Cloudflare

Cloudflare

Cloudflare, Inc. is an American web-infrastructure and website-security company, providing content-delivery-network services, DDoS mitigation, Internet security, and distributed domain-name-server services. Cloudflare's services sit between a website's visitor and the Cloudflare user's hosting provider, acting as a reverse proxy for websites. Cloudflare's headquarters are in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Lisbon, London, Singapore, Sydney, Munich, San Jose, Champaign, Illinois, Austin, New York City and Washington, D.C. 

Cloudflare has faced several controversies over its unwillingness to monitor content distributed via its network —a stance it has defended based on the principle of free speech.  Cloudflare stated that it will "continue to abide by the law" and "serve all customers", further explaining "our proper role is not that of Internet censor".  These controversies have involved Cloudflare's policy of content neutrality and subsequent usage of its services by numerous contentious websites,  including The Daily Stormer  and 8chan,  an imageboard which has been linked to multiple mass shootings in the United States and the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand. In 2017, Cloudflare decided to cease providing services to The Daily Stormer. In August 2019, Cloudflare stopped services for 8chan following a mass shooting in El Paso stating that 8chan is "refusing to moderate their hate-filled community". 

In 2014, Cloudflare introduced an effort called Project Galileo in response to cyberattacks against vulnerable online targets, such as artists, activists, journalists, and human rights groups. Project Galileo provides such groups with free services to protect their websites. In 2019, Cloudflare announced that 600 users and organizations were participating in the project. 

Cloudflare was created in 2009 by Matthew Prince, Lee Holloway, and Michelle Zatlyn, who had previously worked on Project Honey Pot.  Cloudflare was launched at the September 2010 TechCrunch Disrupt conference.  It received media attention in June 2011 for providing security services to the website of LulzSec, a black hat hacking group. 

In June 2012, Cloudflare partnered with various web hosts, including HostPapa, to implement its "Railgun" technology: a web protocol intended to improve performance. 

In February 2014, Cloudflare mitigated what was at the time the largest ever recorded DDoS attack, which peaked at 400 Gigabits per second against an undisclosed customer.  In November 2014, Cloudflare reported another massive DDoS attack with independent media sites being targeted at 500 Gbit/s. 

As of 2017, Cloudflare provides DNS services to 12 million websites,  adding approximately 20,000 new customers every day  According to W3Techs, Cloudflare is the most popular reverse proxy service, used by 11.6% of the top 10 million websites.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudflare

Chi Pig

Chi Pig

Chi-Pig was a new wave power trio hailing from Akron, Ohio.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Susan Schmidt (daughter of Marjorie H. Schmidt of The Co-eds) and Deborah Smith were active in several area bands, notably The Poor Girls, Cinderella's Revenge, and Friction.  Smith and Schmidt formed The Poor Girls with Pam Johnson and Esta Kerr in 1965, while studying at Litchfield Junior High School, the first significant rock band to come from Akron and the first to consist only of women. They played regularly, were profiled by Jane Scott in The Plain Dealer, and opened for bands such as Cream and Steppenwolf. The group continued during their time at Firestone High School, until splitting up in 1969. 

Schmidt and Smith played in numerous bands throughout the 1970s, including Cinderella's Revenge and Friction with Peter Laughner.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chi-Pig

James Harden

James Harden

James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for Arizona State, where he was named a consensus All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2009. Harden was selected with the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder. In 2012, he was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year with the Thunder and helped the team reach the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Miami Heat in five games.

Harden was traded to Houston before the 2012–13 NBA season. He became one of the NBA's most prolific scorers and earned recognition as the best shooting guard in the NBA,  as well as one of the top overall players in the league.  In 2018, Harden led the league in scoring and was named the NBA Most Valuable Player. He is an eight-time NBA All-Star and has earned All-NBA Team honors six times, including five first-team selections.

Harden is a two-time member of the United States national basketball team, winning gold medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2014 FIBA World Cup.

Harden attended Artesia High School in Lakewood, California. In his sophomore year, he averaged 13.2 points as Artesia went 28–5. He improved his stats to 18.8 points, 7.7 boards and 3.5 assists in his junior season and led Artesia to the California state title and a 33–1 record. Artesia repeated as state champions in Harden's final year after going 33–2. Harden had similar stats during the previous season: 18.8 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. He was named a McDonald's All-American, and also earned second-team Parade All-American honors.

He also helped his AAU team, Pump-N-Run Elite, to the 2006 Las Vegas Adidas Super 64 championship.  Harden had 34 points in the victory over a DC Assault team which included Michael Beasley, Nolan Smith and Austin Freeman. In the game against Houston Hoops, played on the same day, Harden had 33 points. In the final, Pump-N-Run Elite beat Kevin Love's Southern California All-Stars.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harden

Portland

Portland

Portland (/ˈpɔːrtlənd/, PORT-lənd) is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Multnomah County. It is a major port in the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. As of 2019, Portland had an estimated population of 654,741,  making it the 26th most populated city in the United States and the second-most populous in the Pacific Northwest after Seattle. Approximately 2.4 million people live in the Portland metropolitan statistical area (MSA), making it the 25th most populous in the United States. Its combined statistical area (CSA) ranks 19th-largest with a population of around 3.2 million. Approximately 60% of Oregon's population resides within the Portland metropolitan area. 

Named after Portland, Maine,  the Oregon settlement began to be populated in the 1830s near the end of the Oregon Trail. Its water access provided convenient transportation of goods, and the timber industry was a major force in the city's early economy. At the turn of the 20th century, the city had a reputation as one of the most dangerous port cities in the world, a hub for organized crime and racketeering. After the city's economy experienced an industrial boom during World War II, its hard-edged reputation began to dissipate. Beginning in the 1960s,  Portland became noted for its growing progressive political values, earning it a reputation as a bastion of counterculture. 

The city operates with a commission-based government guided by a mayor and four commissioners as well as Metro, the only directly elected metropolitan planning organization in the United States.  The city government is notable for its land-use planning and investment in public transportation.  Portland is frequently recognized as one of the world's greenest cities to live and Portland was the first city to enact a comprehensive plan to reduce CO2 emissions.  Its climate is marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. This climate is ideal for growing roses, and Portland has been called the "City of Roses" for over a century. 

During the prehistoric period, the land that would become Portland was flooded after the collapse of glacial dams from Lake Missoula, in what would later become Montana. These massive floods occurred during the last ice age and filled the Willamette Valley with 300 to 400 feet (91 to 122 m) of water. 

Before American colonizers began arriving in the 1800s, the land was inhabited for many centuries by two bands of indigenous Chinook people—the Multnomah and the Clackamas.  The Chinook people occupying the land were first documented in 1805 by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.  Before its European settlement, the Portland Basin of the lower Columbia River and Willamette River valleys had been one of the most densely populated regions on the Pacific Coast

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland,_Oregon

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (/ˈbeɪdər ˈɡɪnzbɜːrɡ/, born Joan Ruth Bader; March 15, 1933)  is an American lawyer and jurist who is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton and took the oath of office on August 10, 1993. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O'Connor) of four to be confirmed to the court (along with Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who are still serving). Following O'Connor's retirement, and until Sotomayor joined the court, Ginsburg was the only female justice on the Supreme Court. During that time, Ginsburg became more forceful with her dissents, which were noted by legal observers and in popular culture. She is generally viewed as belonging to the liberal wing of the court. Ginsburg has authored notable majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia, Olmstead v. L.C., and Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc.

Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her older sister died when she was a baby, and her mother, one of her biggest sources of encouragement, died shortly before Ginsburg graduated from high school. She then earned her bachelor's degree at Cornell University, and became a wife and mother before starting law school at Harvard, where she was one of the few women in her class. Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School, where she graduated tied for first in her class. Following law school, Ginsburg turned to academia. She was a professor at Rutgers Law School and Columbia Law School, teaching civil procedure as one of the few women in her field.

Ginsburg spent a considerable part of her legal career as an advocate for the advancement of gender equality and women's rights, winning multiple victories arguing before the Supreme Court. She advocated as a volunteer lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and was a member of its board of directors and one of its general counsels in the 1970s. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where she served until her appointment to the Supreme Court. Ginsburg has received attention in American popular culture for her fiery liberal dissents and refusal to step down; she has been dubbed "The Notorious R.B.G." in reference to the rapper known as "The Notorious B.I.G."

Joan Ruth Bader was born on March 15, 1933, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the second daughter of Celia (née Amster) and Nathan Bader, who lived in the Flatbush neighborhood. Her father was a Jewish emigrant from Odessa, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, and her mother was born in New York to Austrian Jewish parents.  The Baders' older daughter Marylin died of meningitis at age six, when Ruth was 14 months old. :3  The family called Joan Ruth "Kiki", a nickname Marylin had given her for being "a kicky baby". :3   When "Kiki" started school, Celia discovered that her daughter's class had several other girls named Joan, so Celia suggested that the teacher call her daughter "Ruth" to avoid confusion.  :3 Although not devout, the Bader family belonged to East Midwood Jewish Center, a Conservative synagogue, where Ruth learned tenets of the Jewish faith and gained familiarity with the Hebrew language. :14–15 At age 13, Ruth acted as the "camp rabbi" at a Jewish summer program at Camp Che-Na-Wah in Minerva, New York.[8]

Celia took an active role in her daughter's education, often taking her to the library.  Celia had been a good student in her youth, graduating from high school at age 15, yet she could not further her own education because her family instead chose to send her brother to college. Celia wanted her daughter to get more education, which she thought would allow Ruth to become a high school history teacher.  Ruth attended James Madison High School, whose law program later dedicated a courtroom in her honor. Celia struggled with cancer throughout Ruth's high school years and died the day before Ruth's high school graduation. 

Bader attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where she was a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi.  While at Cornell, she met Martin D. Ginsburg at age 17. She graduated from Cornell with a bachelor of arts degree in government on June 23, 1954. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the highest-ranking female student in her graduating class.  Bader married Ginsburg a month after her graduation from Cornell. She and Martin moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he was stationed as a Reserve Officers' Training Corps officer in the Army Reserve after his call-up to active duty.  At age 21, she worked for the Social Security Administration office in Oklahoma, where she was demoted after becoming pregnant with her first child.  She gave birth to a daughter in 1955. 

In the fall of 1956, Ginsburg enrolled at Harvard Law School, where she was one of only nine women in a class of about 500 men.  The Dean of Harvard Law reportedly invited all of the female law students to dinner at his family home and asked the female law students, including Ginsburg, "Why are you at Harvard Law School, taking the place of a man?"  When her husband took a job in New York City, Ginsburg transferred to Columbia Law School and became the first woman to be on two major law reviews: the Harvard Law Review and Columbia Law Review. In 1959, she earned her law degree at Columbia and tied for first in her class

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg

Tamar Braxton

Tamar Braxton

Tamar Estine Braxton[3] (born March 17, 1977)  is an American singer, actress, and television personality.

Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons released their debut album, So Many Ways, as a trio in 1996, and disbanded shortly afterward. In 2000, she released her debut self-titled album through DreamWorks Records. Following a thirteen-year break, Braxton released her second studio album, Love and War (2013), through Epic Records, which reached the number two position on the Billboard 200 chart.  She released her second album Calling All Lovers and third album Bluebird of Happiness in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Braxton has won a BET Award and three Soul Train Music Awards throughout her career. She has also been nominated for four Grammy Awards.

Since 2011, Braxton has starred in the We TV reality television series Braxton Family Values alongside her mother and sisters. She also served as a co-host of the Fox Broadcasting Company syndicated daytime talk show The Real from 2013 until 2016. She has received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations for her work on The Real. In 2019, she was the winner of the second season of Celebrity Big Brother.

Tamar Estine Braxton was born to Michael and Evelyn Braxton in Severn, Maryland on March 17, 1977. The youngest of the Braxtons' six children, Braxton started singing as a toddler. The Braxton children would eventually enter in their church choir, where their father Michael Braxton was a pastor. She and her sisters Toni, Traci, Towanda, and Trina, signed their first record deal with Arista Records in 1989. In 1990, they released their first single, "Good Life". "Good Life" was unsuccessful only peaking at No. 79 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles chart. At the time of the single's release, the members' age differences created a problem with marketing. Subsequently, The Braxtons were dropped from Arista Records. the remaining members were told that LaFace was not looking for another girl group since it had just signed TLC.  After Toni's departure from the group, the remaining Braxtons members became backup singers for Toni's first tour, music videos, and promotional appearances. She and her sisters Traci, Towanda, and Trina were featured in the music video for Toni Braxton's third single, "Seven Whole Days", from her self-titled debut album. 

In 1993, LaFace Records A&R Vice President, Bryant Reid, signed The Braxtons to LaFace. However, the group never released an album or single for the label. When Reid moved on to work for Atlantic Records, he convinced executives at LaFace to allow him to take the group to Atlantic also.  It was reported in Vibe magazine that in 1995, Traci Braxton had left the group to pursue a career as a youth counselor.  However, it was not confirmed until a 2011 promotional appearance on The Mo'Nique Show, that Traci was not allowed to sign with Atlantic because of her pregnancy at the time. 

In 1996, Tamar, Trina, and Towanda returned with a new album entitled So Many Ways, which peaked at No. 26 on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.  At the time of its release, Reid told Billboard Magazine, "I had a vision for them then that was about young sophistication with sex appeal." The trio also performed a remixed version of "So Many Ways" with rapper Jay-Z on September 9, 1996 at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards.  So Many Ways went on to peak at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 32 on the UK Singles Chart.  Braxton and her fellow group members served as the opening act for Toni Braxton on the European Leg of her Secrets Tour in 1997. The Braxtons decided to part ways as a group after Braxton left to pursue a solo career with DreamWorks Records in 1998.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamar_Braxton

Roshni Nadar

Roshni Nadar

Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the chairperson of HCL Technologies and the first woman to lead a listed IT company in India.  She is the only child of HCL's founder, Shiv Nadar.  In 2019, she is ranked 54th on the Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.  According to IIFL Wealth Hurun India Rich List (2019), Roshni Nadar is the richest woman in India. 

Roshni Nadar grew up in Delhi, studied in Vasant Valley School and graduated from Northwestern University majoring in Communication with a focus on Radio/TV/Film. She also graduated with a Masters in Business Administration having a focus on Social Enterprise Management and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management. 

Career

She worked in various companies as a producer before joining HCL.  Within a year of her joining HCL, she was elevated as executive director and CEO of HCL Corporation.  She subsequently became the chairperson of HCL Technologies after her father Shiv Nadar stepped down.  

Humanitarian initiatives

Prior to becoming CEO of the HCL Corporation, Roshni Nadar had been serving as the trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which runs on the not-for-profit Sri Sivasubramaniya Nadar College of Engineering in Chennai.  She had also been involved in brand building across the HCL Group. Nadar is also chairperson of VidyaGyan Leadership Academy, a leadership academy for economically underprivileged.   Passionate about wildlife and conservation, she set up 'The Habitats' trust that aims at protecting India's natural habitats and indigenous species in a bid to create and conserve sustainable ecosystems. 

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roshni_Nadar