IBM reveló un nuevo estudio acerca de la manera en que los profesionales de marketing y ventas están adoptando soluciones cognitivas o de Inteligencia Artificial (IA). A pesar de que el 64% de los Directores de Marketing -CMOs por sus siglas en inglés- y líderes de ventas encuestados cree que sus industrias estarán listas para adoptar ese tipo de tecnologías en los próximos tres años, sólo 24% de los encuestados cree que tiene una estrategia establecida para hacerlo en la actualidad.

IBM y el Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts (MIT) anunciaron los planes de IBM para realizar una inversión de 240 millones de dólares por 10 años a fin de crear el Laboratorio de Inteligencia Artificia MIT-IBM Watson. El laboratorio llevará a cabo investigaciones fundamentales de IA y buscará impulsar avances científicos que desbloqueen su potencial. La colaboración tiene como objetivo avanzar en el desarrollo del hardware, el software y los algoritmos de IA relacionados con el aprendizaje profundo y otras áreas, aumentar el impacto de la misma en industrias tales como el cuidado de la salud y la seguridad cibernética, así como explorar sus implicaciones económicas y éticas en la sociedad. La inversión de IBM de 240 millones de dólares en el laboratorio apoyará la investigación de científicos de IBM y del MIT.

La compañía energética BP anunció el lanzamiento de su aplicación móvil BPme, desarrollada con capacidades de inteligencia artificial (IA) de IBM Watson, buscando mejorar constantemente la experiencia de los usuarios de las estaciones de servicio de BP en México.

IBM Security anunció los resultados de un estudio global que explora las implicaciones y los efectos de las brechas de datos en los negocios. Patrocinado por IBM Security y realizado por Ponemon Institute, el estudio encontró que el costo promedio de una violación de datos es de $3,62 millones de dólares a nivel mundial, una disminución del 10 por ciento a partir de los resultados de 2016. Esta es la primera vez, desde la creación del estudio, en que ha habido una disminución general en el costo. Según el reporte, estas brechas de datos cuestan a las compañías en promedio $141 dólares por registro perdido o robado.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) Watson Health y Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) anunciaron una colaboración que utilizará IBM Watson for Drug Discovery (IBM Watson para el descubrimiento de medicamentos) para ayudar a Pifizer en la investigación inmuno-oncológica, un enfoque para el tratamiento del cáncer que utiliza el sistema inmunológico del cuerpo para ayudar a combatir dicha enfermedad. Pfizer es una de las primeras organizaciones en todo el mundo en implementar Watson for Drug Discovery, y la primera en personalizar la herramienta cognitiva basada en la nube, aprovechando el aprendizaje automático de Watson, el procesamiento del lenguaje natural y otras tecnologías de razonamiento cognitivo para apoyar la identificación de nuevos medicamentos, combinación de terapias para estudio y estrategias de selección de pacientes en inmuno-oncología.

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.

Tres proyectos que proponen mejorar la interacción y la experiencia de los jóvenes usuarios con servicios bancarios móviles, fueron reconocidos hoy por Banorte, IBM y el Tec de Monterrey como resultado del Reto Banorte en el marco de la Semana i, que la institución educativa llevó a cabo del 21 al 25 de septiembre en todo el país.

IBM anunció la primer app educacional IBM MobileFirst para iOS. La app, IBM Watson Element for Educators, permite un nuevo nivel de compromiso de los maestros al proveer una visión holística en la palma de las manos de cada estudiante, incluyendo data en intereses, logros, desempeño académico, asistencia, comportamientos y actividades de aprendizaje. Como resultado, los maestros están siendo empoderados con la visión de los datos que les ayudará a abarcar necesidades individuales a fin de poder llegar potencialmente a mejores resultados a través de las experiencias de los alumnos K-12 (Primaria y Secundaria).

IBM (NYSE: IBM) et SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) annoncent aujourd’hui des projets communs pour accompagner leurs clients dans la modernisation de leurs systèmes et processus afin d’accélérer leur présence dans l’économie numérique. Les deux compagnies envisagent particulièrement d’innover ensemble pour créer de nouvelles solutions qui augmentent la valeur ajoutée du client en s’appuyant sur des extensions cognitives, des expériences client et utilisateur renforcées ainsi que des fonctionnalités sectorielles. Tout ceci doté de la SAP® Business Suite, du logiciel 4 SAP HANA® (SAP S/4HANA) et disponible sur site et dans le Cloud.

IBM Security a annoncé aujourd'hui les résultats de l'IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence Index annuel 2019, qui a révélé que les mesures de sécurité et la prise de conscience accrues poussent les cybercriminels à modifier leurs techniques en quête d'un meilleur retour sur investissement. En conséquence, le rapport détaille deux changements majeurs, à savoir un détournement surprenant des attaques de type ransomware et une diminution du recours aux logiciels malveillants.

L’entité Sécurité d’IBM (NYSE: IBM) a annoncé aujourd'hui les résultats de son étude annuelle sur l'impact financier des violations de données sur les organisations. Selon le rapport, le coût d'une violation de données a augmenté de 12 % au cours des cinq dernières années et coûte désormais 3,92 millions de dollars en moyenne. Ces dépenses croissantes sont représentatives de l'impact financier pluriannuel des violations, de la réglementation accrue et du processus complexe de résolution des attaques criminelles .

La nouvelle plateforme URights s’appuie sur les solutions analytiques et cloud d’IBM pour mieux valoriser les droits des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs de musique

La BRED déploie IBM Watson, disponible sur le cloud public d’IBM, pour traiter plus rapidement les demandes de ses clients avec une solution d’analyseur d’e-mails.

ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, IBM Scentre Group and Westpac have jointly launched a live pilot for Lygon, a new digital platform using blockchain technology to transform the way businesses obtain and manage bank guarantees that are often required as part of a retail property lease.

National Computational Infrastructure (NCI) has seamlessly integrated IBM’s latest Power Systems with Raijin’s existing x86 architecture, offering more choice to Australian researchers.

IBM today announced that WesTrac Pty Ltd, an industrial machinery supplier headquartered in Perth, has selected IBM to design and implement a Portable Modular Data Center (PMDC) solution to provide the company with a flexible, cost-effective data centre to meet its immediate business needs as well as support future IT growth.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the launch of the IBM Institute for Advanced Security in Asia-Pacific, an expansion of its company-wide initiative to provide governments, businesses and other key organisations with a forum to collaborate with IBM’s global network of security research, services, software and technology experts.

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.

IBM today announced it has been selected by Australian energy provider Western Power as the systems integration and project management partner for its SmartGrid-Advanced Meter Infrastructure pilot program.

Daily Photo – Bathhouses in Budapest There are different old Turkish baths all over Budapest. This particular one had about seven different pools, and this was the most ornate. I’m not 100% sure, but I think the roof can partially retract too. I can imagine that a century earlier it would have probably been the […]

Telstra Corporation Limited (Telstra) was awarded the 2008 Excellence Award in the ‘Best Practices - Service Provider’ category by the TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum).

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.

COVID-19 Update:

Things are kinda crazy right now. And as a result we have temporarily suspended our workshop program until it is safe to resume them. But we'll be back! And if you think you night want to join us, make sure to add your name to the list below.

Thanks,
David

I very much enjoy teaching small-class lighting workshops. But because of time constraints they only happen about once or twice a year.

When workshops do open up, they fill very quickly — often before many people even know they were available. So I have decided to create an interest list to help make notification of an upcoming workshop a much fairer process.


About the Classes

Strobist^® Lighting Workshops are held as both single- an multi-day events. They have small class sizes and feature lots of time behind the camera. In the longstanding tradition of Strobist.com, our goal is to deliver as much value and knowledge as possible while keeping the costs economically accessible.

We work in an environment of rotating small teams, with lots of one-to-one instruction. We have fun, and I can guarantee you'll have a solid understanding of lighting principles before you leave. Or I won't let you leave.



Single day workshops are usually held near my home base in the Baltimore/Washington area, but are occasionally held elsewhere. That is why I am also collecting geo-information, so I can notify people if a one-day workshop would be occurring near their home.

Extended lighting workshops (usually 2-3 days in length) are generally held in an area that is both economically accessible, and very much worth the trip. Because if you are going to travel for something like this, why not go to a cool destination?

The goal for multi-day workshops is a fast-paced/fun/firehose weekend, in a fantastic setting, while working to keep everything to a manageable cost.


Might Be Interested? Let Me Know.

The interest sign-up list approach has proved to be both fair and efficient for our X-Peditions trips. So I am going to use that approach for single- and multi-day small-class lighting workshops as well.

Here's how it works.

1. If you think you even might be interested in a single- or multi-day lighting workshop, please submit your name and email below. This confers no obligation on you whatsoever.

2. I will only use your email for the purpose of giving you advance notice for small-class lighting workshops. I do not sell, rent or otherwise share your email. Because I hate companies who do that.

3. When I have an upcoming workshop, you'll get an email notice well before it is publicly announced. In fact, because of this interest list, future lighting workshops likely won't be publicly announced at all.

4. Make sure to include your city/state/country. If I suddenly find I have 30 people from Pitchfork, Nebraska who are interested, it may well make sense to reach out to those people and work out a nearby location.

That's it!

Thanks,
David

2019.9.17うす塁斗大阪やで CIRCUS今回は地方があっという間ですね大阪公演も楽しみだ！森ノ宮ピロティホール劇場近くあ大阪城ホールだ観たことないな立ったことないなあと大阪城続きをみる

『著作権保護のため、記事の一部のみ表示されております。』

2019.12.29うす塁斗にくのひだねー肉だねー2019令和元年肉の日ラストー詳しくはTwitterで。、ロカビリーリーゼントほぐし途中まるでスネ夫、カブトムシ、今年もありが続きをみる

『著作権保護のため、記事の一部のみ表示されております。』

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 […]

This set of notes focuses on the restriction problem in Fourier analysis. Introduced by Elias Stein in the 1970s, the restriction problem is a key model problem for understanding more general oscillatory integral operators, and which has turned out to be connected to many questions in geometric measure theory, harmonic analysis, combinatorics, number theory, and […]

Hondo, you ol' pirate.

T he kind folks at Tasty Minstrel Games (TMG) recently sent me a preview copy of Old West Empresario, which will debut at GenCon 2019 today. We already have about ten TMG games in our collection that we thoroughly enjoy (with Crusaders and Gentes being the most recent additions) and so my husband Chris and I were both feeling pretty good about the chances of this new release being a good fit for us as well.

Old West Empresario  picks up its narrative where its prequel, Pioneer Days (also from TMG) left off. Players take on the role of Empresarios, settling the old west. They are charged with building new towns so prosperous and populated that one will be chosen as the state capital, winning the game for its Empresario.

As with Pioneer Days, the  artwork from Sergi Marcet reinforces the Western theme and uses bright, appealing colors. I appreciated the racial diversity depicted in the illustrations.

Components include double sided building cards, currency tokens, victory point (i.e. population) tokens, and die number tiles (all constructed from heavy cardboard); as well as a set of eight brown dice, a wooden first player token, thin cards for the wanted and character cards, a scoring pad, and the rulebook.  Most of the components should last a long time under regular use but the character cards and wanted cards should possibly be sleeved to prevent bending or tearing.

The gameplay here is a bit reminiscent of Suburbia in that victory points (VP) are partially earned based on the placement of constructed buildings in a player’s town relative to other constructed buildings in the town. For example, the Mine scores 2 VP at the end of the game if adjacent to at least 1 Inn and 1 VP per adjacent Distillery. In addition to victory points earned based on the adjacency rules, a number of constructed civic buildings award end game points to the owning player based on meeting certain qualifications such as owning x amount of cash, y amount of victory tokens, or z amount of native settlement buildings. There are also four other ways to earn victory points in Old West Empresario :

• owning the largest contiguous block of native settlement buildings
• construction of buildings tied to the railroad, stock, or oil industries
• accumulation of wanted cards (awarded for being the first or second player to accomplish the objective listed on the card)
• accumulation of wealth (1VP for every 3 coins)

So how do we construct buildings in our towns and what else can they do for us besides award end game VP? Well, each round, the starting player rolls the set of dice (2 for each player + 1 extra) and then places each die on top of the corresponding die number tile. Each die number tile has two buildings positioned underneath it selected from the pool of unconstructed buildings and native settlements.  Unconstructed buildings can be activated later in the game once added and constructed in a player’s town.  Native settlements do not require construction and have a one time activation effect when added to a player’s town.

Taking turns beginning with the start player, each player selects a die from a die number tile and then either (1) collects one of the buildings underneath the die number tile to add to their town (2) activates all the buildings in their town that have the same number on their die icon as the die selected, or (3) discards one of the buildings underneath the die number tile to the game discard pile and collects $3.

Each player begins the game with only one constructed building in their town – the town hall – which has, as one of its activation effects, the ability to construct another building in the town for the resource cost of $1. In addition to the town hall, each player selects a native settlement or unconstructed building to add to their town at the start of the game. Note that the town hall can be activated by any die number. This means that on any player’s first turn, they are able to activate their town hall to construct an unconstructed building already in their town. If the first building they construct is the Carpenter building, they now have two constructed buildings capable of constructing new buildings when activated.

Aside from construction as an activation effect, the accumulation of VP tokens, cash, or additional building tiles are also possible, depending on the specific building under activation. One building (the Church) allows a player to activate another building from their town that otherwise would not be activated that turn for a small fee. And the Undertaker building forces opponents to discard cash (Aha! Take that!).

The game ends and victory points are tallied after the round in which one or more players host at least 15 buildings in their town, or the building supply deck or VP token supply runs out.

In my first game of Old West Empresario, I played against my husband. His strategy was to turn the game into some kind of massive engine builder. He worked hard to construct buildings in his town that ALL had the same activation number. I took the opposite approach and tried to cover all the dice outcomes so that I knew I always had at least one building other than my Town Hall to activate if desired. I focused on earning VP tokens through building activation effects and the wanted cards while he focused on earning VP through adjacency rules. I beat him by one point.

In another game with friends, I took the same approach and won again even though my friends also tried to focus on these items. Rinse repeat across a few more games. But when I played against my husband a second time and he focused less this time on adjacency rules and more on building activation effects to collect VP tokens, he was able to beat me. This is where his ploy to have several buildings with the same activation number gave him the edge – I might activate one building on a turn that gave VP tokens as an activation effect while he activated four on a turn that did so. I’ll need to match his strategy in grouping activation numbers if I am going to have a chance to beat him.

I have now played the game several times since receiving it, across all players counts. A few summary takeaways from these plays of Old West Empresario:

1. The game is easy to learn but it takes awhile for players to memorize the activation effects of each building. It can be helpful to photocopy the back cover of the rulebook that documents this information and give one sheet to each player for reference.

2. Game time consistently hovers around an hour, regardless of player count or number of previous plays under the players’ belts.

3. There are multiple paths to victory and winning strategies to explore due to a myriad of ways to earn victory points.

4. Huge spreads across the final player scores are unlikely. They never occurred in our games. It’s very much a neck and neck competition till the end and no one is certain of the winner until the final scores are tallied.

5. The iconography can be confusing for new players. The designer overlays a circle with a a slash through it on top of a picture of a resource to indicate the cost of an action. However, almost every new player interpreted the image at first glance to mean none of the resource was required to perform the action (perhaps thinking normally one  or more units of the resource is required by default).

Overall, Old West Empresario  is an engaging, lightweight to medium strategy game that can work with many different play groups. It’s a good game for drawing non-gamer friends into tabletop gaming and to give hardcore gamers a more relaxing hour of gameplay. I am going to keep the game and I’m thinking of picking up Pioneer Days  to set up a back to back gaming event where we begin with PD and move onto OWE, perhaps with a viewing of a film like Rio Bravo wedged in the middle. The $60 retail price point is a bit steep but strategy gaming market pricing continues to trend upward with the rising demand for new games so it would be a mischaracterization to imply TMG isn’t pricing games competitively; they are on par with other large publishers. 

-------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games (TMG)
Players: 2-4
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 60 minutes
Game type: tile placement, tableau building

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me

There was a time – before I sank my teeth into the board game hobby and before I took on the demands of being a stepmom to three children - that I planned frequent trips for my friends circle. Each month would see us jet setting off to a different part of the United States (or a different part of the world) in search of adventure and great cuisine. I would pour myself into the research project that proper trip planning requires and create a custom itinerary for our group, working to ensure we caught all the highlights of our destination. This post is about the one I worked up for our last trip to some of the great Western National Parks in the United States.  I share it here with the hope that you might find the itinerary useful in planning your trip out west.

 

--> Full Photo Gallery – Come and Explore 

DAY ONE	MORNING Depart for Butte, Montana Pick up rental car AFTERNOON Lunch (& ice cream) at Matt’s Place (Butte) Transfer to Grand Teton National Park (4.5 hrs) Grand Teton National Park Visitors Center (open till 7pm) EVENING Stop for photos @ Mormon Row Historic District (Antelope Flats Road, Grand Teton National Park, WY) Dinner @ Peaks Restaurant, Signal Mountain Lodge Check in @ Colter Bay Village
DAY TWO	MORNING AND AFTERNOON 5:45am Sunrise excursion to Schwabacher's Landing • Roughly four miles north of Moose off of the main highway. The 1.5 mile gravel access road is currently closed to vehicles due to sequestration; 20 min walk is therefore required to reach the trailhead. The trail follows along the water, heads northwest then turns north to follow a trail along a smaller stream. Five minutes of hiking you should come to a large beaver dam that creates a pond. Circle around the water on the maze of paths that travel north through the woods for 5 more minutes and it will lead to an opening with the classic view. A log bench marks the area, and if you are arriving for sunrise, a photographer usually will also mark the spot. Breakfast @ Ranch House 8am Assemble in lobby to depart for morning tour Sightseeing in Grand Teton NP: • Lake Jenny- Hidden Falls, Inspiration Point, & Cascade Canyon Hike o Starts with a boat ride ($12; service from 8am) across beautiful Jenny Lake to where the trail starts. The half mile hike to Hidden Falls is short and easy. Half mile further to Inspiration Point. The hike from the boat dock to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point is like a traffic jam after 9am. Option to continue onto Cascade Canyon where the crowds thin and moose and other wildlife are abundant. Signal Mountain Summit Road . The scenic Signal Mountain Road is a five mile, 1,000 foot climb of switchbacks to an observation area at the top of Signal Mountain. Set far apart from the next highest mountain peak, Signal Mountain provides breathtaking views of the Tetons’ towering peaks, the flat glacial plains below, Jackson Lake and the Snake River beyond. From Lake Jenny, travel N on the Grand Teton Road and take a right onto Signal Mountain Road. Lunch @ Signal Mountain Lodge (Trapper’s Grill or Leek’s Pizza) Afternoon at leisure at Colter Bay Village (horseback riding, kayaking, canoe rentals, etc) EVENING Dinner @ Ranch House or Chuckwagon
DAY THREE	MORNING Breakfast @ Ranch House Transfer to Yellowstone National Park (1.5 hrs) Optional brief stop at West Thumb for photos (keep bear spray handy) Sightseeing in the Upper Geyser Basin: • Old Faithful • Black Sand and Biscuit Basin Trails (1/2 mile easy boardwalk trail each) • Geyser Hill Loop Trail (1.3 miles easy boardwalk trail) • Morning Glory Pool AFTERNOON Lunch @ Old Faithful Inn Deli Sightseeing in the Midway and Lower Geyser Basin: • Despite its small size Midway possesses two of the largest hot springs in the world. Grand Prismatic Spring, nearly 370 feet in diameter, sits upon a large mound surrounded by small step-like terraces. The other feature, Excelsior Geyser, erupted nearly 300 feet high before the 1900s. It is now a dormant geyser and is considered a hot spring, discharging more than 4050 gallons of boiling water per minute. Other colorful springs include Turquoise and Indigo springs, known for their pale and dark blue colors. Across the Firehole River from Excelsior and Grand Prismatic springs are a series of small isolated, pristine springs and mud pots. The Rabbit Creek drainage possesses some colorful and unusual features and most are unnamed. Caution should be exercised while exploring this vicinity since the ground is unstable and trails are not maintained. • The Lower Geyser Basin encompasses nearly 12 square miles, with most of the thermal features widely scattered in small groups. We will visit the Fountain Group, White Dome Group, & White Creek Group at minimum and venture onto the Firehole Lake Group and the Imperial Group if there is time. The Lower Geyser Basin possesses a large variety of thermal features, including mud pots, geysers, pools, springs, and fumaroles. Great Fountain Geyser is one of the grand geysers in the Lower Geyser Basin. It erupts from a large, terraced platform with massive bursts exploding up to 150 feet high. White Dome Geyser does not have spectacular eruptive displays, but it does have one of the largest pink and white streaked cones in the Park. EVENING Check in @ Old Faithful Inn Dinner @ Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria
DAY FOUR	MORNING AND AFTERNOON Breakfast @ Old Faithful Inn Traverse the Fishing Bridge Sightseeing in Hayden Valley: • Wildlife Viewing • Sulphur Caldron • Mud Volcano Interpretive Trail (3/4 mile, easy) Sightseeing in Canyon Area: • South Rim Drive o Picnic Lunch at Artist Point • North Rim Drive o walk from Inspiration Point to Grandview Point o Brink of the Lower Falls Trail (1/2 mile, steep/moderate)  Especially scenic, this trail branches off of the North Rim Trail at the Brink of the Upper Falls parking area • Canyon Visitor Center EVENING Check in @ Canyon Lodge Dinner @ Canyon Lodge Dining Room
DAY FIVE	MORNING 6am Depart for wildlife viewing in Lamar Valley (snacks in the car) 9am Breakfast @ Roosevelt Lodge Sightseeing in Northern Yellowstone: • Tower Falls o Stop at Tower General Store to pick up Picnic Lunch supplies • Undine Falls o Scenic pullout on the right • Gibbon Falls • Mammoth Springs (2 hrs) o Lower Terraces including: Opal Terrace Liberty Cap Palette Spring Minerva Terrace Cleopatra Terrace Jupiter Terrace Main Terrace Canary Spring Overlook o Upper Terraces including: Prospect Terrace New Highland Terrace Orange Spring Mound Bath Lake White Elephant Back Terrace Angel Terrace • Fort Yellowstone, time permitting • Optional stop @ Norris Geyser Basin, time permitting EVENING Check in @ Three Bears Lodge Dinner @ Taqueria Las Palmitas ($) or Madison Crossing Lounge ($$) Ice cream @ Espresso West
DAY SIX	MORNING Breakfast @ Woodside Bakery in West Yellowstone (world famous cinnamon rolls) Check out & transfer to Butte (2.5 hrs) AFTERNOON Lunch on the road Depart for home from Butte airport

I'll be at TCAF in Toronto this weekend with thepapermouse -- just for fun! I won't be at a table, but YOU CAN buy Starfighter: Chapter 01 from the Saicoink's (romanshoubu) table! I don't have a number for where Saicoink will be, but I do know it's on the first floor somewhere (I'll update if I find out more!). If you find me, I can give you a sticker and my sweet love. Don't worry, I'll be gentle.

Con Info

See you there! -HamletMachine

Hello everyone! I am very proud to announce that the Starfighter album is now available; this is made possible by the incredible musicians and artists that created for this project and I couldn't have asked for a better collaboration! There were so many great submissions that it was hard to choose only a few— EVERYONE DID A REALLY AMAZING JOB! Thank you all so, so much for your incredible work. The Starfighter fandom is super creative and wonderful and I'm so honored that you all participated!

If you enjoy the musicians' work, please check out their games in the track info!

Special thanks to Scarvenrot, who gave me a lot of help organizing the album!

The album is free to listen to and there are limited downloads per month! (EDIT: I upgraded the DLs to 1k! ;3) If you have any difficulties or questions about that, please refer to bandcamp's download FAQ!

Again, thank you all so much!

ENJOY! -Hamlet

I'll be a guest at the OOPS SUMMER FEST in Monterrey, Mexico!

This is my first time there- if you are attending the convention, I hope we can meet! (My Spanish isn't great, but I will try my best!)

VIP members get an exclusive print I made <3

See you there! <3 -Hamlet

Podle odhadu Evropské komise se česká ekonomika letos propadne o rekordní 6,2 procenta. To je více než za finanční krize v roce 2009. Se špatnými výsledky počítá odhad, který Brusel zveřejnil ve středu. Oproti evropskému průměru bude dopad koronaviru na HDP v Česku menší.

Dopravní podniky i soukromí dopravci obnovují běžné jízdní řády. Přestože stále hromadnou dopravu využívá zlomek lidí než před zahájením karanténních opaření, poklesy o 80 nebo 90 procent proti běžnému stavu už jsou minulostí.

Méně stolů a větší rozestupy. Jihomoravské restaurace v pondělí otevřou své zahrádky. Musí dodržet přísná opatření proti šíření koronaviru, přesto nemají alternativu pro špatné počasí.

Ve Spojených státech v dubnu zaniklo rekordních 20,5 milionu pracovních míst. Míra nezaměstnanosti vzrostla na 14,7 procenta z březnových 4,4 procenta. Dostala se tak na nejvyšší úroveň od velké hospodářské krize ve 30. letech minulého století.

Česká národní banka čeká propad české ekonomiky o 8 procent. Na předkrizovou úroveň se nedostane ani v příštím roce. Restart bude záviset i na tom, jak rychle lidé začnou utrácet. Napovědí příští měsíce, kdy se víc lidí bude hlásit na úřady práce.

How CEOs Are Ruining America

Today, America’s wealthiest business moguls – like Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase – claim that they are “patriots before CEOs” because they employ large numbers of workers or engage in corporate philanthropy.

Rubbish.

CEOs are in business to make a profit and maximize their share prices, not to serve America. And yet these CEOs dominate American politics and essentially run the system. 

Therein lies the problem: They cannot be advocates for their corporations and simultaneously national leaders responsible for the wellbeing of the country. This is the biggest contradiction at the core of our broken system.

A frequent argument made by CEOs is that so-called “American competitiveness” should not be hobbled by regulations and taxes. Jamie Dimon often warns that tight banking regulations will cause Wall Street to lose financial business to banks in nations with weaker regulations. Under Dimon’s convenient logic, JPMorgan is America. 

Dimon used the same faulty logic about American competitiveness to support the Trump tax cut. “We don’t have a competitive tax system here,” he warned.

But when Dimon talks about “competitiveness” he’s really talking about the competitiveness of JPMorgan, its shareholders, and billionaire executives like himself.

The concept of “American competitiveness” is meaningless when it comes to a giant financial enterprise like JPMorgan that moves money all over the world. JPMorgan doesn’t care where it makes money. Its profits don’t directly depend on the wellbeing of Americans.

“American competitiveness” is just as meaningless when it comes to big American-based corporations that make and buy things all over the world. 

Consider a mainstay of corporate America, General Electric. Two decades ago, most GE workers were American. Today the majority are non-American. In 2017, GE announced it was increasing its investments in advanced manufacturing and robotics in China, which it termed “an important and critical market for GE.” In 2018, over half of GE’s revenue came from abroad. Its once core allegiance to American workers and consumers is gone.

Google has opened an Artificial Intelligence lab in Beijing. Until its employees forced the company to stop, Google was even building China a prototype search engine designed to be compatible with China’s censors.

Apple employs 90,000 people in the United States but contracts with roughly a million workers abroad. An Apple executive told The New York Times, “We don’t have an obligation to solve America’s problems. Our only obligation is making the best product possible” – and showing profits big enough to continually increase Apple’s share price.

American corporations will do and make things wherever around the world they can boost their profits the most, and invest in research and development wherever it will deliver the largest returns. 

The truth is that America’s real competitiveness doesn’t depend on profit-seeking shareholders or increasingly global corporations. The real competitiveness of the United States depends on only one thing: the productivity of Americans. 

That in turn depends on our education, our health, and the infrastructure that connects us. Yet today, American workers are hobbled by deteriorating schools, unaffordable college tuition, decaying infrastructure, and soaring health-care costs. 

And truth be told, big American corporations and the CEOs that head them – wielding outsized political influence – couldn’t care less. They want tax cuts and rollbacks of regulations so they can make even fatter profits. All of which is putting Americans on a glide path toward lousier jobs and lower wages. How’s that for patriotism?

The first step toward fixing this broken system is to stop buying CEOs’ lies. How can we believe that Jamie Dimon’s initiatives on corporate philanthropy are anything other than public relations? Why should we think that he or his fellow CEOs seek any goal other than making more money for themselves and their firms? We can’t and we shouldn’t. They don’t have America’s best interests at heart — they’re making millions to be CEOs, not patriots.

Big American corporations aren’t organized to promote the wellbeing of Americans, and Americans cannot thrive within a system run largely by corporations. Fundamental reform will be led only by concerned and active citizens.

Most stakeholders agree that holding smaller competitions will be the best way forward post-lockdown.

Ještě minulý týden byly úřední hodiny kontaktních pracovišť Úřadu práce ČR velmi omezené. Pobočky sice v pondělí otevřely, ani dnes ale na úřad nemusíte osobně, většinu záležitostí vyřídíte online. Poradíme jak na to a shrneme, kdy a v jaké výši máte nárok na podporu v nezaměstnanosti.

Od 1. září 2022 nebude možné provozovat kotle na tuhá paliva, které nevyhovují přísnějším emisním normám. Včasnou výměnou kotle můžete ušetřit. Nejenže snížíte náklady za topení, ale stihnete navíc využít státní dotaci na jeho pořízení. Víte, jak na to? Otestujte své znalosti.

Možnost cestování je silně omezená a nic zatím nenasvědčuje tomu, že by lidé v letošní letní sezoně mohli vyrazit na zahraniční dovolenou. Zároveň ale nikdo dnes ještě neví, zda se nějaká možnost přece jen neobjeví. Pokud jste si koupili dovolenkový zájezd, jste asi momentálně jako na trní. Pojedete? Vrátí vám peníze?

Firmy i finanční trhy mají za sebou první letošní kvartál. Bilance obou není z důvodu preventivních vládních opatření proti šíření nákazy covid-19 nikterak růžová. To potvrzuje i Partners index podílových akciových fondů.

Současná koronavirová krize otřásla finančními trhy, zlevněné akcie jsou příležitostí, jak zhodnotit investici. Jenomže kdy je správná chvíle investovat? Už se trhy odrazily ode dna, nebo přijde další propad? A jak snížit riziko špatného načasování? Nad tím se zamýšlí Michal Valentík, investiční analytik společnosti Broker Trust.

Česká rodinná firma SSI Group vznikla v době, kdy jsme ještě neznali mobilní telefony a podnikatelské prostředí 90. let bylo poměrně divoké. Přesto se ji Václavu Vodrážkovi společně se synem Janem a dalšími členy rodiny dařilo každý rok posouvat o něco dál. Letos tak na trhu významná bezpečnostní agentura oslaví 30 let svého působení na trhu.

The finalists are:

• Neil Clarke
• Ellen Datlow
• C.C. Finlay
• Jonathan Strahan
• Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas
• Sheila Williams

I'm a subscriber to Uncanny Magazine, edited by the Thomases, and a Patreon supporter of Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke. I keep up with neither magazine as much as I'd like, but I generally enjoy both of them. Uncanny Magazine in particular has a very high hit rate for me when I do make time to read it.

(I also had the pleasure of meeting Neil Clarke in his kaffeeklatsch at Dublin Worldcon last year, which I really enjoyed & learned a lot from.)

I have one of Jonathan Strahan's anthologies from last year, Mission:Critical on my to-read pile, and I've also been eyeing the Made to Order: Robots and Revolution anthology published this year.

Ellen Datlow edits a lot of horror, which I'm cautious of, and I happen not to have read any of the Tor.com short fiction she acquired last year, but that could be remedied (in a well-lit room during the day, etc). She also lists a couple of anthologies, and while I'm not touching a Best Horror of the Year anthology, I might risk the ghost stories anthology.

C.C. Finlay and Sheila Williams edit respectively F&SF Magazine and Asimov's Science Fiction, neither of which I subscribe to or read regularly, but because I'm already not keeping up with the things I do subscribe to, not for any stronger or more considered reason.

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