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 →

This is the natural progression, this is the natural endgame of the Bill Clinton Democratic Party when he decided to change the Democratic Party from a party of workers and blue-collar people to a party of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. And Democrats have to acknowledge that. And if they don't, they ain't going nowhere. Continue reading →

Tucker Carlson: Elizabeth Warren's enemies on Wall Street and Big Tech are not really her enemies. Elizabeth Warren is really just this season's Hillary Clinton -- faithful party robot, stalwart defender of the prerogatives of the establishment. Continue reading →

NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans will air the first new episodes of 2017 tonight. You can find sneak peeks, tweets and photos...

NCIS: Los Angeles will air the first new episode of 2017 tonight. “Kulinda” is scheduled to start at 8:00pm ET/PT. (If anything...

IBM has been awarded a 2017 Climate Leadership Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and The Climate Registry.

Today, IBM announced that it achieved two major commitments four years ahead of schedule in its effort to help combat climate change.

As climate change accelerates, IBM is galvanizing the global science community with a massive infusion of computing resources, weather data, and cloud services to help researchers examine the effects of climate change, and explore strategies to mitigate its effects. IBM pledges to help direct the equivalent of up to $200 million for up to five climate-related projects judged to offer the greatest potential impact, and will then broadly share the experiments' results.

Media falls for "Petri dish" as its go-to cliché.

IBM today unveiled a number of major additions to its Flex System portfolio. The offerings combine the latest server technology with new virtualization, networking and management tools, allowing clients to consolidate their existing IT infrastructures and reduce operating costs. This will help clients use smaller data center environments to quickly deploy, manage and secure increasingly larger clouds.

IBM today announced the opening of IBM Studio Groningen, where IBM design, digital and industry experts will work with clients to help them engage with their customers using big data, mobile, cloud and social innovations.

IBM today announced continuing momentum for its social business offerings with clients around the world ushering in the next era of collaboration with IBM Verse and Connections. IBM also announced expanded capabilities in its collaboration portfolio with new innovations that make it easier for clients to gain and share business insights across teams.

Millions of consumers depend on The Weather Channel and weather.com for their daily forecasts, breaking weather news, and the latest in health and travel. And, on August 21, they will be able to experience a solar eclipse like never before. The Weather Channel digital properties and Twitter have teamed up for a live stream of this once-in-a lifetime celestial event, which will allow consumers to chase the total solar eclipse in real time as it moves from coast-to-coast.

Mayo Clinic and IBM Watson Health today unveiled results from early use of the Watson for Clinical Trial Matching, an IBM cognitive computing system. Use of this system in the Mayo Clinic oncology practice has been associated with more patients enrolled in Mayo’s breast cancer clinical trials.

• Con vigencia de 10 años, Banorte e IBM firman alianza estratégica que permitirá establecer las bases de un nuevo modelo de banca enfocado al cliente, y mejorar sustancialmente sus índices de eficiencia para alcanzar niveles cercanos al 40%, así como retornos sobre capital superiores al 20%. El acuerdo incluye servicios de consultoría y de tecnología, investigación y desarrollo. • “Estamos plenamente satisfechos con el acuerdo logrado, pues este suma el mejor talento humano, tanto de IBM, como de Banorte Ixe, y está en línea con nuestra búsqueda de herramientas tecnológicas para servir a nuestros clientes de manera individualizada”: Alejandro Valenzuela.

El actual entorno tecnológico impulsa a las empresas a transformar sus modelos de negocio en un escenario en donde, según la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos (OCDE), el 25% de la economía mundial será digital en los próximos cinco años. De esta forma, el uso de nuevas tecnologías se vuelve la pieza clave para asegurar tanto competitividad, como su alto desempeño.

IBM anunció hoy que ofrecerá Apple Pay a sus clientes online, para que brinden a los consumidores pagos fáciles, seguros y privados a través de iPhone, iPad y Mac. Apple Pay estará disponible para los clientes que usan IBM Commerce on Cloud o IBM WebSphere Commerce, plataforma que soporta a más de 12,000 tiendas online alrededor del mundo.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) dio a conocer las más recientes novedades de su sistema de computación cognitiva Watson, aplicado al comercio, el marketing y la cadena de suministro, con el objetivo de crear una experiencia única para los consumidores, en el marco de IBM Amplify en Las Vegas (Estados Unidos), evento al que se dieron cita más de 3.000 personas.

CEMEX, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: CEMEXCPO), una de las compañías de materiales para la industria de la construcción líder en el mundo, e IBM (NYSE: IBM) anunciaron hoy que CEMEX llevará a cabo una importante transformación tecnológica diseñada para optimizar sus operaciones, mejorar notablemente la experiencia de sus clientes y aumentar la eficiencia del negocio.

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.

Dans ce monde où les business model des entreprises et encore plus les technologies sont en rupture, le challenge est le même : rester en contact avec le consommateur hyper connecté d’aujourd’hui. Ce challenge peut être vu comme un véritable cauchemar ou à l’inverse, considéré comme la prochaine grande opportunité pour les entreprises. Elles sont obligées d’aller au-delà des prévisions, en identifiant et capitalisant sur des opportunités que d’autres entreprises ne voient pas.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) annonce la disponibilité d’Apple Pay pour ses clients sur Internet afin de faciliter et de sécuriser leur paiement sur Safari depuis leur iPhone, iPad ou Mac et ce en un clic.

Reconnaissant que les entreprises mettent du temps à adopter l'intelligence artificielle, en partie à cause de la complexité croissante des données, IBM (NYSE : IBM) dévoile aujourd'hui de nouvelles innovations qui optimisent son approche Watson Anywhere pour mettre à l'échelle l'intelligence artificielle sur tous les types de cloud, et de permettre à une multitude de clients de tirer parti de la stratégie pour intégrer l'intelligence artificielle à leurs données, où qu'elles se trouvent.

@IBM et Hardis Group signent un accord mondial pour transformer la chaîne logistique à l'heure du #client connecté #smartercommerce

Etude IBM : les directions Marketing doivent adopter la « disruption créative » pour fidéliser leurs clients La nouvelle étude IBM révèle les principaux axes de priorités des directions Marketing pour 2016

lior Banque annonce aujourd’hui avoir choisi l’application IBM MobileFirst sur iOS pour apporter une transformation fondamentale à la façon dont les clients en Pologne interagissent avec leur banque. A l’aide d’un iPad, les professionnels des services bancaires pourront fournir une expérience plus dynamique et personnalisée aux clients en tirant avantage de la puissance de l’analyse prédictive, et ce de façon sécurisée, facile, rapide et disponible 24h/24.

aufeminin.com a choisi la solution de Bouygues Telecom Entreprises pour sa simplicité d’utilisation et sa sécurité

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today reported record online and mobile sales for Australia’s third Click Frenzy ahead of the Christmas shopping blitz. The results are based on Australian online shopping transactions analysed by IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark.

Watson matched tumor board treatment recommendations in up to 96% of cases;reduced clinical trial screening time by 78%, studies find. Prostate cancer is latest add to Watson for Oncology; the tech will be available to support 80 percent of the incidence of cancer by year-end. Nine new adopters of Watson oncology offerings around the globe expands Watson's reach to 55 organizations worldwide.

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

Voldemort believes he has uncovered a new means of gaining the supreme power he craves in the depths of the oldest recorded history - a civilization lost over the centuries. But history is known to distort with time. Reeling from the loss of his Godfather, Harry must navigate grief, love, and growing up while surviving another year at Hogwarts as the Second War begins.

*STARFIGHTER: ECLIPSE IS NOW LIVE*

You can play it right away at datenighto.com ;) -Hamlet

The Solutions to the Climate Crisis No One is Talking About

Both our economy and the environment are in crisis. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few while the majority of Americans struggle to get by. The climate crisis is worsening inequality, as those who are most economically vulnerable bear the brunt of flooding, fires, and disruptions of supplies of food, water, and power.

At the same time, environmental degradation and climate change are themselves byproducts of widening inequality. The political power of wealthy fossil fuel corporations has stymied action on climate change for decades. Focused only on maximizing their short-term interests, those corporations are becoming even richer and more powerful — while sidelining workers, limiting green innovation, preventing sustainable development, and blocking direct action on our dire climate crisis.

Make no mistake: the simultaneous crisis of inequality and climate is no fluke. Both are the result of decades of deliberate choices made, and policies enacted, by ultra-wealthy and powerful corporations.

We can address both crises by doing four things:

First, create green jobs. Investing in renewable energy could create millions of family sustaining, union jobs and build the infrastructure we need for marginalized communities to access clean water and air. The transition to a renewable energy-powered economy can add 550,000 jobs each year while saving the US economy $78 billion through 2050. In other words, a Green New Deal could turn the climate crisis into an opportunity - one that both addresses the climate emergency and creates a fairer and more equitable society.

Second, stop dirty energy. A massive investment in renewable energy jobs isn’t enough to combat the climate crisis. If we are going to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, we must tackle the problem at its source: Stop digging up and burning more oil, gas, and coal.

The potential carbon emissions from these fossil fuels in the world’s currently developed fields and mines would take us well beyond the 1.5°C increased warming that Nobel Prize winning global scientists tell us the planet can afford. Given this, it’s absurd to allow fossil fuel corporations to start new dirty energy projects.

Even as fossil fuel companies claim to be pivoting toward clean energy, they are planning to invest trillions of dollars in new oil and gas projects that are inconsistent with global commitments to limit climate change. And over half of the industry’s expansion is projected to happen in the United States. Allowing these projects means locking ourselves into carbon emissions we can’t afford now, let alone in the decades to come.

Even if the U.S. were to transition to 100 percent renewable energy today, continuing to dig fossil fuels out of the ground will lead us further into climate crisis. If the U.S. doesn’t stop now, whatever we extract will simply be exported and burned overseas. We will all be affected, but the poorest and most vulnerable among us will bear the brunt of the devastating impacts of climate change.

Third, kick fossil fuel companies out of our politics. For decades, companies like Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP have been polluting our democracy by pouring billions of dollars into our politics and bankrolling elected officials to enact policies that protect their profits. The oil and gas industry spent over $103 million on the 2016 federal elections alone. And that’s just what they were required to report: that number doesn’t include the untold amounts of “dark money” they’ve been using to buy-off politicians and corrupt our democracy. The most conservative estimates still put their spending at 10 times that of environmental groups and the renewable energy industry.

As a result, American taxpayers are shelling out $20 billion a year to bankroll oil and gas projects – a huge transfer of wealth to the top. And that doesn’t even include hundreds of billions of dollars of indirect subsidies that cost every United States citizen roughly $2,000 a year. This has to stop.

And we’ve got to stop giving away public lands for oil and gas drilling. In 2018, under Trump, the Interior Department made $1.1 billion selling public land leases to oil and gas companies, an all-time record – triple the previous 2008 record, totaling more than 1.5 million acres for drilling alone, threatening multiple cultural sites and countless wildlife. As recently as last September, the Trump administration opened 1.56 million acres of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, threatening Indigenous cultural heritage and hundreds of species that call it home.

That’s not all. The ban on exporting crude oil should be reintroduced and extended to other fossil fuels. The ban, in place for 40 years, was lifted in 2015, just days after the signing of the Paris Climate Agreement. After years of campaigning by oil executives, industry heads, and their army of lobbyists, the fossil fuel industry finally got its way.

We can’t wait for these changes to be introduced in 5 or 10 years time — we need them now.

Fourth, require the fossil fuel companies that have profited from environmental injustice compensate the communities they’ve harmed.

As if buying-off our democracy wasn’t enough, these corporations have also deliberately misled the public for years on the amount of damage their products have been causing. 

For instance, as early as 1977, Exxon’s own scientists were warning managers that fossil fuel use would warm the planet and cause irreparable damage. In the 1980s, Exxon shut down its internal climate research program and shifted to funding a network of advocacy groups, lobbying arms, and think tanks whose sole purpose was to cloud public discourse and block action on the climate crisis. The five largest oil companies now spend about $197 million a year on ad campaigns claiming they care about the climate — all the while massively increasing their spending on oil and gas extraction.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans, especially poor, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities, already have to fight to drink clean water and breathe clean air as their communities are devastated by climate-fueled hurricanes, floods, and fires. As of 2015, nearly 21 million people relied on community water systems that violated health-based quality standards. 

Going by population, that’s essentially 200 Flint, Michigans, happening all at once. If we continue on our current path, many more communities run the risk of becoming “sacrifice zones,” where citizens are left to survive the toxic aftermath of industrial activity with little, if any, help from the entities responsible for creating it.

Climate denial and rampant pollution are not victimless crimes. Fossil fuel corporations must be held accountable, and be forced to pay for the damage they’ve wrought.

If these solutions sound drastic to you, it’s because they are. They have to be if we have any hope of keeping our planet habitable. The climate crisis is not a far-off apocalyptic nightmare — it is our present day.

Australia’s bushfires wiped out a billion animals, California’s fire season wreaks more havoc every year, and record-setting storms are tearing through our communities like never before. 

Scientists tell us we have 10 years left to dramatically reduce emissions. We have no room for meek half-measures wrapped up inside giant handouts to the fossil fuel industry. 

We deserve a world without fossil fuels. A world in which workers and communities thrive and our shared climate comes before industry profits. Working together, I know we can make it happen. We have no time to waste.

I’ve had some requests to show details of how I arrange the buttons in order to shorten my long skirts for bicycling. Well like this: Clear as mud? Let’s take a closer look. Disclaimer: I’ve been wearing both of these skirts for years and it shows in these detail shots. First that plaid walking skirt … Continue reading Bustled for Bicycling

Can you imagine the clipshow?



View Comic!

NIH clinical trial testing antiviral remdesivir plus anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib for COVID-19 begins  National Institutes of HealthView Full coverage on Google News

On the occasion of both Earth Day and World Intellectual Property Day, which this year centers on the theme of Innovation for a Green Future, we’d like to underline the importance of cultural heritage preservation as a response to the threats posed by climate change. In this post, we’ll also share some insights on how … Read More "Using CC Licenses and Tools to Share and Preserve Cultural Heritage in the Face of Climate Change"

The post Using CC Licenses and Tools to Share and Preserve Cultural Heritage in the Face of Climate Change appeared first on Creative Commons.

Slick Willy just had to go and crack a dad joke that simultaneously dug on President Trump and kept the pun game strong, didn't he? Naturally, people were highly entertained and vaguely irritated. 

The post Queer Clicks: May 09 | Why the Porn Industry has a lot to Teach us About Safety in the Covid-19 era, Tom of Finland at 100, and Other Clicks appeared first on QueerClick.

While scientists have observed the worldwide decline of insects over the last decades, a new study shows that the big picture is more complicated than they thought. The study, published in Science, drew on data from 166 surveys from 1,676 sites.[...]

While your home energy bill may have increased while you shelter in place, the planet’s overall energy use has taken a significant downturn. According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) first quarter report, global carbon emissions could be down by 8% this year, the biggest drop the agency has ever seen.[...]

Climate change is affecting everybody, even narwhals. These mysterious “unicorns of the sea” may decline by 25% by the end of this century, according to a new study.[...]

Is it spoilery? Maybe. But if Lucasfilm put it out, I'm gonna lean on not really.

Also: Victoria Mahoney writes on how she nabbed the second-unit directing gig, new TV spots, some interesting interviews and one question with the Late Show folks.

I had made a packing design that was approved, but not yet fully paid for.

Client: We are really in a hurry, so please send fonts and colors you’ve used ASAP. And what software do you use to design things?  This is urgent!

Me: What do you mean? Do you need print files? Sure, but I need to be paid before I send you the finished files.

Client: Why do we have to pay you? This was our idea of design! I even sent you mock-up in Photoshop!

I was designing a website for a client. Over time, the client requested lots of little changes to the content. One weird result of this, though, is that any photos that included women were slowly removed.

Client: Could you remove that person in this photo?

Me: Okay, but that means there are now no more women on the website?

Client: That’s fine, we’re not marketing just for women. We’re not sexist!

Just ran into this gem at a Facebook group for entrepreneurs and employment opportunities.

Client: Hello! My business partner and I are seeking a couple of talented writers for a new online magazine we are creating. This would be an unpaid intern position, but you can work remotely and this would also be a great opportunity to gain some exposure and writing experience. Message me if you’re interested for details.

The comment section was breathtaking. I made some popcorn and refreshed it all night.

Today’s episode is with none other than Vernon Southward, the owner and operator of (gasp!) Clients From Hell itself! Kyle tries not to offend his boss as they chat about Vernon’s beginnings as a freelancer and the path that led him to acquiring and building Clients From Hell, as well as directions the site will take in the coming years!

Vernon is a profoundly talented entrepreneur and a font of wisdom - and we’re not just saying that because he owns the place. Check it out! 

Today’s links: 

• https://clientsfromhell.net
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/vernonsouthward/
• https://easel.ly
• Theme song by topmen.bandcamp.com!

–

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