Daily Archives: February 9, 2022

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Located in Catlett, Virginia, we are conveniently positioned to serve the entire northern Virginia area. This includes the counties of Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Fairfax, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Stafford, Fredericksburg, Warren, and Clarke. Whether youre in Middleburg or Upperville, Warrenton or Paris, we are happy to build or remodel for you throughout the general Piedmont region. Golden Rule Builders is prepared to handle every aspect of the building or remodeling process for you. We look forward to working with you to make your dream home a reality!

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It's safe to say the start to the 2022 Winter Olympics did not go well for American skier Mikaela Shiffrin.

The 26-year-old from Colorado recorded a DNF on her first run of the women's giant slalom competition, knocking her out of the opportunity to defend her gold medal from 2018.

"I'm gonna reset and focus on what I can control for the slalom," Shiffrin said Monday after the race. "Still a long two weeks to go and I'm still forward to it.

"I'm sorry that that was the performance I did today but that also happens. I won't hide the disappointment but I'm also not going to dwell on it because that's not gonna help me at all."

Defending Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin received a "did not finish" in the women's giant slalom competition after missing an early gate and falling seconds into her first run, taking her out of the event.

The mindset is now on the slalom event, which Shiffrin already has a gold medal in. As an 18-year-old in 2014, Shiffrin finished at the top of the podium in her first Olympics. She just missed out on a medal in the event in 2018, coming in fourth.

The three-time Olympian is racing in her first Games without her father, who passed away in February of 2020 unexpectedly due to a head injury. He was 65 years old.

Watch all the action from the Beijing Olympics live on NBC

"He taught us so many valuable lessons but above everything else, he taught us the golden rule: be nice, think first," Shiffrin said. "This is something I will carry with me forever. He was the firm foundation of our family and we miss him terribly."

Shiffrin seriously considered retiring after his death, but elected to continue on with her alpine skiing career.

If Shiffrin were to medal tonight, she would join her boyfriend, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway, as a medalist in Beijing. The skier won bronze in the men's super-G competition.

While Shiffrin offers the U.S. the best chance at a medal, she isn't the lone American in the competition. Paula Moltzan, Katie Heinsien and A J Hurt will also be in the event.

The first run of the women's slalom is schedule for 9:15 p.m. EST tonight with the second and final run expected to take place at 12:45 a.m. EST on Wednesday morning.

See more here:

Can Mikaela Shiffrin Win Team USA's First Gold of the 2022 Olympics Tonight? - NBC Chicago

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) Nationwide, gas prices are still higher than they were this same time last year. The pain at the pump is likely to continue in the coming weeks.

The combination of geopolitical tensions at this point, unknown turns in the pandemic, unknown developments has made it extremely challenging to forecast beyond you know, three to six months, said Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst for Gas Buddy.

What is for sure is that prices will likely remain high. The average price in the Raleigh area is about $3.20 a gallon this week. Thats 13 cents higher per gallon than a month ago and almost a dollar higher than a year ago, according to Gas Buddy.

Watch the situation unfold with Russia. If if they avoid invading Ukraine, that would be good news. So, too, it would be good news if theres some sort of deal with Iran that allows them to start shipping and selling their crude oil, said De Haan.

If Russia invades and a deal cant be made with Iran, expect anything that relies on transportation to go up, too.

Grocery prices are going up at least in part because of higher fuel prices but things like airlines, and delivery businesses are starting to tack on fuel surcharges. At least when it comes to airlines, ticket prices could go up in the months ahead, said De Haan.

Much of this can be blamed on the pandemic. At its start, people drove less and so oil companies produced less.

Now that demand has come roaring back, its a game of catch up in so many areas of the economy, said De Haan.

When every cent matters, there are a few things you can do to save including easing up on the accelerator and shopping around.

Gas Buddy has reported that certain days of the week may end up saving you a couple of cents per gallon. The company found Sundays, Mondays, and Fridays were the cheapest days to fill up. Thursday is your day to avoid heading to the pump. But the golden rule according to De Haan? Shop around before you fill up.

See the rest here:

Pain at the pump in NC may not let up for months - CBS17.com

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--President John Camilleri is pleased to announce that former OPSEU Chief of Staff, Bob Eaton has joined the executive team at Union Digital. He will be immediately assigned to the government, and media relations portfolio. "Bob brings experience to the table that spans five decades, dealing with staff, members, union leadership, media and internal and external stakeholders, said Camilleri.

During a distinguished and storied career at OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union), he served in almost every elected position from steward to First Vice President Treasurer. He was the architect and quarterback directing the college support PT workers organizing drive; the largest organizing drive in Canadian history.

For the past 15 years, Bob worked as a senior manager in almost every OPSEU department, including collective bargaining, communications, campaigns and organizing, staff relations and finally as Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to the President for the last 6 years. His retirement from OPSEU coincided with President Warren (Smokey) Thomas.

Bob's appointment brings Union Digital a wealth of labour experience along with an established list of stakeholder relations including major employers, government, political parties and the media.

"Wherever Bob has gone he assumed a leadership role. It's just in his DNA. The fact that the Union Digital team has a positive history working collaboratively with Bob backstopping and supporting the College Part Time Organizing Drive is an added bonus. We know each other well. This is a great fit, said Union Digital President John Camilleri.

"Bob Eaton is a man of utmost integrity and unparalleled work ethic. Known as a master strategist, Bobs greatest attributes are honesty, integrity and his deep desire to help people. Loyalty is the cornerstone of his personality.

"Like all of us, he has some battle scars, but Bob will never give up his belief that together we are better. Together we are stronger. He is guided by the ideal that Union members deserve strong advocates who always have their backs."

Eaton is honoured and thrilled to be starting this next phase of the journey. "I've done a lot. Seen a lot. I've battled and strategized shoulder to shoulder with working people in the trenches of union activism. The labour movement has provided me and my family with incredible opportunities. I will never lose sight of that. I have lived by my parent's golden rule; always be sure to give back more than what was received. I commit to continuing that legacy of service surrounded by the amazing team at Union Digital," said Eaton.

Union Digital is committed to helping Unions build strong relationships with their members and their employers and are committed to support and strengthen the labour movement by empowering Unions to support working people.

For additional information, please visit Union Digital Inc. website at uniondigital.ca.

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Union Digital Continues to Expand Its Executive Team - Bob Eaton Named Chief Government and Media Relations Officer - Business Wire

How fast is real-time? According to Robert Millers 1968 seminal study on human-computer interaction, we perceive a response time of 100 milliseconds or less as instantaneous. This is much quicker than the average human reaction time, which one online test clocks at 273 milliseconds.

Nowadays, customer-facing applications need to respond in as close to real-time as possible to win our attention and meet standard requirements. For example, 100 milliseconds is a golden rule for credit card processors to meet SLAs. Especially in our new remote-first economy, other areas like media, health care, retail and manufacturing need to take full advantage of real-time data processing to enhance digital business and stay relevant. Yet, leveling up with real-time requires some technical nuances that might be challenging to implement with the current developer skills gap.

According to Manish Devgan, chief product officer at Hazelcast, the problem with most data management techniques is that data isnt being processed in-stream at the edge. Instead, data gets stored and thrown into a data lake where it accumulates, unfulfilled. To make matters more complicated, decentralized data management means organizations may be overseeing many different data lakes, adding to the potential for unused data and increased latency.

I recently met with Devgan to learn how in-memory stream processing goes beyond real-time data. According to Devgan, the secret sauce is processing incoming data in-stream while tying it to persistent storage to create context. By doing so, companies could unlock more innovative real-time experiences, he said.

Real-time presents many opportunities for business operations and end-user customer engagements. This is especially true in the financial sector. For example, Devgan explains how one bank was able to use real-time data at the moment of customer interaction at their ATMs. The system was able to fetch a history of the user account and extend an offer for a low line of credit, increasing their total loans by 400%. Capturing value at the moment of user intent is a golden opportunity, said Devgan.

Capital One is another example of a financial institution leveraging advanced technology to improve the product experience. Theyre one of the leading banks in terms of technology, said Devgan. Capital Ones threat detection system calls a machine learning model in real-time to detect and prevent fraud. Only by acting on incoming data in the moment of interaction can preventative responses like these be signaled.

Other scenarios are also beginning to incorporate increased real-time analysis. This split-second preemptive decision-making is important for many other use cases, said Devgan. Physical retail might loop into customer loyalty programs at point-of-sale systems to increase in-store spending. Or, automobile manufacturers may want to use real-time processing to detect a problem with their robotic arms sooner rather than later.

When an event comes in, it usually has very little information. But when you look up a customer profile and connect it to a greater context, you can direct further actions. Correlating data in motion with data at rest is where the magic happens, Devgan. This distinction uncovers the difference between real-time data and stream processing.

The real-time label tends to get thrown around a lot, and its quantified differently for different groups. Real-time might be five minutes for some applications but 10 milliseconds for others. Real-time could simply mean that a system accesses data at rest very quickly, delivering perceivably real-time results.

On the other hand, stream processing incorporates data at rest and data in motion. It computes incoming, in-stream data and correlates it with data at rest. You dont let the data land you process it as it comes in, Devgan said.

For years, enterprises have been collecting and storing exorbitant amounts of data. A survey by Seagate and IDC reveals that 43% of data collected is largely unleveraged and other studies estimate the amount of this dark data is over 50%. And, not acting upon data effectively makes it just another pile on top of the growing mountain of technical debt.

There is a significant storage expense for holding on to too much data, whether on-premises or in the cloud. But, the paradigm is shifting a bit, said Devgan. Organizations dont want to hold onto everything. The attitude is beginning to shift toward garbage in, garbage out.

So, what sort of technology does stream processing require? Processing data at the edge requires some fundamental changes to design thinking. For one, since data must be computed in-stream, theres more emphasis on in-memory processing. Devgan explained this as pushing compute around instead of pushing data around. To enable this, Devgan pointed to open-source projects like Jet that provide powerful distributed batch and stream processing.

SQL has a storied history of acting upon data at rest. Now, Devgan said, he noticed the reemergence of SQL in a stream processing context. Though the industry is still defining how the SQL dialect will conform in a streaming world, hes bullish on the prospect of SQL guiding this area. Streaming SQL will be the lingua franca for streaming, he insisted. Were also in an early era of determining how to bridge the stateful and serverless worlds, Devgan added.

But regardless of computing location, it will come down to the net customer experience outcomes. People want to build their business applications and are less worried about the operational management of the system, said Devgan. Whether its building real-time offers for e-commerce or implementing fraud detection, it will come down to the numbers. There is also a role for stream processing in health care to optimize physical resources and enhance patient experiences with real-time data. In all these scenarios, rapid access to data and processing at the edge will determine much of their success.

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How Stream Processing Goes Beyond Real-Time - DevOps.com

The Visions of Peace Initiative is committed to imparting a meaningful understanding of ethical behavior that can be achieved through an appreciation for the value of reciprocity

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 7, 2022 / AA LaNyalla Mattalitti, Chairman of the House of Regional Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia, also known as the Senate House, officially nominated the Visions of Peace Initiative for the Nobel Peace Prize.

To learn more about the Visions of Peace Initiative, please visit http://visionsofpeaceawards.com/

As a spokesperson noted, the Indonesian Senate House fully supports the Visions of Peace Initiative (VOPI) to win the Nobel Peace Prize. To date, VOP has held more than 50 events throughout Indonesia and has inspired hundreds of thousands of young people.

"The Visions of Peace Initiative embraces the Ethic of Reciprocity, also known as the Golden Rule, a universal value that is included within all faiths and traditions," the spokesperson noted, adding that this Ethic of Reciprocity teaches people to "Do Unto Others As You Would Want Done For Yourself and Do Not Do Unto Others As You Would Not Want Done To Yourself.''

The Visions of Peace Initiative is committed to imparting a meaningful understanding of ethical behavior that can be achieved through an appreciation for the value of reciprocity.

VOPI events have been held throughout the Republic of Indonesia, including areas that have experienced conflicts and natural disasters. As the spokesperson noted, it is hoped that through the engagement of youth using art and other creative forms of expression the VOPI can continue to inspire the younger generations.

"With the positive results that the VOPI has achieved to date, I believe the VOPI is very deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize," Mattalitti said.

In addition to the Senate House, the leader of the People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia and H. Muhammad Farhan, SE, member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia have also nominated the VOPI to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

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According to the founders of the Visions of Peace Initiative, Prince KPH Dr. Damien Dematra and Princess Cheryl Halpern, the recognition and nomination of the Visions of Peace Initiative from the Indonesian Senate House is an "unprecedented and incomparable honor."

The acknowledgement of a non-governmental organization has never happened before in the history of the Republic of Indonesia, the spokesperson noted, adding that this tribute will inspire everyone who has already participated in the VOPI and those who are yet to participate, to continue to promote peace and tolerance.

Since its inception in 2017, the VOPI has been working together with schools, orphanages and religious organizations throughout Indonesia.

The Visions of Peace Initiative is honored to have also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Prof. Dr. Ir. Oktovian Berty Alexander Sompie, Rector of the Universitas Kristen Indonesia Tomohon and by Dr. Ephraim Isaac, Director of the Institute of Semitic Studies at Princeton University. Both of these respected academicians have prioritized the importance of the VOPI's teaching the young about civility.

Princess Cheryl Halpern and Prince KPH Dr. Dematra said they encourage everyone to appreciate Alfred Nobel's comment that, "Good wishes will not ensure peace."

"We must remember that civility and peace require a steadfast commitment to instill in every generation an understanding of the Ethic of Reciprocity,'" they said.

About the Visions of Peace Initiative

The Visions Of Peace Initiative is dedicated to introducing the golden rule when meeting young people and encouraging them to express their views on tolerance and peaceful conditions through an extraordinary spectrum of arts. For more information, please visit http://visionsofpeaceawards.com/

Media ContactY Makhuadmin@visionsofpeaceawards.com+62882-1993-6370

SOURCE: Visions of Peace Initiative

View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/687694/Visions-of-Peace-Initiative-is-Nominated-for-the-Nobel-Peace-Prize-by-the-Indonesian-Senate-House

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Visions of Peace Initiative is Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Indonesian Senate House - Yahoo Finance

Golden will soon become the latest Colorado community to require that restaurants offer a non-sugary drink like water or milk as the default beverage accompanying kids meals, amid a COVID-19 pandemic that has pushed the countrys rate of childhood obesity to unprecedented levels.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with Jefferson County Public Health to have the agency enforce the new healthy beverage measure, which was passed by the council late last month, at restaurants throughout the city.

Golden joins Longmont, which passed its own healthy beverage initiative in September, and Lafayette, which was the states first city to implement such a measure in 2017. Aurora approved its own measure on a first reading in March 2020, as the pandemic was getting started, but never cast a second and final vote on the issue.

Goldens new healthy beverage initiative begins June 1. Officials with the county health department will check for compliance as part of their annual inspection of eateries.

This is just a start to reverse some of these unhealthy habits that advertising has caused, said JJ Trout, Goldens mayor pro tem. We want to make the healthy choice the easy choice.

Goldens ordinance would require that restaurants not list or show soda, juice or other beverages with added sugar as the drink of kids meals on its menus, but rather water, milk, sparkling water or a non-dairy milk alternative containing no more than 130 calories per container or serving.

The rule applies to chain restaurants and fast-food outlets along with local eateries in Golden. Parents could still order soda or juice for their children if they so chose.

This is not intended to be laborious, this is not intended to be heavy-handed, Trout said.

Its just a small step, she said, to counter the tens of millions of dollars that beverage companies spend to advertise sugary drinks to children each year.The Colorado Restaurant Association said it would like measures like Goldens to allow 100% juice and low-fat chocolate milk on kids menus to bring this ordinance in alignment with the existing menus of national chain restaurants.

The trade association is concerned about the cost restaurants will have to bear to reprint menus to comply with the law, especially after two years of bruising shutdowns and restrictions brought about by the pandemic.

Restaurants across Colorado are extremely cost-sensitive right now, after two years of pandemic-related operational restrictions and decreased revenue, said Mollie Steinemann, manager of government affairs for the Colorado Restaurant Association. The cost of such an ordinance varies, of course, and relates to reproducing menus and website marketing materials, as well as the labor costs associated with training staff and realigning guests expectations when they take their children out to eat.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study in September of obesity trends during the pandemic. It found that an estimated 22% of children and teens were obese in August 2021, up from 19% a year earlier.

Before the pandemic, children who were a healthy weight were gaining an average of 3.4 pounds a year. That rose to 5.4 pounds during the pandemic, the CDC found. The agency also concluded that the rate of obesity increased most dramatically in kids ages 6 to 11.

The CDC reports that for children and adolescents between the age of 2 and 19 years old, nearly 20% or 14.4 million were considered obese in 2017-18.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Heart Association have both endorsed healthy default beverage initiatives for children, which have been enacted in California, Hawaii and Delaware, as well as more than a dozen cities and counties in the U.S.

While health officials urge children and teens to consume fewer than 10% of calories from added sugars, data shows that they are consuming 17% of their calories from added sugars, nearly half of which comes from drinks alone, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Read more from the original source:

Golden will soon forbid restaurants from packaging sugary drinks with kids meals - The Denver Post