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Cisco Blogs

Cisco Blog > Connected Life Exchange

Jordan’s Entrepreneurship Revolution

By Adele Waugaman, Guest Columnist

In Jordan a revolution is brewing, but unlike in neighboring countries being reshaped by the Arab Spring, this revolution has the support of the King.

A culture of entrepreneurship, fueled by a boom in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, is quietly transforming the country by creating new businesses and jobs.

Since 2007, the ICT sector in Jordan has grown a yearly average of 25%, and currently makes up 14% of the country’s overall GDP, according to INT@J, a research and advocacy organization.

This, in turn, is opening growth opportunities across sectors, from manufacturing to health and financial services—a potential boom for the national economy, and for people with irregular access to information and services.

Youth Movement

As with other revolutions that have swept through countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this movement is being fueled in large part by Jordan’s youth.

Nearly one in five people in the Arab world is between the ages of 15 to 24. In Jordan, over half of the population are under the age of 25. This demographic bulge contributes to Jordan’s high youth unemployment rate, which is nearly 30%.

For many of the young people throughout the region, the hope is that rising access to technology will lead not just to increased democracy, but to economic opportunity as well.

“The reality today is different not only from 50 years ago, but from two years ago—because of social media, youth who were called the ‘silent majority,’ aren’t silent now,” says Soraya Salti, regional director of INJAZ al Arab, a youth empowerment organization active in 15 countries in the MENA region.

“Young people want to turn entrepreneurship into pop culture and contribute to economic development,” Salti says.

Incubators and Accelerators

 Young entrepreneurs in Jordan’s start-up community meet regularly to network and share ideas through events like Amman’s Tech Tuesdays, which this month hosted a group of American entrepreneurs for an event entitled “Amman meets Silicon Valley.” The speakers were part of two U.S. technology delegations to Jordan: the DC-based Aspen Institute’s Partners for a New Beginning program, and the California-based Geeks on a Plane.

Entrepreneurs in Jordan are increasingly able to access capacity-building and funding support through a growing number of incubators and accelerators, such as Endeavor, Wamda, the Ruwwad Micro-Venture Fund, and the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship.

One of the most visible incubators is Oasis500, which provides seed capital, early stage funding and mentoring support to 500 new technology start-ups—a number CEO Usama Fayyad believes will be enough to make a substantial “shock” to the start-up ecosystem. Last week Jordan’s King Abdullah II joined the former Yahoo! Executive in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new office, which features an open floor plan and a curved slide connecting the first and second floors.

Innovation Hurdles

Even with this grassroots, government and private sector support, significant obstacles to the successful operationalization of innovation business ideas remain.

Take the case of Jamalon, a tech start-up that sells books online through a business model similar to  While the young company has demonstrated early success by offering over 9 million English and Arabic language publications for sale online, it has had to do so in the absence of an ISBN product indexing system, and largely through a cash-on-delivery payment system as the region still lacks widely scaled electronic payments systems.

Yet as Jamalon indexes the MENA region’s publications, it is helping to transform the publishing industry and creating space for adjacent businesses to thrive.

From a policy perspective, taskforces are being established with private sector support to help bridge the gap between innovation and enabling regulatory environments.  One example is Jordan’s Healthcare ICT Taskforce, a public-private partnership created by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, INTAJ, and Cisco, which seeks to increase the capacity of healthcare ICT companies, improving access to health information and services.

The Road Ahead

There is no question that Jordan’s entrepreneurship revolution has begun.

For a country that comprises just 2% of the population of the MENA region, Jordan produces 75% of region’s online Arabic content. Bloomberg recently ranked the capital Amman as the 10th best city in the world for a tech start-up, considering factors such as the policy environment, and available talent, infrastructure and capital.

But to truly revolutionize critical sectors like financial services, health and manufacturing, Jordan’s ICT sector will require sustained engagement and support. This will include unequivocal backing from the King for a free and open internet, a continued culture of mentoring and guidance from established private sector players, and the willingness of outside investors to support entrepreneurs working in a turbulent region.

If recent events are any indication, however, this revolution is here to stay.

Adele Waugaman is a Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Fellow and independent consultant specialized in the intersection of mobile ICT and global development. She recently participated in a technology delegation to Jordan with the Aspen Institute’s Partners for a New Beginning program. Find her on Twitter at @Tech4Dev and online at

VNI Service Adoption Forecast: Middle East and Africa
By 2016 there will be 1.3 billion consumer mobile devices (excluding M2M). Tablets are the fastest growing consumer mobile device in the region growing from 1 million to 18 million by 2016

Join our team of VNI-SA bloggers.
Do you have an interesting story of how technology has changed your community, your work, or your business? Is technology providing opportunities that impact the socio-economics of the world around you? Contact us at if you’d like to contribute to this blog series.

What is VNI-SA? It is the Service Adoption forecast portion of our popular VNI research. VNI-SA studies the end user adoption rate for a wide variety of services around the world. Read more at

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Cisco Blogs

Cisco Blog > Inclusion and Diversity

Cisco Empowered Women’s Network (CiscoEWN) at Cisco Live US enters its second year!

Screen shot 2014-05-08 at 9.26.42 AM

This blog post was written by Priscila David in collaboration with Anuja Singh and Rima Alameddine

Exactly one year ago, during the launch of the Cisco Empowered Women’s Network at Cisco Live Orlando, we asked the audience: “What would you do if you were not afraid?” On that day, we couldn’t have imagined the incredible journey we would take in answering that question and, ultimately, in building the Cisco Empowered Women’s Network (CiscoEWN).

CiscoEWN was created out of a collaboration between myself, Priscila David (Director, Systems Engineering, US Commercial East); Rima Alameddine (Sales Director, Enterprise NY); and Anuja Singh (Manager, Systems Engineering, Public Sector).  All three of us work in the field sales organization at Cisco and have daily interactions with customers and partners. We realized that Read More »

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Jumping the Curve: The Simmons Leadership Conference

I recently attended the annual Leadership Conference, sponsored by Simmons College, considered to be the world’s premier professional development event for women. This year’s theme was “Jumping the Curve,” stepping away from the familiar and stepping up to the unknown.

While I have been engaged with the conference for the past several years, I find each year’s experience to be something special and I continue to be humbled and inspired by the journeys of many of the participants. I wanted to share some of the ideas that stuck with me. The following advice may not be new, but I find it worth repeating – and relevant to women and men.

  • Don’t be afraid to take risks:  With every new endeavor, you’ll gain new experiences and expand your network. Along the way, you’re likely to gain new sponsors and potential advocates.
  • Invest in networking:  Stay connected with your professional and personal contacts. And when you connect and collaborate, if you serve as mentor or mentee, be sure to be clear on objectives to foster a successful relationship.
  • Dare to compete:  Be confident in your abilities, and don’t be afraid to step into the ring. Keynote speaker Hilary Clinton addressed this keenly, noting that male colleagues are more likely to raise their hands regardless of qualifications.
  • Be patient and adapt quickly:  The very funny and talented Rita Moreno spoke from experience as a successful entertainer who overcame years of struggle against Hollywood typecasting. She reminded us that success rarely comes overnight—there are many struggles to overcome, and we must be flexible to succeed.
  • Don’t just judge; act with purpose:  We all harbor some unconscious bias toward others, and that can affect our actions. Instead of judging, listen actively and take action on what you can control and change. As Gandhi once said, “Be careful of your thoughts, for they become your words.  Be careful of your words, for they become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for they become your legacy.”

These points of advice can serve us well if we put them into practice, but just how do we do that?
Please take a moment to share your strategies for jumping the curve in the comments section, or continue the discussion on Twitter.

Learn more about Cisco Careers and Cisco’s Inclusion and Diversity program.

How to set up a Reverse Mentoring Program in 10 Steps

In 2011, I wrote a blog called “The Results: How Reverse Mentoring Can Enhance Diversity and Inclusion”. The blog described the benefits, the lessons learned and the most popular areas to mentor from a Reverse Mentoring Program I led at Cisco.

Since publishing this blog, I’ve been touched by the number of people who have reached out to me, both from within Cisco and outside of Cisco from other companies, to find out more about how to set up a successful Reverse Mentoring program. Their interest inspired me to write this blog on 10 simple steps you can use to set up a Reverse Mentoring Program. Read More »

Veterans Corporate Technology Day 2013

Video featuring Cisco employees sharing their experiences transitioning out of the military into the civilian workforce

Veterans Corporate Technology Day (VCTD) at Cisco Systems will take place this year on Thursday, November 7, 2013.  The day brings U.S. military personnel, spouses and caregivers to Cisco campuses and exposes them to available resources as they potentially transition to the civilian workforce.   Events will be hosted at the following locations:

  • Cisco San Antonio, Texas and Brook Army Medical Center (20 Vets)
  • Cisco Research Triangle Park, North Carolina  and Ft Bragg (100 Vets)
  • Cisco Englewood, Colorado and Ft Carson and local Air Force entities  (25 Vets)
  • Cisco San Jose, California (50 Vets)
  • Cisco Herndon, Virginia (100 Vets)

The multi-site event introduces mentorship programs and educational resources.  To register, Read More »

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Working Mother Magazine Recognizes Cisco and Ileana Rivera

We are extremely proud to announce that Cisco has been recognized by Working Mother magazine’s prestigious 2013 100 Best Companies list.  For five consecutive years we have appeared on this sought-after list,  and this year we’re extremely proud to announce that Ileana Rivera, Senior Director at Cisco and IT Regional leader for Latin America, has been named as Working Mother of the Year in the same publication.

Ileana is responsible for managing all IT related client interactions for the Product Sales and Services Sales organizations and to the overall user community in Latin America.  Her main areas of responsibility include: User Experience support, Service Capability enablement, IT leadership, and Customer Engagements across Latin America. Ileana has more than 13 years of experience in the life science/medical device industry, and has been with Cisco for the last 5 years.

On the topic of being a working mother, Ileana says, “Being a working mother is the art of multitasking! Your mind is always running faster than your actions, you are always Read More »

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Cisco Blogs

Cisco Blog > The Platform

Internet Security Necessary for Global Technology Economy

Today’s security challenges are real and significant.  We want governments to detect and disrupt terrorist networks before they inflict harm on our society, our citizens, and our systems of government.   We also want to live in countries that respect their citizens’ basic human rights.  The tension between security and freedom has become one the most pressing issues of our day.  Societies wracked by terror cannot be truly free, but an overreaching government can also undermine freedom.

It is in this context that I want to offer some thoughts on actions by the US Government that in Cisco’s eyes have overreached, undermining the goals of free communication, and steps that can be taken to right that balance, and I do so on behalf of all of Cisco’s leadership team.

Confidence in the open, global Internet has brought enormous economic benefits to the United States and to billions around the world.  This confidence has been eroded by revelations of government surveillance, by efforts of the US government to force US companies to provide access to communications of non-US citizens even when that violates the privacy laws of countries where US companies do business, and allegations that governments exploit rather than report security vulnerabilities in products.

As a matter of policy and practice, Cisco does not work with any government, including the United States Government, to weaken our products. When we learn of a security vulnerability, we respond by validating it, informing our customers, and fixing it.  We react the same when we find that a customer’s security has been impacted by external forces, regardless of what country or form of government or how that security breach occurred.  We offer customers robust tools to defend their environments against attack, and detect attacks when they are happening. By doing these things, we have built and maintained our customers’ trust.  We expect our government to value and respect this trust.

This past December, eight technology companies expressed concern to the President of the United States and Members of Congress that the US government’s surveillance efforts are in fact harmful. They stated, in part, “We urge the US to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight.”  We agree and support these positions – without customer confidence in the privacy and security of communications, the extraordinary steps toward freedom, productivity and prosperity that is the promise of the Internet can be lost.

This week a number of media outlets reported another serious allegation: that the National Security Agency took steps to compromise IT products enroute to customers, including Cisco products. We comply with US laws, like those of many other countries, which limit exports to certain customers and destinations; we ought to be able to count on the government to then not interfere with the lawful delivery of our products in the form in which we have manufactured them.   To do otherwise, and to violate legitimate privacy rights of individuals and institutions around the world, undermines confidence in our industry.

Bob Weber, the General Counsel of IBM, offered some strong basic principles. He blogged in March, in part:

“Governments must act to restore trust”, noting that his company “believes governments should take the following actions:

Governments should reject short-sighted policies, such as data localization requirements, that do little to improve security but distort markets and lend themselves to protectionist tendencies.

Governments should not subvert commercial technologies, such as encryption, that are intended to protect business data.

The U.S. government should have a robust debate on surveillance reforms, including new transparency provisions that would allow the public to better understand the scope of intelligence programs and the data collected.”
(full blog here:

We support this approach, and offer the following additional suggestions:

  • Governments should have policies requiring that product security vulnerabilities that are detected be reported promptly to manufacturers for remediation, unless a court finds a compelling reason for a temporary delay.  By the same token, governments should not block third parties from reporting such vulnerabilities to manufacturers.
  • Governments should not interfere with the ability of companies to lawfully deliver internet infrastructure as ordered by their customers
  • Clear standards should be set to protect information outside the United States which belongs to third parties, but are in the custody of subsidiaries of US companies, so that customers world-wide can know the rules that will apply and work with confidence with US suppliers.

The failure to have rules such as these does not enhance national security – that failure will simply cause customers to seek solutions that they perceive – rightly or wrongly – will take them outside the reach of government.  Moreover, that failure only strengthens those who oppose a free and open internet, and who are exploiting recent allegations to try to justify changes in internet governance that would tighten state control and limit freedom of expression.   A failure to establish a clear and transparent set of rules will produce a fragmented Internet, limiting free speech and global economic growth.

A serious effort to address these issues can build confidence, and most importantly, result in the promise of the next generation of the Internet being met, a world in which the connection of people and devices drives greater freedom, prosperity and opportunity for all the world’s citizens.

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  1. It is the time for the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information. What an insightful post!! Worth reading it.
  2. "Governments should have policies requiring that product security vulnerabilities that are detected be reported promptly to manufacturers for remediation, unless a court finds a compelling reason for a temporary delay. By the same token, governments should not block third parties from reporting such vulnerabilities to manufacturers." In the first three paragraphs, the author details the issues which brought about the article, to wit, removal of government abuse of surveillance and the eroding trust of citizenry due to privacy abuses by the government. Yet, the quote encourages more government oversight. If governmental entities do not follow current laws and policies regarding the sanctity of privacy, why would we expect them to supply information of manufacturers' product vulnerabilities just because of policy? It is of my opinion that government entities will not report the vulnerabilities if it benefits them not to do so – court order or not. Therefore, documenting through laws or policies will not encourage such information sharing. Manufacturers, working with clients and third parties, should seek to develop security solutions that withstand vulnerabilities; a collaborative effort. Upon discovering vulnerabilities, those same entities should be diligent with resolving and further enhancing the security features / application / solution. Solutions derived for the benefit of all trumps solutions exploited on all discovered by one. It has been said that if "men were angels, governments would not be necessary." Governments are necessary. However, our security derives from an open and free society able to exchange ideas through discussion. We should be developing solutions for all while continually improving on those solutions through a collaborative effort. I would be hesitant relying upon a benefactor who can exploit both the positive and negative of a solution. Therefore, reduce the government abuses and input through production of quality products and solutions that benefit the society; and trust that society to improve and grow the quality and benefits.
  3. As a Cisco employee I saw this developing and decided I could no longer wait for governments to act accordingly. I ran this year for U.S. Congress in Texas (3rd District). And while I may have lost the primary this year, I intend to run again until this and similar issues are resolved. Maybe it's time for some geeks (and CCIE's) in Congress? Josh Loveless
    • You don't support net neutrality? "Permanently defeat Net-Neutrality and other government intrusions on the free-market" Good article.
    • Of course he doesn't support net neutrality. Cisco sells a lot of devices to carriers so they can gouge us on pricing and permit our access to what they think we should see. Not to mention dictatorships like China. Amusing to think Cisco didn't know about the US Government doing this all along as I am sure they did.
  4. Cisco better prepare to have their international market share, shrink considerably in the coming years. I personally have stopped using their products (along with many other US tech companies hardware products) a few years ago! I have resorted to building network appliances with off-the-shelf parts and open-source software solutions for the small to medium companies I support! Although there is no such thing as complete internet security, I believe you can minimize the risk by using lower profiled technology companies solutions... mainly open-sourced solutions where more eyes are evaluating the under lying source code. Just my 2 cents.. keep in mind that I'm a nobody in the grand scheme of things, so take my comment with a grain of salt! Cheers!
    • @Cam: I salute you, Sir! And yes, you are somebody - you are the customer. People forgot how to vote with their wallets... And to Mr. Chandler and the likes - it's funny that you all high-profile people and corpos protest only after everything was leaked by Snowden. Seriously? Do you really think people are that stupid? Do you really think that people believe that corpos didn't know what NSA was doing with their hardware? Oh, come on... In the end, you're all the same - corpos, NSA, government - you are all after the big money, nothing else. But keep it up, keep on pretending. PS. Remember how the US government warned everyone about Huawei products that may have been tapped by China? Funny, isn't it?
      • @Meh, Thank you for the kind words! I'm a huge fan of pfSense, Asterisk, Snort, Squid, Varnish, OwnCloud, OpenVPN, TLS and lets not forget TrueCrypt for encyption. These technologies combined make for a sound, scalable, secure, network solution, that replaces many of the offerings that Cisco provide... at least for my customer and I. The best part is that you are allowed to dive deep into the soure code to find flaws youself, if you choose. So you can have peace of mind that your, solution isn't being tampered with, and all work on of-the-shelf hardware and open embedded hardware as well! I remember when proprietary tech companies use to mock opensource technologies and didn't considered it a threat, when the IT industry was booming. I was one that was on the side of proprietary solutions. The US use to be the king of the IT industry as well as many other industries and like ever other empire in our history it is/will fall as well. My 2 cents... Cheers!
    • It would be rather shortsighted to assume that only Cisco hardware was (and likely continues to be) intercepted and modified. Given the reach of the intelligence agencies, they could do the same anywhere with any vendor's hardware. Short of building your own, there isn't a surefire way to avoid the all seeing eye.
  5. How many secret court orders did Cisco receive from FISC to built in backdoors or weaken the product?
  6. Not good enough. Cisco doesn't work with US government to weaken its products? When does Cisco work with US government then? This blog isn't good enough answer. You have lost trust of people who buy Cisco products. You have lost support of systems and network engineers who know better. We're not fooled and we're not happy with Cisco. If you want to regain my business, you will fight US government. Until that time, Cisco, like other major US tech companies, cannot be trusted.
  7. As a long time cisco employee, I would hope that we go farther and actually pressure the US government to stop this practice. Their actions have hurt our business and growth in emerging markets and elsewhere and left a black eye on the entire US technology sector. We may have no culpability here but I am certain that certain section of cisco are well aware that this has been happening and it's not a new program. As a further step, I would like to see anti tampering technologies placed in our products so that any unauthorized access is noted in a show tech output.
    • Your products do have tamper-eviddnt shields and seals; that is, the ones ordered with hardware extention modules at least.
  8. Cisco is named as a strategic partner in the NSA slides leaked by Snowden.
  9. Well, that's very nice. A Strongly Worded Letter (TM). Asking all the spies of the world to stop spying. Let us know how that works out for you. Is your PAC money behind that? That might help you in one or two of the 206 states that are gunning for you. Meanwhile, why don't you actually DO something, instead of begging? You could start by sealing the boxes better. Yes, there are seals that are at least a little tricky for the NSA. You could go on to fix your extreme quality problems. You know, even if you have to ditch some of those "features" you're always cranking out. And even if you have to actually punish people for screwups. Speaking of features, why are your products still putting unencrypted data on the wire? And why is it so hard to set up crypto where all the gear is actually sure what it's talking to? Where's ubiquitous TLS? Where's an ubiquitous PKI that actually works? Hey, you might even have to work with other vendors! Worse, you might have to tell the people who make your products they all have to do the same thing! Couldn't have that. And let's see something we can actually verify. Publish your source code. Publish your hardware designs. It's not so scary. You'll get over it. If you have other people's code in your products, they let you publish it or you replace it. And tell us who you let change that code, and how you know their changes are OK. Show us the logs. And then you can get SERIOUS. Some nobody students at some random college can do this: . Why can't you? Or you can just keep asking.
  10. Nice, but as far as I understand American companies must work together with the NSA, if the NSA asks for, but may be forbidden to talk about. So, how ever again someone can trust in an American company?
  11. I'm sitting right next to two large Cisco routers in my office. How can I be sure that any of the data I send through them is safe? And it's not just the data - after all these revelations they might even be implanted with cancer-inducing high-power radio transmitters. If I had the resources and authority, I'd replace them with non-US hardware today, and even then I wouldn't feel safe. I fear the US government way more than any terrorist organization.
  12. I'm wondering how this wasn't found by Cisco through your RMA process. Surely some of the affected products failed and ended up back at Cisco. And if it was done so that Cisco couldn't identify that a product was compromised, what is to stop that product from going out to another customer who isn't targeted through your RMA/refurbish process? What a mess! Thanks NSA...
  13. You guys buying your stock today? Because as your sector as well as the wider market crumbles, you're up on this horrible news. This is damage control from house counsel. You feign victimization when you're in fact complicit with the US government. You don't like that YOUR CUSTOMERS have been backdoored? Yet it was YOU, who told the government about the sale. How else does this happen? blah, blah, lawyer Marky choosing his words ever so carefully while saying nothing. Shame on you. "We kill people based on metadata" - Michael Hayden.
  14. So well Cisco, then do the following: 1) Offer software tools for download on your homepage, that allow to check the integrity of the firmware and hardware of your products 2) let every Cisco product come with a skrewdriver, and a detailed guide how the customer can open the product and check whether the parts in it are really original. That should not be too difficult 4) create a safer shipment process. Ship the products by yourself or seal your packets when you ship. Maybe one can put in a small device into the packet that comes with a gps receiver and a light detector or something. Whenever the box is opened somewhere that is no way near the customer, the device could send the coordinates to cisco and if not possible, just warn the recipient when it arrives later on. 4) As cisco is mentioned as having a partnership with the nsa. Tell us about the nature of this partnership. Since nsa has to intercept cisco shipments it seems that there is at least some truth when Cisco says it does never weaken its own hardware. 5) open up a lawsuit against us government. They have deliberately endangered the thrust in cisco products, letting cisco's profit to decrease. Cisco deserves a repay from the government because of this.
    • Regarding item 2. Wouldn't the NSA intercept the goods and replace the diagram with a tailored diagram, leaving the end-user ever so clueless? Maybe a diagram published on would fare better, but I don't see what can guarantee these diagrams to be genuine in the first place. In the worst case, Cisco is, or will be, infiltrated by the NSA, all the way from the engineers that design the hardware and the software, right up to the ones publishing the official documentation on What a nightware. Regarding item 3. I'm sure the NSA will find a way to jailbreak any attempts at hardening the shipment process.
  15. And I forgot 6) In order to better check your firmwares, make them all open source. Your company allone is unlikely to prevent nsa hackers to create malware for cisco products. But when your sources can be checked by everyone, you have a better chance that a security flaw is found by someone not working for nsa.
  16. While this article strikes the right tone, it sounds more like a late reaction designed to take heat off the public outrage. For a bunch of Ivy Leaguers running these companies, they sure have not been very bright in chosing to be complicit in anti-Constitutional behaviour against the American people. You have facilitated this. You complied with it. You enjoyed its benefits - who knows what the Government promissed you. Your 'fight' against the surveilance state had better be more than simple blog posts. Participate in the public debate on the side of the people in an open and substantial manner. Do you think people are so blind not to see you're just interested in damage control?
  17. Cisco: To regain trust simply arm all of us IT administrators with powerful tools and guides (we will supply the screwdrivers) to verify the integrity of your products at a every level to defeat this idiotic threat. And it is a threat, make no mistake. The motives behind defeated security cannot be known; good guys and bad guys are indistinnguishable at a technical level. Nothing other than loudly and publicly arming us to defend ourselves with verification tools will work. I, as a decision maker who is responsible for a heafty IT budget each year will absolutely move our global purchasing towards products I feel are trustworthy and which allow tamper detection and mitigtion. Period. We really don't give a crap about Cisco's political games and this blog post is useless to what really matters: "Can I regain trust in the heaps of Cisco hardware in my systems or do I start ripping it out for ebay vultures?" Side note, if you don't technically solve our trust issues its likely we won't even be able to dump our Cisco stuff on the second hand market. Who would buy it if I wouldn't? The IT world now fears Cisco routers. We've been suspicious for years but a smoking gun has surfaced. Set this straight or fade away. You might think you sell network hardware but as a previously loyal customer of many years, I can tell you that trust was your only commodity and it fueled all of our past decisions to buy Cisco products. Fix please. We like your technology - would be a shame not to buy it for lack of trust.
  18. And if it was done so that Cisco couldn’t identify that a product was compromised, what is to stop that product from going out to another customer who isn’t targeted through your RMA/refurbish process? What a mess! Thanks NSA…
  19. I, for one, welcome our new NSA overlords.
  20. Words are cheap Cisco, here is what you need to do plain and simple to restore our trust in your company (I like cisco/linksis, but this issue has to be resolved): -integrate a physical anti-tampering device into each product you sell. A more high tech version of "if this seal is broken please contact us immediatly" -provide a way to authenticate the software on the device to make sure it is not currupt. Maybe have some online tool. Again, pretty easy fix and it would restore trust in your company. While I do not accuse Cisco of working with the government, it is nevertheless your job to prevent this from happening in the future.
  21. If it hits hard the quarter sales, start thinking about leaving USA (Irland ?). Would bring back the confidence.
  22. Another style would be to set up a fountain. This may call for professional help especially for larger ponds,ray ban online shop, but for the smaller ones,ray ban eyeglass frames, there are home kits with instructions available for easy installation.Lotteries happen to be across for a while now,custom oakley sunglasses, the globe shoes to see the growth of the lottery at the begin of the 1960's developed to increase earnings in addition to taxes. Find out what the latest training methods and tec
  23. as a matter of policy and practice, i think Cisco does not work with any government...
    • Riiiiiight... Because Cisco's CEO was mounting a staunch defense of the NSA and it's practices about a year ago for no reason at all. He was just blabbing on about how justified they were as a coincidence... right?
  24. I think it's quite naive to think NSA would desire to cooperate with Cisco, any cooperation creates more visible surface and shortens the lifetime of your attack. People are terrible at keeping secrets. If you 'order' feature in Cisco IOS as NSA, hundreds of people will know about it, you can't gain leverage to them, you can't pay them off reliably, many of them will be in another company or country in a year, it's just exceedingly childish to view this as desirable vector from trade craft POV. It takes skill to attack IOS but it's not exceedingly hard, for NSA budget it falls into trivial. You can read about attacks Felix has described and done with 0 budget. You would never know your box is compromised if rommon and/or ios is compromised, there is no new HW there to inspect. Also any intrusion detection/prevention is also very naive, you can always destroy the packaging completely, and source packaging from the same public company producing it and repackage. Resource need is trivial, remember NSA is funded in the billions per annum, sourcing packaging is nothing. You can however be 100% sure that Cisco is aware of these high-profile, advanced attacks. I know personally company with CAT7600 who was targeted, and I'm almost certain the attack was so that TCAM was poked (which you can do from CLI) to create ERSPAN tap, 100% standard software, nothing pwned, nothing seen in config. Buf if you'd wiretap it, you'd see it. What I want Cisco to do, is to come clean about these, when ever attack is seen in the field, document it publically, explain how it was done, how to detect it. Also if your company is targeted, come clean, write blog about it. As long as victim and Cisco stay quiet, these attacks don't exist. Literally, mainstream media will label it just paranoid. Without data, we have nothing. With data we can fix it, we can prove it, we can change it.
  25. Now a days internet secruity plays a vital for major technology updates so from my point of view it is more important than any thing in internet.
  26. Americans Right to Privacy has solutions and I am anxious to share them with you. We offer secure, encrypted email, a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which secures your computer's internet connection, to guarantee that all of the data you're sending and receiving is encrypted and secured from prying eyes. Also a "Swiss Bank Account for your Data" Digital Safe! And we have rolled out Secure Swiss Web Hosting! Why secure your data in Switzerland? Because Switzerland is known for its strict data privacy laws, has no back door access to encryption for any government agency, not even Switzerland itself We offer a professional global email service solution for both personal and business use. PrivacyAbroad email service is free of advertising, SPAM and provides private communication with your emails saved and backed up in Switzerland, renowned for its strong data privacy protection laws. Email comes with 1 GB of expandable storage space. If governments and "free" email providers can peek through your webcam, read your emails and look inside your computer, so can the criminals. There is data security, and then there is Swiss data security.
  27. Nice going NSA. You just caused Cisco and other US tech companies billions of dollars in lost revenue. Are you really that incompetent that you could not see this leaking out? What unbelievable shortsightedness and arrogance to hijack gear on it's way to customers. I would say you just aided every terrorist in their goal of hurting the US, and thank you for the job losses this has caused. Talk about helping Bin Laden's end game. Show less
  28. @CAM -- Open-source? ... Heartbleed.
  29. Es waren durchwegs kleinere Gebrauchsgegenstnde,louis vuitton taschen, wie Spielsachen,louboutin shoes, Zwirne,michael kors outlet, Schnrriemen und Bnder. Daher wurden die Hausierer auch Bandlkramer genannt. dachte er und ging der Gegend zu,michael kors online outlet, aus der die Stimme zu kommen schien. Er war nicht weit gegangen, so gelangte er zu einem schnen,gucci online shop, blauen See und erblickte am Ufer eine Krte,christian louboutin deutschland, die ihm immer zurief: Hansl,mich
  30. It is high time for Cisco and other firms to move offshore to countries such as Switzerland, I know this will take time, but if you don't, other firms in Europe will eventually eat ALL OF your lunch. Trust is like a beautiful mirror, once shuttered, it can NEVER be fixed! USI (Università della Svizzera italiana, University of Italian Switzerland) is promoting local It expertise, as people all over Europe beg to buy products not associated with the USA!
  31. As a Cisco employee I saw this developing and decided I could no longer wait for governments to act accordingly. I ran this year for U.S. Congress in Texas (3rd District). And while I may have lost the primary this year, I intend to run again until this and similar issues are resolved. Maybe it’s time for some geeks (and CCIE’s) in Congress?
  32. eine Verletzten. Zhang Ben vorher einmal sanfte rhythmische Atmung bis drei?ig Minuten zu halten, aber dieses Mal anders ist, steuert Ben Zhang die Quelle des Lebens Federn Blutfluss langsam, und dann in die Alveolen zu einem Kreis eingedrungen,Salomon schuhe deutschland, ist wie das Essen Münzst?tten in der Regel klar, erfrischende Kühle einem Durchgang aus der Brust, dann gibt es einen W?sche schmutzig Vergnügen. Goodfellas ...... Inspiratory Atmung, wenn ohne Ablenkungen erford
  33. note on the leg whip, but also a bully smashed legs curved, soft on the ground, he took a reflexive cement pipes, other steel pipes blocked a bit later, a slap in the face fan at the bottom of the ears, this position is very fragile, people generally at least three seconds can cause dizziness,Gucci outlet, unsteady legs. Tiger into wolves, wolf dead tiger born. By this time, the siege of the people up, but that is not difficult Ben Chang, this stay in force melee is basically the body's instinct
  34. Security in the Internet today is to be layered, because the longer the increasingly sophisticated attacks and offending ..
  35. We bought LANCOM router instead of Cisco ones. Cisco - you can say thanks to the NSA for that ...
  36. Thanks for the letter, very well worded and beautiful to read. I, however, won't be touching any Cisco equipment for the next few years.


text:
Rev. Eric Dykstra's Crossing Church offers 3-D TV bribes

Categories: Religion

The Rev. Eric Dykstra says he's not above "bribing people with crap."
The Rev. Eric Dykstra doesn't feel like The Greatest Story Ever Told has done a good enough job attracting people to his Crossing Church in Elk River, so he's become an electronics pitch man.

The church is giving away $8,000 worth of 3-D televisions and game consoles in a lottery open to anyone who walks through the church's doors Easter weekend to see if they want to buy what Dykstra's selling.

"I have no problem bribing people with crap in order to meet Christ," Dykstra told KARE 11. "What we've done is said, 'Hey, if you bring your friend to church, they might potentially win a 3-D television, a 3-DS or a 3-D movie ticket package.'"

The way of the Samurai.
"You may not remember the part of the Beatitutes where Jesus went all Oprah on his disciples and miraculously presented them with 3-D TVs, but Dykstra has unlocked Christ's long-hidden secret message of raw consumerism. He's also discovered another little-known fact about everyone's favorite first-century Jewish carpenter: he may have been known as the Prince of Peace, but dude was secretly a Master Samurai.

On the church's website, in a section called "The Code Of The Samurai," visitors are told that, "Average people take what they can get, hoping to contribute as little as possible," and, "Average people live in fear that they will not have enough."

And what better way to appeal to "average" people than with "crap" like a fancy new TV they can show off to the neighbors? Better yet, if they follow "master Samurai Jesus," they will be "blessed" with plenty more where that came from.

Whatever Dykstra's selling, there are buyers. His church has grown from a few hundred members to 3,000 in six years.

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Minneapolis towing, by the numbers

Categories: Minneapolis
car tow snow.jpg
This happens a lot.
If you've ever wondered how much money people spend on retrieving towed cars from the Minneapolis Impound Lot, City Pages has the answer: A lot.

Minneapolis drivers have paid more than $30 million in towing and retrieval fees since 2006, according to city records obtained by City Pages. The city accounts for nearly $40 million in revenue related to the impound lot during the same time.

The vast majority of that revenue goes back out the door in expenses for employee salaries, towing companies, and the lot itself. But not all of it: From January 1, 2006 to July 31 of this year, the City of Minneapolis has made more than $7 million profit thanks to towing fees and the auction sales of cars that owners don't retrieve.

In total, 208,520 cars have been towed into the Minneapolis Impound Lot, at an average of about 37,300 a year. That's more than 100 cars for each and every damn day of the year.

Revenue has actually been on the way down over the past few years. In 2007, the city towed more than 44,000 cars, and collected more than $7.9 million in fees. Last year, only -- only? -- 34,977 cars were towed, adding up to a total of $6.4 million in fees.

The city is on pace to collect about $6.7 million in 2011, a slight uptick from last year. Through the first seven months of this year, 18,435 cars were towed to the lot, which had an inventory of 847 cars as of July 31.

ford expedition.jpg
This Ford Expedition was up for bids at the most recent public auction.
About $5 million of the total revenue for the impound lot comes from daily storage fees, which run at $18 a day. After 15 days -- by which point the car's owner would've accumulated at least $400 in fees -- cars can be sold at public auctions, which are held the first Thursday of each month. Dealer auctions, where totaled cars are sold for scrap, are held each Thursday.

The City of Minneapolis contracts six private companies to tow vehicles to the lot. Last year, Wrecker Service and Rapid Recovery did best, pulling in $690,000 and $630,000, respectively, in city money. This year, Rapid Recovery is leading  the pack with $407,000 in towing money from the city through July 31.

In order to staff the impound lot seven days a week, 354 days a year, and stay open for 24 hours during the first couple days of a snow emergency, the city spent about $1.3 million on salaries last year.

So, the next time you walk out of your house, or out of a restaurant, and see that your car is missing, you can know two things: First, the city and a private towing company just made a little dough off your mistake -- and, furious though you may be, you're not alone.

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1996 Greece team to be inducted into state high school hockey Hall of Fame this weekend

Posted by • March 7, 2013 • 10:06 am Be the first to comment
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The 1996 Greece hockey team, which became the first Section V squad to win a state championship, will be inducted into the New York State High School Hockey Hall of Fame this weekend, according to the club’s former coach, Mike Dossier. The team will be honored during this weekend’s state hockey final four in Utica, where McQuaid plays Massena at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Division I semifinals. The New York State High School Hockey Hall of Fame is in the Lake Placid Olympic Center’s ’32 Rink Hallway and it  recognizes former outstanding players, coaches and teams that have contributed noteworthy service to the sport. There are 33 other teams that have been inducted, according to the web site. Greece will be the first. It went 26-1-1 that season and beat Oswego, 4-3, in the championship. Below is a the D&C story colleague Leo Roth wrote about that game.

* * * *

Greece puts the icing on the states:  Section V claims first hockey title

UTICA -Before yesterday’s state championship hockey game, Greece Lightning coach Mike Dossier clipped a tiny button to his shirt bearing the Latin phrase carpe diem.

Seize the day.

Taking their coach’s message to heart, Greece found a little something extra in its showdown against Oswego, capturing the 17th annual New York State Public High School Athletic Association Division I championship with a thrilling 4-3 victory at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. With time running down in regulation, senior center Bobby Garrison dug out a loose puck behind the net and took a wraparound shot that Oswego goalie Mike Tucker kicked straight out. It landed on the stick of junior winger Justin Booth, who drove home the winning goal -just his ninth of the season through a maze of bodies with 59 seconds left.

“We talked all year about playing with heart, desire and emotion,” said Dossier, who was dripping wet after a water bucket shower from his players. “You have to be able to win the race for those loose pucks and we did that at the end.”

After Garrison won two key faceoffs in Greece’s end to help kill off the final :40, the Lightning struck up a celebration, tossing sticks and gloves high into the air while trading handshakes, hugs and some tears of joy. It was a fitting response for a history making achievement: Greece is the first Section V team to capture a state hockey title -the area had been 0-for-3 in title games. And it came against powerful Section III, which yesterday captured its 11th state title when Clinton won its second straight Division II crown with a 6-5 victory over LaSalle-II.

With Greece (26-1-1) ranked No. 1 in the polls and Oswego (21-3) No. 2, the Lightning settled it on the ice in the matchup they wanted. They were led by Garrison with a goal (his 47th) and three assists and linemate Dave Insalaco with one goal and two assists. Defensemen Brian Cooper had Greece’s other goal and senior goalie Jason MacBride made 14 saves.

Matt Vashaw (two) and Erik Cole, a pair of explosive junior forwards, had Oswego’s goals. After losing to the Buccaneers 10-1 in a regular-season game last year, Greece tried several times to schedule a rematch this season but never could. “They didn’t want to play us, like we weren’t good enough or something,” Booth said. “We pretty much showed today what we’re made of.”

Greece -which had a 30-17 edge in shots -took a 2-0 first- period lead on a power play goal by Insalaco off a nice three-way passing play with Garrison and Tony Robinson and a rebound goal by Cooper. Just seconds before Cooper scored, Vashaw clanked a shot off the post on a breakaway. Oswego came back hard in the second period, though, scoring twice just 2:22 apart in the first five minutes. Cole scored off a defensive turnover and Vashaw followed with a short-handed goal. Greece got the lead back 3-2 when Garrison scored on a blast from outside his blue line at the 10:00 mark. Oswego got that one back with a fluke goal of its own when Vashaw ripped a shot from just inside the blue line into the third period.

The game appeared headed to overtime when Booth struck. With Garrison and Insalaco digging behind the Oswego net, he was in the right place at the right time. “The puck came right to me,” Booth said. “I put it in the 5-hole (between the goalie’s legs).”

“I had a sinking feeling it was slipping away,” Garrison said. “We knew we had to do it then -in regulation.”

Greece -whose independent schedule loaded with state-ranked teams had them well-prepared -took everything hard-hitting Oswego could dish out.

“We ran out of gas, especially on defense,” said Oswego coach Pete Sears, whose team dropped to 0-2 in title games. “We’re not quite as deep as Greece and it caught up with us. That’s as good a team as we’ve seen, no doubt.”

Being so good for so long would’ve left the Lightning with an empty feeling had they fallen short. To handle the burden of being No. 1, they mentally took the season shift by shift, game by game. “This team has been a family from Day One,” Insalaco said. “We just kept working hard until the job was done.”

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Webster Schroeder moves to top spot in boys basketball coaches rankings

BOYS – Large schools (Class AA & A)

Records through Feb. 5

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Webster Schroeder (3) 15-1 AA 39 2
2. Fairport (1) 14-2 AA 37 1
3. (Tie) McQuaid 11-4 AA 26 3
3. (Tie) Bishop Kearney 8-7 AA 26 4
5. Irondequoit 14-2 AA 25 7
6. Hilton 13-3 AA 18 10
7. Aquinas 12-4 A 17 6
8. Greece Athena 11-5 AA 14 5
9. Charlotte 12-3 A 11 8
10. Penfield 11-5 AA   5 NR

Honorable mention:  Geneva (A, 14-1), Rush-Henrietta (AA, 9-7).

BOYS – Small schools (Class B, C & D)

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Batavia (6) 13-2 B 67 1
2. Hornell 14-1 B 56 5
3. Clyde-Savannah 14-1 C 51 2
4. Batavia Notre Dame 16-0 C 45 3
5. Caledonia-Mumford 14-2 C 34 7
6. Lyons 13-2 C 32 4
7. Geneseo 14-2 C 24 6
8. University Prep 11-3 D 17 10
9. York 13-3 C 15 9
10. Addison 14-1 C 11 8

Honorable mention:  Wellsville (B, 13-3), Wheatland-Chili (C, 14-2), Northeast/Northwest College Prep (B, 7-8), Newark (B, 11-4), Perry (C, 12-4).

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Pittsford back on top in hockey rankings

Two victories last week, including a 4-1 triumph over Webster Thomas, propelled Pittsford back to the top of the final Section V hockey poll of the regular season.

The Panthers (14-3-1), who were also ranked first two weeks ago, received 112 points and five of the 12 first-place votes cast. Pittsford plays Penfield on Thursday night and No. 2 Fairport (15-4) on Saturday in a game that will have a heavy impact on the seedings for the upcoming Section V Class A Tournament.

The win over Thomas was Steve Thering’s 100th as varsity coach of the Panthers.

The Red Raiders moved up three spots from No. 5 last week, receiving three first-place votes and registering 92 points. McQuaid (13-5-1), last week’s No. 1, received four first-place votes and totaled 84 points.

Thomas (16-2-1, 80 points), Greece Athena/Odyssey (14-5, 77) and Churchville-Chili (15-4, 75) hold down the next three spots.

The regular season concludes on Saturday and seedings for the sectional tournament will be announced on Sunday.

Rank School (first-place votes) Record Classification Points Prev. rank
1. Pittsford (5) 14-3-1 A 112 2
2. Fairport (3) 15-4 A 92 5
3. McQuaid (4) 13-5-1 A 84 1
4. Webster Thomas 16-2-1 B 80 3
5. Greece Athena/Odyssey 14-5 A 77 6
6. Churchville-Chili 15-4 B 75 4
7. Brockport 15-4 B 50 9
8. Hilton 14-5 B 33 7
9. Irondequoit 12-5-2 B 24 8
10. Canandaigua 9-6-3 B 10 10

Honorable mention: Penfield, Brighton/Honeoye Falls-Lima/East Rochester, Aquinas, Geneseo/Livonia

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Section V boys basketball rankings

BOYS – Large schools (Class AA & A)

Records through Jan. 29

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Fairport (5) 14-0 AA 50 1
2. Webster Schroeder 13-1 AA 45 2
3. McQuaid 11-3 AA 39 3
4. Bishop Kearney 6-7 AA 26 5
5. Greece Athena 10-3 AA 24 6
6. Aquinas 10-4 A 21 10
7. Irondequoit 12-2 AA 20 4
8. Charlotte 10-3 A 15 8
9. Geneva 13-0 A 14.5 9
10. Hilton 11-3 AA 12 7

Honorable mention:  Wayne (A, 12-2), Rush-Henrietta (A, 6-7), Marshall/All-City  (AA, 8-6).

BOYS – Small schools (Class B, C & D)

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Batavia (4) 11-1 B 40 1
2. Clyde-Savannah 9-0 C 31 3
3. Batavia Notre Dame 14-0 C 30 T4
4. Lyons 11-1 C 29 6
5. Hornell 11-1 B 25 2
6. Geneseo 10-1 C 17 7
7. Caledonia-Mumford 12-2 C 15 5
8. Addison 12-1 C 11 T9
9. York 12-2 C 10 8
10. University Prep 11-2 D 6 T9

Honorable mention:  Wellsville (B, 11-3), Wheatland-Chili (12-2), Perry (C, 11-3).

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There are national indoor track leaders around Rochester, according to website

When Greece Olympia senior Desmond Mobley launched himself into a long jump pit at The College at Brockport last weekend, he set the Section V indoor track record at 24 feet-1 inch.

Mobley also produced his second performance of the season that is among the top 10 in the nation, according to a leaderboard compiled by

Greece Olympia senior Desmond Mobley set the Section V indoor track record with this long jump during the Trent Jackson Memorial Invitiational at the College at Brockport. KRIS J. MURANTE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Only Andre Jefferson, who competes with John Tyler in Tyler, Texas at 24-11 has a long jump further than Mobley’s best during the Trent Jackson Memorial Invitational inside Brockport’s Special Events Recreation Center.

Mobley and Le Roy junior Rubin Owens also are sixth on the boys high jump leaderboard at 6-8.

Penfield senior Katie Lembo  ran what is the third-fastest 1,500 on Jan. 5 at 4:40.71. Here are more performances in the section that are top 10 on the national leaderboards:

Keith Pease (Greece Athena senior): 4:16.94 on Jan. 5. (8th in the nation).

Chauncey Scissum Rush-Henrietta senior): 47-1 triple jump on Jan. 5. (9th).

Brian Smith (Greece Athena senior): 34.63, 300-meter dash on Jan. 19. (7th).

Smith (Athena): 6.44, 55-meter dash on Jan. 19.

Georgia Tuttle (Irondequoit): 4:45.13, 1,500 on Dec. 21. (7th).

There are at least 10 more athletes from Edison, Webster Thomas, Northeast/Northwest Prep, and others that have produced top 30 performances on the national leaderboard. You can find those lists at this link:

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Section V boys basketball rankings

BOYS – Large schools (Class AA & A)

Records through Jan. 22

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Fairport (9) 12-0 AA 90 1
2. Webster Schroeder 11-1 AA 80 2
3. McQuaid 11-3 AA 68 3
4. Irondequoit 11-1 AA 57 6
5. Bishop Kearney 6-5 AA 53 4
6. Greece Athena 9-3 AA 44 5
7. Hilton 9-3 AA 31 8
8. Charlotte 9-2 A 26 7
9. Geneva 11-0 A 19 9
10. Aquinas 8-4 A 17 NR

Honorable mention:  Penfield (AA, 8-4), Wayne (A, 11-1), Greece Olympia (A, 8-4), East (AA, 6-6).

BOYS – Small schools (Class B, C & D)

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Batavia (4) 8-1 B 53 1
2. Hornell (2) 9-0 B 50 2
3. Clyde-Savannah 9-1 C 44 3
4. (Tie) Batavia Notre Dame 12-0 C 41 4
4. (Tie) Caledonia-Mumford 11-1 C 41 5
6. Lyons 10-1 C 30 6
7. Geneseo 10-1 C 30 7
8. York 10-2 C 13 9
9. University Prep 10-1 D 10 NR
9. (Tie) Addison 11-1 C 10 8

Honorable mention:  Naples (C, 8-1), Alexander (C, 9-4), Wellsville (B, 10-3), Perry (C, 9-3), Whitesville (D, 9-4).

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Fairport, Batavia are new No. 1 teams in Section V boys basketball coaches polls

BOYS – Large schools (Class AA & A)

Records through Jan. 2

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Fairport (7) 7-0 AA 70 2
2. Bishop Kearney 2-2 AA 60 1
3. Webster Schroeder 5-1 AA 51 3
4. McQuaid 7-1 AA 39 5
5. Hilton 6-1 AA 38 7
6. Aquinas 5-1 A 37 8
7. Greece Athena 6-2 AA 20 4
8. Rush-Henrietta 4-1 AA 17 T9
9. East 5-2 AA 13 6
10. Charlotte 5-1 A 12 T9

Honorable mention: Irondequoit (AA, 5-1), Wayne (A, 7-0), Wilson (AA, 4-3), Geneva (A, 6-0), Penfield (AA, 5-3)

BOYS – Small schools (Class B, C & D)

Rank School (First-place votes) Record Classification Points Previous rank
1. Batavia (2) 5-1 B 45 5
2. Hornell (2) 6-0 B 40 2
3. Lyons 6-0 C 38 T7
4. Clyde-Savannah 4-0 C 36 1
5. Batavia Notre Dame 6-0 C 35 4
6. Caledonia-Mumford 6-1 C 18 3
7. Wellsville 6-1 B 17 T7
T8. Perry 8-1 C 12 6
T8. Naples 5-0 C 12 NR
10. Geneseo 6-1 C 8 10

Honorable mention:  Alexander (C, 7-0), University Prep (D, 5-1), Gananda (C, 5-3),  Greece Odyssey (B, 5-2).

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Brockport, Pittsford wrestling teams to honor late assistant coach Leach on Thursday night

“Senior Night” for the Pittsford wrestling team could have came and went in mid-December.

The Panthers instead, said they wanted to hold off and hold their send-off on the other side of Monroe County, in Brockport.

There they want to acknowledge the link between the Monroe County teams represented by the late Matt Leach, whose days as an assistant high school wrestling coach began in Brockport and continued during the last three years with the Pittsford combined district team. Mr. Leach died at the age of 37  in July, after an accidental shooting.

Matt Leach, on the left, coached with Pittsford's Jason Bovenzi the last three high school wrestling seasons. Leach was a Section V and Monroe County champion during his senior year at Brockport. PROVIDED PHOTO

Brockport coach Mike Ferris and Pittsford coach Jason Bovenzi agreed to schedule a non-league dual meet on Jan. 3 at Brockport’s A.D. Oliver Middle School that includes tributes to Leach, a 1992 Brockport graduate.

Senior captains from both teams plan to present flowers to Leach’s mother and wife. Proceeds from admission tickets, memorial t-shirt sales at the meet and donations go into the scholarship fund established in Leach’s name.

All fans are asked to wear black, as a nod to Leach’s coaching contributions to Pittsford, Brockport and Greece Athena. The color also often was Leach’s choice for his wardrobe during wrestling events.

Brockport annually has two non-league meets.

“We’re going to use this as one of those every year,” Ferris said.

Next year’s Matt Leach Memorial Dual takes place in Pittsford.

Shenendehowa senior Nick Kelley, green and gray singlet, pinned Lancaster's Eric Lewandowski 3:20 into the 138-pound final of the Teike/Bernabi Wrestlling Tournament in Spencerport.

When studs meet: Lancaster senior Eric Lewandowski, a two-time Section VI champion,  is capable of winning a state wrestling championship.

That also goes for Shenendehowa senior Nick Kelley, who was a fourth-place finisher at the 2012 Junior National Freestyle Championships in Fargo, N.D. and twice came in the top-four at states. Lewandowski finished in sixth in his weight class at states last year.

So when Kelley and Lewandowski met in the Teike/Bernabi Wrestling Tournament 138-pound final on Dec. 28, the bout had the feel of a main event. Kelley came out on top this time, as he pinned Lewandowski at 3 minutes, 20 seconds. It was the first loss in 19 matches this season for Lewandowski, while Kelley improved to 14-1 and 219-19 overall.

“I know he is a scrambling wrestler,” Kelley said. “I was just scrambling around with him.”

Lewandowski ended up on his back, Kelley pounced and took advantage.

A rematch would be interesting, whether or not it’s at the state championships.

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List of Section V football scrimmages

Teams around Section V line up in scrimmages on Saturday, Aug. 25.

Here are where your favorite teams and others head for this unofficial scrimmage day, which players like because it gives them a peak at other players and their squads.

Pittsford Mendon, 9 a.m.:Spencerport, Aquinas, Penfield, Webster Thomas, Edison, Wilson, East Irondequoit Eastridge and Pittsford.

Brockport senior quarterback Tom Sydeski passed for 2,098 yards with a school-record 24 touchdown passes last season for Brockport. The Blue Devils were a Monroe County division champion for the first time.

Rush-Henrietta, 9 a.m.: Irondequoit versus R-H.

Victor, 9 a.m.: Brockport, Livonia, LeRoy and Victor.

Brighton, 9 a.m.: Honeoye Falls-Lima, Palmyra-Macedon, Wayne and Brighton.

Warsaw, 9:30 a.m.: Alexander, Avon, Arcade of Section VI and Warsaw.

Bolivar-Richburg, 9:30 a.m.: Portsville (Section VI), Allegany (VI), Limestone (VI), Bolivar-Richburg.

Finney, 10 a.m.:  Buffalo Nichols, Niagara Catholic and Finney.

Caledonia-Mumford, 10 a.m.:Batavia Notre Dame, York, Oakfield-Alabama, Canisteo and Caledonia-Mumford.

Edison's Alex McDouglas reaches out for a pass during a recent practice. TINA YEE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Dansville, 10 a.m.: Wellsville, Pioneer (VI), Salamanca (VI), and Dansville.

Greece Athena, 10 a.m.: East, Gates Chili, Canandaigua at Athena.

Fairport, 10 a.m.: McQuaid, Churchville-Chili and Fairport.

Greece Olympia, 9 a.m.: Greece Arcadia, Marshall, Hilton and Olympia.

Wayland-Cohocton, 9:30 a.m.: Geneseo, Letchworth and Wayland-Cohocton.

Pembroke, 10 a.m.: Perry, Barker, Wilson (VI) and Pembroke.

Webster Schroeder, 10 a.m.: Lancaster (VI) vs. Webster Schroeder.

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With some hustle, players can get into free football camp at Wayne

It seems as if it is never too early to get ready for some football.

More than 350 varsity or  junior varsity players from Section V schools have registered to take part in a camp sponsored by the NFL Youth Football Fund and National Guard.

“It’s such a great opportunity for the kids, especially the way funds are nowadays,” Wayne varsity football coach David Marean said.

Greece Arcadia football coach John Lockhart with instructions at the 2011 NFL High School Player Development Program event at Wayne.(PROVIDED PHOTO).

The camp, free for the high school players, is Monday, June 4 through Friday, June 8 at Wayne High School in Ontario.

Registration can still take place on the first day, with proof of an updated physical and a form that must be filled out by the participant and a parent at Wayne.

The on-field sessions, 6-8 p.m. each night, are in helmets and shorts, with supervision from coaches in Section V.

It is part of the National Football League High School Player Development Program that will include talks about character development and life skills with 40,000 high school players at 200 sites in the nation.

Players from Wayne, Midlakes, Brighton, Penfield, Greece Arcadia, Greece Olympia, East, Irondequoit, Aquinas, Churchville-Chili and a pair from the state of New Jersey are among those who have registered.

Devin Snyder

For more information call Geneva DeSales football coach John Evans 315-664-6644.

Section V track and field honors:  The most valuable performers from the Section V championship meets were presented the Devin Snyder Award on June 1 during the state qualifier in Penn Yan.

The awards, determined by votes of coaches, were created in honor of  Snyder, a United States Army Sgt. and a former track and field athlete at Wayland-Cohocton.  Snyder was killed in Afghanistan last June at the age of 20.

 Here are the recipients, many of whom have advanced to the state meet, June 8-9 at Cicero-North Syracuse High:

Class AA: Leila Mantilla (Penfield) girls track; Janessa Mathews (Fairport) girls field; Brian Smith (Greece Athena) boys track; Kyle Podgers (Hilton) boys field.

Greece Olympia junior Desmond Mobley (ADRIAN KRAUS/PHOTOGRAPHER)

Ryan Cribbin

Class A: Madeline Kopp (Spencerport) girls track; Sydney Kurtic (Honeoye Falls-Lima) girls field; Desmond Mobley (Greece Olympia) boys track; Ryan Cribbin (Irondequoit) boys field.

Class B: Jocelyn Acor (Hornell) girls track; Ireland Armstrong (Bath) girls field; Jahmahl Pardner (Aquinas) boys track; Francisco Martinez (Batavia).

Class CC: Justina Sanders-Schifano (Sodus) girls track; Karmen Auble (Warsaw) girls field; Josh Deragon (Avon) boys track; Rubin Owens (Le Roy) boys field.

Class C: Taylor Rutland (Kendall) girls track; Eleanore Grant (Red Creek) girls field; Gabe Rodriguez (Geneseo) boys track; Ian Gillens (Marion) boys field.

Hornell sophomore Jocelyn Acor. (KRIS J. MURANTE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Class D: Isabel Hirtelen-Booker (Harley-Allendale Columbia) girls track; Aiden Brennan (Harley-Allendale

Columbia); Logan Phillips (Genesee Valley) boys track; Devon Milford (Mount Morris).

Spencerport middie to Mercyhurst: Jeffrey Nitti signed a letter of intent to play lacrosse at Mercyhurst College, which reached the NCAA Division II Tournament semifinals.

Nitti scored 46 goals, third on the Rangers, before he joins the 2011 NCAA national champion Lakers.

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Jeff DiVeronica has covered Section V for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1994. A native of Canastota, N.Y., where he played soccer, basketball and baseball, “Devo” began his career at the Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette before returning to Rochester in 1993. The St. John Fisher College graduate also covers the Rochester Rhinos soccer team and Syracuse University basketball. He founded the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show, which airs Saturdays at noon on WHTK-AM (1280), in 2003. E-mail Jeff at
Follow: @RocDevo
James Johnson has covered Section V for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. The St. John Fisher College and Edison graduate also has provided features and game stories tied to NASCAR, professional golf, baseball, hockey, boxing and tennis. His career began in 1995 at the Press-Sun Bulletin in Binghamton, where he helped cover Section IV high school sports. E-mail James at
Follow: @jjDandC

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Broncos’ Tracy Porter says “feels great” to be back practicing

Those unaware that Broncos cornerback Tracy Porter returned to the practice field Friday could guess that to be the case by his wide grin.

Porter participated on a limited basis and won’t play Sunday in the home game against San Diego. But this was a big step. He has been designated inactive for the past four games and hasn’t put on a uniform on game day since the Oct. 7 game at New England due to a recurrence of symptoms that preceded a seizure in August.

“It feels great to be back out there,” Porter said Friday after practice. “I’m still working my way back.

“But hopefully, next week I can hit the ground running and be ready next Sunday (for the Nov. 25 game at Kansas City).”

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  • http://www.denverinternetmarketing.org/ Ken Fry

    With all the line ups Del Rio has thrown out there against opponents it would be interesting to see how he can get Porter on the Field

    • hambone

      get real kenny… tracy porter was and is the no. 2 cornerback (a starter). How would there be a problem getting him on the field? He is the second best at his position. It seems simple to me.

      • KillerKwab

        You, sir, get real. The play of Tony Carter and Chris Harris is how it is hard to get him back on the field. You cant justifiably take them off the field.

        • Froderick_Frankenstein

          Yup. Carter & Harris are shining out there, and that old shanahan “can’t lose your job by injury” thing does not apply to the 2012 Broncos. Porter will have to play lights out and come up with a number of pick-6es to put those 2 on the bench. The depth chart screams “what have you done for me lately!”

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- The Spot - http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot -

Payday loans bill postponed until Monday; Casso absent

It barely survived a preliminary vote in the House on Thursday, and now a bill to significantly limit interest and fees on payday lending in Colorado won’t get a final House vote until Monday.

The House today laid over the bill until Monday because Rep. Ed Casso, D-Thornton, was absent, according to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Ferrandino, D-Denver. The bill narrowly survived a second reading vote of 32-31 on Thursday but needs a full 33 votes to win approval on third reading.

The bill would limit interest on payday loans to no more than 45 percent expressed as an annual percentage rate and limit loan origination fees to no more than $50 per year. Payday lenders say applying an APR to a loan that is typically made for two weeks is inappropriate and that the bill will cost the state hundreds of jobs as short-term lenders go out of business.

Similar bills to limit payday loans have failed in recent years, and this year’s version still would have to go to the Senate if it clears the House.


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A Floating Home in Manhattan: The Waterpod to Launch Tomorrow

By Allison Bond | June 12, 2009 9:15 am

WaterpodLand-based living is so last millennium—at least according to the creators of the Waterpod, a barge that for four artists will serve as a self-sustainable floating home for five months, beginning this Saturday, June 13. The 30- by 100-foot barge will be towed from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to a pier in South Street Seaport, on the lower east edge of Manhattan. The project, led by a sculptor-photographer from Queens, is a step towards eco-friendly housing that can adapt to a changing climate.

The pod is constructed out of repurposed wood, metal and other materials on top of the barge, and a garden and flock of chickens will provide food for everyone on board. Inhabitants will power their own appliances, such as laptops, with a wind turbine and an electricity-producing bicycle. And there are four main areas on the Waterpod, including one for community building, one containing the bedrooms, another for producing power and food, and the last for cooking and showering.

We love the idea of a self-sufficient, floating shelter but have to wonder: What happens if you’re prone to sea sickness?

Related Content:

Discoblog: World Science Festival: Radically Green Future Cities
Discoblog: Watch Your Water
Discoblog: “Electric Fart Machine” Could Lead to Greater Fuel Storage Efficiency

Image: Courtesy of Waterpod Project

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International Dialogue Highlights Global Opportunities for Supply Chain Sustainability

Complete supply chains are inherently international and logistics decisions made in Bentonville, Arkansas can have impacts in ports such as Callao, Peru just as carrier choices made in Santiago, Chile may affect operations in Houston, Texas. While these complexities present challenges to the transportation and logistics sectors, they are also opportunities to collaborate across regions, companies, and industries. Much of the work required to improve air quality in transportation hot spots and drive efficiency gains in routing and distribution networks involves myriad actors. Of course, carbon accounting and technology adaptation are practices that are not limited to the U.S. and there is growing international interest in making supply chains more sustainable.

An example of new opportunities to engage more broadly on supply chain sustainability comes from last month’s Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Annual Conference. I met a representative from the Buenos Aires-based radio program “Hablemos de Logística” and we discussed trade growth in Latin America, environmental challenges facing the region, industry views on supply chain sustainability, and EDF’s vision and goals for regional efforts on transportation and logistics environmental programs. This interview (in Spanish), which aired on the October 23rd broadcast of “Hablemos de Logística,” captures some of our discussion. The radio program’s media group also includes Foro Logística, an event-based group that hosted the 4th Forum on Sustainability and the Supply Chain on November 6 in Buenos Aires. While the media group focuses on all aspects of supply chain and logistics topics, they understand the growing role that sustainability will play in this sector.

As EDF helps bring sound science and market-based economics to solving some of the world’s greatest environmental challenges, we are regularly looking for new partners and new opportunities. The global nature of supply chains and growing international awareness of transportation-related environmental concerns means there is better availability to work with diverse stakeholders on supply chain sustainability. This work translates to carbon reductions and air quality improvements for numerous regions as sustainability practices (such as those highlighted by my colleague Elena Craft) become more fully integrated in global supply chains.

La logística es internacional por su naturaleza y el interés en la sustentabilidad de la supply chain va creciendo cada año en América Latina. EDF se ha dedicado a solucionar temas de la huella de carbono, la eficiencia en transporte de carga y la contaminación del aire con varios socios del sector comercial, transportación y público. En la conferencia de CSCMP tuvimos la oportunidad de conversar con Fabio Contino, Director de “Hablemos de logística” un programa de radio basado en Buenos Aires. Hablamos sobre  los desafíos medioambientales en la región, el rol de sustentabilidad en la supply chain y la visión de EDF para una logística más eficiente y sustentable. La entrevista fue emitida en el programa del 23 de octubre y también online. EDF espera avanzar estos temas en América Latina y trabajar con autoridades portuarias, el sector del transporte, coordinadores de logística y el sector comercial para realizar una supply chain más sustentable.

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  • About the author

    Research Analyst
    Marcelo works on air pollution issues related to seaports and the freight movement sector of transportation. He has developed and analyzed metrics for estimating emissions at ports, worked with EDF’s corporate partners on leveraging their support for pollution mitigation programs, conducted an evaluation of clean truck programs, and partnered with the U.S. EPA and other federal agencies on transportation sustainability.

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Ecuador banks

It is not easy being a bank in Ecuador these days.

Not only has the combined profit of the Andean country’s private banks dropped 21 per cent last year as the government of leftwing president, Rafael Correa, tightened its grip on the sector. But elsewhere, the industry is being probed for telling customers that a bank tax bill proposed by Correa to fund welfare programmes would undermine the country’s financial system. Read more


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Sarah Palin’s speech

Astonishing. It was a fine convention speech—but, reading the text, no better than very good. What was just sensational, far exceeding my expectations, was the delivery. After the thrashing she has received from press and television in the past few days, knowing what was at stake for the party and for John McCain as she stood at the podium, with a good part of the nation watching and waiting for her to trip, her composure and self-assurance were simply amazing. Who could fail to be moved by this? And it was even more impressive than it looked, because the waves of adulation from the audience kept interrupting her momentum: they did not know it, but at times the audience was making it harder for her. Yet she never looked hesitant or thrown. She paused when she had to and controlled the timing. She actually seemed comfortable. If ever there were a political natural, we saw one tonight.

It was not a safe speech, though at the beginning, when she was talking mainly about McCain, I thought it was going to be. She had a pair of difficult acts to follow, because both Mike Huckabee and (especially) Rudi Giuliani gave terrific barnstorming speeches before she came on. (Let‘s not dwell on Mitt Romney’s bizarre contribution.) She not only touched on her own biography, in ways sure to delight small-town Americans across the land, she also asserted her command, as the governor of an oil-producing state, of the energy debate. Had Democrats forgotten that this is a key issue in the election, and one on which they are trailing the Republicans in public opinion?

I was surprised that she dared to attack Obama-Biden on national security and foreign policy, where her credentials are weak: here she was saying, I’m not afraid of you. In fronting her own executive experience, comparing it favorably (and not without justification) with Obama’s, she dared to mock the Democratic nominee. That too was a risk, because mockery easily backfires—ask the Democrats about that tonight—and it paid off. All the barbs—“he has written two memoirs but not one piece of legislation,” and so on—went home.

Well, the Democrats have a problem. They had a few days of calling her a clueless redneck, a stewardess, a nonentity, and she has hurled that back in their bleeding gums. (If I were Joe Biden, I’d start practising for October 2nd right now.) Even before tonight’s speech, they had backed off the “no experience” strategy, because (as the Republicans intended) that was sending shrapnel in Obama’s direction. Their line right now is their default mode, that McCain-Palin is four more years of George Bush. But this too is a completely untenable strategy, since the Republican ticket now looks stunningly fresh to voters, as fresh in fact as Obama-Biden. Where they will have to end up is obvious: McCain-Palin is an extreme right-wing ticket. It is a team that will prosecute the culture war against all that is decent and civilized in the United States: that must be the line.

Aside from further surprises in her biography, this—not her supposed inexperience—is the vulnerability that Palin has brought to the McCain candidacy. We need to hear her questioned on those issues. How unbending a social conservative is she? So much as to frighten the independents McCain needs? McCain is not a culture warrior. That is not the campaign he wanted to fight. At the moment, however, this factor seems massively outweighed in electoral terms by the excitement she has brought to the campaign. The party cannot believe its luck. They want to win again, and suddenly they think they can.

What one next wants to know is how Americans at large react to what they saw tonight. I will be surprised if they were not very impressed.

Update: CNN on why the speech was a problem for McCain: “Well, he has to speak tomorrow night, and as we know, he is no governor of Alaska.” Flexibility you can believe in from the best political team on television.

Clive Crook’s blog

This blog is no longer updated but it remains open as an archive.

I have been the FT's Washington columnist since April 2007. I moved from Britain to the US in 2005 to write for the Atlantic Monthly and the National Journal after 20 years working at the Economist, most recently as deputy editor. I write mainly about the intersection of politics and economics.

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« Aug Oct »September 2008


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Laboratory of Neurobiology

Our research has focused on the role of ion-regulatory proteins in the control of neuronal excitability at the molecular, single-cell, network and in vivo levels.

(1) We have identified the first human KCC2 mutation. This missense variant is a susceptibility gene for febrile seizures and perhaps other seizure disorders.

(2) A novel project has been started focusing on the role of the HPA axis on brain pH regulation and neuronal excitability. This work aims at elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying birth-asphyxia seizures and brain trauma.

(3) The neuronal chloride extruder KCC2, a key molecule in GABAergic inhibition, upregulated following neonatal seizures, which is opposite to seizure effects in the mature brain. Our work points to age-dependent differences in the effects of neurotrophic factors on the trafficking of KCC2.

(4) The neuronal carbonic anhydrase isoform 7 (CA7) has turned out to be a key molecule in seizure generation and a promising anticonvulsant drug target. Using a novel CA7 KO, as well as CA2 KO and double CA7/CA2 KO mice, we have examined the roles of these isoforms in neuronal pH regulation and in the establishment of excitatory bicarbonate-dependent GABA responses during hippocampal development.

(5) Experimental febrile seizures (FS) cannot be evoked in the CA7 KO mice. The lack of FS is likely to be caused by a change in neuronal pH responsiveness, and not due to an absence of hyperthermia-induced hyperventilation.

(6) We have shown that 5% CO2 is a potent anticonvulsant in animal models and human epilepsy patients.

(7) We have developed a novel rodent model of birth asphyxia. Two-photon pH imaging in vivo as well as extracellular pH recordings have shown that birth asphyxia leads to a rise in both intra- and extracellular pH in the brain. The experimental birth-asphyxia seizures can be suppressed by preventing the fast rise in brain pH during recovery. A retrospective clinical study is in progress.

(8) Using specific ablation of the cortical subplate in neonatal rats, we have examined activity-dependent structural and functional (EEG) development of the neocortex.


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October 28, 2005

We leave you with this final Headline of the Week So Far.

(Thanks to DavCat)

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"Farmers regard the creatures as pests while biologists regard them as an interesting addition to the German landscape."
Funny, most biologists I know aren't that much in favor of invasive foreign animals tearing up the local ecosystem. Even if it does generate awesome headlines.

"The opposable thumbs of raccoons allow them to make mischief, including unlocking doors and getting into rubbish bins"

so that's who keeps unlocking my liquor cabinet.

What Germany needs is a few good redneck coon hunters and some good ol' Bluetick hounds. And both will like the beer.

We have terrorist squirrels, they have nazi racoons... America got there first, once again.
Talk about trend setters...

Nazi Squirrels WBAGNFARB and Nazi Squirrels Invade The Wineland would be a good name for the bands European tour.

Drunk and disorderly Nazi Racoons. What next?

I read somewhere that to keep the beer cold you can stuff a racoon into a gas powered generator fuel tank if there is no gas available. I of course don't recommend doing this Dave.

Enough already!

Speaking of heading home, my wife and I and our two dogs fled to Orlando on Monday. Smartest thing we ever did. Found one of the remaining generators up there after a few tries. Took about more 20 stops to find gas cans, however. At least we were comfortable at the hotel and did the Cirque Du Soleil thing on Tuesday night.

It was incredible to see the hours-long waits for gas on the Turnpike. (Wisely, we gassed up in Kissimmee and at the first Highway Plaza.) Worst still was surveying the damage in the neighborhood the final steps of the way.

Good news: The house is fine. Neighbor's tree fell in my yard - of course - and took out the fence. Oh, well. Phone lines came up earlier today, hence my ability to post this. Gotta love the generator. Like Dave, don't know why I didn't buy one a LONG time ago.

That's it for now. Just needed to vent. If I drank, I'd have some of that Rhine wine mentioned here!

I heard there was Nazi cats in our neighborhood, but our local Chinese restaurants took care of them. Kinda taste like chicken.

Two Chinese Boys: I love your video! Please come back here and let us know when you do another one!

I. Know. Nothing.

Goog L; good luck!!

I don't want to shock anyone, but electric lights and warm water don't mix...

Goog L - I fled to Orlando once....he was wonderful.

Not to toot the horn that he had installed into the side of his head for the specific purpose of having easier access to it for National Security-related crises such as this, but King Wingbipeekaboo has been warning people of the threat of nazi raccoons damaging the global wine industry since literally the day he was born. But he is a good sport about this kind of thing, so he is not bitter; in fact, he is very glad. Have some of this wine!

"Baron Sittich von Berlerpsch And The Wash-Bears" WBAGNFARB! Also, I extend the standard spammer invitation to G Dev, that is, he is invited to hump the nearest available cactus at his earliest convenience.

And---what about Naomi?

Annie: Which Orlando?

This one?

This one?

this one?

I'll take a double helping of that third Orlando please.

And once again I have managed to spell someone's name wrong. I hereby pledge that I will not post after 9pm local time.

I'm so sorry, Eleanor.

Sally -

don't let it bother you ... (unless Eleanor is upset, of course) ... most newspaper people don't worry about spelling names or other words wrong, why should you? (My mother's middle name was Elinor ... as you spelt it ... she hated it, so never used it, except officialy ...)

Thank you for the reassurance. I just feel as though I'm being incredibly rude if I don't spell someone's name properly. It's as if I haven't bothered to make the effort, and a person's name is a big part of their identity, even if they demonstrate this by refusing to identify themselves by that name.

(This is why I shouldn't post after 9pm local time. Because my brain goes to mush.)

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Trailer Watch: New Trailer for the Hunger Games

Women and Hollywood By Melissa Silverstein | Women and Hollywood February 6, 2012 at 12:08PM

Counting down towards March 23.

Counting down towards March 23.

The Hollywood Reporter in a cover story says that it took Jennifer Lawrence 3 days to say yes to the part of a lifetime and that she is made about $500,000. (But she will make more if the film does well, and her salary is comparable to Kristen Stewart's salary in Twilight.)  Her mom also called her a hypocrite for thinking that she would lose her cred doing a franchise movie.  (Didn't she already cross the bridge with the X-Men prequel?)

The final budget for the film came in $90 million (before subsidies).  The first Twilight film was made for $35 million.

9 Untold Secrets of the High Stakes 'Hunger Games' (Hollywood Reporter)

This article is related to: The Hunger Games, Jennifer Lawrence, Trailer

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Tag Archives: data cleansing

Reflections On Gartner’s 2011 Magic Quadrant For Data Quality Tools

Gartner recently released their 2011 Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools and I’m happy to announce that Informatica is positioned in the Leaders’ quadrant.  We believe our position is a testament to the fact that customers like Station Casinos and U.S. Xpress continue to turn to Informatica to solve their most critical data quality challenges.

The publishing of the Magic Quadrant is often a great opportunity to reflect on the state of the data quality market.  It should come as no surprise that data quality as a business imperative isn’t going away any time soon.  We are continuing to see customers looking for help and expertise in solving a wide range of data quality problems, largely associated with data governance initiatives, master data management (MDM), business intelligence and application modernization.  And the association of data quality in these areas is only getting stronger. (more…)

Posted in Big Data, CIO, Data Governance, Data Quality, Informatica 9.1, Pervasive Data Quality, Profiling, Scorecarding | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Informatica Data Quality 9.1: Discover, Profile And Cleanse – Oh My!

Today is an exciting day for Informatica as we go live with the launch of Informatica 9.1.  With this new release we are further extending our platform vision to bring to market industry leading data integration, MDM and data quality capabilities.

With the launch of Informatica 9.1, we’ll be introducing new capabilities aimed at making the process of managing data quality that much easier.  Here’s a sneak peak at what’s in store: (more…)

Posted in Big Data, Data Governance, Data Quality, Informatica 9.1, Pervasive Data Quality, Profiling, Scorecarding | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

(…) There You Are

In my last post, I introduced the notion that the persistence and/or use of location data as attribution is becoming ubiquitous. Whether we look at the stand-alone GPS devices that decorate the array of windshields across the parking lot or the capabilities typically embedded within our mobile telephones, precise location is, to some extent, overtaking the concept of “address.”

And perhaps there is some value to increasing the use of dimensional coordinates in lieu of an address. As I commented in my previous post, there are still many situations where errors or flaws in location information lead to business impacts. A common example involves marketing or sales mailings – incorrect delivery addresses increase costs when mailings or catalogs are sent to nondeliverable or incorrect addresses. (more…)

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Is Your Multidomain MDM Really Multidomain?

The current hot topic in the MDM space is multidomain master data management. And rightly so, as multidomain MDM has the potential to drive far more value for companies than limited single-domain MDM initiatives (aka CDI, PIM) that focus on a specific class of data such as customer or product.

We’ve heard interesting discussions that multidomain MDM is just about storing the multiple domains within the data model. That is a major misinterpretation. While it’s certainly true that you need to have a data model that’s flexible enough to accommodate multiple data domains (e.g. product, customer, supplier), the data model itself is not the be-all and end-all of multidomain MDM. It’s a requisite starting point, sure, but you need to be able to do so much more. For instance, the ability to match and merge data across various domains is extremely important. Same goes for data cleansing.

Think of it this way: you’re using a dedicated PIM system. It does a great job of matching data fields in ways that are very valuable in addressing problems with product-centric aspects of your business: supply chain, inventory management, etc. Can this system do a good job matching and merging data fields from multiple domains? Can it provide the kind of data cleansing capabilities you’d need if you wanted to incorporate customer data?

A true multidomain MDM hub will provide out-of-the-box capability to:

  • model any data domains
  • cleanse, correct, standardize, and enrich all types of data
  • match the different types of data and merge them into a single source of truth
  • relate across the different types data: customer-to-product, vendor-to-material, contact-to-organization, employee-to-location, etc.

To top it all, the data governance application should support the creation, consumption, management, and monitoring of all these types of data.

So to realize the promised value of multidomain MDM, you’ll need a proven multidomain MDM hub and a data governance application that supports all these capabilities.

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