There's got to be a reason for the Democrats to suppose to exist. And the reason the Democrats are supposed to exist is to be an opposition party to the Republicans. If you're in bed with the same people, taking money from the same people, you're no longer an opposition party. There's no reason for you to exist. And guess what? Don't be surprised that people don't vote for you. Continue reading →

Three portraits from yesterday's Blackpool Pride Festival in Blackpool, all of which were shot with the Fujifilm X-T1 and 90mm f/2 (my new favourite lens). As always, it was a great event, with lots of great characters.

While pretty much everyone enjoyed the Blackpool Pride Festival there were a handful of slightly less cheerful folk.

IRON MAIDEN отменили все запланированные на 2020 год выступления. Менеджер группы, Rod Smallwood, написал:

«Надеюсь, что вы и ваши любимые здоровы и в безопасности, где бы вы ни находились, и моя постоянная благодарность всем вам за то, что вы так терпеливо относитесь к нам.

В связи с продолжающимися проблемами во всём мире в связи COVID-19 мы с сожалением сообщаем вам, что группа IRON MAIDEN не будет давать концерты до июня 2021 года.

Тем не менее, сейчас мы можем предоставить вам подробную информацию о наших гастрольных планах в отношении тех концертов, которые мы надеялись отыграть в этом году.

Во-первых, мы очень рады сообщить вам, что нам удалось перенести все наши европейские концерты в туре "Legacy Of The Beast" на июнь/июль 2021 года, за исключением Москвы, Санкт-Петербурга, Верта и Цюриха, которые, к сожалению, невозможно вписать в этот период.

Для усиления маршрута тура, как вы видите, мы добавили ещё 2 концерта в Арнеме и Антверпене.

В настоящее время мы работаем над сохранением всех специальных гостей и групп поддержки, которые должны были выступить с нами в этом году. В тех случаях, когда какая-либо группа не сможет принять участие из-за собственных перенесённых выступлений, мы будем искать иные подходящие выступления эквивалентного уровня. Большинство из них уже подтверждено, и их можно найти на странице тура на официальном сайте.

Перенести хэдлайн-выступления на фестивалях, к сожалению, не удалось. В основном это связано с тем, что у нас уже был очень напряжённый по планам вариант на 2021 год, и, как я уверен, вы можете себе представить, большое количество концертов уже распланировано, и поэтому только это мы можем как-то втиснуть в наши планы. Группа получает удовольствие от выступлений на фестивалях, так что будьте уверены, что мы вернёмся к как можно большему количеству из них в другой раз.

Что касается того, что должно было стать открытием тура 2020 года и было запланировано на 1 мая в Перте (Австралия), после чего в планах были Новая Зеландия, Филиппины, Япония, Дубай и Израиль, то в настоящее время мы работаем над возможностью возвращения в как можно большее число этих стран в первой половине 2022 года — ближе к датам появится больше новостей на этот счёт.

Группа в порядке и направляет вам, ребята, свои наилучшие пожелания, они с нетерпением ждут возвращения на сцену в следующем году и возможности вновь с вами увидеться, так что, пожалуйста, продолжайте заботиться о себе и будьте УМНЫМИ».

Даты 2021:

Jun. 11 - Poland, Warsaw PGE Narodowy

Jun. 13 - Germany, Bremen Bürgerweide

Jun. 15 – Czezh Republic, Prague Sinobo Stadium

Jun. 16 - Austria, Wiener Neustadt Stadium Open Air

Jun. 19 - Spain, Barcelona Olympic Stadium

Jun. 21 - Portugal, Lisbon Estadio Nacional

Jun. 24 - Italy, Bologna Sonic Park

Jun. 26 - Germany, Stuttgart Mercedes-Benz Arena

Jun. 27 - Belgium, Antwerps Sportpaleis

Jun. 30 - Germany, Berlin Waldbühne

Jul. 03 - Sweden, Gothenburg Ullevi Stadium

Jul. 08 - Ger, Cologne Rhein-Energie-Stadium

Jul. 10 – The Netherlands, Arnhem GelreDome

Jul. 11 - Framce, Paris La Defense Arena, Paris #Iron_Maiden #IronMaiden #HeavyMetal #Heavy_Metal

So we’re sure most of our Gentle Readers have seen the beginnings of publicity for the upcoming series Sanditon, sort of an adaptation of Jane Austen’s last, unfinished work. So, first things first: the trailer! We have previously expressed our opinion on this upcoming work: that it is not so much an adaptation of Jane…

Gentle Readers, here is another treat for us while we are confined to our homes. We may even be able to lure Dorothy away from her garret for this one. Streaming Musicals will present a free streaming event of Paul Gordon’s musical adaptation of Pride and Prejudice on Friday, April 10, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.…

IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge program (@CitiesChallenge) will be sending teams of company experts to five municipalities through 2018 to provide pro bono consultative advice on issues such as affordable housing, economic development, immigration, and public safety.

ISS, ISS A/S, a leading global provider of facility services, has signed a commercial agreement with IBM to use the power of Watson IoT to transform the management of over 25,000 buildings around the world.

IBM today announced that it is extending the annual Smarter Cities Challenge, a worldwide, highly competitive grant program that provides pro bono consulting to help cities improve the critical services they provide to their citizens.

Why does hope matter? Why is it important? Because life is hard and often painful. Without hope, it’s immensely more difficult to envision a better future, one worth living for. Hope lets us set meaningful goals that motivate us to move forward, to learn and grow, and to realize our full potential.

IBM and Telestream announced today at IBC 2017 a game-changing solution for high-speed capture and production of live, broadcast quality video from remote locations for faster production turnaround. Telestream Vantage powered by Aspera combines Aspera’s FASPStream high-speed streaming technology and Telestream Lightspeed Live Capture media processing platform to enable production teams to work on live video feeds from remote locations in near real time.

IBM today announced that IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide IoT Platforms 2017 Vendor Assessment (Doc # US42033517, July 2017). The report highlights IBM’s Watson IoT Platform on IBM Cloud, which today is being used by thousands of clients and partners across six continents including BMW, KONE, HARMAN and more.

MAP Health Management and IBM Watson Health today announced a partnership that aims to address the pervasive problem of relapse among Americans suffering from Substance Use Disorder, a chronic disease. MAP will integrate Watson cognitive technologies into the MAP Recovery Network Platform to enhance the platform’s existing capabilities around patient risk models. In doing so, it is anticipated that behavioral health and substance abuse treatment providers that use the MAP platform will be better able to predict and prevent incidence of relapse nationwide.

IBM today announced that Joanne Wright, Vice President Supply Chain has been selected to speak at the upcoming Supply Chain Summit Conference, which takes place in Chicago on June 14-16.

IBM today announced that Joanne Wright, Vice President Supply Chain has been selected to speak at the upcoming Supply Chain Leaders in Action Business Forum, which takes place in Naples, Florida on June 5-7.

Tired of dragging armfuls of wine to a party? Why not try buying wine in a box?

was inspired to make a giant geometrical shape, that of the 20-side die, or isocahedron.

Digital video consumption is viral and, according to a new study released today by IBM and International Broadcasting Convention (IBC), more than half of the 21,000 consumers surveyed are using mobiles every day to watch streaming videos, and that number is expected to grow 45 percent in the next three years.

IBM today announced a new agreement with Walgreens, one of the country’s largest drugstore chains, to deploy IBM retail analytics at more than 8,100 locations nationwide to help improve the efficiency of field service support for these locations.

IBM Security today released a global study examining consumer perspectives around digital identity and authentication, which found that people now prioritize security over convenience when logging into applications and devices. Generational differences also emerged showing that younger adults are putting less care into traditional password hygiene, yet are more likely to use biometrics, multifactor authentication and password managers to improve their personal security.

IBM Security today announced the results of a global study exploring the factors and challenges of being a Cyber Resilient organization. The study was conducted by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by IBM Resilient and found that 77 percent of respondents admit they do not have a formal cyber security incident response plan (CSIRP) applied consistently across their organization. Nearly half of the 2800 respondents reported that their incident response plan is either informal/ad hoc or completely non-existent.

The IBM board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.50 per common share, payable December 9, 2017 to stockholders of record November 10, 2017.

The IBM board of directors today declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $1.50 per common share, payable March 10, 2018 to stockholders of record February 9, 2018. IBM has paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year since 1916.

IBM anunció hoy que un 40% de los principales bancos e instituciones financieras en el país cuentan con protección de fraudes en línea que se sustentan en la solución Trusteer de IBM, con la cual la seguridad de los clientes está respaldada al realizar transacciones electrónicas.

El Grupo BBVA acaba de formalizar un acuerdo con IBM para que esta firma asuma la operación y transformación de la infraestructura tecnológica actual de BBVA y el procesamiento de datos en América Latina y EE.UU., actualmente gestionada por su filial ATA en México.

Los inventores de IBM (NYSE: IBM) recibieron un récord de 9,043 patentes en 2017, lo que marca el 25º año consecutivo de liderazgo en Estados Unidos y supera el hito de 100.000 patentes. Las nuevas patentes se otorgaron a un grupo diverso de más de 8,500 investigadores, ingenieros, científicos y diseñadores de IBM en 47 países, Latinoamérica incluida, región que contribuyó con cerca de 100 patentes al registro de 2017.

IBM fue reconocido como líder de software de almacenamiento en el Cuadrante Mágico de Gartner para Software de Recuperación y Respaldo en Centro de Datos1. En sus “cuadrantes mágicos”, los analistas de Gartner evalúan tecnología y soluciones con la “capacidad de ejecución” y una “visión completa”.

IBM y organizaciones aliadas lanzaron la iniciativa global 'Call for Code', el esfuerzo más grande y ambicioso para reunir a desarrolladores del sector académico y empresarial, para resolver uno de los problemas más acuciantes de la sociedad de nuestro tiempo: prevenir, responder y recuperarse de desastres naturales.

De acuerdo con un estudio reciente de IBM, sólo dos de cada 10 empresas tienen capacidad para indicar dónde, cuándo y cómo sus clientes están teniendo dificultades para comprar en línea, una actividad que cada día toma más relevancia. IBM predice que en esta temporada navideña 2016, las ventas en línea mundiales para los minoristas aumentarán en casi un 14 por ciento, en comparación con 2015.

(NYSE: IBM) will strengthen Australia and New Zealand’s chances of co-hosting the world’s biggest radio telescope project (SKA), one of the largest scientific projects ever undertaken. The IBM SUR Award of IBM high performance Graphical Processor Unit (GPU) based computer hardware, management software and implementation services, will enable Victoria University to support the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) project, a low frequency SKA pathfinder project hosted in Australia in collaboration with Curtin University, MIT, the Smithsonian Institute, and the Raman Research Institute.

IBM today announced that as part of its Celebration of Service, designed to allow employees, retirees, clients and business partners to donate their time and expertise during the company's Centennial year, 300,000 IBMers around the world -- close to three quarters of its global workforce -- are volunteering in more than 5,000 projects in 120 countries, meeting civic and societal challenges and serving millions in need.

IBM has provided extra high performance computing (HPC) capacity to the Universities of Auckland and Otago within a new collaboration called the New Zealand eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) that makes large-scale scientific computing more widely available to New Zealand researchers.

IBM Security anunció los resultados de un estudio global que explora los factores y desafíos de ser una organización ciberresiliente. El estudio encontró que el 77% de los encuestados admiten no tener un plan formal de respuesta a incidentes de seguridad cibernética (CSIRP) aplicado sistemáticamente en toda su organización. Casi la mitad de los encuestados informaron que su plan de respuesta a incidentes es informal o completamente inexistente.

IBM anunció que fue nombrada líder en el informe 2013 IDC MarketScape, que analiza a los proveedores de consultoría en movilidad empresarial a nivel mundial. El informe cita al recientemente anunciado Customer Experience Lab y la iniciativa Mobile First de IBM como ejemplos de su liderazgo en Consultoría en Movilidad Empresarial.

La participación de mercado de IBM (NYSE: IBM) en infraestructura de aplicaciones y de middleware es un 29.1 por ciento, lo que amplía la posición de liderazgo de la compañía por 14° año consecutivo sobrepasando a la competencia por más del doble, de acuerdo con la firma de análisis del mercado de TI Gartner, basado en los ingresos totales nivel mundial para 2014.

IBM Research has announced a research agreement with MoleMap New Zealand to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. It builds on planned research with Melanoma Institute Australia. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma. The New Zealand and Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.

IBM México anunció hoy el nombramiento de Eduardo Gutiérrez como Presidente y Gerente General de la compañía en el país. El directivo mexicano sucederá a Antonio Martins, quien ha sido nombrado Presidente de IBM Brasil.

IBM y VON DER HEIDE, compañía especializada en servicios de consultoría de Recursos Humanos, informan que han firmado una importante alianza para expandir su oferta de servicios de Employee Engagement y HR Analytics en toda América Latina. Por medio de las tecnologías de IBM, esta alianza le permitirá a VON DER HEIDE brindar a sus clientes una oferta de consultoría única en el mercado, para transformar estrategias de talento en resultados de negocio.

L’entité sécurité d’IBM a annoncé aujourd'hui les résultats d'une étude mondiale sondant le niveau de préparation des organisations en matière de résistance à une cyberattaque et de récupération ensuite. L'étude, menée par le Ponemon Institute et sponsorisée par IBM Resilient, a révélé qu'une grande majorité des organisations interrogées ne sont toujours pas prêtes à répondre de façon adéquate aux incidents de cybersécurité, 77% des personne interrogées indiquant qu'ils n'ont pas de plan de réponse aux incidents de cybersécurité appliqué de manière cohérente dans l’ensemble de l'organisation.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) et Boursorama, filiale du groupe Société Générale, renouvellent leur accord par la signature d’un contrat de Cloud hybride d’une durée de 5 ans afin d’enrichir l'offre de nouveaux produits et services proposés par la banque.

L’entité sécurité d’IBM (NYSE : IBM) a publié aujourd'hui son rapport X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2020, qui souligne la façon dont les techniques des cybercriminels ont évolué après des décennies d'accès à des dizaines de milliards de données d'entreprises et de particuliers et à des centaines de milliers de failles logicielles. Selon le rapport, 60% des entrées initiales observées dans les réseaux des victimes ont exploité soit des données d’identification volées précédemment, soit des vulnérabilités logicielles connues, ce qui a permis aux attaquants de moins recourir à la ruse pour y accéder.

A l’occasion de VMworld® 2016, VMware, Inc. (NYSE : VMW) et IBM (NYSE : IBM) annoncent la disponibilité de services Cloud d’un genre nouveau, permettant aux entreprises de migrer rapidement et simplement des ressources informatiques d’entreprise vers le Cloud. Avec déjà plus de 500 clients concernés, le partenariat mondial entre IBM et VMware aide de plus en plus d’organisations à étendre leurs ressources informatiques existantes vers le Cloud en quelques minutes au lieu de plusieurs semaines ou mois.

A l’occasion de l’anniversaire des 400 ans de la traversée du navire marchand Mayflower, le nouveau Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) partira le 16 septembre 2020 de Plymouth au Royaume-Uni, pour rejoindre Plymouth dans le Massachussetts aux Etats-Unis. Sans équipage à bord, il sera le premier navire autonome de grande taille à traverser l’Atlantique. Cette traversée unique entremêlant passé, présent et futur propulsera le monde dans l’ère du navire autonome.

IBM, rejoint par plus de 100 partenaires commerciaux, lance le réseau IBM Digital Marketing dans le cloud et aide les directeurs marketing (CMO) et leurs équipes à intégrer plus rapidement et plus facilement de nouveaux services marketing, afin de mesurer et d’améliorer leur efficacité en temps réel.

IBM today announced the opening of a new data centre facility in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland. The data centre will augment IBM’s existing recovery centre located nearby, to provide exceptional and unrivalled risk mitigation for client information and data.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has selected IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 as a key infrastructure component for its ongoing development and delivery of customer-focussed business applications.

IBM Australia partners with Australia’s first Pride Centre to connect LGBTIQ community in Australia

IBM Research in Australia has announced plans to undertake research with Melanoma Institute Australia to help further advance the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. This planned research builds on IBM’s existing research agreement with Molemap, which uses advanced visual analytics to analyse more than 40,000 data sets including images and text. IBM Research plans to analyse dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify specific clinical patterns in the early stages of melanoma1. The Australian research aims to help reduce unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.

Advancements in assistive image analytics and deep learning technology could in the future help doctors in the fight against preventable blindness.

IBM today announced the signing of a new five-year infrastructure services agreement with The Westpac Group, which marks a key step in Westpac’s technology transformation program.