Open Position: International Tax Manager – Liberty Lake, WA
Itron is the world’s leading provider of solid-state meters ($1.46 billion)—electricity, water, gas and heat—and data collection/communication systems, including automated meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology. We offer enterprise-wide software platforms, project management, installation and consulting services.

The International Tax Manager will provide support and assistance to the International Tax Director to ensure that Itron, Inc. and affiliates’ foreign tax liability and the US tax liability on foreign income is managed at the lowest sustainable rate.

Primary functions will include:
•Assist in managing the quarterly and annual accrual of income taxes on foreign operations in support of FAS 109, including APB 23 assertions, FAS 52 functional currency issues, reviewing and managing foreign data in support of FIN 48 positions, and reviewing the worldwide effective tax rate
•Assist International Tax Director in managing global intellectual property as well as preparing policies and procedures with respect to global ownership of intellectual property
•Utilize technical tax expertise to assist the International Tax Director in strategic tax planning and corporate restructuring projects as well as managing the day to day activities of international business in a tax efficient manner, and making recommendations regarding their implementation,
•Assist with M&A activities of the global operations,
•Support the Treasury department in managing cash in a tax efficient manner as well as the tax efficient repatriation of offshore earnings,
•Assist in coordinating and preparing data in support of the filing of US informational returns (e.g. Forms 5471, 8858, 8865, 5713)
•Assist in the preparation of Earnings & Profits calculations, foreign tax credit pools, Subpart F, tax basis, OFL/ODL and other relevant analysis of foreign subsidiaries in support of the US tax positions
•Assist as necessary in the managing of tax audits regarding the foreign aspects of US income,
•Support the International Tax Director in managing external completion of transfer pricing studies and review of business activities to ensure compliance,
•Ensure international tax functions are compliant with internal SOX policies, including reviewing and monitoring necessary revisions to existing documents and procedures

Qualifications
•Candidate requirements:
•BS Degree in Accounting
•Masters in Accounting or Tax or JD is preferred
•CPA or equivalent required
•Minimum 4 years experience working in US international taxation
•Comprehensive knowledge of US GAAP and tax provision accounting
•Prefer Big 4 or large multinational experience
•Highly motivated with excellent technical and analytical skills
•Analytical ability and detail orientation
•People and project management skills
•Strong organizational skills
•Excellent communication skills (oral and written)
•Willing to travel internationally as required (10%)

Join our Dynamic Team!
In today’s complex world, nothing is more important to utilities than delivering affordable, reliable energy and clean water. Steadily-growing populations are putting more and more strain on finite supplies, forcing utilities to be proactive with conservation and management programs. Itron is dedicated to helping these providers create a smarter future by developing technology that more effectively delivers and manages precious resources.

At Itron, “Knowledge to Shape Your Future” describes the value we provide to our energy and water customers. It also describes the value that we provide to our own employees. Itron management is committed to providing employees with opportunities and resources that they can utilize to shape their own future.

If you are interested in learning more about this fantastic opportunity to join a financially stable organization with tremendous opportunities for growth and development, please contact Chris Hood directly via email: networking@hoodatwork.com

We have previously examined the types of smart meters that are available i.e. electricity, water and gas. The next question to examine is how this vast new pool of data can be managed by a utility or indeed by an organisation that has installed smart meters on their premises themselves.

The Information Systems used to manage smart meters are typically referred to as Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS) . MDMS capture data from multiple metering systems and can then supply that data to the other Information Systems within the organisation for purposes such as billing, maintenance, forecasting and customer service. Like Enterprise Systems, MDMS have a central database that stores all customer, meter and reading data. The different Information Systems that require this data can interact with the MDMS using an Application Programming Interface (API). Alternatively, the data can be pushed from the MDMS using data export functionality.

It would be impossible for organisations and utilities to reap the cost and consumption saving benefits that an energy management strategy enabled by smart meters would provide without using an MDMS.  MDMS can manage outages by recording start and restore times and organise outage events by meter, grid or customer. MDMS can provide fault management functionality and notify other Information Systems such as Outage Management Systems of alerts. The pool of data provide by an MDMS can be combined with other data such as weather information to predict how a grid might perform under extreme weather conditions and can serve as a basis for developing distribution planning and reliability strategies. And, of course, as smart meters provide data of energy consumption the data captured by MDMS ultimately is used to measure revenues for the utility.

MDMS are a key component of what are referred to as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems.  AMI refers to the entire chain of technologies that enable the smart grid. These include not only the MDMS but also the smart meter equipment and the communications used to relay the data readings to the MDMS. AMI gives the utility company control over all aspects of the smart grid.

Vertoda can act as an MDMS as it provides device organisation, fault management and Business Intelligence capabilities to capture data from smart meters and transform that data into meaningful information that the utility organisations can use for business decision making. This information is then available for the ERP, Business Intelligence and other Information Systems of the organisation. Furthermore, given that Vertoda can manage devices such as RFID, Wireless Sensors and GPS in addition to smart meters our system can act as comprehensive middleware to manage all the devices used to enable smart infrastructure.

There are a number of issues which must be considered in relation to smart meters and the smart grid. We have previously noted that the security of smart meters is a problem as the vast majority of devices do not encrypt or digitally sign the data they generate. The possible solutions for smart meter security would be to encrypt or sign the data at the device level or to transfer the data through a secure communications link. This is a vital issue as without security there is nothing to prevent consumers being maliciously disconnected or having their consumption data hacked and modified.

A related concern is that of privacy. Some claim that meters record readings so often that power flows can be interpreted to reveal consumption behaviour and even use of individual appliances. Some even fear that consumers will in the future be cited for excessive use of resources through the monitoring of their smart meter. Many US states such as the Colorado Public Utilities Commission have initiated inquiries into the privacy implications of the use of smart meters. The Dutch parliament recently rejected a bill that would have compelled all citizens to have a smart meter installed in their home. In Britain, The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) says that there is theoretically scope for using the smart metering communications infrastructure to enable a variety of other services such as the monitoring of vulnerable householders by health authorities or social services departments.

The invasiveness of technology is always a concern and is not confined to smart metering. Finding a solution that would alleviate concerns will be difficult to achieve. However, one step in the right direction would be to encrypt the data in transit and secure the raw consumption data in the database it is stored in so that the ‘public’ view of the information is the billing information generated using this raw data. Vertoda can offer a solution to secure the smart meter data both in transit and in storage.

We have alluded above to the transmission of smart meter data. This is another difficulty for smart meter users as currently there is a lack of standardisation in data transmission. One mechanism by which data transmission can take place is by using mobile network systems such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) using SMS/text message, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) , CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or 3G (Third Generation). Of course, this assumes that the smart meter is in a ‘good cell area’ and is subject to vulnerabilities in the mobile transmission of unencrypted data. Radio transmission in a licensed or unlicensed band is another possibility but has wireless security issues. With RF Mesh (the RF stands for radio frequency), each smart meter essentially acts as a router and forwards the data to an Access Point or hub which will then send the data to a utility using a mobile network or land line. The other alternative is to configure the smart meter to communicate with a radio tower which will in turn forward the data to the utility’s IT systems.

Power line transmission is another option. Broadband over powerline, also known as power line networking, enables Internet connections with the home through existing electricity transmission and distribution lines. A power line modem has recently being developed by On Semiconductor (http://www.onsemi.com) for this purpose. For the utility company, the most logical option would seem to be the transfer of data from the smart meter through the power line as the infrastructure is already in place and it would be a standard mechanism for transferring data. The lack of a standard mechanism by meter vendors for data transfer is a challenge for utilities as otherwise they have to capture data from diverse mobile and radio systems, a functionality that can be provided by Vertoda.

The development of data transmission standards is still evolving. The Spanish utility, Iberdola (http://www.iberdola.es), has initiated the PRIME project to develop an open standard for powerline communication. Echelon (http://www.echelon.com) have developed a similar standard. Power line transmission and the use of mobile networks appears to be more popular in Europe than the US where RF Mesh and tower-based smart meter communications appear to be more prevalent.

Similarly there’s a lack of standardisation in terms of access points. Access Points can communicate using radio, mobile or power line communications. Some smart meter vendors offer data concentrators which forward data to the utility through an IP network.

Within the home, communication will also take place between the smart meter and the consuming appliances. Zigbee started to gain traction in smart meter to appliance communication in 2007 and has been adopted by many smart meter vendors. WIFI and WIMAX are other possiblities for wireless communication within the home but Zigbee appears to be the most likely standard given its adoption by so many leading vendors.

Unsurprisingly, there are many vendors of smart meters including EnergyICT (http://www.energyict.com), Iskraemeco (http://www.iskraemeco.co.uk), Echelon (http://www.echelon.com), GE (http://www.ge.com) and Landis & Gyr (http://www.landisandgyr.com). Most of the leading software companies have strategies in place for the smart grid. Google has developed their own power meter, SAP and Oracle offer solutions in this area and Microsoft and IBM have ‘green’ strategies in place that take the smart grid into account. The value proposition offered by Vertoda in the smart meter arena is one of data and security management. Vertoda can both acts as middleware and provide the security framework required for encrypting both data in transit and in storage.

I’ve recently read with much interest a Reuters news dealing with the software code that the controls the F-35. According to the article, a senior Pentagon program official has affirmed that no foreign partner will be granted access to the source code of the Joint Strike Fighter. Even if it is not clear which computer hosts such an important code, the 8 million lines software code (!) will not be made available to any of the 8 partners that have co-financed the F-35 development (Italy comprised) told Reuters Jon Schreiber, who heads the program’s international affairs. Instead, the US will set up a reprogramming facility, most probably at Eglin AFB in Florida, where F-35 software will be developed in order to provide the required upgrades.
New aircraft largely depend on software. The Italian Eurofighters are among them. The Italian Typhoon fleet is made by single seaters F-2000As and two seaters F-2000Bs in many different configurations: Block 1, 1B, 2, 2B, 5, 8 and 8B. Aircraft of different Blocks are much similar one another externally, as the main differences deal with the software releases. Functionalities evolve in terms of production software packages (PSPs): the manner in which the aircraft fight, employ the weapons, communicate and exchange data with other assets, largely depend on the PSP software version. However, “new” is not “better”: some of the aircraft hosting the old version of the software are more efficient and capable of the new aircraft coming with the “beta releases”, as the old software has been completely developed while the new one is in the early development stages. That’s why Italian Tranche 1 Typhoons are currently more mission capable of the recently delivered Tranche 2 examples.

Rien que des mots, toujours des mots, les même mots…

Dans les rayons des librairies, on trouve des rubriques cuisine, bricolage… mais des guides d’écriture, que nenni.

Alors pour les innocents qui comme moi se sont dit qu’il serait bien d’arriver à pondre un petit billet chaque jour, comme on cuisine chaque jour un plat ou l’autre, que faire ?

Il y a de quoi inspirer le cuisinier, le décorateur amateur, le vidéaste du dimanche… mais quid du blogueur ?

Le jardinier débutant trouve son bonheur, ainsi que celui qui veut apprendre à tricoter. Mais la recette de l’inspiration ? Où est-elle ? Planquée à côté de celle du bonheur ?

J’ai beaucoup voyagé dans des pays lointains, par guides interposés. Je ne suis jamais allée au Brésil, pourtant je suis sûre que je pourrais me repérer à Rio de Janeiro, tant j’ai parcouru de pages, tant je me suis perdue dans les plans de la ville, tant je me suis imprégnée de son histoire en écoutant Jobim.

Mais le guide des mots, où est-il ?

Je vois bien que je délaye, que je tourne autour du pot, que je cherche mille excuses pour ne pas dire que le problème est avant tout celui de l’auto-censure.

Je parle d’autre chose mais je ne pense qu’à toi.

Yeah, I took a break for longer than week.  I’ve been back on second life, but…the blogging bug didn’t bite again until now.  And wow, I missed a lot of shopping too.  Which is probably good since I’m strapped for lindens after quitting all but one gig.  However, I’m happier.  Much happier.  And in the end that’s what matters.  Happiness and shoes.  Oh shoes <3

Winter is coming.  Here in Southern California, that generally means that we wear pants instead of shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt…possibly a sweater or a hoody.  So these “winter” styles may not look all that warm, but I’m sweating them just seeing them on my avi.  Oh how I long for colder weather.  But, it should be noted that, as the hot weather withers away, I get less and less sexy.  Which I guess is still sexy…my bf sure isn’t complaining.  Of course he fell in love with the cute, clothed me–a quality which indubitably made me fall for him.  Ok, enough with that sappiness

Outfit 1:
Skin:  {Vive9}  Grace v2 [light] Outspoken (group freebie)
Hair:  {Mustache}  Ashley in Raspberry
Gilet:  {Madsy}  Fur Gilet – Silver
Shirt:  {**DP**YumYum}  Simple long T (purple)
Skirt:  {Oyakin}  Fril-Miniskirt (denim 2)
Tights:  {Pixeldolls}  Emotional Warfare ~ Tights (part of outfit)
Boots:  {COCO}  Riding Boots (black)
Belt:  {COCO}  Wide Belt (Embossing) black

Outfit 2:
Skin:  {Pink Fuel}  Skye <honey> – Scene (ltbrow/freck)
Hair:  {Fri.day}  Tatum – Scornful Red
Dress:  {Couverture}  AuSoleil Blue
Shirt:  {Fri.day}  Henley Hoodie (Oatmeal)
Tights:  {Pixeldolls}  Emotional Warfare ~ Tights (part of outfit)
Boots:  {Hoorenbeek}  Woman – Cowgirl Boots – Used Black
Scarf:  {Anuenue}  Mufbon (cocoa)
Socks 1:  {Maitreya}  Toeless Slouch Autumn Orange
Socks 2:  {Ami}  Loose socks (heavily modded)

Here at Layer 7, we’ve been really excited about Amazon’s Relational Data Service (RDS) ever since they announced it last month. RDS is basically a managed mySQL v5.1 instance running in the Amazon infrastructure. The point of RDS to provide another basic service that we all need all of the time, managed within the AWS ecosystem. It offers some great scaling options (in terms of instance sizing), but best of all, it provides automatic snapshoting of  database instances. This revolutionizes EC2 because it solves the nagging persistence problem that we all face when we terminate instances. We’ve all come up with clever ways of dealing with this using S3 and EBS,  but now it’s gotten much easier.

Since RDS is really mySQL under the covers, I had been hearing that it’s pretty easy to port to. We’ve been itching to play with it here, using Layer 7’s SecureSpan Gateway AMI that’s runs in EC2. Unfortunately, this Fall has been really busy, so none of us have had an opportunity to play with it until now.

The inimitable Jay Thorne, who is a musician first but holds down a day job here as Director of Development for the Tactical group, finally cleared an afternoon to put RDS through it’s paces. I had to step out for coffee with another of our execs, which turned into a longer-than-expected discussion. But by the time I got back, Jay was done: SecureSpan using persistent Amazon RDS storage. Hello, cloud registry/repository…

Here’s Jay’s summary, which I think speaks for itself:

Total elapsed time: 1.25 hours
Number of pdf documents read: 1
Number of web pages read: 3
Number of command copy/pastes from doc: 6
Number of dbs created by mistake until I got the zoning right: 2
Number of mistyped credentials until I learned to use a creds file: 7
Number of dumpfiles created source side: 1
Number of times I had to import to get it right: 1
Number of characters in the hostname of the db: 50
Number of hosts I put in the db firewall allow list: 1
Number of sets of user credentials I created: 1
Number of lines in our internal wiki article I wrote about this: 35
Number of bangs on the keyboard in frustration: 0

A few days ago I wrote a post about the F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine, stealth multirole fighter, that will also equip the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force, ItAF) and the Marina Militare, that will use the F-35B from the new Cavour STOVL aircraft carrier. In spite of a carrier variant designated F-35C, the RAF and Royal Navy will use the B variant from aircraft carriers and the U.S. Marines Corps are investigating the use of the Ship-borne Rolling and Vertical Landing (SRVL) method to operate F-35Bs from the aircraft carrier without disrupting carrier operations as the landing method uses the same pattern of approach as wire arrested landings. The F-35C carrier (whose only user will be the US Navy to replace the “legacy Hornets” and complement the Super Hornets) variant will be much similar to the A and B versions, but will have larger, folding wings and larger control surfaces for improved low-speed control. The aircraft will also be equipped with a stronger landing gear and hook for the stresses of carrier trap landings.

The following front, side and top views of the three variants will give an idea of the main differences among the F-35A, B and C.

If a magazine can’t sell advertising, it should probably just throw in the towel.

But after losing $13 million in 2008 to be followed by losing an estimated $8 million this year, Playboy went in a ‘different direction’ contracting with David Pecker’s AMI publishing to sell ads–and essentially outsource all business functions but editorial.

Most magazines have two key revenue streams: advertising and circulation.  Playboy has both and adds a third–licensing of the venerable Playboy name.   But apparently only the licensing part is working (and is not part of the AMI deal).  NY Post media reporter Keith Kelly says Playboy newsstand sales, which once topped 7 million copies per month, have deteriorated to a pathetic 150,000 today.  I’ve written before about Playboy’s incoherent content (and cookie-cutter plastic girls) which hardly makes it a compelling impulse purchase.

Contracting with Pecker’s AMI is no panacea for advertising either.  According to Keith Kelly, Pecker boasts that when Playboy’s total circulation of 1.1 million is combined with that of AMI titles such as Flex, Men’s Fitness and Muscle & Fitness, there will be a combined ad buy of 11 million men in the prized 18-to-35 demographic.  “That’s bigger than the men’s networks of Time Warner, Jann Wenner’s company or Hearst.”

I don’t believe a word of it for three reasons:

1. Flex, Men’s Fitness and Muscle & Fitness have ten million readers?!

2. A more apt display of the work AMI does selling ads can be found in Star and my old rag, The National Enquirer.  If you actually pick up a copy, they’re very low on the quality national ads like the Sonys that Playboy has traditionally had, and high on commemorative plates and catalog crap.

3. The dirty little secret of men’s magazines is that they’re read by old guys like me and Kevin Bacon; the ‘prized 18-to-35 demographic’ is more interested in Call of Duty than ‘call of p***y’ on glossy paper stock.

Soon enough, Pecker will want to take over editorial and do it cheaper with the reporters he has already.  Maybe they’ll sell him the rest of the magazine.

More likely it will go out of business.  The only thing keeping this money-losing relic of the 60’s alive is the fear that killing it will kill Hugh Hefner.

Comment faire d’une pierre deux coups ? Facile ! En répondant à un courrier du coeur par une chanson.

Parmi les awsome chansons d’amûr il y a cet hallucinant duo – j’ai failli écrire duel – de vocalises entre Céline Dion et Barbra Streisand.

C’est un grand classique des mariages avec “Tu es mon autre” sur lequel je je reviendrai un autre jour.

Le thème c’est celui de l’amour qui s’était caché (dans la cuisine ?). Céline raconte qu’elle a la frousse d’avouer son amour à son Namour… parce que bon, il pourrait penser qu’elle a un nez curieux, qu’il a déjà un Namour à lui tout seul et que pour le coup, elle aurait l’air un peu bêbête, tabarnak !

Et là, Barbra qui est passée par là – pas étonnant vu son âge – lui dit qu’elle n’a pas le droit de laisser passer sa chance et qu’elle doit lui diiiiire. Mais comme c’est dans une chanson, qui comme on le sait, est presque aussi bien qu’un poème, on ne peut pas diiiiiire ça n’importe comment, il faut y mettre les formes.

Alors ça donne ça (bon, c’est une traduction approximative, mais et la licence poétique, bordel ?)

Diiiiiis Luiiiiii
Dis lui que le soleil et la lune se reflètent dans ses yeux. (Non, ça n’est pas parce qu’il louche)
Tends-lui les bras
Et chuchote des mots tendres et des mots doux, des mots de toute les couleurs, des perles de pluie venues de pays où il ne pleut pas (erf je m’égare, de Lyon)
Sers-le fort au point de sentir battre son coeur.
L’amour sera ton propre cadeau. (Si si je vous assure, c’est vraiment ce qu’on dit dans la chanson, je n’aurais pas osé inventer ça).

Blague à part, c’est un peu l’objet de ce message. Remplace simplement le pronom “le” par “la”. En temps normal je n’aurais pas besoin de te le rappeler, mais tu me sembles un peu tête en l’air et un accident est si vite arrivé.

Mais oui, bien sûr que tu dois lui parler. Franchement, flirter c’est très agréable, toi et moi en savons quelque chose. Comment veux-tu qu’elle sache que ça n’est pas uniquement ça que tu attends si tu ne le lui dis pas ? Bah oui, elle est loin d’être blonde inside, mais extra-lucide ? Non, je ne pense pas.

Alors bien sûr que tu risques de te prendre un râteau, une veste, une doudoune pour l’hiver.Mais tu ne te contenteras pas du status quo. (Tiens, je n’ai pas déjà écrit ça quelque part par hasard ?)

Sinon, tu peux également tirer au sort… j’ai une thune si tu veux jouer ça à pile ou face.

L’avantage ? Clarifier enfin la situation.

L’inconvénient ? Mais que vais-je mettre après dans ma rubrique “Courrier du Coeur” si la situation est enfin claire ?

Dans tous les cas, pour pénitence, voici à visionner au moins 4 fois entrecoupé de Pater et d’Ave, l’awsome Love Song dont il est question. Et encore, tu as de la chance, je dois avoir sur un coin de disque dur ladite chanson interprétée par votre Mybemol préférée.

On m’a soufflé à l’oreille que ma stratégie des couches était celle qu’adoptent les Canadiens pour d’évidentes raisons. Non, je n’habite pas le Canada mais le pays du Toblérone.

Outre son aspect pratique de ce système, il permet de varier les plaisirs avec une garde-robe relativement restreinte. La jupe devient jupon. Le chale devient foulard, tel chandail change de style en s’adaptant à tel autre t-shirt.

Ce qui est amusant, c’est que j’ai souvent le sentiment de pratiquer de la même manière dans le reste de ma vie. Je revêts mon habit de d’épouse, de maman, de prof de chant, d’élève de piano ou de composition, de cheffe de choeur, de photographe, de prêtresse, de lectrice avide, et maintenant de bloggueuse.

C’est à dessein que  je ne mentionne pas l’infirmière, la cuisinière, la jardinière et la pro du repassage, vu qu’il s’agit de rôles entièrement secondaires, que je pratique à mon corps défendant, de manière rarissime et, qui plus est, avec une absence de talent qui désespère mes proches.

Parmi toutes les casquettes que je revêts,  quelle est celle que je souhaite mettre en avant ? Que suis-je le plus ? Mère, évidemment. Je pense qu’on peut tout oublier un instant, mais les petits qu’on a faits restent toujours dans nos pensées. A l’arrière plan peut-être, mais toujours là. J’en ai fait la douloureuse expérience récemment avec la maladie de fiston. Pendant plusieurs jours, plus rien n’a compté que lui. Or, je n’ai pas souvenir depuis que je suis mère d’avoir eu une source de préoccupation aussi prenante. Oui, je peux me concentrer sur un concert à venir, une épreuve, un concours, une audition, une exposition… mais cela n’a rien à voir avec cette montagne nommée «enfant » qui envahit le paysage et s’impose comme un Cervin au milieu des Alpes.

Mais est-ce la raison pour laquelle j’ouvre ce blog ? De quoi ai-je envie de parler au point de créer un compte wordpress ?

Comme pour les casquettes, les raisons sont multiples.

J’ouvre ce blog pour m’adresse avant tout aux quelques personnes à qui j’ai chuchote « va voir sur mybemol.wordpress.com, on y parle de toi ! » Un moyen de communication direct ! Il y a plus simple me direz-vous, l’email par exemple. Oui mais j’aime bien l’idée de parler à tout vent…. (comment ça ? C’est que du vent ?) Il y a aussi une forme de jeu de piste… j’ai lancé une bouteille à la mer, va-t-elle être ramassée ? Par la personne à qui elle est destinée ? (Attention, j’ai lancé une bouteille… pas un S.O.S. Hein). Est-ce que tu vas te reconnaître ? Et toi ?

Une autre raison ?

Jj’ai écrit pendant des années, des lettres, nouvelles ou autres textes plus ou moins poétiques ou polémiques. J’ai arrêté, rattrapée par la vie, persuadée que l’écriture était une affaire d’adolescence et que le vrai monde des grands ne laisserait pas de place aux mots sur le papier.

Et maintenant que j’attaque bravement une nouvelle phase de ma vie, je me souviens avant tout du plaisir intense que j’avais à aligner mots et phrases, démons et merveilles, nouvelles et anciennes. Je me souviens aussi de ce que l’appétit vient en mangeant. Et que de m’astreindre à l’exercice du blog est sans doute une bonne manière de voir si cette aisance peut me revenir.

J’envie certains blogueurs que je lis. Non pas pour les cadeaux, la célébrité relative… mais pour leur style, leur capacité à parler de tout et de n’importe quoi avec ce brin de plume qui donne à leurs phrase un délicieux goût de reviens-y.

Merci, rares lecteurs, d’être déjà fidèles et de revenir jour après jour.

On Nov. 23, 2009, around 14.10 LT, a C-130J belonging to the 46^ Brigata Aerea, crashed in Pisa, next to the active runway (more or less here) causing the death of the 5 POB (People On Board). According to the eye witnesses that saw the aircraft crashing into the ground, the aircraft had just taken off from RWY 22L (even if some sources reported that the aircraft had just performed a  Touch & Go)  and was performing a left turn (for a right downwind?) when it lost altitude, hit the cables next to the nearby railway line and hit the ground. The reasons of the incident are obviously unknown. The two “black boxes” were immediately recovered and will be analysed to determine the root cause of the crash. The aircraft was performing a training sortie that foresaw a certain number of touch and go) and nothing can be excluded so far: for sure, with such a large aircraft, a human mistake (a stall) or a catastrophic failure (loss of hydraulic pressure, structural failure) during a low level close pattern could have a disastrous effect. I tend to exclude an engine failure since the C-130J is a 4 engine aircraft; a dual engine loss is extremely unlikely.
The aircraft involved was MM62176 “46-41″ depicted in the picture below (that I took on May 23, 2008, at Pratica di Mare airport); it was a KC-130J, a tanker capable of performing air-to-air refueling of various types of receivers.

Mybemol l’intello qui se met à parler fringues ? On aura tout vu !

Je crois que je vais adopter à jamais (fontaine, fontaine) la tactique de l’oignon.

J’ai vécu cet été en jupe & t-shirt. Lorsque septembre a commencé à pointer le bout de son nez, j’ai rallongé la jupe et rajouté un chandail.

Puis ajouté une paire de bas et un foulard.

Puis une deuxième jupe sous la première – oui, j’affectionne les longues jupes. Une sert de jupon à l’autre.

Puis une écharpe.

Puis une paire de gants.

Un châle.

Une cape.

Et la tête, et la tête, et le bec, alouette.

C’est très pratique pour moi qui me déplace beaucoup en journée, pour m’adapter aux situations, aux diverses salles dans lesquelles je travaille.

Une salle plus chaude… et hop, on enlève une couche. Un chauffage en panne, et hop, on remet un pull.

Vous me direz que c’est un calvaire à gérer le matin et le soir ? Mais non ! Au contraire… le matin, j’imagine lorsque je m’habille que j’emballe un cadeau.

Et le soir… c’est à toi d’oeuvrer.

… Oui mais pas tout de suite, pas trop vite….

sobota, 21 listopada 2009

Wielkie liczby

Ist die Zeit das Kostbarste unter allem, so ist Zeitverschwendung die allergrößte Verschwendung.   Benjamin Franklin Podobno każdy widzi inne drzewo Jesli  ma rację William Blake, Proverbs of Hell, zatem każdy ma swoją turbulencję, ale drzewa i..koty, też – medytuję.. ..i powoli wędruję wokół Karczówki ..do Sieci jak Voyager ..ach Blaise Pascal, nie jest ważne, ..czy Pan Bóg jest Matematykiem, ..czy gra w kości,ale jak..gra TAM ..Czynnik Nieokreślony i Nienazwany ..” nigdy..”- jakbym słyszał Co–.. … ..W tak pięknej scenerii okolic Karczówki w istocie medytowałem..nad dolarem; chciałbym pomóc Ami, ale jak..? ..czy jakbym dokupił, czy jakbym sprzedał parę Zielonych – kiedy pomógłbym..? ..czy ONI w ogóle jeszcze kontrolują sytuację, czy też wszystko, to już gra Wielkich Liczb, czyli matematyka chaosu?.. ..ale w takim razie zmierzamy do ściany, co dla Wielkiej Całości jest bez znaczenia – pocieszałem się i tym ekstremum. Jednak zajmowanie się czymś tak odległym jak podróż Voyagera podnosi mnie w dorażnych kłopotach, które wydaja się Wielkim Liczbom takie śmieszne; żadne. ..ach Ami, Ami

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Thanks David for sending your wife out here and thanks kiddos for letting your mom and I have a fun week together.  It was refreshing and encouraging, so wonderful to talk in person and show her our neck of the woods.

We stopped in KC for some real BBQ today and then had a short visit with Kate and the kids before heading on up to the airport.  I am happily exhausted, missing my dear friend already, but oh so thankful for the gift of friendship that God has blessed me with.  Amy, thanks for making the trip out here.  I know you missed your family.  I can’t wait for all of our kiddos to get together.  Enjoy your Dutch Bros. and tell Buddy I’ll take his pickles.

I am on record as having big reservations about smart meters. I’m going to tell you why.

I love the idea that by allowing people more access to data on their own energy footprints they can, if they so wish, target specific behaviours of their own that waste energy and/or water and so bumping up their bills unnecessarily. For example; if you can see from your bill that running your washing machine after 8pm saves £1 per wash as opposed to running it straight after you get in from work at 6pm, why wouldn’t you change that ? There is no cost to you and you save £50 per year if you do the laundry once a week. The energy that you use is no longer peak, so the expensive to run, marginal power plants don’t have to spark up so often. Those tend to be gas-fired in the UK, so that’s less emissions too. There are no losers expect the gas producers. Everything’s lovely in smart meter land !

But that’s not what is being proposed. You can do that with a really dumb smart meter that just allows charging banding by the hour, rather than what the UK has right now which is just a peak/off-peak/Economy 7 tariff distinction. Those dumb smart meters are known as AMR+ (Automated Metering Reading +). They allow the meter to work on a time resolution of the utility’s choosing (they generally choose hourly metering) and can be read remotely (various solutions here include power line communications, wifi, radio, telephone lines, its really not that important). The important thing is that the time resolution allows utilities to match charges to gross usage, meaning that they can plan their generation much more efficiently and reduce overall costs. In most places, you’d expect that saving to be passed on, so encouraging customers to shift usage to lower tariff periods, creating a virtuous circle until consumption self-optimises. Its up to the customer to react to the price signals in the way that best suits their lifestyle, if they do it at all, and some may not choose to.

The proposals that are being touted by most governments and industry in the industrialised nations go much further than this. They mostly use a system called AMI (Automated Metering Infrastructure) which allows utilities to ’speak’ in real time to each house and under some proposals to each appliance, so that best use of available power and water may be made. Of course you have to take the utility’s word that this is happening since you can’t verify it in real time without access to their mission critical data. Most proposals include a degree of remote control extending from the grid into the house and past the meter to the appliance. The most often cited, and least intrusive remote control would be the switching off of refridgerators, where it doesn’t really matter when they work so long as they do work. But washing machines have been proposed, tumble driers, electric heaters. I’ve even seen a proposal to downshift the current available to lighting circuits as a response to voltage drops in the distribution grid, not turn them off, just make them slightly dimmer, though I’ll admit that this may have been referring to street lighting, not domestic since I can’t now find the reference.

This is granular and pervasive control of technologies that directly impact our everyday behaviour. Most significantly to me though is the psychological effect of chronic loss of control of our home environment. Once the power switch doesn’t necessarily mean ‘on-off’ any more we lose a significant degree of certainty in precisely the place that we consider safe and certain – our home.

That’s a totally different relationship between utility and customer. It hands the control to the utility and makes the end-user (you can’t really call someone who has no choice a customer) a passive recipient of whatever the utility deigns to allow.
OK, that’s hyperbolae.
In practice most countries have regulators that would provide oversight and try to make sure that consumer rights are protected, the problem with that is that some countries have liberalised markets for utilties and private companies will always try to find a way to maximise profit. It is in their design and they are legally obliged to do so if they have shareholders who want dividends.

The argument is that by time-shifting appliance operation you get the same effect as with AMR+, only you do it automatically, and therefore you can rely on it to provide bigger savings in terms of infrastructure, generating and emissions costs. I’m not actually convinced that the last one is terribly relevant here, the power or water will still be used after all, the only benefit may be in the marginal efficiency of the peaking plant, but I don’t believe that the degree of difference between AMR+ and AMI in terms of emissions is going to be the biggest driver. Its all about cost.

So here’s the problem; because only a very few countries have installed AMR+ at a national scale the pressure is on to jump right up to AMI because it fits in really nicely with the whole smart grid concept of providing stable voltage by a dynamic relationship between generation and consumption as all the proposed new energy generating and saving technology is rolled-out. The meters all have the 20-25 year life so no-one wants to have to do this twice if they discover something that requires AMI.

I haven’t seen any compelling evidence that you actually require AMI to establish a smart grid and there are some really knotty issues around privacy and data use once you put in the more advanced AMI.
There has just been a great report published into these issues by the Canadian group Privacy by Design.

I think that its interesting that if you want really secure data you divide it up, store it and use it in different ‘locations’. I think the spooks call this compartmentalisation. In the financial industry its called Chinese Walls. If you want to work out what’s going on, what behaviours are happening, you bring data together. So bringing water usage data together with electricity and gas. How much insight does it need to put a water use increase together with an immersion heater being switched on and a fan heater being turned on in the bathroom to tell that someone is having a bath or shower ?
I also like the postman analogy in the report mentioned above. You don’t expect the postman to read your mail, so why should your utility know when you are having a shower ?
Or, as the report suggests, it makes so much economic sense to direct the charging of your electric car to your utility bills, but it means that they know where you are or have been.

I’d like to suggest another comparison. When researchers carry out a new piece of work they have to consider the ethics involved in both the collection and the use of the data that they find. In some cases, for instance those involving children or the mentally ill, special vetting or training may have to take place to ensure a full understanding of the researchers responsibilities. The sanction being dismissal, possible professional ruin and even jail. I’d like to know what the proposed safeguards and sanctions are for a full implementation of AMI ?
It turns out that we don’t all play by the rules when it comes to other peoples data, as we found out this week when T-Mobile came under investigation for one of its employees allegedly selling swaths of personal details for personal gain.

I think smart meters, of the AMI type, can be implemented, but only when houses have smart controls that can exert pressure back on the utility and protect the household’s interests.
If the utility wants to switch off your fridge, it should have to negotiate a price for doing so with each house.
Switching appliances on and off is a major cause of electrical component wear. If the utility wants to degrade the performance of appliances that I have worked hard to afford I’d like some recompense.
Using your washing machine may actually be necessary. You’ve run out of nappies or spilt a drink down your best shirt just before an interview. You may not want to sell the utility the ability to time-shift that demand. You may actually want the utility to service your needs.
Or if you’ve done you washing but the utility doesn’t want to let you dry those fresh sheets before your new girlfriend arrives, you may be willing to sacrifice the meadow fresh scent for one more night or not. It all depends ….

AMI is a great bit of kit, but so is AMR+. Not quite as flashy, but very servicable and we know that it works. What isn’t up to standard is the home automation to enable AMI to be rolled out without loss of privacy or loss of personal control.

I will support every move towards what the Italians have already achieved – a roll-out of 27 million forward-compatible AMR+ meters that resulted in potential savings of $100 per household on bills and an estimated 3GW of power plant not being built. After that I think that it should be a personal choice over whether to hand your home over to the utility or not. If the meters are forward-compatible then you can download new software remotely when that choice is made without fannying around with full the privacy and control issues around full AMI.

We took Amy up to visit our neighboring Amish community.  It was a cloudy day, but we got some beautiful shots.  We got to see the kids walking home from school.  It is such a contrast to our own everyday lives.

Our Ami has loved having Amy here.  We call her our “A-M-Y” Amy.  Ami thinks it’s pretty cool that there are two Ami(y)s. 

Froidement résumer la situation et énumérer les postulats de base.

• a) Tu ressens quelque chose pour elle.
• b) Tu penses que c’est réciproque.
• c) Elle ne veut pas de toi pour l’instant, occupée à finir une thèse.
• d) Elle n’exclut pas une aventure future.

Correct jusque là ?

La seule phrase un peu douteuse, ci-dessus, c’est la b). Tu ne sais pas à quel point c’est réciproque. Tient-elle suffisamment à toi pour s’embarquer dans un tunnel qui s’appelle Thèse et en ressortir dans un an, auréolée de gloire, d’un titre et d’un diplôme et se jeter dans tes bras dans un grand dégoulimatias de violons AndréRiesque ? Comment ça, je ne suis pas crédible et mes néologismes craignent ? C’est le point à éclaircir, et la seule manière de connaître son réel attachement à toi c’est de lui demander froidement.

Soit tu obtiens une réponse claire (Oui/Non/ObiWan), soit tu as droit à quelque chose du genre « La talasite brille dans la nuit, je répète, la talasite brille dans la nuit », ou «Je ne suis pas prête ! Oscar, donnez-moi ma tisane» et là, si tu veux mon humble avis, c’est mal barré.

Car ça dissimule soit  un Non sec qui n’ose pas dire son nom pour te préserver ou parce que c’est bien pratique de te garder sous la main, soit c’est un « Bof, on verra », et, te connaissant, je ne suis pas certaine que tu te contentes longtemps de jouer les seconds couteaux.

De toute évidence, elle a une position royale. Absolument rien à perdre. Tout à gagner… tant que tu restes dans le rôle de chevalier-servant, bon pote, que tu as adopté.

Maintenant, j’ai gardé dans mon coeur quelque chose de Tennessee Williams et un goût pour les nouvelles pour dames de Somerset Maughan. Quand on me raconte une histoire d’amour, j’ai bien envie que ça marche. Alors, j’ai envie de te dire de foncer. Mais je n’y crois pas. Mais j’ai quand même envie de te dire de foncer. Mais je n’y crois quand même pas…

En étant consciente que la meilleure des positions est encore la mienne… spectatrice ou même supportrice (ah non… pas la pom pom girl, il ne faut pas exagérer !).

Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd…

Pendant longtemps j’ai fumé. Quelques substances illicites parfois, surtout pour faire comme les autres, afin d’atteindre des états altérés de la conscience, afin d’être cool et dans le vent, afin de montrer que moi aussi je me moquais des lois, des convenances et autres valeurs de la bourgeoisie qui pourtant m’avait vue naître.

Pendant longtemps surtout, j’ai été accro à la nicotine. Dois-je le mettre au passé ? Où suis-je encore accro mais non pratiquante ?

Je ne connais pas bien les phénomènes d’accoutumance. Je sais qu’on dit des alcooliques qu’ils le restent à vie, même lorsqu’ils ne boivent plus. Suis-je encore une fumeuse même si ça fait quatre ans que je ne fume plus ?

Ce que je sais, c’est que je n’ai plus à angoisser parce que la réserve de cigarettes baisse, parce que je vais devoir passer plusieurs heures de train ou d’avion à m’abstenir, parce que le prix du paquet va encore augmenter. Et, j’en suis heureuse. Je vivais la cohabitation avec Dame Nicotine comme un esclavage… et si je l’avais bien vécu pendant des années, il était temps de reprendre mon indépendance.

Comme beaucoup, j’ai eu à souffrir, lorsque la clope était encore ma compagne, des regards méprisants, des soupirs et autres remarques assénées par les bien-pensants. Je craignais de devenir à mon tour une facho anti-fumeurs. A mon grand plaisir, je cohabite très bien avec mes congénères adeptes de l’herbe à nicot.

Lorsque je croise un groupe de fumeurs, il m’arrive de humer avec une certaine nostalgie…  et j’inhale des substances que je n’ai même pas eu besoin de payer ! Ça n’est pas, bien sûr, seulement la nostalgie de la fumée elle-même, mais celle de l’insouciance de nos vingt ans, des nuits dans les bistrots à refaire le monde. Oui, bien sûr, c’est un cliché tellement utilisé qu’il ne veut plus dire grand chose, mais c’est pourtant ce que j’ai vécu.

Toi… tu es encore à cet âge où on se croit éternel, où peut-être penses-tu que toi tu peux arrêter quand tu veux et que la cibiche n’est qu’une pote de passage. Tu as raisons, ou pas, je ne sais pas… il s’agit de ta vie, de tes poumons, de tes sous, et de ton goût du froid lorsqu’il s’agit de respecter les lois et sortir pour fumer. Cette sèche, elle fait partie de toi, comme ton prénom, tes cheveux, ta voix et ton air de tout le temps te marrer !

Le seul souci, c’est que maintenant, j’associe cette odeur à toi… et lorsque mon prof de piano s’installe juste à côté de moi « Attendez, Mybemol, je vais vous montrer comment faire », son odeur de fumeur me rappelle la tienne… et j’ai beaucoup de peine à mon concentrer sur la mélodie ou les doigtés.

Ma Madeleine a des odeurs de Camel.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the first ever Ability Media International (AMI) awards held at the impressive Kings Place in Yourk Road London.

The awards celebrated the achievement of highly talented individuals across all forms of media: dance, opera, theatre, film, television, interactive, online, community etc.

The recipients were all at the top of the league and all have a disability or have enabled disabled people to realise their talent.

The point of the day was to emphasise not that each of these people were in some way exceptional (though they all were) but that each of these people is mostly normal, mostly just another soul trying to live a fruitful life, trying to achieve some goal.

Like other people a few have big dreams that they have managed to turn into reality.

I was truly excited by the awards. I felt the breadth of achievement, judged purely on the merit of the talent under scrutiny, not weighted with sympathy or well meaning, was a clear signal that this country’s talent pool comes in every shape, size and shade.

We are incredibly fortunate to live in the UK; it enjoys an enviable global respect for its arts and media output. We could lose that respect if we don’t nurture it.

The industry brings valuable money into our economy and employs around half a million people. But what drives the creativity? What forges the talent? Where do these extraordinary people come from?

We used to believe they came, pretty much exclusively, from white men, aged around 20 to 40. Well educated, fit. Able bodied.

We don’t think that is true any longer of course but we are still missing rich seams of valuable potential talent by assuming disability negates creativity or ability.

I believe our country should have the best, the very best, people with the most creative ideas, the most honed talents, leading the way. In my view that means seeking out those special people across the entire population, no matter what state they are in physically, mentally or socialogically. White, twentysomething, fit, able bodied men are just as valuable as anyone else but they are not the only source of our nation’s creative fuel.

Our society, in common with many others, has assumed people with disabilities are not as creative as an able bodied person, but that simply isn’t true. The AMI awards showed that to be the case incredibly clearly.

The AMI Awards is an initiative by Leonard Cheshire Disability, itself an astounding organisation.

Hope I get invited again next year!