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Home » Blogs » Urban School Food Alliance & National Farm to School Network: We Need to Rebuild Our Food System. Schools Can Lead.
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Urban School Food Alliance & National Farm to School Network: We Need to Rebuild Our Food System. Schools Can Lead.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role schools play in our food systems, as a source of food for students, an employer of essential food service workers and a market for food producers. The pandemic also exposed the deep, pervasive inequities in our food system, including the devastating impacts COVID-19 had on those historically underserved.
Our food system is permeated with troubling disparities. Even before the pandemic, access to healthy food has been a challenge most pronounced for people of color who live in low-income communities. And since the onset of the pandemic, a survey has found that nearly 41 percent of mothers with children ages 12 and under reported household food insecurity.
Food system workers, who represent 1 in 5 essential workers, are predominantly people of color who often earn less than a living wage, and have been dying at higher rates from COVID-19. Concerns exist that farmers of color, who make up less than 4 percent of the nation's producers, are being overlooked in the US Department of Agriculture's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Combined, these inequities in our food system span urban, suburban and rural communities, the direct result of inequitable and inefficient policies and practices as old as our nation itself.
When, in March, nearly all 100,000 schools across the country closed their doors, there were herculean efforts to ensure that school children – nearly 75 percent of whom receive free or reduced price meals – continued to have access to food. Ensuring every child is fed must be part of our work to rebuild the food system. As conversations turn towards "what's next" in responding to the pandemic, we have a tremendous opportunity to change our food system and ensure that every person along the supply chain – from grower to eater, is treated justly. To recover from the present health and economic crisis, we must relook at the critical role food plays in health, equity and prosperity in our communities.
Many approaches will be needed to do this work, and we've been heartened to see multiple ideas already shared. There is one approach we think deserves more attention: school cafeterias can be a major propeller of this urgent, needed change in how we eat. Here's how:
School cafeterias are our nation's largest restaurant chain. When school is in session, cafeterias feed 30 million hungry mouths each day. More than 7 billion meals are served annually through the National School Lunch Program and National School Breakfast Program and more than $18.2 billion invested in these programs annually. With schools everywhere, focusing on school food supply chains means focusing on food in every community.
School meal funding recirculates in local communities. The collective purchasing power of school food service provides an opportunity to invest in local communities – both in the food purchased for meals, and in providing stable workforce opportunities. According to the 2015 USDA Farm to School Census, schools spent nearly $800 million annually on local food purchases, and more than 42 percent of schools report engaging in farm to school opportunities. Every dollar invested in farm to school efforts stimulates an additional $0.60-$2.16 of local economic activity.
School meal infrastructure helps make communities adaptable during a crisis. During this pandemic, many schools have taken on the role of feeding entire communities. The existing infrastructure of school meals and the experience and ingenuity of school nutrition professionals has allowed them to meet this critical need. Furthermore, schools' existing relationships with farmers have shown resilience during this crisis: a School Nutrition Association survey found that nearly a quarter of schools are supporting local agriculture and serving local foods in their emergency feeding programs. Simultaneously, we're seeing support of local food systems continue to rise during this pandemic.
School meals are an investment in the future. This pandemic shows we are capable of cooperation and rapid change, and it is important this continues. Every community deserves a strong and just local food system and we must continue to leverage our collective energy for equitable change as we rebuild by seeking opportunities for collaboration and action amongst schools, growers, producers, governmental agencies and community advocates. Investing in school meals is smart and a proven strategy for whole-community health, economic stimulus and resilience. School meals must be part of the conversation as we talk about the future.
For more information, visit www.farmtoschool.org or www.urbanschoolfoodalliance.org or contact Anna Mullen at anna@farmtoschool.org or press@urbanschoolfoodalliance.org.
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Welcoming the exceptional Radisson Collection Basilica, Budapest, Hungary
The Radisson Hotel Group is delighted to announce the signing of a new property to Radisson Collection, the brand reserved for the group's most exceptional hotels worldwide, in Budapest, Hungary.
With a storied history and prime central location, the Radisson Collection Basilica, Budapest is both an historic landmark and a great base for exploring the city – the perfect evocation of everything Radisson Collection stands for. With 71 stunning guest rooms and suites, a first-class fitness center, restaurant, lobby bar and a further rooftop bar – supplying sublime views over the Budapest's historic skyline – the hotel is sure to set the scene for some unforgettable moments when it opens mid-2020.
Elie Younes, Executive Vice President & Chief Development Officer, Radisson Hotel Group, said: "Budapest is a fantastic city and one of Europe' most booming markets. This is now our third property in the capital and we're extremely excited about launching the first Radisson Collection hotel here, and thankful to our partners. Facing the Basilica, this asset was carefully selected to become a prestige hotel and a true landmark."
Located on St. Stephen's Square and the only hotel to face directly onto the Basilica, guests will be in the prime position to take in the full Neoclassical grandeur of Hungary's most important church. At the city's bustling heart, guests arriving in December will be treated to a particularly wondrous atmosphere, when the square plays stage to Budapest's most picturesque Christmas markets.
Close to all Budapest's major attractions, the hotel is only a short walk from sights like the Hungarian Parliament Building, the Chain Bridge and Buda Castle. Whilst, in the other direction, guests are no more than a few steps from the stunning State Opera House – widely regarded to be one of the world's most prestigious.
Martin Melzer
Area Director PR and Communication, Central & Southern Europe
martin.melzer@radissonhotels.com
Lucie Cardona,
Director Corporate Communications, PR & Reputation Management
lucie.cardona@radissonhotels.com
ABOUT RADISSON COLLECTION
The Radisson Collection™ is a premium lifestyle collection of exceptional hotels in unique locations. The character of each Radisson Collection hotel feels authentic to its location and offers the ultimate template for contemporary living – united by modern design and exceptional experiences across dining, fitness, wellness and sustainability. Designed for guests and locals alike, each Radisson Collection hotel is defined by the guests who visit them and those who serve in them. All hotels are situated in prestigious locations, close to prime leisure attractions. Guests and professional business partners can enhance their experience with Radisson Collection by participating in Radisson Rewards™, a global loyalty program offering exceptional benefits and rewards.
Radisson Collection is part of the Radisson Hotel Group™ which also includes Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Radisson RED®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites® by Radisson and prizeotel.
For reservations and more information visit, www.radissoncollection.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/radissoncollection/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radissoncollection/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radissoncollection
ABOUT RADISSON HOTEL GROUP
Radisson Hotel Group™ is one of the world's largest hotel groups with eight distinctive hotel brands, and more than 1,400 hotels in operation and under development around the world. The Radisson Hotel Group portfolio includes Radisson Collection™, Radisson Blu®, Radisson®, Radisson RED®, Park Plaza®, Park Inn® by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites® by Radisson and prizeotel.
Radisson Rewards™ is a global rewards program that delivers unique and personalized ways to create memorable moments that matter to our guests. Radisson Rewards offer exceptional loyalty benefits for our guests, meeting planners, travel agents and business partners.
Radisson Meetings place people at the heart of everything we do and treat every meeting or event as more than just a date in the calendar. Designed around three key commitments – Personal, Professional and Memorable – delivered through bespoke services, Radisson Meetings create successful and unique experiences for our guests.
More than 95,000 team members work globally for the Radisson Hotel Group and at the hotels licensed to operate in its systems.
www.radissonhospitalityab.com/media/news-releases
www.radissonhotelgroup.com/media
Or connect with us on:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/radisson-hotel-group/
Instagram (Employees): https://www.instagram.com/radissonmoments/
Instagram (Hotels): https://www.instagram.com/radissonhotels/
Twitter (Corporate): https://twitter.com/radissongroup
Twitter (Hotels): https://twitter.com/radissonhotels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/radissonhotels
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/radissonhotelgroup

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We are still buzzing with the energy from the 2nd annual Equity in Action Summit this past week! 59 educators joined us for 3 days of community-building, workshops on E3's specialized tools, demonstration site visits. Thank you to all our participants, site visit partners, facilitators, and volunteers who made this a wonderful Summit!


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Ricky Gervais Wants 'armageddon' His Latest Stand-up Show, to Be Canceled
Leave a Comment / Entertainment, News / By Admin / February 2, 2022 December 12, 2022
This article contains all the information related to the stand-up comedian Ricky Gervais and his newest show "Armageddon". It also has details about the show's links with cancel culture, his time with the Golden Globes, and jokes.
Ricky Gervais Latest Show and Cancel Culture
Ricky Gervais is returning to stand-up comedy with the only goal to get canceled. The 60-year old is expecting to get fully acquainted with the cancel culture with his latest stand-up show "Armageddon" and stretch the limits of comedy.
He told the Heat magazine recently that one thing he has decided to certainly do and is really eager about is his new stand-up show. Besides, he also added that he is treating it as if it were his final ever act. He then said that he wants to put all his efforts into it and try to get canceled going out there.
Biden's First Year: Kamala Harris Hit by Staff Exodus Amid Controversies
The show is about the world's apocalypse and how people are going to ruin themselves for many different reasons such as media ridiculousness or the actual end of the world. He described this emotion in a WSJ profile published on Monday, saying that being funny should have no restrictions.
His Opinion About Jokes and Time With the Golden Globes
The Englishman, who has been a constant host of Golden Globes explained that there is no topic on which there should not be a joke. It depends on the joke. As a journalist, there is nothing one would not write about. It depends on one's point of view.
He also said that according to him many of these pious offense comes from people misunderstanding the aim of the joke with the topic. Gervais went on to add that one can joke about anything but it is dependent on what the real target is.
If one uses irony and people view that at face value and think you are saying one thing but you are actually conveying the opposite. In his interview with Heat, Gervais also talked about the idea that most people in Hollywood have that he "killed" the Golden Globes.
He has hosted the telecast five times in 2010-12, 2016, and 2020. He pleaded that it was not his fault and he did not kill the awards, and also that he liked hosting the Golden Globes and for many people, it is what he is most known for.
China Venture Funding Hits Record 131 Billion Despite Crackdown
With a sigh, he concluded that the last time he hosted it was two years and now it seems like another time when the worst thing that was happening was him humiliating actors.
Gervais accepted that being in charge of the event was the most stressful job he has ever done. He said that he only cares about one thing and that is about doing his jokes well. He is not bothered by what others make of it or if he is loathed or if he has to hide. He signed off by saying that if he messed up the joke then he would never get over it.
1 Ricky Gervais Latest Show and Cancel Culture
2 His Opinion About Jokes and Time With the Golden Globes
Outer Banks Season 3 Netflix Release Date Status Revealed
Leave a Comment / Entertainment / By Vivek Attri
Nicki Minaj appearance on The Real Housewives season 6
Leave a Comment / Netflix, Entertainment / By Vivek Attri


Heart ... by Rainbow Designs - 1 (one) foam stamp for art, papercraft and mixed media.
The design of this fab stamp is of a solid heart covered in scratches (circles and lines). A versatile design for backgrounds (adding interest or texture) and using as a featured part of your art.
Stamp size (approx) 10cm x 5.7cm, 2cm thick.


Then ... They are on McDowell Avenue passing under the section of Highway 101 that traverses the Presidio the red marker on this map). Is that a chimney stack in front of the building behind them?
... in 2003 ... the junction looked very similar as recently as 2003 except for changes to the base of the highway pillars but the building and the stack, if that's what it was, are no longer there.
... and Now, In this recent photo we see great change as a new section of Highway 101takes shape. The section of freeway on the left is slated to be retained but rebuilt.
Then ... Next they turn into Long Avenue about to head up the hill to Lincoln Boulevard.
... and Now , viewed from what is now a parking lot the double-gabled building is still there.
Then ... Here they have turned onto Lincoln Boulevard and are approaching the Golden Gate Bridge (the blue marker on this map). This is the same spot where Irene drove by earlier on her way to her apartment.
Then ... Finally Parry turns onto a service road alongside the bridge.
... and Now , the recent bridge view shows the service road running alongside the bridge to a bluff overlooking Fort Point (map).
They stop at that bluff and Parry manages to grab the gun. The classic shot, below, with the young Golden Gate Bridge as background (it was only 11 years old at that time) anticipated by a decade Alfred Hitchcock's use of the same location in Vertigo.
Then ... A struggle ensues and Parry holds himself back as Baker falls over the edge to his demise.
... and Now , the rocky bluff as viewed from the parking lot at Fort Point.
... on location 1 ... Baker, Parry and crew rehearsing the climactic struggle.
... on location 2 ... Hangers-on join the crew for this impromptu snapshot on the bluff.


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Their Bright Ascendency, also called the Ascendant trilogy, is a trilogy of epistolary epic fantasy novels by the American writer K. Arsenault Rivera. It consists of Rivera's debut novel The Tiger's Daughter (2017), The Phoenix Empress (2018), and The Warrior Moon (2019).

Premise
The story takes place in a secondary world inspired by historical East and Central Asian cultures. The series is concerned with the adventures of, and the romantic relationship between, two young warrior noblewomen: Shizuka, the heir to the Hokkaran Empire, and Shefali, daughter of the ruler of the Qorin steppe nomads.

The books take the form of a collection of letters between the two. The trilogy is part of a type of fantasy based on Middle Eastern, Central or East Asian history, sometimes called "Silk Road fantasy".

Reception
In a starred review of The Tiger's Daughter, Publishers Weekly praised "Rivera's immense imagination and finely detailed worldbuilding". In Tor.com, Liz Bourke highlighted the book's focus on female characters, describing it as "an epic fantasy romance between god-like heroes, and both of them are women. And they're both the daughters of heroic, immensely competent women. And their world is populated with many other competent women."

Novels
 The Tiger's Daughter, Tor Books, 3 October 2017,
 The Phoenix Empress, Tor Books, 9 October 2018,
 The Warrior Moon, Tor Books, 24 September 2019,

References

2017 American novels
Fantasy novel trilogies
Romantic fantasy novels
Novels with lesbian themes
Tor Books books

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Die Familie von Borch (lat. auch: de urbe) war eine stiftsbremische Ministerialenfamilie. In der älteren Literatur wird der Name auch oft von Borgh geschrieben.

Sie waren nicht verwandt mit dem westfälischen Uradelsgeschlecht von der Borch auf Gut Holzhausen im Kreis Höxter.

Herkunft

Die von Borch sind seit dem 18. Januar 1181 urkundlich fassbar und stammen ursprünglich aus Burg am linken Ufer der Lesum (heute Burg-Grambke). Sie hatten also ihren Namen nicht von der Burg Horneburg. Ursprünglich waren sie Ministeriale der Grafschaft Stade. Nach dem Fall der Grafschaft an das Erzbistum Bremen wurden sie 1227 stiftsbremische Ministeriale. Nach der Einheirat in die edelfreie Familie von Bliedersdorf waren sie auch um Horneburg ansässig. Dort bekamen sie 1255 einen Teil des Burglehens der Horneburg. Nach dem Aussterben derer von Bliedersdorf erbten die von Borch deren Güter und gehörten seitdem zu den bedeutendsten Ministerialenfamilien in Erzstift Bremen.

Güter und Ämter
Die von Borch waren Gerichtsherren mit Hoch- und Niedergerichtsbarkeit auf dem Delm und in Gyhum. Sie waren Teil der Burgmannschaft der Horneburg und hatten dort einen der fünf Burgmannssitze inne. Vermutlich durch die Tätigkeit als Lokatoren besaßen sie umfangreiche Eigengüter im Alten Land. Sie traten dort nicht als Lehensnehmer, sondern als Lehnsherren auf. Sie besaßen dort außerdem die Fähre in Cranz und standen verschiedenen Gerichten vor, zum Beispiel in Jork und Francop.

Die von Borch haben das Puttikamt (das Hofamt des Mundschenks) erblich besessen, man findet sie aber auch in anderen Ämtern und als Vögte im gesamten Erzstift wieder.

Daniel von Borch wurde 1368 von Albert II. von Braunschweig-Lüneburg zum Amtmann und Vogt über das Erzstift Bremen bestellt, nachdem dieses vom Erzbischof Albert an Lüneburg verpfändet wurde.

Auch in kirchlichen Ämtern waren die von Borch zu finden, die Familie stellte mit Luder von Borch einen Bischof von Verden.

Von 1420 bis 1426 war Otto von Borch stadtbremischer Amtmann von Bederkesa. Otto und Johann von Borch überließen dem Rat der Stadt Bremen alle Rechte an der Vogtei und der Burg von Blumenthal.

Der Erbfall von Borch
Als letzter männlicher Vertreter derer von Borch starb Iwan von Borch 1502 ohne männliche Nachkommen. Der einzige männliche Verwandte, ein Bruder Johanns, Gise von Borch, war Abt des Klosters Harsefeld und ebenfalls kinderlos. Deshalb erbte der Mann der Schwester Iwans und Gises, Otto von Düring, die umfangreichen Güter. Allerdings ging diese Erbschaft nicht ohne Probleme vonstatten, die Familien von der Hude, von Zesterfleth und von der Lieth meldeten über andere weibliche Verwandte ebenfalls Ansprüche an. Außerdem machte der Erzbischof Johann Rode als Lehensgeber eines Teils der borchschen Güter Rechte geltend.
Otto konnte 1504 diese Einsprüche mit zwei Vergleichen bereinigen.

Diese Erbschaft bildete die Grundlage für den Reichtum derer von Düring, dessen Stammvater Otto von Düring war.

Wappen
Das Wappen derer von Borch ist ein roter Schild mit senkrechten silbernen, manchmal auch goldenen Balken. Die Anzahl der Balken variiert von 3 bis 8, meistens sind es aber vier.

Namensträger
 Luder von Borch, von 1231 bis 1251 Bischof von Verden.
 Heinrich von Borch, der Isern Hinnerk. Raubritter und Widersacher des Erzbischofs Johann Grand.

Literatur

 Artur Conrad Förste: Die Abstammung des Geschlechts v. Düring von den v. Borch auf Horneburg. In: Stader Jahrbuch 1970, S. 97–104.
 Hans G. Trüper: Ritter und Knappen zwischen Weser und Elbe – Die Ministerialität des Erzstifts Bremen, Landschaftsverbandes der ehem. Herzogtümer Bremen und Verden, Stade 2000, ISBN 3-931879-05-4

Einzelnachweise

Niedersächsisches Adelsgeschlecht
Bremisches Adelsgeschlecht
Blumenthal (Bremen)
Ersterwähnung 1181


The Phillipe Table Lamp offers a classic design that suits most living spaces and available in black with antique brass and white with chrome. Phillipe is well-made using a solid metal frame with a steel lampshade. This lamp uses 1 E26 medium base, Max 60W bulb and comes with a 70¾ extension cord.


VMU International Cooperation Department (ICD) acts as an initiator, coordinator and administrator of international activities and educational exchange programmes. It implements management of exchange and cooperation agreements, outgoing and incoming motilities, funding and scholarships, participation in international projects.
ICD cooperates with faculties and departments of the University to provide outgoing and incoming students, academics and administrative staff with opportunities to participate in the international mobility schemes.
activities and support during the study period.
Address Studentų g. 11 (room 202), Akademija, Kauno raj.


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What is Stori?
The 21st century has seen a disruption within families as children move away from their parents hometowns to live in bigger cities, sometimes thousands of miles away. Stori is an interactive story telling platform that bridges this distance by allowing grandparents to create stories that their grandchildren can experience, remotely.
Stori uses a combination of a mobile app, a wearable device and stickers to work. Grandparents use the app to create stories which are then narrated to the grandchild through the wearable device.
The grandchild walks into different spaces of the house and scans stickers stuck there which unfolds the story.
How do the grandparents build the story?
The grandparents start out by selecting the rooms the characters will live in. They then assign the character a characteristic. For example, in this case. the ghost who is the protagonist, lives in the porch/yard. The grandparents then pick one story telling trope. The story is then auto-generated from this information. Since there are many combinations possible, the story seems new to the grandchild even though it is created from a relatively limited number of options.
How does the child experience the story?
Once the characters are in place and the story has been created, the grandchild can go from room to room to experience the story. The wearable device narrates the story through the characters allowing for a multi-sensory experience.
What does the wearable device look like?
I hope you have a brilliant day!


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Q: use environment variables in CircleCI I'm trying to use CircleCI to run automated tests. I have a config.yml file tat contains secrets that I don't want to upload to my repo for obvius reasons.
Thus I've created a set of env varialbes in the Project Settings section:
VR_API_KEY = some_value
CLARIFAI_CLIENT_ID = some_value
CLARIFAI_CLIENT_SECRET = some_value
IMAGGA_API_KEY = some_value
IMAGGA_API_SECRET = some_value

The config.yml, I've removed the actual values and looks like this
visual-recognition:
    api-key: ${VR_API_KEY}
clarifai:
    client-id: ${CLARIFAI_CLIENT_ID}
    client-secret: ${CLARIFAI_CLIENT_SECRET}
imagga:
    api-key: ${IMAGGA_API_KEY}
    api-secret: ${IMAGGA_API_SECRET}

I have a test that basically creates the API client instances and configures everything, this test fails because it looks like CircleCI is not correctly substituting the values...here is the output of some prints (this is just when the values are read from config.yml)
-------------------- >> begin captured stdout << ---------------------
Checking tagger queries clarifai API
${CLARIFAI_CLIENT_ID}
${CLARIFAI_CLIENT_SECRET}
COULD NOT LOAD: 'UNAUTHORIZED'

--------------------- >> end captured stdout << ----------------------

The COULD NOT LOAD: 'UNAUTHORIZED' is expected since unvalid credentials lead to Oauth dance failure
Any clues? Thanks!
Meaning there is no substitution and therefore all tests will fail....what I'm doing wrong here...by the way, I don't have a circle.yml file yet...do I need one?
Thanks!
EDIT:  If anyone runs into the same problem, solution was rather simple, I've simple ciphered the config.yml file as depicted here
https://github.com/circleci/encrypted-files
Then in circle.yml just add an instruction to decypher and name the output file config.yml...and that's it!
dependencies:
  pre:
    # update locally with:
    # openssl aes-256-cbc -e -in secret-env-plain -out secret-env-cipher -k $KEY
    - openssl aes-256-cbc -d -in config-cipher -k $KEY >> config.yml

A: CircleCI also supports putting in environment variables (CircleCI Environment Variables). Instead of putting the value of the environment variable in the code, you go to project settings -> Environment Variables. Then just click add variable with name and value. You access the environment variable normally through the name.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Arrested for resisting arrest — Yes, it's possible
Earlier this week in a San Francisco courthouse, a deputy public defender named Jami Tillotson challenged police who were trying to take pictures of her client, and the police handcuffed her and took her away. The public defender's office angrily accused the officer of intimidation, but what caught our attention was the reason for her arrest.
A video of the incident shows the plainclothes policeman telling her, "If you continue with this, I will arrest you for resisting arrest."
She was detained, and San Francisco police say they're now investigating her for a possible charge under a state law that includes resisting arrest, as well as obstructing justice.
The case raises the question: How can you be arrested for resisting arrest? Isn't that like being fired for refusing to be fired?
David L. Carter, a criminology professor and former police officer, says in most cases, it's an aggravating offense. But when resisting arrest is the only charge, as it is in the San Francisco case, Carter is puzzled.
"I question the legitimacy of that," Carter says. "You've got to have the arrest to have the resisting arrest!"
In New York, criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor Nathaniel Burney believes the plainclothes policeman misspoke. "I think what he meant was 'obstruction of justice,' " he says. "Society has an interest in the police doing their job and catching criminals … and you're not allowed to stop them from doing their jobs."
But critics of the police say both of these charges — obstruction of justice and resisting arrest — can be abused by police to justify groundless arrests. Burney says these charges sometimes are invoked by police who are trying to maintain their status as, as he puts it, "Boss Dog."
"There is this — it's not necessarily an evil mentality — but it is a mentality that, 'I am in charge, and you shall not contradict me, you're going to do what I say, at all costs,' " he says. "And if you don't do what they say, well now all of a sudden you're a bad person and they've got to arrest you for that."
In private, police worry about maintaining their authority, because they believe it's dangerous to be seen letting people defy them. That may be what happened last summer in Seattle, when an elderly man refused to comply with a police officer's command to drop a golf club. She said he waved it at her menacingly; he said he was using it as a walking stick. Once he dug in and refused her order, she felt compelled to arrest him. But when the dash-cam video of the encounter came out this week, the department apologized.
Carter, the former officer, agrees that police sometimes feel they have to arrest someone to "save face." But he says some unjustified arrests also come out of officer fatigue — a breakdown of what he calls "resiliency" toward challenging members of the public, especially in protest situations.
"Resisting arrest" charges may also be a way to lend legitimacy to controversial arrests. In the post-Ferguson protests, people reported cases of police loudly yelling "stop resisting" at people they arrested, even when no resistance was apparent.
Burney isn't surprised by those accounts. "I have seen plenty of situations where not just police, but anybody will be saying the words that they want people to think is going on."
But he says there are also situations in which a civilian and an officer simply have different understandings of what's happening.
"The police officer sees it as resisting," he says. "You know, 'You're not doing what I'm telling you to do right this instant.' "
And if a civilian complies slowly, or reluctantly, that difference of opinion can lead to an arrest.


text:
Journalist, Writer, Failing Cricketer
Tag: President
Growing the seeds of greatness
Interview with Barack Obama's sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, from the Irish Examiner back in April.
LIKE many American presidents before him, Barack Obama never knowingly plays down his Irish roots.
On his whistle-stop Irish tour next month, Obama will pay a long overdue visit to Moneygall, the picturesque Offaly village that his great-great-great grandfather, shoemaker Fulmuth Kearney, left for New York in 1850.
Moneygall is a far cry from Honolulu, the Hawaiian city where the 44th President was born and raised, but Obama is likely to feel perfectly at home in Offaly. He has an ease about him no matter what the situation, says the woman who has known him since childhood — his half-sister Maya Soetoro-Ng.
"He is a really relaxed guy, he is comfortable in almost every situation and doesn't take himself too seriously," she says.
Barack and Maya share a rich, diverse background that encompasses Moneygall, Honolulu and just about everywhere in between. Obama's parents — Barack Obama Sr, a black man from a poor village in Kenya, and Ann Dunham, a white woman whose parents grew up in Kansas — met at the University of Hawaii and married soon after. He was born on August 4, 1961.
The marriage didn't last, however, and Barack Sr later returned to Kenya, where he worked as a government economist before his death in a car accident when his son was 21.
When Obama was six, his mother married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian foreign student. Maya, named after the poet Maya Angelou, is a product of their relationship. The family moved to Jakarta, but, after four years, Obama returned to Hawaii to live with his grandparents and attend middle school.
Maya, an amiable, chatty lecturer in multicultural education at Hawaii university, believes that these early years were formative for the future president. "I do often marvel at our particular journey," she says, speaking on the phone from New York where she is busy promoting Ladder to the Moon, her beautifully illustrated new children's book, inspired by her late mother Ann Dunham.
"I think of all the layers of life, meaning, history that is tied up in (our family story). There's so many connections: Hawaii; Indonesia and Kenya; Chicago and Washington. I feel like that has given my brother and I a remarkable perspective, it has taught us to always keep the bigger picture in our heads," she remarks in the same deep, sonorous voice that has become her brother's trademark.
By any standards, Ann Dunham, who died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at the age of just 52, was a remarkable woman. Despite growing up in the Midwest, Dunham, who was twice married and divorced, spent most of her adult life in Hawaii and Indonesia. She was a teenage mother who later gained a PhD in anthropology and, towards the end of her life, worked as a research consultant at Indonesia's largest bank.
In the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Barack, who once described his mother as the constant in his life, told Time magazine: "When I think about my mother, I think that there was a certain combination of being very grounded in who she was, what she believed in. But also a certain recklessness. I think she was always searching for something. She wasn't comfortable seeing her life confined to a certain box."
Ann Dunham's unorthodox approach to life was reflected in her imaginative approach to childrearing.
"There was lots of storytelling, lots of play," Maya recalls. "She would get down on the floor and really play with my brother and me. She even built us a kiln in the back garden for making pottery."
Passionate about her professional work, Dunham was a sympathetic mother, too, drawing on experiences from her own childhood in rural Kansas to connect with her two children.
"She was a storyteller. She would tell us about making up stories based on the clouds in the sky when she was a girl, or of sitting with a copy of National Geographic in a tree and imagining herself in foreign places."
Barack was nine when Maya was born, and although they only lived together for a couple of years, his younger sister still has memories of their time in Hawaii. "I can remember the apartment where we lived, the three of us. I remember my brother watching basketball and trying to get in front of him to get his attention — I still remember how much it annoyed him."
Obama spent summer and Christmas holidays with his mother and sister but it was only much later, when Maya was 14, that the family was finally reunited in Hawaii.
After Obama had graduated from Columbia University he began working as a community organiser in Chicago, and Maya spent a summer with her big — and by now rather strait-laced — brother. "He was very serious back then," Maya says, reflecting back on a time when her brother helped her choose where to study, introduced her to the writings of Toni Morrison and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and even enrolled his younger sister in a dance class.
"In college he became very serious, very philosophical. That was the time when he was collecting the building blocks for the future. Only later did he start lightening up," she laughs.
Maya attributes Barack's sunnier disposition in part to the resolution of the search for his own identity. In his 1995 memoir, Dreams from My Father, the future commander-in-chief describes feeling like a misfit in his Indonesian sandals and old-fashioned clothes when he started at school in Hawaii. As one of the few black students at Punahou he recalls students wanting to touch his hair and being asked whether his father ate people.
Struggling with his racial identity, Obama formed an image of his absent father from stories told by his mother and her parents. "My brother had to go and search for his father — which is the journey characterised in Dreams From My Father. I think he had to do that, particularly as a boy, but once he had made that journey he was OK," says Maya.
The bond between Barack and Maya is still strong: he helped Maya get over the death of her father and spoke at her wedding to Konrad Ng, a Chinese American professor. Maya also has fond memories of working on Obama's legendary 'Change We Can Believe In' campaign team in 2008.
"People had a sense that this was our future, they were asking 'How can I make a contribution?', 'How can I help the broader community?'. It was a very exciting time."
So much so that in the downtime during the gruelling campaign Maya penned Ladder to the Moon in the Obama's Chicago home.
"I first thought about writing a story about mom when I was becoming a mom myself. It was only then that I actually did it."
With military involvement in Libya, internal problems on Capitol Hill and, of course, that trip to Moneygall, Barack certainly has plenty on his plate right now with but the siblings stay in regular phone contact and Maya feels nothing but pride for her brother's achievements.
"I think he is a great president and a great man. I'm proud not just of his position but his conduct, his efforts and his character under really difficult circumstances.
"I think there definitely have been easier times to be president."
Author peterPosted on 19th June 2011 Categories Books, Irish Examiner, Society and CultureTags Barack Obama, Maya Soetoro-Ng, President
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With the T20 (series opener) just a few hours away, the hype is getting out of control. It is a huge opportunity for both sides as one is looking for wins to gain some sort of momentum while the other has to hit back at their critics with good overseas performances.
Australia and India have had some memorable T20 battles over the years. Our team has been diggin' some T20 stats in regard to the two sides.
Let's see how many you know.
1. Who has scored the most runs in Aus-Ind T20Is?
Virat Kohli is the man. He has scored 423 runs.
2. Who holds the best individual score?
Kohli? Sharma? Finch? No, it's Shane Watson. He hit 124 n.o at Sydney hitting a total of 6 sixes. His runs went in vain as India chased down Aussies total of 197.
3. Who has the best strike rate?
Yuvraj Singh. Who else? He tops this category with a staggering strike rate of 161.71.
4. Who has hit the most sixes in this fixture?
Shane Watson. He hit 20 sixes during his time.
5. Who has most 50+ scores?
King Kohli it is. He has made four 50+ scores.
6. Who has taken the most wickets?
Bumrah? Watson? Ashwin? Surprisingly, all the 3 bowlers are tied on this one with 10 wickets.
7. Who has taken the most catches?
Just a tip for you. He is left-handed. Any name that popped in your head? It's Ravindra Jadeja. He has 7 catches in his bag.
How correct were you? Leave your score in the comments section and join the #AUSvsIND conversation.


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AFC South preview
Only a couple more days until the NFL season fires up for season 2015/16. Next up in his series of divisional previews, it's the AFC South, from the sharp mind of Ian Steven, @deevo82.
Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and John Elway are always in the conversation for the greatest of all time but do we now add Andrew Luck to that list? He is only in the infancy of his career in relative terms for the quarterback but already the Indianapolis Colts' signal caller is displaying the superb traits that saw him drafted first overall by the Colts out of Stanford after having a stellar college career.
Luck has progressed consistently every season as have Indianapolis, failing spectacularly at the championship game stage last season against the New England Patriots 45-7, the game which instigated the Deflategate scandal. The team from Indiana have tried to address their failings in the off-season, providing Luck with the weapons he needs to bridge that chasm and get to the ultimate game.
Future Hall of Famer Reggie Wayne was released by the club afte a legendary career in Indy, eventually signing with the New England Patriot, but the wide receiver was replaced by another future Hall of Famer in Andre Johnson. The courts already had TY Hilton as a speedster on the outside but they doubled their options with the drafting of Philip Dorsett from the University of Miami. It is just as well that Andrew Luck has a powerful arm because there is a severe risk that these two wide receivers could out run the ball for any average quarterback who is throwing it.
Indy continued with the veteran free agents route, ring and signed Todd Herremans from Philadelphia at guard, despite the fact that the majority of Eagles followers felt that the lineman was past his best. Frank Gore, the veteran running back also joins the franchise, after being released by the 49ers. Gore has quite a lot of tread on his tyres but he is an experienced veteran and he's been famed for getting a tough yards when it matters most. The speed of Dorestt and Hilton out side will force defences to respect he deep ball and that should open up holes for Gore to exploit.
Chuck Pagano elected to completely revamp his outfit on the defensive side of the ball. Eric Walden, D'Qwell Jackson, Trent Cole, Greg Toler and Mike Adams all join the franchise as free-agent signings. The Colts already had a solid front three on the defensive line but they have improved their ability to counter the running game, especially with Trent Cole joining, one of the best edge defenders in the game. The Colts were ranked 18th against the run last season and that is an area they have consciously tried to upgrade.
This is a team that is completely geared towards getting very deep into the play-offs. The front office has gambled by bringing in so many experienced free agencts and the question is, will that gamble payoff and can they get to the ultimate game in February?
The Houston Texans have had an increased level of public consciousness this off-season thanks to the documentary Hard Knocks which has been following the Texas franchise during the preseason. The undoubted star of this program was definitely JJ Watt, the defensive tackle, who has displayed outstanding physical traits since entering the NFL out of Wisconsin. Hard Knocks illustrated that his work ethic is second to none and is considered the main man in the franchise. Watt is so talented that some people lobbied for him to be the NFL MVP last season which is almost unthinkable as only two defensive players have ever won the award in Alan Page and Lawrence Taylor.
The biggest question going into training camp and the preseason for Houston was who was going to be the starting quarterback. Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett, both familiar to head coach Bill O'Brien when he was on the staff at New England, were vying for the starting job. Eventually Brian Hoyer was given the nod. The quarterback started the season well with Cleveland last year before succumbing to injury.
The main problem for the offense of Houston is the departure of two of its most premium blue-chip players. Andre Johnson moved to Indianapolis, removing a future Hall of Famer from the starting lineup. And top running back Adrian Foster succumbed to a groin injury during training camp which will limit his effectiveness during the start of the season. Alfred Blue has had to step up to take the place of Foster. The Texans drafted Jaelen Strong in an effort to replace Johnson but the rookie receiver has not progressed as expected during the pre-season and remains stuck down the depth chart. The good news for Brian Hoyer is that Duan Brown is his starting left tackle. Brown has quietly emerged into one of the premium pass protecers in the league.
On defense, the Texans are stacked. This could well be the best D in the league. We have already spoken about JJ Watt but he is joined on the defensive line by Vince Wilfork, as a free agent from New England. Wilfork is still listed at only weighing 320 lbs which is quite comical as he is clearly closer to the 400 range. But he is a big, stout man and difficult to shift out of the middle. Jadeveon Clowney returns to the starting lineup after having to endure micro-fracture surgery during his rookie season. If he can live up to his hype coming out of South Carolina as the first player selected in the draft in 2014, he could make Houston's pass rush the most explosive in the league.
The big problem for the Texans is the lack of playmakers on offense, especially with Foster out of the lineup. Most of the games will be close because they are so good on the defensive side of the ball, but they just do not have the ability to play catch up if they fall behind.
One point to note – Houston's kicker is called Randy Bullock. Seriously, a parent actually gave their child that name!
The Jaguars are showing signs of gradual improvement as "London's Team" battle to escape the basement of the NFL. After years of struggling to find a signal caller that could perform close to mark Brunell's heroics when the Jags made the AFC title game under Tom Coughlin, it finally looks like they have their man in Blake Bortals. The UCF grad has had an impressive pre-season after the predictable tough rookie initiation in 2014 and looks to expand in his sophomore year.
The big issues for the Jags is who will Bortles throw too. Justin Blackmon looks like he may have played his last game in the NFL due to repeated issues with substance abuse. This is a shame as Blackmon has the skill set to rival a player like AJ Green and is undoubtedly wasting his talent. Whilst Allen Robinson and Marqise Lee can be expected to turn up to games sober, both fit into the "potential" bracket and have yet to demonstrate their worth as a consistent target.
Head coach Gus Bradley loves physical football and that trait is no more transparent than in the drafting of TJ Yeldon to be the bell cow in the Jags' backfield. Yeldon is a big bruiser coming out of Alabama and should team up well in a 1-2 punch with the equally physical Toby Gerhardt.
The defense was dealt a massive blow when top draft pick Dante Folwer injured his knee in mini camp. The Florida linebacker was expected to enhance a weak pass rush after testing well coming out of college.
The Jags should be able to beat last season's total of just three victories but they are still a few key player short of breaking the .500 barrier. The question is whether owner Shahid Khan has the patience to let Gus Bradley gradually improve his investment.
The speculation surrounding the Titans second overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft was fascinating – with rumours of mega trades swirling around the NFL like seagulls harrying a discarded haggis supper. Reality was much less exciting than fantasy but importantly; it should prove to be more lucrative as well as Tennessee elected to anoint Marcus Mariota as their new signal caller.
Mariota is a clean cut, All-American type of player who ran the spread offense out of Oregon and has great mobility coupled with an NFL calibre arm. The knock on Mariota was that he was not used to running a pro offense and would take time to adjust. Those worries have been unfounded however as Mariota has played well in the pre-season and appears initially to have been a sensible investment.
Mariota has a good offensive line to player behind with Taylor Lewan, Brian Schwenke and Chance Warmack manning the trenches but it is with the skill positions that the Titans struggle.
Running back Bishop Sankey is never likely to give opposing linebackers nightmares in the same mold as an Adrian Peterson or LeSean McCoy. And having Kendall Wright as the only consistent target at receiver will not help Mariota boast spectacular passing numbers.
One player to watch out for is Dorial Green-Beckham who is likened to Randy Moss cue to his size and speed but who has had a variety of runs is with the law in college. If the receiver was clean cue, he could well have been a top five selection on ability alone. DGB has been described as "a beast" by cornerback Jason McCourtney but the receiver has been hobbled with niggling injuries in the pre-season so it remains to be seen what impact he could have.
On defense , the Titans were pretty abysmal last season, leaking rushing yards like an incontinent colander. Sammy Hill was brought in at nose tackle from Detroit in an effort to plug some gaps whilst Brian Orapko arrived from Washington to solidify the edge. Whether that is enough off an overhaul remains in the laps of the football gods but Whisenhunt's men will definitely be more enjoyable to watch with Mariota behind centre in 2015.
The Colts are the clear favourites as they tick nearly every box. Chuck Pagano's men are loaded with talent and looked geared to make a run at a top seeding going into the playoffs. Houston would come closest to knocking the Colts off their perch but they do not have a franchise signal caller and are oft without glass-crotched running back Arian Foster so moving the sticks could be a problem. Tennessee and Jacksonville could claim a couple of unexpected scalps but another season of famine awaits. Best odds are 1.29 for Indy to win the division with Skybet. Not much value here. You can get 3.00 on Houston making the playoffs but the injury to Foster makes me wary, especially with San Diego, Miami and Kansas City looking very potent.


Kevin Alvir, based out of NYC, is an artist with multiple mediums.
Illustration and music are two sides of the same coin for Kevin, and his work shows that he is soaked through and through with passion for what he does. Both art and music entered Kevin's life at an early age. His brother taught him the basic chords on guitar, making sure he knew and followed the rules – and always reminding him that he could break those rules later. This mentality has spread throughout his work; bending rules to make a point, and changing shape himself as he creates art and music with dynamic style and unique ideas.
The conversation that the arts create within ourselves and with each other is limitless – the conversation between artist and audience is personal.
This interaction is Kevin Alvir's meat and potatoes – he loves the communication, the voice it gives him, and the change he can be in the world.


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In der Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Ebermannstadt im oberfränkischen Landkreis Forchheim haben sich folgende Gemeinden zur Erledigung ihrer Verwaltungsgeschäfte zusammengeschlossen:
 Ebermannstadt, Stadt,  Einwohner,  km²
 Unterleinleiter,  Einwohner,  km²

Sitz der Verwaltungsgemeinschaft ist die Stadt Ebermannstadt.

Der Verwaltungsgemeinschaft gehörte von der Gründung am 1. Mai 1978 bis 31. Dezember 1979 auch die Marktgemeinde Pretzfeld an.

Einzelnachweise

Verwaltungsgemeinschaft in Bayern
Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Ebermannstadt
Ebermannstadt
Unterleinleiter
Pretzfeld
Organisation (Landkreis Forchheim)


text:
Athyrma simplex är en fjärilsart som beskrevs av Walter Karl Johann Roepke 1951. Athyrma simplex ingår i släktet Athyrma och familjen nattflyn. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Nattflyn
simplex


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Cyber Conflict Conference Identifies Important Need for Clear, Globally Legal Framework for Conducting and Evaluating Cyber Operations
By Scott June 4, 2015 2 Mins Read
Council on Foreign Relations looks back on the recent Cyber Conflict (CyCon) conference in Tallinn, Estonia and noticed a single underlying theme emerging from the week-long gathering: there was obvious angst about the lack of a clear, globally legal framework for conducting and evaluating cyber operations:
States, of course, are the primary (and some say only) creators of international law. Whether by concluding treaties or creating customary law by engaging in extensive state practice over time, states generally dictate what the rules of the road will be. But one confounding factor, at least in today's cyber world, is that the large majority of state practice is done secretly and rarely sees the light of day. Far more than many other areas of geopolitical activity, states' actual conduct in the cyber arena remains unknown and, to a large extent, unknowable to other states.
For this reason, products such as the Tallinn Manuals are garnering intense interest. The first Tallinn Manual, produced by an independent group of experts mostly drawn from NATO member states, came out in 2013. The Manual proffered what the experts saw as the current state of the law relevant to cyber operations that involved a state's resort to force or a state's conduct of armed conflict. Version 2.0 picks up where the first version left off, and will set forth the experts' views on what international law applies to cyber activity that falls below the level of armed conflict or the use of force—activity such as cyber espionage or denial of service attacks. Because the Manuals have been crafted by recognized experts, and because the Manuals provide a systematic examination of what the rules seem to be today, many actors are treating the Manual as the closest thing to an authoritative source on the current state of the law.
The lack of agreed upon norms is going to become increasingly important as nations continue to leverage cyber operations as a means of spreading their political messages and influencing other nations to follow their stance on issues important to the country.
cybercybersecuritygovernmentmilitarypoliticssecurity
Raytheon Opens New Cyber-Technology Center Aimed at Assisting the U.S. Government and Other Nations
June 4, 2015 1 Min Read
How The Pentagon Defines Its Role in Cybersecurity
June 4, 2015 2 Mins Read
SCOTT (すこっと)
Scott (すこっと) is a cyber security, threat intelligence strategist, and technology evangelist working and living in Tokyo. In addition to his day job, Scott is fascinated by the future of computing, the technology industry, privacy, encryption, mobile apps, politics, & Japan. Scott enjoys taking pictures with his iPhone and sharing them freely online, primarily on Instagram.
#Hackers sponsored by other nation states could disguise themselves as Iranian intruders—masking their true identit… https://t.co/L02OcGe0od
RT @49ers: Punched our ticket to Miami 😎🌴 https://t.co/C9IgKkhW5R
RT @49ers: THE 49ERS ARE NFC CHAMPIONS ‼ https://t.co/rqTUfrVnVM
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text:
Bengaluru: The Rise of Silicon Valley in India
Bangalore or Bengaluru is often referred to as the Garden City due to its Tree-Lined streets and satisfactory weather. Bangalore, which was once as soon as acknowledged for its inexperienced and fertile farmland and pastures, is additionally now domestic to Information Technology Hubs and one of the most well-known Educational and Research Institutes.
Education Hubs in Bengaluru
A Throwback to the Memory Lane of Being Asia's Silicon Valley
Bangalore's Rise as an IT hub: 1984: The Making of an IT Capital
Other industries in Bangalore:
2010-2020: From the lower back workplace to an R&D hotspot
2020: The Silicon Valley of Asia
Startups That Capitalised On Bangalore's IT Ecosystem To Become Unicorns
Bangalore Has Been a Boon to The Startup Scene in India
Bangalore is now not solely domestic to Information Technology Hubs, however, is additionally famous for Research Institutions like the Indian Institute of Science (IISC), Indian Institute of Management (IIMA), National Institute of Fashion Technology, National Law School of Indian University (NLSIU), National Institute of Design, Bangalore (NID R&D Campus), and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).
A range of Industries is positioned in Bangalore. Headquarters of many National and International companies are right here, and half of India's Information Technology Business worth around Dollar 50 Billion is from Bangalore.
You don't have to make it a whole lot past 8 am earlier than Bangalore's infamous site traffic jams end up too dense to escape. For Bangalore's 12.3 million inhabitants, outrunning heavy traffic congestions have to be a sophisticated navigation artwork.
But, in between petrol fumes and the frenzy of activity, remarkable tech parks, lavish hotels, and fancy eating places testify to a sincere world and progressive metropolis's genesis. So what led to this transformation? How did Bangalore end up in Asia's Silicon Valley?
Let's take a stroll down reminiscence lane…
The 1970s: Indian born R. K Baliga (Father of Electronics City in Bangalore) was in the US before returning to India with India's imaginative and prescient prescience to the world's subsequent Silicon Valley. He proposed the thinking of the 'Electronic City,' which would later seriously change Bangalore into an IT mecca.
1976: A authorities enterprise used to be created to increase the electronics industry in Karnataka's kingdom.
1978: Baliga met to decide a plan that would deliver the Electronic City to life. Built on a 330-acre plot of land in Anekal Taluk, it created a house for small, medium, and massive IT businesses to work collectively and assist the enterprise as a total to develop on its own.
1983: Both Wipro and Infosys had been home-grown groups that led Bangalore, encouraging and inspiring neighborhood IT companies to agree within what they had been doing.
1985: Texas Instruments have been the first multinational to arrive in Bangalore. They spent time tapping into the nearby intelligence and lookup pool. With huge groups putting up in the area, this acted as an open invitation to the world's largest agencies to come and be a part of Bangalore.
1991: Liberalisation of the Indian financial system happened due to the leisure of FDI norms. In turn, a hundred and fifty operational devices arrived in rapid succession, consisting of IBM & Tata. The software program improvement enterprise boomed, remodeling the Electronic City into a world mecca for software program companies.
The 1990s: Bangalore grew to become the region to commence companies due to its sources and infrastructure. Expats who had labored for massive organizations like Amazon and Mckinsey again to India were upset and set up profitable groups such as Flipkart and Inmobi. Companies like these did wonders for the industry, encouraging ambition in younger entrepreneurs and giving them the power to begin their corporations in booming Bangalore.
The Nineties onwards: Satya Nadella grew to become the CEO of Microsoft in 2014 – an agency that has achieved 15 years in India – putting forward India's domestic grown brain in the industry. Infrastructure has persisted to improve, making sure Bangalore is properly linked to the infrastructure and brain pool of different predominant southern cities.
The Indian authorities have made big investments of time and cash into enhancing Bangalore's economy. The Bangalore clever metropolis now serves as the headquarters for National Aerospace Labs, Indian Space Research Organisation, Bharat Electronics, and Indian smartphone industries, cementing Bangalore's popularity as an international participant in the world of IT.
In the 1980s, Bangalore started developing in the Information Technology sector. There are so many engineering universities opened up in Bangalore. Texas Instruments used to be the first overseas enterprise to begin operations in Bangalore, which is well-known for its Casio Calculators.
There are nearly 250 headquarters of software program agencies right here in Bangalore. India's largest tech giants like INFOSYS, WIPRO, and HAL are additionally placed in Bangalore. This town attracts heaps of software program engineers and IT experts from all over India.
There are a number of brilliant blessings of overseas businesses for running through Bangalore as in contrast to different countries. These agencies employ quite skilled Information Technology personnel, and they have to pay a quarter of the price solely as wages that they would have to pay in the United States or Europe.
So many different industries like aerospace and plane manufacturing, Biotechnology and Machine making and electronics enterprise have flourished in Bangalore. Bangalore has come up to be the most famous outsourcer in the world as properly, and agencies from around the world pick out this vacation spot for Information Technology outsourcing tasks.
However, it is no longer solely well-known for outsourcing as a lot of Research and Technology Development is being carried out here. Most of the agencies begin their enterprise with a small quantity of capital, and then they develop progressively securing finance from the West as well.
The IT professionals who labored overseas for years, gaining trips and new information, are heading to their domestic and beginning their own organizations in Bangalore, bringing innovation and ideas.
The only difficulty right here is that these organizations demand certified and expert technicians, and as their demand rises, their pay is additionally getting greater and higher. This is why many American primarily based corporations are leaving India and transferring their agencies again to the United States of America due to the fact India is turning into extra and extra steeply-priced day by day.
With the new computer and software program insurance policies in 1984, imports and exports of hardware and software programs in India have been liberalized. This set the basis for firms like Wipro and Infosys to set up camp in Bangalore and employ Indian programmers.
Ties have been constructed with American groups imparting superior structures that Indian software program businesses massively benefited from. In return, the Americans started out capitalizing on the giant brain pool and low operational expenses by way of erecting software program services and innovation centers on Indian soil, thereby sowing the seeds of an offshore relationship between East and West.
However, in 1985, Texas Instruments Inc. grew to become the first MNC to set up an improvement center in Bangalore, paving extra MNCs to follow.
In the final decade alone, Bangalore has accounted for 35% of the global in-house centers (GIC) in India. The value of R&D performed in India is estimated to be around $40 billion and is anticipated to expand in the years to come.
How IT decision-makers will construct them The contributing element right here is the heavy awareness of high-tech intelligence who can construct a customized software program for your enterprise at a less cost. It has a special attraction to Western businesses whose accelerated market stress the want for knowledgeable builders besides the eye-watering charges of labor.
Meanwhile, India used to be going through some profound modifications that have been remodeling its entrepreneurial set-up. Graduates dreaming of a job at Google have been rapidly changed using graduates who aspired to set up the subsequent unicorn.
Out of the 12 million humans who name the metropolis their home, almost one million are developers. The quantity of IT faculties has surpassed 100, and the startup mania is ubiquitous.
Today, these are the humans at the back of India's most profitable startups' guidance wheels. Ola, for instance, managed to overtake its world competitor Uber in India. At the same time, Amazon-competitor, Flipkart, reached an internet market price of $15.5 billion and managed to create a staff of greater than 30,000 people, all in much less than 10 years. Both agencies originated in Bangalore.
"Bangalore has served as India's science capital for over three many years now. With a strong heritage of premier R&D laboratories, tutorial institutions, and public zone targeted firms, the metropolis has substantially contributed to India's IT management in the world."
-Prashanth Prakash,
Chairman of Startup Vision Group – Karnataka.
The IT enterprise employs roughly 4.1 million human beings throughout India and bills for almost $137 billion of exports each year- 40% of which is generated in Bangalore. But the economic system can't give an explanation for the upward thrust of this IT utopia.
The build-up of technical knowledge and the multi-skilled labor force has been instrumental in the heavy awareness of R&D centers in Bangalore, counting names like Amazon, IBM, Microsoft, Tesco, Nokia, and Siemens.
This technical centrifuge has halted Bangalore's function as a passive recipient of menial software program duties and, as a substitute, made it an epicenter of entrepreneurship. It hosts a younger populace of digital natives who possess the enterprise acumen and revolutionary vigor that constitutes the world's tech industry's insulin. And, in this whirlwind of entrepreneurial upheaval, AI, computer learning, and IoT are saturating the market and bulking up the ecosystem.
From the time immemorial, Bengaluru has been popularly known as the country's startup capital, both in terms of new companies being incubated and the number of funds raised by the companies.
A report states, "Bengaluru's unicorns have led to the creation of more than 2,100 entrepreneurs across India, out of which 1,100 started a venture in Bengaluru. This is the largest snowballing effect seen across all startup ecosystems in the country."
So let's take a glimpse at those Banglore-based Unicorns.
Because they noticed outstanding manageable in Bangalore's IT ecosystem, in 2008, they constructed their first workplace in the city. They additionally launched an online 24×7 consumer carrier and shipped over 3,400 books that year.
The subsequent year, they employed their first full-time worker who would go on to grow to be a millionaire. In September 2009, Accel Partners invested $1 million in Flipkart so that they may want to open workplaces in Delhi and Mumbai.
Byjus's
The only EdTech decacorn startup in India, Byjus's, is a perfect example. By 2009, Byju was once instructing in 9 special cities each week. Hopping between cities quickly grew to become overwhelming, and Byju commenced the use of movies to teach his students.
In 2011, he started out his organization "Byju's" with the assist of a few college students who had graduated from IIMs in the country. Simultaneously, he additionally commenced growing core gaining knowledge of merchandise for college students from 4th grade to the twelfth grade — a procedure that took nearly four years.
Byju's dive into the online educating world used to be well-timed, given the speedy smartphone penetration that enabled effortless entry for the mobile-first USA like India.
Within the subsequent decade, Ola grew at rocket-speed. The enterprise moved its headquarters from Mumbai to Bangalore to gain Bangalore's IT ecosystem and get a headstart on software. Today, Ola enjoys an 80% share in the Indian ride-sharing market and employs 2.5 million drivers.
In August 2014, Swiggy started out operations via signing up a few eating places in Bangalore, the nation's IT hub. Shortly after, Swiggy raised its first spherical of funding and launched its software in May 2015.
Today, Swiggy is the main meal ordering and shipping platform in India. In 2019 alone, Swiggy delivered five hundred million orders throughout 500-plus cities pan-India. From a handful of eating places in 2104, Swiggy now collaborates with over 1,60,000 eating places in the country!
Because a massive majority of Indian customers did no longer agree with online purchasing at that time, he started out merchandising the portal thru Google Ads. By 2011, round 9 million traffic posted their commercials on Quikr.
Like different thriving startups, even though Quikr used to be launched in Mumbai, they determined to cross its headquarters to Bangalore to capitalize on the large intelligence pool and Bangalore's IT ecosystem.
Within a couple of months, the wide variety of Quikr customers grew to eleven million. Today, Quikr receives over 30 million customers each month and exists in more than 900 cities in the country.
Udaan has formed a network of more than 150,000 buyers and sellers across the nation. In November 2016, Udaan raised $10 million in Series A round from Lightspeed Venture Partners.
With a Series C funding of $225 million from DST Global and Lightspeed Venture Partners in September 2018, Udaan joined the coveted unicorn club with a valuation of $1 billion.
Udaan has emerged as one of the most valuable [email protected] unicorns in a short span, enabling small businesses in India by leveraging technology to connect traders, wholesalers, retailers, and manufacturers on a single platform.
BigBasket is India's first unicorn in the field of online grocery delivery space. In late, 2011 that BigBasket raised its first funding round worth ₹5 crores. With a $150 million funding from Mirae Asset Global Investments, CDC Group, and Alibaba in May 2019, BigBasket got the title of a unicorn. During FY19, BigBasket's revenue increased by 69% to touch ₹2,380 crores while its losses touched ₹348 crores.
InMobi initially started as an SMS-based search and monetization business named as mKhoj. It later pivoted to the mobile advertising platform and rebranded itself as InMobi. InMobi has acquired nine companies, including its latest acquisition of the vernacular social media platform Roposo in November 2019.
Also Read: 30+ Unicorn Startups in India you Need to Know
Apart from these unicorns, some of the soonicorns(startups having the potential to be unicorns) in Bengaluru include Razorpay, Meesho, Ninjacart, Dunzo, Zoomcar, Rapido, Licious, and Practo. These fresh companies have the most powerful potential to find a place in India's unicorn club in the upcoming years.
Indian startups have raised 50 billion dollars in simply the last six years, with more than 40,000 startups launched. With 31 unicorns at a cumulative valuation of $61 billion, Bangalore has been the largest driver of India's startup boom story.
Only 49% of Bangalore's populace is native to the city, and the resulting multiculturalism has had a charming effect on its social interior. Whole neighborhoods are flooded with luxurious boutique-style stores and extravagant dwelling arrangements.
In fact, the metropolis used to be featured as the world's second-fastest-growing IT ecosystem in 2015, and the World Economic Forum named Bangalore as the world's most dynamic town in 2017 and 2019.
Also read – A Brief Analysis of NEP 2020 And How It Will Impact The Scope of Entrepreneurship In India
These integral elements have cemented Bangalore as an IT hub and earned the town the hard-earned sobriquet of Asia's Silicon Valley. Planning insurance policies and the large inflow of investments have overhauled a metropolis that used to be greater famous amongst retirees and, as an alternative, created an area for extraordinary stages of technological creativity and disruptive innovations.
And after the myriad of examples lies the most uplifting cognizance that as hostile to many different markets, Bangalore's most fruitful years lie in advance as an alternative than behind. The metropolis holds abundances of untapped vitality of burgeoning income and boom for a long time to come.
Also Read – Scope and Present Scenario of Entrepreneurship In India
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The house has been completely encased in vinyl siding. The front porches on the first and second floor are enclosed. There is no more decorative trim; it has been covered in siding.
The address of the house is written on the back of the card.
Dear Mrs. Jewet. I am just going to tell you where I am. I am here with Frank & Fannie and this is the picture of the house they live in. It is a lovely place. I have a very pleasant room. It looks right over to the school building where Russell goes to school. It is quite [unreadable] for me to see the children. They live quite near Belmont Ave. That is where [unreadable] lives. The cars go right by here and then go there. Love to your mother same to you. -- S.L. Whittier. P.S. write to me all the news.


Once among the most powerful regions in the world, Italy is now one of its most charming.
From the ancient Roman Colosseum to the Renaissance art of Florence, the sparkling Amalfi coastline and romantic Venice Canals, Italy and its people have long celebrated la dolce vita, the sweet life. What could be sweeter than a romantic honeymoon or special holiday spent with loved ones amid the historic cities, extraordinary countryside and scenic lake districts of this beautiful country.
The holy city of the Vatican offers a glimpse into the religious life that has dominated Italy for centuries. Such glorious works as the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museums offer vacationers and locals the perfect balance of art and culture.
No trip to Italy would be complete without a romantic gondola ride and kiss beneath the Bridge of Sighs, a tour of the iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa, and a trip to incredible Mt. Vesuvius, the ancient ruins of Pompeii, Sorrento, and Naples along the country's illustrious southwestern shores.
A few hours, or days, can hardly do justice to the incredibly rich collection of Renaissance art at Florence's esteemed Uffizi Gallery, but it's certainly worth your time.
Admire Michelangelo's astonishing Statue of David in Firenze (Florence) and Leonardo de Vinci's awe-inspiring painting of The Last Supper in Milan.
Tempt your taste buds with some creamy gelato and Neopolitan pizza, made with sun-ripened San Marzano tomatoes grown near Mount Vesuvius, and delicious mozzarella Campana.
Shop for the perfect piece of jewelry on Florence's renowned Ponte Vecchio medieval stone bridge.
Browse Venice's colorful Murano glass shops for an iconic souvenir of Italy.
Go on a guided tour of the Vatican Museums for an in-depth look at the country's artistic, religious and cultural history.
Climb atop the Duomo or Giotto's bell tower for a bird's eye view of Florence.
Mangia (eat) anywhere, anytime. Authentic Italian food is a taste of heaven on earth.


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State goes after Race to Top round 2 funds
News // Education
Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Nick Ut/AP
California will throw its hat into the ring for the chance to win $700 million in the second round of federal Race to the Top funds despite the state's arguably long odds and dismal showing in the last round, state officials said Friday.
The state would need to vault from 27th place - out of 40 applicants - in round one to a spot among serious contenders - something that will require a complete revamp of the application, said state Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss.
This time, six district superintendents, representing more than 1 million students in California, will craft the application rather than Sacramento policy wonks.
San Francisco Unified's Carlos Garcia is one of the select six.
The new application will shine a spotlight on what those districts are already doing to turn around struggling schools, evaluate and support teachers and principals and measure student performance.
"It shows what great work is going on in so many school districts in California," Reiss said. "These superintendents are writing an application that has the maximum amount of detail."
The other district superintendents drafting the application are from Long Beach, Los Angeles, Fresno, Sanger and Clovis unified school districts.
Garcia was reportedly in a meeting Friday with the other superintendents and unavailable for comment.
San Francisco has recently implemented incentive pay for teachers in hard-to-staff schools, among other comprehensive reforms intended to help boost low student performance.
Once the application is ready, other districts across the state will be asked to sign on to the reform efforts outlined in the application, which is due June 1.
Reiss admitted California is making a longshot bid.
In round one, the state received 336.8 points out of a possible 500, more than 100 points behind the two winning states, Delaware and Tennessee.
A handful of states have dropped out of the competition, including Indiana, Kansas and Vermont.
The round-one judges in the Race to the Top dinged California for several omissions, including a lack of union support.
The California Teachers Association, the state's largest teachers union, declined to sign on to the last application and didn't appear enthusiastic about another go.
Los Angeles Unified was unable to persuade the teachers union to participate in round one. And since then, tensions have only mounted between education officials and union leaders at the state and local levels.
Oakland teachers held a one-day strike Thursday while several districts are at impasse in contract negotiations, including San Francisco.
The United Educators of San Francisco, the district's teachers union, signed on for round one of California's Race to the Top application, but there were no guarantees for round two, said union President Dennis Kelly.
Tensions in the negotiations over a contract to help close a budget shortfall have damaged bonds between the district and the union. And Kelly hadn't even heard that Garcia was part of the round-two team.
"Nobody's talked to me about it at all," he said.
State officials said they hope that a comprehensive review of judges' comments from round one and a focus on reforms in the six districts could give California a shot at the cash.
"Education is about what is possible to achieve the American Dream," said state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, in a joint statement with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. "California will continue to fight the good fight in the best interest of our children by providing historic rights for parents and an unwavering commitment to demand excellence of our public education system for every child."
Jill Tucker
Reach Jill on
Jill Tucker has covered education in California for 22 years, writing stories that range from issues facing Bay Area school districts to broader national policy debates. Her work has generated changes to state law and spurred political and community action to address local needs.
She is a frequent guest on KQED's "Newroom" television show and "Forum" radio show. A Bay Area native, Jill earned a master's degree in journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder and a bachelor's degree from the UC Santa Barbara. In between, she spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English in Cape Verde, West Africa.


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Q: nested tags SelectNodes c# wpf I have problem with getting all text from
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I want have all text in textBlock in the same order as on site but I really don't know how to do it.

A: Try to change your XPath to "//div[@class='article-content']/p" .
EDIT: link to working example


text:
CV Driver > News > Is your fleet ready for Direct Vision Standard?
Is your fleet ready for Direct Vision Standard?
Published September 2019 by David Johns
With only a couple of months to go before Direct Vision Standard comes into effect in Central London, Emily Hardy, a road safety expert at Brigade Electronics UK and one of the consultants on the new regulations, discusses how fleet managers can ensure they are fully prepared for the new legislation.
As October approaches, fleet managers will be turning their attention to the implementation of the first stage of Direct Vision Standard (DVS), when permits become available from the beginning of the month.
DVS, which was passed by Transport for London earlier this year after a consultation process with road safety charities, companies and manufacturers, will apply to HGVs weighing more than 12 tonnes GVW that enter or operate in Greater London. It is hoped that through implementation of this safety initiative, deaths and serious injuries from road collisions will be eliminated from London's streets by 2041.
Fleet operators might be wondering what this means for them, and what they need to do to ensure their vehicles comply with the new standard.
Vehicle manufacturers will issue a star rating in accordance with the DVS System – a series of approved technical protocols, which will be applied to HGVs to make an objective assessment of visibility from the driver's position.
Initially, it will be the fleet operator's responsibility to apply for the necessary permit by confirming their vehicles' star ratings with the vehicle manufacturers.
Fleet operators will need to contact vehicle manufacturers to confirm these ratings. If a vehicle is rated one or above, it will automatically be eligible for a permit. However, operators of vehicles that automatically qualify for a permit will still be encouraged to review and enhance their vehicles' safety features.
In the event a vehicle has a zero-star visibility rating, or has no rating, it will need to meet the requirements of the Safe System – a series of vehicle safety measures designed to improve visibility and reduce the risk of collisions with vulnerable road users.
To help simplify the process for fleet operators, Brigade Electronics has produced an easy-to-follow infographic outlining the main points of DVS and the equipment fleet operators will need to fit to zero-rated vehicles to ensure they meet the Safe System standards. For vehicles rated at one star or above, it is recommended that fleet operators review vehicle safety systems and fit supplementary safety features as soon as possible.
Fleet operators should be aware that one and two star vehicles will need to comply with the Safe System standards by October 2024, when permits for these, and zero-rated vehicles, will expire. Permits for star ratings of three and above will be valid for 10 years. All permits will be provided free of charge. Vehicles found to be in breach of the permit scheme will be issued with a penalty of up to £550.
CV Driver
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News and Events: Interview Series - Issue 3
Keith Kidd is a Founding Member of NTAF and served as the President of the Board from October 2009 until May 2011. In December 2011, following the retirement of the most recent Board President, Keith was appointed to serve once again as a Director and was elected as President of the Board.
In his day job, Keith presently serves as Director of Packet Systems Testing within Verizon's Technology Organization. Throughout his career, Keith has managed IT Operations, System Development, Architecture teams, and various test organizations. At the time of NTAF's inception, Keith was the Director of Verizon's Business Tools team with responsibility for the Lab's Automation Strategy.
You were one of the first, maybe even the very first, instigator of the effort that became the Network Test Automation Forum. What was the original motivation behind that effort?
Verizon Labs has invested heavily in automation and depends on automation to help achieve testing objectives. Over time, we have come to realize that automation has become a significant delivery in scheduling testing for new services. When the test equipment vendors first called on the Labs, we were happy to plug in their solutions and check the automated box off on our To Do list. Over time, we have figured out how to dynamically connect components and share test devices as well as run scripts to execute what was once manual. When one considers the time to automate a task and then adds the novelty of new technology solutions coupled with the required new release of a test head products to accomplish what we now call automation, automating the test bed is a pretty daunting deliverable in itself. As Business Process Engineering practitioners, we constantly evaluate our methodologies to find faster, cheaper, more expedient ways of accomplishing the task at hand and that includes how we automate. I was agonizing with yet another change when I was invited to become a Customer Advisory Board Member of another organization that had been set up in the industry. I had concluded that waiting for others to recognize and fix this challenge was not going to get the job done and I decided that getting involved was the only way to make a difference.
While this organization did listen to its advisory board members and even changed its charter as a result of our input, I learned that there were other barriers that would prevent all those who needed to be a
part of this endeavor from joining. Within a few months I came to realize that more would need to be done.
You've been involved in creating standards before. Can you tell us a little about that previous experience and how your experience with the formation and running of NTAF compares?
I was involved with the DSL Forum which later became the Broadband Forum for quite some time and made contributions to standards there. In addition, the Technology Organization within Verizon of which I am a
member sits on many boards and is heavily involved in the creation and support of a number of standards that we believe improve the Telecommunications Industry. Through the years, I have witnessed improvements in development time, process improvement and most importantly, immense customer benefit from standards work. When we set out to create NTAF, the founders leveraged this knowledge to create a model that would be attractive for its members and would be as effective as possible in creating open standards by which we would improve network test automation. Some of my own "lessons learned" that guided me in my
vision for what NTAF needed to be are:
* A truly democratic organization where each member has identical powers of persuasion; our technical and marketing committees are staffed with volunteers from member companies and we encourage all
members to participate.
* Equal power from the smallest to the largest (one vote per member)
* Position the work to move quickly; keep the submissions small and manageable so that the contributions can move through the process quickly
* Anyone can have a good idea, but when you share with the likes of the NTAF membership, it matriculates into a phenomenal idea
Clearly, I am extremely proud of the work NTAF has accomplished in a short time. Had one or two companies tried to accomplish what we have done in one year, I do not think it could have been successful.
Can you talk about what it took to get the competitive vendor members to cooperate within the realms of NTAF?
Just as a forum benefits from its membership, the development of the organization itself was the brainchild of a group of industry visionaries. We started by getting a select group of competitors together in a room in February, 2009 and talking about the state of the network testing business and what we thought could be done to improve the business for everyone involved and of course, would they agree to work together on any level. We left at the end of the day with the common belief that something should be done and that we would continue
to work on a plan for what we should do to improve test automation. l next set up weekly calls that continued for months and culminated with the founding members getting together in Chicago in October, 2009 and
agreeing to form what became NTAF. I really cannot say how many hours went into this, but want to credit this group of visionaries for what NTAF has become.
Early on, someone recommended hiring a professional management firm to help us with the details and to keep us moving forward; as it turns out, this was likely the best advice I ever received. I have to admit that
even I was not mentally prepared for what would be required to legally launch a non-profit, but AMS, the professional management firm we hired, guided us through the process. The founding members and AMS spent
another 5 months of weekly meetings to review and amend the documents by which we govern.
What do you see as the benefits NTAF brings, or potentially brings to Verizon's test environment?
NTAF's standards help Verizon focus our resources on the critical task at hand; validating new product and services that meet Verizon's exacting standards of quality. I want every minute of test time to be
about validating the quality of new components, not figuring out what changes were implemented in tools for testing. Once the standards begin showing up in test tools, Verizon will be able to leverage the first of the standards to aid in discovery and setup of the test environment. Obviously, the less time we spend figuring out what the tools are and where they are, the faster we can get on with testing.
Earlier we talked about the value of the organization feeding new ideas to the forum. In late 2010, the Technical Committee put together a "road map" for 2011, which I think is a shining example of the power in
working together. One idea that came from a brain storming session was inventory control tied to the discovery process. The Technical Committee decided earlier this year when it would work on inventory discovery and is diligently deliberating the issue of inventory and how we leverage the already developed discovery mechanism to help us manage dynamic and static labs more efficiently. I believe any laboratory that has invested in test equipment will be able to translate this addition into improving their return on investment.
How does Verizon plan to implement NTAF components into their test lab environment?
This is another example of one taking advantage of being a forum member! I encouraged Brian Bonnett, our Technical Committee member to be an active participant in the Technical Committee. Truthfully, Brian really
didn't need much encouragement as he was an active participant from the get go. When the TC made the call for prototypes to be used in developing our initial standards work, Brian showed up with a VoIP phone app that followed the model. In conjunction with others who also developed prototypes, we were able to move along with the evolution of the model.
As a result of Brian's ingenuity, he was able to begin the design updates to our own internal tool and is ready for the standards when they start showing up in our NTAF member's tools later this year. Now, I have to acknowledge this as a starting place, we have other areas where third party test automation tools are leveraged to communicate with the test heads we use as well as our on Tcl libraries. For example, we have plans to implement the interface in our Tcl libraries at the point that suppliers offer the interface for the tools we have within the individual labs. Verizon has regular discussions at the Executive Level with our suppliers and all have been asked for the NTAF compliance road map regardless of whether they are NTAF members. Since NTAF has provisions to share our standards with anyone in the industry, Verizon has put the community on notice that we expect to enjoy the benefits of the NTAF standards later this year. As the standards emerge in products, the presence of the standards will become differentiators in Verizon's purchasing decisions with new tools.
Some might see NTAF about getting vendors to comply with a standard, but we saw in the plugfest last year that Verizon implemented the NTAF specification on some of its "home-grown" tools. Why?
Verizon's Business Tools Team is ultimately a supplier of automation tools to the organization and as such is under the same constraints as any third party tool provider we use. Leveraging the NTAF standards is
in my opinion, practicing what we preach; helps us leverage change faster. I cannot talk about specific tools, but I can tell you that I started reaping benefits from our work with NTAF very early on. The standards NTAF have developed have helped us find less expensive and faster alternatives for automation already. In fact, you could say that I have already realized savings that will pay Verizon's dues for several years to come!
How do you address the potential perception that NTAF is a force that will lead to commodification of tools and will reduce differentiation?
In my humble opinion, NTAF frees up valuable resources that should help these competitors differentiate their products. I'm not aware of any suppliers Verizon is using that are making money from developing the
interfaces we mandate to work with other tools in the portfolio. I personally believe that most suppliers end up spending a lot more precious development resources on making their customers happy than they
would desire. I don't mean to imply they begrudge the work, they certain do not. No tool supplier that has come into my office has ever tried to tell me that the benefit they bring to the table is that the work with another tool. In fact, I often tell perspective members that what we are achieving in NTAF frees them from the drudgery so that they can focus on developing new technologies. Would you rather spend 6 months of precious development time making your tool work with Keith's test solution or leverage that valuable resource to implement 6 months
of new features on your tool that separates you from your competitors?
Do you envision Verizon adding the requirement that test lab purchases include products based on the NTAF spec? If so, when?
Now! In fact, if a supplier has met with Chris Mayer, the VP of the Lab's within the last 6 months, he has asked them to show the roadmap for NTAF compliance. As we meet with those potential suppliers we are also making it clear that we intend to make NTAF compliance a differentiator.
Say I'm a tool vendor that's still on the fence about joining NTAF or implementing the spec. What would be in it for me?
Immediately and directly, you are going to be able to reduce your development costs significantly. There are at least 4 current members of NTAF that have added requirements for interface work that vendors must follow today. I know there are others, but cannot say how many there are who have a similar philosophy. This amounts to a lot of custom development work these vendors are doing today to accomplish a common set of tasks, all of which goes away with implementing the interoperability standards we are working on. Ultimately, joining NTAF
gives a tool vendor the ability to influence those emerging standards so that their interests are represented in the standard.
Similarly, what would be the incentive for companies which are focused on building test labs and using test tools, to join NTAF?
Having served as President and Chair of the Technical Committee in year one; I can attest to how much input Verizon has had on the standards. Sure, our suppliers have always listened to what we have to say, but
the dialogue we have had in the Technical Committee sessions is early in everyone's life cycle where I believe it to be most beneficial. At the same time I am absolutely awestruck at the talent our members have put
at NTAF's disposal. The value of those divergent opinions strengthen our submissions into something no individual member firm would have accomplished on their own. I now know from experience that the knowledge one gains from participating also impact the approach and solutions one applies to other business problems; in many ways it is a real time advanced degree for those who are part of the experience.
This experience has demonstrated that the labs and the test equipment suppliers are truly benefiting from the idea exchanges from one another.
What would you like the future of NTAF to include?
We really all have the same mission; helping our businesses get new products and services in the hands of those who need them faster. Two years ago, when we started NTAF, we were solely focused on a narrow
definition of interoperability. Our definition of interoperability expanded with each weekly call and led to a road map for 2011 that is still evolving. My fondest wish for NTAF would be to continue that
evolutionary path forward for automation.
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