a premier independent consulting firm specializing in public sector technology transformations today announced it was selected through a rigorous competitive process involving several prominent global consulting firms to lead a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) digital transformation initiative for the Port of Portland This initiative positions the Port at the forefront of technological excellence and operational efficiency "We are honored to collaborate with the Port of Portland on this transformative journey," said Abhijit Verekar "Our goal is to deliver objective guidance and innovative solutions that enhance operations and establish a resilient foundation for sustained growth and agility." This partnership underscores the critical importance of independent expertise in managing large-scale technology transformations Leveraging extensive public sector experience Avero Advisors will empower the Port of Portland to achieve—and surpass—its transformational objectives Key Initiatives of the Partnership Include: Through Avero Advisors' leadership and expertise the Port of Portland will redefine operational standards and implement future-ready infrastructure supporting sustainable About Avero AdvisorsAvero Advisors is a leading independent consulting firm that guides public sector organizations through complex digital transformations Committed to providing unbiased advice and tangible outcomes Avero Advisors empowers clients to achieve operational excellence and sustainable innovation About the Port of PortlandThe Port of Portland is dedicated to conducting efficient and environmentally responsible operations Through strategic partnerships and ongoing innovation the Port significantly contributes to regional economic development and enhances global trade capabilities Media Contact:Abhijit (AV) VerekarCEO & FounderAvero Advisors[email protected] https://averoadvisors.com/ This strategic collaboration represents a pivotal milestone emphasizing the essential role independent expertise plays in successfully navigating digital transformation complexities Banking & Financial Services Computer & Electronics Contracts Do not sell or share my personal information: today announced it has been selected by Santa Fe County through a rigorous competitive process involving several prominent global consulting firms to lead a comprehensive Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) transformation initiative Avero Advisors will guide Santa Fe County through selecting and implementing a new Jail Management System further strengthening the County's technological capabilities and public safety infrastructure This partnership underscores the crucial role an independent consulting partner plays in successfully guiding complex technology projects that enhance operational efficiency and drive long-term success "As Santa Fe County embarks on its ERP modernization journey we are proud to serve as their trusted partner," said Abhijit Verekar unbiased guidance that optimizes processes and establishes a solid foundation for sustainable growth and operational agility." Large-scale ERP transformations require fresh perspectives and objective insight—qualities that Avero Advisors uniquely delivers With deep public sector experience and proven methodologies Avero Advisors empowers government organizations to navigate and overcome the complexities associated with digital transformation By leveraging Avero Advisors' extensive ERP transformation expertise Santa Fe County is positioned to elevate its operational efficiency and establish future-ready technology infrastructure About Avero AdvisorsAvero Advisors is a leading independent consulting firm dedicated to guiding public sector organizations through complex technology transformations Committed to unbiased advice and tangible results Avero Advisors helps clients achieve operational excellence and sustained innovation About Santa Fe CountySanta Fe County is committed to providing efficient transparent government services to enhance residents' quality of life Through strategic investments in technology and innovation Santa Fe County continually improves operational efficiency and delivers outstanding public services Media Contact:Abhijit VerekarCEO & FounderAvero Advisors  [email protected]averoadvisors.com This strategic partnership marks a significant step forward in Santa Fe County's digital transformation journey highlighting the invaluable role of an independent consulting partner in successfully navigating ERP modernization complexities Licensing Having shown a penchant for winning trophies Gonzalez has found success with the LA Galaxy He remains one of the experienced veterans in the MNT player pool for a side looking to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Gonzalez has contributed to the USA's last two Concacaf Gold Cup titles in 2013 and 2017 and was named to the tournament Best XI in the most recent edition Growing up in a Mexican-American family in Dallas Omar's parents worked hard in order to provide a good life for he and his three siblings His father Adrian put in long hours driving a dump truck that hauled gravel and concrete to construction sites around Dallas And when she wasn't driving Omar and his siblings to practices and games his mother Maria worked multiple jobs before becoming a bilingual teaching assistant in an elementary school and Omar found a way to give back to his folks for all they invested in their children Returning to Texas for a Concacaf Champions League match against FC Dallas in 2016 Gonzalez told reporters that he had bought their house "I think every kid dreams of taking care of their parents one day So I'm very proud and happy that I was able to do that for them." Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page There is a new word for the degradation of online platforms “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy,” says the adage that’s overkill: the Gods just need to make people forget Amnesia turns out to be a powerful narcotic and it’s been clouding our perceptions of what’s been happening on the internet for at least 25 years namely the inexorable degradation of the online environment and our passive Examples? Everywhere you look. Take Google search that efficient and a massive improvement on what went before You typed in a query and got a list of websites that were indicated by a kind of automated peer-review called PageRank the first page of results from a search for “high-quality saucepans” produces a myriad of “sponsored” items Thanks to Cory Doctorow, the great tech critic, we now have a term for this decay process in online platforms – enshittification. “First,” he writes “they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves.” Enshittification results from the convergence of two things: the power of platform owners to change how their platforms extract value from users and the nature of the two-sided markets – where the platforms sit between buyers and sellers holding each hostage to the other and then raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them So are we stuck with enshittification? For the time being, probably yesIt’s easy to see how it happens. Rule One for any online venture is to acquire large numbers of users quickly so that you can harness the power of network effects to keep them inside your walled garden. You do this by offering “free” services (Google, Facebook you turn them into a captive market for your real customers – advertisers and vendors And once you’ve got them locked in then (Rule Three) you’re in a seller’s market – and have a licence to print money This is the enshittification cycle. The basic idea, says the economist Tim Harford “was sketched out in economic literature in the 1980s Economic theorists lack Doctorow’s gift for a potent neologism but they certainly understand how to make a formal model of a product going to the dogs.” The first is the astonishing power of network effects family members and significant others are on those systems then you’re effectively cutting off your nose to spite your face The second inertial force is technical – the fact that these systems are not interoperable: you can’t easily take your “social graph” (your network of contacts) with you the platform owner can make it very difficult or even impossible to do When Elon Musk acquired Twitter he banned interoperable software crippled the company’s APIs and tried to terrorise users by suspending them for including their Mastodon handles in their profiles increasing “the amount of enshittification users can be force-fed without risking their departure” The regulatory insistence on interoperability that brought the mobile phone market under control would be more complex (and therefore more difficult) to impose on social media platforms The business model of targeted advertising that underpins the grotesque deformations of online platforms could be outlawed enshittification might become so repulsive to users and consumers that they will rebel they will have to remember that other realities are possible – that there was a time when things were better The world doesn’t always have to go to the dogs Parroting sanityNew York magazine has a wonderful profile of Emily Bender, a paragon of informed sanity in the nonsense about ChatGPT: You Are Not a Parrot – And a Chatbot Is not a Human Moral programmingMaciej Cegłowski, one of the wisest observers of the industry, gives a terrific talk on The Moral Economy of Tech Admissions of truthIf you are interested in the truth about the university’s admissions policy Legacy and Athlete Preference at Harvard is a revealing National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper by Peter Arcidiacono This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media Grocery delivery in Indiana is nothing new Pea Pod and Hello Fresh are returning to the practice of delivering fresh food to your door doughnuts and vegetables had daily home delivery or a vendor with a bike or horse and a cart selling their goods from the street You could even get potato chips delivered to your door.  here comes the Omar Man,” then you remember the aroma of freshly baked goods delivered to your home Retro Recipes: Ayres Tea Room chicken salad and chicken velvet soup Retro Recipes: Roselyn Bakery recipe brings back dandy memories William Coad of Nebraska owned the Omaha Flour Mills which made Omar Flour he purchased the City Baking Co. of Indianapolis and the Donaldson Baking Co. of Columbus in 1927 and renamed the company Omar Bakeries The name was from a poem by Persian astronomer and poet “Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough and Grocer’s Baking Co., constructed a building for Omar Bakeries in 1915 It was originally named Elwarner Flats and featured a ground-floor retail space rented to a grocer a downstairs laundry and upstairs apartments When a fire destroyed the Grocers Baking Co. those operations also were moved to the building at East 16th Street and Bellefontaine Avenue. The building still stands but it's set to be demolished as part of a residential development by CalAtlantic Homes of Indiana Omar competed with several other bakeries in Indianapolis for home delivery Omar’s advertising campaigns of slick full or half-page advertisements that showed the wholesomeness of its products and the clean-cut “Omar Man” brought in the customers.  Freshness was the key and “Direct from Our Ovens to Your Home,” was emblazoned on the delivery trucks Omar Bakeries had a policy that all goods on the trucks which remained unsold at the end of the day were sold at a reduced price at their “returned-goods” store.  the Omar Man also distributed the "Omar Super Book of Comics," but only if you were a member of the Omar Junior Comic Book Club Bread and comics — what more could a kid ask for?By the mid-1950s Omar had more than 280 route men from 12 distribution points throughout the state and 91 in Indianapolis Omar turned out 525,000 loaves of 17 varieties of bread each week and 48 varieties of cakes then sold four of the bakeries five years later. Omar Bakeries suspended operations at the Indianapolis plant on Feb moving operations to the company’s Columbus Deliveries in Indianapolis were suspended a year later.  No longer would local children hear the cry of Here Comes the Omar Man” — or the popular jingle which had run on TV and radio stations across the city from the Mary Baker program on WIRE in the 1930s to Bill Crawford’s WFBM nightly weather show on WFBM-TV Channel 6 in the '50s.  Here's a walk down memory lane for Omar jingle fans: Here comes the Omar man!I’m the Omar man (tap,tap,tap)knocking at your door (rappa tap tap).When you taste my bread (mmmm boy!),you’re gonna want more (rappa tap tap).Yes everyone loves those cookies and cakesand the wonderful bread the Omar bakes!Get it from your Omar man Follow photo coordinator and RetroIndy writer Dawn Mitchell on Twitter: @Dawn_Mitchell61 (This article was first published in Arabic on Bokra) dubbing him “Explosive Omar.” And if he and his boycott movement are giving both Zionist officials and their media a panic attack one can only assume he is doing something right “Is this the Renaissance era for BDS?” I ask him in a phone call He laughs and tells me that there is still much to come Unified trilingual anti-Zionism at its best Barghouti explains his choice to not speak with the Israeli media and the logic behind the more general call for boycott divestment and sanctions against Israel as a whole: “In every other situation of sustained oppression human rights groups call for punitive measures against the state and its institutions not just against a narrow component of the state that is directly connected to the injustice at hand No one called for banning products of Sudanese companies producing in Darfur in response to the Sudanese regime’s war crimes there “As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said and treated as if it were above international law BDS seeks to end this Israeli exceptionalism and criminal impunity Israel must be treated like any other state committing similarly egregious crimes.” BDS calls for: an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian and other Arab territories since 1967 including dismantling the wall and colonies; an end to Israel’s system of racial discrimination against its Palestinian citizens; and respecting the UN-sanctioned fundamental right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes “These three basic rights correspond to the three main components of the Palestinian people: those in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; those in the 1948 territory who live under Israeli apartheid He insists that regardless of what shape the political solution to the conflict takes – it must be based on these principles The tool that 170 Palestinian civil society organizations chose in their struggle to demand these rights is based wholly on a human rights discourse and non-violent action — as opposed to the violence of the occupation itself it is important to hear and understand what Barghouti has to say You have had a lot of successes in your campaign recently two examples being Lauryn Hill canceling her show in Israel and Orange threatening to pull its brand from the country What other success stories can you talk about that did not get as much media attention “The huge Dutch pension fund, PGGM, whose international investments are close to $200 billion, decided last year to divest from the top five Israeli banks due to their involvement in financing the occupation “This was followed by the U.S. Presbyterian Church’s divestment from Caterpillar, HP and Motorola Solutions for their complicity in the occupation, and by Bill Gates’ divestment from G4S, the largest security company in the world which is involved in Israelis crimes against the Palestinian people BDS is succeeding in revealing the toxicity of the ‘brand’ Israel.” The artificial distinction between Israel and ‘the occupation’ is political and ideological.Omar Barghouti Some BDS activists choose to boycott all of Israel not just companies or bodies profiting directly from the occupation “The artificial and untenable distinction between Israel and ‘the occupation’ is political and ideological; it is not based on practical It is Israel that international law regards as the occupying power is the party responsible for the construction and maintenance of not just the colonial settlements “Israel is also responsible for what even the U.S. Department of State has criticized as institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and such a system fits the UN definition of apartheid.” is the denial of the right of return to Palestinian refugees comprise 68 percent of the Palestinian people A common accusation against the international BDS campaign is that it feeds on anti-Semitism “BDS is a non-violent human rights movement that seeks freedom, justice and equality for the Palestinian people, based on international law and universal principles of human rights. As such, BDS has consistently and categorically rejected all forms of discrimination and racism, including anti-Semitism as well as dozens of racist laws in Israel “Our non-violent struggle has never been against Jews or Israelis as Jews but against an unjust regime that enslaves our people with occupation apartheid and denial of the refugees’ UN-stipulated rights We are proud of the disproportionately high number of Jewish activists in the BDS movement human-rights-based boycotts of Israel’s violations of international law with anti-Jewish racism is not only false it is a racist attempt to put all Jews into one basket and to implicate them in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians “Israel’s charge of racism against the BDS movement is akin to the Ku Klux Klan accusing Martin Luther King Jr organization or any other entity to target “The three general criteria that the Palestinian BNC recommends in selecting strategic targets are: first the level of complicity – focusing on companies and products that are most clearly and directly involved in Israel’s human rights violations and easiest to explain to a wide audience “Second, cross-movement alliance possibility: prioritizing companies or products that enable the creation of broad, cross-struggle alliances. For example, the campaign to stop contracts with the Israeli water company, Mekorot engages a wide spectrum of environmental and anti-privatization campaigns the potential for success: a BDS campaign should have a realistic chance of success such as persuading an international company or institution to end support for an Israeli company.” A couple of months back I hosted a public discussion with Barghouti in front of 400 Palestinian citizens of Israel in the city of Ara’ra I asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they had ever heard of the BDS movement the terms ’48 region and ’48 Palestinians refer to the area inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders and Palestinian citizens of Israel “The Oslo accords disenfranchised Palestinians in the 1948 region causing a serious rift,” he explains the BDS movement insists on the right of all Palestinians to exercise self-determination as a unified people and as such Major groups within ‘48 were part of the launch of BDS in 2005 but the movement has not done enough to raise awareness there the struggle to decolonize our minds is an uphill struggle in the ‘48 region as the process of ‘Israelization,’ or colonization of our minds has been entrenched over the last seven decades An essential part of what the BDS movement does on daily basis is shattering despair and nourishing hope and conviction that we Our non-violent struggle has never been against Jews or Israelis as Jews but against an unjust regime.Omar Barghouti More and more companies are likely to pull out of Israel in the coming years as a result of BDS efforts and that would be a success for the movement what do you say to Palestinian citizens in Israel who might face layoffs or other economic consequences as a result of multi-national companies leaving the Israeli market not the resistance to occupation and apartheid is responsible for this and every other consequence of this resistance to oppression “Those who claim that BDS hurts Palestinians are not just making unfounded and unethical claims that fail to understand how resistance is always costly at first They are also patronizing in telling Palestinians that they understand our interests better than we do We reject this colonial attitude completely as much as Israel’s racist and colonial oppression does.” As a Palestinian citizen of Israel who can’t support BDS publicly due to restricting laws I feel I can’t really join your non-violent popular movement “This is a misunderstanding of the draconian and anti-democratic Israeli anti-BDS law the law does not actually prevent support for BDS It only makes it illegal to publicly advocate for boycotting Israel or any Israeli institution Any Jewish or Palestinian citizen of Israel who wishes to support the BDS movement can publicly declare his or her support without violating the law — so long as they do not directly call for any boycott (Editor’s note: Israel’s anti-boycott law does not criminalize calling for boycotts of Israel or its institutions but it does allow private citizens to sue anybody who makes such a public boycott call for monetary damages.) “There are ways to circumvent this repressive law I can present why Company X is complicit in violations of international law and then say ‘I myself am boycotting this company’s products but because of the repressive anti-boycott law I am not allowed to call on you to boycott it too.’ That way I am indirectly calling for the boycott without breaching the law we need wide-spread civil disobedience against this and all other draconian Israeli laws civil rights movement and the South African anti-apartheid movement Unethical and unjust laws should never be obeyed People of conscience should collectively and actively disobey them and eventually repeal them.” Another recent success for the BDS campaign which made headlines in Israel and worldwide was — surprisingly — not organized by Barghouti and the BNC the Palestinian Football Association was able to threaten Israel with expulsion from international sporting tournaments and eventually forced it to alter its policies that effect Palestinian soccer I want to understand how Barghouti feels about this — and the PA itself “BDS is a grassroots and civil society human rights movement that is entirely independent of the official Palestinian structures and any government,” he emphasizes “It played a critical role in the campaign to expel Israel from FIFA have been struggling for months to raise awareness about Israel’s violations of Palestinian athletes’ rights in the context of its overall occupation and oppression “The fact that Palestinian officials led the public effort in this regard was our Achilles’ heel because the Palestinian Authority is chained with the humiliating Oslo agreement and is not designed to resist Israel’s regime of oppression in any meaningful and strategic way.” but we are reaching our South Africa moment.Omar Barghouti The BDS movement is getting more and more popular Where do you see the movement going in both the near and far future We are not begging for charity; we are appealing for effective solidarity boycott on a basic level entails ‘withdrawing cooperation from an evil system.’ When we ask institutions and organizations to divest from companies involved in Israel’s crimes we are not asking for anything heroic We are merely asking those organizations to fulfill a profound moral obligation and this is a main factor behind the movement’s impressive growth over the last decade “The BDS movement is reaching a tipping point mainly because its strategy works — it works well — and because Israel has shifted to the fanatic right with fascist elements in government dropping the last mask of its deceptive ‘democracy.’ Perhaps our most important achievement is uniting Palestinians from across the political and ideological spectrums on a human rights platform and behind a non-violent form of resistance that is anchored in international law.” Judging from the victories BDS appears to be racking up recently it seems that finally this strategy based on a rationale of sustained and escalating pressure on Israel in all fields – academic economic and military – is starting to have a real and serious effect but we are reaching our South Africa moment.” (Top photo: Graffitti on the separation wall in Bethlehem He was a 2019-20 Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School Rami served as a parliamentary consultant and media spokesperson for Palestinian member of Knesset (Israeli parliament) Haneen Zoabi Rami is also co-founder and manager of the first ever “Palestine Music Expo” - an event that connects the local Palestinian music scene to the worldwide industry Rami was the host and co-founder of the Arabic-language critical daily news show “On the Other Hand,” that premiered in November 2022 on Israel's Broadcasting Corporation and has accumulated millions of views since then Rami is also the co-director and co-produced "Lyd," a sci-fi documentary directed with Sarah Friedland that tells the story of his hometown of Lyd since 1948 Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7 Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives Can we count on your support +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening