Room 30, Parliament Buildings

Room 30, Parliament Buildings

Room 30, Parliament Buildings

The Committee for the Economy held an event at Parliament Buildings today to mark the success of the 'Northern Ireland Year of Food and Drink' initiative. In the month dedicated to 'Legacy and Learning', the Committee welcomed many award-winning local producers who showcased their skills and demonstrated how the campaign will help create a sustainable legacy for the local tourism and hospitality sectors.

Recorded live at OTN Architect Day in Los Angeles, a panel of experts responds to an audience question about what happens to traditional IT roles in a Cloud environment.

Members of the team of behind Kscope 2014 share insight on the conference and discuss dominant themes and hallway memes.

Kscope 2014 organizers and presenters share their thoughts on the event's hot sessions.

There is more to a great user conference than a shared interest in Oracle products. Kscope 2014 organizers discuss the nature and importance of community.

The panelists share their thoughts on the confluence of cloud computing and Oracle Data Integrator.

The panelists compare notes on the types of ODI projects they're seeing from their clients.

The panel discusses workarounds for ODI integration with Hyperion Financial Management.

The ODI panelists share their insight into the challenges of launching a Big Data project.

A panel of Oracle Data Integrator experts compares notes on what they consider the most important features in ODI 12.2.1.

A conversation with both MySQL community managers on the latest in the community and the technology

In this conversation I talk with both MySQL community managers, David Stokes from Texas and Frédéric Descamps from Belgium.

I met both of them in Brussels in February 2020 during the preFOSDEM 2020 MySQL Days. This is where the MySQL community comes together for two days of intensive technical sessions before going to the premier European open source conference — FOSDEM (Free and Open Source Software Developers' European Meeting). Yes, there's that much content to deal with so you need a conference before the conference!

Before the pandemic, Oracle used to send many engineers from various open source projects at the company to FOSDEM to participate in the event and to engage the other 20K developers from around the world there. And the MySQL team at Oracle was always a big part of the conference. 

Now in mid 2021 tech conferences still haven't really started up again, so development and community building takes place virtually. That's where I pick up the conversation with David and Frédéric.

MySQL technology is hot these days. There is a new release out recently with many fixes and enhancements, but even before that the project released a new feature called HeatWave. That's a real-time analytics MySQL Database Service in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). It's easily enabled and disabled on demand with no application changes and can result in performance improvements of about 400 times. And it's only found in OCI. David and Frédéric said the early customer and developer reaction to the technology has been "staggering and eye popping." But in the conversation the guys also talked about more bits in MySQL, such as high availability, clustering, the shell, and the Kubernetes operator. 

We also explored some of the dynamics going on in the MySQL community, such as the steep learning curves that all developers have to deal with these days due to the ever increasing rate of change in software development. Some of the younger developers are discovering that some of the tools and techniques that were considered "old" are coming back because, well, they just work. On the other hand, younger developers seem to tolerate better all the exclusively virtual events these days than some of the older developers. So, there are multiple simultaneous trends taking place, just as there is in any aspect of life. So Frédéric and David have a good sense of the community and hope that when live events return they can bring together the older developers with all the new developers so the community can gel again in physical experiences.

And finally, they both said that in another six months there will be some really cool technology coming out. They wouldn't say more about that. But I'd take their word on that tease, though. The last time they told me that some cool stuff was coming they released HeatWave shortly thereafter.

Video on YouTube
https://youtu.be/T3TK23THWKw 

David Stokes is a MySQL Community Manager in Texas.
https://twitter.com/stoker

Frédéric Descamps is a MySQL community Manager in Belgium.
https://twitter.com/lefred

Jim Grisanzio is a Sr. Community Manager in Oracle Developer Relations
https://twitter.com/jimgris

MySQL Community
https://dev.mysql.com/

Announcing July 2021 Releases featuring MySQL 8.0.26
https://blogs.oracle.com/mysql/announcing-july-2021-releases-featuring-mysql-8026

HeatWave
https://www.oracle.com/mysql/heatwave/

MySQL Database Service—New HeatWave Innovations
https://www.oracle.com/events/live/mysql-heatwave-innovations/

Frédéric Descamps Previews Oracle Developer Live — MySQL | October 2020
https://youtu.be/6i1WreKco9E

Dave Stokes and Frederic Descamps on Contributing to the MySQL Project | June 2020
https://youtu.be/NUU4W8O3teE

preFOSDEM 2020 MySQL Days | February 2020
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwfImoydiSsuHfrVWcq8qJ_cz8o6vuoRo

Cheers
Jim
--
Jim Grisanzio, Sr. Community Manager, Oracle Developer Relations
https://twitter.com/jimgris

Jim Grisanzio from Java Developer Relations talks with Sirisha Pratha, a Java developer from the Pittsburgh Java User Group, about software development, the benefits of using Java, the dynamics of the Java community, and contributing to Open Source projects. Find Sirisha on Twitter @sirishapratha and Jim @jimgris on Twitter as well.

BISHKEK, 31 March 2016 – A series of two consecutive one-week training courses co-organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek on the security and management of small arms and light weapons and stockpiles of conventional ammunition concluded in Bishkek today.

The courses aimed at building awareness among armed forces personnel on new regulations and instructions approved by the Chief of the Kyrgyz General Staff on 12 February 2016 regarding the physical security, management, record-keeping, maintenance and disposal of small arms and light weapons and stockpiles of conventional ammunition. These documents were developed with the support of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek in 2014-2015.

Some 48 military personnel from the Northern and Southern Regional Commands directly dealing with such weapons and stockpiles of conventional ammunition took part in the courses, which along with the OSCE Centre, were also co-organized with the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the Kyrgyz State Committee on Defence Affairs.

Yury Padun, Senior Politico-military Officer at the OSCE Centre, said: “The training course provided officers of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces with the knowledge and practical skills required to meet international standards and OSCE recommendations in this area. The course will contribute to the safe and secure stockpiling of weapons and ammunition in Central Asia.”

Colonel Medetbek Sultanbekov, Head of the Rocket-Artillery Armament Division of the Kyrgyz State Committee on Defence Affairs, said: “Co-operation with the OSCE Centre in Bishkek has facilitated significant improvement to the legal framework in relation to small arms and light weapons and conventional ammunition. It has also raised the professional level of Kyrgyz officers dealing with the stockpiling of weapons and ammunition.”

The event is part of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek’s Politico-Military Programme on strengthening the capacity of the Kyrgyz Armed Forces and is being implemented since February 2012. 

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DUSHANBE, 29 July 2016 – The OSCE Office in Tajikistan today donated audio-visual equipment to the Police Academy of Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs with the aim of supporting the Academy’s lecturers to use interactive teaching techniques on the investigation of crimes related to the trafficking of human beings.

The equipment includes a computer, a projector, a screen, speakers, a printer, and an Uninterruptible Power Supply device (UPS). An external hard disk drive was also donated to allow for the storing of an electronic library of thematic video films and other informational resources in this field.

“This equipment will improve the teaching of the Course on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, and will therefore enable the police to more effectively address this serious social problem,” said Fabio Piana, Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.

Karim Soliev, the first Deputy Director of the Police Academy, thanked the OSCE for its continued support in building the capacity of future law enforcement staff and Police Academy cadets in combating human trafficking and domestic violence in Tajikistan. “This equipment is of great help to lecturers who will now be able to apply more interactive teaching techniques,” he said.

In previous years, the OSCE has provided expert support to the Police Academy, including the development of the Lecturer’s Guidelines on teaching this specialized and compulsory 20-hour course. The OSCE has also trained the team of lecturers on modern interactive teaching techniques and has recently updated the Course on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings with regard to new legislation in this field.

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Twenty young women, alumni of the OSCE Dialogue Academy, met in Belgrade from 6 to 8 April 2016, to continue co-operation and agree on joint projects for 2016.

The meeting was organized under the auspices of the OSCE-supported “Follow Us” Initiative – a confidence-building initiative which gathers prominent women from Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština working in politics, media, academia and civil society.

This was the first visit to Belgrade for the alumni from Prishtinë/Priština. They were welcomed at the Serbian Parliament by the representatives of the “Follow Us” Initiative. During their meetings, participants from Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade acknowledged the importance of women civic activism to fostering reconciliation and dialogue, and explored ideas for joint actions involving young women from both societies.

“I really enjoyed my first time in Belgrade, and I am proud to be part of this initiative. It shows that dialogue and education for peace can definitely help free our hearts from prejudice and intolerance and the rejection of others,” said Marigona Lajqi, Dialogue Academy alumnae from Prishtinë/Priština.

“I am happy that we could welcome our friends from Prishtinë/Priština here in Belgrade. Co-operation and mutual understanding leads to great things; we defined a number of joint activities to be implemented this year. The initiative allows us to grow both as individuals and as part of a group,” said Jovana Živković, alumnae from Belgrade.

Participants of the meeting agreed to implement a mentoring and apprenticeship programme with prominent women in Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština, as well as hold outreach events in both societies, aimed at strengthening dialogue on specific issues, such as ending gender-based violence.

The next exchange visit will take place in August 2016 in Prizren, and joint 2016 activities and results will be presented at an end of year conference.

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The OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, for the second consecutive year, will organize the Dialogue Academy for Young Women as part of the Follow Us initiative. The initiative gathers prominent women from politics, academia, media and civil society from Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština and supports the process of dialogue, reconciliation and confidence-building between the two societies.

The purpose of the Academy is to empower young women by educating them on issues relating to women’s role in promoting dialogue, reconciliation, and co-operation. The 2016 edition of the programme builds upon last year’s experience and success whereby 22 young women from Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade had the opportunity to participate in a series of instructive lectures and team-building exercises and be part of a wide network of activists and experts in the fields of women empowerment, women in politics, dialogue and reconciliation.

This year, 24 female students of social science and young professionals in the areas of media, politics, and civil society will be attending the Academy programme from 30 September to 9 October 2016, organized at the Peace Castle Schlaining, Austria. 

Graduates from the Academy will become Dialogue alumni and are expected to create their own alumni network which will enable them to design and implement joint projects, following the example of the 2015 OSCE Dialogue Academy alumni.

For more information on the application please click here.

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• Mini-Olympic Games 2016
• OSCE Mission-organized Junior Basketball Tournament
• OSCE Mission trains legal professionals from northern Kosovo on fair trial rights

Twenty young women, alumni of the OSCE Dialogue Academy, met in Belgrade from 6 to 8 April 2016, to continue co-operation and agree on joint projects for 2016.

The meeting was organized under the auspices of the OSCE-supported “Follow Us” Initiative – a confidence-building initiative which gathers prominent women from Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština working in politics, media, academia and civil society.

This was the first visit to Belgrade for the alumni from Prishtinë/Priština. They were welcomed at the Serbian Parliament by the representatives of the “Follow Us” Initiative. During their meetings, participants from Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade acknowledged the importance of women civic activism to fostering reconciliation and dialogue, and explored ideas for joint actions involving young women from both societies.

“I really enjoyed my first time in Belgrade, and I am proud to be part of this initiative. It shows that dialogue and education for peace can definitely help free our hearts from prejudice and intolerance and the rejection of others,” said Marigona Lajqi, Dialogue Academy alumnae from Prishtinë/Priština.

“I am happy that we could welcome our friends from Prishtinë/Priština here in Belgrade. Co-operation and mutual understanding leads to great things; we defined a number of joint activities to be implemented this year. The initiative allows us to grow both as individuals and as part of a group,” said Jovana Živković, alumnae from Belgrade.

Participants of the meeting agreed to implement a mentoring and apprenticeship programme with prominent women in Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština, as well as hold outreach events in both societies, aimed at strengthening dialogue on specific issues, such as ending gender-based violence.

The next exchange visit will take place in August 2016 in Prizren, and joint 2016 activities and results will be presented at an end of year conference.

Related Stories

• OSCE to organize 2016 Dialogue Academy for Young Women
• Participants of OSCE-supported ‘Follow Us’ Initiative agree on 2016 action plan
• OSCE Dialogue Academy, focusing on women's involvement in dialogue and policy-making from Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade, concludes in Austria

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, for the second consecutive year, will organize the Dialogue Academy for Young Women as part of the Follow Us initiative. The initiative gathers prominent women from politics, academia, media and civil society from Belgrade and Prishtinë/Priština and supports the process of dialogue, reconciliation and confidence-building between the two societies.

The purpose of the Academy is to empower young women by educating them on issues relating to women’s role in promoting dialogue, reconciliation, and co-operation. The 2016 edition of the programme builds upon last year’s experience and success whereby 22 young women from Prishtinë/Priština and Belgrade had the opportunity to participate in a series of instructive lectures and team-building exercises and be part of a wide network of activists and experts in the fields of women empowerment, women in politics, dialogue and reconciliation.

This year, 24 female students of social science and young professionals in the areas of media, politics, and civil society will be attending the Academy programme from 30 September to 9 October 2016, organized at the Peace Castle Schlaining, Austria. 

Graduates from the Academy will become Dialogue alumni and are expected to create their own alumni network which will enable them to design and implement joint projects, following the example of the 2015 OSCE Dialogue Academy alumni.

For more information on the application please click here.

Related Stories

• Mini-Olympic Games 2016
• OSCE Mission-organized Junior Basketball Tournament
• OSCE Mission trains legal professionals from northern Kosovo on fair trial rights

Back with another negotiated deal and this time it's on the 8Bitdo Ultimate 2C Black Myth: Wukong Limited Edition in both the wired and wireless variants. It beats the previous deal, still beats $69.95 at EB Games and ships from 8BitDo's official store.

The Ultimate 2C improves upon the original by introducing Bluetooth connectivity alongside 2.4G wireless, hall effect joysticks/triggers, customisable R4/L4 buttons and tactile switches. Comparison here.

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Thailand stands at a pivotal crossroads. While it has progressed from a low-income to an upper-middle-income economy, its path to high-income status faces formidable obstacles.

SCB EIC, the research centre of Siam Commercial Bank, predicts that the transfer of new residential units in Greater Bangkok will decline by 10% this year, with a further contraction of 1-3% projected for 2025, mainly due to the country's sluggish economy.

New exhibit: Spy Vibers in the UK have a chance to visit a new exhibit in Cambridge which celebrates the history and enduring legacy of Agatha Christie and other mystery authors. From the press release: "Murder by the Book: a celebration of 20th century British crime fiction puts on display nearly 100 of the most famous, influential and best-selling crime novels in UK history, as well as other consequential works that are now long out of print. The vast majority of novels on display are drawn from the Library’s unique, world-class Tower collection of first editions in their original dust jackets. The exhibition has been supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

"Aside from Christie’s 1937 Remington typewriter, one of the star exhibits of Murder by the Book is the typescript of her final Poirot novel Curtain – locked away for nearly 30 years and originally supposed to be published posthumously. It was the last novel published before her death in 1976 and finally revealed a closely guarded secret about Christie’s beloved detective Hercule Poirot – a revelation so culturally significant, that it featured on the front page of the New York Times. The Christie objects, loaned by the Christie Archive Trust, also include her draft notebooks from the writing of Curtain and Witness for the Prosecution. Elsewhere, the exhibition also features Wilkie Collins’ writing desk, as well as the Library’s first edition copy of his seminal work The Moonstone." More info at the exhibit website. 

Selected Spy Vibe Posts: Blu Manchu, Blu Prisoner, Byron Janis R.I.P., Spy Vibe Radio: Blake and Mortimer, Champions Podcast, ITC Book, Bond Event, Black Tight Killers Blu, New Persuaders Book, David McCallum R.I.P., Avengers Blu Sets, Spy Vibe Radio: Adventures in Paradise, The Secret Service book, World of Giants, Tiki Events, Cold War Classical, Paul at 81, 007 Comic Exhibit, Exotikon Event, Bond 60th Event, The Baron Blu-ray, Mission: Impossible in 4k, Jane Bond Strip, SV Radio: The Man Called Flintstone, Lupin III 50th, SV Radio: OSS117, McCartney 1964, Spy Vibe Radio: Hunter, Spy Vibe Radio: Gao Dalli CID 999, Bond Beatles 60th, William Klein R.I.P., Spy Vibe Radio: M Squad, Spy Vibe Radio: Mr. Broadway, Agent King, Spy Vibe Radio: John Kling, Spy Vibe Radio: Unknown Man of Shandigor, Danger Man Podcast, Spy Vibe Radio: Dr. Mabuse, Bowie Day, Interview: Girls Guns Gadgets, Shandigor Blu, Shag Palm Springs, New Bond Novel, Hi-Fi Book, Judex Serial Blu, UFO Comics, Interview: John Buss, ITC Magazine, Interview: Kaiser Marionettes, Belmondo R.I.P., 007 Corgi Event, Space 1999: The Vault, Shag Eames Lounge, Firecracker Exotica, Spy Vibe Radio: Lola Albright, Tikyaki 5-0, Godzilla Scores, Mid-Century Village, Spy Vibe radio: Nicola Conte, Men's Adventure Quarterly, Billy May Frenesi, Gary Numan, Spy Vader Spy, Chris Barber Legacy, Phantom Retrospective, Astro-Man, Spy Vibe Radio: Batman, James Bond Lexicon, Ray Cathode, Spy Vibe Radio: Johnny Staccato, Matt Helm Blu, Cold War Auction, Avengers Francavilla Prints, Avengers 60th Event, Irma Vep Blu, Avengers Keel Design, Ronnie Scott's Doc, The Avengers 60th Design, Art of Pan Books, John Le Carre R.I.P., Sean Connery R.I.P., New 007 Vinyl, Burke's Law Ska, Dieter Rams Complete, 2-Tone Doc, Spy Vibe Radio: Vendetta Part 2, Diana Rigg R.I.P., Moog Micky Dolenz, Beetle Bailey 70th, RSD Spies Vinyl, Ian Fleming Tribute, Fellini Box Set, Spy Vibe Radio: Vendetta, The Saint Podcast Bonus, The Saint Podcast, Barber Lotus, Trad Roots, Morricone R.I.P., Fleetway Spy Designs, John Steel Casebooks, ITC Podcast: The Persuaders, Dazzle Ships, Spy Vibe Radio: Raumpatrouille, Remembering Richard Sala, Crime & Spy Jazz books, Numan is FAB, Bruce Lee Blu, RSD Vinyl Spies, James Bond's DB5, UFO CD Set, Spy Vibe radio: Phantom Agents, Steranko is Revolutionary!, Interview: The Saint I Ain't, Diabolik Interview, New 007 Song, Diabolik Figures, Diabolik Sounds, Diabolik Set Design, Diabolik Park Ride, Danger Diabolik Blu, Count Arthur Strong, Honey West Title Cards, Bowie Day, Neil Innes R.I.P., Claudine Auger R.I.P., OHMSS at 50, Italian Job 50th OST, Charles Schulz Modern, Paul Desmond, Python 50th, Randall Hopkirk 50th, Thunderbirds Day, Lazenby Returns to MI6, Dr. John R.I.P., Spy Vibe Radio: Lupin III, Lupin Ska, Spy Vibe Prime, Zigomar Translation, The Village: Part 1, Monkey Punch R.I.P., Bubble Girl 63, ITC Soundtracks, Spy Vibe Radio: Public Eye, UFO Prime, Spaceship to Mars, Full Article