlines the scope of this Part (section 64). It applies to data processing carried out by public authorities and bodies for the purposes of the prevention, investigation, detection or prosecution of criminal offences, including the safeguarding against, and the prevention of, threats to public security or the execution of criminal penalties. While it will apply in the main to bodies operating within the criminal justice system, its provisions will also apply to administrative bodies such as the Health and Safety Authority and to other authorities such as fire authorities when they are engaged in the investigation and prosecution of offences.
Chapter 2 contains provisions outlining the general principles of data protection (section 65), which are broadly similar to those in the GDPR; the need for adequate security measures (section 66); conditions applicable to the processing of special categories of personal data (section 67), and standards applicable to data quality (section 68).
Chapter 3 outlines the obligations on controllers and processors when acting within the scope of Part 5. These are broadly similar to obligations set out in Part 4 of the GDPR, including the need for appropriate security standards; reporting of data breaches to the Data Protection Commission; the need for contracts with processors; the carrying out of data protection impact assessments; and, in certain cases, mandatory consultation with the Data Protection Commission. Section 76 imposes a specific requirement on controllers and processors to create and maintain data logs, which must record consultation and disclosure of data in automated processing systems. All public authorities and bodies must designate a data protection officer.
Chapter 4 specifies the data protection rights of individuals: they include rights in relation to automated decision-making (section 84); the right to information (section 85); the right of access (section 86); the right to erasure and rectification of personal data (section 87). Section 89 outlines the grounds on which the exercise of data subject rights under this Part may be restricted in whole or in part. Where exercise of a data protection right is restricted, the data subject may seek indirect exercise of that right through the Data Protection Commission (section 90).
Supervision and enforcement
Part 6 of the Bill contains detailed provisions that deal with supervision and enforcement of the GDPR and the data protection standards set out in Part 5 of this Bill. These include provisions for the handling of complaints received by the Commission, the carrying out of detailed investigations, and the imposition of sanctions.
Before concluding, I want to mention the Report on pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill submitted by the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality. I want to thank the Joint Committee for their work and their recommendations, many of which have been taken on board in the Bill before us today. I have already referred to a number of areas where it has not been possible to adopt the Committee's recommendations. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the other stakeholders for their inputs into preparation of the Bill.
As I mentioned at the outset, this is a lengthy and complex Bill. That should not obscure its central purpose, which is to promote and facilitate exercise of our right as individuals to protection of our personal data and to increase our control over it and the uses to which it may be put. Article 8 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provides simply that "Everyone has the right to protection of personal data concerning him or her." The GDPR and this Bill seek to make that a reality.
I commend the Bill to the House.


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Performance & Feature improvements for Industry Super Fund after Sitecore 9.3 upgrade.
This fund is a leading Australian Superannuation Fund based in Brisbane, Australia. It is one of Australia's biggest and fastest-growing profit-for-members super funds, with 1.3 million members and $58 billion in funds under management. Their purpose is to 'inspire and empower Australian's to fulfil their retirement dreams'.
Keeping their MarTech up to date
As with all marketing technologies, maintaining the latest version means having access to the most updated features and benefits of the platform. More often than not, these features are the reason for the MarTech investment in the first case.
In 2018, the fund approached Triggerfish to upgrade their Sitecore platform, giving them the ability to acquire and nurture new and existing customers through the website, while also consolidating a number of other marketing investments onto the common platform. Triggerfish completed the Sitecore 8 to 9.0.2 upgrade in just 60 days.
Ready for Sitecore 9.3
Unless organisations are using MarTech Software-as-a-Service, the platform owners are tasked with continuous development and optimisation of the platform. MarTech running on PaaS or IaaS (ie. not managed by a dedicated performance & optimisation team), will naturally experience contributions from multiple developers, parallel programs, significant data collection, and fluctuating traffic. All these activities are very normal, but also contribute to gradual performance degradation of the platform over time.
Now in 2020, and with a number of Sitecore version releases since 2018, the team was ready to upgrade their platform again and take advantage of the updated features in version 9.3.
The business was looking to address some of the above concerns within their existing platform. The team wanted to specifically look at the performance and optimisation of the:
Content management server & content delivery response time
xDB Analytics growth
Content indexing
xConnect & xDB load handling
response time improvement
decrease in errors
6-min
reduction in deployment time
platform bug fixes
Sitecore 9.3
Microsoft Azure PaaS
Azure Search
A big thank you to the Triggerfish team on another successful Sitecore upgrade. It couldn't have gone better and highlighted why we enjoy partnering with Triggerfish.
Performance & Feature improvements
In just over 2 months during the peak of COVID-19, Triggerfish worked with the fund to upgrade their Sitecore environment to the latest version.
Specifically, the Experience Database underwent performance improvements, optimisations and maintenance rules were applied. Glass Mapper was also upgraded to the latest version, and the implementation was reviewed to utilise best practice - which also resulted in a significant performance improvement. The Sitecore 9.3 upgrade itself features a redesign of the mechanism for page tracking for the user session, and how that data is submitted to xConnect when the session ends which added to overall performance. Finally, the platform caches underwent a tuning exercise by Triggerfish to optimise performance under high load.
Since the upgrade, the business has seen the average homepage server response time reduce from 1.8 seconds to 0.25 seconds – boasting an 86% improvement in response time. They have seen a 64% decrease in errors being reported by utilising the data provided to us by Microsoft Application Insights, and production release deployment times have been reduced from 19 minutes to 13 minutes in Azure DevOps.
Data insights informing optimisation
Over the last two years of partnership with the fund, Triggerfish have been collecting valuable data on the performance of the infrastructure. Using this data, Triggerfish were able to optimise the platform to improve performance, stability, uptime, cost predictability, and capability of handling high load periods – in line with the needs of the technical infrastructure. Specifically, in April 2020 during the Australian Tax Office's Early Access to Super scheme that cause an increase in general market activity around superannuation, the fund saw 450% above normal users on the site.
New and improved Sitecore features
On top of these huge performance improvements, the fund now has the opportunity to utilise new and improved features of Sitecore, including Forms, Advanced Marketing Automation and Personalisation Dashboard - features that they didn't have before. Sitecore Experience Forms gives new fields types, better validation, browser support and improved bot detection. Sitecore Forms also has a major data performance improvement in version 9.3. To top it off, there was approximately 800 Sitecore platform bug fixes as part of the upgrade.
Throughout these platform updates, the fund maintained their APRA and data privacy compliance to Australian standards.
With Triggerfish as a partner, the business can be confident that their Sitecore platform will remain up to date, meeting their performance requirements, as the need for Superannuation services changes over time.
Does your MarTech need an upgrade?
Copyright © 2021 Triggerfish
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2001-12-06 Assigned to TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED reassignment TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS). Assignors: FLANAGAN, THOMAS F.
A system for provisioning of enhanced telephone services by the subscriber is provided for a base telephone account. The system allows enhanced services that are recorded to a subscribers base telephone data block at the PSTN provider to be configured based on time of day, week, or any user identified formula. Enhanced services include multiple telephone lines, voice mail, call waiting, and access to special lines. By provisioning services, a subscriber can pay prorated charges for only those services during the designated time span of activation.
This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119 of provisional application Serial No. 60/216,342, filed Jul. 5, 2000, entitled "Provisioning of Subscriber Services," which, is incorporated herein by reference.
FIGS. 3 through 5 are exemplary logic flow diagrams of the method of implementation of the present invention.
Referring to the several illustrations represented in the figures, there is depicted in FIG. 1 a schematic of two methods of placing a telephone call using either the Internet or the PSTN to route a telephone call. A user initiates a telephone call from a line  12 associated with a base telephone account. Hereinafter, a telephone line such as that used by an authorized user of the base telephone account is referred to as a base telephone line or port. A base telephone line typically connects to analog telephone equipment at one end and PSTN at its other end. As shown in FIG. 1, a line 14 connects to a switch 16 which is illustrative of numerous switches and routers between a local telephone company and a base telephone. The line 14 may be a telephone line maintained by the PSTN 18 or part of a private network external to the PSTN, such as one connecting to a local or wide area network. The initiating analog base telephone 12 may connect to another similar phone 20 through the PSTN 18, or a similar private network, through its associated switches 22 and lines 24 at the receiving end 20.
An alternative method for placing a telephone call is routing a digital call through the Internet. The Internet call may be placed over a telephone service company's Internet telephony server  26 on the initiating end, through the Internet 28, and routed through a second Internet telephony server 30 on the receiving end, where it is directed to the appropriate receiving telephone 20.
The subscriber's enhanced services may be delivered either conditionally or subject to conditions stipulated by the subscriber. Standard telephone service with a base telephone port  32 is routed through a switch 34 and through the PSTN 36. A database 38 containing configurations for a subscriber's enhanced services is located on a server maintained by the local telephone service company that maintains the base telephone account. A subscriber's data block 40 contains records for a specific subscriber regarding which services the subscriber has selected for use for a specific base telephone account. Access to the subscriber data block by a subscriber may either be through a customer service representative at the local telephone company or directly from a computer 42 through the Internet 44. If a subscriber is using a digital telephone system 46 or computer 48 to place a call through an Internet server managing the system 50, the enhanced services database 52 and a subscriber's data block 54 may also be accessed directly through the Internet 56.
The blocks in FIG. 3 illustrate information located in a data block that may be accessed by a subscriber  58. This list is meant to be illustrative and not limiting in an manner. Enhanced services 60 include changing telephone numbers, call forwarding, distinctive ringing, call waiting, caller ID, access to toll networks, access to special lines, special billing, access to intelligent peripherals, and access to intelligent networks. The services are linked to a billing program to track charges assessed towards the base telephone account 62. The services illustrated in FIG. 3 are delivered solely within the PSTN for a base telephone account. The services are modifiable only by authorized subscribers of the base telephone account either through the Internet or through customer service.
The presently contemplated adaptation of this system provides modified subscription and accounting of telephone services. The enhanced services data block can be functionally adapted to provide particular enhanced services that are provisioned by the subscriber instead of the service provider. FIG. 4 illustrates how the provisioning of enhanced services menu may be accessed and modified. Block  64 indicates that a subscriber accesses the Internet through an Internet service provider (ISP), residential Internet gateway, cable modem, or xDSL modem. The subscriber then executes a services subscription program 66. This program may either reside on the subscriber's computer or more advantageously on the telephone company's Internet Web server. It is assumed for the purposes of this discussion that the access program is allowed for an authorized subscriber only and the program provides appropriate security software and hardware to manage the system. Block 68 indicates that with the system described herein, a subscriber may select and modify the enhanced services data block. The services are provisioned on an as-needed basis 70. For example, a subscriber traveling on a vacation does not use nor need all the enhanced services available for the base telephone account. While the subscriber and any additional users are absent from the home containing the base telephone line, only basic telephone service and voice mail may be desired for the account. However, the subscriber is being charged a per-use or monthly fee for all of the subscribed services. By provisioning of services as needed, the subscriber can turn off certain services during the dates the subscriber will be away. The enhanced services commands are sent from the Web page program to the enhanced services database and associated service peripherals 72. The billing system for the enhanced services will likewise prorate the charges for services each billing cycle for only those times when the services were subscribed to by the subscriber 74. In effect, the enhanced service is provisioned in delivery and charges are prorated in charges to the subscriber.
A further example is to provision the use of telephone numbers in FIG. 5. A subscriber may have numerous telephone lines for a business operations during the day, yet only require a main line and fax line during off-hours. The subscriber, by logging into the Internet  76, first logs into the home page for security verification 78. The home page is a Web page maintained by a PSTN server in the local telephone calling region normally serving that subscriber. Once authorized, the subscriber then accesses a link from an enhanced services menu for the specific service of interest. Each link contains selectable entries constituting a form which the subscriber may modify according to date, time, and/or regularly occurring event 80. For example, if the subscriber has a dozen phone lines but only needs two in the evenings and weekends, then a Web page for telephone service is modified to indicate which ten telephone accounts are disabled during the hours of 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Friday, and all 24 hours of the day Saturday and Sunday 82. After verifying that the modifications are available and correctly entered, the PSTN operation responsible for delivery of telephone service to the base telephone account monitors switching centers within the local region to disable the selected lines during the specified hours 84. The PSTN benefits by freeing up resources it would normally expend on monitoring the subscribed lines and the subscriber benefits from the PSTN billing program prorating charges for only the times used during working hours by the subscriber 86.
changing said enhanced subscriber services linked to said telephone base port based on intermittent use by a subscriber of said enhanced services, said program changing said enhanced subscriber data, said changed data causing said telephone service switching system to provision said enhanced services linked to said telephone terminal base port.
said telephone is connected to a central office of a local PSTN provider.
said telephone terminal base port is connected to an Internet telephony service provider.
said telephone terminal base port is connected through a PBX system.
said matrix switch receives commands and executes said subscriber's desired configuration for said enhanced services; said matrix switch links to a billing server to record charges for said enhanced services based upon allocation of use from said telephone terminal port.
billing for said enhanced subscriber services for said telephone based on time or volume of use.


Every astrological chart depicts the way person looks and reflects his or her health image. That's why almost every astrologer, especially a medical one can indicate whether there are any problems with health of a particular person. Astrology also can introduce certain recommendations on how to work in order to reduce or prevent possible health problems and how to cope with already available ones. In Astrology everyone is divided into 4 categories by constitution: water, fire, earth, and air.
The fire signs include: Aries, Leo, Sagittarius. They are believed to be the most energetic and enduring among all the other signs. The water signs are: Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces. They are very flexible and empathic. The earth signs are: Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. These signs are very stable, persistent, but not that active as fire and air. The air signs are: Gemini, Libra, Aquarius. The representatives of these signs are passionate, hot-tempered, and vital.
The matter of health support is in continuous readaptation and flexibility to different surroundings. Generally, we tend to have various health states through each phase of our life, so we need to have a certain diet, behavior, lifestyle, and medications in some cases.
On base of astrology diet food list, you can choose your best diet from the US News Diet list.
Nowadays, there are so many eating programs out there that rely on a specific personality, blood type, and so on. But do you know that there's such a thing as a zodiac diet? Yes. You read that right. You can achieve a specific food plan using your zodiac sign.


The internal electronics from your existing key can easily be transferred over. You can swap over your existing key blade or have a new one cut at your local locksmith. If your existing key looks similar to the pictured case then it's the ideal replacement for you.


Finding No. 6336 – This multi-mode Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted via face-to-face and SMS interviewing over the last two weekends July 4/5 & 11/12, 2015 with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3,110 Australian electors aged 18+, of all electors surveyed 3% (up 1%) did not name a party.
In early July during the Trade Union Royal Commission Federal L-NP support is up 2.5% to 49% cf. ALP 51% (down 2.5%) after Opposition Leader Bill Shorten fronted the Commission over the past week. Shorten has faced hundreds of questions in the past week about his time with the Australian Workers Union (AWU); if a Federal Election were held now the result would be too close to call.
Primary support for the L-NP is up 2.5% to 41.5% now clearly ahead of the ALP 34.5% (down 1.5%) – the lowest level of ALP support for over a year since April 2014. Support for other parties shows the Greens at 13.5% (down 0.5%), Palmer United Party 1% (down 0.5%), Katter's Australian Party 1.5% (up 0.5%), while Independents/ Others were 8% (down 0.5%).
This week's Morgan Poll on Federal voting intention was conducted over the last two weekends, July 4/5 & 11/12, 2015, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 3,110 Australian electors.
The Roy Morgan Government Confidence Rating is down 8pts to 90.5pts this week with 45.5% (up 4%) of Australians saying Australia is 'heading in the wrong direction' and 36% (down 4%) saying Australia is 'heading in the right direction'.
Analysis by Gender shows a majority of women supporting the ALP. Women: ALP 54% (down 1.5%) cf. L-NP 46% (up 1.5%) and a majority of men supporting the L-NP. Men: L-NP 52.5% (up 4.5%) cf. ALP 47.5% (down 4.5%).
Analysis by Age group shows the ALP still with its strongest advantage among younger Australians. 18-24yr olds heavily favour the ALP 63.5% cf. L-NP 36.5%; 25-34yr olds also heavily favour the ALP 61% cf. L-NP 39%; 35-49yr olds slightly favour the ALP 51% cf. L-NP 49% while 50-64yr olds now favour the L-NP 52.5% cf. ALP 47.5% and those aged 65+ heavily favour the L-NP 58% cf. ALP 42%.
The ALP now has a two-party preferred lead in 3 Australian States. Tasmania: ALP 58% cf. L-NP 42%, Victoria: ALP 53.5% cf. L-NP 46.5% and South Australia: ALP 50.5% cf. L-NP 49.5%, Queensland is evenly divided: ALP 50% cf. LNP 50%, while Western Australia favour the L-NP 52.5% cf. ALP 47.5% and New South Wales favour the L-NP 52% cf. ALP 48%.
The Morgan Poll surveys a larger sample (including people who only use a mobile phone) than any other public opinion poll. The Morgan Poll asks Minor Party supporters which way they will vote their preferences. *News Corp's poll does not measure or reference the PUP vote!
The Morgan Poll allocated preferences based on how people say they will vote – allocating preferences by how electors voted at the last Federal Election, as used by News Corp's poll* shows the ALP (51%) cf. L-NP (49%) – for trends see the Morgan Poll historic data table.
"In early July L-NP support increased 2.5% to 49% cf. ALP 51% (down 2.5%) on a two-party preferred basis after Opposition Leader Bill Shorten fronted the Royal Commission into Trade Unions last week to answer hundreds of questions about his conduct while at the Australian Workers Union (AWU) immediately before his election to Federal Parliament in 2007.
"Amongst the allegations are that Shorten 'cut deals' with employers to benefit Union leaders at the expense of regular union members and also that the employers paid the wages of campaign staff during Shorten's successful run for the Melbourne seat of Maribyrnong at the 2007 Federal Election – a seat Shorten has held ever since – without the employers concerned declaring they were doing so.
"The publicity covering the questions raised about Shorten's conduct and credibility while at the AWU has no doubt had a direct impact on the drop in ALP support (34.5% primary support – the lowest ALP support since April 2014). This is despite the significant media coverage of Zaky Mallah's controversial Q & A appearance and Prime Minister Tony Abbott's ban on Coalition frontbenchers appearing on Q&A.
"Des Moore from the Institute of Private Enterprise's (IPE) conclusion 'says it all' - Shorten has failed the 'Pub Test' while fronting the Royal Commission last week. In addition Shorten's answers to the questions posed by SC assisting Jeremy Stoljar raise more questions about Australia's industrial relations which the Abbott Government needs to address now.
Business confidence steadies in June — but for how long?
Roy Morgan Research's Business Confidence is at its highest level since January 2015, but remains below the five-year average and well below the peak it hit in October 2013.


XRF Analyzer - Which One to choose?
Control Valve positioner/actuator Transfer function?
Does anyone have ANSI S1.9?
Request: Guidelines for Safe Automation of Chemical Processes* 2nd Edition.
what is output bias in control valve positioner ?
IEC 60079 part 10 AND IEC 60079 part 20?


April 20, 2018 (Vancouver, BC) – "This is a historical moment for many Chinese Canadians and especially for family like me who are descendants of Head Tax payers and Canadian railway workers.
"It is important for Vancouverites to understand and acknowledge the history of Chinese segregation and racism in Vancouver. Fairness is essential and that's what drives my service with the union.
"Many hospitality workers of UNITE HERE Local 40 are immigrants and many of them are from China. They work under challenging and precarious conditions like long hours, heavy workloads and risk of injury yet they earn only minimum pay with no job security. They have endured much hardship to build a life here, and their contribution to the success of Vancouver's hospitality industry is often unrecognized.


text:
Q: How can i convert foreach loop to linq statements? Thats my code.
foreach (var item in dtos)
{
      if (item.sample1 != SelectedDto.sample2)
      {
            adi.AppendLine(item.sample3.ToString() + " , " + item.sample1 + " , " + item.sample4);
      }

}

And thats my code which i try.
 if (dtos.Any(x => x.sample1 != SelectedDto.sample2)) ?????

A: Well, you can use linq to extract the informations that you need to add to the StringBuilder and then add them in this way
var selections = dtos.Where(x => x.sample1 != SelectedDto.sample2)
                     .Select(k => $"{k.sample3} , {k.sample1} , {k.sample4}");
adi.Append(string.Join(Environment.NewLine, selections));

Here we use the Where enumerable to extract all the dtos that match the condition and the use the sequence obtained to build a set of strings from the items extracted.
At this point we can add everything to the StringBuilder with a single line joining together the extracted strings.
As you can see, this is shorter code, but is it really necessary and an improvement versus the previous code?. I have not tested it with enough data to have strong confidence but I have a feeling that from a performace point of view the linq version is weaker than the normal for...loop.


text:
Stanisław Frączyk (born 2 December 1952) is a retired Austrian-Polish para table tennis player. He is a triple Paralympic champion, a triple World champion, an eleven-time European champion and three time Polish national champion.

He has a medical condition called Heine-Medina disease which is caused his right leg to be five centimetres short than his left leg, he plays with a splint on his right leg. He was encouraged to play the sport by his older brother Zbiginiew Frączyk who is also a table tennis player who played at national level.

References

External links

1952 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Łódź
People from Stockerau
Paralympic table tennis players of Austria
Polish male table tennis players
Austrian male table tennis players
Table tennis players at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
Table tennis players at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Table tennis players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Table tennis players at the 2008 Summer Paralympics
Table tennis players at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Table tennis players at the 2016 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics
Austrian emigrants to Poland
Sportspeople from Lower Austria

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Email: info@thelayneproject.com
Supervised Services
Monitored Phone Contact
Supervised Parenting Time
Supervised Exchanges
Therapeutic Supervised Parenting Time
Evaluations and Alternative Dispute Resolution Services
Child Interviews
Custody Evaluation
Parenting Assessments
Co-Parenting/Divorce Coaching
Cooperative Parenting Program
Individualized Parent Education Program
My Child Advocate
HELPING CHILDREN TRANSITION AS THEIR FAMILY DYNAMICS CHANGE
Naomi Cautadella, LMSW
Lead Therapist & Co-Parenting Program Co-Facilitator
Naomi graduated from the University of Kansas with her Master's degree in Social Work in 2013. She went on to manage the bereavement programs for two hospices in the Kansas City area where she provided grief and loss counseling to bereaved individuals. She decided to begin working on her clinical licensure and went to work for a community Mental health center where she provided therapeutic services to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness in a correctional setting. Currently, Naomi works as a family therapist for a Juvenile Correctional facility where she works with juveniles and their families who have a wide range of dynamics, challenges and high conflict relationships. She also co-facilitates the cooperative parenting program and provides therapeutic services to children and adults at The Layne Project. Naomi is skilled and trained in Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Narrative Therapy and trauma informed care. Naomi is talented at providing creative solutions to difficult problems and tailoring treatment plans to meet individual needs.
Jaime Kernaghan, LMFT
Parenting Time Supervisor
Jaime graduated from the University of Kansas in 2000, with her Bachelor's Degree in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. She received her Master's Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Friends University in 2006, and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT). She has worked with children and families her entire career including as a preschool teacher, grief counselor, therapist, mediator and family assessor for the family court. She currently works as a Patient Advocate for children and their families.
Jaime's true passion is working for the best interest of children. In her free time she enjoys advocating for homeless pets, reading and taking endless walks with her two dogs, as well as spending time with her family
Reanna Errebo, LMSW
Assistant Director of Supervised Services
Reanna received her Bachelors in Psychology from Greenville University and her Masters in Social Work from The University of Kansas. Reanna completed practicums at FosterAdopt Connect, where she worked in the licensing department with foster parents, and Children's Mercy Hospital, where she worked in the emergency department with children and families.
When Reanna is not working with children and families, she enjoys spending time with her fiancé and two dogs. Reanna is a huge Kansas City sports fan. She enjoys watching the Royals, Chiefs, and (even though she attended KU) is a K-State fan!
Thomas Hernandez, LMSW
Thomas Hernandez is a provisionally licensed social worker (LMSW) in KS and MO. He is currently working on his clinical licensure. Thomas attended MidAmerica Nazarene University for his bachelor's degree and completed his degree is 2008. He also attended UMKC for his master's degree in Social Work and completed it in 2017. Thomas has worked in the field of mental health and substance abuse since 2004. He served in the U.S. Army for 8 years and also provides services to Veterans and their families. Thomas' Father and Grandfather are both combat veterans. Thomas specializes in trauma informed care, PTSD, anxiety and depression.
The Layne Project, 313 North Chestnut Olathe, KS 66061 Phone: 913-829-3711
Disclaimer: The Layne Project, Inc. does not offer legal services.


Over the years much of my photographic work has been connected with trade shows around the world, one thing that's always bugged me is how little exhibitors do to connect with those who either didn't visit their stand or didn't visit the show at all. Consider this when you exhibit you bring together your best sales people your new products and you display them all in a purpose built studio called an exhibition stand, so you've brought together all the elements needed to produce a great marketing video. Social media and email marketing now offer you ways of getting that message across without spending a fortune. This is just as viable for a major stand with many new products or a small shell scheme with an idea and a few wall graphics.
1 Choose a member of staff who is happy to be on camera , try out a few with your mobile to see what they look like. Make sure they understand how this might be used and get them to sign a model release form to that effect.
2 Decide what the key products/messages that you want to get across are and cut this down to no more than a few minutes. Make sure you do this prior to the day of shooting otherwise it will waste valuable filming time.
3 Get someone like me to make you a short film with good audio , best to shoot in the first hour of the show when everyone looks perky and the coffee cups have not begun to appear.
4 Load your film onto YouTube with keywords and links to your main website.
5 Send out a link to all the email addresses you collected to remind them about you.
6 Embed the video on the news page of your website, facebook, blog etc and start tweeting its existence with relevant hashtags.
Have a look at this and see how it might work for you.