Sam Allardyce believes the biggest challenge his side will face during the Tyne-Wear derby on Sunday will be absorbing the atmosphere at St James’ Park.It has been billed as arguably the biggest game between Newcastle and Sunderland for many years and Allardyce admits it is by far the “biggest game of the weekend”.Allardyce’s first win in charge of the Black Cats came in a 3-0 victory against his former side Newcastle earlier in the season and he is confident of a repeat if his team are mentally ready for the Magpies’ crowd.“We’re in pretty good form at the moment but we can’t win a game,” Allardyce told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast.“It’s just converting a good performance into a victory now. Games are running out and victories are the most important thing, starting Sunday – how we get it on Sunday, it doesn’t matter!“My aim is to give the players that mental toughness to go out and perform in that atmosphere.”Due to the FA Cup last weekend, West Ham missed out on playing their Premier League fixture and with the international break next week, it will mean Sunderland will only play one game in three weeks.“I didn’t want to miss a game last weekend so it [the fixture schedule] has been a real problem for us,” he added.“We already face the last week of the season with three games. It’s been a real problem because having played so many games in a short amount of time over Christmas and New Year.“Having a good game against Southampton and then not having another one for two weeks is something I have found a problem.”
The nerves are tingling between the two consortiums bidding for the North Donegal radio license.The license is, of course, held by Highland Radio which has the biggest local listenership across Ireland.But they are now under pressure by DLFM, a consortium fronted by former Highland boss Charlie Collins. It is now expected that an announcement on the license will be made on Monday.Both sides presented their pitch at the Radisson Hotel earlier this year.But there is no indication from the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland as to how the license will go. DECISION ON DONEGAL RADIO LICENSE EXPECTED ON MONDAY was last modified: June 21st, 2014 by StephenShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Tags:Charlie CollinsDLFMdonegalHighland Radioradio license
LAS VEGAS – By the time Hurricane Katrina departed, there was no reason for Marlies Welty to stay. The storm had gutted the Biloxi, Miss., casino where Welty dealt cards. A dozen nearby gambling halls that might have offered work were destroyed or damaged. So Welty packed her bags, toted her two cats and headed for Las Vegas. “Opportunity came knocking at 160 miles per hour,” says Welty, one of hundreds of Gulf Coast casino workers flocking to other gambling capitals in search of a paycheck. “It said: Go west, go west.” Even as casino operators push to build new resorts in Mississippi, gambling sites around the country have begun hiring refugee card dealers, cooks, valets and security guards whose jobs were washed away by Katrina. Already, Gulf casino workers have fanned out to Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Illinois and Connecticut. Louisiana and Mississippi properties that Katrina spared also have hired handfuls. In Las Vegas, Harrah’s has hired more than 60 displaced workers for its casinos and five to 10 more arrive each day in search of jobs. In Atlantic City, home to all of New Jersey’s casinos, officials are trying to cut through the red tape by issuing temporary licenses to casino workers who fled the Gulf Coast to find work. “We want them to know that if casinos here are willing to hire them, New Jersey’s regulatory agencies will do everything they can to get these people working as quickly as possible,” Casino Control Commission Chairwoman Linda Kassekert said. Closer to home, the Hollywood Casino in Tunica County, Miss., has hired 18 people from Gulf Coast casinos. “Typically we don’t see many applicants from the coast, but it has been building since Katrina,” general manager John Osborne said. Milton Green, 32, was working at the Treasure Chest casino outside New Orleans when Katrina swamped the area. With the casino closed, Green drove to his brother’s house near East St. Louis, Ill. He applied with several casinos, including the Casino Queen, where he was quickly hired. “They called me the same day I applied,” Green said. “We need it. I have to be working.” At least 25 people have landed jobs at Missouri casinos. “They’re all so desperate, they’re looking for anything,” said Mike Ryan, executive director of the Missouri Riverboat Gaming Association. “It’s always great to get someone with experience.” Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., which employed 700 at its destroyed Casino Magic Biloxi, has transferred about 50 to its corporate offices in Las Vegas and its casinos in Louisiana and Indiana. One of the workers, Russell Stokes, who works in information technology, says he and his wife, also a casino worker, have difficulty imagining a return. “I think we’re done with the coast for a while … we’re done with hurricanes for a while,” he said. The neon glow of Las Vegas has proved to be a natural destination for many forlorn casino workers because of its strong economy and dozens of casinos, many of which are owned by MGM Mirage and Harrah’s. Harrah’s had employed 8,000 people in its Biloxi, Gulfport and New Orleans casinos. MGM Mirage operated the Beau Rivage in Biloxi and employed 3,471 people. MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni believes it will probably take more than a year to repair the Beau Rivage, which withstood high winds but had serious flood damage. MGM Mirage hasn’t started rebuilding yet but the cleanup has begun. Harrah’s doesn’t know when it will reopen Harrah’s New Orleans, which survived intact. In Biloxi and Gulfport, Chairman Gary Loveman says it could take more than two years before permanent casinos are erected to replace the ones washed away. In the meantime, Loveman said Harrah’s could construct temporary casinos to ensure profits continue to churn in the region. The rebuilding process got a boost Monday when the Mississippi Senate sent Gov. Haley Barbour a bill that would allow the coastal casinos to move a short distance onshore, giving them greater stability in future storms. The state had legalized casinos in 1990 but restricted them to the waters of the Mississippi River or the Gulf of Mexico. In the meantime, casino workers like Marvin Shumate, formerly a valet at Harrah’s New Orleans, continue their exodus. “Things are looking up,” he says. “I can’t complain. Las Vegas, this is the place to be for now.” 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! About 14,000 people worked in Mississippi’s coastal casinos. In New Orleans, 2,600 are out of work after the only on-land casino in the distressed city shut down. More workers could find themselves in the same predicament if seven casinos around Lake Charles, La., struck by Hurricane Rita don’t reopen quickly. Many workers say they can’t afford to wait. “I don’t know if you’ve been broke. It’s not a good feeling,” says Welty, who landed a job at the Stardust casino on the Las Vegas strip. “I’m looking forward to a paycheck.” The world’s two largest casino operators, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and MGM Mirage Inc., have promised to pay their out-of-work employees for the 90 days following Katrina. But the companies say they have not decided what they will do once that time ends. Harrah’s has put its top executives from the Gulf casinos on retainer, but says it has to make other decisions on payroll. In the meantime, casino companies say they’re embracing the displaced workers and expediting hiring to fill out their ranks and provide some relief. 
Open Night in Coláiste Chineál Eoghain, Irish medium secondary school in Buncrana, is cancelled tonight, Thursday 15th January due to weather.Open Night will now take place on Thursday January 29th from 7-9 pm in the school. DD LOCAL: COLÁISTE CHINEÁL EOGHAIN OPEN NIGHT CANCELLED was last modified: January 15th, 2015 by John2Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)
A couple of articles in Science last week discussed the marvels of flight control in birds. “Being earthbound save for the ability to fly airplanes and helicopters, humans stand in awe of animals that power their own movement through the air by flapping their wings, and of the spectacular maneuvers that some of these animals can achieve,” wrote Brian Tobalske in a Science Perspective.1 His article was listed under the category “Evolution,” but neither his summary nor the original paper said anything about evolution.2 Tobalske’s opening paragraph sets the tone for the actual content of these two papers:Imagine a common housefly flying in tight, erratic circles as it attempts to escape from a room or a hummingbird diving and turning to chase a competitor away from a backyard feeder. One might expect these extreme maneuvers to be accompanied by pronounced asymmetries in the way animals move their wings. Yet, evidence from insects, birds, and bats suggests that aerial maneuvers are routinely accomplished through relatively subtle changes in wing motion. On page 252 of this issue, Hedrick et al. provide further insight into this phenomenon. The results will inform all future research into maneuvering flight in animals and biomimetic flying robots.In other words, the original paper and the Perspectives summary both focused on engineering and biomimetics – not evolution.1. Brian Tobalske, “Evolution: Symmetry in Turns,” Science, 10 April 2009: Vol. 324. no. 5924, pp. 190-191, DOI: 10.1126/science.1172839.2. Hedrick, Cheng and Deng, “Wingbeat Time and the Scaling of Passive Rotational Damping in Flapping Flight,” Science, 10 April 2009: Vol. 324. no. 5924, pp. 252-255, DOI: 10.1126/science.1168431.Here once again we find Darwinists in Science taking credit away from intelligent design and stealing it for themselves (see 08/24/2007). If we could purge scientific journals of their piracy, it would go a long way toward protecting intellectual commerce.(Visited 18 times, 1 visits today)FacebookTwitterPinterestSave分享0
According to evolutionists, modern man appeared 200,000 years ago, but civilization appeared only 8,000 years ago. We examine their explanations.An interesting question was asked on Quora and reproduced on Forbes.com: “Why Haven’t We Found Civilizations Older Than 7,000 – 8,000 years?” Taking the bat was Adam Wu, an evolutionary neurosurgeon from Saskatchewan. Here’s a synopsis of his answers:Civilization requires Edenic conditions with a large food surplus to get started, but there was no such place.Farming can only produce a food surplus in a very narrow range of environmental conditions.Civilization also requires a minimum population density.Early modern humans were coming out of an Ice Age 200,000 years ago, so few places for civilization existed.Early modern humans were tall and strong, making hunting and gathering preferable to farming in places of low population density.A genetic bottleneck occurred about 60,000 years ago, possibly due to the Toba supervolcano.The Ice Age didn’t end until about 20,000 to 12,000 years ago.As the weather warmed and population grew, conflict and famine created more pressures for humans to “think about” civilization.It’s not clear that anybody critiqued Wu’s answers, so we will.This list has all the makings of special pleading and confabulation. Where’s his evidence? The whole account is based on the absence of evidence. It’s a just-so story. He’s determined to preserve Darwin, so he makes things up out of his own head. What we do know is that civilization appears suddenly (see Gobekli Tepe, for instance, to say nothing of Ur), with intelligent people already making artwork, and soon keeping accounts with symbols on clay tablets. The timeline fits the Bible’s Table of Nations, not Darwinian evolution. Let’s reason why from the evidence we have about human capabilities.If modern humans lived 200,000 years ago, their brains and bodies were fully as capable as ours. Yet evolutionists expect us to believe that for over 20 times the time of all known human civilization, during which people went from simple villages to landing on the moon, these smart, strong, intelligent people did nothing but hunt and gather. Is that credible? Human beings are tremendously adaptable to handle any contingency. They can migrate (and indeed, they did—from Africa to Asia to Europe and beyond). They can build boats. They can make tools. They can skin animals and get comfortable at any temperature. They can invent things. They can look at a horse and think, “Hmmm; what happens if I hop on its back?” They can speak in abstract concepts, and communicate with semantic language (not just the hoots and hollers of apes).So let’s revisit Wu’s list with some critical thinking.Civilization does not require Edenic conditions. Humans today build villages in all kinds of habitats: Nepal, deserts, and remote islands.See #1. People farm in all kinds of conditions. Look at the farms of the southwest Native Americans in 1000 AD. Remember Mesa Verde? Chaco Canyon?Any family can civilize with a few individuals. Ever hear of the Pilgrims?Few places during Ice Age? Ridiculous. Africa was not affected, but that’s where Homo sapiens emerged, evolutionists say.Well, if they were tall and strong, they would have made great farmers. They were also sensible, remember?Population could recover fairly rapidly after a disaster, and it would not have affected people far from the volcano, e.g. in Africa or Asia. Why doesn’t he apply that excuse to animals and birds? The more reasonable human genetic bottleneck occurred at the Flood (8 people). Soon after, Noah’s descendants were building cities.Wu can’t keep blaming the Ice Age. Humans are smart enough to move to warmer areas. Egypt was pretty nice before the Sahara sands came.Conflict and famine has always been with mankind. That is not the motivation to civilize; it certainly is not the only one. There could be many peaceful motivations to civilize. People like to trade. People are inventive. They find new ways to do things and make their lives easier.Our responses are generous, considering only the time of “modern humans.” But evolutionists tell us that Neanderthals, Homo erectus and other upright large-brained humans were using tools, cooking food over controlled fire, and migrating long distances two million years ago. That’s close to 200 times the history of civilization! During all that time, nobody ever thought to settle down? There are even reports that Homo erectus crossed the ocean on watercraft. Certainly Homo sapiens without benefit of large civilizations made it to all the South Pacific islands in short order. If our ancestors were smart enough to do those things, they were smart enough to construct permanent dwellings, trade, cooperate and invent conveniences.Written records and artifacts show that civilization began in the Fertile Crescent—in multiple locations in that region almost simultaneously—about 6,000 years ago or less (8,000 years or more requires auxiliary assumptions and questionable dating methods). The tangible evidence fits the record in Genesis of the dispersion after the Tower of Babel, when language groups were motivated to move apart because they could no longer understand one another. They took their city-building skills with them. For more evidence, see the new film Is Genesis History? that airs again on March 2 and 7 in selected theaters.Quora and Forbes propagate and perpetuate Wu’s ridiculous answer, because no criticism of King Charles is allowed. That’s why we need sites like Creation-Evolution Headlines, to do the work that journalists should be doing. Help improve civilization: make us as influential as Forbes.(Visited 572 times, 1 visits today)FacebookTwitterPinterestSave分享0
Role of Mobile App Analytics In-App Engagement Aaron Forth, VP of product for personal finance and budgeting service at Mint. com, talked at SXSW this week about the challenges the company faced when going mobile. As a service whose business model depends on people visiting the Mint.com website, the decision to launch a mobile application was not one the company took lightly, Forth said.But Mint did decide go mobile, launching first on iPhone, then on Android, after studying the actions of its mobile user base. And now, Mint is planning to launch a brand-new iPad application in just a few months – a prospect that has the company again rethinking its product for the tablet’s multitouch interface.Case Study: Mint Goes MobileMint says that the majority of its users have a phone connected their account with the service, and 20% are relying only on a mobile phone. Given those demographics, the company knew it wanted to serve the mobile audience with native applications.Forth then explained the thought process the company went through when creating its first mobile app (the iPhone version of Mint). The results make for an interesting case study which other developers may be able to learn from.Step 1: Pick Your Platforms CarefullyForth said that when it came to making a decision about what devices to launch its applications on, the first thing they looked at was device adoption trends. What devices have good market share?, they wanted to know. The answer was Android and iPhone and Android, each which have “massive distribution,” said Forth.Another important factor was whether or not the platforms they chose would have a way to get apps directly to consumers via an app store environment. Again, both iPhone and Android filled this need.Finally, they needed a platform where there was a good SDK available and developer support. In this area, Forth said Mint found that Apple’s strict guidelines didn’t interfere with development, but actually helped them understand very simply what they could and could not do. They didn’t have to figure out the phone, he said, they could just focus on development.Another key factor in the decision was finding a platform where there was low fragmentation. “It’s hard enough to support multiple browsers and versions,” said Forth. Mint wanted to find platforms that had a fragmentation strategy plan. Apple is great example of this, he said.Once the company decided what platforms it wanted to build apps for, it created some general goals. For example, the company decided it wanted to earn a top three position in the free finance category and it wanted to take advantage of specific platform features available to native apps, because that would make it more likely that platform maker would highlight the app within its store as a showcase example of its platform.Finally, Mint wanted to deliver on-the-go utility to its users, and make Mint easy to access. But most importantly, because Mint needed visitors to its website to earn revenue, it decided to build its mobile app as more of a companion to the site, instead of a standalone application. Step 2: Figure Out What’s TransferrableThe second question Mint needed to address was to figure out what’s reused versus what’s new when going from the Web app to mobile. “You basically tear down the idea of what your product is when you go mobile,” said Forth.On the “reused” side, there was only brand and positioning, the finance data and the user profile that was ported to the mobile app from the Web. Everything else was new. This included, of course, the UI itself – the interaction and visual design involving gesturing, a one-button interface on iPhone and the fact that there’s not a lot of typing involved when using mobile apps. It also included new security features where encrypted protocols were used to exchange data, plus the use of passcodes and more.Also new were to the company were the skills involved in the app’s creation (languages like Objective C and Cocoa), the different development environments used, the QA process and the authentication methods.Even the service layer and architecture was new, because the layer of APIs used for the earlier Mint Web app were different from ones that support the mobile app. On a phone, explained Forth, the app needs to be more efficient when delivering the payload of data to the device. It’s bursting data to you upon loading, instead of streaming data to you, like on the Web.Step 3: What is the End User Experience You Want?Finally, Mint wanted to focus on the user experience, keeping in mind that the mobile app will serve different needs than Web app, and its design needed to evolve in order to embrace device it runs on.Mint designed the app to focus on core jobs using simple screens: an overview screen, accounts screen, expenditures screen and budget screen.In a later version of app, Mint made it easier for new users to sign up for the service directly from the app itself. This was important to the company because Mint’s users with mobile phone are more engaged than the others. After 4 weeks, 20% of Mint’s new sign-ups were from mobile, said Forth. Mint Coming to iPad!Now Mint is developing its first iPad application, which again is forcing the company to redefine what its app is. The tablet form factor offers new possibilities, and new use cases, said Forth. Within the iPad app, some of its graphic libraries will be built in HTML5, for example, when previously on the Web, its graphics were built with Flex.It will also incorporate gesturing for things like categorizing transactions, which will work via drag-and-drop. Like its iPhone counterpart, the iPad app will be more similar to the iPhone than website, as there won’t be a deep, exhaustive set of menus. It will serve as a companion to the website as well.In the Q&A session at the end of the talk, an audience member asked why Mint didn’t launch on iPhone and Android at the same time. “In an ideal world, we would,” said Forth. But there were time constraints. Also, Mint’s developers were more comfortable and familiar with iOS, which made it easier to launch there first. If there is etiquette around when to launch on different platforms, we probably broke it, Forth said. The Rise and Rise of Mobile Payment Technology What it Takes to Build a Highly Secure FinTech …
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After more than a year of development and testing, Alibaba Group on Wednesday unveiled a new internet car for the China market aimed at expanding the internet-of-things (IoT) to the automotive sector.The release of the new OS’Car RX5 sport utility vehicle, which was built in partnership with SAIC Motor Corp., China’s largest automaker, is part of Alibaba’s push to change cars from mere methods of transport to connected devices in their own right.That change will be powered by an operating system built especially for the automotive industry by the company’s YunOS division, Alibaba said. YunOs, in addition to making operating systems for mobile phones and tablets, has also developed one for smart home appliances including refrigerators, air conditioners and even robotic vacuum cleaners.(Photo: Alibaba Group)The difference between an internet car and a traditional car is that connected smart operating systems like YunOS will improve the consumer experience beyond just driving, said Dr. Wang Jian, chairman of Alibaba’s Technology Steering Committee.”Smart operating systems become the second engine of cars, while data is the new fuel,” he said in a statement.While some cars are able to access the internet through third-party software or apps, Alibaba said it wants to make all vehicles a part of the larger IoT ecosystem, where smart devices collect and exchange data in order to improve efficiencies for their users. Wang said cars are a new smart platform through which Alibaba can offer internet-based services to create a better driving experience for consumers.advertisementIn the RX5, Alibaba will use its own e-commerce ecosystem to deliver the services. For example, drivers will be able to book and pay for parking spaces, gas stations and coffee shops through Alipay. The company will also continue to leverage consumer data to tailor those features to each individual driver. Each driver will have an “internet ID” that allows the OS to not only recognize different users but also to make recommendations for music, air temperature or nearby restaurants based on past trips.(Photo: Alibaba Group)Alibaba’s internet car will also have navigation and voice control features, as well as three LED screens for interfacing with the OS and 360-degree detachable cameras for recording trips-and selfies.Zhang Chunhui, president of YunOS, said the OS would not be a closed system but rather would be open to other companies to deliver their own services through the internet car’s operating system.”Our vision is to enable Internet-connected cars to become the largest open platform capable of incorporating all kind of services, both from YunOS or third-party developers,'” he said. “In the future, we hope Internet-connected cars to be a solid foundation for the development of smarter transportation and smarter cities.”The RX5 sport utility vehicle will be the first mass-produced smart vehicle, Alibaba said. Prices start at RMB 148,800 ($22,300). Consumers can pre-order the car through Tmall, with deliveries expected in August.WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:Alibaba CEO takes Jack Ma on a test drive of the company’s newly launched RX5 internet car.https://t.co/33mpkKPITA Alibaba Group (@AlibabaGroup) July 6, 2016
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has suggested all-rounder Ben Stokes to earn another demerit point in the third Test of the ongoing series against West Indies in order to avoid a ban during the Ashes this summer.Stokes picked up his third demerit point for making an “inappropriate comment” during the second day’s play in the ongoing second Test against West Indies at the Headingley, Leeds.The incident happened in the 101st over of the Windies innings, when Stokes reacted in frustration after being edged by Shai Hope for a boundary by making an inappropriate comment, which was clearly audible through the stump mic and also heard by the match officials.If he gets another demerit point, he would be suspended for either his next Test match or two limited-overs internationals, leaving the possibility of him being out of the first Ashes Test.But if the 26-year-old earns a demerit point in either the third Test or the six white-ball internationals that follow against the West Indies, he would cop a ban but effectively enter the all-important Ashes with a clean slate.”If I were ( England captain Joe) Root I’d be tempted to tell him to get another demerit point during the third Test at Lord’s (against the Windies), so he’d reach the four-point threshold for a ban and miss two of the forthcoming one-day matches, for which he may have been rested anyway, rather than an Ashes game,” cricket.com.au quoted Hussain as saying.The former skipper said that people know that Stokes has a fiery temper and that’s why they will try to get him to react.advertisement”This winter the Aussies will be going at him with subtle little digs around the bat, knowing that he’s liable to gob off and possibly get banned for a Test,” he said.The all-rounder had received one demerit point apiece in October and November 2016 for similar verbal offences.