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I have a lot of books on my desk.... I mean a lot! On days that are slow, like today (everyone is on vacation but me!??) I read a chapter or two in one or more of these books. Recently I've been going through "The Myths of Innovation" by Scott Berkun and have been telling everyone I know how much I'm enjoying this book!
Scott briefly tells the stories of many key inventors / innovators through time stressing the points that none of these came as a-ha moments... but rather took lots of determination and yikes... failure! Most if not all key inventions were thought up by multiple people over time and the "winner" is a result of many coinciding factors: timing, funding, reproduction, and competition.
For all you creative thinkers out there, you'll see lists of negative responses that you've likely heard over your lifetime. Scott put together a list of "idea killers" and "idea helpers" on his blog that you might want to check out.
I hope you take a look at this book and if you do read it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I am....
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The developerWorks Connections Platform is now in read-only mode and content is only available for viewing. No new wiki pages, posts, or messages may be added. Please see our FAQ for more information. The developerWorks Connections platform will officially shut down on March 31, 2020 and content will no longer be available. More details available on our FAQ. (Read in Japanese.)
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From archive: July 2008 X
The Myths of Innovation
Party Time!!!
svisser1 2700018UK9 Tags:  conferences 7,001 Views
Come and Join our Party!
As you have likely seen already.... DB2 turned 25 this year! 25 years as a provider high performance, reliable and secure data servers.
IBM will be hosting birthday parties at the following events:
* IDUG 2008 Europe — October 13-17, 2008* IBM Information On Demand Global Conference — October 26-31, 2008
Register now for a party and collect your free e-ticket. Limited tickets are available.
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IOD Conference: Certification Lounge
svisser1 2700018UK9 Tags:  conferences books certification 2 Comments 8,446 Views
For anyone who was at the IOD Conference last year in Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay, you'll remember how **tired** you were after walking the large distances! Do you want an interesting strategy to deal with the strain your poor legs and back will be under?
If you get certified at the conference or were previously certified, you are welcome to join the Certification Lounge. The Lounge will once again be featuring tables, chairs, food, beverages, and best of all.... free massages. We want to ensure that you are specially rewarded for earning your certification.
Prepare in advance to make sure that you can begin using the certification lounge from day 1:
Each exam has a time limit of 90 minutes, except the upgrade exam which has a time limit of 60 minutes. The number of questions and the cutscore for each exam varies. For example, exam 730 has 64 questions and you must score 59 percent or higher to pass it.
How do I prepare to pass an exam?Here is the recommended path I suggest you take to prepare for a DB2 exam:
1) Choose the exam you want to take based on your job role. The DBA and AppDev certifications first require that you are certified as a Database Associate. To help you decide where to start, see the certification roadmaps: ibm.com/software/data/education/cert-roadmaps.html.
2) Read through the exam objectives. Every question on the exam relates directly to one or more of the exam objectives. For a breakdown of the exam objectives and the recommended study materials, see ibm.com/software/data/education/certprep.html
Here are the exams that cover the DB2 9 product: * Exam 730 - DB2 9 Fundamentals
* Exam 731 - DB2 9 DBA for Linux, Unix, and Windows
* Exam 732 - DB2 9 DBA for z/OS
* Exam 733 - DB2 9 Application Developer
* Exam 734 - DB2 9 Advanced DBA for Linux UNIX and Windows
* Exam 735 - DB2 9.5 Developer. Although not specifically written for this exam, the book DB2(R) SQL PL: Essential Guide for DB2(R) UDB on Linux(TM), UNIX(R), Windows(TM), i5/OS(TM), and z/OS(R) (2nd Edition) might help you prepare for this exam.
* Exam 736 - DB2 9 Database Administrator for Linux UNIX and Windows Upgrade. See also Kate's blog entry about the upgrade exam!
3) If you are experienced with DB2 and feel that you are prepared to pass the exam based on what you saw in the exam objectives, take an assessment exam: ibm.com/software/data/education/cert/assessment.html. You'll get a report after taking the assessment exam that can help you pinpoint your weaknesses. Assessment exams cost $10 per take, so if you really think you are ready, come and take the exam to see.
4) If you are NOT experienced with DB2, download a free version of DB2 Express-C and give it a try!
5) Decide on how you want to increase your skills: a) Consider buying one of the Certification Study Guides to refresh and deepen your skills: ibm.com/software/data/education/bookstore.
For exam prep, the best books are these:DB2 9 Fundamentals Certification Study Guide by Roger SandersDB2 9 Database Administration Certification Study Guide for Exam 731 by Roger Sanders DB2 9 Database Administration Certification Study Guide for Exam 732 by Susan Lawson and Daniel Luksetich DB2 9 Database Administration Upgrade Certification Study Guide for Exam 736 by Roger SandersDB2 9 Advanced Database Administration Certification Study Guide for Exam 734 by Roger Sanders and Dwaine Snow.
All five of these certification prep guides were written by members of the exam development team. That is, they created the questions for the certification exam that you are about to take! Also, each chapter of the book corresponds directly to a section on the exam. So, if you take the assessment exam and find out that you are week on a single topic, you simply need to read the chapter that corresponds to the topic where you need improvement. Lastly, the authors created a set of sample questions for the book that provides you with the correct answer to the question as well as an explanation as to why the correct answer is correct and the incorrect ones are not.
For reference and guidance beyond the exam, I suggest the following: DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep (6th Edition) by George Baklarz and Paul Zikopoulos
b) For self-study, also check out the free tutorials that IBM provides for most of the exams. The tutorials are broken into hour long segments of information based on the exam objectives. If you have a great deal of experience, this may be all you need to prepare for the exam. To see the full set of exam prep tutorials that are available, see ibm.com/software/data/education/selfstudy.html.
c) Take an education class from IBM or one of its partners. These classes typically have a fee, even for employees, so check with management to see if you can take one of these classes. Classroom education is an excellent way to learn, but may be difficult to justify due to costs. Don't forget to look into ILO training as this type of training gives you all the benefits of classroom education, but eliminates the travel costs. The best place to start to determine the classroom education that best fits your needs is with the training roadmaps: ibm.com/software/data/education/roadmaps.html.
d) Take a pre-conference class at the ILO Conference:
DB2 for z/OS DBA Certification Crammer (Exam 732)
Speaker: Susan Lawson
This high level certification preparation review is intended to help you take IBM Certification Test 732, DB2 9 DBA for z/OS. Gain an intense overall review of those areas that are on the certification exam.
DB2 9 for Linux & Windows DBA Certification Crammer (Exam 731)
Speaker: Roger Sanders
This training is designed to introduce the student to the concepts a test candidate must know in order to take and pass the DB2 9 DBA for Linux, UNIX, and Window certification exam (Exam 731). The material for this course is aligned with the 731 exam objectives.
6) If this is your first time taking a certification exam, review the steps on this site: ibm.com/certify/process/t_proc.shtml.
Can I gain experience by reading DB2 Forums and Blogs? Absolutely! There are several DBAs who firmly believe helping out on the various forums have helped us gain a deeper understanding of subjects that were on the exams. So, contribute to those forums. You're not only helping other people, you're helping yourself as well! Most likely you'll find members of the DB2 development team actively taking part in the forums as well.
Here are the sites that I recommend, at the least:Planet DB2 - a blog aggregator that combines DB2 blogs from around the world.IBM developerWorks - DB2 PortalIDUG – International DB2 User's GroupMy blog: ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/susanvisserKate's blog: ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/katedawson
Enjoy the lounge!
[Read More]
TDD Workshop - Recommended books
Earlier this week I blogged about the TDD Workshop that Justin Gordon is running tomorrow (July 25) in Chicago: link. I have a recommended book list to go with this session:
xUnit Test Patterns: Refactoring Test Code (The Addison-Wesley Signature Series) by Gerard Meszaros
Automated testing is a cornerstone of agile development. An effective testing strategy will deliver new functionality more aggressively, accelerate user feedback, and improve quality. However, for many developers, creating effective automated tests is a unique and unfamiliar challenge.
xUnit Test Patterns is the definitive guide to writing automated tests using xUnit, the most popular unit testing framework in use today. Agile coach and test automation expert Gerard Meszaros describes 68 proven patterns for making tests easier to write, understand, and maintain. He then shows you how to make them more robust and repeatable--and far more cost-effective.
Loaded with information, this book feels like three books in one. The first part is a detailed tutorial on test automation that covers everything from test strategy to in-depth test coding. The second part, a catalog of 18 frequently encountered "test smells," provides trouble-shooting guidelines to help you determine the root cause of problems and the most applicable patterns. The third part contains detailed descriptions of each pattern, including refactoring instructions illustrated by extensive code samples in multiple programming languages.
Topics covered include:# Writing better tests--and writing them faster# The four phases of automated tests: fixture setup, exercising the system under test, result verification, and fixture teardown# Improving test coverage by isolating software from its environment using Test Stubs and Mock Objects# Designing software for greater testability# Using test "smells" (including code smells, behavior smells, and project smells) to spot problems and know when and how to eliminate them# Refactoring tests for greater simplicity, robustness, and execution speed
This book will benefit developers, managers, and testers working with any agile or conventional development process, whether doing test-driven development or writing the tests last. While the patterns and smells are especially applicable to all members of the xUnit family, they also apply to next-generation behavior-driven development frameworks such as RSpec and JBehave and to other kinds of test automation tools, including recorded test tools and data-driven test tools such as Fit and FitNesse.
Working Effectively with Legacy Code (Robert C. Martin Series) by Michael Feathers
Get more out of your legacy systems: more performance, functionality, reliability, and manageability
Is your code easy to change? Can you get nearly instantaneous feedback when you do change it? Do you understand it? If the answer to any of these questions is no, you have legacy code, and it is draining time and money away from your development efforts.
In this book, Michael Feathers offers start-to-finish strategies for working more effectively with large, untested legacy code bases. This book draws on material Michael created for his renowned Object Mentor seminars: techniques Michael has used in mentoring to help hundreds of developers, technical managers, and testers bring their legacy systems under control.
The topics covered include:# Understanding the mechanics of software change: adding features, fixing bugs, improving design, optimizing performance# Getting legacy code into a test harness# Writing tests that protect you against introducing new problems# Techniques that can be used with any language or platform—with examples in Java, C++, C, and C## Accurately identifying where code changes need to be made# Coping with legacy systems that aren't object-oriented# Handling applications that don't seem to have any structure
This book also includes a catalog of twenty-four dependency-breaking techniques that help you work with program elements in isolation and make safer changes. Next Generation Java Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts by Cédric Beust and Hani Suleiman
Enterprise Java developers must achieve broader, deeper test coverage, going beyond unit testing to implement functional and integration testing with systematic acceptance. Next Generation Java™ Testing introduces breakthrough Java testing techniques and TestNG, a powerful open source Java testing platform.
Cédric Beust, TestNG's creator, and leading Java developer Hani Suleiman, present powerful, flexible testing patterns that will work with virtually any testing tool, framework, or language. They show how to leverage key Java platform improvements designed to facilitate effective testing, such as dependency injection and mock objects. They also thoroughly introduce TestNG, demonstrating how it overcomes the limitations of older frameworks and enables new techniques, making it far easier to test today's complex software systems.
Pragmatic and results-focused, Next Generation Java™ Testing will help Java developers build more robust code for today's mission-critical environments.
This book: # Illuminates the tradeoffs associated with testing, so you can make better decisions about what and how to test# Introduces TestNG, explains its goals and features, and shows how to apply them in real-world environments# Shows how to integrate TestNG with your existing code, development frameworks, and software libraries# Demonstrates how to test crucial code features, such as encapsulation, state sharing, scopes, and thread safety# Shows how to test application elements, including JavaEE APIs, databases, Web pages, and XML files# Presents advanced techniques: testing partial failures, factories, dependent testing, remote invocation, cluster-based test farms, and more# Walks through installing and using TestNG plug-ins for Eclipse, and IDEA# Contains extensive code examples
Whether you use TestNG, JUnit, or another testing framework, the testing design patterns presented in this book will show you how to improve your tests by giving you concrete advice on how to make your code and your design more testable.
Test Driven: TDD and Acceptance TDD for Java Developers by Lasse Koskela
In test driven development, you first write an executable test of what your application code must do. Only then do you write the code itself and, with the test spurring you on, you improve your design. In acceptance test driven development (ATDD), you use the same technique to implement product features, benefiting from iterative development, rapid feedback cycles, and better-defined requirements. TDD and its supporting tools and techniques lead to better software faster.
Test Driven brings under one cover practical TDD techniques distilled from several years of community experience. With examples in Java and the Java EE environment, it explores both the techniques and the mindset of TDD and ATDD. It uses carefully chosen examples to illustrate TDD tools and design patterns, not in the abstract but concretely in the context of the technologies you face at work. It is accessible to TDD beginners, and it offers effective and less well known techniques to older TDD hands.
What's Inside:# Learn hands-on to test drive Java code# How to avoid common TDD adoption pitfalls# Acceptance test driven development and the Fit framework# How to test Java EE components-Servlets, JSPs, and Spring Controllers# Tough issues like multithreaded programs and data access code
Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design by Scott Ambler and Pramodkumar J. Sadalage
Refactoring has proven its value in a wide range of development projects–helping software professionals improve system designs, maintainability, extensibility, and performance. Now, for the first time, leading agile methodologist Scott Ambler and renowned consultant Pramodkumar Sadalage introduce powerful refactoring techniques specifically designed for database systems.
Ambler and Sadalage demonstrate how small changes to table structures, data, stored procedures, and triggers can significantly enhance virtually any database design–without changing semantics. You'll learn how to evolve database schemas in step with source code–and become far more effective in projects relying on iterative, agile methodologies.
This comprehensive guide and reference helps you overcome the practical obstacles to refactoring real-world databases by covering every fundamental concept underlying database refactoring. Using start-to-finish examples, the authors walk you through refactoring simple standalone database applications as well as sophisticated multi-application scenarios. You'll master every task involved in refactoring database schemas, and discover best practices for deploying refactorings in even the most complex production environments.
The second half of this book systematically covers five major categories of database refactorings. You'll learn how to use refactoring to enhance database structure, data quality, and referential integrity; and how to refactor both architectures and methods. This book provides an extensive set of examples built with Oracle and Java and easily adaptable for other languages, such as C#, C++, or VB.NET, and other databases, such as DB2, SQL Server, MySQL, and Sybase.
Using this book's techniques and examples, you can reduce waste, rework, risk, and cost–and build database systems capable of evolving smoothly, far into the future.
Happy reading!
susan[Read More]
Take the survey - YOUR opinion matters!!
svisser1 2700018UK9 6,042 Views
Leon's blog post just made me aware of this Consumability Survey for Information Management products.
The Consumability Survey was designed to gain insight into your business priorities and experiences with IBM software. It will take approximately 30 minutes to complete and must be completed in one session. The survey allows you to provide your input based on your experience and priorities for 31 product characteristics. You are then given the opportunity to prioritize those areas that matter most according to the demands of your business. When answering the survey, please be as specific as possible so that we can take appropriate actions to improve the product. At the survey Web site, please enter the optional invitation code: IMSOFTWARE.
You may wonder, what is consumability? The term is used to describe the difference between a product that works and one that makes your work easier, such as:
* How easily you were able to find the product that matched your business needs* How quickly you installed and configured the product to your environment* How well the product fulfilled its function within your organization* How efficiently the product suited your organization's usage on a daily basis* How easily you were able to derive business value from the product on a long-term basis
By taking the participating in our Consumability Survey, you're helping IBM focus on improving our software in ways that make the difference to your success.
See instructions in Leon's blog post if you want to provide feedback for DB2 Express-C.
Your opinion is very important to us, so thanks in advance for taking the survey.
Susan[Read More]
IBM Data Studio software: The big picture
svisser1 2700018UK9 Tags:  datastudio 7,295 Views
IBM Data Studio software is a revolutionary approach to managing data and data-centric applications throughout the lifecycle, from requirements to retirement.
Read the overview article by Holly Hayes that explains both the vision and reality of Data Studio and how you -- whether a data architect, developer or tester, DBA, or data steward -- can use Data Studio today to improve productivity, increase quality of service, and encourage greater alignment across IT roles.
Susan[Read More]
Justin Gordon - TDD Workshop - for free!
I've recently "met" Justin Gordon who is now working on writing a book for Addison-Wesley. Justin sent me this information about a workshop he is running this coming Friday and I thought I'd send it along for anyone who may be interested .
Test Driven Development (TDD) Workshop
When: July 25th, 2008 10AM to 3PMWhere: Chicago Innovation Center – 71 Wacker – Room 6612Web Conference details: DetailsWho Should Attend: GBS developers or other IBMersHow Much: FreePresenters: Justin Gordon & Donald BellRSVP: Not required, but RSVP is recommended a download will be required for labs exercises
Description:A comprehensive suite of unit tests is the single most important artifact created in a software project because it reduces bugs, facilitates adding new developers, and enables refactoring and performance tuning with confidence. Test-driven development (TDD) is the best way to build a test suite. Justin will discuss this assertion and address practical issues encountered on test-driven projects, including: How to get team members to adopt TDD on a project; how to implement TDD on a project with large amounts of existing untested legacy code, tooling, design patterns to facilitate TDD, including mock objects, dependency location, and the Dependent Object Framework. These techniques solve the difficult technical problems of isolating code to be tested and setting up required persistent data. For example, have you ever worked on a large enterprise software project (one that heavily uses a database) and wanted to add JUnit tests? And did you quickly realize that it's easier said than done? Why is that? Want to learn a better way? Justin created the open source project "Dependent Object Framework" (DOF) to solve just this problem.
The discussion will cover the same material that Justin is presenting at Dr. Dobbs Architecture and Design World on July 24 and previously presented at Dr. Dobbs SD West in Santa Clara this past March. The lecture and exercises will work as follows:1. Justin will explain the concepts in the slides2. To illustrate the concepts, Justin will be doing a "pair-programming" session with Donald and the audience. Members of the audience will be able to run some of the JUnit tests along with Justin.3. The audience will have an opportunity after the led discussion to add some additional JUnit tests for the exercises, getting tips from Justin and Donald on both JUnit, TDD, and use of Rational Team Concert. Download Workshop MaterialsMaterials should be downloaded before. Check website after July 22nd
Agenda (all times central time)10:30 to 12:00 – Introduction to Test Driven Development (motivation, basic techniques)12:00 to 12:30 – Break (Optional)12:30 to 2:00 – Advanced TDD – TDD with dependencies and the Dependent Object Framework (DOF) 2:00 to 3:00 – Lab Exercises with assistance from Justin and Donald (chance to add JUnit tests to the ones that Justin and Donald setup earlier)
Note: Lunch is not provided, feel free to bring your own lunch.
Remote Attendance DetailsAudio Conference Access NumbersToll: 1-770-615-1258Toll Free: 1-877-421-0528ITN: 2421-0528Passcode: 144034
Web Conference DetailsURL Password: workshop4you
Thanks to Justin for forwarding this to me. Justin, congratulations on the birth of your very cute baby boy!
susan[Read More]
NEW IDS Retail Book - pre-order now
Carlton Doe's long awaited IDS book is near completion. It is so near completion that you can find it listed on amazon.com now... with a hefty pre-order discount:
Administering Informix Dynamic Server: Building the FoundationList Price: $59.95Price: $37.77 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. You Save: $22.18 (37%)
Carlton's previous published books, Informix Dynamic Server Handbook and Administering Informix Dynamic Server on Windows NT are 11 and 9 years old, respectively.
Except for the two "flashbooks" that Carlton published via IBM, no other IDS books have made it to the bookstores! You'll be happy to learn that there is a certification guide in the works as well as a possible second book from Carlton (with more advanced material).
Here is an online version of the first flashbook that introduced IDS 11: IBM Informix Dynamic Server 11: The Next Generation in OLTP Data Server Technology. The second smaller one that introduced 11.5 will be available for free at the IOD Conference.
What's in the new book:
Geared towards database server administrators who need to get a server up and running in a short amount of time, this guide focuses on the basic skills required to administer and maintain the Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) data server. Each of the major functional areas of the database server are reviewed, including designing, initializing, monitoring, building availability layers, securing data, and the data processing environment. This book reviews how the IDS works, how to install it, how to configure a database environment, back up, recovery, and includes an introduction to monitoring instance operations, making it useful to current IDS users who need to upgrade from earlier versions of the data server as well as those who have never used IDS before.
Table of Contents:Chapter 1 – Introduction to Informix Dynamic ServerThis chapter covers the general design of the IDS data server. Terms and keywords used extensively throughout the rest of the book are introduced and defined here.
Chapter 2 – An Introduction to ExtensibilityThis chapter explores the object-relational features and capabilities of Informix Dynamic Server.
Chapter 3 – Preparing for InitializationIn this chapter, Carlton covers many of the topics you need to address from a design perspective when planning for the implementation of an IDS environment. For the most part, the discussion is general in scope because there are few hard and fast rules to follow when building a database environment. Where rules do exist, they are stated. At the close of the chapter, Carlton explains the required environment variables, files, and other objects as well as how to set them up.
Chapter 4 – Installing and Initializing IDSThis chapter covers all the steps and configuration parameters for creating an IDS database environment or instance, with specific recommendations given for the most critical configuration parameters. At the end, Carlton introduces the system-level databases that manage and control an IDS environment.
Chapter 5 – Basic Administrative TasksIn this chapter, Carlton explains most of the general day-to-day, or occasional, instance-oriented administrative tasks. These include adding or dropping disk space, starting up or shutting down the instance, and killing user sessions in the instance. The major graphical administration tools are introduced as an alternative to performing many of these tasks using the command line.
Chapter 6 – Building a Database EnvironmentIn this chapter, Carlton trades his DSA's hat for that of a DBA and covers building and populating databases in IDS instances. The chapter explains features such as table and index partitioning, constraints, logging, database and table population utilities, and a collection of IDS-specific SQL statements that Carlton thinks are interesting to know about and use.
Chapter 7 – Backing Up and RestoringOne of the least glamorous, but still important, functions of operating a database environment is backing up what's on disk to tape. In this chapter, Carlton covers a couple of backup strategies and their relative strengths and weaknesses. He explains how Informix Dynamic Server can execute moment-in-time backup and restore operations with the database environment online and fully functioning. The process of executing backup and restore operations using the ontape utility, as well as the ON-Bar utility suite in conjunction with the Informix Storage Manager (ISM), is covered in great detail.
Chapter 8 – Monitoring the InstanceThroughout the book, discussions make reference to, and include illustrations of, output generated by the various IDS monitoring commands. In this chapter, Carlton focuses exclusively on those commands and some of the more commonly monitored activities of a database environment. He concentrates primarily on IDS's command-line utilities as well as the functionality available in the new OpenAdmin Tool for IDS (OAT).
For those of you who don't know Carlton, here's his bio and website:
Carlton Doe is one of the five founders of the International Informix Users Group (IIUG) and has served as the IIUG president. He is the author of Administering Informix Dynamic Server on Windows NT and Informix: OnLine Dynamic Server Handbook. He lives in Dallas, Texas.
Congratulations Carlton! The entire IDS community will be proud of this book!
Susan[Read More]
IOD Pre-Conference Education Classes
svisser1 2700018UK9 5,962 Views
The Information On Demand 2008 Conference is the premier IBM information management event... meaning that you will have opportunities for extensive learning opportunities via the 780 Sessions: 120 Business Leadership, 600 Technical Skill Building, and 60 Cognos Sessions.
Did you also know that there is a further learning opportunity via the pre-conference classes? These full day education classes will be offered on Sunday only, October 26th, 2008 from 8:30 am to 4:30pm at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center.
Take advantage of preferred attendee pricing of US $399.00 and get a full day of education, delivered by professional IBM instructors.
Available education is listed below, on-line registration will open to conference attendees soon! Seats will be limited.
IBM Cognos 8 BI: Essentials for Managing BI Projects (version 8.3) Accelerated
Speaker: Norm Goddard
IBM Cognos 8 BI: Essentials for Managing BI Projects (version 8.3) is a one-day, instructor-led course that provides participants with essential knowledge to ensure the success of their Cognos 8 BI implementation. Participants will be introduced to the Cognos Solutions Implementation Methodology (Cognos SIM), the elements of IBM Cognos 8 BI, and the underlying architecture. They will examine the process of creating an IBM Cognos 8 BI solution, and discuss how IBM Cognos 8 BI relates to the other parts of IBM Cognos 8. Participants will be shown a range of resources to help them successfully manage their implementations.
DB2 Migration, How To Move Forward and Never Fall Back
Speaker: Albert Grankin
Production system migration, whether hardware or software is a task that requires very detailed and careful preparation. This session will go over aspects of database migration that are usually not covered in our migration guides. We'll cover topics including how to prepare your production system for migration and what additional information to collect before starting. It will also cover important steps after migration including comparative performance monitoring, identifying and resolving issues.
DB2 V9/V9.5 for Linux, UNIX and Windows Problem Determination
Speakers: Aman Lalla, Pavel Sustr
Learn how to identify and resolve problems such as database hangs, locking problems, crashes and optimizer/performance problems. DB2 V9 also provides various problem determination facilities and tools such as db2fodc (First Occurrence Data capture). Knowing how and when to use these tools is critical in resolving problems quickly.
DB2 Operational Performance, Success Without Stress
Speaker: Rajib Sarkar
This session will demonstrate effective ways to monitor a DB2 database system for performance and provide tips & tricks in analyzing & monitoring data. The session will also focus on diagnostic tools and techniques used by IBM support personnel and how some of them could be used by DB2 Database Administrators, IT Specialists and Developers for identifying and solving operational performance issues.
IDS Troubleshooting
Speakers: Hyun-Ju Vega, Suma Vinod, Mark Jamison, Ron Privett
Learn more about troubleshooting from the experts – the IBM Informix advanced support team. Attendees will learn Informix diagnostic methods and tools, how to troubleshoot and diagnose performance problems, connectivity and network issues, memory problems, ER/HDR problems, and Windows specific issues.
Leveraging DB2 Optimizer
Speaker: Yasir Warraich & Samir Kapoor
Learn everything there is to know about the optimizer architecture. We start with discussion about basic concepts such as optimization levels and timer ons. Advanced topics such as data access methods, join methods, analyzing the optimizer access plans will be covered and additionally we'll describe different operators and help identify problematic areas to look into in an access plan. We'll also show how to take counts at different branches in an access plan. Having understood how to analyze an access plan, we'll also demonstrate usage of STATVIEWS, CGS ger,and OPTIMIZATION GUIDELINES to improve query performance.
DB2 for z/OS DBA Certification Crammer (Exam 732)
Speaker: Susan Lawson
This high level certification preparation review is intended to help you take IBM Certification Test 732, DB2 9 DBA for z/OS. Gain an intense overall review of those areas that are on the certification exam.
DB2 9 for Linux & Windows DBA Certification Crammer (Exam 731)
Speaker: Roger Sanders
This training is designed to introduce the student to the concepts a test candidate must know in order to take and pass the DB2 9 DBA for Linux, UNIX, and Window certification exam (Exam 731). The material for this course is aligned with the 731 exam objectives.
Insuring Data Privacy in Your Test Environment using Optim
Speaker: Tom Bauch
Data in your testing environment is often not as tightly controlled or audited as your production data. This 1-day class provides an overview of how to mask your test data to eliminate the risk of data loss and comply with privacy standards using Optim. The class will also review how to simplify the creation and management of your test data, easily creating a subset of your test data to minimize disk requirements, and simplify your ability to create and manage test data environments.
Book now!
And... if you need help justifying your attendance at the conference, use this conference justification information.
Susan[Read More]
Cognos 8 Business Intelligence: The Official Guide
Just published: Cognos 8 Business Intelligence: The Official Guide by Dan Volitich .
This is the only authorized guide to IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence.
Develop, deploy, and maintain a complete BI solution across your enterprise. IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence: The Official Guide shows you how to take full advantage of the robust service-oriented architecture and simplified role-based user interfaces. Learn how to create, share, and analyze data-rich reports that lead to increased productivity and better business decisions. Featuring real-world insight and expert tips, this is a must-have guide for IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence users of all levels, from administrators to end users.
* Measure and monitor performance using dashboards and scorecards * Assign user roles and privileges * Provide complete and consistent access to a broad range of data sources via Cognos Connection* Use Cognos 8 Go! to extend BI to Office applications, mobile devices, and search engines* Enable business users to create reports with Query Studio* Develop new insights by exploring data in multiple dimensions and perspectives with Analysis Studio* Build Dimensional Reports with Report Studio* Use Event Studio to identify and deliver mission-critical information * Create, modify, organize, and publish a model from Cognos Framework Manager * Implement sound security measures * Take advantage of the management tools in Cognos Administration to ensure maximum reliability and availability
When at the IOD EMEA Conference last month, I had many requests for this book, but unfortunately it had not yet been released in Europe. Here are some options for buying the book:
1. For Canada/Canadians – mcgrawhill.ca 2. All other, USA & Intl etc – mhprofessional.commhprofessional.com 3. For Cognos employee purchases, contact me directly for information.
Susan[Read More]
Learning SQL
svisser1 2700018UK9 Tags:  readfirst books introductory sql 7,461 Views
A new ILO course has just been added. This one is an SQL workshop that is spread over 4 half-days in two weeks. ILO courses are the IBM courses that you take without traveling by joining a remote instructor via your computer.
Here are some details:
SQL Workshop - Multi Week Instructor Led Online
On completion of this course, you should be able to:
* Code SQL statements to retrieve data from a DB2 or Informix table, including the SELECT, FROM, WHERE, GROUP BY, HAVING and ORDER BY clauses* Code inner joins and non-correlated subqueries* Use SQL arithmetic operations* Use scalar and column functions* Use UNION and UNION ALL* INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE rows* Code simple CREATE TABLE and CREATE VIEW statements
The DB2 books that you may wish to have to complement this course are:
* Understanding DB2(R): Learning Visually with Examples (2nd Edition)* DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep (6th Edition)
If you are interested in passing the DB2 9 Family Fundamentals certification exam (Test 730), you should notice that about 23% of the exam covers SQL knowledge. The book DB2 9 Fundamentals Certification Study Guide by Roger Sanders corresponds to the exam objectives and therefore covers the SQL that you need to pass the exam.
An interesting way to get a start on learning SQL is through the DB2 Games. Here are some details that I found on Kate Dawson's blog:
If you are a beginner, choose the IBM DB2 Detective GameIf you like watching crime investigation shows, this might just be the perfect game for you. Using a crime investigation theme, you will enforce your DB2 9 and SQL skills while learning relational database concepts and how they can be applied to real-life problems. I've played this game and highly recommend it.
If you have some existing DB2 skills, choose the IBM DB2 Business GameTry a "run your own business" scenario and put your DB2 and SQL skills to the test with the Business Game. Your company's future depends on a key report needed to secure funds for a critical upgrade… can you put your DB2 skills into action and beat the game? Play now and find out.
Whenever I ask people who are SQL experts, they tell me that they rely heavily on these books:
* Graeme Birchall's DB2 SQL Cookbook* The SQL Reference for Cross-Platform Development* Product Docs for DB2 LUW* Product Docs for DB2 z/OS
When at conferences, I've noticed that the following books are popular:* Joe Celko's SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming Third Edition* SQL Demystified* SQL: The Complete Reference, Second Edition* SQL In A Nutshell, 2nd Edition* SQL Queries for Mere Mortals(R): A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL (2nd Edition)* SQL Pocket Guide
In writing this blog I realize how many resources are available for SQL. Clearly that means that it is a very important topic.... and one that you can continue to improve in.
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Recently published IBM Redbooks
The ITSO constantly produces IBM Redbooks to help you use the many IBM products and technology. Make sure you check often to keep up to date on all their releases: IBM Redbooks for Information Management Software. If you are a technical expert, consider becoming an author of an IBM Redbook signing up to be a Resident
Here are a few of the latest releases:
Security and Compliance Solutions for IBM Informix Dynamic Server
In this IBM Redbooks publication, we discuss, in detail, the security features available in IBM Informix Database Server (IDS). These enriched IDS security features provide you with the capability to protect your data and comply with regulatory requirements.
We discuss how IDS integrates with operating system security functions for user authentication and user permissions. The role separation divides the security duty among administrators. Auditing enables the database server to log sensitive operations performed by users and administrators for analysis and identifying system misuses.
Discretionary access control (DAC) is the primary access control mechanism that enables access to SQL objects using privileges and roles. Using label-based access control (LBAC), you can control read and write access of users to individual rows and columns at the table level. We then discuss how to secure server-server and server-client communication in an IDS environment, as well as address the security issues for backup and restore.
IBM InfoSphere DataStage Data Flow and Job Design
IBM Information Server is a revolutionary new software platform that helps organizations derive more value from the complex heterogeneous information spread across their systems. It enables organizations to integrate disparate data and deliver trusted information wherever and whenever needed, in line and in context, to specific people, applications, and processes.
IBM InfoSphere™ DataStage® is a critical component of the IBM Information Server, and the parallel framework of IBM InfoSphere DataStage is also the foundation for IBM InfoSphere QualityStage and IBM InfoSphere Information Analyzer components.
This IBM® Redbooks® publication develops usage scenarios that describe the implementation of IBM InfoSphere DataStage flow and job design with special emphasis on the new features such as the distributed transaction stage (DTS) in Version 8.0.1, slowly changing dimensions stage ( Version 8.0.1), complex flat file stage (Version 8.0.1), and access to mainframe data.
Up and Running with DB2 on Linux
Linux® is one of the fastest growing server operating platforms within the past few years. DB2® has long been known for its technology leadership. This IBM® Redbooks® publication is an informative guide that describes how to effectively integrate DB2 for Linux, UNIX®, and Windows® (LUW) with SUSE and Red Hat Linux operating systems. This book provides both introductory and detailed information about installing, configuring, managing, and monitoring DB2 in a Linux environment.
We describe the DB2 product family and features for Linux, and we provide step-by-step instructions for a single as well as for a multiple partition DB2 system installation and configuration. We discuss how to migrate single and multiple partition DB2 to DB2 Version 9.5, and discuss, in detail, DB2 database administration in a Linux environment, procedures and tools for database backup and recovery, online maintenance, and system monitoring. We cover DB2 integrated tools and their features and use.
We discuss aspects of DB2 application development in the Linux environment and provide general tips about building and running DB2 applications on Linux and the use of DB2 application development tools.
Introducing OmniFind Analytics Edition: Customizing Text Analytics
IBM® OmniFind™ Analytics Edition uses information in unstructured and structured content to improve decision making. It provides unstructured information analysis, which can improve customer service levels, create cross-sell capabilities and provide early problem detection.
IBM® OmniFind™ Analytics gives business users the tools to gain valuable insights, facilitating better business decisions, by exploring and using key information assets in the enterprise. It also provides multiple ways to explore and analyze information; delivers sophisticated entity extraction capabilities when working with unstructured content. It is based on the open Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) standard.
This IBM Redbooks publication will help you understand the power and capability of IBM OmniFind Analytics Edition Version 8.4. The book provides instructions on installing and configuring IBM OmniFind Analytics Edition. It explains how to use it for text mining, and how to work with Dictionary Editor and Rule Editor to customize the application for better analysis and discovery. The book also discusses how to setup the Alerting System for automatically watch for increased unusual activities. The integration with IBM OmniFind Enterprise Edition (OEE) is also covered.
Susan[Read More]
Who will be at the IOD Conference?
One of the things I'm doing this summer is planning for the IOD conference... specifically arranging for books to be at the bookstore and authors to be available for book signings. I have a lot of work left to do, but here are some of the people I know who are ready to sign your books:
Carlton Doe for his soon to be published book: Administering Informix Dynamic Server: Building the Foundation
Roger Sanders for his entire cert prep series, but especially DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Advanced Database Administration Certification: Certification Study Guide.
Martin Oberhofer and possibly his co-authors of Enterprise Master Data Management: An SOA Approach to Managing Core Information.
Martin Short... just kidding! It would be great if we could arrange for him to sign something that he's produced, but don't count on it.
Stewart Friedman will be a speaker at the conference. Read this article that appeared in the NY times: Hot Ticket in B-School: Bringing Life Values to Corporate Ethics. The book that he wrote and will sign is Total Leadership: Be a Better Leader, Have a Richer Life.
I'll be at the conference and hope you will be too!
I'll post more secrets about the conference when I find them!
Susan[Read More]
Finding DB2 Links
I use google to find links to just about anything I'm interested in. I'm not always successful in finding what I am looking for, but I'm sure it is just because of my bad search arguments.
Mark Wilding, a member of the Toronto Lab Development team, was looking for DB2 sites and was frustrated at not being able to find what he wanted to. So, always a problem solver... Mark created the following site:
Forever growing, this site should be one of the first places to go if you are looking for specific DB2 information.
Just a quick comment about Mark. Mark is one of the many prolific authors that we seem to attract in the Toronto Lab. He's been involved with a few books with many ideas still unpublished. He was the driving force behind the latest DB2 Best Practices initiative. If you don't know about this yet, check out the bookmark list to find it.
Also, Mark, along with Dan Behman, wrote a book about Linux that should be popular with many people: Self-Service Linux(R): Mastering the Art of Problem Determination .
Thanks Mark for the bookmark list as well as your passion for writing!
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IDUG Survey Results
You may have taken part in this survey of IDUG members on the topic of evolving roles and eduction / training needs. I can't say that the results are unexpected, but I can say that it is very helpful to see the analysis and results as they are discussed in the final survey report, "Data Professionals Broaden Their Skills,". The document is currently posted on IDUG's Web site and can be downloaded free-of-charge.
IDUG partnered with Unisphere Media to conduct the survey of IDUG members on this important topic. Sponsored by CA, the survey gathered input from more than 850 data professionals, with some enlightening results that will help IDUG further serve your needs.
From a publishing perspective, I was encouraged to see that many of the books that are currently available, along with those that are in the works, meet the needs of most of the respondents.
For example, it was mentioned several times in the document that DBAs need the following types of information: database performance and tuning, SQL performance, backup and recovery, and data availability. The recently published book by George Baklarz and Paul Zikopolous, DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep (6th Edition) covers all of the topics and confirms to me that this book is the must have book for all DBAs! The upcoming book by Roger Sanders and Dwaine Snow, DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Advanced Database Administration Certification: Certification Study Guide will make an excellent companion book for this audience as it may go into more depth on some of the topics mentioned.
The document also mentioned that more DBAs are finding the need to perform application development tasks such as SQL statement development, data modeling and design, and data access methods. In addition to the Baklarz/Zikopolous book already mentioned, you should consider the book by Philip Gunning: DB2 9 for Developers . As the title implies, the book covers the application development tasks that a DBA is required to perform.
Always an important topic is database security: "Forty-one percent reported their time engaged in data security activities has grown over the past year. Most activity in this area has been focused on access control and user authentication, and managing users, roles and permissions." I would recommend the following book: Understanding DB2 9 Security by Rebecca Bond, Kevin Yeung-Kuen See, Carmen Ka Man Wong, and Yuk-Kuen Henry Chan
Certification was also mentioned in the survey results, but the message was: "Certification, while valuable, is only prevalent at a minority of sites, the survey found. About 47 percent of respondents - the largest segment - said a quarter or fewer of staff members are certified or working toward certification. Another 21 percent have no certified staff at all." I found this to be surprising as certification exams are extremely popular with the IDUG conference attendees. The books that support our certification program are: DB2 Certification Study Guides.
Lastly I found the difference between database consultants and database administrators interesting: "The priorities of respondents who spend most of their time in business consulting-related activities differ sharply from those mainly engaged in traditional database administration. While both types of data professionals are likely to be focused on managing explosive data growth, data managers engaged in business consulting are far more likely than traditional database administrators to be focusing on developing service-oriented architectures (34 percent versus 18 percent). Likewise, respondents engaged in business consulting roles are more likely to be moving forward business intelligence initiatives (33 percent versus 18 percent). Enterprise information integration is also more of a top concern among professionals engaged with the business (31 percent versus 21 percent)."
For this audience, I'd highly recommend the growing list of SOA titles from IBM Press, especially Enterprise Master Data Management: An SOA Approach to Managing Core Information which I was closely involved with.
I encourage everyone to read and interpret the results from this survey for themselves. The document is 23 pages in length and worth the time to read.
Susan[Read More]
Free eBOOK + "Buy 2 Get 1 Free" Offer
svisser1 2700018UK9 4,906 Views
From the July IBM Press Books Newsletter
*****************************************************************FREE eBOOK + "BUY 2 GET 1 FREE" OFFER ON SOA AND WEBSPHERE BOOKS*****************************************************************We have several special offers to celebrate the publication of anumber of important new SOA and WebSphere IBM Press books:
* Download a FREE eBook, the Summer SOA and WebSphere Sampler.Check out important content from six new and classic SOA andWebSphere titles. Topics covered include: SOA project planning, amethodology for service modeling and design, MDM as an SOA enabler,business integration architecture and patterns, and more. Downloadthis FREE eBook to read about these important topics.
* Place an order on ibmpressbooks.com for two (2) IBM Pressbooks –- one of the six featured SOA and WebSphere books plus anyother IBM Press book –- and you'll receive a FREE copy of "The NewLanguage of Business: SOA and Web 2.0" by Sandy Carter. Don't wait;this offer is only available while supplies last.
* Get a 35% discount on six new and best-selling SOA and WebSpherebooks, plus free ground shipping in the US.
* Listen to two audio podcast series from expert SOA authors whoexplain concepts from their books: Robert Laird, co-author of thejust-published "Executing SOA: A Practical Guide for the Service-Oriented Architect" has a 3-part podcast series, as does SandyCarter, author of "The New Language of Business: SOA and Web 2.0."
Visit ibmpressbooks.com/SOAspecial to learn details aboutthe special offer, and listen to the audio podcasts.
Here are the other IBM Press titles that you may wish to consider as part of this offer:
Enterprise Master Data Management: An SOA Approach to Managing Core Information By Allen Dreibelbis, Eberhard Hechler, Ivan Milman, Martin Oberhofer, Paul Van Run, Dan Wolfson.Take your career to the next level by understanding how and why master data management can improve your business.
Understanding DB2(R): Learning Visually with Examples (2nd Edition) By Raul F. Chong, Xiaomei Wang, Michael Dang, Dwaine R. Snow.With 20 5-star reviews, how can you go wrong with this book? Whether you've never used DB2 before or whether you're just trying to get up to speed with the latest features, this book is the one for you.
DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep (6th Edition) By George Baklarz, Paul C. Zikopoulos.This is the essential book that should be on everyone's bookshelf!
Understanding DB2 9 Security By Rebecca Bond, Kevin Yeung-Kuen See, Carmen Ka Man Wong, Yuk-Kuen Henry Chan.Improving the security of your environment is definitely something you should consider.
PS. Happy Independence Day to all my American friends!![Read More]
Why pureXML?
svisser1 2700018UK9 4,869 Views
pureXML™ – "The two most beautiful words in the English language" when it comes to storing and handling XML data.
The pureXML capabilities unique to IBM DB2 software allow you to store your XML data natively in a database table, providing seamless integration of XML and relational data and allowing you to use both SQL and XQuery to query your XML data. What does this mean? Performance improvements, productivity improvements, and cost savings, just like those being realized by other businesses like yours.
OK... sure, this is product information. But check out these videos:
The Pitch Part 1The Pitch Part 2The Pitch Part 3
Do you like watching videos for this kind of thing? Take a look at the large number of videos that are now available on ChannelDB2.com and YouTube.com.
See also Kate's Blog and PlanetDB2.
PS... I need to remember to bring my headphones into work so I don't disturb all those around me by watching / listening to these videos![Read More]


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INDIANAPOLIS — Flashback to last week, and the No. 9 Ohio State women's basketball team (24-7, 15-4) was on its last breath in triple overtime against Michigan State (24-7, 13-4) in East Lansing, Michigan, before ultimately falling 107-105 to the Spartans.
Saturday's matchup at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse between the same two teams lacked the competitiveness that the last meeting contained, as Michigan State stomped over the Buckeyes 82-63 in a Big Ten tournament semifinal.
Redshirt junior forward Aerial Powers led Michigan State in the victory, scoring 31 points and grabbing 12 rebounds while her co-star, junior guard Tori Jankoska, brought in 23 points.
Sophomore guard Kelsey Mitchell wasn't her usual self on Saturday night, as she struggled mightily from the field to the tune of a 4-of-18 shooting performance, yet she still lead the Buckeyes in scoring with 20.
"At the end of the day, as a team, we just didn't come to ready to play," said OSU senior guard Cait Craft.
In the quarterfinal game against Rutgers, senior guard Ameryst Alston exited to the locker room early due to a wrist injury on a loose ball play at the end of the third quarter. As a result, the big question that loomed over the spectators in the building Saturday evening was, "Will Alston play?"
Nearly 18 minutes prior to tipoff, OSU coach Kevin McGuff would answer that question, submitting the official starting lineup card with Alston's name sketched in.
"She had a sprained wrist and the doctor said that she couldn't hurt herself any further and she wanted to give it a go," McGuff said. "She's a tough kid and she wanted to contribute in, but she couldn't tonight."
Throughout Alston's time on the floor, she would act as a sort of decoy for the Buckeyes, not making any attempt to drive to the basket, nor crashing the boards like she is known to do. The wrap on her right wrist inhibited her from making too much happen with the ball in her hands.
In the first quarter, Alston would exit the game for the first time with 4:53 on the clock, and wouldn't check back in until 5:04 left in the second. The senior leader would not attempt a shot until late in the second when she put up a desperation floating layup that did not come in contact with any part of the basket.
With Alston unable to shoot the ball pain-free, the Buckeyes had to try and stay afloat with a missing element to their offense. They sank.
"We did miss Ameryst a lot defensively and offensively," Mitchell said. "But, like (Craft) said, at the end of the day, we've got to be tough and work."
OSU went a staggering 9-of-32 from the field in the first half. A third of those made shots came from Mitchell.
The sophomore, who dropped a program-record 48 points in the last meeting with Michigan State, had to put the team on her back. But taking over a game against a strong zone defense like the Spartans' is no easy task.
Mitchell would go into the break with eight points, visibly frustrated with the inability to get clean shots off like she was able to previously against the Spartans.
"That kid can get her shot," said Michigan State coach Suzy Merchant. "The biggest thing is that we extended so she didn't get six, eight, 10 shots out there with us just hanging out."
Unlike its matchup against Rutgers the evening prior, OSU was unable to hold Michigan State from catching fire from the field. More specifically, Powers proved why she is a finalist for the Wooden Award shooting 8-of-12 from the field and ending the half with 19 points.
Jankoska was quiet against Purdue in the quarterfinals Friday night, failing to hit any shots from beyond the arc, but she was able to turn it around against the Buckeyes. She knocked down two deep balls, spacing out the floor for the Spartans and allowing Powers to have more room to work.
"Tori didn't let yesterday's game affect her," Powers said. "And I think that shows a lot of leadership, that she came out hungry and aggressive."
Although the Buckeyes have been known for their ability to turn their game up a notch in the second half, they were in too much of a hole to counter the high-scoring Spartans.
Michigan State had no problem weaving through the OSU defense and following Powers' lead. The 6-foot forward knocked down shots from the perimeter, while also showcasing her elusiveness off the dribble and powering to the basket.
The Scarlet and Gray would continue to claw at the Spartans in the fourth quarter, outscoring Michigan State 27-10 over the last 10 minutes, but it wasn't nearly enough to prevent them from heading back to Columbus a day early.
McGuff and the Buckeyes will head back to the drawing board in preparation for the NCAA tournament, in the hopes of finding their midseason form and making a run for another trip to Indianapolis for the Final Four.
"That's the great thing about college basketball, you get to tip it up again here before too long," McGuff said. "We just have to get back to the gym and kind of get back to being who we are."
The mentality has been the same for Ohio State from the get-go: one game at a time. Heading into the NCAA tournament, McGuff said the Buckeyes do not plan on changing that mentality anytime soon.
Michigan State will move on to the championship game of the Big Ten tournament against the top-seeded Maryland Terrapins. The ball is scheduled to be tossed up for tip at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

subset: commoncrawl


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Your privacy is important to us. We have updated our privacy policy to better explain how we use data on this site. Read it here
A lot of litigation
"#Broward elections department has a history of violating the law."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Monday, November 12th, 2018
CTC is key
"The child tax credit, if we don't do it, there will be no tax relief for working families. How much tax relief working families get under tax reform is entirely dependent on whether or not we put in place an increase to the child tax credit."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Thursday, October 19th, 2017
And a wall can't fix that
"In Florida, 70 percent of the people here illegally came on an airplane. They overstayed a visa."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Thursday, February 2nd, 2017
One degree, two areas of study
Says Patrick "Murphy embellished, according to reports, his University of Miami academic achievement."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Thursday, September 15th, 2016
His bill was part pf a larger bill
Says "Marco Rubio wrote and passed bipartisan legislation allowing the VA to fire negligent workers."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Wednesday, August 17th, 2016
First Amendment protects speech
"In America, radical speech is not a crime."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Wednesday, June 15th, 2016
Hasn't always held upper house in high regard
Says he never told anyone he hated the U.S. Senate.
— PolitiFact Florida
on Friday, June 3rd, 2016
On appeal, he did
"Ted Cruz defended a Chinese company that stole an invention from an American inventor."
— PolitiFact New Hampshire
on Sunday, February 7th, 2016
Support for bill looks like a crafty ruse
"I have never supported cap and trade."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Friday, January 29th, 2016
Apply once
Under Ted Cruz's tax plan, "businesses will now have to pay 16 percent on the money they make. They will also have to pay 16 percent on the money they pay their employees."
— PolitiFact Texas
on Tuesday, January 26th, 2016
Data is opaque, but Rubio seems in the ballpark
"Three or four countries" out of roughly 60 in the anti-ISIS coalition "are providing military force."
— PolitiFact National
on Sunday, December 13th, 2015
There was some discussion, but not much
"We had a three-hour debate, no discussion about the national debt, very little about the economy."
— PolitiFact National
on Sunday, September 20th, 2015
The Army is downsizing
"We have an Army that just cut 40,000 spots."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Thursday, August 20th, 2015
Donald Trump gave to Charlie Crist when he was a Republican
Says that Donald Trump "supported Charlie Crist."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Friday, August 7th, 2015
The number of legal immigrants was just shy of 1 million in 2013
"This is the most generous country in the world when it comes to immigration. There are a million people a year who legally immigrate to the United States."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Thursday, August 6th, 2015
An accepted estimate that needs new data
"Forty percent of people in this country, illegally, are overstaying visas."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Wednesday, July 29th, 2015
Yes, in sheer numbers but not in per capita
"We have a legal immigration system in America that accepts 1 million people a year, legally. No other country in the world even comes close to that."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Wednesday, May 13th, 2015
Down from the highest total funding ever
"Inflation-adjusted defense spending has declined 21 percent since 2010, and even if we discount the drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has still declined by a dangerous 12 percent."
— PolitiFact Florida
on Monday, March 30th, 2015
Claim gets an A-minus
Administrative employees at colleges and universities have "more than doubled over the last 25 years, outpacing the growth of students by more than 2 to 1."
— PolitiFact National
on Monday, January 12th, 2015
Castros have kept Cubans from connecting
"The reason why Cubans don't have access to 21st century telecommunications — like smart phones, like access to the Internet — is because it is illegal in Cuba."
— PolitiFact National
on Friday, December 19th, 2014


text:
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Our company has been distributing security alarm panels and accessories
for more than 20 years. We therefore know the requirements of the
local market. We distribute very reliable and high performance Security
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text:
About Transportation Motor Sales
Transportation Motor Sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma offers used cars, pickups, mini vans, full-size vans and commercial trucks from our location in southeast Tulsa. All vehicles go through a 115-point inspection by in-house technicians and are offered for sale only after they pass a final inspection. We also consider consignments.
Our company has been in existence and under the same ownership since 1952. The company has enjoyed a very successful fifty plus years of business because our owner had the foresight to surround himself with people who have the same outstanding business ethics.
You, the customer, are always number one with us. Our business is about making you a part of our company and treating you like a member of our business family.
Our affiliated divisions offer many services for your transportation needs:
> Transportation Leasing Company can provide long-term leasing for corporate and professional transportation requirements and are not limited to a specific manufacturer. They were one of the first independent automobile leasing companies in the southwest and have earned an excellent reputation.
> Mahan Rent-A-Car offers 15-passenger van rental, car rental, pickup truck rental and cargo van rentals from a south central Tulsa location. All reservations are absolutely guaranteed. Mahan Rent-A-Car can provide commercial and institutional users reliability and flexibility to meet their corporate needs and all renters will appreciate our great rates and friendly service.
> Handicapped Vehicle Services Unlimited offers lowered-floor wheelchair accessible mini vans, wheelchair lift vans, driving aids such as hand controls, spinner knob and left foot accelerator pedals, as well as scooter lifts and wheelchair carriers. They are a fully integrated provided for the physically challenged …They are truly the Experts Who Care.
> Transportation Service Center provides repair of wheelchair vans and wheelchair lifts and are specialists in the installation, service, maintenance and repair of all type of wheelchair vans and equipment for the physically challenged as well a providing service for all the company's mechanical needs. Our technicians are factory trained and certified in the mobility industry.
>Transportation Motor Sales and our affiliates are equipped to assist with all your transportation needs. Remember, we can ship any vehicle nationwide. Let us be your last stop!
YOU Are Number One With Us!


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"Women are the largest untapped reservoir of talent in the world." (Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton)
Together, we develop strategies of how to discover and sustain female talent in your business. Family-friendliness, life balance and re-entry programs are subjects we will focus on. Also, we have developed trainings, such as:
Individual coaching and training, for example:
"There is a link between how well a country does on competitiveness and how well it promotes females." (Laura D. Tyson, Economist at the Berkley University in California)
Every six months, we offer an open seminar for female leaders and for those who want to be one – in a pleasant atmosphere and with a lot of space for networking, exchanging ideas and for personal development:
"Women will then be successful, when nobody is surprised anymore, that they are successful." (Emmeline Pankhurst)
You don't have to become a man to assert yourself. To be successful at work, it is essential to know the rules of the game – and to master them.
In this seminar, you will learn how to use your strengths more effectively and confidently, applying them at the right place and at the right time. On the way there, we offer sharp analyses, striking inputs and gripping discussions. Always making room for you to practice and put on the crown. To top it all off, you will be supported by a female, and a male instructor.
Coming events:
11. - 12.06.2020
The participation fee for two days is 950,- € per participant, plus a conference fee of 250,- € per person. The conference fee includes housing in well-equipped single bed rooms, all meals, snacks, drinks and all materials.
All shown prices are excluding German VAT (19% MwSt.)
Find more information here


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Under Construction.
In the meantime, check out two fantastic resources:
"Aboriginal History and Realities in Canada".
Available for the Primary, Junior, and Intermediate grades.
An AMAZING Canadian resource.
Here's the link for the teacher resource.
Here's the link to the order form.
And, check out this website provided by Wilfrid Laurier University for a wide variety of resourced on Aboriginal Education.


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Activist/Artist Jackson Browne Headlines Benefit for Journalist Greg Palast
Comedienne Paula Poundstone, MSNBC's Joy Reid, KPFK's Jerry Quickley Participate
In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar the Roman emperor may have been warned to "Beware the Ides of March," but that didn't stop hundreds of fans from attending a March 15 fundraiser for Rolling Stone reporter Greg Palast and his Investigative Fund, headlined by Jackson Browne. Commenting onstage about the size of the crowd gathered outdoors at a private home in Santa Monica, Browne, who exemplifies the socially committed rocker, remarked, "It's not so astounding to be here tonight. It's always delightful to play for like-minded people… But I'd do anything to support Greg's work," which since 2000's Bush versus Gore debacle has focused on stolen elections and voter suppression that allegedly denies many minority citizens their right to cast ballots, which sways presidential elections in favor of Republicans.
The Palast Investigative Fund's "purpose [for the fundraiser] is to expose and prevent the theft of the election of 2018—and the billionaires who have turned The White House into a profit center." Since Palast – who projects a private eye persona as a journalistic scourge of the status quo – is viewed by supporters as a truth teller, it was appropriate that Browne opened with "Till I Go Down", singing searing, defiant lyrics:
"I'm not gonna shut my eyes,
I've already seen the lies…
I'm not gonna shut my mouth
I'm for the truth to come out
About the leader with the iron will
And his allegiance to the dollar bill."
Strumming an electric guitar, Jackson was accompanied by two young female vocalists, mellifluous Chavonne Morris and Alethia Mills. Between songs Browne said he'd first encountered them when they sang for the Gospel Choir at L.A.'s George Washington Preparatory High School. "I wanted to have the choir sing out at an antiwar demonstration. But I could only reach these two. So we sung it on the streets around the world," Jackson told the appreciative audience. "Till I Go Down" is from his eighth album and Browne's first explicitly political one, 1986's "Lives in the Balance," which boldly condemned U.S. foreign policy in Central America:
"There's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
Where we can't even say the names."
The anti-interventionist vibe floated well with the lefty crowd who'd paid $100 per ticket to attend the performance/wine/buffet barn raiser for the Palast Investigative Fund. Switching to an acoustic guitar, Jackson and his duo of singers next launched into "Which Side?" from his latest completed album, 2014's Standing in the Breach. The biting lyrics were also resonant with progressive donors seated on plastic chairs on the lawn at the event:
"Which side?
The corporations attacking
The natural world – drilling and fracking
All done with the backing of the craven and corrupt
Or the ones who fight
For the Earth with all their might
And in the name of all that's right
Confront and disrupt.
"There's a restlessness out in the street there's a question in the air
How long if this theft goes on will our country still be here?
People know the game is rigged even as they play
They see their expectations slowly slip away
They've got subsidies for billionaires, there's a bailout for the banks
A monopoly on medicine, and a sale on armored tanks
The whole damned country's being sold – out that revolving door
Between Washington and Wall Street like it's one big Dollar Store."
With its urgent advocacy of taking a stand against the powers-that-be, Browne echoes "Which Side Are You On?", that classic union hymn by Florence Reece, wife of a United Mine Workers organizer, written during Kentucky's bitter class struggle dubbed the "Harlan County War." Indeed, Browne's rousing call to action can be considered a 21st century version of Reece's 1931 ode to labor, and "Which Side?" elicited enthusiastic applause from the sold-out crowd.
Before Chavonne, Alethia and Jackson performed their next number the rocker took time out to thank and praise his crew for setting up the stage, amps and speakers hours before the Palast fundraiser began at 6:00 p.m. In keeping with his stance as a socially engaged artist, the labor and equipment were donated to the philanthropic event, just as Jackson's performance was. The trio then played the wistful "Off Of Wonderland," a song about "change in the air" from Browne's 2008 album Time the Conqueror, hearkening back to sixties-style idealism, with lofty lyrics full of yearning:
"Didn't we believe in love?
Didn't we believe in giving it away?
That didn't really leave us with the love
To find our way
After RFK and Martin Luther King."
Switching back to his electric guitar for his set's final song, as baskets were passed around for extra donations, Browne told the assembled ticket buyers, "We gave more than we were slated to give – just like you." With that, the trio closed the concert playing Steven Van Zandt's stirring "I Am a Patriot," which Browne covered in his 2008 World in Motion album, singing:
"And I ain't no communist
And I ain't no capitalist
And I ain't no socialist
And I ain't no imperialist
And I ain't no democrat
And I ain't no republican
I only know one party
And it is freedom"
However, Jackson – who felt the Burn and supported democratic socialist candidate Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential primaries – ad-libbed during his rendition, changing Little Steven's lyric "And I ain't no socialist." Slyly smiling, Browne added, "Maybe I'm a socialist!" eliciting laughter from the left-leaning listeners. (In 2000 Jackson campaigned for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader. In 2008 he sued then-presidential candidate Senator John McCain and the Republican National Committee for unauthorized use of his hit Running on Empty.)
After Chavonne, Alethia and Jackson took their well-deserved bows, Rock Cellar Magazine caught up with Browne, asking, "Why are you here tonight?" The legendary singer/songwriter/ musician replied: "To play for Greg Palast. He asked me, so I moved some things around. Actually, I'm going back to the studio right now. I've got a session going."
Although Browne is currently touring North America, he hasn't dropped an album since 2014, so RCM inquired what he was en route to work on. "It's a project of music that was recorded in Haiti," Jackson explained. "A bunch of songwriters, we went down there together with some Haitian artists. It's a project of the Artists for Peace and Justice," a humanitarian non-profit organization that assists Haitians through the arts, which Browne sits on the advisory board). The stark Standing in the Breach album cover shows Haiti after 2010's devastating earthquake.
Last November 27, Browne performed at the Stand in Solidarity With Standing Rock benefit concert to support the struggle by indigenous activists and other water protectors against the 1,200-mile long Dakota Access Pipeline, which would pump crude oil beneath the Missouri River and across Indian Country. RCM asked Jackson what he did at Fort Yates, North Dakota, and the 2004 inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame answered: "I do what I always do – I sang. I went with Bonnie Raitt and Joel Rafael and John Trudell's Bad Dog and we did a concert in support of the Winter Rising, the camp." KLND-FM, a public radio station in Little Eagle, South Dakota, simulcast the concert.
Around that time, Browne told Rolling Stone: "Big surprise that the Army is in collusion with big business. This echoes Wounded Knee and the massacres of the last century. It's a continuation of the Indian Wars, and I think that it's everybody's fight." Ironically, last October Jackson signed an open letter to Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren, owner of DAPL. Warren also owns Music Road Records, a small music label, which previously released a Jackson Browne tribute album. Ever the pied piper of principle, Browne wrote, "I do not support the Dakota Access pipeline. I will be donating all of the money I have received from this album to date, and any money received in the future, to the tribes who are opposing the pipeline."
Jackson wasn't the only notable taking the stage during the Palast fundraiser, which was emceed by Pacifica Radio's KPFK host and spoken word artist Jerry Quickley. Denouncing the Trump regime, the rabblerousing Quickley warned, "They're coming for all of us! This is the resistance – fuelled by journalists like Greg Palast. Tonight we have one of the resisters: Paula Poundstone of NPR's game show Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!"
As she stepped onstage in her trademark suit and tie to perform standup, the comedienne demurred, "I never felt so lazy in my entire life." Poundstone proceeded to give Trump a pounding, which was music to the left-of-center fans' ears. Reminding them of the snafu at the end of February's Academy Awards ceremony, when the wrong movie was announced as the Best Picture Oscar winner, Poundstone asked: "Don't you dream that happened on election night?" – when Hillary Clinton was declared to have lost the presidency to Trump, whom Paula joked "looks like a diabolical goldfish" with "mental health problems."
Poundstone also poked fun at Melania Trump for taking the wife of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe on a tour of Florida's Japanese Gardens. Imitating Akie Abe, she asked an imaginary First Lady, "Do you have any uniquely American things to show me? Where's the meth lab?"
Perhaps out of deference to the evening's musical headliner, the rib-tickling Paula went on to assert "there's a bright side to nuclear proliferation. It's to bring back folk music. Joan Baez is behind the whole thing." (Indeed, Browne's political commitment grew out of movements opposing nuclear arms and power. In 1979, shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown in Pennsylvania, Brown, Raitt, Graham Nash and activist Harvey Wasserman co-founded MUSE, Musicians United for Safe Energy. On June 12, 1982, 750,000 people marched for nuclear disarmament at Manhattan's Central Park where Jackson, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt and – but of course! – Baez performed.)
Poundstone closed by thanking North Carolina authorities for not requiring her to show her birth certificate while using public bathrooms when Paula performed recently way down yonder in the land of cotton. Following her routine, MSNBC-TV's Joy Reid appeared on a screen (which Palast's documentary The Best Democracy Money Can Buy had been projected onto earlier). In a prerecorded interview with Palast (weather conditions prevented the AM Joy host from flying from New York to L.A. to appear in person at the fundraiser), they discussed Trump's claim – without any evidence – that 3 million people illegally voted in the November election. Palast asserted the real electoral problem is not voter "fraud', but rather, voter "suppression." His investigations reveal that computerized programs, such as Crosscheck, take voters with similar last names – that are often ethnic-sounding, such as Gonzalez or Wong – and remove them from the voter rolls on the phony grounds that they're casting their ballots multiple times, when in reality, it's different voters with names that sound alike.
In some cases, Palast documents the deletion lists even identify citizens' racial backgrounds.
Palast lamented to Reid that aside from Rolling Stone, few U.S. media outlets give him access to report on voter suppression that earmarks minorities. Reid replied that "Trump sucks up all the oxygen. Now that there's no longer a Black president, there's less interest in" African American issues. Asked why there's little televised investigative reporting nowadays in the mold of Edward R. Murrow and early 60 Minutes, Reid responded this has to do with "budget, scant resources. That's why it's important to support independent journalists."
When Palast appeared live onstage in his trademark fedora, the election scrutineer declared: "Trump didn't win. It was a coup d'état by billionaires." Greg told RCM that due to the fundraiser, the Palast Investigative Fund can, among other things, "launch our anti-Crosscheck drive with the NAACP and Civil Rights Law Center. And that"s what it's all about."
The Palast shindig was hosted by attorneys Jerry Manpearl and Jan Goodman – or, as Jackson might call them, "Lawyers in Love." The married couple is renowned for offering, at no charge, their lovely Santa Monica home for progressive political gatherings and other worthy causes. The 200 or so guests supporting the Palast Investigative Fund included Ed Pearl, founder of the Ash Grove, a renowned folk music club – where a young troubadour named Jackson Browne played in the 1960s.
Raising money for Palast to continue his electoral detective work, the people-powered fundraiser proved, as Jackson Browne sang, "And the river opens for the righteous . . ."
SIDEBAR: Action Jackson
To paraphrase Gilbert and Sullivan, Jackson Browne is "the very model of a modern major musician/activist." In addition to the causes already noted, Browne is an ardent environmentalist, who has also spoken out against plastics and for protecting our oceans. When Save Our Shores awarded Browne its Ocean Hero Award on February 23, 2011 Santa Cruz's mayor proclaimed the date "Jackson Browne Day."
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has also championed non-eco-causes. In 1984 Browne performed on the anti-Apartheid Sun City album along with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Cliff, Miles Davis and Run-D.M.C. Two years later, along with Joan Baez, Sting, Fela Kuti, Gabriel and others, Browne was part of the Conspiracy of Hope tour to benefit Amnesty International. In December, 2012, Our Man Jackson rocked out at the concert to "Bring Leonard Peltier Home" at Manhattan's Beacon Theater, with Pete Seeger, Harry Belafonte, etc., supporting freedom for the Native American longtime political prisoner.
Browne has also often played for charity. In 1992, Jackson performed with Bonnie Raitt, Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Pahinui Brothers for Hurricane Iniki's victims.
L.A.-based critic and film historian Ed Rampell is a repeat contributor to Rock Cellar Magazine and presenter/programmer of "10 Films That Shook the World", a cinematic centennial celebration of the Russian Revolution at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Friday of the month through November 2017, at the Los Angeles Workers Center, 1251 S. St. Andrews Place, L.A., CA 90019.


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Forged Shredder Hammers
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IGN: MatthewKilp
UPDATE: Server back up and running after approximately 12 hours of downtime - sorry for the inconvenience this service outage may have caused.
Hi all,
Just a quick update that hopefully isn't needed for much longer, but I feel that it makes sense posting here as this is the next place people will turn for information. As of earlier today, our database server became unreachable over the network due to our provider experiencing some unknown issues. The failure of the main database subsequently dragged down the whole of the network along side it due to it being required for a majority of data storage tasks on the server, hence the server being online & unreachable.
It has been decided that once my exams are over (as planned before), we will begin migrating all data over from our Los Angeles based database server to be in Canada, where our main server is located. Alongside of this, we will be upgrading from MySQL to MariaDB, which should bring some performance increases to the data connection, as well as reducing latency & time for execution of some tasks, alongside reducing our network bandwidth by around 300GB per month. This database location was used at the time we were on shared hosting after one provider lost our SQL data, and hasn't been replaced yet, so there is quite a high need to get this sorted out, which we now plan to do.
I'll keep you updated on this & try getting the server back up and running at the earliest stage possible.
Need support? Email [email protected] or open a thread on our website.


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So what did all the queer STEM professionals who answered the Queer in STEM survey tell us about their experiences? One of the first, most straightforward ways we can understand people's experiences is to ask them, how "out" are they?
out, or open about our gender identities and orientations, can be quite complicated for people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans*, or queer. Some of us have a presentation that's androgynous or gender variant enough for most people we meet to pick up on it; some of us try to provide a hint by wearing a rainbow wristband or other indicator. And, as several people pointed out after answering the questionnaire, those of us who identify as transgender with a gay or lesbian or bi orientation may be out about their gender identity but not about their orienation—or vice versa!
So, for many of us, coming out is a daily task. Still, how out we are in a given situation or social group says a lot about how comfortable we are in that context.
On the survey, we asked participants to rate how "out" they were using a scale of 0 ("I am not out to anyone in this group") to 5 ("As far as I'm aware, everyone in this group could know"). And we asked about how out participants were to other people in multiple personal and professional contexts, including:
- family
- friends
- online social networks
- coworkers or colleagues in your own department or division
- coworkers or colleagues in other departments or divisions
It turned out that participants' "outness" scores are strongly and positively correlated across all these contexts—on average, people who are completely out to family tended to be very out to coworkers or colleagues, too.
So to simplify our analysis, we created composite outness scores, by averaging participants' outness scores for personal contexts (family, friends, online social networks) or professional contexts (colleagues in your own division, colleagues in different divisions).
And these outness scores revealed an interesting pattern:
As you can see, most of our participants are entirely out in personal contexts—but in professional contexts, we see an interesting split. A large portion of our participants are also completely out to their colleagues, but almost as many told us that they're not out at all. This pattern held across all of the STEM fields we surveyed.
However, some other differences among participants' reported experiences did seem to affect how out they reported being. We were interested in the climates participants experience at work, and in the communities where they lived—in both a general sense, and in terms of specific institutional support.
For example, we asked participants to rate whether the community in which they live is safe for LGBTQ folks, or unsafe; and whether they felt it was welcoming to LGBT folks, whether they felt they're treated the same as their neighbors, or whether they felt it was un-welcoming.
Pariticipants who rated their community as safe and welcoming were more likely to be out to friends and family. These visible differences are strongly statistically significant (p = 1.127e–09 and p = 1.716e–12, respectively, in Kruskal-Wallis tests).
One particularly interesting pattern, here, is that participants who weren't sure about how safe or welcoming their communities are no more out—or even a bit less out—than participants who felt their communities are unsafe.
The legal status of same-sex marriage also made a statstically significant difference in how out participants said they were in personal contexts (p = 1.195e–05).
We saw similar patterns in professional contexts. We also asked participants to rate whether their workplaces feel safe, and welcoming—and whether their employers provide benefits to LGBTQ employees. Participants' reported outness to colleagues mirrored the patterns we saw in more personal contexts:
Participants who rated their workplaces as safe and welcoming were more likely to be out to their colleagues, in effects that were strongly statistically significant (p = 5.309e–16, and p < 2.2e–16, respectively). Again, we see the pattern we found in personal contexts—participants who aren't sure whether their workplaces are safe or welcoming are slightly less out to their colleagues than participants who rated their workplaces as unsafe, or hostile.
Whether or not their employers provide benefits inclusive of LGBTQ employees also had a strongly significant effect on how out our participants are to their colleagues (p < 2.2e–16).
An interesting wrinkle is the survey results is that, even as we found these strong effects, we did not see significant differences in personal or professional outness among participants from different geographic regions, or from communities of different sizes. That suggests that some "traditional" rules of thumb about communities that are safer for LGBTQ folks—larger cities, and parts of the U.S. like the Pacific West and the Northeast—may be more complex than usually understood. We'll return to this question in future updates on the results of the Queer in STEM survey.


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City Meets Nature Audrey Dress
Do you adore fashion and art? Are you a fashion extrovert who loves to find that elusive one of a kind dress that will turn heads for all the right reasons? Then prepare to fall in love with cool Spanish fashion brand Bichobichejo. This bijou jewel of a fashion house is a sublime example of slow, authentic luxury and the daring, eye popping doodlings of fine artist turned fashion designer, Carolina de la Fuente. This hot fashion meets wearable art fashion marque is one of Alison Jane's fashion discoveries of the year. Each piece is exclusive in the UK to Ethical Hedonist. Snap up a handpicked fashion heirloom treasure from this exciting, quirky sustainable fashion house and express your Emerald Princess fashionista style credentials to the world.
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As the EPA's thirty day comment period on a prospective Renewable Fuel Standards waiver draws to a close, its not just those in the agricultural community who will soon see this administration's efforts for exactly what they are: too little, too late.
The comment period was announced on August 20 after the governors of both Arkansas and North Carolina submitted official requests that the agency waive the ethanol volume requirements set forth in the Clean Air Act. Those requests came on the heels of heavy public pressure for the same, and amid the last few months of the most trying growing season the United States has seen in more than fifty years. The EPA is expected to hand down its final decision within 90 days, but even a full waiver would provide little solace this late in the game.
Corn ethanol production has been in direct competition with livestock producers since the industry was boosted by the ethanol volume requirement now under review. During normal crop years this competition causes notable, but manageable increases in feed prices. But in a year like 2012, when harvest reports are coming in so low the USDA is spurred to declare more than half of the country's farming counties disaster areas, it becomes a crippling draw on the nation's corn supply.
Producers — especially in the cattle and swine industries — have been struggling under severe drought and eight dollar per bushel corn prices for months, and that hardship is soon to show up in a big way in grocery stores across the nation. Beef, already proving too expensive for many families in even its cheapest forms, will be the hardest hit and longest to recover. Coming into 2012 the national cattle herd was already at its lowest in decades, and this summer's drought and poor crop expectations have only compounded that problem, leaving cattle numbers another three-percent lower by August of this year with greater cuts expected in the months to come.
Whatever the decision, one thing is for sure: a reminder of just how overdue this action was will remain well into the next administration's term, both in America's farming communities and its grocery stores.


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Graduating Studio Art BFA students exhibit works in a variety of locations on campus, Bellingham, and Seattle. Below is a sample of exhibition spaces used recently for the BFA work.
- Lucia Douglas Gallery, Bellingham
- The Vidleicet Gallery, Seattle
- Vermillion Art Gallery & Bar, Seattle
- Make.Shift Art Space, Bellingham
- Mindport, Bellingham
- Western Gallery


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Everybody wants to rule the Realms in Angelwitch, the epic fantasy TV series based on the acclaimed illustrated novel series.
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A science fiction, horror TV Series in the tradition of Frankenstein, Alien and American Horror Story.