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▪ Offensive Player of the Year — Andrew Luck, Colts QB. His 4,011 yards puts him on pace to still challenge the season record. Rodgers and Peyton Manning also are in the mix.
▪ Defensive POY — J.J. Watt, Texans DE. Give it to him now. Not close.
▪ Other categories — Offensive rookie: Mike Evans, Bucs WR. Defensive rookie: C.J. Moseley, Ravens LB. Coach: Bruce Arians, Cardinals.
▪ Dolphins MVP — Ryan Tannehill, QB. DE Cam Wake and CB Brent Grimes in the hunt.
▪ Updated Super Bowl betting odds, via Bovada: Packers for first time are SB favorites at 7-2, then it’s Patriots 15-4, Broncos 17-4 and Seahawks 13-2. Miami is now 50-1 (was 75-1). Pack QB Rodgers is now a prohibitive MVP favorite at 1-2.
▪ The fight for the AFC’s No.6 playoff spot currently controlled by Miami is absurdly tight. Makenflplayoffs.com says Dolphins have a 33.45 percent chance to make the playoffs, Chiefs 33.06 percent, Steelers 32.22 percent and Bills, Ravens and Browns all in the 20s.
▪ Two teams can clinch playoff berths by winning Sunday: Colts (if Texans also lose) and Broncos (if five other teams all lose).
▪ Colts last week were first team since 1966 Redskins with six TDs of at least 30 yards.
▪ Looks like the three biggest NFL season records are all safe. Luck’s passing-yards pace of 5,348 is now well off Manning’s mark of 5,477. No one is even as close in rushing or receiving.
▪ Old Cane Andre Johnson of Texans (992) is eight catches from becoming 10th receiver with 10,000 in his career.
▪ Sunday’s Pats-Chargers game features two of greatest closers in the sport. Philip Rivers is 29-3 (.906) in final four games of regular season and Brady is 40-8 (.833). They rank 1-2 in Super Bowl era.
▪ Seahawk Richard Sherman has 23 interceptions with four games left in his fourth season. Record for one’s first four years in 25, by Lester Hayes, Everson Walls and Kenny Easley.
Do you consider yourself overworked? Consider these factors when you’re trying to determine how large the network staff should be.
Am I needed? It’s a question that many of us in the MCSE community ask at one time or another. At times, you’re completely overloaded. Other times, you’re bored silly, left reading trade journals and day-trading from your workstation. What’s going on in the back room?
Hands-on MCSEs and the technology managers who lead them face a challenge: What’s the appropriate level of server support staffing? That’s a difficult question, and one that’s typically answered on a case-by-case basis. But this month, allow me to provide some server support staffing guidelines for you to consider.
There are a few rules of thumb when it comes to server staffing. Some of these are “institutionalized” in the products that Microsoft sells, whereas others are based on observation. For example, the 50-user limit for Small Business Server 4.5 is, in all likelihood, the point at which a firm should hire its first network administrator. The server-based network assumes increasing importance, and you can justify hiring a full-time network professional. The computer network has become a mission-critical matter.
Adhering to this 50:1 ratio can help you efficiently amortize the salary expense of a network administrator. For example, assuming that a firm with 50 users could retain your services for approximately $60,000 per year, that works out to $1,200 per user per year for computer network support at the 50:1 ratio level. Then add the cost of new computer purchases, upgrades, and amortization of existing hardware and software and you’ll find yourself at the $3,000 to $5,000 per-user per-year technology cost factor—which is where major studies say you should be.
Note that I’ve seen organizations as “fat” as 25:1, where one person supports a 25-user network. But I’ve also seen organizations as “skinny” as 100:1 (ouch!), where one person supports a 100-user network. No thank you!
The one server support staff member per 50 users isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule, however. Based on my experience, demand for server support staff is shaped like a bell curve. Smaller firms will often have one person overseeing all computer operations from server to desktop and cradle to grave. It’s an impossible test that no one can really pass. In other words, it can be a thankless job when you’re the only one on staff supporting the technology function of your company.
It gets better for MCSEs in medium-sized companies—at least that’s what I’ve found with my parent company (a regional accounting firm) and other similarly sized clients. (Microsoft defines medium-sized as those organizations with 500 to 5,000 PCs.) The medium-sized companies are yearning to exploit the latest technologies such as power accounting systems, e-commerce, and Web pages. Not only do you have fellow MCSE peers (a.k.a. buddies) to collaborate with, but you can also enjoy the benefits of having others help you do your job, spread the workload, and let you go on vacation. In medium-sized companies, accounting for special projects like new databases, I’ve seen IT staffing levels below the 50:1 yardstick measure.
The size of the server support staff in medium-sized or larger firms is also a function of the number of servers. A rough ratio for this is one server support staff member for every six servers, but that’s just my observation.
Do my basic ratios apply to large and extra large organizations? Imagine Boeing, with its 250,000 workers, having server support at a 50:1 ratio. There would be 5,000 tech heads running around. Could that be right? Considering they’ve recently outsourced some IT operations to IBM in a $2 billion deal, I’m supposing the numbers roughly hold strong.
Speaking of organizational size, don’t forget branch offices. It’s been my experience that a branch office isn’t much different than a small office in its server support needs. That is, one person at a smaller branch assumes all network support responsibilities. Depending on the size of the branch office, this may well be someone on staff with or without MCSE credentials. For some branch offices, it’s an outside MCSE-type consultant who’s contracted to come in and help with network support.
And then there’s the overbearing central office. I’ve seen it firsthand. Take the Canadian forest products company with a Seattle office that tried to coordinate everything related to the network from its home office in Toronto. It was a challenge, and the network support staff racked up tons of frequent flyer miles visiting each office. I guess I’d call this scenario a one-to-many server support staff model. That is, the existing network support staff supports many sites. On the upside, this model allows for standard configurations at each branch office site. You’re likely to see fewer network-related problems when a sole source (the home office server support staff) is responsible for the network, dispersed as it is.
Oh, did I forget to mention that branch office support is one of the major design paradigms in the newly released BackOffice 4.5? It’s one of the main reasons for the SBS-like easy administrative features such as wizards, something you’ll see more of in Windows 2000.
Ready for another view on server support staffing? A project may demand a bevy of server support staffers just to get the darned network up and running. But an ongoing network typically has a much smaller server support staff on the company dole. Furthermore, mature networks often need less attention than newly born networks—at least up to a point. Really old networks, nearing retirement, often need more care than ever just to stay up and running.
Ah, but the wise among the MCP Magazine readership will have correctly identified projects as the real concern. They never end—which bodes well for us MCSEs seeking ongoing employment. In fact, such an observation may call into question some of the underlying technology staffing assumptions made earlier in this column. Determining correct server support staffing is an ongoing challenge. What’s your firm’s ratio, and how does it work?
The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, has plans to retire. She gave this indication in February during an interview to a German news network. “I don’t want to continue for more (time). I think that everybody should take a break so we can accommodate the younger generation,” she had said. Riding on a huge mandate — in the recently held election, the Awami League and its allies won 96 per cent of the seats — Hasina returned to power for the third consecutive term this January. She will be in office till January 2024.
Her expression of interest during the interview has drawn attention in Bangladesh and beyond as it signalled the beginning of a phase of transition, which became apparent in the immediate aftermath of the election.
For the first time in Bangladesh’s history, the names of cabinet members were announced prior to the swearing-in ceremony. The composition of the cabinet — 24 new faces were brought in and 34 members of the old guard dropped — bore signs that change was imminent. Then came the big fat hint.
Born in 1947, Hasina will turn 72 this September. She is mentally agile and physically fit, but it’s becoming clear that she wants to prepare the next generation of leadership.
Given the nature of politics in Bangladesh, there is little doubt that leadership — in the party and in the government — will remain within the family. One can engage in speculation on her choices — her son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, or daughter, Saima Wazed, or sister, Sheikh Rehana, or nephew, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby — for the top slots, but waiting for the Awami League national council, scheduled later this year, is a better idea, as Hasina loves springing surprises. The Awami League picks up its top leaders through its triennial national council.
While questions about the next generation of leadership are of immense interest for the movers and shakers in Dhaka’s elite circles, the future of Bangladesh will depend on something more important: Hasina’s delivery over the next five years.
Under Hasina, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing poverty and creating opportunities for its citizens. Today, Bangladesh is among the 10 fastest growing economies in the world and the country has also made commendable progress on human development. The prime minister can also take credit for achievements in the power sector as availability of electricity 24x7 is a reality in parts of the country. The list of Hasina’s achievements, from sending satellites to space to feeding over one million Rohingya refugees for years, is long.
But even her most ardent fans cannot deny that corruption, cronyism and inequality do exist in Bangladesh, which ranks abysmally low — 176 globally — in the World Bank’s Doing Business, 2019 report. There are question marks over the credibility of institutions and their independence. Bangladesh also faces the challenge of creating jobs and transferring workers from low to high productivity sectors.
If Hasina wants to cement her legacy — like her father, Mujibur Rahman, who led the country’s freedom struggle — she has to address some of these issues that would need stern measures.
As a leader, at least till now, she has tried to steer clear of unpopular decisions and shied away from using her political charisma to usher in major changes. But Bangladesh is in dire need of reforms — both economic and administrative — as it has moved from being a “low-income” to a “middle-income” country (in the World Bank’s classification).
Today, the most important challenge is to continue growing. No one knows it better than Hasina that the country’s economic scorecard helped her swat away allegations from the Opposition. As the economy progressed, the citizenry enjoyed its fruits instead of parroting the questions asked by her detractors.
With over 100 million citizens under the age of 30, Bangladesh has immense growth potential, but the test lies in effectively employing the young workforce. For that, Bangladesh needs expansion in the manufacturing sector along with higher export growth. These targets can be achieved with higher private investment, both domestic and foreign. Investments, however, would depend on the availability of infrastructure and the overall business environment.
On all these fronts, Hasina has her role cut out. She has to ensure a higher tax mop up — the present tax to GDP ratio of around 10 per cent is too low — to fund infrastructure projects. The power sector has to grow faster to meet the needs of a growing economy. The country’s financial sector governance has to improve, as banks cannot be allowed to have such high rates of non-performing loans. And, finally, the babus need to be told to deliver in a professional manner and baby steps need to be taken to make the institutions look more credible.
Delivering on all these will be easier said than done. But only Hasina can achieve these feats as Bangladesh will never get another Hasina.
MIDDLETOWN -- Although the air had a bitter chill and the sky hinted rain, Wesleyan softball coach Jen Shea's pre-game disposition was sunny.
Her Cardinals were playing their first game on Connecticut soil after returning from the annual spring break excursion to Florida where the squad had amassed a 6-5 record and were on the verge of equaling the entire win total from last season.
The only thing standing the way was a 4-7 Coast Guard Academy club that last year soundly defeated them, but on the mound for Shea was freshman standout Molly Gaebe, whose was two strikeouts away from matching the school record of 82.
Unfortunately for Shea it was a lesson in futility for the Wesleyan (6-6) offense as Coast Guard pulled off a 1-0 victory.
"Molly was phenomenal today," Shea said. "Our hitting, however, is nowhere near where it's supposed to be."
The games only run came in the top of the third inning, when Coast Guard freshman Megan Schoenhardt hit a one-out single up the middle and later scored on a stolen base and a Wesleyan outfield error, one of three miscues on the day.
"Needless to say, that hurt us," Shea said. "The one player it seemed to affect the most was Molly. She really hates to lose and takes things like personally. It's a good thing it doesn't affect her pitching."
Coast Guard had a legitimate star of its own on the mound, freshman Colleen Perry (3-4), who baffled the Cardinals for a majority of the game. She combined a wicked fastball with an off-speed pitch that had the home team swinging too early. The lone offensive bright spot for Wesleyan was sophomore rightfielder Diana Garcia, who leads the team in hitting with a .357 batting average and has accumulated 15 hits in 42 at-bats. She went 3-for-4 on the afternoon.
"We're going to have to win with pitching first this season," Shea stated. "We have two pitchers in Molly and Allison (freshman Zoromski, 2-2, 3.45 ERA) who will surely put us in contention this year in the NESCAC. We saw Amherst while we were in Florida and I think this conference is up in the air and any team can win it. We're just going to have get some offense to go along with our pitching or we'll see a lot of 1-0 games."
The Cardinals waited until the bottom of the seventh to mount its lone offensive threat. Sophomore leftfielder Beth Bernstein hit a Perry off-speed pitch down the third base line for a single. She advanced to second on a pass ball off Bears catcher Heidi Miller.Garcia's third hit of the game was a shallow blooper to left giving Coast Guard's Joan Pavlish an easy chance to nail Bernstein trying to advance to third. A weak foul pop fly by second sacker Kelly Harris ended the game.
Perry finished up with a complete game shutout in which she allowed six hits and struck out nine.
Gaebe's afternoon concluded with five hits allowed and eight strikeouts.
She now has 88 on the year and now holds the school record for Ks in a season. Her ERA is a minuscule 0.53 in 12 appearances and 66 innings. She's second on the team in hitting with a .276 batting average.
"We're very young," Shea commented. "I have two freshman on the corners and two freshman pitchers. Lauren (soph Kunzik) runs the show for the most part on the field. There's a lot of reason for optimism this year, I think. The past two seasons, we've won but a single game in the NESCAC (overall 7-22 in 2003 and 8-23-1 in 2002). We're .500 now and that's not a bad place to be."
Wesleyan begins the conference portion of its schedule on Saturday at home in a doubleheader against Hamilton College.
CANBERRA, Australia – Australia's prime minister conceded on Friday the nation's border security was not good enough after a second suspected jihadist flew to the Middle East using a brother's passport.
A 19-year-old Sydney man slipped out of the country using his brother's passport last week, but was detained on arrival in the United Arab Emirates and deported, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. A notorious terrorist left Sydney in a similar security breach in December last year.
The bungles are embarrassing for Australia which along with the United States will ask United Nations member countries next month to cooperate in preventing militants from traveling to Iraq and Syria to fight for the Islamic State terrorist group.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the 19-year-old, whose has not been publicly named, "did arouse concerns" when he was cleared by immigration officials at Sydney airport. Abbott did not detail those concerns, but said they were confirmed before the plane reached the UAE.
"While this person did get out of Australia, he wasn't able to make his way to the ISIL battle front, so that's a little bit better than the previous occasion," Abbott told reporters, referring to the al-Qaida splinter group leading Sunni militants in Iraq, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, now known as Islamic State.
"But it's not good enough," he added.
The government planned to spend an additional 630 million Australian dollars ($590 million) on intelligence, law enforcement and border protection agencies over the next four years to enhance security, including a roll out of biometric screening at airports, Abbott said.
Sydney-born convicted terrorist Khaled Sharrouf used the passport of his brother, Mostafa Sharrouf, to leave Australia in December last year to fight with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The Australian government had banned him from leaving the country because of the terrorism threat he posed.
Khaled Sharrouf, 33, has since horrified the world by posting on his Twitter account a photograph of his 7-year-old son clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry this week described the image as "one of the most disturbing, stomach-turning, grotesque photographs ever displayed."
The latest suspected jihadist appeared in a Sydney court on Wednesday charged with using an Australian passport that was not issued to him, the newspaper said. He did not apply for bail and remains in custody.
Abbott did not say whether he had been on a terrorist watch list that would have prevented him from leaving Australia on his own passport.
Sharrouf was among nine Muslim men accused in 2007 of stockpiling bomb-making materials and plotting terrorist attacks in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's largest cities.
As I am typing this, I am five hours and 25 minutes into a 15+ hour trip on a slow train to Baltimore. I'm on en route to D.C. to interview sociologist and author Dr. James Loewen for my documentary film, A Past, Denied: The Invisible History of Slavery in Canada. This interview is two years in the making. In late 2007 when I originally conceived the idea to make a feature documentary on how Canada's over 200 years of institutionalized slavery of indigenous and African people is constantly escaping mention in our history books, James Loewen was one of the very first names that entered my head for interview candidates. His book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong (1995) was one of the biggest inspirations for me to start think about making documentaries in the first place; an inspiration possibly rivaled only by Errol Morris' (2004) documentary film,The Fog of War).
Lies My Teacher Told Me is the result of Loewen's research into the 12 most popular history textbooks used in American schools (circa 1996). He explores the common threads of what/who is given coverage, how much coverage is given, and in what lights that coverage is made. He also looks into what is conspicuously absent, what is biased, and, finally,what is flat out false. More than myth-busting, Loewen examines the far-reaching social consequences of the history of teaching practices, a history that he finds has served more as jingoistic propaganda than scholarly discourse. At its heart, this book (and the follow-up Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sights Get Wrong) is about why the way in which history is disseminated matters,and how society could benefit from a curriculum that is unafraid to look deeply into the dark side of Canada's past as opposed to the feel-good bits.
Loewen demonstrates how the bland, celebratory versions of history found throughout the pages of various Canadian textbooks serve as a form of boosterism catering specifically to a white, middle- and upper-class audience. In essence, stories about white people written by and for white people. Page after page, Europeans are exalted for their great achievements while non-Europeans, if mentioned at all, are painted as people in need of European help. This feel-good bias doesn't feel right, however, and worse, it goes beyond the classroom, visible in pop culture and everyday discussions about historical events.
The film and television equivalent of this form of boosterism comes in the Hollywood archetype of the white saviour�a white, typically middle- or upper-class, usually male and almost exclusively heterosexual character through whom the life of a person of colour (or persons of colour) is dramatically improved. The basic formula goes like this: through the white protagonist's selfless deeds the helpless, downtrodden victim of circumstance is rescued from the cycle of poverty and violence, changing both their lives forever. One gains new opportunities that would otherwise never be afforded to them, while the other gains redemption and a well-deserved personal sense of piety. Most importantly, the white audience gets to feel good about themselves.
One problem with white saviour films is that they perpetuate the archaic paradigm of the white man's burden. They tell stories of white people going outside of their privilege to help people of colour who ultimately can't or won't help themselves. Whether it's Uncle Sam bringing "civility, education and religion" to the Philippines or Clint Eastwood teaching his young Hmong neighbour how to be a "real man," it's the same old story being played out again and again. It's been colonialism's best justification since Manifest Destiny in real life, as well as the template plot for movies like To Kill a Mockingbird, Finding Forrester, Gran Torino, Freedom Writers, The Blind Side"
An iconic art deco lido has been given a further boost after receiving an additional £4.7 million in funding.
Saltdean Lido was awarded the cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund to renovate the site and bring the historic 1930s building and pools back into use.
The one-of-a-kind bathing pool, which originally opened in 1938, was earmarked for redevelopment as flats.
But Brighton and Hove City Council agreed to take back control of the site after a community campaign to save it.
A 60-year lease was granted to Saltdean Lido Community Interest Company (CIC) in May 2012 with a view to restoring the facilities.
Rebecca Crook, of Saltdean Lido CIC, said: "The backing of the Heritage Lottery Fund has always been central to the success of our project and we are delighted that all our hard work is coming to fruition.
"The Saltdean Lido CIC will be creating new jobs and bringing new revenue and much needed investment to the area.
"However, there are many challenges for community groups such as ours who are bringing heritage buildings back into use."
The Heritage Lottery Fund cash follows £2.3 million donated by The Coastal Communities Fund in January and £490,000 from the Social Investment Bank last year.
The project still has another £2 million to complete the work.
However when complete, a heated outdoor pool, indoor and outdoor play areas, cafe, gym, community and function rooms will all be waiting for visitors.
Ben Greener, historic environment adviser for the Heritage Lottery Fund, said: "When it was built Saltdean Lido was the beating heart of a successful seaside resort.
"Sadly, as the lido declined, so did Saltdean.
"Yet local people have never forgotten how important this heritage icon was to their town.
"Now, through our Heritage Enterprise scheme, the community can breathe new life into this precious local landmark, signalling Saltdean's return to prosperity whilst saving one of the most significant lidos in the UK."
The lido is grade II-listed and the site is on the English Heritage At Risk Register.
GENEVA, April 11 (Reuters) - South Korea won the bulk of its appeal on Thursday in a dispute at the World Trade Organization over import bans and testing requirements it had imposed on Japanese seafood in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Last year a WTO dispute panel supported Japan, saying South Korea was wrong to keep its initial trade restrictions in place. But Thursday's ruling overturned several key points of that verdict, saying South Korea's measures were not overly restrictive and did not unfairly discriminate against Japan.
The appeal looked solely at the panel's interpretation of the WTO rules, without going into the facts about the levels of contaminants in Japanese food products or what the right level of consumer protection should be.
"The South Korean government highly appreciates the WTO's ruling and welcomes the decision," South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement.
Following the ruling, South Korea's current trade restrictions on Japanese seafood will stay in place, the ministry statement added.
HELOC lenders sometimes choose not to foreclose when their borrowers default.
1 What Happens to Your Home Equity Line of Credit When You Default?
Home equity lines of credit, commonly referred to as a HELOC, can be a valuable tool for homeowners who want to use their homes' equity to their advantage. With a HELOC, you can draw from its credit line for most any purpose. However, like any other loan, a HELOC must eventually be repaid with interest, and HELOC default isn't an unknown phenomenon. HELOCs are secured by liens on their homes' titles, and in a worst-case scenario defaulting on them can lead a homeowner into foreclosure.
HELOCs are line-of-equity loans secured by the homes their borrowers use as collateral for them. Because a HELOC borrower is pledging his home as security for his loan, the HELOC's lender has a right to attach a lien to that home's title. By law, any property title lien can be foreclosed by its lienholder to satisfy its lien. A default, therefore, could allow a HELOC lender to foreclose on its lien to recover what it's owed.
Though a HELOC lender could foreclose its lien on a defaulting borrower's property, it might not choose to. A major reason a HELOC lender might not foreclose when a borrower defaults has to do with property lien seniority. Basically, liens are arranged on property titles by their seniority, and HELOCs are frequently junior to existing mortgages because they're recorded after mortgages. No matter which lien forecloses, senior liens are always paid from foreclosure sale proceeds first, frequently closing off junior lienholders from any proceeds.

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