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FullStack London 2018 skillsmatter.com/conferences/9815-fullstack-2018-the-conf... www.tellingphotography.com
Yes, ok, not my usual subject matter, but I just couldn't resist uploading this shot, taken this afternoon in our garden, of a female Bullfinch enjoying the berries of our Himalayan Honeysuckle. Even when the rain stops lineside photography, there's always a shot to be had!
Black Lives Matter protest Katie Palvich outside Mitchell Hall on September 21st, 2015. Kirk Smith/The Review
One of a series of photographs by Paul Lantz of posters left behind after the Black Lives Matter march in Belleville on 7 June 2020.
Donated by Paul Lantz in October 2020.
These ones were shot with CAnon 5D and Pentax 55mm SMC takumar which was attached to the Canon with an Adapter. The 55mm now focuses up to 20cm with a fantastic Bokeh, still apperture seems to be fixed at its maximum...
Cameras are CAnon A1 and Pentax 67. The A1 with a Paragon 28mm the Pentax 67 with the ¨small lense¨, the 105, the 55mm is just massive!
Scala eXchange 2016, Thursday, 8th - Friday, 9th December at Business Design Centre, London. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7432-scala-exchange-2016#pro.... Images copyright www.edtelling.com
One of a series of photographs by Paul Lantz of posters left behind after the Black Lives Matter march in Belleville on 7 June 2020.
Donated by Paul Lantz in October 2020.
FullStack London 2018 skillsmatter.com/conferences/9815-fullstack-2018-the-conf... www.tellingphotography.com
FullStack London 2018 skillsmatter.com/conferences/9815-fullstack-2018-the-conf... www.tellingphotography.com
Desc:Out of the 40+ applications received, and out of the top 20 who qualified for an interview. Pictured here are those selected to receive a financial scholarship from the Sacramento Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. All of the recipients were scholars who heavily participated in events and activities doing public service in the Sacramento community. I believe the lowest GPA was a 3.6. This is one of my favorite committees; I serve on in our chapter. Seeing these young people keeps me encouraged that our tomorrow has hope of it being bright for generations to come.
Scala eXchange 2016, Thursday, 8th - Friday, 9th December at Business Design Centre, London. skillsmatter.com/conferences/7432-scala-exchange-2016#pro.... Images copyright www.edtelling.com
FORT MCCOY, Wis. –
“Money is my military, each dollar a soldier. I never send my money into battle unprepared and undefended.”
~ Kevin O’Leary
Although O’Leary—a Canadian author, entrepreneur and television personality—was referring to his half billion dollar fortune, his words expose the Achilles Heel of nearly every individual and organization on the planet: money.
The U.S. Army, in particular, aligns with O’Leary’s analogy. With billions of dollars dedicated to training, equipping and caring for more than a million men and women in uniform, the Army seeks competent Soldiers who can conduct its countless and complex financial transactions. Those Soldiers are often assigned to sections and even platoon-sized elements dedicated to the understanding of all things pecuniary. Compartmentalizing financial intellect offers the Army the distinct advantage of enhancing readiness through realistic training in the art of money management.
Diamond Saber is an annual training exercise devoted to teaching, mentoring and certifying Soldiers operating within the Army’s intricate financial system. Conducted in Ft. McCoy, Wis., from Aug. 14-24, 2017, the exercise drew more than 650 Soldiers from the Army’s active, Reserve and National Guard components.
“Diamond Saber prepares units to deploy overseas by exposing Soldiers to financial activities found in theater,” said U.S. Army Col. Gregory T. Hinton, commander, 336th Financial Management Support Center. “The exercise combines classroom instruction with realistic training scenarios that cover a wide variety of tasks, missions and systems.”
These financial functions range from cashing checks and exchanging funds to resolving military pay issues and documenting captured currency. Based out of Lake Charles, La., the 336th FMSC demonstrated their expertise on these and other monetary subjects by developing policies, answering questions and providing technical support for Soldiers engaged in classrooms and simulations.
“We’re the financial advisors for this exercise,” said Hilton, a native of Fairmont, W. Va. “Our role here is very similar to what we do downrange.”
While the 336th FMSC supported the operational aspects of Diamond Saber, four Soldiers from the 143d Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), a 10,000 Soldier command headquartered in Orlando, Fla., immersed themselves in the exercise’s tactical side. Their participation marked a major milestone in the exercise’s 12-year history.
“This is the first time Diamond Saber has integrated Soldiers operating at the G8 (general officer, finance) level,” said U.S. Army Capt. Steven Andrews, comptroller, 143d ESC. “Prior to the exercise, our section attended several planning sessions to help ensure Diamond Saber’s curriculum was applicable to G8 level tasks.”
These planning sessions resulted in Andrews and his fellow 143d ESC Soldiers studying in a small classroom separated from the larger lecture halls housing hundreds of Soldiers at Ft. McCoy’s Financial Management Warrior Training Center.
“The specialized class size allowed our instructors to focus on G8 related functions such as vendor contracts, purchase orders and lines of accounting,” said Andrews, a Philadelphia, Pa., native. “The coursework also taught us how to provide better guidance and improved service to our downtrace units.”
The lectures and simulations also exposed Andrews and his team to the Army’s General Fund Enterprise Business System, a financial asset and financial accounting management web application.
“GFEBS is a powerful tool,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Victor T. Rosario, budget analyst, 143d ESC. “Its numerous features make it a bit overwhelming at first, but the daily practice, thorough instruction and graded tests should give us a firm foundation for our eventual mastery of this complex program.”
“Most Reserve Soldiers have little exposure to GFEBS prior to coming to Diamond Saber,” added Andrews. “As long as we continually take advantage of opportunities to maximize our exposure to GFEBS, then we will be successful in our mission.”
While most of the 143d ESC’s counterparts live and study in the relative comfort, the 143d ESC Soldiers must retain vast stockpiles of information while working in field conditions.
“Most of the 143d ESC is engaged in a CSTX (Combat Sustainment Support Exercise),” explained Rosario, a native of St. Cloud, Fla. “Since CSTX emulates a deployed environment, we must sleep in tents and walk through rugged terrain with our weapons and field gear during our daily commutes to and from the classroom.”
For Rosario, the long days are worth the effort as Diamond Saber also provides opportunities to complete online certifications.
“NCOs (Noncommissioned Officers) in my field must complete a series of online classes before we can attend our respective NCOES (Noncommissioned Officer Education System) courses,” said Rosario. “Completing these courses is essential to promotion and career progression. I am grateful Diamond Saber’s administrators afforded us the time to earn a few certifications.”
While Diamond Saber lacks the mass maneuvers and cinematic firefights found in front line field exercises, its presence signifies the Army’s understanding that ample funding and effective fighting are equally important in winning wars.
“Soldiers must be physically, mentally and financially ready to deploy,” said Hinton, who, when not wearing the uniform, serves as the command executive officer for the 79th Theater Support Command headquartered in Los Alamitos, Calif. “If the Army Reserve expects its Soldiers to deploy anywhere in the world in less than 30 days, then our financial units and sections must be masters of our craft. Diamond Saber helps ensure our Soldiers fight and win without the crippling effects of disputed contracts, misappropriated funds and unresolved pay issues.”
Story and Photos by Sgt. John L. Carkeet IV, 143d ESC
Washington DC, January 4, 2020. On January 3, 2020 President Trump acting on the flimsiest of pretexts (and without any Congressional consultation...) ordered the Pentagon to kill the top Iranian General and others in a drone strike near the Baghdad Iraq airport. This act is likely to set off a cycle of retribution that could end in a regional war. Trump ran on ending the stupid wars of his Presidential predecessors but that was, like most of his other promises, a brazen lie. Now forever impeached, he has predictably resorted to acts of brutality to distract the electorate and justify his continued governance in a time of national emergency. DC and seventy other cities were not buying it. The protests that erupted nationwide say loudly and clearly that violence and war are not the answer.
The DC protest gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House for a rally with speeches and then marched to the infamous Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue. I estimate crowd size at 800 or so. Thanks to Answer Coalition, DC Black Lives Matter, Code Pink, Popular Resistance, Metro DSA and other peace groups who organized the action on very short notice.
At least to a four year old. Ethan had just watched his younger sister unwrap a large gift, a toy horse. Then his grandfather handed him a small package. He kept looking at the size of the gift in his hand and the one Anna had opened. He sighed and the opened his and was delighted with his gift and the size no longer mattered,
Giving Engaging Technical Talks at Conferences and Meetups. skillsmatter.com/courses/550-how-to-give-technical-talks
shoestringonline.co.uk/html/klansmen#.Up37xMRdXh7
Visitors to the Current show at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery, Hyde Park were directed by the Chapman Brothers with this message.
GET RID OF MEANING. YOUR MIND IS A NIGHTMARE.
Easier said than done when it comes to this art by the Chapman Brothers which features the familiar mutilated bodies and scenes of horrific torture and gruesome ritualised decapitations that do not necessarily contrive to horrify, as this sentence would appear to suggest.
The Chapman brothers are inclined to provide enough comforting context. We Monks were after all invited to enter a brand new swanky art gallery and no art lover as far as we are aware has thus far been harmed or traumatised by a Chapman image.
We entered cautiously and discovered the familiar grim images, scary in a "ghost train" kind of way. The Chapman Klansmen are comedy Klansmen with rainbow socks and comedy smiley faces. The Chapman crucified martyrs are nothing more than harmless corporate Ronald MacDonald effigies, and so very many of them as in the real world.
I found myself failing to "get rid of meaning" by comparing the Chapman Brothers to Richard Dadd, whose "Fairy Feller's" is arguably more horrific, given Dadd's state of mind, but far less horrifically explicit than the Chapman Brothers.
As far as we know the Chapman Brothers are not actually psychotic. They are more inclined to toy with the visitors most visitors go along with the toying. I could not fail to notice two American ladies failing to "get rid of the meaning" They provided me with an in-depth commentary on each particular scene of horror and mutilation as if Ronald MacDonald were a real person and these were scenes from a soap opera, a warped Nazi soap opera.
The miniature horror model show might also appeal to the model makers within all of us boys, seeking the same thrill you might get when you view an architect's model of a new airport or a shopping centre complete with little trees to provide context and scale.
For this reason I did wonder why The Chapman Brothers had not provided a model Hornby Nazi train-set to circulate about the corpses. Yes, I do believe that there is a train spotting model maker and dark grim humour within us all.
We Monks saw "Hell", the earlier Chapman Brothers work which featured similar miniature grotesque models in glass cases. These works which took years of endeavour to construct were destroyed in the cataclysmic MOMART fire in the 2004. They have now been recreated and re-imagined somewhat in the same spirit.
I discussed this with a young "curator" in the gallery. I discovered that the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery was in fact an 1805 listed building and formerly a depositary for gunpowder and such. I again found myself failing to "get rid of the meaning", so I changed the subject and I told her that I was a little scared to go into the central section behind the black curtain, from where I could hear the sounds of horror. She said that I should not be scared and that all would be well if I were to enter..
Beyond the black curtain masked members of the KKK were sitting amongst the visitors watching a Chapman movie. There I observed Mrs Monk sitting next to a KKK pointy hat both of them watching the horror movie as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
There was a Chapmanesque resonance in the movie but no fearful reaction from the visitors. Just the occasional knowing laugh.
San Simeon, California, USA
Orson Wells “Citizen Kane” is still considered by many to be one of the greatest movie ever made. The movie reflects on media tycoon W.R. Hearst & his manipulative power over politicians & limelight stars. His residence, Hearst Castle, with his countless pools and huge accumulation of tasteless art, do not only show the massive decadence of Hearst but also confirms, you either have style or you don’t, no matter the amount of zeros on your bank account ...
Technical Data
Contax S2
Carl Zeiss Planar
1.4/50mm