Today on Data Privacy Day, IBM is announcing an innovative cloud-based technology for developers to help consumers better protect their personal data online such as their date of birth, home address and credit card numbers. As cybersecurity threats and identity theft continue to threaten both consumers and businesses, IBM scientists have been developing a clever cryptographic algorithm which enables transactions to occur without involuntarily sharing any personal data.

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 (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has signed a five-year multimillion dollar agreement with Veda (ASX: VED), a leading provider of credit information and analysis in Australia and New Zealand. The agreement extends Veda's existing strategic outsourcing relationship with IBM, which continues to provide Veda with a highly reliable and resilient infrastructure, and now includes cloud services.

ASL to benefit from IBM Cloud and IBM PureApplication to deliver for secure real time payments for NPP Australia

入荷しています！ [Blu-ray] 花組東京国際フォーラム公演 『DANCE OLYMPIA』 ¥9,900 ⇒ ¥8,100 -¥1,800 (18%OFF） TOCCA ‐ONWARD “Dancing with my sunshine star" TOCCA 2020 SPRING＆SUMMER COLLECTION 宙組 星風まどかさん・遥羽...

Melbourne-based start-up Level35 is using Watson, the cognitive computing platform developed by IBM (NYSE: IBM), and IBM Cloud to help public-sector project managers improve how they communicate within some of the largest government agencies in Australia.

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.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a business consulting and technology partnership with Yarra Valley Water to enhance the management and functionality of its assets and customer service to over 1.7 million people and 50,000 businesses throughout Melbourne now and in the future. Through this partnership Yarra Valley Water will gain access to critical insights to maximise asset performance and improve customer service outcomes across its operations.

Queensland Motorways has awarded IBM a technology and services contract to introduce automated free-flow tolling across south east Queensland’s toll roads.

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

Zoo and Aquarium Association Uses IBM Technology to Support Endangered Species Programme

IBM Australia (NYSE: IBM) and The Sauce, today published the first Australian BPO Report 2012 (ABPO Report), which investigates the current state of business process outsourcing in Australia and points to future trends. Global expansion is seen to be the key driver and benefit of outsourcing decisions amongst 71 percent of organisations surveyed. The report also showed significant anticipated growth in business process outsourcing activity among large organisations with between 1,000 to 5,000 employees (this constituted one-third of all respondents). This group of Australian organisations is expecting an increase of 20 percent over the next two years.

The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) has implemented an advanced passenger analysis solution with IBM to improve border security.

White marble, dark chocolate, one light source. Problem?

Not at all. Because pretty much everything you can actually see across the top of that box is not really the "correct" tonality of the chocolate. It's all specular highlights.

Controlling the density of specular highlights is what compresses the subject's wide tonal range and unifies everything into one smooth exposure.
__________Read more »

The LumoPro LP180 is no more.

You could make a strong case that the LP180 was the best manual hot shoe flash ever produced — and maybe that ever will be produced. It was a beast of a flash, with a fluid user interface and features designed specifically for off-camera lighting photographers. Now, it's the last of a bygone era.

Why did it have to die? What made it so good? And what will replace it as the flash of choice for discerning-but-frugal off-camera shooters?

Read more »

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the appointment of Professor Iven Mareels as Lab Director of IBM Research-Australia.

ehoradote:

Conte de printemps (1990) Éric Rohmer

interiores

One-shot between Harry and Ginny a day before his Auror-training began. Canon, R&R

Just a short post to note that this year’s Abel prize has been awarded jointly to Hillel Furstenberg and Grigory Margulis for “for pioneering the use of methods from probability and dynamics in group theory, number theory and combinatorics”.  I was not involved in the decision making process of the Abel committee this year, but […]

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 Thursday (4/9), eighteen authors (including yours truly!) will be doing live readings to celebrate International Unicorn Day!!! At 10:30am ET, I'll be on Facebook Live on my author page here: https://www.facebook.com/sarahbethdurst

And I may be wearing a unicorn onesie... 

原作：生江有二『竜二―映画に賭けた33歳の生涯』（幻冬舎アウトロー文庫）脚本・演出：森岡利行キャスト：八神 蓮上杉 輝（TOKYO流星群）　松島庄汰　高岡保成　伴 優香黒木千春(A)　宮崎 京(B)　鎌田彩樺(A)　白石彩妃(B)　野村奈央　山本佳志　美月まりも　お宮の松(A)　酒井健太郎(B)　重松隆志 A：仲谷 憲　佐藤俊彦　梶野春菜　坂本朝美　青山 隼B：石川竜太郎　平川慎之介　永島美穂　田嶋高志　佐藤 翔 ★八神蓮専用チケットフォームPC用【https://ticket.corich.jp/apply/94367/003/】携帯用【http://ticket.corich.jp/apply/94367/003/】 〇チケット発売一般　【A席】前売：5,500円／当続きをみる

『著作権保護のため、記事の一部のみ表示されております。』

Many years ago, I attended a talk by Cynthia Good, publisher of Penguin Canada. When asked what was the first thing she looks for in a book submission, she said, “A way to get the author on TV.” I’ve now got over 400 TV appearances to my credit, and an equal number of radio interviews […]

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

It's official! Starfighter t-shirts are ready for PRE-ORDER!

Black American Apparel t-shirts with silkscreen print, available in different sizes! We got the first batch in and the print quality is fantastic! Shirts are estimated to ship on 8/20/09! Limited quantity for the time being!

ORDER AVAILABLE ONLINE @ STARFIGHTER SHOP
http://shop.starfightercomic.com/

Thank you guys so much! More merchandise is on the way! -HamletMachine

Hamlet and I have been super busy getting the first Chapter of Starfighter ready for printing - it's actually kind of a complicated process and we're both learning as we go. On the plus side, it's going to be a really nice looking volume, I think you all are really going to like it.

Also, I want to give out a HUGE thank you to everyone who ordered a t-shirt, the response was fantastic and I know Hamlet was really touched by all the supportive comments you guys left. So the pre-order is officially over, anything you order from the shop now will be shipping immediately. Did I mention how much you guys rock? -Thisbe

P.S. We got some requests for additional sizes of the Starfighter shirt so we now have a few each of the larger sizes (2X and 3X Large) in stock at the Starfighter Shop.

These panties are super soft and comfortable American Apparel hot shorts! They come in white with the STARFIGHTER logo on the derriere and stars on the front! Perfect for the sexy ladies to flaunt their fandom! They're limited in quantity, so get them while they're available!

ORDER AVAILABLE ONLINE @ STARFIGHTER SHOP
http://shop.starfightercomic.com/

The panties ship on September 7th! More merchandise is on the way! -HamletMachine

Hello Everyone!

It's happened! Starfighter: Chapter 01 is now available for pre-order!

Starfighter: Chapter 01 is a full color, 64 page 8"x6.5" booklet that includes the full first segment of the story as well as six new, exclusive illustrations, with a message of thanks to the fans and supporters! This run is limited; be sure to pre-order a copy of this sexy space saga today and be a part of Starfighter!

Starfighter: Chapter 01 contains graphic adult content and you must be at least 18 to purchase it!

All comic orders come with a small special goodie, And will ship on Dec. 3rd!

Starfighter: Chapter 01 is available for international shipping! If you have any questions about how to order or shipping availability, please email: starfightercomic@gmail.com

Thank you so much! To everyone that's read the comic and to everyone that pre-orders, YOU HAVE MY THANKS! And my love. You're the best! I couldn't have done it without you. -HamletMachine

Hello Everyone!

The pre-order for Starfighter: Chapter 01 has concluded! This means that all comics that are ordered from now on will ship out immediately. My love and undying gratitude to everyone that has ordered so far! You guys are so awesome. Seriously, thank you so much!

If you have any questions about how to order or shipping availability, please email: starfightercomic@gmail.com -HamletMachine

Starfighter prints are now up for sale at the online shop! These have previously only been available at conventions, but now you can have a print of your very own! There are five different illustrations to choose from; each print is 8 1/2" x 11" on matte paper, wrapped with a backboard.

Enjoy! -HamletMachine

Hello Everyone! I just want to quickly let you all know about a couple of improvements we've made to the Starfighter site. Starting last week, every comic page of Starfighter has had a link below it to its own comment section. We're using the Disqus comment system, which I imagine many of you are already familiar with. It's been working well so far and we hope you all like it! Even though it's only been up for short while, your response has been wonderful. Hamlet and I have both really enjoyed getting to hear all of your thoughts on the comic so far!

One other small change - you'll notice a new latest page link in the upper right hand corner of every page on the Starfigheter website. I wanted to make it easier for all of you Starfighter veterans to reach the new page each week. Hopefully you'll all find this more convenient!

Thank you all so much again for your enthusiasm in the new comments! Oh! And also, Hamlet's just finished the latest page. I'd say now would be a good time to give that new link a try! -Thisbe

Hello! Everyone who is waiting for the print release of Chapter 2, here is a progress report! The Deimos mini-smut-comic is finished, which is great, and I'm now in the middle of working on the Cain and Abel mini-smut-comic… which I have been waiting FOREVER to do! I'm so glad to get my black claws into this. So hold tight, my sweethearts, these goodies are on their way to you! I'll make more announcements as things develop!

Thank you so much for your patience! -Hamlet

Starfighter: Chapter Two is available for pre-order at the online shop! HOW LONG I HAVE WAITED TO SAY THAT, FRIENDS! And now I have the highest honor of making it available to you! (Also, the goodie we're giving away for the preorder is a 3" Starfighter icon patch, which is really cute, so order while we've still got them!) Of course, more details are available on the item page.

We've also restocked t-shirts and added new prints!

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I'm so excited! -Hamlet

We'll be at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda Maryland!

This is our first time at SPX! If you're there, feel free to stop by and see us in the Artist Alley – we'll be at table W49!

See you there! <3 -Hamlet

Mary Pratt, believed to be the last surviving member of the Rockford Peaches, has died at age 101.

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.

Prostřednictvím amerického Programu ochrany mezd pro malé podniky získal uhelný průmysl v USA více než 31 milionů dolarů. Ozývají se rozhořčené hlasy z řad environmentalistů. Administrativa Donalda Trumpa podle nich využívá finanční pomoc na záchranu odvětví, které mělo potíže již před krizí.

Kvůli epidemii koronaviru se vláda na čas vzdá EET, projektu, který vnímá jako klíčový pro snížení daňových úniků. Sněmovna kývla na odklad celé EET do konce letošního roku. Potvrdit to ještě musí Senát. Neprošly návrhy opozice odložit EET ještě déle, když přitom Pirát Mikuláš Ferjenčík navrhoval odklad až do stých narozenin premiéra Andreje Babiše v roce 2054.

Počátkem března přebíral Oliver Dlouhý, zakladatel vyhledávače a distributora letenek Kiwi.com, cenu pro českého podnikatele roku. Dnes má firma minimální tržby a vyhlíží obnovení leteckého provozu. Ve videorozhovoru pro iDNES.cz byl však Oliver Dlouhý optimistický.

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.

U dvou zaměstnanců mladoboleslavské automobilky Škoda Auto byla zjištěna nákaza covid-19. Podle zjištění Práva to však nebude mít vliv na nedávno obnovený provoz závodu.

Ministerstvo obchodu Spojených států připravuje nová digitální pravidla. Americké podniky by na základě nich mohly spolupracovat s čínskou firmou Huawei Technologies na stanovování norem pro mobilní sítě (5G). Agentuře Reuters to řekly zdroje obeznámené se situací. Loni touto dobou přitom USA uvalily restrikce na obchodování s Huawei.

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.

V dubnu bylo bez práce 254 tisíc lidí, nejvíce od března 2018. Nezaměstnanost vzrostla na 3,4 procenta, potvrdil ve čtvrtek Úřad práce. V evidenci přibývá lidí z oboru služeb. O dubnových číslech hovořila již v pondělí ministryně práce Jana Maláčová (ČSSD). Podle ní jsou data stále příznivá.

Hospody a restaurace Češi prostřednictvím projektu Zachraň hospodu podpořili deseti miliony korun. Poukazy do více než 1 500 podniků si od začátku dubna, kdy byl projekt spuštěn, koupilo přes devět tisíc lidí. Stravovací zařízení budou moci od pondělí obsluhovat hosty na zahrádkách, iniciativa se tím však nezastaví.

Firmy si budou moci odložit platby za sociální pojištění za tři měsíce. Odvody za květen, červen a červenec smí uhradit až do 20. října, rozhodla vláda. Odložená částka se však bude úročit.

České aerolinie obnoví v pondělí 18. května provoz na čtyřech svých linkách. A to do Amsterdamu, Frankfurtu, Paříže a Stockholmu. O týden později začnou letadla létat do dalších tří destinací.