Alibaba Computing Cloud Is Growing
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba’s cloud computing business is growing fast, and will soon have a large amount of cash, which has industry insiders wondering if it will start competing with the American cloud giants. Cloud computing is a multibillion dollar business that is growing each year, and it is led by Google, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services, with IBM and other companies planning to join the fold.
Right now, there are 15 companies that are considered big players in the cloud computing business, 13 of those companies are American, if Alibaba starts competing with the American cloud giants, it will be the third international company to be considered a major player in the cloud business. According to documents Alibaba filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of their initial public offering, the company had revenues of $102 million from cloud sales last year, which was a 26 percent increase from last year, while it isn’t as high as the 50 percent increase Amazon Web Services saw, it isn’t bad either.
Although Alibaba has invested a fortune in American technological companies, and even hired Morgan Stanley to help them find a partner or company that can acquire them, they are not yet an international cloud contender. Industry insiders believe that the main reason they aren’t a contender is because they have their hands full handling their business in China.
Alibaba’s cloud business, which was started in 2009, still has a long way to go before they can really compete with the cloud giants, they have only three large data centers in China, and a small one in Hong Kong, compared to the 25 regional data centers and 52 smaller centers that Amazon Web Services has around the world, with another currently being developed in China. When it comes to their performance, Alibaba also lags behind Amazon Web Services. They handle $5.8 billion on China’s biggest shopping day, which is very impressive, and according to their filing with the SEC, their cloud service does 3.6 million computing transactions per minute, which is a lot, but it pales in comparison to Amazon, which does 1.5 million transactions per second.
For now, Alibaba’s focus is on their business in mainland China, where they are planning to learn more about the cloud business before venturing out in the future. From there, they will probably expand across Asia, where they have a lot of business relationships, then Africa, which is still an open territory for cloud computing businesses. Alibaba’s cloud computing business is growing quickly, but isn’t ready to take on the cloud giants in America for now. Expect them to be a major player in the cloud computing business a few years down the road.
What Are The Most Best Selling Board Games?
The present age may be of games like ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Halo’ but it is always fun to play games or look back at the ones from where all it started. It was initially the board games which required pure luck, strategy or combination of both. There were a set of rules to guide every player throughout the game. Those games were really popular and really simple in its approach. Some popular board games are now getting converted to video games for better experience. There are few games which are played for centuries, show the impact it has created amongst players.
The best-selling games are no doubt the games that are most popular in the market. Here is a list of popular board games that were huge hit and still running.
- Chess: This game started from India way back in sixth century and till modern day is successfully running all across. The game is played with 16 pieces of keys that are of different types. The main aim is capture opponent king. Quite an interesting and common game across different platforms.
- Checkers: Checkers has been in the market for around centuries. The game is meant for two layers and every player has to make diagonal moves. However there are several versions such as American checkers that came up with time, slightly different compared to the original game. Check out this link to play checkers online.
- Scrabble: This game is around the market for almost eighty years. Players place single letter across a board, in all direction o form any work and accordingly score points. There is a scrabble dictionary available to avoid any debate or confusion related to existence of word. The game is still popular and has been a huge hit in market, now available in several online platforms too.
- Backgammon: Backgammon is doing the round since 3000 B.C. The game is an ideal combination of probability and strategy with all new tactic involved. Quiet interesting one for players involved with the game. There is a piece of dice which is basically used to determine number of space any player can move. The moves should be made based on the opponents counter move, huge across the world.
- Clue: The game is also known as Cluedo that needs lot of deductive skill to play the game. The game was invented way back in 1949, considered amongst the popular board game in the world. The player has to move across several rooms to find out the weapon and identity used to kill Mr. Black, which is popular used in international edition.
- Monopoly: The game was introduced in the year 1934 by Parker Brothers, few finds its trace way back in the year 1903 but the game was widely popular across the globe. Monopoly game moves around the simple logic of buying as much property as possible. Rent is collected from opponents, bankrupt lead to eviction from the game.
These were some popular board games that amazed millions across the world. Even today all such games are played, however there are many more in the list such as Trivial Pursuit, Pictionary and Othello.
PS! The list of strategy games is presented by BoaGam. Thanks to Joseph Butler and Kate Rodgers.
Legalization of marijuana in Native American reservations
The legalization of marijuana has always been a subject for debate for the past decades. Despite the medicinal characteristics that marijuana has for its users, United States of America still has a firm stand over the continuous ban for growing and eventually selling these stuffs. Many years have passed and the law that prohibits one from getting their hands on this addictive plant has been implemented. Because of the addictive traits of this plant, it is banned everywhere because of the threat to abusive use.
Massive change
Luckily, Justice Department has issued an announced regarding the legalization of marijuana in Native American reservations. This was after how many decades of banning them to grow this plant. It was stated that the Justice Department will not anymore subject one to legal proceedings when it comes to federal laws that support the regularization and commercialization of marijuana within the reservation even when the state law itself has been strict into implementing complete ban of this said to be medical drug.
Conditions and limitations
U.S attorney for North Dakota, Timothy Purdon explained that federal prosecutors won’t prosecute anyone in the reservation for growing marijuana as long as they will follow the guidelines. Purdon further stated that they will still give their support for any marijuana bans that the tribal government will pass. On the contrary, U.S Attorney for Oregon stated that set guidelines were given as an answer to the inquiry of the tribal government whether marijuana bans still apply on states which legalize the use of marijuana if it is used for recreational purposes. The bottom line is that the final decision whether reservations will be legalized depends on the tribal government. Whatever the decision will be, it will be supported by the state.
Factors affecting the decision towards legalization in the tribal government perspective
Existing negative cases as a result of marijuana usage will be one thing to look into. There are reservations which are currently suffering from the negative effects of marijuana due to abusive use. This is most likely to affect the decision that the tribal government can make. In fact, many of them have sought the help of the police to get rid of these people.
When will the state come to intervene?
If it happened that reservations fail to follow the agreed guidelines, the state has the right to intervene and to exercise appropriate actions that need to be done when course of actions that violate the guidelines were done. These include when marijuana is sold or used by minors. When the state learned that marijuana are used by people who are under the legal age, they will step in with the agreement and prosecute those who are found guilty. Also, carting marijuana to a place where it is illegal are also prohibited even if it comes from a place where it is legal. Disconformity to the guideline will lead to the intervention of the state law. The next thing that will be taken into consideration is the corresponding tax that comes with it.
More info:
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/12/12/native-american-reservations-now-free-to-legalize-marijuana/
- http://mrvapo.com/
James Crieg Interview: How to Avoid Injuries in The Gym
If you are serious about building muscles or losing excess fat, the last thing you need is an injury. Of course, it is not possible to avoid injuries, every athlete knows that it happens from time to time, however, it is possible to minimize the chance of injuries by following the tips that you will find below.
Technique
Incorrect technique is one of the most popular causes of injuries in the gym. Out body has very specific biomechanical pathways and if you do exercises incorrectly breaking the trajectory of the move, you are guaranteed to either pull your muscle or tear it. If you do not have a personal trainer of an experienced friend who can show you the right technique, go to youtube.com, http://jackedgorilla.com/ or bodybuilding.com. There you will find enough videos demonstrating you how to do any exercise.
The more does not mean the better
Some people always try to surprise others by using too much weight. Every athlete has ever seen beginners in the gym who try to do biceps curls with insane weight with terrible technique. The truth is, the more does not necessary mean the better. You can cheat in last reps, but you should always start your exercises with clean technique. If the weight that you use makes it impossible, decrease it.
Warm up
I have been training for more than 10 years and understand the importance of adequate warm-up. I have once torn my deltoid muscle because I started pull ups without warming up. It took me 6 long months to recover from the injury. During this time I could not do most of the exercises for upper body and a result, I lose so much weight. I recommend you to warm-up at least 5-10 minutes before starting your workout. Usually I do some stretching and high-rep weight lifting with light weight (1 set). I have never had any injuries since than.
Training too often
Remember, muscles grow while you rest, not while you train. That is why it is very important to give your body enough time to rest and recover your muscles. Many athletes, especially beginners neglect this simple principle and train every single day. In most cases this leads to over-training, fatigue, muscle loss, decrease in testosterone production (more info here: http://jackedgorilla.com/best-testosterone-booster) problems with nervous system and weakness. Feel your body, if you feel that it has not fully recovered from the previous workout, give it one more day.
I hope these 4 tips will help you avoid serious injuries in the gym and achieve your goal. In my next article I will talk more about the right technique in complex exercises. Good luck!
5 Paintball Tips You Will Not Believe
Learning the basics in paintball is pretty easy, but to become a really good paintball player, you have to know a few strategic tips that will be beneficial for you and your teammates to be successful. Some of the tips and tricks that you can use to become a better paintball player are listed below.
Walking the Trigger
Photomonkey
According to pbguy.com. This technique turns your paintball gun into a fully automatic gun, allowing you to shoot a lot of paintballs in succession, which in turn allows your teammates to change positions quickly, with a low chance of getting hit, because your opponents are bunkered down, trying to avoid the rapid fire coming at them. All you have to do is place a couple of fingers over the trigger of your paintball gun, and tap the trigger quickly with both fingers, which allows your gun to shoot the paintballs rapidly, like an automatic weapon.
Switching Hands
If you are behind a bunker, you should switch the hand you are shooting with depending on which side you are firing from. If you are shooting from the right edge of the bunker, you should shoot with your right hand, and if you are firing from the left side of the bunker, you should switch the gun to your left hand. The purpose of the hand switch is to limit your exposure while firing, decreasing the chances of being shot. Shooting with your right hand when you are firing from the left edge leaves most of your body unprotected, making you an easy target for your opponents, and shooting with your left hand while shooting from the right edge does the same. Switching hands give your opponents a very small target to hit.
Swabbing the Barrel
When you have a ball break in your barrel, it makes the barrel wet and slippery, the paintballs become less accurate, and you get more ball breaks easily. By using a long swab to clean out the barrel while playing, you dry it out, which allows it to fire accurately again, without having to remove the barrel to clean it out.
Match Strike and pbguy.com
Reloading While Shooting
A lot of new players make the mistake of pointing their gun down to reload, which allows any opponent you were pinning down to hit you because you were focused on reloading the gun. An easy way to reload while shooting is to crouch on your knees, with your paintball pointed at your opponent, and use your free hand to add more paintballs into the gun, without having to stop shooting at your opponent, which keeps them pinned in the position they were before you had to reload.
Hitting the Sweet Spot
This is when you shoot at the area your target is going to, and not where they are. If you see an opponent trying to move between bunkers, aim for where you expect him to be by the time the paintball gets to him, and you can hit him before he gets to the next bunker. These are some techniques that will help you become a better paintballer, and will come in handy if you learn to do them right.