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Home » Haunted News » World War Z Sequel: Will It Happen?
World War Z Sequel: Will It Happen?
Published by FrightFind On April 18, 2017 2 Responses
Despite the fact that World War Z 2 has had a few hiccups, including J.A. Bayona leaving the director's seat for the Jurassic World franchise and its June 2017 release date getting scrapped for the dreaded "TBD" status, we still have hope that we'll get some gory eye candy on the big screen soon enough. And rumor has it high-tension heavy hitter David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Gone Girl) may be leading the project.
These rumors didn't just develop out of thin air, either. According to The Hollywood Reporter, David Fincher is "creatively interested in directing" the sequel, and despite his less than perfect history with sequels and trilogies, it's suspected that teaming up with Brad Pitt (who is already signed on and credited as a producer on the film) could give him a nudge forward. If so, it would be the forth film that the duo has worked on together.
Brad Pitt and David Fincher are rumored to be teaming up for World War Z 2.
Although, even if David Fincher signs on (our fingers are crossed), the next obstacle may be the distribution company itself. Paramount has had an on again, off again relationship with horror remakes/sequels lately. According to sources for Variety, Paramount completely canned their planned Friday the 13th remake earlier this year, so will they be ready to dip their toes into zombie infested waters?
If they do pull out, will Plan B (Brad Pitts own production company), and Skydance Media be able to pull off a world wide release with only Universal at the helm?
What can we expect with a World War Z sequel Plot?
Lips have remained sealed regarding any plot development but that doesn't mean we can't speculate on some of the content. Steven Knight, the screenwriter behind the original draft of the script, has been careful about dropping any hints but if this quote is evidence for what's in store, we may already know the pacing of the film:
"I think the beauty of the first film was the way that it never paused for breath. It never spent a moment thinking, 'Hang on a minute, we'd better tell the audience what this is all about.' It stayed in the moment, it stayed with that person." – Steven Knight, WWZ 2 screenwriter
Credited on the World War Z 2 IMDB page is writer Dennis Kelly for rewrites of Knight's script. Will the pacing remain intact? Is World War Z 2 fated for extensive (and expensive) reworkings like its predecessor? One fairly safe prediction comes from Brad Pitt resuming his role as Gerry Lane, leaving the door open for a sequel to pick up in the exact same place as the original.
We expect to be thrown a curve ball there as well, since currently listed in the writing credits is original World War Z novel author, Max Brooks. While the original World War Z film was VERY loosely based on the novel, (really only following in title) it is possible that additional characters or story arcs from the novel will be present in the sequel, but there is not much to corroborate yet.
If the producers are listening to fans this seems like a very real possibility. Despite being a world wide box office success, fans of the novel were not keen on the movies' harsh split from the book. Bringing in original characters could be the push needed to earn back that attention from the fan base.
So without even a release date to offer, we want to know what you think? Drop your theories, hopes, dreams and wishes in the comments below. What do YOU want to see in World War Z 2?
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Categories: Haunted News, Scary Movies, Zombie Tags: The Walking Dead, World War Z, Zombies
Gary Gagne
Loved WWZ. Probably my favorite doomsday/zombie flick. Must get more before I have to read the book.
MKell
I thought this was scrapped? This better not be a tease.
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How to Throw Your BFF An Epic Bachelorette Party
By Lindsay Tigar
The saying goes that we all have soulmates and I believe that — but I don't think they're all romantic. Our friends — from childhood, the teenage years, the 20-something period and all of the times that follow — are often times, more pivotal to our lives than the people we choose to date or marry. Throughout everything we face — breakups, job losses, terrible Mondays that just won't let up and scary illnesses — our friends are there with a bottle of vino, a patient, loving ear and the right words that make everything suddenly not feel as heavy.
I consider myself lucky that I've met a handful of women like that in the past 27 years, and even luckier to say that I get to stand by one of them in October as a bridesmaid in her wedding. She's one of the sassiest, wittiest, and most kind-hearted humans I've ever met, and the one who keeps my head held high about finding the right person when all I want to do is give up. In more ways than I could express, that friendship (and all that's come with it) has helped me become an even better person throughout my 20s.
That's why when I started planning her bachelorette with her maid of honor, I knew it had to be one for the books. (Or at least attempt to get the party hashtag #SinningBeforetheWedding trending.) Though it was my very first bachelorette party, I knew the details to throw a pretty epic one were super-important. Because we were headed to Miami — it had to be the right mix of flat-out fun (and booze) and the sweet sentiments that I knew my bestie would appreciate.
Here's what we did to make it legit, the best bachelorette ever:
A Little Personalization Goes a Long Way
Though a bachelorette only lasts a few days, it's one of the rare times that everyone the bride loves is in one place at one time with a sole purpose: celebrate. One way to make those memories last forever (apart from an iPhone Shared Photo Album) is personalizing cups, napkins, and other goodies for everyone to take home when they leave.
We used The Stationery Studio to create simple white-and-pink cups that didn't say much, but said enough. The MOH also personally designed mason jar cups with lids (key when you're on a boat and drinking, for the record) from this Etsy Shop. Now that the party has ended, we can use those for iced coffee as we mourn those precious few days.
Invest in a Sash and Crown Because It Equals Freebies
My first order of business as soon as I greeted our lovely bride at the airport? Have her open the gift that contained her hot pink sash from Sassy Sash. Of course I wanted her to feel instantly special from the second her bach got started, but I also figured that any type of attention would mean free stuff.
I was right: on the plane ride there alone, we got three free liquor drinks. That same sash (and a cute bride-to-be-crown) got us into VIP at LIV Nightclub in Miami, a few bottles of champs at brunch at Nikki Beach and so, so much more. Plus, she can now pass down that sash — if she pleases — to the rest of us when we get hitched. (That is if she doesn't use it on a random Saturday night long after she's married to get some free stuff for the evening, because hey, who could blame her?)
Get Creative With Booze...
While bachelorette party and drinking seem to be kind of synonymous with one another, taking shots and drinking cheap alcohol isn't great for anyone's next morning. We thought of different ways to drink up without going too hard.
We started with Spoonable Spirits on the first day, which in a nutshell, is a new company that legit takes a birthday cake pudding type of deal and makes it boozy (yes, it's as awesome as it sounds). Then, we surprised the bride with an adult piñata that instead of being filled with candy and sweets, contained airplane bottles. Nipyata also adds messages to the airplane bottles for you and we elected to have them give bucket list items to our bride for the weekend (we may or may not have forced her to ask someone if they'd seen her friend, Beyoncé). And lastly, we used Sauza tequila to make Miami-inspired cocktails for the whole 13-person strong crew.
...And Be Prepared For the Hangovers
If you're going to spend four days in the sun, sand and parties of Miami, hydration takes a priority. In addition to coconut water and plenty of water throughout the day, we stocked up on Never Too Hungover. In all honesty, it doesn't taste great (sorry to break it to you) but if you can gulp it down, it truly prevented all of us from getting a hangover… except the bride. But hey, it's her bachelorette and she can throw them back if she wants, right?
Make Every Gal Feel Special
Though bachelorettes are really meant to give your friend her last heyday before the big day, it's also a time when we really value the amazing support group of friends we've built over the years. For the celebration, we got everyone these mini Betty Boxes that were themed to our beach getaway and included aftersun balm, a flamingo corkscrew and more. We also made sure everyone had a pink bug bracelet (because you know, Zika, yikes), and a custom-made pink polish from Mixify. The bride also got us all 'Just Drunk' tanks to match her 'Drunk in Love' — which made for some sweet photos.
Have Everyone Write A Note That'll Last
Though every part of the bachelorette felt epic, the one that I was the most excited about — apart from my mom's 24-hour cameo appearance — was the book we made from Blurb. It not only included her entire bridal party, future mother-in-law and tons of friends, but we wrote notes from her animals, too. (Yep, we went there.) It's not very often that you get to tell your pal just how much you love them and put a photo next to it, but I bet it's a book that she'll show her future daughter one day…
...because that's probably a safer story to tell a child than the part where she hid some Captain Morgan behind a bush to have later. But hey, what happened on the bachelorette stays there, right?
Images: Lindsay Tigar

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ISKCON Pandava Sena is about you. It provides a platform by which you can connect, interact and discuss relevant life issues with like-minded people. We plan to give you skills and techniques, which are very practical for everyday application. Stress management, How to get a 1st, Components of Happiness.
How many of you would say that you think deeply about life? So there are many people who are like that but have no forums, or means to share their thoughts in real life. For instance, we may think about life from different perspectives, but not everyone thinks this way, so we may not bring anything up in conversation. Psena is about you as an individual, your own answers and feelings, there's no uniform.


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St. Louis County Library (SLCL) is a library system that serves residents of St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. It is the busiest public library in Missouri, circulating more than 12 million items in 2011. It consists of 20 branches, including the Headquarters branch, which is located at 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd in Ladue, Missouri.

St. Louis County Library is supported by the St. Louis County Library District, which includes most of St. Louis County. SLCL has reciprocal borrowing agreements with most of the other libraries in St. Louis County, as well as with the St. Louis Public Library and the St. Charles City-County Library. In 2018 the library joined the MOBIUS and Prospector loan systems.

The St. Louis County Library District is governed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of five members appointed by the County Council based on a recommendation of the County Executive. The Board of trustees is responsible for selecting and appointing a Library Director. The Director is the chief executive officer of the Library and is responsible for the execution of the orders and policies adopted by the Board. Information concerning the establishment and governance of the Library District can be found in Chapter 182 of the Missouri State Statutes.

History
The St. Louis County Library District was established as a political subdivision of the State of Missouri with taxing authority by an election held in April 1946. The first library building opened in 1947 and was quickly followed by two branch locations. The 1960s saw an additional four branches, including a new headquarters building and the first of many building expansions. This building boom resulted in the construction of branches throughout the 523 square miles of the county. A tax levy passed in 1973 allowed the library to add 12 branches to the system, bringing the total number of branch locations to 20.

In 2020, St. Louis County Library announced that it will no longer charge fines on late materials. Patrons will still be required to pay for lost or damaged materials. In 2021, it was announced that St. Louis County Library and St. Louis City Library will begin sharing an Integrated Library System the following year. The integrated system will make it possible for patrons of both libraries to check out or view materials from either library. Patrons will not require a new library card.

Collections & Services
Items available to borrow include books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, video games, binoculars, laptops (along with WiFi hotspots), fishing equipment, musical instruments, projectors, and telescopes. Patrons also have access to various online resources, downloadable eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, and some web streaming content (movies and TV).

The loan period for all materials is 14 days, except for Inter-Library Loans (21 days), MOBIUS Books (28 days), and MOBIUS Audiovisual (AV) equipment (10 days).

In addition to books and other library materials, SLCL offers free programs and services including computer classes, small business assistance, job help, storytimes, STEM programming, summer and winter reading clubs, individualized help, and more. Individual branches offer a variety of programs as well as public computers, meeting spaces, free public WiFi, fax services, printing, document, and book scanning.

St. Louis County Library is a part of MOBIUS—a partnership of libraries providing patrons with access to over 60 million items from academic, special, and public libraries. Patrons can request MOBIUS materials through the MOBIUS online catalog with delivery to their local branch in less than five days.

Borrowing Limits
There a maximum number of each type of item a patron can have checked out at one time. The limits are:

 100 books
 Combined total of 25 CDs (Music and Audiobooks) and Playaways
 25 DVDs
 Combined total of 5 Fishing Kits, Musical Instruments, Telescopes, and Wi-Fi Hotspots
 1 pair of Binoculars
 2 video games
 1 portable Projector
 5 Inter-Library Loans (of any type)
 10 materials checked out from MOBIUS

The total limit of materials (of any type) checked out at any one time is 100.

History & Genealogy Department

Founded in 1998, History & Genealogy at St. Louis County library features a research collection of over 95,000 print volumes, 850 periodical titles, and over 40,000 microfilms. History & Genealogy's collection offers unique genealogical and historical sources emphasizing the St. Louis Metropolitan area, the state of Missouri, and states and foreign countries that fed migration into Missouri. History & Genealogy offers access to substantial holdings for Atlantic states, the Northwest Territory, the Louisiana Purchase, and sources for Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France, and the British Isles. At its core are the collections of the St. Louis County Library and the St. Louis Genealogical Society.

In 2002, History & Genealogy at St. Louis County Library became the official home of the National Genealogical Society Collection, which includes over 30,000 items available for circulation or by inter-library loan. Other collections have followed including the William C.E. and Bessie Becker Collection (German, Swiss, British Isles), the Lewis Bunker Rohrbach Collection (Atlantic States, British Isles, Swiss), the Joy A. Reisinger Collection (French Canadian, Northwest Territory), the Julius K. Hunter and Friends African American Collection, the Mary Berthold Reference Collection, and the St. Louis Jewish Genealogical Society Collection.

History & Genealogy's equipment includes microfilm reader-printers, over-head book scanner, photocopiers, wi-fi, and free access to genealogical and historical research databases. History & Genealogy publishes the monthly newsletter PastPorts in support of historical and genealogical research. History & Genealogy is located at the Headquarters Branch and is open seven days per week. Groups and tours are welcomed by appointment.

Branches

References

External links

St. Louis County Library website
St. Louis County Library catalog
Map of branches
Libraries.org | https://librarytechnology.org/library/3062

Public libraries in Missouri
Buildings and structures in St. Louis County, Missouri
Education in St. Louis County, Missouri
1947 establishments in Missouri

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Fast forward to 2018. Netflix has grown to 125M global members enjoying 140M+ hours of viewing per day. We've invested significantly in improving the development and operations story for our engineering teams. Along the way we've experimented with many approaches to building and operating our services. We'd like to share one approach, including its pros and cons, that is relatively common within Netflix. We hope that sharing our experiences inspires others to debate the alternatives and learn from our journey.
Edge Engineering is responsible for the first layer of AWS services that must be up for Netflix streaming to work. In the past, Edge Engineering had ops-focused teams and SRE specialists who owned the deploy+operate+support parts of the software life cycle. Releasing a new feature meant devs coordinating with the ops team on things like metrics, alerts, and capacity considerations, and then handing off code for the ops team to deploy and operate. To be effective at running the code and supporting partners, the ops teams needed ongoing training on new features and bug fixes. The primary upside of having a separate ops team was less developer interrupts when things were going well.
When things didn't go well, the costs added up. Communication and knowledge transfers between devs and ops/SREs were lossy, requiring additional round trips to debug problems or answer partner questions. Deployment problems had a higher time-to-detect and time-to-resolve due to the ops teams having less direct knowledge of the changes being deployed. The gap between code complete and deployed was much longer than today, with releases happening on the order of weeks rather than days. Feedback went from ops, who directly experienced pains such as lack of alerting/monitoring or performance issues and increased latencies, to devs, who were hearing about those problems second-hand.
To improve on this, Edge Engineering experimented with a hybrid model where devs could push code themselves when needed, and also were responsible for off-hours production issues and support requests. This improved the feedback and learning cycles for developers. But, having only partial responsibility left gaps. For example, even though devs could do their own deployments and debug pipeline breakages, they would often defer to the ops release specialist. For the ops-focused people, they were motivated to do the day to day work but found it hard to prioritize automation so that others didn't need to rely on them.
In search of a better way, we took a step back and decided to start from first principles. What were we trying to accomplish and why weren't we being successful?
These specialized roles create efficiencies within each segment while potentially creating inefficiencies across the entire life cycle. Specialists develop expertise in a focused area and optimize what's needed for that area. They get more effective at solving their piece of the puzzle. But software requires the entire life cycle to deliver value to customers. Having teams of specialists who each own a slice of the life cycle can create silos that slow down end-to-end progress. Grouping differing specialists together into one team can reduce silos, but having different people do each role adds communication overhead, introduces bottlenecks, and inhibits the effectiveness of feedback loops.
"Operate what you build" puts the devops principles in action by having the team that develops a system also be responsible for operating and supporting that system. Distributing this responsibility to each development team, rather than externalizing it, creates direct feedback loops and aligns incentives. Teams that feel operational pain are empowered to remediate the pain by changing their system design or code; they are responsible and accountable for both functions. Each development team owns deployment issues, performance bugs, capacity planning, alerting gaps, partner support, and so on.
Ownership of the full development life cycle adds significantly to what software developers are expected to do. Tooling that simplifies and automates common development needs helps to balance this out. For example, if software developers are expected to manage rollbacks of their services, rich tooling is needed that can both detect and alert them of the problems as well as to aid in the rollback.
Empowered with these tools in hand, development teams can focus on solving problems within their specific product domain. As additional tooling needs arise, centralized teams assess whether the needs are common across multiple dev teams. When they are, collaborations ensue. Sometimes these local needs are too specific to warrant centralized investment. In that case the development team decides if their need is important enough for them to solve on their own.
Balancing local versus central investment in similar problems is one of the toughest aspects of our approach. In our experience the benefits of finding novel solutions to developer needs are worth the risk of multiple groups creating parallel solutions that will need to converge down the road. Communication and alignment are the keys to success. By starting well-aligned on the needs and how common they are likely to be, we can better match the investment to the benefits to dev teams across Netflix.
By combining all of these ideas together, we arrived at a model where a development team, equipped with amazing developer productivity tools, is responsible for the full software life cycle: design, development, test, deploy, operate, and support.
Full cycle developers are expected to be knowledgeable and effective in all areas of the software life cycle. For many new-to-Netflix developers, this means ramping up on areas they haven't focused on before. We run dev bootcamps and other forms of ongoing training to impart this knowledge and build up these skills. Knowledge is necessary but not sufficient; easy-to-use tools for deployment pipelines (e.g., Spinnaker) and monitoring (e.g., Atlas) are also needed for effective full cycle ownership.
Full cycle developers apply engineering discipline to all areas of the life cycle. They evaluate problems from a developer perspective and ask questions like "how can I automate what is needed to operate this system?" and "what self-service tool will enable my partners to answer their questions without needing me to be involved?" This helps our teams scale by favoring systems-focused rather than humans-focused thinking and automation over manual approaches.
Moving to a full cycle developer model requires a mindset shift. Some developers view design+development, and sometimes testing, as the primary way that they create value. This leads to the anti-pattern of viewing operations as a distraction, favoring short term fixes to operational and support issues so that they can get back to their "real job". But the "real job" of full cycle developers is to use their software development expertise to solve problems across the full life cycle. A full cycle developer thinks and acts like an SWE, SDET, and SRE. At times they create software that solves business problems, at other times they write test cases for that, and still other times they automate operational aspects of that system.
For this model to succeed, teams must be committed to the value it brings and be cognizant of the costs. Teams need to be staffed appropriately with enough headroom to manage builds and deployments, handle production issues, and respond to partner support requests. Time needs to be devoted to training. Tools need to be leveraged and invested in. Partnerships need to be fostered with centralized teams to create reusable components and solutions. All areas of the life cycle need to be considered during planning and retrospectives. Investments like automating alert responses and building self-service partner support tools need to be prioritized alongside business projects. With appropriate staffing, prioritization, and partnerships, teams can be successful at operating what they build. Without these, teams risk overload and burnout.
To apply this model outside of Netflix, adaptations are necessary. The common problems across your dev teams are likely similar — from the need for continuous delivery pipelines, monitoring/observability, and so on. But many companies won't have the staffing to invest in centralized teams like at Netflix, nor will they need the complexity that Netflix's scale requires. Netflix's tools are often open source, and it may be compelling to try them as a first pass. However, other open source and SaaS solutions to these problems can meet most companies needs. Start with analysis of the potential value and count the costs, followed by the mindset-shift. Evaluate what you need and be mindful of bringing in the least complexity necessary.
The tech industry has a wide range of ways to solve development and operations needs (see devops topologies for an extensive list). The full cycle model described here is common at Netflix, but has its downsides. Knowing the trade-offs before choosing a model can increase the chance of success.
With the full cycle model, priority is given to a larger area of ownership and effectiveness in those broader domains through tools. Breadth requires both interest and aptitude in a diverse range of technologies. Some developers prefer focusing on becoming world class experts in a narrow field and our industry needs those types of specialists for some areas. For those experts, the need to be broad, with reasonable depth in each area, may be uncomfortable and sometimes unfulfilling. Some at Netflix prefer to be in an area that needs deep expertise without requiring ongoing breadth and we support them in finding those roles; others enjoy and welcome the broader responsibilities.
In our experience with building and operating cloud-based systems, we've seen effectiveness with developers who value the breadth that owning the full cycle requires. But that breadth increases each developer's cognitive load and means a team will balance more priorities every week than if they just focused on one area. We mitigate this by having an on-call rotation where developers take turns handling the deployment + operations + support responsibilities. When done well, that creates space for the others to do the focused, flow-state type work. When not done well, teams devolve into everyone jumping in on high-interrupt work like production issues, which can lead to burnout.
Tooling and automation help to scale expertise, but no tool will solve every problem in the developer productivity and operations space. Netflix has a "paved road" set of tools and practices that are formally supported by centralized teams. We don't mandate adoption of those paved roads but encourage adoption by ensuring that development and operations using those technologies is a far better experience than not using them. The downside of our approach is that the ideal of "every team using every feature in every tool for their most important needs" is near impossible to achieve. Realizing the returns on investment for our centralized teams' solutions requires effort, alignment, and ongoing adaptations.
The path from 2012 to today has been full of experiments, learning, and adaptations. Edge Engineering, whose earlier experiences motivated finding a better model, is actively applying the full cycle developer model today. Deployments are routine and frequent, canaries take hours instead of days, and developers can quickly research issues and make changes rather than bouncing the responsibilities across teams. Other groups are seeing similar benefits. However, we're cognizant that we got here by applying and learning from alternate approaches. We expect tomorrow's needs to motivate further evolution.
All such roads lead to the same destination: a job assembling, analyzing and interpreting large data sets to look for information of interest or value.
Data science encompasses "Big Data," data analytics, business intelligence and more. Data science is becoming a vital discipline in IT because it enables businesses to extract value about the many kinds and large amounts of data they collect in doing whatever it is that they do. For those who do business with customers, it lets them learn more about those customers.
For those who maintain a supply chain, it helps them to understand more and better ways to request, acquire and manage supply components. For those who follow (or try to anticipate) markets – such as financials, commodities, employment and so forth – it helps them construct more accurate and insightful models for such things. The applications for data science are limited only by our ability to conceive of uses to which data may be put – limitless, in other words.
In fact, no matter where you look for data, if large amounts of information are routinely collected and stored, data science can play a role. It can probably find something useful or interesting to say about such collections, if those who examine them can frame and process the right kinds of queries against that data. That's what explains the increasing and ongoing value of data science for most companies and organizations, since all of them routinely collect and maintain various kinds of data nowadays.
The basic foundation for a long-lived career in IT for anybody getting started is to pursue a bachelor's degree in something computing related. This usually means a degree in computer science, management information systems (MIS), computer engineering, informatics or something similar. Plenty of people transition in from other fields, to be sure, but the more math and science under one's belt when making that transition, the easier that adjustment will be. Given projected shortages of IT workers, especially in high demand subject areas – which not only include data science, but also networking, security, software development, IT architecture and its various specialty areas, virtualization, and more – it's hard to go wrong with this kind of career start.
For data scientists, a strong mathematics background, particularly in statistics and analysis, is strongly recommended, if not outright required. This goes along naturally with an equally strong academic foundation in computing. Those willing to slog through to a master's or Ph.D. before entering the workforce may find data science a particularly appealing and remunerative field of study when that slog comes to its end. If so, they can also jump directly into mid- or expert/senior level career steps, respectively.
If data science is a long-term goal, the more experience one has in working with data, the better. Traditional paths into data science may start directly in that field, though many IT professionals also cross over from programming, analyst or database positions.
Much of the focus in data science comes from working with so-called "unstructured data" – a term used to describe collections of information usually stored outside a database such as large agglomerations of event or security logs, e-mail messages, customer feedback responses, other text repositories and so forth. Thus, many IT pros find it useful to dig into technologies such as NoSQL and data platforms such as Hadoop, Cloudera and MongoDB. That's because working with unstructured data is an increasingly large part of what data scientists do. Early-stage career IT pros will usually wind up focusing on programming for big data environments, or working under the direction of more senior staff to groom and prepare big data sets for further interrogation and analysis.
At this early stage of one's career, exposure to text-oriented programming and basic pattern-matching or query formulation is a must, along with a strong and expanding base of coding, testing and code maintenance experience. Development of basic soft skills in oral and written communications is a good idea, as is some exposure to basic business intelligence and analysis principles and practices. This leads directly into the early-career certifications mentioned in the next section.
Data science is a big subject area, so by the time you've spent three to five years in the workforce and have started to zero-in on a career path, you'll also start narrowing in on one or more data science specialties and platforms. These include areas such as big data programming, analysis, business intelligence and more. Any or all of them can put you into a front-line data science job of some kind, even as you narrow your focus on the job.
This is the career stage at which you'll develop increasing technical skills and knowledge, as you also start to gain more seniority and responsibility among your peers. Soft skills become more important mid-career as well, because you'll have to start drawing on your abilities to communicate with and lead or guide others (primarily on technical subjects related to data science and its outputs or results) during this career phase.
This is a time for professional growth and specialization. That's why there is a much broader array of topics and areas to consider as one digs deeper into data science to develop more focused and intense technical skills and knowledge. Data science-related certifications can really help with this but will require some careful research and consideration. Thus, for example, one person might decide to dig into certifications related to a particular big data platform or toolset – such as the Certified Analytics Professional, MongoDB, Dell/EMC, Microsoft, Oracle or SAS.
This is a point at which one might choose to specialize more in big data programming for Hadoop, Cloudera or MongoDB on the one hand, or in running analyses and interpreting results from specific big data sets on the other. Cloudera covers most of these bases all by itself, which makes its offerings worth checking out: among many other certifications, they have Data Scientist, Data Engineer, Spark and Hadoop Developer and Administrator for Apache Hadoop credentials. There are dozens of Big Data certifications available today, with more coming online all the time, so you'll have to follow your technical interests and proclivities to learn more about which ones are right for you.
After 10 or more years in the workforce, it's time to get serious about data science/Big Data. This is the point at which most IT professionals start reaching for higher rungs on the job role and responsibilities ladder.
Jobs with such titles as senior data analyst, senior business intelligence analyst, senior data scientist, big data platform specialist (where you can plug in the name of your chosen platform in searching for opportunities), senior big data developer, and so forth, represent the kinds of positions that data science pros are likely to occupy at the point on the career ladder. Expert or senior level IT pros will often be spearheading project teams of varying sizes by this point on the career line as well, even if their jobs don't carry a specific management title or overt management responsibilities. This means that soft skills are even more important with an increasing emphasis on leadership and vision, along with skills in people and project management, plus oral and written communications.
This is the career step at which one typically climbs near or to the top of most technical certification ladders. Many of these credentials – such as the SAS "Advanced Analytics" credentials (four at present) – actually include the term "advanced" or "expert" in their certification monikers.
The SAS Institute and Dell/EMC, in particular, have rich and deep certification programs, with various opportunities for interested data scientists or Big Data folks to specialize and develop their skills and knowledge. Database platform vendors, such as Oracle, IBM and Microsoft are also starting to recognize the potential and importance of Big Data and are adding related elements to their certification programs all the time. Because this field is still relatively young and new cert programs are still coming online, the shape of the high end of the cert landscape for Big Data is very much a work in progress.
Whatever Big Data platform or specialty you choose to pursue, this is the career stage where deep understanding of the principals and practices in the field and an understanding of their business impact and value must begin to combine. It is also where people must focus on their soft skills at the highest level, because senior data scientists or Big Data experts must be able to lead teams of high-level individuals in the organizations they serve, including top executives, high-level managers, and other technical experts and consultants. As you might expect, this kind of work is as much about soft skills in communication and leadership as it is about in-depth technical knowledge and ability.
Continuing Education: Master's or PhD?
Depending on where you are in terms of work experience, family situation and finances, it may be worth considering a master's degree with a focus on data science or some other aspect of Big Data as a profound developmental step for career development. For most working adults, this will mean getting into a part-time or online advanced degree program.
Many such programs are available, but you'll want to consider the name recognition value and the cost of those offerings when choosing a degree plan to pursue. If pursued later in life (after one's 20s), a Ph.D. is probably only attainable for someone with strong interests in research or teaching. That means a Ph.D. is not an option for most readers unless they plan and budget for a lengthy interruption in their working lives (most doctorate programs require full-time attendance on campus, and take from three to six years to complete).
With proper education, certification, planning and experience, working as a data scientist, or in some other Big Data role, is an achievable goal. It will take at least three to five years for entry-level IT professionals to work their way into such a position (less for those with more experience or an advanced degree in the field), but it's a job that offers high pay and one that is expected to stay in high demand for the foreseeable future. Because the amount of data stored in the world is only increasing year over year, this appears to be a good specialty area in IT that's long on opportunity and growth potential.


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Tag Archives: Aboitiz
Economy, Privatization
"Growth" for big business, at the people's expense
January 8, 2013 Arnold PadillaAboitiz, Ayala, BPO, Cojuangco, Lopez, OFWs, Pangilinan, PPP Leave a comment
The Ayala and Pangilinan groups team up in a bid to bag the ₱60-billion LRT 1 privatization project, so far the biggest PPP initiative of the Aquino administration. San Miguel Corp. of presidential uncle Danding Cojuangco is also bidding for the contract. These groups, which enjoy close ties with Aquino, have made a fortune by cornering privatization deals that burden the people with high user fees. (Photo from www.ppp.gov.ph)
Read first part
Structural issues
With the rapid and steady decline of the domestic labor market, labor export has further intensified under Aquino who deploys an average of 1.58 million OFWs a year, a significant jump from the 1 million during Arroyo's term. If you stretch the comparison to the 1980s, the country is exporting about 3-4 times more OFWs today. In addition, OFW deployment relative to the number of domestically employed workers has steadily increased through the years – from just 2.9% in 2001 to 4.5% in 2011 – indicating the deepening reliance on labor export of the Philippines.
Their remittances (which for the first time breached the $20-billion mark in 2011 and as of September 2012 is reported at $15.57 billion but expected by the World Bank to reach a new record high of $24 billion for the full year) have been keeping the economy afloat in the past three decades by providing means for domestic consumption and payments for our import-dependent production (trade deficit stood at $6.8 billion as of October) and massive foreign debt (pegged at $61.72 billion as of September, which is also the quick and straight answer to one of the favorite 2012 highlights of the administration – the Philippines supposedly being a creditor nation).
In fact, while exports and FDI inflows have increased this year, OFW remittances, the third largest in the world behind remittances from Chinese and Mexican migrant workers, remained the single largest source of dollars for the economy. In the past 10 years, annual OFW remittances are almost 90 times the size of net FDI while the trade balance, as in previous decades, remained perennially in the red, meaning that the neocolonial import-export sector continues to take out invaluable resources from the country, while others in the region like Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore are posting trade surplus of between $25 to $43 billion. Like neocolonial trade, labor export actually takes away more from the economy than the remittances it brings as highly-skilled and trained Filipino workers render their productivity to foreign economies instead of ours. The social costs of labor export such as disintegrating families, issues left unmeasured by statistics, should not be ignored as well.
While actually symptomatic of the permanent and structural crisis that forever besets the Philippines, labor export and remittances drive "growth" as measured by the GDP. This is perhaps one of the biggest anomalies of our maldevelopment. The surprising third quarter expansion, for instance, was mainly driven among others by the 24.3% growth in construction gross value-added (GVA) and 24.8% growth in construction expenditure as record-breaking inflows of remittances fuel demand for residential property. The so-called real estate boom is also being pushed by the BPO sector that according to industry insiders has been driving up demand for new office space which is expected to hit a record 400,000 to half a million square meters this year, or an increase of as much as 25% from 2011.
Like labor export, growth stimulated by BPO is an aberration because its predominance in economic production is actually indicative of the country's continuing failure to develop and industrialize. Both are the results of the domestic economy's longstanding structural inability to generate sustainable and productive jobs from vibrant local industries including the manufacture of consumer and industrial goods and modernized agriculture. Without a national industrialization plan, we are forced to rely on what the US and other rich countries require us to do for their advanced economies, whether as production workers in their global assembly lines and factories or as call center agents to service the various needs of their clients. Certainly, they do create some (low-paying, insecure) jobs but just enough to meet their needs while the jobs generated are totally detached from our own development needs.
Furthermore, the so-called resilience amid the global crisis is not because the economy is internally-driven by sustainable, job-generating domestic industries but because our main drivers of growth – BPO and labor export – are precisely useful cost-cutting schemes for the crisis-hit economies of the First World to cope with the economic crunch. In other words, we may continue to "grow" amid the global crisis, but at the great expense of our workers who will be forced to accept further exploitative arrangements in the form of more depressed wages and lack of social protection whether as an irregular call center agent here or an undocumented migrant worker in the US.
At our expense
"Growth" indeed has been at our expense. Not only is the supposed growth not creating enough jobs, it is also being pushed by skyrocketing costs of basic needs and vital economic services. At current prices, electricity, gas and water grew the second fastest in the third quarter among all major industries, just behind construction as the year as usual saw the regular rate increases in privatized electricity and water. While this meant additional burden for the public, it meant more profits for the private corporations that control them.
The nine-month profits of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), for instance, increased by 7.9% to ₱12.89 billion, which the company expects to hit ₱16 billion for the full-year. Similarly, In the first nine months of 2012, Maynilad Water Services Inc. has amassed more than ₱5 billion in profits (13% higher than last year) while Manila Water Co. has raked in ₱3.9 billion in profits (26% higher than last year). Due to the never-ending surges in user fees, Manila already has the most expensive electricity rates and the fifth most expensive water rates among major Asian cities.
These utilities are controlled by the country's richest clans and individuals who are closely associated with Aquino such as presidential uncle Danding Cojuangco and political supporters Manny Pangilinan and the Ayala family. Aside from electricity and water utilities, they also control other key infrastructure such as toll roads, telecoms and power generation. Together with other close Aquino allies like the Lopezes, Aboitizes and Consunjis, among others, these groups have positioned themselves to further expand their business empire through Aquino's PPP scheme.
The Ayalas have already bagged the ₱1.96-billion Daang Hari – Slex Link Road project earlier this year; Pangilinan/Ayalas, Cojuangco's San Miguel Corp. and the Consunjis are all vying for the ₱60-billion LRT 1 extension and privatization project, which is also tied to government's adamant plan to raise LRT/MRT fares by next year; even hospitals are not spared such as the ₱5.6-billion privatization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center which Pangilinan is eyeing to add to his growing list of hospitals.
The much ballyhooed credit rating upgrades are also being achieved at the people's expense. Credit rating agencies cite the fiscal reforms being undertaken by Aquino that tame the national budget deficit. This includes, among others, raising government fees and imposing new charges through Administrative Order (AO) No. 31 and imposing more taxes like the newly-signed Sin Tax Law to generate additional revenues. Most of these revenues, however, will go to debt servicing as Aquino needs to gain favorable reviews from creditors and credit rating agencies.
Since Aquino took over up to September this year, government has already shelled out ₱1.59 trillion for debt servicing, equivalent to 70.2% of total revenues and 53.3% of total expenditures plus principal amortization. For comparison, debt servicing under Arroyo was equivalent to 65.8% of revenues and 41.5% of expenditures. These belie claims that the national budget under the Aquino administration is now being redirected towards social services to empower and benefit the poor. The expenditure program from 2011 to the recently signed ₱2-trillion 2013 national budget shows that the budget for debt servicing (including principal amortization) is equivalent to an average of 2.5 times that of the budget for education; 6.4 times, health; and 11.2 times, housing.
For elite interests
While the Aquino administration is harping on good governance as being behind the supposed drastic economic turnaround, much of the so-called reforms it is undertaking – with substantial backing from the US government and multilateral institutions like the World Bank – have been more about protecting elite and big business interests and less about curbing big-time systemic corruption or democratizing government. The reforms are all about creating a more conducive atmosphere for investors, i.e. stable and predictable policy environment, less business risks and reduced costs, etc. to reinforce liberalization, deregulation and privatization. The false assumption is that when business is thriving, the people will ultimately benefit through more jobs and income opportunities and improved living conditions. But clearly, this is not happening as the gains from a supposedly expanding economy have remained monopolized by a handful of big local businessmen and their foreign partners and funders.
On top of promoting the interests of big business, the good governance rhetoric is also being used to advance the agenda of the Aquino clique of the political elite. The successful ouster of Renato Corona as Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice and the appointment of Ma. Lourdes Sereneo, for instance, were more about the consolidation of the political power of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) than making Mrs. Arroyo accountable. Executive hegemony over government branches that formulate policies (Congress) and review the legality of such policies (Judiciary) makes an even more ideal political setting to push for retrogressive economic programs that promote certain big business interests.
In the run-up to the 2013 midterm polls, the LP further heightened their political consolidation under the guise of daang matuwid. Aquino appointed Grace Padaca to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) while LP President and 2016 presidential wannabe Mar Roxas is leading the campaign to unseat non-LP governors in the vote-rich provinces of Cebu and Pangasinan through his powerful post as Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). The LP is obviously laying the groundwork for their prolonged rule and continued imposition of their brand of elite governance and economics beyond the 2016 term of Aquino.
However, contradictions will surely heighten as the crisis gripping the great majority of Filipinos intensifies. The deception of good governance is good economics and the popularity of Aquino will certainly reach their threshold if joblessness, poverty and hunger continued to deteriorate. The significant 12-point drop in Aquino's latest satisfaction rating despite the scorching speed of GDP growth could be a portent of things to come. ###
Power lords
July 11, 2011 Arnold PadillaAboitiz, Cojuangco, Electricity rates, Epira, Lopez, PPP, San Miguel Corp. 3 Comments
San Miguel Corporation cornered 41.3 percent of privatized generating plants and IPP contracts in terms of capacity (Photo from allvoices.com)
(Continued from Part 2)
The restructuring of the power industry under EPIRA facilitated the creation of new private monopolies that lord over not only the distribution but also the generation of electricity. The dominant position of these monopolies, controlled by billionaires in Forbes' list of richest Filipinos and their foreign partners, is bound to further intensify under Aquino's public-private partnership (PPP) program.
Privatized power plants and IPP contracts
Out of the 7,665.88 megawatts (MW) in capacity of privatized generating plants and IPP contracts, Danding Cojuangco's San Miguel Corporation (SMC) cornered 41.3 percent while the Aboitiz group bagged 28.5 percent. Other major buyers include the Consunjis (7.8 percent) and the Lopezes (7.4 percent). American firm AES Corporation accounted for a significant 7.8 percent. South Korean companies SPC Power and K-Water have a combined 5.8 percent. (It includes the Angat hydropower plant that was put on-hold by the Supreme Court.) Five companies accounted for the remaining 1.4 percent.
The costs of these transactions total $6.69 billion. SMC accounted for 35.9 percent of the said amount; Aboitiz, 30.2 percent; AES Corp., 13.9 percent; K-Water, 6.6 percent; Lopez, 5.7 percent; Consunji, 5.4 percent; and others, 2.3 percent. (See Table 1)
In terms of overall generating capacity, the restructured Philippine power sector is now dominated by just three companies – San Miguel Power Corporation (20 percent), Lopez-owned First Gen Corporation (17 percent), and the Aboitiz group (15 percent).
Government through NAPOCOR and PSALM has 30 percent. (See Chart 4) SMC's rise as a major player in the power industry is truly phenomenal considering that it has only started venturing in the industry in 2008.
These are the same groups that also control the biggest distribution utilities (DUs) in the country. SMC and the Lopez group, for example, control MERALCO with 27 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively. (Manny Pangilinan's Metro Pacific controls 45 percent.) MERALCO is the largest DU in the Philippines with a franchise area covering 24.7 million (about 25% of the national population) in 31 cities and 80 municipalities. It serves Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, and Cavite as well as parts of Laguna, Quezon, Batangas, and Pampanga.
The Aboitiz group, on the other hand, controls the second and third largest DUs – the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) and Davao Light and Power Company. VECO serves Metro Cebu covering four cities and four municipalities. Meanwhile, Davao Light serves Davao City and Panabo City as well as three municipalities in Davao del Norte. Aside from these DUs, the Aboitiz group also controls Cotabato Light and Power Company, San Fernando Electric Light and Power Company, and the DUs serving the Subic Freeport zone, Mactan export processing zone, and the West Cebu industrial park.
SM tycoon Henry Sy has taken advantage of the EPIRA as well. His One Taipan Holdings (30 percent), State Grid of China (40 percent), and Calaca High Power Corporation (30 percent) control the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). NGCP holds a 25-year concession agreement (CA) with government to operate the country's transmission system beginning in January 2009.
No transparency or competition
Cross-ownership in distribution and generation, which EPIRA allows, makes claims by advocates of neoliberal power restructuring about transparency and competition in pricing an outright lie. EPIRA's unbundling of rates, for example, is practically meaningless even if a consumer can see in his or her monthly bill how much he is paying for generation and distribution. Market abuse is not prevented even if rates are unbundled due to cross-ownership. This has been clearly illustrated in the operation of the EPIRA-created Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
The WESM, which has been operating in Luzon since 2006, is meant to among others "provide and maintain a fair and level playing field for suppliers and buyers of electricity". But cross-ownership negates whatever benefits that the WESM is supposed to offer. The intention of the WESM is to make rates more competitive by offering prices other than those set in the bilateral contracts. EPIRA even capped at 50 percent the power requirements that DUs can source from their own generators and the rest they must get from other IPPs and the WESM.
However, the WESM itself is dominated by the same generators that are related with the DUs. IPPs connected with MERALCO, for instance, account for 42.6 percent (SMC with 24.8 percent and Lopez, including Quezon Power, 17.8 percent) of the 11,652-MW capacity registered at the WESM. The Aboitiz group, meanwhile, comprises 13.1 percent. The huge shares of these groups to the WESM-registered capacity make the spot market vulnerable to manipulation and speculation. Case in point was early last year when the price of electricity at the WESM reached an unbelievable P68 per kWh at one point during the height of the El Niño.
The high WESM prices have been blamed by MERALCO for the monthly increases in its generation charge last year. The latest adjustment in MERALCO's generation charge worth 51 centavos per kWh, announced last Tuesday, is again being blamed at the high increases in the WESM, where rates jumped by P1.89 per kWh. MERALCO IPPs, on the other hand, increased their rates by a smaller 16.2 centavos per kWh.
Energy insecurity
Finally, the country's energy security has remained precarious under EPIRA. The rotating brownouts experienced in different parts of the country last year is a tell-tale sign that the power crisis has not been resolved by privatization. In Mindanao, for example, the power shortage reached as high as 700 MW in March 2010 that led to rotating brownouts of as long as 8 hours daily. Government quickly blamed the El Nño because Mindanao gets more than half of its power supply from hydroelectric plants.
But apparently, the deeper issue is not drought but government neglect. During the Aquino administration, for instance, Mindanao's power mix was 75 percent hydro while peak demand was 800 MW, according to a former NAPOCOR president. In 2010, DOE data show that hydro accounted for a relatively smaller 51.8 percent of installed capacity in Mindanao while peak demand was 1,288 MW. Thus, the El Niño could not be solely blamed for the shortage since no significant additional capacity has been put in the region. This should have been the job of government but because of EPIRA, it focused on selling the assets of NAPOCOR instead of installing additional capacity.
Even Luzon was not spared from rotating brownouts during last year's El Niño. Aggravating the low levels in Luzon's major dams were the uncoordinated shutdowns implemented by privately controlled power plants. They include SMC generation plants Sual and Limay as well as the Lopez plants that use natural gas from Malampaya. The power supply shortfall reached 641 MW, which could have been easily offset by Luzon's excess capacity and thus avoid the rotating brownouts. But because EPIRA has dissolved government's role in ensuring power supply, there is no mechanism in place to fill the gap resulting from plant shutdowns.
Ten years is enough
Its proponents argue that EPIRA must be given a chance to work because once fully implemented, the country will surely reap its promised benefits. They cite the impending implementation of the so-called open access and retail competition. Under this system, power consumers will have the opportunity to choose their suppliers. But then again, the industry has already been monopolized by a few players making the supposed option to choose an illusion.
For its part, the Aquino administration and its allies in Congress have worked for the amendment of EPIRA to extend the so-called lifeline subsidy. But it still does not address the exorbitant and rising electricity rates that Filipino consumers are forced to shoulder. Besides, the subsidy is being paid for by other consumers and does not come from the pocket of MERALCO or government.
Ten years of EPIRA is enough. Its defects could not be corrected by simple cosmetic amendments. It is fundamentally wrong to allow the narrow profit agenda of private companies and banks to take over a sector as strategic as the power industry.
EPIRA has resulted in the doubling of power rates and intensification of private monopolies. At the same time, it failed to address the financial problems of NAPOCOR and the country's energy security. Only NAPOCOR's creditors and private local and foreign companies have benefitted from power restructuring. For these reasons, there is a clear and urgent need for our policy makers to seriously rethink the law and work for its repeal. (END)
Read Part 1 – 10 years of EPIRA: what went wrong? and Part 2 – The curious case of NAPOCOR debts
Also read The role of foreign lenders, investment banks, and credit rating agencies in Philippine power sector reform


WIll Richard Branson take off in SpaceShipTwo this year?
It emerged this week that SpaceX has postponed a much-vaunted tourist trip around the moon from this year to late 2019 at the earliest for two extremely high-paying, but unnamed, passengers.
So what to make of Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson's latest declaration, that he is just "month's away, not years" from finally venturing into space aboard SpaceShipTwo, the company's eight-seat suborbital spaceplane.


Batavia, New York - Genesee Community College is pleased to announce another exciting Job Fair with over 50 companies expected on Thursday, April 5, 2018 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the College's centrally located William Stuart Forum. Genesee's Career Services Center continues to solicit businesses from all types of industries to join the popular, two-hour event that introduces potential new employees to employers, and also provides businesses an opportunity to present their trade and services to the local community. The event is free to employers and attendees. Employers must register; job seekers are not required to register prior to the event but must sign-in upon arrival. Potential new employees are encouraged to dress for success, and bring their current resume.
For more information, visit: http://www.genesee.edu/career/events/. For a detailed listing of job opportunities by employer, please email a request for the list to career@genesee.edu.


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Weekend Movie Update – Aug. 2, 2013: Smurf's Up
The Smurfs return to the big screen this week for another smurfy adventure, while Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg fire their Guns and The Pioneer gets Despicable.
Here's your Outer Banks Movie Update for this extended holiday weekend of August 2, 2013!
The Smurfs return in a very smurfy sequel.
Steve Carell (The 40 Year Old Virgin) returns in the animated sequel Despicable Me 2 (rated PG), starting this Friday at the historic Pioneer Theatre in Manteo for a one week run.
Showtime is 8pm nightly at The Pioneer.
Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig star in 'Despicable Me'.
Also starring Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids), Russell Brand (Forgetting Sarah Marshall), Ken Jeong (The Hangover), and Benjamin Bratt (Catwoman), you watch a trailer for the film in the player below!
Get ready for a smurfing good time when the lovable tiny blue creatures return in the sequel The Smurfs 2 (rated PG), opening today (Wednesday) at R/C KDH Movies 10 in Kill Devil Hills and North Beach Movie Diner in Corolla.
Smurfette meets some new not-so-smurfy friends in 'The Smurfs 2'.
Reuniting Neil Patrick Harris (Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle) and Hank Azaria (Godzilla) with voice talents of pop star Katy Perry as Smurfette, George Lopez (Valentine's Day) as Grouchy, and Jonathan Winters (The Flintstones) as the wise Papa Smurf, you can check out a trailer for the comedy in the player below!
For action junkies, Denzel Washington (Training Day) teams up with Mark Wahlberg (Ted) in the new thriller 2 Guns (rated R), opening Friday in Kill Devil Hills.
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg star in '2 Guns'.
About two undercover agents from competing bureaus who go on the run together after an assignment goes wrong, you can watch the latest theatrical trailer using the player below!
Click on the link below for additional listings and showtimes.
R/C KDH Movies 10
North Beach Movie Diner
Matt Artz was a lead reporter and photographer for 'The Coastland Times' newspaper from 2000 to 2009, and has been published in the Outer Banks Sentinel, North Beach Sun, Outer Banks Milepost, among others, before launching OBX Entertainment, NC Film News, and Halloween Daily News in 2012. Matt and Sue Artz are also the founders of the annual Outer Banks Halloween Parade and the Halloween International Film Festival.
KDH Movies 10 , Kill Devil Hills , Manteo , The Pioneer Theatre


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Benefits include excellent networking opportunities at educational and social events at UK-wide venues, as well as partnering with other specialist organisations.
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Crisis Response Journal is the foremost international publication focusing on response, resilience, continuity and security issues arising from large scale natural and man-made disasters, emergencies and terrorist attacks. CRJ analyses past events to draw vital lessons for the future, while constantly scanning the horizon to identify and help mitigate new threats. In the fourteen years since its launch, CRJ has established itself as the unrivalled quality publication that truly reflects the crisis community's thirst for critical information.
The OA works with both serving and former officers and reservists from across the three Services. Our purpose is to support any officer who has held a commission in the Armed Forces to achieve a fulfilling and sustainable career. We provide financial support and advice to former officers and their dependants. Last year the OA supported over 4450 Service leavers in their transition journey. Visit www.officersassociation.org.uk for further information on the OA.
Counter Terror Business is a specialist quarterly publication distributed to heads of security, intelligence officers, procurement officials and department heads in local and central government. Its target audience includes the Intelligence Services, Police, Home Office, Ministry of Defence, Border Control, Customs, Aviation and Port Authorities, heads of private sector concerns and organisations involved in National Security/ Defence. Regular features include: Counter Terrorism strategies, the latest news from Local / Central Government, Armed Forces and Blue Light Services, CBRN, Terrorism, Fraud, Identity Theft, Emergency Planning, Crisis Management, Specialist Training.
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LONG LET. Modern one bedroom flat on the sixth floor of this quiet residential development with concierge close to the Excel Centre. The property benefits from stylish open-plan living with integrated appliances. Conveniently situated for the Excel Centre and the waters of the Royal Docks where the cable cars can be found. Also easily accessible is the shops, bars and restaurants of Canary Wharf.


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UFC 174 Bonuses – Fighter Payouts for 'Johnson vs. Bagautinov'
Event: UFC 174: Johnson vs. Bagautinov
Date: Sat., Jun. 14, 2014
Venue: Rogers Arena
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
UFC 174 is officially in the books. 'Johnson vs. Bagautinov'-led card took place at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 8 years ago. The eleven-fight-event featured some nice brawls and a handful of nice finishes, punctuated by Demetrious Johnson's Decision (Unanimous) victory over Ali Bagautinov. In the co-main event, Rory MacDonald defeated Tyron Woodley in round 3 by Decision (Unanimous).
You can view UFC 174 results and full fight card.
UFC 174 bonus awards
Performance of the Night is awarded to fighters who put on the most thrilling individual performance.
Let's take a closer look at the official UFC 174 bonus winners below:
There were eleven fights at UFC 174: Johnson vs. Bagautinov, only four athletes received the bonuses. The Performance of the Night bonus went to Tae Hyun Bang and Kiichi Kunimoto, who will be leaving the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada with an extra $50,000. Tae Hyun Bang Vs. Kajan Johnson was awarded the Fight of the Night.
Did you know: Reebok sponsorship pay can range from $3,500 per fight to $40,000, depending on athletes' tenure. This deal ends in March 2021.
UFC 174 fighter payouts
The list of fighter pay from UFC 174:
The total disclosed payroll for UFC 174 event is PENDING.
UFC 174 attendance and gate
There were 13,506 fans inside the Rogers Arena for UFC 174 on June 14. The reported gate for the event is: $1,140,000. The buyrate and viewership data is: 115,000.


Diamond stud earrings are perfect for any occasion, wear day or night. Made of lustrous 18ct white gold these stunning studs are set with a round brilliant cut Diamond, each set in to a four claw setting to show the Diamonds true beauty. With a total carat weight of 0.54ct a colour grading between I-L and a clarity grading of SI2 this beautiful pair of earrings are sure to dazzle.


Stevenage is a town with a population of around 86,000 people lying 28 miles north of London within Hertfordshire. Stevenage was developed as Britain's First New Town in the 1950s to accommodate a growing population, including post-war migration from the bombed-out East End of London. It was planned with a healthy infrastructure and has a number of green open spaces and large parks, and, uniquely for the UK, 45 kilometres of dedicated cycle ways connecting industrial and residential areas. More recently, Stevenage has experienced higher levels of health inequalities when compared to the rest of Hertfordshire, with smoking, obesity levels and mental health issues above national averages. The council is working hard to transform the prospects for the town and is embarking on a £1 billion regeneration programme that it intends will help facilitate health and wellbeing for future generations.
Although it is not mandated with public health responsibilities, Stevenage Borough Council recognised that it has a crucial role to play in improving residents' health through its services, functions and partnerships. As part of its Future Town Future Council programme, it reorganised its structure to provide a greater focus on health by setting up a Business Unit for Communities and Neighbourhoods. The functions within the unit – wellbeing, leisure and culture; community development; and community safety – work closely with Hertfordshire Public Health. Beyond this, the council considers health and wellbeing a key priority for all its functions.
Stevenage has a local health and wellbeing partnership as a thematic group of the local strategic partnership for several years. The transfer of public health brought opportunities to re-energise this, and the Healthy Stevenage Partnership has become a well-attended forum involving the Council, the CCG, local GPs, local NHS providers, the VCSE sector and many other stakeholders. With support from Hertfordshire Public Health, including devolved public health Partnership Funds initially equivalent to £100,000 per year, Stevenage has made good progress on partnership initiatives which have delivered significant local impact.
Although the level of devolved funding has reduced because of cuts to the public health grant, the partners remain committed to working together to make best use of resources. The Healthy Stevenage Partnership has developed a Healthy Stevenage Strategy which sets out a vision and priorities for how the Borough Council and its partners will tackle health inequalities up to 2022.
Stevenage 'punches above its weight' in terms of health because it is willing to invest in activities that are beyond its core functions. The council recognises that investment in health and wellbeing now, will reduce the demands on the public sector as a whole in the longer-term. Much has been done already with limited resources, through developing good partnerships and applying for funding from external sources. More investment would enable the council to do more work with communities in an asset-based approach, moving from providing to engaging and co-producing with communities. Other areas in which the council would like to do more include childhood obesity, healthy eating, and mental health and wellbeing.
The strategy was informed by the PHE health profile for Stevenage, supported by Hertfordshire Public Health, and takes account of information from the JSNA, the public health outcomes framework and other sources. The priorities in the strategy are generally areas in which Stevenage ranks significantly worse than the England average on health and socioeconomic factors, and where partners believe they can make the biggest impact by working together.
Priorities include physical activity and tackling obesity in children and adults; mental health and wellbeing; older people's independence; smoking; and health promotion. There is also a focus on health and wellbeing in corporate policies and programmes, such as employment, regeneration and culture. For example, in the cultural strategy, Stevenage Re-Imagined, one of the major aims is to support the development of new arts and health initiatives and programmes, which will include an arts on prescription scheme.
The Healthy Stevenage Strategy provides a comprehensive and ambitious approach to improving health and wellbeing in the town. It has been endorsed by the county council, the local NHS and Hertfordshire and West Essex STP. This is important for the council and its partners who wanted recognition that a plan for Stevenage is needed and that there are opportunities to synergise local level preventative health programmes with the STP's prevention workstream.
A locality board has been established which meets monthly to drive implementation of the strategic vision and priorities and to ensure the alignment of CCG, NHS and borough council priorities wherever possible.
The Healthy Hub provides a one-stop-shop for health and wellbeing information and support located near Stevenage town centre in a previously unused space within Stevenage Arts and Leisure Centre. The Hub was established and is operated by Stevenage Leisure Limited (SLL) working in partnership with the council and a range of local partners including the NHS, Public Health, and a range of VCSE organisations, some of which provide services in the Hub. Health professionals can refer patients through an exercise referral scheme which includes rehabilitation and management of chronic medical conditions. The Hub provides access to specialist equipment such as an anti-gravity treadmill and a functional electrical stimulation bike which have allowed hundreds of people who could not use standard equipment to become active.
Since opening in January 2016 there have been 528 walk-ins, 820 referrals from health professionals, and 12,307 visitors to organisations based in the Hub. 241 people have been referred to other partners and 287 were signposted to community services.
The Healthy Hub has achieved financial stability through increasing the take-up of exercise referral memberships and hiring rooms to partners. This means it can function independent of any future subsidy.
A key aim of this strategy, which is currently out for consultation, is to increase opportunities for walking and cycling, such as making better use of the borough's cycle network, promoting liveable streets and encouraging more short journeys on foot. An example of a healthy transport initiative already underway is Stevenage Cycle Hub which provides led-rides, cycle maintenance, reconditioned bikes and cycle training for children and adults. Future developments will see the provision of improvements to the cycleway infrastructure, including resurfacing, lighting and wayfinding, as well as enhanced cycle parking standards.
A major part of the first phase of the Stevenage regeneration programme involves a £350 million development in the town centre. One of the schemes that will flow from this programme is the Public Sector Hub (PSH). The PSH will create one central location for council, health and community facilities, replacing outdated and isolated services with modern facilities that encourage service integration and provide a one stop shop for the public. Work is also underway to develop a business case for a new build wet and dry leisure facility that will increase the public offer for future generations.
The council has worked across multiple service areas to ensure that encouraging healthy communities is embedded at a strategic level and then becomes a key part of projects as they move towards delivery. Examples include ensuring the protection and enhancement of health, education and leisure/culture facilities in the emerging Local Plan policies and the promoting Hertfordshire's Health and Wellbeing Planning Guidance in discussion with developers. Stevenage has also worked with Hertfordshire Public Health on healthy places principles and is one of the boroughs that submit major developments for a health impact assessment.
A number of interventions have been delivered to address strategic priorities, mostly using devolved funds from Hertfordshire Public Health.
Active Herts provides a one-to-one service to increase physical activity among adults by using behavioural change and motivational interviewing. The service is delivered in partnership with GP surgeries and the local hospital and aims to reach people at risk of developing conditions associated with physical inactivity, including obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.
To date, 590 people have been supported to develop a healthier lifestyle. On average, people participating in Active Herts go on to increase their activity levels to at least 60 minutes a week from a baseline of 0 to 30 minutes. Self-reported health, wellbeing and quality of life outcomes have all increased as a result of increasing physical activity.
In partnership with Stevenage Sporting Futures, the Council delivered the Go 5 project which educates primary school pupils in Year 5 on diet and exercise. Go 5 has reached 922 pupils and 179 parents across 16 settings. Outcomes show that children taking part go on to have a healthier balanced diet, consume less sugary drinks and snacks and choose healthy swaps such as fruit and water. Time spent being physically active has increased and children reported more self-awareness about their health and a greater understanding of food choices.
Mind in Mid Herts has partnered with the Healthy Hub to provide short-term therapeutic interventions to people facing a mental health crisis. The service provides a rapid response to help prevent prolonged or deepening crisis while people wait for further services. Drop-in clinics were set up at the Healthy Hub to allow vulnerable people who may not be accessing services from the Mind Wellbeing Centre due to a lack of knowledge and/or stigma or who may find it difficult to access NHS mental health services in a timely manner via the NHS.
Around 265 people have been supported with rapid response and referred or signposted to appropriate services where needed. Self-reported scores of mental wellbeing improved post-intervention. One hundred professionals from the VCSE sector have had mental health awareness training to help promote the service across the town.
Since January 2018, Stevenage Independent Living Team has provided falls prevention exercise programmes in four housing schemes for older people. Residents have seen significant benefits since taking part, including improved mobility, flexibility and social inclusion. The team has been successful in obtaining further funding to extend the programme to two more schemes. This has helped residents to improve their functional mobility and activities of daily living.
When public health joined local government, it generated interest in Stevenage Borough Council about how we could do more to tackle levels of deprivation and health inequalities in the Borough. We worked with the county council on many initiatives such as tackling obesity and mental health and developing the Healthy Hub. When we started the Hub, we weren't sure how it would work out, but it has turned out to be extremely successful with many groups, including GPs and the third sector, wanting space there.
Stevenage has a strong sense of community and place. With the development of STPs we realised we needed to raise the profile of the borough so that its health and wellbeing role is taken into account in county council and STP discussions about prevention, so we developed our Healthy Stevenage Strategy. We talk regularly with our colleagues in the local NHS and, over time, have developed good relationships, as can be seen in our Healthy Stevenage Partnership. Stevenage has a varied and active third sector whose activities, such as exercise for older people, make a big contribution to health, and who are an important part of our partnership.
Because we feel strongly about the importance of health and wellbeing for our residents we are willing to put in the hard work needed to provide non-statutory services. Some of these can be arranged at very low cost, but to make a comprehensive difference, public health would need to be properly funded so that funding could continue to be used in boroughs and districts.
The contribution of Stevenage and the other boroughs and districts in Hertfordshire to health and wellbeing is invaluable. I view myself as Director of Public Health not just for the county council but for every borough and district, each of which has different needs, priorities and aspirations. Public health in Hertfordshire works hard to foster good relationships with second-tier councils because they present essential opportunities to join up services and shape places.
As well as devolved funding, we provide support in a range of ways, including linked public health staff, and information/advice such as our guidance on public health and the planning process. Stevenage has a strong commitment to improving health and wellbeing and building this into its infrastructure. The Healthy Hub is an excellent example of a communitybased service and I would like to see this sort of model rolled out in the county. There are also plans to build a sexual health clinic in the town centre as part of regeneration plans, bringing this service to an accessible, community setting.
There is a national expectation that local government, including boroughs and districts, will deliver on prevention but little acknowledgement that this requires proper funding. If public health was effectively resourced we would be able to move further and faster with our colleagues and partners to roll out initiatives such as social prescribing, community-based lifestyle services linked with support for wider determinants, healthy streets initiatives, resilience and socialisation in young people and decent housing standards enforced in the private sector.
For a borough council to have a voice in major health and care developments such as the STP, it is helpful to have a clear vision, priorities and plans which demonstrate the borough's contribution to health and wellbeing and how it will work in partnership.
Relentless pursuit of partnerships and using influence and leadership to demonstrate to others what they can gain by working together, are fundamental to taking a place-based approach to improving health.


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27 June Ballot Results
Chris Skidmore MP Lecture
Reduced Library Services
Temporary reduced library services
Image Services Suspended
Suspension of Image Services from April 2019
30 Mar Ballot Results
10 new Fellows elected...
We've elected 10 new Fellows:
William Gibson, MA, PhD, DLitt. Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Oxford Brookes University (widely experienced teacher at all levels; author of ten books on church history in the 'long' 18th century and of numerous articles).
Eljas Oksanen, MA, MPhil, PhD. Independent historian (has a particular interest in commerce in the Middle Ages, notably between England and Flanders; currently undertaking interdisciplinary research on economic growth and travel networks of the period).
Mary Weismantel, BA, PhD. Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Illinois (expert in the archaeology and anthropology of Latin America and beyond; has worked and published extensively on pre-Columbian architecture and material culture).
Richard Stewart, BSc, MSc. Museum manager and mining historian (has published extensively on industrial history, particularly underground mining archaeology; contributor and consultant to TV programmes).
Alastair William Philipson Oswald, BA. Part-time lecturer, University of York (formerly Senior Investigator, English Heritage; specialist in the analysis and survey of earthwork sites and landscapes, particularly of the Neolithic period).
William Shannon, BA, MA, PhD. Independent historical researcher (has published widely on and made major contributions to the landscape, agricultural and cartographic history of England in the early modern period, especially in Lancashire and Cumbria).
Simon Metcalf, MVO, ACR. The Queen's Armourer (responsible for conserving and displaying the Royal Collection of Arms and Armour; has researched, lectured and published widely and organised major conferences).
Neil Ludlow. Archaeological consultant (expert on castle archaeology and the medieval archaeology, history and buildings of Wales; has published extensively, including a masterful book on Carmarthen Castle).
John Evan Bedford. Director and Librarian of the Director, Librarian/Curator/Archivist of the Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History.
Nicholas John Schofield, MA. Priest and archivist of the Archdiocese of Westminster (oversees a collection of major papers from the Reformation onwards; has written widely on English Catholic history).


In the country, or in a small house where the cat has full freedom of the kitchen and back yard, very little attention is required in regard to feeding, as the animal will pick up from the scraps the very diet which it is best for it to have. When cats, however, are kept in closer confinement, and in city houses, more attention must be paid to their food ; for inattention to this is the principal cause of most of the maladies with which they are affected. In the first place, the dishes from which a cat is fed must be absolutely and immaculately clean, and at each fresh feed should be scalded before they are used again. Milk is not only the traditional diet of the cat, but also forms one of the principal articles of food for it. The milk should be perfectly fresh, as sour milk is apt to produce digestive troubles, especially diarrhoea. Sour milk, however, is useful sometimes as an adjunct in the treatment of worms.
While the cat drinks a considerable quantity of milk, it prefers water when it is really thirsty, although it takes only a very small quantity of this. The water, like the milk, should be in an absolutely clean pan. There is a very useful pan which can be found in porcelain at the china-shops, or can be readily made by a tinner consisting of a pan divided in the center by a partition, in which the milk is placed at one side and the fresh water at the other this insures that the water is emptied out each time the milk is replaced, in order to clean the pan and allow it to be perfectly fresh. Bread (preferably stale bread) and the ordinary crackers, water biscuit, or oatmeal biscuit, can be added to the milk. Spratt's Patent has a cake for cats which is very useful for occasional diet.
Oat-meal porridge forms an excellent diet, and vegetables should be given from time to time. Most cats are very fond of asparagus and celery, but will at times eat almost any vegetable. In cases of diarrhoea or looseness a little boiled rice is a good addition to the milk. There seems to be a prejudice on the part of some people against the feeding of meat to cats, which is unwarranted 5 and a cat is better for an occasional feed of meat even once a day in small quantities. They much prefer it raw, and prefer mutton to beef. The traditional cat-meat of the " cat-meat man," which is known so well in England, is made of horse-flesh, and is a wholesome, good food; but the marketing of that is practically unknown in America.
Fish is a very favorite diet with the cat, and can be given from time to time ; but the fish should be perfectly fresh, as all meat ought to be, for putrid meat is much more apt to produce digestive troubles in cats than it does in the other carnivora ; in addition to which, its use by the animal gives it an offensive odor in the house.
In resume, the diet of the cat, with a basis of sweet, fresh milk, can be made up of any of the foregoing articles, if care is only taken to insure the absolute cleanliness of the pans from which the animal is fed, the good condition of the food itself, and that the diet shall be varied. Often when a cat has been kept on one diet steadily for some time it loses its appetite, and appears dumpish, or even ill, when a simple change of food will bring it back to itself at once. Boiled liver is useful once in a week or ten days, or when the cat is a little off its feed, as it acts as a laxative. It is not, however, good diet for regular use.