There is one reason, and one reason only, to be excited about the final series of Game of Thrones. To watch all manner of epic dragon battles? To see who wins in a generations-long contest of good against evil? No. You are only excited about Game of Thronesbecause you want to see what happens to Ser Pounce the cat. Because the world of Game of Thrones is craven and bloodthirsty, isn’t it? It’s a quagmire of violence and busted ethics. Everyone in Game of Thrones, even the ones we side with, are warped and broken and monstrous. But not Ser Pounce.…
Author: Loknath Das
Dallas Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson (13) defends as Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard (0) works for a shot-attempt in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Dallas, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)ASSOCIATED PRESS In case anyone doubted that the Portland Trail Blazers are just not a good road team, they made a convincing argument on their own behalf Sunday afternoon, when they lost 102-101 to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. The Blazers blew a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, when they had their worst quarter of the season. They scored just nine points in the…
Violent games keep getting banned in China. Last month, as r/gamingpointed out, China banned nine games and forced changes on 11 more. Many gory games have no chance of release. To slip past the country’s draconian censors, Chinese online retailers must get creative. According to website Abacus, Taobao sellers have been trying to skirt around the bans with pseudonyms and hand-drawn box art. Website Automaton Media reports that the game is being sold with titles like “Shoot And See: Remake 2″ and “Capcom Remake 2.” Screenshot: Baidu Gory and scary? No, Resident Evil 2 is adorable and nice. Sorry, I meant “First Day of Work at the Police Station:…
Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Middleware Market Size, Status And Forecast 2019-2025 The report provides a unique tool for evaluating the Market, highlighting opportunities, and supporting strategic and tactical decision-making. This report recognizes that in this rapidly-evolving and competitive environment, up-to-date marketing information is essential to monitor performance and make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, and focuses on markets capacities and on the changing structure of the Internet Of Things (IoT) Middleware. The report presents the market competitive landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market. Top…
Third-party enterprise software support companies such as Rimini Street promise to cut business customers’ application update and support prices, but buyer beware: It’s important to review the total costs of such software support services. ORACLE The differences between the ongoing maintenance provided by the software’s developer (which typically charges from 18% to 22% of the original purchase price per year) and the maintenance provided by a third party are very real. Failure to understand the differences in software support will result in…
Bollywood diva Anushka Sharma has become the talk of town after fans started noticing a striking resemblance between her and famed American singer Julia Michaels. The 25-year-old popstar had recently turned to Instagram to post a picture of herself but soon had her post flooded with comments from social media users around the world who couldn’t help but notice how the singer comes off as the spitting blonde image of B-Town’s own desi girl Anushka. Soon after, the two stars seven seas apart from each other became a trending topic on social media with netizens sharing hilarious memes of the…
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Once James Harden figures out the best way to take over a game, there isn’t much other NBA teams can do to stop him. Harden attacked on both ends of the court and quickly filled up the stat sheet to power the Houston Rockets to a 125-98 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. Harden had 43 points for his 26th straight game with at least 30 points. The 30-point streak is the third-longest in NBA history, trailing only Wilt Chamberlain’s runs of 65 and 31 games. “It was a must win for us…
A group of representatives from Santander Bank, which won several awards, including Best Trade Finance Provider for Latin America. The leading trade finance banks are on the verge of transforming their industry from a paper-based system to a more efficient and transparent digitized model. This could help bankers amass the necessary resources to bridge the trade finance gap in emerging markets and, armed with transaction data, customize their trade offerings to better meet each customer’s individual needs. “Data-led processing and technology will drive efficiencies and put more credit on the table,” says Samuel Mathew, managing director and global head of…
Dolat Capital’s research report on Cholamandalam Investment and Finance In our visit note dated 24th Dec 2018, we were confident of a strong performance, even in the crisis. It reported an even better performance. Disbursements grew 13% YoY with vehicles growing 11% YoY, and LAP 18% YoY. A 34% YoY growth in vehicles and a 14% growth in LAP aided a 32% YoY growth in AUM. The negative carry on upfront lines drawn (` 5000 mn) let NIMs down, but we are not perturbed. We have factored a 20% growth in AUM, dragged by weaker demand sentiment in its largest contributing…
While market challenges proved as a dampener on disbursals (used de-grew 18% YoY) and core AUMs reported mere 12% YoY, SHTF maintained decent earnings performance with PAT growing 17% YoY at Rs 6.4bn (PLe: Rs 6.1bn). Beat on numbers were largely driven by NII putting up healthy 15% YoY growth translating into healthy 17%+ YoY growth in PPoP indicating core metrics remaining strong for SHTF. While NIMs at 7.4% were maintained, funding costs pressures have been rightly compensated by rebound in asset quality w.r.t. absolute GNPAs declining (1.4% YoY) and credit costs reducing YoY and QoQ (22bps). While Management stands…