A new metric from German site The Blockchain Center suggests that the long awaited ‘flippening’ — where Ethereum overtakes Bitcoin — is more than halfway complete.
The newly created ‘Flippening Index’ currently stands at 53.3%. Backtested, it shows this is the first time the index has topped 50% in 18 months — the highest point since March 2019 when it was around 56.2%.
Of course, this latest version of ‘the flippening’ has completely altered the traditional definition. It originally referred to Ether's market cap relative to Bitcoin, but given Ether is currently at just 14.9% of Bitcoin’s market cap, it still has quite the mountain to climb.
Much more thorough comparison
The Flippening Index (which shares some features with the now defunct Flippening Watch) is designed to be a more thorough comparison, weighting the average of eight other indicators to hopefully provide a better overall metric of the use of and interest in the two blockchain networks. The site says:
"The term Flippening refers to the possibility of Ethereum (ETH) overtaking Bitcoin (BTC) as the biggest cryptocurrency. Initially it described the hypothetical moment in the future when Ethereum overtakes Bitcoin by market cap. This tool takes that concept a step further and looks at the long term trend of eight different metrics, that show the status of both networks."
On Reddit, the Blockchain Center's Holger Rohm who designed the metric, explained why he’d simply weighted all the metrics:
"I thought about weighing market cap twice, since that's what it was all about initially, but how should I weigh without it being arbitrary?"
Ethereum leads on two and a bit indicators
Ethereum leads on just two of the eight indicators — transaction count and transaction fees. While it lags behind Bitcoin with 37.8% of BTC’s dollar-denominated transaction volume, the site notes that Ethereum would be “way ahead” if the metric included the value of ERC-20 tokens and stablecoins transferred on the network.
Ethereum has 56.4% of Bitcoin’s active addresses, just under one third of the exchange trading volume, and only 10.4% as many Google searches compared to Bitcoin.
Ethereum does have two-thirds as many nodes as Bitcoin — which excited at least one member of the Ethereum subreddit. ‘Sudden’ Mind said node count is something “we can flip today! Seriously we just need a couple thousand people more to run a node. Let’s get a campaign started!"
The majority of the data for the site is sourced from CoinGecko and Coin Metrics.
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July 01, 2020 at 09:20AM
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After closed-door meeting, FPC needs more time to complete chief’s 6-month job review - WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee
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Struggling South End facility will now be run by the East Boston community health center
Manny Lopes, chief executive of East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, spoke at a State House media briefing last month.Sam Doran/Pool
After a year spent clearing one regulatory hurdle after another, East Boston Neighborhood Health Center has completed its takeover of South End Community Health Center.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed much in the health care world since the deal was announced in June 2019, but not the rationale for the combination: to maintain the much-smaller South End center’s ability to deliver primary care, mental health care, and other services, mostly to poor and uninsured patients.
“It’s more important now,” Manny Lopes, chief executive officer of the East Boston center, said in an interview Tuesday. “We’re preserving an important resource for the South End.”
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Bill Walczak, who was then running the South End center, pitched the merger to Lopes as a win-win. Walczak’s money-losing organization would get much-needed financial support, while Lopes’s would get more revenue and be able to spread its fixed costs over a larger patient base.
“We were losing money on every behavioral health visit,” Walczak said Tuesday, noting that the South End center has a large mental health department. “We would have had to reduce behavioral health services” and other services that weren’t making a profit, he said.
Running a community health center is tough. In Massachusetts, they operate mostly in inner cities, where there are large disparities in patient health, available services, and outcomes compared with the suburbs. Many patients are on Medicaid — the government program with notoriously low reimbursement levels — or have no health insurance at all. No-show rates are high, resulting in lost revenue. Without federal and state grants, many community health centers wouldn’t survive.
The East Boston center is the state’s largest, and among the biggest nationally, but it has been hammered along with the rest of the health care industry by the pandemic. At the peak of the crisis, when the center was forced to stop most in-patient visits, it was losing $1 million a week, as according to Lopes. He furloughed 10 percent of the work force, though most have now been brought back even though patient visits are still well below pre-pandemic levels.
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An industry where most players are small and barely getting by is ripe for consolidation that can improve efficiency and reduce overhead costs. But takeovers like the one of the South End center have been rare.
“If you’ve seen one community health center, you’ve seen one community health center,” said James Hunt, CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.
In other words, there is a lot of variation among services provided, community needs, and funding sources.
Federal rules that had made outright takeovers difficult have been changed, and Hunt expects to see more now , as well as an increase in affiliations and other less-formal tie-ups.
“We are going to see a drive for more efficiency of scale,” he said.
The South End center will become a branch of East Boston Neighborhood Health. The combined organization will have about 1,300 employees, 110,000 patients, and an operating budget of $180 million.
Lopes said he hoped to keep expanding so the East Boston center can become more efficient and protect services.
“There is still an unmet need,” he said. “We need to make sure our doors are always open.”
ELMHURST – Two DuPage County Board members are calling for the censure of board member Pete DiCianni, and a local organization supporting Black Lives Matter is demanding his resignation in response to "outrageous behavior" at a Blue Lives Matter pro-police rally Saturday in Elmhurst.
In a letter sent to Chairman Dan Cronin Monday, Elizabeth Chaplin said she was "deeply troubled and disturbed" by DiCianni's "aggressive actions, inappropriate language and complete lack of respect and safety of others."
"Without wearing a mask, he yelled in the faces of my constituents and boasted about being a county board member and mayor painting all of us with the same brush," wrote Chaplin, a Downers Grove Democrat. "This behavior is unbecoming to the office of a Member of the DuPage County Board, the Chairman of the DuPage County Health and Human Services Committee or any elected official."
Mary FitzGerald Ozog, a Democrat from Glen Ellyn representing District 4, also wrote to Cronin recommending censure over DiCianni's actions. A censure is a public record of disapproval that does not carry any additional penalties such as removal from office.
"I expressed my concern in particular with his not wearing a mask and being in the face of a counter protester. That was very disturbing to me," Ozog said. "I do not believe that behavior is a reflection of the board. We are never not public officials, 24 hours a day."
DiCianni, an Elmhurst Republican who represents District 2 with Chaplin and was Mayor of Elmhurst from 2009-2012, engaged in at times heated exchanges with counter-protesters in snippets of videos from Saturday's pro-police rally that made their way to social media.
In a video, protesters including DiCianni chant "Fund the blue" while walking in the street past counter-protesters on a sidewalk chanting "Breonna Taylor," the Black woman who was shot by police in March in Louisville.
Carrying a homemade sign that says "We back police," not wearing a mask, DiCianni can be seen approaching counter protesters to speak in support of the police.
"I was the mayor of this town, we have a great PD, we don't hurt people we protect them," DiCianni can be heard saying. "I was the mayor and we fund our cops, you better believe it. "
DiCianni later tells people to make sure they're recording the video.
"We welcome everybody, gay, lesbian, Black, Latino, we are very welcoming. I was proud to be the mayor, great community, love our cops," DiCianni is heard saying.
In another video, DiCianni is seen going up to a lady in a megaphone and yelling something close to her face. In another clip, DiCianni can be heard telling counter protesters "You leave our town then," in response to comments that cannot be heard.
Nina Marie Villasenor, an Elmhurst resident and counter protester Saturday, said she "did not expect the amount of hatred directed at us" from pro-police protesters. She described being screamed at, and protesters "literally started walking circles around us, like preys to a shark."
Villasenor, who said she had no idea who DiCianni was at the time, said she started videotaping him when "it felt like he was being aggressive."
"I did it as a safety guard for myself and fellow protesters. I didn't try to pick anybody out," Villasenor said. "For me personally, the way he was approaching people and getting in their face, not having a mask on, screaming 'if you don't like it, leave our town.' It was language like that, if you are a community leader you don't conduct yourself in that manner. I understand that everybody makes mistakes, but there are three different videos of him maintaining that aggressive approach."
DiCianni, in response to emailed questions on the matter, released a statement that said "our city allowed and my family personally supported Black Lives Matters to demonstrate without protest or confict."
"We gave them a permit and a safe venue," DiCianni said in the statement. "Unfortunately, that courtesy was not given to our police officers and their families. Instead, they were met with hatred from young kids with megaphones shouting at and taunting our police officers and their families.
"As a Member of the County’s Judicial Public Safety Committee and a proud former Mayor, I fully support and will continue to support DuPage County Law enforcement. We set the bar on training and policing for others to follow."
DiCianni's actions seen on video prompted an outcry of anger on social media, and an email from a constituent which led to a further controversy.
Elmhurst resident Lauren Sussman, living in New Orleans this summer where she goes to school at Tulane, emailed DiCianni Saturday saying that she was "extremely disappointed in his actions earlier that day."
"You made Black people in our community feel unwelcome," Sussman wrote. "At a critical time in our history, you chose to play the part of politician instead of a human. You showed that you have no ability to emphasize with oppressed community members, to be open to understanding their struggles, and you left them in the dust. You are a terrible representation of the place I call home."
Fifteen minutes later, DiCianni emailed back "Go stick you(r) vote in your ass! I stood up for my cops today."
The manner of the response, on the heels of DiCianni's actions at the protest, prompted the Hinsdale for Black Lives Matter organization to demand his resignation. The change.org petition has over 1,000 signatures as of Tuesday evening.
An email from the Hinsdale organization noted that DiCianni represents parts of Clarendon Hills and Hinsdale, and is a Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee for DuPage County.
"We believe that the behavior displayed by Mr. DiCianni shows a lack of respect for his constituents and his position as their representative on the DuPage County Board, and is an insult to the Black community," Hinsdale BLM wrote.
Cronin in an email said that "while I support his First Amendment rights to speak out in support of police, and to join a public protest, Member DiCianni's behavior and the remarks made on social media are troubling."
"We are trying to determine what the best course of action is at this point," Cronin wrote.
The board's next meeting is July 14.
Chaplin said she spoke to Cronin Monday about the matter and that Cronin "was offended not only by DiCianni's actions, but his words, and that his email to the young woman was vulgar with language that is not reflective of how our board conducts himself."
"I believe there is something we can do, whether a censure or something," Chaplin said. "This behavior cannot go unchecked."
Chaplin said that DiCianni's "aggressive, instigating, taunting" manner alone was bad, but what made it further disturbing was not wearing a mask. Public health officials recommend the wearing of masks in public if you cannot social distance.
"We have heard from our health department and the CDC that chanting, talking loudly, yelling spreads [the coronavirus] even more. Just the lack of respect of the safety of his people, and he is the health chair – he should know better," Chaplin said. "Nobody should behave that way but especially an elected official. You are an elected official, head of the Health and Human Services committee and you are out in public screaming at people. It is unacceptable that you are putting people at risk."
Ozog echoed those thoughts, and also said she wants the board to convene a workshop on race, public safety and social media use as soon as possible.
"There is very little excuse at this point to not wear a mask in public," Ozog said. "This was a really poor example. Public officials have to be held to a higher standard.
"Both groups had a right to be there, the people supporting the police and the counter protesters. If you get counter protesters you have to deal with it. This is how bad situations happen in the middle of protests. This is not how to increase dialogue, and you combine that with getting in people's face without a mask."
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July 01, 2020 at 03:56AM
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DuPage County Board members call for censure of colleague Pete DiCianni for 'outrageous behavior' at protest - Suburban Life Publications
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The PGA Tour heads to Detroit this week in its fourth straight week of competition after returning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Though the field isn't quite as loaded as it was the first three weeks, there are still stars and superstars like Bryson DeChambeau, Webb Simpson, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed who will tee it up at Detroit Golf Club.
All four of those players are involved in this week's featured groups and will be seen on PGA Tour Live on Thursday and Friday in the early rounds of the tournament. Dig a little deeper and you'll find even more intriguing stories. There's Doc Redmon, who's playing great golf and first earned temporary membership on the Tour at this tournament last year. There's Will Gordon, who finished T3 last week and earned temporary membership that way. The field is massive, and everybody has a story, especially in the middle of a pandemic.
I'm looking forward to what should be another fantastic week of golf going into Thursday and Friday and what should be another jam-packed leaderboard this weekend.
The complete list of tee times and pairings for Round 1 from Detroit Golf Club are below.
Play along with this week's golf action and compete to win $1,000 each round with CBS Sports Golf Props. All you need to do is answer a few quick questions and you're in contention for the cash! Join any round for your chance to win. Terms apply.
Rocket Mortgage Classic tee times, pairings in Round 1
All times Eastern | Featured groups italicized
Hole No. 1
6:45 a.m. -- James Hahn, David Hearn, Cameron Davis
6:55 a.m. -- Ben Martin, Zac Blair, Doc Redman
7:05 a.m. -- Jamie Lovemark, Robby Shelton, Scott Harrington
7:15 a.m. -- Keegan Bradley, Ryan Armour, Jimmy Walker
7:25 a.m. -- Andrew Putnam, Troy Merritt, Jason Dufner
7:35 a.m. -- Kevin Na, Grayson Murray, Tony Finau
7:45 a.m. -- Lanto Griffin, Patton Kizzire, Russell Knox
7:55 a.m. -- Scott Stallings, Lucas Glover, Rory Sabbatini
8:05 a.m. -- Tom Hoge, Richy Werenski, Xinjun Zhang
8:15 a.m. -- Brian Harman, Bronson Burgoon, Scottie Scheffler
8:25 a.m. -- Adam Hadwin, Emiliano Grillo, Bo Hoag
8:35 a.m. -- Wes Roach, Michael Gligic, James Nicholas
8:45 a.m. -- Dominic Bozzelli, Ben Taylor, Kurt Kitayama
12:00 p.m. -- Chesson Hadley, Ryan Blaum, Henrik Norlander
12:10 p.m. -- Seung-Yul Noh, Ricky Barnes, Tim Wilkinson
12:20 p.m. -- Jonathan Byrd, Wyndham Clark, Harry Higgs
12:30 p.m. -- Viktor Hovland, Wesley Bryan, Harold Varner III
12:40 p.m. -- Matthew Wolff, C.T. Pan, Vijay Singh 12:50 p.m. -- Brendon Todd, Bubba Watson, Jason Day
1:00 p.m. -- Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Hideki Matsuyama 1:10 p.m. -- Luke List, Patrick Rodgers, Shawn Stefani
1:20 p.m. -- Matt Jones, Michael Thompson, Arjun Atwal
1:30 p.m. -- George McNeill, Talor Gooch, Sepp Straka
1:40 p.m -- Rob Oppenheim, Kramer Hicock, Doug Ghim
1:50 p.m. -- Mark Anderson, Vincent Whaley, Peter Kuest
2:00 p.m. -- Peter Uihlein, Brandon Hagy, Zack Sucher
Hole No. 10
6:45 a.m. -- Chris Kirk, K.H. Lee, Maverick McNealy
6:55 a.m. -- Bill Haas, Josh Teater, Adam Schenk
7:05 a.m. -- Branden Grace, Brian Gay, Sam Burns
7:15 a.m. -- Tyler Duncan, Pat Perez, Greg Chalmers
7:25 a.m. -- Kevin Tway, Michael Kim, Austin Cook 7:35 a.m. -- Tyrrell Hatton, Sungjae Im, Brandt Snedeker 7:45 a.m. -- Webb Simpson, Rickie Fowler, Nate Lashley
7:55 a.m. -- Charl Schwartzel, Peter Malnati, Cameron Tringale
8:05 a.m. -- Bo Van Pelt, Lucas Bjerregaard, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
8:15 a.m. -- Aaron Baddeley, Beau Hossler, Roger Sloan
8:25 a.m. -- Kyle Stanley, Robert Streb, Joseph Bramlett
8:35 a.m. -- Hank Lebioda, Nelson Ledesma, Will Gordon
8:45 a.m. -- Chase Seiffert, Kristoffer Ventura, Chandler Phillips
12:00 p.m. -- Brian Stuard, Scott Brown, J.J. Spaun
12:10 p.m. -- John Senden, Sam Ryder, Matt Wallace
12:20 p.m. -- Cameron Percy, Seamus Power, Erik van Rooyen
12:30 p.m. -- J.T. Poston, Martin Trainer, Si Woo Kim
12:40 p.m. -- Kevin Chappell, Danny Willett, Steve Stricker
12:50 p.m. -- Sebastian Munoz, Kevin Kisner, Aaron Wise
1:00 p.m. -- Ted Potter, Jr., Hudson Swafford, Luke Donald
1:10 p.m. -- Matt Every, Roberto Castro, Alex Noren
1:20 p.m. -- Chris Stroud, Fabian Gomez, Mark Hubbard
1:30 p.m. -- Johnson Wagner, D.J. Trahan, Rafa Cabrera Bello
1:40 p.m -- Ryan Brehm, Tyler McCumber, Chris Baker
1:50 p.m. -- Tom Lewis, Michael Gellerman, Sahith Theegala
2:00 p.m. -- Sebastian Cappelen, Rhein Gibson, Donnie Trosper
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July 01, 2020 at 04:33AM
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2020 Rocket Mortgage Classic tee times, pairings: Complete field, schedule set for Thursday in Round 1 - CBS Sports
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Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking at a conference. | AP Photo
TALLAHASSEE — With a stroke of his veto pen, Gov. Ron DeSantis wiped out the entire $29.4 million budget for a suite of online education services that have become critical to students and faculty during the Covid-19 outbreak.
The move, barring action before midnight Tuesday, will kill the Complete Florida Plus Program, an array of technology systems that faculty, staff and students throughout Florida rely on, never more so than now, in the midst of a pandemic that has amplified reliance on distance learning. The cuts include a database of online courses and an online library service that provides 17 million books to 1.3 million students, faculty and staff.
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At least 2,000 adult learners could be cut off from their scholarships and school accreditation could even be at risk without the resources housed under Complete Florida, which are used by students at high schools, state colleges and universities. Some 150 employees in Tallahassee, Gainesville and Pensacola stand to lose their jobs.
DeSantis, whose office declined to comment on the cut, on Monday vetoed $1 billion from Florida’s 2020-21 budget as the state attempts to beat back a resurgence of the viral outbreak, which has sickened 152,434 people and killed 3,505 in one of the country's hottest Covid-19 zones.
The governor’s office and the Department of Education have been publicly silent about the sudden, sweeping Complete Florida veto, leading some higher education officials to wonder if there had been some sort of mistake.
“This would be one of the biggest negative impacts in higher education in the last couple decades,” said Tom Messner, executive dean of Library Learning Commons at Florida State College at Jacksonville. “It just seems like an error.”
When asked about the justification for the veto and whether there was a plan to replicate Complete Florida’s services, DeSantis spokesperson Helen Aguirre Ferré deferred to the Department of Education.
Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for DOE, the agency that oversees the Florida College System, deferred to the State University System Board of Governors and the University of West Florida, which oversees Complete Florida.
Renee Fargason, director of strategic communications and advocacy for the Board of Governors, declined to comment about the Complete Florida veto as of noon Tuesday.
“We are currently seeking clarification on the veto of this statewide program that provides resources to more than 100 public universities, public colleges and K-12 school districts” Megan Gonzalez, a spokesperson for UWF, wrote in a statement to POLITICO.
At midnight, when the 2020-21 budget year kicks in, Complete Florida will be taken offline without a new funding source. The program will have no budget or spending authority, leaving no way to staff help desks or carry out daily payments for services.
The Florida Academic Library Services Cooperative, a virtual campus program that hosts online journals, e-books and other resources for schools across the state, would be defunded, as would the Complete Florida Degree Program that helps former college students return to school to complete their degree.
Library databases would go offline in the middle of the college summer semester, which is being held largely online as college campuses remain closed to students during the Covid-19 outbreak. The veto could force schools to come up with their own programs on the fly, putting them at risk of losing access to the “appropriate electronic resources” that are required by the state’s accreditation board.
Complete Florida and its budget have been in the spotlight since library administrators last year accused UWF of siphoning money from state programs, a complaint that prompted an audit overseen by the BOG and the attention of lawmakers.
The BOG-led audit still still under way. An Auditor General report in March challenged the legality of UWF’s financial management over Complete Florida. That audit slammed UWF, declaring that the university should return $2.4 million to the programs it tapped, including Florida Virtual Campus, a host for online library resources at Florida’s 40 public colleges and universities.
UWF “strongly disagrees” with the Florida Auditor General’s findings, contesting the school had every right to tap excess Complete Florida funds, or carry forward money, to pay administrative overhead.
Legislation was floated to pull Complete Florida away from UWF in 2020-21, but the proposal never got off the ground. The Department of Education has been a recommended landing spot for some of its programs.
Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.
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July 01, 2020 at 02:54AM
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Delayed Sykesville sanitation project complete, Schoolhouse Road pumping station in service - Baltimore Sun
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Construction is complete on the new North America headquarters facility of Kärcher located at 6398 N. Kärcher Way in Aurora. Ware Malcomb, an award-winning international design firm provided architecture, interior design, civil engineering and land surveying services for the project.
Kärcher, the world’s leading provider of cleaning technology, consolidated their manufacturing from campuses in Englewood, CO and Camas, WA to create a new 380,000-square-foot build-to-suit headquarters facility featuring approximately 275,000 square feet of warehouse, R&D and manufacturing space along with 100,000 square feet of office space on a 23-acre site. The new facility is located in the Porteos development near DIA.
“This new state-of-the-art facility is designed to allow Kärcher to operate more efficiently, optimize its manufacturing and production capabilities, and improve its customer experience – all while positioning the company for future growth,” said Matt Chaiken, principal of Ware Malcomb’s Denver office. “We worked closely with Kärcher to ensure every element of the project – from the civil engineering and land surveying process to the architecture and interior design – met the company’s immediate needs and specifications, as well as its long term goals,” said Chris Strawn, principal of Ware Malcomb’s Denver Civil Engineering office.
The building interior features a grand, open three-story staircase with decorative linear lighting and cable railings. A gray color scheme with bright yellow accents is used throughout the common areas and within architectural lighting, reflecting Kärcher’s corporate colors and the color of the equipment the company manufactures. The design team sourced materials that were textural in nature to give the interior space further dimension. Office and conference room fronts used a furniture glazing system that helped keep construction on schedule and on budget, while providing for future flexibility.
The building’s exterior envelope utilized integrally insulated, painted tilt-up concrete panels with reveals. Storefront and curtain walls were also used for the office area. The exterior utilized the same colors as the interior to reflect Kärcher’s corporate branding, including a yellow parapet cap.
The civil engineering design and land surveying services for the 23-acre site was accomplished with balanced earthwork through the grading and drainage design along with the associated parking lots, loading areas, drive lanes, and utilities required for the building. A subdivision plat was also prepared by the Ware Malcomb land surveying team. Water quality was provided on-site in a pond that was designed at the south end of the project to meet the City’s requirements for the current and future buildout and connected to the area’s regional detention facility.
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June 30, 2020 at 11:28PM
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Construction Complete on Kärcher Headquarters Facility in Aurora - milehighcre.com
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That’s why Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Kristi Hottenstein said a new program with the goal of helping former students complete their college education was launched at the University of Michigan – Flint.
“This is a large population of students that have both the ability to be successful and the desire to get their degree, but they need a little help,” Hottenstein said. “The truth of the matter is the most prominent reason why students drop out of college are financial concerns.”
To alleviate financial pressures, the Pathway to Completion program will offer nine credits for free to students returning to UM-Flint to finish their undergraduate degrees.
“We see that while students drop out of college, 40% of dropouts have a 3.0 or higher GPA,” Hottenstein said. “So they’re academically able to do the work, and they signed up so they have the desire to be there, but financial reasons get in the way.”
Phase one of the pilot program will include approximately 340 students who left UM-Flint in the last three years. Hottenstein said the first phase will examine how lifting financial barriers brings students back to school and leads them completing their education, and if it does, the study will expand to a larger group.
“We wanted to start off with a pretty manageable group, a group that was active within the last few years,” Hottenstein said. “And I think that will be able to help us gauge on a smaller scale what it may look like down the road.”
She said the biggest success indicator for phase one will be if the group of students re-enroll in courses at the end of the semester, and phase two would be expanding the program to incentivize students who dropped out more than three years ago.
“I was reading a study that said that in Michigan, approximately 228,000 people between the ages of 18 and 44 with an income under $50,000 don’t have a degree from a four year institution, but it’s indicated that they’d like to pursue education or training,” Hottenstein said. “So it’s a huge population of students.”
The Pathway to Completion program is funded in part by a $750,000 grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation that will be matched by UM-Flint, making the total investment in the program $1.5 million.
“I’m very appreciative to the Mott Foundation for partnering with us,” Hottenstein said. “It’s something that I’m passionate about that I thought would benefit students and university for a while, so I’m excited to see it moving forward.”
The pilot program is open now with a landing page set to launch on their website June 30. Students who meet all the criteria to be eligible can apply there. Hottenstein said they aim to have students enrolled as early as Fall 2020.
Tech Data Plans to Invest Approximately $750 Million in Digital Transformation Initiatives to Improve Channel Partner Experience
Strong Pro Forma Balance Sheet Gives Significant Financial Flexibility, Makes Tech Data One of the Lowest Levered Sponsor-Backed Companies
NEW YORK, June 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- An affiliate of certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc. (NYSE: APO) (together with its consolidated subsidiaries, “Apollo”) today announced completion of its acquisition of Tech Data Corporation (Nasdaq: TECD) (“Tech Data”), one of the world’s largest technology distributors. Chief Executive Officer Rich Hume will continue to lead Tech Data from its headquarters in Clearwater, Florida.
“Tech Data is a global, market-leading company with an excellent management team and significant opportunities for expansion,” said Matt Nord, Co-Lead Partner of Private Equity at Apollo. “As a result of this acquisition and the resources we can bring to bear, Rich and the Tech Data team will have the strategic and financial flexibility to invest in new technology, expand services and pursue transactions that we believe will drive long-term value creation.”
Tech Data CEO Rich Hume said, “We are excited to enter Tech Data’s next chapter as a private company with our new sponsors at Apollo who have a track record of building great businesses in our sector. Having a single, strategic equity owner that’s fully aligned with our mission we believe gives us a real advantage in accelerating our transformational strategy and allows us to think more creatively – without the short-term demands that can come with public ownership.”
The transaction gives Tech Data an enterprise value of approximately $6 billion and included a $3.75 billion equity investment made by Apollo. With approximately 2.5x leverage, Tech Data is one of the highest credit quality, lowest levered sponsor-backed companies. As part of its go-forward plan, over the next five years Tech Data plans to invest approximately $750 million in digital transformation initiatives to better serve its channel partners. This includes investments in technology to expand its StreamOne Cloud Platform, optimize and standardize processes and apply data and analytics to be more agile in a rapidly evolving environment.
Apollo Private Equity Partner Robert Kalsow-Ramos added, “Tech Data benefits from exceptional global capabilities, a strong financial position and a values-driven corporate culture, all within an industry that continues to experience strong secular growth. We are excited to now leverage Apollo’s resources and experience to support the management team and take Tech Data to the next level of industry leadership and service to its customers, including thousands of small- and medium-sized businesses around the world. Today’s announcement of a $750 million investment in digital transformation is a testament of this focus and our commitment to Tech Data’s long-term growth.”
Pursuant to the terms of the merger agreement, an affiliate of certain funds managed by affiliates of Apollo acquired all of the outstanding shares of Tech Data common stock. Tech Data’s shareholders are entitled to receive $145 in cash for each share of TECD common stock owned. As a result of the completion of the merger, shares of Tech Data’s common stock no longer trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.
About Apollo Apollo is a leading global alternative investment manager with offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Bethesda, London, Frankfurt, Madrid, Luxembourg, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. Apollo had assets under management of approximately $316 billion as of March 31, 2020 in credit, private equity and real assets funds invested across a core group of nine industries where Apollo has considerable knowledge and resources. For more information about Apollo, please visit www.apollo.com.
About Tech Data
Tech Data connects the world with the power of technology. Our end-to-end portfolio of products, services and solutions, highly specialized skills, and expertise in next-generation technologies enable channel partners to bring to market the products and solutions the world needs to connect, grow and advance. Tech Data is ranked No. 90 on the Fortune 500® and has been named one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies for 11 straight years. To find out more, visit www.techdata.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable federal securities laws. The forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements concerning the performance of Tech Data. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to economic, competitive, and technological factors outside Apollo’s or Tech Data’s control that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Apollo and Tech Data expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect any change in expectations or events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.
Apollo Contact Information
For investors please contact:
Gary M. Stein
Head of Investor Relations
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
(212) 822-0467
gstein@apollo.com
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Investor Relations Manager
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
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adai@apollo.com
For media inquiries please contact:
Joanna Rose
Global Head of Corporate Communications
Apollo Global Management, Inc.
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Tech Data Contact Information
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For media inquiries please contact:
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Director, External Communications
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"complete" - Google News
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Funds Managed by Affiliates of Apollo Complete Tech Data Acquisition - GlobeNewswire
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Santa Clara, Calif., June 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Couchbase, the creator of the enterprise-class, multicloud to edge NoSQL database, today announced the general availability of Couchbase Cloud, its award-winning, fully-managed Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS). Couchbase Cloud is initially available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) with support for Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform available by year-end.
The quickly-evolving economy is accelerating digital transformation in almost every organization, bringing equal parts opportunity and cost control pressure to IT. Couchbase Cloud helps organizations capitalize on both goals through:
Versatility and performance of Couchbase Server, combined with emerging best practice of in-virtual private cloud (VPC) deployment on AWS, which allow customers to dramatically lower operational costs of traditional deployments without giving up critical control over data and security
“Single pane of glass” control plane for multicloud management and cross data center replication (XDCR), making it even simpler to manage and deploy multiple clusters across clouds in multiple regions
Transparent, customer-friendly configuration and licensing that combine with the software’s best-in-class, node-for-node performance to deliver exceptionally low TCO for the generation of applications that serve today’s online-only user communities
The Power and Versatility of Couchbase Server
Couchbase Server is the original multi-purpose NoSQL database that inspired the evolution of competitive, yet still incomplete, platforms such as MongoDB Cloud Platform. Couchbase Server combines the high-performance, memory-first architecture of key-value stores with its SQL-friendly query language, robust developer SDKs, schema-flexible JSON format, all deployed as an elastically scaling, ACID compliant, globally replicating cluster architecture. Couchbase Cloud combines this power and versatility to allow customers to support an array of highly available applications and use cases such as online session caching, user profiles and catalog management for retailers, media content providers and enterprises that must adapt to our new, online-only world.
Emerging best-practice of In-VPC deployment on AWS: Manage your data and AWS Infrastructure
In-VPC deployment on AWS uses Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) to deploy and manage Couchbase software directly within the customers’ cloud accounts, allowing tight performance-matching of the database to its underlying infrastructure, affording customers the same degree of control they enjoyed when running their own data centers, yet at a fraction of the cost. This deployment technique offers customers the ability to utilize and manage:
AWS best-practice security policies and data sovereignty preferences
Application of negotiated AWS discounts they have earned to their account, not ours.
Control Couchbase cluster configurations via a single, omniscient control plane
Couchbase Cloud deployments are managed by its Control Plane, which provides DevOps administrators relief in overseeing global deployments by providing:
Automated oversight of elastic scaling, upgrades, availability, monitoring & alerts across all clusters and all clouds
Fine-grained control using Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) to performance-match application workloads to its Couchbase services to their underlying AWS instances to optimize resource consumption
Control cloud data movement with Cross Datacenter Replication (XDCR)
Through its XDCR capability, Couchbase Cloud enables global, filtered replication of cluster contents to any cluster location, enabling customers to support data sovereignty requirements and:
Automatically manage data migration, backup, disaster recovery to & from hybrid clouds, and intra-region for GDPR & other regulations
Avoid CSP vendor lock-in with the ability to replicate data to Azure & GCP when available
The convergence of raw performance power and transparent policies combine to create the lowest TCO available for NoSQL DBaaS
Couchbase Cloud delivers exceptional value by keeping operational costs elastic and as low as possible. This is due to the convergence of Couchbase policies and the performance of Couchbase Server, which is well documented for node-for-node performance advantages over competitors. Public and private benchmarks have measured Couchbase performing 2 to 20 times faster than competitive offerings on like-for-like infrastructures, and MDS allows deployments to performance-match workloads to their infrastructure nodes. Consequently, Couchbase Cloud enables customers to dramatically lower IaaS resource spending over alternatives.
Couchbase combines performance advantage with highly transparent licensing policies that allow customers to construct their own cost comparisons and make clear choices. Benefits include:
Hourly or pre-paid credits with no minimum monthly limits
No margin-stacking by hiding IaaS within subscription
Customer configures & grows IaaS at the pace of dev/test/production/growth phases
20%+ discount of pre-paid credits combined with 75%+ discounts for AWS Reserved Instances (RIs) in private offer billing
Choice of SLA-levels per cluster with Developer Pro & Enterprise options, saving over 35% with relaxed SLAs
Avoiding cloud service provider lock-in from using vendor specific applications
Availability
Couchbase Cloud makes its debut on AWS today and is available immediately as a 30-day trial, which runs inside the customer’s AWS account. It is offered in two packages, Developer Pro and Enterprise, which offer differentiated service level guarantees for development and testing needs versus business-critical support for production systems. Support for Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform will be available by year end. For more information visit https://couchbase.com/cloud
Supporting quotes
“We are delighted to be working with Couchbase and applaud their customer-first approach. As an Advanced Technology Partner in the AWS Partner Network (APN), Couchbase has been working with AWS for years, contributing to the continued adoption, growth, and potential of cloud technology. With Couchbase Cloud’s in-VPC deployment with Amazon EKS, customers can continue to meticulously manage their data and cloud operations globally, while reducing operational costs.”
-- Bob Wise, General Manager, Kubernetes, Amazon Web Services, Inc.
“As long-time Couchbase customers, we’ve evolved and grown our retail and logistics platform business with Couchbase. We are very pleased to see the continuous innovation from the company--from Couchbase Server to Couchbase Mobile, and now Couchbase Cloud. Couchbase Cloud availability on AWS is a perfect marriage of our NoSQL strategy with our cloud provider, AWS. We are looking forward to deploying Couchbase Cloud on AWS – enabling us to continue our global growth, maintain our reputation for rapid delivery and further reduce our operational complexity.”
-- Gary O’Connor, CTO, Doddle
“There is no equal to Couchbase Cloud. It has the best pricing and performance we have seen from a DBaaS offering. By switching to Couchbase Cloud, we reduced cost by 10x and increased performance by 100x.”
-- Scott Bradley, Principal Engineer, Facet Digital
“Our greatest priority is always going to be developing new applications. The ease of deploying in Couchbase Cloud, from the initial implementation to spinning up more instances on-demand, coupled with the fact we can follow best practices in data management as if we were in our own datacenter, means that we can concentrate on development instead of ensuring our cloud service works the way we want it to.”
--Bala Krishna Alla, Middleware Engineer, MoneyGram International
“Flexibility is a key driver for enterprises when it comes to moving to the cloud -- flexibility with IT management, developing and testing, deployment options like multicloud, user access, and most importantly, pricing. With its dynamic pricing options and In-VPC deployment, Couchbase Cloud offers the flexibility and control that are attractive to today’s enterprises as they look to maximize their ROI while staying competitive.”
--Carl Olofson, Research Vice President, IDC
“The need to optimize costs while also improving agility and innovation is accelerating enterprise adoption of cloud and as-a-service offerings. However, for many there are still factors that inhibit that move, from losing control of data sovereignty to being forced into price points and service levels that prevent cost optimization. With Couchbase Cloud, our goal is to break down those barriers, giving customers the same control of data and costs as they would have in their own datacenter, and allowing them to take full advantage of the cloud’s potential for supporting innovation and agile development on their own terms.”
-- Scott Anderson, SVP, Product Management & Business Operations, Couchbase
“Couchbase is widely recognized as the most powerful and versatile NoSQL database available in the market today. As Enterprises accelerate their cloud adoption plans, Couchbase Cloud now offers them the opportunity to transform their businesses at a reduced TCO and without losing control of their data,” said Couchbase President and CEO Matt Cain. “With more enterprises than ever migrating to both NoSQL databases and cloud deployments, we will continue to expand our cloud-native product portfolio and continue the momentum that has seen more than 500 enterprises, including over 30% of the Fortune 100, rely on the Couchbase NoSQL database.”
-- Matt Cain, President and CEO, Couchbase
Resources:
About Couchbase
Unlike other NoSQL databases, Couchbase provides an enterprise-class, multicloud to edge database that offers the robust capabilities required for business-critical applications on a highly scalable and available platform. As a distributed cloud-native database, Couchbase runs in modern dynamic environments and on any cloud, either customer-managed or fully managed as-a-service. Couchbase is built on open standards, combining the best of NoSQL with the power and familiarity of SQL, to simplify the transition from mainframe and relational databases.
Couchbase has become pervasive in our everyday lives; our customers include industry leaders Amadeus, American Express, Carrefour, Cisco, Comcast/Sky, Disney, eBay, LinkedIn, Marriott, Tesco, Tommy Hilfiger, United, Verizon, as well as hundreds of other household names. For more information, visit www.couchbase.com.
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Christina Knittel
Couchbase
7752092461
christina.knittel@couchbase.com
"complete" - Google News
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Couchbase Cloud Debuts on Amazon Web Services, Gives Customers Complete Control of Costs and Clusters to Thrive in an Evolving Economy - GlobeNewswire
"complete" - Google News
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By not being able to meet his new teammate in person, Colts linebacker Darius Leonard has been forced to get to know DeForest Buckner by watching tape.
And he likes what he sees.
Leonard said during an appearance on NFL Network that adding the former 49ers defensive tackle could make an immediate difference for their defense.
“Having DeForest come onto the team and help our defense out, he’s a complete dog. Watching his tape, he has a motor that doesn’t stop,” Leonard said. “You can not just focus on the linebackers, we got so many defensive linemen now that are gonna eat up on any offensive line that’s in front of us. I think that’s gonna allow the linebackers to run around, make more plays, take some stress off the defensive backs because they don’t have to stay in coverage so long.
“I’m definitely looking forward to him coming out here and, you know, bring that dog mentality that he’s had and help this defense win and be the number one defense in the NFL.”
The Colts paid dearly for the privilege, giving up a first-round pick and then giving Buckner a four-year, $84 million contract. But they’re hoping the returns on that investment are as large as he is, and that he rubs off on his new teammates.
Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Prostock-Studio/iStock/Getty Images Plus.
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Danny is online weekly to chat live with readers. Here’s an edited transcript of this week’s chat.
Q. Breastfeeding weirdness: One of my co-workers, “Kristen,” has recently given birth, and she frequently breastfeeds on Zoom calls. She says that it is the best way to keep the baby quiet, but due to camera angles and movement you can sometimes see her breast, or part of it, as the baby feeds. One of our co-workers is really creepy about it behind Kristen’s back. In a separate chat, about a different project Kristen isn’t involved in, he told us he had taken screenshots. Although he backed down and said he was just kidding when I challenged him, he makes jokes about her sexual attractiveness and how lucky the baby is. I told him he was disgusting and I didn’t want to hear anymore, which he has gone along with—although he said I had no sense of humor—but other people say he still says things to them.
How do I deal with this? I can’t imagine telling Kristen, who is very sweet and prim, about it, and I don’t want her to feel awkward or that she can’t feed the baby. Would it be OK to just pass on the screenshots I took of him being gross in the chat, even though it was a semiprivate conversation, to our supervisor? Although I told him to stop in there and he did, so I don’t know if the supervisor would do anything. Other people have said it isn’t my business and I should just let it go, but that doesn’t feel right.
A: I think your co-worker has made it your business. You didn’t ask for this information—he volunteered it cheerfully during a conversation about a work project. Moreover, he’s only stopped talking about it to you, and is still making lewd and unprofessional comments about Kristen’s body to the rest of her colleagues, which makes it clear that he’s uninterested in actually stopping. His claim that he was “just kidding” about taking screenshots doesn’t hold water. (And what would the joke have been? “Wouldn’t it be funny if I took pictures of our co-worker while she breastfeeds her infant?”) It seems fairly clear he only tried to pass it off as a joke once you objected to it.
If your co-worker was making offensive sexual comments about Kristen in a “chat about a different project Kristen isn’t involved in,” then that conversation was not “semiprivate.” It was a work conversation, with his co-workers, about work. Kristen is trying to keep a newborn baby quiet and happy while working from home, which is incredibly difficult, and your co-worker has used that as justification to gossip and objectify her, possibly even to take pictures of her. This is an issue not just for your supervisor to address but for HR to take on as well.
How to Get Advice From Prudie:
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Q. Moral dilemma: I work in a nonprofit where I have access to clients’ personal financial information. It has come to my attention that a couple of clients are taking advantage of government assistance to which they are not legally entitled. While double-dipping, they are benefiting from deep subsidies that are based on their legally obtained low income. I have proof. I signed a confidentiality agreement for this job, but as a taxpayer I am deeply offended. Morally, am I justified in reporting this information to a snitch line?
A: I’ll be honest: I don’t know what double-dipping means in this context. And I can’t really think of a good reason why a nonprofit should have access to people’s personal finances. Maybe there are some, and I just don’t know any. But I do know that poor people, especially when they rely on government assistance, are often hyperscrutinized and even penalized by losing access to necessary programs if they start to rise above the poverty line. You say a few low-income clients are getting some money from “deep subsidies.” I think if a real person were in immediate harm, that would be one thing, but your offense seems to stem from a general stance about “taxpayers,” and to my mind, it doesn’t rise to the level of “calling a snitch line.” That doesn’t mean you have to like it. But if you’re looking for reasons to get offended as a taxpayer, I suggest you start with the United States’ massive defense budget.
Q. Uncomfortable: I have moved into a new townhouse that backs up to a large circular park with a running track. I am a young woman in my 20s; I go running every morning. One of my new neighbors gets out on his balcony around the same time. I didn’t think anything about it until a middle-aged woman stopped me while I was checking the mail. She introduced herself as my neighbor and instructed me to wear more clothes while I was exercising because it was “shameless” and distracting for her husband. I was so shocked I couldn’t even say a word. Now I don’t know what to do, because one of my neighbors is a pervert and his wife is an enabling witch. My running clothes are not even that revealing unless someone thinks a few bare inches of skin above the belly button is risqué. I am half tempted to yell at my neighbor if he was enjoying the show one of these mornings. I am angry and embarrassed, and I have no clue what to do. Running is my favorite form of exercise and meditation. I purchased this place because it was so close to the park. I don’t want to have a feud with a neighbor before I have even picked out paint for my new bedroom. What do I do?
A: It seems like the theme of today’s chat is “people creating problems where problems need not exist.” I’m so sorry that your neighbor harassed you for running and blamed you for her husband’s emotional state—it was wildly inappropriate and sexist, which, of course you know, but it bears repeating. The most important thing here is to make sure you feel comfortable when you’re running. If that means ignoring your neighbor when she attempts to speak to you again, that’s fine; if it means telling her politely but firmly that you’re not responsible for her husband, nor are you interested in hearing her opinions on your running outfits, that’s fine too. You’re not “starting a feud” by refusing to bow to unreasonable demands.
Q. So[m]ber bride: My parents are alcoholics. My mother is particularly difficult because she can only have one or two drinks before she is sloppy, emotional, and mean. Neither of my parents has an interest in changing or addressing their alcoholism. For years, I have asked them to at least not show up to certain events (like my 9 a.m. college graduation) wasted and begged them to not drink during some occasions. This request usually starts a big argument and they never listen or follow through. They act like it is a funny game. I am now in my mid-30s, and I’m at the end of my rope. I briefly cut off contact with them last year, saying we couldn’t speak until they demonstrated change. We didn’t talk for five months, but I caved during the pandemic. I felt guilty, and they are in their early 70s. My fiancé and I are in the early stages of wedding planning, and we keep trying to create ways to minimize their participation and presence. We both agree that it seems inevitable that my mother will make a scene. If she’s not falling down drunk, she will throw a hissy fit and cry. If we ban her from drinking she will sneak it or bitterly and loudly complain to anyone who will listen. I’m mortified and stressed just thinking about it. My dad says this is just the way my mother is and that I’m overbearing. It doesn’t feel like not inviting them is an option, but I also don’t want our day ruined by her behavior. What do we do?
A: Why doesn’t it feel like not inviting them is an option? Aside from “Well, they’re my parents and you’re supposed to have your parents at your wedding,” or a fear that they’ll try to retaliate if you set a boundary, or a general sense of guilt and a feeling that it’s your responsibility to give your parents whatever they want—do you actually want them there? Do you enjoy their company? Do you want to spend your wedding day monitoring your mother’s highball glass or sending a bridesmaid over to escort her to the bathroom?
I understand that you’ve felt more worried than usual about your parents’ health in the past few months. And I can relate to a feeling of overwhelming guilt when it comes to parents who are unwilling to change. It can feel like a monumentally impossible task to tell a parent “No.” But you’re not talking about a cheerful drunk, or the fear that she might get a little gossipy—your mother gets cruel after a single drink, and she never stops at a single drink. You say, “They never listen or follow through,” that they’ve insisted this is “just how [they] are,” and I think you know pretty conclusively that they’re not going to change anytime soon. What would you need, in terms of practical and emotional support, for not inviting them to become an option? Seek that out, whatever it is, from as many fronts as possible—therapy, Al-Anon, your partner, your friends, wherever you can find it.
Q. Love my niece: At 24, my husband and I took custody of his 10-year-old half-sister, “Stella.” Her mother dated a series of child predators, and by the time she came to us, Stella needed full-time care. I quit my master’s program. We gave my cat away because Stella could be violent. My husband and I lived in a state of school meetings, counseling, and hopelessness. It was worth it, because Stella is now a bright and brilliant young woman at 20. My husband is talking about babies now. I am running on maternal empty. I don’t want children. I don’t want to give up the rest of my life to repeat what I have lived through. There were a lot of dark times with Stella. It turned out all right, but what if it hadn’t? The question keeps me up at night. I want to go back to school; I want to travel; I want to have pets again. I don’t want my life held hostage again. I love Stella. I love the woman she grew into. I love my husband. I don’t want to risk the rest of my life. How do I tell my husband without making it seem like I regret Stella?
A: There is a world of difference between “I’m exhausted after 10 years of full-time parenting and dealing with trauma” and “I wish we’d never raised Stella.” Nor is “I’m tired, and I’m done having children” the equivalent of “I wish your sister didn’t exist.” Please don’t feel like you have to justify your lack of interest in children by making a big show of loving Stella—it’s so clear that you love her, and it’s also clear that you’ve been through the mill, not because Stella was a uniquely difficult child, but because she was dealing with the aftermath of years of abuse.
Please don’t apologize for wanting to go back to school, to travel, to focus on the things that you enjoy. This discrepancy may be difficult for your husband if he does want children, but just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s wrong. You don’t want children, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of that. Some people in your position might still want children; others might not. The point isn’t “Anyone who had been in my position would (or wouldn’t) want to start over again”—it’s that you don’t. And it’s not a referendum on your love for Stella to say you don’t want kids now.
Q. Intimacy anxiety: I am a 32-year-old woman with a decent amount of relationship experience; I have had two long-term relationships, including a marriage that ultimately ended amicably, and a few casual things with friends. I haven’t been with anyone for about a year now, and I started dating a friend I’ve known for a few years. He told me he is a virgin, and he is anxious about intimacy. I respect him and enjoy our time together, and I would never want him to feel pressured to do anything, but it’s been a few months and we still haven’t had sex of any kind. He’ll initiate a pretty passionate make-out session, but as soon as we get to the point where things would typically go further, he tells me to slow down and we end up just cuddling. There have been many nights when I’ve felt extremely frustrated, but again, I never want him to feel pressured, so I bottle up that frustration so as to not exacerbate his anxiety. I am starting to feel like I’m neglecting my own needs. I don’t know how to tell him about my frustration without upsetting him or making it seem like I’m guilt-tripping him into sex. How should I approach this without seeming predatory or coercive?
A: Having the conversation when you haven’t just been making out is the first step, I think. Set aside some time to talk about your sex life when you both know sex isn’t on the table. Talking about your own desires, and acknowledging possible incompatibility, is not predatory, nor is it coercive: “I really want to have sex in the near future. Do you? If so, what do you need from me, or what do you want to talk about, to make that possible?” This is part of why the “What are you into?” conversation can be really helpful, I think; if you two can speak frankly about what appeals to you, what you like, what you don’t like, what you might like, what you’ve fantasized about, and what kinds of sex you might prefer, while knowing you’re not about to start having sex then and there, it can free up a lot of emotional room, so to speak.
Be patient and nonjudgmental if he needs a little time to sort out his thoughts. But be patient and nonjudgmental with yourself too—if he avoids the conversation or remains vague, and that in turn makes you question whether you see a romantic future with him, that’s neither punitive nor an attempt to guilt-trip him into sex. It’s an attempt to see if you two want the same things! And if you don’t want the same things, and can’t find a meaningful compromise that suits you both, then breaking up or going back to being friends is probably the best solution.
Q. Always interrupting: Eight years ago, I was in an abusive marriage that I left. Since then, I have done a lot of work on my self-esteem, creating healthy boundaries, etc. I’m definitely much better at seeing red flags and holding men to higher standards in how they treat me. However, I’ve been single for these eight years and would really like an opportunity for love again and to test all these relationship skills I’ve been developing. I recently started talking to a man on a dating app, whom I haven’t met yet because of COVID, and I’ve developed a level of something, through chatting on the phone and video, that I haven’t had in a long time. We also have a lot in common, want similar things on the same timeline, and are very much attracted to each other, from what can be determined by video. I have one big problem though: He interrupts me a lot. He also often changes the subject back to himself when I’m talking. It’s not so bad that he doesn’t seem interested in getting to know me, but it’s annoying and disrespectful, and it makes me feel like I’m possibly entering into something where my passive nature will be overtaken again. Should this automatically be a deal-breaker? He seems like the type who would be sympathetic if I brought it up, but is it something that I can reasonably expect him to change, assuming he wants to? I know no one is perfect. Considering how good everything else is, am I setting unreasonable standards out of fear of being dominated again? On a scale from abusive to perfect, what is reasonable?
A: It can be a deal-breaker if you want it to be. I also think there’s room to have a conversation with him first. Aside from universal red flags that indicate incoming abuse, lots of people have unique screening patterns for fledgling relationships, and it’s not necessarily a question of what’s “reasonable” but what the individual is willing to deal with. If you were to say to yourself, “I’ve been through enough in my life that I’m going to have pretty high expectations about interruptions and politeness from anyone I date—I’m just not interested in reminding an adult man that it’s rude to interrupt and change the topic back to yourself five times in a single conversation,” that would strike me as eminently reasonable. If you were to say, “I’m willing to bring this up politely but directly with him and see how he responds—if he’s dismissive or defensive, I’ll know we’re not compatible, but if he corrects himself, I’ll give it another go,” that would make sense to me too. The question is really how much time and energy you want to expend on this. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but you’ve been interrupting me a lot lately. Can you please stop?” should be met with some version of “I’m sorry/I got carried away/I do care about what you’re saying/I’ll work on that.” If that’s not his response, it’s time to move on, I think.
It’s great that you’re attracted to him and you have a lot in common. I don’t think he’s the only man in the world you’ll be attracted to or have a lot in common with, so don’t approach this from the mindset of “I might never find someone like this again—better tread carefully.” Honestly, this is what the early dating process is for: namely, screening for and weeding out people who may very well be perfectly nice but just aren’t for you. It doesn’t have to be a red flag for you to not want to set up another video date. Frequent interruptions and changing the subject are not great indicators! If it’s “annoying and disrespectful,” I think you should take it pretty seriously.
Q. Re: Moral dilemma: The U.S. military budget, while bloated, is not illegal. Double-dipping into programs one is not entitled to is illegal. The letter writer may have a legal obligation to report such things. They can’t ignore this because you are at war against the rich. Letter writer, I suggest you see if your profession has an ethics board you can query for advice. I’d hate to see you in legal trouble over this later.
A: I think the fact that the U.S. military budget is “legal” is not an argument for approving of the budget, nor do I believe there is a war against the rich going on—or, if there is, the rich are winning and certainly not in need of assistance.
Danny M. Lavery: Thanks for bearing with me today! I’ll see you all next week.
Q. My parents make me feel guilty for not being a stay-at-home mother: My husband and I both work full time and have two children under 5. My parents strongly disagree with me (a mom) working full time outside of the house. They are both passive-aggressive and full-on aggressive about their disapproval. When they visit and insist on watching the kiddos, they point to normal toddler behavior and dissect it as ways in which my kids are suffering because I—but not my husband, ahem—am not staying home with them. I don’t question my decision—I love my work and my kids are fine—but my parents stress me out and I don’t know how to make it better. Read what Carvell Wallace had to say.
"colleague" - Google News
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Help! My Co-Worker Says He Took Pics of Our Colleague Breastfeeding During a Zoom Call. - Slate
"colleague" - Google News
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