Our Beloved Denver (Big Guy), Thank you for teaching us the true meaning of what love was always meant to be. You were a beautiful dog with a beautiful

Our Beloved Denver, Thank you for teaching us the true meaning of what love was always meant to be. You were a beautiful dog with a beautiful soul that

Back when T-Mobile and Sprint were trying to gain regulatory approval for their $26 billion merger, executives repeatedly promised the deal would create jobs. Not just a few jobs, but oodles of jobs. Despite the fact that US telecom history indicates such deals almost always trigger mass layoffs, the media dutifully repeated T-Mobile and Sprint executive claims that the deal would create "more than 3,500 additional full-time U.S. employees in the first year and 11,000 more people by 2024."

About that.

Before the ink on the deal was even dry, T-Mobile began shutting down its Metro prepaid business and laying off impacted employees. When asked about the conflicting promises, T-Mobile refused to respond to press inquiries. Now that shutdown has accelerated, with estimates that roughly 6,000 employees at the T-Mobile subsidiary have been laid off as the freshly-merged company closes unwanted prepaid retailers. T-Mobile says the move, which has nothing to do with COVID-19, is just them "optimizing their retail footprint." Industry insiders aren't amused:

"Peter Adderton, the founder of Boost Mobile in Australia and in the U.S. who has been a vocal advocate for the Boost brand and for dealers since the merger was first proposed, figures the latest closures affect about 6,000 people. He cited one dealer who said he has to close 95 stores, some as early as May 1.

In their arguments leading up to the merger finally getting approved, executives at both T-Mobile and Sprint argued that it would not lead to the kind of job losses that many opponents were predicting. They pledged to create jobs, not cut them.

“The whole thing is exactly how we called it, and no one is calling them out. It’s so disingenuous,” Adderton told Fierce, adding that it’s not because of COVID-19. Many retailers in other industries are closing stores during the crisis but plan to reopen once it’s safe to do so."

None of this should be a surprise to anybody. Everybody from unions to Wall Street stock jocks had predicted the deal would trigger anywhere between 15,000 and 30,000 layoffs over time as redundant support, retail, and middle management positions were eliminated. It's what always happens in major US telecom mergers. There is 40 years of very clear, hard data speaking to this point. Yet in a blog post last year (likely to be deleted by this time next year), T-Mobile CEO John Legere not only insisted layoffs would never happen, he effectively accused unions, experts, consumer groups, and a long line of economists of lying:

"This merger is all about creating new, high-quality, high-paying jobs, and the New T-Mobile will be jobs-positive from Day One and every day thereafter. That’s not just a promise. That’s not just a commitment. It’s a fact....These combined efforts will create nearly 5,600 new American customer care jobs by 2021. And New T-Mobile will employ 7,500+ more care professionals by 2024 than the standalone companies would have."

That was never going to happen. Less competition and revolving door, captured regulators and a broken court system means there's less than zero incentive for T-Mobile to do much of anything the company promised while it was wooing regulators. And of course such employment growth is even less likely to happen under a pandemic, which will provide "wonderful" cover for cuts that were going to happen anyway.

Having watched more telecom megadeals like this than I can count, what usually happens is the companies leave things generally alone for about a year to keep employees calm and make it seem like deal critics were being hyperbolic. Then, once the press and public is no longer paying attention (which never takes long), the hatchets come out and the downsizing begins. When the layoffs and reduced competition inevitably arrives, they're either ignored or blamed on something else. In this case, inevitably, COVID-19.

In a few years, the regulators who approved the deal will have moved on to think tank, legal or lobbying positions at the same companies they "regulated." The same press that over-hyped pre-merger promises won't follow back up, because there's no money in that kind of hindsight policy reporting or consumer advocacy. And executives like John Legere (who just quit T-Mobile after selling his $17.5 million NYC penthouse to Giorgio Armani) are dutifully rewarded, with the real world market and human cost of mindless merger mania quickly and intentionally forgotten.

Easy 2 ingredients spinach dip

craving more? check out TasteSpotting

Schneider Electric patches vulns after Trustwave raises alarm

Two Schneider Electric SCADA products had vulnerabilities similar to the ones exploited in the Iran-bothering Stuxnet worm, an infosec outfit has claimed.…

Sorry all, rides over. See you in another life~

Компания MediaTek анонсировала свой новый флагманский процессор, который должен составить конкуренцию чипам Qualcomm.

Мы продолжаем цикл материалов по выбору смартфонов в разных ценовых сегментах, и на очереди психологический рубеж в 15 000 гривен. Это уже территория флагманов прошлых лет, которые на радость покупателям стали дешеветь перед выходом новинок 2020 года. И вот что нам может предложить официальная розница.

На корпусе есть небольшой дисплей, на котором отображается информация об уровне заряда аккумулятора и выходной мощности.

Is your standard charge for a speech $300,000?  According to an article appearing on the website of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and a May 31, 2013 email, Clinton’s standard contract usually includes: Round-trip transportation on a chartered private jet “e.g., a Gulfstream … Continue reading →

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.

Рестораны по всему миру борются за право обладания высшей наградой — звездой «Мишлен». Обычно столики в таких заведениях не бронируют, а очередь на улице достигает нескольких сотен метров. Блюда, подаваемые гостям, — произведения искусства, на которые можно смотреть часами.

IBM today announced that it broke the U.S. patent record with 8,088 patents granted to its inventors in 2016, marking the 24th consecutive year of innovation leadership. IBM’s 2016 patent output covers a diverse range of inventions in artificial intelligence and cognitive computing, cognitive health, cloud, cybersecurity and other strategic growth areas for the company.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) anunció hoy que está trabajando con más de 300 universidades y más de 400 instituciones educativas en toda Latinoamérica para respaldar la inminente necesidad de desarrollar habilidades asociadas a los requerimientos de la transformación digital, ya que el 60% de los ejecutivos se esfuerza hoy por mantener las habilidades de la fuerza laboral actualizadas y relevantes frente al rápido avance tecnológico.

Valerie Hansen has a new book just out: THE YEAR 1000: When Explorers Connected the World — and Globalization Began.  New York:  Scribner, 2020. A NYT review of Hansen's landmark volume is copied below, but let's first look at some interesting language notes concerning the background of the word for "slave" (Chapter 4 is on […]

Recently I’ve been looking around at different web hosting sites, offline, and online website builders to make a new website. While there are lots of really good website builders such as Yola, I wanted to go the free route or at least as free as possible............ Not being an HTML expert I wanted to find something that was relatively easy to use, that’s when I was told about 000webhost. What they offer is not only free hosting, but a free domain name and website builder all in one, sounds pretty good right? At least that’s what I thought until I tried their service.

Playing to 130,000 online, with a virtual tip jar: Performers adapt to life under coronavirus  ABC News

Сообщение День рождения в «Квартире Паши Кейзера» за 48 000 ₽!!! В пакет включено: аренда банкетки, кухня на 12 человек, выгодное предложение по алкоголю, ведущий, диджей, звуковое оборудование.После нашей программы начинается афтепати — шоупрограмма в общем зале.Налетай! Предложение действует только на свободные даты этого лета! Которых всё меньше)#ЛучшеЗвонитеКолбину!#ХимияРазвлечений на kolbin.ru появились сначала на Дмитрий Колбин.

Exclusive offer from Giveaway of the Day and ToomkyGames! No third-party advertising and browser add-ons! Guide Kate Reed as she searches for the artifacts that can break the power of a cursed gem in House of 1,000 Doors: The Palm of Zoroaster! A cursed gem that has left a trail of smoldering bodies in its wake is threatening the residents of the House of 1,000 Doors, prompting the head of the mystical dwelling to once again summon Kate Reed to its aid. Guide Kate as she searches for the artifacts that can break the power of the gem!

In his book Secrets of Polar Travel, explorer Robert Peary speaks about a ration that he brought on his expeditions to the Arctic between 1886 and 1909. Among his supplies in his trips, he considers this ration as the “first in importance”. What’s more, he comments that this is one meal that “a man can eat twice a day for three hundred and sixty-five days in a year and have the last mouthful taste as good as the first.” What is this that Peary says is food that you won’t get tired of eating everyday?

Peary was talking about pemmican, a blend of rendered fat and powdered, dried meat that fueled exploration and expansion long before his attempts to reach the North Pole. Archaeological evidence suggests that as early as 2800 BC humans hunted the bison that roamed North America’s Great Plains and blended their meat, fat, and marrow into energy-dense patties with a serious shelf-life. A single pound of pemmican lasted for years and might’ve packed as many as 3,500 calories.

More details about pemmican and how to make it over at Atlas Obscura.

Yum!

(Image Credit: Sam O’Brien for Gastro Obscura)

Cybersecurity firm Cynet today announced the launch of a first of its kind challenge to enable Incident Response professionals to test their skills with 25 forensic challenges that were built by top researchers and analysts. The challenge is available on https://incident-response-challenge.com/ and is open to anyone willing to test his or her investigation skills, between April 21st and May

Cybersecurity researchers from ESET on Thursday said they took down a portion of a malware botnet comprising at least 35,000 compromised Windows systems that attackers were secretly using to mine Monero cryptocurrency. The botnet, named "VictoryGate," has been active since May 2019, with infections mainly reported in Latin America, particularly Peru accounting for 90% of the compromised

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Robert SASAKI has added a photo to the pool:

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Environmental News FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOSTON – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that two grantees in the state of Vermont have been selected to receive $800,000 to assess and clean up contaminated properties under the agency's Brownfields Program.

EPA Selects El Paso Downtown Management District for $600,000  Brownfields Assessment Grant Funds are part of $65.6 million awarded nationwide

Media contacts: Jennah Durant or Joe Hubbard, R6Press@epa.gov or 214 665-2200

DALLAS – (May 8, 2020) Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that the city of Alexandria, Louisiana, will receive $300,000 as a Brownfields assessment grant.