Several Canadian universities rank among the top schools in the world. The 2013 Times Higher Education World University Report ranked these institutions based on their performance in the areas of research, teaching, the transfer of knowledge from instructors to students, and its level of activity on the international stage.
The five Canadian institutions on the list include: (1) University of Toronto (ranked 20 of 200); (2) The University of British Columbia (ranked 31 of 200); (3) McGill University (ranked 35 of 200); (4) McMaster University (ranked 92 of 200); and, (5) University of Montreal (ranked 106 of 200).
Not only did the University of Toronto rank 20th in the World listings, it is also considered the top university in Canada. The schools rankings are considered to be among schools such as Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Columbia University in New York City, all in the United States, and the United Kingdom's Cambridge and Oxford Universities.
Founded in 1827, the institution's 80,000 students and 18,000 staff and faculty members are spread across three different campuses. These campuses are located in Mississauga, St. George (located in downtown Toronto), and Scarborough. The school also boasts 5 Nobel Prize winners.
The University of British Columbia ranks just outside the top 30 and below the University of Wisconsin at Madison as one of the top institutions in the world. The school has operated since 1908 and has a proud tradition as a leading Canadian research institution. The school has 7 Nobel Laureates and 68 Rhodes scholars.
At number 35, McGill University is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in the country. McGill University was founded in 1821 and has a student population of around 35,000. There are 10 schools across two campuses in Montreal that have helped make McGill a top international destination for both Canadian and non-Canadian students.
Local senator and banker William McMaster, the school's namesake, founded McMaster University in 1887. Twenty-three thousand students attend this prestigious university in six different faculty disciplines. These include Engineering, Social Sciences, Science, Humanities, Health Sciences, and Business. The school also has a graduate program with about 4,000 graduate students.
The University of Montreal completes the list of top Canadian Universities. The school offers degrees from 16 disciplines and two schools affiliated with the university: HEC Montreal and Ecole Polytechnique. With 2,500 faculty members and 64,000 students, the school offers programs on the undergraduate and graduate level, including doctoral programs.
If you are looking to send your child to a Canadian university, these schools are among the best in the world. Paying for college in Canada can be as expensive as it is anywhere else in the world. If you're a student, you may want to try and partly pay off your tuition with Ratesupermarket and their $2,500 scholarship as a great way to fund your Canadian college education. This scholarship, along with other funding, may help ease your way to receiving a top Canadian college education at one of these institutions.


Has electronic brake controller and Contico tool box added.Has a sprayed in bed liner and a rubber bed mat.There is rust in the bed all the way through in places, but cab is fine.
It is hard to shift in 4wd, but I've been told it was the nature of the beast.
I purchased this and a few more AMC vehicles from a RV customer of mine, they were his son's and son died of cancer. I was going to restore myself, but then I had multiple hip surgeries that resulted in me closing my business and retiring early. So selling them one at a time, this is one of them.
It is a nice Jeep.
Please don't bid on this if you can't come to east Tennessee to pick up within two weeks of auction ending. Must pay with CASH or CASHIERS CHECK ONLY! $50.00 deposit (via PayPal) due within 48 hours of auction end.


Today we'd like to introduce you to Julie, one of our kennel staff.
After 25 years of working in a factory, I took a leap of faith and left my job to pursue a passion of working with animals. I've been with Troy Animal Hospital for just over four years now and I love my job! It is something new every day. I work in the kennel area and, if you board your pet, bring them in for basic grooms or they have surgery, I will be one of the people that is taking care of them during their stay. I volunteer for the Eskie Rescuers United (www.eskierescuers.org) as a fosterer and transporter. I live with my husband, Scott, and our four American Eskies and Shelby, the unknown black sheep of the family, four rabbits, a lovebird and Jenna the cat.
Julie truly cares for your pets when they are here and we are very glad to have Julie as a member of our staff!


text:
Q: What is the output type of the 74AHC594? What is the output type of the 74AHC594 IC?
I didn't find the answer in this datasheet. There is stated in some datasheets for the 74594 IC from other manufacturers that the output type is buffered. What does that mean?

A: It is a CMOS output. The specifications are in table 6 in the datasheet:

There is stated in some datasheets for the 74594 IC from other manufacturers that the output type is buffered. What does that mean?

The specifications of 74594 aren't relevant. Those are for the original 74xx logic family, which was a TTL family. Your part is in the AHC family, which is CMOS.
If the part had buffered outputs, that meant it was able to drive or sink more output current than un-buffered parts in the same family.
Note: Your datasheet also covers 74AHCT594, which is a CMOS part with TTL-compatible inputs. If you don't want TTL compatible inputs, don't use this part and don't worry about its specs.

A: Usually, the transistors that are used to perform the actual logic functions on a CMOS logic IC are relatively small. However, these small transistors are not able to quickly change the logic state of the device's physical pin and any wiring capacitance associated with it. So, the internal logic signals are buffered by passing them through a series of inverters where the transistors in the inverters gradually increase in size. Eventually you have an inverter whose transistors are large enough to drive the external pin, so you connect that inverter output to the outside world. As long as you have an even number of inverters in series the internal logic state will be correctly driven onto the external pin.
I would assume that almost any modern logic device would have buffered outputs. In ancient times there were some CD4000 series devices that were available in both buffered and unbuffered versions.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


View Cart "Stagged Wood Wall Hanging" was successfully added to your cart.
Cute apple made from rustic reclaimed pallets. Has a great weathered look to it and would look amazing in yor kithchen or dining room. Ready to hang with rope attached to back. Dimensions: Width 400mm, Height 350mm.
Map of NZ printed on to lighter and thinner reclaimed timber! Has a great silvered weathered look to it, with beautiful beachy blue colours. Complete with string attached to back for ease of hanging on any picture hook.
Beautifully crafted piece of art ready to display in your home, with string attached to the back. Made from reclaimed timber. Dimensions: Height 595mm. Width 430mm.
New Zealand flag rustically painted on vintage timber. A perfectly charming addition for your living room, dining room or bedroom! Ready to hang with rope attached to back. Dimensions: Height 1215mm, width 630mm.


Apple approached ManvsMachine as one of six renowned artists challenged with pushing the iMac Pro to its limits.
We created a base algorithmic structure that served as a blueprint for each form and movement in the film. The CGI architectural structures were covered in high‑resolution photographic textures and embellished using a custom‑designed system that controls the foliage, architectural details, and other nuances. The result is a monolithic structure of massive scale and incredible detail.
A ManvsMachine project. Working as part of the in-house team at ManvsMachine, I was the lead art director on the project — responsible for art direction & concept development.


text:
Dandelion's Dream by Yoko Tanaka
February 29, 2020 ~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment
Summary: A dandelion dreams of becoming a dandy lion and going on many adventures: riding on a train, sailing on a ship, visiting the city. Finally, he rides in a small biplane, where he gets an aerial view of all the city lights. As he watches, the blurry lights transform into puffy dandelions, and he is back in the field. He's gone from yellow to white, and on the last pages, seeds blow from him into the dark sky, forming the shape of a pouncing lion. 40 pages; ages 3-7.
Pros: The illustrations in this wordless picture book have a surreal, dreamy quality, perfect for the story. The story is straightforward and easy to understand, but could easily prompt more discussion, writing, or art.
Cons: I was disappointed that Dandelion didn't fly off the ship on his bird friend's back.
If you would like to buy this book on Amazon, click here.
The Only Woman in the Photo by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Alexandra Bye
February 28, 2020 February 28, 2020 ~ Janet Dawson ~ Leave a comment
Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Summary: Although Frances Perkins was shy growing up, her passion for justice helped her overcome her fears. As a young woman, she moved from Massachusetts to New York City where she became a social worker. Witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire turned her into an activist, and she was hired by former president Theodore Roosevelt to improve workplace safety. She caught the eye of New York governor Al Smith, and moved to work at the state level, eventually working for Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. When Roosevelt became President, he appointed Frances Secretary of Labor, the first female member of a U.S. presidential cabinet. She was instrumental in many New Deal reforms, including Social Security and the federal minimum wage. Roosevelt wouldn't let her resign, so Perkins remained in her position until FDR's death in 1945. Disliking publicity and refusing to write her memoirs, Frances Perkins wasn't always well-known, but her work continues to benefit us to this day. Includes additional information and a list of sources. 48 pages; grades 2-6.
Pros: This lengthy picture book biography of Frances Perkins highlights her work ethic and concern for people in need that led her to work for numerous reforms that have improved lives for almost a century. Alexandra Bye's illustrations enhance the text and nicely weave some of Frances's quotes into the pictures.
Cons: There aren't a lot of dates of places in the text or author's note, and very little is told of Frances's personal life. A timeline, kid-friendly list of resources, and some photos would have made this a more useful research book.
The Imaginaries: Little Scraps of Larger Stories by Emily Winfield Martin
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers
Summary: The artist calls these "illustrations for stories that do not exist". Each painting is accompanied by a sentence or two scribbled on the back of an envelope or other scrap of paper. A monkey holding a key: "Ask the monkey what he knows." A girl sitting by a stream surrounded by animals: "The paradise was different depending on who found it." A mermaid sitting on a rock: "She never told anyone what she saw at the edge of the world." The author finishes with a brief note telling how these works chronicle the process of becoming herself and inviting the reader to join her on her journey. 80 pages; grades 3-7.
Pros: An amazing tool to unlock the imagination. This reminded me of The Mysteries of Harrison Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. Just paging through fires up the imagination; or one could choose one illustration and use it to inspire writing or other art.
Cons: This book definitely defies categorization. It seems like a picture book, but the usual picture book crowd would definitely find it puzzling.
We Had to Be Brave: Escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport by Deborah Hopkinson
Published by Scholastic
Summary: Following Kristallnacht on November 1, 1938, rescuers organized the Kindertransport to get as many Jewish children out of Germany and Austria as they could. About 10,000 children's lives were saved before World War II began in the fall of 1939. This book focuses on three of those children: what their lives were like before Hitler came to power, how changes gradually or suddenly occurred afterward, and how their parents decided to send them away, not knowing if they would ever see them again. In most cases, they did not. Many other children are profiled more briefly. There are quite a few photos, although, sadly, not many pictures of the children or their families have survived. The 80 pages of back matter include brief profiles of survivors, rescuers, and historians; a timeline; a glossary; resources for further exploration; a bibliography; source notes; and an index. 368 pages; grades 6-10, although I'm sure there are fourth and fifth graders who would enjoy this.
Pros: Middle school kids interested in World War II and the Holocaust will find this compelling reading. Deborah Hopkinson really spells out how Nazism took over Germany, and how ordinary people embraced it and turned on their neighbors–a timely lesson for kids to learn. The back matter is pretty amazing, including a lot of oral history resources where kids can hear the voices of the survivors.
Cons: There were so many kids' stories told, I couldn't keep them all straight.
Althea Gibson: The Story of Tennis' Fleet-of-Foot Girl by Megan Reid, illustrated by Laura Freeman
Summary: From a young age, Althea Gibson excelled at all sports. Growing up in Harlem, she didn't know much about the world of tennis, but when she started hanging out at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club (tennis club for black people in her neighborhood), people immediately took notice. She worked at the club in exchange for lessons, and before long she was traveling with the all-black American Tennis Association. But Althea had higher aspirations, and, in 1950, she courageously moved to the all-white world of professional tennis. She lost a lot at first and was not always a gracious loser, but she decided to learn from her defeats, and slowly started moving up the ranks. In 1957 and 1958, she made history with back-to-back Wimbledon wins, opening the door for other black players to compete at the top levels of tennis. Includes an author's note, timeline, and a list of additional resources. 40 pages; grades 1-5.
Pros: An inspiring picture book biography of a natural athlete with a big personality who refused to accept the social norms of her day. The back matter makes it an excellent choice for research–although the author's note only hints at Althea's post-tennis life which sounds pretty interesting.
Cons: Once again, no photos. Here's a woman who lived into the 21st century, for crying out loud, there must be a ton of photographs of her.
Chirp by Kate Messner
February 24, 2020 ~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment
Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books
Summary: Mia is excited to be moving back to Burlington, Vermont, where she hopes she can help save her grandmother's cricket farm. Although Gram is feisty and determined, she's recently had a stroke, and it's beginning to look like someone is trying to sabotage her farm. During summer vacation, Mia gets involved with two day camps: one a place where she can create a business plan to help her grandmother, and the other a camp where kids learn to navigate Ninja Warrior-style obstacles. Mia's not quite up to the obstacles, having suffered a badly broken arm at gymnastics not long ago. As the summer goes on, the reader learns of the sexual harassment by one of the coaches that led to her accident and destroyed her confidence. By summer's end, she's begun to regain some of that confidence by making friends, growing physically stronger, helping Gram, and finally talking to some other women in her life about her gymnastics experience. 240 pages; grades 5-8.
Pros: There seem to be more middle grade novels lately that address the sexual harassment issue, and this one does it with lots of other fun plot lines, including a pretty good mystery.
Cons: The story seemed a bit too agenda-driven; it would have been nice to see some strong, sympathetic male characters as well as the many female ones.
Such a Good Boy by Marianna Coppo
Summary: Buzz is a dog who lives in a beautiful house, with healthy food to eat, and daily walks. He always stays on his leash, does his business where he is supposed to, and doesn't interact with the less well-behaved dogs at the park. He is such a good boy. But sometimes Buzz feels the pressure of living up to his well-bred ancestors, and he occasionally finds himself wishing he were someone else. One day, after being cooped up for a whole rainy week, Buzz throws himself into a puddle. His horrified owner immediately takes him to the Good Boy pet groomer. Buzz is cleaned up again, but his taste of freedom has changed him. While his owner pays, Buzz sneaks out the door and heads back to the park, where he does all the things that have always been forbidden to him. On the way out, he sees lost dog posters everywhere with his face on them. "Uh-oh! Buzz should have known this wouldn't last…Or will it?" 48 pages; grades K-2.
Pros: So much to think about in this seemingly simple book. Will Buzz return to his home or embrace freedom? This could start some discussions about what makes pets (and people) happy. Pair it with Peter Brown's Mr. Tiger Goes Wild for a story hour filled with existential soul searching.
Cons: Kids might be disturbed that the well-cared-for dog doesn't want to return home.
Snail Crossing by Corey R. Tabor
Summary: When Snail sees some delectable cabbage on the other side of the road, he's determined to make the perilous journey to get to it. He slowly moves into the path of an oncoming car, but that proves less of a deterrent than a bunch of impatient ants who yell at Snail to get out of the way. When rain starts falling, Snail invites them all into his shell for tea, and they become friends. Continuing the journey, Snail is dismayed to discover that he's turned himself around and is right back where he started. His new friends save the day, though, and on the last page, everyone gathers for cabbage soup inside the shell.
Pros: A cute story of friendship and the benefits of being kind to others–even those who may not be so nice initially.
Cons: That shell seems like it's a lot bigger on the inside than the outside.
Honeybee: The Busy Life of Apis Mellifera by Candace Fleming, illustrated by Eric Rohmann
February 21, 2020 February 22, 2020 ~ Janet Dawson ~ 1 Comment
Published by Neal Porter Books
Summary: A new worker bee pushes her way out of her cell on the pages before the title page. Apis Mellifera, or Apis for short, she gives new meaning to the phrase "busy as a bee" as she cleans up the hive, feeds the larvae, cares for the queen, and builds and protects the hive. Finally, on day 25 of her life, she is ready to fly to the fields, where she spends the next ten days collecting nectar from 30,000 flowers before her life is over. As she falls to the ground, back in the next, a new Apis Mellifera emerges from a cell. Includes a detailed diagram of a bee's anatomy; additional information about bees and how to help them; and additional books and websites for further research. 40 pages; grades 1-5.
Pros: The award-winning team that brought you Giant Squid has created another marvelous nonfiction book. The poetic text, amazingly lifelike illustrations, and extensive back matter make this an outstanding resource for research or reading for enjoyment.
Cons: I started getting impatient for Apis to fly already.
Real Pigeons Fight Crime by Andrew McDonald, illustrated by Ben Wood
February 20, 2020 ~ Janet Dawson ~ 2 Comments
Summary: Rock Pigeon lives on a farm, where he loves disguising himself as various plants and animals. One day an old pigeon named Grandpouter comes for a visit. Turns out he's starting a squad of crime-fighting pigeons and is looking for a master of disguise. Rock's not sure he wants to go live in the city, but Grandpouter convinces him to try it out for one case. In the city, Rock meets the rest of the squad, and they get to work solving the mystery of why all the breadcrumbs have disappeared from the local park. Cracking that case convinces Rock that he belongs with the Real Pigeons, and the squad successfully solves two more mysteries by the end of the book. Includes a page of facts about real-life pigeons and a promotion for the next two books in the series. 202 pages; grades 2-5.
Pros: Fans of series like The Bad Guys, Inspector Flytrap, and, of course, Dog Man will enjoy this new graphic series that uses the same goofy sense of humor in both the story and the illustrations.
Cons: I had a bit of trouble keeping the different pigeons straight. Guess I prefer the different species featured in The Bad Guys.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
French Foreign Policy Under Le Pen? Think U-turn
By Lisa Bryant
Marine Le Pen, French National Front political party leader and candidate for French 2017 presidential elections, speaks at a news conference in Paris, France, Feb. 23, 2017.
PARIS - French far-right presidential front-runner Marine Le Pen offered a preview this week of what France's foreign policy might look like if she is elected. She canceled a meeting with a top cleric in Lebanon over demands she wear a headscarf, and rejected the European Union, NATO and global trade deals in a keynote speech in Paris that favored an independent, France-first course.
"French policy will be decided in Paris," she said Thursday, addressing a packed audience in a conference hall near the Champs Elysees. "No ally, no treaty, no alliance will decide policy in its place."
Le Pen is running ahead in the polls despite being dogged by allegations of misusing EU funds. While many surveys find her winning the first round of voting in April, she is widely predicted to lose the May runoff vote. Yet in an election season marked by unpredictability and upsets, analysts are cautious about placing their bets, and mainstream EU leaders are tracking the popularity of Le Pen and other European nationalists with alarm.
'A respect of culture and peoples'
In her speech, the 48-year-old National Front party head lambasted past EU and U.S. foreign policy for errors in the Middle East and toward Russia, and outlined a new French relationship with Africa free of meddling "but not indifferent."
"I don't want to promote a French or Western system," she said. "I don't want to promote a universal system, but to the contrary, I want to promote a respect of culture and peoples."
While Le Pen has been largely shunned by many in the EU, she got red-carpet treatment in Lebanon earlier this week, where she meet with the country's Christian President Michel Aoun and Sunni Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who warned her against confounding Islam with terrorism.
But she pointedly canceled a meeting with Lebanon's grand mufti after refusing to wear a headscarf for the event, although his office said she had been told beforehand it was required.
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, center, leaves Dar al-Fatwa building, the headquarters of the Sunni Mufti, after she refused to wear a head scarf to meet with Lebanon's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian, in Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 21, 2017.
While Le Pen's tough stance on radical Islam, immigration and dual citizenship might put off many Arab countries, she might find common ground in the fight against terror, said Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, Paris office head of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
In a 2015 visit to Cairo, for example, she praised President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi for his fight against extremism, and "got a kind of official treatment by Egyptian authorities," Lafont Rapnouil noted.
Champion of 'oppressed people'
Le Pen's discourse Thursday, touching on the Middle East, Africa and the United States, offered a stark counterpoint to her National Front's more abrasive grassroots image as an anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, populist party. She described France as a champion of "oppressed people, which speaks out for the voiceless and carries something powerful and great."
She took no questions and continued calmly after a bare-chested Femen protester sought to interrupt her remarks before being carried, still shouting, out of the room.
Yet much of Le Pen's discourse was thin on specifics. She called for environmental security without defining it, and did not address key issues like whether France would stick to the Iran nuclear agreement under her leadership or to a two-state solution in the Middle East peace process.
"If you don't pay attention to the details and just listen to the rhetoric, it sounds very French, very classical legalism," Lafont Rapnouil said of Le Pen's traditional discourse. "If you pay a bit more attention, it's a clear departure from the kind of mainstream foreign policy followed by France since the Cold War."
Like Le Pen, other presidential candidates are trying to bolster their international profile. Former economy minister Emmanuel Macron, who is running as an independent, met with British Prime Minister Theresa May during a visit to London this week, where he delivered a pro-EU message.
FILE - Supporters of French presidential candidate
FILE - Supporters of French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron hold placards as he speaks during a campagin rally in Lyon, central France, Feb. 4, 2017. Macron is among Le Pen's challengers.
Former front-runner Francois Fillon, now battling a fake-jobs scandal, briefly met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel late last year in Brussels, according to reports.
EU bashing
Both candidates support remaining in the EU. Le Pen, by contrast, is sharply against the bloc, vowing to renegotiate France's membership if elected and hold a 'Frexit' referendum if that fails. Adding to European concerns, far-right Dutch candidate Geert Wilders, another EU basher, is similarly coasting in the polls ahead of March elections in the Netherlands.
"The European Union is not the solution, it's the problem," Le Pen said Thursday.
"It will be a very difficult and cold relationship" with other European leaders if Le Pen becomes president, said analyst Philippe Moreau Defarges of the Paris-based French Institute for International Relations. "Of course, Mrs. Merkel or Theresa May will receive Mrs. Le Pen as head of state, but it will be a big European crisis, an earthquake, if she's elected."
Le Pen had kinder words for U.S. President Donald Trump whose November victory she praised early on and described as a harbinger of her own.
After sharply criticizing the Obama White House, she predicted the Trump administration represented "almost a change of software that will not only be positive for the world, but positive for the United States."
Like Trump, Le Pen has embraced nationalist, law-and-order policies and a crackdown on immigration. She is also skeptical of multilateral institutions and trade agreements. But experts caution not to draw easy parallels.
Unlike the U.S. president, Le Pen has been in politics for years, holding both local office and a seat in the European parliament.
"I think she's more prepared and classical in terms of institutions than Trump so far seems to be," Lafont Rapnouil says.
Not business as usual
Still, he predicts a Le Pen presidency would be tumultuous, and realizing her promises like getting France out of the Schengen passport-free travel zone or the European Union would be challenging.
French conservative Francois Fillon holds a press
French conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon holds a press conference at his campaign headquarters in Paris, France, Feb. 6, 2017. Fillon, too, will be competing against Le Pen.
"On another level, most of her proposals would raise legal questions," he added, that would likely end up in French and European courts. "This would not be business as usual, for sure."
On defense, Le Pen reiterated her distaste for NATO, instead calling for a policy based on French national interests, and demanding a spending hike to two percent of GDP, increased to 3 percent by the end of her five-year term.
On the Middle East, she called for rapprochement with the Syrian government and Russia in the fight against Islamist terrorism, saying Moscow had been badly treated both by Europe and by previous U.S. administrations.
France's Macron Raises Curtain on Election Alliance to Beat Le Pen
France's presidential race took a new turn on Thursday as independent Emmanuel Macron raised the curtain on a partnership with veteran centrist Francois Bayrou to help him beat the far-right's Marine Le Pen."Political times have changed. We cannot continue as before. The National Front is at the gates of power. It plays on fear," Macron said, referring to Le Pen's once-shunned party.Opinion polls appeared to show the 39-year-old Macron, a political novice who has never…
Socialist Minister Might Back Centrist in French Presidential Election
A senior Socialist minister said Tuesday that he might back centrist Emmanuel Macron in France's presidential election, which could help Macron as he battles to maintain his campaign's momentum.The pronouncement by Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll came as opinion polls pictured a multicandidate race in which far-right leader Marine Le Pen was holding on to recent gains, keeping debt and foreign exchange markets on edge.Two polls showed ex-banker Macron neck and neck…
French Far-Right Chief says Assad Solution to Syria Crisis
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen on Monday called Syrian President Bashar Assad "the most reassuring solution for France," a major divergence with her nation's official policy. Le Pen, head of the anti-immigration National Front, spoke after meetings with Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri. They were among numerous officials, including the Christian Maronite patriarch, that Le Pen was meeting on her…
Lisa Bryant
How Does Climate Affect Credit?
Sources: EU Nations Can Restrict High-Risk Vendors Under New 5G Guidelines
In Britain, Trying to Help Children Vulnerable to Drugs, Gangs
Top Judge Elected as Greece's First Female President
With Inequality Rising, Does the World Really Need Billionaires?


Girls don't just run the world these days, we're running all over it and doing it together! Women make up nearly two thirds of travelers, and 39% of us have girls' getaways in the pipeline. Yet as budgets and vacation days tighten, jetting off to fabulous locales with all your besties on the holiday of a lifetime can feel like nothing more than a fantasy – and that's why there's never been a better time to take a road trip.
Making up well over a third of American 'stay-cations', the classic driving adventure removes the hassle of airport lines, puts all the control in your hands, and is the perfect way to see all the ridiculously vibrant landscapes and cultures our very own 50 States have to offer. Taking to the black top on your next girls' getaway is also ideal for maximizing quality bonding time, and can prove to be so much more meaningful and memorable than any overseas resort.
All of us have had that daydream of just getting in the car and seeing where the road takes you. In the real world though, knowing where you're going is key as it both gives you structure and room for spontaneity. There are plenty of splendid places for weekend getaways, and bracketing your road trip around a weekend destination not only maximizes your vacation time but provides opportunity for that resort-style relaxation or big city partying you and your girls may be craving. The sheer number of amazing attractions, sights, and lookouts along American roads can also be incredibly daunting, so having a destination in mind also narrows your parameters and minimises disheartening detours.
On road trips, the journey itself can be its own destination, so it's imperative you've got the right wheels. Britney may have done it in a convertible in the golden days of 2002, but these days, a popular road tripping vehicle is the pickup truck. Not only are they a little hardier and far safer, they're very practical for driving adventures. Roomy cabs give you all the personal space and comfort you need, spacious truck beds provide superb storage (no bags on laps or straddling suitcases here), while their elevated height and panoramic views are perfect for 'gramming the journey. Last but certainly not least, pickups effectively let you go anywhere you please – whether there's a road or not – making your adventure all but limitless.
With these essentials sorted, all that's left is to summon the squad, blast an epic soundtrack of sing-along classics, and you're good to go to have the best girls' getaway yet!


text:
HomeE-NewsFrance Agrees to Return Stolen African Artwork to Benin
France Agrees to Return Stolen African Artwork to Benin
26 pieces of artwork stolen from West Africa during the colonial era will be returned to their country of origin.
According to a report from the BBC, French President, Emmanuel Macron, has ordered the thrones and statues, currently on display in France's Quai Branly Museum, to be sent back to Benin "without delay." The pieces were taken during a colonial war against The Kingdom of Dahomey in 1892 that effectively dissolved the West African nation after nearly three centuries of sovereignty.
Macron's statement reflects the recommendation of a commissioned panel of experts, and arrives years after Benin formally requested the return of the artworks. It's a step in the right direction, no doubt, and it appears that Benin's "pleased" by this "new form of cultural exchange," per Ousmane Aledji, director of Benin's Artisttik Africa. However, the same report found that most of the museum's Africa exhibition — amounting to roughly 46,000 pieces — was acquired with "some degree of duress."
So there's still a long way to go, and as Diane Abbott, noted on Twitter, "all eyes turn to The British Museum," where priceless bronzes plundered by The Brits during an 1897 imperial expedition remain over a century after Benin City's destruction, and nearly 60 years after Nigeria's independence from Britain. Nigeria is currently negotiating for their return on loan, according to a report from The Independent.


text:
Home / Products / Die Antwoord – Ten$ion
Zef Recordz
Die Antwoord – Ten$ion
A TAV Curator's Pick.
Ten$ion, originally released in 2012, is the second studio album by South African hip-hop/rave group Die Antwoord.
"Die Antwoord (pronounced [di ˈɐntvoərt], Afrikaans for "The Answer") is a South African rap-rave group formed in Cape Town in 2008. The group was formed by rappers Ninja and Yolandi Visser (often stylized as Vi$$er) and DJ Hi-Tek. Die Antwoord's image is based on a counterculture movement known as zef in South Africa, and incorporated elements of the work of photographer Roger Ballen.
Die Antwoord released their debut album, $O$ (2009), online for free and attracted international attention for their music video for "Enter the Ninja". After briefly signing with Interscope Records, in 2011 they founded their own label Zef Recordz, and released their second and third studio albums, Ten$Ion (2012) and Donker Mag (2014).
Die Antwoord's musical and visual style incorporates elements of a "zef" culture, described as modern and trashy, appropriating out-of-date, discarded cultural elements. Yo-Landi said, "It's associated with people who soup their cars up and rock gold and shit. Zef is, you're poor but you're fancy. You're poor but you're sexy, you've got style." Their lyrics are performed in Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English." - Wiki
Ten$ion
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 150 Gram
This reissue: 2015 | Original issue: 2012
Hip Hop, Electronica
DWT703121


text:
Q: How to fix XHR error using Wavesufer.js on Android external file system with Cordova So I'm trying to load a local file into a wavesufer.js waveform. It works totally fine loading files from the device storage on iOS, but I cannot for the life of me get this to work on Android.
According to the Chrome debugger, the GET request is successful, but an "XHR error" is then returned, and the file is not loaded. I've tried many workarounds to no avail. Any help is appreciated.
 if(this.platform.is('android')){
          correctedPath = this.file.externalRootDirectory + 'test.3gp';
          this.wavesurfer.load(correctedPath);

}

Please note, the file is verified to be at that location, and is playable with the cordova media plugin. I've also tried this without the file tags in the url. This above code works when the file is placed in the www/assets folder and is loaded from there.


Do you live in PLANET EARTH?
Have you heard of the UNITED NATIONS?
If you answered yes, at least once, THIS IS FOR YOU.
How to be a responsible fashion consumer?
How is fashion related to the United Nations?
How to buy and wear clothes sustainably?


After my last exploration went sour, I decided to do some more up-front research before diving into Hapi.js. In addition to the resources on Hapijs.com, I spent a lot of time googling for best practices. While there are a lot of blog posts and tutorials on using Hapi, there do not appear to be any standards around how applications are organized.
The only open source projects related to boilerplates I found had few stars on GitHub and haven't received updates in the past year. So the basic assumption from here on out is that I'm going this alone.
For the skeleton test, I'm not going to worry about any automation, which means I'm putting off the Grunt vs Gulp debate. So far the documentation for Grunt is way better than Gulp, even though the chaining in Gulp is nicer. I don't have a ton of things to automate, so this is low priority for now.
A brief interlude to explain why just calling JSON.stringify does not scale. This project is starting out small, but as I continue to add features I expect my models to get larger over time. Generally this is the case with software. As the models get larger, I want to have fine-grained control over how they are sent over the wire. Why? There are several reasons. As any project grows, the need to nest models also grows (sorry but REST doesn't scale). When sending the same object in multiple API requests, it should be sent consistently. A templating system, especially one that supports partials, assures this is the case.
Also I am primarily a mobile developer and I know my hypothetical users live in a semi-connected world. They will not always have 5 bars of LTE, so I need to be conscious of how much data is being sent over the wire. The likely problematic model will be Photos, which will always be sent in a list. If that model ends up having more than ~20 properties, when it is in a list I probably don't want to send the full object.
Let me make this next point very clear: Not sending the full model in a list is both a UX and technical decision. This will mean when a user wants to look at the details of a Photo, another request will have to be made, increasing the time for the screen to be finished loading. There is a point at which this tradeoff becomes worth it. I don't know exactly where that is, or if this project will reach it, but I most certainly don't want to have to put off solving this problem when it could have a significant impact to the rest of the project (especially when barely any libraries exist with this functionality!).
I found several packages that support JSON template creation. At first I did look at some of the more popular HTML templating frameworks, like dust and mustache, but found that they were too HTML-focused for my needs. After a significant amount of searching, I found 3 libraries: Kale, JSONPath-object-transform, and Hapi JSON View. The first two haven't been updated in a year, so that does not bode well. The last one is both Hapi specific and extremely new. I'm going to live on the edge and use that one.
Now that I have that all sorted, it's time to get Hapi up and running. As for setup, I ended up following most of this blog post. It walks through all the different files created and CLI tools, which was useful since this is all new to me. Of course I created my models and business logic instead of the one listed.
One snag I ran into with sequelize-cli is I wasn't aware of the defaults it added. For instance, I want id and created_at on the Group model. I ran the command node_modules/.bin/sequelize model:create --name Group --attributes id:integer,name:string,created_at:date. But when I looked at the migration that generated, well there was already both id and createdAt. Shouldn't two columns with the same name throw an error? Apparently not. So I removed my additions and learned to not add those fields in the future.
And then came the infamous many-to-many relationship. Sequelize will automatically create a join table for me of I let it, but I need meta-information about those memberships so I need to create the model myself. Thankfully I read the docs and saw the important If you want additional attributes in your join table, you can define a model for the join table in sequelize, before you define the association. I hadn't done any migrations with the user/group relationship due to not having updated the development DB to sqlite yet. This ended up going smoothly.
And for my package-happy friends at this point there are 297 packages in the node_modules folder. This I do not like, but that's more of a problem with the JS stdlib than anything else IMO. I also said I'd ignore the grunt vs gulp debate, but auto loading the server is kind of awesome. So I added in a single gulp task to restart the server when a file changes on disk. Clock time so far: 1.5 hours, which is less than the partial Padrino skeleton by 30 mins!
Next week's post will go into creating the controllers, and dealing with all sorts of issues with packages in Node.


Firms today are no longer asking if they should embrace the cloud, but instead, they're asking how. The early concerns arising circa 2010 regarding security, reliability and privacy of hosted data have been largely quieted by the vast improvement in cloud technology. Two heavyweights in the cloud platform market are obviously Amazon Web Services (AWS), which gained a huge advantage by being first to market, and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The Google vs. AWS cloud comparison is a common topic among organizations looking to leverage the benefits of the cloud, so we've decided to explore the strengths, key workloads, costs and customer insights for both platforms below.
The term "cloud" no longer refers exclusively to cost savings or outsourced hosting. The new paradigm (Cloud 2.0) changes how things are done, but not where they are done, allowing the IT organization to act as a strategic enabler. Given the constant innovation happening surrounding the cloud, these new methods of building and deploying in the cloud will continue to overtake less progressive offerings.
The key workloads that GCP excels are developer-centric applications, high compute workloads like data analytics, petabyte scale data processing, and burst computing, and its scalability which allows for building a full application without restriction at no cost. Due to Google's global infrastructure, its scaling is the fastest on the market according to Gigaom.
When deployed correctly, applications can be 10-100x less expensive than on traditional infrastructure, as reported by SADA Systems in the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, technology developed at Google—like BigTable, BigQuery, Kubernetes, AppEngine and Hadoop—are currently defining cloud developments. As Google has been innovating and refining cloud technology for over a decade, what the public is gaining access to now is simply the visible manifestation of that previous innovation. Additionally, entities like YouTube and Google.com required Google to build a strong worldwide physical presence, resulting in a significant advantage for GCP customers.
The sheer scale of Google contributes to an unparalleled level of pricing flexibility. Google has also continuously stated that it will remain strictly adherent to Moore's Law of Pricing, and as such, releasing regular price cuts when applicable. Due to AppEngine alone, the cost of running most web applications can be dramatically more cost efficient than with the competition.
Amazon Web Services provides a centralized place to run applications as they existed in the past. It is also solid for SMB use for administrative tasks—it offers a shared drive, a central workstation for running accounting reports, and there's a significant Windows presence in this space. It can also be relied upon for running a website (though not a web app), running Hadoop and similar applications, and for storage and backup.
AWS remains a popular option because it is familiar—it offers familiar processes in a data center or colocation, allows users to connect to systems using tools and protocols familiar to their enterprise, and it is comfortable for early cloud adopters to test. It also offers a significant cost savings over running comparable workloads on physical or wholly owned computing assets, while additionally being more cost-effective than some other public cloud vendors. AWS is also managed so users can sleep at night.
With AWS, the cloud pricing strategy changes on a regular basis. It was first in the space and thus, essentially set the standard for "public cloud". At present, most workloads cost more on AWS than on GCP.
Cloud pricing is typically pay-as-you-go, which can pose challenges for traditional IT budgets. GCP and AWS offer differences in purchasing, however. GCP offers a "sustained use discount" wherein at the end of each month, greater VM usage results in a greater percent discount being applied. A pricing calculator is used to estimate costs, and there is not pre-commitment required. AWS offers Reserved Instances (RI), which allows users to pre-commit to a year or more of usage for a lower fixed cost.
GCP is focusing on key strengths: high compute, containerization (developer focus), a NoOps environment and extremely low pricing. AWS is growing its capacity to maintain market position or it has to have a real concern that it could lose position to more specialized vendors. It will continue to retain its customers due to its existing reach as long as it can keep up with innovation in the market.
If you're interested in learning more about how the Google Cloud Platform might impact your business, sign up for a free Google Cloud Platform Assessment below.


text:
Sitochroa är ett släkte av fjärilar som beskrevs av Hübner 1825. Enligt Catalogue of Life ingår Sitochroa i familjen Crambidae, men enligt Dyntaxa är tillhörigheten istället familjen mott.

Kladogram enligt Catalogue of Life och Dyntaxa:

Bildgalleri

Källor

Externa länkar

Fjärilar
Sitochroa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Courts Granted Temporarily Release of Rosmah's Passport For Her To Visit Pregnant Daughter in SG
By JS Lee
NewsCourts Granted Temporarily Release of Rosmah's Passport For Her To Visit Pregnant...
The High Court in Shah Alam has recently approved the former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's application to have his passport temporarily released so that he can go for back pain treatment in Munich, Germany.
Today (15 October), the Kuala Lumpur High Court has approved the temporary release of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor's passport for her to travel to Singapore to visit her pregnant daughter.
According to Berita Harian, Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan approved the application with the condition that Rosmah can only travel to Singapore and must return the passport on or before 6 December 2021.
Source: The Star
He added that Rosmah can only leave for Singapore on 22 October and must return to Malaysia by 21 November.
"The court allowed the applicant's application and passport to be returned on 15 October (today)." he added.
Source: FMT
Earlier, Rosmah's lawyer, Datuk Jagjit Singh told the court that Rosmah's daughter, Nooryana Najwa, was 8 months pregnant and would be giving birth to her second child in Singapore. Hence, she had applied for her passport to be temporarily released.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Public Prosecutor, Mohamad Mustaffa P Kunyalam did not oppose to the application but said that the applicant must not interrupt the trial date and apply a set timeline.
Rosmah is facing corruption charges linked to the solar panel project for Sarawak schools and her trial will resume on 21 October and will continue on 8 December after her return.
Rosmah is accused of soliciting RM187.5 million and two charges of accepting a bribe of RM6.5 million from Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd managing director, Saidi Abang Samsudin, in connection with the solar energy project through his former aide, Datuk Rizal Mansor.
In return, she will be helping Jepak Holdings to procure the Hybrid Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System Integrated Project as well as Genset/Diesel Maintenance and Operation for 369 rural schools in Sarawak, which is said to worth RM1.25 billion from the Ministry of Education through direct negotiations.
MySejahtera now allows you to Export and Print Your Covid-19 Vaccine...
YouTube Warns Creators Of New Monetization Policy That Demonetize Low Quality...
King tide phenomenon sweeps over 100 costal houses in Sandakan, displacing...


Remember this invite I bought on Etsy for Hazel's sunshine party? I wanted to show you how I added a few of my own touches to add a little DIY flair. It is something you can do for any store-bought invite to make them a little more special.
Here is what the invite looked like with a few extra touches.
I had held onto a number of these vellum envelopes (called "pochettes") since I used them with my wedding invites 7 years ago. See, I knew I would have a use for them someday! They were the perfect size for the 5×7 invites.
I also remembered that Stella had a sun stamp which I thought would make a cute enclosure. I stamped it onto some round adhesive labels I had already purchased from Paper Source to use on the medallions I made for the party.
After the party, I 'upcycled' some of the sun confetti leftover from the party to dress up some blue notecards I already had on hand. Ideally, the cards would have been orange or yellow to go better with the party's colors scheme, but I was trying to be thrifty!
Had I received it in time, I could have used this confetti as an enclosure for the invite instead of the stamp. There are so many little things you can do to make an invite a little more special… next time you are sending one out take a pass through your craft box first to see what you could do to jazz them up!
Sweet post. I love your ideas. My faves are the vellum envelope and the sunny stamp. Too cute!


What sets me apart, is that aside from writing job winning resumes, I have been writing job descriptions, posting employment ads posted through print and online media , and interviewing job seekers, for more than two decades, for "countless" jobs I am a full-time, highly professional medical writer who never misses a deadline. While at UCLA I ran the monthly grand rounds clinical conference series, so am completely comfortable with a variety of medical fields and terminology.
As an experienced copy writer and editor, I take great satisfaction in bringing measurable results to my clients. My work has taught me efficiency, resourcefulness, flexibility of style, and the ability to meet tight deadlines without sacrificing quality. I specialize in SEO optimization, business to business, blog posts, website copy, and entertainment-related content. To view samples of my work, please visit my portfolio at the link provided. I offer the following services: Balance will be deducted from due amount in the end or pay you the difference.
The balance will be due two weeks prior to your event. My availability depends on the service. I am freelance proof-reader, copyeditor, and webcontent writer. I have been writing and blogging for since I have been a writer since before I can remember!! I loved English class - even grammar! I hold an MA in English and worked as an instructor for college level courses.
I have since created my own business in Creative Arts Therapies which includes silk art, counseling and writing and editing. Answer a few questions Tell us what you need so we can bring you the right pros. Get quotes Receive quotes from pros who meet your needs. Hire the right pro Compare quotes, message pros, and hire when ready.
Studied in Mexico until 9th grade. Start a similar project. We make the process easy with convenient phone and email service. In addition, we identify engineering relevancy to key business functions…. We have the expertise to showcase these strengths…. Our resume writers have years of experience crafting high impact trades resumes. In addition, we have in-depth understanding of red seal and other certifications to create a winning resume for you….
We have wide-ranging experience and skill with resume preparation for those seeking employment within social services fields, including government, non profit and private opportunities…. Our staff are experts in writing resumes for all customer service fields.
We understand that your work may involve representing the organization itself. Your new resume will demonstrate this…. He delivered a top-notch resume in a timely manner. Additionally, he took the time to get to know my objectives and me. Therefore, producing a product that was tailored and specific to my skills and experience. Jack also has a great sense of humor and made the process fun. I highly recommend Jack for your resume needs. He understood key terms used within my industry as well as the qualities companies look for in a candidate.
I was very impressed with the resume as it accurately highlighted and bridged my my skills sets. Jack did a wonderful job and I strongly recommend his service at any point in your career! He responded quickly to my questions and requests, and has helped me in my job searches.
His price was also very good. Wolf Communications on several occasions now and he continues to deliver a professionally written resume that demands attention and most of all he is a people person, he makes you feel important, he remembers things about you, you are not just a transaction.
He also keeps his word, and always comes through as promised and on time.
Thumbtack CA Los Angeles Resume Writers And Editors Los Angeles Resume Writers And Editors Browse these resume services with great ratings from Thumbtack customers in Los Angeles. Resume Help Los Angeles. Hiring a Professional Resume Writer Is Easy. Please upload a copy of your old resume below and click submit. Providing professional resume writing services for Los Angeles including Glendale, Pasadena, Long Beach, and all other Greater Los Angeles locations.


Laboratorios LOKÍMICA, S.A. - LOKIMICA, S.A.
LOKIMICA Laboratories S.A. was created in 1978 by Mr Blas García Gómez, and in the ensuing period of more than thirty years has been continuously dedicated to serving Public Health, improving the standard of living and protecting the environment.
As an innovative company, Lokimica, with the aim of constant improvement, runs tests of new products in its laboratories, always searching for the highest effectiveness without losing sight of consideration for the environment and public health.
Lokímica laboratories has its own Human Resources Department, providing formative courses for employees to recycle and learn new working methodologies and techniques. Theoretical and practical courses are also offered to professional workers from the Public Administration.


When you are looking for moto products that are built for the ride you know RSD has you covered, even your feet! With these premium RSD socks by FUEL Clothing you can be rest assured that your feet will be comfortable and dry during your next ride. Featuring custom RSD graphics with "brake" and "shift" printed on the foot bottoms to clear any confusion!


Samsung is expected to host an event on Wednesday, February 20 to officially launch the Galaxy S10 variants. As time goes by, loyal Samsung fans are getting more information about the devices. Just in, another leak has been circulating online as a fresh set of hands-on images have essentially confirmed the use of an in-display fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S10. Apart from that, the set of images give us new looks at the hardware and confirm further details.
The series of leaked images of Samsung S10 has been posted by SaudiAndroid on Twitter (via SamMobile). The publication shares four new hands-on images of the Galaxy S10 and S10+ confirm a lot of previous leaks and reports. One of the images of Samsung S10 gives fans the first look at how the in-display fingerprint sensor will be implemented. In the previous leaks, Samsung is said to adopt an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor on its upcoming device.
With the recent leaks, it only confirms that an in-display sensor is being used. The leaked images of Samsung S10 gives fans another nice look at the size of the hole-punch display cutout on both the S10+ and the S10. It also shows the back of each device, in which apparently reveal that both variants have three cameras mounted horizontally, and there are the "Prism Black" and "Prism White" color variants. Apparently, there's no fingerprint sensor on the back of the Galaxy S10 unlike what we see on S9.
Recently, the known tipster, Evan Blass posted images of S10 revealing the same three-camera layout, but with slightly different coloring. The image shows that the variant seems to have a gold accent for the metal. Roland Quandt of WinFuture has also recently posted a fresh set of Galaxy S10 renders. This batch of images show the S10 and S10+ from different angles in high quality, and the variants sport the Prism Black and Ceramic Black versions of the device.
Quandt's leaked images of Samsung S10 variants support the rumors that the Galaxy S10 will apparently support reverse wireless charging, and the use case Samsung shows in a promo banner is for the company's new Galaxy Buds.


text:
Q: How to make an ExecutorService act as a LIFO I have a client application in Java Swing which displays a list of pictures.
Pictures are displayed with JLabel. The thumbnails are cached in a Firebird database and returned by a web-service Soap/MTOM.
Video of the behavior
I create all the Jlabel in a SwingWorker and retrieve the thumbnail in the paint method of the Jlabel (if icon not yet assigned).
I am using an Java ExecutorService to call the web-services which return each thumbnail.
As you can see in the video, when I scroll down a big amount lines, I have to wait that all thumbnails in JLabel visible during scrolling are fetched.
The ExecutorService is instantiated like this:
ExecutorService executor = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(20);

The piece of code called from paint method when getIcon() == null is:
executor.execute(new FutureTask<Void>(() -> {
    var image = EdmWS.getInstance().getThumbnail(thumbnail.date, thumbnail.name, sizeThumbnail);
    label.setIcon(new ImageIcon(image));
    label.invalidate();
}, null));

Is there a way to have an executor working like a LIFO (last in first out) to get the thumbnails of displayed JLabel as soon as possible?

Thank for your comment, Executor Service with LIFO ordering
executor = new ThreadPoolExecutor(20, 20, 0L, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS, new LinkedBlockingDeque<Runnable>() {

    private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

    @Override
    public boolean offer(Runnable e) {
        return super.offerFirst(e);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean offer(Runnable e, long timeout, TimeUnit unit) throws InterruptedException {
        return super.offerFirst(e, timeout, unit);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean add(Runnable e) {
        return super.offerFirst(e);
    }

    @Override
    public void put(Runnable e) throws InterruptedException {
        super.putFirst(e);
    }
});

do the job.


Whenever a match takes place at an international level, there is almost always some news worth reporting. We've made this section to house all of our international rugby news, letting you get all the latest updates from one spot. If you're looking for more rugby news, use the menu on the left to browse to the section you're interested in.


text:
Administration pushes back on criticism of Obamacare rate hikes
by Chris Isidore @CNNMoney October 26, 2016: 9:52 AM ET
HHS Secretary on Obamacare premiums: 85% receive tax credits and subsidies
The Obama administration is pushing back against criticism of Obamacare after the announcement that premiums will rise sharply next year.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told CNN's "New Day" that the program has kept premiums and health costs in check for most Americans, who get health insurance through their employers.
"For the 150 million people who that have employer-based care," she said, "what we know is that in the last six years they've seen five of the slowest years of growth in their premiums in history."
The administration reported Monday that premiums will rise an average of 22% for the benchmark Obamacare plan. But Burwell said the impact of Obamacare goes beyond people who get insurance through government exchanges.
Related: Obamacare premiums to soar 22%
"The Affordable Care Act was about three fundamental things -- access, affordability and quality," she said. "It was about everybody, not just the uninsured."
The people who will pay higher premiums next year under Obamacare would be paying much more for insurance were it not for the act, or would have higher medical costs because they would be uninsured, she said.
Burwell also noted that 85% of people with Obamacare policies are getting government subsidies and tax credits that make the premiums more affordable.
Related: Obamacare - Sick, but not in a death spiral
"The thing important to focus on is what do consumers actually pay," she said.
CNNMoney (New York) First published October 26, 2016: 9:52 AM ET


text:
REDSKINS 2013: Washington seeks staying power among NFL's elite
By Rich Campbell - The Washington Times - Thursday, September 5, 2013
The calm inside the locker room belied the magnitude of the moment on that freezing night last December in Landover.
The Washington Redskins, irrelevant in the NFL for much of the previous two decades, had just completed the most remarkable turnaround. Their seventh straight victory — this one over the archrival Dallas Cowboys on national TV, no less — crowned them champions of the NFC East division for the first time in 13 years. Cheers, hugs and high-fives warmed the oppressed souls of Redskins fans as they streamed into the parking lot.
Deep inside the stadium, though, the mood was different.
China silent amid growing doubts over coronavirus origins
Brian Orakpo's baritone voice rose above others in his corner of the Redskins' locker room, and he didn't even play in the game, having been on injured reserve for three months. His teammates performed their usual postgame ritual. They cleaned up, changed clothes and went home.
Eight months later, at the dawn of a another season, that scene resonates because of how the team's collective demeanor revealed its true expectations. The Redskins weren't satisfied by the division title that night, and they definitely aren't now.
Winning in the NFL, however, is elusive. The league is structured to foster competitive balance and parity. In the NFL, what goes up eventually comes down. The ultimate goal, then, is staying power — maximizing potential, sustaining a high standard and keeping the window to success open for as long as possible.
In the fourth season of coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen's partnership, the Redskins are as close to achieving true staying power as they have been since the franchise's glory years of the 1980s and early 1990s. Whether they seize it will define their 2013 season.
"There's no question that making the playoffs and winning seven in a row is an excellent season," said Bill Polian, who oversaw the Indianapolis Colts' sustained prominence as vice chairman from 1998 to 2011. "So how do you build on that? How do you replicate it? Your goal is always to get in the playoffs, however you get there. I think the Skins have a team that's capable of doing that right now."
Rebuilding with character
Ask executives, coaches and players what separates teams with staying power from those without, and the answers are complex and varied enough to fill a book — collective health, skilled players, roster depth and youth, a big-game quarterback, talented scouts and established leadership, to name a few.
That's a testament to how difficult staying power is to achieve in the NFL. The differences between the few elite teams and those that only taste success can be either minute or vast, but they all are meaningful.
That shows in the final standings every season. The Redskins last year were one of four playoff teams that did not qualify for the postseason in 2011. In each of 16 seasons from 1996 through 2011, at least five of the 12 postseason teams did not qualify the previous year.
The margin between success and failure is razor-thin in some cases, and that's where the Redskins find themselves. They have advanced out of rebuilding to the fringe of the elite with what appears to be a sustainable program.
"That's what you're looking for, when you're not sure who's going to make your football team and you have some depth at a number of positions that you haven't had in a few years," Shanahan said. "So, yeah, that does make you feel good.
"Not only do you have depth, you have guys that have the character you're looking for as well. So, very happy where we're at this year. You're always keeping your fingers crossed that you can stay as healthy as you can possibly be, and hopefully we'll be a little bit lucky — luckier this year than we have been in the past."
Shanahan during training camp spoke those words with cautious optimism. He understands there are no guarantees. But the vision with which he arrived in January 2010 continues to crystallize.
His great task after inheriting one of the league's oldest teams was injecting character, talent, specialized skills and youth into the roster. He needed a quarterback. The defensive personnel had to be overhauled to suit the 3-4 front he desired. He needed offensive playmakers around the quarterback, and he needed more athletic offensive linemen for his zone running scheme.
Washington targeted committed, dedicated players to anchor the rebuild. Coaches see the effects of that each day.
"We work hard, our guys practice hard, they study hard, they do everything, and it comes from Coach Shanahan, obviously," said defensive coordinator Jim Haslett, who coached the New Orleans Saints from 2000 to 2005. They won their division his first year but never made the playoffs again.
"They do everything they are asked to do, and they do it right," Haslett continued. "First of all, it is a good group of guys. There's guys you can rely on, their reliability. They're accountable, and that's the kind of guys you like to surround yourself with."
That might seem to be trite praise, but actually it's a vital element of program building for those who have done it successfully — and unsuccessfully — at the NFL level.
"Our mantra was: 'Hard work, 100 percent effort all the time is the price of admission. No excuses, no explanations. Smart, fast, physical,'" said Polian, who now serves as an ESPN analyst. "Those are the pillars upon which you build your program. I know Mike does the same thing. He may use different words or phrases, but I know he does the same thing because his teams play that way."
Roster components
Polian bristled at the suggestion that the Redskins' 2012 season left something to be desired. That Washington started 3-6 and needed a seven-game winning streak to make the playoffs does not matter to him.
"I'm not into the, 'You have to win 12 games every year,' because we won a lot of games every year and only won one Super Bowl, and nobody was patting us on the back for winning 12 games," he said. "To me, it's get in the playoffs and then do what you have to do to advance after that."
The quest for the postseason, then, is simplified into winning the four-team division. Shanahan emphasizes divisional success because all eight champions are guaranteed a postseason home game.
The Redskins compare favorably to Dallas, New York and Philadelphia particularly because of how young, talented and dedicated quarterback Robert Griffin III is.
Last season, Griffin set NFL rookie records for quarterback rating (102.4), interception percentage (1.27) and rushing yards by a quarterback (815). He led an offense that averaged a league-leading 6.2 yards per play. With such a dynamic running and passing threat emerging as a locker room leader at age 23, the Redskins are well situated at the most important position in the sport.
Uncertainty about the long-term health of Griffin's right knee, in which he has twice had his ACL surgically reconstructed, weakens the Redskins' staying power. But he is scheduled to start Washington's season-opener against Philadelphia on Monday night, only eight months after his latest knee surgery.
"The goal is longevity in the league," Griffin said. "You also want to win. As a quarterback, I don't like to conform and say that you can't win outside the pocket; I think you can win outside the pocket; you've just got to be smart about it. That's what I've learned over the past six months about myself and just about what we need to do to win.
"Maybe that's keeping me in the pocket a little bit more. Maybe that's throwing the ball away a little bit more, sliding, doing all of those things that are necessary. I think I proved how tough I am and the heart that I have on the football field and my teammates know that."
Shanahan spent his first three offseasons in Washington building a quality supporting cast for his quarterback. Eleven total wins in the first two years show the difficulty of that process, but the Redskins finally have amassed playmakers on offense and the core of a fine 3-4 defense.
Sixth-round running back Alfred Morris finished second in the NFL with 1,613 rushing yards as a rookie last season, and Pierre Garcon had 633 receiving yards and four touchdowns in only 10 games.
Washington's 3-4 front requires an exceptional nose tackle and pair of outside linebackers. Both outside linebackers, Orakpo (age 27) and Ryan Kerrigan (25), have made the Pro Bowl. And Barry Cofield (29) has evolved into one of the NFL's quickest and most effective 3-4 nose tackles in just two years at the position.
"I don't see any reason they should not be contenders," Polian said. "They've got the coach. They've got the quarterback. They've got some defensive difference makers. They've got the receivers. And most importantly, they've got a running game that's going to be there week in and week out."
Intangibles make a difference
Talent alone doesn't win titles, though. The high-priced 2000 Redskins and the 2011 "Dream Team" Philadelphia Eagles could attest to that. Critical intangibles make the whole greater than the sum of its parts, Polian said. Good injury fortune is imperative, as are confidence, team chemistry and leadership.
Several members of the Redskins organization are optimistic they've achieved the right blend of youth, talent, experience and leadership. Defensive backs coach Raheem Morris opined as such, drawing on his head coaching experience from 2009-11 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay won the AFC South title with a 10-6 record in 2010, but it was sandwiched between three- and four-win seasons, the latter of which cost Morris his job.
Morris saw proof in Washington during the offseason in his position meetings. After the Redskins drafted cornerback David Amerson in the second round, veteran cornerback DeAngelo Hall and safety Brandon Meriweather ensured he would adjust to life as a pro.
"It's the voice of those veteran leaders going to Amerson in a meeting, handing him a paper and a pad and teaching him how to use his iPad and learn and get better every single day," Morris said. "Those guys are the guys that are leaders amongst men, and once you get those kind of guys, that's the difference between the young team we had in Tampa and the young team that we have in Washington."
Amerson, in turn, enjoys using veterans such as Hall as resources.
"If I have a question, I'll go to him and ask him," he said. "For one example, as far as press technique, pressing outside leverage. Just really let the guy come to you, be patient and squeezing inside routes and kill all outside routes."
That's part of the positive culture Shanahan has tried to establish. It includes an expectation to win. Shanahan during team meetings constantly reminds his players of their statistical achievements to reinforce belief in their abilities.
Redskins veterans, though, know the importance of navigating the difference between confidence and complacency.
Santana Moss adjusted his receiver's gloves as he sat at his locker before practice last month. The team's longest-tenured player stopped for a moment when asked to contemplate how close the Redskins are to being elite.
Moss thought about the roster and about the struggles the franchise has endured during his eight seasons. He took into account last year's success and decided there is no such thing as momentum in the NFL.
He knows from experience how elusive success can be.
"Honestly, we haven't done nothing this season, yet," he said. "You can't really dwell off what we did last year and expect it's going to happen like that for us this year. Until we go out and win some games, then we can see how close we are. And even when we do that, we have to really keep winning and keep being good to even have that kind of talk."


text:
William Vestey, 1st Baron Vestey (21 January 1859 – 10 December 1940), was an English shipping magnate.

Biography

Early life
William Vestey was born on 21 January 1859. He came from an old Liverpool family of traders. In 1876, at the age of seventeen, he was sent to Chicago by his father Samuel Vestey, a provisioner of Liverpool.

Career
He first managed a meat canning factory that was financed by his father. Together with his younger brother Edmund, he established Vestey Brothers (which later became the Vestey Group) in 1897 from a family butchery business in Liverpool. They were pioneers of refrigeration, opening a cold store in London in 1895.

The Vestey brothers then went to South America in an attempt to make a fortune because the economy there was booming. They started by buying game birds and storing them in the cold stores of American companies before shipping them to Liverpool. These early activities soon developed into importing beef and beef products into the UK, which in turn led to them owning cattle ranches in Brazil, Venezuela and Australia, and their own meat processing factories in Argentina, Uruguay (Frigorífico Anglo del Uruguay), New Zealand and Australia. In 1914, they built a meat processing works at Bullocky Point, Darwin, Australia, but closed its operations in 1920 after the Darwin Rebellion.

They acquired the  Wave Hill Station in the Northern Territory of Australia, in 1914. At that time, legislation permitted Aboriginal Australian workers to be paid in tea, tobacco and other rations. The Vesteys refused to pay their workers in wages, leading to tensions and arguments from the beginning, which continued until the Wave Hill walk-off, a strike beginning in 1967 and lasting eight years.

In 1915, the brothers, after being refused a request for income tax exemption made to David Lloyd George, moved to Buenos Aires to avoid paying income tax in the UK. The family later administered the business through a Paris trust that enabled it to legally avoid UK tax until the loophole was closed in 1991. From 1915 to 1918, they moved to Chicago then to Argentina and back to England. Lord Vestey later became an important benefactor to Liverpool Cathedral, where he funded the building of the bell tower.

First World War and peerage
During the First World War another Vestey company, the Blue Star Line (now part of P&O Nedlloyd), was a major supplier of Argentine beef to England, and it was for this service to the wartime provisioning of England that William Vestey was later raised to the peerage. He was made a Baronet of Bessémer House in the Metropoliton Borough of Camberwell on 21 June 1913, and Baron of Kingswood in the County of Surrey on 20 June 1922.

His appointment occurred at the height of the honours scandal surrounding the sale of peerage, which implicated the Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. William Vestey was not consider worthy of ennoblement because the Vestey brothers had moved their meatpacking business out of the country during the First World War, to avoid paying millions of pounds in tax. Even though King George V opposed Sir William becoming a baron, he received the title from Lloyd George after paying a £20,000 political donation.

Personal life
His first wife died in 1923 and was buried in Liverpool Cathedral. He then married Evelene Brodstone of Superior, Nebraska, on 1 August 1924. She had been working as a stenographer with the Vestey Meat Packing Plant in Chicago, where she was spotted by his brother. She would rise through the company, eventually becoming the highest paid female executive in the world. She survived him following his death aged 81 in December 1940. His ashes were buried in Liverpool Cathedral. On 24 July 1941, the 2nd Lady Vestey was buried at Evergreen Cemetery of Superior in Nebraska. Each spring during memorial weekend, Superior holds the annual Lady Vestey Festival in her honour. This is the town's largest annual celebration and it attracts many people from around the area.

Literature
 Phillip Knightley The Rise and Fall of the House of Vestey, on the business empire established by William Vestey in 1897;

References

1859 births
1940 deaths
Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Businesspeople from Liverpool
William
Barons created by George V


Are you considering a house renovation? Let America Siding help with Dracut vinyl siding installation!
Vinyl siding installation in Dracut is becoming more sought after every year, and homeowners throughout the country are seeing the convenience of siding repair. Contemporary siding products will give the security of long-term beauty and can drastically improve the selling price of your property by enhancing your home's exterior. Modern siding never needs upkeep and requires little to no maintenance throughout the year - just hose down the panelling of your house with a hose to keep panels clean and looking new.
We are the number one Dracut vinyl siding company and we have a reputation for our fast service, top of the line materials and excellent customer care. Dracut vinyl siding installers from our business are very experienced and are constantly learning about the latest methods of vinyl siding installation on the market. We collaborate with a huge variety of vinyl siding products and have developed the best relationships with well known modern siding companies - so we are able to find the exact color, design and grain to meet your aesthetic needs!
Give us a call right now to find out more about the Dracut vinyl siding contractors we employ and to ask about the installation services we offer!
If you are living in Dracut, vinyl siding is an effective and economical home beautification option that can truly transform the look of your property!
Severe temperatures and intense winds are no problem against high-quality vinyl siding installation in Dracut. Classic panels are no match for top-quality vinyl. This exceptional product is proven to diminish outdoor sound by almost thirty percent and combats mold, water damage and critters throughout the year. America Siding is a experienced siding company with several years of experience in changing houses and offices into premier locations, while enhancing the exterior of the foundation!
For decades, America Siding has been pleasing our customers with our polished siding panels. Our Dracut vinyl siding installers offer high-quality installation services and spend time to do each project right so clients are thrilled with the final product. We staff using the leading vinyl siding professionals who pick up the training and know-how needed to wrap-up the job accurately.
If you are hoping to save your time, money and peace of mind - trust America Siding, the most renowned Dracut vinyl siding installers in the area!
High climates and damaging winds are no problem against premium vinyl siding installation in Dracut. Siding panels work effectively against damaging temperatures and extremely low climates and our qualified employees are instructed to improve universal obstacles like salt retention, precipitation of walls and busted wallboards before installation. America Siding is a premium exterior siding company with years of experience in transforming dwellings and office buildings into works of art, while correcting the outside of the building!
Contemporary siding products will work to turn your ideal home a reality - for the cheapest prices around! America Siding vinyl siding installers in Dracut can provide the best materials for the most economical price since we work with such an enormous client base, so we can negotiate deals with the top suppliers.
Interested in finding high-quality siding for your home? Register for a free one-on-one consultation by calling or writing us today!


1. Direct meeting space booking goes online with lots of options.
Of the 1.8 million meetings held annually in the U.S. each year, small meetings (50 people or under) make a large percentage of them. These are often simple 1-day events in a single room with basic AV and catering. However, hotels have often managed these meetings in the same way as with larger events – assigning a sales person and negotiating a contract. This costs time, labor and money for the hotel and the event planner. This is about to change with many streamlined options becoming available.
Ivvy, a robust event and venue management software company, serves this market by creating a new online booking sector, catering for many types and sizes of meetings with venues including hotels, restaurants, function centers and even boats. Headquartered in Australia, they have offices in the U.S., the UK and New Zealand. Their venue management site provides information for hotels and the direct booking site gives an idea of the booking capabilities. Currently, most of the properties listed in the direct booking site are Australian-based, but I expect to see this grow elsewhere rapidly.
Peerspace provides non-traditional meeting space for corporate events, meetings, film shoots, parties and workshop in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, L.A., New York, Seattle, Austin, Chicago, Berlin, London and Paris (with more cities to come). Notice the almost identical layout from AirBNB, with the map view, meeting space thumbnails, user ratings, and the ability to list your own space.
EventUp: Another alternative meetings space booking engine with an AirBNB look. This database of U.S. meeting facilities is quite extensive and includes hotels as well. Planners can sort by budget, number of attendees, neighborhood within a city, amenities (AV, pets, street parking), venue type, and look/feel (i.e. corporate, cozy, loft space). Most venues are not "express book venues," however.
Spacebase also has an appearance very similar to AirBNB, but more international than Peerspace or Spacer, offering venues in 10 countries with website options in three languages and offices in seven countries.
Meetingsbooker provides direct small group meetings space booking (up to 40 people) with listings in 70,000 venues on a global basis. Some of the destinations highlighted are London, New York, Dublin, and Syndney.
eVenues is a non-traditional meeting space booking tool for the "everyday planner." It offers a broad selection of North American venues and provides filtering capabilities on capacity, price, city neighborhoods, and map view. Site visitors can either book directly or use a "full-service" meeting space booking and planning service.
Bizly is another small meetings direct booking site, just out of beta testing. It also has a look similar to AirBNB and is targeting large corporations About 2,000 meeting venues are listed in about 50 U.S. metropolitan areas. There is a free package any planner can use as well as pricing for corporate and enterprise clients with additional capabilities.
Groupize provides a small group meeting booking tool for corporations. This system allows clients to book 1-9 guest rooms with meeting space from a database of 150,000 hotels. It is also integrated with Concur, the travel, expense and invoice management tool. This simple meetings sourcing system claims savings of 10-25% by centralizing small meetings bookings and managing "rogue spend" within the company.
Kapow provides direct "corporate events in non-traditional venues" booking tool in 21 U.S. cities. Group activities include team building, in-store retail events, entertainment tickets, interactive F&B, cocktail receptions and dining experiences.
These are among the newer sites that provide direct, online booking of meeting space and experiences. More are in the pipeline! These streamlined processes promise to save planners time and effort from traditional RFP booking engines and is a key event tech trend to watch for 2018.
Global positioning system (GPS), using signals from satellites, does not work indoors. Over the years, there have been many attempts at indoor positioning systems (IPS) to help attendees navigate through meeting spaces and exhibit halls.
Google Indoor Maps has been around for several years and is already available in thousands of buildings. Simply open up the Google Maps app within these building, such as the Las Vegas Convention Center, to navigate the various halls, meeting rooms and levels. Additionally, there are indoor mapping content management systems, such as MapsPeople, that make it easy for facilities to manage their Google Indoor Map. However, Google Indoor Maps primarily uses Wi-Fi triangulation with a position accuracy of about 15-45 feet (5-15 meters). While this accuracy is fine to give general directions inside a large facility, this is not accurate enough for booth-to-booth navigation in an exhibit hall – a key goal for many tradeshows and exhibitions.
Much better positioning accuracy (down to six feet/two meters) is possible using beacon technology (aka BLI - Bluetooth Low Energy). Sherpa Solutions, EventBase, DoubleDutch and ITM Mobile are among the several mobile event app companies using BLE combined with a mobile event app to determine indoor positioning applicable for tradeshows and events.
But now, augmented reality (AR), a technology that superimposes a computer-generated image on a user's view of the real world, thus providing a composite view, will soon be added to the arsenal of indoor positioning methods. Typically, this is done via your mobile phone camera (think Pokémon) but eventually will become available in updated versions of AR glasses (less intrusive versions of Google Glass or Hololens).
Google recently announced at the most recent Google I/O developers conference its Tango Visual Positioning Service, a AR GPS for indoors. Working with Google Indoor Maps and visual data from the camera, Tango will see features in the environment to give users hyper-local directions guidance.
Not to be outdone, Apple's iOS11, and the iPhone X, will have substantial advances in AR, and eventually could be used to help people navigate through and interact with indoor space.
The benefits to event attendees could be significant, including step-by-step navigation of a venue or an exhibition hall. AR technology will also open the door to gamification options (a Pokémon-like event scavenger hunt?) as well as interactive booths, signs, banners and displays.
What remains to be seen is: will the ease of AR set up and accuracy of positioning be suitable for the precise indoor positioning requirements of exhibitions? Exhibitions require a quick turnaround/set up with a different floorplan each time. This will likely require a separate AR setup and mapping each time. As AR enters into mainstream general mobile use, it will be interesting to see if it will be tuned to meet the precise needs of exhibitions and events.
Chatbots are computer programs that conduct conversations via auditory or text methods. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), these systems will become increasingly accurate in determining the sense and context of voice/text requests and responding in a human-like way. The explosion of voice-activated systems such as Amazon's Alexa and Google Home attest to the rapidly increasing capabilities of these systems.
However, the voice interface does not work well in crowded environments such as a meeting room or a tradeshow. External phone conversations in a meeting room are generally not well accepted as is yelling orders into your phone on a noisy exhibit floor.
Morph.ai is a chatbot building suite for a variety of B2B situations including events. They offer a freemium version and these bots can be deployed over messaging channels like Facebook Messenger, Twitter, SMS, website, live chat and Skype.
Event2Mobile's Eva claims to be the industry-first chatbot for event apps. With offices in the USA, UK and Singapore, they provide a full range of text services including polling, surveys, live Q&A, meeting scheduling, directions, feedback, in-app messaging, gamification, photo walls and searches for speakers/attendees/exhibitors.
Sciensio's Concierge Eventbot offers a range of text services including the event agenda/schedule, directions, floor plans, FAQs, surveys, polls, crowd sourced questions, and event info about sessions/materials/speakers/sponsors/exhibitors.
ConfBot text services offers event information on the agenda, personalized schedules, attendee messaging, feedback, surveys and more.
The Cosmopolitan Hotel, offers Rose, an AI text-based chatbot concierge with somewhat of an attitude. Upon check in, guests are given a card that reads: "I am the answer to the question that you never asked." and "Know my secrets. Text me," The card contains Rose's phone number which you can text for a variety of services. Towels? Pizza? Restaurant recommendations? Rosie will text you back and provide the services. The video below gives an example of an AI-powered hotel assistant and chatbot:.
Artificial intelligence (AI) should make the development process much faster, easier and cheaper. With the advance in machine intelligence, it will be possible for an event planner to simply upload the event website and other details such a link to a center's exhibitor requirement or details of the surrounding area. AI will allow a computer to read, absorb, catalog and make sense of the details with little or no human intervention – and provide it back in text or voice as desired.
4. Newer, cloud-based companies will make an "event tech deck" and integration easier.
Data management systems are maturing to where integration is a much simpler task. With state-of-the-art cloud-based event technology systems and advanced APIs (application programming interfaces), it is now possible to collect and analyze onsite data and connect them with CRM tools such as SalesForce.com – closing the loop from a marketing standpoint. Interoperability is at the center with much of the change that is happening.
One example is Eventbrite, a basic consumer-oriented event invitation, registration and ticketing system. This San Francisco based company has been built from the start to be interoperable with others and lists hundreds of software products that it integrates with in its Eventbrite Spectrum page.
Consortiums of newer cloud-based event technology companies are working together to share data and work as one. For example, the Event Tech Tribe is a consortium of Swoogo (event registration), Hubb (abstract collection/exhibitor management/scheduling/task management), Glisser (audience polling/engagement), TRC (onsite event technology), EventOPS (event logistics), and InsightXM (data analytics and marketing). They work together integrating data as if they were a single platform providing rich data and marketing capabilities among them.
Other options for planners are integration platform-as-a-service products such as Built.io, providing solutions to more easily integrate a wide range of software systems into CRM and marketing automation tools. Features include workflow maps, ties to enterprise collaboration tools such as Cisco Spark or Slack, data mapping, activity triggers for complex workflows, mobile app integration, API builders, API debugging and testing tools and more. In essence, they make the process of integrating modern software products much simpler.
The benefit for meeting planners is that they can choose an assortment of specialized event software products and figuratively bolt together to work together seamlessly – an event tech deck. Meeting planners will be able to find highly customized solutions using multiple technology products with the ability to extract valuable marketing data is if they were a single platform.
This rich interoperability makes it much easier to analyze the data and bring it back to CRM systems. Customer behavior and interests expressed at meetings can, therefore, be tied to customer profiles allowing for much better marketing intelligence and more customized sales communication.
5. Hacking attacks on events, venues and individuals will increase and privacy protection standard will increase.
The recent data breaches of Equifax, Sony, the DMC and international ransomware attacks point to increased and more sophisticated hacking activity. Sabre's data breach is causing headaches for Four Season, Trump, Kimpton and Red Lion Hotels. The WannaCry Ransomware attack on the Romantic Seehotel Jaegerwirtz locked guests out of their hotel rooms. With the Shadow Brokers hacker group leaked National Security Agency exploit in April, cybercriminals have a much more dangerous weapon giving the ability to spread encryption files across an entire network. We will likely see this increase!
Hackers will almost inevitably target some events via an online registration system and/or a mobile event-related app (likely an Android version) in the near future.
As a planner, make sure your registration company is PCI compliant and take other steps to guard attendee information captured.
Become aware of phishing scams.
Keep your virus protection up-to-date.
Consider the use of identity theft protection services.
Use multi-factor authentication services when available.
In a partial bid to meet this threat, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will explode across the meetings technology landscape this coming year. GDPR is a sweeping set of privacy regulations that will affect any event with European attendees or members regardless of where the event takes place. Non-compliance penalties are stiff so it will be imperative that the planners work with their IT departments and technology providers to ensure that the new regulations are met.
6. New methods for friction-free event check-in are developing.
Technology, when used properly, is not an end. It should be a means to an end – for example, to make the process of checking in at event registration easier and faster. Automated check-in terminals such as Cvent OnArrival and other similar products are becoming standard at many events. For smaller events, guest list check-in apps, such as Check In Easy can eliminate cumbersome paper check-in spreadsheets replaced with mobile devices with many extras such as QR codes confirmation pass scanning, and VIP notification when special guest arrive.
Other companies, such as Boomset, have focused specifically on the onsite registration process with a range of tools including self-service kiosks, NFC tracking, lead exchange, access control management, on-demand badge printing and more.
These are just a few ways that technology is improving the event registration process. More innovation is likely to come in this space.
7. Events become central to an overall marketing effort.
Events and tradeshows have posed a significant challenge to marketers. Although events are proven promotional tools, they have lacked detailed data collection and analytics capabilities found with other marketing vehicles such as email campaigns and websites. Much of what happened at the event or tradeshow, stayed at the event or tradeshow!
With the recent explosion of onsite data collection and analytics tools, meetings will no longer be the "black hole" of marketing analytics. Events and tradeshows are beginning to provide a goldmine of data detailing attendee preferences, interests, movements and interactions. These data can help meeting planners make mid-course corrections on existing events and improve future ones; they can provide significantly more value for exhibitors; they can provide attendees with a much richer and more personalized experience.
With the integration of sales automation tools and CRM systems, customer behavior at events can now be tracked in precise detail. Event analytics are moving to a central position in the marketing mix and can help planners using these tools take a seat a C-Level table with sales and marketing executives. New corporate positions such as VP of Sales Analytics and SVP of Sales Effectives point to this shifting trend towards the importance of analytics. Event planners and marketers can work together to improve the event and provide a much more detailed profile of the attendee (customer) interests and desires while elevating the importance of events within the organization.
Despite the increased use of virtual meetings technology, face-to-face meetings and tradeshows will remain viable.
Meetings provide a vastly richer, more targeted, and more focused learning experience than nearly any virtual meeting.
These are just a few of whirlwind of changes coming. Do you agree with them? Do you have others? Please let me know your thoughts.