A year-long examination of global work patterns and plans has found that, by 2035, employees will become more engaged and productive and fuel innovation and growth. This is a key finding of Work 2035, a study undertaken by Citrix Systems to understand how work will change and the role that technology will play in enabling people to perform at their best.

The key question was: What will the workforce, work models and the work environment look like in 2035? And how will technology shape them?

Citrix teamed up with futurist consultancy Oxford Analytica and business research specialist Coleman Parkes to survey over 500 C-Suite leaders and 1,000 employees within large corporations and mid-market businesses across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and the Netherlands on current and future workforce strategies and work models.

The main conclusions were:

Robots will not replace humans But they will make us smarter and more efficient. More than three-quarters of those polled (77 percent) believe that in fifteen years, artificial intelligence (AI) will significantly speed up the decision-making process and make workers more productive.

New Jobs will be created New roles will emerge to support a technology-driven workplace and the changing relationship between humans and machines. Here are the positions respondents believe will be created:

Work will be more flexible Technology that allows for seamless access to the tools and information people need to collaborate and get work done wherever they happen to be will fuel flexible models that the future of work will demand.

Leadership will have a new look More than half of those surveyed (57 percent) believe AI will make most business decisions and potentially eliminate the need for senior management teams.

Productivity will get a major boost Technology, closely integrated with humans, will drive step changes in productivity as workers are supported by solutions that enable them to perform at their best. AI-ngels digital assistants driven by AI will draw on personal and workplace data to help employees prioritize their tasks and time and ensure mental and physical wellness. These worker augmented assistants will, for example, schedule meetings to take place at the most effective time based on factors ranging from the blood sugar levels of participants to their sentiments at different times of day. And while the meetings are taking place, they will monitor concentration levels and attitudes and adjust as necessary to drive optimal outcomes.

More than half of professionals surveyed (51 percent) believe technology will make workers at least twice as productive by 2035. Among the solutions they believe will be commonplace:

Employee engagement will improve As technology and AI takes over time-consuming, mundane tasks, work will become more strategic and employees more engaged.

Innovation and growth will soar Organizations will invest more in technology and AI than human capital. This will open the door to unprecedented levels of innovation and new revenue streams and fuel sustainable growth particularly among small businesses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to reimagine the way things get done, and over the next 15 years, they will face more challenges and disruptions than ever, says Tim Minahan, executive vice president of business strategy at Citrix. But as Work 2035 makes clear, within this chaos lies opportunity. Savvy companies are using this crisis to begin planning for the next normal. Not just return to where they were, but to embrace new workforce and work models to power their business forward.

* Click here to download a complimentary copy of Work 2035.

Follow this link:
What the world of work will look like in 2035 - Gadget

By Piers Wilson, Head of Product Management atHuntsman Security

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which is responsible for corporate governance, reporting and auditing in the UK, has been consulting on the role of technology in audit processes. This highlights growing recognition for the fact that technology can assist audits, providing the ability to automate data gathering or assessment to increase quality, remove subjectivity and make the process more trustworthy and consistent. Both theBrydon reviewand the latestAQR thematicsuggest a link between enhanced audit quality and the increasing use of technology. This goes beyond efficiency gains from process automation and relates, in part, to the larger volume of data and evidence which can be extracted from an audited entity and the sophistication of the tools available to interrogate it.

As one example, thePCAOBin the US has for a while advocated for the provision of audit evidence and reports to be timely (which implies computerisation and automation) to assure that risks are being managed, and for the extent of human interaction with evidence or source data to be reflected to ensure influence is minimised (the more that can be achieved programmatically and objectively the better).

However, technology may obscure the nature of analysis and decision making and create a barrier to fully transparent audits compared to more manual (yet labour intensive) processes.There is also a competition aspect between larger firms and smaller ones as regards access to technology:

Brydonraised concerns about the ability of challenger firms to keep pace with the Big Four firms in the deployment of innovative new technology.

The FRC consultation paper covers issues, and asks questions, in a number of areas.Examples include:

Clearly these are real issues for a process that aims to provide trustworthy, objective, transparent and repeatable outputs any use of technology to speed up or improve the process must maintain these standards.

Audit technology solutions in cyber security

The cyber security realm has grown to quickly become a major area of risk and hence a focus for boards, technologists and auditors alike. The highly technical nature of threats and the adversarial nature of cybers attackers (who will actively try and find/exploit control failures) means that technology solutions that identify weaknesses and report on specific or overall vulnerabilities are becoming more entrenched in the assurance process within this discipline.

While the audit consultations and reports mentioned above cover the wider audit spectrum, similar challenges relate to cyber security as an inherently technology-focussed area of operation.

Benefits of speed

The gains from using technology to conduct data gathering, analysis and reporting are obvious removing the need for human questionnaires, interviews, inspections and manual number crunching. Increasing the speed of the process has a number of benefits:

Benefits of flexibility

The ability to conduct audits across different sites or scopes, to specify different thresholds of risk for different domains, the ease of conducting audits at remote locations or on suppliers networks (especially during period of restricted travel) are ALL factors that can make technology a useful tool for the auditor.

Benefits of transparency

One part of the FRCs perceived problem space is that of transparency, you can ask a human how they derived a result, and they can probably tell you, or at least show you the audit trail of correspondence, meeting notes or spreadsheet calculations.But can you do this with software or technology?

Certainly, the use of AI and machine learning makes this hard, the learning nature and often black box calculations are not easy to either understand, recalculate in a repeatable way or to document. The system learns, so is always changing, and hence the rationale that a decision might not always be the same.

In technologies that are geared towards delivering audit outcomes this is easier.First, if you collect and retain data, provide an easy interface to go from results to the underlying cases in the source data, it is possible to take a score/rating/risk and reveal the specifics of what led to it.Secondly, it is vital that the calculations are transparent, i.e. that the methods of calculating risks or the way results are scored is decipherable.

Benefits of consistency

This is one obvious gain from technology, the logic is pre-programmed in. If you take two auditors and give them the same data sets or evidence case files they might draw different conclusions (possibly for valid reasons or due to them having different skill areas or experience), but the same algorithm operating on the same data will produce the same result every time.

Manual evidence gathering suffers a number of drawbacks it relies on written notes, records of verbal conversations, email trails, spreadsheets, or questionnaire responses in different formats. Retaining all this in a coherent way is difficult and going back through it even harder.

Using a consistent toolset and consistent data format means that if you need to go back to a data source from a particular network domain three months ago, you will have information that is readily available and readable. And as stated above, if the source data and evidence is re-examined using a consistent solution, you will get the same calculations, decisions and results.

Benefits of systematically generated KPIs, cyber maturity measuresand issues

The outputs of any audit process need to provide details of the issues found so that the specific or general cases of the failures can be investigated and resolved. But for managers, operational teams and businesses, having a view of the KPIs for the security operations process is extremely useful.

Of course, following the lines of defence model, an internal or external formal audit might simply want the results and a level of trust in how they were calculated; however for operational management and ongoing continuous visibility, the need to derive performance statistics comes into its own.

It is worth noting that there are two dimensions to KPIs: The assessment of the strength or configuration of a control or policy (how good is the control) and the extent or level of coverage (how widely is it enforced).

To give a view of the technical maturity of a defence you really need to combine these two factors together. A weak control that is widely implemented or a strong control that provides only partial coverage are both causes for concern.

Benefits of separation of process stages

The final area where technology can help is in allowing the separation and distribution of the data gathering, analysis and reporting processes. It is hard to take the data, evidence and meeting notes from someone else and analyse it.For one thing, is it trustworthy and reliable (in the case of third-party assurance questionnaires perhaps)?Then it is also hard to draw high-level conclusions about the analysis.

If technology allows the data gathering to be performed in a distributed way, say by local site administrators, third-party IT staff or non-expert users BUT in a trustworthy way, then the overhead of the audit process is much reduced. Instead of a team having to conduct multiple visits, interviews or data collection activities the toolset can be provided to the people nearest to the point of collection.

This allows the data analysis and interpretation to be performed centrally by the experts in a particular field or control area.So giving a non-expert user a way to collect and provide relevant and trustworthy audit evidence takes a large bite out of the resource overhead of conducting the audit, for both auditor and auditee.

It also means that a target organisation doesnt have to manage the issue of allowing auditors to have access to networks, sites, data, accounts and systems to gather the audit evidence as this can be undertaken by existing administrators in the environment.

Making the right choice

Technology solutions in the audit process can clearly deliver benefits, however if they are too simplistic or aim to be too clever, they can simply move the problem of providing high levels of audit quality. A rapidly generated AI-based risk score is useful, but if its not possible to understand the calculation it is hard to either correct the control issues or trouble shoot the underlying process.

Where technology can assist the audit process, speed up data gathering and analysis, and streamline the generation of high- and low-level outputs it can be a boon.

Technology allows organisations to put trustworthy assurance into the hands of operations teams and managers, consultants and auditors alike to provide flexible, rapid and frequent views of control data and understanding of risk posture. If this can be done in a way that is cognisant of the risks and challenges as we have shown, then auditors and regulators such as theFRCcan be satisfied.

See the rest here:
Uncertain Times for the Financial Sector Is Open Source the Solution? - Global Banking And Finance Review

By Piers Wilson, Head of Product Management atHuntsman Security

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which is responsible for corporate governance, reporting and auditing in the UK, has been consulting on the role of technology in audit processes. This highlights growing recognition for the fact that technology can assist audits, providing the ability to automate data gathering or assessment to increase quality, remove subjectivity and make the process more trustworthy and consistent. Both theBrydon reviewand the latestAQR thematicsuggest a link between enhanced audit quality and the increasing use of technology. This goes beyond efficiency gains from process automation and relates, in part, to the larger volume of data and evidence which can be extracted from an audited entity and the sophistication of the tools available to interrogate it.

As one example, thePCAOBin the US has for a while advocated for the provision of audit evidence and reports to be timely (which implies computerisation and automation) to assure that risks are being managed, and for the extent of human interaction with evidence or source data to be reflected to ensure influence is minimised (the more that can be achieved programmatically and objectively the better).

However, technology may obscure the nature of analysis and decision making and create a barrier to fully transparent audits compared to more manual (yet labour intensive) processes.There is also a competition aspect between larger firms and smaller ones as regards access to technology:

Brydonraised concerns about the ability of challenger firms to keep pace with the Big Four firms in the deployment of innovative new technology.

The FRC consultation paper covers issues, and asks questions, in a number of areas.Examples include:

Clearly these are real issues for a process that aims to provide trustworthy, objective, transparent and repeatable outputs any use of technology to speed up or improve the process must maintain these standards.

Audit technology solutions in cyber security

The cyber security realm has grown to quickly become a major area of risk and hence a focus for boards, technologists and auditors alike. The highly technical nature of threats and the adversarial nature of cybers attackers (who will actively try and find/exploit control failures) means that technology solutions that identify weaknesses and report on specific or overall vulnerabilities are becoming more entrenched in the assurance process within this discipline.

While the audit consultations and reports mentioned above cover the wider audit spectrum, similar challenges relate to cyber security as an inherently technology-focussed area of operation.

Benefits of speed

The gains from using technology to conduct data gathering, analysis and reporting are obvious removing the need for human questionnaires, interviews, inspections and manual number crunching. Increasing the speed of the process has a number of benefits:

Benefits of flexibility

The ability to conduct audits across different sites or scopes, to specify different thresholds of risk for different domains, the ease of conducting audits at remote locations or on suppliers networks (especially during period of restricted travel) are ALL factors that can make technology a useful tool for the auditor.

Benefits of transparency

One part of the FRCs perceived problem space is that of transparency, you can ask a human how they derived a result, and they can probably tell you, or at least show you the audit trail of correspondence, meeting notes or spreadsheet calculations.But can you do this with software or technology?

Certainly, the use of AI and machine learning makes this hard, the learning nature and often black box calculations are not easy to either understand, recalculate in a repeatable way or to document. The system learns, so is always changing, and hence the rationale that a decision might not always be the same.

In technologies that are geared towards delivering audit outcomes this is easier.First, if you collect and retain data, provide an easy interface to go from results to the underlying cases in the source data, it is possible to take a score/rating/risk and reveal the specifics of what led to it.Secondly, it is vital that the calculations are transparent, i.e. that the methods of calculating risks or the way results are scored is decipherable.

Benefits of consistency

This is one obvious gain from technology, the logic is pre-programmed in. If you take two auditors and give them the same data sets or evidence case files they might draw different conclusions (possibly for valid reasons or due to them having different skill areas or experience), but the same algorithm operating on the same data will produce the same result every time.

Manual evidence gathering suffers a number of drawbacks it relies on written notes, records of verbal conversations, email trails, spreadsheets, or questionnaire responses in different formats. Retaining all this in a coherent way is difficult and going back through it even harder.

Using a consistent toolset and consistent data format means that if you need to go back to a data source from a particular network domain three months ago, you will have information that is readily available and readable. And as stated above, if the source data and evidence is re-examined using a consistent solution, you will get the same calculations, decisions and results.

Benefits of systematically generated KPIs, cyber maturity measuresand issues

The outputs of any audit process need to provide details of the issues found so that the specific or general cases of the failures can be investigated and resolved. But for managers, operational teams and businesses, having a view of the KPIs for the security operations process is extremely useful.

Of course, following the lines of defence model, an internal or external formal audit might simply want the results and a level of trust in how they were calculated; however for operational management and ongoing continuous visibility, the need to derive performance statistics comes into its own.

It is worth noting that there are two dimensions to KPIs: The assessment of the strength or configuration of a control or policy (how good is the control) and the extent or level of coverage (how widely is it enforced).

To give a view of the technical maturity of a defence you really need to combine these two factors together. A weak control that is widely implemented or a strong control that provides only partial coverage are both causes for concern.

Benefits of separation of process stages

The final area where technology can help is in allowing the separation and distribution of the data gathering, analysis and reporting processes. It is hard to take the data, evidence and meeting notes from someone else and analyse it.For one thing, is it trustworthy and reliable (in the case of third-party assurance questionnaires perhaps)?Then it is also hard to draw high-level conclusions about the analysis.

If technology allows the data gathering to be performed in a distributed way, say by local site administrators, third-party IT staff or non-expert users BUT in a trustworthy way, then the overhead of the audit process is much reduced. Instead of a team having to conduct multiple visits, interviews or data collection activities the toolset can be provided to the people nearest to the point of collection.

This allows the data analysis and interpretation to be performed centrally by the experts in a particular field or control area.So giving a non-expert user a way to collect and provide relevant and trustworthy audit evidence takes a large bite out of the resource overhead of conducting the audit, for both auditor and auditee.

It also means that a target organisation doesnt have to manage the issue of allowing auditors to have access to networks, sites, data, accounts and systems to gather the audit evidence as this can be undertaken by existing administrators in the environment.

Making the right choice

Technology solutions in the audit process can clearly deliver benefits, however if they are too simplistic or aim to be too clever, they can simply move the problem of providing high levels of audit quality. A rapidly generated AI-based risk score is useful, but if its not possible to understand the calculation it is hard to either correct the control issues or trouble shoot the underlying process.

Where technology can assist the audit process, speed up data gathering and analysis, and streamline the generation of high- and low-level outputs it can be a boon.

Technology allows organisations to put trustworthy assurance into the hands of operations teams and managers, consultants and auditors alike to provide flexible, rapid and frequent views of control data and understanding of risk posture. If this can be done in a way that is cognisant of the risks and challenges as we have shown, then auditors and regulators such as theFRCcan be satisfied.

Originally posted here:
The end of the cookie and the new era of digital marketing - Global Banking And Finance Review

After NXIVM, a personal development company founded by Keith Raniere, was exposed as a pyramid scheme and cult that forced its female recruits into sexual slavery, itwas soon discovered that there were many prominent, highly influential members from the worlds of business, politics and Hollywood. One of the most shocking and notable performers was former Smallville actress Allison Mack, who was a senior member within the organization and eventually pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.

In the years since the 2017 New York Times expos, its been revealed that cast members of Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica and Dynasty crossed paths with the organization. A lot of young people who were in the film and television industry, lots of actors [were involved], former member and Canadian actress Sarah Edmondson says in the HBO docuseries,The Vow, which chronicles her and other members escape from the clutches ofRaniere and NXIVM.

We were all sort of in the same boat, struggling with our self-esteem, body issues, meaning and purpose, Edmondson says, explaining whythey may have been attracted to or susceptible to NXIVMs many promises around wellness and self-help.Heres a confirmed list of Hollywoods members or recruits.

As NXIVM expanded across North America, it eventually opened a center in Vancouver, Canada,where the CW superhero series wasfilmed. Former member Barbara Bouchey said in an interview with E! True Hollywood Story that she worked with Edmondson over several years to develop the Vancouver center and that led eventually to Allison Mack.

The actress, who was only 23 at the time, told the New York Times that she came to NXIVM when she was unhappy with her TV acting career. She reportedly asked Raniere to make her a great actress again. [More on Macks story via ETonline.]

Anthony Ames The Abduction of Zack Butterfield

A model and actor, Ames most prominent role was as Agent Quincannon in the 2011 film The Abduction of Zack Butterfield, which the New York Timesdescribesas a cringingly awkward tale of sexual predation and female lunacy.

More commonly known as Nippy, the actor was a prominent member of NXIVM, where he also met and fell in love with Edmondson. When the two got married, most of their wedding guests and bridal party were from NXIVM. While his wife continued to grow within the organization, Nippy became disillusioned by the experience and was unaware of her involvement with DOS.

Bonnie Piesse Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones,Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Piesseis an Australian actress and a singer-songwriter most famous for being part of the Star Wars film franchise. Piesse appeared in the second two prequels as a young version of Beru Lars, Luke Skywalkers aunt and surrogate mother.

She met director Mark Vicente (What the Bleep Do We Know!?), who was already a member of NXIVM, and turned to the organization as her music and acting career stalled. Eventually the two got married and became the poster couple for others to follow.

While Vicente remained dedicated to Raniere, even working closely with him on a documentary and screenplay about his story, Piesse eventually became suspicious of NXIVMs practices and wanted out. Despite trying to leave on good terms, especially since Vicente remained a prominent member, she was blacklisted. The couples marriage suffered as a result.But once Vicente decided to leave, the two got back together and teamed up with Edmondson and CatherineOxenberg to get others out.

Blue, who played General Zod during seasons nine and 10 of Smallville and also appeared on series likeProof and Royal Pains, found himself turning to the organization in 2011, after a personal tragedy. At the height of my popularity, I went through some trauma. My father took his own life and I continued working and I was caught up in this spiral of chaos cause Hollywood can be a chaotic and noisy place. And that really opened me up to looking to the outside world to find the answers, he said in an interview with E! True Hollywood Story.

Put off by Raniere and his experience, Blue quickly left NXIVM. I was in it for five days and I heard the same thing again and again and again, he recalled.

Catherine Oxenberg Dynasty

Oxenberg, a former Dynasty actress and the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia, was able to get out -- but not fast enough to save her daughter, India, from the clutches of Raniere. I didnt sign my daughter up for a sex cult,Oxenberg told ET, explaining that sheholds herself accountable for what ultimately happened to India. Intending to help her daughter on her journey into adulthood, she inadvertently introduced India, then 19 years old, to NXIVM in 2011.

The truth is, what we went to was an intro for a leadership program, Oxenberg explained. It could have been any self-help program, and thats the truth. Nobody signs up to join a cult. These cults very often have consumer-facing companies offering real and viable resources and tools. And thats what this was I thought that she might benefit from some leadership skills because she was going into the business world.

Oxenberg has since recounted her story in the Lifetime film, Escaping the NXIVM Cult: A Mother's Fight to Save Her Daughter, which is based on her 2018 memoir, Captive: A Mother's Crusade to Save Her Daughter From a Terrifying Cult. Her attempts to free India are also chronicled on The Vow. [More on Oxenbergsstory via ETonline.]

Chad Krowchuk Wayward Pines

After a number of small, episodic roles, Krowchuk appeared on Aliens in America before going on to bigger roles in Gracepoint and Wayward Pines.

He was initially recruited by Edmondson, but it was Mack, his girlfriend at the time, who convinced him to take a five-day training course. According to Vice, Mack and Krowchuk were about three years into living together when NXIVM became a thing in their group of friends, with Mack quickly becoming fascinated by the organization. That was the part that scared me the most, Krowchuk said. Before we had conversations about it, and we both thought it seemed kind of weird and creepy. I dont necessarily know if she thought it was creepy, but we agreed it seemed a little messed up.

While Mack became a prominent member, she reportedly wasnt the first Smallville recruit. That was Kreuk, who played Lana Lang. According to The Hollywood Reporter, shortly after joining the group in 2006, she brought Mack. Im excited to work with youguys. I dont know what else to say, Kreuk says infootage featured onThe Vow that shows her in a meeting alongside Edmondson.

Even though Kreuk was involved with NXIVM, she claims that she left before anything illegal or nefarious happened. I am deeply disturbed and embarrassed to have been associated with NXIVM, the actress posted to Twitter in 2018. The accusations that I was in the inner circle or recruited women as sex slaves are blatantly false.

How are we contributing as a society to the myth of celebrity? Cause a lot of people seem to be rather caught up in it, Park, who famously portrayed Sharon Boomer Valerii on Battlestar Galactica before starring on the CBS rebootof Hawaii Five-0, is seen asking Raniere in a promotional video initially posted to NXIVMs site and YouTube page. As seen in footage from The Vow, the actress was in the bridal party atEdmondsons wedding, which according to the bride, was mostly attended by members of NXIVM.

According to Vice, Park quietly left after the explosive New York Times article, which featured revelations about Jness and the sex cult practices.

Mark Hildreth Resurrection

Hildreth has appeared on everything from The Tudors to Resurrection to Hulus The Looming Tower. But his most prominent role, it seems, is being the one to reportedly have recruited Kreuk into NXIVM. According to Vice, the actor convinced her to attend her first session, which proved to be a turning point for the organization, which could now say it had a famous actress among its members.

Nicki Clyne Battlestar Galactica

I feel like the biggest limitation is that we judge ourselves, Clyne, who reportedly was recruited by Edmondsonin 2006, is seen saying during a NXIVM meeting in footage featured on The Vow. The actress who playedCally Henderson on the Syfy serieswas close to other Vancouver recruits, including Mack and Park.

In 2018, federal prosecutors claimed that Mack and Clyne were married, according to court transcripts obtained by People. The outletreported the union was at the behest of NXIVM co-founder Keith Raniere. A one-time publicist for the cult said, Nicki has been in the cult for 12 years. She quit her regular role with Battlestar to follow Raniere.

Samia Shoaib La Femme Nikita

After Mack was initially arrested, The Sixth Sense and La Femme Nikita actressrevealed to Megyn Kelly that she was approached by Mack to join NXIM after the two met at an audition in 2013. Soon after, Mack tried to get Shoaib to join a school for introspection.

We got close very quickly, and looking back, it was a very contrived effort, but at the time she seemed so sincere, Shoaib said at the time. While the actress never got involved, she was one of many that Mack attempted to recruit over the years. Others include Emma Watson, Kelly Clarkson and Beverly Mitchell.

Born and raised in Vancouver, the actress first appeared onscreen inthe teen soap Edgemont opposite Park. She eventually went on to appear in a number of sci-fi projects likeAndromeda, Continuumand Stargate SG-1. Her most notable role before leaving NXIVM was a recurring stint on Psych.

Once in NXIVM, Edmondson rose through the ranks to become one of its top recruiters, bringing in thousands of people, including some of the other actors listed here. She also met and married Nippy and when the two had a child, they named Lauren Salzman his godmother. It was Salzman who recruited her into DOS, where she became her slave and was branded with Raniere'sinitials.

Since leaving NXIVM, Edmondson has returned to acting and starred on season 2 of the short-lived series Salvation.

Go here to see the original:
NXIVM: Allison Mack, Grace Park and Other Actors Recruited by the Sex Cult - WFAA.com

Last week, I mentioned in this space that I had run out of words, so there were several big pictures of critters instead. I also mentioned that you didnt have to worry, because I had ordered some words on Amazon. That was kind of a joke.

Should have known better. Little did I know, but you can indeed order words on Amazon. Which, truth be told, is not surprising. You can find everything on Amazon. I suppose its kind of like the Sears catalog from way, way back in the day. (Kids: if you dont know about the Sears catalog, ask your grandparents.)

I found a Big Box of Word Chunks educational board game on Amazon. Seemed appropriate for a journalist. And it only cost $22.86.

Meanwhile...

Have you ever had a butterfly land on you? Twice. Until Labor Day, Im pretty sure that I had not experienced such a thing. Not even once.

Way back in the day, a praying mantis landed on me. They are kind of scary looking bugs. Dont remember how old I was, but the critter was scary. Still remember it.

The butterfly landed on me while I was taking a quick walk at one of the places in Union County which I visit on a regular basis. I think the butterfly, which was quite colorful, may be called a painted lady, but Im not for sure.

Turns out that having a butterfly land on you may be a bit of a spiritual experience, in a good sort of way, which would be much nicer than having a praying mantis land on you when you are a little kid.

A little bit of research online turned up fascinating tidbits about what might be happening when a butterfly lands on you:

...in some cases when a butterfly lands on you, it is a sign from your loved one in Spirit. A validation that their soul lives on...

...a butterfly landing on you can be a sign that your unconscious mind approves of something, probably related to personal development or service...

...it could very well be an angel sending you a message...

...you have a special connection with this creature, and it could be a sign that a butterfly is your animal spirit.

Ill be pondering these messages for a while...

Meanwhile...

I know you folks might be getting tired of hearing about our pandemic dates. But, I kind of figure these little adventures are part of the history of the pandemic. These dates have given us a chance to see and do something sort of normal during a time which is anything but normal.

We went on a date on Labor Day. Once again motored to the Trail of Tears State Forest and wandered around in a creek bed as the sun was quickly setting late on a summer day. We worked in another date last Sunday evening after dinner.

Sometimes, we get to see critters. On Labor Day, we saw a couple of frogs, including the one in the photograph which accompanies this column.

We also saw a raccoon, much more up close and personal than I would have expected on such an excursion. I could hear some rustling in the undergrowth along the creek bed, just a foot or two away.

At first, I could hear the noise, but could not see its source. Next thing I know, a raccoon meanders into sight. The critter didnt seem a bit concerned about us at all. It just kind of strolled up the creek bed.

In addition to frogs and a raccoon, weve seen lots of white-tailed deer during our pandemic dates. I think weve seen about 14 or 16 white-tails, including several fawns, during our most recent adventures.

Our dates may not seem like much, but, like I said, they offer opportunities to do something normal, and maybe even safe.

By the way...we didnt have any butterflies land on us...the frogs didnt either. Might have been an even more interesting story if the raccoon had landed on one of us...

Meanwhile...

Were going to finish up this week with a happy birthday message to my sweetheart. If you are a friend, you can tell her happy birthday, too. Today is the big day.

The rest is here:
A butterfly...a couple of frogs...and a raccoon.... - Annanews

Despite not holding events in 2020, the Bay State Games selection committee is still honoring athletes based on past participation in the Games and other athletic achievements. It selects an Athlete of the Year in four categories. The 2020 selections for Athlete of the Year are as follows: Female Athlete 18 & younger: Teagan Dymek (Osterville); Male Athlete 18 & younger: Reese Stevenson (Harvard); Female Athlete 19 & older: Ildiko Szekely (Beverly); and Male Athlete 19 & older: Seth Trahan (Sturbridge).

Beverlys Ildiko Szekely has competed in Bay State Games Masters Swimming since 2014, winning gold every year in the 200-meter butterfly. She holds the Bay State Games record in Women 35-49 200-meter butterfly.

As a member of New England Masters, Szekely has achieved many national and international accomplishments, highlighted by winning gold in the 100-meter and 200-meter butterfly at the 2014 World Masters Swimming Championships in Montreal, Canada. She has also won several U.S. Masters Swimming National titles, and currently holds the U.S. Masters Swimming National record in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

Her swimming resume includes 10 individual and three All-American honors, and 59 Top 10 swims. Prior to becoming an accomplished Masters swimmer, Ildiko swam at Michigan State University, where she was a team captain and an Academic All-Big-10. She held program records in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard IM, all of which she still ranks in the Top 10 in program history.

Ildiko is currently the Connors Family Learning Center Assistant Director at Boston College.

The Bay State Games Athlete of the Year program was established to recognize individuals that excel above and beyond their athletic participation in the Bay State Games. Individuals are chosen based on overall achievements, involvement in the Bay State Games, involvement in their community, effort, sportsmanship, overcoming adversity and attitude on and off the athletic field of endeavor. The selection committee reviews nominations submitted by coaches, commissioners, parents, volunteers and other players.

Individuals chosen as Bay State Games Athlete of the Year have also been submitted for recognition as the National State Games Athlete of the Year. If chosen as the National State Games Athlete of the Year, recipients will be recognized at the National Congress of State Games annual symposium. National Athlete of the Year winners will be notified in October.

For more information on the Bay State Games Athlete of the Year program and past winners, go to http://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/GFyZC31rZ2hm6nNpjfgwxx8?domain=baystategames.org.

The Massachusetts Amateur Sports Foundation (MASF), an independent, non-profit organizer of the Bay State Summer and Winter Games, provides Olympic-style athletic competitions and developmental programs for amateur athletes of all ages. Founded in 1981, the MASF operates statewide and year-round to promote personal development, education, physical fitness, teamwork, sportsmanship and mutual respect. From a modest beginning of four sports and 300 athletes, the Games have grown to include over 30 summer and winter sports. The MASF is a member of the National Congress of State Games, comprised of over 35 states nationwide.

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Beverlys Ildiko Szekely chosen as a Bay State Games 2020 Athlete of the Year recipient - Wicked Local Beverly

GREEN RIVER Emmalee Skinner started her senior year at Green River High School as the Distinguished Young Woman of Wyoming for the Class of 2021.

The honor isnt just for her, though. Its also for her classmates, her community, and people throughout her state.

Emmalee was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Wyoming after winning a statewide virtual contest conducted via video submissions and Zoom meetings during the summer.

Finishing in first place doesnt just mean scholarship money and recognition for Emmalee it means she has a job to do for the benefit of others.

Now and throughout the coming year, she will serve as a role model and spread the Distinguished Young Womens national outreach message of Be Your Best Self. The outreach program is designed to encourage self esteem and excellence in young people through its five principles: be healthy, be involved, be studious, be ambitious, and be responsible. She will also represent the state at various public events.

Emmalee is already passing on the Be Your Best Self lesson through example by working hard to achieve great things and encouraging others to do the same.

It is a full time job.

In addition to her studies, Emmalee is a member of the National Honor Society, competes in high school tennis, performs in the color guard for the marching band, and works at Arctic Circle. She plans to participate in theater as well just as she has in years past.

During the Distinguished Young Women contest, Emmalee earned extra points based on the difficulty of the courses shes taken in high school. This semester, shes enrolled in AP calculus her most difficult class.

So that has been a challenge, especially trying to recall all the math learned after not using it for months, Emmalee said. But after getting back into the swing of things, its been getting a lot easier. Other than that, the year hasnt been too difficult.

Emmalee decided her senior year would include competing on the tennis team for the first time. The experience has been great, according to Emmalee. She is learning a lot, the team is very supportive, and everyone gets along great, she said.

My partner and I are both new but we are having a great time and even won all our games against Rock Springs!

Emmalee is grateful to be able to attend school again. She has always loved learning new things, and she missed the social interaction when schools were closed in March.

I have enjoyed being with other students again and seeing people being excited to be back, Emmalee said. Usually, energy is low and people arent wanting to be at school, but the energy shifted after being away for five months. People seemed to really want to be back.

COMPETITION

Emmalee was familiar with the Distinguished Young Women contest because her mom and sister had both previously competed. Emmalee said the contest helps women obtain a higher education by awarding scholarships that can be used at any college.

Competing took a lot of time and work, but was an incredible experience, Emmalee said. She enjoyed meeting other top high school students and getting a glimpse into their lives, even if they had to connect virtually.

Seven Wyoming high school senior girls competed to represent the state as the Distinguished Young Woman of Wyoming for 2021. The statewide scholarship program was conducted virtually through Zoom and video submissions the week of July 27 with the finals and awards announcement on Aug 1.

Participants were evaluated in the categories of scholastics, 25%; interview, 25%; talent, 20%; fitness, 15%; and self-expression, 15%.

Emmalee finished in the top two in four of the five categories. She received a $3,000 scholarship for winning and $150 scholarships each for finishing in the top two in four categories for a total of $3,600 in cash scholarships.

For the talent portion, Emmalee choreographed her own 90-second dance to the song You Will Be Found from the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. She especially enjoyed the talent contest because it gave her the opportunity to challenge and express herself in a new way. It was a difficult yet rewarding achievement. She also choreographed her own routine for the fitness contest.

In the self expression category, contestants were asked how they intended to implement the Cowboy Code of Conduct, including such directives as keeping promises, in their lives. Each had 24 hours to come up with a 30-second answer.

Emmalee decided to give judges a concrete example to show how she was already implementing the code. She said just the night before, she took the time to help a neighbor even though she was busy and needed to prepare for the competition. She also told them that she intended to take notes and set reminders in order to help in her quest to fulfill the Cowboy Code.

THE FUTURE

Emmalee looks forward to getting the Be Your Best Self message out in the days ahead and publicizing the Distinguished Young Women contest so that more young women will participate.

In February or March of 2021, Emmalee needs to make a presentation to her community about the Distinguished Young Women Program and the Be Your Best Self message.

She also plans to go on to compete in the Distinguished Young Women national finals June 24-26, 2021 in Mobile, Alabama. Emmalee and the 50 other representatives from across the U.S will participate in personal development activities and community service projects before competing to become the Distinguished Young Woman of America for 2021. Emmalee said she is excited to go and meet so many other incredible young women from around the country.

Emmalee wants to work as a dental hygienist. She has not yet decided where she will attend college to pursue that goal. She is the daughter of Bradlee and Melissa Skinner.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Founded in 1958, Distinguished Young Women is a free program that encourages participants to reach their full individual potential. Its mission is to empower young women by providing more than $1 billion in scholarship opportunities and developing their self confidence to prepare them for success after high school.

Kentuckys Elif Ozyurekoglu was named the Distinguished Young Woman of America for 2020 and received more than $33,000 in cash scholarships to be applied toward her college education. For more information on Distinguished Young Women of Wyoming, contact Sarah Robles at wyoming@distinguishedyw.org.

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An award that benefits others | Local News | rocketminer.com - Daily Rocket Miner

On Tuesday, Sept. 15, Marys Mercy Center celebrated the grand opening of Marys Village, San Bernardinos first transitional home for men, filling a need for the areas homeless that went unanswered for many years.

Marys Village is the first of four phases in the vision of Father Mike Barry, president of Marys Mercy Center, to provide housing and services to lift men out of homelessness.

Its successful completion was the collaborate effort of San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, San Bernardino County, city of San Bernardino, Crestwood Communities and Southern California Edison. These partnerships made the $8.5 million project a reality with 100 percent private funding.

San Manuel invested $7.3 million in the project and Edison invested heavily to give Marys Village state-of-the-art utilities and appliances while making it a test bed for all-electric and net-zero energy efficiency in residential development. Crestwood developed and constructed the village.

The buildings were furnished with funding from Dignity Health.

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Chairman Ken Ramirez shared that the Tribes partnerships with the Marys Mercy Center and Loma Linda University Hosptial extend 100-year-old partnerships that began with the local Catholic and Seventh-Day Adventist churches offering services and support to the Tribe when it had very little and often went without basic needs.

This is still our homeland and it is up to us to make sure it is growing, sustainable and healthy, Ramirez said.

Marys Village

The village provides transitional housing and programs to lift men out of homelessness and into self-sufficient living in four buildings, a total of 30,000 square feet.

The four buildings are able to house up to 80 men and are designed for staged personal development. Each of the buildings includes communal living spaces including kitchens and dinning rooms. Two buildings include dorm rooms with several beds per room. When men first enter Marys Village they will live in these buildings. As they progress through educational and case management programs, vocational training and get jobs they will move into the other two buildings one in which two men can share a room and the other with private rooms.

We knew where the need was because for years our phones have been ringing with people asking for services for the men, but we had nowhere to put them, said Terry Kent, Marys Mercy Center boardman and vice president of operations for Crestwood Communities, referring to the services offered for women and children at Marys Mercy Centers Veronicas Home of Mercy.

While we focused in the past on the women and children the men went without, said Ramirez. It has finally come full circle.

According to Kent, Marys Village was designed to be a home and not feel like an institution. There is plenty of space in and surrounding the buildings.

The village is made up of single story buildings in response to concerns from neighboring residents who did not want a three-story building towering over their neighborhood. This also saved on the considerable costs associated with constructing, maintaining and safety inspecting elevators.

Kent pointed out that, as a totally private endeavor, Marys Village is able to provide transitional housing and services for the homeless much more efficiently than government-funded efforts. Marys Village provides housing for the homeless at a cost of approximately $85,000 per unit while a recent audit reported that Los Angeles city-funded housing projects cost an average of $350,000 per unit, with some projects reaching nearly $750,000 per unit.

Major cost savings came in the avoidance of red tape and other time consuming processes associated with government funding as well as the opportune purchase of the 10 acres on which the center is built. It was purchased at a bargain in public auction during a market downturn.

Moving in

According to Kent, the center is scheduled to move in its first two residents on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

Due to coronavirus concerns, the center has created a plan to gradually move in residents working up to 25 percent capacity over a three-month period. Additional phases will be planned and initiated as appropriate for the developing pandemic.

The next phases

With phase 1 complete and ready for tenants, Father Barry and the other Marys Village partners are poised to begin the next two phases of the mens center.

Phase 2, the construction of eight duplexes on 2.89 acres, is scheduled to break ground within the first quarter of 2021. It will provide housing for 16 men as they advance out of the dormitory-style living of the early stages of Mary Centers 12-to-24-month program.

Phase 2 is projected to cost $2.5 million, with $1.8 million funded by San Manuel.

The third phase, scheduled to begin in 2022, will build a neighborhood of 16 affordable single-family homes for rent by men transitioning into self-sufficient living. This phase is projected to cost $4.5 million.

When complete phases 2 and 3 will provide housing for 16 additional men each.

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First transitional home for men opens in San Bernardino - Highland Community News

ABOUT THE TEAM Department: Corporate TECH / Collaboration Services

Reports to: Lead of Collaboration ApplicationsIT

Team Size: 6

Role description: IT-Consultant Collaboration Applications

Recruiter: Abdul Tafadar Email:abdul.tafadar@zalando.de

As an IT-Consultant in Collaboration Applications you will be mainly responsible for the technical support and operations of our companies collaboration software. You are in close contact with our Service Provider, Product Managers and Employees, to constantly support and improve the product and its attached services.

The Team also takes care of our SaaS Collaboration Application Suite. So administration and development in this area will also come up to you. As well as the development of individual integrations to automate processes and improve our Collaboration Suite.

You will be working in an agile team within Collaboration Applications based in Berlin.

WHERE YOUR EXPERTISE IS NEEDED

PERKS AT WORK

ABOUT ZALANDO Zalando is Europe's leading online platform for fashion, connecting customers, brands and partners across 17 markets. We drive digital solutions for fashion, logistics, advertising and research, bringing head-to-toe fashion to more than 23 million active customers through diverse skill-sets, interests and languages our teams choose to use.

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IT Consultant Collaboration Applications job with Zalando | 146681 - The Business of Fashion

The coronavirus outbreak has shined a spotlight on the often overlooked underbelly of Indias city of dreams the slums and other informal settlements where about 49% of its population resides. This population, accounting to around 46 lakh people, lives in slums that occupy barely 7.5% of the citys area according to Slum Rehabilitation Authoritys city survey data.

Dharavi, one of Asias largest slums, was a Covid-19 hotspot a few weeks ago but has under 100 active cases currently. While the number of infections seems to be in control at the moment the risk of spread continues to remain high within these neighbourhoods where unusually high population densities up to 350 families per hectare against the city average of 38 as per the 2011 Census. Poor drinking water and sanitation facilities mean that social distancing is virtually impossible.

So what is the future of slums in a post-Covid-19 world? Can we formalise the informal?

Cities are envisaged as the hub of economic, social and technological advancements and opportunities, which brings in an incessant flow of migrants to them. This urban pull is driven by the perception that the expanse of the material infrastructure of a city narrates the improved quality of social life that one may attain on relocating from smaller towns or rural areas.

However, widening gaps between growing city populations and physical and social infrastructure required to accommodate them is leading to a lopsided pattern of urban development accompanied by an increasing number of urban poor.

For instance, while Mumbai grew spectacularly as an urban centre in the years following Indias independence, the geographical constraints of the island city have caused serious problems today. With a premium attached to limited land and space, land and building prices have skyrocketed.

This pushes incoming migrants, who make up the majority of the citys population, to seek housing within low-cost, poorly designed shanties and tenements in informal settlements with extremely poor living conditions.

If one looks at the chronological framework of government policies implemented to alleviate the plight of people living in slums, a model of clearing the encroachments and rehousing slum dwellers in subsidized rental housing can be observed.

The Subsidised Housing Programme of 1952 was the first nationwide programme that provided subsidies and introduced loan schemes for economically weaker sections of the society to purchase land for the construction of houses.

The archaic Slum Clearance Scheme introduced in 1956 targeted the removal of sprawls and slums to clean the city but failed owing to shortage of resources to build and maintain housing stock for the relocated occupants. In 1970, the Housing and Urban Development Corporation was created as the governments nodal agency for the promotion of sustainable habitat development by providing home loans to lower-income groups with longer repayment periods.

With the initiation of more novel programs such as the Bombay Urban Development Programme of 1984 and the Prime Ministers Grant Program conceived in 1985, there was a shift in the policy paradigm from slum demolition to slum up-gradation.

In the 1970s and 80s, through various acts and programmes and with aid from The World Bank, the government assured the provision of basic services such as water, public toilets, electricity, pathways, street furniture, conservancy, primary healthcare and educational facilities. During this time, the leasehold tenure of land was also transferred to the cooperative housing societies of slum dwellers.

With the admission of private sector players, however, lured by the assurance of floor space index and transferable development rights incentives in 1995s Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, the needs of slum dwellers were shelved to prioritise profits to builders and developers.

The rehabilitation scheme facilitates the redevelopment of slums through the concept of land-sharing where the open sale of housing units in the market allows the cross-subsidising of free units for the slum dwellers. However, the full authority and discretion on decisions concerning the quality of construction lied in the hands of private developers, which turned this scheme into a crooked and ineffective mission.

Driven by profit margins, developers use up to 75% of the available land to build units that they can sell, while forcing the existing slum dwellers into the remaining 25%, transforming horizontal slums to vertical ones in the name of high-rise development. About 3.4 lakh families have been rehabilitated already registered slum dwellers, sometimes multiple families who lived within single tenements, have been allotted one flat each in newly constructed buildings, which tower to as high as twenty floors.

Within these matchboxes in the sky, occupant discomfort and health issues are rife.

These issues are aggravated by the poor quality of housing units, an abrupt shift to vertical living, cramped living spaces, lack of daylight, thermal discomfort on upper floors, high levels of noise pollution and inadequate fresh air exchange and ventilation. This leads to poor indoor air quality.

These buildings also neglect how life on the street is inherently tied to the socio-economic fabric of informal settlements. The lack of recreational and community spaces restricts occupants from engaging in community or livelihood activities that were an integral part of their life in the slums. Instead, the close proximity of adjacent high-rise buildings results in open spaces being treated as garbage dumps, resulting in public health challenges.

This incompatibility between low income and the high cost of living in the city, as well as the dissatisfaction with the new rehabilitation buildings, forces distressed residents to move back to slums or to look for new squatter settlements. This, ultimately, fails to solve the humanitarian crisis of informality and merely accomplishes the capitalist objective of increasing density and optimising land resources.

So are there better alternatives? How can slums be redeveloped in a manner that ensures affordability, inclusivity in decision making, improved quality of life and socio-economic wellbeing of the community?

Self-development of slum communities, a process where slum occupants take on the mantle of redevelopment themselves supported by the expertise of appropriate professionals might provide a solution.

The communities are aimed at accelerating the entire process of redevelopment with the self-intent of the community. With the association of residents as stakeholders in the process, a transparent and inclusive design process could be enabled that directly and efficiently addresses the needs and concerns of the residents, fulfilling their expectations of better living conditions.

Such a proposal could be easily incorporated within city development plans by transferring the development rights of land parcels marked as slums to the association of the current inhabitants of that neighbourhood. Permissible FSI will need to be reduced to ensure that vertical slums do not take form again. Instead, the government could discontinue levying the charges that it does to reduce project costs significantly.

This would allow residents to fund the construction through personal loans along with liquid capital raised by the sale of new units from the development. The loans could be repaid with monthly EMI instalments with appropriate subsidies, which would be far lower than the unusually high rents that occupants pay for remarkably low square footage.

It is important to understand that the vision of a slum-free city needs to be viewed through the lens of inclusive development. Elimination and clearance of slums has to be substituted for up-gradation of living conditions, provision of access to basic services, and participation of the current slum dwellers in policy conception.

Only with a multi-faceted approach to redevelopment that incorporates economic, environmental and cultural sustainability, could we conceive self-contained sustainable communities of the future.

Rahul Kadri is a Partner and Principal Architect at Mumbai-based IMK Architects.

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The vision of slum-free Indian cities needs to be viewed through the lens of inclusive development - Scroll.in