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Team Defence Information News Archive
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Seasonal Greetings to our members and charities we are supporting
TD-Info sends Season's Greetings to all our members! In lieu of sending individual greetings, we are pleased to support these charities: The Turing Trust which supports education in sub-Saharan Africa by reusing computers and improving teacher training using ICT; and,the Disabled Veterans Scholarship Fund at the Open University which offers 50 disabled veterans, injured in, or due to, military service, access to free Open University education more
Added: 6th December 2018
Defence Information 2019 - 'Information-enabled Modernisation' 10 & 11 April
Defence Information (DI) is the major annual Team Defence Information communications event jointly planned by MOD & Industry. April 19 will be ideal timing to understand more about new funded programmes in key areas such as Information and Information Services. Both MOD and Industry are well-represented as delegates, keynote speakers, panelists, workshop leads, exhibitors, finalists in the 2019 Excellence Awards. Take action now: learn more and book your exhibitor &/or sponsor packages for the DI19 Event by visiting the Cranfield booking website more
Added: 8th November 2018
BOOK NOW for Support Chain Seminar 18: Modernising Defence Support - 18 Oct 2018
Our joint MOD/Industry planning team is preparing for SCS18 and welcomes inputs from members with suggestions for this event. The themes is Modernising Defence Support. As in previous SCS events, there are opportunties for exhibitors which can be member and non-member companies. more
Added: 6th September 2018
'DefNET Issue': MOD statement provides guidance for Industry | Defence Intranet remains Read/Write for interim
MOD Information Systems & Services (MOD ISS) has issued guidance ^ Sept 2018) for Industry in the form of a set of FAQs covering questions related to the migration of data from the Defence Intranet to defnet (a SharePoint site on MODNET) more
Added: 31st August 2018
Defence Information 18 this week - see you there on April 18 & 19
*** NB: for MOD staff, DI'18 counts for Continuous Professional Development (CPD) ***
DI'18 in stats to date: it's over 2 days, attracts circa 350, has 13 top speakers from MOD & Industry, 2 panel sessions, 12 workshops - two sets of three each day, has 20 exhibitors and sponsors, has up to 10 Good Practice entrants for the 2018 Excellence Award, has enough dining places for those wishing to join the Event Dinner, has a special App to keep delegates informed and a host of support staff and caterers to ensure you have a focused, yet relaxed time at Defence Information 18. If you haven't yet done so - book now more
Added: 26th March 2018
Entries open for TD-Info 2019 Excellence Award until 31 January
Thank you to those that have submitted entries to the Team Defence Information 2019 Excellence Award that will be judged and presented at the Defence Information 2019 Event 'Information-enabled Modernisation' taking place 10 & 11 April 2019. Entries are open until 31 January - we look forward to yorur submissions.
Added: 20th December 2018
A Report on the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP)
With a title of "Mobilising, Modernising & Transforming Defence" this MOD Report on the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) was made available in December 2018. There is a foreword by the Defence Secretary and the report has multiple references to Industry. This Report will assist informing the content and debates of Defence Information 2019 (April 10 & 11) where the theme is 'Information-Enabled Modernisation'. more
Added: 18th December 2018
Boundary Protection Service (BPS) - Successful Testing
During November 2018, members of the Industry Customers Engagement Forum (ICEF) voluntarily worked with the Boundary Protection Service (BPS) team comprising MOD and Fujitsu to undertake successful end-to-end testing of the new BPS IPC gateways with live IPC users. Work is ongoing with the introduction of BPS and Industry engagement is laregely via the ICEF more
Added: 17th December 2018
New Set of MOD ISS Industry Guides available about Ordering Services
MOD ISS Provides Industry Guides in documents with a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) format. Several have been added around ordering services - as applies to Industry (an 'Indirect Customer' in MOD ISS terms) more
Added: 17th December 2018
Contracting, Purchasing & Finance (CP&F) - Updates
The CP&F programme is about the provision of an end to end eProcurement system and associated business processes which span the commercial, purchasing and financial accounting functions for the department. As an extension to this it includes the provision of more complete, reliable and accurate management information. Check the links provided for latest updates... more
Added: 17th December 2018
techUK's Modernising Defence Report - November 2018
In November 2018 techUK launched its Modernising Defence report which addresses the barriers to digital transformation in the Ministry of Defence (MOD). The report has outlined a series of key recommendations for the departments consideration, and has been shared with seniors in MOD through the techUK Defence & Security Board. Link to Report summary and download. more
Added: 13th December 2018
MOD ISS Magazine - ISSue 9 - December 2018
'ISSue' is the interesting bi-monthly MOD ISS digital publication aimed at ISS staff. Many of the features and news items are of relevance for Industry both as users of ISS-provided services and as providers of services. more
Added: 13th December 2018
Help please with Dstl survey on cybersecurity standards used across Supply Chain
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), has commissioned an online survey to capture some basic information about the range of cybersecurity standards being applied across the Defence supply chain. Please support this. Deadline 22 January 2019 more
Added: 11th December 2018
Engineering Support Transformation (EST) Discovery - Preliminary Report Published
The Engineering Support Transformation (EST) Discovery project delivered a preliminary report mid-November 2018. This 60 page report, produced by Jacobs, has sections on: Executuve Summary, Introduction, Approach, Policy & Doctrine Landscape, The Defence Engineering Support Landscape, The Support Techology Landscape, Preliminary Conclusions and Preliminary Recommendations, with Appendices on Workshop Outputs and Survey Responses. You can be involved... more
Added: 11th December 2018
Engineering Support Transformation (EST) Discovery Phase Report - 16 Nov 2018
The Engineering Support Transformation (EST) Discovery Phase Report is available to download. It has been a Discovery Phase and as such, the first part of the task has been focussed on engaging with a diverse cross-section of stakeholders in order to understand the various perspectives and contexts which inform their opinions more
Added: 7th December 2018
PODCASTS from TD-Info
In December 2018 TD-Info began creating its own Podcasts - starting with an interview with Phil Williams, Managing Director of TD-Info. We are also hosting and curating podcasts, on behalf of other organisations we work with. For instance, the MOD LOGNET 18-2 event has Podcasts of the recordings of speaker presentations which can be listened to in conjunction with the appropriate slide deck or just solo. more
Added: 5th December 2018
Good Practice Study Group visit Williams Advanced Engineering
The Good Practice Study Group (GPSG) - emerging talent from across Team Defence - visited the Williams Advanced Engineering facility and learned a great deal about additive manufacturing, predictive maintenance and condition based monitoring on the racetrack - and how they are now commercialising that for defence sector and other sectors more
Added: 4th December 2018
Register Now for DSEI 2019
In 2019 DSEI celebrates its 20th year serving the defence & security industry. Registration is now open for this special anniversary edition, held on 10-13 September 2019 at ExCeL London.
The DSEI Early Bird rate is available until 31 May 2019, providing Industry & Academia Visitors entry for £30+ VAT. This provides a £145 saving compared to the full pre-registration administration cost.
Added: 1st December 2018
Defence & Industry Support Chain Optimisation Group (DISCOG) Town Hall meeting - 6th Dec
The quarterly Defence & Industry Support Chain Optimisation Group (DISCOG) Town Hall meeting on 6th December is open for MOD and Industry and provides a great opportunity to learn from presentations from relevant groups as well as gain updates on the work of the DISCOG. Also, hear presentations based on research from 'emerging career professionals' from member organisations. Topics include: Additive Manufacturing, Predictive Maintenance and Real-time Monitoring
Added: 27th November 2018
MOD Publishes Defence Equipment Plan 2018 - 2028
The MOD published (5 November 2018) its 10 year Defence Equipment Plan (2018-2028) and the National Audit Office published a report on this this plan. Both are available for download and we provide a link to a summary of both documents produced by techUK more
Added: 22nd November 2018
Update to MOD ISS guidance for Industry on defnet
MOD Information Systems & Services (ISS) has provided an update to previous guidance for Industry about the changes relating to Industry access to content on the Defence Intranet and defnet more
Added: 19th November 2018
Human Factors Integration: call for nominations for the H Rowbotham Memorial Award
The annual 'H Award' celebrates exemplary work in Human Factors Integration (HFI). Over the last seven years the award has been made to individuals who have been instrumental in advancing the theory and practice of HFI within Defence. Entries are open for nominations of individuals who have demonstrated exceptional skills in the application of HFI practice within UK Defence and have shown a proven impact on project outcomes. more
Added: 10th November 2018
MOD asks for input to online survey to identify SME experiences when working in its supply chain
The UK MOD has asked ADS Group to conduct a survey on their behalf. MOD wishes to identify SME experiences when working in its supply chain. This is open to 26 November and it would be valauable if larger suppliers can draw this survey opportunity to the attention of their SME supplier base please. more
Added: 6th November 2018
Tell MOD ISS what you think of them: Industry 'Voice of the Customer' online survey deadline 12 Nov
As part of its renewed focus on customers, and in recognition of Industry as a significant customer, the Customer Services section of MOD Information Systems & Services (ISS) invites Industry customers to participate in their specific Industry-focused online survey.
When the survey launches (approx. mid-October), please invest the time to make your 'Voice of the Customer' heard. Please share this information about this opportunity with colleagues. more
Added: 2nd November 2018
Cyber Security Professionals 2018 (CSP:2018) Free Event 28 & 29 Nov, York
TD-Info are pleased to be particpating in the annual Cyber Security Professionals event (CSP:2018), organised by member company Soft Box Ltd, taking place on 28-20 November at York Racecourse more
Added: 30th October 2018
New Industry Co-Chair for Joint Information Group (JIG)
We welcome Andy Burch as incoming Industry Co-Chair for the Joint Information Group (JIG), working with MOD Co-Chair Martin Elliot, Information Systems & Services (ISS) Director Service Design. Andy is Director Engineering Services (interim), Engineering Services | Marine & Technology, Babcock International Group. more
Added: 30th October 2018
Data Integration in Defence Logistics - invite to a competition scoping workshop: 28 Nov
The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) plans to run a competition on Data Integration in the Defence Logistics environment. DASA) is interested in finding innovative solutions to how the Ministry of Defence (MOD) accesses, integrates, exploits and utilises its data in an easier, more cost effective and flexible way. DASA invites interested parties to a workshop (28 November 2018) where stakeholders/suppliers can learn more about the problem space and help shape the scope of the competition more
Added: 29th October 2018
Mobile Services Apps Publishing Workshops - JIG-sponsored activity
The Joint Information Group (JIG) approved a project to scope and share methods of publishing mobile applications across Defence, with reference to the roll-out of mobile capabilities by MOD Information Systems & Services (ISS). The goal is to define consistent methods to enable innovation between industry and the MOD more
Added: 26th October 2018
Good Practice Study Group 2018 Research Presentations - 6 December
The Good Practice Study Group GPSG 2018 cohort are a group of defence "emerging professionals" (e.g. recent graduates/apprentices on a career path) who have mentoring support from Industry/MOD volunteers. Their focused research projects are on work-related topics that have direct relevance to them and the defence organisations who employ them. Examples of current projects are given below. In general, they address application digital enterprise capabilities to address problems and open up innovative step-change opportunities. Example areas for research include, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality (AR/VR/MR), Additive Manufacturing and High Performance Computing (HPC). more
Added: 25th October 2018
'New Green Box' takes shape with Tim King as lead
The New Green Box is a construct whereby Industry is engaged as a stakeholder in the MOD processes for consulting on and assessing the impact of proposed information system changes on MOD's output-based contracts - as well as it assisting MOD to shape significant new requirements. It provides a collective Team Defence perspective that involves both MOD and Industry, using the expertise and experience of both to inform decisions. more
Added: 25th October 2018
Presentations from Support Chain Seminar 2018 available to download
The theme for SCS18 was 'Modernising Defence Support'. The mix of MOD, Industry and Academic presenters provided stimulating and informative insights which we look forward to reporting further. In the meantime, we have several of the speaker presentations available for download for members. more
Added: 23rd October 2018
New centre for immersive storytelling will help UK industry excel
£10 million Industrial Strategy funding has been awarded to a new creative industries centre, which will build UK skills in immersive tech. The Centre for Immersive Storytelling will ensure that the UKs creative workforce has world-leading skills in the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality technologies. more
Added: 23rd October 2018
TDW-Live Event 13-15 Nov; annual Tech Docs Event, Bristol
Tech Data World (TDW) - members of TD-info - hold their annual 3-day conference in Bristol, with an interesting programme designed for "decision makers that need to advise their organisations on how best to produce and deliver technical support information" more
Added: 21st October 2018
AI Hackathon re Logistics - Free entry; 16 Nov registration deadline
As part of the trilateral engagement between the US, France and UK Defence, Logistics are holding a hackathon (29/20 Nov) where Machine Learning will be applied to the problem of accessing and sharing data across the enterprise. Places are free and applications must be in by 16 Nov more
Added: 21st October 2018
Common Support Framework (CSF) Launch slides
The CSF is described as "A consistent set of simplified and repeatable DE&S [Defence Equipment & Support] working practices, clarifying whos responsible for what, and decision making defined within a corporate framework for all domains." The launch slide deck (Sep 2019) explains that the Common Support Framework (CSF) aligns with support working practices, simplifies collective changes and clarifies roles and responsibilities more
Added: 20th October 2018
LOGNET 18-2 Presentations Available for download - Accelerating Support Innovation
LOGNET 18-2 took place on 9 Oct 2018. This event aimed to focus members of the Defence Support Network on Accelerating Support Innovation to help Defence face emerging threats.by: detailing the current innovation focus; exploring new technologies and areas of research; introduce departments from both industry and Defence who can assist; and help to assist rapid procurement. more
Added: 15th October 2018
Augmented, Virtual & Mixed (AVM) Reality in the Defence Support Network - 26 Sep 18; download presentations
Organised by the Support & Information Innovation Community of Interest (SII-COI), this session for MOD & Industry provided opportunity for cross-sector input to inform the digital technology aspect of the Engineering Support Transformation discovery workstream; a part of the Defence Support Network Transformation programme more
Added: 11th October 2018
Contracts, Purchasing & Finance (CP&F) Updates
The TD-Info Trading Forum recently provided its community members with an update on Contracts, Purchasing & Finance (CP&F). Includes details on CP&F Release 4 Go-to-market and that MOD are reviewing the Supplier website structuring of information more
Added: 4th October 2018
Business Modernisation for Support (BMfS) workshop (4th Oct) & follow-up
This Business Modernisation for Support (BMfS) workshop, being held on 4th October, enables Defence Logistics to capture the Industry view of how information services should work in the light of DSN Transformation, DSN(T), and the evolving pattern of how suppliers participate in the delivery of supply, engineering and transportation. more
Added: 2nd October 2018
JSP604 wiki under development - try it out
One of the set of Joint Service Publications (JSPs) published by the MOD is the Defence networks governance (JSP 604). JSP 604 applies to all systems interacting with Ministry of Defence information and communication technology (ICT) systems. MOD has a project to create an online wiki version which uses meta data to enable queries to be answered in a relevant manner by selecting and collating relevant material specific to an enquiry. more
Added: 27th September 2018
Engineering Support Transformation Industry Engagement
Engineering Support Transformation (ESTx) Discovery is a DSNT-funded project to develop a programmatic approach to realising the DA4TQA Engineering Support 2025 vision.
The newly formed TD-Info E-STUF provides a mechanism to actively encourage interaction and engagement with Industry. more
Added: 24th September 2018
MOD Update on Niteworks Replacement
Niteworks was established by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide a commercially neutral environment in which to address complex Defence challenges through a partnership between MOD, industry and academia. Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) is working to deliver a successor core service more
Added: 5th September 2018
Industry contributes to MOD 'Sprint' investigation on MODNET/Office365 exploitation
Industry was pleased to be invited as a stakeholder to input into a MOD-sponsored 8-week 'sprint' study into the exploitation of MODNET and Office 365 capabilities. TD-Info facilitated a pre-meeting with Industry representatives ahead of meeting with the consultants who were commissioned by MOD ISS (Design CIO Martin Elliot). more
Added: 3rd September 2018
Augmented, Virtual & Mixed (AVM) Reality in the Defence Support Network - 26 September, Aldershot
Organised by the Support & Information Innovation Community of Interest (SII-COI), this session is for MOD & Industry and aims to provide cross sector input to inform the digital technology aspect of the Engineering Support Transformation discovery workstream; a part of the Defence Support Network Transformation programme more
Added: 3rd September 2018
Good Practice Study Group (GPSG) on Additive Layer Manufacture visit to 1710 Naval Air Squadron, Portsmouth
On the 14th August, four young engineers (participating in the Good Practice Study Group 2018) - accompanied by Army HQ and Def Logistic representatives - visited 1710 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) in Portsmouth. The focus of interest was on Additive Layer Manufacture (ALM) and 1710 NAS has laboratories for supporting aircraft investigations and is leading on the Navy experimentation into ALM more
Added: 31st August 2018
Future Logistic Concepts
TD-Info are working closely with Def Logs as they develop their future logistic concepts. more
Added: 30th August 2018
Quarterly Defence & Industry Support Chain Optimisation Group (DISCOG) town hall meeting on 20th September
Make a note in your diary to attend this quarterly Defence & Industry Support Chain Optimisation Group (DISCOG) town hall meeting on 20th September. Planned presentations include: the Supportability Modelling and Analysis Working Group, (SM&AWG), the Joint Obsolescence Management WG, (JOMWG) and the Committee for Defence Equipment Reliability and Maintainability, (CoDERM), and the Common Support Framework from MOD Head of Integrated Logistics - Fleet more
Added: 30th August 2018
Engineering Support User Forum (E-STUF) - what's in it for you
The newly formed Engineering Support User Forum (E-STUF)community will provide an avenue for pan-Defence engagement to share best practice and improve how engineering support is delivered - to maintain configuration control across the as-built, as-designed, as-used and as-maintained in-service systems and master data more
Added: 30th August 2018
New MOD ISS Organisation Chart - August 2018
Available for download - copy of the most recent MOD Information Systems & Services Organisation Chart more
Added: 29th August 2018
Potential phishing scam impersonating Ministry of Defence
The MOD has been made aware of a possible phishing fraud. Targets of the fraud have received emails purporting to originate within the MOD attempting to make contact or seeking money.
Added: 6th August 2018
New Group: Engineering Support Transformation User Forum (E-STUF)
E-STUF is a new community (August 2018) that will meet quarterly to share best practice in Engineering Support across As-Designed & As-Built to As-Used & As-Maintained. Its task-focused engagements will provide a means for Industry to engage with the Defence Support Network Engineering Support Transformation (DSN ES Tx) and the MOD equivalent Group Engineering Support User Group (ESUG). The outcomes of the E-STUF forum will support the development, implementation and realisation of the DSN ES Vision. more
Added: 24th July 2018
The ASD Strategic Standardisation Group newsletter (July 2018 issue) is available
Download a copy of the ASD Standardisation Group Newsletter for July 2018 more
Added: 19th July 2018
TD-Info Dinner 25 July, RAF Club London
The twice annual dinner for TD-Info Council members and invited guests with MOD guest speaker - held at the RAF Club, London. more
Added: 18th July 2018
Staff Changes at TD-Info Task Force - July 2018
Wed like to update you on several changes in the TD-Info Task Force: were delighted to welcome Sean, Owen and Steve - and are bidding a fond farewell to Catherine and Iain, and wish them well! more
Added: 18th July 2018
Update on WATERGUARD & Export Controls
Subtitled: Collaboratively delivering Assets Subject to Special Controls (ASSC-ITAR/EAR Assets) Compliance Capability, this revised report highlights the extent of collaboration across Team Defence, the innovative approach, the impact it's had, application to other areas and ease of implementation more
Added: 18th July 2018
LOGNET 18-2 on 9th October 'Accelerating Support Innovation'
LOGNET 18-2 is being held in London on 9th October. Details of how to apply for a place are available. Presentations from LOGNET 18-1 are available on this website. more
Added: 16th July 2018
Growing the Contribution of Defence to UK Prosperity - Report July 2018
Growing the Contribution of Defence to UK Prosperity is a Report for the Secretary of State for Defence published on 9th July 2018. In line with National Security Objective three: Promote our prosperity seizing opportunities,harnessing innovation to strengthen our national security, and working with industry to ensure we have the capabilities and equipment that we need. Our economic and national security go hand-in-hand." more
Added: 16th July 2018
Defence Information 2019 - 10/11th April at STEAM; stand booking enquiries etc, welcome
We're pleased to confirm that our annual 2-day event next year - organised in conjunction with the MOD and Symposia at Shrivenham - will be on 10/th April. The working theme for Defence Information 19 is "Information-enabled Modernisation". The venue is GWR Conferencing at Swindon (as in 2018) and we are open to enquiries on stand and sponsorship opportunities. more
Added: 6th July 2018
Re-launch of DefStan 00-600 working group with specific purpose re through-life support management
Please apply to join the relaunch of the DefStan 00-600 Working Group (WG) on 19th July with a very specific purpose: to investigate and identify an agreed strategy and route map to scope development of Business requirements for Data and Information exchange between MOD and Industry partners for Through Life Support management...
Added: 6th July 2018
LOGNET 18-1: MODERNISING DEFENCE LOGISTICS Presentations Available
Presentations from LOGNET 18-1 (held on 7th & 8th June) are now available for download along with an MOD-provided summary of the event.
LOGNET 18-2 will be on 9th October 2018 and MOD, via TD-Info, seeks inputs from Industry about what should be in future LOGNET programmes. more
Added: 19th June 2018
Member Kahootz holding annual User Conference, 22 June, London
This invite-only user conference will feature presentations from DE&S, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), Agile Elephant and Team Defence Information more
Added: 11th June 2018
Dell & SBL Defence Advisory Council Session & Dinner: 21 June, Chippenham
Dell & SBL Defence Advisory Council and Dinner 21st June 2018 @ The Manor House, Chippenham. 12pm until 5pm with optional evening meal at The White Hart restaurant.
This exclusive Advisory Council, with Dell and SBL in association with Intel®, will give you the chance to learn about the future of Rugged and Workstation technologies and how these can positively impact the Defence and Security industry.
Added: 1st June 2018
Register interest for Get the ship in shape innovation event by 19 June
The Defence & Security Accelerator (DASA) and the Royal Navy Innovation Team, DARE (Discovery, Assessment and Rapid Exploitation) are holding an innovation event alongside the crew of the HMS Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier on Wednesday 4 July 2018. They are looking for companies to provide solutions that bring efficiences to stated areas. more
Added: 1st June 2018
Flagship AI Lab announced as Defence Secretary hosts first meet between British and American defence innovators
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced the launch of a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub as he hosted the first ever joint US-UK Defence Innovation Board meeting on 21 May to explore important areas of co-operation that will maintain military edge into the future. The AI hub is based at Dstl, Porton Down more
Added: 31st May 2018
Big Data in Defence Conference 27-28 June: 20% discount for TD-Info members
TD-Info members get a 20% discount on registering for this 2-day conference is organised by Defence IQ who say, "Working directly with the UK MoDs Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), the Big Data Defence summit brings together senior military leaders and requirement setters with leading industry experts in big data analytics from the civilian sector, and introduces the civilian expertise to the military requirement." General Sir Gordon Messenger, Vice Chief of Defence Staff, UK MoD, is amongst a roster of keynote speakers more
Added: 30th May 2018
New Green Box for Team Defence - Backed by Defence Suppliers Forum
The Defence Suppliers Forum, the major conduit for MOD-industry relationships at government and ministerial level, recently (April 2018) took the decision to support a New Green Box for Team Defence, with Industry funding a full-time post to coordinate activities with part-time secondees from both MOD and Industry. The NGB is a construct whereby Industry is engaged as a stakeholder in the MOD processes for consulting on and assessing the impact of proposed information system changes on their output based contracts as well as NGB assisting MOD to shape significant new requirements.
Added: 29th May 2018
UK Defence Innovation White Paper
This Whitepaper (published Nov 2017), produced by Niteworks, is titled: UK Defence Innovation Design and implementation of a system to realise value through exploitation of novelty. It says that "To enable successful Defence Innovation an Enterprise-level Defence Innovation System should be designed, developed and implemented (across MOD and its supply chain) to generate and deliver improvements over existing piecemeal approaches. more
Added: 26th May 2018
GDPR, Privacy Statement and FAQs about your data held on website
Team Defence Information provides its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Policy Statement and Privacy Statement for members as well as a document in Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) format that addresses questions about how member data is held and used to provide membership services for your benefit more
Added: 25th May 2018
Get presentations from Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Defence Engineering & Logistics - 25 April 18
This highly informative one-say on AI in Defence Engineering & Logistics held on 25 April 2018, hosted at Orcale (Reading) - was organised by the Support Information Innovation Community of Interest (SII_COI). A summary of the day and copies of presentations from MOD and Indstry spearkers are available to download individually or as a ZIP file. more
Added: 24th May 2018
MOD requests Industry feedback on Business Rules re Contracting or Technical Documentation
Under the remit of the TD-Info Combined Technical Documentation Working Group (CTDWG), MOD and Industry partners have produced a set of MOD Business Rules that aim to assist MOD Delivery Teams (DT) and Industry partners when contracting for Technical Documentation (TD). The MOD requests that Industry provide feedback by 31 July please. more
Added: 24th May 2018
LOGNET 18-1: MODERNISING DEFENCE LOGISTICS - 7th & 8th June
A free 2-day LOGNET 18-1 event on 7th & 8th June organised by ACDS-Log Ops. "LOGNET is the Ministry of Defences logistics support enterprise engagement and future development event. We want to engage with the logistics and engineering industry, academia, international partners and allies to optimise military logistics and promote UK prosperity; not just by being open for business; but open for modernisation." Read more...
Added: 11th May 2018
MOD updates Industry on Defence Support Network Transformation DSNT
TD-Info facilitated a MOD briefing session for Industry on DNST that was kindly hosted by Rolls-Royce at Filton. There is a slide deck available to download. Topics include: DSNT Programme update; Defence Support Operating Model (DSOM) development; Business change and support to IS; Industry PIDs; [Project Initiation Documents]; Commercial update; and, Summary and key take-aways. MOD will be consulting Industry on the DSOM soon. more
Added: 8th May 2018
Views on Defence Information 2018
This document presents two independent views on Defence Information 2018 . The first, from Simon Harries, comments on what he saw as the three major themes - Integration, Transformation and People - present throughout this two-day event that attracted over 270 from both MOD and Industry. The second piece is copied from a blog post called My favo(u)rite conference of the year from Kevin Parker, the lead of the independent judges for the 2018 Excellence Award.
Added: 3rd May 2018
GBR14 are worthy winners of the TD-Info 2018 Excellence Award
Congratulations to GBR14 as worthy winner of the Team Defence Information 2018 Excellence Award. It was presented at the Defence Information 2018 Event on 19th April, where 8 finalists presented their entries in the Good Practice Market Place. GBR14's innovative and patent-pending enabling technology, "manages individual database records, repository files, IoT and mobile devices, and access privileges using unique encryption keys to separately encrypt, and cryptographically separate, each piece of asset data. more
Added: 3rd May 2018
Skills and Learning with mentoring for aspiring career professionals
This invitation is aimed both at senior managers looking at staff development for those in junior management roles e.g. for you to nominate candidates, and to potential participants themselves, i.e. early engineers and managers wanting to take advantage of an opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and experience. Learn more and apply NOW... more
Added: 1st May 2018
Sir Simon Bollom appointed Chief Executive of Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S)
The Cabinet Secretary, with the agreement of the Prime Minister, has today announced the appointment of Sir Simon Bollom as the new Chief Executive for Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), an arms length body of the Ministry of Defence. more
Added: 30th April 2018
ISSue #5 - April 2018
ISS magazine Issue #5 - April 2018. The digital magazine from MOD Information Systems and Services (ISS) more
Added: 25th April 2018
Small Business - Collaboration Questionnaire
You are invited to contribute to a survey conducted by Andrew Dixon; MD of TD-Info member company SVGC, who is Chair of ICW Small Business Forum. You can obtain a copy of the results if you wish. Collaboration is an important element in achieving Team Defence Information. more
Added: 24th April 2018
Team Defence benefits from MOD ISS Customer at the Heart Workshop on SPOC services
The MOD Continual Service Improvement (CSI) staff and the MOD ISS Customer Services (Indirect Customers) team organised an excellent 'Customer at the Heart' workshop (at Corsham, April 2018) to review feedback from interviews made with 'Industry' users of the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) service, aka the Help Desk. The group included stakeholders from: Indirect customers of ISS, the SPOC, ISS Customer Services, the CSI and MOD Supplier Performance. Using a Customer Journey map created from the interviews, the workshop tackled various questions to elicit further feedback and prioritise options for next steps to make improvements. Work is taking place under MOD's Continuous Service Improvement governance process. more
Added: 13th April 2018
Meet the Finalists for TD-Info 2018 Excellence Awards at DI'18 Event
Meet the nine finalists competing for the TD-Info 2018 Excellence Awards. They each have a stand as part of the Good Practice Market Place at Defence Information 2018 on 18/19 April. Delegates using the DI'18 App will be able to vote for the entry they think should be awarded the 2018 Excellence Award. However, a panel of independent judges will make their own assessments and have the final say. You can download a summary for each of the entries on our website.
Added: 4th April 2018
Innovation: apply for Government funding on second revolution in quantum technologies
The UK Government has confirmed £20m funding for businesses and researchers to pioneer the use of ground-breaking quantum technologies, supporting the development of 3-5 prototype quantum-enabled devices that could be used in future sensors, consumer electronics and digital services. more
Added: 28th March 2018
Calling Young Professionals to benefit from joining the Good Practice Study Group 2018 - Entries Open to 12 APRIL
Team Defence Information Good Practice Study Group - Call for Participation in 2018
Calling Engineers & Junior Managers - develop your professional skills and make worthwhile contributions for your company (entry deadline 23rd March). Read benefits and experiences of past participants...
Added: 26th March 2018
Babcock calls on SMEs to enter innovations to showcase at Underwater Defence Technology, June 2018
Babcock International is offering startups and small businesses the unique opportunity to showcase their latest innovations at the Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) conference and exhibition in Glasgow 26-28 June 2018. Closing date 13 April. Read more - including details on how to enter...
Added: 23rd March 2018
Nick Elliott, Director General Commercial talks to Desider magazine
In an article in the March 2018 edition of the DE&S Desider magazien, Nick Elliott, Director General Commercial, talks to about DE&S commercial progress, his priorities for the next year and working together for business efficiency
Added: 22nd March 2018
TD-Info presenting at DPRTE at Cardiff, 27 March
TD-Info has a presentation slot at the the UKs leading Defence Procurementand Supply Chain Event and our Task Force staff look forward to meeting members and contacts on 27 March at the Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff
Added: 22nd March 2018
Defence People Innovation Challenge
People are central. The MOD seeks innovative solutions on how they manage their people, both military and civilian. They are lauching the Defence People Innovation Challenge on 27 March 2018. Suppliers are invited to attend the event and submit ideas which are focused on the five sub-challenges; Recruitment, Skills and Training, Retention, Motivation and Rehabilitation more
Added: 20th March 2018
Internet of Things (IoT) Support Information Innovation session - documents available
The Support Information Innovation Community Of Interest (SII-COI) held an event for MOD & Industry on the Internet of Things, hosted by SAP. Download the presentations and summary of that session held on 30th January 2018 more
Added: 19th March 2018
MOD's Defence Share used for sharing sensitive documents with authorised organisations & industry
News from a recent Desider Magazine says that Defence Equipment & Services (DE&S), working with Information Systems and Services (ISS), has delivered an online solution that it has branded 'Defence Share' to make sharing sensitive documents with authorised organisations and industry more efficient more
Added: 19th March 2018
The TD-Info Trading Forum working with the MOD promotes further clarity on CP&F
Suppliers to the MOD who use the MODs Contracting, Purchasing & Finance (CP&F) system, now have a useful Quick Reference Guide on how to upload and download transactions. Download a copy now more
Added: 15th March 2018
MOD-Industry Architecture Modelling Collaboration Report Published March 2018
The Joint Information Group (JIG) has published a report on how MOD and Industry can share Architecture Models and Artefacts, with the aim of improving collaboration, increasing efficiency through reuse and reducing interoperability risk in Defence Capability. "We are now on the journey to creating industry standard, and shareable, artefacts for Defence Services", said Steve Latchem, MOD Chief Architect & Head of Architecture more
Added: 14th March 2018
Nigel Whitehead, Chair Team Information, visits Briarlands office
Nigel Whitehead, Chair Team Defence Information and CTO BAE Systems, paid a visit recently to our Briarlands office, in part to see the changed office layout. Following a meeting with MD Phil Williams, Nigel chatted with the Task Force members that were in the office. Nigel commented that the welcoming environment and quality meeting facilities were conducive to good collaborative outcomes for members working with the MOD. more
Added: 13th March 2018
Stephen Lovegrove on Managing the UK Ministry of Defence: speech at RUSI
A lecture by Stephen Lovegrove CB, Permanent Secretary, UK Ministry of Defence. In his lecture, Stephen discussed the challenges of managing the Ministry of Defence, in particular making Defence more innovative and protecting the UK in uncertain times. more
Added: 13th March 2018
Alan Turing Institute. MOD & others to tackle challenges from cyber security to civil conflict
New defence and security projects tackling important problems, from cyber security to civil conflict - as reported by the Alan Turing Institute. ""The defence and security programme at The Alan Turing Institute is at the cutting edge of data science research, working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Defence, GCHQ, Dstl, and Joint Forces Command." more
Added: 3rd March 2018
DE&S CIO seeks CTO (new role)
Information about MOD Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) developments with regard to "building a brand new strategy, almost completely from scratch, to launch our Technology capability forward". more
Added: 1st March 2018
New MOD CIO Charles Forte States ICT Priorities
The incoming MOD CIO, Charles (Charlie) Forte has stated 5 priorities in a Town Hall address made in February 2018 to MOD ISS staff, as reported in MOD ISS ISSue4 publication. Read more... more
Added: 1st March 2018
MOD ISS Magazine - ISSue4 February 2018 | news of CIO Town Hall, Customer Portal etc.
The latest release of MOD Information Systems & Services magazine has news items about a range of topics that help Industry awareness. This has significant potentially value for Industry given it is a sizeable (Indirect) customer for MOD ISS. more
Added: 1st March 2018
Coming up: Defence & Industry Support Chain Optimisation Group (DISCOG) meeting
The DISCOG will continue reviewing what's happening under the specialist working groups at its quarterly meeting on 22 March. These inlude: the Packaging for Equipment Acquisition and Support WG, (PEAS), the Combined Technical Documentation WG, (CTDWG) and the Committee on Automatic Testing for Defence, (CATS4D). Also, updates from the Defence Support Network Transformation Programme, (DSN(T). more
Added: 1st March 2018
TD-Info at Combat Support Week
TD-Info participated in the Combat Support Week event which ran parallel tracks on Defence Supply Chain and Logistics and Military Engineering. Speakers included Maj Gen Angus Fay, Assist Chief of Defence Staff (Logistics) and Lt Gen Darrell Williams, Director DLA for US DoD more
Added: 28th February 2018
Update on Industry Customer Engagement Forum (ICEF) activities
The ICEF held its six-weekly session at MOD Corsham on 26 Feb. Valuable discussions, updates on actions and consultations covered a range of topics... more
Added: 27th February 2018
DSNT: Industry Information Exchange - Session 2 on March 13th
This is the second workshop on a JIG-approved activity based on a Project Initiation Document (PID) to the Defence Support Network Transformation team. It aims to scope and define the information exchanges with industry that will be needed to enable a Defence Support Network. more
Added: 27th February 2018
Joint Forces Command Roles & Who's Who (published 25 Jan 2018)
The government website provides a page with information including Job title, Job/Team Function and, in some cases, Name of the person in post under the heading "Transparency data - Joint Forces Command senior, as of April 2017" (published 25 Jan 2018).
Added: 22nd February 2018
Two AI Reports: Malicious use of Artificial Intelligence & Social Implications of AI
A report created by a number of academic and civil society organizations on the risks from malicious uses of AI and the steps that should be taken to mitigate them in advance. Of particular concern has been the potential interactions between computer security and AI. At present, computers are inherently insecure, and this makes them a poor platform for deploying important, high-stakes machine learning systems. It's also the case that AI might have implications for computer [in]security that we need to think about carefully in advance. The AI Now Report is about the social implications of AI. more
Added: 21st February 2018
Army seeks Industry inputs to Blueprint for the Future Collective Training System (FCTS)
The Army are extremely keen to ensure that Industry inform the Blueprint for the Future Collective Training System (FCTS), one of the key outputs of the Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP). The seek detailed Industry responses in the form of a White Paper to questions set out in the Paper available to TD-Info members more
Added: 20th February 2018
TD-Info member BOXARR Press Release - February 2018
Member company BOXARR, a software company has formed an alliance with Deloitte, the business advisory firm, to provide organisations with solutions to analyse and optimise their complex technical, operational, and organisational systems. BOXARR enables people across organisations to quickly and collaboratively stitch together disparate information systems, processes, and human expertise into a tapestry of inter-dependencies; producing a digital twin of a specific challenge or scaling up to reflect their holistic organisational operations. Read more...
Added: 14th February 2018
In 2019 the UK hosts the S1000D User Forum 2019 and ILS Specification Day
The S1000D User Forum 2019 and ILS Specification Day are being held in the UK during October 2019. Make a note of the date - it's the year of Brexit too! more
Added: 13th February 2018
Augmented Intelligence Competition for SMEs - Defence theme
This Augmented Intelligence Competition is aimed at SMEs so please act &/or spread the word! The BT Infinity Awards, in partnership with the Cabinet Office and TechHub, are looking to find the best digital talent in machine learning, robotics and artificial intelligence. Defence is one of the sectors. Prize of £10k + 6 months business support + flex membership at TechHub London office. Also a BT paper to download on the Future Workforce more
Added: 8th February 2018
NIS Directive - UK Law in May 2018
The Network and Information Systems (NIS) Guidance Collection is available at https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/nis-guidance-collection
Added: 5th February 2018
Member Discount (15% off) for Combat Support Week - 27 Feb to 1 March, London
Combat Support Week, chaired by General Sir Peter Wall, Former Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (2011-2014), will integrate a collaborative, end-to-end approach to combat support through joint-force panels, industry case studies and shared networking sessions. more
Added: 2nd February 2018
MOD ISS interviews Industry as part of Customer at the Heart (CATH) Project
Information Systems and Services (ISS) are conducting visits to interview some of its Indirect Customers, i.e. non-MOD customers, which includes Industry. This is to understand better the customer journeys when using the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) service; to identify the touch points, pinch points, missing points of contact etc. This understanding will inform what remedial actions are appropriate as aprt of Continual Service Improvement (CSI). Such improvements in quality of service and first-time-fix rates ultimately filter through to benefit defence operations, so are important for all. more
Added: 31st January 2018
Good Practice Study Group Presentations (2017) Available for Download
Download presentations by young professionals from member companies on study topics that include: Artifical Intelligent (AI) & machine learning, Cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) in Defence and future technologies in aircraft manufacturing. These are the 2017 cohort in the TD-Info Good Practice Study Group more
Added: 30th January 2018
TD-Info February 2018 Bulletin now out
A collection of recent News Items, Calendar events for the next few weeks and links to articles published in the last month. more
Added: 29th January 2018
TD-Info Council Dinner at RAF Club, London 31 January
Invitations have gone out to TD-Info Council members and we look forward to a rewarding evening and to welcoming our MOD guest speaker more
Added: 23rd January 2018
Charles Forte appointed as MOD Chief Information Officer
Charles Forte is the new MOD CIO, responsible for the development of MOD strategy and policy on all MOD Information and Communications Technology. Lieutenant General Ivan Hooper is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Information Systems & Services (ISS) more
Added: 10th January 2018
MOD ISS Magazine - ISSue3 December 2017
Publication (3rd edition) in pdf format of magazine communicating topics relevant to ISS and its customers, including Industry, many of which are topics of interest and discussion in the Industry Customer Engagement Forum (ICEF) sessions. more
Added: 5th January 2018
Meltdown & Spectre - Processor security flaws
Meltdown allows hackers to bypass hardware barriers, while Spectre can be used to trick applications into giving up secret information. "The UKs National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said that there is no evidence that Meltdown and Spectre are actively being used to steal data at the moment, but the nature of the attacks make them difficult to detect.", according to an article in the Guardian. Links to NCSC guidance for enterprises admins and home users more
Added: 5th January 2018
Industry Briefing & Discussion on Logistics Development Agenda
This valuable opportunity for Industry is a briefing on the Logistics Development Agenda (LDA), presented by Dr Darrell Jaya-Ratnam (DIEManalytics Ltd) with support from Steve Green (FloGroup Ltd). This 2 hour session at our TD-Info office, will explain the concepts underlying their analysis for the MOD Conceptual Force Development (CFD) team, led by Ed Corrigan, into future defence logistics capability requirements, that ultimately feed into the next SDSR. more
Added: 4th January 2018
Mobile Services Study | Workshop 1 - Join this joint MOD/Industry session, 23 January
Mobile applications are commonplace today - think the parcel delivery to your door for instance - and provide a wealth of business benefits across diverse sectors. Join this initial workshop about the Joint Information Group (JIG) project to scope and share methods of publishing mobile applications across Defence, particularly based on the roll out of mobile capabilities by ISS more
Added: 2nd January 2018


text:
Thursday, April 21, 2016
With dementia, these same sorts of "milestones" exist, only they are not so pleasing and exciting. Rather, they are quite the opposite. Each "milestone" brings us closer and closer to the end. Let me break down the "milestones" I am referring to.
I learned early on in the disease what we would be dealing with as mom's disease progressed. It was hard to share this information with my family and I think there was even a bit of denial that it would really come down to this, and so I shouldered the burden of knowledge and waited for these things to come to pass. I've said before that dementia is, in a sense, like growing backwards. While children grow and learn new things with each year of life, my mom forgets these things with each year (or even more rapidly than that). Dementia takes you from being an independent, intelligent adult to eventually becoming like a child again, fully dependent and not knowing how to care for oneself any longer. I think of it in phases: the childhood phase, then the preschool phase, then down to toddler and finally infancy. With each of these phases, mom seems to be on the developmental level of each of these age brackets as she forgets what she knew just months before.
First, she was losing her social inhibition (this tends to be one of the later skills that children master). Slowly, she has been losing the ability of doing her hair and make up until finally, it looks as if a toddler has gotten into mother's make up box and smeared color all over her face. She's gone from dressing herself to being super obsessive about matching (not being able to distinguish between matching and coordinating), dressing herself with clothes inside out and backwards to now needing assistance at times to get her clothes on and off. Her fine motor skills have gone by the wayside; it started with misspelling, partial sentences and sloppy writing. I haven't seen her read or write in close to a couple years now. Her speech is very minimal; most words are gibberish and difficult to understand; comprehension is gone.
The later phases of the disease look a lot like infancy. A person affected by dementia will eventually start losing balance and the ability to walk. Chewing and swallowing become difficult and choking becomes a real concern. As a result, many people end up with a liquid diet or pureed foods, much like baby food. Incontinence sets in which results, most often, in adult diapers. Speech regresses until there are no words left to speak. They spend a lot of time sleeping, much like a newborn Indeed, it is like caring for a newborn child in an adult's body until finally, their body completely shuts down.
As you can imagine, it's been difficult to come to terms with all of this and I know my dad has remained the forever optimist, thinking maybe she won't get to those phases. If she is spared from going through the complete course of the disease, it would only be because grace steps in and takes her from something else instead (a heart attack, stroke, etc).
I can't tell you how long my mom has left. That question goes through our brains everyday. I try to make the most of the time I do have with her because truly, we don't know how long until the disease rips away the rest of what is left. And truthfully, I pray that when/if it gets to the point where she is completely bedridden, that it goes faster rather than slower. At any rate, what I can tell you right now is my observations of what has been happening as of late.
For a while now, it seems like mom simply inhales her sandwiches and doesn't take the time to chew. The other day I stopped to observe her while she ate her sandwich and I've noticed that she isn't really biting down when she chews. She moves her jaw but what she does resembles more of "gumming" her food, like you'd see in a toddler. I guess in this way it's somewhat of a blessing that all she'll eat is pb&j sandwiches because at least it's a soft food and harder to choke on than say, a steak. Even still, she eats quickly, swallowing large bits of sandwich that aren't chewed (this evidence was found in her vomit a few weeks ago) which results in coughing while she eats. She often ends up with big hiccups by the end of her meal. We won't talk about the mess that is made while she eats; if you've had a toddler, you can imagine.
We've also noticed several occasions where she has ensure spilled all down the front of her shirt. She seems to be having problems drinking out of the bottle. She will not drink out of cups; I'm not sure how that would go over if we tried. She only drinks out of water bottles and ensure bottles and like I said, it's getting harder for her to make it all in her mouth.
We've been lucky that she's had no falls. But I can tell that her balance and coordination is worsening. When I help her to get her legs into her pants, she has to hold onto the wall of the bathroom to steady herself and prevent from falling over. She can't raise her legs very high, so I bunch up the legs of the pants and bring them as far down to meet her foot as possible. She has been struggling to get her socks on as well. I usually bunch them up and help her get them on over her heel. If I don't do this, she oftentimes can't get the sock on over her heel and she ends up with the sock hanging halfway off her foot and bunching up inside her shoe.
And one of the hardest things of all: incontinence. This has been hard to talk about because it's like stripping away the last of her pride. Of course, we know it's not her fault; it is the disease. Nevertheless, it breaks my heart that she is struggling with getting to the bathroom in time; most times she doesn't seem to even notice that she's had an accident. This issue began six months ago and has been progressing since then. In times where she isn't feeling good (if she has a cold or something) it gets worse during that time period. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, mom had a rough week. The worst of it was on a Monday, when I was sitting with her. She had a little bit of a cough and she had had several accidents between that Friday before and the Monday that I was there. By Monday afternoon, she'd had an accident within an hour of her last accident and I was down to one dry pair of pants for her. I knew what I should do, but it was really difficult in doing it. My dad hasn't wanted to put my mom in diapers. He wants her to be as independent as possible and I think there's a fear that once we put her in them, she'll become dependent and not use the toilet anymore. I was really worried that he would be upset with my decision, but not knowing what else to do, I changed my mom into an adult diaper (I had brought over a pack months ago, just in case). I can't describe to you how difficult it was for me to put that on her or to step back and look at my mom wearing it; she was resembling a grown toddler in every sense now. My heart broke for her, but it was necessary.
Fortunately, the accidents lessened up by the end of that week so we went back to underwear and incontinence pads, but it is a battle that I'm afraid is not going away. Additionally, we have struggled with her flushing things down the toilet (washcloths, pads, etc) and using towels in place of toilet paper...that is her new norm. It's unpleasant and smelly but at least she is using something. I've heard horror stories from other people.
I fear that it's truly the beginning of the end. What I have described is typically what you see in the later phases of the disease, though there's no real guess as to how long the later phases can go on. I think (from what I've read and heard from others' experiences) this phase can last a few years. I speculate that we may have a couple years left at most. But...she could surprise us all.
7 comments:
My experience is a bit different from yours, but my heart goes out to your family...ReplyDelete
This "growing backwards" is difficult to witness AND to describe. Thanks for sharing for those who don't know what to expect.ReplyDelete
It's so hard to see them lose so many abilities and their quality of life decline so much. My mom was still functionally pretty well last year at this time (she made her last long distance trip to come see me after my baby was born) but after that she started declining rapidly. First it was just more anger and being unsettled all the time. Then physically - incontinence, lost a lot of her balance, started being more unable to feed herself. Just in the past 3 weeks their was a huge decline and then last night she suffered a stroke and passed away quickly in her home with my dad by her side. We are all heartbroken, but relieved that she was taken quickly and is free from her disease. I hope your mom doesn't have to suffer too much. Hang in there!ReplyDeleteReplies
Oh Ashley I am so sorry :( If I remember correctly, your mom was behind my mom, wasn't she?? This seems very sudden. It is so heartbreaking, but I do hope that when the end is near it goes relatively quickly, and not having her bedridden or immobile for months. Hang in there, and email me if you want to talk!Delete
She was first diagnosed about 9 years ago with signs of a problem for about a year before that.Delete
She was first diagnosed about 9 years ago with signs of a problem for about a year before that.Delete
- AnonymousApril 30, 2016 at 6:47 PM
I think you really are helping people by discussing the "things people don't tell you". It makes it easier in a way, I am sure. Just to know you are not alone and what to expect, and maybe not be so frustrated with your "loved one" which is what a friend and I used to call her husband, which gave us a few (needed) giggles along the way. It really is a strange journey.ReplyDelete

subset: commoncrawl


text:
We Are Now In The "Last Innings" Of The End Game
October 31, 2013
On the heels of more volatile trading in global markets, today Canadian legend John Ing warned King World News that we are now in the "last innings" of the end game. Ing, who has been in the business for 43 years, also revealed a coming radical change in policy by China that is going to shock market participants. He also discussed what all of this will mean for key markets such as gold in his fascinating interview.
Ing: "What we're going through right now is the pause that refreshes after gold hit a 5-week high. So, we're getting a pullback. Everyone seems to be pointing to the FOMC Meeting, but more realistically you have to look at the fundaments for gold. We are now heading into the strong buying period of November and December….
The Rest…HERE


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%@ Language=VBScript %>
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Walkthrough
Dam and Blast
Wu Zi says nothing can go wrong with this plan. You head out to the airport - your plan is to parachute into the quarry. When you get to the airport, you can see a plane sitting in the midle of the runway. You get to the back and climb in. Now it says to fly to the jump point over the dam.
Fly as high as you can up through the clouds to get up to the red spot in the sky. If you can't get high enough on your first pass, circle around to get it on a subsequent run. When you get there, you leap out of the plane as it plummets to the earth. You are now free falling downwards. Pull the chute to gently fall towards the red glowing pillar by the lake. It's OK if you fall into the water - there are stairs you can get up to that point from.
You're now told to go get the knife and work your way through the guards. You do actually have your other weapons but you shouldn't be using them. Crepe slowly along towards the red box witht he knife in front of it. Go over the ledge to the right where you go all the way down to the end. Go up the stairs to the red spot.
Now you're told this is all about stealth. There are generators to place charges on with the triangle button. Go left up the stairs and watch the guards on the left. Watch him and when he's away from you, go forward to the generator to plant the explosives. Wait there and then sneak along behind the guard to go to the next generator
Keep along to the next two - you can shoot them with a silenced pistol if you have to before planting the explosives. Now it says to get to the exit - the red mark ahead of you.
Now you're on the roof - you dive into the water head first.
Mission passed
Swim straight ahead along the wall (straight south) to get to the plane or helicopter there to get home in.
Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Walkthrough
PS2 / PS3 Reviews
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The Youth Team could make it three successive wins on Saturday (11am kick-off), when they face Wigan Athletic at Christopher Park.
The Youth Alliance fixture was due to take place at the Barnfield Training Centre, but the Latics will now host the fixture.
The Development Squad then return to home action for the first time since a 4-3 win over Rochdale on the 1st December 2015.
The Clarets will entertain Rochdale once more, on Tuesday 26th January (1pm kick-off) in the behind-closed-doors game at the Barnfield Training Centre.
Fixture News
Academy Fixture Update
22 January 2016
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text:
When using segmentation features in Adobe Analytics, it is important to understand the different containers. Knowing the difference between the available containers gives you more control over your reporting. It also gives you a better understanding on what is returned.
Segmentation works by scanning through every hit within the time period selected, checking to see if that image request matches your segmentation rules.
- If it matches, then that hit is part of your segment (along with additional data depending on the bucket).
- If it does not match, the hit is treated as if it didn't exist in context of the segmented report.
To help illustrate the differences between each containers, consider the following example:
- A customer comes to your site via Natural Search, views one of your products, then leaves.
- That same customer returns the next day via a bookmark, and purchases that item.
The hit container is the most narrow of the containers available. When a rule within a hit container matches, only that individual hit is included in the segment. Unless other hits within an individual's visit also match the rule, all other hits are excluded. Using the above example, the following segment is used:
Include all hits where Referrer Type is Natural Search
This container includes only a single hit; the customer's first hit to your site. If you tried viewing the number of orders or product views with this segment, you would not see any data. The individual hit that actually made the purchase has a referrer of the billing information/checkout page. Since the purchase page's referrer is not considered Natural Search, it is not included in the subsequent report.
A visit container is the most commonly used across segmentation. Again, using the above as an example, the following segment is used:
Include all hits where Referrer Type is Natural Search
This segment scans through all the hits on your site, and if one matches, all hits that occurred within that visit are included. Looking at product views using this segment would now display data. The hit that matched the ruleset not only brought in the individual hit that matched, but the rest of that customer's visit.
Orders however would still not display data. Since the purchase event occurred on a different visit, this example's orders and revenue would still not be shown using this segment.
The visitor container is the largest of the three available buckets. Once it finds a hit that matches your rule, it pulls in all hits within that same visit. It also pulls all hits across all visits that individual generated. Using the same above example in context of a visitor container:
Include all hits where Referrer Type is Natural Search
Since the same visitor that entered your site via Natural Search also eventually made a purchase, SiteCatalyst includes all hits within your segment.
It is important to understand that having a broader segment is not always necessarily better. If you wanted visits where Referrer Type was Natural Search, using a visitor container would not return desired data. It would also include many other visits that did not begin with Natural Search. In this specific scenario, a Visit container would be best.
If you have any questions about what container matches closest to the data you're looking for, contact one of your organization's supported users. They can provide advice based on your specific implementation.
New to Adobe Analytics? Check out these related features:


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That's my favorite word, favorite movie and favorite theory!
You might think I am mad to believe in some vague concept like this, also I have come across a few critics of the movie, who think its way far from logic. But not everything on planet earth may have a reason behind it, isn't it?? I guess, people like mystery and this concept has some amount of mystery associated with it..which I find so intriguing and attracting.
The word serendipity means a beautiful coincidence… (Well, might depend actually on what u call beautiful).. Some say that everything we do is destined to happen. You missed the bus or train today to office, cursing yourself for giving in to that tempting idea of a ten minutes extra sleep or taking long time in shower, but believers of this concept say it was destined to happen!! Funny ha.. You might be thinking how a minor, completely personal decision of your day-to-day life can be related to your destiny or fate!!
Honestly, even I don't have the answer!! (Might well be feeling like beating me up, after reading till this point…)
If all I were to do in this life of mine, were pre-decided by destiny, some super-natural force or may be God, herself/himself (Don't want to be gender biased…), why should I even get out of the bed in the morning, why don't I leave everything on that so-called destiny of mine. This argument has existed and will continue all throughout the life of mankind and will simply go on and on; possibly, till the Judgement Day or Doomsday (Whatever they call it).
The other day, a friend of mine asked me an amazing question, "Do you believe in God?". For a moment I kept blinking at him…."whoaa what was that??", I thought. And then, he went on to describe how everything confirming the existence of God can be verified by the theories in Physics. Astrologers also do calculations based on the birth timings and positions of planets and distance between them. Sounds perfectly logical..only wish life were this logical too!!
In the movie titled Serendipity, the same message of an unseen, unexplained force guiding our lives has been given by narrating a romantic love story, two souls that were destined to meet each other. Inspite of all the different routes that took them apart, they were brought together. I know, this sounds completely awesome for a romantic Hollywood flick, but not life. But at times, even in life I come across events or happenings over which I have no control, howsoever I keep pondering over them. If the impact is positive I say, "I am lucky" and if otherwise, I would say "I guess, I am having a bad day". My sister introduced me to the concept of Karma which says whatever good or bad I have done in my past lives will affect my present. Another controversial topic, you can say.
Some things no one has control over and can never be explained, so better leave them to the supernatural or so called destiny and enjoy the moment. As goes my favorite dialogue from the Serendipity movie, "The Romans didn't write obituaries. They only asked one question after someone died, 'Did this man have passion?'".


text:
Highlight of the day in triage:
Man walks swiftly up to triage desk. Opens mouth to speak. I notice he only has one tooth on top.
One tooth guy: Do you have a condom?
Me: no
One tooth guy: You don't have condoms here?
Me: no
He turns around and walks out. He wasn't there to be seen. He just wanted a condom. Maybe I should have said: Yeah, we have condoms, but we only have size small. Is that okay?
Hey, I'm evil, what can I say?


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text:
29 Year Old Break Silence On Completing Medicals When The Transfer Window Opens
Goonersden brings you news from top football news sites from the likes of ESPN, SkySport, Daily Mail, Daily Star and Metro… We also Analyse football, player, transfer and predict Arsenal starting line-up.
David Ospina will enter the final year of his contract with Arsenal at the end of this season.
The Colombia goal stopper has hinted that he could consider his Arsenal future at the end of the campaign after playing number two to Petr Cech yet again this season.
Ospina has made just one appearance in the Premier League all season and that was as a second-half substitute when Cech got injured against Everton. Ospina has been used exclusively in the domestic and European cup competitions by Arsene Wenger.
The 29-year-old was linked with a move to the Turkish league last summer, but chose to stay at the Emirates Stadium and fight for his place. However, all his starts have come in the cup competitions the Carabao Cup, FA Cup and the Europa League.
Ospina will be between the sticks when Arsenal take on Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday (25 February) but the Colombian stopper wants continuity in the first-team, which he has not been afforded in recent seasons.
The Arsenal 'keeper, however, made it clear that he is currently not thinking about his future as his focus remains completely on helping Arsenal having a strong end to the season. Apart from the Carabao Cup final, the Gunners are also in the last 16 of the Europa League where they face AC Milan
"I am open to everything. Today I give everything for Arsenal, I like to be successful here, but you start to contemplate every alternative depending on each situation," Ospina said, as quoted by the Mirror. "I still have a contract, but as I say, I always like to have more opportunities, to have more continuity in the squad as every goalkeeper needs.
"Today, I am sharing my position with an excellent goalkeeper in Petr, but he knows that I like to play and I know he likes to keep playing, we have this competition between us, I just like to have continuity, I will think about the future at another moment.
"Today I live day by day, I don't like to say anything about the future but I will make the most of every each training session and every moment at Arsenal," the Colombian explained.
"The manager has his reasons for deciding who does or does not get to play..Our position as goalkeepers is a very complicated one because you have less opportunities, in the team there is just one player who plays in that role, and who gets the support. I always try to do my best."


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Hey everyone!
I have workshops this week and I decided I would teach my class the Faux Silk technique and combine it with an Easter theme. I'm not an Easter card maker and sender, but I do love creating gift boxes for the chocolatey goodness. This time though I made a matching card for the box.
The box design is very similar to the one on page 8 of the Summer mini catalogue but with a few of my own touches added to it.
The card and some closeups of the box's finer details
Oohh I am liking these closeups!! I might have to do that more often! LOL! The brown paper is the packing from SU deliveries. I just passed it through a shredder. The eggs are Cadbury Mini Eggs and resemble Smarties, M&M's and the like, they are crisp shell with chocolate inside…..MMMmmmmm…YUMMY!!! I made this project with these eggs in mind. I bought them last year and just loved them. I made this project before I bought them and was hoping that they would make a comeback this year so I could use them specifically for this project. I used colours Sahara Sand, Blushing Bride and Perfect Plum.
Well I best get packing for my workshop!


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How to Make Your Group on Facebook Post Things
A facebook group wall functions much like the wall on a personal profile. Any member of a group is allowed to post things to the group wall. If your group is public, anyone in the Facebook community will see what you post to the wall, while closed and secret groups only expose posts to group members. Group administrators may remove any post, and post creators also have the authority to remove their own posts.
Sign in to your Facebook account, and click on the name of your group in the left column of the Facebook homepage.
Click on the "Post" icon in the "Share" toolbar, which sits immediately above the group's wall.
Enter your content in the "Write something..." field.
Click the blue "Share" button to post your content to the wall. All group members will be notified of your new post, unless they have disabled notifications.
Use the "Photo," "Video" and "Link" icons in the "Share" toolbar to post media to the group wall. Members will be notified of the new media, unless their notifications are disabled.
Photo Credits
- Dan Kitwood/Getty Images News/Getty Images


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Love is in the Air at Montana Hotel London!
Good morning to you! #Lovers are getting ready to prepare #Valentine's day? We are ready to suggest you your secret offer, to be discovered only direct Why? because we want to #surprise you … We are here to assist you for your bookings 24 hours a day , don' t hesitate! Tel : 0207 584 […]Read more "Love is in the Air at Montana Hotel London!"


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levy on
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia.
levy (something) on (someone or something)
To force a person, company, or country to pay some a tax, fine, tariff, etc., as punishment for something. The president threatened to levy new sanctions on the country in response to their human rights abuses. The regulatory body promised to levy steep fines on the companies responsible for the economic crash.
levy something (up)on someone or something
to place a tax on someone or something. (Upon is formal and less commonly used than on.) The Congress was very straightforward. It levied room taxes upon rich people. The city council levied a heavy tax on hotel guests.


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The recent strike reflects how the workers' bargaining power has been crushed, and the impotence of the Left to lead them
The recent strike reflects how the workers' bargaining power has been crushed, and the impotence of the Left to lead them
Last week's strike by workers across the nation was instructive in many ways. It was illustrative of the decline of trade unions and the decimation of labour unity, the hostility of the new middle class and the mainstream media to wage struggles. But most striking of all was the alienation of the main Left parties from their main constituents—the working class.
Let's look at how the media covered the two-day strike. This was the first time in three decades that trade unions cutting across political lines had come together to mark their unhappiness with a range of government policies, particularly inflationary price rises that have made it difficult for the lower classes to get a living wage. Workers of the 11 central unions— such unions need membership of 400,000 to be recognised—and 5,000 unaffiliated unions, it was announced would go on strike in support of their demands. General secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, Gurudas Dasgupta, told the press that trade unions representing the Left, Right and Centrist parties have been forced to come together because the new economic policies unveiled since 1991, the year that liberalisation was ushered in, had undermined the interests of workers. The strike was first announced in September 2012 and repeated attempts were made to engage the government. In February, the concerns were raised again at the annual Indian Labour Conference attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. But neither he nor Labour Minister Mallikarjun Kharge responded. At the last minute, Singh called the union leaders to a meeting with his senior ministers—a meeting which was pointless because the ministers came with no offer.
What were the unions demanding? Primarily, they wanted the statutory minimum wage to be fixed at Rs 10,000, removing the ceiling on bonus, provident fund, increasing the quantum of gratuity and pension for all. They also wanted strict enforcement of basic labour laws without any exception and stringent punitive measures for violation; a universal social security cover for unorganised sector workers and creation of a National Social Security Fund. By no stretch of imagination could these be deemed excessive or unreasonable. Yet the impending strike was reported with barely concealed annoyance and anger by media which clearly showed its corporate affiliations. One point repeatedly raised by industry and given much play by the media was the loss to the economy, a figure initially put at Rs 20,000 crore and quickly scaled up to Rs 26,000 crore. Then there was the question of violence. All those brought to TV studios for the debate from industry lobbyists to the well-to-do software professionals—they also claimed to be aam admi—were unanimous in condemning the violence, but refused to acknowledge the fact that it was a union leader's murder that had triggered the violence in the first place.
The self-absorption and insularity of India's new middle class is well-known and it is not surprising that issues of industrial democracy and workers' rights are far removed from their ken. But that's no reason why the media should pretend that these issues no longer matter. India has the largest number of working people anywhere, barring China, and it is reflective of our times that this mass of humanity is overlooked, or becomes invisible to the political class, too. The main Left parties, CPM and CPI, sadly can in no way become the saviour of labour. In any case their unions, for decades, represented only the organised workers of the country who accounted for a paltry three per cent of the workforce. Sadly this preoccupation with the organised industrial workers also led to the ossification of the workers' movement. And although CPI's Dasgupta may say worker power was crushed after the economic liberalisation policies of the 1990s, the trade unions had lost the battle a decade earlier. It was in the 1980s, and in the top industrial states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, that employers won wide-ranging control of the labour market. Was the textile strike the turning point? Perhaps. But the decades since then have witnessed the decimation and saffronisation of the workers' struggle with governments of every hue and ideology aiding the process through threats and inducements.
Does India need trade unions? Certainly, because of the millions who do not have decent wages and basic benefits. Unionisation is primarily about people organising to help themselves because governments are not doing so. What we need is a movement that understands workers and puts them first instead of the rigidly aligned political groupings that do not even speak to each other. The mainstream Left has failed our workers. A new movement—and ideally it should arrive from within the ranks of the workers themselves—cannot afford to do that.
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Scientists at the Technical University of Hamburg and the Helmholtz Center Geesthacht, have created a new material- a metal which changes it's strength at the touch of a button. The new material can be restructured and transformed within a matter of seconds through changes in the electron structure of a material; hard and brittle material can become soft and malleable. This is nothing new as scientists were able to achieve this feat before, but what makes this metal special is that the restructuring can be triggered electronically and even remotely.
The way scientists performed this miraculous feat was by using a strong acid to eat small ducts into metal. The material which emerges is nano-structured and pervaded by a network of pore channels. The pores are then impregnated with a conductive liquid such as a simple saline solution and a hybrid metal and liquid is created.
When a specific electronic signal is triggered it causes the metal to become solid or malleable depending on the signal. The mechanical properties of the metallic partner are changed by the application of an electric potential in the liquid partner. The effect can be traced back to a strengthening or weakening of the atomic bonding in the surface of the metal when extra electrons are added to or withdrawn from the surface atoms. The strength of the material can be as much as doubled when required. Alternatively, the material can be switched to a state which is weaker, but more damage tolerant, energy-absorbing and malleable.
This brings us to the inevitable yet tantalizing question- Will this chunk of metal eventually be used in the creation of a super robot able to alter form independently? Apparently we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves and NERD TREK received looks of confusion and cute smirks when asking scientists this question. The answer most commonly given was that this technology in it's advanced stages could be used in the construction of robotic skeletons and exteriors to aid in adjusting to the radical temperatures found in space and on other planets. Most likely NASA will be one of the first to adapt this technology in their space probes and manned vehicles.
Although the scientists prefer to dissuade us, surely one can dream about the future of this technology which may spawn super robots like the T-1000, capable of altering shape and form at will.


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Huhhot, 27 July 2015 – As summer approaches, Shangri-La Hotel, Huhhot ushers in its eighth "birthday" since it opened on 1 August 2007. Throughout August 2015, the hotel will offer eight celebration benefits, covering rooms, food and beverage, meeting, banquet, wedding, fitness and so on, to thank guests for their continuous support and growing up with us over the past eight years.
As the first international luxury hotel in Huhhot since its opening until today, Shangri-La Hotel, Huhhot always strive to provide every guest a great customer service and the renowned Shangri-La hospitality. On 1 August 2007, Shangri-La Hotel, Huhhot opened its business with flowers and applause in the city's commercial centre of Huhhot. It has since been known for its offerings, from its elegant rooms, distinctive cuisine, caring service and corporate social responsibility.
The hotel's highlights delicacy celebrations as its "birthday" gift to guests. Its executive chef will carefully design a distinctive Chinese and Western style feast. Those who have birthdays in August will pay only RMB88 to enjoy Xin Cafe's buffet and Shang Palace's rich and value for money Chinese Eight Large Bowl will be served. Lobby Lounge will also offer colourful summer cocktails that will take guests on a journey to Hawaii.
After the gourmet feast, guests can stay and relax in the hotel's elegant and comfortable Deluxe Room for RMB908+15% or enrol into the Fitness Centre membership at 8.8 per cent discount. Business guests who book a meeting in August 2015 will be entitled to a coffee break at RMB58 net per person. Banquet dining starts at RMB1,888+15%; grooms and brides will enjoy RMB2,688+15% preferential booking price.
In addition to the above courtesy benefits to celebrate its eighth anniversary, Shangri-La Hotel, Huhhot will send giveaways via Weibo, WeChat and other social media channels. The hotel's followers will not only be able to relax, but also win gifts by playing a game.
At 8 p.m. on 8 August 2015, Shangri-La Hotel, Huhhot will use its landmark building to shine and shake up Qingcheng with a carnival as a starter for the above full month celebration. For more details, please call (86 471) 3366888 or follow the hotel's Weibo and WeChat: Shangri-La Hotel, Huhhot.
Vikki Wei
Communications Manager
(86 471)336 6888
(86 471)332 8881
5 Xi Lin Guo Le South Road, Huhhot 010020, Inner Mongolia, China
5 Xi Lin Guo Le South Road, Huhhot, Inner Mongolia, 010020, China
Email This Hotel
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Take a lap on the fastest track in NASCARShare
The holiday season is quickly approaching. So take a lap around the fastest track in NASCAR to get into the holiday spirit.
MIS Cares, the non-profit arm of Michigan International Speedway, will host the fourth annual Charity Track and Toy Drive on Saturday, Dec. 1. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., weather dependent.
Guests may take a lap in their personal automobile around the track in exchange for a new, unwrapped toy or a bag of nonperishable food. All items will be donated to the CCIS Food Pantry in Brooklyn, Mich., and the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots.
In addition, guests will have the opportunity to visit with Santa in the Michigan Room. So don't forget your list. Photos with Santa will be available from Portraits by Conway from $5.
"We are happy to be part of this great event and help the local community," MIS President Roger Curtis said. "We don't just work here; we live here and we're happy to be part of this community. We invite all our race fans and friends to help us support this event as we look to make the holiday season better for those who need it."
The event has been an overwhelming success in its first three years and continues to grow, thanks to the support of the community.
"The Charity Track and Toy Drive have been very successful in years past and has benefitted some great organizations," said Alisha Cottrell, director of fan services at MIS. "It has provided a significant impact for a number of families for the holiday season. We hope our efforts provide a lift to those that need it and make their holidays a little better."
Track drive participants should enter the speedway through the tunnel gate off of Brooklyn Highway and follow the signs to the infield entry point. Guests will be directed to enter the racetrack via the Pit Road Suite Building underpass, where they will take a controlled pace lap around the two-mile oval.
Toy and food donations will also be accepted at MIS during regular business hours, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Toys for Tots and Food Pantry collection boxes are located in the speedway lobby.
All donated toys must be unwrapped and new. Donated food items should be nonperishable. The Food Pantry is also seeking soap products, paper goods, canned fruits and juices.
Competition Tire will donate a Goodyear vehicle for storage and transportation of all donations collected during the event.
The employees of the speedway and Americrown Corp. will provide support for the event and also make a donation to the two organizations with personal support.
MIS Cares is a Donor Advised Fund of the NASCAR Foundation, a 501 c3 charitable entity that focuses on raising funds for various local charitable causes the speedway supports. MIS Cares in 2012 alone awarded $64,500 in cash donations to local charities through its grant program. Another $53,000 was awarded through sponsorships and tickets those groups raffle off, also to raise money.
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text: I didn't manage to read enough during Twenty-Seventeen. Including books I re-read, books I began but didn't finish, and books I read for the first time, I read a paltry thirty-nine books, which was still somehow more than last year. If you subtract the ones I didn't finish (nine) I still managed more than last year. A miracle. If only I was ten again. I had plenty of time to read then. Out of school, when I should have been asleep, in school, during Maths… Continue reading "The Monster List of Books 2017"


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Well, what can we say, Second Life. The virtual world for virtually all tastes. We (well, I... KiS is kept far too busy here doing coloring-in and stuff) have been roaming the continents making friends and generally forgetting to mention wikiHowl while sky diving from 4 kilometres up (it's quite a rush). Not to worry, it's all about the experience, and when you have your give something back to the community brainwave you find you have contacts all over who can help out. We were thinking about creating something nice that we could share out along with the bicycles (don't ask, well do, it's a good story). What we came up with is an exclusive range of wikiHowl T-shirts. Modelled here by yours truly. Yes, we know pink is for girls, but there were none around when I took the photographs (honest). Mind you, I think I carry it off ok.
We were put in touch with what must be the most patient fashion designer in Second Life, Becky Arado. Just how many changes can be asked for with four lines of text? Dozens, trust me. It is likely that the air in Becky's workshop was as blue as the shirt. So in return (and it's very small recompense) we offered to highlight her good works in the First Life.
Becky has been designing in Second Life for about a year, starting with Sky Boxes (imagine manouvering large floating structures while hovering and flying about yourself, pretty cool), and eventually finding her niche in fashion and unique/weird household items. We're waiting to see the results from designing clothes with unique textures too, glass clothes can you imagine that!
Becky's shop, Becky's Hideaway, has been open for about a month and is located at the picturesque Isla del Amor run by Kara Dae and Hooyah Voom (do IM these friendly people for a chat).
Shop stocked items tend to be newbie friendly and are priced around the 50L$ mark. Do drop Becky Arado an IM when in-world, and hey with very little arm twisting at all she has agreed that if you mention wikiHowl she'll talk discounts with you.
One more thing though, how do YOU get your exclusive wikiHowl T-shirt? Just IM UKDave Dodonpa, and it's all yours. Ah, you're likely to get a bicycle too, just humor him and take it.)
Pictures from the interview, Becky is the pretty one.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
wikiHowl in Second Life
Posted by Dave at 4:07 PM
Labels: second life
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Press Release
Chemical Financial Corporation Authorizes Stock Repurchase
MIDLAND, Mich., Jan. 23, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Chemical Financial Corporation (Nasdaq:CHFC) has authorized management, in its discretion, to purchase up to 500,000 shares of the Corporation's common stock. It is anticipated that any purchases of shares will be made through a program of open market purchases or through privately negotiated purchases, all subject to availability, regulatory volume and other constraints and general economic conditions. Any repurchased shares will be available for later reissue in connection with potential future stock dividends, the Corporation's dividend reinvestment plan, employee benefit plans and other general corporate purposes.
Chemical Financial Corporation is the third largest bank holding company headquartered in Michigan. The Company operates through a single subsidiary bank, Chemical Bank, with 129 banking offices spread over 31 counties in the lower peninsula of Michigan. At December 31, 2007, the Company had total assets of $375 billion. Chemical Financial Corporation common stock trades on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol CHFC and is one of the issues comprising the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
CONTACT: Chemical Financial CorporationLori A. Gwizdala, CFO 989-839-5358


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January 9, 2015
Editor's note: This afternoon's tragic developments at the kosher market in Paris, following three days of madness in France that began with the massacre on Wednesday of the editorial team at Charlie Hebdo, will be very much the topic of conversation this weekend. If nothing else, it remind us of what we share with all humanity: the need for light in the face of darkness, goodness in the face of evil.
Chanie Zaklikovsky, Chabad representative to Monroe Township, NJ, sent the following email out to her community this morning. Lubavitch.com felt it deserved to be shared with our readers. Wishing you all a Shabbat of comfort and peace.
My name is Chanie. I am named after a famous Chabad lady—Rebbetzin Chana, mother of the Rebbe. Over the many years that I wear this name, I have been called Cheney, Connie or my favorite Honey, and, although it seems hard for the average American to pronounce, I am proud to wear the name. My Jewish and Hebrew name.
Names are important. They tell us a lot about ourselves and our roots. In fact, our Torah Portion is called "Names" this week. If you read the story, you would not hear a lot about names. It is the beginnings of the story of the Exodus, featuring a wicked Pharoh, a baby Moses, Hebrew slaves, lots of hard work, torture and tears.
If I had to choose a title, I might call it "Years of Slavery" or "The Bitter Beginning." But the title is "Names" and our Rabbis say that it highlights the one defiant act the Hebrews had over their Egyptian taskmasters—they refused to change their names.
"I am Reuben," I am Shimon." I am not a number. I am not a mere peg in the giant wheel of slavery. I am human. I am worthy. I am Jewish. I am Israel.
This week, as the world watched with horror the terror happening in France, the world declares "Je suis Charlie"—"I am Charlie." They are words of defiance. They are words of humanity. Today, I am not only Chanie. I am Charlie. I am Shmuel, Mordechai, Andrea, Zeri, Noach, Mery, Sara—the hostages in the Kosher Store in Paris.
So I ask you, what is your name?
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Record 1 tonne gold seized at Mumbai airport this year
Mumbai Customs has seized one tonne of gold so far this year valued at over Rs 260 crore earning the distinction of being responsible for the highest-ever gold seizure at any airport in India
It's been a bad year for gold smugglers and a phenomenal one for those meant to keep them in check. Mumbai Customs has seized one tonne of gold so far this year valued at over Rs 260 crore earning the distinction of being responsible for the highest-ever gold seizure at any airport in India.
The gold seized on Saturday is valued at over Rs 60 lakh. Representation pic
The Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) helped the department touch the 1,000-kg figure with the seizure of 2.4 kg of the precious metal on Saturday. Indigo staff aboard flight 6E-82 from Muscat noticed the gold concealed in the life jacket under seat 15A, after the aircraft landed in Mumbai around 2.30 am on Saturday. The airline staff notified the AIU and the gold, worth more than Rs 60 lakh, was seized.
Second in three days
This is the second case of unclaimed gold seizure from an aircraft in three days. mid-day had reported about 5 kg gold being seized by the AIU from an overhead luggage compartment on an Air India flight on Dec 10. The five bars, weighing 1 kg each, were collectively valued at more than Rs 1.21 crore.
Unclaimed treasures
"Unclaimed seizures are made when any airport employee is meant to collect the smuggled gold from a particular spot, but fails to do so due to vigilant checking and frisking by the CISF and Customs. Hence, Customs officials recover the gold before the staffer arrives, or when the smuggler finds the colluding person to be unavailable.
Unclaimed seizures from aircraft are rare," said a Customs officer. He added that, in the past, such seizures have been made from aerobridge dustbins, luggage trolleys and even under baggage belts.
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