The theme of the fourth CDO survey was business impact of the CDO. The following key challenges before CDOs were explored: Ability to quantify the value of organizational information (infonomics), level of embracing emergent and disruptive technologies (such as AI and Blockchain) and operational model (services only or combination of services and enablement). Learn how successful CDOs have addressed each of these challenges in the delivery of positive business impact.
AI is not the only thing driving rapid change in data and analytics. From the next generation of augmented analytics tools to the use of continuous intelligence to interpret streams of data from IoT or the potential of conversational interfaces, there is rapid evolution in how and where analysis can be deployed. Understanding the business impact of these changes will allow organizations to prioritize the innovations that will drive digital business.
"What should my data and analytics strategy look like" is one of the most common inquiries Gartner's D&A research community gets. This is because the role of D&A is changing. From being a discipline of itself, to becoming a set of capabilities in support of the wider digital strategy or transformation. This presentation will share the best practices that have emerged from hundreds of document reviews and thousands of inquiries.
This Magic Quadrant covers external service providers that can support organizations for their data and analytics initiative.
Organizations everywhere struggle with data, and not just the mechanics like finding, cataloging and governing. Because of the disconnect between data producers and consumers, organizations struggle with the basics: how and why data was created, what it represents and what value it might provide. DataOps promises to resolve this disconnect, but there are huge challenges to implement this practice. In this session, you'll learn what DataOps is and how you can implement some early practices in your organization.
Many organizations fixate on their own wealth of information assets, but our research shows that the highest-value analytics solutions make use of alternative (external, exogenous) data. This session will expose you to some of the most interesting data sources and impressive use cases of open data, syndicated data, partner data, social media content, harvested web content and data marketplaces.
Data and analytics leaders are responsible for both information governance and data monetization. But as a relatively new function in many organizations, data and analytics teams (led by the CDO) are under the spotlight to produce high-quality results quickly and efficiently. This foundational session will cover: What new skills and roles are needed for data and analytics? How to organize for success? And how to avoid potential pitfalls?
Faster and faster decisions are more and more critical using an increasing amount of data for business models that have become moving targets. The gap widening as we move forward, between the continuous availability of data & information and the decisions organizations have to execute upon. The suspended moment between data and action is where decisions live – where organizations combine AI techniques for maximum business differentiation and outcomes.
While database applications hold the “what” of your business and even the rear-view mirror of the “who,” analyzing unstructured content exposes the “why” in regards to the drive of customers and employees, and exposes the "whom" is being impacted now and in the future.
Find out why information isn’t “the new oil,” it's much more valuable. This session will provide an overview of Gartner’s research on how leading organizations are generating economic benefits from information; how to apply asset management principles and practices for improved information governance, quality and availability; and how to use various information metrics to drive IT, business and organizational strategies.
The Future of Data Management will help plan for what’s next. It describes where the market, function or capability is going and how it’s evolving. It should help early adopters get a leg-up and more conservative companies plan and prepare for and make the changes.
Data is at the core of digital transformation. Enabling the use of data across the enterprise and even outside has become an imperative. The database management market is undergoing a rapid and profound transition as the supporting technology is changing. Cloud and dbPaaS is becoming the platform of choice and pricing models are under pressure from both open-source and the cloud.
What is driving the data infrastructure transformation to new technologies, platforms and cost models?
How are existing technologies changing and what new technologies are emerging to support this transformation?
What are the vendors doing and how will the market evolve?
The traditional data warehouse still serves as the basis for analytics programs and remains foundational. However, increased demand for new data types and new use cases continues to expand. Data warehouse architecture has to evolve in order to meet these demands in both distributed and centralized solutions. This often means adding new technologies like Hadoop. Advanced architectures like the logical data warehouse help make this a reality.
Finding, integrating, cataloging and curating data for Analytics, Data Science or further data integration (and data engineering) by business users is consistently rated by data and analytics leaders as one of the top 3 challenges in data management.
1. How can organizations incorporated augmented and standalone machine learning enabled data preparation tools for analytics/BI and data science use cases?
2. What are the market segments and popular offerings in the rapidly competitive and popular data preparation space and what should be your evaluation criteria to select the best offering.
3. How must you plan your data management and analytics architecture to ensure the right balance between self-service and IT oriented data preparation to avoid a governance chaos.
Everyone wants a data lake, but most attempts fail to live up to hype around this concept. This session explores the multiple reasons why data lakes fail and how you can avoid the traps. Specifically, this session covers:
What are the major scenarios for data lake failures?
How can you detect and correct these scenarios?
The DMSA market is increasingly polarized. On one hand, there is tremendous hype about new data types, new technologies to store and manage them efficiently, and new roles and skills to use them effectively. On the other hand, there is a recognition that investment in foundational traditional technologies will be essential to serve as a platform for the next wave of innovation. Both technologies are required for a modern DMSA platform.
The use of machine learning to tackle tasks such as medical diagnosis, portfolio management or help desk automation are key industry interests. An area of much less coverage is the application of these technologies in the creation of a modern data management environment. This session will highlight how a major pharmaceutical company implemented a large scale, production class, big data & analytics platform in less than a year leveraging bots, machine learning and data pipelines. Learn how the technologies were applied to the data sources, ingestion and rationalization processes to accelerate the implementation of an analytics-ready data ecosystem.
Data Integration is foundational to any traditional or modern data and analytics initiative. Precisely harnessing data at each business moment compels enterprises to leverage diverse data types, integrator roles, and blending hybrid deployment, machine learning and AI approaches. Demands of data lake, data hub, semantic tiers and the logical data warehouse, among growing scenarios require flexible integration designs spanning batch, event-driven, virtualized, through distributed data delivery patterns. How do evolving information demands create data integration challenges? What are key trends in modernizing data integration? How can organizations pursue data integration as a strategic capability?
Organizations' increasing need to connect things that share data — disparate data and analytics programs, MDM and master data stores, applications, processes, teams and external partners. But without a well-planned strategy based on requirements for mediation and governance, it's hard to enjoy a smooth flow of trusted data. What are data hubs and how do they support data sharing and governance? What are the most effective starting points for a data hub strategy? What are the best approaches to architect and deploy data hubs?
Successful implementations of digital platforms remain elusive. Data and analytics sits at the core of the digital platform, but what strategy should you pursue? This session starts the discussion by presenting three competing and complementary options, and how they are used to supercharge your existing business or to pursue net-new products and business models. Specifically, this session will explore:
● What are the differences between hubs, lakes and warehouses?
● How do you balance the trade-offs between these options?
● What are the technology options and how are they integrated?
This presentation highlights the foundations and key trends in analytics and BI, and is a must-attend for all data and analytics leaders and business practitioners involved in analytics who are interested in starting or expanding their subject-matter expertise.
Customer analytics is one of the primary drivers of analytic adoption. The sheer diversity of potential opportunities to apply analysis to deliver great customer experiences and improve customer relationships can be daunting.
- What are the key areas of customer analytics?
- What are the best practices in customer analytics?
- What are the key trends in customer analytics to plan for?
Continuous intelligence brings dramatic, measurable benefits in revenue generation, resource allocation, customer service and other metrics. More than ever, Data and Analytics leaders use real-time analytics to improve the performance of their businesses.
Why is continuous intelligence proliferating now?
What are best practices for deploying analytics into operations?
The modern subsegment of the analytics and BI market segment continues to expand much more rapidly than the overall market, showing an estimated 28% growth in 2017, which will decelerate to 17% by 2021. Customers are currently expanding their deployments for users and content, but downward pricing pressure and a certain saturation point will contribute to this deceleration.
Analytic applications offer packaged analytics to solve specific industry vertical or domain problems and are important part of an overall analytics strategy. But how to pick the right one? Where to find analytic applications? What are the most important things to consider in evaluating different vendor options?
Augmented analytics is a disruptive trend that leverages machine automation and AI to transform how data is prepared, how insights are generated and shared and how data science and ML models are created and operationalized. This presentation provides an overview of the key trend and how you need to fully leverage it in your organization.
Data and Analytics leaders including CDO’s often lack the internal resources or skills needed to speed up and scale D&A and drive digital business value and they look for external support. Although the D&A services market is mature it is also facing disruption, changing the behavior of system integrators and consultancies. So what do DA leaders need to do, to find and choose from hundreds of possible service providers?
When to select an external service provider?
How to select an external service provider?
How to manage the relationship?
The growth of digital business and increased customer expectations are elevating the importance of real time, contextualized customer experiences for competitive advantage. This session will cover the emerging practice of 'always on' continuous intelligence in the customer engagement hub to prescribe the right action at the right time based on the most relevant business moment.
Analytics should be a key enabler of organizations' goals but that is seldom the case. Most initiatives tend to focus on tools deployment and user support with little connection to business objectives. In this session, we describe a step-by-step methodology to design a business-outcomes-driven analytics evolution roadmap with a strong commitment to users and a shift from technology to business impact.
This session will provide a high-level introduction to data science and machine learning and their proper function in a data-driven organization. Content will include hype vs. reality, key trends, proven use cases and an overview of leading technologies. How do data science and machine learning fit within both the organization’s analytics and AI strategies? What are the early steps data and analytics leaders should take to invest in data science and machine learning? What do the first two years of a data science and machine learning initiative look like?
The proliferation of connected ecosystems, platforms and "things” is fast exceeding human capacity to optimally connect and orchestrate a vast set of operations critical for managing data. What challenges are creating a need for AI in data management? How will AI impact data management? How will AI augmentation enhance data management infrastructure?
So you thought "big data" is large and complex and fast-paced? Consider how billions of devices, outside your line of sight and generating oceans of events, are going to put pressure on your ability to ingest, store and process data. Digital business and IoT hold massive promise for innovation, new business models and advanced analytics. How does the IoT create new data and analytics challenges? What must data and analytics leaders do to drive adaptation for the IoT? Which new capabilities will be critical to success?
The democratization of ML and the popularity of open sources languages are facilitating the proliferation of ML models. However, as analytical assets are being deployed across organizations, the scalability of their performance and integrity (and their economic value) is in question. Organizations need to establish data science operational strategies to scale and systematically monetize their data science efforts.
Fidelity is a large financial services organization with USD2.7 trillion under management and USD7.4 trillion under administration. Fidelity’s Asset Management business unit is on a journey to use AI/ML solutions to help business make better decisions. In this case study, you will get insights into the five critical lessons that they have learned on the way to become an AI powered organization – 1) how to identify correct AI use cases, 2) need for an AI platform strategy, 3) technology choices for AI use cases including next generation data architecture, 4) need for a new software development lifecycle and 5) the culture changes required.
Augmented analytics innovations such as AutoML are already impacting the world of data science and machine learning. But that is just the tip of iceberg. Augmented analytics will transform the entire analytics workflow making it easier for expert and citizen data scientists to generate, operationalize and manage advanced analytics models. In this session, you will learn about the impact of augment analytics in data science.
As machine and deep learning models are critical parts of more and more business decisions, knowing how those models derive their insights is becoming necessary. From potentially harmful biases to legal and regulatory compliance, the anatomy of business decisions is vital to generate trust in the process before those models apply decisions at scale. A few best practices can help organizations in opening those black boxes.
Blockchain's data provenance features and trusted interactions could change how data is controlled, shared and governed. Although big technological hurdles remain, innovative data management opportunities are emerging. It's time for data and analytics leaders to start experimenting. This session explores:
● How does blockchain compare to today's databases?
● How might blockchain disrupt your data management program?
● What is the maturity level of data management on blockchain, and where should you begin?
Data science and machine learning platforms are increasingly available for a broad spectrum of users. These range from operational workers, who make day-to-day decisions based on sophisticated models working behind the scenes, to citizen data scientists, who need data science and machine learning capabilities but have minimal skills in advanced data science, to highly skilled engineers and data scientists, who design experiments and deploy models, to represent and optimize business decisions.
Focus is going to be how the cutting edge is moving in AI and advanced analytics. We also explore some of the more exciting, yet not fully business-proven ideas in advanced analytics: From knowledge graphs, simulation, deep learning variations and many more.
This session showcases top disruptive innovations with live demonstrations from representative vendors leading in these areas. Key issues addressed include: How can you use the Hype Cycle to track emerging trends? What are 4 innovations that will transform your business and what value do they provide? How do you prioritize your technology investments? Which are the vendors to watch? What challenges should you consider? This session will also include live demos from representative vendors in each innovation area.
This session will describe the foundational concepts for the discipline of master data management and the technology solutions that support it. What is master data and why is it important? What are the most common business benefits of successful MDM programs? What are the discipline and technology components of a successful MDM program?
Effective governance is a critical success factor for data and analytics initiatives, and one of the most difficult challenges that organizations face. This session explains how to establish solid foundations needed for successful data and analytics governance today, and the future direction of governance as it evolves to address new business and technology challenges.
If governance is the new black, AI governance is the new gray, with no black and white decisions. AI leaders are concerned about AI governance, while AI practitioners are blissfully unaware of it.
What are the specific AI governance concerns?
What are the early efforts in AI governance?
What are the common topics in EIM and AI governance and what is different?
What are the next practices for AI governance?
This session will describe the foundational concepts for the discipline of master data management and the technology solutions that support it. What are the current states of the MDM discipline and its associated software market? What are the latest implementation trends and market developments? How can you prepare to effectively take advantage of these developments?
Data and Analytics Leaders continue to struggle with inventorying and analyzing their distributed data assets leading to failed projects. Modern data catalogs are now a compulsory investment to make in order to maximize on investments in Analytics/BI and data management — including data lakes and help move data pipelines and integrations in data engineering, data Ops and data management in production.
1. What are Data Catalogs and how can they help Data and Analytics Leaders to find, catalog and inventory their heterogeneous data assets?
2. How to plan and implement data catalogs which assist with metadata management and governance and don't introduce metadata silos?
3. What are the Market Offerings in this space, their various segments and which offering would make sense according to your existing use case requirements?
Quality insights required by digital business depend on trusted, high-quality data. However, data quality is often treated as after-thought inconvenience. What are major challenges for data quality practices? What are the top trends of the modern data quality practices and tools? How to setup appropriate data quality programs to meet various business scenarios?
Master data management is a critical success factor in constructing optimal customer experiences. Learn the benefits of aligning the MDM discipline to CX and making it a part of your CX strategies. Why is MDM critical to the customer experience? How will MDM increase and optimize your 360-degree view and your CX capabilities? What new opportunities for managing customer information does MDM bring?
Building transparency in uses of data has come to the forefront with GDPR and data governance pressure. This has created increased interest in metadata management and data catalogs. Yet Data and Analytics leaders struggle to get the momentum needed to start and develop the metadata management practice.
1. How can metadata management deliver value?
2. How to set up a metadata management practice?
3. What technologies can help support the metadata management practice?


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These are few costs which you should know after the mortgage is approved. To assist you in preparing for Closing Costs we have created this document so that there won’t be any surprises come closing time! Please feel free to contact us with any questions you have regarding any of the below items. Costs will vary.
$ _______ Property Transfer Tax
First Time Buyers are exempt in most cases
$ _______ GST (if applicable)
$ _______ Legal Costs
Sample costs are: actual legal fees, title filing, mortgage filing, insurance binder, form A certificate, strata cost adjustments, out of pocket expenses, etc.
$ _______ Interest Adjustment
This is the interest you will pay for receiving your mortgage money before the official start of your mortgage. (eg. if your "completion" were on the 23rd of a 30 day month, your interest adjustment would be 7 days interest)
$ _______ Property Tax Adjustments
Most municipal taxes are paid July 1st, for the calendar year
§ If you purchase a property before July 1st, the seller will be paying you for the days they owned the home after January 1st, and you will pay the city.
§ If you purchase a property after July 1st, the seller will have already paid the city and you will pay the seller for the days you own the property up to December 31st.
$ _______ Property value Appraisal (included if CMHC / Genworth insured)
$ _______ Property condition Inspection (optional)
$ _______ Wellwater/Septic Certificate (If applicable)
$ _______ Property survey certificate (not required if condo or townhouse) or Title Insurance
Survey certificate in lieu of survey (if required)
$ _______ Fire Insurance (not required for most condos or townhouses)
$ _______ Payout Penalties (if a refinance)
$ _______ Moving Expenses and post office Change of Address and Mail Forwarding service
$ _______ Utility Connections (telephone, electricity and gas, cablevision...)
$ _______ Mortgage Broker Fee (if applicable)
$ __________ TOTAL (approximate costs)

domain: law


My little Hummer does a good job for me and it takes a beating! I travel 58 miles one way two days a week and the last 2 1/2 miles are a gravel rough road! Thats 5 miles a day gravel and bouncing about 25-30 miles an hour! The other miles are at highway speeds(55-70) mph! I have been doing this for over a year now. I have pulled it 220 miles at interstate speeds to a location! The cart is tough and I see no cracks or any damage what so ever.
I’m pleased with this cart. This is also my first cart. I am a steel fabricater by trade and Willy answered all my questions without hesitation. I did trade the tailights out for LEDs. And I have 2 spare tires mounted on the cart! I hope this helps.
If I were to trade up it would be a cart with 2 full size pans just to be a little more flexible with the layout. I do different things at different locations and times of the year.


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1 10 2018 The Rage´s Progress Tenor aria Love, too frequently betrayed by Stranvinsky
I am a Lyric tenor graduated in 2018 gaining a distinction in Bachelor of Music, Specialism in Voice at the ESCM.
Operas and Zarzuelas experience includes:
Classical Theatre (Monologue), "There is no time of day" epic Bertolt Brecht theatre by Carmen Dolera and Manuel Valencia; “La Obra de los diferentes” a Spanish opera by Manuel Valencia; Rodolfo, La Boheme; Tamino, Die Zauberflöte (in English); Ruiz, Il Trovatore; Borsa, Rigoletto; Alfredo and Gastone, La Traviata; Ruggero, La Rondine; Des Grieux, Manon Lescaut; Pinkerton, Madama Butterfly; Leonardo Gamboa, Cecilia Valdes by Roig; Niño Fernando, María la O by Lecuona; Julio, Amalia Batista by Prats, etc.
I have worked in the choir under soprano María Dolores Travesedo at Musiarte Producciones; Teatro Real de Madrid; Savonlinna Opera Festival in Finland; under Chris Gill Heritage Opera, and Una Voce Opera. He has worked under José Luis Moreno at Group Miramón Mendi; Teatro Real de Madrid; Gran Teatro del Liceo Barcelona; under Nieves Fernandez Lyric Company of Zarzuela; under Félix San Mateo Lyric Company of Zarzuela of Madrid; under Antonio Amengual Zarzuela Lyric Company; Teatro Principal de Palma de Mallorca; Centro Pro-Arte Lírico del Teatro Nacional de Cuba; Compañía Lírica Gonzalo Roig de Cuba, etc.
I am also an experienced performed in Opera recitals, Cuban and Spanish Zarzuelas recitals and also Italian Song (Bellini, Rossini, Vivaldi, Tosti, Toselli, Bononcini, Giordani, Paisiello, Scarlatti and Caldara); French Song (Hahn, Massenet, Duparc, Debussy); German Lieder (Schumman, Schubert, Gluck, Beethoven); Spanish Song (Falla, Turina and Granados); Mexican Song (Grever, Ponce), and Cuban Song (Lecuona, Prats, Grenet, Garay, Mulens, Sanches de Fuentes, Guzman, Carrillo and Roig).
As a tenor soloist in oratorio, Mr. Llorca has performed works including Verdi’s Requiem, C. Saint Saëns Noël and Puccini´s Messa di Gloria.
I have also performed in musical theatre including the Broadway production; The Beauty and the Beast and Hello Dolly with the Spanish actress Concha Velasco.
Contact Ulises Llorca
Any message that you send here will be checked by Audition Oracle for suitability (to filter out spam), and then forwarded to Ulises Llorca.

domain: artistic


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Caroline Jones AO | art speaks @ mrag
When: Friday 12 February 6.00pm
Cost: $5.00 members / $10.00 non-members
Through a Glass Darkly is ABC TV presenter Caroline Jones’ first book for ten years, and is the follow-up to her over 60,000-copy bestseller An Authentic Life: finding meaning and spirituality in everyday life.
Maitland Regional Art Gallery


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Listings in Household Goods, Insurance Agencies, Spas, Beaches and Gardens and Eco-Systems
Enjoy the comforts of home in one of our 157 one- to three- bedroom spacious Cottages. Test your swing on our majestic Arthur Hills Caribbean golf course. Pamper yourself with a soothing treatment in our renowned Waldorf Astoria Spa.
1000 El Conquistador Avenue
Fajardo, Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico 00738
Snorkel at 3 different Bays in the National Park of St. John and surrounding islands.
6501 Red Hook Plaza
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands - US 00802
Located on the North (Atlantic) side of the island, Magens Bay (Estate Zufriedenheit) features a well-protected white sand beach stretching for nearly three quarters of a mile. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations on the island.
Northside, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands - US
St John Island’s most famous beach is also one of the most photographed beaches in the United States Virgin Islands. Over a quarter mile of beautiful white sand makes this the showpiece beach of the National Park Service.
St. John, Virgin Islands - US

domain: geography


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With all of its loops, swirls and twirls, this playful plane is sure to help bring a smile to all your friends' faces when you send them this charming photo birth announcement from Good on Paper!
This Playful Plane design from our boy photo birth announcement category is backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee, just like all of our Christmas cards, greeting cards, business cards, invitations and personal stationery.
For detailed information about uploading, editing and cropping photos, please see our
Photo FAQ page.
Card Paper Types:
Signature Matte: 120 lb., 17.5 point thickness
Signature Semi-Glossy: 120 lb., 11 point thickness
Pearl White Shimmer: 110 lb., 14.3 point thickness
Card Type Styles:
Card Ink Colors:
No thanks! Send them to me and I'll mail them.
Everything comes to you.
Sure! Send all or some of my cards for me.
Save shipping costs and work!
Antique Gold Shimmer
Platinum Silver Shimmer
Pearl White Shimmer
Printed return address available on white envelopes in black ink (
Please note that USPS charges an additional fee ranging from 20¢ to 44¢ to mail square envelopes. To avoid this fee, please select our modified rectangular envelopes during the personalization process instead of the default square envelopes.
"While I wanted to love this card, the print quality ruined it for me. When I received the cards (we used them as invites for my son's first birthday), I immediately noticed the poor quality. The blue text is pixelated and sloppy/crooked looking. I showed them to my husband and he also noticed the same pixelation/sloppiness that I did. I called customer service and explained the problem and they issued a reprint, but the reprint arrived with the same issue. I suppose this is just how the card looks, but I have come to expect a higher quality from my Tiny Prints purchases. (Side note: the grass at the bottom of the invite is choppy/pixelated, but this is part of the design. The blue text, in my opinion, should not look this way.)"
"I was very happy with the simple design and colors on this announcement. It is a little smaller than I expected, but much more unique and fun than many of the baby announcements that I saw on other sites."
tiny*prints is excited to announce our new partnership with Hello Little One, a fresh and award winning stationery designer. Hello
Little One offers a wide range of designs that incorporate photos with colorful patterns.This Color Bands: Blue design from our ...
Inspired by this year's chic colors, this baby blue and deep red stitch baby boy announcement introduces your little one
with style. A matching thank you card is also available. Please note: Your photo will be printed directly onto premium ...
The whimsical wave design of this one photo birth announcement will showcase your baby's snapshot in a sweet way. It's
a fun and modern approach to sharing the birth and love of new little one.This Baby Wave: Teal design from ...

domain: design


Brooklyn Bomb Scare By DAN BARRY (Published: August 03, 1997)An alleged plan by two Palestinian men to set off bombs in Brooklyn wasthwarted by a police raid, but the specifics of the plot were chilling enough torattle New York City. Law enforcement officials say that Lafi Khalil and Ghazi AbuMaizar planned to detonate bombs in a crowded subway station and acommuter bus, possibly as part of a suicide mission. Acting on a tip from afriend of the suspects, the police burst into a darkened Brooklyn apartmentThursday and shot the two men, authorities said, just as one of them wasreaching for an explosive device.
Partnership at Work• Pre-attack• Pre 9/11• Pre CAT Eyes trained What could a CAT Eyes trained citizen’s instincts do in a post 9/11 world?Yu Kikimura, a member of the Japanese Red Army charged with plotting to bomb the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in New York City in retaliation for U.S. air strike against Libya in 1986
Domestic TerrorismIncludes terrorist activity conducted by groups orindividuals who are U.S. citizens that are based andoperate entirely within the US without foreigndirection and whose terrorist acts are directed atelements of the U.S.Government or society.
International Terrorism Includes terrorist activity committed by groups orindividuals that crosses national boundaries. Theseboundaries can be both physical as well as cultural.
Dismiss Popular Television Myths• Terrorists are not all male• Terrorists are not all “religious nuts”• Terrorists won’t come at you screaming and wearing hoods• Surveillance teams will not be wearing trench coats, but rather will attempt to blend in to the surrounding area


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How technology will transform banking: Blockchain, digital challengers and IoT
I think the time is now right to give consumers what they really want. Amazon has changed shopping, iTunes has changed music, but nobody has changed banking. It needs people who know about banking and are passionate about technology to change it – and I am passionate about technology. I would like to say that banking is broken and it needs fixing. And the only way to fix it is to start from scratch.
We think people will make their own minds up about where to [buy products] in future, we are going to give the best current account in the world, and when they want the best mortgage in the world we are going to offer it, but through somebody else, not us. We will become the app store of financial services, providing the infrastructure, providing lots of tools around your current account.
We should tight-lipped on the exact technologies the bank will use, though it involves a combination of ‘off the shelf’ software and in-house developed systems. Open source technologies will form the basis of its analytics platform, and public cloud services will be considered for certain purposes.
We will be using the cloud for some of the unstructured data. We cannot use the cloud for banking data, because the regulator doesn’t allow you. But we can use cloud technologies for coming up with scalable solutions. The agility afforded by modern technology offers an advantage over the established lenders. While many banks spend vast sums on IT, much of this is on maintaining ageing systems, rather than supporting innovation.
Blockchain evolution to continue, but real transformation is still years off
Interest in blockchain continued to grow in 2016, with some of the world’s largest banks unveiling pilot projects aimed at streamlining processes. Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Santander are among those currently creating blockchain-based applications in areas such as international payments. At the same time, there was a reining-in of expectations of what can be achieved with the distributed ledger technology in the near future. Many industry commentators predict that it will take the best part of a decade for blockchain-based systems to see widespread, mainstream usage. Nevertheless, IDC analysts expect that the first wave of blockchain systems to move from test stage to production will centre around trade finance, with a number of pilot projects coming to fruition next year. In its ‘Future Scape: Worldwide Financial Services 2017 Predictions’ report, IDC describes trade finance as an area that is “still largely paper based, commoditised, and inefficient” making it a good candidate for blockchain applications.
It is the proverbial low-hanging fruit for the application of blockchain technology as it offers the potential for an immense disruption of an important financial service supporting global trade.
Banks will come under increased pressure from tech giants
It is no secret that a major concern for the big banks is having their lunch eaten by the likes of Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon. And we can expect these internet behemoths to build on their consumer relationships and make further inroads into payments next year. Apple launched its Apple Pay mobile payments service this year, and others such as Samsung are set to move into the market with similar offerings too. It will be interesting to see if other banks attempt to stake a claim in this market too, or leave it to the big tech firms.
A concern that the banks have is the arrival of big ecosystems that will replace them, so Google, Facebook, Apple, etc, says Alessandro Hatami, former digital payments and innovation director at UK bank Lloyds.
These are customer-based. The customers are already users of these environments. If they start pushing financial services to their own customer bases, these ecosystems can potentially take customers away from the banks. These tech giants are unlikely to ever become banks, but they are best placed to build user friendly front-end tech solutions that answer to consumer demands for seamless payments and financial services.
Finance sector will reap benefits of the internet of things(IOT)
Financial services may not be the first sector which springs to mind when discussing the internet of things. The explosion of internet connected devices will provide better data for decision making. But using sensors monitoring the activity of agricultural or manufacturing industries could help inform investing or lending decisions. This will provide opportunity for new players in the market.
When IoT crosses with finance, we suddenly get an explosion of data. It starts to get interesting when it comes to figuring out how to use that to great effect – and more specifically how to monetize the use of that data is something new fintech entrepreneurs will be looking to figure out in the New Year.
Banks will push wearables apps
While some banks had tested out wearbles apps on smartwatches before, the launch of the Apple Watch convinced more to get on board. Nevertheless, applications remain limited. Balazs Vinnai, general manager, Digital Channels, Misys, says that it is not a lack of consumer interest that is holding banks back from further investments in this area. Banks continue to face challenges with their digital strategies so it is no surprise only a small percentage currently support wearables.
A recent report from the fintech firm claimed that while 96 percent of banking professionals polled believe that wearable tech will impact their industry, only 15 percent are currently rolling out their own. However, the majority expect to have done so within the next two to three years.
It is critical for banks to consider new digital channels as part of an integrated strategy and evolve from first to second generation digital banking: switching digital from a supporting role, to the primary sales and communication channel for banks, says Vinnai. Reengineering processes around the customer is not easy, but banks must embrace digital banking to remain competitive and relevant.
Cyber-crime – Facing the ‘New Wave’ of criminal
Cyber-crime will remain top of the agenda among senior bank execs. It is now exceptional to read about a bank robbery where criminals have entered into a bank branch and physically taken money out of the building. The introduction of more effective security systems, such as bullet proof windows and barriers and closed circuit television, means that only the foolhardy would risk trying to steal from a branch.
Unfortunately, that does not mean that the banking sector is safe. On the contrary, the banking sector is facing a more serious threat where the perpetrators do not even need to physically enter the branch. The IT systems of the banks are now the focus of determined criminals who can transfer millions of taka (or indeed any currency) within seconds to different accounts and move money across jurisdictions and borders with a few strokes of a keyboard. The full extent of the threat of cyber-crime is only emerging and is almost certainly going to hit the headlines in 2017. With IT systems of the larger banks under scrutiny for failures and inadequate controls, it is open to question whether the level of security and infrastructure will be sufficiently robust to withstand the challenge of cyber-crime. Cybercrime was one of the big topics across all industries during 2016, and the financial services sector was no different. One of the highest profile breaches was the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank through rogue SWIFT transfers, a heist that almost resulted in the theft of $1 billion. Despite increased investment in prevention, the likelihood of more successful attacks next year which will encourage better information-sharing between lenders, as suggested by the global messaging system provider, SWIFT. “Such initiatives would also follow the example already set by eight of the largest American banks, who have agreed to share information with each other about threats, work together to develop and deploy comprehensive responses for when attacks occur and to conduct appropriate ‘war games”.

domain: news


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Saturday, July 27, 2013
169-To The Sky
Who doesn't love clematis? No matter how high the fence or trellis, it always wants to climb higher. These beautiful clematis blossoms came from my daughter's beautiful garden. It is adorned with another climbing flower - coral vine, which I received from Kate Chu. The background is handmade rice paper. This original piece was sold at the Cortland Art Festival in August 2013.


The subject of climate change is never far from the headlines. This week, a panel of scientists appointed by the United Nations recommended the phased elimination of all fossil fuels by 2100. The statement raised some eyebrows and questions as to whether it is reasonable or achievable to set such an ambitious target.
Certainly, it would be foolish to ignore signs that the Earth is warming and indications that human activity has contributed to that phenomenon. But it would also be wrong to overreact in ways that could cause great harm to the global economy and our way of life.
There has been a lot of alarmist language, with one side pointing out that to stop all carbon emissions on the basis of inexact science would cripple commerce and industry, and the other side saying that not to do so would be to sign the planet’s death warrant.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Steven Koonin, a computational physicist who was an environment adviser to US president Barack Obama, acknowledged that humans are influencing the climate through the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But he suggests that natural climate change may have a far greater influence than human-made change and our understanding of the oceans is too poor to confidently predict how they will change and how that will affect climate. Not all agree with his thesis.
The answer to the climate-change dilemma lies in a measured approach. We need to make practical changes such as those underway in the UAE, which is introducing nuclear and solar power and other sustainable technologies, but we must also do much more research. The need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels is acknowledged, but so too is the reality that only they can service immediate global energy needs. And one interpretation of eliminating greenhouse emissions altogether would mean eliminating all animal life, including humans.
We must adapt our lifestyles, reduce carbon emissions and attempt to preserve the rainforests that also affect climate. Above all, we must remember that we are the custodians of the planet for future generations and we have a duty to leave it in good shape.


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Throughout the past eight years of collecting and digitizing documents and photographs related to the history of Smyth County, there is a chronic problem that never ceases to frustrate me — unidentified photos.
Search / 7 results found Showing: 7 of 7
If you could go back in time to the year 1832 and take a tour of Smyth County, the landscape would be considerably different. It would not be dotted with the same homes and office buildings that now occupy valuable real estate. Indeed, there are few structures left standing in Smyth County that date back to the year of its formation.
Housed within the Smyth County courthouse vault is a book that often escapes the notice of most who enter that space. It is a volume that stands apart from the rest of the collection. The other massive books hold the legal proceedings of our county, the land transactions, the births, marriages, deaths, stories of military service and final wishes reflected in countless wills. This book that sets itself apart from the others bears the title “Smyth County History: A Scrapbook Compiled by Clara Hill Carner.”
The courthouse square in downtown Marion has undergone many changes since the formation of Smyth County. In 1953 and 1966, historian Clara Hill Carner wrote a series of articles focused on the buildings that have served our county as houses of justice. The following excerpts provide an abbreviated history of the Smyth County courthouses.
Recently, I had the opportunity to research the history of the Seaver Opera House, which operated on Main Street in downtown Marion. The building is still there, but is now occupied by the Mustard Seed Bargain Outlet and owned by Matt Wassum. This landmark has a unique history. While going through some old scrapbooks, photographs and other local history books, I was led to a few interesting stories.
My favorite item within the collection at the Smyth-Bland Regional Library in Marion is an often-overlooked item. It is a thick, black binder that sits on a top shelf, on the far side of the Southwest Virginia Heritage Room.
Residents of Smyth County have been fascinated with Abijah Thomas’ Octagonal House for generations. This well-known landmark is called by many names: Mountain View, Fairfield, the “Round House,” just to name a few. The home was built in 1856-57.

domain: library


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As New Mexico’s Regulation and Licensing Department works toward finalizing rules for non-medical cannabis sales, some unfinished business remains when it comes to the state’s medical cannabis program.
A state district judge last week ordered RLD, the New Mexico Department of Health and the governor’s office to either change their policy for medical cannabis patient purchase amounts or present a compelling argument for not doing so.
“Respondents’ purchase limitations violate equal protection principles because they will subject New Mexicans with debilitating medical conditions who are dependent on medical cannabis to lower purchase limitations than persons who purchase cannabis from the recreational (and taxed) market,” read the writ of mandamus signed by Second Judicial District Judge Benjamin Chavez. “Respondents’ unlawful rules also attempt to impose an illegal tax on any medical cannabis purchases in violation of the Cannabis Regulation Act.”
The Cannabis Regulation Act, which went into effect on June 29 and is the framework for sales expected to start next spring, allows purchasers to buy up to two ounces of cannabis at a time. But the state’s Department of Health, which is RLD’s medical cannabis counterpart, has maintained that a DOH policy limiting medical cannabis purchases to roughly eight ounces in a 90-day period takes precedence over the new law.
For years, New Mexico cannabis patients have been limited to 230 “units” in a rolling 90-day period. DOH rules define a unit as one gram of dried cannabis “flower” or 200 milligrams of cannabis extract or concentrate. Under the new law, however, non-medical cannabis purchases are limited to two ounces for each transaction. The new law also doesn’t limit how many purchases a person can make in a day. So, theoretically, a person could make eight trips to a cannabis dispensary in one day and purchase twice as much as a medical cannabis patient can in a three-month period.
That disparity is presumably what brought medical cannabis patient Jason Barker to file a petition in state district court. Financially backed by medical cannabis producer Ultra Health and represented by Jacob Candelaria, who is also a New Mexico state senator, Barker asked Chavez to order the state departments to allow medical cannabis patients the same purchase amounts as non-patients. The argument, which Chavez ultimately agreed with, was that the state is effectively discriminating against medical cannabis patients by limiting their purchases to a fraction of what will be allowed when non-medical cannabis sales begin next year.
Chavez ruled in favor of Barker, but also gave DOH, RLD and the governor’s office until Sept. 20 to respond to the court ruling.
Earlier this year, a group of medical cannabis producers asked for clarification from the state on medical cannabis purchase limits. The department heads jointly issued a letter in response, saying that until adult-use sales begin, medical cannabis patients are limited to the 230 units in a 90-day period. But even after non-medical sales start, if medical cannabis patients want to purchase more than what’s currently allowed, they will have to purchase it as recreational-use cannabis, the letter stated. Recreational-use sales are required by law to start no later than April 1, 2022 and the only real difference between medical-use and non medical-use cannabis is taxes. Non medical-use cannabis is now tax-free, whereas gross receipts taxes and a new cannabis excise tax will be applied to non medical-use cannabis.
It’s unclear how either department will respond to the order and a spokesperson for DOH said the department will not comment on pending litigation.
Candelaria, however, slammed the state.
“I hope DOH and RLD will now come into compliance with the law, instead of further litigating an issue they will eventually lose in an attempt to impose an illegal tax on medical cannabis patients,” Candelaria said in a statement to NM Political Report. “It’s also unfortunate that taxpayers have to foot the bill for these agencies’ actions that continue to violate the rights of New Mexico’s 120,000 plus medical cannabis patients.”
An often vocal critic of Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Candelaria, who is also a Democrat, said he’s ready to push back if the state decides to further litigate.
“If the Lujan Grisham administration chooses to continue litigating this issue, we will see them in court and will fight tooth and nail to make the court’s order permanent,” Candelaria said.
Ultra Health’s president and CEO, Duke Rodriguez previously told NM Political Report that his company offered financial support for Barker’s case. Rodriguez has long been a vocal critic of DOH and how it ran the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, including the department’s plant limits for medical cannabis producers. In another lawsuit against the state, and financially supported by Ultra Health, the parent of a medical cannabis patient convinced a state district judge to order DOH to increase cannabis production limits from 450 plants to the current 1,750 limit.
But new rules from RLD, that are expected to be finalized any day, will allow producers to have up to 8,000 flowering plants and under certain circumstances, up to 10,000 flowering plants. One concern from some current medical cannabis producers and many medical cannabis patients is how, or if, medical cannabis producers will balance providing cannabis for the more than 120,000 medical cannabis patients in the state, while also ramping up production in anticipation of non-medical sales next year.
If the state decides to allow medical cannabis patients the same purchase amounts as non-medical consumers, it will likely end up facing Rodriguez in court again. Rodriguez has been a long-time advocate for eliminating plant limits altogether, in favor of a market-driven approach.
If the two departments decide to further argue against increasing the purchase amounts for medical cannabis patients, they will be required to make their case in court on Nov. 2.

domain: medical


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A short essay or research paper requires no table of contents it may be helpful to include a table of contents showing the. This article is brought to you for free and open access by the anthropology department research reports series at [email protected] amherst it has been. Do not type a section heading at the top of the second or subsequent pages of the table of contents the word continued should appear at the bottom of the. Apa format [sample: table of contents] table of contents abstract iii acknowledgments v table of contents vi list of tables vii list of figures viii. This article describes how to use the change format function in conjunction with the table of contents function, to properly format a table of.
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What should it look like → similar to table of contents format, but not always what to put in it → only contents concerning the assignment or. After the abstract, you may see some apa essay format examples with an outline and/or table of contents they are optional and should be in the paper (if the. Format please note that we are using mla (the modern language when using a title page, include a header on each page of the essay but not on the title. Formatting: the basics writing the main body formatting: citations and note: the table of contents (if a paper has one) should have its own page numbers in. Instructions on formatting a document with page numbers, headers and footers and table of contents goal: the cover page has no header or footer the table of .
A report differs from an essay in a number of stylistic and structural ways: essay the table of contents should be compiled according to the headings and heading functions on microsoft word, you can easily auto-format your table of. 12 paper format and margins 3 24 show hidden formatting 81 formatting the table of contents. A thesis requires a detailed table of contents that lists the headings and page and tables at the end when the layout of your thesis is pretty much finalized. Levels of heading establish the hierarchy of sections via format or appearance you can later use the headings to create an automatic table of contents heading in my essay (apa style)), and the title of the essay at the. It is usually not present in shorter research articles, since most empirical papers have similar structure a well laid out table of contents allows readers to easily.
For example, authors use a table of contents to outline parts and repeat for each heading or use the format painter to copy the style to each. A table of contents shows the reader how the report is organized a typical table of contents includes a list of all headings. Present their extended essay in a format appropriate to the subject, acknowledging the formal elements are: title page, table of contents, page numbers,.
42 academic essay: analytical, exegesis or argument to format a contents page use either the 'insert table of contents' function in microsoft word or. A clean, type-centric layout isn't a bad option at all jeopardy magazine lists its content and uses a color accent to arrive at a sophisticated table of contents. This guide is designed to help you format your manuscript using the official university guidelines manual and the style guide approved by your department as. 6 days ago the table of contents (toc) is an organized listing of the chapters and a clear , concise, and well formatted toc is the first indicator of a.
Table of contents the academic world 3 column, list the rules of writing academic essays get the student to help to formatting as requested cover sheet. Formatting your essay: running heads, margins, heading levels, lists, tables, figures, table of contents, title page, serial comma and quotations (apa style does. An essay is a continuous piece of writing in which ideas, propositions, research should a lecturing team require you to present your work in any format and style other table of contents – detail each stage of the report with headings and. It is dedicated to correct essay formatting, setting right margins, giving you'll want to include the following sections in your table of contents.


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Elizabeth ‘Elsie’ Muriel Gregory MacGill, Order of Canada (O.C.), was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1905 and was diagnosed with polio in her 20s.
Despite battling a range of challenges including health challenges throughout her career, Elsie accumulated a unique range of firsts. She was the first woman in Canada to graduate with a degree in electrical engineering (1927), the first women in North America to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering (1929), the first woman to design an aircraft, and the first to be accepted into the Engineering Institute of Canada (1938). Elsie also became the first woman to represent Canada and serve as a technical advisor on aircraft airworthiness with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Elsie’s accomplishments in the engineering field were mirrored by her work as a leader in the Women’s rights movement. She was appointed commissioner on the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada in 1967 and was a major contributor to the Royal Commission between 1967 – 1970, as well as a champion for the rights of people with disabilities. In 1971, Elsie was awarded the O.C. for her lifelong achievements.
When Elsie died at 75, she was among the most respected women engineers and leader in the Women’s rights movement in Canada.

domain: history


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"It" is leadership, the quality that Americans say they are yearning to see in their public officials and that candidates for the presidency claim to have in abundance.
The political boomlet for retired Gen. Colin Powell attests to the power of perceived leadership to influence Americans and why it likely will be the issue that underlies most others in the campaign ahead.
Both President Clinton and Dole, the Senate majority leader, who are the most likely contenders for their respective parties next year, not only encounter public skepticism about their own leadership abilities but also face forces in American society that undermine strong leadership.
Paul Quirk, a political science professor at the University of Illinois, cited a "general downward spiral in attitudes toward politicians" and a general decline in the state of American political leadership.
"We're having increasingly powerful tendencies toward demagogic and ideological rhetoric from political leaders," he said. "That's been going on for 20 years or more."
"I definitely feel people feel it's going downhill because of all the partisan fighting going on," said Democratic political consultant Joe Trippi.
If they are their parties' nominees, the big challenge in 1996 for Clinton and Dole will be to try to project strong leadership even as they pursue moderate agendas in a nation more divided than ever.
What the public perceives as good leadership is tricky.
According to analysts, it means having a moral compass, a set of core beliefs, a firmness that is not authoritarian, strong powers of persuasion and a self-effacing manner.
But that is not all political leadership is. All the experts say that there is something indefinable about good leadership that inspires trust and confidence. It is the ability to articulate a vision, but not be so slavishly beholden to it that the leader can't compromise.
Examples: President Ronald Reagan described the Soviet Union as the "evil empire," but reached out to its leaders. President Richard Nixon did likewise in deciding to open relations with "Red China." President Lyndon Johnson, after a poor civil rights record earlier in his career in Congress, pushed a Civil Rights Bill through Congress as president.
William Taylor, a former Army colonel and senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said if politicians want to inspire people, they must follow President Dwight Eisenhower's definition of leadership: "The ability to get people to do things that you want done because they want to do them."
The state of American leadership is seen as such a massive problem by the Washington-based center that it is in the process of establishing a new project that will delve into the problem and try to find ways to improve it dramatically. A draft proposal for the forum cites a "crisis of confidence" in the U.S. leadership that calls for a "total renewal of the vital bond between leader and followers."
The reasons are manifold, according to the draft. They include too much reliance on polls in governing, the rising power of special interests, and an obsession with television by leaders that can lead to hasty, unwise decisions: The military intervention in Somalia, for example.
The center cites the partial shutdown of the federal government over the balanced budget as a prime example of the leadership crisis in America.
Many analysts give Gingrich high marks for his leadership qualities in pushing the GOP's "Contract with America" through the House of Representatives and forcing the White House to accept a balanced budget in seven years.
But Trippi said the speaker's leadership is confined to the believers of his cause. And message and policy aren't everything when leadership is concerned. Gingrich hurt himself by complaining about being slighted by Clinton on Air Force One, and by taking a hard-line view in pushing his policies, analysts said.
Clinton and Dole have reputations in their parties as moderates who are masters of compromise. But officials who compromise do not always project weakness to the public if they are seen as acting on principle and not caving in, said Everett Carll Ladd, director of the Roper Center, which does extensive polling of American attitudes. It's not so much what you decide, but whether you stick with it and show coherence and constancy, Ladd said.
"Making the decision, knowing all the answers, is not a definition of leadership," said former White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater, who worked for both Reagan and President George Bush. "In Reagan, his leadership was defined by people's capability to believe in him and trust him."
Reagan had established a long track record in what he believed, so people forgave him when he strayed, Fitzwater said. But they did not forgive Bush, who did not have Reagan's same clear vision, when he decided to compromise with Democrats and break his pledge not to raise taxes in 1990.
Clinton won the presidency more on an anti-Bush mood in the country than on the public's sense that he was a strong leader, Fitzwater said. And Clinton, according to many analysts, went on to prove that he fell short as a leader in the first two and half years of his presidency.
He wavered and waffled on many issues, domestic and foreign, and never gave the sense that he had a clear vision of where he wanted to take the country. In recent months, he has managed to repair that image.
"The notion of Clinton leadership was viewed as an oxymoron," said Fred Greenstein, a presidential expert at Princeton University. "Now he seems to be doing the same thing that he did after his disastrous first term in Arkansas. He seems to grow up every so often."
The White House and Clinton's supporters cite his foreign policy decisions in Haiti, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and now Bosnia, and his defense of his own domestic priorities in the balanced-budget fight with Congress.
According to White House press secretary Mike McCurry, the president's decisions in these critical areas dispel the notion that Clinton is not a leader.
But Ladd and Greenstein point out that leadership is not based on decisions alone. The very word implies underlying issues like character, courage and conviction, they said. People decide whom they want to follow based on their evaluation of the whole person.
The president also has scored higher in the polls by standing against the Republican agenda in Congress, especially with his vows to protect Medicare and Medicaid. "It is hard to demonstrate leadership if you have no enemy," said Trippi.
Dole will try to make Clinton's lack of leadership the enemy during the campaign, but the majority leader also has a long background in which he has made compromises with Democrats in Congress.
Taylor is a strong Dole supporter but worries that the senator's eagerness to win causes him to shift his positions too much.
"He's going to get trapped on this," Taylor said. "He can't appeal to all sides of the party. I worry because I want him to get elected. He certainly has leadership as a human being."
Democratic political consultant Greg Schneiders said leaders are not totally to blame. "The state of followership has declined," he said.
"It is much harder to lead than at an earlier time because of the fracturing of our society and the terms under which people get their information and communicate," according to Schneiders. It is harder for strong leaders to emerge in this climate, he said.
Quirk said voters like strong leaders who act on their own beliefs, propose bold initiatives and impose their will on the opposition.
"Of course, the public likes bold leadership in the abstract," he said. "If a leader boldly stakes out an unpopular position, he is likely to pay a big penalty."


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Looking for the best reading apps for book lovers? We’ve gathered the top options on Android and iOS.
Reading apps have become a mainstay for book lovers these days. With them, readers can take books with them wherever they go, reading them on phones, tablets, and other devices and listening to them in their cars or other times when they’re on the go.
There are a lot of different reading apps available out there, some free and some with different fee setups, and their popularity is only growing. Instead of going to your local library or bookstore for books, you can access free online libraries with some apps.
Downloads also make reading apps so popular. No internet connection? That’s okay! Ahead of time, you can download free books, purchased novels, ebooks, non-fiction, subscriptions, audiobooks, graphic novels, comics, and so much more.
Most reading apps are compatible with both Android devices and iOS devices, so whether you’re using your Samsung phone, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, or other device, you can be good to go with your favorite reads. Many also allow you to store app purchases in the cloud.
Following are the 15 best reading apps for book lovers. Ready, set, read!
1. Amazon Kindle App
The Amazon Kindle app is one of the most popular reading apps. Like most other reading apps, it lets you keep bookmarks, tracks your reading progress, and lets you adjust font size and screen brightness.
You can also make highlights and adjust the margins to note important passages and improve reading ease. Access to an online dictionary helps with the comprehension of unfamiliar words.
The Amazon Kindle also comes in a variety of sizes and styles, including the Kindle Fire, a fully functioning tablet. Kindle Unlimited opens up even more user options, especially for those who read voraciously and download a lot of books. Kindle books also have lots of options for kids, from chapter books to simpler offerings that help them practice sight words.
2. Google Play Books
This reader app platform is nearly identical to Amazon Kindle in features and selection. Amazon tends to be a little cheaper, and Google Play Books does not currently have a subscription service like Amazon Unlimited.
3. Apple Books
What you get with Apple Books is very similar to what you get with Amazon Kindle and Google Play Books. One big difference many report is a smoother user experience with Apple Books.
Whichever system you’re using, be aware that those companies don’t have a reputation for “playing nice” with each other when it comes to content. For example, you can’t purchase or download Apple Books with your Kindle.
The NOOK is the ebook reader offered by Barnes & Noble, and its main competitor is the Kindle. While the NOOK works well, many prefer the Kindle overall because there are more styles to choose from, there is more content to access, and the Kindle is faster and easier to use.
This app lets you purchase and download titles from Audible.com. You can purchase titles at full price without a membership, or you can sign up for one of their membership plans. Audible is a popular app for listening to podcasts as well.
Kobo is a Canadian company that sells ebooks and audiobooks. They also make their own e-readers and tablets. More than 6 million ebooks and audiobooks are available. If you’re wondering about the name, it’s an anagram of “book.”
7. PocketBook Reader
If you’re looking for a free reading app that gives you access to all reading formats and to audiobooks as well, this might be one for you to check out. It’s available in both the Google Play Store and the Apple Store, so it’s compatible with any Android or iOS device, but most Amazon content isn’t available for it.
If only there were a way to borrow ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from your local library. Well, there is, and this app is one of the best of them for it! With a WI-FI or mobile data connection, you can stream titles, but you can also download them for offline enjoyment.
Kids love reading on devices, too! Popular with schools, Epic is the largest digital library in the world built just for kids. It’s a fun, safe app that offers interactive reading, fueling learning, curiosity, imagination, and more.
Epic provides instant access to more than 40,000 books, audiobooks, learning videos, etc., and kids can explore it freely since the content is vetted as kid-safe.
Media365 bills itself as “Where all good stories begin!” Avid readers can find great titles among all genres, and when they join, they can enjoy free 7-day access to everything in the catalog. Media365 is available at the Google Play Store and the Apple Store.
This Android app is available at the Google Play Store. It’s a multifunctional app with which you can open PDF and DjVu files, comics, and magazines. You can also use it to play audiobooks and to work on documents on tablets and smartphones.
Available for Android and iOS, this app will open almost any type of document file, even text in a compressed file. Even better, you can have the app read text aloud to you.
With ReadEra, you can read more than one book, document, or journal at once. For example, you can read two texts at once in a split-screen format so that you don’t have to go back and forth between tabs or windows. It’s available on Google Play.
This service delivered book files to readers. Indie authors like it because they can distribute their ebooks and audiobooks without the hassles of trying to work with big publishers. If there’s an author you like, you can arrange to have new titles by that author delivered automatically.
This fee-based subscription service has millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and documents available. Because it’s available on Android, iOS, Kindle, and NOOK, it’s a highly versatile service.
Reader apps can be broad in their applications or tailored to more specific audiences or interests. With all that is out there, you shouldn’t have trouble finding one or a few that work great for you.
Say goodbye to lugging books around and wondering what to do with them once you’ve finished them!


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Hello! How is it already the second week in December?! This month is flying, and 2015 will be here before we know it. AH! I’m about done decorating for Christmas; finally!! I really should have just started decorating before Thanksgiving. I always do this to myself. I start decorating December 1st, and it takes me forever. I’m always moving stuff around! BUT, I think everything is where I want it now. Phew!
Today I’m sharing tutorial for the easiest little Christmas/wintery craft ever!! Like, seriously, it will take you 10 minutes to make. Tops. It’s the second Monday of the month which means I’m over at Made to be a Momma with all the details and the tutorial for these easy honeycomb Christmas trees, so head on over to see more! Click HERE to check it out!
Hope you have a FABULOUS week! 🙂
14 thoughts on “Easy Honeycomb Christmas Trees”
Well, aren’t these cute! I will have to go take a peak at how you made them. I made some trees last week, too… totally different from these.
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom recently posted…Motivational Monday Link Up Party – 12/08/14
Aw, thanks friend! They were sooo easy. I love making little trees, they’re so fun for Christmas! 🙂
These are so cute, Amanda! I love a quick craft … thx for sharing! xo
Kendra @ http://www.joyinourhome.com recently posted…Holiday Home Tour: A Cozy and Simple Christmas Tour
Thanks, Kendra! I’m all for quick and easy crafts, too. 🙂 Hope your week is great so far!
So cool! I stumbled and g+ the post over at Made to be a Momma!
Barb @ A Life in Balance recently posted…Healthy Kid Snack: Homemade Granola Bars
Thank you, Barb! I so appreciate the share love! Happy Wednesday! 🙂
These are really cute, and so simple to make! I love easy decor projects like this. Thanks for sharing it with Hump Day Happenings.
Jenna @ A Savory Feast recently posted…5 Ways to Hand Out Your Blog Business Cards
Thanks, Jenna! Easy and quick crafts are totally the best! 🙂 Have a great rest of the week!
clever idea. I will have to pick up some of those balls when I am at the store.
found you from On Display Thursday
Thanks, Audrey! Those honeycomb balls are so versatile, I love using them for crafts! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I love projects like this …easy and pretty. Thanks for linking up to On Display Thursday.
Carmody recently posted…Home For The Holidays
Thanks Carmody! I love easy, too! 🙂


Here you will find preparation materials for prospective Cyber 9/12 teams, including the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge Starter Pack, a single document including preparation materials for teams interested in competing in Cyber 9/12 competitions.
Each year, the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge connects with hundreds of students from around the globe as they tackle a realistic cyber crisis scenario with far-reaching implications on national security, international law, economics, and politics. The rules for the standard Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge format can be found here, and the grading rubric for the standard Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge can be found here.
University students analyze a bespoke, three-part scenario and develop policy recommendations to respond to and mitigate the escalating cyber crisis. These scenarios can be found below, and select scenarios also include award-winning recommendations, collected and curated by the Cyber Statecraft Initiative in the form of a scenario playbook.
Through playbooks, we can make crowdsourced and cutting-edge policy analysis and solutions on emerging cyber challenges available to competitors, coaches, and practitioners in government and industry.
The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, under the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), works at the nexus of geopolitics and cybersecurity to craft strategies to help shape the conduct of statecraft and to better inform and secure users of technology.


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To evaluate quality of life, functional and oncological outcome after infravesical desobstruction and HIFU treatment for localized prostate cancer.
One hundred thirty-one patients, treated with TURP and HIFU in a single institution were followed up for oncological and functional outcome. Oncological outcome was quantified by biochemical recurrence free survival using the Stuttgart and Phoenix criteria. Quality of life was assessed by usage of standardized QLQ-C30 and QLQ-PR25 questionnaires. In addition, functional questionnaires such as IPSS and IIEF-5 were used. Complications were assessed by the Clavien-Dindo classification.
One hundred thirty-one patients with a mean age of 72.8 years (SD: 6.0) underwent HIFU for prostate cancer (29.0% low risk, 58.8% intermediate risk, 12.2% high risk). PSA nadir was 0.6 ng/ml (SD: 1.2) after a mean of 4.6 months (SD: 5.7). Biochemical recurrence free survival defined by Stuttgart criteria was 73.7%, 84.4% and 62.5% for low-, intermediate- and high-risk patients after 22.2 months. Complications were grouped according to Clavien-Dindo and occurred in 10.7% (grade II) and 11.5% (grade IIIa) of cases. 35.1% of patients needed further treatment for bladder neck stricture. Regarding incontinence, 14.3%, 2.9% and 0% of patients had de novo urinary incontinence grade I°, II° and III° and 3.8% urge incontinence due to HIFU treatment. Patients were asked for the ability to have intercourse: 15.8%, 58.6% and 66.7% of patients after non-, onesided and bothsided nervesparing procedure were able to obtain sufficient erection for intercourse, respectively. Regarding quality of life, mean global health score according to QLQ-C30 was 69.4%.
HIFU treatment for localized prostate cancer shows acceptable oncological safety. Quality of life after HIFU is better than in the general population and ranges within those of standard treatment options compared to literature. HIFU seems a safe valuable treatment alternative for patients not suitable for standard treatment.
BMC urology. 2017 Jan 11*** epublish ***
G Hatiboglu, I V Popeneciu, M Deppert, J Nyarangi-Dix, B Hadaschik, M Hohenfellner, D Teber, S Pahernik
Department of Urology, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 110, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany. ., Department of Urology, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 110, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany.

domain: health


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I've been in Afghanistan for two weeks and only now am I beginning to get an idea of what my job will be. Unlike most people who arrived with me, I was not a direct replacement for a departing officer. That means I had no turnover brief or orientation to my job responsibilities or clear explanation of exactly what I'm supposed to complete or supervise or promote for the next twelve months. I'm new and my position is new, and that can be advantageous, or disastrous. As an example, as a staff officer, I am considered available to fill space on any "advisory board" or "working group" on base that needs representation from medical personnel. My military experience such groups has been that they advise very little and work even less. It's hard to maintain consciousness when your day is enveloped by their meetings, and the incessant dozing they induce plays havoc with my ability to sleep through the night. So I'm trying to create a few specific duties and projects for myself that might keep me occupied and focused during the day. I might even be able to assist the Afghan Army in the development of its medical system.
The US Navy has teams of physicians, nurses, hospital administrators and other health professionals "embedded" at different Afghan Army and Police hospitals and clinics throughout the country. These teams typically live on the grounds of these facilities, and they can probably count on one hand how many times they leave the premises during their 6-12 month deployment. In Kabul, at a base small by American standards but pretty large relative to the hospital grounds in Mazir-e-Sharif or Herat, sit me and other administrative and leadership staff who work to direct and support the embedded teams. "Direct" might mean that we implement through the embedded teams a trauma care plan devised by the Surgeon General of the Afghan Army. "Support" might mean that we procure a means of refrigeration for vaccine doses spoiling in the heat of Kandahar.
My first task has been to formulate a monthly reporting scheme for the embedded teams in order to better track their progress in mentoring the Afghans to provide better care for soldiers and their families. So far, reports from the regional hospitals have varied from "emergency room here is really coming into its own and better caring for patients" to "staff still loathe to wash hands before entering the operating room" and "surgeons no longer using the same set of instruments on two different cases simultaneously." Much of the mentoring here is very basic. The facilities are called hospitals, but an American would hardly recognize the organization and services provided within. A significant percentage of any hospital staff is likely illiterate, and that makes record-keeping a bit difficult. Many of the nurses have had no formal education. A physician may or may not have attended medical school classes or passed any formal licensing or certification exam.
They're not dishonest. For the past several decades, Afghanistan has not been able to offer most citizens the opportunity for a good primary and secondary school education, let alone quality medical training. No uniform, objective training standards seem to exist for these positions. An Afghan ophthalmologist told me that after his medical school training, he passed both the internal medicine and surgical exams, and he decided to practice ophthalmology. I'll admit that a language barrier was present, but I could not elicit from him any recount of focused ophthalmic training he received. It appears that local surgeons simply select the specialty that interests them most. A colleague told me of meeting the Chief of Surgery at a provincial hospital who pleaded for a different professional post as he trained in internal medicine, and had not even attended a surgical case as a medical student.
US military medical professionals are working for improvements in Afghan military healthcare as our efforts are part of a larger strategy to improve Afghanistan's internal security by reinforcing and expanding the national army and police force. American medical personnel are engaging the Afghan healthcare system at the clinic and hospital level. Progress is often elusive and usually precarious. If an Afghan hospital represents the pinnacle of healthcare here, the illustrious apex of a pyramid, then any embellishments to its facade stand in danger of collapsing groundward as the elements of a solid structural base necessary for a society to sustain advanced care -- a high literacy rate, adequate economic resources, sustained electricity -- are usually lacking. Afghanistan is a development project at every level. Few geographic and societal sectors in Afghanistan are being "rebuilt" as they have never existed. Progress should be measured in small increments as the task is monumental.
There are professional assets here: Afghanistan has dedicated, intelligent and sometimes well-trained medical professionals, although not nearly as many as needed. The US is attempting to mentor some of these people in hope that a partnership will result in better care for all Afghans, a necessary element for the country if Afghanistan is to be a stable country that doesn't pose a threat to America. That's the US military's goal for Afghanistan, our current "end-point." With respect to Afghan medical care, the project will be decades long. The medical education tract begins with a basic education and then continues as prospective healthcare professionals progress through a training sequence that takes many years. The US has been in Afghanistan intermittently for only seven.


Engine B, a company created by Shamus Rae, previously KPMG’s innovation and AI head, is working with Microsoft, universities and professional services firms to build the equivalent of Open Banking for corporate data. This in turn will allow legal tech companies and firms to build much more powerful and cross-referenced contract analysis systems.
Or as Rae told Artificial Lawyer: ‘This is building the base data layer across all corporate activity, not just one narrow vertical of data, but across all data stores in a business.’
This matters because, as Rae stressed: ‘If you can’t exchange data then we aren’t going to get anywhere.’
That is to say, without a joined up approach to the data that companies produce, its analysis and real world meaning will remain trapped within silos and so have less benefits.
Such a siloed data environment is not a true reflection of how a business really works, which in day to day life sees all parts of a commercial enterprise connected together. It also means we only get a small part of the picture, which is like looking into a house through a keyhole. Engine B is seeking to open the door so you can see everything there is data for.
In terms of Microsoft, Rae told Artificial Lawyer: ‘Microsoft is working with us on several fronts, data models, dynamics and unstructured data. The flow works like this: Birmingham University Law School – is working on the processes used for different types of contracts and the data flows, and the scope of content within the contract; that then passes to Imperial College – who are looking at entity extraction techniques especially using smaller data training sets; and finally this connects to our data scientists and Microsoft’s.’
They’re also using Microsoft’s latest version of Luis AI, the giant company’s NLP platform, for some of the contract analysis work. Although, Rae told Artificial Lawyer they’d be happy to also work with other companies, such as Kira Systems, that are well-known in the market for their NLP capabilities.
Below is a detailed AL TV Product Walk Through of Engine B – and it really is worth watching to get the gist of things. (Approx half on the walk through, half Q&A – 17 mins total).
Rae’s key point is essentially this: what if you could build a data analysis methodology that would work across all types of unstructured and structured data collections of information? Then you could link them all together and cross-reference that data to build a much more powerful picture of what is really going on across a business.
For example, what if you had a data analysis system that could read property contracts and also bring to bear payment information, and occupancy data, and information from land registry databases, all at the same time? You’d have a working picture of what is really happening – not just what contracts in one data stack in one departmental silo of a business is saying.
Once you have these ‘mind maps’ that connect everything you create a ‘base data layer’ upon which you can build new analytical tools to gain ever greater insights.
And, this is how the company explains what it does, ‘Engine B provides: A set of data models, which are open source and available to all. These data models can be installed with clients to capture and house client information in an intelligent data access platform.
‘Client data can then be interrogated and analysed through dynamic knowledge graphs. Knowledge Graphs are a programmatic way to model information. They can uncover hidden data and relationships that are too complex for human cognition through applying various graph-computing techniques and algorithms.’
All very exciting. Final question: how will they make money? Rae explained that they will charge micro-payments for the use of the knowledge graphs they develop.
What next? This is a work in progress, as you can imagine given its scale and complexity. But Rae concluded by saying they are hoping the various projects they have in motion will result in a wider commercial roll-out next year.


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7 things you need to know today
CAPE TOWN - Good morning. This is all the latest business news that you need to know today.
Swiss luxury group Richemont had paid its group chief executive Jérôme Lambert a total remuneration package of CHF8.06 million (R144.8 million) for the year to March, up by 49.54 percent compared to last year’s CHF5.39m, according to its annual report released on Wednesday.
The rand ebbed as the risk rally ran out of steam, making way for a resurgence in US-Sino trade tensions according to NKC Research.
South African Airways's business rescue team on Wednesday warned that they would not have the money to pay the salaries of all staff for the month, and dismissed suggestions from government that they had not managed the costs of the operation well.
The Minerals Council South Africa said yesterday that it expected a further drop in production of between 6 and 10 percent for the rest of the year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic in the sector.
Eskom Holdings Ltd.’s desire to avoid spending R42 billion reducing sulfur dioxide emissions at one of its largest power plants isn’t legally feasible, according to the country’s environmental affairs department.
Black-empowered information and communications technology group AYO Technology Solutions lifted headline earnings per share by 25 percent to 35.81 cents per share in the six months to February 29 and posted a net asset value of R4.5 billion.
When South African miners are allowed to recall all their workers as lockdown restrictions ease further on Monday, full production will remain elusive as the pandemic upends operating practices.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE

domain: finance


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This is for an original Super NES Control Deck with the Tetris Attack bundle, a Toys'R' Us exclusive release. This exact bundle is rarely seen and impossible to find brand new. It was released in 1997, which is insane because it was released after the Nintendo 64, making it virtually obsolete with a modest production number.This may be the rarest Mini console promo, and it is unused in original box. The outer box has slight shelf wear from being in storage for so long, everything on the inside is brand new and mint. Original console, controller, hookups, manuals/inserts, and Tetris Attack cartridge all in original baggies and twist ties, never used. Please check out my other Nintendo auctions listed.
Send over a message with any questions or concerns, cheers. The item "Super NES System new in box nintendo nib sealed snes TOYS'R US Exclusive 1997" is in sale since Saturday, January 5, 2019. This item is in the category "Video Games & Consoles\Video Game Consoles". The seller is "jerry_lundegaard" and is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
This item can be shipped worldwide.

domain: entertainment


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Recently, the NCSSFL Bylaws Committee was convened to address a perceived lack of clarity in the Members section (Article III) of the NCSSFL bylaws.
Rationale: In 2016, NCSSFL members voted on bylaws revisions that created a de facto retired associate member category for regular associate members who retired but wished to remain active in the organization. During the two years since then, it has become apparent that this language is not as well-organized as it could be nor is it sufficiently clear to our members and the executive board. The proposed revisions seek to better organize and clarify the information in this section. Note:
View the Members section (Article III) of the NCSSFL bylaws with all proposed changes in red ink with yellow highlighting.
Per the requirement of our bylaws, these proposed revisions will be available for consideration by the membership for a period of at least 30 days, from October 18, 2018 through November 18, 2018. At the end of the consideration period, members will be given an opportunity to vote electronically on the revisions using the members-only polling feature on this website.
Per the NCSSFL bylaws, regular SEA members and retired SEA members are permitted to vote. Regular associate and retired associates members are not permitted to vote.
Voting will be open from November 19, 2018 through December 3, 2018.