New customers who take one of Zen Internets superfast fibre broadband (FTTC) packages (e.g. Fibre 1, Unlimited Fibre 1, Unlimited Fibre 2 or Unlimited Fibre Office) can now also take a Self-Install (PlugnPlay) option, which means that an Openreach engineer doesnt need to enter your home in order to complete the setup.

The other good news is that Zen, unlike some ISPs, will also continue to give customers the option of having a Managed Install (includes an engineer visit) if they so wish. Otherwise Zens Home Fibre packages all come with a 12 month contract, a free wireless router (details at the bottom), Static IP addresses and no Traffic Management.

Prices for the entry-level Fibre 1 (38Mbps) package with 50GB of usage costs 19.50 per month, plus 30 activation (one-off) and phone line rental must also be taken from 16.99 per month. The next package adds unlimited usage via a price of 27 per month, while going to a faster speed of up to 76Mbps pushes this to 30 per month (note: activation on this deal is free).

David Barber, Zens Senior Product Manager, said:

At our Annual Partner Event in November, partners talked about wanting more flexibility and choice around how their services are delivered. Since then weve been working on a number of ideas to make life easier for them, one of which is Self-Install.

Opting for Self-Install removes all reliance on third parties to successfully get a next-generation broadband customer connected. Thats welcome news for many, who often feel the pain of engineer visits and missed appointments.

Subscribers to the service will also gain access to a free wireless router (Technicolor TG589vn v3), which tends to retail for around 50 and includes an integrated ADSL2 + VDSL2 (FTTC) modem, a single USB 2.0 port, 802.11n WiFi at 2.4GHz, four 100Mbps Ethernet LAN ports and an integrated SPI firewall (note theres a 6.95 delivery charge). Sadly theres no Gigabit LAN or 5GHz WiFi, but at least its IPv6 ready.

See the article here:
UK ISP Zen Internet Start to Offer Self-Install FTTC Fibre Broadband

LOS ANGELES -- When former Marine Joe Bonfiglio starts thrashing in his sleep, his pit bull service dog jumps on the bed, climbs on top of him and wakes him up to end the flashback.

The dog named Zen has allowed Bonfiglio, 24, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after returning from a five-month tour in Afghanistan, to get back to everyday activities. He can now do things such as shop at malls in Poughkeepsie, New York, because Zen helps calm Bonfiglio when crowds trigger a panic attack.

"I used to go to bars with my friends. And war movies. I am not going to see 'American Sniper,' " he said. "It would bring me back to a place I don't want to be."

Pit bulls aren't the typical choice for a service dog. They are feared, banned in hundreds of cities and blamed for sometimes deadly attacks. The Animal Farm Foundation in Dutchess County, N.Y., wants to change that stigma through a program that trains and donates rescued pit bulls to push wheelchairs or help people regain their mobility and avoid falls.

The effort faces opposition from those who believe the breed is dangerous.

The Assistance Dog Training Program is believed to be the only U.S. training school exclusively for service dogs that uses pit bulls from shelters, said Apryl Lea, the foundation's certified trainer. It's placed five dogs that require two years to socialize, train and acquaint with handlers.

A smaller group, Pits for Patriots, trains rescued pit bulls as comfort, therapy and support dogs for veterans, police officers and firefighters but has yet to place any service dogs. Comfort dogs are pets that get a few weeks of training, while therapy animals receive at least six months of training to help calm people who haven't received a diagnosis as severe as PTSD.

"Veterans and first responders can identify with pit bulls because they either have seen a lot of trauma or been through a lot of trauma," said Kelly Yearwood, co-founder Pits for Patriots in Chicago, whose group started the same year as the Animal Farm Foundation's program, in 2011.

The handful of major training schools and a few smaller ones all typically breed German shepherds, Labradors and golden retrievers for the lengthy, costly process to become a service dog.

Shelters nationwide watch for canine candidates for the foundation's program, which trains dogs based on Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines, Lea said. With pit bull breeds making up a huge percentage of dogs in shelters, she has to carefully decide which dogs are accepted. They must have the right build, aptitude and focus to help a person get through life with disabilities or injuries.

View post:
Rescued pit bulls fight stigma as guide dogs

The Noosphere and Cosmic Christ: Happy Birthday Teilhard de Chardin

Happy birthday, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (May 1, 1885 April 10, 1955). Give a listen to this excellent biographical podcast with Ursula King, Andrew Revkin, and David Sloak Wilson.

King: The human is not finished yet!

Tippet: He sees evolution both on a physical and spiritual that evolution proceeds towards spirit. Even as he looks towards Peking Man, and see himself as a 21st century human, he imagines future man looking back and seeing a primitive spirituality. He imagines this flowering of consciousness; this evolutionary consciousness.

King: Its mind blowing! The whole region of cyberspace They say Teilhard is the patron saint of the world wide web. He used to say that we will intensify our communication: but what are we doing with it? Thats the big question. We have to create it.

Though banned from publication in his lifetime, Teilhards posthumous writings went on to influence brilliant thinkers in their own right like media theoristMarshall McLuhan, scifi [1] writerPhilip K. Dick, and more recently,Rev. Matthew Fox,Thomas Berry,Brian Swimme, and theologianElizabeth Johnsonsecological thoughtand growing forward tradition.

Read the Mass on the World here.

The Phenomenon of Man.

[1] In Dan SimmonsEndymion, a future Catholic popetakes the name Teilhard 1st.

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Evolutionary Landscapes | Consciousness, Culture, and the ...