: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed a five-year multimillion dollar agreement with Veda (ASX: VED), a leading provider of credit information and analysis in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement extends Veda's existing strategic outsourcing relationship with IBM, which continues to provide Veda with a highly reliable and resilient infrastructure, and now includes cloud services.

ASL to benefit from IBM Cloud and IBM PureApplication to deliver for secure real time payments for NPP Australia

ANZ and Westpac have teamed with IBM (NYSE:IBM) and shopping centre operator Scentre Group and have now successfully digitised the bank guarantee process used for commercial property leasing.

IBM Watson Customer Engagement tools help extend the Bank’s leadership in customer experience.

IBM positioned as the Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Data Center Outsourcing and Hybrid Infrastructure Managed Services, Asia Pacific

入荷してます(5/3現在） 星組公演　Blu-ray 『眩耀の谷~舞い降りた新星~』 『Ray―星の光線―』 ￥11,000 ⇒ ￥ 9,000 ￥2000 OFF (18%OFF） 【テレビ】 スカパー!無料の日 2020年5月3日(日) スカイステージ無料放送 月組『All for One〜ダルタニアンと太陽...

One of Australia’s leading digital banks taps cognitive technology to simplify the home loan application process with innovative virtual assistan

Icon Group first in Australia to adopt world-leading technology as part of its comprehensive cancer care offering

Lingmo’s Translate One2One uses IBM Watson Artificial Intelligence technology to translate in natural language.

A Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre study has demonstrated the potential for artificial intelligence to help reduce the time for clinicians to match lung cancer patients to relevant clinical trials.

My topic today is innovation for a sustainable future. This raises two questions:

EnergyAustralia, the country’s largest electricity distribution network, today announced an agreement with IBM for the implementation of an energy network monitoring and control solution.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it will establish a Natural Resources Solution Centre (NRSC) in Perth to help mining, LNG and petroleum companies accelerate the development and adoption of innovative technologies and business strategies.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced its role as the systems integration partner for the $100 million Smart Grid, Smart City initiative led by the EnergyAustralia consortium. IBM will play a pivotal role, as a member of the consortium, in the development of Australia’s first smart grid network, following the formal contract signing of the deal between EnergyAustralia and the Australian Government.

Hyro Limited group company, Synergy Plus Pty Ltd (“Synergy”) has been named winner of the award for “Leadership in Optimizing IT Infrastructure” in the annual IBM Beacon Awards competition, honoring IBM Business Partners for their ingenuity, innovation, customer satisfaction and outstanding achievements in providing business solutions.

Southern Cross Computer Systems Pty Ltd has been named winner of the award for “Innovation in Green IT Data Center Solution” in the annual IBM Beacon Awards competition, honoring IBM Business Partners for their ingenuity, innovation, customer satisfaction and outstanding achievements in providing business solutions.

HCF and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today jointly announced a multi-million dollar deal that will see them working together in Australia to continue to transform HCF’s IT systems, streamline processes and deliver a tailored experience for its members.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that the Foundation for Young Australians has successfully integrated IBM’s SPSS analytics platform into its research capabilities, resulting in significant boosts to the organisation’s reputation as a national leader in its field.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the Australian results of the 2012 Smarter Consumer Study – the largest study of its kind – which looks at the purchasing trends, habits and expectations of more than 28,000 consumers globally, including more than 1800 from Australia. Over the last three years, the study has tracked the annual evolution of the ‘empowered consumer’.

IBM Australia (NYSE: IBM) and The Sauce, today published the first Australian BPO Report 2012 (ABPO Report), which investigates the current state of business process outsourcing in Australia and points to future trends. Global expansion is seen to be the key driver and benefit of outsourcing decisions amongst 71 percent of organisations surveyed. The report also showed significant anticipated growth in business process outsourcing activity among large organisations with between 1,000 to 5,000 employees (this constituted one-third of all respondents). This group of Australian organisations is expecting an increase of 20 percent over the next two years.

An IBM (NYSE: IBM) study of 26,000 consumers from 14 countries -- including almost 2,000 Australians.-- found that over 60% of Australian consumers identify themselves as “apathetic” in their choice of primary retailer – almost double those who see themselves as advocates of a particular retailer. As such Australian retailers have a significant opportunity to capture shopper loyalty, but they need to capitalise on existing investments in multi-channel and accelerate customer engagement across all channels, including mobile devices and social media platforms in order to win in this globally competitive sector.

There's something about shooting medium format — especially in black and white. The look is unmistakeable: creamy highlights supported by lush, detailed shadows.

So it's perfectly understandable why many photographers shell out big bucks for pricey medium format gear. In fact, it's possible that some of you are at this very moment casually thinking about how cool it would be to shoot with a MF camera system.

And why not? I mean, don't you deserve it?

But a lot of the tonal qualities we often associate with medium format can be acheived on the cheap if you light your photos from the bottom end first.

Take the photo above, which was shot with a small-chip Fuji, a kit zoom and a pair of small, $25 soft boxes.
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dollypopinspiration:

eberfigueira

Back to the set I designed for

@herculesuniversal

early September in Brazil. Thanks

@francescosourigues

Glimpses through Ginny Weasley's mind during the last months of her fifth years at Hogwarts. Missing scenes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

On the cusp of the third wizarding war, the truth behind the events of Halloween 1981 and subsequent events finally come to light, when it is revealed that Harry Potter, forgotten and ignored by many, is the Boy Who Lived.

After some discussion with the applied math research groups here at UCLA (in particular the groups led by Andrea Bertozzi and Deanna Needell), one of the members of these groups, Chris Strohmeier, has produced a proposal for a Polymath project to crowdsource in a single repository (a) a collection of public data sets relating to […]

Eeeeeeep!!! A STARRED REVIEW from Booklist for CATALYST, my next kids book, out 6/9! Thanks for brightening my day, Booklist!

https://www.booklistonline.com/Catalyst-Sarah-Beth-Durst/pid=9729210

A piece I finished five years ago today, on April 15, 2012, for the blog of Gollancz, my UK publisher: Triggers, FlashForward, and Me by Robert J. Sawyer Thanks to the good people at Gollancz, I was recently interviewed in SFX, the world’s top-selling English-language magazine devoted to science fiction. I spoke in that interview […]

Many years ago, I attended a talk by Cynthia Good, publisher of Penguin Canada. When asked what was the first thing she looks for in a book submission, she said, “A way to get the author on TV.” I’ve now got over 400 TV appearances to my credit, and an equal number of radio interviews […]

Some of us who are disabled and/or fat are worried we'll be denied access to scarce medical resources during the pandemic. This document describes our legal rights (in the US) and ways to maximize our likelihood of getting care.

#NoBodyIsDisposable Guide to Surviving COVID-19 Triage

Crips and fatties made this.
Please share with everyone who needs it.

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I just closed a half-dozen tabs that were old posts from y'all that I keep meaning to respond to. Apologies, but I have limited oomph this week, as a lot of us do.

But hey, surveys are easy.

Quarantine meme (quaranteme? quaranmeme?) picked up from julian who got it from crystalpyramid.


( My answers )

Calling all rebels -- only you can help StarWars.com and The Star Wars Show win!

Download the Padmé-starring novel at no charge from May 1 - 8.

Emmy Nominee Leslye Headland to write, produce, and serve as showrunner for new untitled Star Wars series for Disney+.

These panties are super soft and comfortable American Apparel hot shorts! They come in white with the STARFIGHTER logo on the derriere and stars on the front! Perfect for the sexy ladies to flaunt their fandom! They're limited in quantity, so get them while they're available!

ORDER AVAILABLE ONLINE @ STARFIGHTER SHOP
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The panties ship on September 7th! More merchandise is on the way! -HamletMachine

Hi everyone!

There's a whole bunch of brand spanking new Starfighter swag at the Starfighter Shop just in time for the holidays! There are new prints, new buttons, a new T-Shirt, and more! Go check it out! -Thisbe

Mary Pratt, believed to be the last surviving member of the Rockford Peaches, has died at age 101.

Societies gripped by cataclysmic wars, depressions, or pandemics can become acutely sensitive to...

How to Prepare for the Trump Recession

The global coronavirus pandemic has put our economy in free-fall.

Even through Donald Trump’s reckless economic policies, like his pointless trade war with China or his deficit-busting tax cuts for his billionaire donors, the economy has somehow managed to keep chugging along — until now. 

All of the stock market gains from Trump’s time in office have been wiped out, and over the course of just over one week in March the Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced its five largest drops in history. 

Worse than a plummeting stock market, businesses and major industries have been forced to shutter their windows to help combat the rapid spread of the virus, putting hundreds of thousands of workers’ paychecks at risk. 

A recession is inevitable at this point. Here are 3 things we can do to prepare.  

Number one: We need to reform unemployment insurance so it reflects the needs of today’s economy. 

When it was first created in 1935, unemployment insurance was designed to help full-time workers weather downturns until they got their old jobs back. But there are fewer full-time jobs in today’s economy, and fewer people who are laid off get their old jobs back again. 

As a result, only 27% of unemployed workers receive benefits today, compared to 49% of workers in the 1950s. We need to expand unemployment coverage so that everyone is protected.

Number two: We need to strengthen Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as  public assistance. 

Since its creation in 1996, the number of families receiving cash assistance has declined dramatically – and not because they’re doing well. Between 2006 and 2018, just 13% of families were lifted out of poverty, while the number of families receiving public assistance fell by 39%.

Already weak, the program didn’t hold up well during the Great Recession. Funding doesn’t automatically expand during economic downturns – meaning the more families are in need, the less money there is to help them. The program also has strict work requirements, which can’t be fulfilled in a deep recession. Worse yet, many individuals in need have already exhausted their five years of lifetime eligibility for assistance.

We need to reform the public assistance program so that more families in need are eligible. It should be easier to waive the strict work eligibility requirements during the economic downturn, and the lifetime five-year limit should be suspended.

Number three: We need to protect the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps. 

Unlike public assistance, SNAP responded well during the Great Recession. Its requirements are designed to expand during economic downturns or recessions.

Waiving work requirements during the Great Recession made thousands of people in need eligible for the program who otherwise wouldn’t have been. Between December 2007 and December 2009, the number of SNAP participants rose by 45%. The program helped keep an estimated 3.8 million families out of poverty in 2009.

But that might not be an option this time around, as SNAP has come under attack from the Trump administration, which is trying to enact a draconian rule change that would kick an estimated 700,000 of our most vulnerable citizens off of the program. Luckily, a judge blocked the rule from going into effect, but the administration is still fighting to enforce it — even in the middle of a global pandemic. We need to make sure SNAP’s flexibility and ability to respond to economic downturns is protected before the next recession hits.

Stronger safety nets are not only good for individuals and families in need. They will also prevent the looming recession from becoming an even deeper and longer economic crisis. 

Donald Trump is getting nervous. Internal polls show him losing in November unless the economy comes...

The Orville star and creator Seth MacFarlane dropped a bomb at San Diego Comic Con – the show will move off of Fox onto the Hulu streaming network for season 3. In a statement MacFarlane said, “The Orville has been a labor of love for me, and there are two companies which have supported that […]

Don't expect a pack of running fanatics swarming to the finish line at road races this year. But that doesn't mean that participants don't have options.